by Evie Long
“You gave him a book?”
“Yeh. Is how ve met. I vas shy, but still, I tell him that the flowers he brinked to his lady love – for the character I mean in the movie - that they vas wronk.”
“Wrong?”.
“Yeh. The book for the costume research. It explain how all the Victorian tings –these had the meanings. The flowers, the gems in the rings. To the Victorians all the tings has the hidden meanings.”
“Really?”
"Yeh. And so the flowers he carried. That the propmaster gife him to carry -Orange lilies – vhat you call them…tiger lilies. But the character vas in luff - so he vould never give the lady the orange lilies. Orange no.”
“Why not?”
“Orange lily means the hate. The book explain this. Carlo borrow it after that – vas fascinated by it, you see. So, he tells this to the director, that he vant the different color flowers. But the director yell at him and say no vone vill see color! The movie is not in the color! So they punch each other.”
I nodded.
“And zhen he ask me out.”
“Oh. So was that what they were fighting about that day that he died? More props?”
“Yeh. I not remember specifically, but it vas alvays vone ting or another. From the book”.
“Hmn…but Audrey said…”
“Pssht. Audrey said! Of course she said! Audrey vants everyting to be about her. She vants the attention. The kurva.” (More spit.)
“So she never slept with the director?”
“I never say that. She probably sleept vit everyone on that set. Probably slept vit director to get the part!”
“Oh. But so Carlo – he wasn’t fired over that last fight?”
“Acch! He was always being fired and hired back, fired again. It means notink.” Grandma Rosa shrugged. “I never see him after he leaf the set. I ask him on the vay out - to come see me that night and he say he vill. But then he don’t show up. And I vait, I vait – and he vasn't coming. I’m angry then…you know. Hurt. And then the next day I find out he die. Achh. Even though he lie and cheat and love someone else…still I love him. "
Wow.
”I vas fool,” she sighed.
You can’t trust those beautiful eyes.
“Do you know where she’s buried? Audrey?”
Grandma Rosa shook her head. Then she frowned, remembering. “Actually yeh. Maybe try the Hollywood Cemetery – near the Paramount. I tink maybe could be.”
CHAPTER 23
I left Grandma Rosa and started driving to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It probably had a different name way back when, but I assumed it was the one Grandma Rosa meant. It was famous these days for showing movies out on the lawn – you could watch a Douglas Fairbanks movie, sitting not 10 feet from the man himself. Or at least his body.
But as I drove, I realized it was getting to be rush hour and would take forever to get there. I’d go tomorrow instead. So I headed back to my place to pick up Trevor, as I intended to spend the night out. I didn’t even care where I slept, at Joy’s or Lilly’s or in my car at a park. All I knew was that there was no way I was sleeping at home.
When I got inside the bungalow, all was cool, literally. Temperature-wise there were no heat issues. I went in to grab some overnight clothes and stuffed some stuff in my overnight bag, along with my toothbrush and my phone chargers, etc.
As I was heading out, lugging my overnight bag – which had grown exponentially heavier with every room I went into – I saw my cute neighbor heading up the path on the other side of bushes.
Telling myself to play it cool, I stood up and smiled. “Hi!” I said in a voice, two octaves too high.
“Hi,” he said, stopping mid-walk, to turn to me.
“How are you?” I asked. I hadn’t had a chance to see him or say anything to him since our almost kiss/Joy interruption – and I wanted to explain that the ‘Carlo’ Joy mentioned in front of him wasn’t anyone I was serious about. Just in case.
“Good,” he nodded.
“So...uh...you're...are you an artist?” I asked, trying to nonchalantly prolong our conversation.
“Yeah,” he said. “My job’s in animation but I’m trying to come up with my own graphic novel.” He shrugged as though it wasn’t going that well.
“Oh, that’s cool,” I said, knowing nothing about animation or graphic novels (or being cool for that matter.) But it seemed like the thing to say.
“Going out?” he asked looking at my bag.
“Yeah, I’m sleeping over at a friend’s.” I decided not to explain about the ghost.
