So I thought this was a really good idea and I liked it so I wrote it up. I know that it has been forever since I last wrote on New Beginnings, but I have total writers block there. I promise to try and write more on it I really do, but I make no promises till I get over the block. Anyway here's the usual: I don't own any of the GH characters but the other ones are all from my head. Enjoy!
Ashley Cates was new to this small town in upstate New York. She had moved here with her boyfriend, Josh only three months ago and had quickly fallen in love with it. Port Charles reminded her so much of her own hometown back in Indiana. True, Castle Rock didn't have docks and it never seemed to be this cold, but both towns were small just the way she liked it.
She quickly found a job as a bartender at, from what she could tell, was the only decent bar in the whole town. Jake's had the feel of every other Middle America bar, much like the one she had left back home. This wasn't the type of bar where you went to get some mixed, up-tight fruity drink; this was the type of bar where you came for a beer and a game of pool. This was the type of bar where her and Josh first met. The only real difference between this bar and the one back home was that this one was said to be haunted.
Ashley never believed in ghost and still doesn't, but the story was still an interesting one. It was the type of story that makes you think of lost loves and how even after death love still remains.
It was a cool, crisp October night and the bar was very empty for a weekend. She enjoyed the quite though, she thought this would be the perfect time to see the "ghosts". It was funny even though the bar was said to be haunted no one seemed to have ever seen the ghosts. Sure they said they would find a game of pool had been in progress when it was suppose to be put away, or the juke box might be on when it was suppose to be unplugged or some empty beer bottles after everything had been cleaned up, but still no one had ever really seen the ghosts.
Ashley's thoughts were interrupted when a man in a leather jacket walked through the door. He, in her opinion, was very handsome looking. "Is there anything I can get for you?" She asked from the other side of the bar.
"Just a beer please." His voice was so masculine that Ashley almost forgot about Josh, almost. He watched her take the top off the beer bottle and set it on the counter. His eyes were what she noticed the most, she always believed that the eyes were the secret source of persons soul, and his seemed filled with secrets. Though he had no expression on his face she could tell he had a lot on his mind.
He took his beer from the counter and headed for the pool table. He took off his jacket and placed it on the back of a chair near him and chalked his pool stick before he racked up the balls and broke them. Ashley could tell that this guy knew how to play pool and from the looks of it he was playing to kill, she didn't know why but she wanted to know what was on his mind.
"Penny for your thoughts?" She asked as she took out a rag and began to wipe down the bar.
He looked at her with a look that would make anyone back away and not ask him anymore questions. "No thanks." Was his reply.
"Ok then we'll let it be on the house tonight." She said to him as she moved from the bar to the tables.
"Look I don't want to be rude, but the last thing I want to do is tell my problems to a bartender in an empty bar like some cliché." He was becoming angry and he knew he let a hint of it out in his voice as he spoke. He wasn't angry with the girl though, he was angry at his life and the way it was going.
She continued to clean tables as she talked to him "I was just trying to make conversation, because from the looks of it you have something to say and if you don't let it out soon it's going to consume you." This wasn't like her, she had never tried to force anyone to tell her anything. So why was she doing it now?
"What is it you want me to tell you Bartender?" he asked as he sank the nine ball in the corner pocket, "do you want me to tell you that my life is falling apart? Do you want me to tell you that my marriage is going to hell? That I am sick of picking up all my friends' messes? That if it weren't for my job I would be out of this town like that? How about I tell you that while I'm married to one woman my heart has belonged to another for far too long and that it always will? Is that what you want to hear?"
She hadn't realized it but she has stopped cleaning and was looking at him and listing to his every word. "I'm sorry you don't have to talk to me if you don't want to. I just thought that maybe it would help you lift the burden off your shoulders." She turned back to her work.
Ashley and the man stayed in the bar for almost ten minutes in complete silence, other then the sound of pool balls being hit and glasses being put away, when the front door opened and a young burnet walked in.
Ashley could see the tears in her eyes right away. The girl however was not looking at Ashley, but rather the man playing pool. "Jason?" she questioned. At least Ashley knew his name now.
