Ghost of You

Forty Three

Fletcher's mouth hung slack, looking at the man before him.

"Go ahead" Lindsey said, beckoning to him.

"I..." Fletcher searched for words and none came.

"Leave him alone, Lindsey. It was harmless" Stevie said. "We don't have time for this. I will not bring another child into this world with Josephine on the loose. She's coming and I will not have you acting like a jealous asshole just to prove to everyone that I'm yours. Everyone knows that."

"No, Stephanie. I wanna hear him say it. Get the fuck back in the mirror."

"I will not!" Stevie shouted. She suddenly clutched her stomach, a terrible pain ripping through it.

"Please go back..." Fletcher said, brushing her cheek with his hand, Stevie staring at him before doing as she was told

"I know you're a ghost, but I swear to god, you touch my wife again and I'll find a way to break every bone I can get my hands on!"

Fletcher decided to keep quiet, nothing he could say would help right now, Stevie was beautiful and he did want to make love to her, he'd forgotten what the human touch was like, he longed for it

"I'm just saying...watch your..." he couldn't finished before he was yanked backwards into the mirror

"Vanessa, keep mr macho man here!" Stevie said and stepped out into the attic to join Fletcher who was looking incredibly upset

"Don't pay him any mind. We both know it was just a way to lure--"

"Homewrecker !" Josephine screeched, picking Stevie up in midair. "This will be the very last time you mess with someone's marriage!"

"Leave her alone! We might be married, Josephine but that was always the beginning and end of our relationship!"

"Shut up!" With a wave of her hand, Fletcher was slammed against the wall once more. Stevie, still suspended in space, struggled in her invisible grasp.  She felt her neck being squeezed with such force, the little blood vessels in her eyes began to pop. Breathing was difficult and her vision was dwindling down to but a small pinhole. She would die an unexplainable death, there would be no justice for her and Josephine would win. She kicked with all of her strength, her hand falling to her stomach.

"Stop!" she squeaked, using her final moments to fight for the life within her. "I'm p-pregnant...the baby, please..."

The air stilled and no one moved or spoke. Suddenly Stevie was dropped and the aching in her womb grew once more.

"You...you got her pregnant again?" Josephine bellowed, the floorboards and walls shaking

"Y-yes I did! And I'd get her pregnant a thousand times over!"

"You said you never wanted children!" She got closer and closer to him

"I just didn't want them with you! I didn't love you, I loved your sister, since I first laid eyes on her!" Fletcher said, Stevie knew from that moment he was antagonising Josephine to keep her away from herself and her unborn baby

"You're going to wish you'd never of said that!" Josephine grabbed him by the throat and lifted him high against the wall, choking him to within an inch of his life, with every second Josephine touched him, he faded more and more

"Let him go!" A voice said and when Josephine had turned, so did Stevie. There in the edges of the mirror stood Vanessa, strong, radiant and unafraid with a sleeping Florence in her arms. "I'm tired of you trying to rule over me! You never deserved him, hell I don't even deserve him! He's warm, kind, considerate and romantic. He cares about me. I know what I did to you was wrong but let me go, let it all go!"

"Okay, you're right..." Josephine said, dropping Fletcher.

"Thank you, sister" Vanessa said, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"I should put aside the rivalry, the years of fighting for our father's attention, the fact that my baby sister stole my husband, got pregnant and drove me to madness...." Josephine's eyes grew bright. "Oh, Vanessa..." She cupped her sister's face and Vanessa held her breath. "You're such a child." The tender caress became a swift slap, the entire room becoming engulfed in flames.

"Oh my god, my son!" Stevie screamed, rushing back into the mirror

"Lindsey get Noah, we have to get out right now!" Stevie panicked

"Why? What's going on?" He rushed up, scooping Noah into his arms

"Josephine has set the attic on fire!"

Lindsey quickly got out of the mirror, standing next to Stevie, Josephine feeling like she was seeing double

"There's two of the both of us! It's four...no six, against one!" Vanessa said, clutching Florence

"It's no trouble, I can take you all!" Josephine moved her hands and the flames grew higher

The flames were licking the ceiling as they swirled around them all, the curtains catching fire, Lindsey ran for the door with Noah, only to have it slammed shut and the baby snatched from his arms from an unseen force

"No!" Stevie and Vanessa both screamed, Noah crying as he was levitated and spun around in the air

"Lindsey! Get underneath him!" Fletcher shouted, Lindsey standing underneath as his doppelgänger ran at Josephine, knocking her concentration off balance, Noah falling and Lindsey catching him safely

"You fool!" Josephine screeched, Fletcher straddling her hips as he wrapped his hands around her neck, strangling her, she pretended to pass out as he loosened his grip, only for her to surged her power forwards and knocking him into a shelf, it falling onto him, pinning him to the ground

Fletcher lost his human form and for once, wasn't upset. He stood up through the shelf, a smirk appearing on his elegant face. "Any more tricks up your leg of mutton sleeve, Mrs Andrews?"

"Don't look so smug, Fletcher!"

"Well, I have plenty to be smug about. You've been saving all your energy over the years just for your chance to appear and attack your sister, my mistress because of me. Truly, Josie, I'm flattered." He put a hand delicately to his chest, looking down to check the pocket watch attached to his vest. She placed in back into his pocket and adjusted his coat.

"This isn't about you"

"Oh it isn't?" He stepped forward and she stepped back, her eyes growing fearful. "It appears it is. If it's not about me, all of these months of torture for Stephanie, Lindsey, Vanessa and myself wouldn't have occurred. You love me, even though you were cheating with my best friend. People talked about your dalliances all over town and I defended you. I never once allowed them to talked about you that way. You claimed I wouldn't give you a child, that's right. I knew you'd try to pass someone else's off as mine or vice versa. I will not raise another man's child nor will another man ever raise mine." He pushed her back once more, her back being closer and closer to the mirror she had avoided for decades.