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Chapter Eight
A small part of me wanted to shut my eyes, run past the doors up to my room and pull the covers over my head. A very small part of me.
The other part of me wanted to throw the doors open and confront the situation head on. But of course, the little voice inside my head told me I was just dreaming and to go along with what ever was behind that door. The dream world is inevitable.
I reached for the door handle with exaggerated slowness, trying to clam my nerves. I stood there, not moving, for four deep breaths.
Then from the other side of the door the music stopped and a voice so gentle and alluring said, “Why don’t you come in, Genevieve.”
All those deep breaths seemed wasted now because I stopped breathing all together.
I slid the door to the left and the light from the fire poured into the hall. Jasper seemed more casual in his attire and position. He was wearing his usual jeans with a plain black t-shirt that intensified his pallor. A color that I would never be able to pull off even if I lived in a cave and wore a lot of white foundation. He was sitting on the couch, as if he had never moved from the last time I saw him. I couldn’t be sure, what with the shadows on one side of his face and all, but he seemed to be smiling. Something I’d never seen him do.
He was sitting back with both arms flung out, resting on the back of the couch. “To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked. He was definitely smiling.
I shifted my weight and leaned against the door. I was feeling oddly confident in myself. “You never finished your explaining theory to me.”
“Ah.” He said, leaning on his elbows now. “Where do I begin?” he asked, mostly himself.
I walked across the floor to the red couch and sat down opposite him. I brought my legs up and rested my chin on my knees, patiently waiting for him to continue.
“I believe you left off with telling me about Susan’s boyfriend. He wasn’t too happy with you.” I pushed when he obviously wasn’t going to continue.
He nodded. “His name was Nigel. However, he was a cool kid in school so everyone called him Stones. I wasn’t in his group of friends so I don’t know why that was his name.” he chuckled darkly.
“What happened next?” I asked, staring up at Jasper who was watching me.
“Susan has told me the story over and over but I can never make it a memory of my own.”
“You don’t remember?” I asked, my voice faint.
“I have a theory about that too, but I will share that for another time.”
I bit my lip, holding back the urge to tell him how I wanted to know more. I was also holding back the urge to giggle; he wanted to see me again.
Sensing the curiosity in my eyes, he continued. “The last thing I remembered was that it was snowing. Everything was covered in a thin sheet of snow, including Susan.” He snickered, “She was naturally beautiful it was hard to look at her without my mind going completely blank.”
Huh, that must be how I’m feeling right now. Palms clammy and the racing heart beat. “Some of the perks of falling in love.” I said sincerely.
He smiled and looked away from me. “Susan said that we went to the lake behind the house that afternoon to go ice-skating. She use to go all the time, but after that day, she wouldn’t step on ice again.
”It was one of those days that Nigel followed us around, but that day was different some how. Susan and I were only on the ice for five minuets before Nigel and three of his goons showed up. Susan never told me their names. She never told anyone, despite the justice it could have done.
“They took her away first. They tied her to a tree and forced her to watch. She had to stand there and see them beat me to a pulp. They stopped when I was bruised all over with most of my bones broken. However, they weren’t finished.” He rubbed his forehead a few times before he reluctantly continued.
“Nigel had found a hole in the ice. With his foot, he pounded the ice around it to make it bigger. Some of his friends put a couple of heavy rocks in the pockets of my jacket. They dragged me to the hole. I don’t think he meant for it to go that far. I was so weak and in pain, I couldn’t move. Later Nigel said he was going to pull me out after I suffered a little. I sank instead.”
Despite myself, I gasped. “You were murdered?” My voice cracked and I could feel tears forming in my eyes.
“It was a childish prank. I hold no grudge with them.” He said, defending them.
I shook my head a few times but it was too easy to imagine it. Susan so defenseless was forced to watch this beautiful creature suffer so grievously. I shuddered and pulled my legs in tighter, hugging myself as if that would hold me together.
I didn’t want to look at Jasper, for I feared that he would be able to see what I was feeling in my eyes. The obvious pity for him was there, along with other mixed emotions of the same genre. Another emotion not so easily defined was hidden deep inside as well. An emotion that has left me confused with the whole Jasper situation.
If he was real, if this wasn’t a dream, then I am talking to a ghost that died over fifty years ago. Better yet, I am falling head over heals for a ghost that died over fifty years ago.
