Title: Ghost Wife
Chapter 12: A Deal
The ride to the convent was awkward. Katherine sat in the passenger seat, her arms crossed, staring out the window, her expression a mixture of disbelief and scientific fascination. Sister Margaret, or rather, Emma in the nun’s body, slumped in the back seat, still groggy from the medication but gradually becoming more lucid. She was once again wearing the habit, her face pale and composed.
“I feel... weird,” she said, her voice clearer now. “Not as... fuzzy, though.”
I stared at her through the rearview mirror. “Do you still feel the threads?” I asked.
“The threads?” Katherine asked, glancing over at me.
“Something I can see... or feel... inside women’s brains when I’m inside,” Emma explained, her voice still weak. “Like paths?” She shook her head. “It was easier to explain when I was inside you.” She gestured to Katherine who stiffened slightly.
“Paths? Neural pathways?” Katherine asked, her scientific curiosity overriding her anger. “Of memories?”
“Maybe?”
“Is that what you used to mess with my memories?” Katherine asked, her voice sharp, a hint of curiosity in her tone.
“Yep,” Emma said, giggling again. “I imagined a scenario and put it in your head, somehow.”
“You have no idea how weird it is,” Katherine muttered to herself, shaking her head. “It really feels like it happened. If it wasn’t so absurd, I wouldn’t doubt it actually did.”
I glanced back at my wife again, who was now staring out the window, her face pensive. “Can you do it again? For Lisa?” I asked.
She nodded slowly. “I think so. It should be easier now that I’ve done it once. I’ll just... make her think she took a personal day to clear her head.”
“Alright, look,” Katherine said, turning to face Emma. “I need more data. This is... unprecedented. The scientific implications are staggering.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I remained focused on the road as we drove through the city, the afternoon sun casting long shadows across the buildings. We had a better idea of how things worked, and what Emma could do, the rules, so to speak, but we still had no idea why it was happening, or how long it would last. The thought was terrifying. Whatever brought Emma back could very well take her away from me at any point. Knowing more would help, but I was afraid of losing time searching in the wrong direction.
“Hey! I’m talking to you guys,” Katherine said, waving a hand in front of my face.
“Yeah, I heard you,” I said, glancing at her. “We’ll see what we can do.”
“Don’t you ‘we’ll see’ me,” she snapped, her voice rising in frustration. “Your dead wife is hopping from body to body, you just used mine for a blowjob without my consent, and you’ve basically kidnapped and used a nun that I’m now helping you brainwash so you can return her to her convent without any questions asked. I’d say you owe me a little more than ‘we’ll see’.”
“We’ll let you study me,” Emma offered, her voice still a bit slurred. “We need answers too. If science can provide them, then we’ll be grateful for the help.”
Katherine snorted, but I could see a flicker of excitement in her eyes. “IF? There’s no ‘if’ about it. If it exists, science can explain it.”
“There are a lot of things science can’t explain,” Emma countered, holding the cross that hung from her neck, her brow furrowed in thought.
“Yeah, right... Let’s talk about it again when you’re no longer in a nun’s body,” Katherine said sarcastically.
“What will you need from us?” I asked, trying to steer the conversation back to the practicalities.
Katherine tapped her chin thoughtfully. “First, I need access to both of you. Regularly. I need to be able to take readings, brain scans, run tests...”
“How often?” I asked, already dreading the logistical nightmare this was becoming. “I just got my wife back from the dead. I’d like to spend some time with her, not carting her around to labs.”
“Don’t worry, lover boy,” Katherine said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I won’t keep you from your ghostly humping sessions for too long. But for this to be a proper study, I’ll need a baseline. We need to understand the transfer, the ‘recharging’ process, the memory manipulation...” She trailed off, lost in thought. “God, the possibilities for a paper on this are endless.”
I turned my head to look at her, my eyes wide with disbelief. “A paper? You’re thinking about publishing this? The whole world would find out about her!”
“You don’t expect me to keep this to myself, do you?” Katherine shot back. “A deceased consciousness transferring between living bodies? This is the biggest scientific discovery in human history!”
“They’ll lock her in a lab!” I protested, my grip tightening on the steering wheel.
Emma leaned forward, her head between the front seats. “Give us time, doctor. I don’t know why I’m back, but it has something to do with my... husband. I didn’t come back here as a messiah. God sent me here for him.”
God... Did God send her here? If so, why? And why us? Why me? Why like this? If God was the one behind this, he had a weird sense of humor.
Katherine sighed, leaning back in her seat. “How much time?” she asked, her voice softening slightly.
“Years, at least,” I said, my voice firm.
“Years?!” Katherine practically shouted. “You want me to sit on the biggest scientific discovery of all time for YEARS?”
I clenched my fingers around the steering wheel, turning my knuckles white. I pushed the brakes, leaving the car stopped on the side of the road, both women gasping in surprise. I turned in my seat to face Katherine, right arm reaching out to open her door.
She stared at the road, her eyes wide with disbelief. “What are you doing?”
“You want to study her, to study us? You want to write a paper? Fine. But you do it on our terms, and you don’t publish until we say so. Otherwise, we don’t need your help. You’re free to leave.” I pointed outside.
Katherine stared at me, her mouth agape, then at Emma, who was watching her with a calm, unreadable expression.
