This is my first Ghost Whisperer story.
I may make this into a series of one-shots, I'm not sure yet. If It is, they won't all be this long.
I'm not American so I don't know if fifteen would be the right age for a freshman or not but I think it is correct me if I'm wrong.
(Ok this chapter is not in Melinda's P.O.V but I'm going to start it off with that speech thing)
"My name is Melinda Gordon, I'm married, I live in a small town, and I own an antique shop. I might be just like you, except that from the time I was a little girl I knew I could talk to the dead. 'It's alright honey' earthbound spirits, my Grandmother called them. They're stuck here, because they have unfinished business with the living – and they come to me for help. In order to tell you my story, I'll have to tell you theirs."
Melinda awoke to a small figure standing over her bed, making sobbing noises.
"You need to help me" the high-pitched girly voice said, "You're the one who needs to help me,"
"Who are you?" Melinda asked, quietly.
"You need to help me." The figure repeated, before disappearing.
Melinda stretched, and got out of her bed to go and make a cup of coffee.
She was forever being woken up by earthbound spirits, and it was quite annoying when it happened almost every night.
There was a crash, and then a scream.
"Hello?" Melinda called, "Who are you?"
"Can you help me?" The figure appeared, this time much more clearly.
"Only if you tell me who you are," Melinda told the teenage spirit.
"My name's Lori," She said. "Lori Grayson"
"Ok Lori, do you know how old you are?"
"Yeah, I'm fifteen. I'm a freshman at Grandview High" Lori told Melinda, "I shouldn't be dead," She added "I'm still a kid."
Melinda sat down,
"I understand, Lori. But you have to know that everything happens for a reason and I have to cross you over into the light."
"Wait, what light? What are you talking about, I don't see a light."
"Not a single little glimpse?" Melinda asked,
"Nope, nothing" Lori vanished and appeared at the opposite side of Melinda. "I'm confused, and scared."
"Look, sweetie. It will be ok, I promise." Melinda smiled, "I've been helping spirits like you for a long time, I can assure you whatever is beyond that light is an amazing place."
"Have you ever been there?" Lori asked, curiously.
"Almost," Melinda answered, "But I'm still here, and I don't want to see what's there, not just yet."
"Me either" Lori shrugged, "But I have to, don't I?"
"Yeah, you do. I wish I could help you in a different way, but this is the only way I can help."
"I want to see if he cares." Lori snapped.
"Who? If who cares?"
"Him." She repeated, "I doubt he even knows."
And then she disappeared.
XXXXXX
"She just said that she doubts 'he' knows she's dead, and she wants to know if he cares." Melinda told Professor Rick Payne.
"Who is 'he'?"
"Well, I don't know... I have a feeling he might have been her crush, or something." Melinda said, guessing. "She said she was a freshman – maybe she was crushing on an older guy from school, maybe even a junior or senior from school. Or maybe even somebody from her grade, I mean maybe he was the popular guy at school?"
"You may be on to something there, Mel." Rick said,
Melinda looked at him,
"Sorry, I mean Melinda."
She laughed,
"Wait, what did you say her name was?" Rick asked,
"Lori, Lori Grayson." Melinda replied, "Why, have you found her?"
"Yeah, I think so." Looking at his screen,
"What did she look like?"
"She was blonde, quite a pretty girl. Typical popular girl look, you know what I mean? Blonde hair, blue eyes, she was a bit smaller than I am. Very slim"
"Ok," Payne said, turning his laptop around "Is this her?" Showing a picture that was on the webpage
"Yes, that's her."
'Lori Marie Grayson, 15, from Grandview was found dead in a wooded area near her home. Lori who was a freshman at Grandview High was loved by all who knew her. She is dearly missed by all of her friends and family.
Lori, whose death is being treated as murder was very unexpected and sudden. Linda Grayson, 42, Lori's mother, told us "Lori went to bed as usual, it was a Friday night. She went upstairs and said goodnight to her father and I, and then by morning she was gone without a trace."
This leads us to believe she knew her killer or that she ran away and her killer found her whilst she was out. Nobody has any leads, and there were no reported sightings of Lori up until the discovery of her bloody body. Her cause of death was blood-loss after being stabbed 3 times.
"I hope her killer is brought to justice," Kevin Grayson, 44, Lori's father told us. "Lori will always be in our hearts and she will never ever be forgotten. We will not rest until our daughter's killer has been caught and given what they deserve."
