Halloween: The Medium's Desire

She was so thin. Even under the loose fitting, black Misfits t-shirt, her slight figure was obvious. Her thighs didn't come anywhere close to touching. Her jeans were skin tight and faded from black to dark gray. She wore black Doc Martins and her blonde hair was cut in a severe bob. Her natural features were contrary to her dark clothes...round with youth and taken up mostly by bright blue eyes and a gentle smile.

"How'd you die?" Lena asked as she poured cereal into her bowl. She'd just trudged into her kitchen for breakfast and found the young girl standing beside the refrigerator with her arms crossed.

The girl uncrossed her arms and presented her wrists to Lena's view. On her left arm was a slit from wrist to elbow, the cut on the right was only half as long as the other.

Lena sighed. Suicide was never good. "What's your name?"

"Lavender Cook."

"That's a pretty name," Lena said as she fished a spoon from the drawer.

"My mom said there was a bed of lavender under her bedroom window that she could smell every night. It helped her sleep and calmed her morning sickness."

Lena smiled. "How old were you?"

"Fifteen."

Lena nodded and began eating her Rice Krispies. She used to ask why, but she figured out quickly that the ones who committed suicide didn't like explaining their actions. If she pried too soon, they'd disappear or grow hostile.

"Your mom must miss you."

"She's on this side," Lavender said, "car crash."

"Oh," Lena said as she swirled the spoon around the bowl, "why haven't you moved on?"

"It's complicated," Lavender said with a shrug.

"Better wait until I've had my coffee then." Lena watched the girl walk toward the living room, but disappear before she hit the threshold.

She finished her cereal just as the coffee maker beeped on and started the automatic brew cycle. "What a way to start the day," she mumbled.

After putting the bowl in the dishwasher, she rushed upstairs to get ready work. She liked to take her time picking an outfit. After a shower, Lena blow-dried her hair. She'd let it grow out in the past couple years. In the past she'd kept it short, but now the black mass hung past her shoulders, naturally straight. Her dark brown eyes were a bit large in her narrow face and her cheeks and lips were flushed pink from the hot shower.

Once her hair was dry, she walked into walked into her closet. It was the best thing about her apartment. Her two-bedroom apartment was a bit cramped, but the walk-in closet was almost as big as the master bedroom. Lena had a slight infatuation with fashion...she loved clothes and shoes...well those, she loved slightly more. The higher the heel, the better...at 5'3" she needed all the height she could get.

Dressed in a cream-colored wrap blouse, dark brown pleated pants, and gold Dior sling backs, she returned to the kitchen to get her coffee and load into her blue BMW 135Si Coupe.

Lavender returned when Lena was driving to work.

"Ready?" Lavender asked pointing to the travel mug filled coffee between them.

"Sure," said Lena, "Go ahead."

"Being a teenager sucks," Lavender sighed.

"I remember."

Lavender drew a finger up the scar on her left arm. "I just couldn't deal."

Lena nodded.

"So now that I did this, I've seen what was supposed to happen."

Lena glanced at her profile. "Supposed to?"

Lavender smiled. "I saw my husband. I was going to meet him in college. We were going to have two daughters and a son...and we weren't going to get divorced!"

Lena glanced at the girl. "You sound excited."

"If I had known..." Lavender's voice trailed off.

"No sense in that now," Lena sighed.

"Well, he's about to make a colossal mistake. He met this total bitch at some stupid frat party and he's falling in love with her."

Lena frowned. "I don't think I'm getting this...what am I supposed to do about that? I can't stop him from falling in love with some girl just because you don't like her."

Lavender crossed her arms tightly and glared. "Nothing changes, huh? Adults still think they know everything...even though I'm on this side and able to see things that you can't...you're still dismissing me!"

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry. What do you need from me?"

"I need you to stop him from falling in love with her."

"But isn't that what I just said?"

"Yes, but it's not because I don't like her. It's because she'll use him and leave him broken hearted."

"You've got to be kidding me," Lena sighed pulling into the parking garage. She'd been asked to do a lot of things by her spiritual visitors, but this was the first time she'd ever been asked to stop someone from falling in love. She doubted it was even possible.

"I don't know him, but I was supposed to love him. I don't want him to get hurt; especially when there's a better candidate right there, in front of his face...he's just blinded by that awful girl." Lena dropped her hands into her lap and Lena's heart sank. As she pulled into the spot with her name on the plaque, she could feel the blackness of Lena's sadness wash over her.

