Do you remember the first person you had a crush on? Do you now slap your forehead and think, "Ye gods, what if I'd married him/her?" It could be worse.
Til Death Do Us Part (995 words)
Weeks of preparation, all those sit-ups, and Eva had to admit, her abs were looking pretty good. The hour spent on make-up was wasted, though. Her face had been crushed by the impact.
Hammond McKnight stumbled out of the Lamborghini, clutching his hair. “Fuck! Where the hell did she come from?”
She’d even got lucky with the weather; London felt wild and otherworldly in the lashing rain.
A white-faced blonde tottered from the car. She wobbled to Eva’s corpse, squatted next to it, felt for a pulse.
The thing is, nobody talked about the undignified things that happened when you died. Eva’s body stank of shit.
“What am I going to do?” said Hammond.
The blonde leaned away from the body, puked, and then took a tiny pink phone from a tiny pink purse.
Hammond said “What are you doing?”
“It wasn’t your fault,” said the blonde. “She jumped right out. We have to call the police.”
“The premiere’s tomorrow.”
The blonde looked sick again, and turned away to make the call.
Eva could feel the guilt radiating from Hammond. Goddess! It worked, they had a bond. But it wasn’t the darkly romantic start to her haunting she’d dreamed of.
#
“So I’m not batshit?” said Hammond.
“Oh, she’s definitely here,” said the psychic, returning Eva’s wave. She wasn’t Eva’s idea of a psychic at all. She had sensible cropped grey hair and wore a mumsy skirt.
“Right. You can do that thing, make her go into the light or whatever?”
Eva sighed happily. He wanted to help her. She could stare forever at his soulful ocean-blue eyes, was desperate to stroke the curve of his jaw. She hadn’t touched him, hadn’t spoken. The first move had to be his.
The psychic plumped down in a squashy white leather chair. “You say she followed you, Mr. McKnight?”
“All the way from London to L.A.”
“She’s a very determined spirit. And she sealed her will with sacrifice. But there’s no malice here.” The psychic sighed. “Only love.”
“What?”
“I don’t think she can move on. Is there any reason she’s so bound to you? I sense guilt too. That can be a powerful tie. If there’s something...”
“Thanks for coming.”
#
“I know you’re there,” said Hammond. “Look, I’m sorry. It was one snort of coke. If anything, it makes me drive better. Nobody knew about it. How the hell did you know?”
He gulped. “Can you speak?”
“I didn’t know,” said Eva, and Hammond went very still and pale. “I just wanted a way to be with you. Ever since I first saw you on screen, I knew we were supposed to be together.” She brushed her hand on his. He flinched. “I can do things for you. Anything you want.”
“Let me see you.”
Eva put her will into it. Sunlight flooded everywhere, bouncing from the waves outside and through the glass wall. It was a bitch to shine brightly enough to compete.
“That’s really you? No ghost tricks?”
“All that’s left of me.”
“You’re kinda cute. The little goth girl thing is different for me.” He put his hand out tentatively at breast height.
#
“Eva!”
“I’m right here.”
“I don’t see why you can’t bring me a goddam drink.” Hammond peered into the mirror while Eva straightened his bow tie.
“I told you, it’s hard for me to move things. It uses up my energy.” And he’d had enough booze already. He’d make a total arse of himself again at this high profile party. Big producers, big directors, big fat bore. Eva sighed.
Hammond heard her. “Jealous? Don’t worry, I’m about done with Rachel, just a few days of the shoot left. You’ll always be here.”
“I like Rachel. She talks about philosophy, she loves snakes and she listens to kick-arse music.”
“Don’t try and speak to her again. It really freaked her out.”
“Noone can hear me except you and the psychics. And we’re not around them much.”
“So talk to me, baby. How do I look?”
“Gorgeous.” And he did.
Eva walked out of the room, and kept on walking. “I release you,” she said, just as an experiment. Of course she was still wild about Hammond. But where were the hidden depths she’d seen in those eyes? Very, very hidden, that’s where. She only got so far before she smacked into an invisible wall and psychic’s words whirled in her mind.
#
Rachel had talked about sins of omission. Eva didn’t have to whisper in Hammond’s ear to have one more drink, snort one more line. She could just do nothing and sooner or later he’d have enough to kill him.
He puked and rinsed his mouth out with whiskey. She watched him, stony cold.
“Get away from me, bitch!” he said. “Spying, judging me.”
“I’d go if I could,” said Eva. “Please, drink and snort yourself to death. Then we’ll both be free.”
“You don’t know what it’s like for me,” Hammond said.
“Take a bucketload of pills with your vat of booze.” The glasses on the table rattled with her rage. It was a struggle to hold herself together. “Let me go. Do it!”
“Oh yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Us together forever in the afterlife.”
Shit! She hadn’t even considered that. She assumed it was til death do us part, please Goddess. What if their link went beyond this world? The anger drained from her, leaving weariness.
“Hammond, you’re a fucking idiot. Admit it, you’ve got exactly what you wanted and it’s a big disappointment. So find something else that isn’t. It’s not too late for you.”
Hammond dragged himself up against a sofa, and his eyes drifted closed. After a while, he said. “Go into retreat, maybe, work on my craft.”
“Learn to act?”
“Been getting by on my looks.” He half-smiled. “You really want me to kill myself?”
“No,” said Eva. “Just live an interesting life.” After all, she’d have to share it.
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