CHAPTER 10
Brian sat in the middle of the room. He was comfortable, sitting on a lounge chair with overstuffed pillows on it hugging his body snugly, his legs curled underneath him. He leaned back in the chair and looked around. He was in the house he was staying in for the summer. Daniel’s house. Yes, he recognised that much. But something was wrong.
Brian closed his eyes and took a deep breath, keeping his eyes closed. A breeze swirled around him and he opened his eyes to see where it was coming from. Had he left the window open? He didn’t think he had. As he was about to uncurl his legs he felt something on his shoulder, keeping him in place. With his heart pounding, he turned his head up to look.
The old lady was floating behind him in a semi-transparent state. He could see through her and it chilled him for a moment. She was smiling at him and nodding her head slightly floating around in front of him. Her smile put Brian immediately at ease and he knew nothing would happen. She wouldn’t hurt him.
She came close to Brian, floating with ease to stop directly in front of him. A kind smile brightened her features. “You should have kissed her,” she said softly to him. Brian sat still, his mouth open in surprise. It was the voice he had heard last night. “Don’t look so surprised. We’re here to help you.”
When she said the word we Brian looked around. Sure enough, hovering in the air to his right was another transparent figure, this one a male. Brian gulped. “Help me?” He was at ease with the 2 ghosts floating around the room, but it still unnerved him.
“Help you to relax in your life. Set yourself free and see where your future lies. We know where it lies, but you need guidance.”
Brian jumped off the chair and paced the room in an agitated state. He didn’t want anyone guiding his life. He wanted to get away from all that and do his own thing for a while. He was trying to escape all the control everyone seemed to have over him. His whole adult life was planned out for him being told where to be and when to be there. Here he wanted to do what he wanted, not some figment of his imagination. Yeah, that was it, he was imagining this again.
“See, I told you this was going to be harder than you thought,” the man said to the woman when he saw how upset Brian had become.
She waved him away. “You just leave this one to me,” she said looking at Brian and smiling, winking at him as she did. That stopped Brian in his tracks and chuckle to himself. Was she flirting with him? “You go and look after Skye, I’ll deal with our young man.” At Brian’s stunned look she smiled sweetly at him. “It’s okay my dear. We only want what is best for you.”
Brian sat down again and watched the two ghosts. They seemed to be discussing something, but he couldn’t hear a word. Finally the old man nodded and disappeared in front of Brian’s eyes. His eyes widened, then looked at the woman, who was still smiling at him. “What do you want?” he asked.
“All we want is for Skye to be happy. And in turn for you to be happy. Then our unfinished business will be finished and we will be able to leave.” She let that bit of information sink in. “You should have kissed her,” she repeated. She seemed to say that a lot.
“I can’t kiss her.” Brian protested.
“But you wanted to didn’t you?” Brian blushed. “I knew it. I knew you wanted to. You should have. She wants it, you want it.”
“How do you know she wanted to?” Brian asked, suddenly cheered at that thought.
“I just know these things. Brian, you need to trust me. We all want what is best for you.”
“I can’t kiss a woman the first time I meet her. I need to know her before I ever get close enough for that.”
The old lady pondered what Brian said for a while. “Hmm, this could be a little more difficult than I thought. If only you would kiss her. She will know then and so will you.”
“NO,” came another voice in the room, one Brian hadn’t heard before, a younger voice than the old man had spoken in. He looked around and saw nothing.
“Trevor,” the woman said. “I thought you knew. You were letting go of her, why are you protesting now? She needs to move on.”
“I have let go,” came the voice again, a touch of sadness seeping through. “But he can’t rush Skye. She doesn’t like that. I know that for a fact.”
“Trevor, show yourself, you are scaring Brian,” she said looking at Brian’s confused face.
Brian watched as another transparent image appeared in front of him slowly. He frowned when he saw the image. He looked familiar and he felt ill at ease as the man, who looked a similar age to himself, studied him. He squirmed under his gaze but kept his eyes locked with the spirit. He remembered a photo he had seen at Skye’s house the night before and realised this must be someone special to her, someone who she had lost.
“Yes, you recognise me?” Trevor said and Brian grinned at the irony of that. It was usually him that was recognised.
“Not really. Skye has a photo of you.”
He nodded, studying Brian still. “Yes she does. I was someone special in her life, but my time was up.”
“How special?” Brian asked.
“I think she needs to tell you that. But what I need to know, for my own peace of mind, is that she is happy. She hasn’t been happy since…” he stopped and Brian guessed what he meant, “… but you. You can make her happy I know it. You are the one for her,” he said wistfully.
Brian could tell it hurt Trevor deeply to talk about matching him with Skye and he guessed they had been very close. He felt a pang of jealousy at what they might have shared. He shook his head. What was he thinking, feeling jealous of a ghost?
“You will look after Skye,” he said softly, the tenderness when he spoke her name evident. “Rise!” he ordered Brian and Brian stood up again. “I like you Brian,” Trevor said and threw his arms around him in a manly hug. “I trust you with the woman I loved. Now it is your turn to love her. Don’t let us down.”
“I won’t,” Brian said returning the hug.
“I’ll be watching out, till my business is finished but you won’t see me.” He nodded towards the old woman who Brian didn’t even know the name of.
“I’ll be helping you Brian,” she said and Brian nodded his head. Why was he agreeing to this?