"So, she was sliced" Payne said,
Melinda glared at him,
"Do you always have to say things like that, as if it's some kind of fictional horror movie?"
"Yeah, sorry it's a force of habit" Rick said, "Ok, so... we have a murdered teenager whose ghost wants to know if someone cares that she's dead, but you don't know who the guy she's talking about is?"
"Pretty much,"
"Well, I'm no ghost whisperer but I think you need to ask her."
"Good idea, Einstein. You think I didn't ask her?"
"Well... when you put it like that." Rick said, getting up. "Why hasn't she told you?"
"Well, if I knew that then I would probably know who the guy was." Melinda said, in a duh tone.
"Anyway, I have to go and try not to be bothered by a ghost tonight, I have to go for dinner at some 'friend' of Jim's. I've never met her, but from what I've heard she seems to have a major crush on him." Melinda rolled her eyes,
"Keep the claws away," Rick laughed,
For some reason, Melinda never did find his jokes or remarks funny.
XXXXX
"Do we have to go?" Melinda asked Jim,
"Yes. I promised Nicola we would."
"Nicola?" Melinda asked, "I thought she was Miss Barns"
"Nicola Barns, yeah. We went to High School together, relax" Jim said, doing his tie.
"If she was such a good high school buddy, why are we dressing like this?" Melinda asked, she looked as if she was some movie star going to their premier.
"To make a good impression." Jim said bluntly, "Maybe she'll think we're rich."
"Yeah, and then she'll want you for the money" Melinda mumbled
"What?" Jim asked
"What?" Melinda played dumb.
Jim shook his head, "Ok, remember – don't be rude, don't talk to any ghosts while we're there and don't drink too much!" He told his wife, as if she was a child.
"Jim, you're not my father and I'm not some naive teenager – I do know my limits with alcohol." She laughed,
"Are you sure?" He joked, and looked at his watch "Oh snap, we have to get going."
"I'll just get my necklace from upstairs, hold on." Melinda said, before going upstairs.
"Did you find him?" Lori asked,
Melinda jumped, "You startled me," she said. "And who? Who is he?"
"You'll find out, sooner or later." Lori said vanishing.
"Mel!" Jim called up the stairs, "Mel!" he repeated.
"Coming."
XXXX
"Good evening Jim, thanks for coming!" Nicola greeted Jim as the couple entered Nicola's home,
"Oh and you must be Mrs. Clan-"
"Gordon." Melinda corrected her before she could even finish her sentence. "Miss Gordon"
"Oh, I apologise. Miss Gordon," Nicola said, sounding insincere. "I thought you were married, Jim"
"Yes, I am. This is my wife; she just didn't take my name." Jim said, looking at Melinda because of the way she had snapped at his friend.
"It would be an honour taking Jim Clancy's name!" Nicola said, looking at Jim in the eyes.
"Hello? I am still here." Melinda said
Jim looked at Melinda, and she knew it wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault that he had dragged her to a high school friend's house who was clearly flirting with him.
-
"So, Miss Gordon, what do you do?" Nicola asked, sipping her wine.
"I work in an antique store." Melinda answered, in mono-tone.
"Interesting." The blonde hostess replied. "I had a friend who owned an antique store once."
"Nice to know," Melinda mumbled,
"I don't mean to be rude, Miss Gordon, but what is your first name, Miss Gordon is a bit formal, don't you think?"
Melinda forced a smile,
"It's Melinda" Jim said, he knew Melinda would have trouble telling her.
Usually, she wasn't the jealous type. But Nicola was Jim's high school girlfriend, not only his 'buddy' so she felt threatened, like you do.
"Find him." Lori appeared "Find him now."
Melinda tried her hardest to ignore the teen,
"Listen to me!" She added "I know you see me, stop ignoring me!"
"Could you excuse me a moment?" Melinda asked, before she could get an answer she stood up and found her way to the bathroom.
"What? I can't find anyone if you don't tell me who or where they are."
"Just find him, ok?" Lori said, in a bossy tone.
"Tell me who he is" Melinda told her, "If you don't tell me, I can't help you."
"Damien" Lori said, "Damien Kendal" she added.
Knock knock
"Who are you talking to, Melinda?" Nicola asked,
"Sorry, I'm on the phone"
"Oh, ok." Nicola said, "I'll just, umm... leave you to it, then."
