A girl, A boy, and a graveyard

Warm

Lucy POV
1477 words

🎵Oh, when I die, it'll be a while
But when I die I'll need to remind you
That I'm sorry I left you behind
And I'm kissing you through this one

Oh, when I die, build a funeral pyre
Cause when I die I'll need to remind you
Better build it high
Make it burn bright
Let it light your way back home🎵

When I Die by The A's

Everything was dark, dark as death. I wished death would just get on with it and carry me away many times. When I was sat in the cab, driving away from Portland Row for good. When Lockwood stood there in his chain circle with Holly on the case at Miss Wintergarden's. When Norrie got ghost-locked. When I lost that court case and for the rest of the month got given dirty looks from everyone in my home town. You get the point.

I had hoped and prayed for death to whisk me away, on multiple horrific cases. But never had I wondered what it would really feel like. I lay there, trapped in those brambles, my side exposed from the torn spirit cape. The spikes on the branches dug into me. Little ice patterns dotted my paper-like skin. I wanted to keep thrashing and try to get out, but my body didn't. My legs gave up, they just laid there in the branches. Lockwood had came, his hooded face loomed over me. I called out for him, but my voice was faint and far away. As if i was trying to speak in water, as if i was trying to move in syrup. I felt the ice grow on my eyebrows, crack my lips and sprinkle strands of my hair.

My eyes begged to shut, sleep beckoned me, or was that death? Finally arriving, finally answering my calls.

Then suddenly, warmth pulled me in. The frozen brambles were gone. And those feathers were back, tickling my face, bringing me back to life. Did Lockwood save me? Did the Spirit Cape save me?
I opened my eyes, I was laying on something. Feathery arms were draped over me. I breathed in and was met by an extraordinary smell. It smelt like home. Like cocoa and Pitkins, like that dusty smell those masks gave off on the walls, like cinnamon at Christmas and Lavender in summer. It was everything Portland Row was, everything my home was. It was Lockwood. Lockwood had saved me.

As I steadied my breathing, realised i was in fact, alive. I moved my face away from what it was laying on. Which i found out in a lot of embarrassment, was Lockwoods chest.

"Lucy? Lucy? Lucy?" Lockwood asked, every time in different tones. He held my face, "You're... alive." Hair was in his eyes but they looked red, his cheeks tinged a strange pale colour.
"Yeah yeah, no need for a welcome party or anything." I gestured to the grey and barron land around us.

"Aw but I decorated everything for you." He joked back, then his smile fell and his expression became serious, "Your cape got torn, so we have to share mine. Do you think you can stand? It's gonna be difficult to move around with only one cape to share."
"I'm sure we'll be fine. The ghosts?" I looked around, then spotted around seven or so figures lurking by the brambles. We were sat on top of the hill, he must have carried me up there. My left leg brushed against his right leg we were so close.

"Yeah, I think they're interested in the capes. It's witch doctor magic so they're distracted. If we don't make any noise, I think they won't notice us. Here, take my hand."
It was surprisingly warm, his thin long fingers held mine under the cape. I got to my feet, only to stumble and reach out, the feathers felt nice but the ice on the outside snapped under my fingers as I grasped onto it to steady myself.
"Hey, are you alright?" Lockwood murmured, his voice vibrated against my ear. His lips so close to my skin.