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CHAPTER 2
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2020-11-29 10:18:38The red Volkswagen came to a screeching halt at the crowded parking lot. Suzanne opened her car door and stepped out, pushing her glasses back up her nose. She swore to herself to get LASIK done after this job was over.
Right. You’ve been saying that for the past 6 years and you’re still wearing glasses.
Groups of students could be seen walking towards the entrance of Knewton University’s main hall. Knewton was one of the most prestigious universities in the city, second only to the likes of Harvard and Princeton.
“So your son lectures here. Impressive,” Suzanne said, not caring if anyone thought she was talking to herself. Yvonne Long’s spirit stood next to her and looked at the school proudly.
“Yes,” she beamed with pride and headed towards the entrance. Suzanne grabbed a red shiny toolbox from her passenger seat, closed the door and followed Yvonne as the spirit glided through the crowded halls seamlessly.
She must have been keeping a tab on him all these years.
They moved through the swarm of students and after what felt like a walk in an overly crowded maze, Suzanne found herself standing at the swing door of a lecture hall. She peeked inside through the slit glass window and to her surprise found the semi-circular hall to be rather packed.
“What does he teach?” Suzanne asked. From the glass window, she caught a glimpse of Yvonne Long’s son. He had his back towards her as he stood in front of the hall facing a large projection screen.
“Quantum Physics,” the proud motherly ghost smiled, happy to see so many students immersed in her son’s teaching.
“Excuse me,” a freckle-faced red-headed young man tapped on Suzanne’s shoulder. She stepped aside and the man pushed open the swing door to head inside. Apparently, the class had just started. Suzanne slipped in and followed the redhead, taking a seat next to him at the very top row.
From her seat, Suzanne could finally see Tom Banks. And he took her breath away.
He was devastatingly handsome. He stood erect with his lush brown hair combed back to reveal a clean and extremely well-chiselled face. His wayfarer blue eyes gleamed as he scanned the class while he continued his lecture, moving around the podium with athletic grace. His deep clear voice boomed across the lecture hall and commanded the attention of all who were there.
Suzanne swore to herself that if he hadn't ended up being a lecturer, he would probably have become a famous model instead.
“Handsome isn’t he? He takes after my side of the family,” Yvonne Long said as if reading Suzanne’s mind. Tom Banks looked nothing like William Banks, save for his beautiful pair of bright blue eyes.
“I didn’t say anything,” Suzanne flushed. “We’ll approach him when the class ends.”
The redhead turned to her with a quizzical look.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Suzanne said as a matter of factly.
Tom Banks lectured on, pointing a penlight at his screen. A simple black and white illustration by Tucker Nichols was shown, with overlapping circles taking up the whole screen. On the left circle were the words ‘MUST BE’, in the overlap was the word ‘REAL’ and on the other circle were the words ‘CAN’T BE’.
“What is real and what is not?” Tom asked the class.
“Cern’s LHC (Large Hadron Collider) is currently the world’s biggest and most powerful particle accelerator around. And this baby has seen quite a number of things, from identifying how particles decay and picking up hints on new and unknown particles. Particles that have yet to be charted. It’s done practically everything, but for some reason, it has yet to find proof that there is anything that could make up a ghost.”
“Great, and we’re going to convince your son that you exist,” Suzanne smiled sarcastically at Yvonne Long. The ghost was far too immersed in her son’s lecture to pay any attention to her.
But the redhead turned to look at her again, this time with an annoyed look on his face.
“I see dead people,” Suzanne winked. He rolled his eyes and scooted to another seat.
“According to Brian Cox, and I quote, ‘If we want some sort of pattern that carries information about our living cells to persist then we must specify precisely what medium carries that pattern and how it interacts with the matter particles out of which our bodies are made’,” Tom continued, reading an excerpt from Brian Cox’s podcast.
Suzanne opened up her red toolbox and took out one of the many little glass vials that laid neatly inside. She shook it and it started to glow. “I’ll need to use this then. He’ll have a hard time believing us otherwise.”
“Shhh!” a brunette in front turned around to hush Suzanne. Suzanne hushed back, “You shush too!”
