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Teenage Ghost
The pills were not helping Rhonda cope with the loss of her pretend son. She could not tell her psychiatrist the entire story either. She had to keep her secret to herself. On a good day she managed to make it through the day without tears. On a bad day, she could hardly make it out of bed to eat.
She had never known what it felt like, to have a child of her own. She had never known how much fun it could be, baking cookies together and talking about television shows. He was her one source of all the high school news. She might never know the sagas of the countless teenage faces. Faces she thought she would meet one day, picking him up from a dance, or attending a school function.
How brutal was life to her? How unfair had it always been? Why did she think it would be any different now? Why did she allow herself to feel anything for anyone. Why did she do that to herself, again?
Rhonda was so tired of being hurt and upset. Every day was a repeat of the day before.
This day would be different. Rhonda got up and took a shower. She made herself a light breakfast and ate. Then she headed to the last place anyone had seen Jeff alive. The mall.
She walked down the walkways of the mall and stood outside the hair salon and looked around. A strange shop caught her eye, Fortuness it was called. She could tell by looking at it, it was the sort of place run by a fortune teller.
Rhonda wondered if the woman inside could help her find Jeff, it was a strange coincidence that her shop was where he disappeared. She walked inside the shop and at once the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She knew at once she had come to the right place.
Jeff rushed to Eartha in the back room where she was just starting to eat lunch. In an explosion of excitement he interrupted her meal, “You have to give this woman a reading for free.”
“FREE! Pshaw.”. Eartha waved him off.
“NO! I’m serious!” Jeff demanded. “You have to do this, or I’m not going to help you anymore.”
Eartha narrowed her eyes at the ghost, “Don’t you go barking orders at me, Phantom. You aren’t the one in charge here.” She began to think more seriously of the binding spell.
“Please!” Evan begged loudly. “You have to tell her what I have to say.”
Eartha opened the door and peeked out at the woman, “Do you know her?”
“Yes, please!” Jeff urged.
“Who is she to you?” Eartha shut the door.
“She’s the woman who was pretending to be my mother.” Evan tried to explain quickly.
Eartha looked again at the woman. If she did this, many things could happen. The ghost could try to become the dominate one in their relationship, and she would have no choice but to use the binding spell. The woman could pester her time and time again with questions, so many questions, for the boy. Under normal circumstances that would be ideal, she could milk her for every cent she had. However, this one wants her to do it for free. That was too much pestering and not enough compensation. If the ghost refused to work, she would simply make him.
Eartha cracked the door and watched as the woman walked outside the shop and out of sight.
“Well it’s too late now, she’s already left.” Eartha looked at a very angry ghost. “Perhaps you can just run and catch her and bring her back.” she sat down again at the table and began to finish her lunch.
Jeff shouted at her, “I’m never helping you ever again!”
Eartha waved him off, “Don’t be so dramatic. She will come back. I will talk to her then.” She was testing his loyalty, though she would keep her word. “I promise.”
Eartha shrugged, “No one approached her, but she was interested enough to come in. Trust me, when they do that, they always come back. You’ve seen this many times yourself.”
Jeff seethed with anger, “You don’t know what you’ve done.”
“Relax.” Eartha shot him a look of warning. “She will come back. Til then I expect it to be work as usual around here. It’s not the end of the world.”
Jeff knew Rhonda would cry herself to sleep tonight, like she did almost every night. The world might not end for Eartha, but for Rhonda it felt like it was already over.