Fetch by Littlewing1957
A Fetch is the ghostly double of a living person. In some traditions, a fetch seen by a person’s friends or relatives portends evil or danger. Seeing one’s own Fetch is an omen of death.
Lureen was excited about her day off. Jack was nice enough to cover for her at the dealership, and she looked forward to a day of rest, food and television. After taking Bobby to school, Lureen returned home and sat in front of the TV. She had most of the day to relax and catch up on her stories. But just as she was about to settle in, there was a knock at the door. “I’m not expecting anyone!” Lureen mused as she moved toward her front door. She peeped through the drapes to get a look at her visitor. Lureen rarely opened her door without checking to see who might be standing there. A woman home alone couldn’t be too careful. Lureen moved the heavy drapes a piece and saw Jack Twist standing there, looking at her looking at him! “What is he doing home?” Lureen was agitated and worried all at the same time. “And why didn’t he use his key?” She thought as she turned the lock and opened the door. But when the front door opened, Jack had disappeared. There was no one there. Lureen rubbed her eyes and looked worriedly around the neighborhood. No sign of Jack, or any one else, for that matter. Lureen shook her head and decided to go inside and lie down. She was working hard of late. The life of a busy working mom and wife was very tiring.
Randall and LaShawn were packing the last of their things to take to Bermuda. They both saved for about a year to afford the trip, and just as LaShawn put a few things in her Vuitton makeup case, she heard the ringing of her front door bell. “I’ll get it honey!” She yelled to Randall’s room as she headed toward the door. LaShawn was quite excited, as she was expecting delivery of their plane tickets. But when she answered the door, LaShawn saw a gaunt looking Jack Twist standing there. LaShawn smiled at Jack, turned her back to him and yelled, “Honey, Jack’s here!” LaShawn was used to Jack dropping by, so his appearance there was no shock. But when she turned back to face him and invite him in, Jack was no where in sight. “Now where did he go?” The chatty Mrs. Malone whispered. LaShawn shrugged and stepped back inside her home. She had some more packing to do. She would worry about Jack later.
1400 or so miles away in Riverton, Ennis Del Mar was preparing to leave the ranch. He asked Steve for the rest of the day off, as he was feeling rather under the weather. Steve told him to go home and take care of himself. Ennis collected his coat, thermos and lunch box and walked to his truck. He got halfway to his vehicle when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. When he turned full around, Ennis saw what he thought looked like Jack Twist standing some 30 feet away. “Jack??” “What is he doing here?” Ennis thought with a mixture of curiosity, concern, and agitation. “Jack!” Ennis almost frantic now. He walked slowly toward “Jack” and sped up when he noticed the man was backing away from him. “Jack” turned and ran, and Ennis couldn’t keep up. He lost him. Ennis sat down on the ground right where he was and held his head in his hands. “I gotta go home and get some rest!” Ennis groaned. “I must be sicker than I thought!”
Jack sat at his desk doing his best impression of a high pressure salesman. His heart was not in it. Actually, he really resented Old man Newsome’s instructions to make the sale no matter what. Jack was trying to sell an expensive tractor to a wealthy, well dressed rancher. Jack pleaded, made promises, but the rancher was a tough customer. 15 minutes of bargaining, and still no sale! Jack was just beginning to give up and send the man on his merry way when he noticed a figure standing at the door of his office. Jack stood up before he could catch himself, as he saw his twin standing at the door, staring at him. The rancher noticed Jack’s staring and followed his eyes to the doorway. He didn’t see anyone. Jack looked back to the rancher who was now eyeing him skeptically, but when Jack glanced toward his office door, no one was there!
“You okay, son? It was the wealthy rancher. Jack nodded.
“Yeah, I’m okay, Mr. Henry.” He grabbed the old man’s hand and lifted him to his feet.
“I’m just a bit tired, is all,” Jack stated. “Maybe we can talk about the tractor some other time,” Jack said as he ushered Mr. Henry to the door. Once he was alone, Jack lowered his weary body to his plush office sofa. He was overworked – so much so that he was seeing things! The phone rang and Jack jumped. He answered on the second ring to Lureen asking why he came home only to leave so abruptly. Jack assured her that he did no such thing, and hung up. A half four later and LaShawn phoned. “No, I was not at your doorstep earlier today!” Jack told her. “What is going on?” He spoke aloud.
Another ring. Jack was scared to answer, but he was at his place of business, and the call may be from a client. Jack answered on the 3rd ring.
“Bud?” When Jack heard the voice of his beloved, his heart jumped in his chest.
“Ennis?” Jack asked tentatively.
“Yeah, Bud. You okay?” Jack felt giddy. It was unusual for Ennis to call. Very unusual, indeed.
“I’m fine…why do you ask?” Jack, hopeful now.
“Well, I was just thinking of you…” Ennis felt very foolish. How could he ask Jack if he had been outside the ranch when he was talking to him, 1400 miles away? Ennis had to think of something fast.
“We still on for next month?” He stammered. Jack looked at the phone.
“Yeah, you know that! Wouldn’t miss it, Cowboy!” Now is that all you wanted to ask me?”
“Yeah, Bud. That’s all.” There was a silence. “Well, you take care of yourself and I’ll see you at the cabin next month.”
The line went dead. Jack placed the phone down on the cradle. He couldn’t explain it, but something strange was going on. His mom had her pulse on the supernatural, and she liked to tell ghost stories until he was afraid to go to sleep at night. Jack remembered a particularly frightening tale his mother told him about a woman who saw her double walking down the street. A few days later, the woman was dead. Jack felt a chill. He knew the woman, and remembered her untimely death.
Jack shrugged and pulled his parka on over his suit. He didn’t know what to believe, but thought he had better put his affairs in order just in case.