The point is when you're involved with the paranormal, don't be surprised when the paranormal gets involved with you.

Death never plays by the rules. And I think that's why we, as mortal beings, fear it so much. Not because it's an inevitability, but because it's so unpredictable. We all know it's coming for us. We can just never be sure exactly when.

Showmen's Rest was truly something to behold. Throughout the entire yard, statues and carvings of elephants, clowns, and tight-rope walkers danced on the gray and white surfaces of tombstones and grave-markers. For the first time, Michael got the feeling that the men and women who'd been buried there were probably really happy with their final resting place. It was a touching tribute, one that honored their passion in life and that had been constructed out of love and respect.

It was easy to forget that the real ghost stories had little to do with that cinematic nonsense and everything to do with the human experience: life, love, loss, faith, redemption.

There, standing before the mausoleum, Michael’s anxiety skyrocketed. His heart raced. His head spun. His stomach turned. For a few moments, he really thought he was going to have to run to the bushes and puke. He’d never heard of a ghost being able to actually curse someone, but he didn’t want to risk it by vomiting on Bluidy Mackenzie’s front lawn.

They tell you all the time that life isn’t fair. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past twenty-eight years, it’s that death is even less fair. It’s the one thing in the world that doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care who you are, how much money you have, what you’ve done in life. It can come for you any time it wants.

The whole idea of casting out was brutal and unfair. Death didn’t dehumanize these spirits. Centuries of superstitions and rituals and ghost stories had done that, turning innocent souls into monsters in the minds of the living.

Don’t interrupt me. I’m on a soapbox. As a disembodied individual, I think it’s time that we had some new representation. Like that one book series that Kate was telling us about. Remember that one? The one where the hot human girl falls in love with the ghost who haunts her bedroom? We need more of that in our society.

She was beautiful, ethereal, and in that glow, she should have reminded him of an angel. But to his horror, he realized that she didn’t.She reminded him of a ghost.