128. Robin is a Graveyard worker and Regina is the ghost who keeps following him around. I hope to have around three or four chapters of this story, they should all be, with much luck, posted before next Sunday. Hope you enjoy!
The first time he had seen her he had stopped still in his tracks, halting in place outside the marble mausoleum she was standing beside. She hadn't seen him, was far too busy looking at something on the engraving to pay him any attention. To begin with, he thought she had been a trespasser, someone trying to play a practical joke on the nightguard during his first week on the job, but then he'd moved closer. She was a misty figure, so much so that at first, he wondered if it was simply the way the fog had formed.
It wasn't.
He should have been scared, any sensible person would have handed in their notice there and then and been done with it, but the fear didn't come. He was just transfixed on her, but she hadn't seen him, not then, not for a while. For a few weeks, he had watched her from a distance, nervous to get too close should she be a malevolent spirit. After seeing her that first night he had done research into paranormal experiences, he'd even talked to past guards from the graveyard, but none of them had recounted ever seeing an apparition.
She did the same thing most nights, it was always at around three in the morning when she would materialise, he soon found that she would walk from a grave on the south side, well, she hovered really, there wasn't any movement of her legs, it was like she flew through the air. She would go from the south side of the graveyard to the large mausoleum where he first saw her. He didn't know why he always had the urge to follow her, watch her movements, he just did.
He hadn't seen her face, only viewing her from the back and if she knew he was watching her she didn't let on, didn't let him know that she was aware of his presence. It carried on that way for a while until his curiosity got the better of him and instead of following her all the way from one end to the other, he found himself heading straight to the final spot ten minutes before she usually arrived there. He was slightly apprehensive as he sat on the steps to the old marble monument, looking out for the mysterious figure.
After a while, as if on clockwork she emerged through the darkness, heading straight towards him and… she stopped dead, staring straight at him. His eyes widened as he took in her face, she was stunning, a beautiful ghost and he felt as though he were going completely insane. He had known her hair was raven and down to her waist when he first saw he but now seeing it framing her face was something else entirely.
She cocked her head at him briefly before scooting around him, he felt a cool breeze as she passed and stood to turn, watching her as she did her thing by the mausoleum. She ignored his presence, it seemed as though she had been a bit put out by it at first but she had soon gone to pretending as though he wasn't there.
The next night he did the same and yet again she stopped, this time she seemed even more confused than before. Though she didn't wait longer than a minute before moving on, following her routine. Leaving him sat on the steps, he knew that she saw him but wondered if she just wasn't interested in him, maybe she just couldn't care less about his presence.
On the third night, however, he decided he was going to step it up even further; when she was stopped in front of him, he pushed himself out of his comfort zone and did something that would change everything. "Hello there."
Her dark eyes widened and she recoiled, the misty fog of her form following with her as she moved back from him. He'd startled her with his voice he could tell, he'd scared her even and it was an absurd notion a ghost being frightened by someone who was living, but that was certainly the vibe he had taken from her actions.
"Hi," he tried again. Was he crazy-making contact with an actual ghost?
"You can see me?" she asked, her voice not above a whisper as she tilted her head at him, what was once fear probably caused by some kind of shock, turning into an expression of intrigue. It was a posh little voice, though he guessed from her attire that she wasn't from the same time as he was, she was a spirit but her attire suggested that she was from the 18th or 19th century, he wasn't exactly a historian to be completely sure.
"Yes, I see you."
A soft gasp left her lips as she moved closer for a moment before retracting again, "why?"
"I have no idea."
"Do you see the others?"
"Others?" he questioned, a slight concern welling up within him, there were more ghosts? He hadn't been aware of them; he's only ever seen her and he had been working there for almost a month.
"You don't see them?"
Robin looked around, checking his surroundings to see if he had been so caught up on her that he had missed other things, maybe they had been around him the entire time, though he was sure he would have noticed. If he could see her, why wouldn't he be able to see them too? "Where?"
