Post by Carissa on Jan 12, 2008 3:38:49 GMT -5
Different Worlds of Love
Summary: Julia Henderson lives in her new mansion when suddenly she feels being haunted! Things begin to change when she learns that the ghost actually falls in love with her!
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Today, the Henderson family moved from London to Shrewsbury, a small town in Western England. Mr. Henderson had just received an offer to manage an industrial company there. The Henderson was a rich family. They bought a big house in Shrewsbury – well, not exactly a house, it was a big, old mansion.
But at least it was a beautiful one which was painted in white and gave the style of classic European. The main door was decorated with two large poles and statues of Greek gods and goddesses. The mansion wasn’t too far from the downtown. They began to explore the house and unpack things.
The Hendersons were very excited of their new house, but not their only daughter, Julia, who was 15. She was sad because she had to leave her friends in London. She hated why her dad should have a new company there. Her parents knew she was sad but they tried to make her happy, but it didn’t work out. She thought she would be alone all day in her new home because her parents always went to work all the time and sometimes abroad.
When her family was exploring the house, Julia went to her new, large room with her suitcase. It was still empty. Suddenly, she felt something strange, like an aura that was coming closer to her. The situation became a horror. She felt that she wasn’t alone there. She felt there was another person in her room, but she decided to ignore it.
In the next day, Julia was going to her new school at the downtown, Shrewsbury Public School. It was the day when she would meet her new friends in the 9th grade. Julia stepped into her new classroom as the teacher, Mrs. Locklear, greeted her.
Julia shortly introduced herself, but what she found was not happy faces of her new friends. They stared at her strangely likely she was an alien. They apparently felt something strange in their new friend.
After the short introduction, Mrs. Locklear asked her to sit next to a curly-haired girl. Her name was Stacy Kellogg, but she seemed to accept Julia normally likely there wasn’t anything wrong with her.
“Why are they staring at me that way?” Julia asked her.
“No, nothing,” Stacy replied, “They’re just a bit strange to accept a new classmate in their environment. Just relax.”
Stacy was actually lying. She felt even more than that. She felt that a strange aura was following at Julia’s back. Stacy wanted to tell Julia, but she couldn’t help herself to. But she had no way out except telling her the truth in the break time.
“Wh-what?” Julia was a bit shocked and mostly, she could hardly believe of what her new friend had just told her that she was being followed by a spirit or ghost. Julia could hardly believe in such things like ghosts or spirits, “You must be kidding, mustn’t you? If it’s true, why it was following me? Am I something special for it? By the way, how could you know about that?”
“I can feel it Julia, and… I also can see them around here,” Stacy sounded serious now.
“Maybe it’s because I haven’t adapted well here. See? There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Well, you’re right. I shouldn’t have told you that. Let’s forget it.”
Julia didn’t understand what she told her. She did feel something but she just ignored it. She thought it was because she hadn’t adapted well in her new environment, so the classmates stared at her that way as they did it to a new student. Apparently, only Stacy could accept Julia in her new environment, so she became Julia’s best friend.
After school, Julia went home along with Stacy, but something happened when they were about to cross the road. On the left side of the road, a huge truck was speeding fast as Julia was crossing.
Julia looked on the left side of her and saw the truck was one meter away to her which meant, it was about to hit her. Julia was shocked that she couldn’t even scream. She didn’t remember anything after it. The next moment she remembered was, she was still in the same place as she saw the moving truck heading to her, but somehow, she felt something had pushed her aside. She survived.
“Julia, you could have been hit!” Stacy said, “If he hadn’t been there and saved you from the accident.”
“He who?”
Stacy shook her head. “No, nothing, just forget it.”
After the evidence, Julia continued experiencing something strange. She always got saved in danger such as almost fell from the stairs, almost spilled her hot soup, and slipped on the wet floor. Stacy said that he was the one who always saved her in her danger moments, but Julia didn’t believe her.
In fact, Julia herself thought that the experience of getting saved amazingly was just her luck, but it wasn’t as Stacy thought. Soon after, Julia seemed to feel the spookiness around her more and more for example; her closet opened by itself and other strange things. She began to believe that there was someone around her and she wasn’t alone.
