Love Between the Living and Dead

Meeting in the Park

At the local national park running through a certain city, a small car was decimated by a large truck that had a drunk driver behind the wheel, sending the car tumbling over and over into the trees, killing both parents and two of the three children in it. The family driving said car were almost all killed instantly. One was thrown through the window and bled out of the pavement a few yards from where the car ended up stopping. His family had all moved on to wherever you go after death, but the small teenager got lost. He didn't know where to go. Had he been with his family, maybe he'd have found where to go, but he wasn't that lucky. He saw their dead bodies, all bloody and broken in the crunched up car resting on its side.

The lonely teen's name was Luffy, and that's all he can remember about himself. He recognized that the car's passengers were his family, but he didn't remember anything about them, who he was, or his past. He had nowhere to go. So he stayed in that park, sometimes wandering around, having memorized his home, but most times he sat on the lawn at the entrance of the park, hoping someday he'd find out where to go. That was fifty years ago.

It didn't feel that long to Luffy. Time flew by, even though every day was lonely. He waited on that lawn, watching people go by, through the decades seeing style and technology change. How people treated each other changed as well. The park visitors became ruder and more disrespectful, being mean to each other and ignoring their friends as they looked at the shiny boxes carried in their hands. It was strange, but fascinating at the same time.

He had learned long ago no one could see or hear him, and he'd walk right through them. That first day was terrifying. Not only was his family dead, but none of the onlookers or medical people answered his questions. He thought they were ignoring him until his hand passed through one of the medics, causing pain to race through his hand. He didn't run. He wanted to, but he was afraid he'd get lost. So he stayed on that lawn and watched as the accident was cleaned up. He had seen his own body, as bloody and broken as the rest of his family. The glass was stuck in his skin, and blood pooled around the still body. His plain black shirt and red shorts were torn to shreds. He was glad he didn't look like that as a ghost forever. He was clean, the only thing out of place was his messy black hair.

Luffy didn't like to think of himself as a ghost, but that's what he was. But they were always seen as scary. Luffy didn't see himself as scary. He never did anything to anyone. He'd just watch and wait for however long it would take to be led somewhere by something, to the afterlife he liked to think of. He wasn't a very religious person but there weren't any other people like him, invisible and lonely. Surely if it had happened to others, there'd be more like him. He would have been able to tell because he glowed faintly. Not too brightly, but enough to be a bit different by those who were still alive. It could only be seen at night.

He wanted food desperately, and though he couldn't physically get hungry or thirsty, he craved to devour the picnic baskets that were brought with couples or friends and family on their blankets.

He also longed to touch dogs. They pranced and ran right next to him, but he was unable to interact with them. There were certain people he recognized, the ones that came to the park routinely. They were runners, or dog walkers. Some came to read, others had gatherings with their friends. They did homework or just talked. He wished he could go to school.

Now that he was dead and alone, he couldn't remember the last time he smiled or laughed. Or spoke for that matter. He hummed sometimes when he looked at the stars at night, but he'd not spoken a word in a very long time. There was no one to talk to after all.

Zoro had just moved to a new city. He didn't really like it much. It was too big. There were too many people in the public areas. The only thing he liked about the place was the state park that ran through the middle of the city. He had never been there before, but it was summer and he wanted to go swimming. The park was quite big and had a creek running through it. There was even a giant concrete pool built at the end of the creek that you could go swimming in.