The Pose

“Excuse me, you’re not supposed to be here.”

I turned to see a young, undressed woman with a spirit board. She was in a somewhat darkened room with only a few lit candles for effect. The shadows accentuated her attributes, making her a sight to behold.

Smoke filled the air from different incense burners. All that was missing was a crystal ball.

I thought it strange that I could detect the sharp odor of the incense.

Distracted by her beauty, the sense of smell eluded me.

Minutes earlier, I was with four generations of Graysons. I represented the fifth of our line.

A heated debate about married women and the line stopping with me lasted seconds before I found myself with a naked woman staring at me.

“Fine by me. You called me, send me back!”

She huffed in exasperation as she frantically flipped through the pages of a book that looked as old as my great, great, great grandparents.

“Ickety Bickety mumbo jumbo,” she said as I stood gazing at her.

I chuckled at the insanity she was spewing.

“Poof, go away,” she said.

Amused by her frustration, I moved closer, hovering a meter above the floor. Returning to the assemblage of my dead relatives wasn’t in the cards.

“Damit, I should have known better than to mess with this spirit board,” she said.

She stood, turned to the first candle, and extinguished it. I didn’t fully appreciate the extent of her beauty until she turned full circle.

Curiously, with every step she took, I moved similarly. With each wisp of smoke, we moved much like choreographed dancers. As the room darkened with each extinguished candle, I moved nearer to the person who summoned me.

“Goodbye, whoever you are,” she said with a huff.

When she turned to leave, it felt like she had total control, dragging me forcefully into her world. She turned back to see me just a mere meter from her.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I shrugged. “Wherever you are, it appears.”

“No, you stay in the attic and do what ghosts do. There are chains you can drag across the floor in that trunk. Perhaps you can open and shut the attic door all night.”

I grimaced as her anger seemed directed at me.

“Listen, I was happy to visit with my relatives, and now I am tethered to you. What gives?”

“Tethered?”

I nodded. “Seems so. Shut me behind the door and try to leave me behind.”

She peered at me and went to leave. I heard a thud and then cursing as she hit the floor. Much like a cork in a bottle, she couldn’t leave with me stuck behind the door.

I heard her struggle as my body pressed against the wooden structure.

The door slowly opened. Her green eyes sparkled as she stared at me. “Who are you?”

I glanced at her more thoughtfully, taking my time to appreciate her beauty. It had been years since I had been with a woman. “My given name is David.”

“It’s bloody hot up here. Stop leering at me.”

“I’m not leering; I’m admiring. Is that why you’re naked? Are you blaming the heat?”

She nodded and then shook her head. “Not really. It is hot, though.”

I deliberately focused on her face while briefly glimpsing at the rest of her when she wasn’t looking...

“Who were you expecting?”

She glanced at my feet, noticing that I had no shoes. Amused that I was a meter above the floor, I seemed to entertain as much as beguile her.

“My uncle. He cast a spell because I would not pose nude for him.”

I shook my head.

“Pose?”

She nodded again, studying my body. I used to be an athlete. It would seem that I didn’t lose my muscle tone in death.

“He is an artist and also a powerful warlock. He found my beauty intoxicating and wished to immortalize me on canvas.”

I glanced at her again, ending my gaze at her large green eyes. “And you’re here, now, attempting to contact the warlock in this state of undress?”

She smirked. “His curse has driven me to this state of desperation. The curse doesn’t allow me to cover my body in any way.”

As I was about to speak, she turned to leave. Much like a balloon on a string, I was right behind her. A small part of my spirit interacted with her world, causing my head to bounce against the beams, rafters, and even the walls as she descended the stairs and turned down the long hallway. We headed for her boudoir, closing the door between us.

My body pasted itself against the wood before the sound of her hitting the floor caught my attention. She was undeniably a slow learner, or possibly she had a thing for lying on the floor.

The door gradually creaked open as her eyes met mine. “Now what?” She asked.

I shrugged. “This is your spell. I am in the dark as much as you.”

She pointed to her bed. “Stay on your side of the bed.”

What did she think I could do? I was a bloody spirit!

A storm from a distant shore woke us as she sat beside me. “You’re still here.”

“It would seem so. I am curious. Why didn’t you dress after we met?”

She ran her hands the length of her body as if to call my attention to her perfect curves.

“I told you I couldn’t dress. It’s part of the damned curse. If I put on any clothes, it feels like I am on fire.”

My jaw clenched, thinking of the pain and anxiety that must cause.

“That’s a nasty curse. It’s bad for you, but lucky for me, you’re beautiful.”

Her smile was a surprise… “Do you really think so?”

I nodded. “I do. Why would your uncle wish that on you?”

She shook her head. “I am a captive in this house.”

“Captive?”

She pointed to the window. “It’s open, but I can’t even put my hand through it.”

I gazed at the blackness through the window and then back at her. “How long have you been here?”

She clenched her jaw. “Don’t know.”

I found that strange, but how many years had I been dead?

