“People die… But real love is forever.” Even In Death - Evanescence
Valerie Barks had been the most grieving, depressed person on the planet Earth. She had lost all of her friends. They had drifted from her, not knowing how to deal with someone in a situation like this, because they were oblivious dumb broads. Her family was in different countries scattered across the globe. They didn’t even know of her husband’s death. The car accident that happened almost two years ago. Isaac… If only he could read her thoughts, he has no idea how much she is hurting for him. She misses him so much, she was ready to crack her chest open and sacrifice her heart to have him back. She loves him. She misses him so… She wishes she could see him one last time. She would kill for him. Steal for him… Die for him.
Valerie had sold her house, because she felt it was too big for just one person. She also wasn’t planning on re-marrying anytime soon. She was afraid of getting attached again. She didn’t think she would ever get over it anyway. She currently lived in a condo for one person. That was enough.
After two years she still hadn’t finished cleaning out his stuff. Then again, her house was about five times bigger than the apartment she was in now. So she spent her Saturday going through the monotonous cardboard boxes piled up in her closet. She at least had about twenty-seven to go. She groaned as she pulled the first very top box. Not only was it a lot of work, it also brought sorrow and grief to sink on her soul. Why doesn’t she just throw everything out? Well, even though keeping some stuff will sadden her deeper… It couldn’t hurt to double check, right? Better safe than sorry. That was like her mother’s catchphrase when she was a little girl. Always lecturing her on how everything had to be triple checked. She sighed emptily and proceeded on cleaning the box out.
She rummaged through some old clothes piled on top of one another. It seemed as if they were just thrown in there. She thought to herself, “Did I pack them like this?” She thought she couldn’t have because of her outrageous OCD. It was pretty bad. Strange. Maybe her head wasn’t screwed on straight that day. How could it be after literally, everything she’d had to clean out of his? His office at work, everything from the old house, canceling bank and credit card accounts… This was her life for the last 2 years, while of course, fitting in work five days a week, twelve hours a day. What a pathetic life hers turned out to be.
After going through that whole massive monster of clothes. The next box looked like a heap of personal items and knick-knacks of his. The first item she picked up was his favorite snow globe. It was a lookout of Manhattan during Christmas and the Thanksgiving Parade.
Tears blurred her vision as she clutched the snow globe to her chest, just to have a reason to look away from it. Her heart sunk as the empty hole scratched around the rims of her heart. It was such an effort to breathe. Sobs ripped from her throat and chest, and she heaved heavy breaths. Her back quaked as she brought her knees up to her chest and sobbed. Just sobbed and let everything out. This was a daily thing, just crying. But that damned hole just wouldn’t heal. I guess she needed something to fill that hole. A better memory to take its place. A dog? Ugh, no. Too much hassle. Too much responsibility. The weight on her heart shook and quaked from disturbance. After for what seemed like hours, she returned to observing the snow globe, debating whether or not to keep it or toss it. She remembered the nights when he couldn’t dream up new ideas, he would just stare at it, and all of a sudden, inspiration would hit him. She remembered when she had gotten it for him that Christmas. She choked back more tears and drew two big breaths in, and put it in the keep box. The next item she scoped out was a small jewelry box. It was constructed of fine black marble, and designs of neon reds fading to orange in the form of a vine, which looped themselves between each other across the top lid.
She opened it slowly, and found various thread and string necklaces and bracelets. The one she found at the very bottom of the shallow case winked in the light overhead. She found the main string to it, and slowly took it out. She observed it in the palm of her hand. It was a small silver cross with a tiny replica of the crucifying of Jesus on the cross. She remembered always seeing a necklace escape underneath his shirts. They must have took it off and returned it to the house when they were dressing and preparing him for the funeral. She kept staring at it, and all she saw was his face. His beautiful face… She closed her hand around the pendant tight. When she opened it again, it left an imprint in the base of her hand. The marks even started to bleed. She sat there confused, but when she blinked, it was as if the blood had never been there. It disappeared. After that, she thought she heard a pained moan somewhere deep in her apartment outside the bedroom door. She shook off the feeling and gave herself a break until tomorrow. She slipped on the necklace and proceeded to bed as a wave of exhaustion hit her… even though it was only 6:30 P.M…
That night, Valerie had a horrible nightmare… It was Isaac…
He was searching for her. Calling to her. The way he called her name was laced with fear. She kept turning and turning around looking for him, but it was literally, nothing but pitch darkness. It was the same scene even if she closed her eyes. His calls grew louder all at the same time to the point where she had to close her hands tight over her ears and collapse to the ground. Her name echoed in the never-ending darkness, his voice overlapping each other in different tones, to one point when they were incoherently just screaming. Then, all the screaming silenced, and she heard him whisper in her ear as if he were right behind her,
“Valerie…”
She whipped around, and saw him… but it wasn’t him… She gaped in horror, unable to even scream. Isaac had blood dripping like tears from his eyes. Blackened flesh was dripping from his teeth, which now looked sharpened into fangs. His eyes were completely black. The only light she could see him from was the small red glowing pupils from deep within the only flaring light deep in his body. His nails were long and dirty. They curled inward against the skin of his fingers. He brushed the tips of them along her jawline, savoring every feature of her beauty. Even though she was as white as a ghost and she could barely do so much as breathe because of how frightened she was. Her body grew completely rigid.
