Soul Insurance Read online

  "Mommy, I think the soul is sick."

  She looked up at a boy slightly behind her. He couldn't have been more than six years old. He wore a cowboy hat and a pair of glasses that rivaled hers when she was alive.

  "Why is a soul flying with us?" he asked. "They can fly all by themselves, right?"

  An attractive woman leaned over her son and looked at Brooke, an amused smile on her face. "They can fly, sweetie. Maybe it's just hitching a ride. Or maybe it hasn't grown its wings yet."

  "So funny," Brooke said sarcastically.

  A voice boomed over the cabin. "Hello, everyone, this is your captain. We're gonna be in the air for a little over eight hours today on our way to London…."

  Her breath caught in her chest as she tuned out the captain's voice. She was on a plane heading to London. The longest trip she'd taken in her life was a three-hour drive to the ocean.

  She carefully rose to her feet. The six-year-old cowboy kept his eyes locked on her the entire time. She reached out to grab a seat for balance and cursed when her hand passed through the fabric.

  "You can sit next to me," the cowboy said. "The seat's empty."

  "Thanks," Brooke said, looking around the cabin. "But believe it or not, I don't want to go to London."

  She did her best not to look out the windows. Carefully moving forward, she kept her eyes locked on the aisle, gingerly looking for Lisa. Her gaze eventually fell on a window, seeing nothing but a blue sky and what looked like clouds. But those clouds could have easily been smoke.

  "Relax, Brooke," she said aloud. "This plane can't do anything to you. You're already dead. It doesn't get much worse."

  As she neared the middle of the cabin she spotted a tan leg near the aisle and a head of blond hair. She passed another flight attendant and approached the blonde to see it was Lisa.

  Lisa wore a dark pair of sunglasses. She ran her fingers along the pages of a book. The man sitting next to her shifted in his seat, obviously trying to get a better view of her legs. He shook his head as he glanced at her reading material.

  "I still can't believe you studied Braille just for fun."

  "Most kids in school were studying French, Spanish. I wanted to try something different. Did you take a language, Matt?"

  "Not me. I was too busy chasing pretty ladies like you."

  Lisa smiled, but Brooke recognized a forced smile when she saw one. Lisa was probably still thinking about Connor. Brooke wanted to reach out and slap her across the face.

  Lisa and Matt talked for several minutes, with Matt trying every flattering line in the book, until he leaned forward and looked over at Brooke, as if noticing her for the first time. Brooke had spent so much time with Connor she sometimes forgot souls went by unnoticed. People saw them, dismissed them, and moved on with their lives.

  "That soul's been there a while," Matt said.

  Lisa removed her glasses and looked up at Brooke. "Hello, there."

  "My uncle actually has soul insurance. I'm supposed to go with him next month to put together some body choices for him. It's gonna be weird if it actually happens, my uncle being younger than me."

  The captain made an announcement about it being safe to use electronics. Matt unveiled a laptop as Lisa pulled a phone out of her purse.

  "Call number six," she said.

  Brooke wanted to rush forward and see the name of who she was calling, a phone number, anything at all. By the time she took one step forward, the phone was already to her ear. If she made too many movements Lisa might interrupt her call. Brooke simply sat in the empty seat behind her and leaned forward to listen.

  "Yeah, it's me. I'm on the plane now. I just wanted to thank you for everything you did." There was silence, and Lisa lowered her voice so Matt couldn't hear. "I just wanted to ask. The…uh, property, it wasn't supposed to go to someone, was it? Like someone elderly?"

  Brooke would have given anything to hear the response on the other end. She rose to her feet and simply watched Lisa on the phone, her legs crossed. Matt was engaged with his laptop and wasn't listening to a word she said.

  "I don't know if I could live with taking someone's second chance at life."

  Brooke tried to lean in closer, just enough to hear a voice, anything at all. Matt looked over his shoulder at her, a scowl on his face.

  "Do you mind?" he said. "Do spirits not care about personal space?"

