Haunted Ever After (21 page)

Randalf crossed to the other side, and Mel closed her eyes for a moment as she walked across. ‘Well, I think I felt something. Some sort of cold sensation. It could have been something spiritual.’ She seemed reasonably pleased. The Chinese couple crossed together and kissed as they stopped in the middle, then smiled. Spiritual experience or no spiritual experience, we all knew what sort of experience they’d be having later tonight.

The retired couple crossed one at a time, the woman saying she felt at peace as she crossed, and the man asking how long it was to the nearest toilet since all the flowing water was stimulating his bladder.

Georgie crossed and performed some kind of martial arts gesture, which she said was to show respect for the natural world, and Lorena crossed with one hand on her belly and a smile on her face.

‘Your turn, Sally!’ They beckoned from the other side, but I was wary. Now that I knew I could see ghosts, or one of them at least, what if this supposed portal opened the floodgates and a stampede of pyjama-clad, song-singing ghosts bombarded me? It was silly, and probably not going to happen, but after this weekend,
anything
was possible.

I took a breath and stepped onto the bridge, walked a few steps, then stopped. My senses seemed to heighten, the air was rich with the scent of nature and the embrace of cool winter air, and the green hues all around seemed stronger and more vibrant. But that was it. I couldn’t see or hear anything otherworldly. I half-expected Red to jump in front of me and say ‘boo!’ but she didn’t.

‘Anything, Sal?’ asked Mel.

‘No, nothing at all,’ I replied, and although I felt bad for Red having died young, I was relieved that I didn’t have to deal with her hanging around anymore. I crossed the rest of the bridge with confidence in my stride. There’d be a lot more bridges to cross and paths to travel when I started my new life without Greg, but at least I could do it without a ghost by my side.
Yep
, I thought, glancing around,
only living people and plants surrounding me
. It appeared she was gone for good.

‘I’m glad we went,’ I said as we arrived back at the guest house after our walk and a nice lunch at The Rainforest Cafe (people around here didn’t seem capable of coming up with unique business names). ‘Thanks for organising it, Lorena.’

‘My pleasure.’ She plonked her bag on the kitchen counter. ‘Rest of the day we’ll take it easy I think. Might put my swollen feet up for a while.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Mel agreed.

‘I might do that too, then I’ll get started on the lamb roast.’ Georgie grabbed a glass of water and headed for the couch.

‘I better put away all my goodies.’ I picked up the gifts from the coffee table that I’d received during Pass the Parcel. My eyes lingered on the silver heart-shaped photo frame and a wave of sadness rolled through my body.

I was going to put a wedding photo in that
.

Over two years of my life with Greg and it had come to this? An empty photo frame, never to hold the memory of what would have been our special day. The other gifts fell from my grasp as both my hands held onto the heart. In an instant Lorena was beside me, followed by Mel and Georgie.

‘Leave that,’ Lorena said. ‘I’ll put it away.’

She took it from my hands but I stayed where I was, as though the heartbreak had zapped all my energy and my brain had forgotten how to move my muscles.

‘C’mon, sit over here.’ Mel led me backwards to the couch and I sat, my gaze fixed on my palms where I’d held the frame. Then it started all over again. The pain and hurt built up and rolled out like a wave onto the shore and, once again, my friends held me until I could cry no more.

* * *

I needed a sleep, to shut out the world for a while, so I went upstairs and buried myself under the covers. When I awoke, for a moment I forgot all that had happened. That temporary amnesia you sometimes get on waking up was a relief. Then reality shoved all that aside and took centre stage. I switched my phone back on. There were three messages from Greg. I still didn’t feel like talking to him.

When I rolled over and sat on the side of the bed, preparing to return to the land of the living and be with my friends, someone cleared their throat.

I flipped my head to the right. Red was back. She stood in the corner of the room, holding her arm awkwardly with her hand and nibbling her bottom lip.

What?
‘Why are you still here?’ I asked. ‘You’ve done what you came here to do, you can go now.’

‘I can’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘There’s something else.’ She walked towards me slowly. ‘I need your help.’

I stood and shook my head. ‘You’ve just helped my marriage break down and now you want
me
to help
you
?’

‘Hey, I did you a favour!’

