UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Living as an earth-bound spirit was much like living as an outcast in society. You were invisible and nobody talked to you. Some would say that statement was a bit of an oxy-moron but Beau felt very alive despite the fact he'd been knocked down by a bus crossing the road in Shoreditch.

Alive Beau thought the afterlife was something priests told to children at Sunday school to keep them from getting into trouble. If you were good, you went to heaven and if you were bad, you were sent to hell. Beau never did anything that warranted a descent into the fiery pits below so he imagined he would be going to the place with angels, clouds made of candy floss and his favourite kind of food. Fish and Chips! But when Beau was inadvertently knocked down by an oncoming bus, his sudden death wasn't the only thing that shocked him. Apparently when you die you get to choose where you go! Beau however, did not have this luxury straight away because he had unfinished business!

After his untimely death, Beau found himself in a plain white room with nothing but a TV showing snippets of his life on the screen. A few hours passed and an old man walked in and introduced himself as Ambrosius. Beau remembered the old man's kind blue eyes and the wrinkles that webbed over his face when he smiled.

'You have had a rather interesting life,' Ambrosius winked at him, 'but there was one thing i did not see in your life review. You never had an epic love. Care to explain?"

'I wanted to see the world before I settled down," Beau answered.

'Understandable,' remarked the old man 'but you missed out and you know it!'

Beau nodded in agreement. Towards the end of his travels across Europe he'd started thinking about dating again. His first love in college had broken his heart and he'd sworn himself off girls. He'd vowed to finish his studies then travel around Europe before getting a job in the music business. It wasn't until his travels took him to London and he met a girl reading in a cometary that he started to think differently. They did not speak. He casually walked past and smiled at her. as she lifted her auburn head from her book to look at him. All she said was 'quietest place in the city' then smiled. He remembered her smile and it was that which made him consider getting back on the scene. Unfortunately, Beau did not live long enough to fulfil his resolution. He wished back then that he had the nerve to turn round and continue to conversation because even now, he was unable to eject her from him mind.

Ambrosius informed Beau that because of this unfinished business he was assigning him a mission as an earth-bound spirit to experience love but from an observatory point of view. He would write down all the things in life that bought the feeling of love to him and post it back to Ambrosius for marking. The old man told him it could be as simple as a mother comforting her child. 'If it brings you that warm feeling, write it down.' he commanded, 'And once the mission is complete you can cross over and meet your grandma,'.

Reluctantly, Beau took the challenge and hopped on the bus back to earth. Ironic that a bus should kill him and he take one back to life again. Maybe there was something healing about that.

When he alighted the bus, he realised he was back in the cemetery again and Liberty was sitting on the bench where he saw her on last reading the same book. 'Hi!' Beau said enthusiastically. She did not answer him. It was then that Beau realised that he wasn't seen or heard.

For days he returned to the same place and every day she sat there reading. He did not know her name so he started to call her Liberty after her New York City themed tote bag she always see med to have with her.

On one ridiculously rainy day, after he'd sent off his list to Ambrosius, he went back to the cemetery to find her arguing with another man. Her boyfriend. Beau felt his heart sink. Liberty's partner grabbed her arm and she yelped complaining that he was hurting her. Anger swept through beau and he lashed out, meaning to punch the man but felt nothing but air. That was the first day he followed liberty home.

Beau couldn’t explain the inexplicable and irrevocable feelings he was having for this stranger and felt such a strong need to protect her he could think of nothing worse than leaving her alone with that man. He was bad news. Beau felt it in his bones. Well, he felt it deeply.

The man called her Elizabeth, Lib for short. Having such a wild guess at her name and being so close made Beau feel even more connected to her. He couldn’t understand it but he felt as though he had known Lib for years.

Days passed and Ambrosius’ lists got shorter and shorter because Beau was spending all his time keeping on Lib. She was a self-employed massage therapist and after her last client she always ended up in the cemetery. She read only one chapter a day then went home. Her boyfriend worked in finance and always came home late except for weekends. He always seemed stressed and took it out on Lib. He was glib and dismissive of her, treated her like a possession rather than a girlfriend. Beau disliked him immensely.

He wanted desperately to talk to Lib but every time he tried; he could not get through to her. She deserved so much better.

One day he was walking through the streets of London and saw an old book shop with an advertisement in the window for tarot readings. Beau walked in and found a woman in the back giving a reading to a couple.

‘Please tell me you can hear me,’ Beau pleaded. It had been so lonely not being able to talk to anyone. Something he’d taken for granted when he was alive, keeping himself to himself, not trusting anyone. Now he was dead he would give anything for a cup of tea and conversation with a stranger.

‘I can hear you,’ the medium whispered. The couple looked shocked and asked if it was a loved one. ‘I don’t know,’ breathed the medium, ‘he says his name is Beau, do you know a Beau?’. The couple shook their head.

