The shop bell of Tchaikovsky's Groceries chimed loudly against the opening door. Arabella walked into the familiar strings of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons that echoed throughout the charming little store. 

The blonde teenage boy, whose name she had learned the day before—Alex, was behind the counter and busily staring at his phone. His friend, Mikhail, was stacking the empty shelves with Doritos and Cheetos, crunching the chips beneath the tight grip of his fingers as he jammed silently to his large headphones.

"Welcome, how are ya?" Alex called out without looking up from his phone, a déjà vu played out like a dream in front of her.

Arabella walked towards the corner, clipped a basket in her elbow, and pulled the grocery sheet out of her pocket. "Bread, meat, tomato, oil."

She rounded the corner and saw a whole section filled with different snacks and peanuts. "Nuts, definitely nuts."

She read the labels carefully and wondered what kind of nut would be the most versatile and most common in recipes. She hadn't even asked when James lived, surely that would have given them both a clue to what he was cooking at that time.

"Walnuts." Rows and rows of dried fruit, nuts, candies, and random munchies in glass canisters made the decision more difficult. Should she get black walnuts or the English variety? Shelled or unshelled?

Arabella looked around and compared the nuts available to her and noted that the unshelled black walnut variety was significantly cheaper than all the rest. In fact, it was on sale at 10% off!

If it was a sign she needed, then a discount was as clear as any sign could get.

She walked further and grabbed a bottle of oil and a packet of dried pasta and chose the best-looking pan bread. Moving to the frozen and chilled areas where most of the meat, vegetables, and dairy were located, Arabella spotted the healthy pinkish skin of raw chicken legs.

She loved chicken! If James was going to cook for her day in and day out, might as well make him cook food that she liked to eat.

Approaching the freezers, she picked the chicken legs with the tongs and bagged them cheerily. She was getting the most from this bargain with the dead, and while she enjoyed the fruits of this exchange, she was going to help him successfully pass on. It was definitely a win-win.

A man brushed shoulders with her, and she looked back to apologize. Arabella immediately recognized the man even with his white plastic coat and funky yellow gloves.

"Hello, Bertie."

Bertie smiled at Arabella and placed the sausages he was holding on a hook. "Well, I can't say I had expected you to still be here. What a pleasant surprise!"

Arabella grinned at the comment and placed the bag of chicken legs in the basket. "I believe I can successfully rule out rats from the apartment."

"Sylvia called," Bertie casually mentioned after nodding at her comment. He removed a slab of meat from the freezer and switched the slicing machine on as he continued to speak.

The metal wheels of the machine painfully brattled and echoed in the shop, its hair-tingling noise harmonizing with the high frantic notes of The Four Season's Winter portion.

"What?" Arabella tapped her ear with a finger as the noise caused momentary confusion.

Bertie was still talking over the machine. Arabella didn't think that he could hear himself either.

"I can't hear you!" She mouthed exasperatedly and continued to gesture with both hands tapping her ears.

Finally, Bertie understood and shut the machine off. "Sorry, I was saying that she asked if you wanted to have a night observation thing." He placed the slab of meat back in the freezer and laid out the sliced pieces on several trays. "20 dollars an hour? She said that she can throw in a tarot reading for free."

Arabella laughed. Well, Sylvia had to earn a living somehow!

"I don't think that will be necessary."

Impressed by the recent developments of Apartment 10B, Bertie's lips pressed into a thin line, which made him look awfully look like Robert De Niro. "You're not encountering problems anymore?" His hooded eyes and pouted lips accompanied the nodding, "Huh!"

"Well, you could say that," she smirked. What was the best way to explain this without sounding crazy? "You could say that we have reached an agreement."

Bertie nodded. His lips still pressed together as he thought about what those cryptic words meant. "As long as you're settled in, we're happy for you."

Arabella tipped her head to the side in agreement and took a few tomatoes and lemons from the basket. She noticed a small area that had empty boxes and wooden pallets stacked upon each other.

It was such a waste of space! That small enclosure even had a window to the street, but it was now covered in old posters and caution tape.

Curious, Arabella walked over to inspect it a little more. "What happened here, Bertie?"

He glanced to check what Arabella was talking about and continued fixing the deli as he spoke. "I used to have a dairy chiller there, but it broke, and it was expensive to fix. I created a stand for scout cookies or lemonade, but no one rented it. So, it's just there."

"Oh." Before Arabella could say anything else, the shop bell rang, loudly clanging over the low tones of Chopin.

There was a large gust of wind that came with her and the teenage boys snapped to attention. Alex pocketed his phone and looked at the woman who had just walked in while giving the usual greeting. Mikhail pretended not to stare, but anyone who had two eyes could see why he was trying not to.

