Remember Me?

“Time?” my sister, Ana, dryly blurts out without taking her eyes off the TV screen.

“Not sure. My phone’s dead,” I sigh with a heavy hint of boredom. We’re sitting on our couch, scouring through Netflix for a movie or TV show that strikes our interest in the slightest. This isn’t much different than any other Friday night, but tonight especially stings because it is the first Halloween—or, Halloween Eve, I should say—that we’ll be spending at home due to the pandemic. Ana’s birthday falls on Halloween, so we make sure to go all out every year: dramatic costumes, trick-or-treating, and a party at our house where family and friends count down to midnight and sing a horrible, drunken rendition of the Happy Birthday song to her. I try to pretend it is not a big deal, but I can’t help but feel bummed for her too. However, my boyfriend, Dante, is always the optimist, which is why I am glad he surprised us with a visit after all.

Dante shifts his body to one side and pulls his cellphone out of his back pocket. “It’s 6:45. You guys want me to order something to eat? I can pick it up by myself if you don’t feel like… well… moving,” he teases, implying how lazy we are.

“No! Don’t go without us! I need to get out of this house!” Ana cries while shaking her fists in the air for optimum dramatic flair. “Let’s do something crazy! Let’s do something thrilling or even scary!” she wiggles her eyebrows at me, knowing full well I do not do scary.

Dante throws his head back and gives an unimpressed ha. “Gaby won’t go along with anything scary. And you always swear you’ll do anything, but I know you don’t have it in you. You always get lucky because Gaby chickens out before we even get to do what we plan to!”

Ana gasps her overreaching, dramatic-as-ever gasp that still makes me laugh every time, even after fifteen years. “How dare you insult me? Me, who was brought into this earth on the very day that we celebrate all things scary. I am no chicken like my sister! I would never get in the way of a spooky adventure!” Quickly, she beams at me. “Gaby! Oh please, Gaby, put your big-sister pants on and let us do something scary tonight!”

“Like what?” I entertain the thought with my best poker face.

“The railroad tracks?” Dante suggests. I feel my spine shoot up into a straight line. He’s referring to the local train tracks. Legend has it, the spirits of three children haunt the tracks. The kids were riding the school bus home one day in the 1930s but, unfortunately, were killed on impact in a train wreck. Now, the gag is you park your car in the middle of the tracks and, in efforts to save you from another train wreck, the ghost-children push your car away from the tracks.

“Eh. That’s not the scariest thing we could do,” I try and play it cool. When I see Dante and Ana share a laugh, pride burns inside my stomach. “I mean, there’s that and the fact that the tracks are probably going to be packed tonight. It’s the night before Halloween—everyone is looking for a scare! Imagine waiting in line for a little push across some train tracks? So anticlimactic,” I lay my head back down, trying to sell my so-boring act.

“The kid has a point,” Dante concedes. Thank God. “What else do you have in mind, Ana?” he flicks a piece of popcorn at her as if to say Tag, you’re it.

She slides off the couch and plants herself on the floor in front of us, crisscross-applesauce style. Her eyes are dark with amusement as she stares me and Dante square in the face. “I want to spend the night at a graveyard.” Even Dante looks startled at this.

And that is how I find myself frozen in my bedroom ten minutes later.

“What percent is your phone’s battery at now?” Ana demands. I shiver, partly because a strong breeze whistles into our bedroom through the open window but more so because I am anxious. I force my body language to convince her it is because of the breeze.

“Gab!” she snaps me back to reality.

“Huh?” I scramble for my phone nervously. “Um, eighty percent,” I report.

“Don’t go chickening out on me now,” she giggles—a bit too maliciously for my liking. “Mine’s fully charged, but I’m bringing two portable chargers just in case.” She continues to fit two thermoses into her favorite blue duffle bag. One thermos is keeping water cold, the other nearly overfilled with piping-hot hot chocolate. My idea, of course. I help her squeeze two throw blankets further down in the bag so we can manage to squeeze in as many items—necessities, as she refers to them—as we can.

“How does one know exactly what to bring to a sleepover at a graveyard?” I grill her. “Sounds like you’ve done this before. I don’t like that.”

“I haven’t done it before, but I’ve thought about this a lot,” she trails off into our bathroom, a creepy smile widening across her face. If there is one thing Ana has, it is courage. Our older sister and I did not get much of that gene, but I think we’ve managed to make it this far in life without it quite well. Secretly, I have wondered if God spared us that gene only to accidentally overfill Ana’s genetic makeup with it. What else could you expect from a kid whose birthday falls on Halloween?

“Gaby! Would you quit daydreaming? We only have an hour to get to the graveyard, and it takes forty-five minutes to drive over!” she whines while packing our toothbrushes into the duffle.

