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<\/a>Bobbie wore her hair brown hair pinned back. Her charcoal colored dress was loose fitting around her petite structure and she looked even more drowned out by the black cardigan sweater belted around her waist.<\/p>\nREAD PART 1 HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cDo you know where you are?\u201d I asked her.<\/p>\n Her hazel eyes wide, and a bit wild. Not because she could see me, or I her, but because she was scared and that was evident by the way she shivered.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the Durant,\u201d she whispered back to me.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Durant,\u201d I tried racking my brain, but I had no idea what she was talking about. She was confident in her response, so I decided to continue with the questioning.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you running from? Can I maybe help you?\u201d<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t want to share with her quite yet that she was dead, as obviously she didn\u2019t know. With the ability to hold a conversation with her she wasn\u2019t residual energy either, she was intelligent, yet she was stuck in her time and possibly re-living her own demise. It was something that had to be handled delicately.<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s with you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNobody,\u201d she quickly answered.<\/p>\n \u201cSee, I don\u2019t believe you because you were talking to someone about hiding something from someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n Bobbie stared at me, obviously hoping I\u2019d just go away.<\/p>\n \u201cI promise I want to help you and I won\u2019t hurt you.\u201d<\/p>\n But Bobbie wasn\u2019t having anything to do with my promises and when she stepped away, she disappeared.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s try this sleep thing again,\u201d I muttered to myself as I climbed back into bed. Glancing over at Chuck who was sound asleep and snoring, I sighed loudly with some resentfulness and put the pillow over my head. It was all of just a few minutes later when I felt a touch on my arm.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to save money to go away,\u201d Bobbie confessed to me after I got out of bed and sleepily made my way back to my home office where I wouldn\u2019t disturb Chuck.<\/p>\n \u201cAway where?\u201d<\/p>\n Bobbie\u2019s eyes swelled with tears. \u201cAnywhere, really. Anywhere I won\u2019t be found. We won\u2019t be found,\u201d she corrected.<\/p>\n This time Bobbie wasn\u2019t alone. She had a young boy with her, about 6 or 7 years of age. His hair was a mess of dark curls and his eyes cornflower blue. Every so often he would peek shyly around Bobbie with interest.<\/p>\n \u201cHe beats you both, doesn\u2019t he? He beats you,\u201d I repeated making it more a known statement rather than a question.<\/p>\n It was then that I realized what happened and why they were both stuck, but Bobbie decided to trust me enough to share the details.<\/p>\n Her husband was a high profiled union leader, with possible ties to some underground business dealings to boot. Gerald was born soon after their marriage, but with features that didn\u2019t favor either of them, and her husband accused her of having an affair.<\/p>\n \u201cHe never believed Geri was his from the beginning, but he was. I never cheated. Never.\u201d<\/p>\n I believed her. Bobbie never cheated, but her husband certainly had his share of girls.<\/p>\n \u201cHe thought I didn\u2019t know. Women know,\u201d Bobbie smirked.<\/p>\n Yes, women certainly knew the signs of cheating.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then I saw him go into the Flint Tavern Hotel with another woman. He was hand in hand with her, smiling and happy and I was done.\u201d<\/p>\n Bobbie could turn her cheek on being cheated on, hit and abused, but she wasn\u2019t fine with Geri being hit and abused. Her husband would give her grocery money and she would take a small part of the money and put it away each week. For several years she hid away the little amount of money she could in a potato chip can high on a shelf in her pantry.<\/p>\n He wanted her to come to a corporate celebration in Flint, Michigan at the Durant Hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cHe wanted his peers to see him as a family man,\u201d Bobbie explained. \u201cI packed the potato chip container with the money and when he was in a meeting Geri and I were going to find the train station and leave.\u201d<\/p>\n I looked at Bobbie hard because I had a strong feeling that we were nearing where I could help, and I was afraid of what her reaction would be once she had the realization.<\/p>\n \u201cBobbie, you didn\u2019t make it to the train station, did you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d she whispered. \u201cHe found the money and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was saving to buy him a nice birthday present, but he didn\u2019t believe my lie.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you remember after that?\u201d<\/p>\n Bobbie stayed silent for what felt like forever before answering.<\/p>\n \u201cHe killed us, didn\u2019t he?\u201d she flatly said as she absently tousled Geri\u2019s curls.<\/p>\n I nodded grimly.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you notice that my clothes are different than yours? And outside looks different? Our cars are different? This is 2017. What year do you think it is?\u201d<\/p>\n Bobbie paled. \u201cWe\u2019re\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Bobbie and Gerald had been murdered in a fit of blinded rage by the very man who promised to take care of her until death, not cause death.<\/p>\n The next morning the dark circles were even darker around my eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cYou okay?\u201d Chuck asked after noticing my exhaustion after a dozen yawns.<\/p>\n \u201cJust tired,\u201d I confessed. \u201cAnd it\u2019s all your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n Chuck grabbed a cup of dog food and poured it into their bowls before answering. \u201cMy fault? Why my fault?\u201d Chuck continued to do his chores as we chatted.<\/p>\n \u201cYou brought home a ghost,\u201d I informed him.<\/p>\n Chuck turned on his heels and looked at me to see if I was serious. I was.<\/p>\n \u201cWait, how is this my fault again?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat did you buy recently?\u201d I jested.<\/p>\n Chuck had no idea what I was referring to until I pointed to the chip tin.<\/p>\n \u201cOh my gosh, Kristy. I\u2019m so sorry. Do we need to throw it away? We can if we need to. I don\u2019t know if I even opened it. Did I open it?\u201d<\/p>\n I laughed in response. \u201cHoney, it\u2019s not like a genie popped out of it. A spirit, or spirits actually, were attached to it and I took care of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n Chuck looked relieved. \u201cWell, I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m new to this world!\u201d<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t new to this world at all, but I let it slide.<\/p>\n \u201cI never thought that a chip tin would have a spirit attached to it. That\u2019s a stupid thing to be attached to,\u201d Chuck commented.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t that Bobbie was emotionally attached to the tin, it was what she put in the tin that represented freedom to her, and ironically the freedom due to death didn\u2019t even happen until Chuck\u2019s purchase when I was able to help Bobbie and Geri cross over.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, I don\u2019t think I ever opened it. Maybe there\u2019s money in it,\u201d Chuck said spending a minute or two lifting off the rusted lid. \u201cNope. Nothing in there,\u201d he sadly shared, shaking the tin upside down.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve changed some names around, and purposely didn\u2019t include the year because I\u2019m hoping to do more research. Maybe even find their graves. Bobbie shared that she remembered a funeral so I have a feeling this was never called a murder, but an accident. Who knows if I can find enough information I\u2019ll turn it into the police. I also still have the mystery of the man\u2019s voice because although her son was with her, I heard a definite adult man\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n So maybe we were supposed to buy the tin after all. Not just to put bird seed in it, but to set free two souls who\u2019d been stuck, hiding from the heaven that they deserved to be in. Even so, I still love vintage finds and antique stores, but I\u2019m hoping to take a break from bringing home the ghosts.<\/p>\n Believe,<\/p>\n Kristy<\/p>\n
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