Occupation: Ghost

Chapter 8

James sat on the guest room bed. The bed that she never thought she would have to use.

It was cold. It was a room and a bed that was only used when family was there. Not even Stevie used a guest room.

She was cold. She felt empty. In her mind, she knew that she was dead and nothing she would do, could change that.

Sighing, she stood up and looked at her bed for the night. The sheets and blankets were too...decorative. She didn't like it. So, she left the room and went upstairs to the linen closet. Funnily enough, there was no actual linen to be found. It was all cotton sheets and wool blankets.

Her favorite sheets and blankets were at the top. She liked to hide them, then no one else could use them.

She reached up and tried to grab them, but she was too short to reach them.

'Damn me and my use of step stools.' She thought to herself.

Seeing no other option, she went back downstairs and went to Parker's room.

She slowly opened the door, being careful not to make too much noise.

Peeking around the corner, she noticed that Parker wasn't asleep yet. She could tell because of his breathing pattern.

He hadn't noticed she was in the room, yet.

She cleared her throat, and he spun around quickly.

"Hey, umm...I need your help with something." James said quietly.

"Yeah. Yeah, sure." Parker complied quietly.

"Okay. Thanks. Just follow me." She requested quietly.

He just nodded his head and stood up off the bed.

James looked back at him. He looked tired, but she knew he wouldn't be sleeping.

"It's just up the stairs. The linen closet." She told him and lead him up the stairs.

"Okay, so what am I looking for?" He asked curiously and tiredly.

"The Navy sheets, um...up at the top." James said quietly.

Parker nodded and opened the closet door. He scanned from the bottom to the top.

When he spotted the sheets James wanted, he reached up and pulled them down.

"Do you need any help putting them back on the bed?" Parker asked awkwardly.

"I guess...if you're offering." James said timidly.

Parker smiled and nodded. "Sure."

Then they silently made their way back down to the main floor.

James cleared her throat. She noticed she had been doing that a lot lately.

"Sorry if this is awkward for you. I understand if you want to go back to your own house." James told him, an almost sad tone in her voice.

"No. No it's okay. I kind of want to stay here, I don't know why, but...I do." Parker admitted shyly.

James blushed a deep shade of crimson.

"Well, then feel free to stay here. But, don't think that just because of the sparks means you're off the hook. I mean, you still killed me. I'm not completely over it, but my anger and frustration toward you, is lessening." James informed him.

"Oh. Well, thanks for letting me stay here. Also, I just want to let you know that I feel really sorry about what I did. I mean, guys show off sometimes, but this...I don't...I don't know what this way. Because it was not showing off, this was something purely evil. And I'm sorry. Like, really sorry. I would take it back in a heartbeat if I could." Parker admitted sadly with a hint of frustration in his voice.

"It's whatever. I really don't want to talk about this." James said getting angry.

"No. Please, hear me out." Parker pleaded.

"No! You should have thought about this before driving a knife into my stomach. I will never fully forgive you for this. I just-I want so badly for you to know what it's like to be dead, for you to know how I'm feeling right now- how I feel all the time!" She yelled at him.

Then, an idea popped into her head.

She leaned in close to him.

"Maybe that's what I'll do. Maybe I'll let you know how this feels. Maybe for a day. Maybe a week. But you'll never know." She spoke quietly, almost eerily quiet.

Then, she rested her right hand on his forehead. A red light started emanating from her palm and fear coursed through her. But, it wasn't her that was scared.

It was Parker.

She could feel the emotions he had. His fear made her feel powerful.

In that moment, she didn't care what was happening to Parker. All she cared about was maintaining the power for as long as she could.

She looked down at Parker, who had fallen to his knees in front of her. His eyes were wide with what she picked out as terror and pain.

But, she didn't take her hand off his head, not even when his eyes rolled back into his head, and she could only see the whites of his eyes. That only made her feel more powerful. The fear she had been feeling in the previous moments was gone.

She hadn't noticed before, but the light was glowing brighter and brighter with every passing second.

When his body started to convulse, she lightened her touch.

Then, his body stopped moving. His eyes went back to their normal position, but they didn't focus. They just stared back at her. Blank. Dead.

But she didn't care. She felt no remorse for the dead body that was laying in front of her.

"Wha-what did you do!?" A voice shouted from behind her.

She turned around slowly. Gnawing on her bottom lip, and wringing her hands together. She let out a breath when she noticed it was only Karen.

"I didn't do anything bad. I just wanted him to know what I felt when he killed me. That's it. I can bring him back later." James explained nonchalantly.

Karen looked at her with a shocked expression. Then anger flared into her pupils. 

"You can't do that! You fucking imbecile!" Karen exclaimed with anger, and rushed over to Parker's body.

James looked at her confused.

"Only angels can bring people back to life." Karen stated.

"Angels are real?" James asked.

Karen craned her neck to look at James. "Yes."

James just nodded in fascination.

Karen looked at her spitefully again. "And honey, we ain't no angels."