Love Lives Love Dies
| Cathy and Brandon slowly walked into the
old Plymouth Cemetery. The sun had just disappeared behind the mountains, giving this
place of the dead an eerie life of its own. The branches rhythmically danced to the
symphony of the wind, while shadows hugged the ancient marker stones that speckled the
ground. Brandon took off his coat, laying it out across the moss. He, then sat down, leaning his broad back against a huge marble museleum. “Over here, Cathy!” he called. “We won't be visible from the road.” Nervously, she scurried over. “I wish the rest of the gang would get here. This place is getting to me.” “Don't worry... I'll protect you.” Brandon said, enwrapping her in his arms. She nuzzled up close to him as he pulled a beer from his backpack. “It's okay to be scared. That's what Halloween is all about... right?” He smiled handing her the brew. With a worried look she rubbed her stomach and pushed the beer away. “No thanks. I don't feel like drinking tonight.” “Suit yourself.” He snapped it open and poured it down his throat. “You know you're my girl, right?" He asked as he looked into her eyes. She just smiled and kissed him on the cheek. She was in mid-sigh when they heard the sound of the stiff grass of the cemetary being crunched under foot. “Did you hear that?” Cathy asked excitedly. “Yeah, I heard it,” Brandon replied. “I bet it's the rest of the gang trying to sneak up on us. I know... let’s go around the other direction and get the jump on them. We’ll scare the pants off them.” “Okay,” she snickered as they crept stealthily to the corner of the crypt. Brandon stopped cold. Cathy assumed he was readying to pounce. She stood on her tiptoes to look over his shoulder. Her gaze froze upon a sad-looking teenage girl. She glowed with a pale yellow light. Sitting on a large stone, she ran a golden brush through her hair. Tears streamed down her pretty dove-white face. Abruptly, she looked behind her as if she heard someone approaching. Dropping the brush to the ground, she lovingly began to rub her extended belly. She began weeping aloud seeming as though she spoke to an unseen presence. “Why? Why?” she cried while shrugging her body to the opposite position. “NO! I won't leave with you. The only reason you came up here is so my mom stops calling your mom. Go away! Just go home!...” She just sat sobbing. “I tell you I have your baby and you have the nerve to tell me you're missing a football game! I don't care what your mom says! It is your baby Adam! What about the night we made love? You promised you'd never leave me!...” Bandon and Cathy watched as the teenage girl suddenly grabbed a large butcher knife that must have been on the rock, though they didn’t see it a moment ago. She held it up high in the air. “Go Away! Just Go!” she yelled. Quickly, her gaze turned to the ground as if her illusionary partner had fallen. She leaned towards the ground clutching the knife in her fist. “You promised you'd stay with me forever,” she yelled, and in one swift motion the she plunged the dagger into her heart. No matter how they strained, blood could not be seen. Within a moment she fell to the ground. Hair, skin and clothing became mist and blew away in the soft breeze. “Oh my god!” Cathy cried, as she clawed her fingernails into Brandon shaking arm. “She was a ghost... We just saw a ghost!” Brandon shook his head in amazement. “Wow...The guys are never going to believe this. This is so incredible.” Looking at the ground Cathy felt tears swelling in her eyes. Brandon looked at her. “It'll be okay honey... Don't be scared... This is why we came here tonight on ‘All Hallows Eve’.” “I know, but what if that was me? Would you abandon me just the same! Would you! That was so sad... I just want to go home.” “No, sweetheart!.. You know you're my girl... I would never... I promise,” he said kissing her tenderly on the forehead. He reached down and started gathering up their stuff. “Wait, Brandon... I think I hear the gang... I think it's them for real this time.” They walked out in front of the museleum. “You guys are late! You missed everything!... We just saw a ghost!...We watched her ice herself,” shouted Brandon. “Yeah, sure you did,” sneered Michelle. “And we just got back from jackin' a leprechaun.” “I think Cathy wants to jet,” informed Brandon, “she’s kind of shook up.” “Oh come on, you have to stay!” proclaimed Glenn. “I brought some stuff,” he said reaching into his back pack. As if he were making a commercial, the youth withdrew a bag of pot, dangling it in front of them enticingly. Brandon and Cathy looked at each other in agreement. “Okay!... Over here,” he said motioning them to follow him. “Right there on that rock. That is where we saw her." Amanda began smoothing a blanket out against the stone building. They all sat down and covered up with a giant black sleeping bag. "It's starting to get creepy," Michele spoke as the fog covered most of the tombstones. "Enough of this scardy cat crap," John sprung up and ran over to the rock and sat on it. "If there are any hot dead chicks that wanna party come and get me! See, nothing." He snickered. Just then a large branch crashed down nearly on top of him. He screamed and high tailed it back to the group. Brandon started," I am telling you, John don't fuck with her. She is a real ghost." "Yeah, well I think it's more likely we're being attacked by hunger-crazed squirrels." Everybody but Cathy and Brandon started laughing and commenced to smoking and drinking. "Wait, shhhh," said Michele. "Do you hear that singing?" Brandon leaned forward and peeked over the small ridge "Oh no, don't move. It might be a cop. He's coming right this way." The group of teens pulled the black sleeping bag up to their eyes. "This is just great. I can't afford to get another fine," Glenn whispered. Moving through the thick fog was a young man probably in his late teens. He was wearing what appeared to be a high school football jacket. He looked entranced and walked straight for the rock. "That must be him," Cathy whispered. "It must be her boyfriend's ghost. I bet he came back and killed himself." "Shhh," Michele interrupted. "If it hears us it might disappear." They sat there and silently watched. "Christina, honey, you know that was our song," he spoke to plain air. "I came tonight to set things right." The moon light glowed against him. His feet were invisible beneath the thick fog. "That first night when you told me you were pregnant I went out and bought this ring." He pulled a ring box from his coat pocket and placed the sparkling jewel on his pinkie. "I told my mom I was going to marry you and put college of a few years to work and to be with you and the baby. She told me I was crazy cause she knew for sure that it wasn't my child. At least that's what your mother told her. I never dreamed my mom would lie to me." Out of the fog her ghostly form rose and stood next to him. "I have always loved you and always will." She looked lovingly into his eyes. She then slightly tilted her head and brushed her hand across his cheek. He put his hand to his cheek and smiled a bit. "I was wrong for not believing you," he started to sob. "After your death I went home and my mother told me she'd lied, that she was trying to stop me from destroying my future." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. Christina looked at the gun and started shaking her head no. But he couldn't see her. He raised the gun to his lips. She was mouthing 'no' hysterically but could not reach him through her silence. "I want nothing more than to be with you, I promise." Just then a single tear rolled down his cheek and as it met the edge of the gun there was a loud BANG! The gun shot exploded so loudly it shattered the stained glass windows on the old building. Bits of brain and blood splattered across the youths' faces. As they came to the startling realization that he had not been a ghost, they sprung to their feet and ran as fast as they could to the cemetery gate. Cathy suddenly stopped and turned around midway through the cemetery. The rest of the group noticed her absence and turned around to see where she gone. Cathy was watching Christina as her ghostly hand extended to Adam's corpse. His transparent hand reached out for her. She pulled him close to her and they embraced. He removed the ring from his finger and placed it on her hand. They walked slowly to the back of the graveyard and disappeared. Copyright ©2002 Jennifer Susan Whitenight |
