Trapped in the Afterlife

Chapter 9- Last Day, First Consequence

Tammy

''Keep your family on lockdown. Cecilia and I are going to go after Tammy's murderer with her to restore her. That way, she'll be able to help us and she'll awaken Tiffany who will also be less...'' Margaret looked across the room to where Tiffany was sitting with her mother eating breakfast. ''Less of a burden.'' she muttered before she turned around, grabbed her bag and left the house.

Cecillia waved a short goodbye and followed after her grandmother. I took a moment with Fred before I followed behind. ''Next time we see each other I'll be different.'' I whispered. Although I know it was supposed to be a comforting thought, I didn't know who I was trying to comfort.

''Everything will be fine, you're in good hands.'' Fred smiled encouragingly at me, looking out the door at Margaret and Cecillia who were waiting by the car.

I looked towards them too and frowned, a thought suddenly crossing my mind. ''Did it ever cross your mind that maybe we shouldn't trust them? Being uninformed as we are, it could after all have been easy for them to slip their way into this lie.'' I was still looking at the grandmother and granddaughter. Although the thought had occured to me, I couldn't find it in me to actually believe it.

Fred shook his head and looked at me again. ''There's something about them that helps me trust. Plus, we don't know how they made their allyship agreements back when it was made, but it sure as hell wasn't just words and paper like we do today.'' He reached out and his hand grabbed at my arm – but he grabbed nothing, and he frowned but quickly shook his head and dropped his arm back down. ''Go fix what was broken – your life cycle. We'll figured out a way to have you settle in again.''

I nodded and went after Margaret and Cecillia, climbed into the car and followed the road. A few hours earlier, Cecillia had woken everyone up claiming that she had found where my killer lived. Margaret proceeded to securing the house with protection spells and prepared everything needed for my counter-curse. In a few hours, I would be facing with the man who killed me. I would stand by his side as Margaret or Cecillia recited a few words, accompanied by whatever was hidden in the pouch Margaret held on tightly to and then I would be 'restored'. I would become flesh and blood again. Would it hurt? Would I be young or old?

Cecillia

For the first time in my life I couldn't help but remain quiet during the entire trip. Grandma wasn't much of a talk-machine either and Tammy seemed as nervous as a ghost could be. I was afraid for her. Grandma had never said this but the counter-curse was not fail-proofed. Ever since it had been created everyone had tried to stabilize it and make it perfect. And yet, it didn't work as we wished every time.

I personally had only had the chance to witness it being used once. I was a young teenager and grandma was helping to protect another family of witches in France. Not directly our allies from the salem wars, but they had seeked us out and having no reason to refuse them, she had agreed. Apparently the Morel clan had been known for having their fingers in everyone's affairs.

The casting had gone as expected, however the person hadn't been 'restored' the way grandma claimed it should have gone. It was expected that those who could see this would see a blue light stretching between the murderer and the victim. This light would be the exchange of life. As the light drained from the murderer, the victim would slowly become flesh and blood again. We would know the spell was complete when the victim would scream in utter pain and fall to the ground. The blue light would disappear and the murderer would collapse, drained of their life - dead.

Instead, the light had transfered so fast that the ghost had literally exploded. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what happens to a ghost that explodes. The person disappeared from our sight but the family confirmed that they were never restored. The murderer was however dead indeed. The family was sad that their loved one wasn't returned to them, but they were happy that they were not stuck anymore.