The Spirit Who Loved Me: Spirit Whispers Book One (24 page)

The sun sat
high in the sky—midday, and not a cloud in sight. The rays were warm, and the gentle breeze off the ocean felt delicious as it caressed my tan skin. I waited for the next wave to wash up on the shore. I laughed as my feet were tickled by the sand being washed away from underneath my feet.

“Come on, you slow poke!” I called. “Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you,” I laughed, eagerly jumping over the gentle wave rolling onto shore.

Tammy strolled over the sand dunes, a beach towel covered in hibiscus flowers slung over her shoulder. “Got here as soon as I could. It wasn’t as easy today.” Tammy’s towel fell to the sand at her feet, just out of reach of the waves.

I turned around, the sea at my back. “I wonder why?” A wave hit me from behind, and I stumbled.

Tammy came to stand in front of me, her blue eyes glowing and her skin sparkling in the sunlight. She reached up and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “Because you’re so sad. You’re falling out of reach.”

“Oh.”

With her other hand she pointed to the perfect sky. “Look.”

I turned around to see what she was pointing at. A black circle covered the middle of the sun. Before my eyes, the shadow grew larger and larger, all but eclipsing the sun’s radiant brightness. From nowhere stormy clouds began to build into existence bringing the rumbling of thunder, flashes of lightning coursing through their inky darkness. I jumped from the reach of the ocean, the waves beginning to churn, forming frothy white caps.

“Don’t be sad for me. I had to leave because it was for time for me to do so,” Tammy shouted over the growing wind.

“How can I not be sad, when I miss you every second of every day?” I beseeched her.

Tammy pulled me further from the grasp of the greedy sea, her forgotten towel swept away. “But you don’t need to miss me. I’m here, aren’t I?”

“But it’s not the same!”

“Listen,” Tammy grabbed my arms, giving me a gentle shake. “The further you fall into sadness the further you fall out of reach, out of all of our reach.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“This isn’t the only storm that’s brewing, Krystal. You can’t keep hiding here.” She removed a hand from my arm and motioned to my library on the beach, my special place. The lamp was blown on its side. One of the book shelves blew over, spewing books across the sand, the pages flapping wildly in the wind.

The force of the wind began to drag Tammy away, and we grasped at each other’s fingers. “If you find yourself lost in the dark, all you need to do is feel the Love, and you will find your way out of the darkness!” Tammy yelled, her hair falling free of its bun flew out behind her face.

Our fingers finally lost hold of each other, and the invisible force of the winds blew Tammy ever farther away. “Remember, Krystal!” And then she was blown out of my sight.

I fell to my knees in the sand, “Please don’t leave! Tammy, don’t leave me again!”

Thunder rumbled; lightning shook the earth, and I as looked upward at the stormy sky, the clouds started churning in a circular motion, forming a funnel over the ocean.

I rose to my feet, trying to run, but my feet kept sinking in the sand slowing my progress. If I could just make it to the other side of the dunes, I’d be okay.

The funnel cloud spewed sea spray and sand in all directions seemingly hell bent on reaching me. Ever closer it came, rushing from over the ocean and onto the beach.

My body began to lift, the sensation of being pulled backwards. Frantically, I looked behind me into the eye of the monstrosity. I tried to dive away, my fists grabbing onto wiry sea grass that cut into my palms. And as the funnel pulled me within, I pulled the grass along with me, my grasp was so tight.

My limbs felt as if they were being wrenched from my body, pulling in opposite directions as I was tossed around the cloud. Debris stung every inch of uncovered skin.

I’m going to die here.

But it’s not real,
Abel whispered, his voice seemed to come from everywhere.

Wake up, wake up…It’s not real.

“It’s not real?” I began. “It’s not real?”

“It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real,” I chanted.

The funnel spit me out. Falling, I was falling through the air. I flayed my arms and legs out, spinning head over heels. I landed with a final thud; the impact vibrating throughout my body.

“Am I still alive?” I kept my eyes squeezed shut, afraid to look.

Oh, yes, darling. You are very much alive.

My eyes flew open at the sound of the scratchy, cracking voice, so similar to the one I’d heard that awful night only a week ago. I was back in my bed, the little shadow crouched on the end, but it didn’t look so harmless anymore. I could make out a hint of a smile within the shadow, and my heart raced in my chest. It crept closer.

Oh, yes, you and I are going to have so much fun together.
The shadow grinned wider, leaning forward as if to pounce on me.

