My room was dark and lifeless when I got there - there was a part of me that was hoping that Edith would already be there waiting, ready to cheer me up, or at least ready to discuss what needed to be done. On the other hand, I was happy to have some time alone with my thoughts.

I threw myself down onto the bed, closing my eyes to be able to better focus on my thoughts. I knew I had to let her go - keeping someone in a loop was not only a pointless endeavor but keeping her there against her will was tantamount to torture. I was planning on asking her what her thoughts were on the matter. Part of me hoped that she’d feel the way I did - that she’d want to stick around here for a while longer so that we could enjoy the time we had. Another part of me felt sure that she wouldn’t want to wait, though - Edith didn’t seem like the kind of person who would take staying as a ghost lightly, and I think she’d want to move on as soon as she was able to.

Not to mention the other women in the house. Plus that whole section of the graveyard - if the gravestones had all been destroyed, didn’t that mean there were a ton of ghosts that were just walking around town that I wasn’t seeing for some reason? Maybe it was my duty to help them all find their way to peace - although I certainly didn’t hope that it was something that had to come from an intimate relationship.

“You certainly look blue,” Edith’s voice sang from beside me. I jumped lightly - I hadn’t even heard her come in, but I suppose she didn’t have to deal with such pesky nonsense as doors. Her shadow stood next to the bed - it was hard to tell if it was just my imagination, but it seemed lighter than before, as though she were coming more into focus. I could even lightly see the expression on her face - full concern for me. “Is there anything that I can help with?”

I sat up on the side of the bed, then patted next to me for her to sit. She did so without question, still looking at me with a mixture of curiosity and concern. “You know this whole thing,” I said, gesturing between us, not sure where to start.

“Do you mean our relationship, or us being able to see each other through time?”

“See each other through time,” I quickly answered. “Our relationship is great, and I have no complaints other than the whole you being dead thing.” She nodded to show that she was following, curiosity taking over the concern on her face now that she knew that we were all alright. “It’s just…okay, what all do you know about your situation?”

“Well, I know Alice has been calling it a time loop. She’s filled me in on a lot since you started showing up.”

“Okay, great, I guess that makes this a little easier,” I said, wringing my hands while I tried to figure out how to phrase what needed to be said. “Well, my friend Charlie and I think we have come up with a way to get you out of the loop.”

“Oh really?” she said, excitement tingling her voice.

“Yep. The only thing is, it’s what happened to Mabel, too. You can stop the loop, but you disappear.”

Edith paused, clearly thinking it over for the moment. “I don’t suppose you could come here to think it over with me?” she asked. “It’s a lot to process, and I could use you here.”

“I can certainly try,” I said, slipping my legs past her form to lie on the bed. Her shadow slipped off the bed and walked around to the other side to lay beside me. “I can’t promise that I’m going to be able to get to sleep, though.”

“I would expect not, but it’s worth the attempt.” Her hand reached up to run through my hair, the icy chill of it leaving a streak of cold on my scalp. “So, tell me, what did you figure out?”

“Well, in your section of the graveyard, there are a lot of headstones missing. There's a group of people who are working to figure out who is buried where so they can put new markers on the graves. The location of Mabel’s grave was just discovered last week.”

Edith took a moment to pause and consider what I had said. I’m sure it was a lot to take in, as someone who went from happily living their lives to finding out they’re a ghost in a loop that will be potentially stopped, all in the span of a month. The quiet of her thinking, though, was enough to start to lull me into a tired mood. It was always such a weird sensation when she started making me tired when I was near her - it was like she was trying to lure me into her world without realizing that I would be more than happy to go regardless. Within about 30 seconds, I could feel my eyelids drop, and I chose to just give into it, closing my eyes and willing that I would be asleep the next time they opened.

“And you know where my grave is?” she finally asked quietly.

“I do,” I answered. “I have nothing to prove it, but it was so weird. It was like I could feel it pulling me toward it. Toward you. Or your body at least. I knew exactly where it was the minute I got close to it.”

I felt her hand on my cheek, a warm touch rather than chilled, and I opened my eyes to find myself staring into Edith’s eyes. She seemed concerned, but it didn’t seem like she was concerned about her future - rather like she was concerned about what was going to happen to those around her. She stared into my eyes, contemplating. Finally, to break the silence, I started talking, partially at her, but mostly to myself. “I mean, it feels weird to talk about now, but it somehow didn’t seem weird at the time. I think there was a part of me that was expecting it. I mean, I'm drawn to you when you're around in this form, so it only makes sense that I would be drawn to you in other forms, and -"

Stolen story; please report.

Edith placed her soft hand over my mouth, and I stopped speaking instantly. She paused for a beat, and when she finally spoke, there was resolve in her voice. "I want you to do it."

"To find your grave and put a headstone on it?"

"Whatever it is that will finally break this cycle." She paused again, looking into my eyes, then she sighed. "I don't want to ruin this. This has been one of the happiest times of my life. Of all my lives, apparently. But I can't just keep going on in a loop like this. I need to see what's out there again, beyond this part of life, and I need to move on. And you need to be able to move on with your life, too. You need to be able to find some woman who is full of life, who can be with you when you're awake, and who can be there for you when you grow old. I can't do that, and I can't be that. I love you, but this has to stop."

I could tell she was trying to hold back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. I was, too, and I was doing a much worse job at it than she was. “I understand,” I said, grabbing her hand from my face and squeezing it. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, and I will be there to support you. I’ll make sure that we get a stone on there as soon as possible.” I felt a tear roll down my cheek and I swiped with both our hands to wipe it away. “For everyone else here, too - I’ll dig through all the records I need to to get it figured out.”

