Dead Wife Returned to Haunt

I woke to the smell of plumeria drifting through the open window, the kind of sweet, cloying scent that used to make Emily smile. My head throbbed, my mouth tasted like copper, and for a moment I couldn't remember where I was.

Emily's beach house. Our beach house now, technically. At least until the life insurance paid out.

I turned my head on the pillow, and my heart stopped.

A woman lay beside me, her dark hair fanned across the white pillowcase, her chest rising and falling in the peaceful rhythm of sleep. The morning light caught the curve of her cheekbone, the slope of her nose, the slight parting of her lips.

Emily's face.

I lurched backward so hard I nearly fell off the bed, my pulse hammering in my ears. This wasn't possible. This wasn't—

Her eyes opened, and she smiled at me with drowsy affection. "Good morning, honey."

The voice. Christ, even the voice was perfect—that slight rasp Emily had in the mornings, the way she drew out the last syllable like honey dripping from a spoon.

"No." The word came out strangled. "No, no, you're not—Emily's dead. She's dead!"

The woman's expression shifted, the warmth draining into something like concern, maybe hurt. She sat up slowly, the sheet pooling around her waist. She was wearing one of Emily's silk nightgowns, the cream-colored one with lace at the collar.

"Jack, what are you talking about?" Her hand reached toward me, and I scrambled off the bed entirely, my back hitting the wall. "Honey, you're scaring me. Are you feeling okay?"

"Don't call me that!" My voice cracked. "Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?"

She looked at me for a long moment, something unreadable flickering across her features. Then she reached for the nightstand, moving with deliberate calm, and picked up a passport. She held it out to me.

"Look," she said softly. "It's me. It's Emily."

I didn't want to take it. My hands were shaking as I grabbed the small blue booklet, flipping it open with numb fingers. Emily Ann Carter. Date of birth: March 15, 1994. The photo showed her face—or this woman's face—smiling at the camera with that same trusting expression I'd seen through sixty feet of water.

I threw the passport across the room.

"Fake. That's fake, or you—you had surgery or something. I don't know what kind of sick game this is, but—"

"Jack." She reached for her phone on the nightstand, her movements unhurried, almost gentle. Like she was trying not to spook a wounded animal. "Here. Look at these."

She unlocked the phone and handed it to me. The screen showed a photo album labeled "Us." I scrolled through with trembling hands. Our wedding day, Emily—this woman—in her white dress, laughing as I dipped her for a kiss. Our honeymoon in Maui, the two of us on a catamaran at sunset. Last month's dinner at Duke's, her fork stealing food from my plate.

I remembered every single moment. I'd been there. I'd lived them.

"This isn't possible," I whispered.

"Jack, I think you need to see someone." Her voice was so gentle, so concerned. "Maybe you hit your head during a dive? Or you're under too much stress? The gambling debts, I know they've been weighing on you—"

"How do you know about that?" The words came out sharp, accusatory.

She looked at me with Emily's sad eyes, the ones she'd given me when I'd asked to borrow money for "business expenses." "Because I'm your wife. You told me. Remember?"

My vision swam. The room felt too small, the walls pressing in. This was impossible. I'd watched her die. I'd seen the light leave her eyes behind that mask. I'd left her in a cage sixty feet underwater.

"Where's your butterfly tattoo?" I demanded suddenly. "Emily has—had—a butterfly on her ankle."

Without a word, she lifted her right foot and rested it on the bed. There, on her ankle, was the small monarch butterfly Emily had gotten in college. The same size, the same colors, the same slightly crooked wing.

"Jack," she said, her voice breaking slightly, "I'm worried about you. Let me call Mandy, okay? Maybe she can help."

She picked up her phone again before I could respond, tapping the screen and setting it on speaker. The line rang twice before a familiar voice answered.

"Em! God, I've been meaning to call you. How's the anniversary trip going?"

Mandy. Emily's best friend, the theater director who never liked me, who always looked at me like she could see straight through my charm to something rotten underneath.

"Hey, Mandy." The woman's voice was tight now, strained. "Listen, I'm a bit worried about Jack. He woke up this morning and he's... he's saying strange things. Claiming I'm not me, that I'm dead. I think he might be having some kind of episode."

A pause on the other end. "Jesus. Is he okay? Does he seem dangerous?"

"No, just confused. Disoriented. I don't know if he hit his head or if it's stress, but I think he needs help."

"Do you need me to come over? I can catch a flight tonight—"

"No, not yet. I just wanted you to know, in case... in case things get worse."

They talked for another minute, their conversation flowing naturally, full of inside jokes and references I recognized from Emily's stories about their college days. When she hung up, the woman—Emily—whoever she was—looked at me with something that might have been pity.

"Jack, please. Let me help you."

I needed to think. I needed to prove she was lying.

"What did I say to you," I asked slowly, "the first time we had dinner together? The exact words."

She tilted her head, a small smile playing at her lips—the same expression Emily wore when I'd said something she found endearing. "You said, 'I know this sounds crazy, but I think I knew you in another life. Maybe we were sea turtles together.'"

My blood ran cold. I'd never told anyone else that. It had been just us, a quiet table at a beachside café, me trying too hard to be charming and quirky.

"What's my nickname for you?" My voice was barely a whisper now. "The private one."

"Starfish." Her eyes were soft, knowing. "Because I said you could regenerate my heart after my ex broke it."

The room tilted. I groped behind me for the wall, needing something solid.

"Where does Emily keep her journal?" I demanded. "The one she doesn't think I know about."

"Behind the loose board in the bedroom closet, left side, third plank from the floor." She stood now, moving toward me. "Jack, this is me. I don't know what's happening to you, but I'm here. We'll get through this together."

She reached for my hand, and I jerked away like she'd burned me.

Because either I was losing my mind, or I'd just murdered someone who was still somehow alive.

And I had no idea which possibility terrified me more.