Almost a month later after the first time that Scarlet saw the ghost of the forty something year old woman, Scarlet was just starting to feel semi normal again, like she just dreamed it all up, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.
It was a windy, Friday afternoon and Scarlet was anxiously waiting for her boyfriend Jason, of 9 months, to come pick her up at six, for their dinner and a movie date, when she felt that icy, familiar, coldness surround her and fill her room like a cup, once again.

Scarlet glanced at the clock to see what time it was, if Jason would be there by now, but the clock only read four o’clock. Knowing that there would be no way to get rid of this ghost by trying to out run her or just ignoring her, Scarlet slowly and gingerly sat down on her bed, this time waiting for the ghost.

The day after seeing the woman for the first time, Scarlet went on the internet and tried looking up what had happened to her, and what she found was that she had a gift, (although not what she ever would have wanted), she had the gift of seeing the dead! At first Scarlet denied it and tried putting it off as just a dream or an allusion from being sleep deprived, but after the numerous dreams of how the woman had died, repeating the same scene over and over and every time waking up to the pounding of her heart, and her sheets being glued to her from sweating profoundly, she finally gave into the fact that she had the gift of seeing the dead.

The ghost of the woman finally appeared a few inches away from Scarlet, who was still sitting on the side of her bed facing her small white desk that holds her computer, books and various other items. This time when the woman showed up, Scarlet didn’t waste any talking time with the two staring at each other.

Scarlet asked the woman, “What’s your name?”

The woman, without ever blinking, and after a while of just staring at Scarlet, finally replied after a while of waiting, to the point where Scarlet was getting agitated and about to demand an answer. The woman answered in a whisper that carried on a small breeze of icy coldness, “Juliet Veronica Dark.”

Scarlet quickly grabs a note pad and jots the woman’s name down, so that she can look her up later. Scarlet begins to ask the woman another question, but before she can slip a word out, the woman disappears; leaving Scarlet just a little irritated and a little disappointed, but Scarlet does take note that the chill is still lingering, a clear sign that even though she can’t see the woman, she is still there with her. Knowing that the ghost of Juliet Dark is still somewhere around, Scarlet decides to still try talking to the woman, so she asks her when and how she died, then she waits to see if Juliet will answer her.

To Scarlet’s surprise and delight the woman does reply, telling Scarlet her whole story, while Scarlet furiously jots down what she’s saying. “I died on October fifth, 1998. The night of my death I was suspecting something was wrong, but I was too worried and concerned about my daughter to consider myself being the one in harm’s way. You see, my daughter was in a terrible marriage, she was forced into it by her capturer…her husband, King Victor Volkmor. She had an awful life with him, and when she finally had a child, she got rid of it, so that Victor, wouldn’t bring harm to it.

Victoria ran away with her child, she ran far and she ran fast, taking her best friend, who is more like a sister to her than anything, with her. I couldn’t go, although I wanted to, I couldn’t leave, for I was locked away in the castle’s dungeon, for safe keeping. When my daughter Victoria, named after and carried down from the great line of Dark women, took her daughter and sister Avangeline with her, King Victor didn’t know…until that night when Victoria didn’t return. Victor came trudging down the dungeon’s steep stone steps to come stand in front of my cell. Once he was face to face with me, Victor demanded that I tell him where my daughter was, where she and her friend ran off to, but when I refused to tell him the truth and kept telling him that I didn’t know where they were, Victor got furious with me. He grabbed me by the throat and pinned me up against the bars of my cell and demanded in the most hateful and threatening voice, for me to tell him the truth, but I didn’t say a word, I just stared into his black bottomless eyes and prayed that my daughter never came back.

The next night, to my dismay, my daughter was found returning with Ava at her side. Victor wasn’t happy and he demanded answers, but she didn’t give him any hint to the truth. Victor being very unhappy with Victoria for leaving without telling him where she was going punished her for what she did. He beat her in front of me, saying that this was for not telling him anything, he made me watch her cry and bleed, he made me listen to my baby scream in agony until she passed out… What he did with Ava was worse; he made her become his personal slave so that he could keep a close eye on her. Victor beat and abused Ava over everything, her pain was an everyday reality for her, she was forced to do the sickest and dirtiest things he could think of.

Sadly after two years of Victoria giving birth and hiding the baby from the kingdom, Victor found out, he found out that he had been lied too, he found out that Victoria gave birth to a child and hid it from him. This infuriated him beyond immense, causing him to lose control and to mainly take it out on poor Ava and by the time he got to Victoria, most of his anger had fizzled out, but not enough to change what happened that night.

That night I was set free, by one of the King’s guards, the guard came down to my cell in the middle of the night and let me out, helping me sneak out of the castle and past the gates unseen and unheard, then he led me into the dark wooded forest. A few yards into the silent forest, the guard told me that we had to stop for a second, and then he disappeared behind a tree, leaving me in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by tall shadowed trees that were illuminated by the full moon. The next thing that I remember happening, is being yanked back against a man’s chest, me fighting him off, being shoved to the ground and being kicked and slashed at with a sword, then I somehow was able to run a little ways away, but not far, because my attacker who happened to be the guard who brought me there, caught me and had me pinned hard against him with his left hand over my mouth.