Jason looked up from his game of pool at the burnet, and for a minute Ashley thought she saw something in his eyes. His response to his name was her name "Elizabeth."
Elizabeth wasn't hiding her tears and she didn't want to wipe them away. She just stared at Jason and watched his every move. Ashley was almost nerves about asking her if she could get her something to drink, "Can I get you anything miss?" At the sound of Ashley's voice Elizabeth finally broke her gaze on Jason and looked towards the bar.
Ashley felt for her, no matter how many times people came into the bar to drown their sorrows it always affected her. She never liked to see people sad, and as far as she could tell this girl was really sad.
Only now as she spoke did she wipe away her tears, "Can I just get a beer?"
"I think I can manage that." Ashley told her as she passed over a beer and a napkin so she could wipe her eyes. "Since, he didn't take me up on my offer, how about a penny for your thoughts?" She asked Elizabeth as she sat down at the bar.
"It's to long of a story, and it doesn't have a happy ending." Elizabeth said as she took a long deep sip of her beer.
"Happy endings are overrated anyway. I don't think there is such a thing anymore. There are no fairy tale lives with godmothers granting wishes or white knights to come rescue you."
"I had a knight once." Elizabeth said as her eyes darted in Jason's direction. "Best knight ever." Her voice was becoming a bit choked up as she spoke. "He was the type that didn't just rescue you from your life, but he helped you make sense of it. I was young and stupid then and I threw him away. My knight and I threw him away. I wasn't just young and stupid but I was scared. Have you ever been so scared of something that you just make a mess out of your life? Cause that's what I did and my life hasn't been the same without him in it." Jason had stopped playing pool as Elizabeth had talked, and even though Elizabeth had failed to notice Ashley hadn't.
"Did you ever tell your knight that?" Ashley asked.
"No, I never told him. It's to late now. He's married and I'm damaged goods. At least the person he married wasn't a psycho like my ex husband, and at least they have love in their relationship." Elizabeth couldn't help herself and began to cry again.
To Ashley it looked as if Jason was about to come and say something to Elizabeth, but the opening of the front door stopped him. Josh came in at that moment with a smile on his face. It had been their routine since she had gotten the job, he would come in at around closing time, after he got off work, and would help her close up. His smile quickly faded as he took notice of the crying woman at the counter and the bitter looking man at the pool table.
Ashley didn't even have to bother to ask if he wanted something she just took out a beer and handed it to him, it was one of the benefits of being with someone for so long, knowing what they were like. "Thanks, Ash." he said as he took a seat at one of the tables.
A still teary Elizabeth looked up at the bartender. "Is that your name? Ashley? Hi Ashley I'm Elizabeth." She said offering her hand. Before she could take Elizabeth's hand, Ashley was distracted by a crash coming from Josh's direction.
Ashley was near tears with laughter at the sight of her boyfriend on the ground. To her surprise, and his, he had managed to find himself knocked on his ass. Somehow he had managed to trip on the leg of chair and crash to the ground. To Ashley's surprise though neither Elizabeth's nor Jason's expression had changed, they both looked like hell.
Ashley went around the bar to help him up; she was of course still laughing at him. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. I was kind of hopping on playing some pool though tonight." He told her.
"From what I can tell he doesn't bite," she said looking in Jason's direction, "so just ask him for a game." Ashley watched Josh walk up to Jason before she headed back to the bar and the crying Elizabeth. When she got back she noticed that Elizabeth had finished her first beer and was asking for another.
After Elizabeth had chugged more then half of her second beer she spoke again. "Ashley, do you believe in soul mates?"
"Yeah, I may not believe in happy ending but do believe in love and do think that there is one person just made for you."
"Me too," Elizabeth said as she finished her second beer and motioned for another. "The weird thing is though that I've been in love with more then one man, three in fact. I know which one out of that group I loved the most though, the one still love. I think it's been almost four or five years that I've been in love with him."
"The knight?" Ashley asked in curiosity. Elizabeth shook her head to let her know that she had guessed right. "I think there's enough love to go around though and that's why you can love more then one person in live, but when it comes right down to it soul mates have away of finding each other over and over again. Throughout all time and space they just find each other over and over again."
