When She Falls (9 page)

Candice had jumped at the first sound of gunfire. Her head spun around to see if a prankster had set of
f fireworks in the building. Before she could see what was happening, Logan’s strong hands had shoved her to the floor. She’d sprawled out on her stomach and started to get up when his body covered her.

“Stay down.” His whisper came out harsh and strained against her ear.

What other choice did she have? His body was like dead weight against her back. Her eyes drifted upward in time to see a young man, just a kid half her age, stick a gun into his mouth and pull the trigger. It had all happened so fast that she hardly knew what was transpiring until that moment. She let out a scream and buried her face against the dirty floor, but it was too late. It would be impossible to undo what she had already witnessed.

Logan rolled off her and onto his back. His breathing was labored. Immediately, Candice was on her knees beside him.
He spoke first as she stared down at him in horror. “Don’t freak… out. You will be okay.”

Her entire body started shaking and she pressed her hands firmly where she saw the blood pooling from his chest. There was another wound in his stomach so she moved on
e hand there. The red gushed around her fingers. It wasn’t stopping. Her eyes caught the sparkle of the engagement ring that had only been placed the night before. In a split second, it was coated with blood.

“You will be the one okay. It’s not that bad.
Barely a scratch.” She lied both to him and herself.

His eyes seemed distant, as if he were far away, leaving her. Somehow he managed to lift his hand and touch her cheek briefly. “Find someone… to catch you
when… you fall.” Limply, his hand brushed her skin as his arm fell to the ground.

“Don’
t you die on me you son of a bitch. Please! I love you too much.” Her hands gripped his shirt and she tried shaking Logan back awake. His head hung lifelessly and his glasses fell from his face into the smeared blood. Candice started screaming. “Help us! Someone! Anyone!” She buried her face against his chest as the tears fell. No matter how quiet she tried to be or how closely she listened, there was no sound, no heartbeat.

Officer Kershaw was the first to arrive at the scene of the shooting. He’d been sipping his coffee, trying to wake up as he watched traffic from a parking lot. It had been too early to actively pursue speeders. Only a couple of cars had been driving more than five miles per hour over the speed limit, anyway.

“
Attention all units. Shooting reported at the mall. Suspect committed suicide. Unknown if there may be accomplices.”

Kershaw did a double take and let out a hacking cough as coffee sucked down the wrong pipe. “Not in my town. This cannot be happening here.” He turned on his sirens and hit the gas.

He gave instructions when he entered the building. “Everyone, calm down. Let me, through.” The people that hadn’t fled were mostly formed in two circles. “I want everyone to back off and line up along the walls. Just sit down and wait.”

Nearly everyone in town knew Kershaw. He’d been in
Christmas parades, at football games, and even thrown a few of the people in the drunk tank at the jail. The townsfolk respected and trusted him the most among the police force.

As the crowd parted, he saw the murderer, the young terrorist who’d changed everyone’s life in a hail of bullets. He’d heard hushed voices mention the name Carson, but it was
difficult to identify the boy with the self-inflicted gunshot wound. Then, Kershaw saw Candice a short distance away clinging to what appeared to be a dead body. He’d known her parents. It had been during his first year on the force that he’d shown up at the scene of the fire. Unfortunately, he’d also arrested her sister several times.

“Candice.” He called out softly as he stepped closer. The paramedics were right behind him. His arms wrapped around her waist and
he attempted to move her away from Logan. “Let the men see if they can do anything. Come on now.” The amount of blood left him with no hope, but he had to get her away. She had started screaming again, fighting to get back to Logan. “It’s me, Jay Kershaw.” He told her, trying to get her to stop wailing.

“Help him, Officer Kershaw. Make them do something.” Candice said as she spun around to face him.

Over her shoulder, he looked at the paramedics who simply gave a shake of their head. “I’m going to take you home, okay? There’s nothing they can do. I am so sorry.”

Slowly, her head bowed forward. Kershaw wrapped an arm around her shoulders when he saw her wobble unsteadily on her feet. “Logan can take me home.” She said softly. “We rode together.”

Jay Kershaw had seen his fair amount of grief during his time as a police officer. He’d broken horrible news to worried mothers, been to more funerals than he cared to count, and even shot down a man who had held up a convenience store. Even he was struggling with the aftermath of the shooting. His confidence in humanity was shaken.

“Lots of officers are here
to help. I want to make sure you will be okay.”

“I… don’t have anyone else to take me home
except Logan.” Her voice was monotone, as if she weren’t even really there.

“I know. It’s fine. Maybe you can tell me a little about what happened in the car.” He informed one of the other officers that had begun interviews where he was going before leading Candice to the squad car.

He’d started several times to ask questions as they drove to the address she’d told him. Bringing himself to actually voice them was another matter. She was the one who began speaking.

“Why would that boy do that?”
The depth of her despair made her speak with the most sorrow laden voice Kershaw had ever heard.

“A chemical imbalance? Maybe some other things were going on in his life. I… don’t think we will ever know.”

“Logan saved me, protected me. He said he always would, but now he’s….” Her voice trailed off and silence enveloped them once more.

Officer Kershaw helped Candice out of the car and led her to the front door. Several times she tried to unlock it. When she dropped the keys, Jay picked them up and did it for her. “Let me call someone to stay with you. My aunt would be happy to. She’s a nurse.”

“Thank you, Officer, but no. I
have to be alone.”

