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Woman in White
Home, Nicole thought to herself as Waverly rested her head on Nicole’s shoulder. They sat in silence absorbing the beautiful evening together. This is my home.
The sunset stretching out over the remains of their wedding had drifted from red to dark purple. Just past the old wooden barn, Nicole could make out the new and improved mailbox sign that Jeremy had insisted upon for the wedding. It now included her name, as well as “sometimes Holliday,” but most importantly “Everyone welcome” at the top. Nicole sighed contentedly and kissed the top of Waverly’s head. She felt her wife gently squeeze her hand in acknowledgement. The evening had been perfect, perfect for them that is- defeating a bad guy… well bad gal before the outdoor ceremony. It was everything Nicole could have hoped for.
As they sat on the porch watching the night descend around them, Nicole could hear the crickets and toads welcoming in the darkness. The rumble of a car driving way too fast on the county roads cut through the night. Nicole chuckled to herself as she fought her inner sheriff. Not my problem tonight.
“What are you thinking?” Waverly said gently, still looking out over the homestead.
“Just wondering which fool is driving these back roads so fast.” She watched the cloud of dust billowing up closer to their home. “And why are they coming here?” Nicole sat up straight as she watched the car pull onto their driveway.
Waverly sat up next to her. “Is that Jeremy?” she asked, squinting at the approaching car through the dusk. “Maybe he left something behind?”
The car rolled to a stop in front of the porch and Jeremy hopped out. He had a worried look on his face as he jogged over.
Nicole frowned. “What’s up?”
“I am SO glad I found you out here, still sitting on the porch.” He winced as he spoke. “I was really worried I’d be too late, and you’d be otherwise occupied.”
Waverly cocked her head to the side, as Nicole asked, “What happened?”
Jeremy rested his foot on the bottom stair of the porch as he caught his breath. “Someone called into the station and reported finding Charlene abandoned on the side of the road.”
“So?” Nicole asked, not seeing the urgency of the message.
“So,” repeated Jeremy. “Her rear tire had been shot out.” He looked from Waverly to Nicole, waiting for their response. “What if Doc’s in trouble?”
Waverly gave an exasperated sigh. “That sounds more like Wynonna’s way of getting his attention.” She glanced over at Nicole with a little laugh.
“Were either of them in the car?” asked Nicole, her spidey sense beginning to tingle.
Jeremy shook his head. “No, just Charlene.”
Nicole frowned at Jeremy. “So why do you need us? Can’t you go check it out on your own?”
Jeremy paused for a moment before answering. “I already have.” He winced. “I kinda need your help retrieving her.”
Nicole rolled her eyes as she heard Waverly laugh.
“Please!” he implored. “I can’t leave Charlene out there all alone. I won’t be able to sleep.”
“Whereas I was planning on not sleeping…much,” joked Nicole. She felt Waverly squeeze her hand again.
At that, Jeremy clasped his hands together. “I have literally no one else to ask.”
“What about Damon?” Waverly teased him.
Jeremy looked shocked. “I can’t ask him! We haven’t even had our first date yet.”
“But you can ask us on our wedding night?” Nicole said sarcastically.
Jeremy gave them a hopeful little smile. “You’re family?” he asked.
Nicole closed her eyes and laughed. They were definitely family. She shook her head in resignation as she felt Waverly release her hand and snake her arm through her elbow. “Ok, fine. But that’s it. I don’t even want a text from you for the rest of the weekend.” As she rose, Nicole looked down at Waverly, still wearing her wedding dress. “You can stay here, it will just take me a minute.”
“Nicole, if you think for one minute that I’m leaving your side tonight, you have another think coming.”
Nicole chuckled. “But you’re in your dress.” She pointed down at Waverly, who was rising to stand next to Nicole.
“And you’re in your suit,” she simply replied. “So we’re going together.”
Jeremy gave a happy yip. “Thank you,” he said earnestly.