  "Screw you."

  Lisa shifted in her seat and lowered her voice even further.

  "I'll go now, but thank you for everything."

  She hung up and smiled at Matt. She grabbed a pair of ear-buds from her purse and listened to music on her phone. Brooke collapsed in the empty seat, frustration and anger taking over as the questions mounted.

  How did Lisa get into a body meant for Isabel? Was she blind and terminally ill? Did someone at Soul-Ful have anything to do with the disappearance of Isabel's body? Was something shady going on at her old job?

  As Brooke watched glimpses of the in-flight movie, another important question dawned on her. Why did she care? She didn't work at Soul-Ful any longer. She wasn't even alive. What happened to the people that were in her life, her job, even Amber, wasn't really important. She couldn't influence their lives in any way.

  But she did still care.

  Maybe it was boredom. She loved talking with Connor and spending time with him, and even enjoyed the conversations she had with other souls during her mid-day flights, but she needed something to focus on, something to sink her teeth into. If someone was doing bad things at her old job, she wanted to know about it, even if she couldn't tell anyone.

  An hour had passed, and Brooke still sat in the seat behind Lisa. Lisa tried to talk to Matt as little as possible. Brooke wondered about what her next move was. Should she follow Lisa to London? Brooke didn't like to travel much, but the thought suddenly excited her, and what Connor constantly told her finally settled in. She was a soul. She could do anything she wanted, and go anywhere. Being a spirit didn't mean the end of the world. There were so many souls out there. There were new relationships to form, things to see and do.

  Although there was only one relationship she truly wanted to explore.

  She shook Connor from her thoughts and peered around Lisa's seat. The former blind woman watched the in-flight movie with great interest, squinting her eyes as she did so.

  "What's your story, Lisa?"

  The cabin shook slightly, and Brooke jumped to her feet. Her fear of flying and heights returned in an instant. Some of the passengers shouted while others whispered to each other.

  "Ladies and gentlemen," the captain said. "We're experiencing a little turbulence. We'll pass through it soon."

  "Why the hell did I do this again?" Brooke asked.

  The cabin rocked again, sending Brooke closer to the window. Her eyes shot wide open as she stopped inches from the glass.

  "This is a little scary," Lisa said.

  "Don't worry," Matt said, patting her on the knee.

  "Please, don't touch me—"

  There was one more violent shake. Brooke pitched forward. She tried to grab the back of Matt's seat, but that was useless. She fell through the side of the plane.

  Her senses were under assault as she plummeted. She saw the plane quickly getting smaller above her, and memories of the night she died flooded in. She remembered seeing the night sky as she broke her neck.

  She heard screaming, and realized it was her. Turning as best she could, she passed through a cloud as the blue ocean rushed up at her. She tried to will herself to stop, to hover in mid-air. Falling from a plane was no different than taking that first step off Connor's roof.

  It didn't work.

  She couldn't calm down or stop screaming as she made one swimming motion after another. She couldn't even slow down, and didn't understand why. What would happen if she landed in the ocean? Would it hurt? Would she be lost forever?

  Brooke closed her eyes and thought of Connor. She fought between images of sma
cking the water's surface, and sitting on the couch with possibly the best person that ever happened to her. His smile, sweetness, the way he glanced at her when he thought she might not be looking, all fought to push away her terror.

  She landed on something hard, and clenched her eyes tighter as she curled into a ball.

  "Connor!"

  "Brooke? Are you okay?"

  She opened her eyes to see she was on solid ground. A stationary airplane wasn't too far in front of her, sitting at a terminal. Connor was jumping from a luggage cart as it slowed to a stop. His perplexed coworker looked back and forth between Connor and Brooke.

  Connor knelt at her side and tried to run his hand through her hair. He missed badly, his fingers pushing into her forehead. Tears ran down Brooke's face as she tried to reach out and hold his hand. They couldn't touch each other, but that didn't stop the relieved smile from crossing her face.

