The Ghost Of You

Chapter Nine

Anton, Colorado Tuesday, July 2nd

We were in Lily's 1998 yellow Volkswagen Beetle on our way to Anton to see her grandmother. We had about twenty minutes left in our drive. Music was blasting from the speakers and all the windows were down. I had one hand out of the window as we screamed the lyrics to the early 2000's pop song.

"What's your grandmother like?" I asked, turning the volume down on her radio.

"Oh, Granny is a sweetheart. She's from New Orleans and believes in anything supernatural and knows how to cook. Her cooking is the best!" She exclaimed.

"Okay" I laugh out.

"Anything you need to know about the supernatural world, she'll have your answer. She is also a big believer in crystals and their healing powers, so just a warning" she told me.

"Gotcha" I replied.

"She used to own a crystal shop in new orleans back in the sixties. She was everyone's go to for tarot card reads and crystals to help with a breakup" she laughed at the last part.

"Okay, so far I love her" I told her.

"Good, because I feel like she'll love you" Lily said.

"What does her being from New Orleans have to do with her love for supernatural?" I asked.

"Hm?" She asked back.

"Well you said she was from New Orleans and loves anything supernatural, like they were correlated?" I asked.

"Well I don't know if you know this, but New Orleans is considered the most haunted city in America. So granny grew up with all sorts of tales from ghosts to witches. Then when her first husband passed she really got in touch with that side of her. She wanted to communicate with him" She explained to me.

"Did she?" I asked.

"No" She replied.

"Oh..." I responded.

"Well granny thinks it's a good thing she couldn't get ahold of him" She quickly said.

"Why would that be a good thing?" I asked.

"Because it means he didn't have any unfinished business. He died happy and was able to move on, up into heaven" She explained to me.

"Oh!" I explained. "Oh..." I repeated quieter as I realised that meant that if I really was seeing Hannah's ghost, it meant she hadn't moved on, that she had unfinished business. Lily seemed to also come to the same conclusion because the rest of the drive was quiet. We left the radio turned on, but never turned it back up.

When we got to Lily's grandmother's house she was sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair. She had a pitcher of lemonade sitting next to her on a little glass table and was clearly knitting while she waited. There was what looked to be half a yellow scarf.

"Granny!" Lily yelled, quickly getting out of the car and running up to her grandmother.

"Hi sweetie!" Lily's grandmother said as she hugged her.

"Look at you! You look so much older than the last time I saw you!" Lil's grandmother said, cuppering Lily's face in her hands.

"Granny, it's only been a couple weeks" Lily said with a giggle. I could sense the eye roll from here.

"And this must be Zack?" Lily's grandmother asked as i approached.

"Yes Ma'am" I responded, holding my hand out to shake hers.

"Oh you!" She exclaimed before grabbing my hand and pulling me into a hug. I hugged her back and chuckled. "Please, call me Donna."

"Okay, thank you Donna" I smiled at her as we pulled away from the hug.