“Well, have a good night,” he said. And without saying goodbye, he turned and started walking towards his place.
Was he suddenly cold towards me? Was I imagining it? I gasped, realizing that he might be thinking I was sleeping over a guy friend’s. I wanted to run after him, yelling, "Wait! It’s a girlfriend! I don’t have a boyfriend!” But then I decided that might not be playing it too cool.
Anyway, he probably didn’t care. He probably had a date with Blondie.
But still I felt bad.
I thought about it all night at Lilly’s. She and her boyfriend Scott had graciously agreed to let me stay there for one night. And one night only.
All through dinner Lilly prodded Scott about finding me a date at his firm. Scott threw out a few names and Lilly nodded eagerly, while I ate my roast chicken quietly.
Then Scott went to bed and Lilly and I talked, drank wine and stayed up too late. I told her about my neighbor and our almost kiss. About how I saw him earlier and felt bad that he thought I was with another guy.
“That’s not a bad thing to do though," Lilly said. “Making guys jealous. Never hurts.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you saw Audrey’s crime scene photos,” I told her.
She asked to see them and I hesitated. Then I took them from my bag and showed them to her.
“Wow. That’s disgusting. This all happened in the very place you’re living? You should move. I means seriously, don’t they have to tell you about that? To warn you?”
“No,” I told her. “Probably not after like 60 years. The landlord probably didn’t even know. I mean, the only way I found out was because of Carl…” I stopped mid-word. I’d promised her I wouldn’t mention my ghost.
She squinted in disapproval at even his partial name.
Surprisingly - though she wouldn’t let me mention Carlo’s name, she actually did want to come with me the next day to find Audrey’s grave. “It sounds like an adventure!” she said.
So we drove to Hollywood and found it, a small nondescript headstone in an old section of the cemetery. I took several photos of the grave with my phone which I planned on showing to Carlo’s ghost – the ghost that Lilly didn’t believe existed but now insisted on meeting.
It was all because I’d mentioned that he met Joy the previous week. I never should have mentioned it.
“Joy?” Lilly smirked. “The Joy Who’s always drunk, Joy? That Joy saw him? I’ve always said she’s a bad influence on you.”
I shrugged. I didn’t tell her that Joy had sex with Carlo on my couch. In my Jello. That would have just spurred her into one of her monologues about how I have a pattern of liking guys who treat me badly. How even my fantasy guy cheats on me –and how that probably makes me like him even more. I just couldn’t deal with THAT on top of everything. Probably because it was true.
“Well if Joy met him, then I want to meet him,” Lilly declared as we headed back to my place. “Whether he exists or not!”
“Fine,” I said, though I knew it was going to be a mistake. As I unlocked my bungalow door, I warned Lilly that Carlo wasn’t some cute Caspery ghost but was a crazed radiator-inflaming psycho. But she didn’t care, she insisted on meeting him
We went inside and I called out his name. “Carlo! Carlo!” And of course the one time I actually WANTED him to be there, he’d made himself scarce.
“Is he here?” Lilly asked
<
br /> “No. You’d be able to see him if he was.”
“Oh.”
“I’m going to print these out,” I said as I headed into the small den to print out the photos I’d taken of Audrey’s grave. Through the open doorway, I could see Lilly in the living room, looking around.
“I like what you’ve done with this place,” she said. “It’s so light and bright. And I love your armoire.”
I nodded. I loved my armoire too. I found it for like a hundred bucks on Craigslist and painted it a shabby white. Now it would sell for over a thousand. If I could part with it, which I couldn’t.
When I came back into the room I saw Lilly sitting at the table, checking her phone email. Standing next to her, stroking her hair, was Carlo.
“Carlo!” I screamed. He didn’t turn but Lilly did.
“What?” she asked nervously. “Is he here?”
“He’s touching your hair!” I whispered. “Can't you see him? Or feel him?”
She shook her head ‘no’ as Carlo stroked her cheek.
“So beautiful,” he cooed.
