One Last Chance

One Last Chance

   I stood in front of the grave, looking down at the polished marble headstone. It had cost a decent amount, but it didn’t matter. I would have paid twice as much if I’d had to. It was the only headstone that seemed…worthy, I guess, of marking his final resting place.
     I had everything prepared already. The circle was drawn and the candles were lit, the slight nighttime breeze threatening their flames as the moon shone bright in its fullness above. I’d already  poured the blood I’d collected from the blood bank over the grass, and all that was left was to repeat the incantation. With a deep, shaky breath, I began, the strange syllables spilling from my tongue faster and faster until I finished the last sentence. Then I waited.
     At first nothing happened, and I cursed my foolishness, wondering what I was expecting to happen. Did I really think I could raise the dead just because some lady claiming to be a voodoo priestess told me how? I was about to turn away and give up when the circle I’d drawn began to glow, and the flames of the candles grew larger and larger until they resembled torches more than wax tapers. And there, standing in the middle of the circle, was my best friend, looking just as I remembered , with the exception of being slightly transparent. I couldn’t believe my eyes, and couldn’t speak for a moment until I remembered what the priestess had said about time. I shook myself out of my shock and approached my friend. His eyes flickered down to the edge of the circle, that I had almost crossed in my haste, and I stopped, and despite everything I chuckled.
     “Still looking out for me huh?” I smiled. “Bet you thought you were done with that didn’t ya? Well, surprise!”
     He just looked at me, his expression unchanged, his eyes just the slightest bit disapproving. You almost might have missed it, but he and I had been friends for more than thirty years. He’d been a brother more than a friend, so I recognized his expression immediately.
     “Right, right, get to the point,” I nodded. “We don’t have all night you know, right? But why not?” I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. “Why can’t we have the whole damn night? They already took you from me way too early, we were supposed to be old men before I had to say goodbye to you. It isn’t fair!”
     His expression still stayed the same, but his eyes softened just the slightest bit, and he looked down at my candles, rapidly melting away.
     “Yeah, I know,” I sighed. “I just had to see you again man. This past year…hasn’t been good for me. When you got into that accident, it rocked me. Rocked everyone you know? And you were…you know…gone at the scene, and we couldn’t even say goodbye. And I don’t think I recovered from that. Tell me, all I wanna know, are you ok? At peace and all? Just tell me if you’re doing well man, it was your life that was stolen.”
     This time his expression did change, into a comforting smile, and he raised a ghostly hand in a thumbs up. A wave of relief flooded through me, but was short-lived as he again nodded towards the candles.
     “I know I shouldn’t have done this, but I needed to say thank you,” I said, not bothering to stop the tears falling from my eyes. “Thank you for being my friend, for all the years we looked out for each other, for all the memories, even the cringey ones.” I chuckled, and he smirked. “I wanted to say you don’t have to worry, that we’ll be ok, that we’re all taking care of your family for you. I wanted to say how much you meant to me over all these years, and how much I was gonna miss you.”
A candle went out, and his form faded a bit. I rushed on, knowing that when the other candles went out, my time was up.
     “Most of all, I wanted, no, I needed to say goodbye,” I said to the fading apparition. “That I love you, I’ll miss you, but I’m gonna be ok, you don’t have to worry about me anymore, just rest. I’ll have some good stories to share next time we meet, and I’m glad I had one last chance to see you. Goodbye man.” I choked out that last word. “Goodbye.”
     The candles were almost all out now, and his form was barely more than an outline against his headstone now, but despite that I saw his grin, the sparkle in his eyes that had gotten us into and out of trouble so many times. As the circle’s glow faded, he reached across the barrier and gripped my shoulder with a final, comforting squeeze, and then he was gone.
     I stood in front of his grave, staring down at his marble headstone, no longer mourning a loss, but remembering a life. I stayed there under the bright full moon, and remembered my friend for a good, long time.