#tyrianghost

We lived in a small town on a small island off the coast of Oregon. It was mostly populated by pine trees and grand meadows and cliffs dropping into the Pacific Ocean. Fishermen’s ships creaked on the dark blue waves in the town dock, with wood worn smooth from the salty water. The beaches were more rock than sand, and it was never warm enough to go swimming. It was cloudy most days, leaving people shivering in their homes and layering on sweaters in the middle of August. There were only two schools, a preschool through 8th grade, and a high school. Most everyone who was born here stayed here their entire lives. And anyone new who did happen to stumble into our little town soon enough came to be just as tied to it as the rest of us.

Violet and I had been friends since birth, had grown up next to each other, and had had all our classes together. We made plans to marry at the same time and have a double wedding, and buy houses next to each other, and have two kids each and watch them grow up to be as good of friends as we were.

But Violet started getting strange. I can’t remember when; it was more of a gradual thing. She stared at people, she would drop things all the time, and a few times I heard her mother telling my mom that she was worried that Violet wasn’t getting enough sleep.

Then came the day she told me she was going to die.

We’d been walking home from school, sharing a bag of M&Ms, when Violet said, quietly, “I need to tell you something top secret.”

I knew that tone of voice. She was dead serious and would kill me if I ever told someone, best friends or not. “Yeah, sure, Vi.”

She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and grabbed my hands, dropping the M&Ms. They spilled over the rain soaked cement. “Heather, you have to promise me.”

“I promise as long as you promise not to waste anymore food in front of me,” I said bitterly.

“I’m going to die by the end of the year.”

I blinked at her. “What? Vi, are you doing drugs? I didn’t even know there were any drugs on this isla—“

“I am not doing drugs!” she snapped. “This is super serious!”

“Right, right, of course,” I said, putting my hands up in defense. “Then tell me: how, exactly, do you know you’re going to be 6 feet under in 3 months?”

“I can see death,” she said, her eyes locked on to mine. She stood completely still, hardly seemed to breath, as if she was terrified about how I would respond.

“You’re crazy,” I dead panned. “You’ve actually lost it.”

“No, I haven’t. It’s a family trait, my grandma has it too. That’s why  she had set up funeral arrangments for my grandfather two weeks before he died. She knew.”

“Really? I mean he was kind of old, and your grandma was kind of weird. No offense.”

Violet glared at me, a silent message to cut my shit. “Why do you make everything into a joke?”

“You can’t exactly blame me for not wanting to accept that my best friend has had some sort of premonition of her death. Like, no thanks, I don’t want you to die, okay?” I said, holding up my hands in defense. We started walking together again. People always comment that we are so synched, it’s like we have the same mind. It comforted me that even though Violet could see death or whatever, that she was still the same. “So. How exactly are you going to die?” I asked, trying to sound light and unworried.

“I don’t know. Some sort of crash, I think? There was lots of light, and dark, and yelling.” She shivered. “I’ve only seen one death before my own, and that was about the fisherman who went down in the storm 2 weeks ago. I had so many dreams about drowning… it was horrible.”

“Do you, like, become the person who’s about to die? In your dreams?”

“I… think so?” Violet said. I shot her an annoyed look. “What? I hardly know anymore than you! My grandma just told me what was happening, and that I couldn’t do anything about it, and that’s it. Nothing more. Nothing about why we can see death, or what happens when people die… I mean, I knew my grandma might not know that, but if we can see death I’d like to know what happens after, ya know? It feels like I should get to know.”

“Now, Violet, there are some things in this world that just aren’t fair,” I croaked, trying to immitate my mother.

“You are so not taking this seriously,” she sighed.

I shrugged. “What, would you rather me lie down on the ground and start crying because you’re going to die soon? Um, no thanks. First of all, I still don’t really believe you, and secondly, I’m going to make sure you don’t die.”

Vi stared at me like I was stupid. “Literally I just told you my grandma said there was no way to change the deaths.”

“You should know by now that I love challenges. I am the queen of challenges. No challenge can stand up to the 2015 US National Chess Champion!” I threw my fist into the air, posing with up most passion.

Violet started laughing. “Oh my god, you’re so dumb. How would I survive without you?”

I grinned at her. “Exactly. You wouldn’t. Whatever is coming in 3 months is going to have to go through me first. And it ain’t gonna win, babe.” I swung my arm around her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She shrieked at me and took off running. I chased after her, shouting, “You won’t get away so easily, jerk! You still owe me another bag of M&Ms!”