A Rose In The Water
The night
was young and the air was chilling. The wind smelled of the pollution driven
beach front nearby. The year was 1920
and Raven Underwood was in search of her Fiancé. Mark Eaglson. It was only a
mere three hours ago when he had told her he was going in search of a local
merchant who was selling lamb. Raven had rung nearly all of the markets she
could think of and they all failed to catch sight of him. She was deeply worried of what could have happened
to him, for it was only last week he had proposed to her and lavished her with fresh
roses. He always would tell her how beautiful she was and how much he loved
her. How much he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her and would never
let her fall. These words burned through Ravens skull as she paced worriedly through
their apartment. She had chewed her
fingernails to the nub when she found a white piece of paper sticking of out of
one of Mark’s dirtied pants pockets. She quickly retrieved the paper and
unraveled it hoping for it to reveal a clue of his where abouts.
“ Hello
love, tonight we shall meet at the beach
front. I have a special surprise for you. Yours truly.”
Raven read
aloud. She chuckled at how quickly she jumped to conclusions and wiped the streaming
tears from her face.
“ Oh how Silly
of Mark , he must have forgotten to slip it in my makeup drawer where I would
have actually noticed it.” She assumed.
Raven turned towards her murky mirror and tossed her curly brown hair
around. She grabbed a rose and slipped it over her ear as she reassured herself everything’s going to
be okay. She let out a sigh and smiled to herself and the mirror as she headied
towards the door. She stumbled down the steps out the door and towards the
beach front which was only a few minutes from their home. She began thinking to herself what could it
have been? What did he have to show her? She was ecstatic, in love. She
franticly skipped towards the beach front as the sound of the ocean’s swishing
waves rung in her ear.
“Mark?” She
called out when she reached the beach front.
She took the
rose from her ear and held it tight against her chest. The beach was dimly lit by the fluorescent moonlight
but she managed to make out a little. She jerked her neck towards the right as
she noticed something moving near a tree.
“Mark? Is that
you!?” The thought of him surprising her lavished her heart and filled her with
delight. She smiled uncontrollably as she headed towards the quivering tree.
“Oh Mark,
how splendid of you too leave this le-“
Raven found
her fiancé locking lips with another woman.
“Mark…”
Raven’s voice came in slow, mournful patterns.
“Raven, I
can explain!” Mark stammered out.
“How could
you do this to me Mark? I trusted you.” Raven said in pouring tears.
Mark began
to stumble towards raven with his pants unbuckled but she shrugged him off and
backed towards the beach front. Raven looked down towards the wave of water
that had been caressing her feet and wiped the tears from her face.
“Stay away
from me. MY brother will –“
“Now, Now
raven we don’t have to tell your brother about this now do we? C’mon lets head
back home were we can go over this.” Mark was dreadfully afraid of Raven’s
brother. He was one of the biggest mobsters the city had ever administered.
Raven’s brother was feared by everyone including the police.
“Oh … you
didn’t tell her?” The girl said strapping on her bra.
The girl
looked young. She had a nice figure and
had long black hair with fleshy plump lips.
“Tell me
what?” Raven said with anger in her voice.
Mark began
to speak but the girl interrupted,
“He’s
leaving you.” Those words cut through
Raven’s skin like a razor as she pressed her hands over her mouth.
“Raven, No
don’t bel- “
“To hell
with you Mark.” Raven shouted attempting to dash away from the scene but only
to have her stomach punctured by a long sharp piece of dry wood. Blood spurred from raven’s mouth as she
muttered her final words.
“Mark,
I-I-I. I’m pregnant.”
Raven’s body
sputtered towards the sea as the rose she was wielding floated endlessly about
on the ocean’s freezing body.
Mark began
to step back in horror at what he had just committed as he shouted, “oh my god…
What have I done? I-I-It was a mistake! I didn’t mean to.”
The girl
began to dash towards the city without saying a word to Mark, leaving him their
grieving on his knees. Over the next couple of months there was a few search parties’
for the remains of Raven. She was assumed to be dead after the third month of
endless searching. Mark and the girl kept the murder a secret as they went off
to be married, leaving Raven behind as if she was just a dream. Then one day,
an exact year away from Raven’s death. Mark’s body was found mutilated on the
beach front. His killer was never found, the only evidence left from the scene was
a bloodied rose that was clenched tightly in Marks right palm… Some say it was
Raven’s sister. Others say it was Raven’s ghost that returned from the dead to
seek vengeance on her cheating fiancé.
“No way! I don’t
believe one bit on that garbage. You’re full of it Tony.” I shouted. My names Andrew. Andrew Winterfield. I’m your
average teenager and we had just
finished listening to Tony ramble on about the towns so called haunted lake
front , And by “We” I meant me and my best friends. There were 6 of us. Me, Tony, Walter, Gabe,
Sarah and Casey. I didn’t believe Tony’s story, well at least I didn’t want to.
The thought of someone’s dead ghost haunting the city gave me chills. I stood
up from the lime green lunch table and tossed my plate of what remained of my
pizza towards the trash.
