by Yuriko Hime
“Okay.” I grabbed her hand as we made our way down the hill. She fell there twice already. I wasn’t taking any more chances.
Once we were safely on the ground, Dulce gave me a radiant smile, squeezed my hand, and started to run. It made my heart explode with happiness. “Let’s go Peter Pan!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Let’s Fly!” And in that moment, it really felt like we were soaring.
We went passed the graves, the tombstones with different names. All of them a silent witness to a love that has been forged for more than a decade. A long love story in the making.
Fin
Epilogue
“Home sweet home darling,” I said loudly. Dulce’s cheeks matched her pink nail polish. I still had that effect on her even though we were married for months and knew each other for years. Good. My intent was to keep it that way. “This is it.” I dropped our black duffel bags on the floor. “What do you think?”
Her eyes lighted when she took in the room. “It’s big.” She stared at me. “But not big enough that you can run away from me.”
“And why would I run away from my wife whom I waited for almost two decades huh? That’s insane.” She shrugged. “Anyway, it’s nice of Fabio to lend their family’s ski lodge to us. Tim must have done a lot of convincing,” I said.
“Just a little. It’s their gift for our second honeymoon. They want to give us a good time without being followed by the paparazzi.” She chuckled, looking amused. Since coming back to the States, Dulce had her share of adventures with the fans and media. With our cooking show becoming more popular, she was gaining her own followers fast.
“Come here,” I murmured. “I want to touch you.” Her steps were light as she moved to me. So beautiful. So wonderfully mine. I brushed my palm on her cheek. “Long distance was hard. I had to constantly remind myself not to get jealous of the people who talked to you while I was far. But it was worth it. Though sometimes I’m still scared to wake up and not find you sleeping beside me.”
She sighed. “I feel the same. I’d wake up in the middle of the night wondering if marrying you is a dream. I’ll only calm down when you do this.” She took my arms and wrapped it around her. “Let’s not separate again ok?”
“Ok.” I kissed her nose. “So, what do you want to do?” I moved away from her and gestured around the room. “We have a whole ski lodge to ourselves. No staff. No media. No family and friends.” I winked. “Want to strip? We can cook, play games, and run here naked.”
“Death by pneumonia? No thanks.” She gave me a lingering look before she went to our bags. Her hips swayed sexily as she walked. I had to stop myself from pouncing on her. Tease. Dulce unzipped the bag and rummaged through our things. She tossed a ski goggle to me. “Want to play a game? You always loved that.”
I pouted. “I told you we should go naked, but you ignored me.”
She grinned as she stood up. “How about we do a snowmobile race? If you win, our whole vacation here will be spent naked.” My jaw dropped. She wanted my head to explode. “But if I win.” She pointed her thumb to herself. “You’ll have to star in that movie.”
“What movie?”
“The one that Patty wrote about us.”
“But baby.” I glanced at the goggle. “I don’t want to do it if you’re not my leading lady. What’s the use?”
“It’s my condition.” She crossed her arms. “Are you in or not?”
“You sure know how to keep me on my toes woman.” I stood straighter. “Fine. Make sure to ready that body because it’s not going to wear clothes for a while. You’ll have to rely on me for warmth.”
“Only if you win,” she teased.
Since Dulce and I arrived at the lodge in the early morning, we were given enough time to choose our room among the dozens available. Like we talked about earlier, Fabio, who was Tim’s fiancé allowed us to use their family’s ski lodge for our second honeymoon. Our first one was simply divine, but we wanted a repeat performance. It happens when your wife was as hot as mine. Maybe we’d have a third, even a hundred honeymoons.
To protect our privacy, Fabio had all their staff take a vacation. I’d probably talk to him and pay for the stay. Kind of renting out the place. Taking such a big favor was hard to do for someone like me. I still wasn’t used to people who were willing to give me anything without wanting something in return.
“Who’s the girl?” Dulce asked.
“Pardon?”
“You’re lost in your thoughts. Is it a girl?” There was a hint of teasing on her voice. “Because I’ll push both of you off the cliff. Make it seem like an accident.”
