I walked back through the graveyard, avoiding the nearly hidden headstones. Once the grass would have been cut short and and the names would have been readable. I had never seen an old graveyard like that. People didn’t have time to care anymore and the way of dealing with bodies now had to be fast. The mass burning and burying in cemeteries and parks was easier and better to stop the spread of disease.
My boots hit what had been the pathway to the church. I could smell the motorbikes’oil and petrol as well as something else. The biker gang had been smoking something powerful and disgusting. I wrinkled my nose at the possible homemade drug and looked into the church doorway. I couldn’t see anything.
Stepping in, I wondered where she had hidden. The church looked the same as when I had fled from it. Rumble was still on the floor, light was peeking through the window and silence had returned. I started walking to the altar and halfway there give up trying to be quiet. There was just too much shifting rumble.
Climbing on to the altar, I stopped and looked left and right. I could hear the dripping water from the sink and settling stones. If she was still here and alive, she would have heard me by now. There was no way she would come out of hiding unless I called out as she probably thought I was one of the biker gang.
What was I even doing here anyway? Why was I making this matter? I hitched up my rucksack and turned to look down the church. I still felt torn for some reason, but finally I convinced myself to start leaving. Maybe the girl was armed and unfriendly? What if this was some kinda trap?
‘Hello?’
The voice was soft and wispy, yet it me like a bullet. I spun, my hand reaching down my leg to the hunting knife in my boot. I never made it, because one look at her made me freeze again.
She was pretty, yet her skin was very pale and sick looking. She had bright blue eyes that looked tried and puzzled. Her lips were making a little frown. The blue dress hung loosely off her, that was why it was more floaty then it seemed. It reached down to the floor and pooled around her feet.
I could see the bones in her neck and shoulders starkly. She was wearing a necklace; a small gold cross. Her really light yellow, almost white hair was swept back, away from her face and trailing down her back. Then there were the tops of large breasts, framed by blue lace which did nothing to hide them.
‘I’m not going to hurt you,’ I forced out as I slowly straightened, ‘unless you’re going to hurt me…’
She shook her head and showed me her empty hands. Then dropped them to her side again. I looked her up and down, my eyes lingering on her moving cleavage. She could have concealed something in the dress, even if it was a baby kitchen knife or a needle.
‘Were they after you?’I asked and nodded to the doorway as if the biker gang was still there.
‘In a way,’ she uttered, ‘They like to bully, but they are all talk really.’
‘What are you doing here?’ Now I had opened my mouth I couldn’t stop.
‘Praying.’
She looked up at the large glass stained window and the hollows. I looked too, but couldn’t see anything there. The window was dark as the sun hadn’t moved around yet. I could make the pictures though; an angel, a man on a cross, people crying.
I looked at her, the next question pressing against my tongue and yet I was worried to ask it. I couldn’t see anything strange about her though, so maybe she was just a normal girl. Still though…
‘Are you an angel or a ghost?’ I asked.
She looked at me sharply, ‘are you?’
I shook my head.
‘Me neither.’
We both stared up again.
‘Why are you here?’ she asked suddenly, ‘I saw you before running from the staircase when the roof give a little.’
‘Oh…I thought there was a cave in…’ I trailed into a shrug.
She looked at me, trying to see the truth in my words and waiting for me to go on.
‘It seemed a safe place to spend the night,’ I added.
She hummed, her eyes going back to the window and though I thought she had further questions to ask me, she kept them to herself.
‘I should go,’ I spoke out.
I made to move, but my eyes met her’s and I stopped.
‘Why did you come back in?’ she asked, her voice still a quiet.
‘I…thought I’d forgotten something, but I hadn’t,’ I answered.
She turned her head and nodded.
I waited a few moments then walked down the altar. I did half want her to call me back, but then I knew the urge to rip the dress off her would be too hard to resisted. I shook my head and tried to clear the images of her away, but they were locked in my memory now. She had stirred me awake.
I reached the door, stepped out and went into the graveyard. Not heading in an actual direction, I walked back through and towards the line of trees.
‘Wait!’
I spun so fast the weight of my hiking bag almost threw me to the ground.
She was standing at the edge of the headstones, her shoulders moving with the fast breaths she was taking. Her dress and hair settled around her, but seemed to move with a life force of their own. Her hands were balled into fist and there was this indecisive look on her face.
I walked back over. Feeling like I didn’t have much of a choice, but at the same time knowing I could easily carry on walking away. Coming to a stop, my eyes dropped to her breasts. They were heaving against the dress and looking like they were eager to escape. I licked my lips and pulled my attention away and back to her face.
‘What?’ I asked gruffly, sounding meaner then I had intended.
‘I want to go with you,’ she cried out.
To Be Continued…
The Story Files 