Second Chance

Ghosts and Fingerprints

        I must have fallen asleep after that, because I woke up and Maddie was gone. I decided not to take notes or pictures. I didn’t need any of those things to know that the visit was real. It sounds crazy, but I hope she comes back tonight. Maybe I’m going crazy for real this time. 

          I decided to go see a medium who’s been through this stuff before. They might be able to give me any advice and anything else I need. I grab the phone book and find a guy named Hugh Thompson. This guy better be good for $25. It says he’s in San Diego so that shouldn’t take to long. 

        I get there and to be honest, I’m a little nervous.. This guy might be able to answer some of my questions but I’ve never done this before so, let’s just get this over with. The lady at the desk is just, ew. Maybe she was pretty once, but it’s clear that those days are long, long gone. 

“Can I help you?” she asked. Her voice was so beautiful.

I cleared my throat,"I’m looking for Hugh Thompson. I would like to ask him a few questions.” 

“He’s with another client right now, should be out shortly.” 

“Thank you.” 

        I sat in the waiting room for a couple minutes, the cushioned chairs were so comfortable that when he came out I almost didn’t want to move. He had thick dirty blonde hair and black framed glasses. He smiled at me, and beckoned me in. The room he led me to wasn’t like I was expecting it to be. No beads hanging from the walls, no weird hands or eyes on the wall, it was just a perfectly normal office room. 

“Hi, my name is Hugh Thompson.”, he reached out and shook my hand, and I politely shook it back. 

“Liam.” 

“Are you here because you have questions?”

“Yes, I am.” 

“Well, what would you like to know?” 

“For starters, I want to know why I can see ghosts. Don’t tell me it’s just some natural talent crap, I want to know the truth.” 

“Well, for starters, that’s what I would tell you, but obviously we’re going in a different direction. People can see ghosts usually because they lost someone they loved dearly and haven’t forgotten them, and they haven’t forgotten you either.” It made perfect sense. She did say that it had been to long. Okay, so maybe this guy was worth $25. 

“Okay. I also want to know what would normally happen during a visit. Like, when a ghost decides to come say hi or something.” 

“What would normally happen is that a shadow would appear, and you might often get an excruciating headache. Normally they can’t really talk much, but they can walk and do whatever they want really. Have you had a recent visit?” 

“Yes, the first one was two nights ago, and the most recent one was just last night. The spirit that visited me was talking perfectly, and she almost felt human, but you knew that she wasn’t because of the way she looked. It was like she was alive again.” 

“You talk about this ‘she’ with a lot of passion. Was she you’re wife? Girlfriend?”

I laughed a little, “No. I’ve never been married and I’ve never had a girlfriend. It was my best friend that I was madly in love with.” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” 

“Speaking of which that brings me to another question. Can ghosts remember what their life was like before they died?” 

“Yes they can. Usually their death is pretty vague, but they know the basics of what happened to them. Everything before that is normally pretty clear. Why do you ask?” 

“Well, she remembered how she felt about me, and told me that she wanted to tell me that she loved me too, but then she, you know.” 

“This spirit of yours seems very unusual. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how long has she been dead for?” 

“A year.” 

“Well, I must tell you that you’re ghost does seem pretty good about keeping in contact with you. She must have been dying to see you. No pun intended..” 

“So nothing’s unusual or anything?”

Out of nowhere my cell phone was ringing, and I looked at the caller ID: ‘California Police Station’. It must be Detective Ray with the lead. 

“I’m so sorry, I have to take this.” 

“No problem.” 

 "Liam?" He sounded almost frantic, like he was scared too.

 “Hey Detective. Got anything?"

 "Yeah, can you come down to the station? This is pretty weird."

 “Yeah sure. You okay?”

 “Can you just get here?”

 “On my way."

 Yikes. Okay, so this doesn’t sound like it’s necessarily a good thing, but the fact that he has some sort of lead is pretty good. I hope..

 I remember that I’m still in Hugh’s office, and just tell him thanks for everything, give him the money, and go. 

        I pull into the station and find Ray. He is literally shaking. At this point I'm ready to find the nearest exit and get the hell out of here. If he’s shaking like a leaf and we haven’t even gotten to see the examiner yet, something’s not right. I see the medical examiner and I calm down a little. But behind her, I see a shadow that rapidly turns into Maddie. I have to admit, Maddie did always have a thing for bad timing. She waves at me, and I smile to myself.

         I try to ignore Maddie’s shadow in the corner, and walk into the room. There's tubes and tables everywhere in the white room. I scanned around the room and immediately got a chill running down my spine. Tables with corpses covered with body bags, screens that show a series of lines, everything about this room freaked me out. I follow the medical examiner into the room where she sits us down at her desk. 

 “My name is Doctor Davis. I'm guessing you're Liam?"

 "Yes Doctor."

 "Okay Liam, I'm going to show you DNA samples from the note okay?"

 I nodded. “Yeah sure."

 As she pulls out the two pictures my heart starts beating so fast I think it might pop out. I don't know if I want to know who's prints these belong too. 

 "I have a question, who were you going to see at the cemetery?"

 "My best friend Madeline." In the corner Maddie’s expression turns, and I just feel guilt run through me. 

 "I'm so sorry for your loss."

 "Thank you."

 "Well, then in that case I have some news."

 She points at the picture that I can't comprehend. The DNA is all over the place, and it is very confusing to look at. It’s giving me a little bit of a headache.

 "The news is that this S that is mentioned in the note, isn't an S."

 I glance at Ray, who looks so freaked out. What is his problem? 

 “Okay..then who is it?"

 "Are you familiar with a Meyer family?"

 My vision blurs, and I quickly realize that this was the lightning, and it struck.