He gave a curt nod as he watched her walk upstairs without glancing back at him. Kershaw waited for a while, pacing around downstairs until he heard the shower running. There was work to be done even though he longed to be of help to the grieving woman. Then again, why would she want a man she’d didn’t even know around? He placed her car keys on the counter, took note of the picture of Candice and Logan hanging on the fridge, and shook his head before locking the door behind him as he left.
He hoped the traumatized girl wouldn’t hurt herself.

Dying was, to say the least, disorienting for Logan Harworth. One moment, the love of his life was staring down at him with tear stained cheeks, the next he was standing over a dead body. Not just any corpse, though. He was looking at himself. This sent him staggering backward as he watched on in a state of shock. He was in a morgue and they were putting his body away.

“Hey. Hey! I need that.” He yelled out, but no one turned to look at him or even flinched.

“They can’t hear you.” A voice came from behind him. He turned to see an elderly man sitting in a chair.

“You can
hear me! Tell them.”

The man chuckled. “Of course I can,
because I’m dead, too.”

Logan squatted for a moment trying to ground himself. Strangely, he was still able to feel nauseous. Shouldn’t he be immune to that feeling if he were dead? He certainly thought so. “You’re not see-through or wispy or anything.”

“It’s alright. Take a deep breath. Not that you need to breathe, but it’s a familiar process that helps. In and out. Just like that.”

In and out. He did as he was told, calming down
the smallest fraction. “Right. I’m okay. I’m dead, but I’m okay.” He only had to convince himself of that fact.

“Why didn’t you go into the light? I felt your presence down here when the portal closed.”

“Portal? The light is a portal? I guess that makes sense.” Logan said. “I don’t remember seeing it. I was lying there dying, saying goodbye to my fiancé, and then I was standing here.”

The old man stood up slowly. “You’re not getting back in that bo
dy. I know that much. It is badly damaged and has been dead too long.” He crossed his arms, taking his time as he appraised Logan. “Must not have been your time to go.”

“That’s what I’m saying. My life was perfect. I had my girl and we were going to get married. How did this happen?” He collapsed to the floor and rubbed his hands over his face.

“It’s like when anything else bad happens. It simply is what it is.” The man patted Logan on the shoulder. “Maybe we can find a body for you to take.”

Logan looked up with wide eyes revealing his hope. “Sounds criminal.”

“Not criminal, but complicated and rare. You seem like a good kid, so I will help you.” He extended his hand to help him up. “I’m Richard, by the way.”

“Logan.” He answered, as he accepted the gesture.

Richard had a strange grin. “I know. I saw your toe tag.”

“That is a sentence I never thought I’d hear. Why haven’t you stolen a body?”

“It’s not stealing. You can only take the body of someone that has left this world through the portal. The body can’t be too damaged or anything either.” The old man paused. “As for me, I’m too old. I’m just waiting here to leave with my wife when she passes. She’s in a room upstairs.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s our time.” Richard gestured toward the door and led the way. Instead of opening it, he walked right through.

Logan hesitated, placing his palms against the metal as if he could push the door open. His hands went through and he jerked them back. Then, he shook them out. “That’s
weird.” Candice crossed his mind and that bolstered his resolve. The thought of her smile was enough to make him step through the door and into the hallway.

Richard walked slowly, apparently still the same age he was at death. “Nice job. Most ghosts take a while
before doing that.”

“I don’t have time. My girl… she’s fragile. If I can’t make it back, I don’t know what she’ll do.”

This made the man pause. “There are some rules to go by. You can’t return home and blurt out that you’re her dead fiancé. Think about it. You’ll be thrown into an insane asylum, not to mention scare her to death. You have to make her fall in love with you again, as the person you become.”

“What if I show up and tell her things only I would know?” He asked.

“You will look like a stalker or someone trying to extort a broken hearted woman. She can’t know it’s you, but if you made her fall in love once, surely you can do it again.”

Logan groaned in frustration and raised his fist to punch
a wall. Naturally, the hand sunk into it and he almost fell over. “How were you sitting in a damn chair if we’re not solid?”

Richard gave that deep chuckle again. “Practice.
You were fine rubbing your face and accepting help up before you started thinking too much about being a spirit.”

“Great…” The sarcasm was thick. “Let’s find this body.”

Three days passed before Candice managed to drag herself out of the bed for more than a bathroom
break. The banging on the door was loud and urgent. She planned to yell obscenities that would make a late night comic blush. Taking a peek through the peephole made her change her mind. The man outside wore an angry scowl, but other than that, he looked like Logan. Older, salt and pepper haired, but definitely from the same gene pool.

She put her back to the door and closed her eyes. Seeing the man brought back the ache in her chest full force.
Go away. Please, go away.
Candice didn’t make a sound, barely even breathing.

“I know you’re in there! My son is dead because of you. Harlot! H
e will be buried soon and it’s your fault for keeping him here.” There were a few more loud bangs on the door. “Don’t bother coming to the funeral or I will strangle you myself.”

Slowly, Candice slid down the door with her back against it. Her hands went up over her ears and she cried as Maxwell Harworth spit accusations and threats. Then, he kicked the door, jarring her entire body. How
the wood didn’t shatter, she had no idea.

After all was quiet for a while and her hysterics had spent all her tears, she stood slowly and looked out the peephole again. The glaring brightness of the sun appalled her and the vastness of the outside gave her a
feeling akin to vertigo. Logan’s father was thankfully gone.

She unlocked the door and stepped outside to pi
ck up the mail and a condolence gift that had been left on the porch. That’s when she started to sweat and hyperventilate. She was panicking. Immediately, she darted back inside, dropped the items, and slammed the door shut. Her chest hurt like what a heart attack had to feel like. Three times she checked the locks before finally beginning to calm down.