I flinched back from the thing, “Abel!”

Snarling, the shadow sprung towards me, stretching out long in the air, ejecting metallic black claws from within itself. I dove off the side of my bed, landing heavy on the floor.

Abel strode into my room from the nether. I jumped up, running the few feet to him, and he pushed me behind him.

The shadow snarled, crouching low on my bed.
If you think this is over, you should know this is only the beginning,
it growled.
You can’t protect her forever.
In a flash of darkness, quicker than my eye could see, the shadow burst straight up through the ceiling of the trailer, disappearing as if it had never existed at all.

“What was that?” I ask with an uncontrollable shudder.

“Unsailee. A parasite. They aren’t usually so aggressive.”
He looked at me.
“You didn’t tell me you had a little friend,”
he said the word loosely,
“following you around.”

“It seemed harmless enough, and I had more important things to worry about.” I didn’t say her name; I didn’t think I could do it without crying.

Abel pulled me in for a hug, holding me tightly against him. I could feel his warmth radiating through me, calming me, slowing my breaths. He kissed the crown of my head, stroking the back of my hair gently.
“We have to close the portal.”
While I loved the sound of his voice, and there was no better sound in the world, least for me, I was not pleased by his words.

There’s more where that one came from, and I assure you,
he paused,
and much, much worse.

“I don’t want to know about the “much worse.” Even though I didn’t want to, I pulled slightly back so I could see his face. “Abel, what did it mean, this is only the beginning? If the unsailee is nothing more than a parasite, what could it have meant? And protecting me? Protect me from what?”

I saw uncertainty in the depths of his eyes, and what’s more, I saw fear before he quickly hid it away from me. If Abel was afraid, that scared me more than anything. Especially, since I knew his fear was for me.

Oh, so many questions. Don’t worry, it’s probably nothing.
He kissed my eyelids, then rubbed my nose with his in an Eskimo kiss.
I always love you, Krystal Abigail Haggart. Always….

Try as Abel might to distract me, I knew for certain I needed to find out for myself.

Acknowledgements

What an incredible journey this has been! I am so grateful to my friends and family members for your support through this process; I don’t know if this book would have been possible without you! In no particular order, I would like to give an extra dose gratitude to:

My husband, Kevin, and our three children; thank you for all of your love and support! (And for sharing the computer with me all those days when I hogged it to write!) Your encouragement was a great catalyst for bringing
The Spirit Who Loved Me
to light and your love, a tremendous inspiration!

My cousin and amazing artist, Joseph Bagwell; thank you for donating your work and time to create the beautiful cover art for
The Spirit Who Loved Me.

Author L.M. Pruitt; thank you for mentoring me and for encouraging me to take up writing again. You were always willing to lend a hand and answer any and all questions I had regarding the publishing and writing process.

My mom and dad, Grace and A.D. Bagwell; thank you for your love and support. And an extra thank you to my mom for being more than happy to listen to me ramble on about story plots, mediums, Spirit, God, and Angels.

My sister, Kelley Bartley; thank you for beta reading and for your unwavering support. I will always be grateful for your encouragement!

My sister-in-law, Lisa Longmuir; thank you for beta reading, your insightful advice, and support throughout this journey.

To my high school English Teacher, Trudy Paschal Walters; thank you, not only beta reading and for giving me the courage to move forward with publishing, but for instilling in me a love of reading and writing. Your awesomeness will always be remembered by your students.

My cousin, Chay Broadway; thank you for allowing your likeness to be the inspiration for Krystal on the cover.

The Goffstown Public Library, New Hampshire, and its amazing staff; thank you for being an invaluable source for my research. (Please, support your local libraries!)

And last, but certainly not least, my loving Creator, God,
my own Spirit Guides and Guardian Angels; thank you for your love and support and for the inspiration to complete this project!

Namaste, ya’ll!

Stacey Virginia Longmuir

About the Author

Stacey Virginia Longmuir grew up in the heart of rural North Carolina. At a young age, she experienced brief glimpses of the paranormal that would forever shape her perceptions about the world around her, and today she is still on the hunt to learn and discover as much as she can about God, Angels, Spirit, creation and reality, and how these topics interweave with one another. When she isn’t writing or spending time with her family, she enjoys reading, dancing and listening to music, especially Florence and the Machine. Though she currently resides in New Hampshire with her husband and three children, her family will soon be making a long anticipated transition back to the South.
The Spirit Who Loved Me
is her debut novel.