A Little Girl's Wish

Chapter 1: Losing Her

Melinda stood there frozen in shock as she looked down at her own body. She felt numb despite a deep down panic that her mind was suppressing. She spent her life crossing ghosts over into the light and for as long as she can remember she has known what to expect from her death, having a unique experience of never having to wonder what happens after death and therefore never fearing death, however, she couldn't wrap her mind around her death.

"Melinda!" she heard Jim yell pulling her back to her surroundings, however before she could look towards her husband she felt the wind knocked out from her and then saw him run towards her body. It took Melinda a second to register that what had just happened was that her husband had accidentally run through her. 'Oh god, no wonder ghosts hate that!' she thought.

"No this can't be happening!" Melinda said as she watched Jim desperately check her for signs of life to no avail. He immediately begins compressions while calling out for Bobby to grab the AED from the ambulance.

"Come on, Mel, stay with me!" his strained voice cracking. She felt her desperation rising in her. She wanted to come back to him and her life and she'd do anything for that but it was like something was stopping her from getting back to it.

Bobby ran back with the AED and she watched as they shocked her once before resuming chest compressions. She looked around the crowd before locking eyes with Gabriel who smiled at her as if excited to see her dead and she felt a chill run down her spine at the thought.

After a second shock, she watched as Jim went to resume CPR again only for Bobby to try and pull him back.

"She's gone!" he said and Jim shook his head.

"No! We can't give up!" he yelled shoving Bobby off him to continue CPR refusing to give up.

"Jim stop! She's gone" he said trying to pull him back again but Jim shrugged him off again before giving her two breaths tears now streaming down his cheeks.

"No! I can't lose her!" he yelled at him. "Please" he begged in a strained whisper.

"She's gone man, I'm sorry!" Bobby said as he finally seized CPR.

"I'm sorry," Melinda said tears in her eyes. "I didn't want to leave you," she said as she watched Jim collapse to the ground.

Two days later, Jim sat in his kitchen numbly looking out the window.

"Can I make you something to eat?" his mother asked. She got in the day before to be there for him after losing his wife.

"I'm not hungry!" he said.

"You haven't eaten since…" she said trailing off when Jim gave her a warning look to drop it.

He ignored the worried look from his mother, hating the pity he keeps getting from her and everyone else. All he wanted was to talk to her, to know that she was alright. He wondered if she crossed over yet or if she was still here. 'Does she want to talk to me too but can't?' he wondered. The cruel irony is that the one who helped so many cross over into the light now has no one to return the favor for her.

"I'm here, Jim. I wish you could hear me" she said rubbing his left cheek but was sad to see that he didn't seem to feel her here.

"Mom, I appreciate you coming out…"

"Of course, that's what family does…"

"I just… feel like I could use a little time by myself," he said wanting to try and talk with Melinda even though he knows he won't be able to hear her, he needs to talk to her still.

"You're sure?" she asked and he nodded.

"Okay, honey, I get it, having some space is important too. I will go into town and go shopping, I am one call away" Faith said.

"Thanks, Mom. Can you do me a favor actually?"

"Of course, anything, whatever you need."

"Mel's keys are on the side table, the one with the black key topper is the key to her store, it's right in town," he said and Faith went over and grabbed the keys.

"Yeah I remember it"

"Can you put a sign up that says something along the lines of closed until further notice and just make sure you lock up when you leave?" he said. Her death made front page news as she died saving several children at a public memorial for the anniversary of a plane crash that caused hundreds of deaths. So while he is sure most people would expect the store to be closed he still knows that Melinda would want a sign put up so it doesn't just seem to be abandoned for no reason.

"Of course, honey, anything else?" she asked and he shook his head.

He watched as Faith left and then sighed, "Melinda are you here?" he asked sadly.

"I'm right here," she said.

He scoffed, "I don't know why I waited for you to respond as if I magically inherited your gift"

Melinda tried to figure out how she could communicate with him. She knows that it will be a while before she fully gets the hang of the ghost thing enough to communicate more with him but in the meantime, she can at least try to send him a sign that she is here. She saw a pen on the table and while she wasn't able to pick it up she was able to move it enough that hopefully Jim would get the message.

"You're here," he said. "God, I wish I could talk to you… I miss you so much! And I'm so sorry! I tried to save you… I just couldn't"

"No Jim! That's not your fault, you couldn't have saved me, no one could have!" Melinda said.

