The Beauty of Green

The Beauty of Green

  “Look how many people turned up for this —wow.”

    “Your silly, how can you make a joke at a time like this? And it is only two dozen people, who I'm sure are getting paid.”

     "What color is that?" 

     "Some shade of green"

     "Do you think they gave him enough? I hope it is. I don't want something bad to happen. I mean I don't care if he is in pain, I just want to make sure he is dead "

     "I know"

     “It is strange being two spirits. Knowing exactly what you are thinking and feeling. If we were alive we’d be joined at the hip.”

“We have always been joined somehow.”

     “Look at her, the witness in the second row, third chair. She looks like she is crying. Did we know her? Maybe she knew him. There is always someone who loves a murderer.”

“We did not know her, but the guy in the first row third chair knew your uncle. Remember we saw him at your Uncles funeral. Your Uncle Bob took all this pretty hard.”

“You know, there are a lot of cars outside.”

“Yea people always get curious about this kind of thing. They didn't get to curious about us or any of the rest of the victims. If I could laugh, I would be hysterical over the people doing the candle light vigil for the killer.”

“Remember the trial? He and his cousin were convicted of killing six. I wish we could do something for the other eight that nobody knows about.”

“Someday, someone will find more bones”

“We need to help with that”

“I know, but later. We both need to go back home when this is done. We have to sit with our families, let them know it is okay, help them move on.”

“It's kinda cool that we can just imagine ourselves at home and then be there.”

“Yea our poor relatives outside, have a long ride home from Starke.”

“We had some nice family trips coming up this way of course for nicer places than here. My Dad putting his hand out the window, letting it ride the flow of air, pretending he was a pilot. Now they will all have to get in the car and ride on that highway, silently, thinking about us- it will be a long ride.”

“Remember Ichetucknee”

Read Norse Mythology, By Neil Gaiman

“Yea that was so much fun riding the tubes down the river. Swimming in the spring water , ohh -that was always cold.”

“You got used to it quick. It was the best times for us. We had good families. Why did we do something so stupid?”

“Adventure”

“It wasn’t worth it. This has hurt so many people. I know there were others, but look at what it did to our families. This has taken so long, he has been on death row for twenty-eight years.”

“How long is this going to take? Is he still breathing?”

“I think he is, trying to fight it maybe. Should we help?”

“No —and you know the rules”

“Yea you’re right. Just testing you”

“We never said that when we were young: Just testing you!”

“I am getting with the times.”

“How are we going to help the others?”

“Good question. We have to be careful the rules are very strict. Only show the truth. Never cause a loss of life —no revenge.”

“I know … those bones in the grove. We can have some kids ride there four-wheelers near the bones.”

“Maybe , there are some big Orange tree’s growing over some of them now.”

“What about the ones near his shop? I can’t believe the detectives didn’t find them, they were so close.”

“To late for those, his shop is gone. Bulldozer took it down faster than this creep is taking to die.”

“It is strange how society just erases things, all the bad memories, just gone so no one can see it and relive it. Just like us, we are gone. They wrote very little about us.”

“That was because of our age, and our families”

“I know, but what about us. We were just fourteen. We stopped on that day, at that moment- just ceased to exist, to dream, and to ever know the feelings of love.”

“No, we knew love, and we can still see it and feel it”

“You know what I mean—love—with a boy.”

“You were always ahead of me on that. I knew the things you thought about, even when you tried not to tell me, but I knew. Joined together always!”

“You know what I want to do? I want to go sit in school, and find some girls who think they can do stupid stuff like we did, and stop them”

“Stop them. How?”

“Like we could lock the doors of their rooms, keep them safe.”

“You know that if their truth is taking them down a bad road, we cannot stop them”

“Their truth, their truth, I am tired of that. I know of two girls right now, who are on the same path as us, I want to stop them. I am tired of this truth- this unchanging path for the living. And you know this truth is not complete: there are some who do their own will even as wandering souls”

“I know that is true, but we are not ready for that next step, maybe we will be soon.”

“Remember the guy driving the old pickup truck, the one I did not trust. He rides on Rte. 520 everyday looking for the lost and still living. He was our Angels and we did not know it.”

“Yea … on that deserted road alone, every day. Nothing about him has changed”

“But he does not interfere. The truth is in the decision of those he offers to help.”

“Look I think his heart stopped”

“Oh it did”

“He’s dead. It’s 6:19 pm”

If you want to read the entire story go to Story Development  ( Top Menu ) and read Whispers Through The Pines. 

© Copyright Artemis J Jones 2014