A LIFE SO CHANGED
Chapter Eight
The next few days were peaceful.
July came in Boston. Sarah knew that it was only three days until her first
date with Joey. She could hardly wait now!
As Sarah lay in her bed for the
night, her eyes closed, she realized that in exactly seventy-two hours, she
would be hearing the fireworks up close, sitting down on a blanket with Joey,
having him hold her...
"That boy is trouble,"
Cal said.
Sarah’s eyes shot open. She
turned on the lamp next to her and saw Cal at the foot of her bed. This was the
first time in several days that she had seen Cal.
"I beg your pardon?"
Sarah asked, squinting her eyes. She was tired. She didn’t feel like dealing
with ghosts, much less dead Cal.
"I said that boy is trouble,
Sarah. You know you shouldn’t follow in your mother’s footsteps."
"His name is Joey," she
defended. "And Rose didn’t do anything wrong."
"Rose. You refer to your
mother by her first name. How rude."
"Oh, shut up, Cal!" she
snapped.
"That boy is going to go
after your inheritance. I left you ten million dollars in my will. He only
kissed you at Richard’s because he wants that money. He’s nothing but a gutter
rat."
"I’m aware of how much money
you left me. Believe me, I’m counting the days until I can spend it on a big
house for Rose and a wedding for myself, just to spite you. And how dare you
call Joey a gutter rat? You know nothing about him!"
Cal chuckled. "He’s an
artist, sweetpea. Don’t make the same mistake Rose did by being drawn."
Sarah didn’t know what he was
talking about. She had her eyes locked with his. "Don’t call me
that."
"What? Sweetpea? Or being an
artist’s naked muse?"
"Both."
Sarah heard a gentle knock on her
door. "Sarah?" Rose called. "Are you...?"
"Yes, Rose." Sarah
sighed. "You can come in."
"What are you doing? You
know I don’t want to see her," Cal said.
"Then go away if you hate
her so much," Sarah said quietly, just as the door was opening.
"I...it’s not...him, is
it?" Rose asked hesitantly.
"Yes, it is, you stupid
whore," Cal said. "It’s me."
Sarah closed her eyes and took a
deep breath, then opened them up again, shooting a glare at Cal. "It
is," she said.
"Just leave the poor girl
alone!" Rose said, looking around the room, not quite sure where to find
him. "She’s been through enough trauma for a lifetime."
Cal looked angrier. Sarah saw him
making fists at his sides. "Um…Rose, now isn’t the time to be saying
this," Sarah said.
"I don’t care. You’re going
to hear it one way or another, Cal. It’s best you hear it from me."
Cal appeared right in front of
Rose’s face and put his hand up to slap her, but his hand went through her
cheek. "What the hell?" he asked, looking at his hand.
"You can’t hurt her anymore,
Cal," Sarah said. "Those days are over."
"What?" Rose asked.
"What’s going on?"
"I will do whatever I damned
well please!" Cal yelled. "I can get away with anything now, even
moreso than when I was alive!"
"Sarah, what is going
on?" Rose asked, her green eyes starting to swim in fear. "Cal, I
don’t know where you are, but stop it."
"Rose, please, try and
relax," Sarah soothed. "He’s feeding off your fear and our energy.
That’s what’s making him stay here."
Cal appeared at the foot of
Sarah’s bed. "I’m not deaf. I can hear what both of you are saying!"
"I’m well aware of that,
Cal!" Sarah snapped.
Sarah’s heart was beating fast
from the stress, and now her head was starting to throb. Oh, God, I’m having
a heart attack and a brain aneurysm at once. I’m going to die.
"You will not talk to me
like that!" Cal yelled. "Do you understand that?"
Sarah felt like she couldn’t
breathe. She was about to cry now, on top of everything else.
"I said, do you understand
that?" Cal shouted even louder.
"Shut the bloody hell
up!" Sarah yelled back.
Cal looked like, if he was alive,
he would be slapping and screaming at Sarah.
Well, he’s got half of it
down, she thought.
"And you wonder why I
died," Cal said angrily.
Sarah looked as if she had gotten
slapped in the face. That phrase was ten times worse than any physical injury
he could have given her.
The lump in her throat hurt more
and more. She felt like she was going to give in any minute to the tears that
she so desperately, but rarely, wanted to shed.
Cal was angrier than ever. She
saw the empty water glass on the nightstand next to her start to shake. Then it
exploded, shards of glass landing on the table, floor, and bed.
"Stop it!" Sarah
yelled, but then she realized he was gone. Her breathing became choppier. Her
eyes became more blurry with tears. "Stop it," she said to thin air.
"Oh, Sarah," Rose said,
rushing over to hug her. "Are you all right?"
Sarah was too busy crying to
reply. After a few minutes, she replied, "I hate him, Rose."
*****
Rose let Sarah sleep in her bed
with her that night. The poor girl was too shaken up and scared to sleep in her
room, even with a light on. Rose thought at least being with her might help.
How much torture did Sarah have
to go through? Rose didn’t even know what Cal was saying. She knew she wouldn’t
ask. It was too touchy a subject now.
Before the glass next to her
exploded, there was look of complete and utter horror and hurt on Sarah’s face
that she hadn’t known a person could have. Cal must have said something
Godawful to her that was now going to be a permanent mark on her.
It was complicated being on the
human end of living with a medium, Rose figured out. She had learned–fast–not
to ask questions while a spirit was in the room with Sarah. She often heard a
lot of things that she wouldn’t and couldn’t understand unless Sarah
interpreted them for her, which was a no-no unless they were ready to cross
over--which Sarah would tell her, she said.
As stressful as the night had
been, Sarah was now in a deep sleep. Spirits drained her, especially angry
ones. They would suck almost all of the energy out of her.
Rose loved hearing about Sarah’s
experiences as a medium and all she had learned in her fifteen years on earth.
It was one of the most fascinating things to her.
Usually, when a loved one died,
the person grieving would give anything to talk to them. She imagined that was
how Sarah felt about Cal until she learned the truth about him. That was how
she herself felt about Jack until Sarah could contact him.
She knew she was getting greedy,
but she really, really wanted to talk to him one last time. She tried to
convince herself that she should be grateful for getting to talk to him at all,
but he was her first love, forever gone, all because of the current spirit who
was residing in the Dawson household.
Rose shut her eyes, feeling a bit
tired herself. She quickly drifted to sleep, waiting for a new and hopefully
better morning.