“I don’t know why it had happened to me.” Julia told Stacy as she began to feel scared.
“Don’t worry, Julia. He won’t hurt you. He’s a good ghost and brings goodness to you. See? You’re always safe everytime you’re in danger. Besides, he doesn’t look that ugly or scary.”
“You mean…he’s fine? What does he look like then?”
“You’ll see.”
All day long, Julia kept thinking what the ghost looked like. Maybe Stacy was right, he brought goodness for Julia by saving her from danger. But Julia was still curious, until her curiosity revealed one day.
That afternoon, she was sitting by the window, reading a book. She accidentally dropped it and it fell to the lower roof. Julia was determined to climb down the roof and took the book. But then, another accident happened.
“Aarrrghh!!!!!!!”
She slipped. It wasn’t until someone came from behind grabbed her waist tight and lifted her up. Julia turned around to see who had helped her.
“You?” Julia was surprised that it was obviously a person she had never met before, a tall boy who looked a bit older than her, “Who…who are you?”
“Well, I’m…” the boy tried to answer but Julia began to realize that he wasn’t actually a human because he appeared in sudden.
“GHOST!!!!!!” she screamed and immediately, two of her maids came up to see what was happening in Julia’s room. The boy looked very confused.
“Ghost, ghost!! Help!” Julia closed her eyes and pointed her finger at the ghost she had just seen, “Do…do you see it?”
“See what, Miss?”
Julia quickly opened her eyes; she found out that he disappeared.
After the encounter, Julia didn’t want to tell it to Stacy about who she had just met. That night, she thought about what the ghost had done to her was such a heroic act and she thought that she had to thank him for his bravery.
“Are you looking for me?” Julia suddenly heard a strange voice and later found that boy was sitting next to her on her bed. Yes, that ghost.
“Argh…” Julia said, “Umm…I’m thinking that maybe I should apologize. Thank you for what you did for me all this time and other good things.”
“Don’t mention it.” he said, “Aren’t you afraid to me anymore?”
“Still, because your appearance shocks me.” she replied, “Well, actually there are lots of question that I’d like to ask you, Mr. Ghost…”
“Cornelius.” the ghost corrected, “Cornelius Van Houtten.”
Cornelius was the ghost of her bedroom – but the nice one of course. He was the one who had been following for Julia all this time. Cornelius was a mixed of British and Dutch who came from the 20th century, exactly the year 1914.
“Well, alright Cornie. Just wondering, why do you keep following me?”
“It’s just…you have different a personality than other humans that attracts me.”
And from that day on, Julia became Cornelius’ friend. She was no longer lonely now. But sometimes, Cornelius’ sudden appearance often made Julia shocked, but she didn’t mind. In fact, they began to admire each other.
Time passed as Julia began to have new friends in her new school. They no longer feel anything strange to her again. Yes, because now Cornelius was no longer haunting her again. She now had more friends there and one of the closest besides Stacy was Greg Templeton.
Greg was actually a rich boy. He was the son of a mining entrepreneur in Wales. He was also known as a smart boy and besides, he was good looking enough with good personality.
One day, Julia went home with Greg. Actually Julia was having an assignment to discuss with Greg. They went into Julia’s room to do it together.
“Hey, what…who did that?” Greg asked suddenly.
“Who did what?”
Greg grabbed a paper that was shaped in a ball. “I don’t know, I felt someone was throwing this on me.”
Julia obviously knew who did it. It must be Cornelius and the ghost did something Greg to again. It was when Greg was about to go out the room and he was passing through the door.
“Ouch!” he screamed when suddenly the door closed. It made his nose bleed.
“Greg, are you okay?” Julia immediately rushed to him.
“I’m fine.” Greg said as he was trying to fix himself.
This time, Julia was fed up with Cornelius. She thought that Cornelius might be upset because Julia spent most of her time with her new friend now.
“Why did you try to hurt him?” she asked him that night.
But there was no answer from Cornelius himself. “Well, because…”
“You’ve hurt him, he’s my friend, Cornie. I know you’re a ghost, but please be nice to other humans than me. Now, answer me, why you did this to him?”
