Cemetary Gates

I threw my wet hair up into a messy bun since me and Zacky came out of the shower a few minutes ago. I think in the past 2 hours I had discovered my sex drive.

“Zacky, come on!” I called out getting down the stairs without falling down. My legs were still nearly non-existent. He swept me up as he ran down the stairs.

“Where are we going?” He asked and I shrugged. I slipped on shoes and a jacket before I went to the door.

“Zacky are you inadvertently asking me on a date?” I smirked and he laughed.

“Yes.” He replied simply and I laughed grabbing his hand.

“Come on Pudgy, I want to go to the beach.” I said grabbing his hand. The beach wasn’t that far from my house so we made it there in no time. We climbed and stepped over rock beds until we came to a clearing where there was a huge rock face, and we were the only ones in sight. I kicked off my shoes and ran through the sand away from him.

“Come on!” I called out as I ran down the shoreline laughing. The sand was making sucking sounds as I ran over it and I could hear Zacky behind me. Suddenly his footsteps stopped, and a white beam of light raced past me. A gush of wind blew my hair around and my eyes widened as I stopped running.

I heard Zacky’s laughter and a grin broke out on my face.

“Cheater!” I yelled and I started running towards him again. He stood there with a wide smirk and I lunged at him. His face contorted in fear and he disappeared. I screamed as I realized I would just nose dive into the sand. But two arms wrapped around me before I could.

“You…asshole!” I yelled as I kicked and screamed playfully and he just laughed.

“Oh now I’m an asshole? I didn’t have to save you, you know.” He said and I leaned down and tried to bite his arm.

“That’s it.” He said before he let me go and I fell into the sand. I dusted myself off and turned to face him. He was just there suspended over me.

“Well you didn’t have to cheat.” I said crossing my arms and pouting.

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t have cheated. It wasn’t fair that I have awesome powers and you don’t.” He said smirking. I narrowed my eyes and he smiled cheekily.

“See this is why you didn’t get a pancake.” I said laughing and his smile went away.

“Dude I haven’t had real pancakes in forever! Can you make me some, because now I can eat them!!” He said getting exited and he started doing this happy dance. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up to my feet.

“Come on we have to go!” He said and I laughed.

“You are definitely that fat kid who loves him some cake.” I snickered and he rolled his eyes playfully.

“Aren’t you gonna put those away?” I asked nodding over at his huge white wings protruding from his back.

“It’s not like anyone can see them.”

“Well can you? It’s weird, because they just randomly move.” I laughed and he rolled his eyes. They folded then disappeared.

“How does it feel?” I asked as we walked to the nearest pancake joint, Ihop.

“How does what feel?”

“To be corporeally alive for only two days? To be an angel?”

“It’s saddening really…I loved life so much and I get taken away from it not once but twice. I can’t see my friends or family because they won’t know what’s going on, and I don’t want them to say goodbye to me again. But it’s worth it because I get to be with you for real. I don’t care if it would be even for a minute; I just love the human feeling between us.” He said and I smiled.

“Aww, you’re so cute.” I teased.

“And being an angel is awesome. It makes me feel like I’ve been a good person in my life. And it’s ironic cause that’s the name of my favorite baseball team, and I have it tattooed behind my ear. Also the perks that come with it are awesome. I get to look over you and protect you and my family all the time. And I get to stay in heaven, but since I’m a guardian I can come down to earth occasionally.” He said and I was in awe.

“That’s so cool.” I mused and he laughed.

“What does heaven look like?” I asked and he looked up with thought on his face.

“When I first got there. I was in a field of gold plants. And in the distance was the only tree in sight. It was this huge tree that branched out endlessly. There was the bluest sky I’d ever seen and the field just looked endless. When I walked over to the tree, I looked back and I saw Huntington Beach, but when I looked forwards I saw the pristine sky. There was this little girl who came up to me, and she said I was new here. I had to go see the ‘Big Guy’.” He said laughing as he reminisced.

“I saw him many times as he called me. Once he called me and he showed me a vision of you crying. I was wondering why you were, and he told me that he would send me down to you when that time came. About a month passed before I saw you crying for real. I felt like I was falling, and I suddenly ended up in front of your house. I saw you running home and I went inside. That’s when I met you again, I knew Brian was going to break your heart…I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you.”

“Zacky don’t apologize…It’s not your fault.”

“I know but it hurt to watch…especially since I knew I loved you then.” He said and I pouted.

“I’m sorry…” I apologized even though I didn’t have control. I always apologized for things.

“Nah it’s okay, it’s not your fault. You didn’t know I was secretly stalking you.” He snickered. My jaw dropped and I smacked his arm.

“That is so true! You are such a creeper.” I said laughing and he pouted.

“But I’m too adorable to be a creeper.” He said and I rolled my eyes.

