Tempus Fugit …

XO'MagickMoon'OX

Chapter 6: Either I Save Him Or I Die With Him

Kazahaya goes rigid, his hand instinctively reaching out to grab mine. I don't think the fact that there is a stranger out on the widow's walk is what really scares him the most. It's the fact that her body is translucent, that she has no feet, and that the hem of her dress is hovering inches above the ground that probably scares him the most.

Well, it certainly scares me the most, at least.

Without turning to look at us, the woman says, "Who are you?", her voice just a soft, breathy whisper.

"I …" I clear my throat nervously. "I'm Rikuo Himura."

Kazahaya squeaks, "K-Kazahaya Kudo. What … What is your name?"

"Marianna," the woman answers. Then, she says, "Why are you here?"

"… We're looking for a … necklace," I reply, my confidence beginning to build.

That's when Marianna turns. Her thick, sandy hair blows around her pale, spectral face. Her blue skirt and loose white blouse billow around her form. Her eyes – clear turquoise in color – are swimming in deadening sadness and grief. Her expression radiates the same emotions we felt inside the house, and it's, quite simply, unnerving. She reaches up to her neck and fingers the golden chain hanging there. On the chain are five sparkling diamond charms, each cut in perfect teardrops, the one in the center being the largest. "This necklace?" she asks.

Kazahaya gasps. "Yes!" Then he looks up at me and whispers, "Rikuo, she was the woman in the memories I saw."

Marianna turns back to facing the ocean with a curt nod. "Why do you want it?"

"We … well …" Kazahaya starts to answer. "You see … our boss wants us to bring it to him. Someone asked him to get it for them."

"So, you are like errand boys? Your boss's clients ask him for things, and then he tells you to fetch the item?"

Kazahaya's taken aback at how quickly she caught on to what he was trying to tell her. "Y … Yes."

The specter says, her voice distant and thoughtful, "John had a similar job. He was a fisherman. The town made orders for the amount of fish they wanted, and then John's boss told the fishermen. Then the fishermen sailed out to sea to collect the fish. Sometimes they'd be gone days at a time; others, they'd be back within mere hours." Then, her tone drops from thoughtful to grave, "And sometimes … they'd never come back at all."

"Was John your fiancé?" I ask, interrupting her reminiscence.

She nods. "Yes."

My mind begins reeling. "That ring in his drawer … it was your engagement ring. So, how come you're not wearing it? Why is it still in that box?"

Marianna turns. "John … he gave me this necklace when he proposed to me," she fingered the chain around her neck, "and promised to give me the ring when he returned from his fishing trip. After that trip, he was supposed to be promoted, and his pay would increase. We had inherited this house and a large amount of money from my grandparents when they passed on, and John had a bit of money that he'd been saving for nearly fifteen years. But, our wealth was beginning to run low, and John was excited about getting promoted. We planned to start a family after our marriage and live happily for the rest of our years … together.

"But the night before he left on his fishing trip, we got into an argument. We went to bed angry without even apologizing. I don't even remember what the argument was about. But what I do remember is that I left for town early the next morning … and John was still sleeping. I planned to be back before he left on his trip, but he was called away early because of a storm, and left before I returned. We could see the gray clouds on the horizon, and the fishermen wanted to get out and get back before it hit. I waited that afternoon out here, on the widow's walk, watching for his fishing boat. But it never came. The storm hit sooner than expected, and the sea was treacherous. I had to watch from inside and pray to God that John was okay." Marianna looks up, and we can see crystal tears rimming her phantom eyes. "You know what I learned then? … I learned that there is no God. If there was, then John would've been returned safely to me. Instead, a week later the fishing boat was declared gone, sunken by the storm, and the fishermen dead.

"But I still clung onto some hope that John was alive, and I waited out here everyday, just looking out over the ocean, waiting for his return … or waiting for my pain to numb the aching in my heart. I waited in vain, because neither happened. John never returned, and my brokenhearted-ness simply tore at my soul day by day, eating me from the inside. Days passed, and the days turned into months, and the months turned into years … I stopped eating, stopped sleeping, stopped caring about anything and everything. One day, I came out here on the walk and just … jumped. I jumped over the side and gave myself to the ocean, hoping to be reunited with my beloved in the afterlife. But that didn't happen, either. I found my soul grounded, unable to move on. I was chained to this house, to its memories, to its past … alone."

She looks back out over the ocean, still fingering the chain around her neck.

"Hey, Marianna, I don't mean to be rude …" Kazahaya says.

