The Goth in the Graveyard

by Lodylodylody

******'******

"So...you don't want to go into the cemetery because you're afraid your ghost ex-lover will be mad if she sees us together?" Janice asked incredulously.

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds silly," Zack replied.

Standing nearby, Bailey and Jessica had no idea how to react.

"Is this a real conversation we're actually listening to?" Bailey whispered to her girlfriend.

After a pause, Jessica whispered back, "It must be...as I don't think either of us are insane enough to imagine it."

******'******

Earlier...

Bailey had a good feeling about this Halloween. Her old friend and former roommate London Tipton was throwing a huge party at the Boston Tipton Hotel...and was covering travel expenses for anyone invited.

Not that Bailey needed the charity. She was doing quite well for herself financially, though not as well as her glamourous model girlfriend, Jessica, who was now sharing an apartment with her.

Still, they both knew London well enough to know that when the heiress was being generous, it was best not to decline her gifts. She'd feel hurt...as if her offer was unappreciated.

In any event. Bailey was looking forward to seeing London again...and many others on the guest list. Some old friends she hadn't seen in quite a while.

But of course, there were two friends she did see fairly often that she knew would be there. Jessica's twin sister, Janice, and Zack Martin. The two of them had recently started sharing their own apartment as well...and were seemingly as happy together as Bailey and Jessica. Bailey had started thinking of them more as family than as close friends. After all, they probably would be in-laws eventually.

******'******

As fate would have it, Bailey and Jessica arrived in the Hotel Lobby just moments before Zack and Janice made their entrance. The twin sisters ran toward each other at once, looking like mirror images colliding into an enthusiastic embrace.

The embrace between Bailey and Zack less energetic, though no less warm.

"You cut your hair," Zack said with his usual charming smile. "Looks great. Love the color too."

"Thank you," she responded as she reached up to touch her new pixie cut. "The color was my idea. Since I kept getting more and more red highlights I might as well try full redhead. But the length...that was due to an over zealous stylist." She laughed. "Fortunately I loved it once I got over the shock."

"Bailey, darling!" Janice exclaimed as she blew into the conversation with the force of a friendly hurricane. "You look smashing!" She beamed at the former farmgirl. "Now when are you going to make an honest woman out of my sister?"

"Jan! Stop it," Jessica said in an absolutely scandalized tone...though Bailey could see a glint of amusement in her eyes.

"I most certainly will not," Janice teased. "Zack and I may be perfectly happy living in sin...but you're supposed to be the respectable one."

"You're such a beast," Jessica replied, before her attempt at mock anger was undone by a small giggle.

Bailey and Zack both joined in the laughter. Each had similar experiences with Jan and Jess over the past few years...observing that the two girls who could sometimes seem as identical in personality as they were in appearance were actually vastly different in many ways. Jessica being more demure and proper, while Janice was bold and mischievous. Zack and Bailey both wondered if these differences had become more pronounced as they'd grown older...or if they had always been this way and it was simply a matter of Bailey and Zack getting to know the girls so well.

Either way, it didn't really matter. Both sisters were exactly what they should be as far as Bailey and Zack were concerned.

******'******

London's party had been amazing. A regular spectacle...and one that was all the more enjoyable for having so many old friends to share it with. Bailey had enjoyed reconnecting with everyone from London to Woody to Addison. She also had a wonderful time hanging out with her former teacher Emma Tutweiller who seemingly hadn't aged a day. She'd even found Zack's brother Cody, who she had dated in High School, to be more cordial than their last few encounters.

Zack had arguably had even more fun than Bailey at seeing so many old friends. He'd spent quite a lot of time on the dance floor with his old flames, Max and Maddie...with Janice's full approval. Indeed she spent more than a little time dancing along with them...including a somewhat risque little performance with Max that Zack and many other men (and some women) in attendance no doubt appreciated.

But as it got closer an closer to Midnight, the party started to wind down a bit. Some of the guest were tired...but fatigue was not affecting Bailey and Jess or Jan and Zack. Since the weather was very pleasant and warmer than usual for October, the two couples decided to take a little stroll outside. Having grown up in this neighborhood, Zack knew where it would be safe to travel, even at this late hour. So the quartet set out...making quite an eye-catching group in their Halloween costumes. Jessica as an Angel while Janice was a lovely little devil. Bailey as a vampire and Zack as Spider-Man.

It was when they walked by the graveyard that things began to get strange.

******'******

"Oh this is marvelous," Janice declared. "Perfect for Halloween, don't you think?"

"Well, it's closed," Jessica pointed out. And indeed the gates at the entryway were locked tight...and the sign hanging there clearly showed that visiting hours had ended much earlier.

Janice thought nothing of this. "The fence is easy to climb," she pointed out.

