Spiritual Crisis

"Oh, you're staying," she said. She tilted her head to the side as she considered something. "Do you have a football jersey or something like that?"

"Well, yes. I have one I wear to watch the game sometimes. Why?"

"Throw that on. You can be a football player. I have a sports-themed costume too."

"Sure. If you're inviting me into your tradition, I can dress the part. What is your costume?"

"You'll see." Meghan gave me a wink. We both finished getting dressed and I snagged my jersey from the closet.

Before we walked out of the room, Meghan hesitated. She walked back and sat on the edge of the bed and looked around the room.

"Um, Emily? Are you there?" she said tentatively. I saw Meghan jump a little, and I assumed that Emily must have made presence known.

"Emily, I'm so glad that Michael introduced us. We're going to go to my house. Is that okay?" Meghan's hand seemed to be draped around Emily's invisible figure. Closing my eyes briefly, I saw Emily sitting next to Meghan on the bed with her head on her shoulder to communicate by nods.

"I think I'll see you again soon," Meghan said. She immediately cringed at her choice of words to a spirit that was invisible. "Oh, sorry," said Meghan. "You know what I mean. I want to be your friend, not your rival. Okay?"

Emily must have given Meghan some answer that she liked, because Meghan smiled as she stood up from the bed and we walked down the stairs to leave.

It didn't take too long to drive to Meghan's apartment, but I did have to drive slower because of all the miniature ghouls, ghosts, and goblins darting around in the darkness. They laughed and called out excitedly as they went from door to door with their parents.

When we went inside, Meghan pointed out where I could find the bags of candy and a big bowl in the kitchen. She asked me to get the treats ready while she went upstairs to put on her costume. Not long after, I heard her coming back down the stairs and I came out of the kitchen to meet her in the front room.

"Oh, wow," I said as I caught sight of her costume. Meghan was dressed as a cheerleader in a blue pleated skirt with a striped hem. Her blue top showed just a hint of her midriff and it had "CHEER" emblazoned in bold letters across her chest. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail with a matching ribbon tied in a bow.

"You like it?"

"Uh, yeah. I sure do."

"Good," she said with a smile. She swished her skirt back and forth. I walked over to her to take her in my arms and kiss her. She giggled as my hand found the small gap between her top and the skirt and rubbed her back.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Meghan pulled away. "The first batch of trick-or-treaters!" she said as she picked up the bowl of candy and answered the door.

She was greeted by a gaggle of little kids in costumes that cried "Trick or treat!" in shrill little voices. Meghan complemented their costumes as she handed out the candy. Apparently, Meghan knew these neighbors, because she and the woman who was accompanying the kids exchanged a warm greeting.

"Oh, who's the football star, Meghan?" asked the mother, as she noticed me walking over to join them at the door. "I like the matching costumes. Cheer captain and quarterback?"

"Something like that," said Meghan with a chuckle. She slipped an arm around my waist. "This is my boyfriend, Michael." She grinned at me, and I smiled back.

"Oh, well then," said the woman to me, "you're a lucky guy. Meghan's about the nicest girl on the block." The woman made a not very discreet face at Meghan that I interpreted as her approval of me.

"Thank you, Ms. Meghan!" chorused the little kids as they turned to scamper to the next house. Meghan waved as they left and then shut the door. She leaned against the door and bit her lower lip. Her wry grin invited a response to what she had just said.

I took the bait. "Boyfriend, huh?" I said, as I took the candy bowl from her and set it on a table by the door.

"You heard me," she said with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think?"

"I think that sounds pretty good." I leaned forward to pin her against the door with a passionate kiss. My hands found the bare skin of her midriff again. She moaned very softly.

The doorbell rang. I groaned with annoyance and Meghan giggled as she pushed past me to grab the candy bowl. The process of greeting the little ones and their parents repeated itself and Meghan introduced me to another set of neighbors as her boyfriend.

Next, we sat on the couch while we waited for more kids to come by, and Meghan put on the movie. She suggested that red wine would go best with the Halloween chocolate we were inevitably going to sneak from the bowl. She got us both a glass.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. We had to pause the movie every few minutes to answer the door, but this neighborhood had a charming sense of community that was infectious even to an outsider. By the time the knocks on the door ended and we shut off the outdoor lights, we had finished the bottle of wine.

The movie still had a few minutes to run, but we didn't really watch. We held each other on the couch and kissed. My hands roamed under Meghan's top and the hem of her sexy skirt. Judging by her giggles and sighs, she didn't mind missing the end of the movie. I found that the panties she wore under the skirt where damp with her arousal and her fingers flitted over the bulge that was growing in my jeans.

