Ghost of a Chance Book 1 in Above the Grave Trilogy (20 page)

Well, it had finally come, the day of Liza’s
stupid
Labor Day party and Drew wanted to do nothing more than to
forget about it and go straight to bed. She had pretty much
been a zombie for the past week and she wanted to stay that
way.

If Liza hadn’t already called her three times that day
making sure that she was still coming she would have just not
shown up. She couldn’t let her friend down though. Plus,
getting out of the lonely old house was probably the best thing
for her right now.

Drew clad in a pair of ripped jeans and a tank top, her
favorite gear, stopped at the door to take one last look around.
This had been the first time she had left the house since before
Brendan had disappeared. She missed him so much. Every
day she waited for the piano to play or for him to pop up while
she was taking a bath, but he never did and it showed in her
mood. She felt as if her heart had been ripped right out of her
chest. How could someone that she barely knew have affected
her life so much?

“I’m going to town. Do you need anything?” She said
and her throat tightened up automatically as there was no reply.
She ducked her head down in a slow pout and closed the door
behind her.

Brendan stood with his hand on the door, “What on
earth would I ever need from town ye silly girl?” He said out
loud shivering at the sound of his own voice. It sounded so
hopeless and empty.

Drew slowed down as she passed the cemetery. She
wondered if Brendan’s spirit now wandered there or if he had
moved on to bigger and better things. She knew that evading
whoever’s space that had been in there before was probably a
bad idea, but maybe they had moved on as well. She decided
that she was miserable enough to take that chance. She needed
to speak to Brendan, even if he couldn’t answer her.

As she stepped through the gates of the cemetery she
immediately felt the temperature drop.
She swore that she
heard whispering which sent shivers down her spine but kept
her shoulders high anyway and walked briskly forward to
Brendan’s grave. The limbs that had fallen from the tree that
hung above cracked beneath her as she knelt down before his
tomb, making her almost jump back up again.

“Relax, Drew, you are here all alone. There is no one
else.” She said closing her eyes and laying her head on
Brendan’s tomb.

“Brendan, if you ca
n hear me, I am so sorry for the
way that I acted that last night that we were together. I was
jealous and angry and that is no excuse I know, but it’s the
truth.” She sat back and sighed. She needed to find the right
words, but there were so many of them running in her mind
that she didn’t know where to begin.

“I miss you. My house…our house,” she corrected,
“isn’t a home without you. I need you there. I’m so lonely,
Brendan. I’ve been alone most of my life but I never knew
lonely until I lost you. I know that sounds kind of corny, right?
Actually, I think it might be a country song, but I hope that you
understand what I mean. I understand if you are in a better
place and don’t want to come back, but if you aren’t and you
want to come back, please hurry"

Drew wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. She felt
the warm breeze that had passed her way before and imagined
that it was Mary Ann. Maybe this time it was Brendan. Maybe
he heard her and was forgiving her and would come back.
Something told her that wasn’t true though.

She stood up to leave when something tripped her.
Drew looked back to see a root jutting out of the ground
beneath Brendan’s grave. She didn’t remember seeing that
before.
For a moment she thought that she saw Brendan.
When she started to run to him someone pushed her back.
That’s when she saw her, the one with the bright green eyes
and snotty look upon her face. Only this time she didn’t look
like a snob, she looked so young, innocent and scared.

“Run, Miss Drew!” The girl said. “’Tis only
trickery!”

As much as she wanted to push the girl away and run
to Brendan, Drew turned around and ran out of the cemetery.
She didn’t know why but she believed the girl. If it had been
Brendan in there he wouldn’t have let her leave. Or would he
have?

The drive across the Ponchatrain to Liza’s house was
long and painful. She had so much on her mind. The thought
of suicide had never crossed her mind in her life, no matter
how bad life got, but the thought of being with Brendan for all
of eternity was very tempting. The dark water far below was
calling her name. She shook her head absently as if to clear the
thought from her mind forever.

