ABIGAIL

Submitted into Contest #221 in response to: Write a story from a ghost’s point of view.... view prompt

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Fiction

BOO! I love scaring the living. Its fun seeing them run not knowing where the noises are coming from. I love hearing them scream. The living shouldn't come to my domain if they know what's good for them. They come to the cemetery, for what? To have a good laugh at the dead. But they don't know what they are in for. They have me to deal with.

Every day I look at the living and I think back to those times when I was alive, I ask myself this one question. Why didn't I ever find love? I had everything I ever wanted, a good job, money, a nice place to live, many friends, loving parents, expect the one thing I always dreamed of having and that is someone to love.

I roam around the living scaring them but I also watch them. I see how happy they are with the ones they love and I so wish I had that. Even the people I scare have someone they love. I doomed never to have a happy afterlife.

I don't even remember the day I died. How is that possible? Ghost are supposed to remember how they died. I don't. Maybe on some level I don't want to remember my tragic end. I try to remember the happy times I had.

From time to time, I haunt my parents to let them know I'm still here watching over them and that I love them. I do this to my friends too. I don't want them to forget me. I hope they don't forget me.

I look at my parents and I still see the tears in their eyes. I hear the whispers of my mother saying "Abigail, why didn't you do more with your life?"

I thought I accomplished everything in my life, successful job, more money then I ever could have wished for. Then I realized my mother wasn't talking about that. My mother wanted me to find someone to love and someone to love me back.

Maybe that's why I doomed to roam among the living, in search of something that has elude me when I was alive. But is love what I'm looking for now or is it something else.

The sun is going down. I better get back to the cemetery. More people to scare. Being a ghost has its perks. I can do whatever I want whenever I want but there is a downside as you can see. I'm lonely in the afterlife as I was in my living life.

BOO! I did it again. The living should know better than to come to the cemetery. Sometimes it gets old scaring the living. I love it but I'm jealous. I missed out on a lot. What is there a ghost to do? But scare the living.

I sit down looking at my grave. How morbid is that? Abigail Benson 05/20/1989-09/25/2023. Beloved daughter nothing more.

My legacy is that I was the best publisher in the country, that's not even written on my tombstone. I didn't mean anything to anybody expect to my parents and friends.

I see my parents every day at my grave. My mother is always crying. My father trying to console her. The pain of losing me is hard for my parents especially for my mother. We were so close. Only one of my friends comes to visit me.

Emilia, we've been best friends since grade school. I loved her like a sister. I still love her. I wonder why my other friends don't come to visit me. I listen to what Emilia has to say.

"I'm so sorry Abby. I'm so sorry this happened to you. I tired to stop them, I couldn't. I was so scared I would share the same fate as you. I wish I was strong like you Abby. I didn't help you when you asked me too. Abby, you're my best friend, now you're dead because I didn't help you. This is all my fault. I will have to live with your death for the rest of my life. I love you, Abby. Rest In Peace."

How can I Rest In Peace when my best friend knows how I died. I don't remember my death because it was too traumatic for me. I'm dead. How can anything be traumatic for me? This only happens to the living.

What did I do to deserve this? I know my living life wan't exactly how I hoped it would turn out. I had good things in my life expect love. I had loving parents and good friends or at least I thought I did. The truth must come out.

The sun is coming out. Time to walk among the living. I leave the cemetery and begin to walk. My home Middleton is a beautiful place. I loved living here. It was a dream which has now become my nightmare. I never realized Middleton was so beautiful. I wish my end didn't happen in Middleton.

There are so many things I wish I had done but now is not the time to dwell on what I didn't do in my living life but what I could do in my afterlife. That is find the truth about my death.

I never noticed that billboard before. I look closely it says unsolved murder of Abigail Benson. Last seen at Middleton mall. Reward for any information leading to an arrest.

Emilia hasn't told the police what she knows about my death. Some friend she is. She comes to my grave acting sad, crying, calling me her friend, telling me she loves me and how sorry she is for not helping me. She knows the truth. She know who murder me. All she has is a guilt conscience. I'm going to find the truth about my murder.

