Oil and Blood
Chapter 1It was a beautiful day and the park was full of families and couples enjoying the lovely weather. Melinda and Jim had invited Delia, Ned and Tim for a nice relaxing picnic, well it was supposed to be relaxing but Jim, Ned and Tim were running around playing football.
"So how are things going with Tim?" Melinda smiled at her friend. Delia looked over at Tim who has just got a football to his stomach.
"You know, I haven't been this happy in such a long time" Melinda smiled.
"You deserve it" she took a sip of her coke and looked over at Jim. Things had been going great for Melinda recently, her best friend now knew her secret finally and she felt like she didn't have to go sneaking around anymore, or make excuses. She was such a good friend.
"So how is your other job of yours going lately?" Delia asked in a hushed tone.
"Nothing for a few days actually" Melinda smiled at her husband getting tackled by Ned, then the smile dropped from her face slowly when she saw a woman in the distance with dust and oil on her and her head covered in blood.
Delia looked to see where Melinda was looking but couldn't see anything.
"What is it"? She asked gently touching Mel's arm.
"I spoke too soon" Delia looked back again at the field.
The rest of the picnic went great, then it was time for them to go home. In the car Jim looked over at his wife.
"Okay, what did you see"?
"Now how did you know I saw anything, I haven't told you yet?" Mel said looking at her husband with a puzzled expression.
"Mel, you always get this look on your face when you see a ghost, so who was it" Melinda smiled at her husband as he drove them home.
"It was a girl, she looked about 20, he had obviously died of a head injury as there was so much blood on her face and top, but there was also oil and dirt"
"Did she say anything"?
"No she was too far away, it was almost as though she didn't want to spoil our picnic, I hope that she finds me later" Jim took her hand and kissed it then placed his hand back on the steering wheel. His wife was so caring and loving he just couldn't believe that she had married him.
The next day Melinda and Delia were unloading a delivery.
"I will go and put these out the back," Mel said as she carried two vases to the storeroom. As she was about to put the vases on the shelf she began to feel dizzy. Delia came in and saw her friend swaying.
"Wow, honey are you alright" Delia put her arm around her shoulder to steady her.
"I, I just feel so dizzy" Melinda looked around "who are you" Delia realised that she was talking to a ghost.
The girl with the head injury appeared. Melinda grabbed her head and doubled over.
"Melinda" Delia shouted and held onto her friend to stop her from falling over.
"Please talk to me, you energy is really strong" Mel said as the girl moved away from her a bit.
"I can't find my body, I need you to help me find it" Melinda was breathing fast.
"Your body, okay give me your name and I will start to look"
"Louise, Louise Saunders" with that she disappeared. Delia realised that the ghost must have gone as Mel was starting to look better.
"Has it gone" Melinda nodded and stood upright, wiping the sweat from her head she held onto Delia for support.
"Is that what it's always like for you" Melinda shook her head and sat down on the chair.
"No, this one had a bad head injury and it was making me sick, she was a strong spirit"
Delia went to get her a glass of water, when she came back Mel had completely recovered. She handed the glass to Mel and couldn't resist asking.
"So you could see her head injury, so if that's the case, do you see them the way that they die" Melinda took a sip of the water and looked up at Delia.
"I thought you didn't want to know"
"Well I'm just curios" Melinda decided to tell her the truth.
"They start off the way they die, then as the time pass's they begin to look perfect and when they cross over they look wonderful" Melinda stood up and put the glass in the sink.
"So if someone died in a fire"
"Oh yes I've had that happen before, talk about heat" Delia looked stunned
"And you weren't scared"
"Scared, no, they were coming to me for help" Delia shook her head
"Melinda you are one unique soul" she heard the bell chime above the shop door and went to serve the customer. Melinda went straight to her computer and began the search for Louise Saunders.
After a quick search she found what she was looking for. Louise Saunders a local mechanic went missing four months ago. Mel took down the name and address of the garage and went to help Delia.
Chapter 2The day went by quickly and near the end Jim popped in to say hello before heading home.
