Ghost of a Chance 

Charlie Malone lay on a bed in a creepy, run-down motel and stared up at the ceiling, contemplating all the life choices that had led her to this particular moment. She thought about her cheating ex-fiance which led to her taking off a cross-country road trip which led to her meeting her current girlfriend of almost a year, Marian Schafer, at a roadside date farm. Getting involved with Marian had pulled Charlie into a world she didn't even know existed: the world of monster hunting. Marian's family had been in the monster hunting game since the medieval period and now, just by asking out a cute girl for a beer, so was Charlie. However, with no fighting skills and a background as a cable news producer, Charlie spent most of her time just following Marian around and doing what she told her to do.

Like now. Marian had told her to just wait in the room while she ran tests around the property to figure out the extent of the alleged ghost activity so Charlie waited. If she was honest, it was starting to get to her, all the waiting and doing nothing while Marian did her thing. Charlie was more than happy to help and often said so but Marian didn't listen and Charlie was starting to wonder if she made a mistake letting herself get pulled into Marian's world. She looked down at the foot of the bed where Ripley, her mutt dog, was stretched out snoozing, and thought about how it had been so simple before Marian, just her and Ripley on a road trip across the country in her old VW bus. No monsters or vampires or ghost hunting. Maybe it would be better if she went back to that. Just as Charlie was contemplating getting up to find a snack, she heard a voice say, "Well, hey there, partner."

Charlie jumped. The voice definitely didn't belong to Marian and she knew the rest of the motel was vacant due to all the recent ghost sightings. She sat up and looked around and saw a woman standing next to the bedside table. It wasn't quite a woman though. Her form was kind of faded and the edges were blurry. Charlie squirted at her but it didn't make her any more clear so she realized she must be having her first real ghost encounter. The ghost woman didn't look scary, though, the way Marian had always described ghosts. She had a friendly face with a smattering of freckles and a messy mop of short reddish brown hair. She wore a beat-up leather flight jacket and had a pair of goggles dangling around her neck. Charlie swung her feet over the edge of the bed and said cautiously, "Uh, hi. You're a ghost, right?"

The woman chuckled. "Yeah, it seems so. The name's Ruth Gibson but everyone calls me Catch."

"Charlotte Malone but everyone calls me Charlie," Charlie replied.

"Nice to meet you, Charlie," Catch Gibson said with a salute.

"How did you get a nickname like Catch?" Charlie asked.

"I was a pilot back when I was alive and once, when I was just learning to fly, I very nearly crashed but at the last second, I managed to pull the plane up and someone yelled out 'Nice catch!" and that became my nickname. It stuck for the rest of my life."

"That's pretty cool," Charlie said. "I'm Charlie because my mom wanted my nickname to be Lottie but my dad thought that sounded like a stripper so he insisted on Charlie."

Catch laughed and then asked, "What are you doing here? Been awhile since we've had any visitors around here."

"Probably because of all the ghosts," Charlie said, standing up and stretching. "Which is why I'm here. Or rather, why my girlfriend is here."

Ripley, apparently realizing that Charlie had gotten up, stood up, shook herself, and jumped off the bed, coming over to stand next to Charlie. She looked up at Catch and wagged her tail. Catch smiled and said, "Oh hey there, friend. My partner Josie and I used to have a pup that same color. His name was Captain and he was the best part of our lives."

"Ripley here has been my rock the last few years," Charlie said, giving Ripley a scratch behind the ears. Then she looked back up and Catch. "Now, back to the ghost thing. Why are you here? Just to haunt the place and be creepy? Or for some particular reason?"

Catch shook her head. "No, I've talked to some of the other spirits and it seems like this motel is a bit of a waystation for us. We turn up here, wait for the thing that we need to do to move on, and then, once it's done, we get to leave. No one is causing any problems."

"I see. And how do you guys get to do those things you need to do?"

"Sometimes the right people show up and help, like they're drawn here, family members and such, but for many folks, they've been kind of stuck here."

Charlie thought for a moment, an idea of how she could finally do something forming in her mind. "What if we could help, Marian and I? Maybe we could help with the tasks and let everyone move on?"

"Hey, that would be swell!" Catch said. "I know it would mean a lot to the spirits who might not have anyone."