“More like thirty since I’m driving,” Dante walks in and winks at me. “Toothbrushes? We aren’t moving in, Annie. Just spending the night.” He laughs and turns to tickle me. “Probably won’t even last all night with this chicken by our side.” I try and smile but I’m sure it comes out more like a pained grimace. Dante kisses my forehead as if that will make it all better, but it only makes me want to cry.

“Oh, God, Gabriella, don’t cry. Are you scared we won’t be back before mom and dad or something?” Ana says, grunting as she tries zipping the duffle bag shut. That had not occurred to me until now, and I add it to the list of reasons I know this is not a good idea. “Well, we’ll be back in time. Nothing is going to happen. We have our facemasks in case anyone might get near us, but I doubt they will! This is going to be so much fun—scary and safe from COVID-19! I’m a genius,” she says conceitedly as she leads us downstairs, ready as ever.

We get into Dante’s car, and I immediately rack my brain for an excuse that could take us back home or, at the very least, buy us some time. “Do you need to stop at your house for anything?”

“Like what,” he jokes, “my toothbrush?” he angles the rearview mirror at Ana so she knows he’s teasing her.

“Alright, I get it,” she rolls her eyes. “The toothbrushes were a dumb idea. I wasn’t thinking straight! I’m so excited! Mom and dad would never let us do this. You’re lucky your parents are so cool.”

“Right, I should probably let them know I won’t be coming home tonight,” he casually adds. I swallow hard, and the AC’s strong gust of cold air makes me cough. His comment makes it official. We are spending the night at a graveyard. Holy shit.

I want to do the sign of the cross so bad—first for protection against the night we’re about to have, but then immediately after for saying the words holy and shit so close together in my head—but I know they would make fun of me for it. My phone rings, and I know it’s my older sister, Gloria, by the sound of her assigned ringtone. “Yellow?” I greet her, more awkwardly than I had hoped. Dante and Ana laugh at this.

“Hey! Mom and Dad just got here. They wanted to make sure you girls were alright and have money for food and all that.”

“We’re fine. Can you tell them Dante is with us? I just recharged my phone and haven’t had a chance to tell them yet.”

“Hi, Dante!” Mom, Dad, Gloria, and her wife, Daniella, yell out.

“I guess you have me on speaker,” I laugh. “Well, we don’t plan on doing much this weekend. Just laying low. At home. Probably won’t go out at all. We’ll have food delivered. So that we can stay in,” I say then smack my palm against my head. I’m giving us away, and we all know it.

“Can I speak to my baby?” Mom shrieks. I put my phone on speaker and hold it in Ana’s direction so Mom can hear her. Ana is replying, but she is distracted as she focuses on cleaning her binoculars with a lens wipe. Binoculars? Really? What does she think is going to happen tonight?

“Hey, Mom. You’ve got Ana.”

“Ana, I hope you’re not mad at me and Dad for missing your birthday!”

“I’m fine, Mom. You just help Gloria move into the new house. Sounds more fun than staying in like us,” she says nonchalantly, and I envy her and her lying skills. The conversation dies down with Mom warning us to be careful, as “all the weirdos come out on this night.” I give Dante and Ana a mean look. “Don’t I know it,” I say as I’m hanging up.

“Okay, what gives?” Dante asks with a sad look on his face. “Don’t you trust us? Nothing is going to happen. We’re just doing this so we can be able to say we’ve spent the night at a graveyard before.”

“I just can’t help but remember what my grandpa used to tell us when we were kids.”

“Your grandpa explicitly had to warn you not to spend the night at a graveyard as kids? Wow, Annie, you have been thinking about this for a long time.”

“No,” Ana and I laugh in unison. “My grandpa used to warn us not to tempt spirits. I mean, that sounds obvious, but do you understand what I’m getting at?”

“Gaby, Abuelo used to say that so we wouldn’t go messing around with Ouija boards or watching scary movies. Especially the ones based on true stories,” Ana scoffs.

“Oh, and spending the night at a graveyard doesn’t fit in those boundaries?”

Dante and Ana chuckle. “We’re not calling these spirits out or tempting them or whatever it is you just said,” Dante reassures me.

Suddenly I’m not scared but annoyed. What is the point in going to the graveyard then?

“In a funny way, I guess we’re doing this to see who chickens out first. For bragging rights,” Ana says, holding her binoculars up to her eyes.

“Okay! You guys win!” I plead.

“Gaby,” Dante puts a hand on mine, “don’t you want to conquer your anxiety just this once? Put your faith over your fear. Don’t be the first to chicken out this time. Prove us wrong.”

“Why can’t I conquer my anxiety another time? I’ll stop sleeping with a night light or something. Please, Dante, anything but this!” I cry. But it’s too late. Dante parks his car at a McDonalds across the street from the graveyard and takes the key out of the ignition. I immediately miss the AC as I’m already building up a nervous sweat.

“Why are we parked all the way out here?” Ana asks.

“The graveyard locks its gates at night. It’ll be a dead giveaway if we keep our car in there, and they’ll probably ask us to leave. Or worse, we’ll get in trouble.” My heart is pounding inside my chest. I never even thought about getting in trouble over this stupidity.