I'm a ghost. I can haunt people which also means I can possess people. Possession is the only way I can get the truth. First, I need to know the truth about how and why I died. I begin to follow Emilia.

I follow her throughout Middleton. First to her job at the middle school. I watch how she interacts with the kids. I can tell how much she loves her job. Next, I follow Emilia to the market and back to her house. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Right now I'm watching Emilia read her mail. She looks scare. I lean over her shoulder and read what she's reading. "We are watching you. Keep your mouth shut or else you will die just like your friend." Give me a name Emilia.

I watch Emilia pace back and forth bursting into tears. "I'm sorry Abby. I can't tell the truth. Josh and the others will kill me. I'm so scared Abby." I bend down and tell Emilia "I'm sorry for doubting you as my friend. I'm going to make this right."

Josh, why does that name sound familiar to me? Josh, Josh, Josh , Josh Gains. He's the bad boy of Middleton. No one in Middleton trust him or his band of cohorts. Why would he hurt me? Think Abby. Oh My God! It's all coming back to me. Josh, Maya, Rose and Paul. It's all coming back to me.

The night of the 25th of September was when I found out the truth about Josh, Maya, Rose and Paul. I went to Emilia. I told her Josh, Maya, Rose and Paul are involved in a Ponzi scheme defrauding the elder out of thousands of dollars. My parents and Emilia's Parents are among the victims. I also told Emilia that I believed they were involved in another murder. The murder of Colin Lee.

I had the evidence with me. I was going to the sheriff to tell him what I knew. I was at the mall picking up a few items. I was walking to my car but before I got into my car Josh and the others kidnapped me. They beat me, stabbed me and shot me.

I love my parents so much. I would have done anything to protect them including getting killed. My parents are the only people that put up with my craziness. Emilia and her parents mean everything to me. Colin Lee was a good person with a heart of gold. If he found out the truth about Josh, he would have done the same as me. I have to get Josh, Maya, Rose and Paul. They must pay.

I leave Emilia's house and go to Josh's place. I find them there. I watch them laugh and smile without a care in the world. Time to enact my plan. I enter Josh's house and jump into Josh. "Josh, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Maya."

"Let's go have fun Josh."

This is so much fun better than scaring people. Controlling Josh is so easy. I move Josh's body off of the couch and out the door. I hear the others yelling at Josh.

I keeping moving Josh's body through his neighborhood and to the town square. Tonight is movie night. The entire town will be there. Keep walking Josh. You are almost there. I still hear the others yelling at Josh.

I see the entire town is here including my parents. Emilia and her parents are here too. So is the mayor, the sheriff and his deputies. I walk to the front and say "Excuse me. I have something to say." Maya, Rose and Paul try to stop Josh. I push them away.

"I have a confession to make. I Josh Gains and my friends Maya, Rose and Paul murdered Abigail Benson because she uncovered our Ponzi scheme to defraud the elder out of thousands of dollars. We kidnapped, beat and shot Abigail. I have one more confession to make. I Josh Gains and my friends Maya, Rose, and Paul murdered Colin Lee because he uncovered the Ponzi scheme."

I jump out of Josh. He has no idea what happened. The crowd is left stunned. "What happened?" Josh asks his friends. They tell him he just confessed to murdering Abigail, Colin and to the Ponzi scheme. I and the town watch as the sheriff and his deputies arrest Josh, Maya, Rose and Paul.

I watch as the crowd cheers and embrace each other. My parents are crying and hugging each other. "Finally, Justice." My mother yells. Emilia and her parents are also crying. The town is left reeling after Josh's confession.

"You did it Benson."

I turn around and see Colin. I smile for the first time since I was alive. "Colin, what are you doing here?"

"It's time Abby."

"I want to say goodbye to my parents."

I go over to them and tell them "Mom, Dad, I love you guys so much. I will miss you with all my heart. I will be watching you always."

In this moment I realized that I may not have found someone to love but my true love has always been my parents. I fought for them until the end.

I kiss my parent's goodbye. I grab Colin's hand, together we go up to Heaven.

October 26, 2023 21:12

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