Abegail: Ghostly Lover or Guardian Angel?

Chapter One
 
   "Oh, my God. I don't believe it," Joshua Carlisle said as he read the computer screen. He sat there stunned for a moment trying to absorb it all.
   Joshua was working late in the University library looking for hard evidence to prove what he feared might be taking place in Manassas, Virginia, was actually taking place. Suddenly, what appeared on the screen shocked him. There it was -- everything he needed. “I knew it!” he said as he caught his breath and printed out the documents. The material was not only explosive – it could be dangerous.
   “What are you doing here?” a young girl’s voice suddenly whispered over his shoulder. Joshua jumped sky high as he turned and saw 16-year-old Emily Hill standing there with a stack of library books.
   “Emily, you startled me!”
   “Sorry Mr. Carlisle,” Emily said embarrassed.
   Joshua discretely covered up the articles, hoping Emily didn’t notice them. "What are you doing here so late on a Friday night?"
   "History project. Sam and I are doing it together. I’m spending the night at your house so we can work on it tonight."
   "Well, I’m heading there now. Why don't I give you a lift?"
   "Cool!" she said. "Lemme call my mom and tell her she doesn’t need to pick me up.”
   As Emily went to use the phone, Joshua quickly buried the articles in his briefcase. He wondered if Emily had seen any of the articles he had just uncovered. Suddenly a sense of guilt and a little shame overcame him. Emily was his 16-year-old daughter, Samantha’s, best friend, and it was her grandfather, Brandon Hill that he was investigating. Joshua turned in the microfilm and met Emily outside.
   The light rain suddenly turned into a downpour as Joshua and Emily drove out the main gate of the University. As they turned onto the main road, a beaten up black truck pulled away from the curb and followed them at a distance. The truck got closer and began tailgating them.
   "Darn! I hate it when people tailgate, especially in weather like this!" Joshua turned off the highway and headed up the mountain towards home. The truck turned on the two-lane black top and stayed right behind them.
   “That’s odd,” Joshua said as he looked in his rear view mirror.
   “Is he still there?” Emily asked nervously.
   “Yep.” Joshua rolled down his window and tried to motion the car around.
   Suddenly the truck behind bumped them. "What's he doing?" a frightened Emily asked as she tried to look back to see what was happening.
   "I don't know. Is your seatbelt fastened tight?"
   "Yeah," Emily said as she nervously tightened her belt even more.
   "Hang on!" Josh said. He sped up to try to get away from the truck, but it was no use.
   As they started down the other side of the mountain, the truck passed Joshua. When it got in front, the driver slammed on the brakes. "Son of a …!" Joshua blurted as he jammed his brakes to avoid hitting the truck.
   "Oh, my God! The brakes are gone!" Joshua tried to swerve past the truck on the left, but the truck kept them pinned. "Hold on tight and brace yourself, Emily!" Joshua rammed into the back of the truck hoping it would stop them. Instead, the truck forced them off the side of the road. Joshua tried to remain in control, but the wheels of his jeep caught the soft gravel on the shoulder and the jeep spun out of control.
   "EMILY!" Josh screamed as he threw himself over Emily to protect her. The airbags opened and the jeep flipped and rolled over and over down the steep embankment. It finally came to a stop upside down at the bottom of the ravine.
   Up above a man got out in the dark and ran over to the edge and looked down. Through the sheets of rain he could see one of the taillights on the jeep in the ravine. There was no other movement. The man quickly got back in his truck and drove off, leaving Josh and Emily to die.
   
   Abegail Parker jumped up from the kitchen table where she had been helping Samantha with her homework. She grabbed her stomach as though she were going to be sick.
   "Oh, my Lord. Something's happened to Joshua," Abegail said instinctively.
   Sam looked at her in shock. This was strange behavior, even for a ghost, she thought. After all, spiritual beings from the other side don't get stomach pains. But then Abegail wasn’t like any other spiritual being. "What do you mean? What's happened?" Sam began to panic.