Elizabeth was by now on her fourth beer and Ashley was sure that she would be gone in no time if she kept drinking this way. Josh came over then for the first time since he had started playing pool with Jason. The things that Ashley had just told Elizabeth were everything she felt about Josh. He was her soul mate and she was sure that no matter what they would be together because they would always find their way back to one another.
"Hey let me get two beers." Josh said to Ashley when he had finally reached the bar. He had a smile on his face, that was the smile Ashley had fallen in love with, and he was flashing it Elizabeth's way. "How you doing?" he asked her.
"That's a laugh," she told him. "My life couldn't be any worse and here you are just smiling away at me. How would you like it if I did that to you? I need music." She stated as she changed the subject and tone in her voice. "How about it Ashley, what are you in the mood to listen to?"
"Anything upbeat." Ashley told her as she turned to give Josh his drinks. "Ignore her; she's a little drunk right now."
Josh turned and noticed that Elizabeth was stumbling as she walked to the juke box. "So I noticed." He told Ashley. Ashley watched Josh walk back to the pool table and noticed that Jason was watching Elizabeth intently. It seemed that not only had the damsel fallen for the knight but that the knight had fallen for the damsel as well. Maybe Elizabeth was the girl he had mentioned earlier, the one that had his heart for far too long, and as he put 'always would'.
Elizabeth was trying to walk back to the bar and her now fifth drink. "Ok this one is peppy," she said as she sat back on the bar stool and Garth Brook's Friends in Low Places came on. "I pressed some other buttons too, but I don't know if their peppy."
Ashley had to smile at the girl. Even through her pain she still had a sense of humor. Though the song really didn't fit Elizabeth's situation it was still funny how she choose the perfect drinking song.
"Hey you girls want to play doubles?" Josh asked from his place by the pool table. Ashley saw Elizabeth's expression change right away. She cold tell this girl wanted to play some pool, but for some reason was being hesitant Ashley saw Elizabeth turn to face Jason, who had not spoken since Elizabeth had walked into the bar. Ashley watched as their eyes met and could tell for the first time since he had walked in, his eyes had soften some.
"I feel like playing. Come on Elizabeth, we'll be on team together, boys verses girls." Elizabeth got up to walk over and grabbed herself another beer, this made six now. Ashley was amazed though for being as little as she was, Elizabeth seemed to be holding up butter then most, true she was still drunk, but she seemed to at least be able to walk and talk for the most part.
"I want to break." She said when she reached the pool table and had grabbed a pool stick. Ashley noticed that Jason's eyes wouldn't turn to look at anything or anyone else except Elizabeth. It was so weird to see two people who were obviously in love with each other not saying a word to each other. Elizabeth's break was clean and she even managed to get a ball in the whole even though she was a little buzzed. "We're solids." She said as she backed away towards her drink and away from the pool table as Jason took his shot.
The group of four stayed playing a couple games of pool and listing to the music for almost a half hour, when a song, that Ashley hadn't even realized was in the juke box came on, it was an old N'SYNC song, one that she had not heard since maybe fifth grade year.
The minute the song came on Ashley noticed a change in both Elizabeth and Jason's faces, it was a look of memories past and the look of never being able to go back to the way things were. To Ashley's surprise Josh grabbed her hand and led her to the middle of the bar and held her tight as he proceeded to dance with her. They had not danced in so long and Ashley was glad for the song. She looked back at Jason and Elizabeth and saw that they were holding each other, they weren't dancing though, they were just holding each other.
It touched Ashley to see them that way. True she had not known them very long, but she was able to the love and passion they possessed, even if they didn't see it. She closed her eyes and let her self be caught up in the song and the man that held her. As the song ended she opened her eyes, and she saw that Jason and Elizabeth were still in their embrace, but Elizabeth was crying once again.
When the song stopped the bar became eerily quite, it was as if the bar was completely empty, instead of having four people in it. Ashley was afraid to break the quite because she was afraid that if she did then Jason and Elizabeth would loose the moment they were in, all she could do was watch them.