"Let me go find Marian and run it by here but yeah, I think I can help! Come on, Rip," Charlie said, heading for the door with Ripley at her heels.

Outside, Charlie didn't have to go very far to find Marian. Her girlfriend came barreling around the corner and ran into her, nearly knocking over them both. Charlie grabbed her shoulders and steadied her, asking, "Marian! What's going on?"

Marian caught her breath and said, "There's a wasp's nest in the ice machine. You know how I feel about wasps."

Charlie did know. Marian may have been fearless in the face of demons and werewolves but cried if a bee came too close. "Yeah, let's avoid the ice machine. But hey, I have an idea that might help with the ghosts."

Marian raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

"Yeah! I think we can help them. I was talking to one of them-"

Marian cut her off. "You were talking to one? Charlie, ghosts are evil. You can't be talking to them!"

"But she's super nice!" Charlie protested. "Her name is Catch and she-"

"No, ghosts are not nice. You don't know what you're talking about. This is my thing, remember? I'm the one with the training and all my training says ghosts are bad."

"But what if your training is wrong? I think we can do some good here, Marian."

Marian shook her head. "No. The best thing we can do is banish all the ghosts. And that's final. I'm going to get set up for the spell."

Charlie tried to argue but Marian was already walking off. She sighed and turned around to go back into the room. Inside, Catch was waiting. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but the walls are thin," she said. "It sounds like that didn't go very well."

"Yeah," Charlie agreed. "She never wants to listen to me. I know I'm not the expert here but I think I might be onto something. Not that it matters now. Sorry, you'll be banished."

They were both quiet for a moment and then Charlie perked up. "Hey, what if I helped you? That could show Marian that I might be right about all this."

"Worth a shot," Catch said.

"So what's your thing?"

Catch looked thoughtful and then said, "I lived a pretty great life and was always happy, except I never got to reconnect with my brother. We were real close growing up but then had some…differences as adults."

"What kind of differences?" Charlie asked.

For the first time, Catch lost the friendly look on her face and instead looked uncomfortable. "It…uh…started when I met Josie McClaren and we became friends and I introduced her to Roger. He took quite a liking to but then…then, of course, it was me and her that ended up together. He was always jealous I think. And, you know, back in my time, it wasn't exactly normal for two women to be together like that and he didn't agree with it."

Charlie wished she could reach out and give Catch a pat on the shoulder but she settled for saying, "Oh, Catch, I'm sorry. Bigotry sucks, dude."

Catch shrugged. "Yeah, but he missed out. I had to choose between my brother and the love of my life and in the end, I made the right choice. Josie and I had an amazing life together but I always missed my little brother."

"Is he still alive?" Charlie asked. "Maybe I can call him and give him a message from you."

Catch nodded. "Yeah. Last time I heard he was living out in the Boston area."

Charlie pulled out her phone and got to searching. Soon, she found Roger Gibson's contact information and showed Catch the picture associated with the social media account. She confirmed it was him and dialed. 'What do you want me to tell him?"

"Just say that I'm sorry we never fixed things and I hope he lived a good life."

Charlie nodded as the phone rang. An old man's voice answered and she asked, "Is this Roger Gibson?"

"Yeah ma'am," he replied.

"Hi, Mr. Gibson. You don't know me but my name is Charlie Malone and I was a friend of your sister's. She asked me to track you down and pass on a message."

"A message? From Ruthie?"

"Yes sir. She just wanted you to know that she missed you and wished you two had been able to fix your relationship. She loved you and hoped you had a good life."

Charlie could hear that Roger was getting choked up. "Oh thank you. That means so much. I miss my sister too. Thank you again."

"Just helping out a friend. Take care, Mr. Gibson."

"You too."

Charlie hung up and looked at Catch who was smiling with ghostly tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Charlie. It was so good to hear Roger's voice again."

"No problem," Charlie said. Then they stared at each other for a long moment. "So what happens now? Do you disappear and go wherever it is spirits go?'

"Yeah, I thought so. At least, that's what seems to happen to everyone else."

They both stood there, unsure of what to do next when all of a sudden, the ghost of another woman poofed into existence next to Catch. Ripley jumped up from where she'd been napping on the floor and perked her ears up.

