CHAPTER 7
They had just gotten home, and Selena threw her keys on the table by the door, then plopped herself on the couch.
“Well, that was a major waste of my time, and money,” she complained.
“You mean to tell me you didn’t get anything out of it?” Rosie asked, sitting in the chair under the window.
“Hell no! He said I was perfectly sane. No stress issues, no anxiety. If anything I appeared to be pretty damn well balanced. All things I already knew I was.”
“Well, that just doesn’t make sense. Did you tell him about your imaginary friend?”
Selena looked down at her twiddling thumbs. Of course she’d left that part out; she didn’t want the shrink to send her to the loony bin! She’d only told Rosie because she thought she would believe her. At the very least be supportive.
“Selena! You didn’t, did you?”
“No, I didn’t, because I don’t have an imaginary friend. Eric is as real as you and me. Probably more so, since he’s been around way longer.”
“I can’t believe this. You’ve really gone mental.”
“I have not, and I don’t know why he chose not to appear to you, but I know you would believe me then. And either way, what does it matter? So what if he is imaginary? As long as he makes me happy you should be happy for me.”
Rosie slowly shook her head in disbelief. “You need help, and this time I’m going to make sure you get it.” She picked up her cell phone and started dialing.
Selena got up and walked towards her. “Who are you calling?”
“I’m getting you help.” She put the phone to her ear and Selena tried to take it away.
They fought for it until Rosie abruptly released it, along with a deathly scream that nearly burst her ear drums. “Aaahh!” Rosie fell backwards, tripping over her large bag, then scuttled back until her back hit the wall.
“What’s the matter with you?” Selena asked annoyed.
Rosie pointed behind her, “G-g-ghost!”
Selena looked back, and there stood Eric in all his massive glory. He was a big man, and she imagined that from Rosie’s position on the floor he looked like a giant, scary and intimidating. He wore a mean scowl on his face that she was glad wasn’t directed at her.
“You will leave Selena alone, so help me God I will haunt you for the rest of your life, until it is you who goes mad.” His voice was low, but the amount of warning in his tone left no room for argument. It was a command. By the look on Rosie’s face she got the message loud and clear.
“Here,” Selena walked back to the couch with a cup of hot chamomile tea and handed it over to Rosie.
“Thanks,” she said as she took it from her. Her nerves were still rattled after her encounter with Eric. She took sips of her drink, all the while staring into the cup, almost as if she were afraid she would see him again if she dared to look up. Selena felt so bad for her.
Eric had seen the fear on her face, too, and ever the gentleman had lowered his tone and tried to ease her nerves. He’d even tried to help her off the floor. She of course had been completely frozen with fear and wouldn’t take his hand. He apologized profusely about scaring her half to death, but finally gave up, and with one last apology disappeared.
After she’d completely drained her cup of tea and set in on the coffee table, Rosie finally looked up at her. “Okay, so I believe you now.”
“Good. I’m sorry you had to get scared half to death before you did.”
“Yeah me, too. I just about wet my pants.” She laughed nervously. “Is he still here?”
Selena looked around, trying to sense his presence. She wasn’t a medium or clairvoyant, but she somehow knew when he was near. Maybe it was her heart or soul that sensed him. “I think he’s gone for now,” she said.
“Where does he go?” Rosie asked.
“He says it’s sort of a limbo, like he’s here, but not. He says he can sense me when he’s there, but I can’t do the same.”
“Sel, I don’t know that this is good for you,” she said. Selena could see the real concern in her eyes.
“But you saw for yourself, I’m not crazy.”
“I know I did, but think about it. You’re dating a dead guy, and what if you fall in love with him?” Selena looked away and chewed on her bottom lip. “Sel, please tell me you haven’t already.”
“What can I say? I think I had even before I knew who he was.”
“And do you know him now? Do you know everything about him? What was he like when he was alive? How did he die?”
“I know all I need to know.” She did have that nagging feeling, like there was something Eric wasn’t telling her. He rarely spoke about his life, and never about his death, but she knew him. She knew he was kind and loving and intelligent… and her soul mate.
“What kind of future can you possibly have with him?” Rosie asked.
“Look, I know where this is going. Eric and I have already discussed this and we do have a future together.”
“How? He can’t take you places, he can’t meet your friends or give you children.”
