Ghosts Next Door

Ghosts Next Door
by Lopaka Kapanui

Oct 3, 2018

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2018 #28

WARMTH OF FLESH


Her hand is warm, the blood pulses evenly, and there is a rosy glow to her flesh which tells me that there is still hope in her. There are schedules she'd meant to keep and goals which she determined to accomplish.
Yet, here she lay in this sullen colored hospital bed that only offered comfort to the suffering and dying. No one I know has ever gone to a hospital for a long needed vacation. Here she is however in the pink of her youth, her supple skin and natural curves are only complimented by a body which gives off a musk that would tempt any red-blooded man, but none will know. Admiring her lacquer colored hair I found myself briefly wondering how she must have worn it? Tied up? Let down? Braided?  More so her eyes are closed and her lips are parted just enough to give one the impression that she was waiting for a kiss, she was every school boys dream. I couldn't help myself before I knew what was happening I was caressing her hand to my cheek. Oh, the years I would give to have her as my own, to know her, to be in her presence, to watch her exist. I inhaled the palm of her hand and gently pressed my lips to it. I swore for a second that I heard music swelling in my head but it was really the rise of blood turning my skin flush while causing my eardrums to beat at the same time.

"Please," I whispered under my breath. "Please live."

Just then my brother Ilver placed his hand on my shoulder. I could hear a tisk from the bottom of his chest as he exhaled. "Will you stop setting yourself up for disappointment and take her life already?"

"She's so beautiful," I replied. "It would be a shame to take her this way."

Ilver shook his head and scoffed, "We grim reapers take the souls of those whose time has come, we don't fall in love with them, or try to adopt them or worse; have them move in with us!"

"But..." I protested but to no avail. Ilver held his finger out to me and cocked his head to one side. He'd had enough of my romantic leanings. I put my head down and let out a sigh, passing my hand over the young woman from the forehead down to her mouth her essence left her body through her nostrils and I clutched it in my hand. Removing the ornate yellow bottle from my pocket, I coaxed the essence forth until it went into the bottle and took its shape. Then I closed it and the girl became one more soul sitting in a bottle on the shelf of eternity awaiting her reincarnation.

I was once of flesh so long ago and it never left me. I never forgot what living was like and I've always wanted to live again, yet Ilver my brother was the one who saved me from being a lost spirit, aimlessly wandering the earth for all eternity. At the very least I should be grateful, but to live again, to be made of rich flesh and blood. I can only hope.
































































































































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