I put both hands up under her skirt to pull down her underwear. As I slipped them off her feet, Meghan lifted her hips and started to push down the waistband of her skirt. I reached a hand to stop her.

"Maybe leave the uniform on?" I asked. Meghan laughed playfully.

"You really do like it, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah. It's actually a huge turn on for me. Kind of a big fantasy."

"Is that right? Well I get turned on when the home team wins the big game." She smiled and started to slide her skirt up a few inches. I felt a surge of excitement and my cock was aching to be released.

I leaned over to kiss her again and put my hand up her skirt. She groaned as I softly massaged her pussy with my fingertips. Next, I gently guided her with my hands on her hips to turn over so that she was kneeling and bending forward over the plush arm of the couch. She arched her back to push her skirt-draped butt back toward me while I undid my belt and kicked off my pants and underwear.

She let out a little gasp when I came up behind her and grasped her hips. My hard cock was straining up from my groin. I flipped up the skirt to reveal her round butt and her glistening pussy. She was wet and welcoming as my cock pressed into her. She moaned again and pushed back on it.

I started to pump my cock in and out of the slick squeeze of her pussy. With each thrust, my hard rod penetrated deeply past the soft and yielding grip of her lips and I enjoyed the snug walls of her sex. I felt the satisfying slap of our bodies and heard the sounds of her breath and our flesh. I could smell her near me. When she climaxed, I could hear the cries of pleasure. She giggled when she heard my own groans as I came inside her the second time that night.

We collapsed on the couch. Meghan pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and we both snuggled under it. I was reminded again why a relationship with a spirit would never be enough on its own. It would always leave me feeling empty in the end.

"I'm so glad you called me," she said again. "I was hurting without you. This feels so right."

"I'm glad too." I gave her shoulder a little squeeze. "So, should we discuss the ethereal elephant in the room?"

"That was alliterative."

"It was intentional."

"Well played."

"You're changing the subject."

"I don't think she's in this room anyway. My house isn't the haunted one."

"Oh my god," I said, "that's not the point."

"I mean, I think your haunted house is exactly the point."

"Well, yes. That's what I want to talk about."

"You were sleeping with Emily while you were talking to me. That's the real elephant in the room, right?" There was a long silence.

"Um, yes," I said. Meghan breathed in heavily and let it out slowly.

"That part doesn't feel great," she said.

"No. Not to me either. I don't feel good about it. I'm sorry."

"On the other hand," she allowed, "we weren't really in a relationship. And I think I understand now what you said before about the effect she was having on you. I felt it too tonight."

"I really don't think she meant to hurt me. I think it's just a powerful radiation of her emotions. I don't think she can help it."

"I think you're right. She did pinch me, though."

"Yeah, that was petty jealousy, I think. I don't think she would have truly hurt you. She just wanted to scare you."

"I think that's right, too" she agreed.

"I definitely never wanted to hurt you." Meghan nodded.

"So, what now?"

"Well, we are together now. It's not ambiguous. It's not grey. We should be faithful and open with each other," I said.

"Then what about Emily?" There was a long pause.

"We have to decide if we want to let her into our relationship going forward. Together?"

"You said earlier that was what you and Emily wanted."

"Yes, that was our idea."

"What if I said no."

"I would respect that and abide by it. I would stop any romantic contact with her."

"Would she?"

"Yes. We talked about it. It would be hard for her, but I think she understands."

"Would you leave that house if I asked you?"

"Yes. I would move," I agreed. "But is that what you really want?" I asked tentatively. Meghan paused and sighed again.

"No. I don't," she said finally with a shake of her head, "but I needed to know whether or not I'm really your number one."

"You're my number one." I held her a little tighter.

"Then let's see if this works. With Emily, I mean. But it's not an equal three-way partnership. It can't be. I think you see that." She turned her head to look me in the eye. She searched them deeply.

"I do," I said.

"We're two people in a committed relationship who choose together to invite Emily to be a part of it, but only so long as we are both onboard."

"Agreed."

Meghan and I continued to talk this through for some time. Having essentially planned with Emily to bring this about, I knew she would understand. Emily could never give me everything that I needed in a partner, but Meghan and I were her only hope for any relationship whatsoever. For some reason, her spirit was not at rest. It had been nearly seventy years since Emily had tragically passed, and I was the first person she had felt able to connect with. Meghan and I both believed that Emily would add something to our relationship rather than harming it, if the dynamic was carefully considered and managed.