“Hey, you’ve really thought this through,” Ana beams. “I’m so glad we brought you!”

“I brought you, loser.” Dante smirks as he opens Ana’s door. Quickly, he runs to my door to open it, but I’ve locked it. “Open the door!” he cracks up.

“Nope! I’m staying in here.”

“By yourself? Okay, fine by me. Let’s go, Ana.”

I’m annoyed at how relaxed they are about the situation. I open the door and yell for them to wait for me. I catch up to them and melt my way into the middle, holding both of their hands for an ounce of protection.

Upon arrival to the graveyard, I find myself reading the tombstones as we walk by.

“This woman lived to be ninety-eight. How wonderful,” I heave a beautiful sigh.

“This dude died at 65. Not bad. I hope to make it there,” Dante says, and I wince at the thought of any of us dying. The sun set already, and darkness has crept up on us. Suddenly, I feel the need to look over my shoulder every few seconds. It feels like we’re being watched—almost hovered over.

“Have you given much thought to where we will be setting up camp?” I ask Ana with utmost sarcasm.

“Actually, yeah. I was hoping to find someone with my name or some variation of it. I want to sleep on top of their grave.”

“Okay, no. Hell no. You did not just say you want to sleep on someone’s grave!”

“Where else did you picture us sleeping?” she responds without a second thought.

“Actually, Ana, that does sound creepy. I’m not sure what I pictured either, but now that we’re here, I’m sure there’s a patch of unoccupied grass or a nice tree we can sleep under,” Dante explains, but it’s no use. Ana is flashing her phone’s flashlight on tombstones about five rows ahead of us. There is no room for negotiation; we are sleeping on top of someone’s grave tonight. I shudder, and this time I don’t care if they judge me for wanting to do the sign of the cross. Dante joins me, which relieves me because now I know I’m not the only one scared.

We stumble upon a tombstone that, apparently, belongs to Analisa Martinez. Ana has made herself perfectly at home. “Hi, Ana, I’m Ana,” she says while kneeling in front of the tombstone. “We’ll be sleeping here tonight if you don’t mind. I brought hot chocolate!”

I want to puke.

“Dude, this is a little girl!” Dante says, and I see tears forming at the corner of his eyes. “This doesn’t feel right. Then again, it wouldn’t feel right sleeping on anyone’s grave.”

“Wow, Gaby, maybe you won’t be the first one to chicken out,” Ana gives me a wide smile.

Dante pulls me aside. “Alright, I want to go home. This seemed cool, but now that I’m here, it just feels—”

“Wrong?” we say at the same time. “Yeah,” I scoff, “I have been trying to tell you guys that from the beginning.”

“Okay, well are you going to be negative or are you going to help me convince your psycho sister to get the hell out of here?”

We tread lightly to where Ana is and find that she has a pretty neat setup going on: throw blankets on the ground, music blasting out of her Bluetooth speaker. She’s playing the Twilight soundtrack, which makes me laugh.

“Okay, kid, you win,” Dante says. “Let’s get out of here.” To our surprise, Ana calmly gets up and starts packing. “Wait, did something happen while we stepped away?”

“Yeah, Analisa started talking back to me,” Ana responds without tone or expression. I genuinely can’t tell if she’s joking or not. “Kidding,” she adds dryly. I let out a heavy breath of relief. We finish packing up, and Dante leads us back to the car.

“Where are you going, dummy?” Ana scolds.

“To the car, dummer,” Dante whips back.

“The car is that way!”

“No, it’s this way.”

There is no way we’re lost in a graveyard. I keep my comments to myself. It’s not like they would be much help anyways since I’m bad with directions and wasn’t paying attention to our trail.

Trail. It dawns on me that we traveled far. The local graveyard is in a woodland area, and although it’s bordered off by a gate, I can’t seem to find it. Panic starts to set in as we guess which pathway will bring us back to the car. After about twenty minutes, we locate the front entrance.

The gate is closed. We stop mid-step, and I reach for both Dante and Ana’s hands.

“Relax, Gaby. I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything,” Ana says, prying her hand away from mine to get a head start. We reach the entrance, and Ana is embarrassed to say the gate is indeed locked. I want to scream, but the feeling is overpowered by my urge to cry, which I’m suddenly doing without any self-control. I’m panting and struggling to catch my breath when Dante covers my ears like I’m a child.

“What do we do? This is all our fault!”

Ana rushes over to me and gives me an abrupt embrace. “Gaby, it’s going to be okay!” she says, holding me at arm’s length. I push her arms away from me and curl up under Dante. Why did she make us do this? Even worse, why did I go along with it? I’m the big sister. I should have known better. The three of us begin bickering over what to do, but we are interrupted by an eerie whisper from behind us.

“Hi, Ana, I’m Ana. Remember me? I was hoping you wouldn't leave like the rest.”