They didn't always know they were dead.
Not that it mattered. Bea Neville was scared shitless of them either way. Young, old, from this time or long ago, she wondered what she'd done to deserve her hauntings.
This time a woman hovered at the foot of her bed, pale as moonlight and buck-toothed. Long strands of hair hung wild over pock-marked skin. She grinned a lemon-slice grin, the white of her eyes bulging ready to pop.
Bea gasped and scrambled into a sitting position, smashing the back of her head on the wooden headboard. She drew the covers up to her chin, for comfort if nothing else.
The wraith stepped through the bottom of the bed as though it wasn't there at all. Reaching out with spindly fingers, she spoke her soundless words.
Bea drew her knees up to her chest.
Again, the woman's mouth formed the silent shape of what she wanted to say, her sharp-edged fingers hovering inches from Bea's face. Closer and Closer.
She couldn't take it anymore.
"Helen! Helen!"
Bea's mother threw open the bedroom door in a matter of seconds. Her hair, a tangled brunette cloud around her head. With a feral wildness roaming her eyes, Helen took in every detail of Bea's room looking for the perpetrator. When she found none, her gaze settled back on Bea.
"A nightmare, honey?"
Bea stared forward, still clutching the covers to her chin. The ghost faded until she became a shadow once more. It was a few moments before she regained the ability to speak.
"It was one of them," Bea shuddered trying to stop the sobs from coming.
Helen sighed, her face softening. She knelt by Bea's bed and reached out for her hand.
"You're ice cold," she gasped.
The sobs came anyway, wracking Bea's body until the whole bed trembled beneath her.
Helen leaned up to cup Bea's face. "Ssshhh! It isn't your fault."
Bea pulled away from her mother as though she was one of the spectres herself. "No, it's yours."
Helen recoiled, sinking back onto her knees.
"Yours for not teaching me, for not showing me what we can do, for not talking to me about what we are."
"Because we're not that anymore. I made the decision to leave, for you, for us."
"Then you need to make the decision to leave again. Get out."
"Bea-"
Bea clasped her hands over her ears, squeezing her eyes shut. The tears still rolled down her cheeks. "Get out! Get out!" she screamed.
She didn't hear Helen leave but felt the loss of her anyway. When she opened her eyes once more, Bea found herself alone, no mother, no ghosts, no-one. Sinking back down into her bed, she pulled the covers over her head and sobbed until morning broke.
YOU ARE READING
THE HAUNTING OF BEA NEVILLE
Paranormal**Part of BREAKING SHADOWS UNIVERSE** Bea Neville has always had an unusual ability; she can see and communicate with ghosts. But as a 17-year-old, she has never understood why she has this power. When Bea's mother is kidnapped leaving no trace, she...
