Disclaimer: I own nothing from Ghost Whisperer except the idea for this story.
A/N Thanks to Vertitas Found for beta-ing this story. I dedicate all the Rick quotes in my story to her.
Hauntings
Chapter 1
Melinda Gordon walked through the town square of Grandview, coffee in hand. She passed a dark-skinned man trying to clean up the square.
"Morning, Frank," Melinda greeted. Frank growled as a piece of rubbish flew through his body. Melinda hid her smile and kept walking.
"Hello, Janet," she said to the postwoman nearby. Janet waved before disappearing as a couple walked through her. Melinda continued on, stopping for a car before walking into her antique shop, Same As It Never Was.
"Morning, Delia," Melinda said happily to her friend and business partner. Delia finished unpacking a box of ancient china dolls and turned towards her boss.
"Well, someone seems awfully chirpy this morning," Delia commented. She brushed her long chestnut hair from her face.
"Was someone home last night?" Delia teased. Melinda glared at the older woman.
"For your information, Jim was home all of five minutes last night. He had the late shift at the firehouse," Melinda replied haughtily. Delia gave Melinda a look. "What?"
"No time for a quickie then?" Delia said slyly.
"Delia!" Melinda exclaimed, blushing red. A rattling of a bell above the door saved Melinda from any other embarrassing interrogations.
"Hi, Rick," Melinda said, turning round to greet the blond man entering the store.
"How do you do that?" Rick asked. "Do your ghosts tell you? Do you have ghosts watching the store?"
Professor Payne spun on the spot, looking wildly around the shop. He walked back over to the door and peered out to the square.
"Wait, you mean there are… ghosts out there in the square?" Delia asked, surprised.
"If by 'ghosts' you mean spirits, then yes," Melinda replied, enjoying riling Delia up. Rick turned away from the shop door as Delia glared at Melinda.
"It makes life more interesting though, doesn't it? Believing in the paranormal?" Rick pointed out. Delia looked between Melinda and Rick.
"Ooh, see, this is why I enjoy being a skeptic; no one can make fun of me," she said. Melinda laughed and sipped her coffee.
The door opened again, rattling the bell, and in walked an old woman. Melinda stood up, her mouth full of hot coffee.
"You finish your coffee," she ordered Melinda walking over to help the customer. Rick waved to the two women.
"I see you two are busy. Melinda, tell Jim that he owes me for the game last weekend. Oh and by the way, try not to get caught up in all the supernatural ghost-y stuff," Rick called. Melinda shot a look at Rick, then the old woman – but she hadn't seemed to have heard. As the professor left the shop, Melinda couldn't help but shake the feeling that something was amiss.
She looked up and stared outside. A figure stood, covered in dust and dirt, in the middle of the sidewalk. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, but any distinguishable characteristics were too distorted by the dirt to be seen clearly. The odd thing was that her hands were tied with an old red cloth, probably torn from a sheet or a tablecloth. The woman stared at Melinda for a few moments and then disappeared. She reappeared a split second later in front of Melinda.
"Help me," the spirit croaked, spitting out clumps of dirt as she spoke. Melinda stared at the spirit, watching the clumps of dirt form a pile on the shop floor. Casting a quick glance around, she opened to mouth to speak, but the figure was gone along with all the spilt earth. Melinda looked up to see Delia calling her name.
"Mel? Melinda, are you all right?" she asked.
"Yeah, sorry," Melinda said. Delia waved away the apology.
"Don't be," she advised. Delia looked at Melinda suspiciously. "There was someone here, wasn't there?"
"Of course. You were just helping out a customer," Melinda half-fibbed, giving her an innocent look. Delia clicked her tongue impatiently.
"You know what I mean. Just because I don't really believe in ghosts or spirits or whatever you want to call them doesn't mean that I don't believe you see them," Delia told her friend. Melinda shrugged.
"There was another person here, if you could call them a person. She seemed to have been covered in dirt. A whole lot of dirt," she replied. She looked at the store's clock. Half past eleven.
"Actually do you mind if I go and see Jim? He wasn't home by the time I left," Melinda asked. Delia nodded.