The next day after work, Meghan met me at my house. We walked hand-in-hand upstairs to the bedroom and laid on the bed with a space between us. I called out to Emily, and soon we felt her join us on the bed. We snuggled close so we could feel her nodded responses to yes-or-no questions. It was cumbersome, as it frequently was to communicate with Emily. After a long conversation, we all understood one another. The three of us spent the night together in the house.

Emily remained a positive presence now. I continued to feel her comforting aura around me when I was at home. Sometimes I talked to her and sometimes she would put her head on my shoulder to have a two-way conversation. It was always pleasant, but no longer overpowering. She respected the boundaries that Meghan and I set.

Meghan and I continued to grow in our relationship as well. We spent many evenings at quiet bars enjoying a drink together or weekends getting away from the bustle of the city. We spent more than half our nights together too. Sometimes we stayed at her apartment when we wanted time by ourselves, and sometimes at my house where Emily might join us. The three of us spent long hours lying on the bed talking or making love. Even at my house, there were nights when Emily elected to leave us alone.

For Meghan and I, our connection with Emily was far more intimate and important than it was merely sexual, although she did enrich our sex life. A healthy balance had been established.

After six more months, Meghan and I decided to move in together. Naturally, we elected to live in my house with Emily. There was a period of adjustment, but we learned how to communicate with Emily when we wanted privacy. The mutual relationship only got stronger.

It wasn't much longer before Meghan and I had serious conversations about getting married. We were both in our thirties, and both wanted children. From early days, we understood that we didn't want to waste time on a casual or temporary relationship.

In late spring, on a beautiful mountain top while on a weekend getaway, I asked Meghan if she would marry me. Her answer was never in doubt, but we were still both teary-eyed with happiness when she said that she would.

Engagement changed nothing between the three of us. In fact, the night we told Emily we were getting married was one of the most passionate the three of us ever enjoyed.

If anything, Meghan and I were moving ever closer to being truly in love with Emily together. Less than a year after the wedding, Meghan went off her birth control. Based on the timing, Emily was an integral part of the night that Meghan and I believe our first daughter was conceived.

I thought that Emily would be present in our lives forever. Meghan and I were openly discussing how her existence would impact the experience of raising children, but there was no question that she was welcome in our family.

It was not to be.

There came a time when Emily would leave us. Meghan was just beginning to show her pregnancy. The three of us were cuddling in the bed after sex late one night. Rather than the usual warm aura we enjoyed when Emily was with us, the feeling in the room was unfamiliar. If I had to name it, I would call it bittersweet. Emily hugged us both in turn. I felt tears on her invisible cheek. Not realizing what was about to happen, but appreciating the sentiment of the moment, Meghan and I snuggled close and held her tight. Gradually, almost imperceptivity, the weight of her faded away. The aura she emanated in the space died out and Meghan and I found ourselves holding each other alone.

Somehow, we both understood that Emily was never coming back. Meghan sobbed in my shoulder and my own eyes were very wet as we processed the loss. It so happened that it was just after midnight on October 31, Halloween, and exactly three years to the day from the first time that Emily, Meghan, and I had made love together.

To us, initially, it was like a death in the family. We mourned her absence in our lives and the empty place on the bed beside us. Gradually, realized that Emily's spirit was now free from its torment. She had been trapped for decades in a limbo between death and life. We came to believe that forging a relationship with us had set her free. It had begun as merely physical, progressed to a loving connection, and finally she had helped us form a new family. Eventually, we realized that we should not mourn Emily, but rejoice in the peace she had found. I found a picture of Emily from a search of the local high school's digitized archives, and had it made into a portrait that we hung on the walls with our family photos. To our first-born daughter, we passed on the name of Emily.

I think our neighbor, Edith, knew that something remarkable had happened. When she came over for dinner once, I found her staring at the picture of Emily on the wall. When she realized I was standing there, she turned and looked into my eyes with a thousand questions written on her face and a tear in her eye. The day that little Emily came home from the hospital and Edith came over to see her, Edith cried when I told her the name. We remained close until the sad day that Edith passed away. Edith had no children of her own, but she treated ours like they were her nieces or nephews.

Our family grew in that house. Emily's presence was gone, but we filled it with joy and love. We were always vague about the picture on the wall when the kids asked about it, but we told them Emily was part of our family. Every Halloween, Meghan and I secretly celebrated the spirit that touched our hearts and changed our lives for the better forever.

I don't expect you to believe any of this. If it didn't happen to me, I never would. Meghan and I will always believe.

Thank you for reading! This is my entry in the Halloween Story Contest 2022. Your feedback is very welcome. If you enjoyed it, please rate or comment or send me an email to let me know.