Melancholy Ghost

By Kat Mayor

From ghost hunter to ghost, haunted.
Barrett has a plan—help Austin regain his memory, surround him with his friends and loved ones, and lead him into the light. Unfortunately, the tragic investigation of a melancholy ghost derails everything.
As new lead investigator, Thai struggles to maintain the high ratings SCI has always enjoyed. After a few subpar investigations, the network execs demand results, even if it means the team must put their lives on the line for a house more deadly than its dead occupants.
There are worse things than being dead.
Austin knows something is wrong. Most people ignore him, time eludes him, and his hands are basically worthless. If only he could remember what happened, he would have the answers he so desperately seeks. He’s sick of Barrett’s lies and Casey’s deflections. Austin will have to figure this one out on his own. Will the truth set him free, or destroy his soul?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kat Mayor
• Release date: Feb 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370423842

Kat Mayor

I am a native Texan and have lived in the Houston area for most of my life. I love to read and I love to write. I am a full-time wife, mom, and ultrasound technologist, and a part-time lunch lady at my children’s school. When I’m not doing any of the above, I enjoy swimming with my kids, watching the Walking Dead, and activities at church and in my children’s school. Occasionally, I sleep.

Book preview

Melancholy Ghost

(Spirit Chasers Book 2)

Kat Mayor

Copyright © 2016 by Kat Mayor

Cover by Bespoke Book Covers

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Thank you, Brandy, for always being the ultimate guinea pig to my writing.

To Laura, for all your great advice and grammar knowledge.

Scott, your vision for the cover sketch is always spot on. You know I will be calling on you again.

To all my great coworkers and friends—your encouragement means so much.

A special thanks to Lilyn, Lia and all the other bloggers who have given this indie author a chance.

The Spirit Chasers

Thai– lead investigator/aura specialist and CEO of Spirit Chaser Investigations

Barrett– lead psychic/tech specialist

Casey– part-time psychic

Austin– the Spirit Chaser, former lead investigator of SCI. In life, he had no paranormal sensitivity; in death, he can see and communicate with other ghosts

Bob– shaman of his tribe/investigator. He relies heavily on the wisdom of his spirit guides to help him see the paranormal

Gary– camera man/clairaudient. He is able to hear paranormal sounds and ghost speech

Luis– former Catholic priest/exorcist

Josie– head of the tech department. He occasionally fills in on the investigation team

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

November, 2007

A mournful wail stopped Casey and Barrett in their tracks. Not today, Casey groaned. It was a lazy Friday afternoon, and Casey and Barrett had slogged through another tortuous week of public high school. They missed the school bus accidentally-on-purpose—Barrett was in no hurry to get home and Casey had nothing better to do—and decided to stop by McDonald’s first. The weather was warm, but not unbearably hot, and the thick woodlands along the highway provided some shade from the unrelenting Texas sun. Casey could see the sharp curve of Wysocki Road up ahead and the handmade wooden cross with wilted flowers strewn around it, a memorial to the most recent victim of the lethal stretch of highway.

Casey slowly turned her head toward Barrett. Is that…?

I think so, Barrett answered. He ran toward the pathetic cry when all Casey wanted to do was head off in the opposite direction.

Although the wreckage had long since been hauled away, Casey and Barrett saw the accident through the ghost’s eyes. Devon Roberts, their deceased classmate, gazed at the thick-trunked pine tree he had wrapped his shiny new Honda Civic around two weeks before. Its hood had folded in on itself. The car had taken a huge gouge out of the tree, but in the battle between car and tree, tree was the clear winner. Casey swallowed to keep the Quarter Pounder with cheese she had recently inhaled from coming back up. Devon was in his death mindset, and it was one of the most gruesome sights Casey had ever witnessed. Blood was spattered everywhere. His leg was turned out at an unnatural angle. A long, dark red gash trailed from his hairline down to his nose, a clear indicator of where windshield had met skull.

Fuck! I forgot to buckle my seatbelt. Hearing the words come out of that mess of a once-flawless face was disconcerting, to say the least, not to mention how it sounded. Barrett was used to it, but the echoing, raspy voice gave Casey the very definite creeps.

Yes, well, you were pretty out of it, Barrett noted. The rumor mill at Lincoln High School was in full swing, alleging that the football star and would-be Prom King was drunk as a skunk the night of his death. According to Chelsea Pruitt, daughter of the officer on scene and biggest gossip this side of the Rio Grande, his blood alcohol level was .20 at the time of his death. The deployed airbags prevented him from being tossed like a rag doll from the vehicle, but hitting the tree at better than eighty miles an hour left no hope of him walking away from this one.

