" "You're alive!" I yelped." "You're alive!" I yelped. "No. Actually, I'm dead. Quite dead." He paused, and glanced around the office where some of my co-workers had stopped to stare at my outburst. "please be aware that no one else can see me, only you, since you caused my all too early demise." "What do you want?" "That should be obvious, Susan. I want you to turn yourself in. It seems that I can't properly rest in the afterlife until someone confesses to my death." "I can't do that!" I hissed. "Is there a problem, Susan?" Mr. Armstrong, the office manager, was bending over my desk. "Are you still not feeling well?" "I'm fine," I answered. "I felt dizzy for a moment, but I'm all right now." "Then I suggest you return to your work since you're already a day behind!" Harold stood there, smiling, apparently pleased by my discomfort. "Turn yourself in, Susan. Until you do, you'll never be free of me. I'll be everywhere. Sometimes you'll see me, sometimes you won't, but i'll be there, nevertheless." My mouth hung open with my reply, but before I could manage a word, he was gone. "Everywhere, Susan...e v e r y w h e r e....." his icy whisper chilled my soul. That evening I stopped at the market to pick up a few things for dinner. "Not THAT tomato, Susan, it's not quite ripe." I froze at the sound of that voice. I truned but there was no one nearby. "Sometimes you'll see me, sometimes you won't...." Harold shared breakfast with me the next morning, although he, of course, did not eat. I saw him again at lunchtime in the mall across the street frerom my office. That evening he appeared in my living room, remarking on how comfortable my apart ment was. |