Eternal Love

Eternal Love

Since Catherine was a small girl, many boys have been giving her presents and special attention due to their infatuation to her appearance. And as the years went by, Catherine developed into a beautiful woman with her long blonde hair going down the left side of her face, her beautiful green chestnut eyes that seemed to glimmer anytime you would stare too deep into them, and her voluptuous figure that can be perfectly juxtaposed to an hourglass.

Yes, Catherine was the ideal figure for any man's desires. Despite that, she has yet to have settled down with a man. Because of her ridiculously high standards, she's been rejecting men left and right. As a child, she's always believed that one man would be the reason for her life; that one perfect man. Many have tried to sway her off of her feet, but she remained dead on the ground. No man has ever lived up to her standards of perfection. Not until the day Jim Hanson moved into town. Jim had the striking look of Catherine's needs, needless to say, Catherine too appealed the same way to Jim. In no time, the two were engaged.

As wedding preparations were being made, Catherine was growing too obsessively in perfecting the wedding. Jim, many times, tried telling Catherine to calm down and that as long as they loved each other, they would have the perfect wedding. Catherine didn't bite, she and Jim would argue countlessly. Eventually, Jim decided he would no longer participate in the wedding preparations and just go to the brothel in town. There, he met Alice; the bad-girl that seems to have been the ideal opposite of Catherine -- her jet black hair, and her Gothic attire with the touch of juicy red lipstick to her puckered lips. Jim decided to buy her a drink and from then on in, it was all downhill from there. Days and days went by with Jim spending more time with Alice as Catherine continued to prepare the wedding. Jim stated his problems about Catherine, so Alice told him they weren't right for each other. Again and again Alice would constantly try to convince Jim to leave town with her – to be truly together away from Catherine. As the day of the wedding comes up and Jim is getting dressed, Alice was able to Jim in a vulnerable state due to his cold feet and is finally convinced to run away with Alice. As Catherine awaits Jim at the alter during the wedding, she finds herself to be heavily disappointed as she finally hears the news of Jim's leave. Confounded, Catherine takes an overdose of pills and commits suicide. As Catherine takes her final breaths, Catherine's father rushes to her urgency, only to hear her final words: "he will love me; in this life or the next". And as Catherine's father holds the corpse of his daughter, tears trickle down his face then landing to the face of newly-dead Catherine.

All is well for Jim, living with Alice and away from worries and concerns other than the cold winter ahead. A week after Catherine's demise, Jim reads about it in the papers -- describing her as the unwed bride who killed herself due to lacking a significant other. This brings Jim down the guilt trip. For weeks and weeks he contemplates whether he should go back to town and pay his respects; make amends with her and himself to sow the guilt shut from within. Jim hardly ever slept from then on. Conscious or unconscious, Catherine was always there to haunt him; either in the deepest recesses of his nightmares or in nostalgic figures to bring back his memories of her. Jim had to resort to it, he knew it -- he had to face her grave -- apologize, but also, to remember his love for her. He reminisces of better days, as her essence deriving from memory alone again indulges Jim's desire to reunite with Catherine. He no longer wanted to visit her grave only to justify his evil deeds, but to again come close to a woman he once loved. As his infatuation towards Catherine rises, his attraction towards Alice slowly but surely began decaying. Jim now sees that his anger towards Catherine was what fueled Alice's beauty. As Jim and Alice made love, he only imagined Catherine. Jim continued to discretely obsess about his dead fiancé, so he later made the decision and packed up and left during midnight after Alice slept, to get to Catherine's grave.

3am, no one to notice Jim was back in town. Which was fortunate for Jim seeing as how he isn't too big a fan of angry mobs, especially when the mob's torches and pitchforks are headed for him. Jim climbed over the gate and turned on his flashlight, nearly cutting his jacket on the top of the gate. It was dark and foggy, the wind cut through Jim's face, the atmosphere was dead as dead can be. But love overcame the fear inside Jim. He hastily searched for Catherine's tombstone. Two hours passed by, but Jim wasn't close to giving up. He finally finds Catherine's grave, with the ground still subsided and the shovel leaning by the tombstone. He crouched down, touching the ground where beneath it lay the one who would make him whole. Jim sobbed endlessly, apologizing, wishing he could undo the mistakes he's done. He laid his back on the tombstone and sat down. He could live the rest of his life like this, right next to her grave, if not only for society that is. Jim stayed there, too captivated to leave.

Jim awoke, realizing he's slept for an unsure amount of time next to Catherine's grave. But what woke him wasn't a mere natural alarm, it was Catherine, standing above him glaring down in furiousity. Jim stood up, unsurprised, and paused for a moment, he looked at her, she had been dead for quite some time. She had been buried in her wedding dress, her hair was down and fritzy, her right eyeball had been devoured by the still residing maggots in her eye socket, her skin lying on her left cheekbone had slowly been chipping away. Nevertheless, it was Catherine. Jim embraced her, not knowing how she had left her eternal sleep, but not caring.

"Why did you leave? Why did you betray me?", asked Catherine.

"It was a foolish mistake, I regret it, but please, push that aside and love me once more", pleaded Jim, now on one knee.

Catherine stooped down on both knees, and both exchanged words of apologies and forgiveness and reminisced of a past much more innocent. Catherine was alive, she had to be. Jim embraced Catherine once more but with a much more intimate touch. Jim took off his jacket, then unzipping the back of Catherine's dress while their lips locked. He swayed his left hand towards Catherine's left foot while making it down her skirt and to her thigh while he moved his mouth down and seductively poked at her neck with puckered lips. They took off the rest of their clothes, Jim slowly trickled his fingers down Catherine's breast, while gently caressing his other hand across her cold frigid body. Her stiff body laid under him, while he gazed down her pale skin; making love for what could be the very last time...

A crowd grew in the cemetery that morning; the cemetery's caretaker in front. Jim awoke finding everyone surrounding him, appalled by his return perhaps. Everyone was gazing at Jim while he returned a look of bewilderment. Jim sat up, still naked, and noticed someone moving within the crowd trying to get to the front. After such hassle, it appeared to be Catherine's father, who immediately borrowed the same distraught face the crowd had. Jim slowly turned to his side and realized what had happened last night: he had dug up Catherine's corpse and had sex with her dead body.