• Chapter 2: The beginning of a new era

    A young girl no older than eighteen woke from her troubed sleep. Sweat began to pour from her face, bit of her long jet black hair clung to her face with the help of the sweat making it hard to see and hard to untangle herself from her quilt that was wrapped tightly around her as if it was a cobra.

    After a few moments, she pulled her body free of her contrictive cover and threw her legs over the side of her bed trying to let the cool air of her room cool her skin that felt like it was burning her. With hardly any breeze in her room she got up and opened a large window. She stood with her head to the cold pain of glass instantly making her shiver mixed with the breeze instantly made her goose bumps begin to rise on her arms and made her body shiver. When the difference in temperature was too much for her, she shut the window and sat back on her bed as she rested her head into her hands and closed her eyes trying to focus on what had made her wake and what had caused her to begin to sweat as violently as she had. Not being able to recall it she dropped her hands from her face and looked back out the window that over looked one of the most dangerous parts cities of England.

    As she laid back on the bed a scraping noise began to occur on her window. It didn't bother her one bit as she'd heard the noise too many times. To anyone else it would have been scarey, but to Lilly it just meant that her mother was there with her. A clicked followed after the noise as the wind began to blow in through the now opened window again. Lilly sighed a little as she sat back up and shut the window again.

    "I shut the window as I was too cold. I thought you would have remembered that when I've been sweating from a nightmare that the cool air from the night soon feels cold against my skin because of the difference." She told no one in particular as there was no one there, atleast that's what it would have looked like to anyone who had been in the flat with her, but as she turned back to sit on her bed a gentle ghostly glow was there. Stood next to her bed was a fully grown woman wearing the clothes she wore the day she'd died. Jeans and t-shirt and trainers.

    "I'm sorry my darling. I was just trying to help. You just seemed so warm from the sweat that looked to have been pouring from you. You said you had a nightmare, what was it about?" The woman's voice echoed gently around the room. Lilly didn't seemed bothered in any way in particular. She just laid back on top of her quilt looking at the ghostly figure of her mother as if it was just a usual part of the room.

    "I don't know." She answered seemily frustrated with herself. "I closed my eyes and blocked out the light, but I just couldn't figure out why I was so scared. It's so damn frustrating that I'm having nightmares like this but I don't know what about."

    "Then don't think about it. How was work today?" The ghost asked as she sat on the bed next to Lilly as she looked at her. She didn't know what colour Lilly was as all she saw was things as black and white. Her daughter being all white except for the darker colours of her such as her hair which she saw as black.

    "Long again. Kyle never came over either. He said he'd call by tonight after band practice, but it seems that since you've been gone, he doesn't want to come here. I just don't know where I stand with him and then there's Jake at work, the bosses son who works in the kitchen. He's a nice enough guy but seems really pushy at times, I tell him I have a boyfriend, but...." She sighed as she threw her arms up in the air as if not knowing what to say in all honesty.

    "Maybe he's just trying to be friendly with you. After all you don't really hang out with people and when you get back here when Kyle isn't here with you, you just seem lost. Being alone like this isn't good for you. Why don't you sell the flat and go to university. You know the money from this place would set you up with a small flat of your own that is smaller than this place and you'd get an education behind you. Your always complaining about hating your job so why not make a change?" The woman said moving so she was sat infront of her living daughter sat the same way Lilly was, crossed legged.

    "But look at the area. Who would want to live here? It's the most dangerous part of town now. No one in their right minds would come and live here. I mean everyone here have lived here since before it got bad, and that's why were not scared as the gangs around here, they know us and they actually respect us and if anything was to go down then they'd come and help us all out. As for my job, I can't get another job so I may as well just carry on my life here hadn't I?" She moved as she threw herself back against her pillow, her legs going through the ghost of her mother. "Sorry." She said lifting her head to see her legs.

    The woman laughed and moved so she was laying next to her but keeping a little distance as she didn't want to her daughter to be too cold. "It's fine my love." She answered as she laughed seeing the funny side of her death when anything like that happened to her.

    "As for what you just said, you can do so much more with your life and I'm sure if you spoke to your boss Evelyn, she'd understand about you wanting to get an education behind you. You said she had a son, so she's a mother and she would understand beyond anything. She probably wants her boy to go to university to study also but he may see it the same way you do." She shrugged not really know what the situation was with Evelyn and Jake.

    "I'll have to wait it out and see how things go. It's bad enough Kyle's at university and doesn't have any time for me. I know he'd only complain if I did the same to him. It's bad enough now he says I have no time for him with constantly working when he can't see that I'm working like this because I'm not seeing him." She sighed again and rolled on to her stomach and screamed into the pillow. "It just feels like one big circle. I'm working because he's studying. He complains that I can't see him, because I'm working because he's studying. Stupid men." She growled under her breath.

    The ghost woman laughed as she moved and began to try and stroke her hair gently but her hand just went through Lilly's head. "I know hun, I can see your frustration, but just atleast say you'll sleep on what I just suggested."

    Lilly moved her head to look at the ghostly woman and smiled. "I promise I'll sleep on the idea for a few nights or months and think things through and see how things go." She smiled as she closed her eyes again a little. "I love you mum." She whispered. "Thank you for being here, and I'm sorry you couldn't be here like your suppoes to be."

    The ghost woman smiled back. "Well I am here, so you rest and I'll keep watch over you until morning when I have to go. Sleep well my little girl and I love you too."

    With that Lilly fell asleep letting all her anger and frustration slip away to have a restful sleep until it was time to wake up for to get sorted for work.