The Spirit of Lover Past
Lit Up: Decembers Prompt
Ally watched the lights in the rearview mirror. Tom was following her home from the restaurant. His size, his muscles, his arrogance all made him the alpha dog, and Ally wanted a taste. What her boyfriend didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, right? She adjusted the mirror to check her makeup and smiled at her reflection.
When Ally turned down the lane to her cottage, she got a shock. Her boyfriend was parked in the driveway. She stopped the car and got out in the rain. Running back to Tom’s car, she was in a panic. Tom unrolled the window and smiled his silky smile at her.
Her fingers clenched the car door. He kissed them and asked, “What’s up dollface?”
Ally’s stomach lurched, even in this situation he affected her. She told him he had to go, her boyfriend had surprised her.
Tom just chuckled and said, “Get rid of him. I’ll drive around the block.”
Every fiber of her being was screaming “Wrong,” but she agreed when Tom leaned over and kissed her.
Driving down her lane towards her cottage and her boyfriend, Ally wondered how she’d get rid of him.
She walked up to his truck with a wave of anger she didn’t feel. Adrenaline pumping, she opened the door, waking him. He’d driven hours to see her. She asked what the hell he was doing there and went off about privacy, rights, and feelings of ownership.
Mikey blinked his blue eyes at her, confused. “I don’t feel like I own you.”
“You’ve become too comfortable in this relationship, no phone call, no text, you just show up. How about that for entitled?”
He ran his hands through curly blonde locks, “I thought you’d be happy to see me.” Tom’s car circled one more time.
Ally couldn’t take the stress, and she lost it, screaming at him to just go.
Walking away, she waved down Tom and told him to park in guest parking. Spine ramrod stiff, she gave her hair a flip and looked beneath her lashes at her boyfriend’s truck. He was staring at her. She turned around and walked to her front door without meeting his eyes.
Once inside, she ran to the patio door to peeked outside. His truck was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief. There was a knock at the door. Ally opened it to see Tom standing there with a six-pack of Heineken in one hand and a bag of jerky in the other.
“You big romantic, jerky? You shouldn’t have,” she said, giggling at him.
They drank the beer, had sex, then they lay in bed and nibbled the jerky. Ally was disappointed, the great passionate evening she imagined never happened. Tom was rough with her. He was drunk, too drunk. She wanted him gone, but she realized he was too drunk to drive, so she hoped he’d fall asleep soon.
She turned out the lights and lay down wrapped in the sheet. Tom had all the covers. They didn’t touch. Soon she heard his loud snores and relaxed into sleep herself.
She awoke with a start when all the lights came on in her bedroom, and the curtains blew up. Ally sat straight up in bed clutching her sheets to her chest. A beautiful woman with a glowing gown was standing at the foot of her bed. Tom was still snoring, oblivious to the intrusion. The woman moved to the edge of the bed and spoke.
“I am the Spirit of Lovers Past. I’m here to show you the error of your ways. Come now, we haven’t much time before dawn.”
The woman reached her hands toward Ally and helped her out of bed.
Ally thought, “I must be dreaming,” as she floated alongside the woman.
They went down the hall, but instead of entering Ally’s living room, they walked into her boyfriend’s dorm room where, he was staring at a velvet box. He couldn’t see them, and Ally cried out, “A ring, I’ve ruined everything.”
The woman nodded and took her hand, and they floated over the city to a home in the suburbs. It was Christmas at her boyfriend’s house, but everything was wrong. His hair was longer, his mustache was gone, a strange woman was there, she sat on his lap, and they laughed together. Two kids came bursting into the room and threw themselves at their parents. Soon they were all opening presents. It was a picture of domestic bliss.
Ally yelled, “Stop it!”
She knew they couldn’t see or hear her, but she was jealous. The Spirit of Lovers Past shushed her with a finger to her lips.
She took Ally’s hand, and they left again, this time whooshing so fast Ally couldn’t see where they were going. They landed in a studio apartment. The Spirit pointed to a solitary figure in the room. There was a tiny Christmas tree on the dining room table and lights blinking merrily in the window. Otherwise, the place was dreary and dark. An older woman sat near the tree, staring at her phone. Ally looked more closely in the dim light.
Ally jumped back, surprised. It was her, an older, sadder version of her. In the future, she was alone at Christmas. She remembered what happened earlier, and how she treated her boyfriend. Apparently, he was serious about her. She felt like a dilettante.
“What can I do to avoid this fate?” she cried to the Spirit.
A rush of images, all her flirtations and one night stands flashed before her eyes, then images of herself alone, flooded her brain.
“No, I’ll stop. I’ll be a good person,” she cried. The Spirit took her hand, and she was back in her car checking the rearview for Toms lights.
She slammed on her brakes, walked up to his car and gave him directions to the freeway. She gave him no excuse, just that she changed her mind. With that, she drove on, hoping to see Mikey’s car in the driveway.