The three of them took Nicole’s cruiser, with Waverly sitting next to Nicole, and Jeremy in the back seat. Night had finally taken hold of Purgatory, and the back roads were pitch dark.
“You think I’d be used to how dark these roads get at night,” commented Nicole as she scanned the highway leading into the Pine Barrens. A hint of low fog threaded through the trees as they entered the forest.
“I’m still not used to it,” Waverly laughed. “And I’ve lived here my whole life.”
“Plus we know all the creepy things that can be sneaking around out here,” added Jeremy.
As the dark trees began hugging the road, Nicole felt a sense of foreboding growing in her chest. She decided to change the subject. "I can’t believe Wynonna and Doc just left their car on the side of the road,” she grumbled.
“I can.” Waverly huffed out a laugh. When Nicole glanced at her, she replied, “What? I’ve had to clean up a fair number of her messes over the years.”
“No judgment here,” smiled Nicole.
“And she has a long history of Wynonna Interruptus,” joked Jeremy. “So tonight is nothing new.”
Nicole glowered at him through the rearview mirror. “I believe this interruptus is squarely on you, my friend.”
Jeremy looked contrite. “Again, I am so grateful for your help. Charlene deserves better.”
“And Wynonna deserves our love,” Waverly added.
Nicole nodded at her. Waverly’s face was illuminated by the glow of the dashboard lights. Her smile was soft, and her eyes shimmered as she studied Nicole. God, I love this woman, thought Nicole.
Just then, a flash of white appeared in her headlights. Nicole screamed and slammed on her brakes. The cruiser fishtailed until it came to a stop across the two lane highway. Nicole whiteknuckled the steering wheel as her breath came out ragged. Her heart raced, blood pounded in her ears. The headlights of the cruiser illuminated the wispy fog weaving through the trees.
“What was that?” Waverly shouted, bracing herself against the dashboard.
Nicole looked in her rearview mirror at Jeremy. “Did I hit her?” she asked tentatively.
“Hit who?” asked Waverly. She let go of the car and let out a deep breath. “What just happened?”
“I’m ok,” added Jeremy.
“Didn’t you see her?” Nicole was still clutching the steering wheel. She slowly turned and looked at Waverly. “Are you ok?”
“I’m fine. Are you?!” Waverly placed her hand on Nicole’s arm.
“I swear I thought I saw someone on the road back there.”
In her rearview mirror, Nicole watched Jeremy turn around in his seat and scan the road behind them. “I don’t see anyone.”
She let out a slow breath, releasing the steering wheel. “I need to check,” she said before opening the cruiser’s door.
Nicole slowly closed the door, as Waverly and Jeremy joined her. The night air felt chilly and Nicole hugged her chest. Worried that she would see a body on the road behind her car, Nicole studied the empty stretch of pavement that cut through the woods. The light fog danced and rolled through the air around them.
Waverly stepped up next to Nicole and placed her hand on Nicole’s shoulder. “Sweetie, what did you see?”
“I thought I saw a woman in the middle of the road. I was sure I hit her.” Her eyes searched the open road again.
“Maybe it was the fog?” asked Waverly hopefully, giving Nicole’s arm a little squeeze.
“What did the woman look like?” asked Jeremy.
“I don’t know.” Nicole shook her head. “She was tall. And had dark hair draped over her shoulders, wearing a long, white dress.”
“No way!” exclaimed Jeremy. “I bet you saw a woman in white!” Then he glanced at Waverly. “Kinda like you right now,” he laughed.
Waverly pouted. “But why didn’t I see her?” She looked at Nicole. “I was sitting right next to you.”
“A woman in white would be so cool,” continued Jeremy. “I would love to study a vengeful spirit.” He sounded wistful.
“Didn’t we just have one of those,” frowned Nicole. “You know…earlier today.”
Waverly winced as she thought about it. “Well, that was really more of a haunted wedding dress than a true woman in white.”
