ahh, sorry for taking forever to put up this chapter. but guess what? it's my favorite chapter, i think (so far). anyway, enjoy!

“Did you just shock me?”

“Woman, who else do you think shocked you?”

My grandparents were playing Mario Kart. They decided they were going to play after we got back from our not-so-pleasant trip to church. Sara claimed that after “an intense spiritual cleansing we more like them (Sara and John) need to mellow out and relax. Enjoy ourselves!” Right grandma…go ahead and enjoy yourself while racing little go-carts with videogame characters in them. Woo-hoo, Yoshi!

Anyway, Sara thought it would be nice if we invited Adrian to come over. As much as I pleaded with her, she assured me that it would be a nice way for us (i.e. me) to repay him back for, you know, getting him fired and all. And I’m in the living room with my grandparents and Adrian. Uncle Todd is somewhere in the house, I don’t really know where and Taylor left somewhere, shortly after church ended.

“Woman, you’re pressing the wrong button!!” John yelled. He wasn’t paying attention so as a result his go-cart with Mario and Luigi in it fell into the lake. “See? Look what you made me do!” he told Sara pointing at the television screen.

“Not my fault dear.” Sara said, a grin spreading across her face. “It’s all part of the game and you weren’t paying attention.”

“Hump!” John sighed.

I looked at my grandparents on the couch for awhile, then back at Adrian who was sitting at the table across from me.

“Don’t worry,” Adrian started, “you’re grandparents act that way all of the time.”

I looked back over to my grandparents again. Sara seemed to be stuck in a loop and was banging her control against the arm of the couch. John became annoyed.

“Woman!!!” John yelled, snatching Sara’s control away from her. “I don’t need you breaking my stuff!”

“Your stuff?” Sara yelled back. I swear, they were sitting one inch apart and yelling! “How about our stuff! This game is as good as mine as it is yours!”

“Oh, look,” John started, “I win.”

“That’s not fair!!!” Sara whined. “Your stupid control is busted!”

“Not my fault dear,” John said mockingly. “It’s as good as yours as it is mine.”

“I want a rematch!” Sara demanded.

“Fine by me!” John said. “I can beat your sorry butt again!!”

My grandparents grinned at each other and then started playing a new game.

“Right, so?” I started not sure what to say next.

“You want to go somewhere?” Adrian asked. “Take a walk or something?”

I looked at him. “Are you sure that would be safe? I mean, you are going to be with the girl who didn’t even notice three tiny little steps in front of her face. Aren’t you the least bit afraid I might kill you?”

“You’re not serious are you?” Adrian asked with a laugh.

“No.” I lied.

Of course I was serious! I’m a walking death omen! I’m the Grim! I am bad luck. Hum…I guess it isn’t coincidence that my favorite place in the world in the cemetery across the road of my old psychiatrist’s house. I honestly don’t know why, but I have this infatuation with graveyards. They’re just so nice, peaceful and serene. I would walk through the graveyard reading the headstones of various deceased people and I would talk to them once and a while. I feel a connection with the dead. It’s like I am dead myself but not really. I’m in the purgatory or something.

“Okay, so do you mind if we visit the local cemetery?”

I looked at Adrian. Had he read my mind?

“Is that okay?” he asked, obviously taking my look of shock as a look of uncertainty.

“Yeah, it’s cool.” I told him, following him out of the house.

“My mother died a year ago.” Adrian told me when we arrived at the cemetery.
Cancer.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” I told him. He shrugged. I knew it hadn’t meant anything to him. I mean, sorry is just…sorry. It serves no purpose in life. It’s just a word. I mean, when my mother left my father and me a few years back, everyone from my friends to their parents to my teachers said “oh I’m so sorry Jesse.” After awhile it was just something I heard not something that I felt. I never felt their sympathy; I always heard it. It never meant anything to me.

“Yeah, well what can you really do?” he asked looking at me.

He led me through the many tombstones to his mother’s. We stood there for a while. Just stood there, in silence. There was a slight breeze that rustled the dead leaves that littered the cemetery grounds. Do all cemeteries have dead leaves on the ground? Is that normal? Even in—like—California?

“Alright,” Adrian said standing up. “We could go now.”

“Okay.” I said, standing up and following him.

“Race you to the gate.” Adrian said.

“What?” I asked. Yet I was too late. He had already started to run. I hesitated a bit, looking around to see if anyone was around. Is it even legal to run through a cemetery? I mean, has anyone done it before? Aren’t you supposed to be too sad and depressed to run in a cemetery? Who runs the cemetery anyway? God? Would he see me if I ran?

I started to run after Adrian. He was quite far ahead of me, but I was fast. We ran and ran, dodging headstones and piles of dirt. Sooner than I thought, I was tailing him. We were running neck to neck, like it was the Olympics or something. I was gaining speed. One jump here and a zigzag there, I was in front of him. Adrian just looked at me and grinned. I grinned back. Yes! I thought, I win!! Then I thought, is it okay to beat a guy at racing? Or at any sport for that matter? Then I told myself, “what the hell” and threw my arms in the air, like a big shot champ, even though I was nowhere near the gate.

I started running faster. I turned my head around to see where Adrian was. He was still behind me, running at a steady distance. He was panting. Aw, poor Adrian, I thought, and then smiled. He looked so cute running like that. I was practically swooning. Ah, running and swooning over a guy who looks like—well—like GOD, isn’t a safe thing to do. I would know, because what happened to me next was something I least expected.

After swooning for a bit, I sighed just to get it out of my system. I closed my eyes and sighed. I pictured white doves flying and red roses swaying and I heard Adrian’s voice call out my name. “Jesse…Jesse…JESSE!” I opened my eyes and before I knew it, I fell into a grave. Yes, I didn’t stutter. A grave. Some dead guy’s grave.

Well, I did what any normal girl would do.

I screamed.

“Jesse!” Adrian said, hovering over the grave. “Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay?” I snapped. “I’m stuck in some dead guy’s grave! I’M NOT OKAY!!!”

“Alright,” Adrian said, “Calm down. I’ll get you out.”

“EEEKKK!” I squealed. “There are live things in here!”

“Really?” Adrian asked. “Are they bugs?”

“Yes!”

“Kill them.” He smirked.

“NOT FUNNY!”

“Okay, okay, chill out.” He said kneeling down and reaching for me. “Here, grab my hand.”

“Ahh, something’s crawling on me!”

“Jesse, focus!” Adrian said. I looked up at him. “Grab my hand and I’ll pull you back up. Okay?”

I nodded and grabbed his hand. They were so smooth, like a baby’s cheek. Before I knew it, I was out of the grave.

“Thank you!” I said, tossing my arms around Adrian’s neck.

“Yeah, um, Jesse?”

“Yeah?” I asked, letting go of him.

“You—there, there are ants crawling on your arms.”

“AHHH!! GET THEM OFF!” I shouted, jumping up and down waving my arms like a mad woman.

“Okay, I think there off.” Adrian said. I sighed. “But I think I should take you to the emergency room.”

“What?” I asked. “Why?”

“Well, because those weren’t ordinary ants.” Adrian said, rubbing the back of his neck in that cute way guys normally do.

“What do you mean by ‘ordinary’?” I said, snapping back to reality. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Well, those were red ants.” He said. I just looked at him. “Yeah, they’re highly poisonous.”

My mouth dropped open. I stared down at my arms. They were covered in big red spots.

“Yeah, like I said,” Adrian paused. “I really think I should take you to the emergency room.”