Grief was as new to Lacey as having seasons. Autumn approached faster than she anticipated it would. She wasn’t prepared for change of any kind. The passing of her older sister, June, had rocked her to the core. June’s death was not the plan. The two women planned to grow old together. They would conquer New York City and thrive in their careers. They were finally free of their familial shortcomings. But Lacey was the last lonely sister crawling toward the proverbial finish line.

The air was crisp in New York City. The night sky settled across the Big Apple on Lacey’s walk home from work. Her thoughts drifted to June while she shuffled to the condominium they used to share. In her desperate hour, she recited the spell from the show Charmed in her mind. It was the same chant Piper Halliwell cast to communicate with her lost loved one. Lacey knew it wouldn’t work, but the internal monologue provided some comfort.

“Hear these words. Hear my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide.”

“The hell with it,” Lacey muttered to herself. She was going to make a detour to her sister. The spell wouldn’t bring her back, so Lacey would go to the next best thing: her grave site.

The space hadn’t changed. In June’s favorite neighborhood in Manhattan, it was the perfect final resting place for her dear sister. Lacey smiled at the thought of June seeing the sights. It would please her to know she was in the heart of Greenwich Village. Laying her to rest in the lower Manhattan area kept the distance between June and all the noise and affluence she had never gotten used to. Her older sister was a free spirit by nature, and Greenwich Village allowed that to be displayed.

Her sister’s ginormous headstone sat bathed in the leaves of the season. The stone was a beautiful work of art provided by June’s husband, Stuart. Stuart and Lacey didn’t speak much since June’s passing. He wasn’t a man of many emotions to begin with, but he showed fewer after his wife passed away. It was isolating to deal with her loss alone, but the grave reminded her that Stu did love her sister.

The late evening hour gave Lacey a moment with her thoughts and her sister’s spirit. She recited the spell once more. This time, she said the chant out loud. “Hear these words. Hear my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee. Cross now the Great Divide.” Lacey felt her emotions bubble to the surface. No matter how much she knew the show wasn’t real, part of her hoped the words borrowed could bring her sister back.

The air in the space ahead turned white and a small ray of light shined in front of her. Before she could speak to rationalize what was happening, June appeared.

“You rang?” she greeted her baby sister with a boisterous laugh.

Lacey fell over at the sight. Was June in front of her? Had she beaten reality?

“You kept repeating yourself,” June reminded her. “You had to know, I had Beetlejuice tendencies,” she joked.

“I… how… you’re here,” Lacey stuttered. The sight of her sister brought great comfort, and hearing the voice she had missed for so long steadied her nerves. “How is it up there?” she asked.

“You know I can’t answer that, soul sista,” June shook her head with a gentle smile. “What about you? I’m watching a helluva lot of wacky here,” she chuckled. June was an ample guardian angel. She took great pride in being a watchful spirit guide for her sibling.

Lacey laughed with her. It was chaos, but it was a case of trying to figure out her life. “I’m not exactly a native here. We’re from the burbs; city living is sad on my own,” she shrugged. “I wish that we were able to learn New York together. Things are different; they’re hard without someone to guide me,” she confessed. It wasn’t often that Lacey admitted she didn’t know what she was doing. But, for the sake of her sister’s advice, she would with no problem.

“You don’t need me there to show you anything. I’m up here pulling the strings. You’re never alone,” she replied. It wasn’t much reassurance, but it was all she could offer. June was in the spirit world. Her death was an unfortunate fate to meet at less than fifty years of age, but it was the result of her earthly flaws. She was a carbon copy of their father. Like him, she was an insecure human who hid behind the comfort of an alcohol bottle. “You’re going to figure this out,” she said, as the light faded. Lacey panicked, watching it dwindle. How was this fair? She couldn’t leave as fast as she came.

It was a few months post-mortem, but her mind had her feeling the loss on a loop. Grief was the price of a close relationship. The love she shared with her sister was immense. However, she began to realize that emotion never had to die with June. The connection remained with her, combined with a gut instinct to make her sister proud. June made a promise when they were young that she would remove Lacey from their traumatic home for good. Lacey would never allow herself to go back to California, even if the hole in her chest often felt crater-sized without her sister to keep that promise on Earth. Time wasn’t fair, but Lacey was happy to rise to the occasion of a life of her own, with or without June by her side.

Editor: Shannon Hensley