  "Connor?" the cart driver said. "What in the world are you doing down there?"

  "Just hold on, Eddie. Give me a minute."

  "Is this some kind of act? Practicing for Zoe? You know, she goes to seances and all that crap."

  "No, it's just…."

  "Hey, no problem. Take your time. Talk to the soul."

  Connor gave her space as Brooke climbed to her feet. She studied the airport around here, almost not believing she was there. Merely a minute ago she was in an airplane heading to London.

  "I fell out of the plane," she explained. "It was going to London. I couldn't stop falling. I had to think of you to get here."

  Her heart skipped a beat as he smiled at her, looking into her eyes.

  "Fear messes with us even when we're souls. But you made it back here. Did you find out anything?"

  She peered over his shoulder at Eddie, a look of confusion and concern on his face. "We'll talk later. I don't want to get you fired."

  "What? Eddie? Fire me?" He turned around. "Eddie's nothing. He's lucky I don't go over there and push him off the cart."

  "You're scaring the hell out of me. But come try to knock me off. I'd whip your ass."

  Brooke shook her head and laughed. "I'll see you tonight." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

  "Was that a kiss? What was that for?"

  "I don't know…just for you being you."

  She jumped in the air and kept rising. She watched Connor as she climbed to a comfortable height just before her stomach began to sink. It felt great to be close to the ground again. As she flew through the airport and headed back to town she couldn't help but think about Lisa. Maybe it was nothing, but she couldn't shake the feeling something very important was going on.

  CHAPTER 12

  Connor peeked inside his apartment before stepping all the way in. There was no light that he could see, and he heard no voices. His apartment was soulless.

  He stripped his clothes off on the way to the bathroom and stepped into the shower. His nerves were a bit frayed at what he had in mind, but he couldn't see Brooke saying no.

  He was nearly done when he heard the familiar voice in the living room.

  "Connor? Are you in here?"

  "Yeah. I'm in the shower."

  "Can I come look?"

  "No."

  "Why not? It's not you like could stop me."

  "I've got a towel right where I can reach it."

  "You're no fun. Why are your clothes all over the floor?"

  "That's how single guys do it."

  He turned off the water and dried off. Her voice was closer, just out in the hall.

  "Did that guy at work think you were crazy? I'm really sorry if I caused any problems."

  "Nah, don't worry about Eddie. He pushed a little, but talk about girls and football and he forgets everything else."

  He quickly combed his hair as Brooke was quiet in the hall. Something was on her mind.

  "So, uh, who's Zoe?"

  "Just some woman at work Eddie keeps trying to hook me up with."

  "Listen, Connor, I don't want to stand in your way—"

  He interrupted her by opening the bathroom door. Wrapped in a towel, he looked down the hall for Brooke. She floated near the arch to the kitchen.

  "Whoa," she said. "Let me get my dollar bills."

  Smiling, he held up a finger. "Give me one minute."

  He scanned his room quickly, shutting the door behind him. Brooke's light reached under the door as she stopped outside his room. He turned to see half her soul inside the room.

  "Hey," she said. "Can't blame a girl for trying." She vanished back into the hall.

  He laughed as he put on a pair of jeans. "So, what do you think about today?" he asked. "Do you think someone stole a body or something?"

  "I don't know. I've been racking my brain all day. I just can't see how someone stole a whole damn body from Soul-Ful. It's not like stealing a candy bar."

  "Maybe it never got to your company?"

  "That's possible. I have no idea. I guess it's not a big deal, but my old boss was cool. If someone is stealing from Wesley, I want to let him know."

  "I'll definitely tell anyone you want me to."

  "I know you will. Thanks."

  Connor had no mirror in his room, and couldn't check how he looked. He told himself it wasn't important, and opened the bedroom door to see Brooke floating in the hall.

  "Well, don't you look good."

  "A shower will do that. So, what do you have planned for the night?"

