Hello, my loves! Well, isn't that a way to wake up! Nice little scare, eh! First as always, love to my girls Tm12Brady, GoldenGirl1920, ClaymoreQueen6176 and wwechristina for their support! Second, I hate to leave this cliffhanger going for a while, but I will be on vacation the week of July 4 and I'm not sure if I'll get to write as I prepare for my trip. Hope y'all understand and I promise I'll get the next chapter after this out as soon as I can!
But now, let's see what our ghost has to tell Cherry. It's a heartbreaker and quite a doozy! Enjoy!
Shelby
Cherry's eyes were saucer wide, her pulse was going through the roof, she was in a cold sweat, and she was too frightened to make a sound or breathe. It was one thing when the ghost was seen only downstairs inside or around the jukebox. But now, this woman, whoever she is, was sitting on her bed, staring at her with her dead eyes. And yet, they still looked melancholy, maybe sympathetic to Cherry's terrified state.
The specter spoke in that heavy Southern drawl, with a reverb echoing softly around the room, "Please don't be afraid. I won't hurt you or your babies. I need your help. Come and I'll explain as much as they'll let me." With that, she stood up and floated like a mist out of the bedroom. Cherry, left trembling and confused, thought about ignoring all of this. She wanted to just go back to bed, wrap herself up in her comforter and pretend it didn't happen.
But Cherry knew she couldn't do that. Her curiosity got the better of her. She looked over at the clock beside the bed: 1:15AM. It was twenty minutes earlier than the last couple of nights. Her mind raced, "Maybe she is stuck and has to relive what happened to her every night at the same time. Maybe she found the strength to come across to talk to me. And who is "they"?" She slowly stood up and walked down the stairs in her white tank top and shorts PJs. Holding her arms and shivering the entire way down, the chills all over her body multiplied the closer she got to the jukebox.
She came downstairs to find the spirit standing by the jukebox. "Here Comes My Baby" still playing on a constant loop, but now in a more hushed volume. Cherry sat on the couch not taking her tear-filled eyes off this woman, who smiled at her. Cherry's voice stammered as she finally got out the words, "Who… Who are you? What's your name?" The ghost gave a response, "Shelby. My name's Shelby. I'm glad to finally meet you formally, Leslie."
Cherry gulped and asked, "You know my real name. What do you want from me? Are you lost going to the light?" Shelby sighed heavy, "No, honey. I need your help to set things right so I can be together with Bobby forever." Cherry asked, "Who is Bobby?" Shelby smiled sadly, "My true love. He and I were so in love and we should've never been parted. I guess you don't know what it's like to be forced to not be with your true love." Cherry shook her head, remembering how she and Drew were forced to keep their love secret and how they almost lost each other in Scotland, "No. Actually, I know exactly what that feels like."
Shelby sighed, "And I can see you know about true love. I've seen you with your husband. You can see how much he adores you by the way he looks at you." Cherry grinned, "Yes, he does. And I love him. Shelby, you said you needed my help. Tell me what happened." Shelby looked hesitant, "Now, that you're here and listening, I'm scared you might judge me harshly. And I can't tell you everything. I can't make them angry."
Cherry answered "Shelby it's not my place to judge anyone. I've never been an angel myself. OK, technically I am an Angel but… Anyway, I don't know who they are, but you can tell me as much you are able to. I will not cast judgement on you. You're safe with me." Shelby smiled, "You're so kind. That's part of the reason I chose you. As soon as your husband brought me into your home, I could tell you had a caring heart."
Shelby stood in front of the jukebox, its lights shining through her transparent form. She started to tell her story, "Bobby and I were high school sweethearts. We were so in love from the very beginning of our relationship. He was a year older than me in school. He was so very handsome! Jet black hair and the sweetest pair of blue eyes I've ever seen. I always told him he was my Elvis. He would laugh and say, "I'd rather be your Johnny Cash, darling", and it melted me every time. Your husband is very handsome in that same way." Cherry said, "Yes, he is. And he loves Johnny Cash too."
Shelby continued, her voice started to sound sadder as she explained, "Well, after he graduated high school, he went into the service. I was so scared of this because of that damn war in Vietnam was threatening to pull our country in, but he wouldn't be deterred. He told me he was gonna marry me the moment he got back. He gave me a bracelet as a promise that he would come back to me. Before he left for basic training, he opened a honky tonk near Lower Broadway with his brother, Benjamin. They called it Scooter's, which had been Bobby's nickname his entire life. And when he left, that is where things started going very wrong for me."
Cherry saw Shelby's entire demeanor changed to fear, "While Bobby was in service, Benjamin started trying to flirt with me. At first, I thought he was just joking. He was seven years older than me after all. But eventually, he really turned on the charm. I stopped getting letters from Bobby around the time I was set to graduate. I was so sad and confused. It was like he fell off the face of the Earth or he forgot about me.