“Jesus, fine!” Katherine said, slamming the door shut, Emma wincing. Whether it was the sound of the door or the casual mention of Jesus, I couldn’t tell. “Okay. No papers. Not yet. We’ll study this in secret. But I need access. Regular access.”
“Once a week,” I offered, pulling back onto the road, my eyes back on the street in front of us. “Saturdays.”
Soon I’d have to return to work. I’d spent a week at home, “mourning”. Even if everyone still believed my wife was dead and buried, which was only half true, I’d eventually have to return to the office, make a living, support us both, whatever that meant now.
“Fine, but the entire day,” Katherine countered. “I need time to run tests, scan, observe. A few hours isn’t enough.”
I glanced at Emma through the rearview mirror, who nodded slowly.
“Deal,” I said, my voice tight. “Now, let’s get Lisa back to the convent before we draw any more attention to ourselves.”
The rest of the drive was made in silence. The convent was an old, imposing building on the edge of town, surrounded by a high brick wall. I made sure to pull up away from prying eyes, the car hidden in the shade of a large oak tree. There was no one around, the only sound the distant chirping of birds.
“Okay,” I said, turning off the engine. “Emma, are you ready?”
She nodded, her hands clasped in her lap. “I think so. But how do I explain you, Calvin? Or Katherine?” she asked, looking between us.
I rubbed my temples. “Father O’Brien and the others already saw you leave with me after the funeral. We can spin it that... you asked me to drop you somewhere, then later asked me to pick you up so I could drive you back. Katherine is... a friend from out of town?”
My wife nodded, getting out of the car, still a bit shaky on her feet. She smoothed down her habit as the doctor and I got out too, standing by my car.
“Alright, I’m ready,” Emma said, taking a deep breath and turning toward Katherine, extending her hand.
The scientist looked at my wife’s outstretched hand, then at me. “I swear to God,” she said, her voice low and intense, “If you use my body for anything other than finding another host again, I’ll—”
“I’ll behave,” Emma promised, her voice small and tired.
“We’ll do our best,” I added, earning a glare from both of them. “We need a host who can stick around for a while, someone who won’t be missed, and I need to have sex with Emma fairly regularly. You know the rules,” I explained.
Katherine scowled. “Then you find someone before you need to ‘recharge’ her again. And you keep your hands, and your dick, off me until you do.”
“We’ll do our best,” I repeated. “But if you’re helping us, then you need to accept the risks.”
Katherine sighed, running a hand through her fiery red hair, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “I need to be back in my lab by tomorrow and I would prefer to do so as myself and without tasting someone else’s cum in my mouth.”
“We’ll do our—”
“Let’s do this already before I change my mind,” Katherine grumbled, taking Sister Margaret’s hand.
The nun simply blinked, her eyes glazing over for a second. Katherine’s body swayed, her eyes wide. She stared at her own hand, then at Sister Margaret, who was now smiling politely.
“Thank you for the ride, Mr. Kent,” the nun said, her voice calm and steady. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”
“It was no trouble at all, Sister Margaret,” I said, relieved.
“God bless you,” she added, then she nodded to Katherine, turned, and walked toward the heavy wooden doors of the convent.
I stared at her back until she disappeared inside, then turned to Katherine.
“All good?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m me,” she said, looking down at her hands, then back at me. “Sorry, the contrast is... disorienting.” She cleared her throat. “Fuck I’m pissed. Katherine is. Scared too, but mostly pissed.”
“Yeah...”
“But she’s not gonna stand in our way. She wants to study this. We just need to find a new host.”
“Yep,” I said, getting back into the car. Katherine followed, slamming the door shut. I pulled away from the curb, leaving the convent behind.
“We need a crowded place, where no one will pay much attention to us,” Katherine said, her voice taking on a more academic, clinical tone. “A mall, a train station, a university campus.”
There’s a mall not too far from here,” I offered. “You sure you can do this now? You’ve already swapped twice since... huh...”
“I blew you?” Katherine finished, a smirk on her face.
She leaned in close, her voice a husky whisper, her left hand moving to my thigh. “You’ll find Dr. Winters is now far less reluctant than before to help with ‘recharging’.” Her hand slid further up my leg, her fingers brushing against my crotch.
I shivered. “Yeah, because she’s not herself anymore, Emma. She just told us to keep our hands off her.”
“She accepted the risks. She said she didn’t want to taste my cum in her mouth tomorrow.” She squeezed my thigh gently. “She didn’t say anything about today.”
I pushed her hand away gently but firmly. “Do you think you can swap a few more times without... recharging?” I asked, trying to keep my eyes on the road. “I’d like to give the doctor a break. Let’s not push our luck. Also if you keep milking me at this rate, at my age, Em, I’m not gonna be able to keep up.”
My wife sighed, leaning back in her seat. “I guess I can wait. I still feel pretty strong right now. I think I’m getting better at this.” She looked out the window, her brow furrowed in thought. “I wonder how far I can push it. How long I can last without your... help. How many times I can jump before I get too weak.”
“We’ll choose women carefully and if you feel like you’re getting too weak I’ll...”
“Fuck me?” she offered with a wicked grin. I could see the arousal growing in her eyes, her breathing becoming slightly ragged. She was getting turned on just thinking about it. Whatever miracle or curse had brought my wife back, it really seemed to make her insatiable.
“Yes,” I said, my voice flat. “Whoever you are then...”