“Oooh scary.” I started the motor of the snowmobile. We were about to race. “You’re the only girl. Since we were kids remember?” I secured my feet on the side rails and positioned my hand firmly on the handle. “Ready to lose wife?”
“Not today Glace.”
Both of our snowmobiles pushed forward after the count of three. She was ahead of me by inches. The cold wind ripped through me as I accelerated the vehicle. Though we were wearing ample clothing, the cold still managed to make its way into me. Hope Dulce was warm enough underneath her red coat.
We followed the trail downward. There were no sounds except for the motor, and the white powder as we whizzed past it. It was exhilarating. Like flying while still stuck on ground. Ahead of us were trees, scattered to let us through without a problem. I glanced at Dulce on my left. We were head to head on our race.
“How’d you get so good at this?” I hollered.
“Secret. It’s part of the mystery.”
She zoomed ahead, leaving me at the wake of her powdery dust. Not one to be outdone, I tried to catch up to her. Oh damn. Snow on this part of the terrain was deeper. I shifted my weight to the left to keep my balance. In front, I noticed that she was slowing down.
“Surrendering?” I asked as I moved beside her.
“No Miss McKenzie. I think something is wrong with my snowmobile.”
“That’s Mrs. McKenzie to you.” We slowed to a stop. I swung my legs off my vehicle to check what the problem was with hers. “Hmmm. Everything seems to be working fine.” I removed my goggles. “Let’s cancel the contest for now. I’ll come back for it later.”
“You sure?” she asked worriedly. “I don’t want Fabio to get mad.”
“I’ll replace the damn thing if we can’t fix it.” I went back to my mobile. “Ride with me?” She nodded and settled herself behind me while I replaced my goggles. “Ready?”
“Yes.” She wrapped her arms around my waist.
“Someone grew on the chest department.”
“You’re sounding like Eris,” she said.
“Can’t help it. She’s my best friend.” We made our way back to the ski lodge without any problems.
Dulce and I stayed up late to play Jenga. Honestly speaking, if people see what we did on our spare time together, they’d probably think that we were a boring couple. Board games, movie nights, jogging in the morning. So much adult stuff going on. But I loved each and every second of it.
This was finally our time. An opportunity to make up for those lost years together as children, and when she studied abroad. If we looked like a boring couple for others, it was fine by me. This right here was heaven. Her cooking me breakfast while she sang out loud to the radio, and me looking at her relaxed face as she fell asleep beside me. There was no greater paradise than the one we were in now.
“Haven’t you noticed something?” Dulce asked on our third day of vacation. We were inside the bedroom, sitting crossed legged with a scrabble board between us.
“Noticed what?” I placed my tiles on the board. “You’re not pregnant are you?” My own question made me chuckle.
“No, but we do have to talk about that soon.”
I stopped laughing. “What?”
She stared long and hard at her tiles before answering. “We do want kids don’t we? A small Glace wouldn’t be so bad.”
“You
’re serious about this?” She nodded without meeting my eyes. “Well,” I said carefully. “A small Glace would be a lot of trouble. Imagine all the hearts she would break.” She frowned. Dulce didn’t like my answer. I placed my tiles on the bed. “How about we get a little Dulce instead?”
“I want twins.”
“Twins?” My mind went to a small girl and boy. All the possibilities. “Should we adopt?”
Dulce shook her head stubbornly. “No. I want to have IVF. I’ll carry your baby. I want a child who looks just like you.” She patted her flat stomach, as if imagining our child there. The concept made me smile.
“She’ll look like a joke then,” I argued.
“Your fans will disagree.”
I chuckled. “They’re blinded by my awesomeness.”
“Whatever you say.” Dulce rearranged her scrabble tiles. “But I wasn’t really talking about pregnancy earlier.” I arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t you notice anything different?”