Wait … you can hear me? See me? A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. That means I survived. Right before their eyes, the gash on his forehead closed, the blood on his shirt disappeared, and his leg straightened.

Then Casey opened her big, fat mouth. No, dude. You’re definitely dead. The blood stains returned and he nearly fell over when his broken leg gave out underneath him.

Barrett stared at Casey, frowning. His lips never moved, but Casey could hear his voice in her head. Nice. Try putting a filter on it.

Sorry. Casey shrank away behind Barrett.

What she meant was, yes, you’re a little bit dead, but we can help you.

The wind picked up all around them, blowing Casey’s long red hair in her face. The rustle of the tree leaves wasn’t loud enough to cover the faint hum emanating from Devon’s ghostly form.

How? How can you fucking help this? Devon pointed to the mortal wounds on his body. Barrett wasn’t sure what to say. Devon continued. You know what’s funny? Before last night, I’d never gotten drunk. He muttered a humorless half-chuckle and ran a bloody hand over his head, turning his short-cropped blond hair an orangey hue.

Ghosts are shitty time keepers, Casey mused. She considered telling Devon he had been dead for two weeks, but remembering Barrett’s warning to watch what she said, she kept her mouth shut.

I’ve had a beer or two with the guys, but that’s all. I had to stay in training shape and coach would have had a shit fit if he found out. But we beat those jerks from Calhoun and were headed for the playoffs. I thought I could take one night off and just party hard. I don’t even remember getting behind the wheel. Ghostly tears fell from his eyes and made a trail through the blood on his cheeks. His incorporeal fist slammed into the already crumpled car hood. I’m only seventeen. I barely got to live. The faint hum steadily increased in intensity and volume. Now it was like a soprano singer holding a sustained pitch.

Barrett spoke to Devon in low, soothing tones. I know. I know. It sucks. All of it. But it could be worse. You hit a tree, not another car. And look, he turned and pointed to a bright, white orb in the sky. See that light? If you cross over, you will get a new body. Your spirit is what matters. The rest is just a temporary shell.

The ghost stared at the dead boy in the Honda who would no longer need the football scholarship to Baylor. Easy for you to say, Barrett. You still have a heartbeat.

Barrett was surprised the ghost knew his name. They had been in some of the same classes, but the jocks were not a group Barrett considered friends. Some of them were downright assholes. But not Devon. He was an easygoing guy, not too full of himself, and everyone called him a friend. Barrett wanted to help him if he could.

The hum grew louder. Other notes joined in, wavering for a moment before melding with the original pitch. The ghost boy began to shake and quiver, blurring in Casey’s eyesight.

Devon, hold on, Barrett cried out in a loud voice, trying to speak over the crescendo as Devon’s body shuddered closer to its own resonant frequency. Casey slammed her hands over her ears, closed her eyes and ducked her head. She knew something horrible was about to happen. Knew it in her bones. But there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Amid the loud roaring, Casey heard a small, sad voice in her head. Tell my mom I love her.

Devon’s ghostly form curled in on itself in a blurred ball of white and glowing blue. Then, his soul burst forth, shattering like glass into a million tiny bits. Casey felt the frozen shards of his spirit as they bit into her skin. The pain and sadness of each sliver pierced her own soul. It was a struggle to remain upright when all she wanted to do was collapse on the grass and cry her eyes out.

Barrett, who had been standing in front of her, took the brunt of the blast. Tiny crystals shimmered in his hair and clung to his sweater. His hands shook as he reached out to brace himself against the tree.

Barrett?

He didn’t answer her. His chest rose and fell as he took in air, but he never appeared to catch his breath. He stood there for several moments, clenching and unclenching his fists. When he finally turned to face her, all she saw was profound grief his eyes.

***

Neither spoke as they slowly trudged home. Casey felt like her insides had been hollowed out. When they arrived at Casey’s door, she turned to Barrett. I don’t want to talk about what happened today. Her voice trembled. Not ever. Got it?

Yeah, Barrett said, thinking that wouldn’t be a problem. Forming coherent words right now was an impossibility. He stuck his hands in his jeans pockets and walked away. He wasn’t sure what happened to Devon, but he knew it was bad. Real bad. Death takes the body, but leaves the soul. So, what happens when a soul shatters?

