Glancing around him, Susan looked at the two bushes herself. Staring, she saw that although each bush was visibly dead; dry brittle branches hung splintered and ravaged toward the ground, but about halfway up each bush, there was a single blood red blossom just beginning to bloom on a short stem of living branch, surrounded by a single grouping of deep green leaves. Reaching out to gently caress the petals of one of the roses, Susan jerked her hand back in shock when it opened fully as her warm flesh touched it. A strangled giggle escaped her lips and with her curiosity piqued, she reached a shaking hand out to the other blossom and brushed a finger along the edge of a single crimson petal; once again, after her touch, the flower swelled into full bloom. Glancing over at Justin, she raised her shoulders in a shrug of uncertainty.

“Well,” he said, his voice catching slightly, “I guess we found the rose bushes we were looking for.”

Leaning over to inhale the sweet fragrance of each rose in turn, Susan whispered, “Emma said they have been helping us along the way; I guess she intends to help us till the end.”

After allowing her a few moments to enjoy the pleasant scent emanating from the roses, Justin said, “So, where did you see Archibald bury them? We’ll need to know where they are in order to lay your flowers on their graves.”

Straightening up, Susan tapped her lip and said, “They were each buried in front of a rose bush. I remember lying down between them and crying after Archibald left. That means wherever I was lying when you found me was between their graves. So,” she spread her arms and turned to face him, “where was I?”

“Well,” he said, moving to stand between the two bushes. Justin took a couple of steps away from the rotting stems, then pointed to a slight depression in the ground bordered, by two short, rectangular mounds of earth. “You were right about here.”

She stepped forward and stood in the depression, then turned to face the bushes and knelt down in the damp earth. Feeling something wet soak through the cotton of her pants, she looked down in time to see another tear fall, landing on her legs. Brushing at her eyes, Susan swept the flowers she held across her cheeks, transferring some of her tears onto the silky petals.

Seeing her shudder as she allowed the tears to fall, Justin rested his hands on her shoulders. A gentle breeze began to blow, and he spoke, in a quite voice that belonged in a church or library, the only words he could think of that would be appropriate for a funeral service. “‘May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.’ Emma and Jebediah, be at rest and know you will not be forgotten.”

When he was finished speaking, Susan gently kissed the flowers she held, then leaned over and was just beginning to lay the first bouquet on one of the mounds, when her arm was jerked back with such force that she was thrown through the air. She landed in a crumbled heap yards away, knocked unconscious by the force of her fall, and the resounding crunch of shattering bone echoed through the air as her arm folded on itself. The flowers she had held came to rest, immediately forgotten, scattered in the space between her body and the rose bushes.

In the few seconds that passed between the instant Susan was pulled away from the graves and the moment she impacted the hard earth, Justin heard the ring of callous laughter which he recognized immediately. Turning slightly, he was able to see Archibald’s ghastly form as he materialized into existence, standing inches from where Susan had knelt.