The Reincarnation of Charlie

By Penn Scripter

What if, after death, we were somehow allowed to take care of those we leave behind?

 

Some things in life are unexplainable. How it ends is not always what we expect.

 

Charlie Wolf looked forward to a long life. But what he wanted was not in the cards. Charlie had it all. A loving wife, a booming business, and a horse ranch that made them both happy. Then he was gone.

 

Heaven can wait.

 

Soon after his death, Charlie's spirit discovers his wife, Remi, could not recover from losing her soul mate. Remi lost interest in life and even her will to compete in horse shows. The loss of her husband sent Remi into a downward spiral of hopelessness.

 

Charlie knew that the one thing he had to finish was making sure that his wife Remi could go on. This is their story and how the universe allowed Charlie to end it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Troll River Publications
• Release date: Jun 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781946454829

Book preview

Prologue

Some things in life are unexplainable. How it ends isn’t always what we expect. Charlie Wolf looked forward to a long one. But that wasn’t in the cards. He had it all, and then, in a split second, it was gone. But he knew that the one thing he had to finish was making sure that his wife, Remi, could go on. Remi and Charlie. This is their story and how the universe allowed Charlie to end it.

Chapter One

Charlie’s Fatal Flaw

Charlie Wolf felt his blood boil. He gripped the steering wheel of his red Ford Super Duty F-350 Lariat truck as he responded to his wife Remi’s words. You can’t be serious. Why would you want to have dinner with an old boyfriend and his wife!

He listened with his hands-free Bluetooth as he deftly steered the large four-horse slant-load trailer behind him though the pouring rain. Remi, can we talk about this when I get back? It won’t take me long to pick up the new stallion and get back from Houston. Four hours tops.

Cars whizzed past him on the interstate, sending waves of water up from the road and onto his windshield. The squeak of his truck’s wipers shed the onslaught of rain, but he took a quick exit onto a two-lane road. This short cut to the breeding farm would get him back faster to his wife.

Remi sighed in exasperation. Charlie, why do you always get so jealous? You know I love you almost as much as my horse. She laughed, trying to put a witty spin on the conversation. It’ll be after seven o’clock before you get back. And I know you’ll want to take time to settle in your new prize possession.

Agitated, Charlie pounded on the steering wheel. Damn it, Remi! Enough already. Wait for me to get home. Why the hell would you want to see an old boyfriend anyway!

Charlie, it’s not just an old boyfriend. He and his wife were two of my best friends in high school. Her voice was soft like a cool breeze on his ears. He loved her more than life itself. He couldn’t bear the thought of her looking at another man the way she looked at him. But you dated him before he picked up with her.

So what? What do you think will happen? she snapped back. Don’t you trust me?

Charlie rubbed his eyes and huffed, I don’t trust him. I don’t want you to go! He clicked the button on the steering wheel and hung up on her.

Reaching up with a pale, freckled hand, he pulled down the sun visor and glanced at the photo of his beautiful Remi, her brilliant green eyes framed by long dark hair. The perfect face.

Charlie huffed again and flipped the visor back up, just in time to see the flashing lights of a blue Dodge Ram stopped in the middle of the road. He swerved, but not all the truck’s tires grabbed the road. The trailer bent into a jackknife, and the screech of rubber sliding on pavement was the last thing he heard.

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Charlie opened his eyes slowly. The truck cab was crushed in around him. Oddly, he felt no pain, even though truck metal seemed to have penetrated his body. He slid out from the cab. His body weightless. Looking down, he could see the truck and trailer had been destroyed. He blinked. Why was he still in the truck? He was free, moving upward. He stopped when he heard Remi’s cries of agony.

To his right, he saw the police car, the officers in the doorway, and Remi collapsed in the entryway of their ranch house. Her every sob wrenched his heart. She cried his name, over and over. Then his world went dark.

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Bright white light assaulted Charlie’s amber-colored eyes. He pushed a lock of reddish-brown hair from his forehead as he walked through knee-high dry, heavy fog. Each step kicked up puffs of cloud-like ground under his feet. Huge tuffs of what looked like cumulus nimbus swirled and lifted at his passing and immediately settled back down around his ankles.

The brightness cast a huge shadow, making his six-foot-three frame even larger, bulkier than it already was. He felt the blood rush to his face as he realized he was naked.

What the hell? Charlie scanned the area. No one was around, and the visibility beyond the hovering white mist was clear for miles. Miles of nothing.

Hello? Tingles shuddered down his spine. The kind that told him this wasn’t right. This was all wrong. But he had a notion of what his body knew but his mind didn’t.

No, no. This can’t be happening. He walked on. He needed to find a way out of here. I’m going to be late for dinner.

A minute passed, and his anxiety rose. He started walking faster until a short, small barefooted man in a white suit headed toward him. Holding a clear clipboard, he walked in a short, brisk manner, almost as if something were pinching him from behind. Charlie immediately noticed twinkling blue eyes that almost shimmered as he approached.

Oh, thank God. Charlie looked down at himself and felt his cheeks warm. He wasn’t modest, but he wasn’t an exhibitionist either. Um . . . excuse me, sorry for my state of—Charlie waved at himself—undress, but . . .

It’s not out of the ordinary. Don’t you worry. Reaching forward, the man held out his right hand. I’m George. I’m your spirit guide. Have you been waiting long? Let’s see . . . George lifted his clipboard.

Wait . . . what kind of guide? Charlie stepped back