Cornelius’ lips were trembling. “Because I’m jealous, Julia.” he said – finally, “I love you. I just can’t see anyone, even a boy like the one you called Greg, get close to you.”
Julia couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “O…okay, I get it, but I just want to remind you about something that you and I are different creatures. I mean, I am still alive and you’re dead. Don’t you know that?”
Cornelius was silent for a moment, but he couldn’t say anything because Julia had more to say. “Cornie, what makes you love me? What makes you haunting me all the time?”
“You…you seem really like someone I know, someone I love.” he sighed, “Her name is Rebecca Forrer. She was my girlfriend.”
“You think I might be her?”
Cornelius didn’t answer. He closed his eyes and Julia didn’t remember what happened the next moment. She was like…unconscious.
Autumn 1914…
Julia opened her eyes; she saw the same view as before. Yes, her bedroom’s view but it looked a little different. She was now in 92 years back in time. The decorations looked more classic and retro. There were a few people inside it. They were gathering around a bed where a boy was lying.
And it was Cornelius. He looked pale and seemed that he was sick. Julia tried to move closer to hear the conversation.
“Bec…Rebecca…” Cornelius whispered.
“Bec is not here, Cornie.” a blonde woman, who was his mother, spoke, as she was sobbing.
“I want Bec.” Cornelius insisted, “I want her here.”
“She’s in Cambridge, son.” a tall man who was his father, told him.
Cornelius’ mother approached and said. “What should we do? His tuberculosis is getting worse.” she cried, “He’s too young to face it, Paul. He’s our only child and he’s just 18.”
Mr. Van Houtten was hopeless. He shook his head in desperate as the doctor got up to handle Mrs. Van Houtten.
“I don’t think he’ll get well soon, Ma’am” the doctor hopelessly said.
“I want Bec.” Cornelius slowly said again.
“She will come, sweetheart.” Mrs. Van Houtten sadly answered.
“Mom,” Cornelius said, “If she comes, tell her I’m alright.”
He smiled and closed his eyes – died. The Van Houtten family were busting to tears. Even Julia couldn’t get herself to stop crying.
“Cornie!” suddenly, the door was opened and a girl was rushing towards his dead body. Julia was surprised to see her, that girl, whose name was Rebecca, really had the same face as hers. They really seemed look-a-like, “I’m sorry, Cornie.” Rebecca sobbed, realizing that she was late.
After it, Julia didn’t remember what happened next.
“I’m sorry.” Julia told him after going to the flashback to see what happened.
“That’s okay.” he said, “And after my death, World War I happened. My father was charged to manage the weapons manufacturing in London, so, my family moved there.. After it, I never heard anything more about them.”
“Well, Cornie, everything’s over. You have nothing to regret anymore.”
There was a silence for a moment. “I know you have a feeling for Greg.” Cornelius suddenly said, “I don’t mind if you’re with him.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t have any relationship with him. He’s just…a friend.”
“But you like him, don’t you?”
Julia thought for a moment. Well, she did admire Greg because of his cleverness and kindness, but it didn’t mean that she loved him.
“Err…well…yes.” Julia said at last.
Cornelius didn’t appear again since Julia confessed that she actually liked Greg. Besides, Julia thought that Cornelius only loved her because he thought that she was the reincarnation of his girlfriend. It was an impure love of course. The situation was getting complicated when suddenly, Greg asked Julia to dinner.
“There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.” Greg said as they were in the restaurant.
“What is it?”
Greg’s lips were trembling. “Do…do you want to be my girlfriend?”
“Well, I’m…umm…by the way thanks for the offer, but…I’m already in love with someone.”
Yes, she was, and she wasn’t lying. It was true, although she still doubt about the thought that she was in fact in love with someone.
Julia realized that she was actually in love with Cornelius. But it was too late, she thought Cornelius was already heartbroken because his love had been refused. Julia really wanted to see him again.
“Julia…” she heard someone greet her. She turned around to see who was speaking, and there he was, she found the person she had been waiting for that time.
“Cornie!” she greeted him, “I’m so sorry that I’m…”
“No need to say sorry.”
“I refused Greg, Cornie. I did it for you.”
“But you think that I love you just because I think you’re Bec, right?”
