The Ghost Chick Diaries: The Big Date

Sarah LaBrie is a model by day, paranormal investigator by night. She joins us to share stories about life in front of the camera and behind the IR. (Photo courtesy Prodigy Images)

The Big Date


It was early summer in sunny Florida. My cell phone beeped and I looked down at the text.

"I'm sitting outside," it read.

My new date sat waiting in the driveway. I threw on a summery pair of heels and left the house. The sun was hot on my bare shoulders as my tube top-style summer dress flowed in the light breeze.

We went about our day and stopped for my favorite (iced white chocolate mocha coffee from Starbucks). Like the typical date progresses, we chatted in chairs outside and got to know each other while I continued to sip away on my smooth, sweet drink.

Sweat began to trickle down my face and we decided to head towards air conditioning.

"What do you want to do?" I asked. He replied with an indecisive, "I dunno, what do you wanna do?"

After several minutes of this, we agreed on going to a movie. No, it wasn't completely original, but things were going good, and it was nice to cool off in the dark theater. By the time we got out, the sun was setting and we headed back to his house for a late dinner.

"Wait outside for a minute," he told me, as we pulled into his driveway. "I've got to make sure my dog is locked up."

He parked the car and made his way in. The moment he turned the corner and dissapeared out of my sight, something else caught my attention.

A woman in a wedding dress was standing outside my passenger side window. Her hair was blowing but there was no wind. She reached her hand towards me and began to scream.

"Leave my brother alone!" She wailed.

And so I yelled back ... or murmured (quietly). "Leave me alone."

She began to tell me her name, but it was hard to make out and began with an "SH."

The outside light came on. I glanced the other direction to see my date rounding the corner again, and looked back out my window to see nothing but the dim street lights down the neighborhood road.

What do you do when you meet a ghost bride on a date? What's the protocol? Do you open up about it, freak out, laugh it off, or clamp your mouth up tight and act like sane people (who don't see this crap) are supposed to act?

I didn't know much about this guy, and he knew little of me. But this was definitely the kind of thing that would make an impact on the night.

We went indoors to eat and I tried to break the awkward silence with some small talk.

"So ... have any brothers or sisters?"

He didn't look up at me, but answered as he took a mouthful of food.

"Ya, one sister, two brothers."

OK, so nothing out of the ordinary there, it seemed.

I dropped the subject and let the night fade away, but still wondering who the woman in the wedding dress was.

The next morning, I woke before the sun was up...to the same woman standing over me. She did not yell at me this time but just stood there, watching. I rolled over and fell back asleep. When I finally got up, she was still in my head. She seemed persistent, so I decided I needed to pursue this further. I didn't want to pry or berate the guy, but if I'm a paranormal investigator and a ghost is pushing for something, I should at least get to the heart of the story.

The guy and me decided to hit lunch, and as we crept along to a Chinese joint, traffic moving slowly and the conversation moving just as slowly, I finally asked.

"Um, so I have a weird question," unsure how this was all going to go.

"Okaaay?"

"Do you know anyone who died in their wedding dress? Her name possibly beginning with an 'SH'?"

He did not take the question well. In fact, the car swerved; we almost went off the road and into a pole. I screamed and held on as we finally returned to the road. I glanced over at him, and the color in his dark skin had gone white.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," I said.
He changed lanes, got off the road, his breath heavy and his face suddenly sweaty.

"How did you know?"

I answered his question with a question. "Who is she?"

"My other sister, Shannon," he said, refusing to get into more detail. There was a long pause and the silence was thick.

"How did you know?" he repeated.
"Well ... I can see the dead."

There is more to the story, but to make it short, I will say we didn't continue to date. That's the pitfalls of the paranormal on a sensitive's lovelife. Sometimes people choose not to see.