The Calling: A Paranormal Mystery Vol. I (12 page)

“If you need us for anything, please don’t hesitate to call,” said Lizzy.

“I will.  You girls drive carefully and good luck in your future endeavors.  If I hear of someone who needs a Ghost Investigator I’ll give them your names.” 

“We’re not ghost investigators!” laughed Lizzy.  “We just wanted to help my friend Karen and it turned into this whole other thing!” 

“Well, it appears you ARE some kind of spirit workers so, like I said, if I hear of anything I will send them your way.  Smiling he turned around and gave a back handed wave as he strode through his front door.  Lizzy and Janet could hear Greg and Deanna inside asking him a hundred questions about what happened.  The door shut and Lizzy and Janet began their journey home.

Lizzy and Janet talked fast and furious on their way home.  They reviewed every detail of what had happened. 

“I think it went very well,” said Janet, grinning ear to ear.

“So, what do you think?  Should we become the next GI’s?” asked Lizzy with a smirk.

“GI’s?” Janet didn’t put it together.

“You know, Ghost Investigators,” Lizzy laughed.  “I feel we could be of real help to people.  You know, maybe it was lucky all this happened as it did.  What would have happened if Sunday had attached to someone else and had found her way to Tom somehow? Tom and his wife might have dealt with a lot of paranormal activity for a long time before they would have gotten help and Sunday may have been stuck here for a really long time.” 

“So, what?  You want to advertise?” said Janet apprehensively.

“I don’t know about all that,” Lizzy said as her excitement started to build. “Yes, to a degree maybe we should.  I mean we could put a little website up and just let people know what we are up to.  What would it be like to help lead other trapped spirits to the light?  It feels good doesn’t it?”

“It does have an interestingly happy energy to it.  It was a little stressful getting there though.  I don’t know that I will always connect as well as I did this time.  I can’t be expected to perform on cue you know,” Janet said. 

“I think between the two of us we will be able to get enough information and it will be fine.  If we don’t, we don’t.  All we can do is be willing to be of service. We set our intention to be of help and see where it leads us.   I’ve noticed on a lot of these TV programs, the paranormal investigators go in and seem to just stir things up.  Many times, they leave the people with the problem.  Sometimes the paranormal activity actually gets worse after they leave.  The people getting haunted have no idea what to do.  We could contact some of these teams and let them know we can cleanse the homes and maybe even get more information for them,”  Lizzy’s mind raced like a freight train with ideas.  As always, she would land on an idea, or cause, and become completely consumed by it.  She couldn’t help herself.  She felt that it was something she wanted, or maybe even needed to do. There seemed to be a force behind it pulling her in.

“I’m in,” said Janet.  “How many ghostly issues could there be out there anyway?” 

Karen waited on pins and needles for Lizzy to arrive.  She flew out the door to meet her when Lizzy pulled into the driveway.

“Well, how was it? Were you scared?  Did she get her message out? Did her brother believe you?”

“Whoa there, hundred question Nellie! Give me a chance to answer the first question before you hammer me with three more!” Lizzy said as she put her arm around Karen and started into the house.  “What did you cook me for dinner? I’m totally starved!”

“Roast beef, baby!” Karen said with a giggle “Before I make you tell me everything though, there is something I have to tell you,” she said with a big Cheshire cat grin. 

“My God, what?” Lizzy could only imagine at this point, what Karen had going.  This had been one crazy month. 

Karen pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to Lizzy.  “Just in case you lost it, ‘Officer Dan’ would like you to call him.”

“Whhhat!” Lizzy squealed. “He came here?”

“He sure did. He asked me to please pass a message to you that he would like to take you to dinner.  He also asked me to remind you to be mindful when dressing because where he is taking you requires all clothing to be worn right side out. He plans on taking you somewhere nice,”  Karen said, beaming now.  It wasn’t often that a man tracked Lizzy down for a date and this one most certainly, romantically, did.

Lizzy rolled her eyes and stuffed the card in her pocket, “This is all just too much. Feed me and let me tell you what happened, I’ll deal with lover boy later.”

Lizzy gave every detail to Karen.  She finished the story and her dinner at the same time.  Emotionally exhausted and physically stuffed, she had to go home and get into bed.

“That was an amazing dinner buddy, thank you.  I need to head out though.  I’m so tired right now I can barely stand myself,” Lizzy sat on the edge of the couch not wanting to eat and run but she was spent.  She had been so energized earlier and in one fell swoop, she felt completely drained.  “I’ve got to go get some sleep.”

“Its fine,” Karen laughed.  “Before you go I have to talk to you about two things.  First, I won’t be joining you on any further, whatever you call them, ghost chasings.” 

“I’m surprised,” said Lizzy. “I thought when I told you Janet agreed to proceed I kind of just assumed you would be there as well. Why don’t you want to be a part of this?” asked Lizzy.