I turned away. ‘It’s just that…every time I see you I’m reminded of Greg and what he did.’

‘Well
excuse
me for helping to stop you from making a huge mistake!’

‘I have enough to deal with now, I can’t take anymore. You’ve done your bit, so could you now, please, leave me be?’ I went for the door. ‘Goodbye, Red.’ I pulled the door open.

‘Nancy.’

I turned my head slightly. ‘What?’

‘Nancy. That’s my name. Nancy Silverton.’

Although I wanted to close that door behind me and join my friends, hearing her real name triggered the part of me that needed to help people. Nancy. She’d been a real person. A human being. Sure, if it wasn’t for her I would have enjoyed this weekend, blissfully unaware of Greg’s true nature, but I knew in reality that wasn’t preferable. She was right. She
had
done me a favour, as much as I hated to admit it.

‘Nancy is your real name?’ I asked, sitting on the bed.

‘Yep. Named after my grandmother. Who I’m yet to meet over here, not until I…you know…cross over, or whatever it’s called.’

‘What do you need help with?’

‘I need you to get a message to my husband.’

‘You have a husband?’

She nodded. ‘Well,
had
. I tried to get through to him, but every time I got close all this pain would come hurtling back at me and it was too overwhelming. Besides, he’s never really believed in an afterlife. I can’t do it alone. I need you to come with me, to go to him.’

‘Where does he live?’

‘Wattle Falls, it’s only twenty minutes or so from here.’

I picked up my phone and opened a web browser. I wasn’t looking up Wattle Falls, there was something else I had to find.

I typed ‘Nancy Silverton died’ into Google. A few results came up that looked like the right ones, and I clicked on the first link, a news website.

I gasped at her photo on the screen. It was her alright. My eyes tried to read as fast as they could, needing to know what happened to her. I got halfway through the article and gasped again. My gaze slowly met hers. ‘Suicide?’

She stood and shook her head violently from side to side, her hands covering her ears. ‘No, no, no.’

‘Red —
Nancy
— you took your own life?’

‘No!’ she yelled, and I flinched. ‘They’ve got it all wrong. It wasn’t suicide. I swear.’ She rubbed her forehead, clearly distressed.

I returned to the article to read the rest, and my heart plummeted. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you had a baby?’

She looked about ready to burst into tears. ‘I had to help you first, before I could tell you about me. And…’ She pulled at her red curls. ‘Oh, it hurts so much! Knowing I’ll never get to hold her again, that she’ll never know me. And worse, that she’ll grow up thinking I left her on purpose. I didn’t!’

The article had reported that twenty-eight-year-old Nancy Silverton had taken her life by jumping off a hotel balcony. I rarely watched the news, so I hadn’t seen this report, and I doubt Greg had either since he’d been away when it happened. I could understand why they’d concluded it was suicide:
‘Nancy’s husband, Chris, and Nancy’s doctor both confirmed that she had been suffering from postnatal depression since the birth of her daughter, Ruby, ten months ago. She seemed to finally be recovering, and was staying at the five-star hotel by herself as a present from Chris. “I wanted her to have a break from her responsibilities, catch up on sleep, have some pampering, but I never considered she’d be suicidal. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have let her out of my sight,” he said in an interview yesterday.’

‘He blames himself now. And I worry how he’ll cope on his own with Ruby. I need you to tell him the truth, please?’

I put my phone down and moved closer to Nancy. ‘What is the truth? What happened?’

She closed her eyes for a minute and took a deep breath. ‘I was about to go to bed, and had been thinking about the state of my life. I went out on the balcony to feel the night air on my face. I never told Chris this, but I had been considering leaving him. I didn’t think I could cope anymore and had an urge to run and hide, to save them from my depression. But during my stay at the hotel I realised that was stupid. I convinced myself that I was strong, that I could get through this, and as I stood on the balcony and thought about my marriage, I fiddled with my wedding ring. It reminded me of what I’d committed to, and I cried, as memories of our wedding day came to my mind. All the happy things had been invisible to me because of the depression. I couldn’t see through the fog, but that night, I finally did. I held the ring up to the moonlight and watched it sparkle, and knew that when I got home things would be different. I wasn’t going to give up: on myself, on Ruby, or my marriage.’

