Ghost March: What Was Never Meant to Be - Part 1

I arrived somewhere close to midnight at the cemetery. The graveyard was out of the way for the suburban town so the stars were out. My Dad’s grave was near the top of this hill so it was a bit of a walk to get too. When I had finally arrived the glossy stone slab was in pristine condition. Perhaps the grave keeper was a hardworking man or maybe my mother still visits him in her advanced age every now and again. I laid the flowers down in front of him, now that I’m here what should I say? It’s been a very long time since I last saw him, but even now it doesn’t exactly feel real. I felt that once I was in front of him some grand reverie would burst out of me but nothing came.  I didn’t know what to do. It didn’t sit well with me to leave saying nothing so I said what I promised I’d say when I left this place so many years ago.

“Dad, I passed. Even though this isn’t the path you wanted to be on, it’s the one I chose to follow.”

I don’t know if I should leave just saying this much, is it disrespectful? Am I supposed to go on some long-winded monolog of all the good times we had together? Well if he’s dissatisfied he can try to haunt me. I stood up ready to leave but as soon as I turned my head I saw something breathtaking. A man was looking down on a grave while a woman in a white one-piece dress was standing right in front of him looking at him with a forlorn expression. She was brighter than the moon and even from this distance, I could tell she was beautiful with her long blonde hair swaying with the chill night winds. I went for the cigarettes in my breast pocket and then considered against it. I always go for my cigs whenever work was involved, it’s a habit that needed breaking. I still had an extra cross me if I remembered and began searching for it in my pockets. As luck would have it I still had two, so I put one of them in my left hand.

“Let’s give it a go then”

I said in a small voice and walked over to the man waving. It seemed I caught his attention as he turned his head and then faced me with a very tender expression.

“Didn’t expect to see anyone else here this late at night.”

The man looked to be in his mid-thirties, bags under his eyes, graying hair, of an average build that somehow gave off a very fragile impression; however, he had a very warm smile. I can tell he was a good man.

“ I didn’t plan to come here either, I just got out of work about to drive myself home but..”

There was a pause in his words; he turned to face the grave. That tender expression from earlier warped into melancholy.

“ I don’t know why, but something compelled me to come and see her again.”

The cold night air blew and caressed my cheeks; I looked at the grave- Amber Marlow was written on it.

“Was she your wife?”

His face turned grave

“Uh-sorry was that-“

“No, it’s fine”

He smiled to reassure me.

“She wasn’t my wife but-“

He had trouble getting the words out; a tear ran down his eyes

“She was someone I wanted by my side”

Out of the corner of the eye, I caught sight of the woman that looked at him silently her face contorted in pain.after some more small talk, he bid me farewell. The woman tried to follow but I grabbed her hand with the hand that had the cross in it. She snapped her head around in surprise. I only looked at her briefly before returning my gaze to the back of them man walking down the car. In turn, she did the same. After he left she decided to talk to me

“So, what are you doing around here?”

“Well as of right now...holding your hand I guess”

“But how”

“Exorcist’s can do these types of things”

She looked at me with a defeated expression

“Are you going to get rid of me?”

I looked back at the empty road that the man that this woman looked at so dearly just left.

“it doesn’t work like that, even if it did I wouldn’t do it”

Everyone deserves second chances, even the dead

“So who was that guy?”

There was a deep longing in her eyes that consolidated into resolution

“He’s my husband”

I got a feeling this is gonna be a long story. I took a cigarette out of my breast pocket and lit it. I also took out a piece of bronze that was shaped into a Sahasrara and blew smoke into it.  The smoke filtered through the many openings of the bronze ornament and enveloped her. Then slowly, the smoke dispersed with the wind.

Nod if you can hear me. I said without uttering a word. With a look of surprise she nodded. I descended down the stairs with her following right behind me. There should still be some trains running to the city at this hour, something tells me it’s gonna be a long trip.

Tell me everything, from the very beginning.