“Drew!” Liza screamed as she came out of her ranch
style home surrounded by a white picketfence. Liza’s home
was truly the symbol of the picture perfect family. The swing
sets in the back
yard and the toys that
were scattered
throughout as well just emphasized the fact even more, and for
the second time in her life and in the past couple of weeks,
Drew saw the bitter green color of jealousy.

“Hey, Liza.” Drew said, trying to sound cheerful but
knew she was lacking.

 

Liza ran to her and gave her a big hug. “Come on,
Sweetie, everyone is around back.”

The night ended up being pretty fun, agains
t Drew’s
will. Drew had a little bit too much to drink but at least it had
helped her to relax, missing Brendan so badly that it hurt and
facing other things that she couldn’t explain had taken a toll on
her.
Liza had invited a few of her fellow teachers and her
husband had invited a few of his friends as well. The yard was
full of chatter and laughter from the children who were all in
their own little world. What she wouldn’t give to be like them,
to only worry about which flavor of ice cream you wanted or
which game to play next.

When the children started to play a game of spin the
statue, Drew couldn’t help but to go back and watch them.
One of the boys spun and froze with his arms up in a zombie
like pose.
When the girl tapped his nose he walked like a
zombie but he refused to be a zombie when she guessed what
he wasinstead he said that he was a ghost. This made Drew’s
eyes tear up. She remembered being young and being afraid of
ghosts. Her childhood ghosts were much different than they
were now.

As the crowd started to dwindle Drew tried to sneak
away as well but she wasn’t quite swift enough to sneak past
Liza. “Where do you think that you are going?” Liza asked.

“I’m going home silly.” Drew said as she walked
towards the driveway. “It’s getting very late, and I was
thinking about taking some paintings to the Quarter tomorrow.”

“Oh, no you aren’t. You know better than to drink and
drive, especially when you are riding that metal horse of
yours.” Liza was obviously talking about her Harley. It was a
general rule of Drew’s not to drink and drive, and like Liza said
especially not on the motorcycle but she couldn’t stand to be
there another minute. She needed to be home. Even though it
was so lonely there, she could still feel his presence, even if she
was just imagining it.

“So, we haven’t really
gotten to talk, just the two of us
I mean, since that night. Why didn’t Brendan come with you?
I figured that you two love birds would be inseparable by
now.” Liza grinned.

“Because he left, he
is no longer with us anymore.”
Liza dropped the pile of empty paper plates that she was
holding and placed her hand over her mouth.

Wide eyed she asked, “What do you mean he is no
longer with us?”

“I mean, Liza that I know that you know very well he
was already dead, and that he was the ghost in my house, and
you knew that eventually he would move on to a better place
and he did. He is gone. I don’t know why you pretended to
not know who he was at first, but I am not stupid, I know that
you knew.”

“I’m so sorry, Drew. What happened?” Liza’s eyes
began to tear up.

“Oh, don’t you cry!” Drew yelled. “I have been trying
so hard to hold myself together since that morning when I
woke up and you were gone and he was nowhere to be found. I
cried myself through that day and I am not going to cry over it
anymore. I’m done. He is gone and that is that!”

“Drew, honey, please don’t yell at me. I love you, and
I’m not the one that you are angry at. I am so sorry that you
are going through all of this pain, but are you sure that he is
gone? I mean, where could he have gone really?”

“I don’t know, Liza, wherever it is that people go when
they die. I mean wherever they are supposed to go. Maybe all
of the commotion that we were making made God realize that
he left one behind and so he came and got him. Who the hell
knows?”

Liza looked sincerely confused. “I don’t understand.”
She said. “Why now?”

