Courageous Love

by Jerry Cole

  A lot of the rooms were either bedroom or storage. Some rooms were filled with antiques no doubt my grandparents collected and then forgot about and never did anything with.

  My most surprising find was a room on the first floor. It was an almost exact copy of the family meeting room, down to the window-walls and the paintings. But instead of showing off a lush garden, there were weeds and a perfect view of the many graves I was now neighbors with. I looked out at it and shivered. I didn’t plan on going into this room ever again.

  Before I turned to continue my investigation of the house, I thought I saw movement in the graveyard. I walked closer to the glass and narrowed my eyes. It looked like someone was down there alone. I couldn’t make out fine details, but they had bright white hair, pale skin and… “Stacy!” I yelled.

  I ran out of the room and yelled for her again.

  She stomped down the stairs with her hands on her hips. “What Adam?”

  “I saw someone in the graveyard.”

  She gave me an unimpressed look. “People visit those sometimes.”

  “No, you don’t understand. Come look, please.” I gestured for her to follow me into the room.

  We got back to the window and Stacy huffed. “I don’t see anyone Adam.”

  That was impossible. I looked back out and she was right; the person I saw was gone.

  “Did you see a ghost?” Stacy wiggled her fingers out at the window and turned around sharply. “Call me if you actually need me.”

  She left but I kept staring out at the graveyard. I swore I saw a person. They were just right there a moment ago. What happened to them? She was joking but, had I seen a ghost?

  Chapter Three

  After five days I couldn’t stand it anymore. I paced through the kitchen in front of the open cabinet. The food my family had promised was mostly canned foods and not a great variety of everything else and it was slowly dwindling. I knew I had to go job searching, but I’d never done that before. I asked Stacy for help and she agreed because she wanted to leave as bad as I did. She suggested some websites where I could find people hiring and even lent me her tablet to search. However, we both realized that was a dead end because of how small the town was. If there were jobs available, they’d advertise them at the stores. Which meant I had to go down there and look.

  I had put that off for a day, and then another, and then it was almost a week after I’d been abandoned here. I didn’t have an idea where to look and I didn’t want to go knocking on every door begging for a job. It would feel demeaning. I went to college for an art degree that I mostly slept through getting, in both senses of the phrase. I liked art well enough but I didn’t really plan on ever using it. I went to college for the experience and hook ups. Even if I wanted to create some studio art, this wasn’t the kind of place that was crawling with art collectors. Besides that, I knew that experience was important as it was mentioned in every online listing I saw. I lacked any experience in any field. There was no point in getting a job when my parents so generously gave me an allowance. Taking that away so suddenly was cruel. How was I supposed to learn what to do before I starved?

  “Stop staring Adam,” Stacy said in a monotone as she passed behind me.

  I closed the pantry and sat across from her at the breakfast nook. I laid my head on the table and sighed loudly.

  I could practically feel the eye roll even though I couldn’t see it. “Stop moping.”

  “I can’t. Life is too tragic.”

  “You could do something about it.”

  I propped my head up on my chin and looked up at her. “But why should I have to?”

  She scowled. I knew it wasn’t directed at me. “If you quit now your siblings are going to win.”

  “I should just let them. You can tell my dad I raised the white flag. He was right. I'm an irresponsible lazy wreck that will never change.”

  She frowned even harder. “I don’t think just giving up is going to do it. I think if we can’t get you self-sufficient this might be made permanent.”

  “What?” That got me to shoot up in my seat really quickly. “What makes you say that?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a feeling. If you prove what your siblings said about you is true to your parents, I think they will be more inclined to believe whatever else they say.”

  It all made too much sense to me. “See how he failed, father? He gave up too easily. You’ll have to show him you mean it,” I thought my Rosidae impression was spot on.

  “That’s what I was thinking.” She cleared her throat and lowered her voice slightly in a fair impression of Isaac, “Ms. Stacy didn’t exactly help, did she father? Maybe she’s not as reliable as you think.”

  “I get it. The twins probably have more planned. This feels like their biggest move yet. If we win this, I don’t think they have anything else that can get rid of us as effectively. But that means they’ve probably been preparing for this for a long time. They have back up plans for their backup plans.” I felt my shoulders droop. I would have to take this seriously after all. I really didn’t want any part of the family business. But I couldn’t stand living in this secluded place. I also didn’t want Stacy to lose her job because of me.

  “I’ll try tomorrow,” I promised.

  “We can’t give up yet,” she said with a weak smile.

  I didn’t have a good feeling about any of it.

  ***

  I tossed and turned that evening. Stacy found a map of the town on the internet and copied it down for me and expected me to go to every business she marked asking about jobs. What if I went to every spot on that map and they all turned me away? I was a stranger, I had never had a job before, and I wasn’t sure how you even asked someone to hire you.

  I threw my sheets to the side and got up out of bed. It was a little after one o’clock in the morning. I never went to sleep that early back in the city. I was usually out all night and then I’d sleep straight through the afternoon the next day. I still struggled to get used to going to bed and waking up at “normal”, in Stacy’s words, hours. I went to put on my slippers before realizing that they were back home because my dad didn’t think to pack them. I sighed and then slipped out of my room to wander around the old house.