Karen breathed deep that drew a long sigh, “I just don’t want to.  There is too much drama.  You know, Sunday wasn’t in your house banging around, she was in mine.  It was upsetting.  Even though I know now that she was trying to get attention so she could get some help getting to the other side, I didn’t enjoy it. 

“That’s true,” Lizzy admitted.

“All my life I have heard of haunted houses, but I never heard of haunted people. I think that is what we experienced in this situation.  If the spirit of Sunday Stewart was able to attach itself to someone and travel, then other spirits can do the same thing. It was eye-opening, that’s for sure.  I’ve decided I don’t want to take a chance of bringing something back into my home.”

“I know, but we can protect ourselves now.  We know how to move them out of the house and to the other side,” Lizzy said suddenly feeling abandoned.

“No, Lizzy we don’t know any of that for sure.  We didn’t really cleanse my house of a spirit as we thought because she had already left.”

“You’re right. I do feel we can protect ourselves though,” Lizzy moved into sales pitch mode.  She didn’t want to do this without Karen.

“Lizzy, don’t.  I can see in your eyes you want to convince me.  I have kids and I am not taking any chances.  Billy was being traumatized and I didn’t know it.  That is a terrible feeling.  These spirits are single minded and motivated when they are trying to finish their mission. I don’t want to be in between them and their mission.”

“All right!  All right!”  Lizzy bellowed, throwing her hands in the air.  She refused to hide her disappointment. She knew when Karen set her mind to something that was it.  She was even more stubborn than Lizzy.

“Now, on to a happier topic!” Karen said jumping up and grabbing Lizzy’s belongings.  “You go home, call that Officer Dan and then get some sleep, you look like shit!”

“Thanks,” Lizzy said sarcastically.   She waved Karen off.  “I’ll think about it.  It sounds like a lot of trouble.”

“Lizzy, you call him.  He came all the way, over here chasing you down!  It’s very romantic.”

“Oh shut up!”  Lizzy couldn’t get out of Karen’s clutches fast enough.  “I will call him! Don’t go buying us wedding china or anything else, geez!”

Lizzy arrived home, parked her car and walked straight into her bedroom. She tore off her clothes and jumped into bed without even brushing her teeth.  She didn’t care, she felt delirium setting in.  Her head hit the pillow and she was gone.

Friday, at work, she could not concentrate.  Had she really helped Sunday cross over?  Lizzy felt strange and oddly gratified, she believed they had done something really meaningful for those families.  Sitting at her desk, thumbing through the invoices she needed to mail out now seemed…stupid.

She worked for System Gifts for four years.  The job paid the bills.  Lizzy could sell. She always managed to make a good living but this company to one degree or another seemed ‘soul-less’.  There seemed to be no real meaning to the trinkets and traveler’s mementos Lizzy promoted.

There is a whole other world and dimension going on around us.  Souls are working to finish unfinished business and maybe I can help.
Lizzy thought, as she restacked the invoices she had stacked just a moment ago.  Her mind writhed around trying to process everything she had been exposed to the last few weeks.  She picked up her phone and returned calls to her clients.  Lizzy knew she wasn’t going to get much done today.  She pushed the business card around on her desk with ‘Officer Dan’s’
phone number displayed with a red circle prominently around it.

Oh why not
, she asked herself.  She took a moment to gather her courage and then dialed his number.  Why was she feeling so nervous?  It’s not like she’d never gone on a date for God's sake.  The line rang.  Her stomach jumped into her throat.  She swallowed hard and waited as the phone rang a second time. She started to hang up when he answered.   

“This is Dan,” said a smooth voice on the other end of the line.

“Hello, this is Lizzy Sterling.  We met at my friend Karen’s house a few weeks back.  She said you stopped by. She told me to call you.” Her words came out like machine gun fire. 

“Lizzy! Hello!  I’m so glad you called me,” Dan said with an obvious smile in his voice.

“Well here I am. What is it that you want?”  She tried to cover up how nervous this made her but it just made everything she said blunt than she meant to be.
I am such a tool when it comes to men and dating,
she thought.

Dan burst out laughing, “I would like to invite you to dinner if you’d consider going.”

“Hmm, well I do need to eat sometimes so I suppose I could do that. When were you thinking?”

“How about Friday at 7:00 p.m.?” said Dan.

“Today is Friday.”

“I meant next Friday,” said Dan.

Oh no
, she thought. 
There is no getting out of a Friday night ‘horror date’ because you can’t make a good excuse about getting up early for work. 

“I can’t Friday,” Lizzy lied. “I’m busy this whole week except Thursday, I could do Thursday.”

“Thursday it is then. Will 7 o’clock work for you?  I’d like to take you to the Royal Crown.”

“Oh?” She had to think if she even owned anything appropriate to wear.  The Royal Crown, known as the most expensive, hoity-toity
restaurant in town, had a dress code, formal. She had only been there twice.  She had been there once after she graduated from college and more recently for a wedding reception. She wondered why someone would want to take her there for a first date.  It seemed a little pretentious.  She had been adventurous all month, so she decided to go for it even though she’d have to find a dress.