“Lilly!” I said walking towards her. “You have to go.”
“What? Now? I want to meet him first.”
“Lilly,” he whispered seductively. “Stay with me.”
I frowned. Again? Again he was into my friends? Couldn’t he see me standing right there? Yes I’d told him I wanted to be a nun - but was that any reason to practically swoon over my friend right in front of me? Yes she had gorgeous golden hair and big almond shaped blue eyes that made her look both exotic and innocent at the same time. But still...
“My darling,” he said. “I want you.”
“Lilly, let’s go,” I said, grabbing her arm and leading her out. He was looking at her sadly. As though he’d just lost his true love.
“Don’t go!” he cried. “Stay with me forever.”
“Lilly, we have to get out of here now!” I whispered.
The last thing I wanted was for him to go into one of his crazed stalker flashbacks again. “It’s not safe!” I hisspered.
“Why? What’s he saying?”
“He’s quoting from his crazed stalker note. ‘Stay with me forever. Lie with me through eternity, blah blah blah.’”
“How romantic!” she said, excitedly looking around.
“I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts!” I was practically dragging her out the door.
“I don’t but…,” she took one last look back as she held onto the door frame, thereby preventing me from pushing her all the way out. Which totally reminded me of Trevor when I try to put him into the backseat and he doesn’t want to go.
“But it is interesting,” she said.
Sure it’s interesting - it's another guy who’s fallen under your spell.
I finally got her outside and slammed the door behind me. But before I did, I saw the look in Carlo’s eyes. He was staring at her, lovestruck. Heartbroken.
“That was so exciting!” Lilly said once we were outside. “Maybe you should keep him."
“Keep him? He’s not a pet. He’s a ghost! A ghost who needs to find out what his unfinished business is and… go towards the light!"
She shrugged. “Yeah. It’s true." She straightened her skirt and patted down her hair, transforming back into her hot schoolmarm self. “Arden, you really need to get over this whole crazy fantasy and focus on a real guy.”
“But you’re the one who just said…”
“Like your cute neighbor, maybe,” she interrupted.
“No, he doesn’t like me. He has a girlfriend anyway.”
“Just your type,” she said with a snarky smile. “Seriously, at this point, you should take what you can get. Your mental health is at stake."
“I have to go in,” I said. “I left those Audrey photos in there and I don’t want him seeing them and burning the place down.”
“Fine,” she said. “Give Carlo my love.”
I rolled my eyes and headed back inside.
CHAPTER 24
Carlo was pacing anxiously when I came in. Then he stopped and looked at me. “Where did you find her?” he asked, his voice full of emotion.
“Lilly? Around. She’s a friend.” I was unable to keep the jealousy out of my voice. Granted every guy I’ve ever met has the same reaction to Lilly – but they weren’t living in MY house, RENT FREE.
“Lilly… Like the flower…”
He started pacing again, clearly agitated. He was mumbling under his breath, “my wild flower” over and over again. I recognized the words from his creepy note.
Great. Here we go again.
“I think...I’m in love,” he said.
“Yes” I told him. “With Audrey. Look, I have her picture.”
But he shook his head no.
“Audreyyyy,” I said hypnotically as I waved the photo of Audrey’s grave before his eyes. “See, it’s where she’s lying eternally. You can lie with her there eternally too. You can go to her. Be with her.”
“No,” he said, defiantly. “Lilly.”
Great. I’ve really screwed this one. Now that I’d introduced him to Lilly, he was unable to recognize what his real purpose was. I never ever, ever, ever should have brought her over here. Ever. I absolutely had to find some way to make him realize that Audrey was ‘the one‘ for him, while Lilly was mere fleeting crush.
“Look at this. Look closely,” I intoned in a séance-y voice. “Audrey. It’s Audreyyyy....”
He shrugged noncommittally but I was not about to give up.
“Audreeeeyyy, you need to remember Audreyyy. Go towards the light and be with Audreyyyy.” I held the photo of Audrey’s grave in front of his face. “You can redeem yourself. Remember what you did to her? Remember her and apologize and go towards the light. Gooo. Find. Audreeeyyy.”
