The Calling: A Paranormal Mystery Vol. I (11 page)

As far as Sunday was concerned, Tina had the worst taste in music.  Fortunately, Sunday found she could change the radio station with ease and moved the station to one of her liking.  Sunday often lost track of time and wasn’t sure how long she had been at the triplex.  She had been diligently attempting to get someone’s attention.  She projected sounds into every room of the triplex.  Someone heard her, didn’t they?  Her frustration began to balloon until the day Greg knocked on Tina’s door.  His energy seemed familiar, she couldn’t explain it.  She didn’t know what it was exactly, but she decided she liked him better than Tina and jumped right onto his aura. 

Greg reacted poorly to her ‘operation smell me’ tactic and when he turned on his heels to leave the apartment, she almost missed the chance to get out the door with him.  She was proud of herself though.  When he arrived at his parent's house you could have pushed her over with a feather.
No, a feather was still too dense and would have gone right through her
, she thought.  When Tom walked into the room, Sunday couldn’t believe it.  She recognized his soul energy immediately.  She also noticed he was quite a bit older than she remembered.  He certainly was no less attractive by any stretch of the imagination.  In fact, she had thought maybe even more attractive!  How long had she been locked in that house?  She lamented her situation,  and how it came to be. 

Then his wife walked in and Sunday had those old fleshy thoughts of jealously rise up into her energy field. 
What could it all mean that she ended up at Tom’s house of all places?  Was it the light?  Was it drawing her in?  Was it guiding her so she could finish her need to comfort her brother? Would she finally be able to move on? 
All these questions and more ran through her soul.

She didn’t pretend to understand.  For the next 24 hours or so she had a lot of fun creating havoc in that house.  As soon as he smelled her perfume, she knew she had him! When he pulled the tattered obituary out of his wallet and apologized to what he thought was the air…she felt the impact of his guilt and grief.  No, that was not what she was after.  Twenty five years ago, yes, she wanted to get his attention and make him feel bad for how he had let her down.  She wanted him to feel the pain she felt when she saw the wedding announcement in the paper. 
How could he have been so callous?  Things become clearer when you shed the thing we call a body
, she thought.  She realized that Tom had carried a burden for many years and it wasn’t entirely fair.  Yes, he had been a total jackass.  He was young.  She, however, was the one who made the decision to take the pills.  She didn’t know at the time how the drugs in the cabinet were to be used. Some were her father’s, some were her mother’s prescriptions and the cocktail she created was legendary. 

When Sunday saw the local paper displaying Tom and Deanna’s wedding announcement her heart broke.
What’s the worst that could happen?
She had thought as she poured a handful of pills into her hand.   She gulped them down with one big swish. 
Stomach pumped
, she thought,
that would be the worst part
.

Her parents would completely freak out.  She figured she would get a lot of one-on-one attention after this escapade.  It was all about Tom though.  Sunday fantasized that as she lay in her hospital bed Tom would rush to her side and apologize.  He would realize how much she loved him and would dump that bitch. Sunday would be Mrs. Tom Hoskins. 

Sunday’s fantasy didn’t play out the way she planned.  The cocktail she mixed that afternoon was a potent little concoction.  She also didn’t know that she was very sensitive to drugs in general.  She went to sleep and the next thing she knew, she was kneeling next to her brother, looking at her own body, lying in his lap.  What had she done? She was mortified when she realized she was dead.  There was no getting back into that body.  She tried.  No one could hear her.  Those first few months were very frightening. After she had accepted what had happened, another blow came when her family moved out of the house.  Where was she when they did that?  Why hadn’t she noticed the hustle and bustle of moving?  She never understood it.  Over the years, she missed her family intensely and she never forgot the distraught 12 year old boy who had tried in vain to revive her. 
Poor Josh!  How had all this affected him?
She wondered. 