"Everywhere."
"But I only see you."
She cocked her head at him for a moment before her eyes narrowed, "why have you been following me?"
"Following you?"
"Yes, every night you would follow me, I thought you were just doing your rounds and happened to be walking behind me, but now I know you can see me you must have been following me. Why?"
"I didn't mean to upset you, I was just interested, I've never seen a..."
"Spirit?"
"If that's what you want to call yourself."
"Well it's what I am I guess; I know I'm no longer part of the realm of the living. I just don't understand how you see me."
"I'm as stunned as you are quite frankly. I didn't even know there were such things."
"Ah, a sceptic who sees spirits," she chuckled.
"Why do you do the same thing every night?"
"I was trapped in a loop until a few nights ago when you were in my way. I've been feeling a little lost ever since. I've never really been able to control my actions before."
"What was it that you were doing at the mausoleum?"
"This is my family mausoleum; my father is buried inside. I was simply drawn here."
"And you? Are you buried in there?"
She cocked her head for a moment as if in thought, looking past him to the marble before shaking her head, "I don't know where I am."
"You don't know where you're buried?"
"No. I can't think where. I don't even remember dying, one minute I was there and the next minute here, trapped in this never-ending repetition."
"Maybe you have some unfinished business, that could be why I can see you, maybe I need to help you," he must be crazy, talking to a spirit about helping her out, he didn't know how he was supposed to do that. He wasn't afraid of her though, she seemed harmless enough. "Do you remember your name?"
"Of course, silly," she giggled, "Regina, Regina Mills."
"Well Regina Mills, I'm Robin Locksley and it's nice to meet you," he grinned, holding his hand out to her, only for her own to go straight through his, making his hand chill as it passed, he shivered at the sensation, he hadn't felt anything like it, the only thing that had been remotely similar was when she had walked past him the other night.
"It's nice to meet you too Robin, even if I can't shake your hand properly."
"So, what year are you from?"
"I don't know."
"What did you when you were living?"
She looked at him for a moment, biting down on her bottom lip as she seemed to think it over in her head, "it's kind of fuzzy, I'm not sure. The only thing I remember is my name, that and that my father is buried in that mausoleum."
Robin was sure that she was from a different time, but she couldn't even confirm that for him. Maybe an internet search of her name would shed some light on it, help him find out, he would make sure to do that at some point. "I need to carry on with my duties but..."
"I'll follow you," she grinned, walking alongside him as they made their way through the graveyard, "does it not freak you out being in here at night? It would give me the heebie-jeebies."
"This coming from an actual ghost."
"I meant if I was living, it is a little freaky you have to admit. Why do they even have a night guard?"
"There were several grave robberies at the beginning of the year so they made the decision to post a nightguard just to make sure that everything is secure and protected."
"Makes sense, sounds a little dangerous though. Do you family not worry?"
"They might if I had one."
"You don't have one?"
"Not an immediate one, my parents live in England, I came over here when I was nineteen for Uni and never went home. Then I worked in the bars before this job just kind of fell into my lap."
"It must be lonely work."
"It would have been if I hadn't seen you."
"Good job I'm here then," she smiled softly.
"What about you, can you remember your family? I mean you obviously remembered that was your father's grave, but what about anyone else?"
"It's just a blur, I don't think I had anyone, but I could be wrong, you'd think I'd remember if someone was that important to me."
"Yeah, you'd think so," he nodded, carrying on his walk around the perimeter as she followed a couple of steps behind him. "I'll be able to find out who you are I'd have thought," he quipped, smiling at her softly.
"Maybe."
"Then we'll work out what your unfinished business is."
"Okay. Thank you."
"No problem," he grinned as they continued to walk and talk. He didn't know why he felt that he had to help her, but it couldn't be a coincidence that he was the only one who could see her. He just knew he would do whatever he could to try and help her.