Was that a trick question? I studied my wife as she made her turn. She looked gorgeous as usual. Her hair was still reddish, going past her shoulder. Despite her interrogation, her lips still hinted of a smile. Soft and feminine. She didn’t change her nail polish did she? Nope. Her eyebrows were on point. Oh God what the heck was the difference? Her perfume was still the same. Was I missing something?
“Don’t panic. I’m not talking about myself.”
I breathed out. “Then what?”
She paused. “I’ve been noticing some stuff.” Her eyes went to the door. “The other day, I placed the chair close to the bed. When we woke up, it’s nowhere near us.”
“Oh. Maybe you bumped on the chair when you peed that night. Remember? You wanted to pee so badly, but I had a good dream about us so I refused to accompany you.” Sigh. “I ended following you to the bathroom anyway. Wife duties.”
“I thought so too, but last night the same thing happened.” She pointed to the chair in the corner. “I left that by the table. When we woke up, it’s in the middle of the room.” Dulce shuddered. “Maybe there are some things here.”
“Demons?”
“Let’s start with ghosts first.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” I scratched my chin. “Fabio or Tim would have informed us because we’ll be left here. What do you think?”
“Frankly I’m just freaked out,” she said.
“Will it make you feel better if we experiment on it tonight?” I suggested. She leaned to me eagerly, wanting to hear my thoughts. “Let’s test the chair theory. We’ll place it by the door.” Both of us stared at the blue wooden chair. “We should pee before going to bed. Then we’ll check if anything changes in the morning.”
“Sounds good.” She reached for my hand hesitantly. “What if it moved?”
I squeezed her fingers. “We’ll get to that later.”
That night, Dulce and I proceeded with the experiment. As planned, we made sure to do everything beforehand so we wouldn’t be forced to leave the bedroom and rearrange anything. Because I loved to drink a glass of water before sleeping, we also kept a pitcher on the bedside table. With our bladders empty and our stomach full, we shut the door to the bedroom and placed the chair next to it.
“Goodnight Dulce.” I switched the lamp off.
She snuggled to me. “I’m scared. What if we’re being haunted?”
“Like I told you, we’re doing this first to make sure. Tomorrow morning we’ll decide what to do.”
“Okay.”
Dulce’s gasp was what woke me up the next day. I sat up in surprise, my vision still blurry. Was it an intruder? I was prepared to throw something when I noticed what she was looking at. The chair wasn’t located next to the door anymore. It was by our bed. My wife was frozen solid beside me, her mouth open. My heart raced as I thought of the many possible scenarios.
Someone could have broken in while we were asleep. But there were no signs of forced entry. The door was still locked. The window still shut tight. The wind couldn’t have blown in either. But how?
“There’s a rational explanation for this.” I put my hand on her shoulder to assure her that I was there, ready to protect her at all cost.
“There’s no one around for miles,” she whispered. “Like you said. No guests. No staff. No family and friends.” She gulped. “Poltergeist.”
“Woah. Let’s not go that far.”
She turned to me. “Why don’t you believe in this?”
“Because I’ve been in far too many movies to know that each and every one of them is fake. An effect.” I pointed to my temple. “It’s all in the mind.”
“Then how do you explain this?”
“I have a theory,” I said. She looked disbelieving. I wanted to prove her wrong so she wouldn’t worry. We have been through so much shit in our lives to experience this kind of problem. “There’s this television show that I’ve always loved to watch. In this particular show, the main characters moved to an apartment. At first things started to get weird too. The paintings would tilt, and the wine bottle would fall and roll on the ground.”
“So?”
“So they found out later that the apartment itself is tilted. It’s barely noticeable at glance, but it explains why everything couldn’t keep straight.”
Her facial muscles relaxed. “You’re saying this room is also tilted.”
“I’m saying there’s more to this than ghosts.” I pulled her to me. Dulce was so warm in the morning. Nice. “Let’s do another experiment. We were shooting a movie when I was thirteen, and our producer was very superstitious. He would always leave food around as an offering. I’d like us to do the same.”
She snorted. “You think the ghost will eat the food?”
