I was back before the fire that night in the autumn chill, with rain on the outside, and broken as ten miles of torn-up pavement on the inside.
I lived my whole life being closed and now I knew why.
I couldn't bear the thought of losing anyone again the way I had in a previous life...
So, no wonder I didn't fear ghosts, when I was one inside.
I knew when I first saw Cindy she meant more to me than her beauty.
I couldn't stop thinking about her every moment when I was without her.
But what about my parents and what about my friends? If I loved and lost her in a previous life, then I also loved and lost them.
And that's the problem with second chances, going through it all over again.
Here I was trying to help people exorcise a spirit when I was haunted myself.
For a guy so fearful and closed, I often wondered why I was so open to ghosts and now I knew― it was because I was broken and had nothing else to lose.
But being maudelin didn't help either me or them so I wanted answers, especially for my clients, Abe and Mitzi Rosen whose property was haunted and especially for the sake of her children. I didn't want them harmed or frightened.
My cell on the coffee table suddenly vibrated, scaring me as I struggled to corral it. I saw on the display it was my assistant Nat.
"Hi Prof, I found out some interesting stuff. Is this a good time?"
"Hey Nat, it is―what did you find out?"
"Turns out the original owner of the land and builder of the Rosen's house was a land surveyor named Ian MacNally. There's an interesting back story concerning the property. It seemed an Iriquois family was crossing the land where Abe's house now stands and two were hit by lightning. Only the woman survived―her name was Talise Seneca. Her husband and little girl unfortunately were killed."
"That must have been traumatic for that poor woman."
"It was. She buried her husband and child on the spot where the lightning struck. Then she kept returning to grieve her loss."
*That's heart-breaking, Nat," I sighed.
"It turns out Ian MacNally had bought the land and felt sorry for the woman. He told her she could always return there and offered to put up a gravestone to mark the place. To make a long story short, they fell in love and eventually married. Here's the pathetic part―Ian built the house over the spot so the woman would always be close to her former husband and child."
I thought immediateluy of Abe and Mitzi.
"You mean Abe's house is built over a grave?"
"It is. The woman passed away before Ian and he buried her with her previous family in the cellar."
"Oh my God," I exclaimed, "is that why the basement was never finished and left with a dirt floor?"
"I hate to say it, but it is. I know people have second thoughts about living near a graveyard--how would you like to have one in your basement?"
"Actually, I know how that would be―that's how I got into the house whispering business."
"Are you kidding me?" Nat asked.
"No, I'm serious. When I studied at Cambridge in Britain, I felt an ancient vibe from our university house. It wasn’t until the building was demolished a decade later that a former housemate wrote and informed me our living and sleeping quarters had been built over an anglo Saxon gravesite."
"Phew!" Nat whistled softly. "That must have been upsetting."
"Actually, it was comforting in a way because it helped explain all the weird images and sounds that had plagued me during my student years. It led to my fascination with old houses."
"Well, you found out years later after the house was demolished. I don't want to be there when you tell Abe he's actually living over a grave―that would be rough."
"It would," I agreed, "I'm not sure how the Rosens will take it."
After Nat hung up I sat staring a long time into the fire. I knew death was part of the circle of life, but struggled myself whenever the thought would arise.
How would Abe and Mizi deal with three graves in their cellar?
And why did I at this particular point in my own life, when I was haunted myself, did I have to be the one to tell them?