“I thought angels weren’t supposed to lie…” I asked raising my eyebrows and he gave me a deadpanned look.

“Zacky don’t chase me!” I yelled but he started for me and I ran for it. I ran around the corner and I stopped in front of the Ihop we desperately wanted to reach. His arms wrapped around me and I giggled.

“Okay okay! You win! Let’s go inside and get you your pancakes chub chub.” I laughed.

“Wait aren’t you afraid that someone might see you?” hissed as we walked up the steps to the door.

“I can just say that I look a lot like him. It’s technically impossible to be walking in my body unless I was some brain eating Zombie. Which would be so awesome!!”.” He proclaimed cockily.

“Dude you are in front of a pancake joint. Calm down.” I said laughing and he stuck his tongue out at me. We held hands as we walked in.

“Well just so you know, if I were a Zombie, id eat your brain first.” He laughed and I smacked his shoulder.

“That’s…touching… in a dead cannibalistic way.” I said.

“Zacky…turn up your septum and take out your snakebites that would make this easier to pull off.” I said and he did so.

“Hold it?” He asked smiling cheekily and I put his 18 gauged snakebites in my pocket.

They called us and took us to sit in a booth right across from each other.

“Are you excited?” I asked and he grinned.

“Oh you don’t even know.” He laughed and I picked up the menu and went straight for the pancake section.

“What are you going to get?” He asked.

“Uhh, strawberry pancakes, you?”

“I’m getting 4 pancakes with bacon and eggs.” He said smiling and I giggled.

“You don’t waste time do you?”

“Nope! And it’s not like I’m getting fat anytime soon.” He laughed and I smiled brightly.

“You have such an adorable smile. You’re cute without your piercings.” I pointed out and he hid behind his menu.

“Jeez Ana not in public. You’re making me blush…” He joked. The waiter came and took down my order and Zacky’s quite extensive order. She took our menus and soon she came back with Zacky’s large chocolate milk.
“Really? You couldn’t have a medium? You just had to have a large?” I tutted.

“Well if I had gotten a medium, I wouldn’t be able to share this with you.” He said smirking, as he held up two straws.

“Never mind I take it back.” I laughed and he unwrapped the two and stuck it in the glass. I leaned over the table and took one and started sipping.

“This is so cliché.” I said and he laughed.

“This is my version of romance, now enjoy.” He said before he proceeded to blow bubbles.

“Gross dude!” I exclaimed and he laughed.

“You like it.” He replied. I noticed the table next to us; seated four teenage looking girls and they were all staring at us and whispering in shock. One closely clutched the cross around her neck.

“Baby they see you. Don’t look in their direction.” I said with a smile on my face to make it look like I was just having normal conversation.

“I like when you call me baby.” He snickered and I started laughing. One of the girls got my attention.

“Um…excuse me, I don’t mean to bother but isn’t that…Zacky Vengeance? I might seem crazy for asking this but isn’t he dead?!” She asked scared and Zacky turned to face her, looking confused.

“Oh you mean that guitarist for Avenged Sevenfold? I heard about that, people always tell me I look so much like him. It was hard walking around during the whole mourning period without being mistaken.” He laughed warmly and the girls looked so relieved. She even started laughing.

“Oh okay, I’m sorry for bothering you guys it’s just that the resemblance is so uncanny.” She said laughing and we smiled.

“Its fine, I get it all the time. You girls enjoy your meal.” Zacky replied, and either way they still swooned.

“So does this make me a necrophiliac?” I whispered and he burst out laughing.

“Pretty much yeah.” He laughed and I shook my head. The waiter came back with all of our food. Zacky all but lunged for his pancakes and he moaned at the taste of them.

“Don’t cream your pants now.” I said laughing, and since his mouth was full and he couldn’t verbalize it, he dropped his fork and flipped me off.

“We already did that!” I exclaimed and he laughed with pancake still in his mouth. When his mouth was finally void of food, he asked me a question.

“When you were with Brian…was he good to you?” He asked looking at me carefully.

“Yeah for the most part. We were great together; he was really nice and sweet until I caught him cheating with Sarah.” I said and he looked so disheartened.

“Why would he cheat on you, was he drunk?”

“I think so…” I said getting emotional all over again as I thought about it.

“Hey, hey don’t cry…” He said holding my hand over the table.

“I just can’t believe he would cheat on me with her! That fucker deserved it when I shot up his bedroom though.” I replied sniffling with laughter at the end.

“Well Brian may be my best friend, but that was a dick move…And you did what?!” He exclaimed and I laughed.

“Well you might already know, but Brian keeps one of his handguns in his hall cabinet behind everything. So I grabbed it and I started shooting. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone run faster than she did.” I replied and his eyes were wide.