Things did not go back to normal after the demise of Devon’s spirit. Casey went into Goth overkill. She had a mostly dark wardrobe anyway, but now, her outerwear mirrored her inner moroseness. Casey’s natural hair color was a russet red with flecks of gold that could only be seen in the bright sunlight. Her hair and her gray-blue eyes were her best features. But after Devon shattered, she transformed her locks to the darkest shade of ebony she could find in the hair dye section of Walmart. She withdrew from Barrett and the other outcasts she usually hung with.

Not that Barrett noticed. He spent most of that time in bed, crippled by the worst bout of depression he’d ever experienced. He skipped so much school, he was in danger of not graduating.

That was what finally got him out of the bed. He had to get out of his stepfather’s repressive household and he saw college as a ticket out. Over a month passed before he saw Casey again. She pretended like nothing had happened and he went along with it. They made plans to sneak away to Dallas to see an underground band they both liked. They groused about homework and stupid assignments. Their conversation topics drifted to the trivial and mundane. Devon’s violent departure was the elephant in the living room they both chose to ignore.

Chapter One

Present Day

Tubular Bells broke the silence. Casey’s eyes narrowed in disturbed fascination as Austin hummed along with her ringtone. It was an odd disconnect to witness her deceased and formerly possessed boyfriend humming the tune from The Exorcist. She reached across the bed to grab the phone off the nightstand. Yeah, she spoke into it, her gaze fixed on Austin.

Austin’s with you. It wasn’t a question, but a statement of fact from her friend who was just as sensitive as she was. Probably more so.

Yeah.

What the hell—

She cut Barrett off. Hang on. Casey put the phone to her chest, hoping Barrett wasn’t freaking out on the other end. Austin’s attention returned to her e-reader. He was flicking the pages at such a rapid pace that Casey knew he was only playing, not reading. She placed her warm hand over his cold one to halt his frantic motions and get his attention. I need to take this call downstairs. I’ll be right back. Austin nodded and continued to hum Tubular Bells. She turned to the other ghosts in the room, Prudence and her Gran, mouthing the words, Stay with him.

Casey gently shut the door to her apartment and ran down the stairs, not stopping until she was standing in front of the counter of the health food store that she lived above. Ghosts were nothing new to her. Some of her earliest memories were of spirits, and not the see-through, vaporish kind. She saw them in vivid high-definition. A luminous blue cast to their skin and lack of mass and weight in the real world were the only things that marked them as dead. Like people, some ghosts were nice; others were mean. She got along well with the nice ones and avoided the mean ones as much as she could. So why was she unsettled—no, terrified—of being in the same room with the dearly departed love of her life?

Casey felt like she could finally take a breath. Shit, she exclaimed as her shaking hands nearly dropped the phone. It had only been a quarter of an hour since Austin had barged into her apartment in Shadow Creek, but they’d been agonizing, tension-filled minutes. How she’d managed to hold it together this long was a complete mystery. Barrett would know what to do; he always did. Just realizing he was on the line made her feel safe.

Casey glanced up the staircase, although she knew she was out of earshot of her ghostly boyfriend. Don’t chew me out for not calling you. I haven’t really had a chance. Austin… she started.

Barrett interrupted. I sense there’s something off with him. When I look inside his head I have trouble navigating through his thoughts. Until I read your mind, I didn’t even know it was him.

Casey wasn’t thrilled with Barrett for entering her head uninvited. But now was not the time to get into it. His memory’s gone. He doesn’t know he’s dead.

Barrett exhaled. That’s what I was afraid of. It was an occasional but unfortunate side effect of dying from a traumatic brain injury.

Most of the ghosts Casey had come across knew they were dead or caught on pretty quickly. What was she supposed to do with this? She paced as she spoke, wishing for a bottle cap to keep her fingers occupied. I’ve never met a ghost this unaware. Have you?

Once, Barrett answered. It was strange. Getting her to cross was stranger. I had to gently convince her she was dead. Then Luis and the rest of the crew had to recreate a funeral for her.

"I don’t know how to do gently. Casey ran her fingers over her forehead. I’m completely out of my depth here."

I think it would be best if you brought him back to LA. It’s something familiar. Hopefully, they could get Austin to remember his life in LA; then his other memories would come online as well.

Tension settled in her neck and shoulders. Eventually, yeah. But I don’t think coming back now is such a good idea, Casey told him, remembering her Gran’s warning. In his current frame of mind, I think the big city would overwhelm him. He was there, you know. Before he came here.

He was? How did he find you, anyway? If Austin was as confused as Barrett suspected, he couldn’t imagine him locating anything but the most familiar places. As far as he knew, Austin had only been to Shadow Creek once.