"But what if the police-" Jessica started only to be cut off by her twin.

"Then we hide...or run for it. Worst case scenario...we have to pay a fine."

Normally Bailey would have cautioned against this kind of rule breaking. But the old graveyard did look so picturesque...with some truly lovely gravestones and statues. It did indeed seem the perfect kind of thing to do on a Halloween night.

But Zack was quite against the plan.

"Look, we should get out of here," he said flatly.

Janice would have none of that and grew ever more insistent.

Finally Zack looked at her and said, "This is...the graveyard."

"What do you mean..." Janice started before trailing off as some flash of understanding came to her eyes. "You mean...this is the graveyard where-"

"Yeah, exactly," he interrupted. "So let's go back to the hotel."

Bailey and Jessica were confused. It was obvious the other couple had some knowledge about this place that they lacked...but whatever secret they knew was leading to very different results. While Zack wanted to leave...Janice was now more eager than ever to enter the cemetery.

"Come on," she implored her boyfriend, a look of delight on her face. "You have to show me exactly where."

Whatever she was asking Zack to show her, the suggestion clearly mortified him. "No way!"

"What are you two talking about?" Bailey finally asked. "What's the deal with this graveyard?"

Janice turned to her and said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "This is where Zack lost his virginity."

******'******

Bailey's eyes widened.

Jessica let out a properly scandalized gasp.

Zack continued to look mortified.

Janice rolled her eyes. "You're all being such children."

"Um...TMI," Bailey finally said, even as her mind couldn't stop wondering about the details of having sex, for the first time no less, in a graveyard.

"Look Zack and I were talking not so long ago about our...sexual histories, if you will," Jan explained nonchalantly. "And though he was rather lacking when it came to details...he did tell me his first time was in an unusual location. Which it turns out is somewhere inside that fence."

"They didn't need to know that," Zack said.

"We really didn't," Jess added.

"Really, really didn't," Bailey chimed in, causing Jess to smile slightly.

Jan raised an eyebrow. "Catchphrase thief."

"Look, let's just go," Zack spoke up.

"Absolutely not," Janice shot back.

The two began to bicker and both Bailey and Jess grew concerned that things might get heated.

"Zack," Jessica spoke up. "I don't want to embarrass you or anything...but since we all know the significance of this place now anyway...why not just give Janice what she wants?"

"I can't...it could be...dangerous."

For the first time in the conversation, Janice looked as confused as Bailey and Jessica.

"Dangerous? What are you talking about?"

Zack sighed as he turned to his girlfriend. "Look, there's a reason I didn't give you many details about my first time. Mainly because I knew you wouldn't believe me. But we can't go in there now...because...the girl I was with back then...might still be there."

"What?" the three females asked in unison.

******'******

Much Much Earlier...

Halloween frustrated Zack...in the way that only those things and people that we truly love can frustrate us.

Though in truth it wasn't the holiday itself that was the cause of his frustration. It was his age. He was at the nebulous in-between time where Halloween couldn't be enjoyed fully as either a child or an adult. Too old and tall to go Trick or Treating...but too young and still a minor...unable to indulge in the sinful excesses of 'Adult Halloween.'

It wasn't exactly joyless...he could go to reasonably fun costume parties...or watch all night monster movie marathons. But those were things that he already enjoyed any time of the year. In his mind, Halloween needed to have something extra special about it.

He somehow doubted he'd find anything special by sneaking into the graveyard at night...but at least it sounded like an appropriate Halloween thing to do.

If nothing else, he was breaking curfew and trespassing. That at least fed his self image as a self-styled rebel.

Then he saw her.

Sitting on the steps of a mausoleum. Pale skin. Black lipstick. Deliberately torn fishnet stockings. Jet back hair cropped ultra short and spiked up with copious amounts of gel. For some reason he noticed all these individual elements of her seperately...as if his brain needed time to process each part before he could see the entire image of her.

But when that image did finally come together...Damn, she was hot!

"Going to stare all night, Jason?" she asked in a voice that was somehow emotionless but amused at the same time.

Zack took off the hockey mask that was part of his costume. "If that's my only option," he said. "I'd be glad to look at you for as long as I can."

He heard the words coming out of his mouth and he couldn't understand how he sounded so confident. He knew she was going to laugh in his face at his cringey come on...but he kept going.

"Though, I'd like to do more than look."

She did laugh then...but not at him. By some miracle she was laughing with him...even if he wasn't actually laughing.

She smiled. "I thought Jason was supposed to be hideous and deformed under the mask. You're cute."

"Well, I'm not actually Jason. My name is Zack." He thought it was a stupid way to introduce himself...but she was still smiling.

"I'm Seph," she said. "Short for Persephone."

"The girl Hades kidnapped," Zack said, and was rewarded by seeing a sparkle of pure delight in her eyes.