"Stop that!" she snapped, reaching through the girl's legs to retrieve her briefcase, ignoring the cold feeling that traveled up her arm. "Don't force me to empathize. I'll do it."

"Awesome!" Lavender exclaimed and the pit of despair that had been opening seconds before, closed just as quickly as it had come.

"Later for the details," said Lena grabbing her coffee. "I've got to get to work."

***

Lena snatched a carrot muffin from the basket on her assistant's desk.

"Morning, Shanelle," she quipped.

Shanelle tipped her head downward to gaze at Lena over her rectangle glasses. "Morning, Ms. Marsdale."

No matter how many times Lena had insisted Shanelle use her first name, the woman just would not budge. Shanelle was only a few years older than Lena but she insisted on maintaining the formality of their relationship. Lena sometimes wondered if Shanelle ever did anything inappropriate. It didn't seem possible, considering the ankle-length skirts and dresses she wore every day, the matronly glasses, and her deadly serious manner.

Just once, Lena wanted to see Shanelle let her black hair out of that impossibly tight bun and show more skin than wrists and ankles. Shanelle was so lean; Lena bet a short black skirt would make her brown legs look awesome. Unfortunately, Lena wasn't there to offer fashion advice, she was there to be the boss, so her assistant's wardrobe was really not her business.

"What's on the books for today?" asked Lena.

Shanelle gazed at her computer screen and recited the schedule. "You have a meeting with Accounting at nine-thirty, lunch with Mrs. Bedeau at eleven, a Board Meeting at one-thirty, the children's Halloween party at four, and dinner with Mr. Wiggins at six this evening."

"That sounds like a full schedule," Lena sighed.

Shanelle nodded. "Just the way you like it."

"Let the games begin! No calls until I'm done with my muffin, please."

Shanelle nodded again.

Lena walked into her office and settled into her chair to eat her muffin and ease into the day. She was head of marketing for a prominent design firm in Hillsdale's business district.

Lena was absolutely qualified for the job, but she was also aware that the reason she had such a cushy job was because her best friend was married to Jamison Bedeau, a majority shareholder in New Day Design. Not to mention the fact that her other close friend Dana, was married to Jamison's cousin and one of the company's most prominent designers, Mark Jefferson.

Lena polished off the muffin as she perused the load of emails that had invaded her in-box since she'd left the office at six the night before.

"Mrs. Bedeau on line one," announced Shanelle just before the line chirped.

"What's up, Aisha?" Lena answered.

"Well, Jamison gets back from L.A. today and I wanted to remind you of your promise to babysit your future niece tonight so I can do dirty things to the husband I haven't seen in person for three whole weeks."

"I do remember, and you could have just told me this at lunch."

Mack Beasley rapped on the partially open office door and Lena waved him in. He walked into the office and sunk into the leather chair in front of Lena's mammoth desk.

"Yeah," Aisha said, "I could have done that but I didn't. I called you first thing so you wouldn't commit to anything that could delay my getting laid tonight."

"Seriously," laughed Lena, "you act like you're hard up...it's only been a few weeks."

"I can't go a few days, girl. You know that...and don't act like you're not heating up the sheets with Antwon."

"I doubt my sheets are white hot like yours, but they certainly don't get cold."

Mack raised his bushy blonde brows and Lena shrugged.

"Okay, girl," Lena said with a chuckle, "I've got a meeting. I'll see you at lunch."

"Okay, bye!"

As Lena hung up, Mack leaned back in his chair and grinned. "Was that the incomparable Mrs. Bedeau?"

"Yeah," said Lena, twirling around to grab a bottle of water from her mini-fridge.

"Mmm," Mack cooed, "she's a hot piece of..."

"Please!" Lena snapped throwing up a hand. "It's too early to listen to you objectify my best friend."

"I'm just saying...if she wasn't married to a man who could buy and sell me...not to mention kick my scrawny ass...I'd bend her back in the sack."

"She wouldn't give you the time of day," Lena assured Mack as she grabbed a stack of folders from her briefcase.

"So you say...but I say she wouldn't be able to resist me."

Lena gazed at Mack a moment. He was tall and slender with shaggy blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and a neatly trimmed goatee. He was attractive, quite charming, and flirted shamelessly with any woman that crossed his path. The only thing that saved Lena from his wiles was her status as his superior.

