Chapter One

That first day started like any normal day, really. Melinda's alarm clock ripped her out of a halfway peaceful sleep at 7:45am, and she was not pleased. She had had severe difficulties sleeping lately. She was three months pregnant with her and Jim's second child, and already the baby was getting in moods during which he or she would kick constantly and painfully, sometimes keeping her awake all night.

The sky outside the bay window that morning in her and Jim's bedroom was gray and dull; it looked like it could start pouring rain at any moment. Already, at only 7:45 in the morning, something felt off. Melinda felt like there was a cloud hanging over her, a feeling she had only been familiar with a few times before, and each time, it was related to a spirit. And each time the spirit was a bitch to cross over.

Reluctantly, Melinda climbed out of bed and stumbled to Aiden's room to get him dressed and ready for school. Jim had left for work at the hospital around four o'clock that morning, meaning all Melinda had to do was get Aiden off to school and force herself to go to work. She made French toast for breakfast after getting Aiden dressed, and he was on the bus by 8:00am. Then, after dressing herself in jeans, a white maternity t-shirt and an extremely loose cardigan, Melinda was out into the rainy morning by 8:15.

Knowing she had plenty of time before work, Melinda stopped at Village Java for a green tea, one of her random pregnancy cravings. As she was in line, the strangest feeling came over her and, knowing there was something — or someone — there, she scanned the room with her eyes. The coffee shop was fairly full, considering it was Friday morning and most people, like her, were on their way to work and needed their coffee or whatever their poison was.

For a moment, Melinda saw nothing, no one, but she could feel someone there, watching her. Watching everybody. She couldn't describe the way she felt. She was chilled and sick to her stomach, but that wasn't all. She felt so dizzy she was sure she was about to fall over, and she grabbed on to a nearby table. Something told her that wasn't the pregnancy and was instead something else entirely. Then, in the corner, she saw her.

The spirit was a young woman, maybe twenty-one or so. She was blonde and absolutely stunning, but that wasn't the first thing Melinda noticed. She was staring at Melinda angrily, a piercing stare that she swore could have burned holes right through her. The girl knew Melinda could see her, but Melinda looked away anyway, hoping she spirit would get the hint that she was not in the mood today, not that she was ever in the mood to deal with a spirit like that.

Finally, it was Melinda's turn to order so she stepped up and ordered a small green tea, still attempting unsuccessfully to ignore the spirit. As spirits do, the girl made it incredibly difficult and appeared right next to Melinda, causing her to jump a mile and earn herself a few stares from people around her. "You have to help me. I have to get back what's mine," were the girl's first words to Melinda, and she sounded so unbelievably angry that it sent a chill racing down Melinda's spine and turned her blood to ice.

"Not right now," Melinda said through her teeth, trying to be discreet, one hand protectively on her stomach as she waited for her order off to the side.

"Now!" the girl yelled, and a cold gust of wind blew through the small coffee shop, causing confused looks from other customers as they looked around, wondering what the hell was going on. Finally, Melinda's order was ready and she raced out the door, ignoring the fact that she was so dizzy she could have easily fallen down. The girl followed her, of course.

"Okay, you know what?" Melinda said loudly as she rounded the corner to a little spot where she was sure no one would see her. "Talking to me like that is not the way to get me to help you. What is your name and what do you want?" She felt like she was talking to their six-year-old son instead of who she was pretty sure was a grown woman.

"Don't you know who I am?" The spirit continued to stare at Melinda angrily, eyeing Mel's pregnant stomach. "My name is Erin. He's a murderer. He took what's mine, and now I need you to help me take what's his."

"Okay, you're going to have to be a bit more specific—" The spirit — Erin — disappeared mid-sentence, leaving Melinda feeling even more sick than usual, wondering what she meant when she acted like Melinda should know who she was.

I'll check news sources online at the store, she thought as she began the trek back to her car, her green tea in her hand. The rain stopped halfway to the store, making Melinda wish she had just walked from Village Java, but then it started again, and she rushed into her toasty antique shop right at 8:30. Knowing she had another thirty minutes until they opened, she pulled her laptop out of her bag and plugged it in up on the counter. Typing in "Erin + death + Grandview," three news stories from two days ago popped up.

Melinda had assumed that it was probably a murder by the way that Erin was talking, but she wasn't prepared for what she found. The little snippet she read was from the newspaper in Bay Ridge, a town not far from Grandview.

In the early-morning hours of December 10th, a man walking his dog on a trail in northern Bay Ridge stumbled upon a human skull, immediately calling police, and the skull has officially been identified by dental records as that belonging to Erin Grant, 22, a Grandview woman who went missing in 1995 after supposedly being discharged from the Parkway Psychiatric Hospital in Bay Ridge. Nearby more bones were located: a humerus, a femur, ribs, and a fibula.

At the time of her admission to the psychiatric hospital, the victim had been suffering from severe postpartum depression after giving birth to her first child and was involuntarily committed by her husband, Michael Grant of Bay Ridge. Foul play is suspected considering the state of the bones, and a murder investigation into her death has now begun, but police have no immediate leads. If you have a tip, call the Bay Ridge Police Department.

After she finished reading it, Melinda slammed her laptop shut with unnecessary force. She felt sick. Erin had only been twenty-two, plenty younger than Melinda herself, with literally her entire life ahead of her, and it had all been ripped away.

