Ghost of You

Thirty Four

Stevie was sitting in bed whilst Lindsey was in the bathroom, Noah was fast asleep in his crib and the house was peaceful, suddenly there was a knock at the door

"Stevie, it's me..." she heard Vanesssa say

"Oh Ness! Come on in."

The door didn't open but Vanessa was suddenly inside, it was moments like that that Stevie remembered she was a ghost

"Stevie! I had to come and see you, something happened for the very first time this morning!"

"Oh tell me more!"

"They moved! I was standing watching Ro in the pool and my belly felt weird, so I felt it and realised they were kicking me!" Vanessa said not helping but cry, Stevie joining her with the tears

"That's amazing! I'm so happy for you!"

"I will finally get to feel what you did."

"Yes! Now you know how amazing it is. I know I've just had my little Noah but I so miss being pregnant"

"There is so much time to have more children"

"I'm not so young anymore, and we went through two wars of hormone shots just to have our son. I'm afraid there won't be any more children" Stevie said sadly.

"Oh, well, that's quite alright. I bet you will have your hands full with Noah and I can already tell he is the light of your life."

"He is" Stevie said, smiling as she thought about her son. "He's such a miracle and I'm more than happy to be a mother to just him. Besides, as long as we live here, I will be around your little one as well."

"Stevie?" She asked

"Yes honey?"

"Fletch, Ro and me are connected to the mirror...if you ever move, will you take the mirror?" Vanessa asked nervously

"Of course we will! I promise you we will take it everywhere!"

"Thank you so much!" She smiled brightly "Oh...we heard you and Lindsey the other morning..." Stevies eyes bulged

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" She was so embarrassed until Vanessa spoke again

"Don't be sorry...my and Fletcher did it in the sunroom that night..." Vanessa covered her mouth and both women died with laughter

"What's so funny?" Lindsey asked, walking into the room.

"We thought you drown in there!" Stevie joked

"You were in the bathroom for ages!" Vanessa remarked

"Actually, after I look my shower, I made food for Stevie. Hungry babe?"

"Always, nursing is so exhausting"

"You need your strength" Lindsey said with a wink.

Stevie turned bright red, lowering her eyes. The baby cried and Stevie took that as her cue to leave the room. Her cheeks weren't quite as hot anymore as she opened the door to her son's room. She heard words but no one was there. She blocked it from her mind. It was probably the neighbor girl listening to the radio again. She picked up her son and hushed him, looking up above the crib at his name banner. Some letters were missing while others were rearranged. "NECROTROPH" replaced "Noah Christopher". Stevie studied it before going downstairs again.

"Hey, you alright?" Lindsey asked, watching Stevie's eyes scan the book shelf.

"Yeah, uh, can you get me the dictionary?"

"Sure, why?"

"Just um, I don't know just get it for me okay, while I feed Noah?"

"Okay, honey" Lindsey watched her sit down and begin to feed the baby while he went to get the dictionary. "Spell it to me and I will read you the definition"

"N-E-C-R-O-T-R-O-P-H"

"Nectrotroph?"

"Yeah"

"Stevie, why?"

"Lindsey...just read it to me"

"Nectrotroph, it's a noun. It means..." he scans the page. "A parasitic organism that kills the living cells of its host...and then feeds on the dead matter."

"What?" Stevie asked

"A parasitic organism that kills the--"

"Okay, that's enough."

"Where did you see that?"

"Above our son's bed...you're right, Lindsey. Josephine is still here and she's after our son."

"She can burn in fucking hell if she thinks she's even breathing by our son!"

"Lindsey how the hell are we supposed to get rid of her?!"

"I don't know, but the sadistic Bitch is going!" All of a sudden a shard of glass came of nowhere and flew at Lindsey, embedding itself into his cheek

"Oh my god!" Stevie screamed, alerting Vanessa and Fletcher

"What the hell happened!" Fletcher said

"Your fucking wife happened!" Vanessa snapped

"Jesus, I'm so sorry!"

Lindsey was in shock, not saying anything, just standing with a large shard hanging from his face, blood pouring down his neck, tears were streaming down Stevie's face and Noah was screaming

"We need to fix this! We need to get her gone."

Stevie was caught between comforting her son and helping Lindsey. Her internal panic was apparent on her face.

"Help Lindsey, I will sing to Noah" Vanessa said.

"Thank you" Stevie whispered through her tears. She rushed to get the first aid kit and sat her husband down on the couch. She carefully removed the glass from Lindsey's cheek, applying antiseptic and covering it with a bandage. He was still in shock never wincing or blinking at all. Vanessa sang to Noah, and Stevie heard him calming down a little. She had a voice similar to Stevie's as well so he must think it's his mother.

Lindsey finally reacted, squeezing Stevie's hand as she tried to walk away. She turned to look at him and he smiled softly, wincing a little from the pain. "I love you, Stevie, we will defeat her."

"I'm scared"

"It's okay, baby. She won't bother us again...if it's the last thing I do."