“Well I for
one think it’s real.” Sarah said revealing a charming smile.
“Oh
please. I’m with Andrew you can’t
possibly expect me to believe that? You guys are full of it.” Casey said placing her warm arm around my
broad shoulders. She smelled of an apricot essence. Her golden locks fluttered
in the breeze from the door as a tall student returned from eating lunch
outside. I flashed Casey a smile and turned to Walter awaiting his judgment.
“Well I for
one believe it.”
“Me two. I
think we should take a trip down to the beach this weekend, you guys game?”
Gabe added. Gabe was always up for anything; He was the starting receiver on
the football team and was up for any challenge you could possible throw at him.
“I’ll pass.”
I said as Casey lifted her arm from my shoulder.
“Oh c’mon Andy,
imp game!” Casey argued. I couldn’t believe she was taking their sides.
“Ugh ... I guess, well I’ve got nothing to lose. “
I explained tossing my Janis sport back pack over my shoulder.
“Alright
then. It’s a date. “Tony said winking as he retrieved a bite from his apple.
The bell
rang and I darted away from the table without muttered a goodbye. I was tired and was ready for this day to be
over. After the remaining 3 hours of school,
I got in my dodge charger and drove myself home. My bed welcomed me him to a
nice after school nap which I loathed for. When I awoke I smelled the Aurora of my mother’s
home cooking and glanced at the clock which read 5:30. I let out a sigh and
shrugged off what was left of my headache and coursed downstairs.
“Hey mom.”
“Hey
sweetie.” She replied turning a burger patty over on a blackened skillet. The kitchen was dimly lit and I leaned over
the kitchen island and battered my bright blue eyes.
“Mom?”
“Yea Hun?”
“Have you
ever heard of the beach being haunted…?”
“Well…” This
reply gave me shivers. She continued.
“That story
has been floating around for ages now. It’s been around since I was in high
school. What made you bring it up?”
“Well Tony-“
“That
explains it.” She cut me short placing a small yellow fry in her mouth. Tony
had a reputation and not a good one either. He was always in trouble for doing something
wrong.
“Well Tony
told us this story… about a woman named Raven Underwood?”
“The woman
who supposedly rose from the grave to exact revenge on her boyfriend?”
“Yep that’s the
one.” I reassured her.
“Well honeys
I can re assure you its all fake.”
“So Raven
didn’t die?”
“Oh honey
the story’s real, I’m just saying as far as her ghost returning from the grave,
now that’s false. Hungry?” She said extending a plateful of fresh burgers in
front of my nose.
“Uh no
thanks... sudden loss of appetite.” I said, as I rushed up stairs.
What if all
of this was real? What if she really did return from the grave? It couldn’t be
true. It couldn’t be! After all ghost didn’t exist.
The next day
I received a text while watching Saturday evening cartoons and eating a bag of
sun chips. I reached for my IPhone to reveal a text from Casey which read:
“Hey, were
on our way to the beach. You should start heading down before it gets to dark. Might
wanna bring a flashlight ;).”
My stomach
fluttered with butterfly’s as I flipped the television off and flipped on my
jacket.
“Hey mom I’m
heading out with the gang for a bit I’ll be backing shortly.”
“Okay Hun has
fun.”
I started
towards the drive way and sped towards the beach as my mind raced with frightening
thoughts. When I got there Tony and the crew were throwing sand and kicking
water around at each other.
“Aye its
Andy!” Gabe’s voice greeted me.
I stepped
over towards them and began talking. “So, what happens now?”
Walters arm
extended towards the sun that seemed to be getting swallowed by the ocean and said,
“When it sets, the action starts.”
“When it sets, the action starts.”
“Action?” I
asked.
“That’s when
Raven’s ghost endlessly roams the beach only to find nothing but sand and a few
sea rocks.” Tony said dangling his arm around my shoulder.
“Let’s make
this quick.” I said sighing.
The sun soon
went down and the conversation began to head off topic. It seems like we waited
hours for her to appear but nothing ever showed. Sarah scratched out on the sand and began
yawning.
“Whelp, I think
I’m done here. “ Sarah explained.
“Heh… I guess
Andy was right.” Gabe said standing up and ruffling my hair. I hated it when he
did that. It made my hair all frizzy like.
“I told you
guys there was nothing to worry about. It was a waste coming down here in the first
place.” I bragged. We headed towards the parking lot until I noticed I left my
jacket off in the distance.
“Hey I’ll be
right back I have to grab my jacket. “ I explained.
“Make it
quick.” Casey added.
I strolled
off down back towards the beach front and leaned over to pick up my jacket.
When I arose I saw a thin woman walking towards me.
“Can I help
you? “ I asked. She was still a far distance away.
She didn’t
answer me. I began to get a better look
at her as she came closer. I started to step back as I took site of a gashing
hole in her abdomen. A hole that frightened me. Then I knew who she was as she
yelled.
“Mark? Is
that you?”