‘I need to you need you to get a message to Lib,’ Beau implored, telling the medium her address, ‘she needs to leave her boyfriend. She deserves better. Tell her it comes from the boy she met in the quietest place in the city,’.

‘I can’t get involved in a strangers’ life like that’. The Medium exclaimed.

The couple sat looking confused as the conversation continued.

‘Please, I believe she’s my unfinished business and I can’t cross over unless I know she’s safe,’. Beau said. The medium agreed, but warned Beau that she would probably have the door slammed in her face. Beau said if it was easier, to meet Lib at the cemetery because she would mostly likely be alone.

With the medium’s consent, Beau left. He noticed as he walked out the couple were holding hands which made him smile and he added it to his list.

The next day, Beau found the medium and Lib talking at the cemetery. Lib seemed angry and was crying.

‘You have no right to dictate to me who I see!’ Lib was shouting.

‘I know!’ the medium exclaimed. ‘I’m just passing on the message. He is worried you’re in danger!’

‘Nate would never hurt me,’. Lib cried.

‘But he did, didn’t he? He grabbed you. And it’s not the first time. People like that only get worse,’

‘Get away from me!’ Lib sobbed, ‘How dare you!’.

The medium walked off briskly, hearing Beau sigh, she said, ‘Happy now?’. Lib watched the medium leave and dried her eyes. Mad woman! How dare she get involved in my personal life. She’d told her this boy was watching out for her like some sort of guardian angel. She laughed to herself. Yeah, like some stranger would suddenly take an interest in her. They’d only met once…. But for some reason the first tendrils of doubt started spreading across her body.

Over the next few days, Beau watched her and Nate become more distant as Lib became more distracted. Nate kept asking what was wrong with her and laughed when she told him she was fine. ‘Not going through a quarter life crisis, are you?’ he scoffed, ‘Maybe it’s time for a career change, get a real job,’.

‘I have a real job!’ Lib snapped. Nate sneered at her. He loved ruffling her feathers. Beau seethed.

Another day Nate commented that maybe she dyed her hair, ‘Gingers are scientifically less attractive you know,’. Why had Lib never noticed these comments before? Was she that blind to his charms that it went in one ear and out the other?

‘I think I’m going to spend a few days at my sisters,’. Lib said eventually. Beau was ecstatic! Yes! He jumped up and down. Finally, she sees her worth! You don’t deserve this scum bag! He punched the air.

He felt warm. One love he had neglected to report back to Ambrosius was self-love. Knowing that you are worth being treated well by your spouse. Lib had finally realised she was worth more than how she was treated by Nate. Her eyes were finally open.

He wrote back to Ambrosius and was summoned into the white room once again.

‘You learned a valuable lesson today,’. Ambrosius said.

‘I did,’ Beau concurred.

‘But did you also know the reason you went back to Lib was because she is your soul mate. Which why you have such a strong connection with her. This mission I gave you was never about finding love in outside situations, it was about finding love yourself,’.

‘I do lover her,’ Beau smiled, ‘Even more so when I was able to help her see her own worth and get rid of that one thing in her life that was making her miserable,’.

‘Indeed. Relationships are about helping each other grow, not just yourself. And you can never help someone evolve by being nasty to them,’. Ambrosius held up a certificate and passed it to Beau.

‘You completed your mission. Now you have to decide where you want to go. If you reincarnate you can meet her again but it will be in a different life time. You see we go through multiples lives but we don’t always align with our soul mate in ever incarnation. Maybe you would have netter luck next time?’.

‘I’m willing to try,’. Beau said, excited.

‘Beware,’ Ambrosius warned, ‘you will have no recollection of your last life or what has happened in this spirit body. When you are born again your memory will be wiped,’.

‘What are the other options?’ Beau asked.

‘You go into the light and wait for her, or you go back to where you were and protect her but you won’t be able to cross over without help, and I will have no contact with you, neither will I if you reincarnate,’.

‘I choose reincarnation,’ Beau decided, ‘I want us to live. Together,’.

‘Are you sure?’ Ambrosius asked, and Beau nodded. He would rather search for her in a new life than wait for her. He would take the risk. He wanted to experience their life together, living.

‘So be it’. Ambrosius chuckled excited for his prodigy,’70th door on the left, take the tube to reincarnation street!” he laughed.

Beau shook his hand, turned and saw a long hallway at the end of the room had appeared. He started to walk down it, anticipation gnawing at his belly.

He opened the 70th door…..

Beau was born into a female body. And lived out her life in London England with no recollection of any previous lives. 25 years later, Belle stood in her new home and surveyed the area. Her room mate and lover liberty walked in and kissed her on the cheek. ‘We did it’. Said Belle.