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Love Death Cemetery
Chap 29: Cats and dogs

Chap 29: Cats and dogs

Hannah and Lug walked out of the cemetery.

As Lug locked the gate he felt a little sick, he hoped that no visitors would come while he was gone.

Then he realized that if a visitor wanted to enter the cemetery, Lug would have pretended he wasn't there anyway.

Realizing this, he shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the car.

As he got closer, he saw the two huge soldiers from the camp looking at the car with curiosity.

It must not have been the first time they had seen this kind of machine, but there was no getting used to it, it seemed.

When the two guards saw Lug approaching with Hannah, they nodded their heads with pride and said "Good job" while doing thumbs up.

Lug felt embarrassed and also a little surprised that the centuries had no impact on the most basic human behavior.

He got into the car, ignoring them.

It was a small red car, which seemed to be in good condition.

The steering wheel was wrapped in pink fur, a small figurine of a white dog hung on the center mirror.

It was a simple but well-maintained interior and the few personal touches she had added made the car cozy.

The car started and quickly drove away from the cemetery.

Hannah looked very focused on the road, she had put on glasses to drive, but strangely it seemed to Lug that it didn’t suit her.

He then broke the silence by asking if is she had the letter from Linette, so he could read it.

"No unfortunately it is at home, I am afraid to damage it so I never go out with it" answered Hannah always the head riveted on the road.

Lug had taken it upon himself to hide from Hannah that he wasn’t listening when she opened up to him, even if it meant sailing blind in this whole story.

Yet Hannah would surely have had no problem repeating what she had said.

After all she had managed without difficulty to get past Lug's quirks.

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She found his way of taking a long time to answer, staring into the void and talking to himself strange, but she hadn't said anything to him.

She suspected that taking care of a cemetery lost in the mountains alone would leave a mark.

As for Lug, he had convinced himself that making a mistake was bound to lead to rejection.

Everything became a matter of life and death, because to disappoint the other was to condemn the relationship.

A man who had excluded himself from the world of the living had to carry a wound related to rejection or abandonment.

The journey passed in silence, and they both remained in their heads, Hannah put on the radio which played a joyful pop tune that contrasted with the dull atmosphere in the car.

They finally arrived after an hour and a half in front of Hannah's aunt's house.

"She's nice, you'll see but if she offers you cakes, refuse or we'll never get out of there" said Hannah in a low voice, as she rang the doorbell.

A woman of about forty years opened to them, Lug was struck by the resemblance with the photograph which he had seen on the tomb of Linette Parnac.

It was her spitting image.

She was dressed all in black and had cats rubbing against her legs, some of which moved toward Hannah and Lug.

She had black hair, a tired look that did not prevent a wide smile to appear on her slightly wrinkled face.

"Hello Hannah, nice to see you. And this person is your friend, right? Nice to meet you, I'm Hannah's aunt, Marie."

She shook Lug's hand, then told them to come in.

A musty smell emanated from the open door.

Lug was not a gambler, but if he decided to make a career out of guessing people’s lives, he would be rich.

He would have bet all-in on two characteristics of this woman : she was single, probably never even had been in a relationship, and she was in mourning, a mourning that mixed sadness and shame.

Lug felt a great sorrow at the sight of this woman who seemed to have given up life. Isolating herself with her cats when she had her life ahead of her seemed to echo a deep desire to die.

Perhaps he saw a bit of himself in her.

His thoughts were disturbed by a gentle nudge from Hannah.

"I'm going to go look through the family things that are in the next room, are you okay staying with my aunt in the kitchen?"

He was not comfortable staying with this woman he had just met, but he understood that it was even stranger to go through this family's stuff.

"No problem," he said.

Hannah walked to a door, opened it and disappeared into the other room, slamming the door behind her.

Mary began to make tea for three.

While waiting for the tea, in silence, Lug began to observe the room.

There were a few pictures, few family photos and far too many cat pictures.

Then his eyes fell on a bald head hanging on the wall, looking at him.

"A head?" thought Lug.

His whole body shivered and he let out a slight sound that betrayed his surprise.

The head smiled and said :

"You... See... Me...?" with a groaning voice.

Lug watched as the head popped out of the wall, his shoulders appeared, then his pectorals, his hips... The ghost was completely naked and hairless.

He looked away, but the ghost put himself on his field of vision, this guy wanted to be observed.

"UUUuuuh... I fell on an exhibitionist ghost I believe..." thought Lug while closing his eyes.