"He lives in Grandview, too." Lori explained "I always thought he was a cool guy, until I really got to know him. He was very demanding, and bossy. But I only figured that out after we started dating,"
"Wait, you said you wonder if he even knows, don't you think your boyfriend would know you were dead?"
"I doubt it. He was too up himself to notice anything around him, other than himself and whatever he did." Lori said, her eyes filling up. "He used me, he would convince me into things I didn't wanna do, and it's silly really. I was his girlfriend I guess I was supposed to be doing those things, anyway."
"Wait, what kind of things sweetie?"
"You wouldn't understand, you'll just think I'm dumb. You probably won't even believe me – it was always my fault." And then Lori disappeared once again.
Melinda then returned to dinner.
XXXX
"Tonight was like torture," She told Jim when they got home.
"Come on! It wasn't that bad," He laughed "Was it?"
"Yes! Me having to sit watching your high school ex make googly eyes at you all night, it was utter torture."
"Well, you do know that there's only one main woman in my life, don't you?"
Melinda smiled
"And that's my mom" He said, trying to hold in a laugh.
Melinda eyebrows raised,
"Well, why don't you just go make out with your mom, then?" She said, pulling away from him – joking.
"Fine, I will."
"That's disgusting, Jim." She burst into laughter, and so did he. And then they began to kiss each other passionately.
XXXX
"It was so weird," Melinda told Delia "I know you don't want to know about this, but usually ghosts tell me what's wrong, but this one seemed to want to keep it secret."
"Maybe it's too shameful, maybe they did something really bad."
"I don't think it was her who did anything, I have a pretty good idea what was going on."
"Well, why don't you ask this 'ghost'?"
"I can't ask, unless I'm certain, can I?" Melinda asked, confused.
"I don't know, you're the ghost whisperer."
"You're right, but I'm not sure that it's a subject she would want to talk about, I mean, if it is true."
"What do you mean? I mean... if I could 'talk to the dead' and all that malarkey, then I'd just straight up ask them, to get them out of my hair – you know what I mean?" Delia asked,
Melinda laughed, "It's not that simple. They don't just cross-over because I know their story, it's a little more complicated. They use me as some kind of messenger, because they can't actually communicate with their loved ones themselves."
"This is way too complex for my brain when I haven't had any coffee, I think I'm going to pass out with over education." Delia smiled "I thought I graduated from being educated like 20 years ago."
"You might have graduated 20 years ago, but I only graduated 7 years ago."
"Oh god, you make me feel so old, you know that?"
"Did you find him, did you find Damien?" Lori appeared,
"I'll be right back, Delia."
"No, and I'm not going to until you tell me what happened."
"I'd rather not discuss it with somebody I hardly know, ok?" Lori asked rhetorically. "It's kind of a personal matter,"
"Well I can't help you unless I know everything." Melinda told her. "Did he murder you?"
"That's not what I was talking about; ok... nobody else can hear me, right?"
"Right" Melinda answered,
"Well... ok. It all started when I was 13, when I first met him. He moved in down the street. He was the typical popular looking guy, he was 15. He seemed so cool, my mom sent me down to the Kendal's house to give them some cookies, to welcome them to the neighbourhood." Lori started, "Damien answered the door, and I smiled. 'Come in' he told me, and I met his parents and they invited my parents and I over for dinner, just like that. They were really kind, and I started to go out with Damien on regular occasions. About 4 months later, he kissed me when we were at the movies, it wasn't an official date but after that we started dating," Lori was smiling. "He was the best boyfriend, ever. He would meet me outside of my school, I wasn't in High School yet, then. He would walk me right up to my doorstep. And he would carry my books, and stuff. We'd go out every night, and spend the whole week-end together." She moved to the opposite side of Melinda "It wasn't until we had been dating for a few months, and I was 14 and he was 16 that he got a bit possessive. Demanding to know where I'd been, what I was doing and who I was with. He wouldn't let me see certain friends, if they had brothers who were around my age. Or any guy friends, that was a strict no. We'd been dating about 5 months when he first – I mean, we had sex. I mean, he wanted it more than I did-"
"Wait, did he rape you?" Melinda asked, looking concerned.
"You could call it that," Lori replied, "But he was my boyfriend, so I wouldn't say that."
"Did you want to do it?"
"No. Not really, but I loved him." Lori told Melinda, "I didn't want him to leave me,"
Melinda looked at the ghost in sympathy.
