Page 36 of My Road Trip with a Vampire: Season One
“Oh god, she died, didn’t she?” he asks, and my heart feels like it might break thinking of the years he’s spent here, tormented and never realizing she was waiting for him too.
“Yeah, she did. Looks like you did too. But I can take you to her. You guys can run away together. I think she'd really like that.”
He follows us, and I have to keep my focus on his presence so he doesn’t slip away. Time loops are so hard to break.
We get to the spot in the woods from last night, and I can feel the two ghost’s sorrowful energies mirroring each other.
“Joshua? Are you there?” she asks, her tangled hair covering her face as she peeks from behind a tree. She’s lived the same nightmare countless times. It wasn’t enough for the man who killed her to take her from her chance at happiness. He had to return to this spot and torture her endlessly.
The thought makes me sick. I hope he’s rotting.
“Sarah Beth?”
The two ghosts spot each other, and I’m lit from within by the absolute joy radiating from both of them. Sarah Beth’s hair falls into smooth waves, and her gown glows against her skin. The marks of her nightmare ordeal blur away until she looks like a young woman, all flushed and excited to start a new life with her love. Joshua beams back at her, his presence stronger than it was before.
I pull out the amulet as their hands touch.
“You’ve waited long enough,” I tell them. “Go on now, be happy together.”
They vanish in a puff of white light, leaving Dennis and me alone in the woods with Darling sniffing the foliage.
“The night is young if you’d like to finish this hike,” he says. “Or we could go grab some drinks and celebrate a job well done.”
“Are the drinks conveniently located in a hotel lobby?”
He flashes a smile.
“Maybe.”
“I’m in. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
16
FAITH
“Beatrice, are you ready?”
Dennis taps lightly on my door and I roll over, clutching my head in my hands. The wakeup call rattles the clouds of pressure behind my eyes—the telltale sign that a migraine is waiting to take me under. I’m not surprised I slept off the day after the mess at Lums pond. I’m sure drinking with Dennis until nearly sunrise didn’t help either.
“Yeah. Give me a minute,” I call out to him and wash my meds down with a swig of water from the nightstand.
I peek out the window. The last remnants of the setting sun are disappearing beyond the horizon.
“Remember we’re on a tight schedule.”
“I didn’t forget,” I reply, but I totally did. I have no idea what he’s talking about.
I wipe my mouth on the back of my sleeve and pull on a pair of leggings. Thankfully it’s hoodie season because I don’t feel like putting a bra on. My brain feels fuzzy from the alcohol as I try to remember what we talked about last night. There was something about a late nineteenth-century labor movement, and oh yeah… a long drive.
I’ve got my bag slung over my shoulder when I open the door. Dennis is leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest. My eyes run over his fitted black pants and charcoal shirt that’s unbuttoned at the top.
Another memory from last night springs to mind.
No Beatrice. We can’t go there again. It’s too risky, and you’re drunk as shit. We have to keep things professional.
Oh god.
I asked him to stay in my room with me, and now he’s wearing a cocky little smile. Looking at him now in his well-tailored outfit, I can’t blame drunk me, but I’m still slightly embarrassed that I went for it.