I listened intently and hoped none of my friends would come in and disturb us. I was finally seeing Red,
Nancy
, as a person and not just a ghost.

‘And then I sneezed. One stupid sneeze and I dropped the ring!’ She shook her head. ‘It fell and landed between two narrow slits of metal on some sort of pipe or guttering below. It wasn’t far, but I wished it had at least fallen onto the ground below so I could have gone downstairs to get it before someone else did. I should have called the hotel reception and asked for help, but silly me thought I could retrieve it myself. I always was a bit stubborn like that.’ She managed a brief smile. ‘I leaned over the balcony and reached for it, I almost had it, but it had rained earlier that day and the railing must have been a bit slippery. Before I could get my balance my legs were in the air and I was falling. I don’t remember much more, only that…’ her voice croaked and she cleared her throat, ‘only that in an instant I knew that was it. I knew I was going to die.’

Tears worked their way to my eyes as she spoke, and I wanted to hug her, to hold her close and say how sorry I was, but when I put my hand on hers it went straight through.

‘I have a vague memory of my funeral, but the next thing I knew I was in your house, looking at that photo of you and Greg. I don’t know how I knew, but I just knew what I was there to do. I also knew it wouldn’t be pleasant, so I distracted myself with fun things. I felt so free, and all the depression was lifted from my heart. I wanted to experience that joy while I had the chance.’

‘Hence the spinning incident in the dryer and on the clothesline?’ I offered a lopsided smile.

‘Exactly. And I have to admit, I was a bit jealous. Even though I knew Greg was cheating behind your back, I was jealous of you and the whole life you had ahead of you. I guess I wanted to have a bit of fun at your expense. Sorry.’ She shrugged.

‘You’re forgiven,’ I said, wiping a tear from my eye. I didn’t care anymore, my suffering was nothing compared to her and her family’s. I would do whatever I had to do to help her husband discover the truth.

‘What’s the address?’ I picked up my phone and opened the notes app.

‘It’s 15 Bentley Street, Wattle Falls.’ An expression of hope brightened Nancy’s pale face.

‘I’ll do my best, I promise.’ I gave her a reassuring smile, then remembered my friends. ‘A car. I need a car. What am I going to tell Lorena? I’ve already disappeared once in her vehicle. Should I tell them about you and explain everything?’

Nancy looked worried. ‘Mel will believe you, I think, but I have a feeling Lorena might take a bit of convincing. It could take a while.’

‘Hmm, and I don’t want to give her any shocks, with the baby and all. Maybe I could just tell her I need some time alone, go for a drive to clear my head?’

Nancy twisted her lips to one side. ‘I have a better idea. While you were out with your friends I was working on a back-up plan, in case you refused to help.’ She raised her finger. ‘Wait here. Give me a few minutes, but get yourself ready to go.’

I did as she said and put on my shoes, changed into a different top and jacket, and freshened up in the bathroom.

Nancy returned soon after with a smile on her face. ‘I brought the back-up plan.’

I furrowed my brow, not understanding what she meant. Then the doorbell rang.

I rushed down the stairs. Ty stood at the front door, Georgie having just opened it. They turned at the sound of my feet clomping down the stairs.

‘You have a visitor, Sal,’ she said.

I approached the front door, wondering what Nancy meant by ‘back-up plan’. Ty was shifting from one foot to the other, his eyes wide as though on high alert and he was scratching his arm and his cheek, like I do when I’m nervous or trying to hide something.

He saw her
, I remembered. He saw Nancy last night, if only for a brief moment. Had she appeared to him a few minutes ago and freaked him out?

‘Hi, hey, how are you? I’m ah…’ he said, then gestured behind him with his thumb. ‘Could we have a word outside?’

I turned briefly to my friends and motioned out the door with my hand. They seemed curious but understanding. Probably thought we needed to discuss our kiss last night. Which we probably did, but that would have to wait.

I closed the door and we moved to the side of the porch where we weren’t visible through the windows, unless my friends were hiding beside one of them with their ears to the wall.

Ty couldn’t keep still. ‘This is going to sound really weird, and you can tell me to get lost if you like, but…you don’t happen to need a lift to Wattle Falls by any chance, do you?’ He shoved his hands into his pockets then took them out again.