There was something else, though, something that was bothering Mel. She couldn't quite pinpoint it, but it almost seemed as though Erin was angry with Melinda specifically, instead of only the man who took her life, which made absolutely no sense at all. She sipped her green tea quietly, pondering, biting the inside of her cheek and staring out the front window. The town square looked beautiful all the time, but especially in the rain, which was coming down in sheets now.

What Erin herself had said and what that article said haunted Melinda for the rest of the afternoon, which was slow business-wise, and that didn't help. It just gave her time to sit there and wonder what to do. She wasn't sure what else she could do for Erin until she appeared again and gave Melinda more information. This was going to be a weird day.

The day was long and slow. By 4:30, Erin had never reappeared, which was frustrating enough, and on top of that, the store had only had sixteen customers (yes, she counted). It left Melinda far too much time to think. Jim had called around three o'clock to tell her that he had picked Aiden up and asked her if she was alright. Even though she really felt quite down and blah, she did her best to convince him that she was fine. It didn't work, and by the time the phone call ended, she had promised him she would close up early and come home at five o'clock, much earlier than normal.

The doors of the store were locked by 4:45, and Melinda was in her car on the way home within five minutes. She was almost home when Erin finally appeared again, and she seemed even angrier than before. "I read about what happened to you," Melinda said before Erin could say anything. "Do you remember anything about what happened to you? Anything at all? I just want to help."

When Erin spoke, it was quiet, and there was no anger in her voice. Melinda almost couldn't hear her over the rain that was beating against her car windows. "I've been wandering for so long. Lost. And then all of a sudden, I felt a pull. To you. To Grandview. I grew up here." Melinda snuck a look over at Erin, and Melinda could have sworn Erin's blue eyes were filled with tears. Gone was the angry girl she had first met. "I can't remember anything. All I know is that I never left."

And with that, Erin was gone, leaving Melinda as confused as ever. All I know is that I never left. Melinda turned Erin's words over and over in her mind the rest of the way home.

Melinda pulled in the driveway and breathed a sigh of relief, extremely anxious to eat an entire pint of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and take a hot bath, and see her son and husband. She knew Jim would probably ask what was wrong, and he did, almost the second she walked in the door. "What happened today?" he asked her, wrapping his arms around her as she closed the door with her foot. Her facial expression must have given her away, like always.

"Nothing. Why do you ask?" she lied, hugging him tight.

"You just didn't sound right on the phone. Ghost?" Jim pulled away and studied her face. She wasn't meeting his eyes, and that told him everything he needed to know. Definitely a ghost.

She nodded. "Did you hear about the bones they found in Bay Ridge?" she asked as she hung her cardigan up, hoping he would put two and two together.

"Yeah, I heard a couple guys at the hospital talking about it. Is that your ghost?"

All Melinda could do was nod again. "I just really don't want to talk about this right now. It's been a long day. I'm ready to go take a bath and maybe try to eat something." She scanned the house with her eyes. "Where's Aiden?"

Jim smiled at the mention of their son. "Upstairs, playing. He finished his worksheet for school and I gave him his bath. He's got a couple hours of playtime before bed." He sighed and put his hands on his wife's shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "After your bath, will you tell me what happened today and why you sounded like you did on the phone?"

Melinda nodded reluctantly and wrapped her arms around her husband's waist, kissing him once before resting her head on his chest. "I think I can do that," she said, hoping maybe he would forget. But really, that wasn't like Jim at all.

Melinda gave him one last squeeze and climbed the stairs to draw herself a bath, throwing Jim a glance over her shoulder. The nearly scalding hot bath water was divine and relaxed Melinda's muscles almost completely, melting away at least some of the stress. Even the bath couldn't take away the strange feeling she had had since that morning, a feeling of depression and lingering dread that she couldn't explain. Soon, though, Melinda sank down into the water, and slowly drifted off, listening to the drip of faucet…

Melinda couldn't breathe. There were hands wrapped tightly around her neck, constricting her airway almost completely. There was a baby crying nearby, loudly, a piercing and pained cry. At first, with the edges of her vision darkening, she couldn't make out the face of the man who was attempting to viciously strangle her; all she could see was the outline of him, and feel his hands around her throat.

The man was violently shaking her as he choked her, slamming her head into something hard repeatedly, so hard her vision blacked out completely for a moment. And then, when her vision was clear, she saw him. It was Jim's face, and Jim's hands wrapped around her neck.

Melinda woke up screaming louder than she had ever screamed in her entire life. Jim had climbed the stairs, busted through the bathroom door and was at her side in seconds, wrapping her in a towel and lifting her up out of the water by her arms. "Mel! What happened? Are you okay?" His blue eyes were frantic, searching her face and her body for injuries.

Melinda cried into Jim's shoulder for a moment, unable to speak. When she finally did, it was shaky and weak, wavering with emotion. "I fell asleep in the tub. I had a dream, or a nightmare, really." Jim nodded, listening intently, stroking her arms comfortingly all the while. "It was about my ghost, I think. She was being strangled… I couldn't see his face at first. I was being choked and he was bashing my head against something, but when I could see clearly…" She trailed off, shivering. Jim hugged her close. "He had your face."

Confused, he studied Melinda again, unsure of what to say. That was when he saw them. On her neck, there were marks shaped perfectly like fingers, like somebody had attempted to choke her to death. He said nothing and hugged Melinda tightly to his chest, rubbing her back.

It was going to be a long night, and even he knew that this spirit was going to be a hard one.