Full Moon Session

The gate creaked under the weight of the snow against it as Nick pushed it open. The night air was crisp and clean from the ordinary scent of dead flowers that people often left here in remembrance. It snowed almost a foot the day before, but tonight the sky was clear, full moon shining, with plenty of light to see. The only shadows cast by the gravestones in long strips parallel to the path and stairs that wound its way through the graveyard.

Nick and his friend Kevin loved to Snowboard and Ski. They took great delight in certain spots that intrigued the imagination with handrails to grind and ledges to drop from. There was a certain joy that came when one allowed and succeeded any freedom of self-expression. This spot promised those emotions, features, and memories. They came at night, because most people would not like them attempting some freestyle where they were.

The spot was too perfect to deny it though. The graveyard was in a small ski town, and Nick argued the residents of the graveyard would, if anything, be delighted someone could enjoy what was a favorite past time for so many in their final resting spot. Why else build the multi-tiered graveyard with multiple stair sets and handrails that went on forever. There was even a beautiful natural drop-in at the very top. The two friends felt whoever designed the layout had thought of them in design.

It took them almost an hour to pack down the snow in the area they would start. They also paid attention to the transition areas between the rails they would grind on. The rails were beautiful to them, with so many variations. There were down-rails, down-flat-downs, ones that curved, and even a beautiful rainbow rail over a frozen stream. One rail ended a little before a mausoleum that they had built a quarter-pipe transition down into the final set of stairs. They set up as many cameras as they could, even to borrow more from some friends. By the time all their preparations were set, the moon illuminated the gravestones and one shone with an odd glimmer that the friends missed. The shadows now in full remission, they couldn’t wait to take their first run.

Kevin took off first from the top, riding switch on his skies, as he loved to do. He entered with his right side downhill, switched sides midway as he entered a flat section, and finished off the last part with a 270. The snow he pushed from the top of the rail on his way down sprayed out in puffs that sparkled in the moonlight. He continued his way down and performed variations of his favorite tricks. When he got to the rainbow rail, he slid in perfect picture of slow-motion, without any special effects!

Nick followed a moment after Kevin on the rail that lay on the opposite side of the stairs. He started off with a board slide, drifted into a one-footed press and finished with a 270 as well. A majestic cloud of powdered snow followed him all the way to the bottom as he powered through his tricks. When he caught up to Kevin after the last rail, Nick smiled ear to ear. One look at Kevin and they both started to laugh. It was as incredible as they could have imagined it to be. They raced towards the top, impatient to start another run.

They were about half-way up when they noticed the figure sitting atop one of the gravestones.

“You guys woke me up. I was having a wonderful dream, too.”

“Er, sorry,” Nick began, but in the blink of an eye the spectral figure was gone. “Hey Kev, did you see that?”

“Yea, or at least I thought I did. Well he’s gone, you still want to take more runs?”

“Heck, yea!” The two friends continued the way back to the top, both peering at the gravestones that lay evenly spaced on both sides. “Huh, must’ve been our imagination, one too many hard teas, you think?”

Nick looked over to Kevin, who had stopped several feet behind him once they had reached the top. Kevin raised a ski and pointed with it towards the drop in.

“Sorry, it’s like my first night as a ghost. I think it’s not a bad one to wake up to either. Anyways, I went to go grab my board; you guys don’t mind if I join you, do you? I’ve had this trick on my mind for ages it seems.”

“Uh dude, we don’t believe in gho—”

“Dude,” Kevin interrupted Nick then to the ghost he said, “dude, we would be stoked if you shredded with us.”

“Awesome, mind if I drop in first?”

“Go right ahead.”

“Sweet, alright! Drop!” the ghost said.

The two friends were taken aback that the ghost even thought to use proper park etiquette. They both stood off to the side of the drop-in a little bit, this night was getting more interesting by the moment. Snow, however, wasn’t uncommon in October in this northern Vermont town. They watched the ghost gain speed towards the first rail, go off the jump—and bang! The ghost clipped the top of the rail, half of his body draped over the rail, slid down to the first kink, and fell off the side. To their surprise a cloud of snow puffed up where the ghost had landed.

“You alright?” Kevin yelled.

“Dude, he’s a ghost.”

All they heard was laughter for a moment. The voice then drifted up to them, “all good.” They watched as the ghost unstrapped, stood, and walked back up to them. “Guess, I’m rustier than I thought. Mind if I try that again?”

“Not at all, my friend.”

“Go right ahead.”

“Thanks, I’ll do better this time,” the ghost said, still laughing. The ghost strapped back in, looked at the two friends and with a wink said, “Drop!”

They watched the ghost once again, gain speed, and go off the jump. This time the ghost cleared the start of the rail. Although, instead of landing on it, the ghost sailed through the air, landing at the bottom. The ghost came to a stop, unstrapped, and walked back up to them again.

“Sorry, I wasn’t that good when I was alive either. Could one of you go first, so I can get a better feel for this again.”

“Dude, that was sick,” Kevin said.

“Sure, I’ll go,” said Nick as he strapped in. “Drop!”

The ghost and Kevin watched as Nick entered as he first had and performed the same series of tricks as before. When he finished the rail, he slid to a stop, unstrapped, and walked back up to the drop-in.

“Ok, I got it now, thank you. I’m Pete by the way.”

“Good to meet you. Good luck. See you at the bottom.”

“Glad you could make it out tonight.” Nick looked fired up now. “You got this, Pete!”

Pete strapped in for the third time, gave the start indication, and headed again towards the first rail. This time he came off the jump and pulled the same series that Nick had performed—board slide into a press with a 270 dismount. Kevin and Nick let out whoops of encouragement before they followed Pete. They followed him through the series of rails, keeping a close but respectable distance between them.

When they got to the rainbow rail over the stream, the two friends watched in awe as Pete came off the jump, went upside-down, and dragged one hand across the peak of the rail. He kept that one hand on the rail, grabbed his board, and torqued his body into what looked like an upside down “J.” Near the end, he pushed off the rail, spun with a twist, and stuck the landing. Pete let out a whoop of excitement and powered through the final ledge, into the quarter pipe, and down the final rail.

Nick and Kevin didn’t even bother with the last section, riding fast to meet up with Pete at the bottom. Huge grins covered their face as they approached Pete. They were speechless, they understood Pete was a ghost, but that had been incredible to see on their way down.

“So, what did you guys think?”

“Dude…” Nick said.

“That was sick! Yo, how often can you come out and shred?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. I’m not even sure what today is, or even what year it is. Might be the full moon and your guys energy.”

“Well, as of midnight, its officially Halloween. And its 2020. This year’s been nuts; you’re better off having missed it.” Kevin said.

Pete let out an eerie whistle, “Wow, thirteen years, so yea, might also be the Halloween thing.”

“Hey man, you’re looking a little more see-through than when you were hitting those rails. You got time for another run?” Nick asked.

“What time is it?”

“Almost three?”

As Pete turned more corporeal by the second, he said, “You know that’s the witching hour, right? This might be the end of it for me. Well, I wouldn’t mind if you guys try to visit me again. Hopefully, it’s not only on full-moon Halloweens. Nineteen years is a long time to wait. Hey before I fade completely, close your eyes.”

The two friends closed their eyes and said they would try full moons and Halloweens. They didn’t hear any response and opened their eyes after a moment. Surprised they were both now back at the top. They both called for Pete but received no response. They took one last run, collected the cameras, and promised the night air they would be back.