When Josh came out the office door and charged Tom, she, like everyone, was surprised.  She was still attached to Tom’s aura and when he went down, she went down with him.  She stared disbelievingly into the 38-year-old eyes of her brother.  She read his energy but was stunned by his age and size. 
Look at HIM!
He has turned out to be quite a man
she thought. 
Mom was right, all that baby fat was preparing him for some Paul Bunion growth spurt.
  Had she been in human form she wasn’t sure she would have recognized him. As a spirit though, she saw his energy immediately and she felt all the love she had always felt for her brother.  It was overwhelming. 

As angry as she was that day she took those pills, now she was not angry.  All that tangled energy was gone.  She didn’t want to hurt Tom or Deanna.  She did enjoy the torment she had created over that first weekend with him, but thrill quickly wore off.  She could deeply feel his sadness and his pain.  It had created a dark spot in his aura and for that, she was sorry. 

He could have handled things better in the past but he didn’t.   The bottom line was that his immature actions should not have been a life sentence. 
Kids do stupid things.  Young men…do stupid things.
Sunday mulled it all over and over for twenty five long years. 

Now, here they all were in the same room. 
Together again
, laughed Sunday.  She knelt down in front of her brother and saw the tear run down his cheeks.  She felt his loss and grief so acutely she wanted to fly out of the room.  This was precisely why she needed to see him.  It was for some of the same reasons she needed to reconnect with Tom as well.  It was important that she release them from their bondage and then she felt she could finally be free to move on. 

Janet relaxed and did the best she could to connect with Sunday and avoid getting tangled in Josh’s sadness.  She found the task difficult.

Sunday began projecting information with all her might.  She hoped Janet would receive the transmission. 

Janet looked into Josh’s sad eyes, “Josh, she is showing me a picture of a, uhm, a Gremlin?” 

Josh sat straight up in his chair and nodded in disbelief. 

“She is showing me an image of a movie title and a dog. She is letting me know that you watched the movie, Gremlins?” Janet paused as she put together images she didn’t quite know how to interpret, then continued, “You watched Gremlins many, many, she is saying with a deep sigh, many times.” 

“Yes,” said Josh transfixed on Janet’s eyes, “It was my favorite movie when I was about seven.  I made Sunny watch it no less than twenty times.” 

Janet continued, “She is showing me a small dog. Sunday is pointing to a sign with a picture of water with a big red ‘X’ over the top of it. I have no idea what it means.”

Slowly a smile crept across Josh’s face, “I wouldn’t let my Mother wash our Shih Tzu.  I had convinced myself he was a Mogwai and would cause a lot of Gremlin havoc if he got wet!” He laughed heartily as the memories came flooding back like it was yesterday.

“She wants to know that you believe she is here,” said Janet.

“I do believe she is here,” said Josh.

Janet sat quiet for what seemed like a very long time.  “Josh, she is so sorry for what she put you through.  It was an accident.  She truly believed she would be fine and at worst, would end up in the hospital getting her stomach pumped.  She had a fantasy that Tom would rush to her side and take her back.”

Tom gasped and put his head into his hands.  “Damn it Sunny!” he whispered to himself.

“Josh, she wants you to know how much she loves you and your parents.  She wants you to tell them she is ok, no, that she is great. She is getting very intense now Josh.  She needs you to understand there was NOTHING you could have done to save her.  She messed up, not you.  Please let this go and allow love and joy into your life.” 

Josh looked confused, “I understand.” 

“No,” said Janet very intently, looking directly into his eyes and grabbing his broad shoulders, “Josh, this was not your fault. You must begin to let love and joy into your life.  She said you have resisted.  She is telling me you are not happy and she knows it’s because of her; it’s because of what happened.  You must re-evaluate your life and find how you can…live!”

Janet standing now, walked to the middle of the room.  “This is so important that both you men understand that she is sorry.  She wants your forgiveness so she can move on.”

Tom spoke first as he wiped his eyes, “She wants my forgiveness? That is ridiculous after how I hurt her and created all this misery?” 

