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RIVER VALLEY, MAINE 08:22
HER mother had always told her that her ancestors watched over her. They were guardians, and would guide her to a prosperous life and lead her to good fortune.
She just failed to mention how literal this statement actually was.
Abbey Althea was no stranger to the slithery monsters that went bump in the night. In fact, she'd come to terms that some of ghouls were actually quite friendly. Others, not so much. It was all some twisted kind of curse that she had blamed upon her ancestors with a bitter tongue.
The aspect of seeing ghosts was also the reason a bitter scowl pressed against her features at this very moment, it was because of her gift she was doing this in the first place – With a heavy sigh Abbey taped up the last moving box. Her back ached and her forehead glistened with sticky sweat, from the sweltering summer day.
"Don't act so glum, Abbs. You look like a limp noodle." The voice next to her ear whispered like a faraway echo. A sensation like a breeze fluttered her small hairs that escaped her delicate plait. The noise didn't even startle her, as she was accustomed to her ghost friend appearing to her at any given moment.
"Were noodles even invented in your time? I really liked you better when you were in your own little spectral world." Abbey huffed, glancing at the ghost figure that floated against the ceiling, drifting with the fast moving ceiling fan. Even with the pale translucent glow that Constance embraced, she was still beautiful– in a sense. All color was gone from her appearance, though, she informed Abbey she once had hair the color of burning flames.
"But it's a Full Moon! I've been itching to have some fun for a while." She pouted, her ghastly appearance drifted closer to her as she observed the messy tape upon the moving box. "And besides we are headed to the designated City of Sins!" Constance squeaked in excitement, coming close to Abbey, who felt the cool ectoplasm against her arm.
A small frown made it's way against Abbey's cashmere full lips, and for a brief moment her eyes had watered.
"Don't tell me you're going to miss it here? After what those kids have done to you?" Constance scowled, her essence glowing more in a fury.
Abbey self-consciously rubbed at her wrists, feeling the mashed up flesh that healed uneven. "I'll miss the quiet. I won't even have a yard anymore. And there will be more people to impress than ever." Abbey had already been lectured by her mother about acting normal, which in her life was a lot easier said than done.
"Normal's boring. I never understood why Anika made you act like I didn't exist."
"Because ninety percent of the human population think ghosts do not exist. Why do you act likes she's crazy? You were literally burnt to the stake for seeing ghosts." Abbey threw her hands up before turning back to the box, sliding it across the wooden floor to her bedroom door.
"And they still couldn't get rid of me. Went back to haunt their asses, mind you." Constance quipped, now whizzing back in forth like some kind of demented bumblebee.
"As I've been told more than a hundred times." Abbey mumbled. A car horn honked in the distance, with a long look around her room, Abbey picked up the cardboard box and heaved it over her shoulder, making her way through her family cottage one last time.
She stepped out, locking the door with one hand and placing the last box in the large moving truck parked nearly into the road since the driveway was so small. She pulled upon the door handle of the truck, climbing into the vehicle and mumbling a quiet, "exhilium." The couple of ghosts that drifted near the small graveyard across the road vanished from her eye sight, Constance long gone as well.
"Ready to go?" A strong voice broke the silence, after Abbey clipped her seatbelt, with one last look outside at the Maine countryside, Abbey bobbed her head.
"Ready."
With a rev, the truck broke away from the gravel, Abbey had placed her forehead upon the glass, drinking in her old home one last time.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Welcome to Seeing Ghosts! Glad you could make it. I'll dive into some back story soon for Miss Abbey. She'll be in Gotham next chapter!
