Bella's Determination-A Ghostly Encounter

PLANET EARTH-TWO DAYS BEFORE HALLOWEEN

ROBERT HAYES

It seems like she’s been stalking me for a couple of weeks now, following me around the Macy’s department store, where I work.

I am responsible for setting up Halloween displays for the holiday season.I am usually not the nervous type, but lately I’ve been jittery and I think other people have noticed it too.

Even though I never met this woman, something about her seemed familiar. Her spirit. Her energy. It just rubs me the wrong way.

“I know who you are,” she said, as she finally spoke to me after I stop working to take my fifteen-minute afternoon break.

Waving her tiny index finger an inch away from the tip of my long-sharp nose, she stared me straight in the eyes.

“Get out of my way, lady, or I might do something I'll regret,” I threatened, trying to scare her away!

I am a 6-foot-4, muscled bound, dude who could have easily taken her around the back of the building and snapped her scrawny neck. Getting rid of her would be a cinch! She's smallerand much older than the other women I had to do away with!

“Oh, yeah,” she snarled. “Guess what? I am not afraid of you. I

am not,” she reassured me as she bounced swayed her body from side to side.

“Leave me alone, lady. I don’t want no trouble.”

“Trouble?” she laughed, throwing her head back as her small body shook with

laughter.

“After I finish with you, you’re going to have plenty of time to write a 2000-page

essay on what trouble means!”

“Robert!” I heard my boss, Mr. Marshall, call out my name as

he shuffled towards me.

Thank God, I thought, saved by the bell. As Mr. Marshall approached, the tiny old lady stopped talking, then stood silently, clutching her hands. She then placed them over her belly and then stare at me blankly.

“Robert,” I have been looking all over for you,” Mr. Marshall said,

huffing like he just finished running the Boston marathon.

“Why? I was about to take my break,” I shrugged my broad

shoulders.

“Are you alright?” Mr. Marshall asked, with concern in his voice.

“I am fine. Why do you ask?”

“Are you sure?” he asked, moving a bit closer to me.

“Mr. Marshall, I said I was fine.”

What don’t you understand? You fucking moron! Mr. Marshall

peered around as if he was making sure nobody was close enough

to hear what he was about to say.

“Robert, I saw you standing over here talking to yourself.”

I glanced at the little old woman as she stood beside me

with a wide grin on her face, looking like a demented circus

clown.

“What?” I gasped. I know Mr. Marshall wore bifocals, and

the old geezer had a small stature, but there was no way in hell he

couldn’t see her standing next to me.

“I was talking to this customer, right here,” I said, pointing

at the old woman. Mr. Marshall rolled his crooked brown eyes,

then pushed his large framed glasses up on his face.

“I think you have been working too hard, Robert. Do you

need some time off?” Mr. Marshall spoke softly.

“What are you talking about, Mr. Marshall? I was talking to

this lady right here!” I pointed at the woman again.

“Okay, Robert,” he huffed. “I will tell you. Some of your co-

workers said you have been acting weird lately. Weirder than

usual,” he cleared his throat.

“That’s why I came looking for you. Now, I can see why they

were concerned. Do you want to tell me what’s bothering you?”

IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD-ONE DAY BEFORE HALLOWEEN

BELLA DAVIS

“Bella, where have you been?” Georgia, one of my spiritual

guides, demanded to know, after I glided into the Spiritual waiting

room for the departed.

“Oh, I miss Halloween on Earth, so I went for a little visit to take

in the festivities.”

“You know you’re only allowed five visits for the entire year,”

Georgia reminded me.

“I know,” I sulked. I like Georgia and all, she’s one of my

favorite spiritual guides, but sometimes her Mother Hen’s ways

get on my last nerve.

“Alright, Bella, lay it on me,” Georgia said, folding her thick

arms across her chest as she stared me down. “Did you go visit

your family again?”

“No,” I said, before lowering my head towards the ground.

“Oh, no, Bella, don’t tell me you ….?”

“I can’t help it, Georgia. I have to do what I feel is right,” I

said, without fully confessing.

“Did you take over a body?”

“I confess.”

“I hope she was alive?” Bella said as she furrowed her nose.

“No, she wasn’t. I used the body of an old, dead woman in

the morgue.”

“The morgue! Now, Bella, you know that’s off limits.”

“She won’t mind. I am sure. She hasn’t crossed over yet.”

“Bella, how many times do I have to tell you, you have to

forgive those that did you wrong, before you can move on to the

next incarnation.”

“I have forgiven, but I can’t get over how my life was

snatched from me!”

“If you behave and stop breaking the rules, you’ll be up for

another life soon, and then you won’t have to worry about the last

one.”

“I don’t want another life. I loved the life that I had,” I cried.

“I know, Bella, but you have to accept that it’s over.”

“I had it all. I was young, pretty, and smart. I had two

children and a good husband.”

God, Georgia will never know how much I miss my

family, how much I miss the love we shared. I usually use my

earth visits to go see them, but this time I went back to seek

revenge!

That’s right. I am going to make sure that bastard who killed

me is going to pay, and I am going to use that old woman’s body

again, to deliver justice!”