Hey all, here's a new chapter!
Many thanks to IronAmerica, XxDeathStarxX, and Troll99 for their reviews last chapter.
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The Afterlife- Chapter Three: Love is Like a Battlefield
Vince shifted closer to the middle of his bed, groaning in pain. He felt like he had been hit by a couple of Mack trucks, versus being thrown around by a ghost and being pummeled by wooden floorboards. Not to mention, his sister had smacked him when he came home that night. She warned him about getting hurt and then he came home all black and blue. Leslie had agreed to bring him something if he needed it, but somehow the twenty-three-year-old was thinking that there was a catch somewhere in between the lines.
He buried his face further into his pillow as he tried to find his comfort zone once again. It wasn't exactly easy, especially since his mind was starting to wander to places where it probably shouldn't have been going. Vince was starting to wonder about his ghost girl and how she was getting along on her own. Where did those spirits go after they moved on? Did they go to Heaven or Hell just like he was always taught?
Vince figured that he was thinking too much into it; she was long gone by now. And, after all, there was no need to cry over spilt milk. The curly blonde let out a rough sigh, one that was prematurely stopped on the count of pressure settling against his back. It didn't hurt, as a matter of fact, it was cold. His breath hitched a bit in his chest after that, becoming too afraid to turn around to see what was going on. The last time he felt something like that, he was dealing with a ghost.
Who in the world was bothering him now? Hadn't he had enough with the paranormal for the week? But then it occurred to him that he had been involved with two different cleansings. The imaginary curtain that had separated the living from the dead had been opened; anything could have gotten through there at that time. And, consequently, anything could have followed him home.
Vince took a deep breath, finally preparing himself to flip over to see if he really wasn't alone. When he did, his eyes widened at the sight before him. Jamie had her head resting on the edge of her pillow, obviously trying to sleep. She had curled into the cop's back, trying to find her comfort zone in her new home.
"Jamie… is that really you?" the twenty-three-year-old asked rather breathlessly.
The brunette ghost gave him one of her infamous "duh" looks. "No. I'm really just a figment of your imagination."
Vince didn't know how to respond to that. He was so incredibly happy to see her, but he was halfway expecting this to be some bad dream that he would be waking up from at any moment. "What… what're you doing here? Did the exorcism go wrong?" he babbled on.
Jamie grew closer, a tiny smile playing at her lips. "No, silly. It worked just fine," she tapped him on the lips, which sent chills down his spine. "I'm here with you because you saved me."
It drove the cop wild that she could touch him all she wanted to, but he couldn't reciprocate without his hands cutting straight through thin air. Vince squirmed a little as the air started to grow a little colder. "Is it just you that's here?"
The brunette shook her head. "It's not Conrad, if that's what you're worried about. But… your apartment complex is haunted. So there are a lot of ghosts that could stop by unannounced."
Her human couldn't help but groan. "Wonderful. And this is where I ask if I can trade them all in for vampires. At least vampires have to be invited inside. Ghosts just walk through entrances."
Jamie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Vince didn't know why at first, but then it hit him that she probably had no idea what a vampire was.
"Don't think into that too much, okay? That was just me being weird," he smiled over at her rather warmly. That smile only grew broader as the ghost nestled herself against his arm. Sure, there was only the pressure of her body lying on his arm and the cold air that surrounded them, but it wasn't that bad. He could definitely get used to this; all it would take was a blanket and the temperature problem would be solved.
The problem that couldn't so easily be solved was the fact that he was in love with a ghost. He couldn't show her off to his parents because they wouldn't believe him. And, even if they did, it wasn't very likely that they'd accept her as the one for Vince. He couldn't marry Jamie; they couldn't have kids, hell he couldn't even touch her. As bad as all of that sounded, he just couldn't let her go.
"You look a little out of it," Jamie began, intruding into her human's thoughts. She looked so calm, which baffled him to no end. Not even twenty-four hours before that, she was a damsel in distress that wanted nothing more than to be set free. And now here she was, curled up against his arm peacefully. Could she feel the same way that he felt about her? The cop didn't think that it was very likely, considering his luck with women. Although…
Vince smiled over at his ghost girl, wanting to touch her some kind of bad. Even if it was just to run his fingers through her brown locks that would be enough. "Yeah, I was just thinking about some stuff," he finally answered.
"What kind of stuff?" the brunette asked. Her big brown eyes were wide with curiosity. It definitely meant something to the cop to see this girl so lively.
"Boring stuff," Vince shrugged, a chuckle escaping his lips soon after. "Nah, mostly just about us." He saw the look that she gave him, which prompted him to sigh before adding, "Okay, I'm worried about us not working out."
"Because I'm a ghost and you're a human?" Jamie was obviously wounded by that thought. She had thought about the same thing. They were now bound together, which meant that they'd already be with each other for eternity. But still… maybe he did have a point. "Sure, I'm with you for the rest of my afterlife, but that doesn't mean that we have to spend it as a couple, Vince. I can even make it so that you cannot see me."
"Why would I want that?" Vince asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "What kind of man would I be if I let the woman that I'm in love with disappear from my sight? I didn't get that priest to do the exorcism just for my health, you know."
"If I can't be everything that you want me to be, then why should we even torture ourselves with the thought?" the brunette pulled away to lean back on her own pillow. Sorrow was evident on her face, which made it worse for the cop, who knew that he couldn't comfort her in the way that he wanted to.
"Jamie, I want us to work out. In fact, I really don't care that the odds aren't in our favor. We'll beat the odds with flying colors. So what if we can't get married? You're going to be with me until the day I die, anyways, so who needs a certificate to tell us what we already know? And… yeah, I've often times thought about kids, but I'd rather have you," the curly haired human smiled over at his ghost girl, hoping that he helped, at least some.