  I wasn’t sure what I was hoping to happen. I just kept walking as silently as possible to keep Stacy from hearing me, waking up, and inevitably making me go back to bed by reminding me of how big of a day I had tomorrow, or today at this point. Everything was riding on this. I felt a strange tightness in my chest thinking about it. I’d never felt anything like this before. Was I nervous? Is that what this was?

  I passed by one of the many large windows facing the graveyard and involuntarily shuddered. I was never going to get used to living so close to it.

  In all the darkness of the night, I saw something bright out there among the headstones. My eyes widened. It was the figure I saw last time.

  Maybe it was the stress, the boredom, or maybe I wanted to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, but I headed as quickly as I could out the door and headed back behind the house and into the graveyard. I remembered after a sharp stone jabbed me in the foot that I hadn’t grabbed any shoes on my way out and I was just in my pajamas. I kept going anyway, not wanting the ghost to vanish once again.

  I jumped the fairly low iron wrought fence and ran into the graveyard toward the figure. The figure turned and he seemed to almost glow. I stopped ten feet away from him, trying to catch my breath.

  “Who are you?” The ghost asked.

  “I was going to ask that of you,” I said through my harsh breaths.

  “This is my home.”

  “Oh my God you are a ghost.” I stumbled back a bit and felt my heart jump.

  Wrinkles on his forehead appeared as he frowned at me. “What are you talking about? I meant it literally. Look.” I realized he was holding a flashlight in his hands. He turned around and flashed the light. I could just make out a house in the distance. “Are you sure y
ou aren’t a ghost?”

  I suddenly felt very embarrassed which wasn’t a good look on me. “No.” I turned and pointed back at the house on the hill that was much further away than I thought I had run. “I just moved in there.”

  “I had seen lights on in there for the first time in years,” the man said thoughtfully. “Well. Goodnight.”

  “Wait. I should apologize?” For thinking he was a ghost? For startling him?

  “Okay” The man waited.

  “I’m sorry for trespassing and the ghost thing,” I said lamely.

  “Thank you.” He smiled a little at me. He had a soft voice; he spoke so quietly that I probably wouldn’t have heard him anywhere but a graveyard in the middle of the night.

  “Can I ask your name?” I felt like a complete asshole now and I’d have to make it up to him later. I was usually much smoother and made strangers fall head over heels for me with a wink. I guess I had never accused anyone of being a ghost before and wasn’t sure where to go from there.

  “Cecil. Cecil Domire.”

  “I’m Adam Westcott. I’ll try to be a better neighbor for as long as I’m stuck here.”

  He tilted his head. Cecil was a shorter man, thin and pale like he never had even seen the sun before. His hair was bright white, he must have been dying it, and it fell wavy and messy around his round face to his shoulders. He looked at me with pale blue eyes. “Stuck?”

  I waved my hand around. “It’s a long story.” I looked at his face again at his soft round features. “Maybe I can tell it to you someday?”

  “Maybe,” he said gently.

  “But I should get home and leave you to…” I honestly had no idea why he would have to be out here in the middle of the night. “this. Anyway, it was nice to meet you, even if we got off on the wrong foot.”

  He waved slightly and I started to walk carefully back to the house, still barefoot, when I heard his voice. I turned to see him glowing in the flashlight’s beam.

  “If you ever want to tell me that story,” his voice was barely louder than the breeze. “I’m here every night.”

  “I’ll come back,” I said. I wanted to know more about this man who spent his time wandering around a graveyard at night and what it was like living right in the middle of it. I didn’t realize I had basically promised to spend more nights in a creepy graveyard before I was drifting off to sleep.

  Chapter Four

  I shuffled down the sidewalk holding a few pieces of paper to my chest. I was wearing pitifully boring black slacks, a white shirt, and a black blazer I had to borrow from Stacy making it a bit too tight on my shoulders. I had first come downstairs in bright orange shorts and a crop top but Stacy took one look at me and made me go back upstairs. I just wanted to see how she would react. If I had to suffer, so did she.

  I was holding onto a stack of resumes that I had made, again with Stacy’s assistance. The twins probably thought it was smart to send her away with me but I’d truly be lost without her and they would have won before the first day here was even over.

  So far, I had stopped by the post office where they took my resume but told me they weren’t “actively hiring” but “might consider me in the future”. The next place I went was one of the few restaurants in town. The owner was there and even offered me an interview. It failed miserably when he realized I didn’t have any knife skills to speak of as I had rarely ever used a knife in my whole life. He kindly, but promptly, told me his place wouldn’t be a good fit for me. The next few places I was planning to go were also restaurants and a coffee place so I just slashed them all off my list.

  Eventually I made my way to an old brick building painted pastel pink with one of those striped awnings over the windows. Above the door hung a carefully handmade sign; it was faded with age and read: Daisy’s Daisies. The map, and all the flowers, made it obvious that this was a florist. I looked back at the graveyard that seemed to be visible no matter where in the town I was. They probably did good business.

