Match 19640 Melinda Gordon vs. Julie James

[JohnnyChany]

Melinda Gordon walked into her kitchen to find her husband, Jim, sitting at the kitchen table with an attractive dark-haired woman she did not recognize.

“Who is this?” asked Melinda before quickly realizing that it was a spirit and not a living woman.

Jim furrowed his brow. “Who is who? Oh, is there a spirit here?”

“Yes.” Melinda turned to the woman. “What is your name?”

“My name is Nancy,” the woman replied.

“Nancy, what is preventing you from crossing over?” Melinda asked gently.

“The way I died. No more to the point, the reason I died,” Nancy remarked bitterly.

“Very few people are ready for death, and it is always a hard thing to accept,” stated Melinda.

Nancy shook her head. “No, you don’t understand.”

“Tell me about it.”

“I worked as a bartender at Tower Bay in the Bahamas. It was a decent living. Things were going okay until she arrived,” Nancy explained.

“Who?”

“Julie James, a college girl from stateside who came to the island with some friends just before storm season for vacation.”

“That seems odd,” noted Melinda.

Nancy continued. “Some dumb kids coming to the Bahamas at the start of storm season is no big deal. It’s who followed her that is the problem. A crazy killer dead set on revenge.”

“Did you get caught in the crosshairs?” Melinda guessed.

“Yes. And so did several others at Tower Bay. People who had nothing to do with it, that weren’t at all involved with this vendetta against Julie,” Nancy answered.

“Why did this killer target Julie specifically?” Melinda inquired.

“Because she killed him first!”

“What?”

“Two years earlier, she and some high school friends of hers ran over a fisherman named Ben Willis and threw his body in a lake while he was still alive. The next year he came after them for revenge and killed two of her friends. The following year he came back again to Tower Bay to get Julie and that is when I and the others were killed. Because we happened to be there and I was also trying to help her and her terrified friend, Karla.”

“That is horrible.”

Nancy sat back in her chair and sighed. “I only found out about the whole story from another earthbound spirit after I died. Many of them have crossed over now, but I can’t. One thought keeps me here. What if it keeps happening? How many more innocent people will die?”

“Ben Willis is still alive?”

“It looked like Julie and Ray killed him, but I never saw his spirit. Even if he is actually dead that might not stop this wave of killing. He wasn’t alone in killing people at Tower Bay. His son was helping him. The sick bastard even pretended to be Julie’s friend for a while to get close to her,” Nancy informed. “With Julie James still alive and kicking, who knows how many other family members or close friends will try to hunt her down and who knows the kind of collateral damage that will cause.”

“What are you wanting me to do?” Melinda wondered. “Try to track down all of Ben Willis’s family and friends and stop them from going after Julie. I don’t know if I can do that.”

Nancy shook her head. “No. I want you to talk to Julie. This all started because of a horrible accident caused by four teenagers who refused to take responsibility for it. The two survivors, Julie and Ray, still haven’t taken responsibility for it to this day. My hope is that owning up to that night might stop the cycle of violence before more people are killed.”

Melinda considered this.

The next day, after some digging, she and Jim traveled to the college where Julie James was currently attending. They stayed at a hotel near the campus and Jim searched through social media for a better picture of Julie. When he found one, he audibly gasped.

“Mel, you might want to take a look at this,” he announced.

Melinda walked over to the computer screen and stared at it in silent shock for several moments before she spoke.

“What is this?” she finally said. “This can’t be. Julie looks like a doppelganger of me from 10 years ago.”

“I think you still look exactly the same.”

“Not the time, Jim.” Melinda sat down on the corner of their bed trying to process her thoughts. “Could it be a coincidence? Something else? Are the watchers involved in this?”

“I think it might be best for you to just concentrate on why we are here, to help Nancy crossover,” Jim opined.

“Don’t do it.”

The two were joined in their hotel room by the spirit of a young blonde woman.

“I know why you are here and you shouldn’t do this,” said the spirit.

“And who are you?”

“My name is Helen. I was Julie’s best friend and I was there the night we ran over Ben.”

Melinda had several questions but she stuck with just one. “Why have you remained earthbound?”

“Guilt.”

“Over what happened that night?”

“Yes, but specifically how it has affected Julie. She was never the same after that night. None of us were, she still isn’t. A huge part of her was damaged that night and she has never fully recovered. It’s horrible because she really didn’t want to do it. We should have listened to her.”

“All of you still had ample opportunity after that night to make it right,” Melinda said quietly.

Helen became agitated. “Are you saying it was justified for Ben to hunt us down, to kill me, to kill Barry?”

“No. Not at all.”

Helen’s tone was calm again. “We messed up. We were young and selfish and not thinking straight. The guilt has already consumed Julie for multiple years now, she is finally starting to come out of her shell again. When I know that Julie is ok, that she has come out of the darkness, then I can cross over.Having her confess to it now after all this time.. That would ruin her life even more for what? It can’t change what happened ”

“It can bring some closure to the legacy of Ben Willis,” said Melinda.

Helen stepped back. “Why does that monster deserve closure? Do you know the things that he did?”

“Yes. But, my concern is not for him specifically but for any more innocent lives that may get caught up in the twisted justice done on his behalf for what happened that night.”

“How can you guarantee that Julie ruining her own life would stop further violence from Ben or his lineage?” 

“I can’t.”

Helen became desperate. “I’m  begging you, don’t do this.”

 

VOTE MELINDA IF YOU THINK SHE CAN CONVINCE JULIE TO TAKE MORE ACTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

VOTE JULIE IF YOU THINK MELINDA WILL EITHER NOT GO THROUGH WITH IT OR JULIE WILL REMAIN UNCONVINCED.

[Callisto]

Learn More About
Melinda Gordon
Read more about Melinda Gordon at Wikipedia
Official Site: CBS Links: Wikipedia Ghost Whisperer Wikia Ghost Whisperer

Julie James
Read more about Julie James at Wikipedia
Official Site: Columbia Pictures Links: Wikipedia I Know What You Did Last Summer I Still Know What You Did Last Summer

[Pizzaguy2995]

Melissa has been in these types of situations plenty of times and she’s usually able to convince her subjects of the week to do the right thing. Julie herself is not a selfish person so I can see her being convinced to do the right thing even if it does harm her a little.

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
5.00 - patrickthekid
4.70 - Boratz
4.50 - Pizzaguy2995

FPA Calculation:
3 Total Votes cast
14.20 Total Combined Score
14.20 / 3 = 4.73 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
Melinda Gordon: 2
Julie James: 1

[DSkillz]

Sorry I missed out on this, Johnny. Another good match of doubles of yours like Alex Cross vs. Azazel. 

I've seen the first two I Know What You Did ... films and quite a few eps of Ghost Whisperer, and I think Melinda was rightfully able to convince Julie here. With Melinda's calming presence and the fact that she looks a lot like Julie (I wonder why ...  ), Julie might even almost see her as an older sister of sorts.