Disclaimer: I don't own mediator concept, bla bla bla
A/N: Seriously, reviewers...I love you guys more than I love Paul. And that is saying something.
NiceHayley – my faithful nice Hayley. KEEP KICKIN' ASS, GIRL! ( I want to go to New Orleans)
Alda Rethe – moowhaahhaa (I didn't really know what else to say and I believe my reviewers all deserve a mention – for it is you who keep my writing, you have the power)
Mystique Angelique – I LOVE YOUR STORIES MORE!!!!! It's an honour for you to review, m' lady
Rissa aka WriteWitRissa – ok, I TOTALLY noticed I as making Jesse a make out guy but this is because he has waited sooo long to have Suze that he wants to prove himself to her by kissing her lots...OK I LIED, it's actually because my hormones are going a bit schizo at the mo and are making me a bit...boy crazy, and this is going into my writing...I JUST WANT A BOYFRIEND!! IS THAT SO WRONG???
Shaedowe – I'm glad you find this...interesting...hm...
Amy – you are so cool...PAUL IS MINE
ENJOY READING MY CHICAS!!!!!
*********************************************************************
OK, so my meeting with Paul the next day wasn't so bad. He actually treated me with a little bit of respect, you know? He cooked – and he is a very good cook – then, over candles and wine and dinner, he told me a little more about the past of shifting.
Shifters are just stronger versions of mediums and mediators. Paul and I are both shifters. We were treated like gods in the Egyptian times. But eventually people started to treat us differently. They no longer believed we were helpers and guiders, they started to fear us. In now-a-day terms, they thought we were freaks. I think that's a fair evaluation, don't you? Then, after the fear had settled, they started to think - maybe we were a little unstable? Maybe we were making it up? Maybe they should ignore us, diss us, tell us we were wrong? Or just pack us off to a mental asylum? So they did. Or, at least, tried to.
Obviously, this took hundreds of years.
But you can see how my mom treated me when I first told her – packed me off to her shrink for a little cosy chat.
And that's about all that happened at Paul's.
I'm serious!
I know I know, I was just as shocked! Normally he can't resist my cherry chap stick. Not that I was trying to impress him. Oh no no. I was still plenty scared of his six feet of muscles. And what he could do to Jesse...
The rest of my week passed in a blur. A very slow blur.
You know when you go to an art gallery, and you see those painting that are just a few swipes of blue and grey paint? And you look at them and think, 'What was this guy on when he painted this?' Well, I think I understand now.
No, I'm not doing drugs.
It's just, that is how I would portray that week. A slow blur of nothing interesting.
A few heart-rendering kisses from Jesse, a few winks from Paul, and a few chats with Sean.
Not much.
But I was saving up for this weekend.
This weekend, I was going to mediate Sean.
I was going to have to travel to the other side of California, to his ex- girlfriend's house. And somehow convince her it wasn't her fault he died.
Hmm. Now who can spot the difficulty in this?
But it was my duty.
Shove duty, it was my job.
Sean was pretty hyped. He was jumping about, well, materialising about. He was mega excited about moving on, but really nervous about his Chrissie's reaction (his girlfriend). He really did love her. It was exactly a week since his death this Saturday. The Saturday I would be visiting. I knew Chrissie was gonna be heart-broken. But Sean wanted her to know how he felt. So she could move on, as well as him. Obviously she wouldn't be moving on into the great unknown, unlike Sean.
I understood.
Kinda.
So after catching about fifty buses (why not just get a bus to drive directly from one side of CA to the other?) I had to walk about a mile to her house. With Sean constantly at my side, whispering "This way. That way. Get off this stop."
Finally I reached her house.
I knocked on the door.
And received one of the biggest shocks of my life...
Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. But that's how it felt. Lemme explain a few things, first. Sean and I have been getting closer recently. He's been a really nice friend to me, and vice versa.
So I felt like ripping out Chrissie's heart and shoving it down her throat when she answered the door...her new boyfriend busy necking her from behind.
I obviously didn't know it was her when she answered the door, I mean, I've never seen her before in my life. But judging by the way Sean was hyperventilating beside me (how did he do that, anyway? HE CAN'T EVEN BREATHE! HE IS A GHOST) I guessed pretty soon it was her.
I mean, seriously! What. A. Bitch.
Her boyfriend DIED for her!!!!
A WEEK AGO.
SEVEN DAYS.
And she's already NECKING someone else????
So after a few minutes of me gawking at her and her giggling stupidly saying, "Stop it, Greg. Stop it! Oh my God, I am so gonna get you for this! Hehehehe. Greg!" I finally introduced myself.
"Hi, my name's Suze. I was wondering, have you seen Sean recently? 'Cos he gave me his address and told me if he wasn't there, he would probably be here instead. So, is he here?" I had the satisfaction of seeing her face turn bright red before she said, "I'm sorry, Sean isn't here at the moment."
