No One Can Touch Us

Elizabeth didn’t know what to think. She was calm enough to get dressed and sit on the edge of her bed, a lost expression on her face and a hand running through her hair, yet she wanted nothing more than to grab a baseball bat and fling it at Jimmy’s head. He was running his mouth, words stumbling out too fast for Elizabeth to pay decent attention too and he was giving her a headache. It was enough that he was a ghost, or something along those lines, though with the addition of his apparent love to talk and explain things, Elizabeth found this to be too much. She wanted nothing more than peace and quiet at the moment, and Jimmy was proving to be the opposite of what she wanted.

“You weren’t paying attention, were you?” Jimmy asked, throwing a sock at Elizabeth which made her head snap up at him.

“I’m dreaming, so like it matters,” Elizabeth replied curtly, pealing the sock off of her being and flinging it back at Jimmy only to have it go right through him. She was in denial, ghost and things of the supernatural weren’t supposed to exist; at least she didn’t believe in them... too much.

“Damn it, you’re not dreaming,” Jimmy muttered.

“Okay,” Elizabeth sighed, waving her hand to urge Jimmy to go on.

“Okay, well for the record I am not haunting you,” Jimmy informed. “I’ve actually been told to be around you, to help you out, guide you, and all that good shit.”

“Like a guardian angel?” Elizabeth asked, not believing anything that Jimmy was feeding her. Guardian angels were supposed to have large white wings, halos at the top of their heads, and all white attire. Jimmy wore torn black jeans, black worn out shoes, a black shirt and fingerless black gloves. He was anything but a guardian angel. If Elizabeth looked close enough, she could even see the hint of eyeliner smudging at the corners of his big blue eyes and the twinkle of his piercing that was right underneath his bottom lip.

“Yeah! That’s what the Big Guy called it,” Jimmy said thoughtfully now, “I thought he was full of bullshit, but uh, yeah that’s God for you.”

“God?” Elizabeth asked in disbelief, “you talked to God?” She was now at the edge of her seat on the bed, a wild look in her russet eyes as she looked up at Jimmy in disbelief. There was no way he was telling the truth, yet she had to start believing in something. It’s not every day a stranger shows up in your bathroom, transparent, and with the ability to float and disappear at will.

“Well, that’s who I think he was. He was giving out orders and telling people all this wise stuff that sounds like it should have been in Fortune Cookies. I happened to be in that bunch,” Jimmy exclaimed, “He had a beard and everything!”

“Well, where are your wings?” Elizabeth asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I haven’t earned them yet,” Jimmy said with another shrug. He then coughed, changing his voice to say, “James, you need to fulfill your duties to Elizabeth before you can earn your wings, otherwise, you shall remain trapped between both worlds. And since I am sending you back, settle the unsettled business that I see you’ve been carrying on your back...”

“I see,” Elizabeth mused. “But that doesn’t really explain much, ya know? So say this: you of course died, moved on, but now God is making you come back because of me –and some apparent unfinished business- and he’s pretty much trapping you between the living and dead. See how that doesn’t make sense? Why would God have you move on to a supposedly better place just to drag you back down?”

“I move on and then he takes it back!” Jimmy exclaimed with an agitated sigh.

“I just said that,” Elizabeth pointed out, though Jimmy chose to ignore her. He was in denial himself...

“I guess there are ‘take-backs’ even up in heaven,” Elizabeth mused, making Jimmy chuckle.

“Well, he also told me that by helping you out it would count as a form of redeeming me for all the shit I did when I was a teenager,” Jimmy explained, “there was a catch after all, haha.”

“Great,” Elizabeth mumbled. “So I guess I’m stuck with you?”

“Pretty much until I earn my wings, whenever that will be,” Jimmy smiled. “You and I shall make a wonderful team!”

“Fantastic,” Elizabeth said sarcastically.

“Oh, stop being prissy,” Jimmy scoffed with fake disgust. “You’ll love me, everyone does... usually.”

Elizabeth was growing tired of all this. Her plan had been to get home, take a nice relaxing shower, and then kick back in her bed while watching whatever was on and eating a snack. Though now with Jimmy being thrown into the mix, she had to plan accordingly because he could see every move she made, so sleeping in her underwear was now officially off of her list of things to do.

“I’m gonna go get food,” Elizabeth announced suddenly, standing up from the edge of her bed and stretching. She was in nothing but short track shorts and a tank top, so as she had her hands above her head her top moved up and over her belly button and her shorts moved down to expose the elastic band of her underwear. Jimmy couldn’t help but stare at her middle, his eyes wanting to roll to the back of his head as Elizabeth yawned, which sounded more like a muffled moan.

“Can we have a movie night?” Jimmy asked with an awkward cough that caught Elizabeth’s attention, “It’s been so long since I’ve watched TV. I wanna see what new movies I’ve missed.”

“Well, you are in luck new friend,” Elizabeth said with a mock laugh, “you are looking at one of the biggest horror movie freaks out there... if you’re into horror movies, of course.”

“Where the fuck where you when I was alive?” Jimmy gushed with affection and admiration, following Elizabeth up the flight of stairs as she made her way to the kitchen.

Elizabeth’s mother stood in the kitchen, dressed in her pajamas and with a glass of milk in her hand. The minute Elizabeth entered the kitchen her mother gave her a worried look, totally unaware that beside her daughter stood a 6’5” ghost.

“I heard you screaming,” her mother told her, watching as her daughter went straight for the pantry.

“I discovered a dead rat in my closet,” Elizabeth lied with a shrugged, “then there was a big-ass spider on my bed and you know how I’m terrified of spiders and all... so I had to do a little war cry for empowerment before I could kill it.”

“You’re arachnophobic too?” Jimmy gushed, holding in his laughter by hugging himself.

“So I’m not alone,” Elizabeth replied absentmindedly with a small smile.

“What was that?” her mother asked, looking at Elizabeth with confused eyes.

“Uh, nothing, I was just talking to myself. You just go on and sleep,” Elizabeth smiled, “tell dad I said goodnight.”

With a nod, Elizabeth’s mother walked out of the dimly lit kitchen, leaving her daughter presumably alone. The second the room was vacant of prying eyes and ears, Elizabeth turned sharply to Jimmy who was now sitting on one of the counter tops, a fork in his hand as he inspected it idly with absolutely no interest what’s so ever.

“So let me get this straight,” Elizabeth said in a hushed whisper, “I’m the only one that can see and hear you?”

“Seeing as I am still technically a ghost, that is only partially true,” Jimmy said smartly, setting the silver fork back in the sink. “Other people can see me, though I’ll look more like a puff of smoke or something along those lines. And they can also hear me though it’ll sound like a whisper or something, though that is only if I let them... Unless their psychic; those cheating mother fuckers - I can also move stuff around!”

“You’re having way too much fun with this, aren’t you,” Elizabeth sighed with an amused smile, turning back to the pantry in search for a box of Twinkies and a bag of chips.

“Fuck yeah,” Jimmy roared while pumping his fists in the air. “I can scare the living shit outta people.”

“If you ever do something like that to me, I shall kick you in the nuts,” Elizabeth mumbled, making Jimmy burst into a fit of laughter.

“I won’t be able to feel it like I’m supposed too!” he sang.

“What do you mean by: like I’m supposed too?” Elizabeth asked quirking an eyebrow as she now had her desired food products in hand.

“Well, when you slapped me I kind of felt it, though it didn’t hurt like if I was being slapped in real life... err you get what I mean,” Jimmy said softly, a hand being brought up to his cheek. “It felt warm and I got this slight shock to the chest that left me tingly afterwards; it felt kind of nice, you know, being able to feel something for once.”