Chapter 1:
Darkest Hour
“I’m sorry Sir, but she’s already
dead.”
I grimaced when I heard one of the paramedics speak those words as I carefully hugged
Kate’s body lying in the ground. She was hit by a speeding car while crossing
the street to visit me at the recording studio.
I looked up and shot him a deadly stare; how could he be so calm and composed
when he just dropped the news that shattered my whole world? How could he look
at me and Kate with those emotionless eyes? The look on his face showed he
wasn’t sorry at all, and I couldn’t understand why.
If he only knew how special Kate was, that she was beautiful inside and out,
that she has the biggest heart in the entire world; maybe, just maybe he would
feel terribly sorry for losing an angel here in earth.
I felt AJ and Brian’s hands on my shoulders, trying to pull me up from the
ground. The paramedics lifted Kate’s lifeless body covered with blood and
transferred it to a stretcher. They loaded her into the ambulance and one of
the paramedics gave me a sympathetic look before closing the ambulance’s door.
My body was shaking from trying to hold back the tears when the ambulance drove
off.
“Nick, would you like us to follow Kate?” Brian asked in a low and unhappy
tone.
I tilted my head to look at Brian; I was about to answer him when I saw a
familiar face in the crowd. I had completely forgotten all about her; to think
I was just talking to her this morning. She wasn’t the usual bubbly girl I have
been dealing with for the last four days; pain and sadness were written all
over her face. I suddenly remembered the warning she gave me before I left my
house. I felt the anger rush through my body as I walked towards her.
“Did you know this was going to happen? Did you know my girlfriend was going to
die?”
I felt AJ’s hands grab my arms and stopped me from walking. “Nick?”
“Let me go, J.” I warned him, trying
to shake his hands off me. I ignored the confusion in his voice.
“Who are you talking to?” Brian asked, confused. He was also looking in the
direction I was headed.
That was when I realized that they couldn’t see her; that I was the only one
special enough to deal with these dead people. Leila, the current lost soul I
was helping at the moment, was gone when I looked back at the spot where she
was standing. I sighed heavily and decided to deal with her later.
I whirled around desperately looking for Kate. If I could see Leila and the
other souls around me; I’d be able to see Kate, right? She had to be here
somewhere. I checked the faces of everyone in the crowd individually, making
sure that they were not Kate.
“Where is she? Why can’t I see her?” I cried in agony, as if my sight was taken
away from me. “Why can’t I fucking see her?”
“Nick, the ambulance took her to the morgue. We can go there if you want.”
Brian offered.
“You don’t understand Brian, she has to be here. I need to talk to her, maybe I
could convince her to go back to her body.”
“But Nick---”
“Come on, AJ, she just died,” I winced when I realized what I just said “People
stay where they died until they see the light that would take them to heaven.
Kate should be here; she wouldn’t be able to figure out how to get out of here
that fast.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” AJ shook my shoulders a bit “Dude,
you’re scaring me.”
“Fuck,” I threw my hands in the air “Ok. I have been seeing ghosts, souls or
earth bound spirits, whatever shit you want to call it for like five, or six
years. I have been helping them fulfill their unfinished business here on earth
that kept them from seeing the fucking light. If I could see these fucking
ghosts,” I pointed to some of the souls around us though I was aware that AJ and
Brian couldn’t see them “Why can’t I see Kate?”
There, I just told them my fucking secret, the ‘gift’ that I wasn’t so proud
of; the ability I would have given up in a heartbeat. There was no day in my
fucking life I didn’t wish for it to be gone. I worked hard for a long time to
keep it from everyone else; I had been doing all my missions alone.
“Nick,” was all Brian could say before he pulled me into a warm hug.
“Kaitlyn,” I whispered her name under my breath before dropping to my knees,
and burying my face in my hands.
My heart felt like it was going to explode any minute now. I let the tears flow
freely from my eyes; I had no strength left to hold them back. I felt AJ and
Brian sit on the ground beside me; they gave me an understanding look. Though
it was evident on their faces that neither one of them believed what I said; at
least I hoped they weren’t thinking that I was crazy or something.
“Nick,”
I wrapped my arms around me; the way Leila breathed my name into my ears sent
goosebumps all over my body.
“I completely understand if you are mad at me, but you have to know we couldn’t
do anything to prevent the accident from happening. I shouldn’t have told you
those things this morning; I might be punished for doing so but I don’t care. I
wanted you to be ready for this.”
I threw her an icy glare and hissed “Don’t you dare guilt trip me, Leila.
Nothing could prepare me for this.”
“Look at how happy she is, Nick.”
Leila’s attention was focused behind me, and she was beaming. I slowly turned
around to check what the hell she meant. I had to close my eyes for a second
because the bright light blinded me. My heart seemed to stop beating for a
while when I saw Kate at the center of the bright light. Her light was the
brightest light I’ve ever seen.
She was so beautiful and she looked so peaceful. She was beaming with so much
happiness, and I’d never seen her like this. She smiled the smile that made me
fall crazy in love with her.
And I knew what the bright light meant; she had to go.
“Kate, please don’t go. I need you. I love you.” I begged her.
She smiled and slightly shook her head; she blew countless kisses to me and
mouthed ‘I love you’. I was no lip reading expert, but she seemed to mouth
‘You’ll be fine and I’ll wait for you’.
With one more kiss she blew my way and another ‘I love you’; I watched her
disappear into the bright light. I broke down and cried.
That was the only moment in my life
that I didn’t regret what happened to me on the day after I celebrated my 25th
birthday.
***