As I made my way up the street, suddenly I spotted a familiar face and smiled.
‘Hey Rupert!’ I said, waving.
‘Are you walking on your own again?’ he said. ‘Here, let me walk you home.’
I rolled my eyes.
‘Fine,’ I said with a laugh.
Rupert was not only a great friend, but a complete gent, which was a rare quality in today’s modern world.
But for a guy who hailed from three centuries before, chivalry was certainly anything but dead.
Dressed in his smart red coat and white trousers, it was never hard to spot my ghost chum on my commute home from work.
Rupert told me he had served as a British soldier in the 1700s and had been tragically killed by poisoning while stationed in the area.
Yet bumping into spirits in the street was nothing new to me.
I’d first started experiencing communications from the spirit world when I was three and, ever since, I’d been able to perceive them through inner-eye and inner-ear clairvoyance, clairaudience, claircognisance and clairsentience.
But it was when I moved to one of America’s most haunted towns, Wilmington, four years previously, my abilities presented on a whole new level.
Everywhere I’d go, phantoms would follow and sometimes it was impossible to tell on an energetic level a real person and a ghost apart.
At first, I was terrified, but once I realised they meant no harm, I embraced my gift and opened my heart to new friendships.
Then when I met Rupert outside one of the town’s oldest houses, I was beyond thrilled.
‘He’s one of the clearest spirits I’ve ever seen,’ I told my boyfriend, J.
‘That’s so interesting,’ he replied.
Me and Rupert began speaking every day, but as our friendship developed over the months, a different side of him began to emerge.
‘J should be walking you home, what kind of man is he?’ he said one day in a fit of rage.
‘You can’t just roll up and put your standards on a man in the 21st century!’ I said angrily.
He was becoming jealous of my relationship in the physical realm, so I decided to distance myself from Rupert for a while.
But when we reconnected some months later, he’d done some soul searching and had a shocking confession.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I was angry because you were my wife in my lifetime.’
My jaw nearly hit the floor.
‘What?’ I said.
Suddenly it dawned on me that Rupert had occasionally made strange comments about me looking and sounding different.
I eventually did a professional past-life regression with a hypnotist and it revealed Rupert was telling the truth.
We’d been man and wife in a past life.
Thankfully, J was totally cool with it all and the two settled their differences and became good buddies.
We’d do movie nights together, and we even got Rupert to ditch the big red coat for sweaters and khakis.
Then one day, me and Rupert decided to meet up for a coffee together at a local café.
But as I went to hand Rupert a piece of my ginger cookie, I suddenly noticed he looked extremely uncomfortable.
He cleared his throat and awkwardly shifted in his chair.
‘What is it?’ I said.
‘Someone else is here,’ he said, nodding his head to the space behind me.
When I looked round, I was shocked to see a beautiful lady dressed in a corset and dark practical skirt, lounging on the loveseat in the window.
‘Hi,’ I said to her. ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m Molli, but that’s not my God-given name,’ she said.
We got chatting, but it was clear it wasn’t me she had her sights set on.
She was giving Rupert the eye, batting her dark, long lashes, while he sat blushing like crazy.
It turned out Molli was from the 1830s.
But it was when she started talking about her line of work that my mouth fell agape.
It turned out she’d worked as a prostitute and she’d become a lady of the night at just 14.
‘No one forced me,’ she explained. ‘I wanted to get away from my father and make my own money.’
She later told me her tragic death had come when she was just 18 at the hands of a man she’d said no to.
Clearly, she was still trying to drum up some business, but Rupert was having none of it.
Molli was such a flirt, she even tried sticking it on me once or twice too.
It certainly worked in making Rupert jealous.
Following our meeting, I continued to see Molli, always in the same corner of the coffee shop.
I’d buy her a cup of tea and a cake and we’d have a right natter.
And now, four months on, we’ve become fast friends.
Although she still flirts, I’m not letting it go any further than friends.
Since I posted about her on my ghost guide TikTok, people have gone crazy for her and have sent me gifts including jewellery and treats to give to her.
Molli is soaking up the new-found fame, and I’ve even had a portrait of her drawn.
Still, all the attention hasn’t halted Molli’s pursuit of Rupert. She’s constantly vying for his attention, but he’s adamant she’s much too wild for his liking.
Who knows, maybe they will get together one day. But for now, I think he’s well and truly put the nail in the coffin for that possibility.