“Well just know that if I ever had the chance to really date you, I wouldn’t do that. And not just for the risk of getting a cap in my ass.” He said and I giggled, wiping away a few stray tears in my eyes.

“Thank you Zacky-bear.” I cooed and his face deadpanned.

“You always ruin the mood with those nicknames.” He laughed and I scoffed.

“I think they are adorable.” I rebutted.

“Well I am not adorable; I am a sexy, sexy man.” He emphasized and I scoffed. He just gave me that cute mischievous smirk.

“Yeah yeah sexy-pants, finish your pancakes.”

__________________________________________________________________

“So what can we do now? I wanna spend as much time with you as I can. Tonight is our last night and then tomorrow you leave.” I pouted as we walked down Main Street.

“You want to come to my house? I’ve spent I don’t know my entire ghostly afterlife at yours. So why don’t we go play at my house.” He said and I burst out laughing.

“You sounded like a pedophile at that last second.” I laughed and he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“I’m the sexiest pedophile you’ll ever meet.” He laughed and I screamed in mock horror.

“Get away then!” I said smacking him and he got sad.

“So…you don’t want to come to Zacky’s house?” He said in third person.

“Of course I do. You’re house is huge.” I said and he smirked laughing.

“Great, then we can do it in my bed.” He said picking me up in his arms and I laughed. We reached his house quickly and we walked inside. There were some things missing, but it was still amazing. He took me to all of the rooms, including his, and his studio, and his ‘guitar room’. There were at least 50 guitars in that room, hanging on all of the walls and on stands and in cases.

“Did you really need that much?”

“Well no, but Syn got me into the habit.” He smiled sheepishly, rubbing his neck with his hands.

“Stupid guitarists.” I mumbled and he pinched me.

“Shut up, I happen to love guitar. And this vast collection is my baby.” He said and I rolled my eyes. I just didn’t get it, the connection between a man and his guitar I would just never know.

“It’s like you and your writing.” He said and my eyes widened.

“Yeah now you get it. But I don’t know where all of this is going to go. I don’t know what’s going to happen to it.”

“Zacky if I could, I’d take care of all this for you, but my house is too small to fit all of your stuff.

“I know, I wish you could too. I’d give them to Syn, but god knows how many he already had.

“Well didn’t you say who your stuff goes to in your will?” I asked and he sighed.
“I never thought I’d die this early, so I never really finished it. I do know for sure that Icky goes to Gena, and my house gets put up for sale.”

“Well if I could I’d move here, but I simply don’t have the money and I like my house too much.” I pouted and he hugged me tightly around my waist.

“Don’t apologize Ana you had nothing to do with this.”

“I know but I just feel bad.”

“Don’t, I’ll figure out something to do with it. Maybe I could have them given away.”

“Okay, so what can we do here?”

“We can watch movies, we can go swimming, and we can fu-“He started to say but my phone ringing cut me off. I looked at the caller ID and it was Matt.

“Hey Matty how are you?” I answered and he sighed.

“Hey Ana, I just called to talk to you about what happened with Brian. Is it true? Did he really cheat on you?”

“Yeah he did, I saw him with that skank with my own eyes.” I replied coldly with an edge in my voice.

“That’s so fucked up. He was so messed up that you broke it off, but now I see why.”

“Is he okay?” I may have been angry with him, but I still cared about his well being.

“He’s passed out now, but before he kept slurring at me to call you.”

“He was drunk?”

“Try fucked up.” Matt answered. I could tell this was hurting him too. I sighed into the receiver.

“He honestly shouldn’t have cheated. That would solve all of his problems right there. Just make sure he doesn’t drink anymore.” I told him and he agreed.

“Okay I won’t. So how are you holding up Ana? Have you moved on?”

“I’m fine Matt, it still makes me sad sometimes but I’m fine. And sort of.” I said trailing off at the end. I looked at Zacky who shook his head.

“Don’t tell him!”

“Why not?!” I hissed.

“Because then I have to explain this whole thing!”

“Zacky stop being stubborn!” I hissed and Matt was talking to me.

“Hello? Ana who is that? Are you with a guy already?” He asked perplexed and I laughed airily.

“Sort of.” I responded.

“So it’s a chick then?” He replied with a perverted insinuation.

“No Matt gross…I’m with Zacky.” I said and the line went silent. Zacky face palmed.

“What do you mean? He’s still wandering around here?”

“No…more like he’s here for two days before he leaves.” I said.

“Where will he go?”

“…Heaven Matt…” I replied and Matt was silent for a moment again.

“Ana you know this sounds crazy.” He said and I sighed.

“I know but when has anything been normal for me?” I responded.

“True.”

“Will we get to see him?” Matt asked and my eyes darted over towards Zacky.

“Maybe.” I said and Zacky face palmed again. We carried on a bit more on the phone before I ended the call.