"I know you are probably saying something like there was nothing I could've done but I just… I can't help but blame myself. I love you so much and I just can't imagine my life without you. I want you to be at peace, I know being in the light is where you belong now but I just I'm not ready to say goodbye yet and I'm sorry that's selfish" he said wiping the tears from his eyes.

"I'm not ready to say goodbye either. I know I should but I'm not ready for the light" she said.

Two Months Later

Melinda knew that she should go into the light but she wasn't ready to, something told her she needed to stay. She knows based on the calendar that it's been about 2 months but it doesn't feel that long, it feels like it was just yesterday. She has watched Jim bury himself in his work. He barely sleeps, barely eats and cooks even less, and spends very little time in the house. She is worried about him, he can't go on like this for much longer. How is she supposed to be ready for the light when he's so not okay?

She watched as Jim got to the scene of a car accident. He pulled an unconscious young woman from a totaled car. She watched as Jim tried desperately to bring the women back.

"Am I dead?" the woman's ghost asked her.

"Yes, but they are trying to bring you back," Melinda said and she looked over at the light behind her.

"Wow, is that for me?" she asked.

"If you're ready, then yes," Melinda said and she smiled at her.

"Do you see it too?"

"Yes, but I'm not ready yet," Melinda said and the woman smiled at her before walking into the light.

She watched as Jim kept doing CPR on this woman and the thought occurred to her. She didn't even know if this would work but without giving it much more thought she decided she had to give it a try. To take a leap of faith.

"We're gonna call it Jim," Bobby said and Jim knew he was right as much as he hated to ever give up, he had to admit that they were going to have to call it as she is obviously gone.

"Time of death 7:43 pm," Bobby said as Jim seized chest compressions.

"Does she have any ID?" Jim asked as Bobby started searching the car. As Jim was about to go over to start preparing her for transport to the hospital morgue he heard the sounds of someone coughing and turned around to see the woman now alive.

"Oh my god, Bobby!" he said shocked. He's never seen anything like this before.

"What?"

"She's alive," Jim said before going over to the woman who was now sitting up on the stretcher.

"What's going on?" she asked confused looking around. She saw the wrecked car and felt the pain throughout her whole body leading her to the conclusion she was in a car accident but she had no recollection of how she got there or even who she was.

"It's okay, my name is Jim, and I'm a paramedic, we are gonna take you to the ER to get checked out and make sure you're okay, you were in a pretty bad car accident," he said. There was something about his voice that seemed familiar but she couldn't place it.

"I was?" she asked confused.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"I don't remember," she said. "Where am I?"

"Oak Road in Grandview, Virginia, next to the town library," he said wondering if she was in shock or had some type of amnesia.

"Aubrey Donovan," Bobby said looking at her driver's license in her wallet he found in the purse in her car. "Is that your name?"

"I guess," she said wondering how sick she had to be to not remember her name.

"Well the picture certainly looks like you, don't worry, sometimes shock can bring on brief amnesia," Bobby said.
"Okay," she said as they checked her vitals quickly before taking her to the hospital.

"Jim?" he stopped in his tracks as he was about to leave the hospital, if he didn't know any better he'd expect to turn around and see Mel calling his name. It sounded just like her. He turned around to see Aubrey calling out for him. 'It was just a trick of the imagination' he told himself.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for bringing me back," she said as they locked eyes. He couldn't help but feel something familiar in her eyes even though he had never met this woman before, he felt an instant connection to her.

"You're welcome," he said still not breaking the eye contact.

"Jim, you coming?" Bobby asked breaking his trance.

"Oh yeah, take care of yourself," he said before forcing himself to turn away and go back with Bobby to finish his shift.

"What was that about?" he asked Jim.

"It was weird, I feel like I know her," Jim said shaking his head as if to dismiss the crazy notion.

"Maybe you met her somewhere before, it's not a crazy big town," Bobby said waving it off.

"Yeah, I just… never mind"

"What did she say?" Bobby asked as he hopped back in the ambulance's drivers seat.

"Well that was kinda weird too, she thanked me for bringing her back"

"Why is that weird a lot of people we save thank us afterwards." Bobby reasoned.

"Her wording, she said thanks for bringing me back, not thanks for saving me, I don't know the wording just seemed odd," he said.

"I guess a little bit… honestly Jim, I think you need some sleep, you are going too much"

"Yeah you might be right." he agreed but deep down he felt there was something about this woman that he just couldn't ignore and quickly decided to go and see her again.

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