   "You stay here in case he calls. I'm sure it's nothing," Abegail said, and she suddenly disappeared.
   In an instant Abegail’s spirit left the kitchen and was drawn right to where the car went over the cliff. She looked over to the edge of the cliff, and down in the ravine saw the one taillight.
   "Oh, dear Lord, no!" she screamed as she flew over to Joshua's bleeding body. "Joshua! Can you hear me? JOSHUA!!!" Joshua didn't move. She reached over to Emily. "Emily? Emily, honey, can you hear me?" Emily let out a faint groan, half opened her eyes, saw Abegail, and passed out again. Blood was everywhere.
   In a microsecond Abegail returned to the kitchen and Sam. "Sam -- call 911. Joshua and Emily have had an accident. Send an ambulance to the Porter Farm, just past the battlefield billboard on Route 236. Hurry!"
   Sam was dialing before Abegail even finished. "Are they okay? What happened? Yes, 911, I need an ambulance at the Porter Farm on Route 236 immediately! Please hurry. Two people are badly hurt and unconscious!" She grabbed her coat and ran out the kitchen door.
   
   The ambulance doors flew open at Memorial Hospital as the emergency medical team rushed Joshua into the waiting ER. Sam and Abegail ran over to his stretcher.
   “Daddy? Daddy, can you hear me?” Sam cried as she tried to go in.
   "Miss, you are going to have to wait out here,” the attendant said outside as Emily's stretcher followed behind. “You'll be able to see your father and your sister as soon as the doctors have finished working on them."
   "Oh, God!" she cried as she saw Emily's bloodied clothes. "She's not my sister. She's my best friend … Emily!"
   "Do you know where we might reach her parents then?” the attendant asked. Sam looked at the woman in a daze. Then it suddenly clicked on her what the nurse had asked.
   “Yes … yes, I’m sorry. Her name is Emily Hill. Her mom's number is 768-5931.”
   “Thank you,” the nurse said as she led Sam to the waiting room. Sam obediently sat down and stared blankly at the forms she was handed. Abegail tried to comfort her.
   "I'm going to go in and check on them, Sam. I'll tell you exactly what happens." Abegail disappeared right into the solid wall of the emergency room.
   The trauma team worked feverishly as Abegail stood beside the stretcher next to Joshua. Suddenly one of the monitors started to scream. "Code Blue -- he's crashing!" a doctor called out.
   Abegail watched as the nurses scrambled for the crash cart.
   In the lobby, Sam saw four more emergency people run into the room with another machine. "DADDY!!!" she screamed, and ran towards the surgery doors.
   “I’m sorry, Miss Carlisle. You can’t go in there,” a young nurse cautioned as an orderly helped restrain Sam. “The last thing you want to do is get in the doctors’ way, right?” Sam stopped struggling, lowered her head, and cried softly as she slowly went back to the waiting room.
   Abegail watched the doctors trying to regain Joshua’s pulse.
   A blue light suddenly began to shine brightly over Joshua. As it got brighter, Abegail started to panic. "Oh, please no," she said to herself, for Abegail knew that when that light came it meant only one thing, something was happening from the “other side.” Death was about to pay a visit.
   She tried to get closer to Joshua, and then stopped dead in her tracks as a figure came through the light. "MARCUS!" she cried. Standing before her was a handsome, rugged looking man dressed in the same Civil War uniform he wore the last day she saw him on the banks of Bull Run. She couldn’t believe it. It was the spirit of her beloved, Marcus Kincaid.
   "Hello Abegail" he smiled. She threw her arms around his neck, not understanding for the moment why he was there, but relieved to see him. It was as if time had stood still. “Oh, Marcus, how I’ve missed you!”
   Marcus hugged her back. “God, how I missed you!” But their reunion was short lived. "Our boy's in bad shape, huh?" Time was running out, and Marcus was there for a reason.