“No, of course not. You said yourself that I was the one who attracts you, right?” she smiled.
Julia and Cornelius were back friends. But it wasn’t until her maids figured out that Julia was often playing on her own, whereas she was actually playing with Cornelius. But yes, it looked like she was playing on her own because he was unseen.
The maids decided to report it to Julia’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson. Knowing about this, they began to worry and decided to call a psychologist because they thought Julia was abnormal, so, the maids told them what was going on to Julia and the psychologist told them that they should call a medium to see what was actually happening.
That afternoon, Julia’s parents brought the medium, someone who can see ghosts. But it wasn’t someone who was really unexpected. It was Stacy! Obviously, her skills had spread in Shrewsbury and it made Julia’s parents put their trust to her to handle the case. Julia herself couldn’t believe that it was eventually Stacy who came. She came into Julia’s room while Julia’s parents were waiting outside.
“What are you doing here?” Julia spontaneously asked her.
“I’m sorry, Julia. I have to do what I have.” she said, “Your parents have discovered the truth about your invisible friend. They called me to expel him.”
“But why you do this, Stacy?”
“We know what’s going on. It’s about your friend, Cornelius Van Houtten, right?” she asked, “I have to get rid of him. Your parents are afraid that your mental has been disturbed by your invisible friend.”
Just like Stacy had expected, Cornelius appeared. Stacy could see him now.
“What do you want? She’s not the one you’re looking for.” Stacy asked him.
Julia stepped forward. “What he needs is love, Stacy. I know he still seeks for Rebecca, and I know that I’m not her.”
“He’s here because he has something that is unfulfilled. He seeks someone who he thinks is his girlfriend, and he thinks she’s you.” Stacy said, “He will go if his wish is already fulfilled.”
“It is already fulfilled. You did it, Julia.”
“Fulfilled? What are you talking about, Cornie? I don’t feel that I’ve fulfilled your wish.”
“You did it, it’s your love.” he answered.
“I do love you, but I still don’t get what you’re trying to say.”
This time, it was Stacy’s turn to talk. “It means, if you love him, you’ve fulfilled his wish. After all, he can go resting in peace.” she explained, “A ghost will stay on earth if there’s a wish that is unfulfilled, and that happens to Cornelius. His wish is to love somebody he misses, it’s Rebecca.”
“But I’m not Rebecca.”
“You’re her reincarnation, Julia. Cornelius can feel it, even I can feel it too.”
“Reincarnation? So, it means that Cornelius’ wish is already fulfilled?” Julia asked.
Stacy nodded and Julia turned around at Cornelius. “You won’t leave me, will you?”
“Sorry, Julia, but I have to go to the place where I belong.”
“But…”
“He has to, Julia.” Stacy tried to settle her, “You want him to rest in peace, don’t you?”
Julia understood how Cornelius felt. He needed to return to the place where he would find eternity and where he would find Rebecca. Julia knew how much she loved him and to prove how much her love to him, she had to let him go.
“Well, if that what you want, Cornie.” Julia turned around at him, “Go resting in peace.”
The ghost smiled and suddenly, a strange bright light appeared as Cornelius began to disappear. “Thank you, Julia.” he smiled and gone to a place where he belonged – heaven…
4 months later…
Julia was in Shrewsbury’s public library. As usual, she was looking for books. That moment, she was trying to pick up a novel on the top of the shelf. She tried to reach it but accidentally, she dropped a book and hit the head of a boy who was standing next to her.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry, are you ok…” Julia apologized as the boy turned around. There was nothing wrong with the boy except…his look reminded her with Cornelius who had disappeared four months ago. That boy really looked alike with him.
“That’s okay.” the boy said, and there was a silence for a moment, “Umm, I see you want to get books from the top huh? Which one is it?”
Julia was nervous. She looked up on the shelf and pointed the book she meant. “There, you see that? The Enid Blyton one.” she said. That tall boy quickly reached the book in the top.
“There you go.” he handed it to her then he looked at her closely, “Have we met each other?”
Julia’s heart almost stopped beating. “No.” she nervously said, “My name is Julia Henderson, and you are…”
“Cornelius.” he said as Julia dropped her jaw, “Cornelius Grammer, you can call me Cornie.”
