Ghost of a Chance Book 1 in Above the Grave Trilogy (23 page)

The pointer circled again…D…R… just then the
“physical” Drew grabbed up the Ouija board out from under
their hands and threw it against the wall.

“Drew?” Brendan stood up and grabbed her shoulders.
“You should be lying down. How are you feeling, love?”

 

Liza didn’t like the look on Drew’s face one bit. Her
eyes were lit as if she could rip Liza’s eyes out in a heartbeat.

“Drew, Sweetheart?” Liza said,
something
was
seriously wrong with her friend. “Why don’t you sit down and
let me get you a glass of wine.” Liza smiled at her then trying
to calm her down.

“What are you two doing playing with that silly
thing?” She said trying to calm herself. The girl that spoke to
her was obviously her friend, physically anyway. “Have you
no idea what trouble you can get yourselves into? Do you not
know what kind of spirits you could awaken?”

“Well, Honey,” Liza said calmly taking Drew’s hand
and leading her to the couch, “that was the point.”

Drew looked up at Brendan then and as if she hadn’t
seen him for years smiled and felt tears well up in her eyes.
“My darling!” She said. “How I have missed you!” She flung
herself into his arms then and kissed him madly.

Brendan pushed her away from him leaving her with a
look of fake hurt on her face. “What is wrong, my love? Don’t
you still love me?”

Liza was just standing there with her mouth dropped to
the floor. She knew then that Brendan felt that something was
wrong as well.
She finally came to her senses and gently
touched Drew’s arm. “Drew, you have had a crazy night. Why
don’t you sit down? Of course Brendan still loves you,
honey!” She gave Brendan a look that said “Shut the hell up”
then guided Drew to the couch. “You just sit right here while
Brendan and I fix you up something to eat. Okay?”

“Mmm. Food does sound delightful, and I am a bit
fatigued. Yes, that will be alright I suppose.”

They walked towards the kitchen then. Liza smiling a
fake smile and Brendan looking like someone had knocked the
wind out of him. They passed through the dining room and as
soon as the swinging door of the kitchen was closed he grabbed
Liza’s arm.

“What the hell is going on? That is not my Drew!
That woman makes me want to wretch.”

“I believe, Sir, that that woman would be Miss Lezetta
LeBlanc posing as your Drew. Drew was trying to reach us
through the Ouija board just before your doting ex threw it
against the wall.”

“For once since she has come back to this
house I have
feeling and it is the weakness in my knees. I need to sit down.”
He said shakily. “If that is Lezetta then where is Drew?”

“I don’t know. Somewhere she shouldn’t be I am
afraid.
We need to get back to the Ouija board.
We left it
open. There is no telling what spirits may try coming through.”
Liza said trying to think.

“Lezetta came through that thing?” Brendan asked
eyes wide now.

“No, I’m afraid Lezetta came in through the front door
in Drew’s body. I found her lying on top of her tomb with
candles burning around her. The ground shook and the stone
cracked open. Lezetta’s spirit must have traded places with
Drew’s.”

Brendan jumped up then. “Are you saying that Drew
is out there all alone in the cemetery?”

“No, I didn’t say that she was alone.” Liza said
walking towards the refrigerator to get Drew/Lezetta something
to eat.

“Mary Ann is with her then?” Brendan said a little
more reassured. “She will take care of her then while we figure
out what to do.”

“Yep. Mary Ann is there t
oo, and whoever is buried in
your tomb as well.” She said looking worried then. “I heard
him laugh, must have been Drew screaming, as I was dragging
Drew’s body up to the house.”

“Who would be buried in my place?” Brendan said
angrily.

“That is something that we need to figure out quickly.”
Liza said. “You take this to the crazy lady in the living room.”
Liza said handing Brendan a tray of fruit. “I’ve got something
that will take care of her for a little bit.”

Brendan didn’t ask what her plan was.
He knew that
they had spent too much time away from Lezetta as it was.
When he walked back into the living room Drew/Lezetta was
standing in front of the mirror with a frown on her brow.

“What is it darling?” Brendan asked.

