GH4 22: Heavenly Visitor.
30 Days Later...
October 31st, Halloween-(2024)
With the headlights of his car on, my Dad drove me and Olive through the countryside of Montana on Halloween night, with me sitting in the front passenger-seat, wearing my Elsa dress costume and Olive sitting in my lap, wearing her Zero ghost dog costume from 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. After Olive and i had finished Trick-or-Treating, through the neighborhood, we returned home where i requested to Dad to drive us out to the countryside of the community. Tonight marked the 31st year of the murders/disappearances of Bobby Norman and Brendyn Bones and i wanted to pay a visit to the site for the first time in the 21st century.
"Thanks for driving us out here, Dad." I said.
"Don't mention it, pumpkin. Are we out here site-seeing?" Dad said.
"No. Just paying a visit." I said.
"Paying a visit out in the countryside, obviously." Dad said.
"Without a doubt." I said. I then noticed a familiar farm-house up ahead on my side of the car. It was now old, runt down and still abandoned, but despite it's age, i was able to recognize it as the same vacant in 1994. Strange how it stayed empty all these years and nobody bought the place. But that didn't surprise me. After the bodies of Brendyn and Bobby were found on the property, and the news made it to the...News...chances were nobody in town wanted to buy it. I to be honest, i can't say that i blame them. I mean, nobody would want to buy a house where two people were found dead on the property, especially when those two people were kids. "Turn right here."
Dad turned the car to the right and drove up to the old runt down farm-house and parked. "What are we doing here?" He asked.
"Paying a visit." I answered.
"Pay a visit? To what exactly?" Dad asked.
I opened the passenger-door, took off my seat-belt, and Olive and i got out.
"Where are you going?" Dad asked.
"To have a look around the back of the house." I answered. I had to take a look at the marsh. I wanted to make sure this whole nightmare really was over. In my head, i kept assuring myself that it was, but then the voice of doubt would creep in and say "Which is why you're here at the crime burial scene 30 years later?"
"Alright. But be back here in 15 minutes." Dad said.
"Okay." I said before closing the passenger door, followed by Olive and i running towards the back of the ruin farm-house
...
Now standing in the backyard of the farm-house, Olive and i stared at the marsh. It still looked the same from 30 years ago, nothing had changed. And yet so much time had passed since then, it felt like a eternity, even though it had been just 30 days for us.
I then looked up at the starry night sky and stared at it. As i did, i thought about the 1994 News video Olive and i had watched on YouTube 30 days ago. I mean, there they were. The answers to all my questions in just one vid. It had all the confirmation i needed. The missing boys, their names, the month and year they went missing, the month and year their bodies were recovered, the countryside, the farm-house, the people Olive and i encountered while in '94, everything. And yet despite the confirmation of my and Olive's trip to the 90s, there was on thing that had been left out.
Why wasn't i mentioned?
Sure, the 911 call i had made was brought up in the video, but my name wasn't. None of the people Olive and i encountered while in '94 ever mentioned us, much less gave us a first or second thought. We weren't even in the News video. Even Justin and Max hadn't mentioned me. It was as if they had never met me and Olive.
My thoughts immediately shifted from not being seen or mentioned in the News video to Justin and Max. More-so Justin. Was he okay? After all, Brendyn was his best friend and he disappeared on Halloween night, 1993, for over a year with another boy. Then he and Max were kidnapped by the people responsible for the disappearances/ murders on Halloween night, 1994, and were nearly murdered themselves. Had he been able to bounce back from all of that? Was Max okay?
Even though it had only been 30 days for me and Olive since the ordeal happened, in reality, it had actually been 30 years. This experience had happened in 1994. The current time we were in now was 2024. This Halloween night marked 30 years since the mystery had been solved...and 31 years since the murders/vanishings of Bobby and Brendyn.
What were Justin and Max doing now? Were they married with kids of their own? Justin was 10 in 1994 and Max was 11, so they would be 40 and 41 years old today. Did they still live in Montana? Were they still living here in town? Did they have grandkids? If so, were the grands attending the same school as me? How did the families of Bobby and Brendyn react when they learned that they were dead? How were they doing now?
All of these questions raced through my head like road-runners. Questions that would very likely never be answered. I know i could've just gone online and looked it all up, but i was afraid if i had, i would've found answers i didn't want to know.
"Oh, Brendyn...i'm so sorry." I said. "I wish you and Bobby could've got to have futures like me, Justin and Max. I wish i could've said a lot of things to you before Olive and i were sent back here to the 21st century. There are so many un-answered questions i want to ask you."