Elizabeth backed away from Jason and began to wipe her teary eyes once again, and as far as Ashley could tell he didn't want to let her go. Elizabeth looked up at Jason and Ashley could tell from across the room that they had become locked in each others eyes. It amazed Ashley at the level of love that was between the two.
"You're married." Elizabeth stated flatly at Jason. "You're married, and Lord help me, but I don't you to be. Wasn't it supposed to be just you and me Jason? Shouldn't we be off in Italy? Why aren't we? Why didn't we ever get a chance to be together?" She was tearing up again. Ashley could tell that she was drunk and would have probably never brought this up otherwise.
"I don't know, Elizabeth. We were just so scared. You were scared that I would hurt you like Lucky did and was scared to let you get close because I didn't want you to ever get hurt."
"Then why did you hurt me? Don't you know that it hurt me so much more then any bullet or stab wound would have. It hurt me when you didn't fight for me. It was like you just gave up and I couldn't do all the fighting Jason. I did that with Lucky, I was always the one fighting to get things back they were with Lucky when he came back and I didn't want to fight anymore after him. I wanted someone fighting for me, and I thought it would have been you doing the fighting. Why couldn't you fight?
"Elizabeth, I didn't' know how to fight." Jason was showing emotion in his voice now. He was showing Elizabeth that it hurt him just as much as it hurt her that they weren't together. "You were safer not being with me. When you were with me you had a bomb in your studio, you were shot and kidnapped and I can't tell you how many other threats there were on your life. I needed to keep you safe. I just couldn't loose you. If you would have died I don't think I could have gone on."
"What made Courtney so special then? Why is it ok for her to be in danger? Why does she get to be the one in your life? Why isn't it me?"
"I didn't want to fall for Courtney," he reached over and took her chin in his hand so that she was looking him in the eye, "and truth be told I don't think I ever really fell for her. She doesn't have my heart like you did or do." They were so close to one another, close enough to kiss, and though Ashley didn't realize it she was holding her breath in anticipation. "No one, not even Robin, has meant as much to me as you do."
"Jason," Elizabeth said his name barely above a whisper, "I never stopped caring."
"I know." He told her as he whipped her tear stained face. "I never did either."
"Jason, I need to tell you something." Jason raised his eyebrow in curiosity and Ashley just watched and waited for Elizabeth to say the three words she knew were coming. "Jason, I ….." She was cut off by what sounded like firecrackers, but everyone in the room knew that they were being under fire. It was an ear piercing sound, nothing like Ashley had ever heard in her life. Someone was shooting at them
Before she knew what was going on Josh had her on the ground and was hunched on top of her like a protective shell. She turned in the direction of Jason and Elizabeth and was appalled by the site she saw. There on the ground no more then ten feet away lay the lifeless body of Elizabeth. Ashley could see that a bullet had gotten Elizabeth right in the head.
Only seconds later Ashley saw Jason fall on top of Elizabeth. He too lay on the ground lifeless, but unlike Elizabeth he was riddled in bullets. The gun stopped and all Ashley could do was close her eyes and pray that this was all some dream. She knew that for the rest of her life she would not be able to get the sight of them out of her head.
The next thing Ashley knew she was being hoisted to her feet. She opened her eyes and were met by Josh's. She knew that she was crying over the fear she felt and the lose of two people she had just met. She had to make sure though, she had to see that they were really gone. Ashley turned back to their spot by the pool table and saw that they were nowhere to be found. There was no blood, there was nothing.
"Where did they go?" Josh asked the obvious question.
"I don't know, but I saw them. They were shot, they were dead," She said becoming a little hysterical, "Dead people just don't get up and walk away. Where did they go?"
"I don't know but we're getting out of here." Josh said taking her hand and leading her out the door and back to their place where he knew it was safe.
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Ashley hadn't been able to sleep that night. Every time she closed her eyes she saw both Elisabeth and Jason's lifeless eyes. She still needed to go back to Jake's and make sure that she wasn't crazy, she knew she saw them dead on the ground. So how was it that when she opened her eyes they had vanished without a trace? There were so many questions going through her head at this point; and maybe that was why she felt compelled to go to Jake's on her day off. She needed answers.