   Abegail nodded. "I don't know what to do for him," she said helplessly.
   Marcus looked over to Joshua. "It's out of your hands, I'm afraid."
   "Don't tell me that's why you're here! Don't tell me you're gonna take him away ..."
   "That’s not why I’m here," Marcus said, trying to calm her.
   Suddenly they both looked over at Joshua. Abegail couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Joshua’s spirit had begun to rise out of his body. Abegail began to panic.
   "Oh, dear God, no. It’s too soon.” She turned to Marcus. “Marcus? It can’t be his time …"
   "Who knows when it's someone's time? Who knows how that's decided," Marcus said, almost bitterly.
   "But Marcus, please. There must be something you can do!" Abegail begged. “Joshua’s my only hope. He can’t die. He’s the only one who can save me!”
   Joshua's spirit rose completely out of his body. He looked down at himself, and then around the room. He finally saw a familiar face. "Abegail? Abegail, is that you?" Joshua asked as he floated over and stood next to her.
   "Yes, Joshua, I'm here. But you must go back. It's not your time yet. Please go back!" Abegail turned to Marcus in total desperation. “Marcus, I beg you. I’ve been imprisoned here for 138 years. If you take him now, all my hopes of ever being released are gone. I will never find my way back to you. I will be a lost soul forever. Please, don’t do this to me. There must be some other way!”
   Marcus tried to comfort her. “Abegail, if it were up to me you know I’d give my eternity for you. But this is God’s plan – for all of us.”
   “Taking him from me, from his daughter Sam, is God’s plan?” she snapped in disbelief.
   Joshua just looked at him. "Who are you?"
   Marcus put his arm on Joshua's shoulder. "Someone from your past -- and someone in your future." A confused Joshua looked to Abegail, who was shattered.
   The medical team worked frantically on Joshua’s lifeless body. "We've lost his pulse!" a nurse yelled.
   "Why are you here?" Josh asked Marcus.
   "To help you make this transition, Joshua. My name is Marcus Kincaid, and I'm here to guide you."
   Suddenly the monitors started screaming again. "Flatline! We've lost him!" the technician yelled.
   "Give me the paddles and two hundred and fifty volts," the doctor ordered as he put the paddles to Josh's chest. "Clear!" Joshua's body lurched.
   “Guide me? Guide me where?” Joshua asked as he watched himself on the table.
   "Nothing!" the nurse said as she checked the heart monitor.
   "Give me three hundred. Set. Clear!" Joshua's body jerked again.
   “To your destiny, Joshua,” Marcus replied calmly.
   "Nothing!" the nurse cried out again.
   "Three fifty! Now! Clear!"
   "No response, doctor."
   Abegail couldn’t take it anymore. “Please, Marcus … help him,” she begged. “God -- please help him! I don’t care what you do to me. Just don’t let him die now!” Marcus and Joshua looked at her, and then watched the doctors work on Joshua’s body.
   "Come on, don't quit on me now!” the doctor screamed. “Give him a shot of adrenaline right into the heart. Hurry!" The Resident did as ordered.
    “I beg you, Marcus. If you won’t help him, then help me …” she cried.
   "There's no response at all, Doctor,” the Resident reported.
   “Don’t you die, you son-of-a-…,” the doctor yelled as he pounded frantically on Joshua’s chest.
   “Please, don’t take him away from me …,” Abegail pleaded one last time to Marcus.
   “I’m afraid we've lost him,” the nurse said sadly. "Do you want to call it?"
   “… Please … Marcus … please.” Abegail broke down.
   The doctor angrily jerked off his cap and mask and looked at Joshua’s lifeless body on the table. "Time of death, 9:52 pm."
   Joshua, Marcus and Abegail watched this from the foot of the stretcher. "Oh, God, no! What’s going to happen to me now? What’s going to happen to Sam now?" Abegail sobbed.