A woman not more than Arabella's age had entered the shop and she didn't need an entrance song for you to notice her. She had jet black hair, curls surrounding her face like a vixen, pale ghoulish skin and a beautiful pronounced nose.

Arabella was transfixed. Something was dragging her attention to this woman, and it wasn't her long legs or her big olive protruding eyes. The woman had large heavy black boots and a brown off-shoulder corseted dress tightly cinched around her waist.

The woman didn't utter a single word. She entered, took a long strip of condoms, paid and left.

She seemed to be a regular by the way the boys attended to her.

Arabella walked up to the counter and started placing her groceries on the till for Alex to cash out. Alex and Mikhail seem to be engrossed in their infatuation with the lady who had just left the store.

"Oh, it's 10B! How are ya?" Alex greeted her distractedly and started cashing out the groceries while Mikhail dutifully bagged them on the other corner.

"Man, wish I could get the courage to say something to her. Something smart!" Mikhail shook his head with disgust.

The boys needed to practice their game ten times over to be noticed by a firecracker like her.

"Or hilarious!" Alex chimed in and passed a worried look at the door. "She might come back, you know."

"Does she come here often?" Arabella asked, curious about how long the boys had had a crush on her.

"Just a few times a month. But she buys the same thing every time. Just condoms. Nothing else," Alex said, and clicked for the bill's total.

Mikhail moved closer to them conspiratorially, "But Bertie was able to get her name!"

Arabella was surprised. She didn't take Bertie for a ladies' man.

Alex snorted, "He didn't even ask her. He was behind this thing," he pushed forcefully on the cash register and continued his story, "and she just mentioned it casually, Mary, she said. One word! One fucking word, and then left."

"What a woman!" Mikhail exclaimed, color rising to his cheeks.

Testosterone pumping into the boys' blood, Alex agreed heartily. "Yes! What a woman!"

Arabella nodded, smirking to herself as she was amused by the entire exchange.

There was a brief period in her life that she had wished to be as self-assured as Mary had been in the shop, but she had since accepted that all women had their own charms. Hers, in particular, was her quiet demeanor, not in any way near the flashy cool confidence that Mary certainly possessed.

"You might want to buy cheese!" Bertie called out from the back of the shop. "It's on sale today, 30% off, but please consume it by the end of the month."

Mikhail moved to the chiller to take a block of cheddar and presented it to Arabella. "Yes?" He asked her with a frown. She could tell that he was a little disgusted by the tactic, but Arabella could not deny the economics of this practice.

Rats were ruled out, so what the hell. Arabella nodded and the cheese was added to her bill.

Both boys glanced at the door at the same time as if they waited for Mary to reenter and suddenly have the unlikely desire to converse with them.

Highly unlikely.

Arabella followed their gaze and spotted a stack of newspapers and writing instruments at the edge of the counter. She took a thickly folded stack and picked a highlighter from its container. These were added to her bag as well.

Hey, look at her! She was already getting a hang of shopping for James.

Waving her goodbyes, she clutched the bags against her chest and ascended Windsor Hall to give James her surprise. She was also eager to tell him about Mary and the update from Sylvia K. It would surely be interesting to know what he thought of them!

Arabella shuffled the bags and keys easily and within moments, she was chattering happily to the air while placing the groceries in their proper place. "She was absolutely stunning and cool, and the boys were drooling..."

She took the last of the chilled products, including the discounted cheese and shoved them in the refrigerator.

The magnets caught her attention. "Later," they read.

Arabella shifted her focus to the counter where the Scrabble box had been laid out and there, neatly spelled in tiles read, BE BACK AT SIX.

There was a time limit?

Where does he go if he couldn't stay here?

So many questions boggled her mind, but instead of throwing these out when no one was listening, Arabella instead tried to focus on preparing for her first day of work. Today was the last day of her three-day reprieve from work, and tomorrow she would have to show up bright and early and eager.

Arabella languidly took a shower, scrubbing hard and long, before discovering that the bottom faucet had an annoying leak. After several attempts of tightening it, she finally gave up and placed a pail under the faucet to abate the sound.

Her laptop was brought to life and she answered emails, prepared whatever she could, took a nap, and procrastinated her way to 6 in the evening.

By that time, her stomach was growling. She had only had a cupcake and the breakfast that James had prepared. Stepping down to the first floor, Arabella brought her laptop to the dining table and started rummaging through freezer for any microwavable meals. Her mom had prepared several, and she popped one into the microwave for reheating.

Seconds later, a ringer buzzed in the room, and for a moment Arabella thought that her food was ready earlier than the timer. But she looked at the microwave again and the light was still on. The ringer buzzed a second time, and she realized that it must have been the doorbell.

Arabella peeked into the small hole and found no one outside her door. She wrenched the door open and found a small piece of paper with very shaky handwriting that read, "I'm here."