"Hi honey" Mel said as she gave him a nice kiss.
"Anything on your ghost" he asked as he put his workbag down.
"Yes she paid me a visit today"
"A visit, I thought you were going to pass out" Delia said and shut up quickly when she saw the look Melinda gave her.
"What, Mel are you okay" Jim said as he checked her over.
"I'm fine honey, just got a little dizzy, she is a strong spirit, but she doesn't mean me any harm, she just wants me to help find her body"
"Did she give you any clues"?
"Just her name, and from that I found out the she worked in a garage out of town and was reported missing by her family 4 months ago" Jim held her hand again.
"Well that's a great start, anything I can help with"
"Not at the moment, go home and I will see you soon" Jim picked up his bag and kissed her again.
"I love you"
"I love you too" she replied. Jim left and Melinda turned around and looked at Delia.
"What" she asked sheepishly
"I don't tell Jim things like that as he only worries"
"Okay sorry, so what is your next step"?
"I think that tomorrow I will pop over to that garage and see if I can get any clues" she noticed the look on Delia's face.
"Do you want to come" Delia looked like she was seriously thinking it over.
"Not this time but ask me again" Melinda smiled, as this was a break through.
"Do you think that you will be okay setting up shop tomorrow"
"No problem" they started to tidy up and then closed the shop.
When Melinda got home Jim had already started to make dinner for them.
"Hi honey," she said as she walked into the kitchen and put down her keys
"Hi" he said as he leaned over the table to kiss her.
"So what are your plans about the girl?" he asked as he placed the plates on the table.
"Well I thought that I might go to the garage and talk to the owner, see if he could tell me anything, maybe whilst I'm there Louise will appear and remember something else"
The next day Melinda went straight to the garage, it was about 10 minutes out of town. When she parked up she got out and looked around. A round middle-aged man came out drying his hands on a rag.
"Morning can I help you"
"Hello, my name is Melinda Gordon, I am interested in learning more about Louise Saunders" His expression changed. He looked her up and down.
"Are you a reporter"?
"No, I'm just a friend of the family and I want to help them find her body" Melinda realised that she had slipped up when she said that.
"Body, what makes you think that she is dead, she might have left town or any other number of possibilities"?
"Jerry" Louise said as she appeared behind the mechanic.
"Jerry is it, Louise talked about you" Jerry looked sad.
"Lulu was a great friend and was just so eager to learn, she had the makings of a great mechanic" Louise smiled at her friend. Melinda could see that this man was truly saddened by her disappearance and realised that they must have been good friends.
"Did she ever mention anything to you about friends out of town that she might have visited" Jerry shook his head. Mel realised that she wasn't going to find anything useful here.
"Well thank you for your time and it was nice to meet you" Lulu disappeared and Melinda got in her car and drove back to town.
Jerry watched her car drive away and walked back inside. He picked up the phone and dialled his brother.
"Danny I've just had a woman come to the garage, she was asking about Lulu, she said she wanted to help the family find her body, how does she know do you think that she saw us, what do we do"?
"Calm down Jerry, what was her name"
"Gordon, Melinda Gordon"
"Okay, don't worry I will check her out in the mean time don't worry, nobody knows anything" Lulu looked at Jerry as he put down the phone.
"Oh Jerry" she said in a sad tone.
Melinda made it back to the shop and saw Delia inside. She put her hands in the shape of the T sign and Delia nodded. Melinda went over to the coffee shop and got her friend her favourite tea. On the way back she saw Lulu.
"Jerry had something to do with my death" Melinda looked shocked.
"I can't believe it, he seemed generally upset"
"I can't quiet remember yet but I head him talking to his brother over the phone, I think that you should be careful, he told his brother all about you, and his brother was not someone to mess with"
Melinda didn't like the idea that someone was watching her.
"Thank you"
When Mel entered the shop Delia was out the back, she came round and noticed the look on her face.
"What's the matter" Mel handed her, her tea.
"Lulu just told me that the man from the garage was involved in her death but she can't quiet remember the details yet, she also told me that I should be careful" Delia looked worried.
