Brigid Coady - No One Wants to Be Miss Havisham

The ghoul shook its chain and sniffed back tears.

Edie shivered at the misery that came off it in waves.

“But you have a chance, Edie. You can change.” The spirit eagerly leaned towards her as she spoke.

“But how?” asked Edie.

“You will be haunted,” Jessica the ghost said, “by three Spirits.”

She was going to be haunted by more ghosts? This wasn’t happening. She was going mad. Maybe she needed to take some time off. She hadn't had a holiday in years.

“Three Spirits?” she said.

Jessica nodded.

“And this is my chance?” she asked falteringly.

“Yes.”

“My only chance?”

“Yes.”

“No other way?”

“No, if you don’t do this…” the ghost paused and then gestured down towards her outfit. Edie shuddered; the peach shiny dress and the pink glitter encrusted chain made her feel ill.

“Expect the first tomorrow, when the bell tolls one.”

“Can’t I take them all at once? I mean three nights of interrupted sleep are going to play hell with my work schedule,” Edie hinted.

The spirit Jessica ignored her.

“Expect the second a week later at the same hour; and the third in a fortnight. Edie, please, for your own sake remember this.” The ghoul stood as she said this and wrapped her chain around her arm.

A set of fairy wings fluttered against a pair of devil's horns.

“I’ve got two weeks of this?” Edie’s voice rose an octave or two.

“Better two weeks now than an eternity later,” The ghoul retorted.

When it was put like that…

“Will I see you again?” Edie asked.

Did she want to see Jessica again? She hadn’t been overly keen on her when she was alive. But maybe she could have someone to talk things over with after the haunting? Edie was used to dealing with things alone, but this was huge.

“No, this was my one chance to right some of my wrongs. My one chance to save you from the same fate,” The spirit walked towards the window, heels tapping and chain scraping.

“Remember Edie, it’s all in the small print of the Ts and Cs. Let the love in.” The spirit paused. “I can’t believe the crap they’ve got me saying,” Jessica muttered as the sash window flung itself up and open of its own accord and she stepped out.

Edie threw back the covers and rushed to the window.

Hovering just over the sill, Jessica stared back at her.

“Remember!” she wailed and turning joined the throng of similarly clad women and morning-suited men who suddenly appeared. Glitter, fairy wings, handcuffs and dodgy hats filled the air.

“Remember!”

The ghoul rushed away from Edie and up over the rooftop of the mansion block opposite. And then she and the rest of the wedding crazed ghosts were gone.

“Madness,” Edie whispered. “Complete and utter madness. That chicken must have been off.”

But still she slammed the window shut and double-checked the locks. She leapt back into bed and pulled the duvet up to her chin. She absently picked at her manicure.

“It was just a dream, just a dream,” she repeated to herself, ignoring the glint of pink glitter that dusted the end of her bed.

She was still saying that under her breath as she marched through the reception area of the office the next morning. Edie ignored the receptionist cringing behind the large wood and chrome desk, she forgot to sling her usual scathing comment on the state of the poor woman’s dress or that she’d let the flower arrangement droop.

“It was just a dream,” she said softly while she waited for the lift.

Edie had already said it as she sat up in bed, as she showered, as she dressed, as she made breakfast and in a frothy white mumble as she brushed her teeth.

The lift arrived empty, for which she was thankful. She especially didn't want to deal with people this morning. She got in, jabbing the button for her floor.

As the doors were about to close a large be-suited arm, stopped them.

Damn it. She shifted to the side without looking up.

“It was just a dream,” she whispered to herself. “I must cut down on meat."

“I did that, did me the world of good but there were times I’d kill for a steak or a bacon sandwich,” a deep voice said in her left ear.

Edie jumped.

“What?” she said and looked up at the man next to her.

He was looking down at her with a friendly smile. Looking down from a long way up. And it was a very charming smile. Edie’s hackles went up. She didn't want to deal with people today. Especially charming ones.

“Cutting back on meat, you were just saying,” he explained.

“Kindly keep your dietary tips and stories for someone who cares,” she said. She didn’t need charming. Ms Satis had warned her to look behind the charm because they were normally hiding something. She was usually right.

The tall dark man’s smile faltered under her icy blast.

“Hey, you were the one sharing your dietary story first,” he said his hands held up in peace in front of him. “I thought maybe this was a new Friday office policy people had instigated while I was away.”

Edie stared at him confused. Why was he still talking? No one talked to her in the lift and never after one of her put-downs. And who the hell was he anyway?

The silence stretched for three more floors.

“This is us,” he said brightly.

Edie could feel rage building in her. She didn’t do brightly and she definitely didn’t want brightly charming people on the same floor as her.

The doors slid open and he gestured for her to leave first. She stalked out of the lift and tightened her grip on her briefcase.

Turn left. Turn left. Turn left. She willed him as she turned right. But no one was listening because there he was coming up behind her.

“I’m Jack Twist.” He was so close it felt as if he was speaking in her ear directly.

She stopped.

He wasn’t going to give up, she thought, until he had some sort of conversation. Tenacity was a good trait for a lawyer but not when they were garrulous as well.

It went against her work principles to indulge in chitchat but she needed to set him straight.

She turned on her heel and found herself inches from a very broad chest. It was currently clothed in a crisp striped blue and white cotton shirt. The tie was discretely and geometrically patterned in blue silk that soothed her somewhat. Then her attention was caught by the lining of the charcoal grey suit.

Cerise.

She blinked.

It was still cerise pink. The colour hurt her sleep-deprived eyes.

“Well Mr Twist, thank you for letting me know that you sometimes crave a steak or a bacon sandwich.” She tore herself away from the pink lining and moved her gaze to the determined and tanned chin at the top of the shirt, “I feel I can now begin this day with more of a spring in my step from this minutiae. But for future reference I don’t wish to hear about that or, in fact, anything else about you ever again whether in the lift or anywhere else. Good day.”

She swivelled on her heels and stalked off without waiting to see what Mr Twist had to say about it.

Who the hell did he think he was? OK so she had been talking to herself, which wasn’t something she usually indulged in but after last night…

Edie shivered, it was a dream. Just a dream.

She opened the door to her office.

No Rachel.

And after she promised to come in early.

Edie sniffed. The email she’d sent to HR last night would be followed up by a phone call today. How could she work to her best ability or expect to succeed when the people around her were substandard?

Edie marched to her desk. She placed her briefcase in the centre of it, adjusting it slightly to align it with the edge of the desk. She flicked open the locks, leaned forward to switch on her computer and then sat down in her chair all in one fluid take.