Casey (Ben 2)

Please keep in mind this is a first draft for my newest story, Casey. The story should be finished by August 10th. Thank you for your understanding.

It’s been about seven years since I guess “my?” funeral. I met someone who changed everything. It went like this…

It was a Tuesday, and I was observing my family’s dinner party. Then I saw something strange out of the corner of my eye. Well atleast I thought I did. I THOUGHT I saw a napkin move in the gust of wind when I “flew” by. I thought it was strange but I shrugged it off, figuring it was someone else. 

But then I saw it. I saw someone floating over the floor. I stared at them. They were hugging a young girl who was sitting at the table. I watched as someone asked if the young girl would like a piece of bread. Then I saw it, I saw them look at me. I made eye contact with them then they looked away. She looked at the young girl’s plate, full of green beans, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. She whispered, “Oh darling, I miss you so much. If only I was still with you.” Then my wife, Paisley, asked if Cleo would like more pie. 

Cleo, Cleo, I wondered why I knew that name. Then, I froze. I knew exactly where I knew Cleo from. I knew her name from Iris. Iris is my daughter. My daughter, the one I lost six years ago. She passed away in a car accident. Iris was due to give birth only a few days later. By extreme chance, her child survived. I, sadly, never had any type of relationship with Cleo because, as you can infer, my body was pronounced dead, and my soul fights for access to the “real” world. But although I had found out why I know Cleo, there is still something I am missing.

A week later, I was wandering around my granddaughter’s birthday party when I spotted the woman from the week before. She was teary eyed while staring at me. Then I felt a rush of what I only can describe as joy. The woman is my daughter.

“Iris?” I started to cry tears of joy.

“Dad?” She called out,“I, I, I can’t believe it!” 

I “floated” over to her quickly. As I hugged her we cried. I knew she knew. I knew that she had known who I was for a long time, but for now, I found my daughter, and that’s all that matters. As I cried I asked,

“Where have you been! I missed you… Hey… I saw you last week. Why didn’t you say anything?” I questioned. It had been only ten minutes since I realized who she was and that was long enough to wait for an answer.

“I, I, well… I didn’t know if you…” Iris’s voice trailed off and then she spoke again, “I was worried for my daughter. I need her to be safe. I knew who you were since the beginning, but this is the first time in six years that she has been safe and happy enough for me to take my eyes off of her. I lost my father because he looked away for ten seconds. I don’t want my daughter to ever face the same pain. Even if I’m not with my daughter I trust Owen to keep her safe.”