Then I dug the knife in further.
"Oh yeah, that's right! I saw that story on the news! Sean died, didn't he? He died saving you. I can't believe I forgot! But, then again, it seems like you did too, didn't you? Oh, and Sean says not to blame yourself for his death. I guess there's no need for him to worry about that, eh?" With that I turned my back on her and stormed down the road.
I heard Chrissie in the background squealing, "No seriously, Greg, stop it. Just get the hell away from me!" I turned and saw her slamming her front door in Greg's face, who, might I say, is a hundred times uglier than Sean? And what was Sean doing with Chrissie anyway? Her voice was like a pig's squeal.
Sean was nowhere to be seen.
While I was worried about him being OK and not doing anything stupid, I was even more worried about me finding my way home.
After a few hours, I did eventually arrive home, a little shaken. I officially hate buses. Full of clingy ghosts and bums. I'm not even kidding. Ew, ew and ew.
I stormed up to my room and showered and scrubbed for about two hours before I finally emerged, squeaky clean with re-volumized hair.
Sean was on my bed.
He had his head in his hands. He looked up at me when I entered. His face was glistening with heavy tears. He was silently crying.
I almost burst out crying.
That's twice Sean's made me feel tearful. I must be malfunctioning or something.
"Oh, Sean, I am so-"
"Don't, Suze. Just...don't, okay?" Sean lowered his head again. It was dark outside and Sean's unearthly glow was cold.
Suddenly he let out an inhuman cry that tore my heart in two. I ran over to him and hugged him like a baby.
This time there was no silent crying.
Just a heart-broken man, too far gone to care about ego and looks. His unstoppable, unmanly sobs seemed to be making Sean smaller and smaller, with each one that tore itself from his body.
For what seemed like hours, we just sat there. Me cradling Sean and him crying into my lap.
His sobs died down and he just lay there, curled up in a ball with his head in my lap. He was vulnerable and he didn't give a damn about it. He was like a child.
He was homeless. He had no family. It seemed to him he was forgotten. Already a thing of the past. To him, he was unloved. And alone.
I don't know what time I fell asleep, but when I woke up there was Sean, with his eyes closed and his head on my stomach. I was stretched out and very uncomfortable. My neck was gonna be hellishly sore today.
I looked down at the sleeping figure.
Wait a minute... rewind!
Sleeping?
Since when do ghosts sleep?
I lay there on my bed, eyes open wide, stock still. What do I do? What do I do?
Jesse materialised next to my head, standing by my bed.
He looked down at me and then his eyes slowly travelled down to Sean. They widened for a second, then darted back to me.
He cocked an eyebrow.
I just shrugged my shoulders. This movement seemed to do the trick though, because next thing I knew, Sean was stirring. He sat up and looked at me, then Jesse.
"Hi. I'm sorry, I guess I was sleeping," his voice was laced with sorrow and was cracking, but he was trying to hide it.
"Urm, Sean? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but ghosts don't sleep." I was sat against my headboard. I stretched my legs, then arms, then everything else. It took quite a while.
"Really?" Asked Sean when I was finished. "I guess I was daydreaming then."
"Hmm." I got up and stretched some more. I leant up and kissed Jesse on the cheek. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sean wince and look away.
Yesterdays events suddenly slapped me in the face like a cold, wet fish. I quickly excused myself to the bathroom where I washed, changed, and brushed my teeth.
When I came back, Sean was gone and Jesse was sat on the window seat, petting Spike.
"Care to explain, Susannah?" He asked with one eyebrow in the eye. A hint of annoyance was glinting in his eyes...and something else...Jealousy?
I hope so.
I sighed and walked over to him. I plonked my butt down next to him and explained everything. After I had, Jesse just sat there in silence. I wondered if he had been listening at all. Or if he was still trying to figure out what I'd just said. I mean, I know talk fast sometimes, but this was just rude.
"Hello-o! Jesse? Hello-o!" I shook my hand in front of his face but it made no difference. I swivelled on my butt and brought my knees up to my chest, then kicked them out at Jesse. At first I did it kind of gently, just hitting him lightly with my toes, but then I used more force. To bring Jesse out of his stupor I had to use so much force that he ended up flying off the window seat.
I snorted then collapsed in giggles.
Ghosts can fly!
Jesse just frowned at me then pulled me onto the floor. I finished giggling and stared at his angry face.
"What? What?! What else was I supposed to do?"
"You could have left me be?" Jesse raised one eyebrow at me.
"Now why would I want to do that? It's so much more fun to kick you." I grinned at him in what I hoped looked like a maniac's smile. Jesse just prodded me and dematerialised.