We sat without speaking as thunder punctuated the silence. We heard the rain but never felt water through the open window.

“What about you? Why are you here? What happened to you?”

I furrowed my brow, thinking about my departure from the living to the not-so-living.

“We were celebrating a holiday. There was candy and cookies, but we gave it to people instead of going and getting it ourselves. I remember it was a typical fall night with thunder in the distance, like tonight.”

Her eyes met mine. “Where are your shoes?”

I smirked a telling grin, bespeaking some naughtiness on my part.

“One lady I gave sweets to was married. I had to run from her home as he caught us and was giving chase. I didn’t have time to put my shoes on.”

“Oops, did you know she was married?”

I looked at my feet before returning my gaze to those eyes. They were captivating as they seemed to pierce my soul. “Yeah, that was my bad. She invited me in, much like you have.”

Pursing her lips, she smiled while tracing her fingers on my leg.

“Relax, I’m not married. What happened?”

I watched as her fingers moved closer to my body. “Murdered by a jealous man. I heard the gunshot, felt the hot bullet hit my chest, and the next thing I knew, my grandmother was chiding me.”

The vixen forgot about her discomfort and peered into my face. Her hand moved from my leg to my chest. She touched the spot on my shirt where the bullet hit my heart. I could feel her touch, first on my leg and now over my heart. The shock of the sensation startled her as I winced.

“You felt me touch you?”

I didn’t have to speak. My pronounced, narrowing eyebrows revealed the story. It had been too long since I trimmed things up. My overgrown eyebrows looked like two caterpillars mating. She giggled when they began their ritualistic dance.

“Let me see where you were shot.”

Much like the woman who caused my death to make her husband jealous, this woman demanding to see my nakedness had her secrets. I felt her warm breath on my face as she moved even closer.

As much as I wanted to comply, that was not in the cards.

I shook my head. “Like you can’t put clothes on. My clothes don’t come off. These rags they buried me in are it.”

She scooted even closer. The warmth of her body caused me to re-think all that I knew about being dead. Things were stirring that I thought were long dead.

“Let me try.” I smiled, knowing what the result would be. She touched my chest once again.

The siren’s touch was pleasurable. Her finger went through my shirt to my skin, giving me goose pimples. The fabric loosened as each button came undone. I couldn’t facilitate my nakedness, but she could.

The enchantress hummed an eerie tune as one button after another exposed me.

We became lost in time.

The raging storm outside was barely noticed because of the fervor inside.

We passed through the night in romantic bliss.

Understanding how a ghost got along with a mortal was not at the top of my list of things to question. It should have been.

The seductress who brought me here was also pleased; her mysterious plan was coming to fruition.

Light filtered into the room as we lay on top of the covers.

Sleep eluded us. We were unashamed of what we accomplished.

“What do you think of this world?”

I shrugged. “Well, I enjoyed the night.”

She giggled, “Is this world better than that world with your family from generations ago?”

I wanted to use her name but realized I didn’t know it.

My exaggerated frown lines caused her to smirk. “What’s your name?”

She smiled again. “Francesca, I should have introduced myself.”

I chortled, adoringly touching her as she relaxed in my arms.

“David, would you mind spending more time with me in my world?”

“Like this?”

She smiled. “Just like this, you must do so willingly.”

“I have nothing but time. Why willingly?”

She shrugged. “I made a deal with the devil. Not the actual devil, you understand, but the one who imprisoned me.”

“Deal? Francesca, you just made love with a ghost. Who is this person you made a deal with?”

She smiled, pushing her fingers through my long, curly hair. “A powerful warlock that can raise the dead.”

I pursed my lips, thinking about what she said. It was all beginning to make sense. In the other realm, I had only the sense of hearing and seeing. There was no touching, smelling, or even tasting. “Am I alive?”

She smiled while allowing her fingers to travel through the hair on my chest. “Yes, and no. As long as you are happy and stay with me, it won’t get any worse than this.”

Squinting, I had to ask. “What was the deal?”

Pinching her lips, she glanced down and then back up at me. “I was lonely. I made a bargain. I would pose if my uncle gave me someone to pose with. David, I was dead from the plague. He brought me back. That’s how all this works. Are you still interested in being my lover until the end of time?”

It all became crystal clear. I smiled while glancing around the room. The tangled sheets told a story as did the picture of perfection sitting next to me. Not only could I taste her sweet kisses, but I could also smell her perfume. I was alive!

“Hey, I just made love to a beautiful lady. Yes, I would do so willingly.”

Francesca smiled and nodded, signaling the warlock that they had a deal.

The picture would become one of the most sought-after paintings of all time. Once signed with Magical Paint, the deal was complete.

His mark was indelible, as was our love for each other.

A painting of the young lovers in an embrace hangs in a museum.

Alive in their world, they are never far from each other. During daylight, the two lovers learned to sleep in an embrace.

Only the curator knows the secret of the painting, The Pose.

Some days require him to remove the painting when the two lovers fail to return to their pose on time.