"Why"
"Because she said that Jerry told his brother about me and from the sounds of it, he isn't a nice man"
"Melinda, maybe you should tell Jim about this" Mel shook her head
"No, I'm sure that I will be alright" Delia didn't look convinced.
Chapter 3The next day Melinda and Delia were chatting in the shop when Lulu appeared. Delia saw Melinda looking over in to thin air.
"Lulu" Delia asked and Melinda nodded.
"I remember now," she said
"You remember how you died," Melinda asked looking sympathetic.
"We were working late, me and Jerry, we had a prospective client that could bring his whole fleet of cars to us if we did a good job so the pressure was on. We wanted to show him that we could be an asset to his company by returning his cars quicker than any other garage. We were working non stop the whole day, Jerry suggested that we take a break, the car was on the lift, I was underneath getting out the tools and Jerry lowered the lift without checking I was underneath"
"Oh god" Melinda said and put her hand to her mouth.
"What" Delia asked?
"Jerry lowered the car on her head by accident" Delia looked as shocked as Melinda.
"Jerry is not a bad person, we were good friends his brother must have got involved and persuaded him to dump my body so that he wouldn't go to jail" with that Lulu disappeared.
"Has she gone" Delia asked and Melinda nodded and looked out of the window.
"Melinda you have to go to the police" Melinda turned around.
"And tell them what, that the ghost of a missing girl has told me that she was accidentally killed and that I know who did it, they will think I'm crazy" Delia looked at her.
"I'm sorry honey, I didn't think"
"Welcome to my world, it's so frustrating when you know the truth and there is no way you can prove it"
"I don't envy you that's for sure" Melinda had a look of sadness on her face for just a moment and then she replaced it with a smile, but Delia got a glimpse of how hard this gift was on her.
"I have to go to see him and try to convince him to tell me where the body is or Lulu is never going to be at peace" Melinda walked out the back and grabbed her bag and keys. Delia thought about it for a moment and also grabbed her bag.
"What are you doing" Melinda asked
"I'm coming with you for backup, I feel like I need to help Lulu too, I've been with you from the start with this ghost and I want to help you push her over" Melinda giggled.
"Cross over not push over" she looked at her friend realising that this was a big step for her.
"Thank you" and with that they closed the shop and drove to the garage.
As they drove Delia looked at her friend.
"Is this what it as like with you and Andrea, did you go out and set things right together," Delia asked
"Sometimes" Melinda missed her friend more than words could say. Delia went a little quiet.
"Delia, your friendship is very important to me, your more like a sister than a friend and I just want you to know that" Delia looked at her with tears in her eyes.
"Thank you Mel, I feel the same way" they both wiped the tears away from their eyes and had a little giggle.
They arrived at the garage a few minutes later. Jerry saw them pull up and picked up the phone straight away.
"Why don't you stay in the car for a few minutes"
"Why"
"He might be a bit …" Melinda wasn't quiet sure how to finish the sentence.
"Reluctant to tell you anything if I'm staring at him, okay, come get me if you need me" Delia said for her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it to come out like that"
"It's fine, go do your thing" Melinda smiled and got out of the car. Delia kept an eye on her from the car as Mel opened up the shop doors.
Jerry was working under the bonnet of a car when Mel saw him.
"Jerry, is it alright if I talk to you for a few minutes" Jerry didn't look at her.
"Well I'm really busy" Melinda decided to just go for it.
"Jerry I know what happened to Lulu" Jerry stopped what he was doing and turned to look at her. Melinda saw nothing but sadness on his face.
"I know that it was an accident and that you didn't realise that she was under the car when you lowered it" Jerry looked visible shaken.
"How the hell do you know that" he shouted at her and ran his hands through his hair.
Delia was watching the door when she heard the sound of a car approaching fast. Danny lived a couple of minutes away from the garage and was there within minutes of the phone call. He helped his brother escape jail once and he was not going to let a nosy cow send him there now.
Delia saw the car pull up and was a bit worried when she saw the expression on the mans face when he got out of the car.
Danny saw her sitting in the car and walked over to her and opened the door.