Jeremy turned to Waverly. “If it is a woman in white, I wonder how she got here.”
Waverly stepped over to Jeremy. “Maybe she’s just a lost soul.”
“We’re on a spooky road in the middle of nowhere,” Jeremy explained. “This is the perfect place for a woman in white.”
“You really think so?” asked Waverly, a little hopefully. Jeremy nodded in return.
In the beam of the headlights, Nicole could see the growing excitement written across Waverly’s face. “Well, maybe she’s the ghost of a murdered woman.” She took his hand and smiled.
“Maybe hit by a car a long time ago, and now she wanders this stretch of road looking for revenge.” Jeremy matched Waverly’s excitement.
“Or maybe she was murdered by a serial killer along the side of the road…” Waverly added.
“What about a suicide? That can create a woman in white, too.” Jeremy pulled out his phone.
“Oooh, yeah! Just like in Supernatural.” Waverly looked at her phone as well. “We can search the newspaper’s archive for deaths of women along this highway.”
“Guys,” demanded Nicole, watching them both jump happily into a research hole while ignoring the fog that seemed to pour onto the road from the trees. “Do we really need to do this here?” Then she grumbled, “and now?”
Waverly’s head popped up from her phone. “Aw Sweetie.” She smiled at Nicole sympathetically. “I get it.”
Nicole sighed. She was so ready to get out of there and on to MUCH better things. A knowing grin stretched across her face.
“This will only take a few minutes,” Waverly added, looking back at her phone.
Nicole’s smile fell flat. “Plus I thought we were here to rescue Charlene.”
“Just give us a minute,” Waverly said, not looking up from her phone. “I’m searching for rituals to release a ghost.”
Now sighing in resignation, Nicole kicked a pebble in the road as she listened to Waverly and Jeremy dive even deeper into the research.
From the corner of her eye, Nicole saw some movement. She jerked her head around to see the billowing fog roll in the headlights of her cruiser.
She let out a deep sigh and laughed at herself. “You know, maybe it was the fog.” She glanced around the dark road. “Or maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me.”
Just then, Nicole felt a cold blast wash over her. Her skin crawled, and her breath caught in her throat. “Um guys?” Nicole said warily. “I think something’s happening.”
Waverly looked at her in shock. “No way! Is she here?” Then both Waverly and Jeremy searched the road around them.
“Where did this fog come from?” asked Jeremy, spinning in a circle.
The chill grew across Nicole’s chest like an itchy rash. “I don’t like this…” She let her statement drift off.
The dark woods were dead silent like the trees themselves were holding their breath. Nicole felt her heart rate increase as the hair on her arms stood up.
“Is it usually this quiet out here,” she asked.
Just then a faint “hello?” seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. Nicole’s body froze, and her eyes widened in shock.
“What’s happening?” asked Jeremy
“I think I hear someone.” The chill of the night air wrapped tightly around Nicole, and she felt her body shiver.
Waverly and Jeremy stopped dead and stared at Nicole.
Nicole held her breath as she listened intently.
“All I hear is the ticking of your engine,” whispered Jeremy.
Nicole quickly shushed him. “It’s not that. I thought…” She paused for a moment. “I thought I heard a voice.”
“I bet it’s the ghost.” Waverly gave out a tiny squeal of delight. “This is so exciting.” She glanced down at her phone again. “I wish there was better reception out here, my phone is slow as molasses.”
Jeremy looked back at his phone. “Mine too.” He held his phone up above his head.
Nicole let out a grumble. “Now’s not really the time to be discussing cell service, you know.”
As soon as Nicole let out those words, she felt her body twitch. Slowly spinning around, Nicole searched the woods. The fog bank that had rolled in minutes before was slowly dissipating back into the trees. The road was completely dark but for the headlights of her cruiser. “It’s funny, I really didn’t think this was how I would get my pulse racing tonight,” she said jokingly.