The last thing that I remember is watching King Victor dragging my daughter out with him from behind the protection of the trees, with his hand over her mouth and a crazy/insane look in his eyes. Victor’s voice boomed over to me, telling my daughter that this is all of her fault, that none of this would have to happen if she just would have learned her lesson and told him the truth. Then the next thing I know I have a dagger being shoved through my chest, shooting bolts upon bolts of hot, boiling, pain through my body to my heart. My last breaths were spent gasping for air on the cold hard ground, feeling my own blood cover me like a warm, crimson, liquid blanket and watching my daughter’s beautiful face, twisted with grief and streaked with fresh tears, that kept falling from her soulful blue eyes, watching my only daughter, my pride and joy in that tall, black haired, blue eyed girl, fade slowly away, as I entered the pure bliss and protection of the silence and darkness that now became my empty body.

As I pulled out of my flesh body and into my spirit form, all I could think about was my daughter and how beautiful that baby must be, how insanely mad I was at Victor for what he was doing to my daughter and others, for everything that’s happened, how happy I was that the baby was safe and nowhere near Victor’s grasp, I remember thinking how grateful I was and always would be for that.

Ever since that night, I’ve been wandering the area of my death and watching my daughter and granddaughter closely, always being with them and watching them.”

Swiping away her tears and holding a hand over her heart, Scarlet sniffles and breathes, “I’m so sorry for everything that you went through, I swear to do all that I can to help you move on from this life and to help you find peace and rest.”

Juliet appears next to the end of the bed, looking sad and tortured, with all of her wounds showing again. She says, ”There is one more thing you should know, as generous as that offer was you mustn’t fret about helping me, when in fact you should be making sure that you are safe, for if you want to help me, you must help yourself, because you my child…are Scarlet Rose Dark.”

Scarlet sits up sharply and asks Juliet what she’s talking about, what she means by “Dark”, because her last name isn’t Dark, it’s Mason, making Scarlet think that the ghost has gone delusional.

Juliet goes into description, “Yes my dear, you are my granddaughter, come down from my loving daughter Victoria Rose Dark, and you my love are just as beautiful as your mother. That is why I am here now; I saw that you showed signs of gifts, making it possible for you to see me now. To ease some confusion and questions you may have, your mother is still alive, thank the Heavens and she is still getting information from watchers on how you are doing, so my dear, she still and has always and always will care about you. Don’t think that she never wanted you or loved you, for she loved and cared for you more than anything in the world, that’s why she gave you up…to save and protect you.”

Scarlet still disbelieving shakes her head and says, “That’s not true, you’re wrong, I have a family and parents, my parents never mentioned anything about me being adopted!”

“I know, but they are not your real parents and family, they are the ones that Veronica was watching and deemed worthy for taking care of you. What happened was Veronica and Ava; left the night you were to be born, they traveled all the way here to this small town in Fallon Montana, where she gave birth to you at the town hospital. After giving birth, Veronica and Ava took you and carried you the semi short distance from the hospital to the Mason’s.

On their way to the Mason’s Veronica named you, giving you a necklace that held your name stained on a piece of rice, set inside of a small tube with a small red rose inside with it, with a metal heart shaped around it and I love you engraved on it. After tying the necklace around you, Veronica went alone, out of the woods, across the street to your current families home and with one last lingering look, and a kiss and hug goodbye, she laid you on the steps to the back door and knocked, once she heard footsteps coming, Veronica glided across the street and a little ways into the dark woods. She watched your new family open the door and see you lying there, she watched while they looked at your necklace and saw your name, she stifled back tears as she watched your new mom cradle you in her arms and look at you lovingly, while your father looked to see if anyone else was outside with you. Your mother watched the whole time until you were carried into the house and the door was shut behind them, then after taking one last glance and making one last prayer she turned around and walked away.”

Starting to believe her Scarlet pulls out her necklace that she keeps around her neck and tucked in her shirt and looks at it, sure enough, Juliet described the exact necklace that her parents said she got for her birthday, the necklace she has never taken off since.

Scarlet looks at Juliet and asks, “How did you know about my necklace?”

Juliet just smiles with a look that says, I told you so, do you believe me now? Scarlet not sure whether she does or doesn’t believe Juliet, (her grandma), looks at her hands on her lap and tries to breathe.

When Scarlet looks back up Juliet is still standing, well…floating there, when she hears “BEEP, BEEP, BEEEEEEP”, the signal that Jason has arrived. Scarlet snaps her attention to the clock, which now reads six-o-nine pm., she jumps up off of her bed and races to her closet to grab a jacket and her shoes, then she bounds to her door, but before leaving she looks over her shoulder and says, “I’ll be back…just give me a while to think and sort this out.”, then with a small uncertain smile she turns and runs out of the house.

