Dances With Ghosts

       “Okay, so it’s a deal,” Anthony said in excitement, “We are spending the night in the cemetery.”

       Mia smiled nervously, trying to front excitement as best she could. In all honesty, she would have rather spent Halloween watching cheesy old horror flicks in Molly’s basement with Anthony, Molly, and John. “What time should we head out there?” she asked.

       “We’ll collect our supplies for the night and meet up in the woods behind my place,” John proclaimed. “We can head to Elmwood Cemetery from there since it’s just down the road.”

       “Sounds like a plan, meet you all at seven,” Anthony said. He kissed Mia as Molly kissed Johnny and the four of them went their separate ways to collect sleeping bags and food for their Halloween excursion.

Mia collected her stuff in a hesitant daze. She didn’t exactly believe in ghosts- though the thought did cross her mind- she was more afraid of the creepy undertaker, Old Man Thompson, finding them and calling the police. Mia was on track to getting into Dartmouth with a good scholarship. An arrest would have plummeted those plans like a rock in water.

She decided on taking the little cross necklace she was given for Christmas many years ago. Maybe it could help her.

Oh Lord, please help this be a safe night, she spoke in her head. Mia told her parents that she was spending the night at Molly’s and gave a false promise that there would be no boys around. She felt bad- Mia was never a fan of lying, especially to her parents.

She walked over to John’s.

       “Alright, everybody ready?” John asked, arm around Molly. “If anyone wants to back out, speak out, or forever hold your peace.” No one voiced any objections, so they marched to Elmwood Cemetery like a group of untrained soldiers on a mission. They arrived at the gates right as the sun was beginning to hide behind the trees on the distant hills.

       “Ooh, it’s a little chilly tonight,” Anthony said, he pulled Mia a little tighter to his body by the waist. “Might have to sleep a little tight tonight,” he winked at Mia who only laughed nervously. She was scanning the rows of gravestones for Old Man Thompson.

       The foursome approached the large statue that resembled a smaller Washington Memorial in the center of the cemetery and stopped.

       “Well, this is as good a place as any,” John told everyone, throwing his sleeping bag down.

       “Nah, hold up,” Anthony told him, “Let’s go over by those trees a little off to the side- by the stream- better cover over there.”

       John picked up his pack and nodded, “Yeah, good plan.” They approached a smooth area of grass under a grouping of large oak trees, only a few headstones and a mausoleum occupied this area.

       Mia checked her watch when the group was finished setting up their makeshift campsite. It was eight sixteen o’clock. John and Tony had brought food that they were attempting to prepare on a couple of small gas lamps. Molly stalked over and took a seat on the ground next to Mia with their backs against one of the trees.

       “Think we’ll see any ghosts tonight?” She asked.

       “I’m more afraid of Mr. Thompson seeing us,” Mia answered nervously, she looked around again to make sure the old man wasn’t wandering the rows under the moonlight. “Or Tony trying to haunt my sleeping bag,” she added.

       Molly giggled as the two watched their boyfriends heating hotdogs one at a time over the tiny flames of the lamps reciting, “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!” in their most wicked voices.

       “Don’t worry about Old Man Thompson, Mia,” Molly told her nervous best friend of fourteen years, “He and my grandpa are going to the Halloween party at the Legion tonight.” Mia had forgotten that Thompson and Molly’s grandfather had served together on a destroyer in the Pacific. “They’ll be too drunk to even walk later.”

       “Food’s ready,” John interrupted. The two boys had set out plates of lukewarm hotdogs with buns and a bottle of ketchup.

       “Lookie what I have here,” Anthony said mischievously, pulling a bottle of cheap red wine out of his backpack. He pulled a pocketknife out and destroyed the cork to crumbs getting it out.

       “Nice, going, Monsieur,” John howled mockingly, “Hope you guys like cork with your wine.”

       “It’ll still get the job done, assface,” Tony shot back and took a swig of the bottle. He picked the pieces of cork off his lips and tongue.

       “These hotdogs are cold as hell still,” Molly grimaced as she took her first bite.

       John shrugged, helping himself to a second wiener and a gulp of wine, “Don’t blame us, blame these shitty lamps we had to cook with.”

