Salem's Civil War (Book Five of The Silver Society)

Chapter Six

CHAPTER SIX

The smoke filled his lungs until he thought he'd simply turn to ash. His mother reached for him through the thick, black clouds, begging him to save her. She opened her mouth to scream but the flames swallowed her whole.

Arnie awoke gasping for breath. He coughed several times and tried to clear his mind, without success. "I'm sorry, Mom," he whispered. "I'm so sorry..."

As he began to think more clearly, Arnie realized that it was the middle of the night. No one else was awake, and he had only gone to bed an hour earlier after a long night of uneventful patrolling. Cursing, he pulled on some comfortable clothing and crept downstairs. He wasn't really sure where he was going, but he let his feet go on anyway.

When he arrived at his feet's chosen destination, he sighed. Of course. He was in the cemetery. His parents' badly burned bodies had been buried here, and all of his dead ex-girlfriends were there as well. And tragically, he could now count Spencer among the "residents" he knew.

"Look at that," Arnie mumbled. "I think I know more people in here than I know with pulses."

He automatically drifted toward the dead girlfriends first. He had to pay his respects to each of them. After all, he felt responsible for all of their deaths. His soul was cursed, and any girl he proclaimed his romantic love for died, usually painfully. That was why he refused to call Melissa his girlfriend, even though he spent most of his free time with her. He loved her too much to risk losing her.

After making the necessary stops at the various dead girlfriends' graves and leaving stones on each headstone, he sat down at the headstone his parents shared. BELOVED PARENTS, GONE TOO SOON, the epitaph read.

"Gone too soon... No kidding," he mumbled. "Mom, Dad... I don't even know why I'm here. I just... I miss you guys." He sighed. "That's it, Arnie? That's all you've got? Wow, I'm such a loser... I don't even have anything epic to say. You guys have been gone for so many years, and I'm still stuck on 'I miss you.' How about 'I'm lost without you'? How about 'life sucks'? How about 'everyone I love dies, and you guys were just the first on the list'? Or 'I kill everything I touch'? Or even, 'I'm going to go over the deep end'? Or maybe, just maybe I can stop whining and remember that you're the ones who died and suffered, and I need to stop thinking about myself."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He decided to change the subject. "So, I met this amazing girl, and I really love her, but I'm terrified to actually call her my girlfriend," he said. "I can't lose this one. She's the one, Mom and Dad. You guys always told me that I'd meet her and know her immediately, and I do know her... But I can't make it official. I'm so scared... I spend so much of my time being afraid. I'm really pathetic, and I know I've probably majorly disappointed you guys. I'm sorry... I'm sorry for everything, especially for not saving you."

Arnie paused. He knew his parents weren't there in spirit. Why did he always feel drawn to come back to the cemetery when he needed them? Maybe it was to show the world that someone remembered them, remembered all of the people he loved who were buried there. Or maybe in some part of his mind, he still believed it was a bad dream that he'd wake up from, and seeing their graves made it less surreal.

He tended the grave to make it more presentable, brushing the dirt and dead leaves away. "I love you guys," he whispered. He bent down and kissed their headstone before walking away.

His feet kept walking, although he screamed at them to stop. He ended up in front of Spencer's grave. Arnie had not been to this grave since the funeral. It bothered him to see Spencer's name and birthday on a headstone, and it bothered him even more to see the date of his death. Arnie had been in a coma while his best friend was murdered, and he could do nothing about it. "Yet another person I failed," Arnie mumbled. "Spence, man, I miss you... More than I can even say, because words don't cut it with these things."