The time had come as we all entered the station wagon. I sat in the driver’s seat with my hand at the wheel; the fear inside me had returned, my friend Jackie called shotgun. While Owen, Ned, and Quinn sat in the back seat. While they didn’t want to admit it, I could tell they were all scared of what I was about to put them through. The drive was long, but it was nothing short of spectacular, my anxiety worsened as the darkness ate away at the sky. Ned sat right in the middle of the back seat; he held the book close to him. He didn’t take his eyes off it throughout the drive. Owen was the first to speak as everyone else was either too scared or just too intoxicated from the party.
“Are we there yet”? Owen asked as he kept looking out of the darkened window.
“Just be patient, we’ll be there soon” I replied as I tried to maintain focus on the road.
After half an hour of Owen asking the same question over and over again. We finally arrived at Granville Island. We parked our car in the deserted carpark and walked over to the boat terminal.
The entrance to the boat terminal had a sign. I read it out loud as we stood there staring at it with curiosity.
“Pedestrians be warned, no trespassing after dark” I stood there, reading the sign over and over again as I got lost in my thoughts.
“Uh, guys. Maybe it’s best if we do go back” Quinn exhaled heavily, his eyes darted back and forth from the sign to the car park. Quinn was the smallest of the group; I know he never wanted to go on this trip, but this was just something I had to do. Luckily, Jackie reassured him that everything was going to be OK.
“Listen, Quinn, there’s no such thing as ghosts, John’s aunt’s ex-boyfriend is just a sick man who couldn’t live with himself for cheating, so he killed himself,” Jackie said as he patted Quinn on the shoulder.
I gave Jackie a dirty look, which wiped the smirk off his face, but smiled at him as I understood that he was just trying to make Quinn feel better. Things happened so fast that I had a rush of adrenaline as I found myself climbing over the chained fence while I bravely dropped down onto the bridge.
“Look… if you guys don’t want to come with me. You can turn back now; I won’t stop you” I said passively as I peeked through the fence line.
Ned who was still holding the book, slowly broke away from the guys as he threw the book over the fence. It landed with a thump on the bridge, Ned climbed over the fence and stood on the bridge facing me.
“I’m the one who found this shitty old book. I agree with Jackie, ghosts don’t exist so let’s dump this book and go home” Ned snapped while trying to seem brave.
Ned grabbed the book from the ground, Owen climbed over the fence with Jackie following closely behind him. Quinn stood there for a minute as he hesitantly climbed over the fence reuniting with us once again.
As we proceeded down the boardwalk to the boats. A whistle broke our silence, the eerie tone of the whistle could be heard over the never-ending wind. Finally, we arrived at the boatyard, the site was like a maze full of boats that were trapped souls waiting to be sailed again. The boats sat there rusting and neglected, the evening air felt icy; while it was only the end of summer, there was something different about tonight’s atmosphere. After walking through the endless maze of boats, it was at that moment we found Roberto Diaz’s Carlo Riva: 1970 motor yacht. The US Army logo was imprinted on the side of the boat, it was a striking, muddy color, the old girl looked like her days were upon her. Sitting in the depths of the water, unloved, and nothing more than a forgotten memory.
Inside the cabin was the pillared bedroom, the many colors of the room were faded with age. On the wall above the bed were the old remains of a spiderweb. I raised my hand and ripped apart the web which revealed a tombstone with large letters printed on the wall.
IN LOVING MEMORY OF ROBERTO DIAZ
15TH OCT 1952 – 6th APRIL 1973
TILL DEATH DO US PART
“You know…. I’ve been thinking about something ever since we got here,” Quinn said, breaking the silence. I felt my heart skip a beat when my friend opened his mouth as we all stopped suddenly. The sound of his voice didn’t match his broken words, Quinn was scared.
I… I’ve been thinking about that letter in the book and the writing on the wall, If Diaz was really buried here… Then where is his grave?’’ I paused for a moment, staring at the ancient piece of furniture. At that moment It was like a lightbulb had made its way inside the depths of my brain.
‘’Help me guys move this bed over” I said as I rushed over to the bed.