“I’ve been everywhere I wanted to go, you’re my only friend and you already met him, and I don’t want kids, never have.” She could see the frustration on Rosie’s face. She just couldn’t get her point through Selena’s thick head.
“Fine. Whatever. I can see this is going nowhere.”
“Good, I’m glad that’s settled. Now, you’re only here for a few more days. Can we please just enjoy them? I promise to keep Eric away from you.” She smiled and poked her arm playfully.
Rosie shook her head but smiled back. “All right, you win, but only cause I love ya.”
He stood in the shadows of Selena’s apartment and waited for Eric to hide away in the ghostly realm. From there he wouldn’t be able to sense his presence, and he would be free to do as he pleased.
He walked up to the bed where she slept beside her friend. He would have her soon. Feel her soft ivory skin, run his fingers through her long silken hair. He closed his eyes, picturing her body writhing beneath his in ecstasy. She was beautiful. Eric definitely had good taste.
Now all he had to do was wait. He knew the moment for action was near.
He walked to the other girl. She was just as lovely as Selena. At complete contrast to her light coloring, this girl had skin the color of cocoa, with a small nose, luscious lips and dark corkscrew curls. Perhaps he would make her his as well. Either way, he had plans for her.
“I am going to make good use of you, ma douce,” he whispered in her ear, and with a slight caress to her cheek disappeared into the ether.
This was Rosie’s last day in New Orleans. Selena woke up early and decided she would make it special for her.
Rosie felt her get out of bed and turned towards her. “Hey, where are you going?” she asked groggily.
“I have to run to the post office, and then I wanted to grab us some beignets and coffee for breakfast. I can’t believe we haven’t been to Café Du Monde since you came and I don’t want you to miss out.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“Nah, just sleep in. It’ll be packed and we might have to wait a while for a table, so I’ll just grab it on the way back. I think it’ll be quicker if I go by myself.” That and she wanted to stop by the French Market and buy Rosie some small gifts. Selena left her in the apartment and went to run her errands.
First she went to the post office and mailed back a blouse that she’d bought online that hadn’t fit her. Then, she made her way down to Decatur Street and to the French Market. She stopped at a booth in the open air market and bought her friend a silver bracelet with a fleur de lis charm, and a Mardi Gras mask.
After she’d made her purchases she walked to Café Du Monde and bought one order of their famous and sinfully delicious beignets and coffee. She’d been gone a little over an hour when she walked back to her place, but it was still fairly early.
She walked in and set the things
on the coffee table. “Helloooo!” she called as she walked back to the room looking for Rosie. “Hey, I brought breakfast. Hope you’re hung…” Selena stopped in her tracks. The bed was empty.
She walked back through the house, but Rosie wasn’t there. She hadn’t even bothered to leave a note. Selena pulled out her cell phone and dialed Rosie’s number. She got her voicemail. “Hey, Rose, just got back and was wondering where you were. Call me so I don’t worry.” She hung up.
“Eric?” she called out. Slowly he materialized in front of her, looking wearily from side to side. “She’s not here,” she informed him and he visibly relaxed. “Have you seen her?”
“No, I’ve been waiting for you to call me. I didn’t want to intrude on your time with your friend. Besides, I don’t think she likes me around too much.”
Eric walked to her and she instinctively walked into his open arms. “Mmm, I’ve missed you.”
He kissed her softly on the lips. “I’ve missed you, too, but perhaps I should leave just in case she shows up.”
“No, stay with me. We’ll hear the door rattle.”
Three hours and three cold beignets later and Rosie still hadn’t called. Selena was pacing back and forth worried out of her mind. Should she call the police? The hospitals?
“I have to go look for her, Eric.”
“I’ll help you.”
“No, you stay here in case she comes back.” She grabbed her keys, already halfway out the door. “Tell her to call me and stay put.” She closed the door behind her and headed out into the crowded streets of the French Quarter. She would go down every block, peek into every store and bar until she found her friend. And if she didn’t, she would call the police and send out a search party.
Selena had done just as she’d planned. She’d searched the entire Quarter, every nook and cranny and couldn’t find Rosie. She’d finally decided to go to the Police, only to be told her friend had to be missing for over twenty four hours. She’d sent a photo, via her cell phone, of Rosie to one of the police officers that rode on horseback. He’d promised to keep an eye out.
Defeated, she walked back to her apartment, praying that she’d find Rosie there. She walked in and surveyed the room, then walked back to the bedroom.
