The Spirit Room: Volume 1: Everywhere
Turn it inside out so I can see the part of you that's driftin' over me And when I wake you're, you're never there And when I sleep you're, you're everywhere You're everywhere
Just tell me how I got this far Just tell me why you're here and who you are 'Cause every time I look you're never there And every time I sleep you're always there
'Cause you're everywhere to me And when I close my eyes it's you I see You're everything I know that makes me believe I'm not alone I'm not alone
I recognize the way you make me feel It's hard to think that you might not be real I sense it now, the water's getting deep I try to wash the pain away from me Away from me
'Cause you're everywhere to me And when I close my eyes it's you I see You're everything I know that makes me believe I'm not alone I'm not alone
When I touch your hand it's then I understand the beauty that's within It's now that we begin You always light at my way I hope there never comes a day No matter where I go I always feel you so
'Cause you're everywhere to me And when I close my eyes it's you I see You're everything I know that makes me believe I'm not alone 'Cause you're everywhere to me And when I catch my breath it's you I breathe You're everything I know that makes me believe I'm not alone
You're in everyone I see So tell me, do you see me?
-Everywhere, by Michelle Branch
2001
Tarynn Green looked down at her boyfriend of 3 years. She was watching the life slowly leave his body, each breath that he took causing pain to shoot through every nerve ending. It had been a horrific accident, head on, and if it hadn't been for the seat belt that Nick had been wearing he wouldn't have even lived this long. But it was now 17 hours after the fateful crash and Nick wouldn't be living much longer.
"Baby, you can't leave me," Tarynn wailed as the tears that she'd been trying desperately to keep at bay finally began to cascade down her ashen face. "I can't live without you."
Nick was gasping for a breath to breathe. He wanted to be able to answer her. He was trying so hard, but he couldn't talk, due to the tube down his throat. Finally a nurse came into the room and stood by his bedside. She looked at Tarynn with a mournful gaze. Their eyes locked and a silent understanding passed between the two. There was no use for the tube any longer. Nick was dying and he may as well be able to say goodbye to Tarynn.
The nurse reached over and after instructing Nick to breathe out, pulled the tube from his throat. He coughed for a few moments, before trying to gasp for air. Suddenly it was getting even harder for him to breathe. He was dying and there was nothing Tarynn could do about it. She was as helpless as the next person.
"Nicky," she reached for his hand and held it firmly, trying not to show her shock at how cold his skin felt. "Nicky, I love you, I love you so much. Please don't go. Don't leave me, you can't leave me."
Nick's eyes clouded with tears. He didn't want to leave her, but his body was failing on him. "I love you," he managed to wheeze.
"No, Nick, don't! Don't!" Tarynn watched his face until she heard the monitor that read his heart begin to beep. She looked up and the line was flat. The only sound heard in the room, once the nurse had silenced the machine, was the sound of Tarynn screaming.
Nick hadn't been the only one who had died in the room that night. Tarynn had died with him.
2025
Emmanuelle Lopez cast her gaze away from the food that she was cooking for just a moment to look out the large kitchen window. It was a dark evening, and though it looked quiet outside there was a steady breeze blowing through the trees.
She'd just moved into the house 2 weeks prior. It was old, having been built in 2000, but it had been kept nicely and was still beautiful. She'd seen pictures of when it had first been built. The Realtor had told her that the property had been bought by a 20-year-old man, who had immediately hired builders to build his dream house on the lot. The house had suddenly gone up for sale the next year.
"He must have decided that it wasn't what he had been looking for. Well, I don't know ... either way, after that the house was sold many more times over the years. I think that it will suit you just fine though, miss," the Realtor had said with a smile.
Emmanuelle had thought nothing of it. After all, why would she? Everything about the house seemed normal. It was large and stately, built on a hill overlooking the ocean. There were steps that led down to the beach where there was a dock and the previous owners had left a few canoes.
The house was perfect, Emmanuelle thought, and she'd bought it right away. Her great-grandfather had died, leaving her a good sum of money and Emma, having always been independent, had immediately moved from her parents house and decided to buy one of her own. She'd heard of Dawn Aleese, a 45-year-old Realtor, through a friend and had contacted her right away. Dawn Aleese called a week later, telling her that she'd found the perfect house for her. She'd been right. Emma had immediately fallen in love with its beauty and moved in 2 months later.
