Bridging Love and Afterlife: Firehouse Ghost III
Tonight. Vic shuddered. Am I ready? Will Liz be ready? He focused his entire consciousness on Liz. Her thought penetrated him: I love you so much, Vic. Part of me wants Jaku to kill my body so I can go with you.
Vic’s expanded heart shrank into a small, sore lump. “You won’t be allowed to go with me if you act on that! There are rules, you know!” He felt bruised and battered. “Oh, help me, All That Is,” he prayed. “My psycho friend yearns to rape; my love flirts with thoughts of suicide.” He tasted the sour acid taste of defeat.
“Be true to your higher purpose,” said a still, quiet voice inside Vic’s mind. “Do your best, then get out of the way.” The voice’s sweet softness soothed Vic’s troubled heart, his worry dissolving like shadows in morning sunlight.
“Tonight,” Liz said, locking the alarm room door behind her. “Somehow, I know Jaku’s coming tonight.” She glanced at the clock, its two hands pointed straight up at midnight. “If he tries to break in, he’ll wake up the whole station. They’ll catch him red handed, so no need to worry.” Her confident words belied the tremor in her voice. “Won’t they, Vic?” She looked around longingly. “Vic? Jaku must know I always lock myself in. Doesn’t he?”
Vic wrote out a thought, put it in an envelope, and mailed it Special Delivery into Liz’s mind. “What do you do, Liz, when you want to contact me?”
Liz thought a moment. “Uhh…let me think…wait a minute…Om.” She took a deep breath, relaxing. “Om.”
“You need to know, I can’t help you if you let fear overcome you,” Vic cautioned. “Feel the fear, but don’t be …”
“Controlled by it,” Liz finished the thought. “Oh, Vic, I am so afraid. Afraid to live without you and afraid to die.”
“Remember what I told you? If you die, I died in vain! You must finish my fight!” Vic’s frustration turned to dread as he picked up Jaku’s feelings—lusting, longing, needing, hating. Near at hand! Horrified, Vic watched as the doorknob on the alarm room door turned.
Jaku kicked the door open and stood, bowlegs spread wide, smirking, a key in one hand, a gun in the other. He drank in Liz’s terrified expression with delight. “What? Surprised to see old Jaku, pretty lady? Don’t act! You left the door open for me, right? That’s what you’re gonna tell them – if I let you live.” Jaku pointed the gun at her head. “Move away from the console, real slow. Don’t push no buttons. Don’t ring no bells.” A smile flickered at the edges of his mouth. “The only bells you gonna ring is mine. Now move.”
Liz inched herself up off the chair on wobbly legs. Oh, God! Oh, no! Oh, Vic! Help me!
“Relax, Liz! Chant om!’” Vic urged, shooting that thought like an arrow at Liz’s mind, but fear encased her and his thought couldn’t get through.
“Back up,” Jaku ordered, waving his gun toward the back wall. “Back, by the fire extinguisher.” He reached out with one hand to grab her breast but she shuddered and shrank away. Enraged, he screamed, “Take off your clothes, bitch! Or else I gonna waste you.”
Liz, blinking back tears, slowly retreated until her back pressed against the fire extinguisher bracketed on the wall. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and shook her head. I can’t let him rape me, she thought. I’d rather die. I’ll have to let him kill me.
“No, no!” Vic yelled. “You can’t give up. If you die like that it’s suicide! You couldn’t go with me.” Desperately, he took three deep breaths and centered himself. He breathed love and truth into a single strong thought and sent it full force into Liz’s mind. “Liz – for the sake of your soul, fight back! I can’t come through without your consent. Hear me!”
“I said NOW!” Jaku screamed, his face bright crimson. “Now!” He pointed the gun at her head, his index finger quivering on the trigger. “Or else it’s sayonara, bitch.”
Liz’s whole body shivered as she nodded yes. Slowly, sensuously, she slid one hand up over her breast, undoing the top button. “O..om,” she stammered. She breathed deeply. “O…o…om” she repeated as she unbuttoned the second button.
Jaku’s gun hand shook but his finger relaxed on the trigger and the crimson color drained from his face. “That’s more like it! I’m in charge here.” He pumped his hips. “And you can forget about going home.” He pressed the gun against her ear. “Faster,” he ordered, pulling at her skirt with his free hand.