Rosie was sitting on the bed looking down at her feet.
“Rosie? Oh my God!” Selena threw herself on her friend and hugged her. Tears of relief streamed down her cheeks. “You had me worried crazy!” She pulled away and punched her in the arm. “Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
Rosie looked up and had that look a puppy gets when he poops on a nice white rug.
“What’s wrong?” Selena asked her. Something in her gut told her she did have reason to worry.
“Sel, I did something, and while I think that right now you’re not going to like it, I think that you’ll thank me for it later.” She stood and faced her.
“What did you do?” The feeling in her gut was getting worse by the minute.
“Can we talk in the living room?”
“No, I want you to talk right here. You’re scaring me, Rose.”
Rosie blew out a breath and wiped her hands on her shorts. “Okay, but please hear me out before you go crazy.”
“O-kay,” she said hesitantly.
“After you left this morning I didn’t sleep well. I tossed and turned, thoughts of Eric kept popping into my mind. I began to think that if you really didn’t know his whole story, then he could have been a terrible person. That he could still be a terrible person.”
“Rosie, I already told you that I do know him. I know that he’s a wonderful man.”
“How, by looking into his eyes? As I was saying, I grabbed my bag and went to the library. I did some research based on the family name Mercier, and what I found was not good at all.”
“Rose! I never asked you to look into his life. That was private.”
“Don’t you want to know what I found?”
“No.”
“Well too bad, because I’m going to tell you.”
Selena had the sudden urge to clap her hands over her ears and tune Rosie out, but the curiosity over Eric’s past got the better of her.
“The Mercier family owned several businesses in the French Quarter. They were very well off and had a huge mansion on Chartres Street. One day some loan sharks came in and killed his brother Étienne. Rumor had it that it was Eric who’d actually paid them, but it could never be proven. Eric was reportedly a drunk. His father was murdered in his mansion, and guess who found him. That’s right, Eric.”
“That’s all circumstantial,” Selena defended.
“But wait, there’s more,” Rosie said, mimicking a television infomercial. “After the father died, Eric not only drank, but he spent most of his time in brothels. There were reports of him being banned from several of the houses because he liked to beat the girls while he had sex with them. And he also gambled, until he eventually lost it all. Even when he had nothing he kept on spending, until one day he was found dead in Pirates Alley. It was believed that it was the same people he owed money to that did it.”
Selena stared at her friend, dumbfounded. She just couldn’t believe it. She simply could not reconcile the man she knew, to the man Rosie was describing. “No…” she shook her head, “I refuse to believe it.”
“He’s a bad man, Sel. I don’t want to leave you here by yourself with him anymore. You’re coming with me.”
Rosie made to grab Selena by the arm but she pulled away before she could touch her, “No!”
“Didn’t you hear a word I said?”
“I heard you perfectly clear, but I won’t leave without hearing his account. All you read were rumors and hearsays.” Selena scowled at her friend before she turned away. “Eric!” Nothing. “Eric, it’s okay, I need to talk to you.” Still nothing.
“He won’t come,” Rosie said.
Selena whirled on her and frowned. “What else did you do?”
“Someday you will thank me.”
“What...did…you…do?” she asked again through gritted teeth.
“I just knew you wouldn’t listen to reason, so I decided I would talk to him and tell him to leave. I started to call out his name.”
“Did he come to you?”
“Yes, he did. He seemed hesitant, but he did.”
“Then what?” Selena’s temper was rising. She held her hands fisted at her sides desperately holding on to her control.
“I told him that you’d found out about his past, about his role in his brother’s and father’s death. I told him that you never wanted to see him again. He didn’t deny it, Sel. He just left, so you see, it’s true.”
Selena felt like her head would explode at those last words, all the blood rushing to her brain. Her face turned crimson and her eyes bulged. Rosie took a step back.
“What! You had no business speaking to him. For that matter, you had no business poking around in his life. I know what my heart says and it says that he’s a good man and I love him. I know there is a good explanation for all of this. I believe in him.”
“Sel, regardless, you have to live your life! Key word being life, which he no longer has for crying out loud!”
“Oh my God!” Selena said to herself. What if he never came back? He’d deserved a chance to defend himself and Rosie had taken that away from him. “Eric? Eric!” she started yelling, running from room to room looking for him. “Eric!”