“I just said that I don’t know. I don’t want to talk
about it anymore.” She started to walk away and then turned to
Liza again, “You think that I don’t see how you and your
family are? Do you think that I don’t want that for myself?
Because I do! I never realized until I got to feel Brendan’s lips
on mine that I do want all of that. I want the barbecues and the
crab boils. I want the parties and the walks in the park. I want
the holding hands and the sneaking secret little kisses in when
you think that no one is watching. I want that so bad, Liza. I
want it with Brendan and I can never have it. It’s not fair!
What did I ever do to deserve that? What did I ever do to be
given a taste of what love can be and then have it all taken
away from me?”

She leaned against her bike now and rubbed her head.
She was trying so hard not to cry but the alcohol was getting
the better of her emotions.

“Do you love him, Drew? I mean really love him?”
Liza asked her friend.

 

“So what if I do? He is gone. It damn sure doesn’t do
me any good now, does it?”

Pamela, Liza’s four year old daughter, stuck her head
out of the front door to holler at her mother, “Mamma, are you
going to tuck us in or not?” She said with her hands on her
hips.

Drew started to turn away then stopped and looked at
Liza one last time, “Children.” She said. “Children are so
innocent aren’t they? They have no idea what is really out
there. Most adults have no idea, Liza.”
“I’ll be right there, Sweetheart!” Liza called back.

“What if he wasn’t gone though?” Liza said to Drew again.
“What if he was just waiting for you to say those words to him,
those three little magic words that could change both of your
lives forever?” Drew thought that Liza was just getting a little
bit too excited over a hypothetical situation. It was pissing her
off even more that she was toying with her emotions which
wasn’t like Liza at all.

“Liza, he is still in love with his Lezetta. It wouldn’t
matter if he was here with me right now or not, he doesn’t love
me… he loves her.”

Liza seemed to be off in her own world, thinking. So,
Drew took the opportunity to climb on her bike before Liza
could wrestle her back. “Ok Drew, but do you love him?”

“Good night, Liza.” Drew said and put on her helmet.

Liza was pacing now. She was up to something but
Drew had absolutely no idea what it could be. She watched her
sit down on the steps of her house and stare off into Liza land.

Drew wasn’t sure what exactly was going on in Liza’s
brain and she honestly didn’t really care at that moment. She
snuck off on the motorcycle before Liza could come back to
reality.

Drew knew better than to drive while intoxicated,
especially on a bike and on such a big weekend for sobriety
checks as Labor Day weekend. The air had cooled off quite a
bit though and it was helping sober Drew up a little. Once she
hit the long bridge over the Ponchatrain the air was so cool on
her skin that she was shivering. Why hadn’t she thought to
bring a jacket?

Driving into New Orleans, it never ceased to amaze her
how the city never seemed to sleep. There was constant traffic
and lights that never seemed to burn out. She tried to avoid
downtown as much as possible and stayed on one of the main
highways for as long as she could.

She finally made it to her drive and was thankful that
she hadn’t gotten in a wreck or into any trouble with the law
for drinking and driving. The goose bumps that had already
spread over her entire body seemed to reach down deep into
her soul as she drove past the cemetery. She tried not to even
look in its direction, afraid of what she may see.

When she walked in the front door she was so over
whelmed with his presence that she dropped on the couch and
began to cry.

“I miss you so much, Brendan. If only I had gotten to
see you one last time. I didn’t even get to tell you good bye. I
didn’t realize it before or I just didn’t want to admit it but I
love you. I love you so much!”

She sobbed and sobbed until she couldn’t find the
strength to sob anymore. She got up and went to the kitchen
for a glass of wine. Instead of grabbing a glass though she
opted to drink out of the bottle.
She figured that she was
probably going to drink the whole damn thing anyway before
she ended up puking, passing out, or maybe even both.

When she walked into her bedroom taking her fifth
chug on the way there from the kitchen, she saw him sitting on
the edge of the bed and dropped the bottle.

“Brendan?” She said through tears. “How?” She ran
to him then and threw her arms around him. “I’ve missed you
so much, Brendan. Where did you go? How are you here?”