Short Stories

Game Over

Caseys POV
Ugh. I hate going to the cemetery. Dad always drags me there to put flowers on my grandmothers grave. Its not like I didn't love her, just that cemeteries are boring. Full of corpses. Nothing else. Tacky flowers maybe, but that's to be expected.
"Casey! We're there! Get the flowers." My Dad yells at me from the front of the Jeep.
I groan, popping open the trunk and grabbing the big 'Rural King' bag.
I hand it to dad as I walk away. I may hate them, sure, but the headstones in cemeteries are sometimes beautiful.
I walk over to a short one. Its clean so I think the person had only recently died.
I walk around to the front of it and read the lettering.

Here lies the beloved Josie Bane
Gone so soon, a whole life wasted
12 June, 1998 ~ 1 May, 2020
She may have lost the battle with cancer, but she was strong.
       Game Over. Play Again?

There was a coin slot under the message, so jokingly I put in a spare quarter from my pocket.
You can't imagine the shock I got when the ground exploded beneath me.
A girl my age popped out of the ground, eyes closed. She would've fallen flat on her face if I hadn't caught her, then I realized what I was doing and let go.
I held a corpse.
She had been dead.
Buried in the ground, dead.
Yet here she was. Flesh and blood.
She got up holding her nose, and I could see blood gushing from it.
"Dude, what in holy hell just happened?!"
I backed away a little bit as she continued to hold her nose.
I replied. "I don't know what just happened, okay. All I know was that you were dead and I put a coin in that slot"
I stopped, pointing at the headstone.
"And now you're alive. So I don't know what to do.
Josie shook her head. I noticed the blood coming out of her nose wasn't stopping, so I gave her an old tissue.
Once the bleeding stopped, she threw the tissue in her newly vacated grave.
"I didn't actually think they would put that there. It was gonna be a joke. I though I had another four years. But they didn't forget, did they?", she said calmly.
I looked at her. How can you wake up from your deathbed and still be calm. She even looked put together. Not decayed one bit. Long, green prom-like dress, her hair braided around her head.
She turned suddenly to her grave and bent over, falling to her knees next to it and trying to reach the coffin. Maybe something important to her was in there? Maybe she hoped there was something?
"Don't just stand there! Grab my ankles so I can get back up!" I walked over to the hole in the ground and grabbed Josie's ankles tight. She wiggled on her belly to the edge. As she was reaching in she said "What's your name anyway? You know mine, its only fair."
I responded, "Casey. And what are you trying to do?"
She just said "Pull me back up and I'll show you, Casey."
I pulled her up and she sat on the ground, legs splayed out in front of her.
She pulled the covering away and I gasped.
It was a sword. A real sword.
She laughed at my expression, saying happily "This is my sword, Andromeda. Any questions? And she only 'Bites' when I tell her to."
"Could I hold her?" I asked quietly.
"Sure!" She handed me the sword and I gazed over it.
It was actually very pretty for a weapon. I've never actually seen a real sword, let alone held one. It- I mean Andromeda had a big ruby inlaid at the bottom of the hilt. She was made of gold and steel I'm pretty sure.
"She's pretty, isn't she? Its silver on one side, steel on the other. That's a ruby me and mom mined together at Yellowstone park. But the hooligans in charge of my funeral apparently didn't bother to bury her scabbard. Bastards."
I laughed and stood up. Josie did too, tucking Andromeda into her waistband. We packed all the dirt back into the grave.
"Come with me. My dad will just let us go to the medieval times shop down the street, no questions. We can find a hilt for Andromeda. I'll tell him you're a cosplayer of sorts."
She nodded and followed me back to the jeep, where dad was waiting.
"Casey! I was wondering where you had went! Who is this young lady?"
I had to think of something quick.
"This is Jacey! She's a cosplayer I met over by the Bane plots. She's Josie Banes' sister."
Dad smiled and shook the hand that wasn't on Andromeda. "Pleased to meet you! I'm Casey's dad, Mr. Farris. But you can call me Chris. And I feel like you may have heard this a lot, but I'm so sorry you lost your sister."
Josie shook my dads hand back quickly and said "Hello Mr. Farris! I was wondering if me and Casey could go down the street to get Andromeda a scabbard?"
Dad looked so confused, you wouldn't believe it.
I rushed in. "Andromeda is her sword." I gestured to it, strapped, just barely to Josies waistband.
"Well I don't see why not. I'm going to go for a run, so if you need anything, just call me."
"Okay! Thanks dad!"
I grabbed Josie's hand and we ran down the sidewalk to the shop.
Josie walked inside, looking around.
I walked around too. I knew what I had on me was more than enough to get Josie a scabbard, so I looked at the throwing knife sets.
I found a golden set, with emeralds in the handle.
I found every stone imaginable in there, from sapphire to ruby to jade.
I finally found a set of 7 silver knives with lily carved at the base of the handle near the blade. There was a tigers eye stone set in the center of each lily. I decided I'd get those and was lifting the set off the rack when Josie ran up to me, one hand on Andromeda, the other clutching a dark leather scabbard with a single ruby on the strap.
She passed it to me and I picked out my holster for my knives, settling on one that had a scene of dragons stitched on it.
I paid for our things and we got out of the shop.
After that, Josie and I called my dad, and asked if we could stay in The Lodge tonight.
He ended up saying yes, so I paid for a room with bunk beds and passes to the pool.
That night me and Josie went to the pool downstairs.
She went down the slides a million times and I swam the pool several laps.
I was diving when it happened.
Josie went under and floated back to the top of course.
But not alive.
Her eyes were open and bloodshot. She wasn't breathing. She was dead.
For a second time.
I reported her death to the management. Its lucky we had the pool to ourselves, so no one else had to see the sight of Josie's limp body being pulled out of the pool.
And what did I do?
Well that's not for you to know.
I have my personal life.
I hate it, but I can't get rid of it.
I intend to live life to the fullest.
For the ones that never got to.
Like Josie.
Like my Mom.
Like the thousands of children who die each year of cancerous diseases like the one that killed Josie.
For the other 17 friends I have had who all died within 24 hours of meeting me.

Word count: 1314