Pretty in Black.

Rae Hachton.

To my Marcus Marble.

"Ellie, would you frolic in the land of forever with me?"

Marcus Marble.

I never really wanted to die. But I followed through anyway. The pain in my heart was excruciating, and death was beautiful.

Second week of September and that afternoon sunset was breathtaking. That sunset was the last image I wanted my eyes to take in. How the light gave a dreamy glow to everything. My hair billowed in the autumn wind, creating auburn waves. I fell onto my knees, beneath the pine tree, in front of an ocean of graves and dead people. I wanted to be forever asleep.

The blade glimmered in the sunlight. As I drew in my last breath, I wished for the death keepers to unite me with my dark mate, even if this was in the bottomless pits of h.e.l.lfire. I would burn with him and be happy.

I ran the blade across both my wrists, and collapsed onto the ground. I felt the fire, the ache, the sting. My pulse pounded, my life poured out of me. My vision grew dark. I waited for the darkness.

Silence.

Death was like sleeping without dreaming, but still being consciously aware. I waited for something more to happen. A light to shine. A tunnel to tumble down. A dark angel to appear and take me away. To fall into an ocean of fire. To be condemned by G.o.d.

I no longer had a body. I was spirit. But if I'd still had a hand, then the kiss I felt on that hand would've been real. If I'd had ears, then the whisper I heard would've been real words.

Wake up, sleeping girl.

A guy's voice. I felt him run his fingers through my hair. His touch was electrifying, and my eyes opened immediately to find that I was still in my body, but when I looked up into his eyes I thought he was the death angel here to collect me. He was too gorgeous to be human. He had long black hair, brooding eyes, and the richest ruby lips I'd ever seen. It was enough to make me self-conscious.

Then I realized I still had a heartbeat. A strong heartbeat. "You just scared me half to death," I said.

"You should be thrilled you're halfway there."

The moon in the cemetery shed everything in a haunting glow. He pushed up onto his feet and ran splayed fingers through chin-length black hair, then extended that hand to me and helped me to my feet. He wore a white dress shirt, untucked and disheveled, and black pants. But on him, the ensemble was more than that. He looked like a tragic hero in a Shakespearean play, one who'd just unraveled. He had an intriguing look about him, too. I bet he could go from poet to serious guy ready to fight in a split second.

"You've been here the entire time? Who are you anyway?"

"Who do you want me to be?" His gaze met mine. It took me a minute to a.s.similate what had happened. I still thought I might be dead and I tried to surrept.i.tiously peek at my wrists where the slice marks would've been, but he eyed me exclusively, so I tried to feel for the evidence instead. I dropped my eyes to the ground to search for the blade, thinking the moonlight might illuminate it. It wasn't there. There was no blood, no blade, no ache. It never happened. I never died. I'd fallen asleep and dreamed the whole scenario.

"What are you doing here?"

"Curious." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Curious about what?"

"Well, you're here."

"You followed me here?"

"I wouldn't exactly use the word followed."

"Okay, creep. You can leave now."

The way he looked at me, made me smolder. It was hard to ignore. "No I can't. If you do anything crazy, I might have to stop you."

"What I choose to do with my life is none of your business."

"Okay. I'll leave then."

"Good."

"But only under one condition." His eyes glimmered.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"If you kiss me."

"Excuse me? I don't know you." I grabbed my canvas bag and walked away, trying hard not to smile, or to let him see me smile.

He called after me. "You didn't think it was going to be that easy to get me to leave, did you?"

"I can't kiss you. I have a boyfriend." I spun around to face him.

"Do you tell him everything? He doesn't have to know about us."

"I'm officially leaving. You don't even know me."

"Yes I do. You're Ellie Piper and you fall asleep in graveyards."

"That's not enough to go on."

He chased after me, tried to stop me from leaving. He gently grabbed my wrists. "It's perfect."

"How do you know my name?"

"You carved it into your notebook with an X-acto knife."

"So, you also enjoy digging in people's belongings, I see."

"Well, you were here for a while, so..."

"What time is it now?"

"Half-past midnight."

"s.h.i.t. Nick is going to kill me." I saw sudden curiosity flare in his eyes and interest rise in his voice.

"Who's Nick?"

"My d.i.c.k-headed stepfather."

