Halloween

1923

Marie put the flowers into the vase and tried not to cry. The grave was relatively fresh, Marie had procrastinated visiting in case there was family or other mourners visiting. Part of it had been because she didn’t want to accept her sister’s death. Eventually, Marie had decided she had waited long enough to visit.

“Marie Williams, I did not expect to find you in a graveyard.”
“Neither did I, Edward Mordrake,” she said, recognising the English voice at once. It had been four years but his voice had stuck with her, she could hear him talking about the asylum in his voice in her head when she thought about it. “But here I am, at my sister’s grave.”

She had lived a long time, she had been seventy-six when she had died.

“You mourn for her even though your family disowned you?”
“She didn’t,” Marie said without hesitation.
“That is a story it would like to hear,” he said as he walked over to her.

“Marie, is that you?” she heard her sister’s voice call out. Marie walked over to her sister, her hair covering the wretched third eye that had ruined her life. “It is you, how dreadful you look.”
“Thank you,” Marie muttered bitterly.
“Look, Arthur’s brother is a physician. When I mentioned you and why you were disowned, he simply stated it was caused by a birth defect. I knew it couldn’t be sin, you were always too kind.”

“Margaret, I-”
“No, Marie. Mother might pretend you don’t exist but I know you do. If you need help, you can come to me. I’ll only turn you away if family is visiting but to friends you can simply be another friend of mine,” said Margaret. She had interrupted her sister but held out money. A fair bit of money.
“It’ll be stolen from me if I’m found with this much. Or they’ll think I’ve stolen it, I can’t take this, Peggy,” said Marie. She hadn’t used her sister’s nickname in a long time but her sister smiled at the use of it.
“Then direct the police to me, I will tell them I gave it to you,” said Peggy.

She held Marie’s cold hands and sighed. “I promise, if you need help, I’ll give it to you. I can get you some new clothes if you want, find a place for you to stay.”
“No, no, I’ll be fine,” said Marie. Margaret stuffed the money into Marie’s hands before taking a step back. “Thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do,” said Margsret. Quickly, she gave her sister a hug. “I have to get going, you know where I live, don’t you?” Marie just nodded before watching her sister hurry to the carriage that had been patiently waiting for her.

“I carried on visiting her until I was about thirty-five,” said Marie. She wiped her tears off of her sleeve. “After that, it was hard to explain why I still looked twenty.”
“Walk with me,” said Edward. Marie looked up at him. She was reluctant, her dress would undoubtedly be dirty from kneeling in the dirt. Noticing his outstretched hand, she took it and he pulled her to her feet.

“It seems your sister was not like your mother at all,” said Edward as he offered his arm to her. No one had done that in a long time. Smiling, she curled her hand around his arm and they started walking.
“Or the rest of the family,” sighed Marie. “Peggy was the only one to not completely pretend I didn’t exist. According to the rest, I was a deformed child who died very young.”

As they walked, the night continued to grow darker and colder. Stars were visible above them as there were no clouds in the sky. The green mist swirled around their feet, moving with each step they took.

“I decided that I like your voice,” said Marie. She looked to Edward who looked rather amused.
“Is that so?”
“Everytime I think of you, I can hear your English accent in my head. For whatever reason, I can’t forget it so I decided it must be because it’s a nice voice,” she said, laughing a little. “It’s been four years since I last saw you, it’s a long time to remember someone’s voice, especially since this is my… fifth time meeting you.”
“You flatter me, my dear,” said Edward as they continued heading to Marie’s home.

“And,” said Marie with a smirk on her face, “for three years, I have been lining up to vote, just as I hoped and helped work for.”
Edward turned to her, it felt as though he was staring through her. “You are not lying.”
“No, we’re getting more rights now.”
“I am glad for you,” he said with a small smile. “You do account for half of our population, after all.” Her eyebrows raised, he seemed less opposed to it than last time, had he been able to think it over since the last time they saw each other?

It didn’t take long to reach Marie’s home. It was rather small and sparsely decorated but it was homely. After shutting the door behind them, Marie noticed Edward’s small frown.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. He walked towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Edward?”

There was a sinking feeling in her chest as she realised what was going to happen. His hand moved from her shoulder to her cheek. She caught sight of a silver blade and let out a shaky breath.
“Please,” she whispered. “Life is finally getting better, despite some setbacks, please don’t do this.” He looked away for a moment and she wondered if he was listening to the dreadful face.
“A soul must come with me, Marie, you know that.”

Taking a deep breath, Marie tried to hold back the tears.
“Please, don’t take this away from me yet,” she begged. “I’m enjoying this stupid, pitiful life. Please, don’t take it from me.”
“I am at its whims,” he said softly. “I am no longer a man, I am not in control.” Marie put her hand on his arm.
“Please, Edward,” she whispered.

It seemed like he was listening to something else said by the face.
“You will regret it.”
“Then let me regret it,” she said. Was there a chance she might survive this encounter?
“You will be begging for a death I cannot give you,” he said. It looked as though he was struggling, what was going on in his head? “You will see friends and family grow old and die and suffer more than I can explain to you.”
Marie stared into his blue eyes and spoke firmly. “I don’t want to die.” His gloved hand left her cheek and he stepped back.

He vanished and the mist was gone.

Marie had survived.