Season 1, Episode 2

Widow

[A park in Marksbury. Day. The recording clicks on]

NARRATOR

...So. We're doing this. Great. [He sighs] I-- I know I said recording the sessions was stupid, but this? ...Maybe I should've gone to prison. [Laughs] At the very least, maybe I wouldn’t be sitting around talking to myself in the park. And uh…. Maybe they'd still be here.

NARRATOR (Cont.)

...I visited them all yesterday. My parents, Billy, Justine, Elliot. It was nice out, but it rained the night before, so the ground was mostly mud. ...And… it happened again. I don't know why, it's…. You know, I never used to believe in any of that stuff. I mean, monsters, magic? Come on. [Laughs] I'm a-- ...I was a scientist, I'm not supposed to think about any of that kind of thing. Elliot, though, he was much more… open-minded about it. So I guess that's why it makes sense that it happened at his grave.

NARRATOR (Cont.)

Our families are buried right next to each other. Elliot is right between his mother and my father. I think that's nice. Plus, I can make my rounds pretty easily, since Justine's is the only one really out of the way, and honestly, it's not even that far. Only about a five-minute walk. Anyway, it was late afternoon. I'd just managed to calm down, which took… longer than I would like to admit. I was pulling myself together, and I was about to leave when.... I looked over, and behind me there was a man. He was… I dunno, maybe a few hundred yards off? I've never been good at estimating distances. But he was relatively far away. He was staring at me, and I couldn't help but think of the woman in red from outside the bar. But then, I didn't want to look weird in case this was just some normal person, so I waved. He almost seemed jolted awake when I did that, like the wave had pulled him out of a trance. Then he just… ran off.

So yeah. That’s weird. But… God knows I’ve seen weirder. 

I was on the way out of the cemetery when I saw him again. Now that I was closer, I could tell by his uniform that he was a groundskeeper. He came up to me, and… he just... stood there. Staring at me for a few seconds. And when he finally did speak, he said that…[Dramatically] if I wanted to know more, to meet him back there today.

NARRATOR (Cont.)

So yeah. That’s what I just did. I went back to meet up with the creepy stranger from the cemetery. Like anyone with any common sense would do. And… long story short, it left me with more questions than it did answers.

I went back, and he was waiting for me by the gate. He seemed calmer today, and he apologized for yesterday. Said I caught him off guard, that with my hood up, he mistook me for someone else. That he's used to someone else standing there.

I told him that that's my-- [Clears his throat, takes a breath] My family's graves, that I'm the only one left to visit, since my sister is away for school. I started to wonder if maybe Evelynn had driven here to visit them, but he started describing the woman he claimed to see. Long brown hair, maybe in her thirties. Not Evelynn. Not anyone I know.

He asked me if I'd seen anyone else there that day. Sure, I said. It's a public place, after all. But no one like the woman he was describing. 

...She goes there sometimes, he said. Stands at my family's gravesite without a word. 

That's weird enough. But no, it can't be that simple, not for me.

The first time he saw her, it was just before sundown. The summer air was thick, but the coolness of the night was just beginning to set in. He was heading over to tell her that it was time to go, and to offer his condolences if need be. He only lost visual on her for a second, when a tree got in his line of sight. ...She disappeared. Of course she did. And of course, he looked everywhere and never saw another trace of her.

...More ghosts.

That's not the thing that bothered him, though. It's the fact that six hours later, a car went off the bridge headed toward Connecticut. Five people inside. By the time they searched the river enough to find the bodies, they were near unrecognizable. 

I remember reading about that. But I didn't see how it was related to the story the groundskeeper had told me. 

NARRATOR (Cont.)

But then it happened again. He saw her there. At first it was like the last time, she didn’t move. But this time she looked at him. She was beautiful, he said. But sad. And there was something in her eyes, something dark. Like she’d seen horrors and pain beyond what any one person should ever have to endure. And then she waved at him. Just like I did. And again, she vanished, this time in the amount of time it took for him to blink. Later that day, a doctor had a heart attack in the middle of surgery. She was young, with no underlying health conditions. Both she and the patient died. 

...And now he's seen her again. Just this morning, he said. He’s under the impression that she’s an omen of death, and that it’s only a matter of hours before the next tragedy. I think that’s ridiculous. But... I'd be lying if I said that I haven't been on edge.

...I don't know why this happens. I'm used to… [Sighs] strange events by now. But that doesn't make it easier to process. And-- And what if it's not just focused on me anymore? What if people around me are getting affected, even this guy I’ve never met? It's not impossible. Nothing is, I've learned that. 

...No, that’s… That’s probably just paranoia. 

...I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this woman is somehow connected to my… own special circumstances. I asked him when it all started, and he told me about a year ago. It doesn’t quite fit, I was… working that summer. He’s sure that he never saw her before then, or in between any of the times he told me about. So no, whatever’s going on with that, it’s probably separate from all of my stuff.

NARRATOR (Cont.)

...Elliot would love all of this. Well, not the people dying. Or the fact that it’s honestly freaking me out more than it probably should. But the mystery, the intrigue, the dramatics. He’d have us running around right now, trying to get any detail we could. Hauntings, aliens, you name it. That’s why I first fell in love with him, I think. Even as kids, he was always so full of excitement. To him, even the mundane was… brimming with magic. I thought for sure that losing his parents so young would change him. And sure, he did mourn. Of course he did. But… he healed. He healed in a way I’m not sure I ever can. He was stronger than I’ll ever be. He grieved. He accepted. And he continued being the spark of light he always had been. With his wild imagination and wilder schemes. Like when we were eleven, and the rumors started going around that the old Levin house was haunted. Henry was already spending the night, and Elliot knocked on my door at midnight to ask if we’d go camping with him to try and catch sight of a ghost. I know he was disappointed when it turned out the ghost was just someone squatting there, but he still enjoyed every minute of it. And he left whoever it was five dollars on the windowsill, so he got a good deed in, too. But even after debunking so many stories, he never gave up. The world was a series of secrets, and his purpose in life was to uncover them all. 

...Maybe he should have uncovered mine sooner.

WOMAN

[A ways off, then getting closer] Excuse me! Excuse me, sorry, this is probably a weird question But you’re Victor, right? You went to Ingleside University?

NARRATOR (VICTOR)

[Hesitant, defensive]

Yeah? Why?

WOMAN

Oh! Sorry, I know what you're thinking, that isn't what I recognize you from. My name is Christine, we had a class together. Professor Crane, Intro to Music Theory. 

VICTOR

Oh! Um, Right. Right, yeah. Yeah. Sorry, I-- I just assumed--

WOMAN (CHRISTINE)

No, it’s okay! I just hope you’re doing better.

VICTOR

...Yeah. [Awkward, after a pause] So uh.... How's it goin’? 

CHRISTINE

Good, good! Do you live around here?

VICTOR

Just over the bridge heading toward Tulprice.

CHRISTINE

Nice, I just moved in right around the corner! So, what’ve you been up to?

VICTOR

Uh-- nothing really? Work, mostly. I imagine you’ve graduated by now? You did theater and everything in school, right? Been doing any shows? 

CHRISTINE

[Suddenly more shut off, almost afraid.] No. No, not for a while. ...I've gotta get to work, but maybe I'll see you around.

VICTOR 

I-- Sure, yeah. 

CHRISTINE

Oh, and real quick.

[She whispers, close to his ear. There is genuine fear and concern in her voice]

He hasn't forgotten. You're in danger.

VICTOR

What? [Louder, as she runs off] Hey! Christine! [Then panicked] Oh God….