“He’s not coming, Sel. Maybe he understood, unlike you, that he was not good enough for you. You need a flesh and blood man,” Rosie said following her.
Selena whirled on her, ready to slap her. “How dare you? Who are you to come into my home and dictate what’s best for me? I love him!”
“He’s dead, Selena!”
“What does that matter? We found each other. There are hundreds of people who would die to have what we have. So our love’s not perfect, who’s is? Certainly not any of yours. Is that why you did this, because you
want me to be as lonely and miserable as you are?” she asked, hoping her jabs hit home.
“That’s not fair. I’m trying to protect you! I just want you to be happy,” Rosie said with a hurt filled voice.
“I was happy. I was deliriously happy until you came along and took it all away. Eric!” she began yelling once again. She wiped angrily at the tears that streaked her face. “Please, don’t listen to her. I love you. Please come back to me.”
“Look at yourself, Selena, pining after a ghost. You need to get out of the house, you’re starting to look pale. You need to date, to make a family for yourself.”
“Out,” she ground out through her teeth.
“What?” Rosie asked.
“I said, get out,” she wasn’t yelling anymore, but she was sure Rosie heard the vicious anger she felt towards her at that moment.
“You’re throwing out your best friend over…”
Selena didn’t let her finish. “I’m throwing out a backstabber who couldn’t mind her own business or keep her fucking mouth shut.” She grabbed her keys and started towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Rosie asked.
Selena looked back to see that she was now crying, too. Good, she thought. She should never have done what she did. She hoped she felt some remorse for having taken her happiness away from her.
“I’m leaving. I want you to pack your shit and get the hell out of my apartment. I’ll be back tomorrow and I don’t want to see your face when I return.” She slammed the door behind her as she left.
Selena walked the entire French Quarter twice, then went to Bourbon Street and hit every bar she could. She was so angry and hurt that she needed the alcohol to numb her pain.
The funny thing was that as angry as she was at Rosie for having butted into her life, she was angrier with Eric for having left.
It seemed to her that he hadn’t fought. He hadn’t had as much faith in her as she did in him. Did he really believe she would have dismissed him so easily, without giving him a chance to explain? Did he think she would believe those rumors, rumors that her gut told her were lies?
“You okay?” the nice bartender asked her.
“Yeah,” she said with a hiccup and a sniffle. She knew she looked a wreck. She’d pulled at her hair, cried, wiped at her eyes. She probably had mascara all down her cheeks and snot in her nose.
She continued her bar crawl all through the night, even hitting the strip clubs for good measure. At some point she lost track of what time it was, or where she was. It was really a blissful state, being so gone.
“Ma’am? Ma’am,” a voice woke her up and she dragged her face up off the wooden counter. “I’m sorry, miss, but we’re going to have to ask you to leave now.”
“Wha? Why? I wasn makin no troubo,” she said in a completely slurred speech.
“It’s not that, though by the looks of you we should have sent you home a long time ago. Just be glad Lionel over there recognized you and felt bad for you.”
She looked over at Lionel, who was wiping off tables and setting chairs on them. When did he start working here? She guessed she really had gotten disconnected.
“We closed ten minutes ago,” the bartender informed her.
“What time is it now?” she asked. She looked at her watch and squinted, but the numbers were too fuzzy to make out. Her voice was hoarse, like she’d smoked a pack of cigarettes that night. Who knew, maybe she had.
“It’s past six a.m. We need to prepare the bar for this afternoon.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry.” She got up and wobbled out. From the door she waved back at Lionel and mouthed “Thank you” to him. He nodded in understanding and got back to work.
She stood outside, trying to get her bearings. She was still on Bourbon, all the way down close to Esplanade. She’d really gotten far. Selena debated whether to go home or not and finally decided on looking for a room where she could wash up and take a nap. It was still early and she really didn’t want to run the risk of running into little miss home wrecker.
She entered a small guesthouse and requested a room. The desk clerk looked at her wearily, obviously trying to decide if she was safe.
“I just got dumped,” she informed the thin man. He gave her a look full of pity, nodded, and gave her a key. She went to her room and threw herself on the bed and cried. And cried. She cried until she fell asleep, woke up three hours later and cried some more.
As checkout time neared she showered and made herself look presentable. It was time to face her empty shell of an apartment that she was sure would feel as empty as she did on the inside.