In Dire Need of Cessation

Eighteen

I was positive Bella knew the majority of occupants here, as her hand skimmed through the many stones with her eyes trained on the names, recognization scarring her face.

Frighteningly, I could imagine the spirits of Bella's friends watching us, each sitting on their own stone, whispering between the wind's blows as they wondered what we were doing here. What I was doing here, more specifically. I had never felt so out of place than I did currently, but I didn't cower away; I was here for Bella.

There was no light here, not even from the older gothic lamp that hung over the entrance, swinging rhythmically in the harsh weathers that were controlled by Bella. My vision came in handy for situations like this, and I could only picture what Bella was seeing- as it was obvious she had some unnatural ability to see in the dark (which would have been beneficial to haunt a house).

"I only left the confinements of the house to attend funerals and weddings- which ceased when my grandchildren left home," Bella informed me quietly, evidently feeling the thickness of the atmosphere that ordered people to hush their voices. "The first funeral I attended was my own," she humorlessly joked, smiling sarcastically. "That day was certainly...something."

"Was William a grand actor?" I asked, knowing she needed to get this off of her chest and confide in another- someone she trusted. I matched her walking pace beside her, with me following her steps to behind the church.

"Extremely," she said as if she was discussing the weekend's football game. "The devil even received a huge sum of money from my father, to 'grieve without concern' the men called it...They were monsters together." She shook her head, "I loathe them."

I could still recall when Bella listed the men who betrayed her, her father being the first. I didn't want to be invasive and ask why, what had her father done? I could only guess it was allowing the marriage to happen when Bella was a young teenager. A mere girl.

"But family is family," she finished, shutting the subject down (for now).

No human would have been able to hear or see us in the darkness that lurked around and the rain that patted the ground. We were invisible to the outside world, the same world that was full of people unaware of the destruction within the pair of us.

"Perhaps I should have brought flowers?" Bella murmured, staring at the two crooked gravestones with wide glistening eyes.

The wording was hardly visible on the three-hundred-year-old gravestones, weathered away like every thing else Bella once knew. Renee Anabelle Swan. Charles Thomas Swan. Their age difference was familiar, with Charles being six years Renee's senior, similar to Bella's difference with William.

It was evident nobody had paid these stones a piece of mind for many years, centuries even, as lichen stemmed up the cracks of the stone, wilting the stone like the bodies of (the hopefully soon to be inlaws) Bella's parents.

I was paying more attention to Bella's still face when my hands in my pockets began to tremble, very lightly at the start. Instantly, I retrieved my hands and placed them in front of me, the thoughts about visions growing more pronounced with each second. Oh God, no!

I didn't want to interrupt Bella's moment with her parents as it had been so long, but was this still possible?! We weren't at home now, and Bella claimed it was the house's curse. In addition, now that Bella was here, shouldn't this stop? 

I took a sharp intake of breath when my left carve shook, shutting my eyes briefly as if I was in pain. "Bella," I whispered, "I'm going to have to give you some privacy," I finished, holding my finger up and turning backward. I hated that I was ruining this for her.