"He can't tell you what to do, you know." I could've sworn I saw his muscles relax.

"Yeah, but he makes my life a living h.e.l.l. He's only twenty-nine and thinks he's my boss."

His eyes widened. He swung around a tree. "So don't go home." He leaned against it. "Stay here with me." His eyes landed on mine and my heart fluttered.

I scoffed.

He took a deep breath and exhaled it. "Dance with me."

"You are really bold, you know that? You don't get a kiss, so you go for the next best thing."

"Let's just talk then."

"Talking is over."

"Seriously. Five hours we'll have to get to know each other." He smirked. "Then you'll dance with me." He planted a moonflower behind my ear.

It'd be better than going home. Way better. I glanced at him. "You didn't tell me your name."

"It's Marcus Marble."

And I stayed. I kind of adored his smile. And I really loved his eyes.

The Kiss His eyes glistened. I'd never seen eyes that bright or that green. His were emblazoned by a dark symphony. When he blinked, his lashes spread below his bottom lid like satin spider legs, a million wishes could be made upon them, in exchange for these nightmares.

I lay beside him on an unmarked and unadorned tombstone, next to the iron cemetery gates-black and bedighted by beauty.

"Why do you want to die?" he asked me.

I stumbled for words. "That's...Why would you...?"

"It's just a question."

"A very rude question at that. Why do you want to know so much about me for?"

"I'm intrigued."

"The fact that I want to die fascinates you?"

"No. No, that's not what I meant. I just want to know you. I want to know why someone so beautiful would want to die?"

That was it, he'd said enough. I was definitely leaving for good this time. I leapt up. "You can take all your cheap flattery, and go use it on someone else because it's not working on me. You think you can just follow me around and say lines of bulls.h.i.t to get me to kiss you? I don't think so. I don't even know who you are, and right now I don't want to know you. All I know is that you've got five seconds to get lost before I get extremely angry and kick your a.s.s."

He laughed a little, a grin on his face. "Are you mad at the entire world or just a few people?" He stood up, and put his body weight against the tree.

I gave him a fast and angry kiss. "There. Now will you go?"

"No." He quickly pulled me into him and gave me a real kiss that left me a little light headed.

"Wow...Who are you?"

"I thought you had a boyfriend and you didn't want to know me."

"I do. Have a boyfriend."

"Well, you certainly didn't push me away." He grinned.

"I should have. I'm leaving now."

"Of course you are."

The echo of being in a strangers arms felt like a wilting flower being brought back to life. Mysterious and hauntingly romantic. A stranger he was not.

Afternoon Psychology "Ellie, you're going to have to stop cutting yourself. And skipping cla.s.s. You're a senior now."

I pulled my sleeves down over my wrists and clutched the excess fabric in my fists.

"You're beginning to exhibit delinquent behavior. Your grades are falling behind. You used to be a good student. Why don't you make some friends, join a school club, attend a school dance?" The school psychologist gazed at me like I owed her an answer.

"Because I don't care about any of that." I stared at my shoes.

"Ellie, I understand what you've been through with your sister's death and all, but you've got to live your life. You're about to graduated soon and you haven't even applied to any colleges. You have any in mind?"

I shook my head.

She couldn't possibly understand my life at this point. I went from living in a fairly middle cla.s.s home to living in a trailer park.

She exhaled a breath of air. "You quit cheerleading, Ellie. Just last year you were at Nationals."

"Yeah." I didn't feel like myself anymore. The girl who used to be a cheerleader, I no longer knew who she was. The new me dressed different, spoke different, had different interests than the old me.

"You have a close friend?"

"Yeah. I do. Two of them actually."

"Well, that's good."

"Yeah, um, their names are Freud and Poe and we spend quality time together dissecting the hidden and deranged nature of the human mind. Yeah, I mean, it's even kind of inspiring me to be a shrink, especially with all the talks you and I have. It's so easy. You just ask a bunch of redundant questions that make people feel uncomfortable while simultaneously wasting their time."

"Oh, so you have something better to do than be here today, discussing your problems?"

"Yeah, actually I do. I'm just not going to share it with you."

"Okay. But no one can help you if you don't reach out." She stayed so calm the entire time, with that condescending smirk on her face, while I was growing more infuriated by the second.