Embracing a Ghost

“Zina?” The voice said on the other end of the phone.

“Yes.” There was a long pause. Zina forced her left hand in her coat pocket. The cold blustery winds were whipping widely on that October evening. She walked toward the middle of the block and looked at the four corners. She tried to decide which way to go but it didn’t matter. All the roads led to one thing. 

“What happened?” Her friend’s voice asked on the phone.

“I’ m walking.” Zina responded.

“Me too. But you might need to run.” Her friend, Doug responded back.

The line went dead. They both knew why. Zina put her cell phone back in her coat pocket and continued to walk. She tightened the collar of her coat trying to keep the wind away from her small body. What ever hour you walked down the street there were never any living people. There was the couple who was always standing on the North corner holding hands. The ghostly couple lived in the town a century ago. They never left even after death. Zina has seen them many times. She wasn’t scared. Doug, her friend, was a runner. He was always scared. Zina was not scared. 

Doug told her that something was wrong with the ghostly couple. He said they looked angry. They were not holding hands tonight. They were looking for something. He ran from them as usual. He told Zina to be careful. Zina already knew this. She knew what they were looking for because she had it. She had found it years ago and knew that they would come looking for it one day and today was the day. She knew that they also knew.

Zina was not surprised when the phone went dead. She knew that they had done it. They didn’t want her to reveal what she knew to anyone, not even Doug. They also knew that she was coming and they waited.

“She should be here by now.” The husband ghost said to his wife.

“She will come.” The ghostly wife responded.

“I hope she doesn’t change her mind.” 

“Husband, she won’t. She knows that if she doesn’t show what will happen.”

“I can’t believe she found it.” The husband continued.

“I knew that she would. She was the chosen one.” The wife answered.

Zina moved more quickly through the night. She passed the remaining trees on the blocks she walked. There were only trees and leaves left in the square she was going to. Nobody ever went to the square after it happened. Everyone was scared. Zina turned down Main Street and cut across the dirt where there was supposed to be grass. She passed the bronze statue which was the only thing left. The old horse named for the town. Zina paused for a minute and had the sudden urge to touch the statue. She resisted the urge and moved past it. She walked ten more spaces towards the old bakery and stood there waiting.

She didn’t have to wait long. They appeared in front of her. Both of them floated in front of her and looked exactly the same as they looked in life and death. If you didn’t know the story you would swear they were still alive except for the floatation.  Zina adjusted her coat again and looked at the woman ghost, Mrs. Lilian Parker. Mrs. Parker and her husband founded the small town over a hundred years ago. 

Lillian and Zander Parker were newly married for less than a year when Lillian’s aunt passed away and she left her and Zander a lot of land. There was nothing on the land until Lillian and Zander built a house for themselves and then from there they built a store and a bank and people heard about the Parker’s and they came to the now tiny town called Parker Town after them. Pretty soon there were more houses and stores and even two banks and lots of small town people. The Parkers ran the town with the help of their nephews, Tim and Ryan and later on they had a child. They named their little boy, Harrison, after Lillian’s dad. Harrison passed away at the age of 3. Harrison was in a horrible horse accident with the nanny. The nanny survived but Harrison did not. The Parker’s never got over the death of their only child and later in memory of Harrison they opened up a park and called it Harrison Park for the children of the town to play. 

“Do you have it?” Lillian asked.

“I do.” Zina said.

“We need it.” Zander said, holding out his ghostly hand.

“I am going to give it to you but I need you to promise me one thing first.” Zina said.

At the time of Harrison’s death he was wearing a medal. It was a special medal which Zander’s dad gave to the child to keep him safe. When they found Harrison’s lifeless body the medal was missing. They had originally thought the nanny must have taken it or someone at the hospital took it and sold it since it was solid gold. It was all speculation and decades passed and the Parkers got older and eventually they passed away too. 

Zina always thought that when you passed you saw your loved ones who passed before you. They would all be there to welcome you to the afterlife. But, this was not true for the Parker’s. Harrison was not there in the world they entered in the afterlife. They knew why. They were not where he was because something was missing and they could not rest in peace and could not be with him until they had the medal. For centuries they had been stuck in the town they built. Then Zina moved to town two years ago with her family. She was walking back from dropping off her son to school. They were running late that day so they walked faster than normal. After the boy got to class Zina stopped at the coffee shop. On the walk back she noticed something shiny hanging from one of the Oak trees. She paid it no mind thinking it was just a piece of trash that the wind had blown in the tree. But something drew her to the tree and she was compelled to take a closer look. She had the missing medal. She was not aware of what she had until the night Harrison’s parents came to her in a dream. 

Zina held out her hand with the medal dangling from her fingers. The Parker ghosts reached for it. Zina closed her hand and continued.

“You must promise me that after you get this you will rest in peace.” Zina said, handing them the medal.

“That’s all we wanted.” Mrs. Parker said as they disappeared into thin air.