"You're well-read," she said.

"I have my moments," he replied. No need to tell her he knew the story from a rerun of XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS he'd seen the week before.

They chatted, with Seph doing more listening than talking, but she really seemed to enjoy listening. Eventually Zack told her about his love for...but current frustration with...Halloween. He got the feeling she understood.

"Maybe I'm being unrealistic," he admitted. "But...I always want Halloween to be special." He paused. "But enough about me. What brings you out here on Halloween night."

She was silent for a long time. Zack began to worry a little but she didn't seem to be upset. She just seemed to be...thinking.

"Well, she finally said. "I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm here because...this is my home now. I died a few years ago."

She said it with such a straight face, it took Zack a while to respond. But finally, he laughed.

"Good one."

"Are you calling me a liar, Zack?" her tone was light and teasing. He responded in kind.

"No, I'd never insult a beautiful girl like you. But you seem a little...solid and warm to be a ghost."

"Met many ghosts have you?" She chuckled. "There's a reason, I'm solid and...warm." She took hold of his hand and raised it to her chest...then pressing his palm against her.

It took a great deal of effort for Zack play it cool...but he didn't want to ruin this moment. "Uh...I can feel your heartbeat."

"It's just a trick," she smiled. "There's no heartbeat. It's all just an illusion to make me seem alive."

"And why would a ghost need to seem alive?"

"You know the reason there are ghosts, right?" she looked at him seriously. "Some spirits can't pass on until they take care of their unfinished business." She paused. "For me to have any chance to finish mine...I need to seem alive."

"And what's your unfinished business?"

She looked into his eyes. "I died a virgin...and I want to know love in this world before I go to the next."

******'******

"Are you serious?" Janice all but shouted.

"That's exactly what happened," Zack replied. "I'm not making this up."

Janice took a few deep breaths trying to calm herself.

"Look, there's no reason for you to be mad at Zack," Bailey spoke up.

"Yes, you've never been the jealous type," Jessica added as she looked to her sister.

"I'm not jealous," Jan explained. "I'm upset that he's actually spent all these years believing this girl's story. A ghost? Really?"

"You weren't there," he protested. "I know it sounds crazy...but...it..." he trailed off as he considered the memory he carried around for years. "Well, I guess I could have been wrong."

Bailey and Jessica felt awkward as they looked at Zack. who was clearly embarrassed.

The young man looked to Janice. "You must think I'm stupid. But I was worried that...well...if she was a ghost...um..."

Janice looked at him, starting to feel bad for making him feel so awkward.

"After we...had sex that night, she said goodbye and that she could pass on...she thought...but that if it didn't work she'd keep haunting the graveyard."

"And she warned you not to come back?" Jessica guessed.

He shook his head. "No, she said regardless of whether it worked or not...she was grateful for the experience. And if I did ever see her in the graveyard again...maybe we could give it another try."

"But you never went back to the graveyard?" Bailey asked.

"No, I did lots of times," he admitted. "Any Halloween I was in Boston. She was never here...so I hoped that meant she was at peace. But I never knew for sure."

Janice looked perplexed. "So if you kept coming back to look for her before...why were you so against doing it tonight?"

Zack looked at her as if the answer was obvious. "Because I'm with you now." He paused. "I was worried that if Seph actually was still here...and she saw me with another girl...well, I know you're not the jealous type but I don't know how she'd react. I couldn't risk your safety."

"So...you don't want to go into the cemetery because you're afraid your ghost ex-lover will be mad if she sees us together?" Janice asked incredulously.

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds silly," Zack replied.

Standing nearby, Bailey and Jessica had no idea how to react.

"Is this a real conversation we're actually listening to?" Bailey whispered to her girlfriend.

After a pause, Jessica whispered back, "It must be...as I don't think either of us are insane enough to imagine it."

Janice looked at Zack a long time...her expression unreadable. Then finally a smile came to her lips.

"You dear, naïve, wonderful man." She put her arms around him. "I love you."

"I love you too." He kissed her. "If you want...we can go into the graveyard."

Janice shook her head. "No. We don't need to."

The two couples turned back towards the hotel and began walking. A light breeze began rolling around them, cool...but not unpleasant.

And it may have been his imagination. But on the breeze Zack thought he heard a quiet whisper.

It was just his imagination though.

It had to be.

He was just imagining Seph's voice saying. "Don't worry, Zack. I'm not the jealous type, either."

******'******

author's note: Hope you enjoyed this tale. If you want to see a little more about how Zack and Bailey ended up with Jan and Jess...you can check out my story Unplanned Reunion. If you want to submit a story for this year's collection. Please DM...and soon. Halloween is coming up fast. Though you can keep submitting stories until Thanksgiving 2024. And please review.