The dark haired woman approached him cautiously. She reached out to touch his face, but curled her fingers back before they made contact with his skin.

Kat: "I've been waiting for someone like you. Someone who can stay."

James stared into her dark, haunting eyes, lost for a moment.

James: "You're from the hospital."

Kat nodded, and James burst into nervous laughter.

James: "Thank god! I thought I'd imagined you waking up and all. But here you are. Good to know I'm not going mad."
Kat: "Come with me."

James turned back to Mary and Andy, who were sitting together on his bench, holding one another close. Mary had changed out of her previous outfit into all black. Her eyes were rimmed with black mascara, which ran down one cheek in a teardrop. Small white flowers fell from Mary's hair as Andy ran his fingers through it. As they hit the porch, they withered and turned to dust.

James: "What about Emily?"
Andy: "Emily? She's the one that got us together."

Andy nodded his head toward the cemetery across the street. James turned to see Emily perched on a tombstone. She was dressed head to toe in black lace, including a sheer black veil. Chris lay on the ground, eyes closed and hands folded over his chest. Emily lifted her veil, grinned and waved to James when she saw him. She shouted, and James could barely make out her words through the howl of the wind.

Emily: "We were playing checkers and I WON!"

James hesitated and looked at Kat before running across the street to Emily.

James: "You need to go inside now, cupcake, I don't want you getting caught in the storm."

He took her hand and tried to pull her toward the house, but she wouldn't budge.

Emily: "I appreciate your concern, but I think that's up to me."

She smiled at him again, and then sank quickly into the ground. The only evidence that she had ever been there at all was her veil, marking the earth where she stood.