Melinda trudged tiredly upstairs thinking about all the work she needed to get done.
Laundry, inventory, check for estate sales was running through her mind when she knew all she was able to accomplish as the moment was taking a nap.
Jim, being the best husband in the world, would take care of things around the house, and Delia was more than capable of handling the store, but Melinda knew she'd go stir crazy any day now if she wasn't able to get back to her life before flu season had made her its next victim.
Stepping into the bedroom, Melinda gazed longingly at her bed, but knew rest wasn't going to be an option because something felt off; and Melinda had a sinking feeling she knew what it was.
Before she saw her most recent ghostly visitor, he made his presence known.
Clothes flew out of the closet, landing on the bed. Shoes soon followed, stopping only once they hit her dresser. Not feeling that his point had yet been made, he sent her car keys zipping towards her head.
Ducking before any damage could be done, Melinda popped up--a little too quickly judging by the black spots that appeared before her eyes--from her crouching position and laid into her frenzied phantom.
"Hey! What's your problem? Seriously, what's your problem? Because so far you've done about zilch to clue me in, yet our lack of progress is evidently my fault. Well, here I am so let's do this."
She felt a little guilty for lambasting the guy, but enough with the inconvenient appearances.
Blondie materialized next to the bed and pointed to Melinda's dresser, somewhat exasperatedly, to a stack of papers Melinda had never seen before.
Making sure it wasn't another one of his attempts at creating a note since that hadn't really worked out before, Melinda picked up the top paper and saw it was a business proposal drawn up by Ray Willis and addressed to Pitzer Enterprises.
"Ray Willis. Is that you?"
The ghost shook his head and urged her to read on. Flipping to the next paper, Melinda read a handwritten note from Ethan Foster to Ray Willis explaining that their business dealings with Pitzer Enterprises had fallen through.
"You're Ethan Foster?" She got a nod from the ghost. "Ray Willis was your business partner?" Melinda looked up to see him nod again, then she continued to look through the remaining papers. Ethan's situation was explained to her through personal notes, emails, and financial statements.
"Your business was going under and your attempts to sell failed. Your business partner blamed you. He killed you." Melinda didn't wait for Ethan to respond, she knew she was correct.
Deciding he'd been patient long enough, Ethan's gestures became demanding again, he still wanted her to go somewhere.
Melinda went to the phone and dialed Jim's cell to tell him what she needed to do, only there was no dial tone.
"That's weird." Melinda picked up her cell phone instead. She looked down at the blank screen, her cell unresponsive. She cocked an eyebrow at Ethan but knew she wouldn't get anywhere until she helped him.
Dressing quickly (in the bathroom) and retrieving her car keys (from the floor), Melinda considered stalling for time until Jim could get back, but any plans of that ended when a pillow whopped her upside the head.
"Okay, okay, I can take a hint. Were you this bossy when you were alive?"
I know it's short but I'll have more soon. Perhaps not as entertaining as the previous chapters (at least I hope they're entertaining!), but this chapter needed to happen so the rest of the story can be told. Thanks for the reviews and messages. They give me such a warm, fuzzy feeling:)