Two days later at five-thirty pm., Sunday night, Scarlet enters the burnt orange kitchen and sits down at the small round wooden table, across from her father who is sitting at the other end reading a newspaper with his small grey wired glasses and a cup of coffee in his right hand. Scarlet folds her arms on the table and starts talking, “So….I just wanted to know….where I got my birth necklace?”

Scarlet’s mother who was putting away the dishes in the corner of the room, turned and looked at Scarlet and asked, “Well from us of course, why do you ask?”

“Weeeell, I was just wondering…if I have……if I came… (Sigh), well I was just wondering if I came from another family?” Scarlet finally blurted out.

That drew Scarlet’s mother and father’s attention, stopping them from what they were doing and forcing them both to stare at her wide eyed, causing Scarlet to squirm and start to explain. “I am only asking because I don’t look like any of you, I have pale ivory skin, wavy ink black hair, and sharp ice blue eyes, while you mom have brown eyes, brown hair and tanner skin and you dad have brown hair and grey eyes. I just don’t match, so that’s why I was wondering if I was adopted or…something.”

Scarlet’s mother and father share a look and without saying anything to each other seem to come to an agreement as both nod their heads and the father turns his attention back to Scarlet, while the mother finishes putting the remaining dishes away and comes to sit beside Scarlet at the table. Once she is situated Mrs. Mason starts to speak, using her nickname for Scarlet from when she was a little girl and would come home all cut up and bruised, and also it’s the short version of her name, (but Scarlet doesn’t let many use this name though, only the ones closest to her). “Okay, Scar, I think that it’s time you found out the truth. Me and your father…..we found you.”

“What do you mean found me??” Scarlet asks with squinted eyes.

“On January fourth 1997, it was a cold Saturday night, a little after midnight, me and your father woke up to a banging at the back door, and you can just imagine our surprise when we opened our door and there you were lying on our steps!! I quickly picked you up and cradled you in my arms, while your father took his flashlight and looked around the back yard and across the street to see who might have left you there, but he found no one. When I looked into your big blue eyes, I couldn’t believe how much emotion and what looked like understanding was there, I just knew I couldn’t give you up, I felt like our prayers were answered, we finally got the beautiful baby girl we wanted; God answered our prayers when he gave us you. We don’t know who your real parents are, all we had was your necklace with your name in it and the day and time we found you to go off of, but even though we are not your real parents we still consider you our daughter, we love you very much Scar.”

Scarlet sniffs back a tear, feeling hurt and a little mad, now also knowing that Juliet, who is really her grandmother, was telling the truth all along… “Thank you for telling me…when were you going to actually let me know that I’m really not your daughter??? I’m seventeen, were you never going to tell me??” Scarlet snips, while struggling to keep the anger and hurt out of her voice.

“I don’t know…we were hoping that you’d never have to find out. That you could live a long happy life without knowing, we only wanted you to be loved and protected. If anything we were going to tell you when we thought you would need to know.” Replied her father.

“Fine, whatever, I’m glad I found out now, thanks for actually telling me the truth. I’m going to go to bed now…night.” Scarlet mumbled, feeling a little anxious to get to her room and talk to her grandmother.

“Oh, okay, are you sure you are alright?” Asked Scarlet’s father.

“Yes, I’m fine, just tired.” Scarlet lied, giving a good stretch, and mumbling a goodnight under her breath.

“Goodnight hon, we love you” Scarlet’s parents said.

Scarlet bounds up the steps to her room and quickly shuts the door and flops on her bed, she lays there for a second thinking and silently letting the tears she held back come down. Once she has gathered herself again, she calls for her grandmother and to her relief she comes, appearing by Scarlet on the side of the bed. Scarlet rolls over onto her back, pulls her legs up to her chest and wraps her arms around them, then she takes a deep breath and lets it out, before talking. “So…you are my grandma. I spoke with my parents and they told me everything….I believe you. I’m sorry for yelling the first time; it was just a big surprise and a gigantic shift in my life.”

“It’s alright granddaughter, I understand.” Juliet was about to vanish, but before she could disappear, Scarlet quickly forced out the question that was balling up in her mouth. “Can I find my mother?”

“Yes, it’s possible, but not now, you are not ready. When the times right, you’ll know and it will happen without you even having to try.”

Juliet started fading more and more till she started flashing in and out, knowing what it meant she said to Scarlet, “I have to go, now that you know, I can’t be here on this earth anymore, not now, but whenever you need me know that I’m always there, I’m always watching and when you need me the most I’ll be there to help guide and protect you. Be safe my darling granddaughter, I love you and I know your mother loves and thinks of you all of the time too. Be safe love and never lose faith or hope, but most importantly always stay true to yourself.”

“Really, you have to go nooooow? Will I ever see you again???” Scarlet whined.

“Yes darling, you’ll see me again, if not in this life in the next, but we will see each other again. Now I must go, I have no more time; I love you my dear Scarlet, take care.” Then she vanished leaving Scarlet speaking to no one but the air around her.

“Goodbye grandma, I love you too.” She whispered.