Ghost Wedding ✔

It was a marriage of convenience and at the same time not.

"Till death do us part" is morbid to me. I want "and they lived happily ever after."

What's wrong with that? Why start a life of love by thinking about death?

I choose to believe that my wife is my soulmate, that we will always be together in this life and beyond. Doesn't love endure forever?

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10:00 pm

The cemetery whispers under the shallow moon. A frigid wind rustling newly browned leaves, each of them becoming more crisp as November draws closer.

No one comes here who means any good, it is empty almost every dusk 'till dawn, it puts the chills on even the toughest of folks. Well, no one except me. I always like being in the cemetery, quiet and peaceful.

I continue digging the grave of Mayumi Cruz. A 23-year-old woman whom I don't know. Upon her grave, it says '1997 - 2020.' This must cost fifty thousand pesos if I sell this to those Chinese folks who host ghost weddings.

As my shovel hit a firm, solid coffin. I sweep the excess soil, revealing a dark stained cherry coffin, a cushioned and quilted silky lining. It looks quite comfortably inviting.

I step aside and slowly open the coffin. From there, lies a corpse. In this job, I've seen it over and over, a corpse is a corpse unless someone who loves them sets eyes on it. That's when the atmosphere changes.

Although she is slightly devoid of skin, some features still remain. She is quite thin. I admit, she is beautiful. I've never seen a corpse this fresh. It's not like one of those bony skeletons.

She has a warm brown color hair and pastel white skin which made her pale lips stand out. Her cheeks are also pale but not too pale to my liking. She is dressed in a long white gown. The usual gown for funerals.

I feel an urge to do something. At this moment, I lower my head until we're inches far from each other. Even though the smell is like rotting flesh, I manage to keep the distance close. I am used to the smell of it.

Slowly, I close my eyes. As I am about to feel her lips, a hand grabs the back of my neck.

Her lips brush mine. Not innocently, like a tease but hot, fiery, passionate and demanding. I want to pull away before I lose myself but I can't seem to. I was completely unprepared. She's dead.

In an instant, gravity pulls me more than it can do. It's as if I'm falling fast through the soil with her lips still on mine.

Time seems to slow down while we're falling. In seconds, my body smashes with hers. I can even hear her bones smashing.

11:00 pm

The adrenaline floods my system like it's on an intravenous drip, right into my blood at full pelt. I think my heart will explode and my eyes are wide, letting in every ounce of the fading light.

I stand up, pushing away the woman and that's when I see the new world around me. Beneath my feet, the wooden floor felt soft, not as much as a firm carpet, but not right for oak planks.

On the other side of this dark, grey, dull room, lies an open coffin with a pink pillow and a candle lit beside it. Cobwebs surround this tiny room, making it a little spooky.