“And in the words of the great physicist, ‘We need to invent an extension to the Standard Model of Particle Physics that has escaped detection at the Large Hadron Collider. And that is almost inconceivable at the energy scales typical of the particle interactions in our bodies.’”
Tom looked up from his lecture notes and pushed back a strand of hair that fell onto his forehead.
“So class, what does that tell you? Are ghosts real? Or are they not?”
“Not real!” the whole class shouted back in unison.
Yvonne Long laughed and the lights in the lecture hall flickered slightly.
The lecture went on for another hour before it ended. By then, Suzanne was convinced that she needed to pay a visit to Brian Cox and show him a spirit or two. She waited patiently for the students to disperse before making her way down to the podium. Tom Banks was gathering his notes and waving goodbye to a group of giggling female students. It was obvious he had a fanbase at the university.
After the last student had exited the hall, Suzanne walked up to Tom. He was already done packing up when he saw her.
“Hello, I’ve never seen you before,“ he smiled. And what a smile it was. The guy was born to be a supermodel. He extended his hand.
Suzanne took it and watched her hand disappear in his. His hand was so large. She wondered if everything else about his was large as well.
“I’m Suzanne Summers. Your mother sent me here to meet you.”
Tom’s eyes narrowed and he dropped the handshake, “Excuse me?”
“She’s here with us right now in spirit. She’ll be leaving for the rainbow bridge in 5 days but she wants to say goodbye to you before she leaves for good.”
He thinks I’m a quack.
“I’m afraid you have the wrong person,” he said, trying to be polite before turning around to leave the hall.
“You grew up at Saint Annie’s Orphanage. The directress, Wendy Letterman brought you up as her own. I’m sure she showed you your birth certificate. It has your mother’s name on it. Yvonne Long”
Tom paused in his tracks.
“She had her reasons for leaving you at the orphanage,” she had his attention now.
Tom turned around with a look of confusion and disbelief.
“Who sent you?” he asked.
Yvonne stepped forward and placed a shimmering hand gently on his cheeks. Tom instinctively went to scratch his cheeks.
“Your mother did. She passed away a few days ago but her spirit is here. I’m a clairvoyant Tom. I can see her. And if you want to, I can help you see her too,” Suzanne stepped forward while Tom took a step back.
“You’re crazy,” he whispered.
Yvonne shook her head, pleading for Tom to take a look at her.
Suzanne took another step forward, grabbed his hand and slipped him a piece of paper.
“You can call this hospital. They have her records and belongings still stored there. She has a will, with you as the beneficiary. “
He stared at the paper, not saying a word.
Suzanne continued, “And once you verify the details, call me. My number’s on the paper too.”
She took out her little vial and shook it and the vial glowed.
“Alternatively, you can break this, inhale the vapour and see your mom straight away,“ Suzanne gently placed the little vial into the palm of his hand before pressing his fingers close. The glow subsided. Tom never took his eyes off the vial.
“It’s my grandmother’s recipe, but I tweaked it a little so it works faster, and you won’t feel nauseating after-effects of the original vapour. Oh, and it’s got a minty smell too. Mint’s the in thing now,“ Suzanne said smugly.
“But I’d advise you to break the vial in my presence. Most people aren’t used to seeing ghosts materializing in front of them.”
“It’s your call, Tom Banks. Your mother doesn’t have much time left.”
“Neither does your father,” Yvonne Long said sadly.
“I’ll be waiting for your call,” Suzanne stepped back, straightened her white ruffled blouse and took her leave. Tom didn’t stop her. Yvonne stayed by her son’s side and waved goodbye to Suzanne.