Jamie just stared over at her human for a few moments. When she was about to open her mouth to respond, a whiney voice came from the other side of the door.
"Vince, who the hell are you talking to at this hour?!"
The brunette met with his eyes, to which he mouthed "my sister" and nudged his head towards the door.
"Nobody! I'm talking to myself, bad habit, I know!" he called out to his sister.
Leslie rolled her eyes. "Whatevs, bro! Go to sleep!"
Vince sent his sister a thumbs up from his side of the door. "Roger dodger, Les."
Leslie shut her bedroom door, and the ghost girl and her human exchanged glances once again. This was going to be hard to get this to work, but the cop definitely wasn't giving up so quickly.
o—o—o
A week later, things weren't much easier for the new couple, but they were surely trying their hardest. Vince let his sister in on the secret so that she didn't think that he was but so insane. That being said, if there was anyone that would understand about being different, it would be Leslie Faraday. And, while she was upset about not being able to be an aunt in the future, she still respected her brother's wishes. Leslie actually enjoyed having a ghost in the family. Jamie was shy towards the youngest Faraday child, which only encouraged her more.
Vince hadn't forgotten what his ghost girl told him about his apartment complex being haunted. When he had mentioned this to Leslie, she knew exactly what Jamie was talking about. Two of the ghosts were from their school, as a matter of fact. Dana Thompson lived in the apartment complex with her parents and older sister years before the Faraday siblings moved in. Her high school sweetheart Dominic Raoul would come to visit her practically every day, despite her parents' disapproval.
Sadly enough, the two of them were killed coming home from their senior prom. Too many underage drinkers were out at the same time that night and… it didn't end well for those two. Leslie had seen the high school sweethearts roaming through the halls, looking to get into trouble since she and the older blonde had moved in. The ghosts weren't bad by any means; they were just funny as hell. If there was any practical joking done throughout the building, those two were probably to blame.
The first time that Vince had seen them, he couldn't believe his eyes. They were ecstatic to learn about the new ghoul in the apartment complex and grew rather protective over her fairly quickly.
Now, what did that mean for her human? He didn't think that this would be a big deal; at least Jamie had someone that could relate to her, it had to be pretty hard on her to be surrounded by humans, something that she could never be again. Only, Vince didn't realize that Dana and Dominic had their own hidden agendas.
Those two wanted nothing more than to move on with their undead lives. Sure, it was great to scare the other residents, but they actually wanted to settle into life with their own kind. When they found Jamie in the apartment a few doors down from theirs, their first instinct was to check her out. Neither of them got a long with the other ghosts around the apartment building, so they thought that this would be the same situation. (That was the problem with the ghosts that didn't want to move on quite yet, they were all so snobby to the other ghosts! But Dana and Dominic were having their own fun tormenting the hell out of said ghosts and the humans they surrounded themselves with.) Little did they know that the twenty-one-year-old ghost would come to be something like a younger sister to them.
It came to be a daily thing that the high school sweethearts would stop by the Faraday apartment. At first, it didn't bother Vince at all. But when Dominic started to have a little bit too much fun picking on him, things finally started taking a toll. Not to mention the fact that they were starting to talk about taking Jamie with them to the underworld. Only problem was that she couldn't go without Vince.
And that was where the biggest problem was in and of itself.
o—o—o
"You really can't leave without him?" Dana asked Jamie, pouting in disapproval. She sat on the kitchen counter in the Faraday apartment with her arms crossed. It was actually quite a sight; what could be seen of her was her floor-length dress that had jagged rips through the stomach from her fatal wounds. Vince would have thought that he was insane if it hadn't been for the fact that there were others out there with concrete proof that he wasn't just seeing things.
"No. The reason why I'm still here is because I'm tied to him, for whatever reason. We believe that it may be our feelings for each other, but we're still not sure," the ghost bride explained calmly. She was sitting on her human, who was silently driving himself nuts over the fact that he couldn't put his arms around the girl in his lap without going through thin air.
"Well that's no fun," Dana let out a melodramatic sigh and turned to her boyfriend, who hoisted himself up on the counter next to her. "Guess it'll just be you and me," her eyes widened as an idea came to mind. "Unless something happens to Vince. Then they can both come with us!"
The elder Faraday sibling was taking a rather long pull from his bottle of beer when the strawberry blonde ghost's words registered in his mind. "WHAT?!" He rasped through the liquid that slid down his throat, not expecting that scenario.
"Pipe down li'l gnome and let the bird finish," Dominic teased the human with a triumphant grin. He looked back at his girlfriend, silently telling her to go on.
"Oh c'mon, Vince. It'll be fine! You'll be with your girl. You won't have to worry about being a human, or everything that comes with that. And…" Dana smiled over at her ghost and reached over to grab his hand, "you can touch her all you want."
"And what about my family?" Vince asked, his tone quivering just a little as he thought about his parents and his sister. What would they do without him?
"That's the whole thing about death; you don't have to tell anyone. Say your final goodbyes. At least you have the chance to…" the teenaged ghost looked down at the rips in her dress with a sad expression, tracing them idly with a finger.
The human in the group felt like an asshole at the moment. They didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to their loved ones… But, really, what would that make him seem like if he agreed to leave all of his family behind just to be with a girl? What would Leslie say about that? He promised Jamie that he would do anything to make this work, but at what cost? He loved her, he knew that, but… he loved his family, too.
He and Jamie exchanged glances; the ghost bride didn't want her human to do this for her. She could deal with living with him if he was alive. His happiness meant too much to her. He had done so much for her; it was her turn to return the favor.
"So, wot's it gonna be?" Dominic asked Vince and his ghost, who had no idea what to say.
Well how was it? Drop me a review and let me know what you think they should decide on!