Sapphire: A Paranormal Romance (32 page)

The image faded,
and as Jimmy rubbed his eyes, seeing nothing but after-images, he heard someone
moving around in the room.  When his eyes cleared enough, he opened them and
saw Sapphire standing in front of him.  Her dress seemed as bright and blue as
the image he had seen in his dream.  Her eyes were wide, and her face was
creased with a grin.  She had never looked more gorgeous.

Jimmy stood up and
walked to her.  Sapphire smiled and came to him.  They enfolded each other in
their arms .  Jimmy was surprised that Sapphire was quaking as much as he was. 

"I've never
had a girl in my room," Jimmy said.

Sapphire laughed. 
"I've never been in a boy's room."

She looked up at
him.  Her face was flush with blood and life and warmth.  Her skin was warm, so
warm that it made Jimmy's skin tingle.  He leaned down and felt her lips
against his, and they were wet and soft and warm.  She was not a ghost.  She
was something real and alive.  He could feel her heart beating against his
chest through his shirt.

They kissed for a
long time. It seemed, like always, that they were alone in the universe.  The
world spun beneath them, the sun made its way across the sky, but they were
floating above it all.  Eventually, their hands were running up and down each
other’s bodies.

The kiss broke,
and both of them looked at each other, each of them breathing hard.  Jimmy
marveled at the warmth of her breath against him.  Somehow, she was alive,
real, and present here.  She was unchanged, but she was so real.  The feeling
between them was so intense that it nearly knocked them over.  He kissed her
again and she pressed her body against his. Running his hands down her back, he
could feel her heart beating, fast but steady, against his chest. Their hands
wandered, their breathing got faster, and then they parted.  Both of their
faces were flushed and anxious.

"What are we
doing?" Sapphire asked.

"The
impossible," Jimmy replied.

"How can we
do this?"

"How can we
not?"

Sapphire smiled. 
"I've never—"

"Me,
either," Jimmy replied.  "And I think you've waited long
enough."

"What will
this do?" she asked.  "To us?  To the universe itself?  If our being
here, together, both of us alive, is impossible, doesn't that mean it's against
the very laws of nature?  If we do what both of us think we're about to do,
what happens?"

"Do you mean
will reality itself split open and the universe unravel or something?"
Jimmy asked.

Sapphire shrugged.
"Yes."

"I have no
idea," Jimmy said, and kissed her again. "But at this point, I'm more
than willing to find out."

They kissed
again.  They touched.  They pressed against each other and fell onto the bed at
the same time, the garments they were wearing fell to the floor.  There was no
unraveling of the universe.  There was nothing but softness and the eagerness
of two teenagers, despite the fact that one of them should have been a woman in
her sixties.  Sapphire did not turn into the devil; Jimmy's soul was not sucked
out of his body.  Instead, they moved together, becoming one, both of them
moaning and kissing and sighing in the same way lovers had throughout the
centuries.  Somehow, the very power of their union made death something that
was not to be feared.  It could be conquered and crossed and, for a time, put
on hold.

There was no
fear.  There were no monsters.  The first time it had been over very fast, but
they were soon moving and touching and going again.  This time things were
better and, again, the universe did not end.  When it was over and they lay on
the bed, their bodies touching, bare skin to bare skin, they were both of flesh
and bone, warm and real.  There was nothing supernatural and nothing scary. 
They were just two teenagers in love, about to explore adulthood, venturing
forth in this one act that had been built up to them as something to hold in
awe and fear.  Instead, they were both warm and spent, filled with nothing but
love for each other.

Afterward, they
lay in each other's arms, the sweat cooling on their skin.  She was still there,
in Jimmy's arms, real.  He closed his eyes and laughed.  The ridiculousness of
the situation was just beyond him.  He had just made love to a woman who had
died years ago.  And yet, here she was, in his arms, her heart beating against
his skin, her chest rising and falling with her breath.  She was alive.

"So," he
said, "was it worth the wait?"

Sapphire giggled. 
"Absolutely."

Jimmy kissed the
top of her head.

"How is this
happening?" Sapphire asked.

"I have no
idea," Jimmy said.  "Where do you go when you aren't here with
me?"

"It's like
most of me is shut off," Sapphire said after thinking on it for a moment. 
"I don't feel like I have a body like I do when I'm here.  It's like being
pure thought or pure energy.  And yet, there are times when it feels like there
are real things around me.  It's so hard to explain, Jimmy.  I don't really
understand how any of this is possible.  It's like trying to ask you how you
felt and what you were doing before you were born."

Jimmy nodded. 
"The universe is infinitely more strange than I ever thought it was just
last week."

Sapphire nodded. 
"Each time I would come through to try and find someone to help me, it was
never real like this.  All of those memories are so hazy.  I remember feeling
lost and then feeling hope each time that someone would understand and be able
to help me.  Every time, it was like I was put back into a closet and shut away
again.  It was like being turned off.  You can't imagine what that's like. 
Then I met you, and suddenly it was like I was back and alive again and
everything was real."

"Could you
just stay here?" Jimmy asked.  "Now that you've come through, do you
have to go back?  Have you broken through permanently?"

Sapphire got quiet
for a moment.  Jimmy could feel that buzzing in his head that indicated she was
thinking.

"No,"
she said quietly.  "I don't think so.  I don't know how I know that, but I
can feel that other side pulling at me, even now.  And when I step back there,
this body that's so real will just vanish and I'll be real, but at the same
time, I won't be real."

Jimmy held her
tighter. "Can you tell how much longer before you have to go?"

Sapphire shook her
head, her hair rubbing against Jimmy's chest.  "No, but I can feel it
draining my energy.  You have no idea how much energy it takes to appear like
this.  To make things real."

