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“What are you doing here?” The phantom asked, staring at the girl who had stolen her heart, with her drenched dress and her wavy brown hair weighed down with raindrops.
“I had to see you again,” she answered as if it were that simple. She said it as though that would be enough for the rest of her life. She said it as though that would keep her from moving, and keep her life from changing and keeping her away from her lost lover. “Just one more time.” The girl smiled her loving smile, this time obscured by drops of water falling from her lips, coming from both the sky and her eyes.
“Shall we walk?” The ghost offered with a small smile, offering an arm the girl couldn’t hold onto. A soul the girl couldn’t touch, but loved. A soul she couldn’t be with, but would always remember. She would always remember because of the light in her eyes when she would speak of her life when she was alive. She would always remember because of the way the sun glowed in her hair when she laid down on their picnic blanket. She would always remember because of the way her laughter would dance in her ears, long after their smiles faded and they got lost in each other's eyes. One lost in the sea of blue, discovering all the hidden secrets it had to offer. The other digging in the soil, planting a small seed whose roots would grow into the dirt, anchoring them together and whose leaves would grab the sunlight and continue to feed and grow the beautiful tree, building it bigger and stronger than any of the others that had taken root in her mind.
“Are you not going to ask my name, now that we won’t see each other again?” The girl asked as they approached the edge of the forest, a boundary the phantom could not cross.
“No. Because I want to remember you not by your name, but by your smile,” the ghost said, turning her head to see her love’s eyes one last time, “I want to remember you by the way your nose scrunches up when you’re concentrating on something. I want to remember you by the way your eyes light up when you realize just how much you can do in your life. When I remember you I don’t want to think of your name, I want to think of just how much I love you. I want to remember just how beautiful you looked when you drew me that day in the shed. I want to remember the way you screamed at the top of your lungs at the waterfall, just to see if you could hear your voice over its noise.” They faced each other now, both with tears streaming down their faces, tracing the lines around their cheekbones and onto the light freckles painted over their blush from days spent sitting in the sun, wishing to freeze time and keep it trapped within the dark spots scattered along their noses. “Because I want to love you- I want to be with you forever, and I don’t want this to end.”
“But darling,” the girl answered, “this will never end. We will always love each other. And even if some of the memories fade, and I forget the pattern of the freckles on your nose and our drawing is lost to the rain, I will always remember the way you smile in the sun, and I will always be reminded of you when I see the green leaves growing in the light. So even though I will never know the feeling of your hand against mine I will always remember the way you talk to me as though I am the only one you understand. Although your love will only be one of thoughts, they will live forever in my head, and even if I can’t recall the date it started I will always remember our love.”