"Get out" he said and grabbed her roughly by the arm.
Melinda heard a car pull up outside and Jerry seemed to look relieved. The door swung open and Delia was roughly pushed inside.
"Delia, let her go" Mel shouted. Danny pushed Delia over towards Mel.
"Get away from my brother" he shouted at Melinda who held Delia.
"Are you alright" Delia nodded
"I'm fine"
"What are you doing, who are you" Melinda asked
"She knows, she know everything, oh got I'm going to jail" Jerry said as he began to panic.
"No your not" Danny said as he pulled out a gun.
"Jesus" Delia said terrified. Melinda stood in front of her to try to protect her; she felt that it was her fault that Delia was here in danger.
"What are you doing Danny" Jerry asked as he looked at the gun and then at the two terrified girls.
"I'm tying up loose ends, if they speak to the police then you and I will go to jail, I know that you wont survive jail Jerry and I wont be there to protect you." Melinda was slowly edging Delia to the door.
"So what, you're just going to kill them" Melinda's heart jumped at that sentence. Delia held tightly onto Mel.
"Look, I know your scared for Jerry, but it was an accident, maybe the police will see it that way" Melinda said
"SHUT UP, you don't know what you're talking about," shouted Danny and Melinda jumped
"How are we going to explain that we buried her body, no I'm sorry little brother but this ends here and this ends now?" Danny said.
CHAPTER 4They had been held at the garage now for 10 minutes whilst the two brothers argued over the fate of the two women in front of them. Melinda was terrified that Delia would get hurt; she was not prepared to let another one of her friends die because of her gift.
"Jerry the fact is that she was a useless bitch and I wont let you go to jail for it"
"Don't call her that, Lulu wasn't useless she was brilliant and I wont let you hurt these women, give me the gun" Jerry put out his hand and Melinda felt that this was coming to an end.
"I'm just trying to protect you," said Danny
"Not this way your not, now give me the gun" Jerry reached for the gun and Danny pulled away, Jerry grabbed the gun and the two of them wrestled suddenly the gun went off.
"Shit" Jerry said
Delia felt Melinda jump then felt her lean back against her and slowly sink to the floor.
"Melinda, Melinda" Delia screamed as her friend lay motionless on the floor.
"Oh shit" Danny said and began to panic. Delia knelt down and slowly turned Melinda over and was horrified to see that she had been shot in the stomach; Mel had tears rolling down her cheeks.
"Delia" she whispered and held up her hand. Delia grabbed it and looked up at the two shocked men.
"Help me god dam it, we've got to get this bleeding stopped" Delia shouted. Melinda groaned out in pain when Delia put pressure on the wound. Danny started rambling about how two people will now die by accident. Jerry grabbed some towels and ran to help them.
Lulu appeared. Melinda was shaking from shock, but she saw lulu, who looked at her with regret.
"Jerry, she forgives you, she just wants to know where her body is so she can be buried and be at peace" Melinda managed to say to Jerry who was getting more upset as the moments went by. He looked in Melinda's eyes.
"She's buried by the lake by the tree that she carved her name into" Lulu smiled and disappeared.
"We need to call an ambulance," Delia shouted to Danny who was just in shock. Jerry got up and grabbed the phone and called for help.
Delia lifted up the towel to look at the wound, it just kept pumping out blood.
"Melinda, your going to be okay" Delia said crying, one hand was held tightly in Mel's and the other was pressing down hard on her stomach. Delia's hand was covered with blood.
"Delia, tell Jim that I love him" Delia was angry
"DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP" Delia shouted and Melinda was taken back for a moment.
"I am not going to loose my best friend" Melinda smiled then grabbed her stomach in pain.
"Oh god" she whispered
"I know honey, I know it hurts but you have to stay here with me and you have to stay awake" Delia was getting terrified by the sight of blood that was starting to trickle out from underneath Mel's body.
"Your going to be fine okay, were both going to be fine" The faint sound of sirens could be heard approaching.