“Who knows? I just want to have fun with this.” Dulce gasped as I licked her earlobe. “It’s our honeymoon after all. Let’s enjoy while we’re at it.”
Our second experiment was done by placing the chair in the middle of the room. On top of it was a plate, filled with cookies and chocolate. It was Dulce’s stock. She’d always bring sweet things wherever we went. I’ve learned to deal with that, just as she learned how to be patient with my diet.
I was the first one to wake up in the morning. Taking care not disturb her, I tiptoed to the chair, curious as to what happened. Some of the cookies were untouched, but the chocolates had nibbles here and there. Oh no.
“Did the ghost eat it?” Dulce whispered over my shoulder. I jumped in surprise.
“Jesus! Why did you creep up on me?”
“I didn’t,” she said defensively. “You were so occupied with the chair that you didn’t hear me wake up.” She craned her neck. “What’s the damage?” I moved to let her see. “Oh shoot!” Her tone matched the uneasiness in my stomach. “We’re dead. We’re definitely haunted. And don’t tell me there’s an explanation for this because I refuse to believe.” She went hurriedly to the closet.
“What are you doing?”
Dulce opened it wide. “We’re leaving. I can’t deal with this.” She rummaged through our things. “You know what a big scaredy-cat I am.” Our horror movie dates went to mind. Before she left for France, Dulce and I made sure to watch some. And when she was studying there, we would view the same scary movie while we were on video call. She really was scared.
I went quickly to her side. “Baby.”
“Don’t baby me.”
I let out a long sigh. “Can you give the place another chance?” She stopped moving to glance at me. “One night. We’ll stay up and watch in the dark to see what happens. I’m really curious about this, but I’m more concerned that we’re cutting our vacation because of a silly ghost.” I pulled her to the bed where we sat side by side. “For me?”
She pursed her lips. Though I could see her stubbornness, Dulce’s resolve was slipping from her. I would always get what I wanted. Well most of the time anyway. “Okay Glace. One night. And then we’re leaving. I’ll take you to a cruise ship if that’s what you want. A
s long as there are no ghosts.”
“B-but Jack won’t be there.” My lips trembled. “He died because Rose was being selfish.”
“Stop it,” she warned.
“Yes ma’am.”
At nightfall, Dulce and I did our preparations before going under the covers of the bed. We turned off the lamp, waiting for what was to transpire. Cookies and chocolate were placed on a plate. It sat on the chair, which was placed in the center of the room. Now we wait.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
“Your breath smells nice. Can I taste?” She poked me on the side. “What? I’m being a loving wife.”
“You’re always so horny,” she said.
“Excuse me if I’m crazy for you.” Silence. “Don’t you feel that way about me too?”
She inhaled. “Every second.” I smiled cockily. “But not this second,” she admitted. “I’m terrified.”
“Let’s change that.” I reached inside her shirt to unhook her bra. Dulce trembled against me. “I thought you liked this?”
“I do. But I heard something Glace.” She did? I strained my ear. Nothing. Seconds passed. I was about to say that it was her imagination when I heard it too. There was definitely something. A scratching noise somewhere in the room. “It’s going to eat us,” she squeaked.
“No it won’t. I won’t allow it.” The scratching sound became worse. It was not loud enough to wake us if we were asleep, yet there it was, scratching in the room. My wife and I huddled close to each other.
“I can’t believe this is the end.” She was wheezing in fright. I couldn’t continue with this. I had to protect her somehow. “What are you doing?” she asked, as I moved the cover away from us.
“Getting to the bottom of it.”
Using my non-existent ninja skills, I rolled out of bed quietly. It was pitch dark. Somehow, all that waiting made my eyes adjust to it easily. Where was the ghost? I scanned the room. There was the outline of the table in the corner. An outline of a chair in the middle. And the outline of a large entity next to it.
My heart galloped. “Hit the lights Dulce!” I didn’t give myself time to think twice before I ran to it and tackled it to the ground. Light bathed the whole room as Dulce switched the lights on. The entity and I locked eyes with each other. “Tim?!” I gasped.
