She’s Over There
It had been a ten-minute drive and a twenty-minute walk, so our legs ached by the time we got to the cemetery. That aching was worsened by the fact that it was nearing midnight, and we still hadn’t found a way in. It was a clear night, so the starry sky was visible in its full glimmering splendor; silver moonlight bleeding through the snowcapped branches of the forest canopy, giving an ethereal feeling that deepened my unease. I examined the chiseled stone gargoyles that sat where the wrought iron fence met the large rusted gate. I yawned, looked around, and shivered; this was a bad idea, a really, really bad idea.
“This is a really, really bad idea,” I said through chattering teeth. My complaints seemed to fall on deaf ears though, as Hailey and Drew began a joint effort to climb the barrier.
“C’mon Nance, lighten up a little,” Drew grunted, hoisting Hailey onto his shoulders. “It’s harmless fun, trust me.”
I shuffled my boots in the snow. My unease was building every minute, especially as it grew closer and closer to twelve. Suddenly, a thud came from the other side of the gate; it swung open with a loud clang, and there Hailey stood in front of us, her wire cutters in hand. She wore a familiar look on her face, an awkward cross between pride and embarrassment, and Drew celebrated her efforts with riotous applause.
“Not so loud!” I hissed. “Someone’ll hear us!” “Oh, whatever,” Drew said dismissively.
“God, you know it’s like you wanna get caught!” “Loosen up man! It’s not the big of a deal!” “Alright...”
“‘Mkay Hailey and I are gonna start exploring if you wanna join. If not just... I dunno, wait in the car or something. Seeya!”
I watched as the two of them ran off, disappearing behind a particularly elaborate mausoleum. And I was alone again. I checked the time. 11:52. What was the point of this whole trip anyway, just to see some stupid gho-
*Crunch!*
The sound of snow underfoot sent a jolt of fear down my spine. Who was it? Had we been found out already? I am so grounded...
“Hey, Nance, I’m gonna wait in the car 'cause it’s crazy cold out here. You wanna come with?” said Claudia, unphased by my look of shock.
“Oh, Jeezus Claudia!” I exclaimed, relieved. “You scared me! No, I think- I mean I don’t know about the whole breaking into a cemetery thing but, I guess there’s certainly worse things to be doing.”
“I hear that,” Claudia chuckled. “Okay, stay safe Nance.”
She flashed me a quick smile, punched my shoulder, and began to walk back to the car when she stopped.
“Nance,” she said turning around, “Why do you wanna do this? You hate stuff like this, like REALLY hate it. I didn’t think it was up your alley. At least, it’s not up the Nancy Pearson that I know’s alley.”
I paused. Why was I doing this? It wasn’t like me to give in to peer pressure, let alone peer pressure to sneak out at night, let alone peer pressure to sneak out at night and break into a cemetery! It’s true, I wasn’t supposed to be here; I wear glasses! I wear big fuzzy sweaters and sundresses and paint my nails pastels! What was doing bundled up five layers to go see some urban legend? And that’s the other thing- the ghost. The story goes that four decades ago the mayor’s wife, Catalina Bearhart, was caught cheating on her husband. Subsequently, Mister Mayor Bearhart murdered her, and her death was covered up as a sudden heart attack. According to town legend, if blood is spilled upon her grave at exactly midnight, with a full moon in the sky, her tormented spirit will rise from the dead in a rage, a curse bestowed upon whoever disturbed her slumber. I personally didn’t believe a word of it, but then again I don’t think anyone else did either; it was just an excuse to do illegal and morally corrupt crimes with your friends. But that wasn’t why I was here- I was here because I had a stupid, doomed, hopeless question. A question for Claudia Michaels
“Honestly,” I lied, “I’m here because I don’t usually do stuff like this. I figured, it’s Junior year, I’m nearly 18, and I need to get out of my comfort zone. Am I right or am I wrong, huh?”
Claudia squinted at me suspiciously, her obsidian black eyeshadow trying its hardest to obscure the sapphire blue of her eyes.
“Ok,” she said doubtfully. “In that case, I’ll join you in ‘getting out of your comfort zone.’ C’mon, let's catch up with Drew and Hailey. We don’t wanna miss the ghost!”
Together, we made our way through the cemetery, grave after grave passing by us as our boots crunched through the snow in unison. My heart pounded through my chest- nerves? Embarrassment? Or something entirely new? As the moon reached its peak in the sky, I checked my watch again. 11:58. It was almost time. Turning a final corner, I spotted Hailey and Drew standing over a grave, The grave- or what was left of it. The top half was in shambles, a swath of dark green moss made sure of that. Though the years of birth and death had been chipped away by time, the name on the grave was just barely visible.
“Catalina Bearhart,” Drew read aloud, “Beloved wife.”
“Jeez, that’s morbid,” Claudia shuddered.
“Cause her husband and his friends killed her and covered it up?”
“...Yeah?”
