DUCKS AND COVERS OMG I AM SOO SORRY GUYS!!! Please don't hate me!!! When the site was slow on updating the things, I had PM'd my beta the EXTREMELY rough copy of this ninth chapter. She never got back to me and this was about in late December to mid January. I'm soo sorry guys! Then when I never got the PM back, I talked with Olivia (MoonShine Fairy) about it and we edited it a TON so now this chapter is MUCH better than its parent copy. Which is kinda sad. Olivia said she liked it, but the author is always the toughest critic. I hope you all like it and here is the ninth and FINAL copy of Jesse's past. JUST KIDDING!!! This is NOT the final chapter! Just kidding. lol
Oh, and I washed my cell phone. That was just great. I got a new battery though and now it works!! Cingular is awesome!! lol The little tyke is sooo durable! lol
Anything else new in my life that people might be remotely interested in? Hmm... not really.
Dedicated to: Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby, the two boys who were found in Missouri--cause Jesse finally found his life, and don't we all deserve that? Hope the boys get better, we're praying for them!!
Disclaimer: If I went into the woods to call them, Jesse, Suze, Father D., and David, would not come to me. So therefore, they are not mind. Sadly…
"Hello, David," I smiled as his incredulous look. "It's been a while..."
"David, I want you to meet, Jesse, 182 Pine Crest's former ghost." Susannah gestured broadly to me, and with her introduction came a slight sheen of sweat covering David's freckled-face.
"Jesse d-de Silva?" His voice went up a few octaves at the end. I smiled and pointed to a chair next to my bed for him to take a seat. He didn't.
"I think the last time we spoke was when Susannah had half your school fall on her." I wasn't sure if this was the best way to start off the conversation, but I guessed having something witty to say would break the ice. Or at least make him feel more comfortable around his former haunter.
"Um, yeah. Something like that." He wasn't a man of many words this evening. I'd heard him speak openly about sex—completely factual, not a romantic thought about it for him—, airplanes with the bump at the end, and many of the books that I've read, but the moment he finds something he can't diagnose, he freezes. I feel bad for the boy.
"David, Jesse's alive now. You don't have to be freaked out," Susannah teased.
"Leave the boy alone; he's probably terrified of me." I looked at Susannah and she nudged him forward a bit. I melted under her smile.
"I'm not scared." David's defiant voice cut in. "All the rules of science can't explain how you're here, Hector—"
"Please, call me Jesse."
"Sorry—Jesse, there is no explanation as to why you are here. Your body is decayed and buried and your living body was killed years ago. All that is left is your soul. Which was here for one hundred and fifty years, and it's impossible to reunite a soul with a decayed body."
"Some things can't always be grasped, David. They just have to be acknowledged."
Susannah started up again. "David, we're going to tell you something that you have to promise not to tell anybody. Not mom, not Andy, no one. You can talk to either one of us and ask us any questions that you have, but only come to us. Do you understand?" She looked him directly in the eye and I could scarcely believe what she was doing. She'd never even told the whole story to Gina.
He nodded vigorously. "You know I can see ghosts and I'm very rarely 'alone'. I've been able to see Jesse since I moved in with the rest of you."
"Can you touch them?" I should have known that David would have asked a question right after the first bit of information.
"Yes. That's how I always come home bruised and battered. In fact, Jesse's saved me multiple times. If it weren't for him that night that he got you, I wouldn't be here."
"C-can… I'm sorry, but I still don't understand how this could have all worked out. I mean, as far as the science, I understand, but to travel back in time?"
"Like I said, it's more of believing. You're Catholic, correct?" David nodded at me. "You believe in God?" Another nod. "You just believe. That's all there is to it. Don't question it, just accept. Sometimes it's easier that way."
David gave one final nod and whispered, "Your body has traveled one hundred and fifty years. You should be brittle and withered. Not this. It goes against science."
Susannah's shoulders drooped. "David, I thought you'd understand. Not understand, but accept it." Her voice was dejected. I knew it was hard for her to tell her brother this. She was letting him in and she doesn't do that much.
"I accept it… it's just hard."