“Alright, 7:00 p.m. will be fine.  Are you picking me up or am I meeting you there?” she asked pointedly.

“Wow! Who have you been dating?” Dan asked as he laughed openly again. “I will pick you up if you will trust me with your address.” 

“3700 Spiker Lane. I’m right down from Landis Park.”

“I know where it is, I’ll see you then.” 

“See you then,” she quickly hung up. 
Thank God that was over
!  She called Karen immediately.

“Well, I called him, are you happy now?” she sighed loudly.

“Oh my God!  Tell me everything! When are you going? Where are you going?  And stop sounding so put out!” Karen knew that Lizzy got nervous on dates, about dates and about men in general.  Karen was a romantic and she just knew the right man was out there for Lizzy. Lizzy needed to put herself out there and stop being so serious all the time.

“I need a dress.  He’s taking me to the Royal Crown.”

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” repeated Karen.

“Oh my God is right! Calm down.  I think he’d been better off to ask you out,” Lizzy’s insecurities began spilling out.  How was it that she could feel so strong one minute, so optimistic, and the thought of going out with a man pulled the rug completely out from under her? 

“Do you want to go shopping or see what I have in my closet?” Karen asked excitedly. 

“Let’s take a look at what you have first.  Do you think you’ve got something?  I don’t really want to go shopping.”

“I know, you are the only woman I know who loathes shopping so much. 

“Pretty much, I’d rather have bamboo shoved under my nails than try on a hundred stupid fitting dresses.

“Come over tonight, I’ll get you set up with something.”

Lizzy hung up and knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on work!  She checked the clock and made another call, “Hey Jennifer, it’s me.”

“Hello Chickadee, where the hell have you been?  I haven’t talked to you in almost a month,” Jennifer said, happy to hear from her friend.

“I’ve got so much to tell you and I can’t concentrate much on work.  I’ve got to drop a packet over to a store later this morning, can you have lunch?”

“Happily I can.  Where and when?”

“How about that soup and salad place we like, off Main.”

“Sounds great, I’ll see you there.”

Lizzy couldn’t wait to see Jennifer and catch her up on all the news.  They usually saw each other weekly to hammer out some important psychological or spiritual issue but the last three weeks had been crazy.  She was excited to get back on track. Jennifer always seemed to understand her.  

Jennifer pulled up in her new red Honda.  Jennifer had a giant white smile with cute little dimples and big brown eyes.  Her real estate career had been taking off. 

Lizzy waited inside, fidgeting, on the little sitting couch in the entryway.  She gave Jennifer a big hug when she got inside.

“I don’t know how three weeks went by so fast.  You will not believe what has happened!” Lizzy said unable to contain her excitement.

The two women settled into their booth with their soup and salad.   Lizzy launched into the story.  Jennifer hung on every word.  She couldn’t believe her luck.  She had been keeping something to herself for months and now that the subject of ‘spirits’ had been broached, she felt like she could tell Lizzy and not be ridiculed.  She laughed heartily when Lizzy recounted meeting Officer Dan and her fashion faux pas.

“Oh Lizzy, only you!” she reached over and patted Lizzy’s hand lightly. 

“So, we sent Sunday into the light, left Josh at his office and dropped Tom back home,” she sat back in the booth exhausted from talking so fast but exhilarated at the same time. 

“Oh wait, one more thing! That ‘Officer Dan’ asked me to dinner,” Lizzy blurted out.

Jennifer burst into laughter, “Oh Lizzy, that is hilarious! Are you going to go out with him?” 

“Yes. Yes,” Lizzy said, but made it clear she didn’t want to get into it.  She had more important issues to mull over with Jennifer, like moving souls from one dimension to the next. 
Boys can wait
, she thought.

“Lizzy, you have to have some fun! You’ve always got yourself neck deep in some heavy subject whether it is your psychology or spirituality.  I’m used to it, but you have got to learn to lighten up a little!” Jennifer looked straight into Lizzy’s eyes and saw the wall.  “Are you listening to me?”

“Yes, I hear you. Dan is taking me to the Royal Crown on Thursday night.  I didn’t want to go on Friday because, what if I don’t like him?  If I go on a Friday, there is no way to shake him off since the next day is Saturday. I’ve just always had such a hard time with first dates.  It seems like they always last a little too long and get weird, whether I like the guy or not.  The ‘or not’ is the worst, especially when you just want to go home and the date from hell thinks he wants to go home with you too.”

“Oh shit!  You’re a crack up.  I’m surprised you didn’t tell him you’d meet him there,” Jennifer said with a smirk.  Lizzy’s face dropped. “You did not tell him you would meet him there, did you?”  Jennifer put her hands up to her face and began to laugh hysterically.