Ether....(closed for me)

[Fish_Tales]

This is closed for me.

Please respect that.

You can let me know what you think, but not on here.

Or not.

Thanks

 

[Fish_Tales]

1.

“John.”

I rolled over and looked towards the end of the bed, expecting that I’d left the television on. It wasn’t.

It was my wife. She was looking at me. She was standing at the end of the bed. More to the point, she was hovering.

“Oh hi,” I said, still half asleep. “What do you want?”

“You don’t have to ask like that.”

“Sorry.”

“I want to talk.”

I’m as amenable as the next person is to have a chat with my wife, but it was two in the morning.

And my wife was dead.

So I was talking to a ghost at two in the morning. Then I’m not so amenable.

Most people would think that it was unusual that my dead wife’s ghost was standing at the end of my bed at two in the morning. I had thought so at first, but she’d been doing this most nights for the last three months.

“Jen,” I said, “why is it that you always have to come at some ungodly hour of the morning to talk to me?”

She giggled.

“It’s not ungodly. There is no God,” she said. “Believe me, I know.”

She winked.

“Besides, I’m a ghost,” she continued, “I can’t very well turn up during the day. The people at work will think you're mad.”

She smiled.

Giggles, winks and smiles. Like it was before she became ill. Now I had a lump in my throat. I sat up to disguise it.

“But Jen, just because you don’t have to get up early in the morning, it doesn’t mean you have to keep me awake all night. I have to work you know.”

“I don’t get up. I don’t get down. I don’t sleep. I don’t eat. I just…. float. I get bored John. This is so boring. And I want to help you.”

I felt bad for being so impatient, but I was so tired. I was, after all, talking to a ghost. That’s not normal.

At least, normally.

“I miss you, Jen, you know that. The last three months have been hell without you, but I’m not sure what you think you can help me with.”

She smiled at me again.

“Well, you can’t say I’ve abandoned you. I’ve been here every night.”

“Your ghost has.”

“But my ghost is me, John,” she said frowning, looking offended.

“I know, I know, sorry. You know what I mean.”

“I know,” she said, softly.

“Now what do you want to talk about?” I asked.

“Oh, don’t worry for now, you just go to sleep. You look tired. It can wait. I have nothing but time.”

I started to lay back down and mumbled, “Thanks.”

“And John,” she said.

“What?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be here watching over you,” she said. “And if you wake up and want to talk…”

 

[Fish_Tales]

2.

“John....”

“Yes?” she replied, standing before him, “what about him?”

“Jennifer, you visit him a lot,” he said. “You know we don’t mind the odd reminder, to allow those that survive us to grieve a little more gently, but….”

“I know,” she said softly, her eyes looking towards the floor. “But he’s hurting.”

He smiled at her.

“He’ll be hurting for a long time, maybe forever.”

She sighed.

“I don’t want him to.”

“I know that, but soon you have to go. You can’t go while you stay in his mind and heart so strongly. He’s what’s holding you here.”

“I know.”

“You can’t go until you allow him to let you go,” he said. “It’s best for the both of you.”

She looked at him, nodding slowly.

“I want him to be happy. I want to him find someone else. Then I can go.”

“It’s ironic isn’t it? You will try to make him happy and then you’ll cease to exist. It’s the way of the ether.”

Her eyes became moist and then started to fill until finally, a tear broke over and trickled down each cheek.

“I’ll be strong….for him. When he is happy again, then I can go.”

He nodded.

“I trust you.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“It’s for the best, Jennifer. You don’t belong here anymore. The ether is waiting….”

“Yes,” she said softly, not moving as the tears increased. “I know.”

 

[Fish_Tales]

3.

I went to work the next day like I always did. I was the Managing Director of one of the largest engineering firms in Australia. It was a high pressure job, but it suited my competitive instinct. I couldn’t honestly say I loved it, but besides Jenny, I didn’t love much anyway.

Besides her.

I needed to focus on something, take my mind off her.

To forget.

But not her.

Yeah, right.

I was distracted at work and I kept thinking about Jenny. Should I see someone? A psychiatrist? A counsellor? Surely she was not real, at least not to the rest of the world.

