Remember Me

Chapter 3

Blake was paralyzed. One of his recurring nightmares was right in front of him. That forest had once meant something beautiful to him, something alive. But now it reeked of death and tragedy. In that very moment, he really did hope it was a nightmare, anything would be better than being stranded in the middle of the place where part of his life was taken away from him, he swore he would never go there again, but there he was, caught up in life’s circumstances.

After minutes of just sitting in the broken down car thinking endlessly of the dreadful moment he experienced that June 26th, and all that came after that, he decided he had to do something. His mother could die, and he would feel all the guilt in the world for never saying goodbye. Blake got out of the car, it was getting darker now, and the road seemed to be deserted. It was the forest and him. It was Margot and him. The realization that Margot’s spirit could potentially appear at any second sent him a wave of immense shock throughout his whole body. He felt weak, his hands were shaking and his brain was getting fuzzy from all the dreadful thoughts it was filled with. His body was in a strange state of numbness. For a minute he wished he was in his bed in San Francisco tucked in safely next to Sarah, but he had to face reality, whether he liked it or not.

A strong breeze almost knocked him off his shock, and that’s when he heard it. That voice. The same voice he had replayed over and over in his head ever since he heard it for the first time, Margot Holland’s voice.

“Blake?” he heard her say in a quiet whisper.

The sound of her voice sent shivers down his spine, it was too surreal, and he thought he would never hear it again. He was speechless, he wanted to form the words but they simply wouldn’t come out.

“Don’t be scared of me, love. Turn around” said the haunting voice.

Blake turned around slowly, scared of seeing her in whatever state she was in, he wanted to remember Margot as the beautiful, innocent girl she was, not like this. A ghost. Something dead. Her heart wasn’t beating anymore, and it pained him to know that his was. Sometimes he really did wish the bear had eaten him, not her.

When he finally turned around, his eyes opened up wide, and every single emotion was flowing through him. He was scared, he was angry, he was confused, he was lost. Her piercing blue eyes stared at him with such intensity he swore it burned him. She looked beautiful, even in her decaying state. Her hair was a wild mess, she had scratches all over her pale arms and legs, a bruise covering her right cheek, her white dress was ragged, but the only thing that stayed intact was the heart shaped emerald adorning her neck. Blake couldn’t believe what he was seeing; it was his Margot, the one he had cried over for what seemed like an eternity. The one that recurred his nightmares, the one that died every night in his sleep, it was her.

“M-Margot?” he mumbled, finding it incredibly hard to speak.

“It’s me, its okay. I’m not going to hurt you” she spoke.

“Wha-What happened? “Why are you stuck here?” he said, the words finally coming out. He had so many questions for her. So many things he wanted to say. But he was cut off, though.

“Don’t worry about that. Listen, your mother will make it through the night. You’ll be able to say goodbye, sweetheart. Now go, before it’s too late for both of us” she said, and it looked as if she was slowly vanishing, slowly being taken away by the trees and the darkness of the night.

“Don’t leave me again! Don’t do this to me! I never stopped loving you, Margot, come back” he yelled, he was desperate now, he thought he would lose it at any minute, it ached him to see Margot vanishing again, like she had 10 years ago, it was all too much. Tears fell down his face uncontrollably while he watched her disappear into the night. He sat on the floor to get himself together and saw something shining on the ground, right where Margot had stood, possibly the only sign that she had ever been there. He crawled over to where he saw the object and there it was, the heart shaped emerald necklace he had given her so many years ago. It was now the only thing he had to assure himself Margot had been there, that he wasn’t insane, that he wasn’t imagining things.

With trembling hands, he grabbed the necklace, planted a kiss on its cold, hard surface and put it in his pocket. How could a simple object mean so much? , he thought, how could someone become such a huge part of his life and be gone so quickly? His brain was a mess, the crying wouldn’t stop, his heart ached and all he wanted in that moment was to be next to Margot. But he had to live; he had to keep breathing to see his mother, to marry Sarah, to start a family… Sarah. He felt guilty thinking about her. He felt he was betraying Margot by thinking about her right now, but he had always felt that way with every woman he dated after Margot, he loved Sarah, but it was as if Margot had put a spell on him. A spell that still affected Blake. He always had imagined Margot walking down the aisle looking beautiful in a pretty white dress and saying “till death do us apart” at the right time, but death did them apart way before that, and that saddened Blake in the worst way possible. Blake reached down on his pocket and got out the thing he never was able to get rid of. The engagement ring he was going to give her that dreadful day.

He placed it carefully on the ground where Margot had stood, and whispered, “I love you Margot Holland, rest in peace, please.” All he wanted was for her to rest. The thought of her soul being trapped in the same place she encountered death must be hell for her, Blake thought. He wanted her to be okay, even if she wasn’t next to him. Even if that meant never seeing her again.

“Me too, Blake” he heard the wind whisper.

Full of raw emotions and feelings, with his hands trembling and his legs shaking, he got into the car and started the engine, and it worked. He left the forest behind, but all that happened there would never leave him.

When he got to the hospital it all went black.