  I pushed open the door and was greeted by a little chime overhead. I was immediately overwhelmed by the pure smell of the place. It was filled with flowers, but it felt like all of them had started growing out of my nose. The lights were older and gave the room a yellowish-green tint. The floor was a pattern of yellow and pink tile and the walls were painted a light forest-y green. I quickly found the counter and found no trace of anyone except a single silver bell on the counter.

  I didn’t wait much longer; I rang the bell.

  “Coming!” I heard a singsong voice call from the other room.

  A woman with bright pink hair, who was over a full foot shorter than me, and wearing an apron, rushed to the counter with leaves in her hair.

  “Sorry welcome to Daisy’s Daisies where we have the flowers for you,” she said sweetly albeit out of breath. She looked a little younger than me, maybe fresh out of college age. Her apron was the same green color of the walls. She wasn’t wearing a name tag. “What can I get you?”

  “A job?” I said. Might as well be direct.

  She blinked twice. “You want to work...here?”

  “If you are hiring,” I said, handing over a resume.

  She set it down on the counter without looking at it. “You’re hired.”

  It was my turn to blink in surprise. “Just like that? I thought there were more...steps.” Maybe Stacy lied to me and getting a job was just that easy.

  “No more steps needed mister. I need all the help I can get. I can’t afford to be picky.” She seemed to notice the leaves in her hair in the reflection of the counter and began pulling them out without shame.

  “Can I ask your name?”

  She smiled. “Beth.”

  “You’re not Daisy?”

  She half-smiled, half-frowned. “That was my grandmother. And my mother. But she didn’t want me to have the same name because she hated it. So it’s just Beth.” She took a deep breath. “Sorry for oversharing but we have work to do mister.”

  “I start now?”

  “No time like the present, let’s get you an apron” she declared. “What should I call you?”

  She changed subjects as fast as a light flickering and I was struggling to keep up with her. “It’s Adam.”

  “Adam, welcome to Eden.”

  ***

  After finding me an apron from a box tucked away behind a bunch of green foam blocks I had never seen before and had no idea the purpose for, she started to explain the basics of the job. I would mainly be taking orders as a cashier but soon she’d need me to help make arrangements when we had down time.

  “So are you always really busy?” I asked.

  She looked me dead in the eye. “The cemetery back there is the only one in the county Adam. We are the only flower shop in town. The math checks out!” She didn’t sound the least bit worried about it though. She had the kind of never ending, infectious energy that I couldn’t help being somewhat swept up in as she explained how to trim flower stems so they could live the longest.

  “Why doesn’t anyone else work here?” I asked as I trimmed stems while she put together a beautiful arrangement with flowers I should probably learn the name of eventually.

  “The past few hires, as they turned in their two-week notice, noted that it was too hectic and sad.”

  Hectic I understood. “Sad?” I asked.

  She sighed, seemingly finally slowing down slightly. “I don’t get to make bouquets for very many weddings Adam. It’s best if you know this now but all of our customers are here for the same reason: death.”

  I shuddered slightly.

  “More often than not, you have to face people who are still grieving. I bet other florists don’t have to deal with it as often as we do it here. I’ve been told it takes a toll on people.”

  “What’s your advice?” I asked dryly.

  “Stay positive and don’t think about it that much.” She gave me a huge smile and then turned back to her work.

  I thought I could probab
ly handle it, it’s not like I was going to know anyone who was going to come here. I wouldn’t let them make me upset. I’d be the best at this job.

  I had to be or else.

  ***

  Stacy’s mood swung from the happiest I’d seen her to almost the most frustrated with me in almost no time. She was overjoyed when I told her I got a job but when I told her how I thought for sure she was going to hit me over the head with her tablet.

  “You can’t just start out with “give me a job”!” She threw her hands up in the air. “You have to introduce yourself and ask politely to see if they are hiring!”

  I shrugged. “It worked didn’t it?”

  She gave me the cold shoulder the rest of the night but I found my apron nicely folded on the kitchen counter later so I took that to mean she was forgiving me, for now.

  Later that night, I found myself drawn outside again. This time I wore shoes and actual clothes instead of my pajamas. I thought I was insane for once again willingly stepping into a graveyard, but in my situation, what else was I to do?

  Back in the city, I was a social butterfly. I went to parties and had hundreds of numbers in my phone. If I wanted, I never had to spend a night alone. But trapped here and without my phone I was so lonely. I had Stacy but she liked to go to bed at the “reasonable” hour of ten o’clock at night and I hadn’t made any friends in town besides maybe Beth but it was too early to tell. I needed to talk to someone. Literally anyone.

  I gazed out into the cemetery and saw a bright figure pacing in the distance. Time to talk with my favorite ghost.

  Chapter Five

  “You came back.” Cecil blinked his wide eyes like an owl might.

  “I told you I was going to yesterday,” I said easily as I followed next to him, narrowly avoiding tripping over headstones.

  “I didn’t think,” he paused as his face scrunched up. “Never mind.”

  “So I’ve been wondering,” I started. “What do you do out here at night?”

  He turned and flashed his light on my chest. “Check for trespassers.”