"Mack, I know you think you're God's gift, but you don't know Aisha Bedeau. I've known her since she had her maiden name, before she met her uber-rich husband and started baring his gorgeous children. Even back then, as a single secretary, she would have seen right through you."

Mack slapped his right hand over his heart. "I'm injured, boss. You cut me deep."

"Don't fret, Mack, you missed out on Aisha but you can continue having shallow, physical pseudo-relationships with empty-headed, cosmopolitan drinking, bar slags...just don't let the fuck-me-pumps gouge your back. They can get kinda sharp."

He chuckled. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were jealous."

Lena frowned. "Even if I wasn't in a wonderful relationship, I wouldn't let you bend my back. Now, let's go to this meeting before the accountants get restless."

***

Aisha stood as Lena approached the table. Her brown skin glowed with health and her long black hair fell past her shoulders in soft curls. She wore a blue, brown, white, and red flecked trapeze dress. The garment was gathered at the neck and draped well on her, even though it was pleated. The dress was short, so she showed off plenty of leg, and her feet were encased in very cute peep toe heels the same blue and brown as the dashes on the dress.

"Hi!" Aisha said kissing Lena's cheek affectionately.

Lena put a hand on Aisha's nearly-flat stomach; she was almost through her third month of pregnancy and still looked slim. "When is this baby going to start to show?"

They sat. "Probably next month, the second time around your body is just waiting to blow up like a previously inflated balloon."

Lena smiled over her menu. "Consider yourself lucky. You could be having twins like your cousin. Don't they run in families?" Of course Aisha knew that. She and Antwon were twins.

"Yes, and you should keep that in mind!" Aisha waggled a finger at her friend.

"Why? I'm not married."

"Trust me, I noticed. I can't believe you turned Twon down again."

Lena flinched. "Can we not talk about it right now?"

"You two have been dating for three years already. I married Jamison after one year. Dana and Mark got married after nine months. Your future niece wants more cousins!"

"Okay," sighed Lena, "can you stop referring to Lilah as my future niece? There is no way of knowing if Antwon and I will get married...much less have kids."

"Fine," Aisha relented, "Maybe the kid thing was out of line...and I won't talk about the two proposals you've turned down. I just want to say one thing."

"What's that?" Lena asked, not really wanting to hear anything Aisha had to say in regards to her hesitance toward getting married.

"I love you and I want you to be my sister."

Lena winced. "I love you too, even when you're being pushy."

"Says the woman who delivered me on a platter to the man I ended up marrying," Aisha retorted.

"That was fate...destined," Lena tried to explain.

"Obviously," Aisha said setting her hand on Lena's arm, "our destinies are entwined."

"Of course," Lena agreed.

"So," Aisha said after a sip of water, "Dana is downtown doing some shopping for the babies' room. I invited her to lunch."

"Sounds good," said Lena, relieved for a change of subject. "I haven't seen her in two weeks."

"I know," said Aisha waving over the waitress, "She's been working crazy hours and between doctor appointments, getting ready for the twins, and interviewing nannies, she's getting to be impossible to pin down.

Lena ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc as Aisha glared at her. "Don't hate just because you're off alcohol for another five months," she said as the waitress left the table.

"What's going on?" said Dana walking up to the table. She'd had her dark brown hair cut recently and wore it in long, sleek bob.

"Lena's drinking," Aisha accused.

Dana glared at Lena as she sank into the chair. "You're actually going to drink in front of two pregnant women? That's just cruel." She pressed both hands to her five-month bump under her green sweater.

"You just wait," Aisha sighed. "We're going to remember this when you're in this situation." She pointed at Dana's round abdomen.

Lena rolled her eyes. "Are all pregnant women this whiny?"

"Yes!" both cousins chorused.

Dana and Aisha both watched as Lena took her first sip of crisp, white wine.

"Okay," Lena said, "stop drooling and drink your water."

Dana frowned, a line formed between her hazel eyes.

"What's wrong?" Lena said forgetting about the wine.

"I think these two are playing soccer in there."

"Boy," said Lena pressing her palm to Dan's extended belly. "Mark certainly knows how to leave an impression, doesn't he?"

"He sure does," Dana said smiling.

Lena retracted her hand when she felt jealousy niggle at her. She didn't want to be jealous of her two best friends. It was just...sometimes she didn't know what she wanted.

She loved Antwon, he was her best friend, and apparently had infinite patience. Why didn't any of the spirits that found her tell her what decision she should make in her own life...which path would lead to her happily ever after? Dead people could be so selfish.