"Of course. Just do one thing for me – actually, make that two things. One, cross over the ghost. I don't want her scaring away the customers. And two, can you please bring back one of those really nice scones with the jam and cream from Village Java?" Delia replied, pleadingly. Melinda laughed.
"Sure. I'll be back soon," she promised. Melinda grabbed her purse, and then walked out of the shop.
"Have fun with Jim," Delia called out teasingly to Melinda's retreating back. Melinda ignored her friend and continued her search for the car keys. A quiet jingling sound indicated that her keys had slipped to the bottom of the purse; finding the keys, she opened the car door, hopped inside and shoved them into the ignition. A few seconds later, Melinda put the car into drive and drove home, hopefully to where the ghosts wouldn't be.
Melinda arrived home, pulling up behind Jim's car and parking her own. She then walked inside to find her husband sprawled out on the couch, asleep. Climbing on top of Jim , she kissed him gently on the mouth.
"Mm," Jim mumbled and opened his eyes, "I'm awake."
"Mm. I'm definitely awake," he said as she kissed him again. Melinda grinned and snuggled down into his embrace. She lay there, content just to listen to him breathe.
"I missed you this morning," Melinda said quietly after a moment had passed.
"Sorry, but there was an emergency at work. Some guy crashed his car – killed his girlfriend but walked out with only minor injuries," Jim informed her. He kissed her gently on the forehead, sweeping away her fringe.
"Ouch. Well, next time call or something 'cause I was..." Melinda broke off as Jim's lips met hers.
"You were babbling too much," he explained. Melinda tried to look angry but failed, making him laugh.
"Anyway," Melinda continued, changing the subject, "I came home to see you."
"And…" Jim prompted.
"And what? There's nothing else," she added innocently, avoiding his eyes. Jim gave her a look.
"Come on, I know you better than that," he said before slowly running his fingers up and down her arms and down her back. She started to squirm, batting at his hands to stop him from tickling her.
"Okay, okay – I'll tell you. Stop it," she said with a pout before climbing off Jim and sitting on the coffee table. "There was a spirit at the shop. I don't know but I swear she had been buried while still conscious."
"Why's that?"
"Well, her hands were tied for one thing, and she kept on spitting out some kind of dirt or sand," Melinda broke off shuddering. Jim sat up and wrapped his arms around her protectively.
"Did you get a name?" he asked.
"That's the thing. Her mouth was full of dirt, and the spirit disappeared before I could talk to her," she replied. Melinda climbed back onto Jim's lap. Melinda's ringing phone interrupted the pair.
"Oops, I guess lunch break's over. Delia must want that jam scone pretty bad," she commented. Melinda shook her head as Jim gave her a confused look. She climbed off Jim and gave him a quick kiss goodbye.
"Bye. Love you," she called, walking out the door. She didn't hear the reply as the door shut behind her, but she could imagine it was something like, "Love you, too, and be careful."
Driving back to the shop, Melinda's phone began ringing again.
"Hey, Delia. Yeah, I'm sorry. I lost track of time...no! Not like that! ...what? Um, they should be in the back somewhere," Melinda paused and placed her hand upon her forehead as the world spun around her. 'Whoa,' she thought to herself.
Up ahead, a figure stood along the shoulder. Melinda slowed down, watching the figure stumble drunkenly down the road. Hearing the sound of the car, the figure looked up, frightened. Her eyes were slightly glazed, and as she saw Melinda, she disappeared.
A buzzing sound brought Melinda back to the present. Delia was still rambling on, unaware that she had stopped responding. Melinda forced herself to concentrate as the world spun again. She caught a movement out the corner of her eye- the girl from the side of the road was sitting in the passenger seat. She looked at the spirit through blurry eyes as they clasped their dizzy heads in unison.
All of a sudden, the girl disappeared again. Melinda faced forwards to see an on-coming car swerve and hit the side of her Jeep. Pain shot through her body as smoke slowly rose from where the two vehicles had collided.
"Mel? Melinda?" came Delia's faint voice from the phone as she blacked out.
Tell me what you think.
Monkeywand