"Emmanuelle, I really don't think that you needed a house that big. You're only one person," Emma's mother, Noelle, lectured on the phone that night as Emma tried to eat dinner, only half-listening to her mother.
"Mom, thank you. All my life I've thought I was two people, but now you have made me see the light."
Noelle sighed, "Em, don't get that attitude with me, young lady."
"I'm sorry, but this is exactly why I wanted to move out," Emma exclaimed, placing her fork back down on her plate. She and her mother had this conversation at least twice a month. Emma was thinking about asking her mother if they could possibly schedule the next one ... they seemed to come at the most inopportune times. "You have run my life for me ever since I came out of the birth canal. I'm 19 now and I want control of my own life for once."
"Fine, but when you get scared at night don't come running to me."
Emma rolled her eyes, "Mother, I haven't been scared of the boogie-man since I was 5."
"Well, good. Just so you know, there are bad people in the world."
"Thanks, I'd forgotten."
"Goodnight, Emma," Noelle sighed, sounding less than happy with her daughter. "I imagine you will at least visit your family once in a while?"
"'Course. G'night."
She waited for her mother to hang up before doing so herself. It wasn't that she didn't love her family -- she did -- but they were so overprotective that it bordered on the lines of insanity.
Standing up from the table, Emmanuelle picked up her plate and glass and took them into the kitchen, loading them into the dishwasher. Not enjoying how quiet the house was at night, Emma leaned over and turned the radio on, scowling when no sound came out of it. After fiddling with the volume and any other button she could find, she was about to check the outlet in the wall when Metallica suddenly filled the room. She jumped, her heart pounding loudly in her chest as she quickly turned the volume down.
Emmanuelle's heart was still beating quickly when she went to bed later that night. After her run-in with the possessed radio she'd been jumpy the rest of her evening and every time the house was creak or moan she'd look around suspiciously. Emma was not one to be afraid, but that night she had been more than afraid, she had been petrified. There was an eerie feeling that she'd never felt in the house before.
Shaking off her thoughts, Emma closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.
Weeks went by without any other scary nights, save the few when the power went out, due to storms, and Emmanuelle was quickly falling in love with the beach that was in the back of her house. She'd met a few of the neighbors and they all seemed friendly enough, although a few of them had given her strange looks when she'd informed them that she lived in the house alone.
"You're one tough cookie, eh?" Ed, the elderly man who lived in the house to her left with his wife Annie, had said in response.
"What do you mean?" Emma had asked, curious as to why she would have to be "tough" to live in a house alone.
Ed had merely smiled.
It was a month after Emmanuelle had moved in and she was busy setting up patio furniture on the back porch. She'd just finished washing the glass of the large round table, humming happily to a song in her head, when she heard a door slam loudly. Startled, Emma looked up and peeked through the French doors into her house. Not seeing anything, she walked steadily into her house and straight to the front door. It was closed.
"I know I left that open," Emma murmured to herself, suddenly feeling the same eerie feeling returning.
Maybe it was the wind that blew it shut, Emma thought to herself, but there wasn't even the slightest breeze blowing outside, she realized as she watched the leaves hanging still from their branches.
She stood in the middle of her family room, rigid with fear, just staring at the door. In a moment of boldness she found her voice, "Is anybody in here?" she called out, her hands clenched down at her sides. There was no answer.
Emma suddenly began to laugh, "I am so stupid."
Vowing to never tell anybody about how childish she'd been, she began to walk back outside. Her movements were immediately stilled as the sound of the door opening and slamming shut again was heard behind her. Her jaw quivered as she stood unmoving except for the tremor within her that was causing her to shiver.
Emmanuelle turned quickly, facing the door again, when she heard the floor creak behind her. "Who are you?" her voice was shaky as tears sprung to her eyes. "What do you want?"
She'd never believed in ghosts before, but at that moment there was no denying that Emmanuelle was not alone.