I sat on the floor for a while longer then got up and sorted out my hair.
A/N: Seriously, reviewers...I love you guys more than I love Paul. And that is saying something.
NiceHayley – my faithful nice Hayley. KEEP KICKIN' ASS, GIRL! ( I want to go to New Orleans)
Alda Rethe – moowhaahhaa (I didn't really know what else to say and I believe my reviewers all deserve a mention – for it is you who keep my writing, you have the power)
Mystique Angelique – I LOVE YOUR STORIES MORE!!!!! It's an honour for you to review, m' lady
Rissa aka WriteWitRissa – ok, I TOTALLY noticed I as making Jesse a make out guy but this is because he has waited sooo long to have Suze that he wants to prove himself to her by kissing her lots...OK I LIED, it's actually because my hormones are going a bit schizo at the mo and are making me a bit...boy crazy, and this is going into my writing...I JUST WANT A BOYFRIEND!! IS THAT SO WRONG???
Shaedowe – I'm glad you find this...interesting...hm...
Amy – you are so cool...PAUL IS MINE
ENJOY READING MY CHICAS!!!!!
*********************************************************************
OK, so my meeting with Paul the next day wasn't so bad. He actually treated me with a little bit of respect, you know? He cooked – and he is a very good cook – then, over candles and wine and dinner, he told me a little more about the past of shifting.
Shifters are just stronger versions of mediums and mediators. Paul and I are both shifters. We were treated like gods in the Egyptian times. But eventually people started to treat us differently. They no longer believed we were helpers and guiders, they started to fear us. In now-a-day terms, they thought we were freaks. I think that's a fair evaluation, don't you? Then, after the fear had settled, they started to think - maybe we were a little unstable? Maybe we were making it up? Maybe they should ignore us, diss us, tell us we were wrong? Or just pack us off to a mental asylum? So they did. Or, at least, tried to.
Obviously, this took hundreds of years.
But you can see how my mom treated me when I first told her – packed me off to her shrink for a little cosy chat.
And that's about all that happened at Paul's.
I'm serious!
I know I know, I was just as shocked! Normally he can't resist my cherry chap stick. Not that I was trying to impress him. Oh no no. I was still plenty scared of his six feet of muscles. And what he could do to Jesse...
The rest of my week passed in a blur. A very slow blur.
You know when you go to an art gallery, and you see those painting that are just a few swipes of blue and grey paint? And you look at them and think, 'What was this guy on when he painted this?' Well, I think I understand now.
No, I'm not doing drugs.
It's just, that is how I would portray that week. A slow blur of nothing interesting.
A few heart-rendering kisses from Jesse, a few winks from Paul, and a few chats with Sean.
Not much.
But I was saving up for this weekend.
This weekend, I was going to mediate Sean.
I was going to have to travel to the other side of California, to his ex- girlfriend's house. And somehow convince her it wasn't her fault he died.
Hmm. Now who can spot the difficulty in this?
But it was my duty.
Shove duty, it was my job.
Sean was pretty hyped. He was jumping about, well, materialising about. He was mega excited about moving on, but really nervous about his Chrissie's reaction (his girlfriend). He really did love her. It was exactly a week since his death this Saturday. The Saturday I would be visiting. I knew Chrissie was gonna be heart-broken. But Sean wanted her to know how he felt. So she could move on, as well as him. Obviously she wouldn't be moving on into the great unknown, unlike Sean.
I understood.
Kinda.
So after catching about fifty buses (why not just get a bus to drive directly from one side of CA to the other?) I had to walk about a mile to her house. With Sean constantly at my side, whispering "This way. That way. Get off this stop."
Finally I reached her house.
I knocked on the door.
And received one of the biggest shocks of my life...
Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. But that's how it felt. Lemme explain a few things, first. Sean and I have been getting closer recently. He's been a really nice friend to me, and vice versa.
So I felt like ripping out Chrissie's heart and shoving it down her throat when she answered the door...her new boyfriend busy necking her from behind.
I obviously didn't know it was her when she answered the door, I mean, I've never seen her before in my life. But judging by the way Sean was hyperventilating beside me (how did he do that, anyway? HE CAN'T EVEN BREATHE! HE IS A GHOST) I guessed pretty soon it was her.
I mean, seriously! What. A. Bitch.
Her boyfriend DIED for her!!!!
A WEEK AGO.
SEVEN DAYS.
And she's already NECKING someone else????
So after a few minutes of me gawking at her and her giggling stupidly saying, "Stop it, Greg. Stop it! Oh my God, I am so gonna get you for this! Hehehehe. Greg!" I finally introduced myself.
"Hi, my name's Suze. I was wondering, have you seen Sean recently? 'Cos he gave me his address and told me if he wasn't there, he would probably be here instead. So, is he here?" I had the satisfaction of seeing her face turn bright red before she said, "I'm sorry, Sean isn't here at the moment."
