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over the side. The ghostly girl stood still and watched him. He lay, frozen with fear, in what he expected would soon become his fiberglass coffin. When she didn’t immediately move he slowly pulled his legs over the edge and into the tub. Cautiously, he sat up and stared across the tiny bathroom at the apparition.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “I live here,” she replied. “Or, I lived here…”

  Her voice trailed off and her expression fell vacant. His mind reeled. He had so many questions and didn’t quite know where to begin. One thought rose to the surface and escaped his lips before he had time to consider the ramifications.

  “You’re the woman who died here,” he stated.

  She nodded. She was a small thin woman. Her face was long and her features plain. At Rick’s revelation of the previous tenant he had imagined an man or woman who died of old age, not this youthful phantom who couldn’t have been more than twenty or thirty years old.

  “Why are you here?” he asked.

  She turned and walked back through the door. He hesitated for a moment before he climbed out of the tub and pulled open the door. She stood across the room, facing out the window. He walked out into the room and waited. The fear he felt just moments ago had abated and a burning curiosity took over.

  “When it happened I saw a light out there,” she said.

  “You didn’t follow it?” he asked. “You follow the light. Everybody knows that.”

  She shot him a dirty look and his momentary courage vanished.

  “I haven’t left this place in years,” she began. “I couldn’t bring myself to do it then.”

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  “Jessica.”

  “Dean,” he replied and touched his chest.

  “I know,” she said. “I heard you talking with your friend.”

  “What do you mean who haven’t left this place?” he asked abruptly.

  “Out there I panic,” she explained and looked back out the window. “I can’t breathe, I shake uncontrollably, I want to scream and run. Just the thought of going out there is terrifying.”

  “You’re agoraphobic,” he stated.

  She turned toward him and nodded.

  “How did you die, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “I got sick. I had a fever. I called the doctor but the receptionist said he didn’t do house calls. She made me an appointment. I tried to go, I got dressed and everything, but I couldn’t even touch the doorknob.”

  “There wasn’t anybody you could call for help?”

  “They’d have made me go to the doctor. They’d have forced me out there! No, that’s not any help I want.”

  Dean sat down on the edge of his bed and looked on in disbelief. He felt sorry for her. He could not imagine being so afraid of something that he would rather die than face it. His greatest fear at the moment was being alone, something he did not have to face, for now, thanks to his new friend. He felt drawn to her. She seemed so fragile, like a wounded bird, and he wanted to protect her.

  “So what now?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” she replied, melancholy.

  The front door opened and he heard it knock against the wall out in the hallway.

  “Hey buddy,” Rick called. “Are you alright? Where are you?”

  Dean looked around the room in a panic.

  “He’ll freak out if he sees you,” Dean told her. “Can you hide?”

  She nodded and crouched down beside the bed.

  “What are you doing?!” he exclaimed.

  “Hiding,” she replied.

  “Can’t you disappear or something?”

  “I don’t know how to do that,” she shot back.

  Rick walked through the doorway with a worried look on his face.

  “Who are you talking to?” he asked Dean.

  Dean quickly stepped between Rick and the specter by the window in an attempt to block her from view. Rick, however, had already seen her. His eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open.

  “Holy geez,” Rick muttered. “You didn’t crack…or, maybe we both did.”

  “We’re not crazy,” he assured his friend. “This is Jessica. Jessica, Rick.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” she said.

  “Same,” Rick replied, mouth still agape.

  “This is the previous tenant,” Dean explained.

  “Well then, I guess I don’t have to worry about that security deposit.”

  “What do you mean?” Dean asked.

  “I mean, you can’t stay here,” Rick said, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “This place is haunted.”

  “It’s not haunted,” he started to argue. He looked over at Jessica and she smiled sheepishly. “Okay, technically it’s haunted, but she’s not going to hurt anyone.”

  “How do you know?” Rick shouted. “No offense, but you just met and she could be crazy.”

  “He’s right,” Jessica agreed.

  “Whose side are you on?” Dean asked.

  “I’m just saying, I’m new to this,” she said. “For all I know there’s some ghost law that says I’ve got to get all spooky and stuff.”

  “I’ll take my chances,” Dean said.

  “You can’t be serious,” Rick argued. “You’re going to live here, with a ghost.”

  Dean walked over and put his arm around Rick. He led him to the door and gently nudged his friend into the hallway.

  “I appreciate your concern, Rick,” he said. “But she won’t go outside and honestly, I wasn’t wild about the prospect of living alone. If she’s got no objections to me, then I’ve got no problem with her. If things get crazy I’ll call you.”

  “Oh, we’re way passed crazy,” Rick said.

  Rick turned and headed down the hallway in a huff. He looked back one more time, shook his head and pulled the door closed behind him. Dean turned to look over at Jessica, who still stood by the window. She smiled at him.

  “Do you like karaoke?” he asked with a grin.

  Read Liberty Meadow

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