Fin
Note: I need reviews from all of you readers!
Summary: Julia Henderson lives in her new mansion when suddenly she feels being haunted! Things begin to change when she learns that the ghost actually falls in love with her!
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Today, the Henderson family moved from London to Shrewsbury, a small town in Western England. Mr. Henderson had just received an offer to manage an industrial company there. The Henderson was a rich family. They bought a big house in Shrewsbury – well, not exactly a house, it was a big, old mansion.
But at least it was a beautiful one which was painted in white and gave the style of classic European. The main door was decorated with two large poles and statues of Greek gods and goddesses. The mansion wasn’t too far from the downtown. They began to explore the house and unpack things.
The Hendersons were very excited of their new house, but not their only daughter, Julia, who was 15. She was sad because she had to leave her friends in London. She hated why her dad should have a new company there. Her parents knew she was sad but they tried to make her happy, but it didn’t work out. She thought she would be alone all day in her new home because her parents always went to work all the time and sometimes abroad.
When her family was exploring the house, Julia went to her new, large room with her suitcase. It was still empty. Suddenly, she felt something strange, like an aura that was coming closer to her. The situation became a horror. She felt that she wasn’t alone there. She felt there was another person in her room, but she decided to ignore it.
In the next day, Julia was going to her new school at the downtown, Shrewsbury Public School. It was the day when she would meet her new friends in the 9th grade. Julia stepped into her new classroom as the teacher, Mrs. Locklear, greeted her.
Julia shortly introduced herself, but what she found was not happy faces of her new friends. They stared at her strangely likely she was an alien. They apparently felt something strange in their new friend.
After the short introduction, Mrs. Locklear asked her to sit next to a curly-haired girl. Her name was Stacy Kellogg, but she seemed to accept Julia normally likely there wasn’t anything wrong with her.
“Why are they staring at me that way?” Julia asked her.
“No, nothing,” Stacy replied, “They’re just a bit strange to accept a new classmate in their environment. Just relax.”
Stacy was actually lying. She felt even more than that. She felt that a strange aura was following at Julia’s back. Stacy wanted to tell Julia, but she couldn’t help herself to. But she had no way out except telling her the truth in the break time.
“Wh-what?” Julia was a bit shocked and mostly, she could hardly believe of what her new friend had just told her that she was being followed by a spirit or ghost. Julia could hardly believe in such things like ghosts or spirits, “You must be kidding, mustn’t you? If it’s true, why it was following me? Am I something special for it? By the way, how could you know about that?”
“I can feel it Julia, and… I also can see them around here,” Stacy sounded serious now.
“Maybe it’s because I haven’t adapted well here. See? There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Well, you’re right. I shouldn’t have told you that. Let’s forget it.”
Julia didn’t understand what she told her. She did feel something but she just ignored it. She thought it was because she hadn’t adapted well in her new environment, so the classmates stared at her that way as they did it to a new student. Apparently, only Stacy could accept Julia in her new environment, so she became Julia’s best friend.
After school, Julia went home along with Stacy, but something happened when they were about to cross the road. On the left side of the road, a huge truck was speeding fast as Julia was crossing.
Julia looked on the left side of her and saw the truck was one meter away to her which meant, it was about to hit her. Julia was shocked that she couldn’t even scream. She didn’t remember anything after it. The next moment she remembered was, she was still in the same place as she saw the moving truck heading to her, but somehow, she felt something had pushed her aside. She survived.
“Julia, you could have been hit!” Stacy said, “If he hadn’t been there and saved you from the accident.”
“He who?”
Stacy shook her head. “No, nothing, just forget it.”
After the evidence, Julia continued experiencing something strange. She always got saved in danger such as almost fell from the stairs, almost spilled her hot soup, and slipped on the wet floor. Stacy said that he was the one who always saved her in her danger moments, but Julia didn’t believe her.
In fact, Julia herself thought that the experience of getting saved amazingly was just her luck, but it wasn’t as Stacy thought. Soon after, Julia seemed to feel the spookiness around her more and more for example; her closet opened by itself and other strange things. She began to believe that there was someone around her and she wasn’t alone.