He didn’t. Remember Prudence from the Farm Girls episode? She stumbled upon him out on the streets of LA. He was freaked out, didn’t know who he was or what was going on. She got in touch with my Gran and they brought him to me.

The line was quiet for so long Casey thought they had been disconnected. We need to tell the others, Barrett said evenly.

Yeah. Casey thought about Thai, Austin’s ghost-hunting partner turned lead investigator, her good friend, Josie, who called to check on her at least once a week, and all her wonderful, supportive friends from Spirit Chaser Investigations. She was sure they would want to know about Austin, but at the same time it felt selfish, like sharing the misery to lessen her own pain. Or at least forcing the others to suffer through the same grief she was dealing with. You tell them, Barrett. You’re better at this stuff.... Just make them understand. Her voice trembled as she exhaled. He’s not the same.

Sure. I’ll call Thai tonight. Barrett was already thinking of ways to break it to the new SCI CEO. Being forced into the top spot on the show put Thai under instant and enormous stress. Barrett didn’t want to burden him any more than he had to.

Casey paced in the hall. This is messed up. Don’t get me wrong. Knowing that Austin isn’t one of the damned is a huge relief, but Barrett…. Her voice broke and her next words came out a whisper. He’s so … different. It hurts to see him this way.

I can imagine, Barrett lied. He really couldn’t. Maybe it was because he was still relatively young, but all the ghosts he had met and known while they were still alive were casual acquaintances. His own mother had crossed almost immediately after her death. In his opinion, it was the most unselfish thing she’d ever done for him. Seeing the ghost of a stranger was one thing; seeing someone you loved like a brother, who you’d only known as energetic and full of life, was another. Hold tight, Casey. We’ll get through this.

Casey leaned against the door frame, holding her phone in front of her. Will he get better, or is this as good as it gets?

Barrett wanted to tell Casey Austin would return to the way he used to be, but he didn’t feel he should. Ghosts shared many of the same personality traits as their living selves, but they were very different creatures. He didn’t want to give her false hope. There was one thing he was sure of, and he told her that. I’m sure his memories will return. We just have to be patient and not rush him. Barrett hoped as soon as he regained his memory, they could cross him into the light before he freaked out. That would be the best case scenario. But right now, with no memory of his death, that wasn’t an option. In the meantime, don’t do or say anything to contradict his reality. Let him believe whatever he feels is true.

Easier said than done. I’ll try. Geez, what he really needs is a psychologist. Too bad the dead don’t have any.

Not true, Barrett answered. They have us, Casey. That’s what we do.

Chapter Two

Thai was making a cup of tea in the break room. He’d been up at SCI (Spirit Chasers Investigations) most of the day, but there was still a mountain of emails to go through, as well as firming up the filming schedule for the upcoming season. Josie was a huge help with the back office stuff like payroll and flight arrangements, but it was up to Thai to verify the locations, run the investigations, and stay on schedule. It was both surreal and daunting to be lead investigator and work on season five without Austin there calling the shots. This was never the way he imagined he’d get promoted.

Tea cup in hand, Thai trudged back down the hall. He passed by the Spirit Chaser’s office, sticking his head in the door out of habit. It was just as he’d left it—sparse, functional, and obsessively neat. Thai could have moved into the larger space if he had wanted to. As Austin’s hand-chosen successor, no one would have batted an eye. But he preferred leaving it as it was. Maybe he and the crew needed this shrine to Austin’s memory. No, that wasn’t it. If they left things exactly as they were, it was easier to believe that Austin was out of the office and would be returning soon.

Thai set his tea down and took a seat behind his desk. The Adventure of a Lifetime by Coldplay interrupted his musings. He grabbed the phone off his desk and connected the call when he saw it was Barrett.

Hey, man. Hope I’m not bugging you.

Nah. What’s up?

Austin’s back.

Thai nearly choked on his tea. What do you mean, Austin’s back? Like a ghost? When he first died, Thai wondered if Austin would try to contact them. He really thought he would. But as the days and weeks passed, he’d kind of given up hope.

That’s exactly what I mean.

What the fuck? Where has he been all this time?

He’s been wandering around, lost. Huge chunks of his memory are gone. After hanging up with Casey, Barrett had climbed inside Austin’s head for a more in-depth look at what they were dealing with. It was like staring at the guts of a computer that had exploded. He expected the tangled mess of wires that were his memories. More troubling were the dangling bits, free-floating inside his head. The connections were shorn off, no longer part of the whole. "He knows his name is Austin and a few other facts—like he knows ghost hunting was his job. He understands the concept, but he has no idea that it was his way of life. Spirit Chaser is