“Do you really find me attractive?” She asked him
staring at herself obviously not too pleased with what she was
seeing. “I’m so pale and scrawny. Except for these,” She said
squeezing her breasts. “Yes, these will do nicely.”

She turned to face him them. “So, are you falling in
love with me, sweetheart?”

 

“Why don’t you come sit down and eat a little. Liza
cut up some fruit for you.”

 

“Alright then.” She said obeying.

 

“Why is it that you are so worried about my love for
you all of a sudden, woman?” Brendan asked curiously.

“Oh, well, because I love you so much!” She said and
reached in to kiss him again. He turned his head. He knew
that he should be playing along but the thought of kissing
someone besides Drew made him ill, even if it was his Lezetta.
Something told him though that the Lezetta that he once
thought that he loved wasn’t who he thought she was at all.

“Why do you turn from me, Love?” He saw the tears
in her eyes and thought for a moment that they were real tears.
He knew that they were not Drew’s though. He couldn’t lie
and tell her that he loved her. He couldn’t do that to Drew. It
made no sense he knew, but he would know the lie in his heart.

Liza came in just in the nick of time. “I’m so sorry it
took so long, Drew. I know how much you love wine and you
were out up here so I went down to the wine cellar and found
some really old strawberry wine. This shit was bottled in 1850.
It is either going to be freaking stout or taste like vinegar. Here
you go.” She said handing her a glass off of the tray. She
handed one to Brendan as well and then set the tray down on
the table. She grabbed one for herself as well then raised her
glass for a toast. “Here is to friends, old and new.” She said.

Lezetta looked a little annoyed but drank anyway. She
closed her eyes then. “Oh my, that tastes wonderful.” She said
smiling. She drank the rest in one big gulp. “Now, Liza,
dear,” She said between her teeth. “Could Brendan and I
please have some time to…to…what have you given me?”
Lezetta realized when her tongue started sticking to the roof of
her mouth and her eyes wanted to roll to the back of her head
that something was wrong.

“Dear, Grandma Lezetta, just because you are dead
doesn’t mean that the magic died with you. I’ve got a few
tricks of my own up my sleeve.”

Lezetta didn’t have time to respond. The sleeping
potion that Liza had conjured up set in quickly as she had
hoped.

Drew’s body went limp and she started to fall forward.
Brendan caught her and laid her down on the couch, covering
her up with an afghan. When he saw the look that Liza gave
him he said, “It’s still Drew’s body. I would like to keep it in
tactif you don’t mind. What did you give her? She isn’t dead
is she?”

Liza rolled her eyes. “Of course not, can we get back
to the Ouija board now? We don’t have much time before the
crazy witch wakes up and she will be very angry!”

The look on Brendan and Liza’s face had been
priceless when she saw herself get up off the couch and throw
the Ouija board across the room. It might have been funny if
she hadn’t been floating above them like a dead person. She
was expecting to disappear then but she didn’t. They never
said their good-byes. That was fine with her. She would rather
be stuck there in the house than in that cemetery with that crazy
“evil twin” of Brendan’s.

She tried to remember what all Brendan had told her
about
his brother, about
his
family.
Her
thoughts were
interrupted though as she watched herself kiss Brendan. She
felt a sudden pang of jealousy. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t fair.
Who had taken over her body? Lezetta she realized. She had
switched places with Lezetta and that evil bitch was making a
move on her man.

He pushed her away. Drew no longer felt jealous. She
wasn’t even relieved. Instead she was hurt. Why did he push
her away? They were calling her Drew so they must not know.
Didn’t he love her? She asked him, the Lezetta her asked him,
and he wouldn’t reply.

She saw all that she cared to see. She couldn’t stand it
anymore. She tried to scream but no one could hear her. She
tried to hit Brendan but he couldn’t feel her. He was a ghost
too. Why couldn’t he see her?

She floated up the stairs. She didn’t know where she
was going she just had to get away without going away. She
was wishing one last time that they could hear her.
No one
moved a muscle in her direction. “Fine!” She said through
tears. “, and that is why you don’t fall in love, Drew Taylor.
Men are just out to hurt you, dead or alive.”