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Suzanne stepped out of Knewton University’s hallway entrance with her trusty red toolbox swinging in her hands. As she bounced towards her car, she took a look at her surroundings and marvelled at all the students around her. She never did attend university, having already started her business at a tender age of 18. The youngsters seemed to live in a whole different world. For a brief moment, she wondered what life would have been like if she had been born a normal girl.Then she shook her head. Get a grip Suzanne Summers.She opened her car door, hopped in, and started the engine. As she revved away, she missed seeing a black mist forming in the shadows at the entrance of the hallway. In fact, no once seemed to the ominous dark matter. No one could see it.It stayed there for quite some time as if confused. What was it here for again?Then, as a young woman walked out of t
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Yvonne stayed where she was, not inching forward at all, worried that her son would faint for another time. But of course, Tom didn’t. He gathered himself within seconds, enough for him to look at Suzanne and whisper, “Is that my mother?”He had memorized her face from the identification card that he retrieved earlier from the hospital. Surely this was some kind of trickery?“It’s me, I’m Yvonne Long. I’m your mother Tom,” Yvonne said softly, speaking directly to her son for the first time in 3 decades. Relief washed over Yvonne’s face. She could finally meet her son face to face. She started weeping, wiping her translucent tears with her shimmery hospital gown.Tom looked at Suzanne, unsure of what to do. Here was a woman, no, a ghost who looked like his mother, crying in front of him. He never could stand seeing a woman cry, let alone the ghost of his
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Tom dug in. There was a ragged doll that had lost an eye, a chocolate wrapper, a pink bow tie, a photo of the little girl and her mother, and a little plastic piggy bank. The girl crouched next to Tom and pointed at the piggy bank.Tom pulled it out. The purple piggy bank was semi-transparent and Suzanne could see that there were some dollar notes and coins in them.You want to give this to your mommy?” she asked.The little ghost girl nodded in excitement. Suzanne's heart broke. She recalled begging for her own mother to stay, in exchange for all the money in her piggy bank.Oh, God. She came back here just to give her mother her savings.The little girl had travelled all the way to Suzanne's apartment just so she could give her mother her savings.The ghost pointed to the photo too. In it, the little girl was sti
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Tom stood at the door of Suzanne’s apartment, seemingly not wanting to leave. He held onto the door, faked a cough and asked her one more time, “You sure you’ll be okay with little missy here?”Suzanne laughed. Surely he wasn’t that attached to the little ghost girl?“We’ll be fine. Her time has come. I’ll need to send her on her way.”Tom scratched the back of his head, “Well, alright then.”He bent down and looked at the little girl. He couldn’t see her face still, her features were all a blur, probably due to the drowning, but he smiled at her nonetheless. “You take care okay? You’re in good hands.”The little ghost nodded her head silently. He looked back up at Suzanne who stood right next to them.“Yvonne’s waiting for you, Tom,” Suzanne reminded h
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Vlad the vampire had come.Suzanne immediately tensed up, “What are you doing here?” There was no welcome in her voice.Hans and Marcelino immediately whipped out their wands, surprising Tom. He was still not used to the idea that the metallic sticks could act as a weapon for clairvoyants.The snow crunched softly under Vlad’s feet as he strode across the lawn, his face in mocked sadness, “You hurt my feelings, Suzanne. I merely came to offer you my service, but I can see that I am not welcomed at your wedding.”Suzanne frowned, “What do you mean?” Her heart was thumping.A forever pause. Vlad had always loved a good audience.“I’m here to join you for the fight.”Tom blinked, “Excuse me?”From the side, Thomas whispered to the twins, “Is THAT the vampire Suzanne told us about?”One of the twins gushed, “He’s sooooo handsome!&
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D-Day-3There would be no grand wedding. But it was fine with Suzanne and Tom. They had in fact opposed to having one. It did not seem right for them to celebrate when countless lives were lost by the minute.But the twins and Thomas were adamant about having a celebration.“Everything’s so bleak now, we can at least look forward to a joyous occasion with your wedding!” Thomas had pleaded, blinking at them like a little doe through his glasses.So Suzanne and Tom relented. The twins and Thomas spent one whole day yesterday just to create the perfect wedding arch out of dried flowers and twigs. They roped in everyone for a scavenger hunt around Hans’ mansion, looking for everything and anything that could be put to good use and to Suzanne’s delight, they all ended up having a snowball fight like little children.Thomas was right, the wedding did bring forth smiles on their faces.The twins fashioned a simple bouq