"Melinda Jim's on his way" The ambulance pulled up and Jim and Tim jumped out and grabbed their bags. Jim turned and saw Mel's car parked and ran inside.
"Jim" Delia cried. Jim dropped his bag and grabbed his wife's hand.
"Mel it's Jim can you hear me" he said as he stroked her clammy forehead.
"Jim I love you" her eyes looked heavy.
"Oh god Mel" said Tim as he saw her, he started to look at the wound.
"This is bad Jim, we need her to get to surgery ASAP" More sirens could be heard in the distance and Danny knew that the police were on the way.
"Delia, if anything happens to me, I want you to have the shop" Melinda's shaking was getting worse.
"Mel please don't talk like that," Delia said wiping the tears away.
"Jim, she's going into shock we need to get her out of here now" Gently the two men lifted her onto the gurney. Mel screamed out in pain when they settled her down. Delia didn't let go of her hand the whole time.
Everyone seemed to have forgotten that Danny still had the gun. When the police arrive and came running in he panicked. Grabbing Delia round the neck he pulled her backwards and put the gun to her head. Delia's hand was roughly pulled from Mel's and Delia was worried when Mel's hand dropped down lifelessly.
Tim rushed to her aid but Jim held him back.
"No one move or I will shoot her" Tim was desperately trying to get to her.
"Danny, what are you doing" Jerry said as the police put up their hands.
"It was an accident, I didn't mean to shoot her and as for the other girl Lulu, Jerry didn't mean to kill her, he wanted to go to the police but I told him not to"
"Look man, I don't know what happened but I do know that if I don't get my wife to hospital she is going to die and I don't want her to die so please let my friend go"
"Stay back" Danny shouted pushing the gun harder into Delia's head.
"Danny, stop this now and give me the gun" Jerry said, inching closer to his brother.
"No Jerry, I'm doing all this for you"
"No Danny, enough, now give me the gun" Jerry put out his hand. Danny started to cry. He let Delia go and gave Jerry the gun. The police rushed over to handcuff him and Tim rushed to embrace Delia.
"Thank you" Jim said and went back to his wife's side.
"Are you okay honey" Tim said
"Yes, I'm fine, now please help Melinda" The two men had Mel in the back of the ambulance in minutes.
The police had the two men in custody and were loading them into the police care as Jim drove away. Delia took Mel's car to the hospital.
CHAPTER 5When the ambulance arrived at the hospital Melinda was taken straight to the emergency room where she was stabilised for surgery. Jim wanted to go in the operating room but the nurses told him that he was too close and he had to wait outside.
Delia, Tim and Jim waited in the hallway outside the theatre entrance hall. After 30 minutes Rick arrived after he had heard about it on the news.
"She's strong Jim, she will be fine" Rick said. Delia held Tim's hand whilst wiping away her tears.
"She stood in front of me, she was protecting me" Delia said to Tim, Jim turned around to listen to her.
"I still have her blood on me" she said as she looked at her hands, her trousers and top were also covered in blood.
"It should have been me that was shot, I just let her stand in front of me, what sort of friend am I" Jim took her hand.
"You're her best friend, Mel would never of let you get hurt, it wasn't your fault, so don't think like that"
"Come on honey, let's get your hands washed, I will find you some scrubs to wear" Tim took her to the washroom. When they returned a little while later Delia was dressed in green scrubs like a surgeon, Jim and Rick could see that she had been crying.
Three hours they waited outside the theatre hallway, finally Jim looked up and saw a doctor walking towards them.
"Jim" they all stood up and waited for the news. With Jim being a paramedic, he knew most of the doctors at the hospital and they knew his wife so they had pulled out all the stops for her.
"Dave, how is she" the surgeon put his head down then looked up and into Jim's eyes.
"Well we managed to stop the bleeding, her heart stopped twice and we had to resuscitate her, she had 7 units of blood. The bullet went straight through her kidney, the next 24 hours are going to be critical for her, I'm sorry Jim" Jim felt the tears running down his cheeks, he heard Delia sobbing behind him and he saw Rick sit down on the chair in shock.
