Characters: Mick, Beth, Ray & Lilah
A/N: For the "ghost" Halloween challenge # 142. I guess you could consider this a sequel to Mick's Memorial Day. Heavy on the ghosts; a little lame on the spooky.
The Halloween After the Memorial Day Before
“Ready for some scary Halloween movies tonight?” Mick asked.
“Sure am,” Beth replied as she set two glasses of wine on the coffee table and sat next to Mick on the couch. “You know, I couldn’t watch scary movies for the longest time; they gave me nightmares. As a teenager the best I could do was Hocus Pocus.”
Mick chuckled. “Well, if you want to start out slow, we could see if it’s on Netflix.”
“Thanks, but after having real vampires in my life now it might seem pretty tame,” she replied with a smile and took a sip of her wine. “Hey, do vampires believe in the whole ‘ghosts come back on All Hallows Eve’ thing?” she asked him.
Mick muted the television and his face grew somber. “It’s happened to Josef a few times in the past.”
Beth’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously?” Mick nodded. “Has it ever happened to you?” He shook his head.
“Not yet, it hasn’t. But I haven’t lived as long as Josef.” He was silent for a minute and then seemed to shrug it off. “Okay, let’s start with Poltergeist. I read that it’s the ultimate haunted house movie.”
The opening credits had barely started when the lights began to flicker and make crackling noises. Then the power went off and they were in the dark except for the glow of the gas fireplace. A definite chill filled the room.
“What happened? And why did it get so cold in here so fast?” Beth asked, turning to Mick. He seemed even paler than usual, and the look on his face could only be described as shock. He was just staring at an empty space across the room. “Mick?” she asked tentatively, touching his arm. “Mick, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“Ray. Lilah.” He said it as if in greeting; not to Beth. In fact, he acted like he had forgotten Beth was even there.
Now Beth was the one in shock. “Ray and Lilah?” she said with a wavering voice. She looked around the empty room and back at Mick. “They’re here, now? In this room?” Mick nodded without turning.
“Hello Mick, it’s good to see you again,” Lilah said with that beautiful smile he remembered so well. Her voice hadn’t changed a bit, and they both looked exactly as they had the day he and Ray left for the war. “Your friend Beth can’t see or hear us. We shared no connection with her in the past. But you can tell her we say hello.”
At last Mick turned to Beth. “They said you won’t be able to see or hear them like I can, because you don’t have a shared past. But they say hello.”
Beth looked startled, but turned towards the empty space where Mick had been staring. “Well, um, hello,” she mumbled.
Mick turned back to stare across the room. “So why are you here?”
“We came to say thank you for visiting us at the cemetery on Memorial Day,” Ray said, stepping forward. Mick unconsciously leaned back. “You were right – we do know all about you. And it doesn’t matter. On this side,” Mick saw him look back at Lilah and smile before looking at Mick again. “On this side, nothing matters. It’s a happy place, and not to be feared. Mick, we are not to be feared, either. We mean you no harm by visiting you like this. But we can only do it on Halloween.”
“Mick, what are they saying?” Beth whispered, tugging his sleeve. Ray nodded at Mick so he turned to Beth.
“Remember in May when we went to the cemetery?” Beth nodded. “They came here to thank us for visiting them, and they don’t mean any harm. And to say that they know I’m a vampire now, but it doesn’t matter to them.”
Beth cast a wary glance in the direction where she thought Ray and Lilah were standing. She lowered her voice even more. “And what about...?” She let her voice trail off.
Mick looked between Ray and Lilah, who was still smiling at him. “If I’m not mistaken, he knows about that, too.”
Ray nodded. Taking Lilah’s hand they made their way over to the couch. Beth felt the chill and pulled her sweater tighter around her. “Yes, I know about you and Lilah. She told me soon after I returned home, so I’ve known all along.” He actually sat down next to Mick, causing him to jump. “At first I was mad; I won’t deny it. But then I remembered that I asked you to take care of her. She was hurting, believing I was dead. And you were there for her. Now, I can appreciate that.” He put an arm around Mick’s shoulders. “I’d rather it was my best friend than someone else.” He removed his arm and rested this elbows on his knees, hanging his head. “But I was angry at you at the time. I was torn up inside. All these conflicting emotions! Self-pity, jealousy, anger, a little bit of betrayal. And then when you took the high road and left I was mad at myself for not being as much of a man as you were.”
“Ray, I…” Mick began. But Ray hushed him.
“No, don’t. I understand, really.”
“Mick, what are they saying?” Beth’s curiosity was overcoming her fear.
“Shh, I’ll tell you later,” he said, patting her leg.
“And now I want to apologize to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes. Because I abandoned you. I just couldn’t face you, and I should have manned up. And then Robert came along and I didn’t even want to know. As far as I was concerned, he was my son.”
“He is your son. We ran his DNA.”
“Yes, we know.” He paused. “You were right when you said at the cemetery that we both could have used a friend after the war. I wish I had done things differently. I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright Ray,” Mick said to his friend.
Just then Beth felt a kind of static electricity pass over her, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Mick turned to her.
“Lilah is sitting next to you,” Mick told her.
Beth looked at Mick and then at the space on her other side. She could have sworn she felt something touch her leg.
“You’re good for him, Beth,” she said as she patted her leg. “I can tell how happy he is with you.” She looked over at Mick and they exchanged smiles as Mick took Beth’s hand to calm her. “I worried about him a lot at first. But I knew I had to concentrate on my marriage and my family. I kept Mick locked in a special place in my heart.”
“What is she saying?” Beth whispered.
“I’ll explain all of it later. Let her finish.”
“After I crossed over and learned all that he had been through, I cried. It made me,” she glanced at Ray. “Made us so happy when Mick brought you to the cemetery and introduced you. We knew he had found his one true love.”
“Thank you, Lilah,” Mick said with sincerity.
“I think it’s time to be going, Lilah,” Ray said as he stood up. Mick stood as well, watching as Ray took Lilah’s hand to help her up from the couch. Beth felt the presence leave her side.
“So soon?” she said with a frown. “Bye Mick,” she said, placing a kiss on his cheek. “You take care of yourself. And marry this woman! She’s your match.” Mick grinned.
“One more thing,” Ray said as he shook Mick’s hand. “Thank you for all you did to save our grandson, Jacob. You have to know that if you hadn’t become a vampire, he would not have survived. There is a reason for everything, Mick. We just don’t always know what it is until much later.”
Beth saw Mick shake hands with thin air, and realized Ray and Lilah were leaving. She stood up next to Mick.
“Good bye to both of you. Thank you, I think,” she added as she looked up at Mick. He smiled down at her and squeezed her hand.
“Yes, thank you. It was good – so good – to see you both.” Mick was starting to choke up. He watched as Ray and Lilah held hands and faded into nothing. The TV sprang to life with the movie at the exact same place it had been when the power went off.
“Look at the clocks,” Beth said. “Nothing changed. It’s as if time stood still while they were here.”
“Then that’s a gift from them,” Mick said. He turned the television off and guided Beth back to the couch. “Now let me tell you what they said…”
The End.
I'm wondering along with Tula whether Mick will mention the "M word"... 
This was a wonderful story that provided Mick some closure and happiness knowing his best friends still cared for him.
And then you cleverly turned your story from creepy into a happy reunion.