Our Reflection

38• We've Come A Long Way From Where We Began

Toni Topaz POV

I never liked cemeteries, they always gave me chills and I blame the horror movies that Sweet Pea forced me to watch frequently on rainy nights, he said that he gave a special touch to all that antics. 

After his death, I was never able to watch anything that had a sinister melody preceding screams. 

Veronica even tried to convince me to go to the cinema to see the latest releases, but I managed to turn the tables and we ended the night watching a romantic comedy half-assed. 

What could I do? Sweet Pea was my shield against monsters under the bed and in the closet, but I was no longer here to protect myself. 

"None of this is real, mon cher, death is the most natural thing in the world", he liked to say as he struggled to uncover my eyes for the thousandth time. 

Only it wasn't death that scared me, it was what came after it. 

My grandfather used to point out that once you up to grass at the root, there was no going back, but my grandmother disagreed.

She believed that she had something more, a different place where the dead go, a kind of preparatory school for souls. 

This became an endless discussion and the result was a week of ill-mannered hints between the two. 

I didn't know anything about it, but the afterlife scared me, especially when I was in a cemetery. 

"Hello?! Toni, are you there?"

Veronica waved her hands in front of me and blinked a few times.

"What's it? Did the ghost eat your tongue?"

"Do not play with that."

"You've been weird since we arrived"

We started walking side by side on a small path between the headstones. 

"Did something happen?"

"I don't think I should be here."

"Melissa insisted, don't be so superstitious."

"It's not a matter of superstition, Veronica, I just don't like cemeteries, I never did. You know that very well, besides, Tyler didn't like me."

We stopped under a low tree and leaned against the trunk. 

"Damn, I should have stayed at home."

"What do you think can happen? The guy comes out of the coffin and pulls his foot?!"

I looked at my friend's face while covering the sun's eyes and she shrugged. 

"Don't be ridiculous, Toni, your student asked us to come. Can't you stop thinking a little about the deceased and focus on the girl?"

Veronica was right, as I always hated to agree, it was because of Melissa that I dressed all in black and was propped up against a hideous tree in the middle of a cemetery. 

It was different from what I saw in the movies, there were no mausoleums or sinister crypts, they were just low, aligned marble slabs. 

The green grass contrasted with the blue of the sky and I took a deep breath, listening to some birds singing. 

He hated being in that situation, but he would do it for the girl. 

Melissa didn't have much, I mean, at least in terms of parents. 

Tyler dead and Marjorie hospitalised.

Every time I thought of her, an unpleasant shiver made my hair stand on end, as if I somehow attracted her.