His beautiful, caring wife was fighting for her life and there was nothing he could do to help her.
"Can we see her"?
"Jim, its family only" Dave said and Delia looked crushed.
"Theses are our family" Delia and Rick felt honoured. Dave nodded and they headed down to the ICU.
When they walked in the first thing they were struck by was the amount of machines in the room. Jim knew what they were all for but the others just stared at them.
Melinda had a tube down her throat to help her breath and she had a drip in each arm, she looked so tiny in the bed.
"Jesus" Delia said quietly. Jim walked closer to the bed and picked up his wife's pale hand.
"Mel, honey, were are all here with you, I know that you will come back to us, I love you" They stayed in the room for a while. Delia went out to phone her friend to have Ned for her, Rick called in sick for his next day classes.
Delia and Rick stayed overnight with Jim in the room; Tim went to pick up Ned from the babysitter and stayed with him. They all prayed for the best.
The next morning Melinda opened up her eyes to find Delia and Rick fast asleep on the chairs and Jim asleep with his head resting on her head, he was holding her hand. The pain in her stomach was bad and she felt so light headed. She couldn't talk because of the tube in her mouth.
Jim felt his hand being squeezed, he opened his eyes and it took him a few minutes to gather his surroundings. When he realised who was squeezing his hand his face changed to surprise when he saw Melinda's beautiful eyes looking at him.
"Mel, she's awake, Delia she's awake" he leapt off his chair and kissed her on the head.
"Oh Melinda thank god your alright" They came to her side, Rick ran out to get a nurse. The doctor and nurse came in quickly.
"Well good morning sleepy head" Dave said. He checked her read outs on the machines and was pleased.
"Looks like your out of danger Mel, as you are aware we had to put a tube down your throat to help you breathe, we are going to take it out now, what I want you to do is take a deep breath then give me a big cough, on the count of 3 1, 2, 3" Melinda coughed and they pulled out the tube.
"That's better," she said hoarsely. Melinda smiled at her friends.
"Thank you for being here" Delia squeezed her hand.
"Melinda, you saved my life, thank you" Mel smiled and squeezed her hand. When the doctor left Mel looked at Delia.
"Did you tell the police about Lulu's body"
"Yes they found her remains last night and he two brothers have been arrested"
"I feel sorry for Jerry"
"Your kidding right, its because of him that you got shot and nearly died" Rick said
Lulu appeared in the room
"Lulu, why haven't you crossed over" lulu smiled
"I just wanted to make sure that you were safe first, thank you for all your help and I am sorry that you got hurt"
"It's okay it wasn't you fault"
"I can go now, good bye Melinda" and with that she disappeared into the light.
CHAPTER 6Two weeks had passed and Melinda was resting on her sofa at home. The doorbell went. Jim walked into the room.
"I've got it," he said, when he opened the door there was a lady standing there.
"I'm sorry to bother you but does Melinda Gordon live here" Melinda heard, Jim nodded and led her inside to the living room.
"Hello" Melinda said trying to stand.
"Please, don't get up, you need your rest, my name is Piper Saunders, Lulu was my daughter. I just came round to see you and to say thank you, I don't know how you did it but you found my little girls body and now we can rest. We buried Lulu a week ago and I just wanted to stop by and thank you" Melinda smiled
"Your very welcome" With that said Piper nodded then walked out the door.
Delia popped in the next day, she had been round every day helping her out and keeping her company. Rick had been manning the shop whilst Delia was with Mel.
"So how are we today"
"Great I'm getting better everyday" Delia sat down beside her. Mel could see the tears in her eyes.
"What is it"?
"Seeing you lying there like that with blood coming out of you scared me to death"
"I really thought that I was going to die Delia, I have never been so scared either"
"It made me realise how much you mean to me too, I will always be here for you Mel, you saved my life without even any thought about your own"
"My gift robbed me of a special friend once before and I will not let that happen to you"
"Just promise me that you wont go investigating on your own anymore"
"Do you want to be my sidekick" Mel said with a giggle
The two friends hugged and then started the chocky box that Delia had brought round.
THE END