TW: Cursing, Drug and Alcohol Use
As I walked into the misty field by the seaside, I tripped on an oddly shaped stone and glanced down, straining my eyes through the fog, and I faintly recognized the name Ruby. She was my boss at the bookstore, as well as being a wonderful mother to my best friend and my boyfriend, and I had just exchanged a cheerful goodbye with her not 20 minutes beforehand. I squatted down to have a closer look, and the faded gravestone read Ruby Anderson, loved mother and daughter, 1983-2016.
I took off my silver-rimmed glasses and rubbed my eyes before looking at it again, but the crumbling, mossy words etched into the stone read no differently.
The fog seemed to have cleared slightly, and when I moved to look at the other tombstones, most of them were people I recognized, or even talked to on a daily basis. At first, I thought it was some sick prank the bored teenagers had set up, but I reached a grave that made me almost nauseous. The name on it was Oliver Anderson.
When I moved to the small, idyllic seaside town of Goldcrest, I never thought I would get to know anyone in this town, except for my best friend, Lena, who I had been talking with online for almost a year before the move. But, when I went to the local bookstore to read, her brother, Oliver, had to tell me to get out, but when he saw me at Lena’s later that week, he asked me if I wanted a job. His shy smile and glittery golden-green eyes held my attention even then, when there wasn’t much that did, and after that, we kinda just started hanging out. I had never been a social person, but his smile was so otherworldly, it was almost contagious. Lena, Oliver, and I would hang out after work, and I remember thinking it was the best time of my life.
One time, we were playing a drinking game, listing the best and worst times of our life, and whoever won didn’t have to drink. I didn’t have many best times to tell of, but I had plenty of worst. Nevertheless, we were all shitfaced after a while. I had just told them the reason I moved here, certain that would win the Worst Times, but what Oliver said next almost made me completely sober with its severity.
Lena got really pale, and she curled up underneath the fluffy blanket as Oliver told me about how, six years back, his father had tried to kill his mom, Lena, and him.
He had been high on fentanyl-infused weed, one of the few drugs you could get in this small town, but it was enough. Their father got easily aggravated when he was high, and the fentanyl only made it worse. Ruby had gotten home late from the bookstore, and she came home to Adam, her husband and the father of her two kids who were only 11 and 14 at the time, holding a shattered glass bottle to Lena’s neck.
Oliver was unconscious, a trickle of blood running down his forehead. He had been knocked out after he punched Adam in the face because he got too close to Lena.
I scooted over and hugged Oliver tightly, he was trembling and his eyes were sadder than I had ever seen them. Lena continued with recounting the terrible memory.
Ruby had pulled Lena away from Adam before picking up a kitchen knife and holding it to his throat, getting him out of the house before locking the doors and calling the cops.
Lena lifted her neck slightly, and even from a few feet away, I could see jagged lines of scars where the bottle had cut her, and Oliver moved his curly, strawberry-blonde hair to reveal a shiny white star-shaped scar by his temple.
Lena was crying at this point, and without saying anything, I grabbed the bottle of whiskey and took a swig. They laughed a bit, and Oliver said “Yeah, we won. It’s probably time to put this away.”
That story had happened in the winter of 2016. The same date on Ruby and Oliver’s gravestone. The same date on Lena’s grave, next to Oliver’s.
I heard a shuffling sound from behind me and turned to see Lena, her green eyes glinting strangely through the mist as her curly red hair hung in twin braids, framing her face. Next to her was Oliver, standing in an oddly stiff pose with his head tilted to the side, his hair obscuring his eyes, but I could feel them both staring at me. With an uneasy feeling growing in my stomach, I said nervously, “Hey, guys… What is this stuff?”
They smiled at the same time, but it was all wrong, twisted and contorted. Their eyes glimmered hungrily as they stepped closer, and instinct told me to run, but I held my ground. They wouldn’t hurt me… Right? Lena spoke first, in a voice that was distorted and halting but almost singsong, like something that was imitating a human voice but couldn’t quite do it properly. “Aster~ You aren’t supposed to be here..~”
I stepped forward, over the rows of gravestones. “What do you mean by that? What the hell is going on?”
Oliver spoke next, his voice just as twisted as Lena’s. “No matter. My love, come closer..~ We brought a present for you~~”
I could sense people gathering around the graveyard, and a sickening feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. They all stood very stiffly, and they were all staring at me. “Y-You’re scaring me. What is this? Why do you all have graves here?”
Oliver raised his head and stepped closer, staring at me with a hungry, almost predatory expression. “No one truly dies, especially not here. We’ll all die sometime, so why not stay awhile afterwards?~” He laughed, but it was all wrong, it sounded like glass in a blender.
Lena walked forward as well, her green eyes shining like a cat. “Well… I think it’s time for presents. What do you think, Aster?~ I think you’ll lo-ove it~” Their voices seemed musical, singing each word, beautiful in a awful, terrible way. Someone stepped from behind them, her black hair hanging limply over her face. Everyone pressed closer, with a sick anticipation. I recognized that face. Those eyes that were so like mine.
The last time I had seen my mother, we had been watching a movie and eating popcorn. I had confessed that I was bisexual and non-binary, but she didn’t want to hear it. I remembered everything. How the happiness shattered like glass. How her screams rang in my ears. How she refused to call me by my name. She swore at me, and kicked my door while I was packing my things. I originally planned to sleep at the library for a few nights, but the messages she left on my phone made me certain I would never be safe there. I texted Lena, who I only knew digitally at the time, and she said I should move here, to Goldcrest.
I never thought I would see my mother again. My eyes filled with tears, but I pushed them down. This was not the time for them. “M-Mom? Is that you?” She looked at me, but her eyes weren’t how I remembered them, she was all wrong. Now, my mother’s bright blue eyes seemed hungry, bottomless, her mouth contorting into something that resembled a smile. “Aster~ Mommy misses you..~ I love you baby~ Come to Mommy..~~”
Her voice sounded distorted and musical, just like Lena and Oliver’s voices. I faintly registered that she finally used my name. I stepped back carefully, the ground damp from the recent rainfall, but I slipped on fallen leaves and fell backwards, mud slowly seeping through my jeans and my jacket sleeves.
I scrambled back as fast as I could, but my back came up against one of the only gravestones still intact, the one that read Oliver Anderson, beloved brother, 2002-2016. The one that proved that my best friend, my boyfriend, my boss, and everyone else in this town were dead, and something else had taken their place.
I turned around frantically, looking around at everyone. They were all smiling, and their eyes glowed with an awful malice.
My mother twitched slightly, her eyes rolling past me with an awful blankness, the smile still etched onto her face. She got closer, bending towards me until she was on all fours, her face moving spastically as she got so close, I could smell decay on her breath. Tears fell from my eyes as others got closer and closer to me. I saw Lena and Oliver in the forefront of the crowd, their faces contorted into that terrible grimace. My mother grabbed my jaw, turning my head so I had to look at her, and her blank eyes filled with a terrible, twisted joy. The town of Goldcrest gathered around as she kissed me on the mouth, a putrid odor invading my senses as I blacked out.
Don’t worry, though. I am safe. I have family here. You should come visit Goldcrest sometime. You’ll love it, everyone is very excited to welcome you to our tiny little town… ~