Part of me was worried that I was talking to my dead wife every night. Another part of me thought: why worry? It wasn’t like I was walking around during the day talking to her.

Only at night.

I rolled my eyes to myself. Like that was ok.

Fuck it. I was distracted and couldn’t think, let alone be useful at work. Anyway, I had a good team and things were running along smoothly at the moment, so they wouldn’t miss me today.

I pressed the button on my phone marked Jane and called in my PA. I let her know that I would be out of the office for the rest of the day, but would be contactable on my mobile.

Instead of going to my car, I exited via the front entrance of the building and walked down to the river. It was sunny and warm, unusually so for this time of year.

The river was as muddy and brown as it had been for a long time. There had been an unseasonal amount of rain in the past few weeks and it was swollen and flowing rapidly. It wasn’t lunchtime yet, so there were only a few people walking along the river, mostly young mothers pushing prams.

Bored.

Or thinking.

Like me.

I sat on a bench beside the walking track and looked at the river and the people for a few minutes before I felt someone's presence beside me.

I looked across and it was Jen.

“Shit,” I said.

“Oh.....hello to you too,” she said with a grin.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” I said. “It’s just that you’ve never shown yourself during the day.”

“I told you I was bored. Plus, I’ve got a project now,” she said.

“A project?”

Jen nodded and looked ahead at the river and the people walking along the path. Her eyes settled on one of the young women pushing a pram.

“I wish I could do that....” she said, trailing off.

I felt a lump in my throat and my chest got tighter all of a sudden.

“We can walk if you want to,” I said, trying to take the sad thoughts from her mind.

“You can walk,” she said, with a giggle, the smile back on her face. “I’ll just float along.”

I nodded. “I guess.”

She’d become a lot funnier since she died. More of a sense of humour. Dare I say it, in death, she had acquired a joy for life.

We got up and walked towards the café strip. It really was a beautiful day. If I could have held her hand, then it would have been perfect.

Well, if she wasn’t dead it would have been perfect.

We were silent for a while. Me walking, her floating. I guess that’s what you’d call it. I didn’t really know. They probably have some fancy term for it like “spiritual transportation” or “phantasmagorical telelevitation”. Geez, I was such a pedant. I remembered Jen rolling her eyes at me when she was alive – engineers!

“What are you thinking about?” she said.

“Oh, nothing.”

She laughed.

“Actually you were thinking about how you would best describe how I get around.”

I turned and looked at her with my mouth open.

“How…?”

“I’m a ghost. I can read your mind. Naughty I know.”

“Oh.”

“We could actually speak to each other via our thoughts, but I would prefer it if we spoke normally if that’s ok with you?” she paused for a moment. “You never did really talk that much when I was alive.”

“I know.”

“I’ll just try to make sure you don’t look as if you’re talking to yourself.”

“Thanks,” I said, as most people that walked past looked at me as if I was talking to myself....

Great, that really worked well, I thought.

“So,” she said, “Want to hear about my project?”

“I’m not sure,” I said with a grin, and went to punch her lightly on the shoulder, except my hand went straight through her.

Her face dropped.

“I used to love that about you….” she sighed.

“Sorry.”

“No, not at all,” she said, “I’m flattered you still treat me like I’m alive.”

We kept walking, along the river as I silently thought that I wished she was alive.

“I do too,” she said softly.

 

[yeishia]

My gift to you...

I slip quietly up to the very edge of this private space to leave his gift...

I had chosen the concept of my gift with thoughtful care. I wanted him to receive the present of his hearts desire this christmas. With the magic of this realm he would receive such a gift.

The beautifully wrapped box contained an exquisite white rose with a single thorn. Also contained within the box also was a carefully hand written instruction.

I could not turn back time or revoke death. The magic of the rose could evoke a memory, a dream sequence, even provide the trappings for a sensual evening with a special someone. It could also bring forth an x-box, clothing, a new toy; pretty much any material thing big enough to hold between two hands.

It was a gift of promise...

"The desire of your heart resides within this special rose.

Close your eyes and gently press your thumb into the single thorn.

Whatever you desire in this moment is my gift to you Mr. fish.

May your christmas be blessed with love and hope.

Yeishia
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