"James?" She called out, picking up the paper and closing the door. "James, is that you?"

A spoon tapped the kitchen faucet making a high, but pleasant sound. They were discovering more and more ways to communicate. This was actually becoming fun.

"Hello, James. Why did you need to leave earlier? Do you have a curfew?" Arabella moved around the counter and placed the newspaper and highlighter beside the magazine, marker, and Scrabble box. "I've bought you a gift!"

The Scrabble tiles arranged themselves and read, THANK YOU

The highlighter lifted and the newspaper spread itself on the counter. He marked his message as a loud ding finally signaled that the food was ready to be brought out of the microwave. Arabella took the package and released the steam while she read the message.

It is not a curfew but it is easier after 6pm up to about noon the next day. The more noise, the harder for us to move around.

This was possibly the longest sentence she has ever heard (read) him say. Arabella was oddly grateful for random publications that made this possible.

"So, will this be a daily thing? I'll only see you from 6 in the evenings until mornings? What happens at night, do you Netflix your way out of boredom?" Arabella stabbed her food with a fork, mixing it as she released excess steam from it.

Yes, this will be everyday. What do you mean?

"Netflix? Oh." She bit on a particularly hot piece of beef. Arabella could only make out her food now, it was her mom's Beef Stroganoff pasta.

"When did you say you died, James? Like what era were you living in?"

We did not discuss it yet. Has it been long? I was born in 1872 and died in 1904

Arabella spat out the hot piece of meat upon reading the numbers James had encircled on the newspaper. It couldn't have been right.

Did he say (mark) 1872 and 1904?

The writing instrument lifted and started marking a new message.

I take that as a yes. It has been far too long.

"Do you know what year it is? James, it's been more than a century! It's 2020."

Arabella somehow knew that James's silence meant frustration and self-pity. How could you be stuck for that long? She too felt sorry for him. Whatever his faults were in his life, choking on a nut was punishment enough. A century of 6 pm to 12-noon shifts as a ghost seemed like a nightmare.

"Don't worry, James," she coaxed, wiping up food she had spit out onto the table. "We will figure this out. I'll help you, I promise."

You are too kind

Arabella finished her meal by talking about Netflix and the Internet. James seemed to be quite surprised by everything, and he also seemed eager to learn about it. Apparently, he wasn't just stuck in limbo time-wise, but was also confined to this apartment. He could walk up to a certain point after her door, but that was about it. His mission required him to finish the activity he had been doing when he died.

He was in the kitchen when he died so here shall he be until he completes it.

What utter nonsense! No wonder no one wants to die.

After dinner, Arabella managed to show him her laptop and how to use the internet browser with the basics—Google for questions, YouTube for videos, and Netflix for boredom fixes.

James struggled with the touchpad of the laptop, but luckily, Arabella had a Bluetooth-connected mouse which seemed to work better for him.

It took James approximately 57 years to type a single sentence on a blank document. He couldn't understand why the letters were not arranged alphabetically.

While James practiced typing, Arabella went on about her excitement for her first day of work. She cleaned up after herself and thought about leaving the laptop with James for the night.

"You can use my laptop for Netflix tonight. I'm going to bed, I haven't even decided what to wear tomorrow," Arabella casually mentioned, as she fluffed the pillows on the living room couch.

The thought of outfits and fashion statements reminded Arabella of her encounter with Mary in the grocery. "Speaking of clothes, I saw this well-dressed woman in the grocery earlier." Arabella moved to the laptop where James was typing 'The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog' over and over again, an exercise which Arabella promised would help with his dexterity.

"Her name is Mary and she seemed so fabulous and confident. She was wearing this tight belt around her waist," gesturing to her own waist imitating the cinching. "The boys were drooling over her." Arabella remembered with a smile, as she climbed the steps.

"Well, that is all. You might have encountered her already. I'm going to bed."

And with that final goodbye, Arabella retired to her room, leaving the laptop to James for further practice.

Unknown to Arabella, James had listened to her story about Mary and was focused on typing a telling message on the document.

Mary has been working the street since 1802.

It took James another century to get the whole paragraph down, and Arabella would only get to read the message the following day.

———
A/N: Hi! This update came later than expected as I was experiencing a little writer's block. Your comments, suggestions, and feedback helped a lot! I appreciated the haunches regarding the importance of certain events and details! These gave me an idea of where you think the story is going! I love these little bits of reactions so keep them coming!

Thank you for the support ❤️ I promise to post regular updates. If you enjoyed this chapter, kindly consider giving it a vote! Thank you so much!

UPDATE: Edited on May 4, 2020. Thank you to all those who took the time to edit, comment, vote, and read! 

References: Music background

https://youtu.be/g1hEszuZ4lo