"Let's order," said Lena as she shook her head to scatter her unhappy thoughts.

***

"You've got a block up while you're at work," Lavender said as Lena pulled into the drive of Antwon's house. Lena had been expecting her early on in the drive from work, but she didn't show up until that moment. Antwon lived on the Hill in a mansion that had been abandoned by his ex-girlfriend. Well, Grace Movogne hadn't technically abandoned it. She had been sent to hell by Lena for a couple reasons, the first was for being a succubus, the second had to do with the fact that she had planned on stealing Antwon's soul and Lena had a huge crush on him at the time.

"Yeah," said Lena as she got out of the car. "I do that intentionally so my coworkers don't think I'm insane when they see me talking to thin air."

Lavender frowned. "It's just annoying is all."

"It's no picnic on my end either; you guys can be really stubborn."

She smiled. "That's what my mom used to say."

Lavender followed Lena into the house after she unlocked the front door. The foyer was lined with tennis shoes and a couple umbrellas leaning against the door of the coat closet. She toed off her heels and dropped her gold Chloe bag on the mahogany foyer table. She smoothed down her long black hair when she caught sight of herself in the mirror over the table.

"What a slob," Lavender observed.

"He's not a slob! He refuses to get a maid and he does all his cleaning on the weekends."

"Anyone I know?" a smooth baritone said from around the corner. Antwon Wiggins sauntered into the foyer looking sexy as ever in a pair of tattered, dark wash jeans and a blue Giants t-shirt. Lena couldn't help the sigh that slipped from her lips...Antwon was so sexy, from the top of his tight fade to the bare feet that made no noise on the hardwood floor.

Lena blushed. Even though Antwon knew about her special abilities, it was still a bit embarrassing to get caught talking to the invisible. "Uh...no...she just came around this morning."

Antwon picked Lena up and kissed her soundly, easily done since he was over six foot tall and she was only 5'3". "What's her name?" Antwon asked when he put her back on down.

"Lavender Cook."

"Nice name," he said as he set her back on her feet, "Please give my regards."

Lavender giggled from behind her and Lena blushed deeper. "Is dinner done?"

"Yeah, you're right on time. Aisha just called to inform me that we're babysitting tonight."

"Oh, yeah...did I forget to tell you about that?" Lena stepped around him, avoiding his gaze. "I promised to watch Lilah tonight so she and Jamison could have some private time."

"You did forget to mention it."

"Sorry, babe, you're not mad are you?"

Antwon slipped an arm around her shoulders as they walked into the kitchen. "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed."

"Why?" asked Lena reaching for the lid of the pot.

Antwon grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. Lena exhaled as she finally focused on him alone. She'd first fallen for his eyes. Most people would describe them as hazel, but it seemed too simplistic for the brown, gold, and green color that was such a startling contrast to his milk chocolate complexion. His full lips pulled up into a smile before he pressed them to the back of her hand.

"I've been waiting for this evening for four days...I was thinking after dinner, we'd spend the rest of the night in bed. If I'd known that we were sharing our evening with a two year old, I wouldn't have gotten myself all worked up."

Lena laughed. "What if we took care of that before dinner?"

"Well," he whispered pulling her against his chest, "I didn't want to be the one to say but since you brought it up..."

He leaned down and took her mouth in a kiss so full of passion, it stole Lena's breath. She slid her hands up his toned forearms and wrapped her fingers around the strong biceps of his upper arms. Antwon slanted his mouth against hers, teasing her tongue with his own. Lena found herself leaning into him, unable to get enough. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he swiftly stood to full height, leaving her bare feet dangling as she pressed her pert breast against the hard planes of his chest.

Antwon placed her atop the red Italian marble counter and untied her wrap blouse. The off-white camisole she wore underneath did nothing to hide her stiff nipples.

"Privacy," Lena whispered before closing her mind to anything other than the way Antwon tongued her nipples through the delicate satin. She ran a trembling hand over the smooth black hair atop his head and sighed. He stood again and pulled her off the counter. He let his hands travel over the nipples, pink and clearly visible through the damp spots he'd left on her undergarment. The sensitive buds ached under his touch. His large hands slid further down, resting a moment on her hips. Then he gripped the globes of her ass and moved up again to unzip the invisible zipper in the back of her pants. They fell in a pool around her bare feet and she stepped out of them. Antwon slipped his fingers into the off-white satin and lace thong, alternating between stroking her clit and probing her weeping pussy.