"Well, why don't you ask me now?" Came a young male voice.
I took my gaze off the night sky and Olive and i saw Brendyn standing outside the marsh. He was very different from the last time Olive and i had seen him. His skin wasn't gray, his brown eyes weren't rolled back into his head, his finger-nails weren't black, he wasn't standing in bugs, nor were bugs crawling all over him. He wore a beautiful white choir-like robe that went down to the calf on his legs and he was barefoot.
"Brendy." I said lowly in disbelief before i stepped forward a few feet. "Brendyn!" I shouted.
Brendyn then turned and ran into the marsh.
I took off running after the ghost-boy, with Olive following, and we rushed into the marsh after him. We could see Brendyn running through the marsh ahead of us as we pursued him, with no hint of slowing down. We soon stopped in our tracks and watched him run further into the marsh. "Oh, Brendyn...wait." I said. Brendyn kept running through the marsh, as if he hadn't heard me, and Olive and i resumed chasing after him. Brendyn ran deeper and deeper into the marsh until we lost sight of him. Olive and hastened our pace and ran as fast as our legs could carry us. "Brendyn!" I shouted as we ran into an area of the marsh, only to stop in our tracks when we saw something all too familiar.
The scene before us was that of a marsh-pit and a framed head-shot photo of Brendyn grinning on the ground in front of it. This was where the bodies of Brendyn and Bobby had been dumped and remained for over a year. Despite the amount of time that had passed, it still looked the same. The only difference was the added framed picture of Brendyn. Olive and i slowly walked up to the framed photo and i bent down and looked at the grinning face of Brendyn in the frame. He looked really happy. This picture had most likely been taken before he had gotten involved with that bad crowd. But how did it get here? Had someone come out her earlier and left it to honor his memory?
"It's from Justin." Came a familiar male voice from behind.
Olive and i turned around and saw Brendyn standing in front of us five feet away.
"He comes out here every October 31st to visit this place. He brought that framed picture of me today and left it here as a way of paying tribute to my memory." Brendyn explained.
"Brendyn." I said before standing up. "It's you. It's really you." And it was. It really was Brendyn. But as i looked at him, i could tell that something was off. Although, from the outside, he looked like his normal self when he was alive, i could tell he was not the same from within. He was different.
"Who else would i be?" Brendyn asked.
"Wow. It really is you." I said.
"By the way...you did a great job saving Justin and Max." Brendyn said.
"...So it was a coincidence that i was sent back to 1994." I said.
Brendyn shook his head. "You were sent back by Heaven to rescue Justin and Max."
"Wow. Imagine that." I said. I already knew that i had been sent back to the 90s to save Justin and Max, but to hear it actually voiced into existence was all the confirmation i needed. "Do you know what this means, girl?" I asked as i looked at Olive. "We've messed with the space-time continuum. History has changed."
"And for the better, i might add." Brendyn said. He then started walking towards me and i began walking towards him until we walked up to each other.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry you didn't get the chance to live out your life. That you didn't get to have a future." I said, apologizing. It really wasn't fair that Brendyn's life ended so soon the way it had. I then thought about all the future things i would get to do. Such as graduate middle school, high school, go to college, fall in love, get married, have kids of my own and a job and a career. These were all things Brendyn and Bobby should've gotten the chance to do. A chance they no longer had because four people took it away from them. It should've been against the laws of nature for parents to outlive their kids. Brendyn and Bobby should be burying their parents...not the other way around.
"Not everyone does, Charlotte." Brendyn said.
"I don't get it. Why didn't anyone remember me in the 1994 News video i saw on YouTube? Why weren't Olive and i in it? Why wasn't i mentioned?" I said.
"Because you didn't exist then. You were born in 2014. Everyone you encountered in 1994 lost all recollection of you and Olive the moment you were both sent back here to the 21st century. And yet...look what you did for two young boys. Look what you did for me and Bobby. Look what you did for our families. Thanks to you, we can finally rest in paradise. Thank you." Brendyn said.
"You're welcome." I said. "Uh...can i ask you something?"
"Sure." Brendyn said.
"Why do you look like your old self when you were alive? And why are you wearing a white choir-like robe? And why do you feel so...different?" I asked.
"When Bobby and i crossed over and entered into Heaven...we instantly transformed. What you see before you now is not the form of a ghost...but a Heavenly physical being. Even though i look the same way i did when i was living here on Earth, i am very much a different individual on the inside." Brendyn explained.
