A sorrowful funeral concerto emanates from within the dirt-laden ground.

As Noël remained motionless within the forest, faceless entities started to materialize from the shadows. Or, they were there all along and Noël only just began to notice them.

Nonetheless, Noël took one last deep breath…and walked away.

---

Noël was mesmerized by the fireflies. He never thought it would be possible to be so close to stars, but they proved him wrong. He followed them and was now standing in a sandy beach shore. Dark waves gently brushed against the sandy embankment. The water was so incredibly clear that the ocean, as dark and clear as glass, appeared to be filled with bright, shining stars.

He was surprised to find a beach right at the edge of the woods. An unbridled sense of nostalgia wracked his heart as he gazed out into the dark sea. Though, it was odd, as he never visited the ocean.

And yet…

As he stared out at the ocean, the vampire felt as if something was missing.

Though, it would make sense to have some disorienting feelings after waking up from the brink of death. Noël tore his gaze away from the ocean and contemplated upon where the fireflies were taking him.

Mother never liked fireflies.

He recounted the tales his mother would tell him of the glowing insects. His shoes made indentations in the sand as he walked along the coast. She said fireflies were deceased souls, and the dead shouldn’t be acknowledged, but…

I wonder…how happy they must be.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As if sensing his thoughts, a firefly gently fell into his outstretched hand. There’s so much I don’t remember about mother, father, Aunt Delia, myself… but, I hope I’ll never forget their stories.

Though, what will happen once my adventure concludes? There’s no one left to remember my story……

The vampire certainly wished for death, but was it what his heart truly desired? He recalled a saying about how everyone had three deaths. The first death was the natural death. While its causes weren’t always the same, the end result was a constant for every living being.

The second death occurs once every person who ever knew the deceased passes away.

And the third or final death happens once everything the deceased accomplished during their life is forgotten. Whether for better or for worse, any sort of impact they had will be erased, and they too will soon fade away.

Unfortunately, as Noël already cheated death once upon a time, who was he to still continue with following the natural cycle of dying? Was it what he truly desired even if there was a small part of his heart that… wanted his story to be heard? Did he even deserve to be remembered after forgetting his own family?

Lost in his own thoughts, he was unaware as he tripped over a piece of driftwood protruding from the sand. The firefly he was carrying flew away as its miniscule blinks of light started to decrease.

In annoyance, the vampire glanced down at the ground, only to discover the object he tripped over was not driftwood, but instead, a bone.

A bleached, cracked bone was peeking out from the sand. It appeared tiny, seemingly belonging to a small child. Apprehension ran down his spine as he realized this is where the ghost must have run off to.

Don’t worry; I’ll give you a proper burial in due time. Noël spared the bone another glance before carefully making his way towards a grotto not a stone’s throw away. It was covered in ivy and moss, but the small cave looked stable enough for now. He placed a hand on the cave walls. A few pieces of limestone flaked off from the walls and lightly clattered to the ground. The air was stagnant as opposed to the cool ocean breeze of the beach.

Noël saw the faint outline of a face as he traveled deeper into the grotto. Its eyes were a soft luminescent white. He smiled at the pale phantom, smile not quite…real. The ghost faded away and Noël merely continued to walk.

---

Time continued to pass as Noël traveled deeper and deeper into the grotto. While it was small on the outside, he had been walking for what felt like hours.

He saw no trace of the ghost boy or other spirits save for the occasional flicker of light at the corner of his eyes or the faint pitter patter of footsteps. It was admittedly concerning, but the vampire thought nothing of it. The deceased often had different concepts and actions…though; it was not like he could be one to judge.

A sharp, sickening crack broke the silence as Noël hastily jumped away from the object he just stepped on.

Staring back at him was a pale, smiling face.

Awful, hollow eyes gazed accusingly up at him. The skull’s head was gruesomely caved in from where his boot crushed the already delicate and nimble remains.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Noël pleaded tearfully to the skull. The skull merely grinned.

In horror of the unexpected role he played in the desecration of human remains, Noël’s eyes darted up…only to be met with the sight of darkened patches of something indescribable adorning the limestone walls of the cave.

These must all be blood…