“No Tom, you must forgive yourself.  She does not hold you responsible.  She forgives your adolescent action and is asking that you forgive yourself and her for what she did.”

“Josh, can you forgive her?” Lizzy finally spoke.

“Of course I can!”

“Can you forgive yourself?” asked Janet.

Silence dropped over the room.  Both men sat in their chairs, drained.  Neither knew how to forgive themselves at that moment.

Agitated, Sunday pushed a picture off the wall. The sudden crash jolted everyone in the room.

Janet paced around the room.  She could feel Sunday’s frustration.  Sunday had been pondering all this for the last 25 years.  She was ready to move into the light. 

“The two of you are blocking her path!” Janet quickly raised her voice. Both men looked up at Janet not knowing how to transition from 25 years of guilt and shame to forgiveness.

“Well, these are Sunday’s words not mine,” Janet said as she delivered the rest of the message, “For such big strong guys, you’re a couple pussies!  She said she is the one who is dead.  Get over it! You’re alive, start living!” 

Tom weary from the weight of Sunday’s death in his life wanted to let it go.  He was ready and began to pray.

Janet’s head snapped around to look at Tom, “Forgive yourself and tell her if you forgive her.”

“I definitely forgive her!” said Tom as he shifted in his chair.

“Now Josh,” said Janet, “she is quite intense about this. She will kick your ass to Texas if you don’t let loose of this self-loathing!

Sunday pushed as hard as she could and tried to touched Josh’s face and kiss his forehead.  At that moment, he felt her.  He completely felt her and he understood.  “I forgive her, I forgive myself,” Josh said, wiping the tears from his face as 25 years of grief and self-blame lifted from his soul. 

“Heal thyself, counselor,” Josh said out loud.

“Let’s join hands and see if we can help send her into the light,”  Lizzy said as she gathered Tom’s and Josh’s hands in hers. 

The four stood in a circle holding hands and praying for Sunday.  Sunday was ready to move on.  The light had been calling her for some time, but she had been ignoring it.  Now that she had made right what she believed was her wrong, she could go now.  The group helped send her off with their thoughts and prayers. Sunday Stewart, after 25 years of lingering in the gap between worlds, moved into a bright, warm, loving light.  She felt complete love as she disappeared off this earth plane.

“She’s gone,” said Janet. 

Lizzy nodded her head, “I felt it too!” 

The group stood silent for a moment.  It wasn’t every day you moved someone from one existence to another.  The room felt lighter.  Lizzy and Janet hugged Tom and Josh.  Josh and Tom looked at each other for a moment and then embraced.  Lizzy noticed that both men looked a bit younger and lighter in their energy.

Lizzy handed Tom and Josh her card with her and Janet’s phone numbers.  “Just in case you run into something else or just need someone to talk to.  I have found that not everyone is open to hearing about supernatural events.”

“This is going to take a little time to process,” Josh said as he ushered everyone into the foyer.  “I’ve never experienced anything like this.  I felt her, I really felt her in there.”

Out at the curb they gave each other one last hug and departed.  Josh stood at the curb and watched them drive away.  He wasn’t exactly sure what he felt but a great sense of relief and a feeling of joy percolated in his broad chest. The weight of Sunday’s death freshly off his chest made him want to celebrate her life and his.  He called Cynthia and told her to get her best dress on, they were going out! 

Lizzy and Janet dropped Tom off at his home.  The girls got out of the car with him and walked him to his door.

“Are you ok?” Janet asked.

“I am. This has been a very odd experience.  As Josh said, it will take some time to process.  I can say I do feel lighter.  I didn’t realize just how much this has weighed me down all these years.  I fell in love with my wife.  I never meant to hurt Sunday the way I did. I realize now, that although I have been very happy in my marriage, this has been a dark cloud existing within me all these years.  I look forward to moving on without it.  Thank you so much for your help.” Tom stepped forward and hugged Janet and then Lizzy.