Then I dug the knife in further.
"Oh yeah, that's right! I saw that story on the news! Sean died, didn't he? He died saving you. I can't believe I forgot! But, then again, it seems like you did too, didn't you? Oh, and Sean says not to blame yourself for his death. I guess there's no need for him to worry about that, eh?" With that I turned my back on her and stormed down the road.
I heard Chrissie in the background squealing, "No seriously, Greg, stop it. Just get the hell away from me!" I turned and saw her slamming her front door in Greg's face, who, might I say, is a hundred times uglier than Sean? And what was Sean doing with Chrissie anyway? Her voice was like a pig's squeal.
Sean was nowhere to be seen.
While I was worried about him being OK and not doing anything stupid, I was even more worried about me finding my way home.
After a few hours, I did eventually arrive home, a little shaken. I officially hate buses. Full of clingy ghosts and bums. I'm not even kidding. Ew, ew and ew.
I stormed up to my room and showered and scrubbed for about two hours before I finally emerged, squeaky clean with re-volumized hair.
Sean was on my bed.
He had his head in his hands. He looked up at me when I entered. His face was glistening with heavy tears. He was silently crying.
I almost burst out crying.
That's twice Sean's made me feel tearful. I must be malfunctioning or something.
"Oh, Sean, I am so-"
"Don't, Suze. Just...don't, okay?" Sean lowered his head again. It was dark outside and Sean's unearthly glow was cold.
Suddenly he let out an inhuman cry that tore my heart in two. I ran over to him and hugged him like a baby.
This time there was no silent crying.
Just a heart-broken man, too far gone to care about ego and looks. His unstoppable, unmanly sobs seemed to be making Sean smaller and smaller, with each one that tore itself from his body.
For what seemed like hours, we just sat there. Me cradling Sean and him crying into my lap.
His sobs died down and he just lay there, curled up in a ball with his head in my lap. He was vulnerable and he didn't give a damn about it. He was like a child.
He was homeless. He had no family. It seemed to him he was forgotten. Already a thing of the past. To him, he was unloved. And alone.
I don't know what time I fell asleep, but when I woke up there was Sean, with his eyes closed and his head on my stomach. I was stretched out and very uncomfortable. My neck was gonna be hellishly sore today.
I looked down at the sleeping figure.
Wait a minute... rewind!
Sleeping?
Since when do ghosts sleep?
I lay there on my bed, eyes open wide, stock still. What do I do? What do I do?
Jesse materialised next to my head, standing by my bed.
He looked down at me and then his eyes slowly travelled down to Sean. They widened for a second, then darted back to me.
He cocked an eyebrow.
I just shrugged my shoulders. This movement seemed to do the trick though, because next thing I knew, Sean was stirring. He sat up and looked at me, then Jesse.
"Hi. I'm sorry, I guess I was sleeping," his voice was laced with sorrow and was cracking, but he was trying to hide it.
"Urm, Sean? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but ghosts don't sleep." I was sat against my headboard. I stretched my legs, then arms, then everything else. It took quite a while.
"Really?" Asked Sean when I was finished. "I guess I was daydreaming then."
"Hmm." I got up and stretched some more. I leant up and kissed Jesse on the cheek. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sean wince and look away.
Yesterdays events suddenly slapped me in the face like a cold, wet fish. I quickly excused myself to the bathroom where I washed, changed, and brushed my teeth.
When I came back, Sean was gone and Jesse was sat on the window seat, petting Spike.
"Care to explain, Susannah?" He asked with one eyebrow in the eye. A hint of annoyance was glinting in his eyes...and something else...Jealousy?
I hope so.
I sighed and walked over to him. I plonked my butt down next to him and explained everything. After I had, Jesse just sat there in silence. I wondered if he had been listening at all. Or if he was still trying to figure out what I'd just said. I mean, I know talk fast sometimes, but this was just rude.
"Hello-o! Jesse? Hello-o!" I shook my hand in front of his face but it made no difference. I swivelled on my butt and brought my knees up to my chest, then kicked them out at Jesse. At first I did it kind of gently, just hitting him lightly with my toes, but then I used more force. To bring Jesse out of his stupor I had to use so much force that he ended up flying off the window seat.
I snorted then collapsed in giggles.
Ghosts can fly!
Jesse just frowned at me then pulled me onto the floor. I finished giggling and stared at his angry face.
"What? What?! What else was I supposed to do?"
"You could have left me be?" Jesse raised one eyebrow at me.
"Now why would I want to do that? It's so much more fun to kick you." I grinned at him in what I hoped looked like a maniac's smile. Jesse just prodded me and dematerialised.
I sat on the floor for a while longer then got up and sorted out my hair.