*JOSEPHINE*

Turning down the street after a long day at the office, Thomas let out a sigh of relief.  It was an unusually long day, and he couldn’t wait to get home to his beloved, Josephine.  As he approached their Victorian home, he saw six police cars, an ambulance, and two fire trucks parked in front of his house. 
 
He began to perspire and an overwhelming feeling of doom entered his body. 
 
"Oh no, please don't let anything have happened to my Josephine". 
 
He ran out of his car and ran up the driveway to be stopped by a police officer. 
"Who are you" the officer yelled, I am Thomas Donovan. I live here, Is my wife all right?" 
"Mr. Donovan, I am Detective Barrett, please come with me, I shall escort you into the house."   
Just as he entered his foyer, he saw her body lying on the floor in between the doorway to the living room. 
"Oh my God, what has happened?" 
"Sir, we are not sure yet, we just got a 911 call from your neighbor and we arrived just minutes ago." 
 
"Is she alive?" he stammered. 
"Just barely, we are about to bring her to the hospital, come let's go, you can ride with me, I will bring you to Bayside General" 
 
He followed orders and went with the Detective Barrett.   
As they arrived at the emergency entrance, Thomas ran out of the car and into the entrance way to escort his beloved Josephine. 
"Thomas, Thomas, I am so sorry, Thomas, Forgive Me..." 
 
Those were the last words he heard from Josephine. She did not make it through the night.  She had been shot and no one knew what happened. 
 
The funeral was a blur, and the weeks following Josephine's death, were filled with accusations by the District Attorney and police force.  Thomas was a prime suspect in the murder of his wife.

 
There were days that Thomas just wanted to die and join his Josephine.  The Police were ruthless, accusing him of hiring someone to knock her off.  What a laugh, if it was a hit, then the only one that would be guilty would have been his boss, Sebastian Santiago.  During the Police investigation, the corruption in his firm was revealed to have ties to illegal activity in the stock market.  His Firm was investigated along with Josephine’s murder.  It was concluded that her murder was linked to the corruption in his company’s Investment firm.

Josephine turned state’s evidence and was made.  She was murdered in order to eliminate her from testifying in court. 

Thomas was not allowed to live in his house.  It was considered a crime scene.    He was forced to live at a downtown hotel until the investigation was complete. 
  
 
During the next three years, Thomas made a few efforts to sell his house, but no one would purchase it, due to the circumstances of Josephine's murder.
 
He decided to abandon the house and boarded it up and left his home and life as he knew it. 
 
He wandered the country picking up odd jobs here and there.  Making just enough money to eat and sleep somewhere. 
 
It was the second year of his wanderings, when he came upon a house in a wooded area out side of Lee, Massachusetts.  
 
There was an eerie feeling that overtook his mind, and he felt that he knew who lived there. 
As he approached the house, he could see it was in disrepair, and he could smell bread baking.  He knocked on the door, and a lovely middle aged woman answered.

He was sure it was his Josephine. His head began spinning and just as he was about to speak he fell to the floor.

Just as he awoke, he could still smell the bread baking.  As he looked at the woman standing in the kitchen, his heart sank.  It wasn't his beloved Josephine; he must have been having a dream! 
 
"Excuse me, Miss, how did I get here?" 
Sir, I dragged you in here, you passed out right in front of my doorstep.  How are you feeling now? I want you to drink some of this broth, you are dehydrated and you were hallucinating.  You were calling me "Josephine" and you were crying and writhing on the floor. Are you sick? What is wrong with you?"

“I have been wandering the countryside looking for some answers, to why I feel my wife, Josephine, is still alive.  All the leads I received, turned out to be dead ends. No one knows anything about her. She was my only beloved, and I miss her so much.”

He began to sob and held his face in his hands. He just wanted to die. Barely able to stop crying, he began to feel amazing warmth flowing over his body; sending waves of calming energy to his soul. He was immediately brought back to reality when the woman yelled for him to wash for dinner.

Thomas jolted up, and knew immediately he better listen to her request.