"Then, he would do it regularly. And then a few months ago he caught me talking to my guy friend since pre-school, Thomas, and he waited until we were alone and then he hit me. He hit me a lot the last few months, something he didn't like – I'd get hit. Even if it wasn't my fault, I'd actually sometimes fear coming out of school because he would refuse to let me walk home alone, and I now went to the high school, you know he'd make me walk home with him, just in case something bad happened on the way home. He would make sure I'd see him every single day; this just started to hurt me. I couldn't go out with my friends, not at all. I only saw them at school, only in the lessons – Damien would be with me in break and lunch time."
"So much, so young?" Melinda asked, "How come you didn't tell your parents?"
"Are you kidding, my dad would kill him. My mom would forbid me to see him, even though he didn't treat me right – I loved him," Lori told Melinda. "The only person I told was my sister, Carrie. But I only told her, well... because Damien got me pregnant, but I was thinking about getting rid of it, or breaking it to my parents to myself. She promised she wouldn't tell anybody, but she told my dad, but she didn't just tell him about the baby, she told him about the abuse. He went looking for Damien, I tried to stop him. But I couldn't, my dad isn't exactly a small guy. My mom told me to calm down, and told me to go to my room, I refused but my mom made me. I had to stay in my room, until dad was back."
"What did your dad do?"
"He just told him what would happen if he ever spoke to me again, and that he was to have nothing to do with me or my baby. But I wanted to speak to him, he was my boyfriend at the end of the day. I needed him, and I was going to tell him that we should raise the child together – I was talking to my dad about it, well, arguing because my dad was having none of it, he told me that him, my mom and Carrie would help me, and the rest of my family. But that wouldn't be the same as Damien, sure I loved my family but Damien would have been the baby's father. So, I was extremely furious, and frustrated. I then went upstairs, to coo off and go to bed. After saying goodnight to my parents and Carrie, I snuck out of my bedroom window, and made my way to Damien's." Lori was still telling this very long, yet interesting story of her life. "I threw stones at his window, just so his parents didn't see me. He came to his window, saw me, and rushed as fast as he could down the stairs and opened the door. 'What are you doing here, why are you here' was all he could say to me. 'I'm not allowed to see you anymore' he yelled 'Get out of here, get out of my life' those words still replay in my mind. 'Get out of my life' are the words I'll never forget. I pleaded with him to take me back, to give me a second chance. 'Daddy's little girl. Can't handle her own issues, has to get her dad involved. That's what you are, a pathetic Daddy's girl.' He told me. 'Pathetic' I'd never ever imagined him saying anything like this, especially not to me. 'I wish you'd die.' He said, that was when I couldn't take it anymore. I ran as far and fast as I could. I got to the woods, and a figure grabbed me from behind, and then I felt a shooting pain in my chest. I didn't know who it was, or what they were doing, until they did it again and I could feel the blood dripping. I'd been stabbed, and I was in pain. I remember going all faint, and the last face I saw before I blanked out was Damien's. I think he followed me, and stabbed me. I mean, I don't know if it was just the memory of him, or if it was him killing me. I don't want to think it was Damien, but it might have been. I remember the words, 'If I can't have you, nobody can' but I didn't hear them said to me, not clearly. Maybe they were said after I was dead. But the next thing I knew, I felt fine – I thought I was ok, so I stood up, but then I realised that I was standing over my own dead body, which was lying in a pool of blood. Do you know how it feels, to see your own dead body?"
"I actually do" Melinda told Lori, "I saw my own dead body last year, but I came back to life."
"Lucky," Lori said. "But seeing myself, lying there, in my own blood... lifeless. That will forever haunt me. I need my parents to know that I'm ok, and that I love them, and I'm sorry for not listening to them. And I want Carrie to know that she did the right thing, telling my dad."
Melinda nodded.
"I can do that," She told the teen, "I just hope they'll believe me."
"Carrie will. She's gullible, I don't know about my parents – but there are some things that you can tell them, that only I'd know. Then they'd believe you."
"What things?"
And with that, Lori disappeared once again.
Melinda returned to the front of the store, where Delia was serving a customer.
"Long chat?" She asked,
"Yes. Very," Melinda smiled and then helped Delia to serve the customers.
Ok, I'll continue this storyline in the next chapter. It's just getting very long, and didn't notice how long one story line can be. If this gets reviewed I will write about what happens when Melinda gets in contact with Lori's family, and Damien.