No One Can Touch Us

“I love the way you look at me.

I love the way you hold me close.

I love the way you never laugh, even if I tell a stupid joke.

I love the way you say my name.

I love the way you laugh and sing.

I love the way you smile real big-“

“Stop, just stop okay!” Elizabeth yelled, glaring at William as he held one of her journals in the air, out of reach and over her head. She had tears burning in her russet eyes, threatening to fall as William kept laughing mockingly at her. He had been rummaging through her things, sub sequentially finding a shoebox filled with all her notebooks from high school – all her poems, songs, stories, and thoughts.

“Awe, c’mon, I wanna finish reading this one,” William teased, turning his back to Elizabeth and continuing with, “I love it when you-“

“Shut up!” Elizabeth seethed. “Get the fuck out of my house! J-just get out!”

William glared, turning his back around once more to face his girlfriend. He threw the small notebook across the room, not caring where it had landed, and stepped forwards and towards Elizabeth. She cowered in fear as she looked up at him, his big brown eyes almost black with rage and a slight hint of lust. All he did was smirk, a hand being raised up in the air, and Elizabeth knew to close her eyes and take in a sharp breath, waiting for what she knew she had coming.

“No one yells at me,” William said calmly, colliding his palm with Elizabeth’s cheek. “Now I expect an apology.”

“S-s-sorry William,” Elizabeth whispered, shaking her head and rubbing her cheek with her right hand. “I won’t scream at you again, so please just, um, go away.”

William glared, though did nothing. He simply nodded, walking towards Elizabeth and wrapping his arms around her before placing a kiss on her nose, as if he had not just hit her.

“I’ll be over in a little while to you pick you up,” he smiled teasingly, “and bring your notebooks.”

Elizabeth wanted to glare, to yell at him and to tell him to shut up, though the dull sting in her cheek reminded her of what might happen if she lashed out on him. So keeping a tight lip, she nodded simply, saying a short goodbye afterwards and watching him walk up the stairs to get to the living room.

The minute the front door closed, Elizabeth rushed to her notebooks which had been strewn out by her closet. She glared down at her memories, her only way of knowing how to escape and express her feelings, and she gathered everything in her arms and dumped them in a random purse that had been lying on the floor, leaning against the closet’s door frame.

She had a place in mind, a lighter in her back pocket, and many thoughts running around crazily in her head. With the addition of her keys and cell phone being thrown into the purse, she changed into a pair of shorts and a black shirt, slipping on her flip-flops and making her way up and out of her room.

The clear blue water crashed against large rocks that lined the side of a cliff. White foam made its way onto the shore, being dragged back into the ocean by the small waves and ripples that had been pulled back with the tide. The sun was dying; rays of orange and red were gracing the once blue sky with slight smudges of pink and purple. Amongst it all, in the middle of the beautiful and serene beach setting, sat Elizabeth with her toes in the sand, her lighter being thrown about from hand to hand and her notebooks dumped in the sand.

“Dude, I’m back!” Jimmy gushed, appearing besides Elizabeth.

“How was your day watching over the guys,” Elizabeth asked meekly in a dull tone.

“Okay, you’ll never believe what happened at Brian’s place! Fucking Zacky almost-“Jimmy had to stop himself. Seeing the lost look in Elizabeth’s eyes as she stared out at the ocean only confirmed his fears of something not being right. “What did I miss?”

He’d been over at Brian’s house, just standing quietly to the side and watching with a smile on his face as Brian and the rest of the group lounged around, having a BBQ and joking around like old times. It pained him, seeing the occasional unhappy smile from one of his friends since he knew they all missed his crazy antics, though there was nothing he could do. He did, however, push Val into the pool, laughing wildly as Val blamed it all on Johnny who’d been the closest. And as expected, Jimmy went unnoticed as he laughed, though the sudden humor died down when that nagging tug was being felt in his stomach, telling him that Elizabeth needed him.

“William hit me, again,” Elizabeth sighed, no longer hurt with the fact that she was always bullied around and manipulated with. She needed to change things if she wanted to live her life normally, albeit normal people didn’t have spirits following them; she’d make it work.

“The things I’d do to that bitch if I was still alive,” Jimmy mumbled angrily.

“I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself... for the most part,” Elizabeth sighed, knowing that that was all a big and fat lie.

“Keeping your head up always works,” Jimmy nodded, smiling slightly, “keep a positive outlook on life and do good things, cause it’ll only be a matter of time before good things come your way.”

“Thanks,” Elizabeth smiled, letting out a small chuckle before saying, “you’ve got this ‘guardian angel’ thing all figured out.”

“I’ve always offered good advice, alive and now in the afterlife,” Jimmy chuckled, “now, will you tell me why you’ve got a shit load of notebooks and a lighter? Are you going to burn them; maybe bury them in the sand or throw them out to sea?”

“I’m down to stuff them all in a bottle, though that’ll mean someone else will find them eventually, and I don’t want that to happen,” Elizabeth sighed, “so I’m going to burn what I can and then throw the ashes at sea.”

“Fuck yeah, polluting the water!” Jimmy said sarcastically with a large smile.

“Okay fine, I’ll bury the ashes,” Elizabeth laughed, standing up from the sand and brushing her backside to rid of the usual sand particles that clung onto her jean shorts.

Suddenly in a much better mood, Elizabeth kicked around the sand, making a small pit and with the help of Jimmy tore out random pages to each and every one of her notebooks. She started crying, letting everything out, her anger, her pain, the love she used to feel for William – it all came out as she began tearing pages out of her notebooks, destroying the memories and false hopes she’d built up for herself when she was much younger. She just cried her heart out, literally, and once her notebooks were practically in pieces in a small pit in the sand, she took in a deep breath and smiled, taking a leaf of paper and bringing the lighter up to the corner.

“Here’s to a new beginning and to letting go of all heartbroken memories,” Elizabeth said with a small smile, letting the now burning piece of paper fall onto the pile and watching intently as all her notebooks went up in flames slowly.

“So, will I ever know why we just did this?” Jimmy asked curiously, looking down to the pile of papers as they reduced into nothing more than ash mixed into the sand.

“I’m just letting go,” Elizabeth said softly, tucking the lighter back into her pocket, “what more is there to say?”

“Nothing, I guess,” Jimmy smiled as he looked down at Elizabeth, who currently had her sights fixed to the ocean and the sun that slowly dipped into the horizon. He had the purest of thoughts in his head as he looked at her, admiration, adoration, and respect swimming in his eyes as he resisted the urge to pull her into his arms solely because a few bystanders were on the beach, and how weird would it look to them seeing Elizabeth hugging the air?

He wasn’t going to lie, it would be like dying all over again when the time came to leave Elizabeth. He had grown attached, too attached, and he loved every moment of it. He knew he was in for one hell of a heart break once Elizabeth wouldn’t need him anymore, and he hated knowing that – there was no way of lying to himself. Not anymore at least.