Roses On Their Graves | ✓

s e v e n

Ingrid, with one hand in Jason's, walked with him to her car. "Where are we going?", Jason asked when they got in.

Ingrid turned on the ignition. "You tell me. Where do you want to go?"

Jason smiled. If Ingrid was being honest with herself, as much as Jason annoyed her, she knew that he was exactly the kind of guy Isabelle would want to be with.

"Home. Where Isabelle and I used to live."

Ingrid smiled, backing out onto the road.

"How far away is it?", she asked. "Very," came the reply.

Ingrid smirked. "And where is it?"

"I'll be your GPS. Turn left."

Ingrid nodded and started driving, listening and following Jason's instructions.

They stopped at a traffic light, where there was a small park nearby. A huge tree provided shade to a fluffy, white cat lazing around. The cat, Ingrid noticed was missing a leg.

She saw Jason wince, as if he was in pain, at the sight of the cat. He mumbled something that Ingrid did not hear.

"What happened?" she asked. Jason shook his head and put a hand on his forehead. "Coconut."

Ingrid frowned, but before she could question him further, the signal turned green. She continued driving. "Coconut?"

"The cat. She was a stray. Alena had brought it in, because she was fascinated with the cat's legs. It has only three." He took a shaky, deep breath.

"I do not know who takes care of Alena, but I do know this for sure. She would never have abandoned the cat. Not willingly."

Ingrid felt her lips stretch into a smile. She wanted to meet Alena. She wanted to meet her, because Alena was the only trace of Isabelle left. "Did Alena name the cat?"

Jason burst out laughing. A loud, crazy laugh, tinged with a hint of sadness. So unlike Isabelle's beautiful, happy one. She wondered whose laugh Alena would have inherited.

"If Alena had named the cat, it would be named white. Just white."

Hearing that, even Ingrid laughed, and it felt like a release, although a short one. A short release from the pain and sadness built up from the past seven months. Ingrid smiled sadly. She missed Isabelle.

"Take a right over there, and that's it."

Ingrid turned a right and parked the car in front of a line of beautiful, white houses, each with a small garden and backyard.

Jason opened the door and got out, Ingrid following suit. Ingrid stepped out onto the pavement, breathing in the chilly air, enjoying the breeze blowing at her face.

Across the street from the houses, was an area filled with trees, their leaves rustling in the soft wind.

The area there was clear, and the road was neat, and Ingrid could not see any litter.

"Isabelle must have loved this place," Ingrid commented. She walked closer to Jason, who nodded in agreement.

"She still does. I remember, the place was expensive as hell."

Ingrid looked up at him. She remembered searching her mother's house, and also her grandmother's, for her missing piggy-bank.

Conveniently enough, Isabelle had already run off by then.

"She stole my piggy-bank."

Jason chuckled. "She said you would not mind."

Ingrid recalled receiving a parcel without a return address on her doorstep. It was a new piggy-bank, with a note attached to it.

A single word, Sorry had been written on it, in Isabelle's handwriting. She had smiled when she had realized what had happened to her money.

And she smiled again, thinking of Isabelle.

Oh, Isabelle, she thought. Why did you have to go away? What had happened that was so terrible, that you had to take the easy way out?

Jason put an arm around Ingrid's shoulders. "House #9," he said.

They walked in silence, and for the first time since Isabelle's death, Ingrid felt comfortable, at ease.

They came to a stop at a house towards the end of the line, with a golden nameplate.

#9
The Harrisons

Jason took a deep breath. Through the windows, Ingrid could see that there was no one living there. Jason walked to the doorstep and sat down. Ingrid sat next to him. They stared at the empty street in front of them.

"Why did you want to come here?", Ingrid asked. Jason replied, "I hoped Alena would still live here. "

Ingrid nodded quietly. "What does 'Alena' mean? What's the meaning behind her name?"

Jason turned his head to face her, a smile on his face. "Light...it means light. Alena, besides Isabelle, was the happiest thing to ever happen to me. The day Isabelle and I found out, we were ecstatic. Alena...she was the light of our lives. We decided to name the baby Lucas, if it was a boy, or Alena if it was a girl."

His blue eyes shone brightly with love and Ingrid felt nothing but guilt at the rudeness she had shown to him earlier. The poor man had lost his wife, his child...and he could do nothing but wander around and wonder what on earth he had forgotten, wonder why he was trapped.

"I'm sorry, Jason," she said. "What for?", he asked.

"For screaming at you. I mean, all you wanted was my help, and it wasn't like I was super busy or anything. I'm sorry for being so insensitive. I hope you'll be able to forgive me."

Jason shook his head and laughed. "If I had to be honest, I was expecting that. I knew you would not be all calm and understanding. I'm a damn ghost. You are literally talking to a dead person."

Ingrid grinned. "You're not half as scary as I would have imagined."

He smirked. "I'd be surprised if you hadn't freaked out."

"Right. Well, anyway. Where to next?", Ingrid said.

"What's one place Isabelle really liked. or visited often? Somewhere where you can talk to me and people wouldn't think you're crazy."

"So, a place with no people?", Ingrid asked, chuckling.

"Preferably," Jason said, shrugging.

Ingrid thought about the places Isabelle used to go to. One place kept coming to her mind, but Ingrid tried to ignore it, until she realised that it was the one place Isabelle visited the most.

"I know a place," she said.

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nobodys even reading this lol
- anna xo