mirstie (mitch & kirstie)

—

Mitch sighed as he laid the flowers onto his mother's grave for the third year in a row. "Happy birthday, Momma." He whispered, wiping his tear stained cheeks. "I wish you could be here..I miss you so much." He closed his eyes for a moment, saying a silent prayer before making his way to the gate of the cemetery.

As he looked back towards his mother's grave, something caught his eye. He couldn't tell if it was a flash of light or a person walking, but once he looked again, nothing was there. Curiosity must have gotten the best of him, because he found himself following the mysterious movement.

His search was immediately halted when a purple fog blurred his vision. He tried to disperse it by waving his hands around, but it didn't go away. Walking through it, he accidentally ran into a headstone, apologizing.

When the fog had faded, he looked down at the headstone, furrowing his brows. It looked different than the others. Instead of a person's name, birthday, and death date, it read: GAME OVER. CONTINUE?

Mitch laughed, shaking his head, "This has to be a joke." On the corner of the stone was a coin slot. Not thinking that it was real, Mitch dug around in his pockets searching for a quarter. Holding it in his hand, he bent down, inserting it into the slot. He jumped back as the coin went in, causing the ground beneath him to start to shake.

Moments later, a hand shot out of the ground, making Mitch scream in horror. He watched as a whole body erupted from the grave, standing up to dust themselves off.

"Ugh! Thank you. I have been waiting for someone to come along for years." The girl said, sighing.

Mitch's eyes widened as he stood still, staring at the girl. She waved her hand in front of his face. "Are you okay?"

"Y-you... you just.. what?" He stuttered, trying to process what had just happened.

"This has got to be a dream." He shook his head, punching his arm and closing his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, the girl was still there, but now leaning against the headstone amused at his reaction.

"Are you done? I have a job to do." She said, crossing her arms.

"Uh...yeah. I'm done." He said, quietly. "Wait, what job?"

"You're going to finish something for me." She smirked.

"Why would I do that?" Mitch asked her.

"Because if you don't, you're going to end up in the same spot as me until someone just so happens to stumble upon the grave. That's what happened to me." She told him.

His eyes widened at the thought of it. "What is it?" His voice was quiet.

"You have to finish something that I died trying to do. You see years ago, I fell in love with an amazing man. He was the best person I could have asked for. That is until he started beating me." Her voice wavered. "I had tried to get rid of him so many times: locking him out of the house, changing the locks, throwing his stuff out.. but he always found a way back. I had finally had enough one day when he brought home another girl when he knew I was at home.

The next night, I made him his favorite drink: a Whiskey Sour but with a little splash of antifreeze. I made myself one too just so he wouldn't get suspicious, but I guess he switched them, because when we sat down to eat and we began to drink, nothing happened to him. I felt fine until hours later. My body started to slowly shut down until finally, I couldn't move at all. The only good thing that came out of it is that I took my last breath alone, far away from him."

Mitch stared at the girl, taking all the information in. "So you're telling me to kill your abusing ex-boyfriend?" He asked.

"Yes." She stated simply.

"I-I can't do that.." He whispered, shaking his head.

"You have to!" She raised her voice.

"Okay! Okay." He held his hands in the air, backing up. Sighing, he ran his fingers through his hair.

"How am I supposed to do this? What happens if he actually dies?" He asked.

"You have to figure that out, and then I get to be free from this stupid grave." She explained.

"What will happen to the grave once you're gone?"

"You ask so many questions." She groaned. "It will disappear or so I think."

"How come it is still here?"

"Because no one has successfully finished any of the tasks." She trailed off.

"How many people have been before you?"

"Okay, I'm not answering anymore questions." She rolled her eyes. "His name is Aidan Winslow. He should still live around here. It happened only a year ago. Good luck."

Mitch took a deep breath, nodding. "Alright. I got it."

"Please complete this. I really don't want to be stuck here any longer." She said, sincerely.

He was quiet for a moment, but nodded again. "I will.. I promise."

"Thank you.." She sighed, sitting down on top of the grave, beginning to wait.

—

As Mitch entered town, he looked around, wondering where to start. Walking to a store, he went up to the counter, clearing his throat.

"Excuse me? Do you by any chance know a man named Aiden Winslow?" He asked.

"Why do you want to know?" She crossed her arms.

"Oh! I was just wanting to get more information on my sisters disappearance. She just went missing last year without any contact with us. I just need to get some closure." He lied.

The woman nodded, smiling sadly. "Ah, yes. Kirstie was a great girl. I'm sorry for your loss."

"My loss?" He put on a confused look.

The woman was stunned, but quickly shook it off. "Um.. I can give you the address of his job. He should be working today." She wrote it down, handing him the piece of paper.

"Thank you." He said quietly, smiling a little.

She simply nodded, her face glazed with pain. As Mitch left the store, he pulled up the Maps app on his phone, putting the address in.

Kirstie huh? Nice to put a name to a face. He thought as he called an Uber.

—

He took a deep breath, opening the door to Chipotle. Of all places. Mitch walked to the counter, looking around at the employees. There was only one guy and one girl behind the counter who were making the food. One of them has to be him.

The guy smiled looking him up and down, "Hi, what would you like to order?" He glanced at the name tag he was wearing. Aiden. Bingo.

"Um, I have never eaten here, so I have no clue." He admitted.

The guy nodded, "Okay. I have something great for you."

Mitch furrowed his brows, quickly shaking it off, not wanting to look suspicious. Once he was done making his order, Mitch made his way down the line to pay, but Aiden held his hand out. "It's on the house."

"Oh, um. You don't have to." Mitch insisted, but he just shook his head.

"Well, thank you." He smiled awkwardly, taking his food. Before he could walk away, Aiden slipped him a piece of paper. Mitch took it, reading the scribbled handwriting.

Call me xoxo (681) 719-9873

His eyes widened as he looked up at the smirking man. Swallowing, he forced a nod and quickly made his way out of the restaurant. He had to go back to the graveyard and tell Kirstie.