Soul Salvation

The following morning, a Saturday, Rania woke early, mostly out of anticipation for what the day might hold. She was to call Michelle around ten in the morning, as Brian had instructed, and ask if she had time to come up to the manor. If everything went as planned, Michelle would be able to catch a glimpse of Brian, at least for just a moment, or actually see him and be able to hear him.

The morning seemed to drag on and on, and Rania was finding it hard to find ways to pass the time until ten o’clock had finally come around. She nearly leapt on the phone in the living room, which Brian would have thought funny if he didn’t feel like his stomach was in knots – if he could even actually feel such an emotion. His nerves were on high alert, thrumming through his body as Rania dialed the number.

“Hello?” the familiar voice asked on the other end of the line.

“Michelle? This is Rania Lone. I came by your house the other night with some questions about your late husband?” Rania started. She too felt like her stomach was in knots, her heat beating painfully in her chest as she waited for Michelle’s response.

“Hello… Can I help you with anything else? Was the information at least a little useful?” she answered, sounding a little less timid by the end of her questions.

“They were,” Rania fibbed. “But I was wondering… if you wouldn’t mind coming up to the manor? I uh… I live here with my family, actually. And I was wondering if we could speak again. I have a few more questions I’d like to ask, but I have no way of getting into town.”

“Oh… um, okay,” Michelle said, though she didn’t sound very sure of the idea. “When… when would you want me there?”

“Any time today that works best for you. I’ll be here all day. And I would really appreciate you doing this. I took such an interest in the manor… for my project… because I live in it.”

“Okay. I will be there sometime this afternoon, I suppose…” Michelle said, and Rania really hoped that she would show up. The tone in her voice didn’t seem so reassuring, and that worried Rania. The only way to find out if talking to Michelle would help Brian to cross over would be for it to actually happen.

“The rest of the morning continued to drag for Rania, but now for another reason. What if Michelle did show up, and she was able to see Brian and talk to him? What if it worked, and that was the only thing now tying Brian to this world? Rania wanted him to be happy, but at the same time she didn’t want to lose him either.

Hearing the quiet knock on the large front door, Rania jumped to her feet, crossing the room in just a few strides. Opening the door, she smiled when she saw Michelle standing there, though her grin faltered a moment when she saw the nervous look on the older woman’s face.

“I’m glad you made it,” Rania said quietly, standing to the side. “Come in.”

Michelle nodded but hesitated a moment, looking beyond Rania and into the house. She gingerly took a few steps inside, continuing to scan the entrance hall in silence.

“Is everything alright?” Rania asked as she closed the door behind her.

“Yes. It’s just… strange to be back here. After all these years. Your family has done it up quite nicely. Last I knew, this place was all boarded up. Just… abandoned,” Michelle said with a nervous laugh.

“Yeah. We put a lot of work into it when we moved in,” Rania said, not really sure how to ease her way into the topic she wanted to discuss.

Then Michelle turned to face Rania, and she could see tears in the woman’s eyes.

“Is everything alright?”

“Sorry, I just… Being here is bringing back memories I was trying to hide from for so long,” Michelle said, dabbing at the corners of her eyes, the tears subsiding. “I’m fine.”

“Let’s sit down,” Rania offered, taking a seat in the chair in the living room, letting Michelle have the couch. “I feel… both horrible and a bit strange about what I’m about to tell you,” she then said, figuring there was no better way than to get straight to the point.

“What do you mean?” Michelle asked warily, and Rania could sense the woman’s walls slowly going back up.

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Rania asked, and Michelle looked so taken aback that she knew she wasn’t going to answer, so she continued. “I do. And when we first moved in here, weir stuff kept happening… stuff that couldn’t be explained. I’m sure you may have heard the rumors around town that the manor was haunted?”

“I… I thought they were all just stories that kids made up,” Michelle began to stuttered. Rania made to speak again when she felt Brian’s presence, and it was strong.