When she reached the top of the stairs she felt a sudden
urge to go inside the room that Brendan had asked her not to go
to.
She felt guilty for even thinking about it but then she
pushed the guilt away quickly though as the need pulled her
even more. She tried to turn on the light she just couldn’t do it.

She didn’t understand why Brendan could play the
piano and put on a light show but she couldn’t budge a damn
thing. She realized though as she looked towards the back of
the room that the room wasn’t that big at all and that the light
shown from the chandelier above the living room right into the
room. It wasn’t really that dark after all.

She walked slowly around the desk and saw him then.
He was lying there on the floor.
He looked so alive!
How
could a body lay for one hundred and fifty years without
decomposing?
She wished that she could feel for a pulse.
Maybe she could listen for a heartbeat. She laid her head down
on his chest. Yes! She could hear a faint beating. It was very
faint but it was there. He wasn’t dead! How was it possible!

“What did they do to you, my love? Who could be so
cruel that they would just leave you here all alone?” She
wanted to pick him up. She wished that she could hold him in
her arms and shake him awake. She couldn’t even pick herself
up though she realized. She was nothing but air.

As best as she could she kept her head down on his
chest. She pretended for a moment that he was holding her and
then all of the beautiful thoughts of a couple’s future came
down on her in a torturing rush. She realized that she would
never have the privilege of holding his hand and walking
through the gardens. She would never meet him at the altar in
a gorgeous white wedding gown which she could proudly wear
with honesty.

None of these things had ever been important to Drew.
She didn’t understand why they were so important to her now.
It was a cruel joke!
Never wanting, never needing, now her
heart bled with it. It cried for it. This whole time his body had
lain here waiting for her to find it, to save it with her love. It
was just like the damned fairy tales. She had held the key the
whole time. Now she was dead. Who was going to save her?
Who would save them both?

“Drew?” She heard him calling her. It startled her and
when she looked at his face and saw that he was actually a
rotting corpse and that she was finally losing her mind for sure.
She looked around and saw the light again and was relieved
that it wasn’t her imagination. She was afraid to go to it this
time though, afraid that it would lead her back to the cemetery.
“Drew? Sweetheart, are you there?” He called to her again.

Instead of going through the light she chose to take the
stairs. She stood over her own body, wishing there was some
way she could just jump into herself. She knew that it was
useless though and that even if it did work, she wouldn’t be
alone in there.

“Drew?” Brendan
asked again, this time through tears.
“Damn it! Why isn’t she answering me?” He took his hands
off of the pointer then and ran his hands through his hair.

She watched him stand up and pace the room. “Where
could she be, Liza? We have to find her! Why isn’t she
answering?
Are you sure it was her?
This bloody thing
doesn’t work!”

They must have figured it out somehow!
They knew
that Drew wasn’t Drew after all. Somehow she heard her own
heart pounding though she didn’t know how that was possible.

He was trying to be strong but every second that went
by he felt more and more like a child. He was supposed to be
the man, the hero, why did he feel so foolish and helpless!

She banged the pointer on the board to get
their
attention.
Liza jumped and Brendan swung around nearly
jumping on top of the thing.
He grabbed the pointer again
shaking.

“Drew?” He said through a tear filled throat. “Please
come backto me!”

 

The pointer spun around and around… W…H…Y?
Drew asked.

She heard the breath come out of him like a tornado
across the Kansas plains. Liza laughed through tears as well.
“Oh, Drew! This is no time to be stubborn.” She said.

She watched as Brendan wiped the tears from his face
and gathered himself. He looked around the room. “Please
look into my eyes if you can. Because I love you!
Because I
have loved you since the first moment you talked back to me
when I told you to get out of my house! I waited my whole life
for someone like you and then I waited one hundred and fifty
years beyond that!
I love you!
I want to spend eternity with
you. I don’t know if it is possible for us or not but I know that
I feel when I am with you. I was alive when I was with you. I
can’t live or be dead without you!” He chuckled at that.