"Where am I?" The new ghost asked, looking around. She had a slight Texas drawl to her voice and shaggy, shoulder-length brown hair.

"Josie!" Catch exclaimed excitedly.

The ghost of Josie turned and saw Catch for the first time. "Catch!"

They hugged and when they let go, Catch said, "Charlie Malone, meet my partner, Josie McClaren."

"Wife," Josie corrected, pointing out the ring on her left hand. "We did get married eventually. As soon as it was legal."

Catch laughed. "Right, right."

Josie grinned and then asked, "What are we doing here? I've been waiting for you."

"My friend Charlie here was helping me out and I thought we were done but now maybe…" Catch squinted at Charlie and then her face broke out into a huge grin. "Now it's our turn to help you out!"

Charlie was confused. "Me? What can you help me out with?"

Catch looked from Charlie to Josie and then back to Charlie. "I think we can help you fix things with your lady."

Charlie's face fell. "Oh, I, uh, don't think there's much to fix there. We're fine."

Catch shook her head. "I heard you out there. I think we can help."

"No, you don't have to," Charlie said. "It's okay."

"Charlie, do you love her?"

"Yeah, I do. More than I've ever loved anyone," Charlie said quietly.

"And, be honest, do you want things to be a little bit better?" Charlie nodded. "Then let's make it better. I want you to end up like me and Josie here and not have regrets like I do with Roger."

"Okay," Charlie relented. "Let's go find Marian."

The ghosts of Catch and Josie followed Charlie out to the motel office where Marian was setting up to do a banishing spell. "Marian?" Charlie said.

Marian turned around and jumped when she saw the ghosts. "Charlie! Watch out for those ghosts!"

"They're fine, Marian. That's Catch and Josie. They're friendly. And they're here to help."

Marian looked suspicious. "Help?"

Catch came over and Marian flinched but otherwise didn't move. "We just wanted to help mend your relationship."

Marian's face fell. "Is something wrong? I thought we were doing so well!"

Charlie hesitated and Josie said, "Go on, Charlie, Tell her what you're feeling. That's the only way to work these things out."

Charlie took a deep breath and said, "Marian, you know I love you and I love our life but I just wish you'd listen to me more. Like with this whole ghost thing. I know I wasn't raised as a monster hunter but I have ideas too and I really want to help. I've just been feeling sidelined."

Marian reached out and took Charlie's hands. "Oh, Charlie. I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I never meant to push you away. I just get so caught up with my family's legacy and trying to prove myself to them that I forget we're supposed to be partners."

"So let me be that partner. Maybe some new ideas would be good sometimes."

Marian smiled. "You're right. I know how smart and capable you are, even if I haven't been acting like it recently. I want this to be our thing, not just my thing with you tagging along. Partners?"

Charlie smiled back. "Partners." She pulled Marian in for a kiss and Catch and Josie cheered.

When they parted, Marian asked, "So what's your idea about these ghosts?"

Charlie looked at Catch and Josie. "I think we can help them like I helped Catch."

Marian thought for a moment. "You know, it might be nice to stay in one place for a bit. We've been traveling around so much I forgot what it was like to just be still."

"Yeah, and it'll be nice to have some quiet time together as well." Charlie turned to Catch and Josie. "Can you two stick around? Or is it off to the great beyond or whatever now?"

Catch looked at Josie who shrugged and said, "As long as I'm with you, I'm happy."

“That settles it, then," Catch said. "We'll help out and be your ghost liaisons."

"Great!" Charlie said then pulled Marian back into her arms. "But how about we start tomorrow? You, me, the hot tub, and a box of wine tonight?"

"Sounds perfect." Marian kissed Charlie on the cheek and then stepped out of her arms. "Let me clean up and I'll meet you back in the room."

"Great. I'll go walk Ripley in the meantime."

Marian set to her work and Charlie turned to Catch. "Hey, thanks for everything."

Catch smiled. "Any time friend. And thanks to you too."

"Anytime," Charlie echoed. "See you in the morning?"

"See you then," Catch said and drifted off down the breezeway with Josie.

As Charlie walked back through the motel to collect Ripley, she could hear Catch and Josie laughing and it made her smile. Charlie had no idea what the future held for her and Marian, especially with the Schafer family business but Charlie hoped that they might end just a little like Catch and Josie.