“I don’t know why it had happened to me.” Julia told Stacy as she began to feel scared.
“Don’t worry, Julia. He won’t hurt you. He’s a good ghost and brings goodness to you. See? You’re always safe everytime you’re in danger. Besides, he doesn’t look that ugly or scary.”
“You mean…he’s fine? What does he look like then?”
“You’ll see.”
All day long, Julia kept thinking what the ghost looked like. Maybe Stacy was right, he brought goodness for Julia by saving her from danger. But Julia was still curious, until her curiosity revealed one day.
That afternoon, she was sitting by the window, reading a book. She accidentally dropped it and it fell to the lower roof. Julia was determined to climb down the roof and took the book. But then, another accident happened.
“Aarrrghh!!!!!!!”
She slipped. It wasn’t until someone came from behind grabbed her waist tight and lifted her up. Julia turned around to see who had helped her.
“You?” Julia was surprised that it was obviously a person she had never met before, a tall boy who looked a bit older than her, “Who…who are you?”
“Well, I’m…” the boy tried to answer but Julia began to realize that he wasn’t actually a human because he appeared in sudden.
“GHOST!!!!!!” she screamed and immediately, two of her maids came up to see what was happening in Julia’s room. The boy looked very confused.
“Ghost, ghost!! Help!” Julia closed her eyes and pointed her finger at the ghost she had just seen, “Do…do you see it?”
“See what, Miss?”
Julia quickly opened her eyes; she found out that he disappeared.
After the encounter, Julia didn’t want to tell it to Stacy about who she had just met. That night, she thought about what the ghost had done to her was such a heroic act and she thought that she had to thank him for his bravery.
“Are you looking for me?” Julia suddenly heard a strange voice and later found that boy was sitting next to her on her bed. Yes, that ghost.
“Argh…” Julia said, “Umm…I’m thinking that maybe I should apologize. Thank you for what you did for me all this time and other good things.”
“Don’t mention it.” he said, “Aren’t you afraid to me anymore?”
“Still, because your appearance shocks me.” she replied, “Well, actually there are lots of question that I’d like to ask you, Mr. Ghost…”
“Cornelius.” the ghost corrected, “Cornelius Van Houtten.”
Cornelius was the ghost of her bedroom – but the nice one of course. He was the one who had been following for Julia all this time. Cornelius was a mixed of British and Dutch who came from the 20th century, exactly the year 1914.
“Well, alright Cornie. Just wondering, why do you keep following me?”
“It’s just…you have different a personality than other humans that attracts me.”
And from that day on, Julia became Cornelius’ friend. She was no longer lonely now. But sometimes, Cornelius’ sudden appearance often made Julia shocked, but she didn’t mind. In fact, they began to admire each other.
Time passed as Julia began to have new friends in her new school. They no longer feel anything strange to her again. Yes, because now Cornelius was no longer haunting her again. She now had more friends there and one of the closest besides Stacy was Greg Templeton.
Greg was actually a rich boy. He was the son of a mining entrepreneur in Wales. He was also known as a smart boy and besides, he was good looking enough with good personality.
One day, Julia went home with Greg. Actually Julia was having an assignment to discuss with Greg. They went into Julia’s room to do it together.
“Hey, what…who did that?” Greg asked suddenly.
“Who did what?”
Greg grabbed a paper that was shaped in a ball. “I don’t know, I felt someone was throwing this on me.”
Julia obviously knew who did it. It must be Cornelius and the ghost did something Greg to again. It was when Greg was about to go out the room and he was passing through the door.
“Ouch!” he screamed when suddenly the door closed. It made his nose bleed.
“Greg, are you okay?” Julia immediately rushed to him.
“I’m fine.” Greg said as he was trying to fix himself.
This time, Julia was fed up with Cornelius. She thought that Cornelius might be upset because Julia spent most of her time with her new friend now.
“Why did you try to hurt him?” she asked him that night.
But there was no answer from Cornelius himself. “Well, because…”
“You’ve hurt him, he’s my friend, Cornie. I know you’re a ghost, but please be nice to other humans than me. Now, answer me, why you did this to him?”
Cornelius’ lips were trembling. “Because I’m jealous, Julia.” he said – finally, “I love you. I just can’t see anyone, even a boy like the one you called Greg, get close to you.”
