The bark from the oak tree crumbled under Eduard’s palm. He felt his heart ache with fierce pain, and he nearly collapsed aside the tree, which was apparently diseased. The bark almost dissolved underneath Eduard’s shoulder as he fell against the tree. The pain in his chest was becoming excruciating, and he felt the tears well up in his eyes.

As his back fell against the dying tree, Eduard glanced across the small beach, noticing the moon reflecting off the water. The forest’s the encompassed the land off the far end of the beach looked a ghostly black, the sand a pale yellow.

Eduard wretched in pain, and nearly cried out as his heart dug itself deeper into his chest. His eyes closed, and tears raced down his face from the strained ducts. He clenched his eyes shut at the pain, and reopened them when the pain, if only temporarily, subsided.

She was down at the other end of the beach, her white dress fluttering ghostly in the gentle breeze. When he saw her, a small smile laid tracked on his face. Near as Eduard could tell, she was walking his way; though from this distance, she appeared to be floating.

As the woman approached closer, Eduard pushed his back against the tree, a shower of bark falling to the ground.

Eduard stumbled as far as he could to the woman, his right hand clenched over his heart. The closer he got to her, the more she seemed to actually be floating.

Finally, as he was in touching distance from the pale beauty, he stopped. Hunched over, right arm clutching his chest in a death grip, eyes strangely wide, Eduard spoke one word: “Blanche.”

After the word escaped from his barren lips, Eduard collapsed face first into the cold sand of the beach, dead.

The sand blew across the stretch, filling the night with the eery sound of one word shouted in a whisper: “Blanche”

The beautiful woman, who was, in fact, floating, passed Eduard’s body, floating over the dark sand , which was now a mud, surrounding his face.

Within seconds the woman vanished, becoming a phantom in the warmth of the dark night, never to return again.