       “Never your guys’ fault,” Mia prodded Tony who agreed with John.

       After their disappointing meal, the four of them finished the bottle and felt a tiny rush of tipsiness. Both couple holding each other in their arms, they discussed their worries about the future.

       “What do you think will happen to us after graduation?” Molly asked. Her face had taken on the look of sorrow under the soft light from the sky. Mia thought to herself that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with this group.

       “Well,” Anthony spoke up, “Mia is going to go to an Ivy League and become rich and successful while Molly ends up becoming a great beautician. Me and Johnny, he and I are going to make it big as a couple of bank robber.”

       “Shut up, you ass,” Mia slightly hit Anthony, “You actually had a warm-hearted statement going until the end.” John and Molly laughed from across the short distance.

       “Hey!” John jumped, “What was that?”

       “Shut up, you child,” it was not Molly’s turn to hit her boyfriend.

       “No, I’m being serious,” John said in actual fear, “I heard footsteps. Don’t any of you have that feeling that we aren’t alone anymore?”

       Mia nearly jumped out of her skin in the arms of Anthony. Visions of her parents picking her up from jail, admitting to being arrested for trespassing in her Dartmouth interview, and the sour looks of her family for ruining her life ran through her mind like a horrible movie reel. She felt like throwing up and crying.

       “Alright quit the bull, Johnny,” Anthony said, “You always have to do thi-“

       “Shutup,” John hissed, “I’m dead serious. Look!” he snapped and pointed to the field of headstones next to the monument in the cemetery’s center.

       Mia saw it, faceless shapes stalking the rows of graves, she knew it was the end of her life as she knew it.

       “They don’t look like cops,” Molly whispered.

       “They aren’t, look closely. Their clothes,” John told her.

       They all saw it. One man in a tuxedo and trilby hat walking alone. Another group of ladies in Civil War-era clothing. A family of farmers ambling together. All headed toward the center of the graveyard.

       One of the figures walked right through the middle of the group of high school seniors, paying no attention to them, even when Molly let out a quick shriek. Mia was able to study the woman closely.

       She was older- maybe late sixties- and wore an elaborate dress with various articles of jewelry. The woman was a bit overweight, probably lived a life of wealth, but it was something different about her appearance that caught everyone off guard. The kids could see each other through the woman still. She was a hazy figure of light grey and hints of green. Almost glowing, but that could have been the moonlight casting down on her. Another person of the same appearance stepped slowly ten feet to their left. They finally saw what everyone was walking toward.

       In the center of the graveyard, under the monument stood a man in ornate clothing above what appeared to be a massive pot. The man and pot had the same translucent glow of similar coloring as the masses of passed spirits approached it. It appeared like the man was talking, but none of the living could hear it.

       A lone figure in a suit and tie approached the pot with a ghastly torch and dropped it into the pot, igniting a large fire that was unlike anything they had ever seen. A small orchestra began to play as the ghosts all took partners and began to dance in each other’s arms. That’s when the kids were able to hear it.

       The music was soft but beautiful. Like being told the most amazing secret in the world, but never being able to tell anyone else. The man in charge looked over the students from their hiding spot and waved his hands for them to join in. It was midnight according to Mia’s watch.

       The four of them stood up from the ground and brushed the dead leaves off their clothes. The boys took their girlfriends by the hand and led them to the makeshift dancefloor. They swayed in each other’s arms like the dead around them. They were all underdressed, but no one cared.

       A few of the women and men smiled at the young lovers kindly. Never keeping eye contact too long before turning their attention back to their dancing partners and moving rhythmically to the eerily gorgeous tunes. Anthony and Mia swayed next to a swooning sailor and a goddess of a young woman as John and Molly danced close to a rich-looking couple who held each other like it was the first or last time that they would be together.

       Just as the group was feeling accepted, it was over. The ghostly figures dissipating into the chilly night sky like wisps of smoke. The fire, the band, the dancers all gone, all that was left was the two young couples and the sound of that hauntingly angelic music. Though none of them would ever be able to accurately describe what exactly happened that Halloween night in the cemetery, they would always be connected by that experience no matter where they were in life.