By Paula Bianchi –

After they all gathered in the Living-room, Lucy could sense the lingering apprehension between her new ghostly roommates. She quickly came to the conclusion that they weren’t going to freely share anything. Time to put her lawyer skills to the test.

“I can see your nervousness, but it’s imperative for you to tell me all you know about Lori, and what she’s doing here.” Lucy gestured for Dobson, Ava, and Ben to take a seat. “So, why is Lori here?” She began.

“She’s here because of Justin.” Ava answered.

“Where did she come from?” Lucy tucked her sky-blue blouse into her navy slacks as she sat back in her chair. 

“Lori used to live in this neighborhood not too far from here. Her younger sister still lives there.” Dobson spoke up first. “She followed Justin home one day when he was 13.”

Lucy’s thoughts flashed back to when her son was that age, hoping she could understand why Lori was attracted to Justin. She remembered a time when she noticed a change in him. Right around the time he started Jr. high. It was her ‘ah ha’ moment, and it left a heavy feeling in her gut. Her instincts were telling her that this was the point in his life when he started doing drugs.

“Lori followed him because he gets high on drugs, right?” Lucy cut to the chase. She wanted answers, and she didn’t want them to sugar-coat anything.

Dobson, Ava, and Ben all gave a collective sigh. “We were very hesitant to bring up the subject with you. Thank you for making this much easier on us to tell you everything.” Ava stated.

“Yeah. We didn’t want to make things more difficult for you.” Dobson explained.

Ben nodded his agreement with this sentiment. Lucy was learning that he was a quiet man.

“I’m grateful for your concern, but I need to know everything if I stand a chance at helping my son get rid of Lori. I can take whatever the truth is.” Lucy reassured them.

“Well,” Dobson began, “Justin became friends with a new group of kids, when he started Jr. high school. I would sit in his room with him, while he was talking with these guys on his phone and making plans for how they would get together, so they could ‘party’, as they would say. They would pressure him to get money to help pay for the drugs they were going to buy, because they knew he could probably get his hands on a lot of cash.”

“I never found any evidence of missing money.” Lucy declared.

“No, you wouldn’t have because Justin has been using the money in his bank account to support everyone’s habit, but it’s all gone now.” Dobson informed her.

“Justin has spent over $8,000 on drugs?!” Lucy was incredulous. It made her feel like a terrible mother. How could she not have seen what was going on with her son? He used to be so proud of himself for saving up all his allowance, birthday gifts, and holiday gifts, so he could buy his own car when he turned 16. Now, it was all gone. What worried her the most was he didn’t seem to care.

Dobson and the others looked very solemn and downcast. Lucy could see they were at a loss for words over the downward spiral her son’s life had taken.

“I’m really worried that Lori is attached to Justin now.” Dobson shared. “I’m afraid she’s going to influence him to steal money or stuff to sell, like she did to her family, so he can continue his drug habit.” 

Lucy felt very disturbed by what she was learning about her son. How was she ever going to fix this? She choked back the tears that were threatening to fall, and she refocused her thoughts on Lori.

“So, I take it that Lori did drugs when she was alive.” Lucy surmised.

All three of them nodded their heads.

“Lori talked to me a lot when she first came here.” Dobson said. “She told me she started selling drugs, to the kids at school, just before she died.”

At first Lucy thought, not my Justin! He would never do that, but she realized he was not himself anymore because he was under the influence of drugs, and a spirit with bad intent. A spirit who wanted him to remain addicted to drugs, so she could continue feeling the effects of her own addiction.  

Lucy got up and started pacing around the room. What was she going to do? After doing a few circles, she felt a little more composed.

“Is there anything you can tell me about Lori’s family and her relationship with them?” Lucy asked.

Dobson thought for a moment or two. “I know Lori hated her dad more than anything. He was very abusive to her mom and her younger sister, and especially to her because she always stood up to him to protect them, which only got her beat up real good.”

That just confirmed what Lucy was afraid of all along. She didn’t want to feel bad for Lori, but now she found herself doing just that. Memories of her battered female clients, filled her mind. Too many to count. She had first hand knowledge of how some people cope with the things that are out of their control. Doing drugs was one of them.

“Dobson, you said Lori’s sister still lives in the house they grew up in. Can you take me there?” Lucy was finally coming up with a plan. If the spirit of Lori’s mother was still there, maybe she would be willing to help Lucy get her daughter out of Justin.

“Sure, I could. Lori took me there once.” Dobson jumped up ready to go.

“Do you guys want to come too?” Lucy asked Ava and Ben.

“No. We’d rather stay here.” Ava reached over and gave Ben’s hand a gentle squeeze as they looked lovingly at each other. “We’ve been in this house since the day they built it. This was the spot where my house once stood.” She smiled from the memory of the house she loved so much.

Lucy was intrigued by the love these two obviously had for each other. She made a mental note to ask them to share their story with her after this was all straightened out.

“Hopefully, we’ll be back soon with Lori’s mom.” Lucy assured them, then, she turned to Dobson. “Whenever you’re ready to go.” She told him.

Dobson grinned at her with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, when, he shot up through the ceiling like a rocket ship.

Lucy didn’t waste any time in following him up and out of the house into the crisp, cool air. She quickly caught up to him as their orbs shot across the starry sky. It didn’t take very long before they landed, on the sidewalk, in front of their destination.

Lori’s house was a light-grey ranch-style home with white trim. The landscaping was well manicured. Anyone, who’s into home and gardening shows, would be envious.

“Do you want to come in with me?” Lucy asked.

Dobson shook his head. “Nah. I’ll just wait here.”

Turning towards the house, Lucy quickly glided through the front door and looked around. Her first instinct was to call out, but something within her, advised her not to do that, so she quietly moved through the living room and into the kitchen where she was startled to see an elderly woman staring right at her.

Her brown hair, with hints of grey, was a mess, and her face was bruised and battered. She wore a green, floor length robe, with a pair of matching scuff-slippers on her feet.

When Lucy opened her mouth to say something, the woman quickly put a finger to her lips to silence her, then, she tapped the side of her head with the same finger. Lucy understood, right away, she was telling her to tune into her thoughts.

“You need to go now!” The woman implored her.

“But I have to talk to you about your daughter, Lori.” Lucy tried to explain.

“You know my Lori?” The woman’s frantic demeanor changed in an instant to being filled with concern for her daughter.

“Who the hell are you?!” Roared a man’s voice from behind her.

Lucy spun around to see a short, burly man standing before her with his fists clenched tight by his sides in the ready to hit someone. When she turned back to the woman, she was gone.

“I’m Lucy. I came here to talk to you about your daughter, Lori.” Lucy took a couple of steps back away from him.

“We’ve got nothing to say about that bitch.” Suddenly, he lunged towards her and hit her with both fists as he screamed, “GET OUT!”

The charge of the blow to her chest sent Lucy flying back, through the kitchen wall, out into the backyard. She felt dazed and confused from the powerful jolt of negative energy that coursed through her spiritual body.  

As she was trying to recover, Lucy heard the woman’s voice in her head saying, “Meet me in the storage building behind you.”

Come back next Tuesday for part 2 of Lori’s story in, Lucy in the Afterlife. Thank you for your visit. Bye for now.

Email: Remyel@hotmail.com