THE GIRL FROM CEMETARY

CHAPTER 1 AMELIA

The cemetery at night hadan irresistible charm for Amelia and it was there that she would takerefuge after a long day of work in the traveling amusement park; thepeace of that place, the tranquility of the silence, the beauty ofthe gothic statues made her feel at peace with the world.
Everyday she had to fight with herself to smile at the many customers whobesieged her merry-go-round, the busiest in the amusement park;almost all of them were men who tried in every way, some politely,some awkwardly and the most fearless heavily.
Yes, because Amelia was beautiful, an almostalien creature if compared to her sisters, cousins or friends whoworked with her: a mass of long curly hair of a bright red color thatformed perfect curls, emerald green eyes with an elongated shape thatgave her a severe air and did not allow anyone to stare at herwithout lowering their gaze in a few seconds. Tall and thin but withgenerous forms made her the object of desire of all men and the envyof every woman who passed through the fair. This made her appearhaughty in the eyes of women and put men in awe, making her a kind ofoutcast. No one stopped to probe her true self, her sweet andsensitive character.
Of course, wandering around cemeteries atnight added to a passion for horror movies and magic did not help herreputation.
Being alone in the middle of that peace gave her aparticular pleasure, tranquility mixed with a pinch of anxiety,because Amelia was not crazy: a cemetery is still a cemetery and it'sscary, but that fear made her feel alive.
She fantasized aboutvampires and zombies that came out of the tombs trembling at everynoise, about witches who practiced their secret rites, about theinvincible hero who would save her from everything, finally takingher away from the life she led, made of absurd rules and isolationfrom the world.
Amelia's family was part of an ancient nomadiclineage of Ireland, a closed community, with almost no contact withthe outside world except for the work of the amusement park that tookthem around the country.
They came in contact with thousands ofpeople but interacted only for business reasons, they exploitedpeople for their gain, they smiled, seduced and took what they couldwithout giving anything in return except the illusion of beinginterested in their customers. They were very good at it, especiallythe young girls who flirted with the young men to fleece them of alltheir money sending them home with empty pockets but a smile on theirfaces.
None of them were allowed to have a crush on any of theseyoung men, the family would never approve and would never let them goout on a normal date.
Amelia was the prettiest but she couldn'tfind anyone in her community who was interested in her as opposed toher cousins and friends; she didn't mind so much but she missed beingcourted, the excitement before a date, the anticipation of amessage.
Every time she felt attraction for one of the clients thereaction of the family was out of proportion, much harsher than forthe other girls.
She still remembered a certain Bryde, two yearsearlier: a young man from the local high school who had impressed herby going to his pull every night, spending her allowance for the lastten years she had thought as she smiled.
His shyness was obviousbut so was his tenacity to get her to notice him. Amelia had finallygiven in and given him a date after work and for two days she hadbeen happy, perhaps for the first time in her life.
Bryde wassweet and a bit awkward, he filled her with attention and in his eyesshe saw an unbreakable love, not the usual lust she saw in other menwho looked at her lasciviously, it was something different thatscared her a little. She understood that he would do anything forher, even die and that made her uncomfortable because there wassomething unnatural about that devotion, to be honest she didn'treally understand what that feeling was either.
That thoughtpassed into the background because of the sea of new emotions she wasexperiencing with him: the first kisses, the waiting to see him or toreceive a message from him, the happiness of his smile when he lookedat her, never in the eyes though, he couldn't hold her gazeeither.
Amelia finally felt like a normal girl with a future infront of her and not because she thought she would marry Bryde andlive happily with him, not even when he asked her to run awaytogether did she consider the idea: she knew it was impossible butliving a glimmer of normality in that life of confinement wasthrilling anyway.
She had no idea how it would end in a very shorttime: from one day to the next she had no news of Bryde, he didn'tshow up at the fairgrounds or at their secret place and stoppedresponding to messages.
One night after work Amelia took courageand decided to go to the boy's house and confront him in person: shewanted to understand what he had done wrong to deserve that treatmentand to scream in his face all her pain and frustration.
He waitedfor the carnival to close and for everyone to be asleep, then heslipped out of his trailer, taking care not to make the slightestnoise so as not to wake up his parents and his two brothers, andwalked towards the residential area of the town where the boy lived.The road to travel was not long and she arrived there easily.
Assoon as she entered the neighborhood full of small single-familyhouses with beautiful manicured gardens, swimming pools, barbecues,and swings, she felt a sense of envy for the normalcy she wouldprobably never experience and hated Bryde even more for what he haddone to her, for deluding her into thinking he could change herlife.
Even more furious she hurried up the steps and arrived infront of the boy's house. It wasn't the most luxurious house in theneighborhood but it was certainly a very nice house, a well-keptgarden in front with a tile driveway that led to the main entrance ofa two-story house all in bricks, with windows that resembled thespires of a cathedral and a beautiful porch.
She couldn't ringthe doorbell at that time of night so she decided to go around thehouse guessing that Bryde's room faced the back; they didn't havedogs and she could arrive undisturbed in the back garden where therewas a beautiful swimming pool with Jacuzzi and a well-stockedbarbecue area.
She stayed for a few more seconds fantasizing abouther possible life in such a house, wondering if she would be popularat school, the prom queen or a cheerleader, or an outcast like in herreal life. She felt the anger she was feeling increasing so shedecided to send a message to Bryde: he would tell him that he was inhis house and if he didn't come down immediately he would ring thedoorbell and make a scene, waking up the neighbors as well. After afew minutes a light came on right above his head and a window opened,Bryde's head came out with his blond hair all messed up; he couldn'tsee his face well but he guessed there was something strange.
Theboy warned her that he would be right down and told her to go to theend of the garden, under the weeping willow tree where they would notbe seen.
He arrived shortly after with his face hidden by the hoodof a sweatshirt and his head bowed; he did not speak, he remained ata certain distance, his attitude was cold and detached, or maybe not,he seemed afraid, he was shivering and it was not cold at all thatnight.
Amelia decided to face him and approached him, removing hishood with a sudden gesture to look into his eyes: what she saw frozeher blood. Bryde's face was full of bruises and contusions, one eyecompletely closed for how much it was swollen and of an eggplantcolor tending to black. The boy retreated with a gesture of anger buton his face he read another feeling: it wasn't anger, it wasshame.
All of Amelia's fury subsided, she began to worry aboutwhat could have happened to him, she thought of a thousand things: anaccident, a fight with some schoolmate or even abuse from herfather.
He never thought that the truth was much worse than hecould imagine, a truth that would change his life forever.
Shebegan peppering him with questions, "Who did this? How did ithappen? When? Did you go to the hospital? Poor Bryde, and I was somad at you for not showing up!"

He advanced toward him tohug him but once again the boy backed away.
The feeling thatsomething strange and terrible was going on increased, she tried tomake him talk, she begged him to tell her what had happened, she usedher sweetness then cried in despair, finally seeing him remainimpassive behind his stubborn muteness she began to scream.
"Whywon't you tell me what happened? You have someone else don't you? Andher boyfriend caught you and made you pay for it!"
It seemedthe most plausible explanation so Amelia continued to press himharder and harder, she came menacingly close almost as if she wantedto beat him up.
Maybe the fear of catching them again or that hisparents would wake up to find him with a stranger in their garden,made Bryde shake: as she was about to slam her fists on his chest hegrabbed her hands, squeezing them perhaps too tightly. He stared intoher eyes but only for an instant and yelled at her.
"It wasyour people, your brother your cousins, YOUR FATHER!!!!. Theyfollowed me after practice as I passed by the woods, they picked meup and took me to where the vegetation is thickest and no one couldhear me.