Flash Fiction . 503 words

Ghost Whispers
By Jill Terry

Twenty years have gone by and still he comes to see her from time to time. His visits leave her with a foreboding feeling that lasts for days, sometimes weeks after. But foreboding was a feeling that she’d always associated with him. Theirs was a spiritual union, although tumultuous at times, their lives meshed and what they shared was nothing less than magical.

During his visits they converse freely and he offers words of wisdom or comfort, as most often something is troubling her, something she may not be consciously aware of, until he broaches the subject and forces her to step back and take a deeper look at what’s going on in her world. Somehow he always knows. Occasionally he reaches out and touches her and although such moments are fleeting, the sensation lingers long after he has gone.

It’s during those times when her mind and body are at total peace and the door to alternate worlds lay wide open that she is most receptive to his visits. Dreams, as they are simply the remembrance of what the spirit has seen in sleep, constituting actual spirit-to-spirit meetings; something she had longed for in her youth, but was reluctant to accept as reality later in life.

But why the reluctance…

For the moment their lips first touched, she experienced her first vision, or premonition, if you will, as her body stirred with emotions and sensations that she’d never before experienced. She felt as though she could simply wish herself away and let the feeling of pure and utter bliss whisk her into eternity. Instead, she saw a brilliant light flash inside her mind, followed by an image that shook her to the core of her soul, and she knew in that instant, that not only was their time together limited, but that his death was imminent.

For two years she carried the fear close to her heart, yet she never said anything to him or anyone else about what she’d seen. Instead, she diligently prayed for his safety every time they separated and she made the most of each moment they shared. Yet somehow, even though she gave herself completely, to him and to prayer, she often felt it wasn’t enough.

Twenty years later he still visits; bringing messages of comfort and hope. Comfort in the fact that after all this time he has not forgotten and her prayers were not in vain. Hope in the knowledge that life is not over once we leave the bonds of our earthly bodies, as he did on that fateful night twenty years ago.

His message is clear and unwavering in its certainty. We are not human beings who on occasion have a spiritual experience in this world…we are spiritual beings experiencing a temporary human existence. The veil separating our worlds is thin and can be crossed at will, if ones belief and desire are great enough to withstand the journey.

© Copyright 2006 by Jill Terry. All Rights Reserved.