"Give me your hand," I murmured, extending my right hand, palm up. David stood motionless, staring at my hand. Fear flashed in his eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to show you." I wanted Susannah to feel okay again. She was looking more and more remorseful as the moments passed. "David, please." He looked away from my hand and met my steady gaze. His blue eyes stared back, not trying to hide the trepidation he was experiencing. My eyes went soft, trying not to worry him. He was a mere child. He looked back to my hand and lifted his own. His fingers lightly brushed my palm. The tips rested near my wrist, feeling my pulse. He flattened his hand into mine, looked up, and smiled.
Susannah beamed.
"So you could have kissed Jesse, then?" Touching my hand seems to have liberated him. He shot me a look that clearly depicted brotherly love. And a fierce protective side. I tried my hardest not to emit laughter, but it was very difficult. Susannah's cheeks flushed scarlet. She affirmed it.
"So was Jesse your first kiss?" Now the kid was just a romantic.
But him saying this brought back a foul memory. "No," I growled, faking a glare at Susannah.
She let out a humorless laugh and said in a tight voice, "It's nothing, David. Just let it drop."
David didn't let it drop. He looked confused. "Not the Michael boy? Suze, he tried to kill us!"
"Ew, No! David, of course not!"
"If only that were as bad as it got," I muttered. The ridiculous silk shirts. Susannah MUST have noticed those. In my day, had you worn a shirt like his you'd be a villain. I had silk vests, but those were purely for social engagements. They were made with colors and design. Not a silk for an idiot like the Tadpole.
"Tad was not worse than Michael, Jesse. It was nothing, David." She addressed this to her stepbrother, but I had a feeling she was reprimanding me. I didn't dislike him now that I knew of Susannah's feelings for me, but the way he treated her! He was a fiend! Had I not been there to oversee what he was doing, I wouldn't have doubted him going farther! And she LET him! "He was just a passing ship. Had Jesse made a move, he could have had me first." Again, she was addressing him, but she turned to look at me this time. I couldn't help but grin under her green-eyed gaze. Her eyes danced with mocking and her frown wasn't genuine.
"In 1850, had I done what that—" I said a word that I'd called Tad in the past "—had done, I'd have been hanged."
"You need to sleep. Arguing with me will get you no where," she scolded, playfully. As if on command, my eyelids slid down a bit and my head felt heavy from lack of sleep. A cool hand brushed hair away from my forehead and warm lips pressed against my temple. "Jesse, it's okay to sleep."
I reached up a hand to hold her wrist with my eyes closing. "No, stay," I slurred. I was being taken over by sleep and very rapidly. I didn't want to sleep, afraid that if I did, when I woke up everything would be back to normal. Well, our previous normal. I never wanted to be a ghost again, never to touch Susannah's hair and feel the texture, or to taste her lips. I want to experience more things, hold Susannah, lift heavy objects without my paranormal powers, get married, have children, and live my life with Susannah. I don't want that taken away from me, especially since I had so much hope now. Nothing can hold me back.
Little stick arms encircled my neck and a flurry of red hair blocked my vision. "You're really cool, Jesse." David's voice was whispering in my ear. "Thanks for helping Suze. She seems happy now." I held mi querida's little brother tightly for a second, remembering the brotherly affection that I'd had for my siblings. I felt quite protective of the little boy, I thought absently as we released.
"Don't go," I pleaded. I reached up and laid a hand on her waist. I wanted to smell her scent again, to hold her hand and feel her skin against my skin. I wanted to have that feeling when she's close, my heart racing, my blood boiling, and the desire to be near her. I want to hold her head in the crook of my arm and feel her soft locks brush my shoulder.
"Shh," she soothed. "I'll be here until you can leave. I'm not going anywhere." Her voice sounded like it was directed at someone else when she said, "Come on, let's let him sleep. He's been through a lot." The door closed and so did my mind.
I was walking down the same corridor that Susannah came to save me from when Paul's younger sibling, Jack exorcised me. The dark sky above me, even though it was seemingly endless, felt as though it was closing in around me, forcing the air I didn't need in this place out of my lungs.
People were coming towards me. One broad figure who was obviously male. He was a bit shorter than me, due to the aging process. The crowd assembled in front of me.
My family.
Okay, DONE!! With this chapter at least! I'll have the next chapter out SOON cause I've got big plans for it... sort of. I hope this satisfied you all! Tell me if it wasn't as good or up to par. I hope you review cause that makes me happy!!!
Love all my readers, reviewers, and anybody that will give me a few moments of their time to read my rough edits of chapters!!! Love,
MG