When I lifted my head up again to see what he was doing, he wasn’t on the couch opposite me. In that same moment, the entire right side of my body turned ice cold. I looked over and he was sitting right beside me, not even six inches away. I shivered and hugged myself even tighter, wishing I had a sweat shirt.
“Did I frighten you?” he asked, a little amused with the idea.
“Yes.” I admitted and he beamed. “Was that your intention, to scare me?”
He shrugged, “You asked a question and I merely answered it truthfully.”
I nodded, “Why are you still here?” I asked, and then paused. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“I don’t mind your questions at all, I rather enjoy your company. If all these questions are what I have to endure to keep you coming back, that’s just something I’m going to have to deal with.”
I blinked a few times then took a deep breath. That was all I could do to keep from screaming with excitement.
“Anyways, when I first realized I was dead,” I flinched but he didn’t seem to have notice. “I couldn’t understand it myself. I was stuck in this house, and yet I could touch everything as if I were alive. I couldn’t bare to reveal myself to Susan when I was in such a bad condition. It was easy to hide because I am only like this at night.”
“What do you mean?” I pressed, biting my lip.
“During the day, I go away. I am still conscious to everything that happens in the house, but I can do nothing about it. It’s similar to watching TV. I found ways to make contact, only after years and years of practice. Like that first day, when I played with your hair when that woman came to give you the cake. I didn’t want to push you any farther, or scare you. I stuck with the breeze. I was surprised that you noticed it so quickly. I’m impressed really.” He smiled and a shudder went through my body.
“While Susan and her family were asleep,” he continued, “I read their books and used what information they gave me to come up with my own conclusion. Well, what I thought was my conclusion at the time. However, my continues presence here proves that theory wrong, which was that I was waiting for Susan to pass on so we could be together.”
He watched my face, waiting for something, anything. I didn’t move or speak, just waited for him to continue. Just to hear his voice.
“For the past month now, I’ve been trying to piece it together. At first, I thought maybe it was the house that kept me grounded. I haven’t completely discarded that theory. However, when you came to me in your dreams, you looked like a ghost. Glowing as if you had an aura. The first time, I thought you were Susan come to take me into the light. Then I heard your name being called out to you and I knew we were somehow connected. ”
“Whoa, hold it,” I said, throwing up my arms. “You think we’re connected? How is that even possible?” My voice shook. Every breath Jasper let out made the air around me drop five degrees. He finally noticed my discomfort.
He raised his arm and across the room, an afghan rose off the floor. It was levitating two feet off the ground and moved towards us. I reached out my hand to touch it when it was within reach. I smiled as it was wrapped around me by invisible hands.
In the dead silence, with Jasper staring at me as if expecting me to do some trick, I realized that this was all just a dream. Why not make the most of the experience while I was still sleeping?
I repositioned myself on the couch so that I was leaning against Jasper’s chest. He didn’t object and I was very glad for that. I closed my eyes and sighed, “You were saying?”
“I’m sorry, I lost my train of thought. What was I babbling about?” he admitted and I heard the smile in his voice.
I couldn’t help smile myself. “We are connected, how?” I asked again.
“Ah, yes that is my theory of course. I could be completely wrong.”
“Tell me anyway,” I said, afraid he would stop talking. He wrapped his arms around me and I snuggled deeper into his embrace.
“If you insist,” Probably deep in thought, he paused. “I loved Susan until the day she died even though she grew older. It was her soul that I truly loved. Because you both look so much alike, I wonder if you have similar souls. Maybe what I loved so much in her soul, is similar to something in your soul that keeps me grounded.”
I sat there for a while, just taking it all in. A thin layer of guilt now clouded my mind. Is it possible that I am the cause of his suffering? Unintentional or not, that’s not fair to either of us.
When I didn’t reply, he asked, “Did you fall asleep?” in a quiet whisper.
At that very moment, my body decided to betray me and I yawned. “No.”
He chucked and wrapped the blanket tighter around me, then went back to holding me. “Sleep, Genevieve.”
I couldn’t fathom such a request. “I am sleeping,” I said skeptically.
He laid his chin on my head and sighed. “You still think this is all just a dream.” He assumed.
I tried fighting against the sleep that encroached on me, but I was sadly loosing the battle. “Maybe a nap.” I said giving in.
He raised his hand again and the piano started playing a sweet lullaby. I was so close to sleep that it didn’t bother me.
It was there, in his arms listening to his piano, that I fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
All your film casting and playlists make me laugh 