He bared his teeth in a demonic grin. He opened his mouth toward her, an implication that he was a demon hungry for a soul…
Valerie woke up with a yelp, as she stood upright. As soon as she sat upright, Isaac’s necklace that she now was wearing under her clothes, flew from her neck, breaking the thread clasp, into the wall adjacent her bed and fell to the ground with a clatter. It flopped on the floor like a fish, jerking and quaking as the whole object was cascaded in a luminescent blood red glow. She watched as it faded with a disgusted look. She felt nausea rise up in her throat. She thought she would have to run to the bathroom to upchuck. She did anyway, but only to retrieve her anxiety medication. She ran and steadied herself on the counter of the sink, and yanked open the mirror cabinet, fumbling for the small orange container of small white caplets. She dry-swallowed two pills and took several deep breaths.
All the images flashed back to her, and she felt an array of tears threaten to spill from her eyes. She sniffled and fell against the blue tile wall behind her and slid down. She lay her legs and arms out limply. Crying. Sobbing. Wishing she had the real Isaac back. Wishing her life could be normal. Wishing she never found the necklace.
At that point, it sounded like someone was puffing out air in her ear very obnoxiously. He was right behind her. She looked past the open door only to find a dark silhouette sitting in Isaac’s favorite chair, which Valerie had decided to keep. She slowly rose up, and used the counter for support to lift herself up. On the counter, was a small paper cup for rinsing, and it clattered to the floor from Valerie accidently hitting it. She cursed under her breath, and scrunched up her face in fear and disapproval, waiting for the cup to finally halt.
She slowly looked back at the silhouette, and if it was sleeping, it’s eyes opened. The same glowing red ones, staring straight at Valerie. She was standing her knees half bent, growing tired, so she lifted herself up completely, but slowly. The silhouette rose as well, and took a step toward her. As soon as he stepped into the shining light of the bathroom, his dark figure turned normal with the clothes on his back from the day he died. A regular short sleeved plaid shirt, and light blue jeans. His red eyes disappeared with a blink, and out came his beautiful face. His shaggy dirty blonde hair, and his cerulean blue eyes. They looked desperately into her eyes, pleading, hoping to be saved. Valerie gasped in disbelief. She took a step toward him, completely mesmerized by his presence. She was being hypnotized. Her hand reached up, and she cupped his face.
He was physical.
He was real.
He was here.
Tears pooled and sprang to her eyes again. Her other hand joined on his other cheek, just holding his face in her hands. She observed every feature that she remembered. The bone structure of his face, chiseled from marble, his nose perfectly angled. Her hands pushed back farther, ruffling through his hair.
“Isaac…?” She finally said.
“Valerie…” His silk velvet voice made her shudder all over with goose bumps. The voice she missed hearing.
She advanced forward and pulled him into an embrace, tightly. Her hug was full of need and desire. Her arms were empty, and he was the only one who could fill them to make her happy. His arms came up around her back and closed her in tightly. His chin rested on her head as she sobbed helplessly. He was rubbing her soothingly, shushing her. She was flabbergasted. How was he here?? Has god finally showed some sympathy for her? No. She didn’t want to think along those lines right now. She just wanted to enjoy the company of Isaac for however long she had. It seemed almost too real for him to be there. As her head lay against his chest, his chest was rising and falling with breaths of oxygen entering and exiting his system. His heart was beating at a steady pace.
She gripped him closer to her. Not ever wanting to let go again.
He broke the silence.
“Valerie…”
“Mmm…?” She said contently.
“You have to help me…”
Valerie’s eyes shot back open. Before she could question him, she felt a warm substance seep from his shirt to hers. She quickly jumped back to find blood splattered on different parts of his shirt slowly forming at such a rapid speed. She looked down to find some of it already on her shirt. He stood there in utter shock watching the injuries reenact from his death scene. As if the opposing car had rammed into him, he jerked to the side when the car t-boned him with so much force, that it split his car in half vertically, and he flew backwards into the wall, right when the opposing car pinned him to the nearby tree on the sidewalk.