“Michelle…” came his voice, and it moved about the two girls like a breeze, resonating gently in the air around them. Rania watched as Michelle’s eyes widened, her mouth parting in a gasp.

“Br…Brian?” she whispered. Slowly she looked around the room searching from left to right. Rania saw Brian’s figure approach from behind Michelle, and calmly gestured to him. Michelle kept her eyes on Rania, both scared and a little unsure on whether or not she should turn around, afraid of what she might see, if she saw anything at all.

Slowly Brian came around to face Michelle, and she gasped again, her eyes falling upon Brian’s figure.

“But you’re… how…” Michelle stammered again, her eyes still not believing what she was seeing.

“I’m real… I’m here,” Brian said gently, and he reached out as he got closer, his hand coming down upon her shoulder. Michelle shivered at the touch, feeling not so much the pressure of Brian’s hand, but the coldness that seemed to emanate from him. Rania watched as Michelle’s jaw quivered, her eyes tearing instantly before she entirely broke down, tears streaming down her cheeks, dripping off her chin.

“I was there, with Rania, the nights he came to talk to you about our home. I know you felt me there with you,” Brian said, and Michelle quickly nodded her head, looking up into his eyes.

“I did,” she sobbed.

“Why didn’t you stay?” Brian then asked before he could help himself. “Why didn’t you come back inside? I saw the look in your eyes as you looked back at the house. You wanted to come back before you had even really left.”

“I wanted you to follow me. I told myself if you followed, I’d stay… But you never came out. You never came after me,” Michelle said, tears still spilling from her eyes. Brian took a seat next to her on the couch, nearly forgetting that Rania was still sitting there in the room with them, watching the entire exchange.

“It was already too late by then,” Brian said, seeing the confusion grow in Michelle’s eyes as he spoke. “I fell down the stairs when I followed you. I died there, at the bottom, waiting for you to come back. Honestly, I didn’t even know I had died at that point. I followed you outside, and when I thought you looked at me and kept going, I thought it was because you didn’t love me. But I was already dead, already a ghost.”

“If I had come back inside, I would have been able to get you to a hospital. You wouldn’t have died,” Michelle sniffled as Brian ran his fingers softly through her hair.

“It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. I just needed to see you… one last time. I wanted to be able to talk to you… I think that’s what’s kept me here so long,” Brian explained.

“I wish things had happened differently for us,” Michelle whispered, and Rania could see both the sadness and the love in her eyes.

“I know. So do I,” Brian responded, placing his hand on her cheek. “I wish I knew how to prevent everything from falling apart between us the way it did. None of this would have ever happened.”

It fell silent for a moment between the two of them, and Rania looked hard at Brian, taking in the way he looked at that moment. It seemed the longer she stared, the harder it became to see him. Almost as if he were fading.

“Brian, you… you’re disappearing,” Rania breathed out. Michelle glanced him up and down, just beginning to realize that what Rania said was true. Brian glanced down at his own hand, holding it out in front of him and gently wiggling his fingers.

“Why? Where are you going?” Michelle asked, panic in her voice.

“I’m not doing it. I… I don’t know,” Brian answered, and he too sounded a little panicked.

“It must be time, then,” Rania stated. “We figured out what was keeping you here… and solved it. You’re leaving us.”

“I feel… lighter,” Brian sighed, watching as his form grew hazier by the minute, his molecules seeming to turn to vapor.

“No… you can’t,” Michelle begged, reaching out to grab his hand, but her fingers grasped only air. “Not yet… please.”

“I can’t. I must go. Tell Kale how much I love him, and that I always will,” Brian said, looking deep within Michelle’s eyes. She nodded, tears falling down her cheeks. “And I’ll always love you.”

By now, Brian’s voice had been reduced to nearly a hum on the air. Michelle nodded once more, mumbling out a quick ‘I love you’ before Brian finally disappeared, leaving Rania and Michelle completely alone.

“Goodbye Brian,” Rania whispered to herself, sadness filling her heart that her closest friend was now gone.