The spinning stopped and I was in the spiritual realm.
My stomach was flipping because I was excited with anticipation about something, but I couldn’t remember what. What was I here to do?
Then I heard someone approaching. From the footsteps and steady breathing, I knew it wasn’t just a spirit. This person was alive.
“Where am I?” He asked; his voice incredibly familiar.
I tried to remember what was happening, but couldn’t. It had never been this way before. I had never forgotten my purpose before when coming into the spiritual realm. Maybe it was different when a living spirit was involved.
“Who are you?” He asked.
I turned around and as soon as I saw his face, I remembered. “Robert!” I said. Robert was here talking to me.
“Yes…I’m Robert, but who are you?”
I didn’t know what to say first, so I just started with my name. “I’m Josephina Gates,” I said as if I had just remembered it. It felt strange saying my own name after so long.
“Am I dreaming? Why are you here?” He asked.
I felt overwhelmed. There was so much that he needed to know…so much that I had to tell him, but I didn’t know how to begin.
“I have a lot that I need to tell you, but first…I used to live in your house,” I said. I decided to feed him a little bit at a time.
“What do you mean? You sold the house to me?” He asked.
“Um…no,” I knew that I had to be careful. Robert didn’t believe in the supernatural. If I said too much, he would probably shut me out completely. “Not exactly,” I said; leaving my answer simple.
“Okay…so why am I dreaming this?”
“I needed to tell you something. It’s about Elaina,” I responded cautiously.
“What about her? Why is it your concern?”
“Robert, you have to be careful around her. She’s not who you think she is.” I somehow knew that he would not want to hear anything about Elaina being a vampire. I would have to get to that later.
“How do you know who I think she is?” It was a good question. I didn’t know how to answer it.
When I didn’t answer, he continued. “Look, I don’t know what this is or what any of this has to do with you, but since it’s just a dream…”
“Robert, it’s not a dream…”I interrupted quickly. I knew that he was ready to end our contact. I had to be more bold in my approach.
“Tell me what’s going on or I’m out of here.”
“You’re in danger,” I blurted out.
“How do you know? You’re just the person who sold me my house.”
I knew that he didn’t get it. I had to take a chance and tell him. “I’m a ghost Robert. I didn’t sell you the house…I died in it.”
“This is bull…I’m out of here,” Robert said turning away from me.
“Robert…please,” I begged.
“I don’t believe in this…this…whatever this is,” he said sounding a bit frustrated over his lack of vocabulary.
“Look me up,” I said in a last ditch effort to get through to him.
“What?” He said. I knew that he heard me, but wanted clarification.
“When you wake up…look me up on the internet,” I said. I knew it was the only way he’d believe me.
“So I just have to wake up to get out of here?” He asked.
“Yes,” I said with contrition. I knew that if he woke up right now, he would just think this was all a dream. I wasn’t able to convince him and he probably wouldn’t even bother looking me up as I suggested.
Soon after, Robert disappeared from the realm. I assumed that he had woken up.
My insides were filled with fear and regret because I knew that I still had not accomplished my goal. But I hoped that I had at least planted a seed of belief.