Julia couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “O…okay, I get it, but I just want to remind you about something that you and I are different creatures. I mean, I am still alive and you’re dead. Don’t you know that?”
Cornelius was silent for a moment, but he couldn’t say anything because Julia had more to say. “Cornie, what makes you love me? What makes you haunting me all the time?”
“You…you seem really like someone I know, someone I love.” he sighed, “Her name is Rebecca Forrer. She was my girlfriend.”
“You think I might be her?”
Cornelius didn’t answer. He closed his eyes and Julia didn’t remember what happened the next moment. She was like…unconscious.
Autumn 1914…
Julia opened her eyes; she saw the same view as before. Yes, her bedroom’s view but it looked a little different. She was now in 92 years back in time. The decorations looked more classic and retro. There were a few people inside it. They were gathering around a bed where a boy was lying.
And it was Cornelius. He looked pale and seemed that he was sick. Julia tried to move closer to hear the conversation.
“Bec…Rebecca…” Cornelius whispered.
“Bec is not here, Cornie.” a blonde woman, who was his mother, spoke, as she was sobbing.
“I want Bec.” Cornelius insisted, “I want her here.”
“She’s in Cambridge, son.” a tall man who was his father, told him.
Cornelius’ mother approached and said. “What should we do? His tuberculosis is getting worse.” she cried, “He’s too young to face it, Paul. He’s our only child and he’s just 18.”
Mr. Van Houtten was hopeless. He shook his head in desperate as the doctor got up to handle Mrs. Van Houtten.
“I don’t think he’ll get well soon, Ma’am” the doctor hopelessly said.
“I want Bec.” Cornelius slowly said again.
“She will come, sweetheart.” Mrs. Van Houtten sadly answered.
“Mom,” Cornelius said, “If she comes, tell her I’m alright.”
He smiled and closed his eyes – died. The Van Houtten family were busting to tears. Even Julia couldn’t get herself to stop crying.
“Cornie!” suddenly, the door was opened and a girl was rushing towards his dead body. Julia was surprised to see her, that girl, whose name was Rebecca, really had the same face as hers. They really seemed look-a-like, “I’m sorry, Cornie.” Rebecca sobbed, realizing that she was late.
After it, Julia didn’t remember what happened next.
“I’m sorry.” Julia told him after going to the flashback to see what happened.
“That’s okay.” he said, “And after my death, World War I happened. My father was charged to manage the weapons manufacturing in London, so, my family moved there.. After it, I never heard anything more about them.”
“Well, Cornie, everything’s over. You have nothing to regret anymore.”
There was a silence for a moment. “I know you have a feeling for Greg.” Cornelius suddenly said, “I don’t mind if you’re with him.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t have any relationship with him. He’s just…a friend.”
“But you like him, don’t you?”
Julia thought for a moment. Well, she did admire Greg because of his cleverness and kindness, but it didn’t mean that she loved him.
“Err…well…yes.” Julia said at last.
Cornelius didn’t appear again since Julia confessed that she actually liked Greg. Besides, Julia thought that Cornelius only loved her because he thought that she was the reincarnation of his girlfriend. It was an impure love of course. The situation was getting complicated when suddenly, Greg asked Julia to dinner.
“There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.” Greg said as they were in the restaurant.
“What is it?”
Greg’s lips were trembling. “Do…do you want to be my girlfriend?”
“Well, I’m…umm…by the way thanks for the offer, but…I’m already in love with someone.”
Yes, she was, and she wasn’t lying. It was true, although she still doubt about the thought that she was in fact in love with someone.
Julia realized that she was actually in love with Cornelius. But it was too late, she thought Cornelius was already heartbroken because his love had been refused. Julia really wanted to see him again.
“Julia…” she heard someone greet her. She turned around to see who was speaking, and there he was, she found the person she had been waiting for that time.
“Cornie!” she greeted him, “I’m so sorry that I’m…”
“No need to say sorry.”
“I refused Greg, Cornie. I did it for you.”
“But you think that I love you just because I think you’re Bec, right?”
“No, of course not. You said yourself that I was the one who attracts you, right?” she smiled.
