My name is Melinda Gordon. I'm married to a wonderful EMT named Jim. I live in a small town called Grandview. I run an antique shop with my best friend Delia. I could be just like you. Except from the time I was a little girl, I knew I could talk to the dead. Earthbound spirits my grandmother called them. The ones who have no yet crossed over because they have unfinished business with the living and they come to me for help.

To tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs.

"Help me. I need your help."
Melinda jumped up in bed. Jim rolled over and propped his arm up on his pillow to lean up to where his wife was now sitting in bed. "Another one?" He asked her knowingly.

Melinda shook her head yes. "She was so young Jim. She looked to only be around 9 years old and her throat was cut open." She told her husband looking at him with unshed tears in her eyes.

"What'd she say?" He asked her trying to help his wife find this child's killer.

"She just said, Help me. I need your help. And that's when I woke up."

Jim looked over at the clock and noticed that it was 6:30, time to get up anyways. "The child has wonderful timing. Come on, I'll go make you some waffles and sausage and some coffee. You can't do much for her until you know her name."

Melinda chuckled a bit at his statement about the girl having wonderful timing as she looked at the clock and saw what time it was as well. "Your right. I'm going to get a shower then I'll be down okay?" She told her husband before kissing him and turning sideways and putting her feet on the floor, before yanking them back up.

"Cold?" Jim asked laughing at her.

Melinda smacked him lightly in the arm that he was propping himself up with and he fell back on the bed with a thud. "That was mean." He told her with a frown on his face.

"You laughing at me was mean too." She told him playfully sticking her tongue out at him before slowly lowering her feet back onto the cold hardwood floor only to skip across the bedroom, trying not to touch the cold floor for to long, and into the bathroom to get a shower.

Jim chuckled at his crazy wife before sliding his feet into his slippers, like the smart man he was, and walking over to the closet to put on some clothes before heading downstairs to make some coffee and breakfast for him and his wife.

-30 minutes later, roughly around 7:05 am.-

Melinda came walking down the steps in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved tight black turtle neck. Jim heard her coming down the stairs and set her coffee, already made the way she liked it sugar and milk with a little bit of coffee, on the table next to her laptop where she usually sat in the mornings.

She sat down and sipped at her coffee. "Thanks." She told him while powering up her laptop to check her e-mail before she had to head over to the shop for the morning.

"How many waffles you want Mel?" Jim asked her while pulling the waffles he made off of their waffle maker and pulling the sausage out of the skillet.

"Ones fine. Three pieces of sausage too babe." She replied off handedly while reading her e-mail from a friend of hers, Professor Rick Payne.

He smiled and shook his head slightly knowing that she would ask for another one after she had finished that and that she wasn't actually paying attention to what he was saying. But, he put what the lady asked for on her plate and set it down next to her before setting his plate down across from hers along with his coffee and sat down himself to eat.

Once Melinda was done checking her e-mail and was finished say, "Junk, Junk, Junk. Why do I get so much junk mail? Junk, Junk, Junk…" She closed her laptop and started cutting her waffle into 8 pieces.

"So what did Rick have to say this morning?" Jim asked.

Melinda cocked her head at him and raised an eyebrow with a look on her face that said, 'And how do you know that one of me e-mails were from him'.

"Don't give me that look Mel. You weren't paying attention to me when I asked you how many waffles you wanted. Which meant that the e-mail was either from Rick or Delia and seeing as you'll see Delia in about an hour, I doubt it was from her. It's the process of elimination babe." He told her winking.

"Uh huh. He just wanted to let me know he was going to stop in the shop while he was at lunch. Said something about needing to talk to me about something, but didn't want to do it through e-mail. So who knows what he wants." She finished chuckling.

"Tell him I said hi when you see him." He told her shoving the last bit of his breakfast into his mouth and washing it down with the last of his coffee.

"I will. And put that in the dishwasher! Don't just put it in the sink." She scolded.

"Yes Mommie." He told her laughing. "Already Mel, I'm off to work. I'll see you tonight." He told her walking over and trying to kiss her, but stopped when she put her hand up in front of her face.

"Hold on. I have waffle in my mouth and syrup on my lips dummy." After wiping off her mouth and swallowing the last of her waffle she turned to kiss him good bye.

"I'll see you when you get home Jim." She told him as he was grabbing his jacket from by the door and walking out.

Melinda picked her plate up off of the table and walked over to the sink to rinse it off and put it in the dishwasher to run it while she finished getting ready for work.

-Around 8:15 am-

As Melinda picked up her jacket off of the back of the couch she got a feeling that she wasn't alone. She knew it was only a spirit so she turned around and looked at the little girl who she had seen in her dream earlier that morning.

"Help me." The little girl repeated.

"I need your name first sweetheart." Melinda told her looking over at her, still standing by the couch.

"Amber. Amber Hagerman."

"Who did this to you Amber?"

"I don't remember. But I need your help." The young girl stated again.

'Pushy young thing' Melinda thought. "What do you need my help with?" Melinda asked, but the young girl had already vanished.

She stood there for another minute or so seeing if the girl would return, but when she didn't she figured she would see her again later, grabbed her coat, slid it on, grabbed her purse and cell phone and headed out the door.