Waverly flashed her a wide grin. “The night isn’t over yet,” she teased.
Suddenly, Nicole felt the skin on the back of her neck tingle. She wrenched her head to the side to catch the faint image of a ghostly woman standing next to her.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” the ghost said.
Again Nicole shrieked, then stumbled backwards, landing on her butt.
“What is it?” Waverly whipped around, ready to drop kick whatever was threatening her wife.
Jeremy held out his cell phone like a lightsaber. “Where is she?”
Scrambling to her feet and pointing at the apparition, she yelled, “Don’t you see her?”
Waverly and Jeremy looked at each other. From the side of her mouth, Waverly whispered to Jeremy, “Can you see it?”
Jeremy shook his head.
“You can really see me?” the ghost asked Nicole in surprise.
“WHOA,” Nicole yelled and jumped back.
“WHAT?” chorused Waverly and Jeremy together.
“She’s right there.” Nicole pointed at Jeremy.
Waverly looked between Nicole and Jeremy alarmed.
“She’s here?” Jeremy pointed in front of him.
“Well, more to your left.”
Nicole watched as the ghost turned to Jeremy, looking him over. “And what does this guy think his cellphone is going to do to me?” The ghost chuckled lightly, then looked at Nicole. “I’m impressed. You must be really special.” She nodded at Nicole approvingly, cocking her transparent head to the side to further consider Nicole. “Most people can only catch a glimpse of me.”
“What is she saying?” asked Waverly.
“She thinks I’m special.”
Waverly clenched her jaw and scowled. “Well, I could have told you that.” she mumbled, waving her hands in the air. “But I don’t like Ms. Ghosty saying things like that to you.”
“This is a really different kind of ghost,” muttered Jeremy, scanning the road around him.
“Wait,” added Waverly. “How come you can see and hear her, but we can’t.” She pointed at Jeremy.
“That’s a good question.” The ghost clasped her transparent chin between the wispy ends of her forefinger and thumb. “Have you had any near death experiences?”
Nicole let out a mirthless laugh. “Which year?” she asked sarcastically.
“What’s she saying,” demanded Waverly.
“Essentially,” Nicole glanced at Waverly, “she’s guessing it’s because I’ve crossed over to the other side at some point.”
“OOOH!” Jeremy’s eyes widened and he pointed at Nicole. “When you were a frog!” he quickly exclaimed, “Or a ghost…or a ghost frog,” he stuttered out.
Waverly whipped around to face him, “Something I’m still super pissed about.” She glared at him. “Don’t think I’ve let that go.”
Jeremy held up his hands in surrender.
Then Waverly faced Nicole. “But why don’t I get to see her? I’m half angel for crying out loud.” She pointed vaguely in the direction of the ghost. “Tell her I crossed over to the garden. That’s gotta count for something.”
The ghost just snickered. “I give her an A+ for effort, but I don’t think that’s how this works. I don’t choose who gets to see me.” Then she looked at Nicole. “Is she always this feisty?”
Nicole laughed out loud.
“What did she say now?” Waverly’s eyes turned fierce.
“Don’t worry.” Nicole walked over to Waverly and placed a light kiss on her temple. “She likes you; she thinks you’re feisty.”
Waverly rolled her eyes. “Ok, fair.” She huffed out a little indignant breath. “But more importantly, how do we get rid of her… I mean, put her soul to rest?”
“Yeah,” Jeremy jumped in, “Do we need to avenge her murder?”
“Hang on,” the ghost interrupted Jeremy without him knowing. “If you can see and hear me, I wonder if you can feel me, too.” The ghost held out her hand to Nicole.
Nicole took a few steps forward and reached out as well.
“What’s going on now?” hissed Jeremy. He tried taking some photos of the event with his phone.
“She wants to touch me,” Nicole said quietly.