Valerie’s hands flew to her mouth in utter shock, afraid that a louder sound would come out more than she intended. He sunk to the ground, weak and lifeless. Valerie instinctively ran to his aid as she slid on her knees. His head hung limp, as if he were a puppet that needed to be controlled. Valerie laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. Her brows furrowed with concern. She leaned in hopefully to catch a glimpse of his face. She had gotten to close. His head suddenly whipped up, staring at her with the same small red glowing pupils and his fangs bared in an evil grin. Valerie threw herself backward in fear, scrambling on her hands and knees to get away from him. He slithered upright with no effort, now standing over her, the same expression in a stilled frame.
Fear drowned her lungs making any sound impossible. Her head slowly inclined to her left on the dresser where she put Isaac’s cross. She thought and focused on how she would get it, and eyed the Isaac standing over her. She bolted for the dresser, flipping on her feet, and snatched the necklace, oblivious to the moves Isaac was making. She whipped around, and Isaac was right there. He grabbed her wrist with the necklace, and squeezed. She felt her blood circulation rapidly cut off. She tried to pry off his wrist as she slowly sunk to the ground.
She looked up to Isaac, and he was smiling down at her with those same red eyes, and razor sharp fangs. Her sight blurred. She felt bleary and disoriented. Her head fell to the ground as she sucked in and out of consciousness. She felt a sharp pain pierce cleanly through the base of her wrist. She lifted her heavy eyelids, and caught a glimpse of Isaac on his knees, cool fingers clasped firmly around her flaming wrist, teeth sunken into the vein. Blood dripping from whatever holes it could slither through from the wound. She choked on her own air as she felt her pulse slow down at such a decent. Her wrist tingled with an uncomfortable sensation of blood being drawn directly through the vein. It grew more and more numb as she finally fell into the permanent darkness.
Valerie woke up with a start, gasping violently for air on the floor, gripping something around her neck. She frantically searched the dark for the radiant red eyes, and didn’t realize the cross was tight around her neck. She gasped aloud and just couldn’t move. She came to her senses when she remembered the lake… she got up, grabbed her key and coat, and left the house.
She floored the gas pedal to the car floor, rigid as she held the wheel. She sped down the streets of Westbury, making sharp rights and turns. She turned to the lake, and stood at the steep hill, in a fight stance as if Isaac would come at any moment, the cross, tight in her hand. She closed her eyes shut, and let her arm throw with all her might. She listened to the plop of the heavy wood against the surface of the lake, and strained to listen to it sink. She sighed in relief and opened her eyes. She turned to leave, but stopped in her tracks whens he heard the water start to bubble behind her. Butterflies paralyzed her. She slowly turned around, and stared at the water at her feet. It was clouding into a blood red. Valerie felt that she would blow chunks, as her hand flew up to her nose to block the stench of death to assault her nostrils. A black slimy figure caught her attention deeper into the lake. She started to back away, but tripped over a rock and fell on her back, scrambling away like a crab. The figure floated closer until it was just hovering over her. The sludge melted off of it, and revealed Isaac once again. He looked innocent and peaceful. He extended a hand out to her.
“Valerie… please… Join me…”
Valerie protested by scrambling one foot back, but she felt almost compelled. But before she could answer, Isaac leaned down still casting her an innocent gaze. She watched intently as he started to bend down. When he was low enough, he grabbed hold of her ankles, and pulled her into the water with him. She flipped on her stomach and dug her nails into the damp Earth to resist his arrest into God knows where. She shrieked in protest, which were silenced by gallons of the lake water flooding her lungs. She tried to scream until her throat popped with bubbles and her voice box felt like it burst. Her throat burned and she had no voice. She had no choice but to close her mouth and swallow the lake water. It tasted metallic of blood and algae. From how she was being dragged by her ankles, she began to float on her back, still shallow enough to see the moon. She frowned down at her, watching her die. Her throat burned with fire, and she felt a warm liquid rise from her throat and escape into the floating air of the water. She felt Isaac’s body pressed against hers from behind dragging her down into oblivion. The light faded through the surface as darkness clouded her eyes. She felt as if they hit beyond the sea floor. There was no more oxygen in her system, yet her eyes were still open. Her heart beat. Bum… Bum… Bum… Until it stopped. She closed her eyes. She was his slave now. For eternity. They could love forever now. In the bowls of Hell.
Bum… Bum… Bum…
Valerie
Isaac