He walked into the bathroom and washed for dinner.  There was a familiarity about the way the soaps were arranged on the shelf.  Josephine had those same soaps, and she would always place them opened on the shelf.  She loved the way the bathroom smelled when the fragrance of the soap filled the air.  He dismissed this, and finished washing for dinner.

The woman made a meal fit for a king. There were mashed potatoes, roast beef, carrots and apple pie for dessert. He felt as if he had died and gone to heaven. An actual request he made daily.

All during dinner, he felt that warm energy hovering over his body. It felt as if someone or something was guarding him. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it felt safe and comfortable. He knew he was going to be all right.

That evening before going to bed, he asked the woman what her name was. She simply replied with, “Just call me Bea” that will be just fine.”

“The days flew by, and Thomas and Bea became friends. She let him sleep on the sofa and fed him three meals a day.  Thomas worked on returning the house back into a home. He rebuilt the roof, patched the broken windows, and doorways.

He even put a new floor in the kitchen. The house was beginning to look like a home now.

The weeks flew by and six months had passed.  One day as he was taking a walk in the woods, he smelled bread baking with a cinnamon aroma.  He was taken back to the days when Josephine would bake him Cinnamon raison bread for breakfast on special Sunday mornings.

Thomas sat on a boulder and began to take his mind back to one of those special Sunday mornings.

It was a balmy July morning, when the smell of cinnamon bread filled his nostrils.  He knew what that meant!  Just as he awoke, Josephine came into the room, removed her apron, and her dress, and climbed back into bed.

She touched his face, with warm soft hands, while she kissed his waiting lips.  In minutes he was out of his pajamas and tenderly making love to his Josephine.

Thomas began to weep, his hands on his face, and sobbing so hard he could hardly breathe!  A warm breeze blew in, and he felt a warm hand on his forehead, a soft kiss on his cheek, and a warm embrace filling his body.  As he opened his eyes he could not see anyone there.  The embrace, the kiss, the hands were not mistaken, they were from Josephine.  How can this be, it felt so real!  He was brought back to reality, and he could still smell the cinnamon in the air.

He walked as if in a trance, toward the aroma, and as he approached the house, he saw her through the window, it was Josephine!  He stood there for what seemed like hours, just watching her moving around in the kitchen.

The front door was opened, and in walked a man. 

She embraced him, kissed his lips, and guided him to her bedroom.  He watched as they made love, just like they did so long ago.  Thomas was in a dream zone of sorts, unable to move away from this display.  He couldn’t move, speak or breathe.  He was watching, himself and Josephine making love right in front of him.  How could this be? It is impossible, he was standing outside this house, but in front of him, he was seeing this.

Thomas finally came out of this dream like state, shook his head and again looked into the window.  There was no one there, it was an abandoned house.  What did he just witness?  A mirage of some sort?, A fore shadowing?,  A waking dream?

It was quite eerie to say the least.  As he walked through that same doorway he had seen in the daydream, he could feel the energy of Josephine.  He knew in his heart, she was there at some point in time.  He walked into the bedroom, where minutes ago, he witnessed making love to her.  He could smell her essence, his essence, all mingled together, as if they had just finished making love.  He knelt down near the bed, and laid his head on the edge.  He asked, “Josephine, if you can hear me, please come to me for one last time.”

He felt the same touch, first on his head, and then the soft kiss on his cheek. In an instant, he felt a rush of intense negative energy flow through his body.  He was overtaken by an evil force.  It grabbed him, and threw him on the bed.  His clothes were ripped from him, and his body was ravaged by a hungry force.  He was not in control of what was happening, and to his surprise he had an erection and a climax. 

What on earth was happening to him?  He could not see anyone there with him, but he could feel everything that was happening.  An hour went by and everything calmed down.  He got dressed and walked back to the cottage.

Thomas did not know what to think about what had just happened, but there was a force in him that knew it was out of his control. He was under some kind of spell.  It was so real, so good to be in Josephine’s arms again.  What was this other force?  He will have to be very cautious, that is for sure.

To be continued...........