Chapter Twenty-Three #2
She did not have to wait long; Nessa had never left.
I am here. Where did you go?
I went into the past.
Into my past?
Yes.
What did you see?
Everything. I saw Gilda lock the door and I heard you throw something against it.
Gilda’s green lamp.
Yes. That lamp started the fire.
Gilda murdered me.
Well, I wouldn’t say it was murder. She didn’t intend to kill you.
She didn’t come and let me out. She left me to die behind that locked door.
She was having an affair with Taran Bentley, whom you loved.
I loved him with all my heart, and she stole him from me. She stole everything from me.
Pixie felt Nessa’s energy grow anguished and decided to backtrack a little.
You were a talented actress, Nessa.
I was, wasn’t I?
Bentley said you were the finest Lady Macbeth he’d ever seen.
He wanted to take me to London. He was going to promote me. If Gilda hadn’t killed me, I would have performed in the West End. I might even have been great.
I’m sure you would have been.
And I would have married Bentley.
Perhaps.
But Gilda ruined everything. Because of her I died, and Papa never got to see me perform. He would have understood then why I wanted a career on the stage, and he would have supported me. Gilda stole my future.
Is that why you tormented Isadora?
Isadora is Gilda’s blood.
Pixie was blindsided. This wasn’t what she expected to hear. Isadora is related to Gilda?
Taran married Gilda because she was pregnant with his child.
Pixie remembered Gilda’s tears, and tried to recall the atmosphere between her and Bentley when she found them alone together, first at Gilda’s house and later, in her dressing room. Did she know then that she was carrying his child?
How did you find that out?
The dead have ears, you know. I stuck around. I wasn’t going anywhere. I listened. I watched. I learned.
If Nessa knew that, then she would know what happened to Eddie, wouldn’t she? Pixie barely dared breathe for fear of what Nessa might tell her.
What happened to Eddie Skipton after the fire?
Skippy? Skippy left Seacombe. I don’t know where she went.
Those words cut Pixie deeply. How she wanted to turn the clock back and reverse the damage she had done. Had it been worth it? She might have found out what happened to Nessa, but at what cost to Eddie and Cavill?
She stiffened her jaw in an attempt to stifle the remorse that now rose into her throat.
After the divorce Cavill sold the theatre and eventually his home. I don’t know what happened to him, either.
Pixie knew that Nessa sensed her distress like a hound smells blood and was taking pleasure from it. Unhappy people thrive on the unhappiness of others.
So, you want to punish Gilda through her granddaughter?
Great-granddaughter, Nessa corrected.
Are you sure they’re related?
I know it. Judy, Gilda’s daughter, visited this place when she was a young woman. She wanted to learn about her mother, she said. She came here but she didn’t stay long. But she stayed long enough to strike up a friendship with Madge.
Madge? Madge who makes the tea?
The very same. Madge was a child then, helping out about the theatre, sewing badly and assisting her father with the stage sets and props.
Judy told them all about her mother, Gilda Garrett, and what an accomplished actress she was.
I would have told them the truth, but they couldn’t hear me.
I tried to make myself heard. Some managed to see me.
There are always those who can. But I got tired of haunting the place.
It gets boring after a while. After years. Decades.
If it’s so dull, why don’t you go home?
Because there’s nothing for me there.
Life is a stage, Nessa. And you have stepped off it. The people you shared that stage with are now in spirit, waiting for you to join them. There is so much love for you there.
They never showed me love in life, why would they in death?
Because it’s not death. It’s life, after life. There is only life. We’re all here, on earth, to learn from each other. When we have completed what we came here to do, we go home. You completed your life, Nessa. Now you must go home. I think you’ll find that home is a place of love and forgiveness.
I’ll never forgive Gilda for what she did. And love her? Never!
As long as your heart is hard, Nessa, you will only hurt yourself.
I’m not hurting. I’m enjoying hurting Isadora.
But she isn’t Gilda.
She is her blood.
She has done nothing to harm you.
She is Gilda’s descendant. That is enough. That’s as close as I’m going to get. As long as she’s playing Lady Macbeth, I will torment her.
How did you discover that Isadora is Judy’s granddaughter?
You think you’re so clever, Pixie Tate. You have a gift, of that there is no doubt.
But it’s limited. You’re still in your body.
I am no longer in mine, and what freedom there is without it.
I know more than you can imagine. You may be able to travel through time.
You may be able to see ghosts. But you cannot imagine what it is like to be me.
Nessa laughed scornfully. Madge is my informant.
She doesn’t know it, of course. But those letters that Judy wrote to her right up until her death only a few years ago, were full of information.
She was proud of her granddaughter Isadora Nash.
She hoped she would become a big star in New York.
Madge knows that Isadora is Gilda’s great-granddaughter.
She knows more than she’s telling. She’s as sly as an old vixen, that one.
Why would she keep it secret? What’s the point of that?
Because she doesn’t like Isadora. No one likes Isadora. And Madge likes having me around. But she needn’t worry because I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here.
You’re determined to get rid of Isadora?
Of course. She won’t want to perform again once I’ve finished with her.
And then you’ll move on?
No. I’m staying.
To torment other actors too?
Just Isadora Nash. Gilda’s great-granddaughter.
She deserves it. She’s not a nice person.
She was horrid to Madge, and I like Madge.
I like Madge very much. She’s the only person, besides you and the other useless mediums who have failed to convince me to leave, who talks to me. Madge talks to me a lot.
Please, Nessa. I can’t bear to leave you here in darkness, when you can float up on the light.
You all speak about light and dark. Life and death. Spirit and growth. I’m bored of it all. Leave me alone. Leave me to my fun. I can be a great actress here. I am a great actress here. It’s all I ever wanted, and no one can stop me. Not even you.
With that she vanished.
Pixie opened her eyes. The room felt warm again. And empty. Nessa had gone.