Liz felt Vic’s presence like a warm wave of energy flowing through her. She smiled. “Om. You murdered Vic in cold blood.” Her voice deepened, sounding like Vic’s voice when she added, “because I wouldn’t let you rape Liz. What makes you think I’ll let you defile that little flower now?”
Jaku laughed, a rude explosion of a laugh. “Fuckin’ wierdo! You a ventriloquist? That asshole Vic’s six feet under. Same place you gonna be if you don’t MOVE IT!” He pulled hard at her skirt, which tore with a loud ripping sound. Jaku howled like a demon.
Vic felt his strength flow through Liz’s bones and muscles. Reaching out with Liz’s delicate hands, he pushed the gun away from Liz’s ear and up at the ceiling. Jaku pushed back but Liz’s hands gripped with a steely grip. Jaku pushed harder, using both hands now, his face livid with rage.
“Bitch! You shouldn’t have done that,” Jaku screamed, sweat beading on his forehead. “I’m gonna waste you.”
Vic pressed one of Liz’s dainty fingers on top of Jaku’s trigger finger with great strength, pointing the gun away from Liz. Gunshots rang out — once, twice, three times – until the click of an empty chamber signaled no more bullets. Liz smiled a delighted smile.
Jaku’s mouth fell open in disbelief. “What the fuck you doing?” Faster than a heartbeat, he dropped the gun and lunged with both hands at Liz’s throat.
Time seemed to slow as Jaku’s hands flew toward Liz’s throat and Liz grabbed the fire extinguisher’s discharge nozzle, shooting white foam into Jaku’s eyes.
Time speeded up again as Jaku fell to the floor, writhing and screaming, “My eyes! My eyes! Somebody help me!” Liz quickly sent four loud emergency dispatch tones through the station. A host of sleepy firemen rushed into the alarm room, staring as Liz modestly clutched the edges of her torn skirt together.
“But she invited me in! She left the door open!” Jaku insisted while the policeman handcuffed him. “She set me up!” he moaned. “She’s a fucking witch!” A bored looking cop shoved Jaku out of the alarm room.
“How DID you manage to shoot that gun, Liz?” a husky fireman asked. “I mean, I know people sometimes get real strong in a crisis, but …”
“Vic did that. But using the extinguisher was my idea,” Liz said proudly.
The fireman shook his head and patted Liz on the shoulder. Vic, now extricated from Liz’s body, knew she didn’t feel the fireman’s touch or see the sympathetic expression on the man’s face. For she was looking straight into Vic’s eyes, gasping.
Vic shot a thread of consciousness into Liz’s heart so he could see through her eyes again. He saw himself, light flowing through his still manly-looking spirit form. Her love for him shot tears of joy into his eyes. “I know, Lizzy,” he said. “I know. I love you with my whole heart, too.”
Tears wet Liz’s cheeks. “You’re my bright sunshine, darling.” She took a deep breath.
Vic felt Liz’s pain like a knife in his heart. “I won’t be extinguished, Lizzy. I’m just walking through a different door, one I’ll help you through one day, decades from now, and…”
Liz swallowed hard, nodded and managed a shaky smile. “It must be so beautiful where you are, great heart.”
“You crazy, girl? What the heck you talking about?” a fireman asked. Another said, “We know it’s been hard on you, Liz.” A third asked, “How did you get that gun away from Jaku?”
Liz heard none of them.
Vic’s heart expanded and soared. He held Liz’s face in his spirit hands and kissed her. “It’s not goodbye, it’s see you later. Always remember, love never dies. You carry it with you when you go.”
Vic took one last look at her radiant face before the material world faded from view. He merged into an all-encompassing feeling of joy, floating in the white and golden and purple light surrounding him, feeling love and more love. He’d never felt so alive or filled with ecstasy before – God, Liz was right. It was so beautiful here.
THE END
Did you miss part of this story?
Firehouse Ghost: Unveiling the Other Side
Whispered Connections: Firehouse Ghost II
Bridging Love and Afterlife: Firehouse Ghost III
Lizbeth Hartz is the author of the true crime, true love memoir Angel Hero, Murder in Hawaii, A True Story. Get it on Amazon or sample the 1st chapter free there.