“OH NO!” retorted Waverly. “The only person touching my wife tonight is ME!” She ran up in front of Nicole and stood in a karate pose, the end of her wedding dress swaying around her legs.
The ghost snorted while laughing, as Nicole tried to stifle her giggle.
“What’s she saying?” Waverly whispered harshly.
“In a roundabout way, that you’re cute.”
Waverly glanced back at Nicole, who just shrugged.
Jeremy stared at the absence of an apparition and frowned. “She’s not acting like a trapped or tormented soul.”
Nicole shook her head, grinning. “No, she isn’t.” Then she stepped next to Waverly and placed her arm around her back. “What’s your name?” she asked the ghost.
“I’m Daisy,” she replied.
Nicole nodded and repeated the name for the other’s benefit.
“Daisy?” Waverly whispered to Jeremy. “That’s not a very spooky name.”
The ghost sighed and drifted away from the group a little. “Of course it isn’t. Why would my parents give me a creepy name? I wasn’t born a ghost,” she huffed.
Nicole snickered before asking, “Then what are you doing here?”
Waverly and Jeremy looked at each other confused.
“I chose to come here,” Daisy explained. “The open road, the wide rolling hills, the mountains in the distance.” She seemed to sigh. “Even the pine trees- they’re so green I can almost smell them.” She drifted in a little circle. “God, there’s so much to love here.”
“I can understand that,” Nicole said, glancing over at Waverly.
Then Daisy's eyes seemed to soften. “The truth is, I fell in love here,” she said. “Oh, not with a man.” Daisy shook her head with a laugh, her hair swimming around her face like she was under water. "I know what you’re probably thinking.”
“Actually, not what I was thinking… but continue,” Nicole smirked.
“When I was little, my family took a road trip through here. I grew up in Toronto, and I had never seen so much land stretched out before me.” Daisy floated, holding out her arms. “It felt like I could see the whole world. Anything was possible here. It felt like forever.” She looked back at Nicole. “So when I passed, I chose to come back here, so I could experience that every day.”
Nicole raised her eyebrows. “That’s beautiful.”
“Um, honey?” Waverly asked lightly. “Can you translate for the rest of us, non-crossed over people?”
Nicole looked over at Waverly and Jeremy. She smiled and gave her wife a hug, then kissed her forehead. “Daisy’s happy here. Just trying to live out her life… well, death in the Ghost River Triangle.”
“I’m sorry for scaring you before,” Daisy added. “I’ll be more careful about haunting the road.”
Nicole laughed. “Thank you. As your sheriff, I appreciate that.”
“So she isn’t a woman in white?” Jeremy asked, sadly.
“What? Like that weirdo Hogback chick with the wedding dress obsession? You thought I was her?” Daisy shook her head indignantly.
“Not exactly,” Nicole explained with a shrug. “We already defeated her with a silk sash.”
“Oh thank goodness.” Daisy deflated in relief. “She was such a drag.”
“At first we thought that you could be…” Nicole hesitated a moment, “a different woman in white.”
Daisy laughed and rolled her pale eyes. “I mean, yes.” She gestured at the transparent white gown she wore. “But so is she.” Daisy pointed at Waverly. “Besides, not every ghost needs to be avenged.”
“What’s going on here?” Waverly asked. “Are we releasing her soul or not?”
“I think we’re all good here,” Nicole explained.
As they walked back to the car, Waverly nudged Jeremy’s arm. “If I’m being honest, I’m a little disappointed. I was kinda hoping for a ghostly butt whooping. That always gets my engine running.” She winked at Nicole.
Jeremy patted her shoulder. “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to be an issue for you two.” He laughed to himself.
As she opened the driver’s side door of the cruiser, Nicole glanced back at the road. Daisy had vanished. Nicole smiled to herself and looked over at Waverly. There was no big mystery to solve here, just another non-werewolf member of their community.
“Let’s go rescue Charlene,” Nicole said, feeling more calm. “I’m ready to get back home.”