“I know you will,” she said, pulling my hand to the other side to wipe off another tear that I hadn’t yet noticed. “Now shush, no more tears.” She took her hand from mine and ran it through my hair in a soothing manner. “If I’ve only got a little while left on this earth, I don’t want to spend it being sad. I want to spend it with you, enjoying your company. I’ve waited this long for this, and it’s about to get cut short, so let’s enjoy it while it lasts.”

She pushed her lips into mine, and I tasted the faint hint of wine that always appeared on her tongue. Her lips were soft, but solid enough that I knew I had fallen asleep at some point while she was talking. For possibly the last time in my life, I wasn’t upset at that fact.

I reached one hand up to Edith’s hair, winding between the locks in an attempt to lock her to myself. I felt her pause for a moment, unused to the possessive behavior. Then, she gave in, slowly moving her lips like mine in a way that was far too slow and easy for the situation. I fought the urge to kiss her harder - if this was possibly one of her last nights on Earth, we would do what she wanted.

I felt Edith’s lips pull up into a small smile, as though she were able to feel my thoughts through my lips. Then, she flicked her tongue out, breaking between my lips to kiss me hard.

There was passion in the kiss but also regret knowledge, and even some sort of affection that I could have sworn bordered on love. The feelings came from both sides and as our mouths worked together, I lost sight of whose thoughts were whose. I pulled my hand out of her hair to start fumbling with the ties on her dress. It was hard enough to get them unlaced when I was able to see them, but it was an entirely different ballgame to do it one-handed behind her back. Edith knew this was the case as well - she pulled away, despite my trying to follow her as far as my head would let me. Then she sat up on the bed and undid the ties of her dress, allowing me to see the supple curve of her back one more time.

I reached up to help push the dress off her shoulders, but she was already pulling it to the ground, so instead I focused on watching her, drinking in every last image that I would get.

Edith turned toward me, her breasts slightly bouncing with the movement, and I felt my cock tighten against my pants. She looked down at them, clearly able to see that it was happening. “I know this is a bit of a new moment for both of us,” she said with a laugh in her voice, “but I would have thought you would have remembered how to undo your pants.”

“I mean, I thought you would have wanted to help me with them,” I said, immediately reaching down to undo my zipper.

“Thrilling as it may be, I’d rather just be riding your cock than undressing it,” she said, though her eyes never wavered from my hands as they peeled off first my pants and shirt, before pulling down my boxers to expose my full-length. The look in her eyes was hungry as she savored the moment.

I walked around the bed, and her eyes flicked up to mine at the start of the movement. I stepped toward her and wound my arm around her waist, turning her away from the bed to face me. She stared into my eyes, but I still put my finger under her chin, as though to hold her attention. “Thrilling is not the name of the game,” I said, a slight growl catching my voice. “Tonight is about making the time we still have count.”

Edith smiled at me, raising a brow. “I would have never figured you to be the type to come up with that sort of a cheesy line.”

I answered her smile with one of my own. “Only with you around.” I pushed her backward slightly onto the bed before I crawled up with her. I put a knee between hers, using it to nudge her legs open, an instruction which she happily followed. I crawled up her body, allowing my eyes to graze along her sex, her stomach, her breasts, her neck, before finally meeting her eyes. I could see the need in her eyes, reflected in my own.

I leaned forward to kiss her deeply. As I moved, I felt a warm touch on my rock-hard cock - somehow she had snaked her hand between us, and I felt her move her hand up and down the smooth skin of the shaft once, twice, before she lined it up with the wet heat of her opening. I had a hard time believing that someone could be more clear about their intentions than that.

At her command, I kissed her deeply as I pushed myself inside her. Despite the amount of times I had been inside her, I still felt her give a small gasp against my lips before I felt her hand on my ass, pulling my father inside her. I pulled out nearly to the tip, then plunged myself inside of her as I felt the inside walls of her clamping against me. Despite her body’s reactions, though, Edith’s eyes looked crystal clear as she pressed her hand against one side of my chest, pushing me off of her before she climbed back on. She wasted no time lining herself back up on my cock and happily plunging down on it. “I said,” she said through heavy pants, “that I was the one who wanted to ride.”

I didn’t object, as I watched her breasts bounce in time with her movements, the sound of her heavy breaths as the musical accompaniment. One of my hands gripped roughly on her thighs, my fingertips imprinting into the light skin in a way that may have marked her were she still alive. The other hand trailed its way up her body, flicking lightly over her clit before it ascended past her mound and over her stomach until it found its final resting spot on her breast. I squeezed the supple flesh as she rode, my thumb finding its way over her peaked nipple. She gasped at the sensation, grinding harder into me as I felt the climax rise in my core. I could tell Edith was getting close, too, as her breathing hitched with each of her movements. I thought about saying something to help get her over the edge, but when I looked up at her writhing body, my mind went blank, as though needing only to burn this image into my memory.

Moments later, I felt her muscles start to clench around me, which caused me to find my release. I saw stars, concentrating on the feeling and what little of Edith’s face I could still make out. Then, as the room started to fall back into place and Edith pulled herself off me to crawl into my arms, I saw the silver of tears just starting to brim at her eyes. I could tell I was the same, and she reached up a hand to wipe them away. I caught it in mid-movement, holding onto her hand like a lifeline. “Leave it,” I whispered, curling my fingers around hers. “I’m not much for sentimentality, but if any night seems like the right time, this is it.”

“Sure you’re not, you big crybaby,” she teased, a tear finally rolling down her cheek. “I thought we said we weren’t going to spend this night being sad.”

“I’m not. I’m spending this night being happy that I got to spend at least this small amount of time with you.” Edith smiled at me, and I moved to kiss her again.