Julia and Cornelius were back friends. But it wasn’t until her maids figured out that Julia was often playing on her own, whereas she was actually playing with Cornelius. But yes, it looked like she was playing on her own because he was unseen.
The maids decided to report it to Julia’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson. Knowing about this, they began to worry and decided to call a psychologist because they thought Julia was abnormal, so, the maids told them what was going on to Julia and the psychologist told them that they should call a medium to see what was actually happening.
That afternoon, Julia’s parents brought the medium, someone who can see ghosts. But it wasn’t someone who was really unexpected. It was Stacy! Obviously, her skills had spread in Shrewsbury and it made Julia’s parents put their trust to her to handle the case. Julia herself couldn’t believe that it was eventually Stacy who came. She came into Julia’s room while Julia’s parents were waiting outside.
“What are you doing here?” Julia spontaneously asked her.
“I’m sorry, Julia. I have to do what I have.” she said, “Your parents have discovered the truth about your invisible friend. They called me to expel him.”
“But why you do this, Stacy?”
“We know what’s going on. It’s about your friend, Cornelius Van Houtten, right?” she asked, “I have to get rid of him. Your parents are afraid that your mental has been disturbed by your invisible friend.”
Just like Stacy had expected, Cornelius appeared. Stacy could see him now.
“What do you want? She’s not the one you’re looking for.” Stacy asked him.
Julia stepped forward. “What he needs is love, Stacy. I know he still seeks for Rebecca, and I know that I’m not her.”
“He’s here because he has something that is unfulfilled. He seeks someone who he thinks is his girlfriend, and he thinks she’s you.” Stacy said, “He will go if his wish is already fulfilled.”
“It is already fulfilled. You did it, Julia.”
“Fulfilled? What are you talking about, Cornie? I don’t feel that I’ve fulfilled your wish.”
“You did it, it’s your love.” he answered.
“I do love you, but I still don’t get what you’re trying to say.”
This time, it was Stacy’s turn to talk. “It means, if you love him, you’ve fulfilled his wish. After all, he can go resting in peace.” she explained, “A ghost will stay on earth if there’s a wish that is unfulfilled, and that happens to Cornelius. His wish is to love somebody he misses, it’s Rebecca.”
“But I’m not Rebecca.”
“You’re her reincarnation, Julia. Cornelius can feel it, even I can feel it too.”
“Reincarnation? So, it means that Cornelius’ wish is already fulfilled?” Julia asked.
Stacy nodded and Julia turned around at Cornelius. “You won’t leave me, will you?”
“Sorry, Julia, but I have to go to the place where I belong.”
“But…”
“He has to, Julia.” Stacy tried to settle her, “You want him to rest in peace, don’t you?”
Julia understood how Cornelius felt. He needed to return to the place where he would find eternity and where he would find Rebecca. Julia knew how much she loved him and to prove how much her love to him, she had to let him go.
“Well, if that what you want, Cornie.” Julia turned around at him, “Go resting in peace.”
The ghost smiled and suddenly, a strange bright light appeared as Cornelius began to disappear. “Thank you, Julia.” he smiled and gone to a place where he belonged – heaven…
4 months later…
Julia was in Shrewsbury’s public library. As usual, she was looking for books. That moment, she was trying to pick up a novel on the top of the shelf. She tried to reach it but accidentally, she dropped a book and hit the head of a boy who was standing next to her.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry, are you ok…” Julia apologized as the boy turned around. There was nothing wrong with the boy except…his look reminded her with Cornelius who had disappeared four months ago. That boy really looked alike with him.
“That’s okay.” the boy said, and there was a silence for a moment, “Umm, I see you want to get books from the top huh? Which one is it?”
Julia was nervous. She looked up on the shelf and pointed the book she meant. “There, you see that? The Enid Blyton one.” she said. That tall boy quickly reached the book in the top.
“There you go.” he handed it to her then he looked at her closely, “Have we met each other?”
Julia’s heart almost stopped beating. “No.” she nervously said, “My name is Julia Henderson, and you are…”
“Cornelius.” he said as Julia dropped her jaw, “Cornelius Grammer, you can call me Cornie.”
Fin
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