Slumber Party

“So, we’re really going to do this?”

Isabelle’s words came out as a puff of white against the chill darkness.

I ignored her question and gestured towards a hulking shape in the distance. “Just over here. It’s perfect!”

The October night could not have been more ideal. It was crisp and clear and the full moon so bright we didn’t need flashlights to navigate. The polished gleam of the headstones was easy to make out. Leaves crunched under Isabelle’s feet as she walked rather more forcefully than was necessary.

It was clear just how ill at ease she was when she stumbled over a small branch. I heard her swallow a scream as it snapped, loud as a thunderclap in the night. “What was that?” she hissed, looking wildly around her feet.

“You’re making so much noise, you’re probably waking the dead. Maybe it was someone’s arm, reaching out of their grave, only to have you stomp on it.” I doubled over with shrill giggles that echoed back at us off the stones.

Isabelle shot me a dirty look. “Someone is going to hear us, Charlotte.”

I raised an eyebrow and looked around. The cemetery was isolated and I was certain that no caretaker lived on site. Her fear was beginning to swing towards anger, so I waved her forward. “The very back row, that big one on the corner.” We continued our walk to the large mausoleums at the back.

“How are we supposed to get in?” she asked. She paused at the first one we passed, reaching for the padlock on the door. “Aren’t they all locked? I’m not doing any breaking and entering tonight. My parents are already going to kill me if they find out where I am.”

“Easy.” I kept marching forward. “Lucky for us the Parker family did not get the lock engaged the last time they came to sweep the place out and no one has noticed yet. No one but me.”

Isabelle snorted. “You do have enough free time, I guess.”

We both looked up as mausoleum loomed closer. It was the largest in the cemetery, black granite with columns created a surprisingly deep portico over the ornate double doors. I slid the lock out and pushed the doors open. A small stained-glass window on the back wall let a rainbow of moonlight spill over the stone floor.

Sidling in behind me, Isabelle placed a small camping lantern on the granite bench beneath the window.

I began to dig through her bag as she slowly toured the room, running her fingers along the inscriptions in the walls.

“I wonder about them, you know?” she said, voice almost dreamy.

I emerged triumphantly from her bag with a handful of chocolate bars. “What they look like now?”

Her dark hair flew behind her as she spun to face me. “No! Who they were, what they were like.”

“In a joint like this, I have a suspicion they were snobby rich people.” I waved at the room with a partially unwrapped chocolate. “This sort of luxury for a corpse costs.”

“I wish you wouldn’t talk like that.” Isabelle shivered and hugged her arms around herself. She turned her head away, but not before I saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes.

I sighed and dropped to the floor, slumping against the roll of her sleeping bag. “I’m sorry, Isa. I know I shouldn’t make jokes like that. It was just something that we did, before….”

Breathing in deeply, Isabelle turned back towards me, quickly brushing tears from below her eyes. “Well, things are a lot different now and I suppose it’s going to take us both some time to get used to it. I’m sorry, too. I overreacted.”

We nodded solemnly at one another. She reached behind me with one hand and pulled the sleeping bag out, using my surprise to pluck the candy out of my hand with the other. She took an enormous bite. “I guess you’re ready to get this party started,” I muttered.

She shot me a chocolatey grin as she spread the sleeping bag over the ground. “Should I see if I packed the Ouija board?” she asked wryly.

I raised my eyebrows. “Who’s making inappropriate jokes now?” I scooted until my back was against the wall. “I just want to eat chocolate and talk about boys.”

“Well the chocolate is easily provided.”

“Yeah, I guess the dating scene is a little dead around here.” A nervous giggle popped out of Isabelle and she pressed her hands to her mouth as if to contain it, which only resulted in more giggles. I cackled at my own terrible joke.

“Is tonight going to be an entire series of death jokes?” she asked once she had calmed down slightly.

“Bury the thought,” I said.

Isabelle sighed and set her chin on her knees, which were hugged to her chest.

I gave her half a smile and nibbled on the corner of the candy bar.

“Can you taste it?” she asked, nodding in the direction of the bar I was still staring at wistfully.

“If I think about it really hard. Sometimes I think my sense of taste is the thing I miss the most.”

“Sounds like you.”

I shook my head. “Let’s watch a movie or something.” I pulled out her laptop and handed it to her.

“I’m not sure how well we can stream in here, but we’ll give it a shot.”

I moved to watch over her shoulder. “Yeah, cemeteries do seem a little light on wi-fi hotspots. I should have a word with the manager.”

Isabelle ignored me, scrolling through movie options. “What about this one?” she asked, pointing out a newly released rom-com.

I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see it. “I was thinking something scary. What better place to watch a good horror movie than here, right?”

She turned to stare at me. “You want me to watch a horror movie while spending the night in a mausoleum? Which, by the way, I didn’t want to do in the first place.”

“I’m not afraid.” I shrugged.

“Of course, you’re not.”

I slipped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, pretending I didn’t notice the chill that shivered through her. “You see, nothing has changed! I’ll protect you from the scary movie. It’s just like when I was alive. Nothing is going to mess with you when your best friend is a ghost.”