“Goodbye Brian.” Trevor said to him and let go of him. It was only then that he realised he had been floating along with Trevor and he dropped to the floor with a thud.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Brian woke with a jump, sitting up in his bed. He rubbed his head expecting it to be sore from the fall, but it wasn’t. He sat in the middle of the bed, frowning at the memory of his nightly dream. This one was different though. This one he remembered every detail and it unnerved him. He shuddered. Normally his dreams escaped him, leaving him feeling only the warmth of what he had shared with Skye in his dreams. But he hadn’t dreamt of Skye this time. What had it all meant? Was he imagining it all again? Making stories in his head? How was he meant to make any sort of relationship with Skye when he had his imagination encroaching on real life? What had the ghosts appearance in his dreams meant?
Did he even want a relationship with Skye? He had been dreaming about her for months now and actually meeting her had thrown him for a loop though he had hidden it well the night before. What would she think of him if she knew he had been dreaming of her? Then again, Jay had said she had been haunted by dreams too, so maybe she wouldn’t think he was so crazy.
He thought of those dreams he had been having and blushed. For some reason now he knew his Honey Eyes, or should he say now he had met her, he felt a little embarrassed at the thought of all his dreams. All those nights dreaming of making love to her. Slow and easy or fast and frantic. Kissing her, holding her, loving her. He had dreamt it all. Even slow romantic dates where they took their time talking, though he remembered little of the conversations. But nearly every night he had dreamt about her and he felt as if he knew her.
He shifted uncomfortably in the bed. Just the thought of his dreams had him wanting her again in the way he had in his subconscious. He was going to have to keep a check on his feelings when he was around her but he feared that would be a difficult task. A swim in the ocean might help him at this stage. Some cold water and exercise.
Swimming along the beach a little while later reminded him of the dream he had once had. As with that dream, he swam along effortlessly, his muscles easily working his body through the cool water. It was exactly what he needed, especially when he remembered how the rest of his dream had gone. That was the first night he had dreamt of making love to her. He wondered if she really looked like she had in his dream when she was naked.
He slapped the water harder with his hands as he swam. This was not the way to be thinking about Skye and he felt ashamed of himself. If he kept this up he would never be able to face her, and he didn’t want that. The waves were getting a little higher now and he was finding it a little difficult to swim. He would have to swim to the shore and walk back.
Looking towards the shore he realised he had swum as far as Skye’s house and a feeling of déjà vu washed over him. He realised he might have a lot of those feelings while ever he was here near Skye. He saw a person move and groaned when he realised it was her he saw sitting on the edge of the dry sand, her feet almost touching the waves as they trickled in. Now what was he going to do. If he spoke to her, he knew he would begin to blush, the dream running through his mind. So far it was almost identical.
The next wave smashed into him and he swallowed a mouthful of salty water, coming back up coughing and spluttering. That did it, he had no choice but to walk out onto the sand. Still coughing he reached the shoreline directly in front of Skye. He could feel her watching him and he didn’t know what to say. Did he pretend he didn’t see her yet?
“That wave a little rough for you?” Skye asked him, amusement in her voice, giving him no chance to just slip away. She stood up in front of him and he felt his body begin to react immediately. This was not good. He had no towel to cover himself up with. He wished she would stop looking at him. Her honey coloured eyes were studying him in amusement.
“Um, yeah. Just a bit. The swell has picked up since I began to swim earlier. I thought I would walk back to the house.” He looked up at her and he felt as if he was drowning. Geez, there was that song, their song that had been in that dream. He had to get away.
Right at that moment he felt a small finger push him lightly on the shoulder moving him forward slightly. “Kiss her,” came the old woman’s voice. Brian was determined to ignore her and was now glad he had Skye to focus his gaze on. Another poke in the shoulder, this time a little harder. “Kiss her,” she repeated. Brian rolled his eyes around to look for her but saw nothing. A third poke in the shoulder, more forceful this time, had him losing his balance slightly before he righted himself again. “KISS her!”
Brian turned around, expecting to find the image of the old woman there. “NO,” he said aloud then was amazed to see she wasn’t there.
“No?” Skye asked him.
Brian was out of the water now and started to kick his toes in the sand, trying to think of something to say. “Sorry, I was thinking about something for work. Thinking out aloud. A bad habit of mine,” Brian lied to her.
“Oh, okay. Well you seem preoccupied, so I will just leave you be. I need to be getting back to the house anyway. Maybe I will see you around again.”
She looked a little surprised at his behaviour, and a little confused, but as Brian said, “Sure thing,” she turned to walk away, not stopping to turn back. Brian was stunned, he was fixed to the spot and watched her walk away, the sway of her hips bringing back the longing he had been feeling earlier. He turned and spoke to thin air.
“Now see what you have done?”
“Done?” came the voice.
“She thinks I am a loony and wants nothing to do with me now. All because of your fascination with me kissing her.”
“But if you kiss her you will both realise you are destined to be together.” The voice protested.
“Just let me decide if I will kiss her or not. Just stop interfering.” Brian said turning around and breaking out in a light run up the beach. He had to get back to the house and plan his next move. He wanted to see Skye again, and no matter how much he protested against the voice, he wanted to kiss Skye, there was no denying that.
Chapter 11 ~ Coming Soon ~
Index
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