Baguette Rhymes with Dead || ONC 2024 | ✔

Chapter 3: Ghost Tour

Instead of finding ourselves in the middle of a dark ossuary full of bones, Luc and I stumbled out onto the steps of the Monument aux morts. The steps we'd just ascended.

Which went against pretty much any expectation I'd had.

I panted heavily, embracing the chance to catch my breath in this moment of respite. But the more I took in my surroundings, the more my confusion grew. We'd entered the monument, moving only forward, but it lay behind us now. In front of me, I could see the avenue we'd run down, complete with trees and flower pots and the whole shebang. It only lacked those threatening headlights and the distant roar of a cart's engine. This... whatever it was looked identical to the Père-Lachaise we'd left behind, but it seemed to be deserted.

All I could think was that that door should've been locked.

"What the fuck? Am I dreaming? Are we both dreaming?" Luc's eyes had gone wide as saucers. "Because I feel like we just came out on some sort of other side."

I felt the same way. "Yeah. This is super weird."

Luc glanced back at the monument's door, which hung slightly ajar, even though I was certain I'd pulled a door closed. Behind it lay nothing but that impenetrable darkness we'd allowed to swallow us whole. "I think if we'd go back inside, we'd return to where we came from. Wouldn't we?" he asked.

"I hope so." I pondered the monument, both intrigued and afraid. I remembered what awaited back on our own side. "But... There's a guard back there. And there's no guard here."

Luc caught on to my meaning. For the first time that night, I saw hints of anxiety in his brown eyes. He turned away from the door, starting to make his way across the avenue we'd been running down before. "I suppose this is as good a hiding place as any, isn't it? We can walk around for a bit. Explore. When we think the coast's clear, we can go back."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to explore? What if we get lost?" I trailed after him, nerves lingering, though they battled with my increasing curiosity about this other Père-Lachaise.

"I don't necessarily mean exploring the cemetery." Luc produced his map from his backpack. "The Monument aux morts isn't that far from the main entrance. If that door from before wasn't locked, maybe the gate here is open, too. Don't you want to know if there's anything... beyond this?"

I hesitated, studying the map. We'd avoided the main entrance while breaking in, but it was pretty close to the monument. A straightforward route, too, hard to mess up. We'd have to be truly incompetent to get lost.

I did want to know if there was more to see.

"Why not? We can take a quick look."

We made our way to the main entrance in confused and cautious silence. Part of me expected a guard to surprise us here as well, but nothing of the sort happened. Luc and I seemed to be entirely alone. I couldn't tell what I hated more: the fear of being watched or this crushing loneliness. They both messed with my head just the same.

But the feeling passed when we reached the main entrance.

"Would you look at that?" Tentative excitement replaced the anxiety I'd seen on Luc's face. "There is something beyond. Paris! And people!"

Our Père-Lachaise closed its doors at six o'clock; this Père-Lachaise's gate remained wide open despite the late hour, and it amazed me that it apparently drew no visitors. Outside the gates, a Parisian road snaked through the city, cars steadily rolling along, though there appeared to be fewer of them than I'd come to expect during my stay in town. But what caught my eye the most was a young woman in a somewhat old-fashioned floral black dress loitering outside the gates, staring at us with the same surprised look we must've sported upon arriving here.