"I can
imagine," Jimmy said.  "I mean, we're basically breaking all of the
known laws of physics and, well, life itself.  You're not supposed to be able
to come back to life once you've crossed over."

"And it's
because of us," Sapphire said.  "Something that connected us. 
Somehow, reality itself can bend when we want it to."

Jimmy extended his
hand into the air.  He concentrated.  Another burst of electricity, the same
energy that had brought Sapphire here, cracked in the air.  The ceiling above
them suddenly warped, the board and plaster, seemed to bend and twist. Jimmy
gasped, wiggling his fingers, and the air itself seemed to bend and twist and
then the ceiling went back to the way it was.

"We shouldn't
be," Jimmy whispered.  "None of this should be, unless the universe
itself wants us to right this wrong.  Does that make sense?  It's like we were
meant to be."

"And it's
growing stronger," Sapphire said.

Jimmy turned and
kissed her. And soon, they were moving and touching again.  They were the
masters of their own universe now, rolling and twisting and turning.  Around
them, the air crackled with energy, bolts of bright blue lightning bounced off
the walls, struck the light set into the ceiling.  The air itself became
thicker as they breathed, and then exploded with light.  The air seemed filled
with a thousand stars that formed and burned out in seconds, as if their love
and passion created entire universes around them and then destroyed them again
within seconds. A million lives lived within entire microscopic universes that
burst into existence as both of them moaned, and then exploded into a million
tiny supernovae.  And when they reached the end, the light was so bright that
it burned their silhouettes into the blinds set against the windows to the
room.  They collapsed, panting, into each other’s arms, and, eventually, Jimmy
fell asleep.

When
he awoke, he was alone.  Beside him the blankets and sheets still held her
shape and he could smell the perfume she had been wearing, but she was gone. 
Even the buzzing in his head was gone.  When he reached out his hand and moved
it, nothing happened; the air was silent and quiet.  They only had power when
they were together, and even the distance of crossing the veil into death was
not far enough for them to be connected when they wanted to be.

Jimmy sat up and
sighed.  It was late afternoon.  He could just tell from the way he felt and
from the color of the light breaking through the blinds against the window.  He
shuddered.

Had this power
always been inside of him?  He shook his head.  He had always been smart and he
had always been good with language, writing, and reading.  He had always been
good with computers.  He had always been interested in ghosts, but he had never
ventured into their world.  Had he always had the power to alter reality?  Had
the power always been inside of him and he had just never used it, or had
Sapphire simply awakened this power?  And what would it grow into?  Would he
find out what happened to Sapphire, bring her peace, and then she would vanish
and the power would leave him, as well?  And when that power went, what would
that mean for Jimmy?

Jimmy shook his
head.  This was all too much to think about right now.

Jimmy stood up and
his knees popped.  His body was tingling.  Had he really just lost his
virginity?  Had he really just done so with a girl who died more than fifty
years ago?  How did that stack up with the world's religions? he wondered.  You
weren't supposed to have sex before marriage, or so various priests and pastors
had told him over the years, but how did God rank sex among people who have
crossed dimensions because of their love?  Surely that had to count for
something.

He ran into the
bathroom adjacent to the bedroom.  He took a quick shower and then got
dressed.  He hadn’t heard a thing from downstairs in hours.  How long was
Tabitha going to let him sleep?  Were they worried about him?  More
importantly, where was his mother, and when would she be home?

Jimmy opened the
bedroom door.  Something was cooking already.  The smell hit him hard and he
realized he had missed lunch.  His stomach rumbled in protest at being
neglected for so long.  He descended the stairs. Tabitha sat at the table on
her laptop, clicking away.

"Ah, finally
awake?" she asked, not looking up from her work.

"I didn't
realize just how long I had been asleep," Jimmy said.

"Yes, you
really conked out there," Tabitha said.  "I’ve been doing research,
but I can’t find any accident reports or records of the accident that Jesse
claims happened that night, but that’s not entirely surprising.  What is
disturbing is that I can’t find any police reports about Sapphire.  It sounds
to me that Jesse and his father contacted the police at some point.  There
should be reports."

"Who was the
sheriff back then?" Jimmy asked as he sat down at the table.

"A rather
deplorable man named Tegan Mitchell," Tabitha said.  "He was run out
of town a couple of years after the accident for corruption.  He was rather notorious
for being racist and for his treatment of inmates."

"So, in other
words, the kind of guy who would gladly take a bribe to make an entire case
vanish if it involved one of the most popular and wealthy families in the
area?" 

"You were
reading my mind,” Tabitha said. “Plus, let’s not forget that the future
senator's family also had influence in the town and could probably make things
disappear."

"I am not
liking how dense this whole thing is becoming," Jimmy muttered.

"Welcome to
Knorr, Jimmy," Tabitha said.  "Few small towns have as many secrets
as this one.  And yes, we are treading some very strange and dangerous ground
here.  Let's not forget that we have a budding romance between a handsome young
man and a ghost."

Jimmy felt his
face flush and get hot.  He hoped that Tabitha didn’t notice.

"What are you
cooking?" Jimmy said.  "It smells fantastic."

"That would
be chili," Tabitha replied.  "It will be cooking for a while yet. 
Hungry?"

Jimmy nodded.

A moment later he
was munching on a sandwich, and the two of them kept talking about Sapphire and
the town of Knorr.  Tabitha went into greater detail about the Boogeyman case
that she and Warren had investigated.  She told him about the phone in the
cabin where Warren was staying that had been disconnected from anything, and
yet rang in the middle of the night and was hot to the touch.  She told him
about the voices of the dead girls that Warren had heard on the other end. 
Jimmy was fascinated.  It gave him a better idea of what Knorr was about.