Chapter 9 -- "Everybody Deserves a Second Chance"
"Edmund, will you be faraway for much longer?" Lily asked him because she really wanted to know.
The ghost rubbed his eyes. "Sorry, Lily. Telekinesis is no walk in the park. But I'm done for now."
"Were you able to help your friend?" Lily asked, because she sensed that had been Edmund's purpose.
"Neither in life nor in afterlife," he sighed, still hearing Brooke's heartbroken accusations.
"But you're not giving up are you?" Lily asked.
Edmund shook his head. "I could never give up on Brooke."
"How about Maria?" Opal demanded, clicking her cell phone shut.
"Her I could give up on," Edmund replied. "In fact, I already have."
Opal walked over to the apparition. She could barely make out his features but what she saw did not look happy.
"Edmund, you won't rest easy until you resolve things with Maria," she told him. "Believe you me, I know about these things. An unhappy marriage is a sure recipe for a restless spirit."
"I'm not restless. I'm simply on a quest. My time machine, remember? Matter? Antimatter? Boom?"
"And also you want to know why you were written out," Lily pointed out. She had an excellent memory and it seemed important to her to keep track of all the facts in this case.
"Edmund, Maria is in hell!" Opal cried out. "She wants me to hold a séance in order to contact you so that you can square things for her with your kids!"
Edmund seemed unimpressed by Opal's summary of the situation.
But Stuart was touched.
"Edmund, wherever you are, please help Maria!" he implored. "Everybody deserves a second chance!"
"Stuart is right," Lily breathed. "Everybody deserves a second chance!"
"You bet Stuart is right, honey," Opal chimed in. "How about it Edmund? Will you appear to Maria and your kids and heal the hurt in their hearts?"
Edmund threw up his ghostly hands in defeat. "Okay, Opal, you win! Do your stuff and I will try my level best to heal the hurt in every heart that shows up!"
Opal smiled. "That's more like it! Now where are we gonna hold this shindig?"
It was decided that the séance would take place at Wildwind, where Edmund's spirit would have the strongest link to the temporal plane. Opal called Maria and Maria slipped a note under Maddie's door when her daughter refused to speak with her face-to-face. Next she called her son Sam who was staying with Tad Martin, having recently learned that Tad was his birth mother's uncle.
"Sam, this is your Mother."
"That's your story."
"Sam, I need you to come to Wildwind tonight at midnight."
"Dream on." He blinked. "At midnight?"
"We're having a sit-down séance for six. We're going to contact your Father."
"My Father is Bobby--"
"Stop that, Sam. You know what I'm saying."
"Yes, but do YOU know what you're saying?"
Maria hoped so with all of her hurting heart.
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"Wow, a séance!" Zift cried out. "What shall we go as?"
"It's a séance, not a costume party," Zartz replied. "But we do have to pick out an acceptable form, I suppose. Unless you'd rather stay home and watch it on TV."
Zetz practically shook off his bottle top. "We gotta be there in person! I wouldn't miss this for the Universe!"
"Why not go?" Zartz smiled. "Perhaps the shock of being contacted by Opal will jar Edmund's memory and the location of the time machine will be revealed."
"Let's bring popcorn!" Zift suggested.
But Zartz had a better idea. "Let's BE popcorn!"
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Brooke had cried herself to sleep.
Now in a dream she held Edmund and told him all the reasons she hated him. Then she told him all the reasons she loved him. Then she kissed him as if matter was about to crash into anti-matter and destroy all material reality.
"Brooke, things will get better for you. I promise."
"There is no me without you. How can anything get better?"
"I'll tell you tonight at midnight."
Will Edmund's spirit forgive Maria? Will things get better for Brooke? Is all material reality going to explode as matter collides into antimatter? Lots of chapters, lots of surprises still to come! Please read on! Your Review is welcome!