Idiot, don't say anything stupid.

"… but how can you be wearing that necklace if … well, technically … you don't have a neck?"

The ghost turns back around and smiles sadly. "Because, not only am I grounded to this house, but I am grounded to this necklace. I cannot move on until John and I are together again … and that cannot happen until he gives me the ring. My soul won't leave until that one desire has been fulfilled. But, we are both dead, and there is no way he can give me the ring now."

Well, seeing that Kazahaya got to ask a random question, guess I will, too. It'll bother me until I get it answered, anyway. "Marianna, how is it that we can understand you? We don't speak English."

The specter thinks for a moment. Then, she says, "It is because death has no language, only communication and understanding. I speak English, and you speak whatever it is you speak, but we can both understand each other as easily as if we were speaking the same human language."

"Oh." I nod. I guess it makes sense on some sort of level.

Marianna looks from Kazahaya to me, and I feel as if she's looking through my eyes to my soul. It's unnerving, just like the house. I look away, but I feel as if I've already been violated, as if she's already read my mind or something.

"Let me tell you something," she says, breaking the awkward silence. "Love is the most precious thing there is. True love is immortal, never-ending. But … time … time is cruel, and it waits for no man. Time can take the most precious thing from your life before it has a chance to truly begin. If only … If only I had had more time, I would've made sure that every second that I was with John he knew for sure how much I loved him. When he died, harsh words hung between us, and our relationship was a little shaky. Before we went to bed that night, or even the next morning, I should've apologized and told him how much I loved him. But he was gone before I had a chance to, and I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive myself." She locks eyes pointedly with me, her aqua orbs boring into my mind. "Don't wait … love and time are too precious to waste. The one you love may be gone before you are able to stop it, and then it will be too late."

I gasp. Kazahaya glances up at me, clueless as to the little exchange that Marianna and I just had. How did she know that? How did she know that I love Kazahaya? How did she know that I was afraid of losing him before I could tell him how I felt? Surely that was the point she was trying to make. How did she know …?

"Rikuo?"

I blink, snapped out of my stunned reverie. I look down at Kazahaya. Then I glance back at Marianna. She seems to be watching us carefully, almost as if she's analyzing us.

Then, she says, "Do you want this necklace?" There's a strange gleam in her eyes that I just don't trust.

But Kazahaya, as usual, is oblivious. He nods. Marianna reaches around her neck to unclasp the precious accessory. She holds it between her hands, entwining her fingers around the chain. She seems to be considering something as she looks down at the diamonds, light of the afternoon sun refracting hypnotically off of the sparkling gems. Then she glides over the edge of the widow's walk. I narrow my eyes suspiciously.

Then, she holds her hand out over the crumbling railing, the necklace dangling from her fingertips over the ocean. My heart begins to quicken nervously.

"How badly do you want it?" she purrs.

"M-Marianna …" Kazahaya stammers. "What are you doing?"

My question exactly.

"If you want it, you have to come and get it. I won't let you fall. Consider it a harmless test."

'Harmless' my ass.

But Kazahaya takes a step forward, his hand outstretched. Idiot. I grab his wrist.

"Kazahaya!" I hiss. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Don't worry," he snaps. "I've got everything under control." He gives me a look, determination blazing in his eyes. He pulls his wrist free from its imprisonment. I shake my head. This isn't good.

He takes another step forward. Then another … and another … Now the space between him and Marianna is almost covered … just one more step.

What occurs next happens all too fast for me to react.

The ghost throws the necklace up in the air over the ocean. Kazahaya gasps and takes an automatic dive forward, stopping just short of the railing. But then, Marianna flies behind him before shooting her phantom form through his back, sailing out of his chest over the ocean to catch her necklace as it comes back down. She floats back to the widow's walk as the force of her flying through Kazahaya gives him that extra stagger forward …

Enough to send him tumbling forward over the feeble railing – which snaps under his weight – and down the side of the house.

"Kazahaya!" I lunge forward, reaching out to grab him. I lean over the edge of the walkway to see him crash into the churning waves below, just missing the edge of the craggy cliff. I turn angrily to Marianna and prepare to dive after him.

"Wait!"

I turn quickly, snapping, "WHAT?"

Marianna grins impishly. "If you jump after him, you're sure to die."

I grimace. "Either I save him … or I die with him."

The ghost nods. "You really do love him, don't you?"

But I don't answer. I leap off of the widow's walk and prepare to land in the salty waves below. I've wasted too much time already.

I just hope I'm not too late.