“Are you crazy John? this bed has been here for years” Jackie replied with a belligerent tone. I ignored him as I continued to move it, the guys quickly joined me on both sides, with a few moans; here and there we moved the bed out of the way and huddled around the old, cemented floor which revealed a trap door that was built into the ground.
“Well, I guess John was right and at least now we know what was under the bed,” Owen admitted.
“I guess we’ll see… won’t we?” I replied. While looking inside someone’s grave was a felonious act on my part, I was so obsessed with finding out about Diaz’s life, I couldn’t hold back on what I was doing. Without a further word, I gripped my fingers through the cracks of the trap door as I opened it up to reveal the grave. There was no corpse in sight just a strange, deserted space. Candles and old photographs were discarded around the empty grave where the body was supposed to be. The tension in the air was so intense you could cut it with a knife, and I could sense the rest of the gang thought the same.
“Why is there a shrine in his grave? Jackie asked curiously as he kneeled down to take a better look.
“Who cares about the shrine, where is Diaz’s body?” Owen replied as I felt a shiver go down my spine.
“I guess it decomposed, over time. It still doesn’t make sense about the shrine, anyway I feel like we should get going” I said as I looked at my watch.
“That’s the best thing you’ve said all night Johnny, anyway I’m ready for bed,” Jackie said as he formed a smirk. Before I closed the trapdoor, a thought came rushing into my head as I looked over at Ned.
“Hey Ned, I think you should leave the book in here. I know it belongs to my aunt but a voice inside me tells me that we should dump it and go” I said as I pointed to the empty grave.
Ned turns to look at me, with a blank expression. My skin crawls just looking at his lifeless face, it feels as if he’s looking straight through me like I’m a ghost or something.
“Uh Ned, is everything ok?” I said softly, waiting for an answer. Ned’s body shows no sign of movement as the same thing happens as it did before, silence fills the room like it’s a children’s game or worse: A prank.
Suddenly all the boys around the room start arguing about Ned’s current state of mind. Even with all the yelling and swearing, Ned still didn’t move.
“Look I don’t know what’s happening with Ned, maybe it’s a prank, maybe it’s not but all I know is we should just grab the book from him and leave, drag him with us if we have to,” I said wanting to leave.
No one wanted to argue with me as Owen boldly faced Ned. “Now I’m just going to grab the book from you and put it where it belongs” Ned’s fingers slowly loosened as Owen seized the book from him.
“Now let’s get rid of this fricking thing,” I said as Owen obediently threw it into the grave. I closed the trap door in an instant and glanced back at Ned.
“It’s gone man, please come back to us,” I said in a passive tone, trying to remain calm.
“I’m sorry John” Ned finally spoke up, startling me. Then suddenly grabbed his own throat in a lethal way, as a strange gurgling sound came from him. The pale skin of his face turned a dark purple. Jackie ran to Ned and grabbed him by his shoulders. I took hold of his legs and tried to hold him still.
“It’s ok, just let go,” I said, fearing for my friend’s life. After a minute of this, Ned’s body became normal again, as he returned to his former self. We all let go of him but remained close to Ned, in case of another attack.
“Why are you guys all looking at me like you’ve just seen a ghost?” Ned asked curiously as he sat upright on the floor of the room.
“What do you mean Ned? You’re saying you don’t remember anything that happened, literally 5 minutes ago” Jackie asked in disbelief, raising his eyebrow.
“Well… I remember walking into this room and seeing the writing on the wall.” Ned paused for a second, trying to regain his memory.
“I’m sorry that’s all I remember,” Ned said as he lowered his head, wiping the tears from his eyes. 2
“Let’s go home, I’ve had enough for today” I replied as I closed the trap door, leaving the horrors of the book in the darkness of the grave. Once we closed the door, we all headed to the car. Surprisingly the journey home seemed longer than it was to get here; nobody said a thing the entire trip home.
To this day, I wish I had never brought my friends on that trip. I didn’t’ just ruin my life; I ruined my friends’ lives too. For those who don’t know my story, let’s just say I was sent away to a mental institution for a crime, I didn’t mean to commit.
Anyway, the guard is doing his rounds; I better get some sleep and put away my journal. The last thing I need is for people to discover my past, and the past is something that should stay hidden; for everyone’s sake… see you in the AM.