"Benjamin consoled me and made me feel good about myself. He was so sweet and charming. He constantly told me how pretty I was and that his brother was a damn fool for letting me go. I started believing him and, on my graduation night, I gave into him and let him kiss me. It was nothing like kissing Bobby. Bobby's lips were so warm and soft. Benjamin's mouth was so cold and unfeeling. I bet your husband is a good kisser. Isn't he?" Cherry didn't realize she had been holding her breath anticipating the story, but she came back into reality and said, "Yes. He's an incredible kisser. He's incredible in every way possible."
Shelby nodded and said, "Well, I didn't like it but I was so lonely and wanting Bobby so bad. So, I let Benjamin…do things to me. He took my virginity one night, and I hated it. It was never how I envisioned my fist time, and I told him I was never doing that again. But he told my Daddy and, being a conservative Christian Bible thumper, he forced me to marry Benjamin. He couldn't even stand to look at me because I had been deflowered outside of marriage. My Momma tried to plead for him to stop it, but he wouldn't listen. So, five days after I finished high school, I was married to a man I didn't love. The brother of the man I never stopped loving."
Suddenly, the air took on a darker, colder feel as Shelby's behavior changed again, "But I found out right away that all that sweetness and charm was nothing but a lie. Benjamin was drunk by the time of our wedding night and he… He beat me and raped me! And it wasn't the last time the damn beatings happened either. I didn't know that he was a violent alcoholic and when he drank too much, he couldn't perform as a husband. So, when he couldn't get it up, he took it out on me with his fists. If you know what I mean." Cherry nodded, "I know what you mean. In fact, I know more about suffering at the hands of a violent bastard more than you realize."
Shelby sobbed, "I tried to leave. I told my parents about everything I endured from him. My Momma wanted to help me. But my Daddy… He was so cold to me. He turned me away and said, "You made your bed, now you're gonna lay in it, little girl!" And Momma didn't dare go against her husband. You just didn't do those things back in my day. I was stuck in a loveless, abusive, sexless marriage at the age of eighteen. I felt like I woke up in Hell every single day." Cherry felt tears well up in her green eyes. Shelby had experienced the same relationship pattern that she had lived with Phil Rumsfeld, and her heart broke for Shelby.
But then, Shelby's mood lightened as she recounted, "And then Bobby came back from service. Even though he was so angry at me for marrying his brother, just seeing his beautiful face gave me so much hope! He confronted me one night, asking why I had married Benjamin and stopped writing him. I was confused and asked him why he stopped writing me. He swore to me that he never stopped writing and that he still loved me. I was taught to never go against your husband and that adultery was a terrible sin, but I had enough of the beatings and knew it wasn't right, no matter what my Daddy had said.
"I went to Scooter's that night to confront Benjamin and saw him in his office, screwing some bleached blonde tramp! I was so angry, but I knew he had obviously lied to me about many things. So, I stayed cool and went back to our house and sifted through things in our closet that he had ordered me to stay out of. And that's when I find them: all of Bobby's letters that he had written to me, and those I had written him. Benjamin had taken them all, intending to take me away from Bobby. I had so much anger and rage, but I knew what I had to do."
Shelby smiled and cried at the same time as she confessed, "I ran to Bobby's house with the letters and showed him what Benjamin had done, how he had betrayed us both. Then, I told him about all his brother had done to me. The beatings, what he did to me on my wedding night, how I tried to leave him but my parents wouldn't help me. And then, I confessed that he was the only man I ever loved and that I never stopped."
The air brightened as Shelby took a breath, "He yanked the letters out of my hands and threw them on the ground. Then, he took me in is arms and kissed me. Oh, did he kiss me! It was so beautiful and perfect. He picked me up and took me to his bedroom. We made love for the first time, and it was sexy and passionate and felt so right. We held each other most of the night and made love over and over again. We began an affair. We fooled around for months, sneaking around, getting time together whenever possible and having sex anywhere and everywhere we could without getting caught. I only felt complete when I was in Bobby's strong arms.
"But we know that wouldn't be enough for us. We needed each other and had to be together. But we were stuck because of Benjamin. One night, he beat me again. After he passed out from the booze, I ran to Bobby. He was so angry, seeing my black eye and bloody lip. He wanted to kill him, but I told him I wouldn't see him in jail because we would never be together. And… I told him that I found out I was pregnant earlier that day!
"I told him that I knew the baby had to be his because Benjamin hadn't touched me like that in months. Our love had created a life! Bobby was so happy! He kissed me and got on his knees, putting his face to my belly. He said, "This is a sign, Shelby. This is the push we needed. I'm not gonna live my life without you anymore!" And that's when he came up with the idea that we would run away together."