“Okay, bye Matt.” I said before I pressed end.

“Why do you keep doing this?” Zacky asked me after he finished his pacing. I shoved my phone in my pocket and stared confused at his frustrated expression.

“What do I keep doing?” I asked him and he ran his hand over his face.

“You keep making me have to see everyone! I said goodbye already! They said goodbye to me more than once!” He exclaimed and I put my hands on my hips.

“Zacky I thought you would be happy seeing your friends again.”

“You just don’t get it do you?! Every time I say goodbye it hurts Ana! It hurts everybody who has to say it to me and they know they’ll never see me again! Every time I keep saying goodbye it implies that I’ll keep coming back! I don’t want to! I want to rest peacefully and have everyone move on! Every time I say it, it just draws out the pain of being dead! I mean, I shouldn’t even fucking be here!” He yelled and my eyes hardened.

“So you don’t want to see me anymore...” I concluded crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes at him.

“That’s not what I said Ana and you know it.” He said trying to reason with me.

“Yes you did. You said you don’t want to keep coming back here. As far as I know, I’m the reason why you did.” I said and he sighed.

“Ana don’t do this now.”

“Do what Zacky?! You’re the one who wants to leave!” I said throwing up my arms in frustration as I stormed past him. I know it wasn’t really the time to argue with him since he was leaving and all but he couldn’t just say that! I mean every time he comes back…it’s because of me. I didn’t know my way around his house so I just went into what seemed like the den. There was a couch and a huge TV. An Avenged Sevenfold blanket was laid across the couch and I slipped under it. Everywhere smelled like him and I sighed.

I really was genuinely hurt by his words. I triggered that whole thing. I felt even worse when he didn’t come to check on me or reconcile when I thought he was. I eventually closed my eyes to take a nap and let the sleep consume me.

I was laying down somewhere white. I sat up trying to look at my surroundings. It was like I was sitting on a cloud, it felt soft and cool. There was a slight breeze that blew, and the air was thin and light. I stood up in my new surroundings; it was like I was alone in the sky.

You know when you look out of an airplane and you see the endless field of clouds, sky and sunset? It was like I was standing in the middle of all of that serenity. I felt so at peace. I could see the sun hanging in the sky, and creating blooms of orange and creating silver lining on clouds.

“Where is this place?” I voiced aloud, and my question was carried through the thinner atmosphere until the sound completely dissipated. What kind of tranquil abyss was this? I turned around but nobody was in sight.

“Hello?” I called out, and my voice echoed again. I turned around to see Zacky. He was dressed in black pants, shoes and a black button up that showed part of his chest tattoo. His hair was gelled up and he had black gauges in. He was in such contrast with the angelic wings that covered his back, and the untouched white sky.
“Zacky what is this?” I asked but he just smirked at me. I took steps towards him but I was wary…what If I fell through.

“You won’t fall here…” I heard his voice carry smoothly to me. His wings gently flapped in the breeze and I grinned fully at him. I ran towards him, cloudy matter being pushed up by my feet. I reached him and I jumped into his arms and he caught me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him and he smiled down at me.

“I wanted to show you this.” He said and I looked up at him confused.

“What is this exactly?” I asked him and we turned around to face a new direction. My mouth dropped as I saw the endless golden fields in front of me. It shimmered slowly as wind moved through it. The sky was such a cloudless, pure blue, and in the middle was a huge tree where I saw some children playing. Their soft giggles were carried towards me through the gentle breeze. It was so silent here that every single sound seemed to be loud and resounding.

“It’s heaven…” He said and I gasped. It was so flawless…

“Wait…Zacky don’t you have to be dead to go to heaven?” I asked him and he chuckled.

“Yes but this is different. Your body is at home in a state of suspended animation. I brought your soul here. I can’t let you past this point until you die. But if you decide to set foot in these fields then you will.”

“But this place is so beautiful; I want to stay here with you…” I said and he smiled sadly but genuinely.

“I only brought you here to show you, and apologize. Ana I don’t want you to die, I want to keep being your guardian until it’s your time to die. I wanna meet you here so we can walk these fields together, not take you into them myself.”

“I really want to be with you Zacky.” I said tearing up. He noticed and he wiped the tears that fell onto my cheeks with his thumbs.

“I know and trust me so do I. Look I know what I said earlier, and I didn’t really mean it that way. It just hurt having to say goodbye to my friends. I don’t mind saying goodbye to you because I know I’m destined to see you again. I technically have visiting rights.” He said and I ended up laughing through my tears.

“Now stop crying baby girl, because I love you.” He said and I reached up and kissed his lips. He returned the gentle gesture.

“I love you too Zach.” I said before he kissed me again. He sat down in the clouds in front of the endless fields. I sat in his lap and watched the ethereal beauty.

“Shh…close your eyes.” He murmured softly.