   Marcus put his arm on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eye. “Abegail, it’s all going to be okay. I told you, that’s not why I’m here.” Joshua and Abegail looked at him, confused. “I’m here for a different reason.”
   “What do you mean, a different reason?” she asked.
   “Joshua, come on, it's time for us to go back now," Marcus said calmly.
   Joshua looked at Marcus. “What do you mean, ‘us’?”
   "I'm going with you," replied Marcus.
   "What??? What are you talking about?" Abegail was shocked.
   "I'm here to help Joshua get through this. He can't make it on his own. He needs my strength of spirit for the terrible things he and his daughter are going to be put through."
   "But I don't understand. How can this be?" Abegail replied.
   "I don’t understand it either. But this is the only way you and I could be together again, Abegail. I've arranged to help Joshua in order to be with you,” he said.
   “But I can’t let you give up your eternity for me,” Abegail whimpered.
   “There is no eternity without you, Abegail. I just couldn't see you suffer any more, and the only way I could help you was this plan I worked out with them."
   “What plan? Marcus, you can’t sacrifice your eternity for me!” Abegail couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
   “Not for you – but with you,” he replied. Marcus noticed the nurses begin detaching Joshua from the various monitors. “But come on Joshua – before it’s too late for any of us.”
   Joshua looked down at his lifeless body and turned to Abegail and Marcus completely bewildered. Josh started to climb back into his body.
   "We have to go -- now!" Marcus said as he jumped on the back of Joshua's spirit and held on tight. "I love you, Abegail Parker – remember that!" Marcus cried out as both spirits were sucked into Joshua's body.
   "But Marcus … Marcus … I don’t understand …" she shouted. But they were gone. The bright light overhead vanished.
   Suddenly the heart monitor beeped again. The nurse jumped, shocked. She felt Joshua's neck for a pulse. "Doctor, come here, quick! He's back ... somehow he's come back!"
   Abegail stood there in disbelief. "Oh, my God.”
   Both men she loved more than life itself in one body.
   What would happen to her now?
   

    Abegail walked out of the emergency room dazed. Sam took one look at her and feared the worst.
   "Oh my God, he's dead, isn't he? I know it!" Sam screamed.
   Abegail realized what had just happened and snapped out of her fugue state. "No, honey, the worst is over. It looks like he's going to make it."
   "Thank you God!" Sam collapsed on the couch, sobbing. "Thank you." Abegail went over to comfort her. "Can I see him?" Sam asked, wiping her tears.
   "Probably not until tomorrow morning. They just took him into surgery. When he's out, I'm sure he'll sleep through the night," Abegail assured her.
   "How's Emily?" Sam wondered.
   "They're still working on her. She's still unconscious I'm afraid," Abegail reported numbly.
   "Are you okay, Abegail? You look like you've just seen a ghost -- sorry," Sam said.
   Abegail was still in a state of confused bewilderment. “Yes, Sam. I did see a ghost.”
   Sam looked at her strangely. “What does that mean?”
   Abegail put her arm around Sam's shoulder and led her back over to the waiting room. “Nothing, nothing at all. All we can do now is wait.”
   Abegail watched the storm though the waiting room window, as Sam tried to keep herself busy reading outdated magazines. Abegail tried to make some sense out of what just happened. Joshua and Marcus together as one, she thought. Why? What was God up to that he would send Marcus back to her after all these years? And what was going to happen to Joshua now that Marcus was part of his soul?
   It was more than she could handle. So much had happened, all she could do was sit and stare out the window. As she sat and watched the rain, the memories of that fateful time years earlier overwhelmed her and would not let her rest. Her mind drifted back to when she met them both – first Marcus, and then one hundred years later, Joshua -- and marveled at how Fate had intertwined their lives for the past 138 years.
   She closed her eyes and her mind continued to drift, all the way back to the year 1861 -- the year the Civil War began ...