Ashley walked in the front door of the bar and saw that someone had cleaned up the mess from the night before. She felt odd being in the bar where only hours before she was sure she had been shot at. Ashley looked around the bar and saw that it was pretty crowded for it being so early, she also saw that her boss was behind the bar.
"Ashley? What are you doing here? Isn't today your day off?" she questioned Ashley.
"Yeah Georgie, it's my day off." For the first time Ashley saw that Georgie Jones, her boss, was wearing black. In the three months that she had lived in Port Charles she had never seen her boss in any form of black. "What's with the black?" she asked her boss as she sat at the bar.
Georgie looked down at her attire and frowned. "It's their anniversary."
"Who's"
"The ghost that haunt the bar. It was ten years ago today that their bodies were found over there by the pool table. It was a sad day in this town, let me tell you. There wasn't one person who didn't know them, or who weren't touched by them in one way or another."
"Who were they?"
"They were old friends, some said that they had been lovers, others say they were just really good friends, but if you knew them for more then ten seconds you saw that they were soul mates. I knew him because he used to date my cousin Robin," hadn't Ashley heard that name last night? "And she worked at Kelly's down by the docks. I wasn't lucky enough to see what they shared first hand, but I knew they loved each other, everyone knew. They were so angry and bitter towards one another but in the end they said they found the two of them holding hands. I don't think I've ever cried as much as I did when I went to their funeral."
"How did they die?"
"Oh, well his job was quite questionable, but everyone knew that he was Sonny Corinthos' enforcer, you know a killer. Well, anyway they were in here playing pool or something and he was attacked with gunfire. The first shot was aimed at his shoulder but it hit her instead, right in head, she died instantly. He must have had at least five bullet holes in him. Isn't that sad, they said they never saw the shooter."
"So whoever killed them is still out there?"
"Yeah, my dad was the police commissioner at the time and he told me that whoever did it was probably a professional and the chances of them ever catching him were slim. Sonny tried though, he sent out a lot of people looking for whoever killed his best friend and his, what he called, 'adopted sister'. I felt so bad for Sonny and his family. The Quartermains and the Webbers took it rough too, like I said the whole town was affected."
"What were their names, Georgie?" Ashley asked getting wrapped up in the story and forgetting all about Jason and Elizabeth.
"Umm…..his name was Jason Morgan and her name was Elizabeth Webber."
Their names hit Ashley like a ton of bricks. There was no way they could be the same people form last night, was there? "Did you just say their names were Jason and Elizabeth?"
"Yes, why?"
"Last night I met a Jason and Elizabeth. The bar was empty and near closing time and then a guy walked in, he was wearing a leather jacket. Then she came in maybe ten, fifteen minutes after and you could tell there was distance between them. They both seemed to have been really upset. He played pool, she got drunk, we listened to some music and then there were gunshots. Georgie I saw them on the ground, dead. I'm not crazy I promise I know what I saw."
"You're the first to see the ghosts. Sure we've seen the unfinished pool game, the empty beer bottles, and we've all heard the juke box, with a song playing on it that isn't even listed anymore, but you're the first to see them. You want to know the reason why I think they're ghost?" Ashley shook her head, "I think they're ghost because they have the unfinished task of saying 'I love you'. From what I understand all the love they shared and they never said the words. So now every anniversary of their death they try to say the words."
"Sounds like more of a love story rather then a ghost story."
"I think it is, but it's a love story without a happy ending." Georgie shook her head, "happy endings are overrated anyway." With that Georgie was lost in thought and so was Ashley. She still couldn't believe that Jason and Elizabeth were gone, and that they never got to say the words that everyone in love want to hear.
Ashley took out her cell phone and dialed the number for home. "Hello" she heard Josh answer.
"Hey, I just called to tell you that I love you and that I'm coming home now."
"I love you too, Ashley."
She hung up the phone and hopped off the bar stool. She waved at Georgie and headed out the door. She looked at the pool table before leaving completely and swore that she saw Jason and Elizabeth just holding each other. It was a sight that put a smile on her face rather then send chills down her back.
The End