  She followed him to the kitchen. "Hanging out with you, of course. Then I might go to that old hotel, talk with some of the other souls."

  "Ah. I'm going to the ballgame. You should come with me."

  Her soul flashed for a moment. "Are you serious?"

  "Yeah. It'll be fun."

  Brooke laughed with excitement, and Connor laughed with her as she rose two feet and flew around the apartment. She stopped in the living room over the couch.

  "Wait a sec. How's this going to work? You can't sit there watching the game and talking to me. Everyone will think you're crazy."

  He waved away her concern. "Don't worry about it. We'll catch the Light Rail down."

  Connor relaxed as they drove from the apartment to the park and ride station. Brooke rattled off all the baseball facts she'd learned over the past month. He smiled at her energy, and fought internally over what they were doing. He constantly told himself they were simply two friends going to a baseball game, but it was much more than that.

  Soul or not, he had feelings for her.

  "Holy crap," Brooke said as they pulled into the Light Rail parking lot. "I forgot how crowded of a ride this would be."

  Connor looked at the sea of orange and black, the Orioles' colors, waiting for the next train. Men, women, children, even souls were all ready to enjoy a night at the ballpark.

  "Souls are here," Brooke said. "Why don't they just fly?"

  "Riding the Light Rail is part of the experience."

  "Yeah. Nothing like being in a human sardine can."

  "What are you worried about? You can walk through everything."

  "Walking through people is gross."

  They drew their share of curious glances as they joined the waiting crowd. Most of the souls mingled with the living, everyone talking amongst their own kind, but Connor and Brooke were the only two that stood next to each other.

  Brooke's soul hovered near his ear to whisper. "People are looking at us. Even souls."

  "Only because you're so hot."

  She giggled. "Why, thank you for noticing. Actually, I'd better change clothes if I'm going to a ballgame."

  Silence followed, and Connor raised an eyebrow in her direction. "Did you do it, change in front of all these people?"

  "It's not like I'm stripping. None of the souls can see me naked, unless I want them to. Just some black shorts and an Orioles shirt."

  Connor wished he could see.

  The crowd cheered as the Light Rail pulled up. The ride was crowded, and more people boarded a
t every stop. Connor and Brooke sat next to each other while the other souls floated near the ceiling. The living stood in the aisle, and he could hear the whispering around him. The souls watched with interest, wondering why a spirit looked so comfortable with a living person.

  A mother and daughter stood next to them in the aisle. Connor smiled at them, and the daughter waved her hand back and forth through Brooke.

  "No, that's not irritating at all," she said. "Don't take this the wrong way or anything."

  Connor stiffened in his seat as Brooke moved closer to him. She hovered in the air over his legs, rising slightly so he had to look up at her.

  "Uh, what are you doing?"

  "Sitting on your lap. Go ahead and offer the girl a seat."

  He did so, and the mother thanked him graciously as the daughter sat next to him. Connor tried not to get excited at the thought of Brooke on his lap, even if he couldn't feel it. His hands shook anyway.

  There were feminine voices and whistles above him.

  "Go for it, girl, ride him like a horse."

  "I wish I had me a living guy."

  "Hey, you, with the glasses, can he actually hear you?"

  Brooke simply laughed. "Back off. He's all mine."

  The train pulled up in front of the ballpark, and people slowly disembarked. The spirits went through the ceilings and walls. Brooke bounced up and down with excitement.

  "I'll meet you right outside."

  She flew through the window next to him, leaving Connor to leave with the herd.

  It had been over a year since he last went to the ballpark. He'd went with his old girlfriend, who didn't care much for baseball. She wanted to leave before the fifth inning. He'd forgotten what the experience was like, people everywhere, souls flying all over the place, even over the playing field.

  Connor and Brooke walked around the stadium, following the signs for their seats. She audibly gasped when they finally turned down the hallway for their section and it opened up to the inside of the stadium. Connor had to agree. Watching baseball on TV certainly didn't compare to being at the stadium.