"Can you show me what you look like on the inside?" I asked.
"I could...but then you would want to go back to Heaven with me. And it's not your time." Brendyn said.
"Okay. But can i ask you something else?" I said.
"Ask away." Brendyn said.
"What is Heaven like?" I asked.
"That, my friend, is something you will have to find out for yourself when you get there." Brendyn said.
"Okay. I guess that's fair." I said. "Brendyn?"
"Yes?" Brendyn asked.
"Can i hug you?" I asked.
Brendyn spread out his arms and we embraced each other with a hug. As we hugged, i felt something surge through me. Something i never felt before in my life. Love. Not that i wasn't loved by my family and friends, because i was. But that was Earth's love. This was Heaven's love. There was no way to comprehend the amount of joy i was feeling come from Brendyn. It was indescribable.
"Brendyn?" I asked.
"Yes?" Brendyn asked.
"You're so warm." I said.
"I know." Brendyn said.
"Brendyn..." I began before i looked at Brendyn. "How are Justin and Max? Do you know?"
We then ended the hug.
"Justin and Max are doing just fine. Justin's living in New York and Max is staying in Minnesota. And they're married with children and grandchildren." Brendyn answered.
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"There's nothing that goes on in the world that Heaven doesn't know about. You'll get to see for yourself when you get there." Brendyn said.
Just then, there was a loud car-horn sound.
"That's my Dad calling. I better get going." I said.
"Yeah. You better." Brendyn said.
"Come on, Olive." I said before i began running off, with Olive following.
"And remember..." Brendyn began, stopping me and Olive in our tracks, and we turned to face him. "people never really die...when their lives end here on Earth."
"Thanks. I'll make sure to remember that." I said.
Brendyn then walked over to the framed picture of himself where Bobby appeared. His skin was no longer gray, his eyes weren't rolled back into his head, his finger-nails weren't black anymore, he wasn't standing in bugs, bug weren't crawling all over him, he wore a white long sleeve choir-like robe that went down to the calf of his legs and he was barefoot. Brendyn looked at me and Olive. "Thank you...for everything." He said. Both boys' started glowing a bright yellow-gold color, then they disappeared.
I looked at the framed grinning photo of Brendyn and smiled at it. I knew he and Bobby were happy where they were 'cause they were in Heaven now. A place where no one could hurt them ever again.
My Dad's car-horn honked again.
"I have to go now. Bye, you guys." I said before Olive and i took off running through the marsh to head back for my Dad's car.
This had really been a weird night.
From the way my Dad looked at me during the drive back home, i could tell he was thinking how weird this night was as well. Poor him. If he knew what Olive and i knew, he'd be thinking dark thoughts instead of that. He'd be thinking about the call i received on the 90s cellphone i'd gotten from Brendyn on the night of September 26, a young 12-year old boy who was murdered on Halloween night-1993, with another boy. He'd be thinking about the storm on the night of the 26 that sent me and Olive back in time to 1994 by striking the 90s cellphone with a lightning-bolt. He'd be thinking about the ghost of Brendyn that spoke to me on the 90s cellphone while Olive and i were in '94. He'd be thinking about me and Olive seeing the ghosts of Brendyn and Bobby, who helping us solve the mystery of their disappearance. He'd be thinking about Justin and Max and how they had nearly suffered the same fate as Bobby and Brendyn. He'd be thinking about the group who had killed them and how they came close to killing Justin and Max. He'd be thinking about me and Olive seeing the Heavenly beings of Brendyn and Bobby at the back of the farm-house in the marsh and how Brendyn thanked me and Olive for helping him and Bobby cross over to the afterlife. He'd be thinking about how the two boys could've gotten murdered on the night of Halloween.
Halloween.
Charming kids in cute and scary costumes, begging for candy. Cardboard cut-outs of skeletons and witches on brooms. Warmly flowing Jack-o-Lanterns, artless parties and entertaining games. Spooky movies/TV-shows on television. Innocent pranks, Trick-or-Treat.
I shuddered, wondering what other kid at this very moment was hanging out with the wrong crowd and if that kid would be fortunate enough to make it out alive or be murdered by his or her "friends" and then disposed of the way Brendyn was along with Bobby.
After this experience...Halloween would never be the same for me ever again.
The grave is not always silent. If we listen...we can sometimes hear the dead speaking to us. We must listen closely with an open mind and an open heart. For what may at first sound like a threat may, in fact, be a message.
GOOSEPUPS
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