For a moment, nobody talked, Drew’s stupidity lingering in the air, until Hailey
exclaimed, “Alright guys! It’s 11:59, so we’d better start now. Unless we wanna, you know, let a good thing lie?”
“Not a chance!” exclaimed Drew, drawing a pocket knife from his bag. “I’m not missing this for the life of me!”
He proceeded, with a frankly embarrassing amount of difficulty, to prick the tip of his thumb with the blade, letting a small drop of blood fall on the grave. My phone’s alarm rang out with a quiet chime; the clock had struck twelve, and the ceremony was complete. The four of us stood around the grave with bated breath, waiting for something to happen. After about a minute of suspense, I let out a sigh of exasperation. No zombified mayoress greeted us with a skeletal handshake, no ghoulish visage peered at us from the great beyond; in the end, we got got.
“That was some bullshit,” scoffed Drew, disappointment oozing from his voice.
“You said it,” Hailey muttered, starting back to the gate.
Together, as a squad, we trudged solemnly back to the car, the beautiful Winter night now
obscured by a sense of dissatisfaction.
“Well,” I said, trying to lighten the mood, “Maybe the ghost was the friends we made
along the way?”
The group turned and glared at me, and for a second I thought I might join poor Catalina
in the ground.
“Honestly, I didn’t believe that stupid story anyway,” Claudia said. “I shouldn’t’ve wasted gas on this wild goose chase.”
“Hey!” barked Drew, growing red in the face, “Don’t act like you never believed the story at all! I saw how bated your breath was when we were standing there!”
“Well you saw wrong, pal, 'cause my breath wasn’t even apprehensive, let alone bated!” “You really wanna talk about breath patterns right now? Cause I will-”
“She’s over there,” said Hailey.
“What was that Hailey?” Claudia asked.
“She’s over there.”
We stopped dead in our tracks and turned to face where the now gaunt Hailey was staring. A wave of dread descended on me; there, through the shadows of the underbrush, illuminated by a pale beam of moonlight, I met the eyes of something awful. I could barely make out its shrouded, dark figure, but I could fill in the blanks- it was Catalina Bearhart. For a spellbinding second nobody moved. And then she began to walk towards us.
“Oh no way,” Drew spat frantically, making a break for the car. Hailey followed suit, scrambling as fast as she could between graves to keep in tow with him.
“Nance,” Claudia said, backing away, “You’ve got to get back to the car. Now.”
At this point, though, a peculiar feeling overtook me. While my friends had looked away from the ghost in panic, I held her gaze. I was entranced- fear seemed like a memory as she lumbered towards me, dragging herself through the snow.
“Nance!” pleaded Claudia, tugging at my coat. “W-we have to go!”
The ghost was now fully visible in the luminous, blue moonlight. She was slightly transparent and wore a flowing white gown. Save for the axe that hung from the left side of her head, she was beautiful; she wore a look of pained indifference that wasn’t in the slightest scary. She reminded me of my mom. She drew closer to me, and I could see that she was trailing blood from the wound in her head. Close enough to touch now, she was so bright that Claudia had to shield her eyes.
“Nancy!” Claudia yelled, falling to the ground. She screamed something else, but I couldn’t hear her anymore. It seemed that time stopped in its tracks. It was just me and the ghost. “The... boy summoned me...” Catalina said. I could see now that her eyes weren’t full of
malice like I thought they’d be. She seemed confused. “He did,” I replied.
“Why?”
“ I guess... I guess he wanted to see if you were real.”
Unexpectedly, Calaina chuckled, settling into a soft, sad smile. “My girl,” she sighed, “Of
course I’m real!”
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked.
“Now why would I do that?”
“Well the story is that you would attack anyone who disturbs your rest and-” “Sweetie, you have done nothing of the sort to me!”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Now you must tell me of this story.”
“Well, you cheated on your husband, and he killed you, and now you’re super pissed!” Catalina frowned, turning away. After a moment, I heard her crying.
“Ma’am?” I asked. “Are you... ok?”
She turned back to me with a jolt, tears streaming down her face, and grasped my head with her hands. She was cold.
“I feel you, the whole you,” she said through sobs. “You, who has so much inside your heart. You were not here for me, you weren’t even here for you! You were here for love!
“What are you-”
“I misplaced my love, and I paid the price, I told him I didn’t love him anymore and he- he killed me!”
“But I thought you-”
“Nancy,” I heard her say as she began to fade into the moon’s glow, “Stop thinking. Don’t waste your chance.”
“My... My chance?”
“She’s over there.”
“Nancy!” Claudia screamed shaking me awake. “Oh my god!”
“Wuzzuh... Huh?..” I muttered, groggily.
“Oh Nancy, oh god, I thought you were... you just disappeared and I thought it... I thought you were dead!”
“I... Disappeared?”
“Yeah! But- but you’re back now! It’s ok! It’s-”
I grabbed her hand, tears welling in my eyes, and as the jaws of unconsciousness gripped
me again, I finally asked, “Claudia Michaels, do you wanna go to prom with me?”