Cherry stood up as she saw Shelby start to pace and panic the more into the story she got, "I told him I didn't want him to lose Scooter's. He had put his life savings into it. It was his baby. He told me, "No, Shelby. You are my life and you and our little one are my Babies!" I cried so many happy tears as he made love to me that night. Afterwards, we made a plan to leave together. He knew guys through his military connections that could help us assume new identities and leave town. We even talked about going to Europe or Canada. We didn't care where we went, as long as we were together."
Cherry's throat closed up as she recalled leaving Phil to assume her new identity, leaving Leslie Collins in the dust. Shelby's faced changed, and the song started to sound warped, with the air in the room turning bitterly cold, "We planned to meet in five days at Scooter's after Benjamin fell asleep after he drunk himself into a stupor again. That night, I stayed out of his path as he raged about not getting his dick hard, avoiding getting hit. I saw him slump over on the bed and knew this was it. I got the suitcase I had secretly packed out of the storage shed and met Bobby at Scooter's, just like we planned.
"I found Bobby in the bar area by the jukebox. It was playing Here Comes My Baby. God, he looked so beautiful! I ran to him and he swooped me up in this amazing kiss. He sat me down and asked me if I was ready to spend the rest of our lives together. Our bodies were swaying to the song, slow dancing like we would every night. I told him I had been ready since the day I met him. And he kissed me so deeply. It was our most perfect kiss to date. And it would be our last!"
The room took on an ominous tone and Cherry watched Shelby start to cry, screaming and putting her hands to each side of her head, "I won't tell her anymore! I promise! Don't hurt her or her babies! Please!" Cherry yelled, "Shelby! What's wrong with you? What happened to you and Bobby?" The song started going in reverse and scratching like old vinyl. The lights on the jukebox flickered rapidly and the temperature went ice cold. Shelby's look of pain and sadness struck Cherry's heart as she tearfully screamed, "I can't tell you anymore! They won't let me! You have to see it for yourself!"
Cherry gasped as, much like the night before, Shelby was sucked back into the jukebox in a violent whirlwind. Cherry gasped as, with this, the room went dark. She looked at the time on the wall clock: 1:35 AM. But then, the jukebox turned back on, the lights normal with the water tubes flowing. And "Here Comes My Baby" started up, this time sounding like the normal record.
Cherry ran to the jukebox and called out, looking inside, "No! Shelby! Shelby, come back!" She looked up towards the stairs, "Christine! Get down here! It happened again!" But something shiny caught her lower peripheral vision being moved or pushed from underneath the jukebox. She looked down at the floor and, there sat the silver bracelet with moonstones that Drew had given Christine.
Cherry's eyes widened and she knelt down, bracing one hand on the jukebox. She said in a shaky voice, "Phoenix's bracelet! Jesus, it's been here the whole time. Why didn't I see it before?" Then, Cherry remembered Shelby's story, "Wait, Bobby gave Shelby a promise bracelet before he left. No. No way it's the same one. It's just a coincidence." She reached down and grasped the bracelet with her other hand.
At that exact same time, two and a half hours away, Drew had been asleep for hours, dreaming about his future with Cherry and their babies. They were enjoying the day together, holding hands and playing with the twins. But then, a dark cloud suddenly swept in and his grip on Cherry's hand slipped out of his grasp. She screamed out for him, "Drew! Where are you? Help me!"
Drew woke up in a cold sweat, breathing shallow and freaking out, yelling loudly, "Cherry!" This dream was too real. That terrible feeling was back. He groaned to himself, "I never shoulda left her!" He panicked, running his fingers through his long, black hair as he looked at his cell phone to see if maybe she had sent him a message. All he saw was the time: 1:35 AM.
Christine woke up in a start, swearing she was hearing Cherry call out to her. She rubbed her eyes and said, "Sis, are you dreaming?" She checked the time: 1:35 AM. But when she looked over and saw and empty place beside her, she jumped up and called out as she ran down the stairs, "Cher! Sis, are you OK? I heard you… Oh my GOD! No! Cherry!" She ran to Cherry's fallen body, laying by the jukebox with Chaz and Hunter looking up at the object growling and meowing. She threw herself down by her and cried, "Sis, no! Answer me!"
She gasped as she turned Cherry over on her back. Her eyes were open, but rolled completely in the back of her head. She lay motionless as Christine checked for a pulse. It was still strong, but she could hear Cherry's labored breath. She tapped her on the face, trying to elicit a response to no avail. She shook her shoulders and hollered, "Cherry! Wake up, damn it! Drew needs you! I need you!" But Cherry lay there in a catatonic state, clutching the silver and moonstone bracelet tightly in her hand.