Giselle and a Nightly Man-Eating Sorority

Giselle

In the time that followed, I could never fully forget Alec at first. Some nights I cried out for him, missing him as if he was the only piece in my life that could assemble the fractured puzzle of my current existence. Some nights, I couldn't reconcile with the fact that I was dead, and Alec was one of those living that weren't myself, and I resented him for having something valuable that was taken from me. Nothing could ever change that feeling, I thought, not even Myrtha's wiles of enchantment.

I asked her, multiple times, to make me human. Myrtha told me that it was beyond her abilities. "Only my superior, the Warlock, has the power to make a Wili or a wraith like me human again, but he would need the power of 666 souls to do so," she told me. "666 is the infamous mark of the beast," she added, as if that were somehow relevant.

One evening, Myrtha bent the rules again for me, (I wondered at the fact that she never seemed to be caught or punished for it), and made it so that I could move beyond my grave just a few hours before sunset. She took me to a rose garden where preparations for a wedding were taking place. "Why did you take me here?" I asked. "All will be clear soon," she said.

After the guests began to arrive, I saw the bride and groom: Alec and a rosy-cheeked beauty who must have been Sophia. As they said their vows, I couldn't help but be shaken with sorrow. Of course, I knew that Alec could never be mine now that I was dead, (and I never really wanted him like that anyways), but I couldn't help crying. I knew that I was unduly robbed from sharing happiness with anyone at all.
As I let my tears fall with every gasping breath, Myrtha firmly placed her hand on my shoulder, steadying me. Her eyes were bleeding with tragic empathy on my behalf. It was painful to see how much she truly cared. I reached my left hand over and clasped my hand over hers, and together we braved this moment, right as Sophia and Alec said their "I-do's" and kissed.

Later that night when we went back to my grave, Myrtha finally spoke. "I thought you needed to see that. So that you can truly move on," she said. I nodded and sunk back into the dirt where I felt like I belonged, hating that I couldn't ever deserve to explore the wild of the night away from the accursed island with Myrtha by my side. If only she could have seen me dance as a living, breathing girl. Fuck Hal! At least he got to dance before he died.