“What light? Stop saying this!” he said angrily. He grabbed my hands to stop me from waving the photo in his face, clasping my fingers tightly.
I felt dizzy.
Then suddenly, there was a loud BANG.
Carlo was bleeding. Falling backwards.
I looked at the gun I was holding in my hand. I gasped and dropped it.
Then I saw my reflection in the mirror. I was Audrey. But I was me. I was part me, part her. Somehow I was both of us at the same time.
Carlo picked up the letter opener that had fallen on the floor. He came stumbling towards me, his shoulder dripping blood. “You’ll never…”he said, his voice weak as he staggered and lurched towards me. “You’ll never get away…”
He slashed at my face, cutting it. Then he swiped out again, this time slashing my shoulder.
My cheek was gashed and bleeding. I grabbed my gun and shot him again.
The room swirled all around me.
Everything went black.
CHAPTER 25
I jolted awake and looked around through blurry eyes. I was lying on the floor, the room was empty. But hot. Very hot. I looked over and saw that the radiator was practically on fire.
Flames were leaping out of the radiator grill. My eyes were burning and tearing as I got up and ran over to the thermostat to turn it down.
But it was stuck. I couldn’t move it at all.
I ran back to the radiator and saw the flames growing even higher. The paint around the metal grating was turning brown and melting.
I hurried back and pounded on the thermostat again but it wouldn’t budge – it felt like an invisible hand was holding it in place. Not knowing what else to do, I ran to the kitchen and filled a big pot with water then dashed back into the living room.
I splashed the water towards the radiator. The flame lowered, then fizzled out.
Thank goodness.
I caught my breath and went back the thermostat – and to my surprise it now moved quite easily.
CHAPTER 26
Whew. I was worn out. I was also worried that now that I’d knocked out the pilot light I would wind up with a gas leak. And then an explosion.
Was that even possible? Who knew? I didn’t – I’d grown up with only electrical appliances so gas ones always made me slightly nervous. So I decided to worry about it for a while. So preoccupied was I, by my explosion paranoia, that it actually took me a few moments to realize that something important was missing from my life: Carlo.
I looked around. “Carlo!” I called. But I didn’t hear any answer. “Carlo?”
Still nothing.
Was he really gone? I couldn’t believe it. But maybe my plan actually worked. Maybe during that flashback he finally remembered Audrey and his attempt at murder. Maybe he finally atoned for his crimes and was now free – free to follow her towards the light!
Yes! I decided. That had to be it. I felt so exorcised. And giddy. Now I could go back to my boring old pre-ghost life. I felt the need to clean the place up and wash that ghost right out of my hair – and out of my apartment.
With a new spring in my step, I put on my oven mitts and lifted out the radiator grille, placing it carefully on the floor. Then I got some paper towels and started sopping up the water inside the floor compartment under the radiator. Dirt. Gross.
I realized it had probably never been cleaned down there. Ever. It was Disgusting. There were yucky hairballs and black filth.
As I was wiping out the compartment, I heard a metal clanking sound and aimed my flashlight down into the opening. I saw something dark and round and dirty. Hoping that it wasn’t some kind of weird bug skeleton, I reached in with a paper towel and removed it. Only to realize that it was….
MY ANTIQUES ROADSHOW FIND!
Yes! It really was!
I hurried to the bathroom sink and washed all the filth off it only see a gorgeous gold ring with four lovely gemstones.
I couldn’t believe it.
I’d always had a fantasy of finding something valuable in an old house but I never really thought it would happen to me. And now…it had!
Calm down, I told myself. After all, I didn’t even know if it was real. But somehow, I sensed it was.
I slipped the ring on my ring finger and studied it. The band was thick gold in the shape of a snake with four pretty stones set in a line across it. There was an amethyst (my birthstone!) a blue stone that might have been a sapphire, though I wasn’t sure. An opal. And a reddish stone which might possibly be a garnet, but which I was hoping was a ruby.