A/N: Okay, so I was in the shower yesterday (10.11.08) and I came up with this idea for a sort of... dark oneshot. I figured that it would be the perfect time to do it too because it's October and therefore, Halloween month!! Yeah. So this story has brief reference to rape and suicide, but it's still rated T because I'm 14 and I've talked about that shiz in school before. I figured it'd be alright. If a have a problem though, feel free to tell me.
Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama Island.
The moonlight shone bleakly on the old plot of land beneath it, giving a dull glow to the black iron fence surrounding it. A crow squawked in its unpleasantly grating tenor and flew down from a tree covered in autumn leaves to perch on the fence's rusty old gate. A gentle breeze blew through the graveyard, ruffling the crow's feathers and sending it flying off in irritation.
The girl watched the crow's flight disinterestedly, leaning back against her gravestone and letting out a sigh of relief when she didn't fall right through it. Her gravestone. She grimaced to herself at the thought. Even after being dead for more than a few centuries, she still had moments of discomfort knowing that she existed, but wasn't really alive. That she was a… ghost.
Sighing again, she turned to inspect the once new and pristine epitaph to her short life. The only thing you could really make out now was her first name, the rest eroded by time and decay. Courtney. That was the name. It was simple, but she thought it suited her perfectly.
The girl, Courtney, suddenly heard another sigh that wasn't her own and quickly looked to another grave a few feet from hers, adopting an extremely hopeful look. Her hope was fulfilled as she saw what she'd been waiting for since nightfall. The boy was sitting against his own gravestone, head in his hands.
Duncan. That was the boy's name. The girl smiled in his direction and he snapped his head in her direction, a look of anguish marring his lovely face. Even in his spectral life, his shock of black hair framed his striking features making her want to reach out and run her fingers through it.
Her smile disappeared as she looked at him, the intense pain he felt radiating towards her. After a moment, he broke eye contact and put his head back in his hands, rocking a little in the strength of his inner torment. This is what had happened just about every night. The boy, Duncan, could only stand to look at her for a minute or so before turning away. Other nights, he didn't even show up.
Courtney was so tired of it always being this way. Like her moments of discomfort, this routine had been going on for centuries. She was determined to try and ease Duncan's distress and tell him everything she'd wanted too since he died a few days after her.
Standing up, she brushed a strand of her mocha hair behind her ear and started to slowly walk toward him. After a few steps, she figured that she should try and get Duncan's attention, no matter how futile the attempt. Biting her lip nervously, Courtney went over what she could possibly do to make him aware of her once more. Finally settling on an idea, she opened her mouth and began to speak in a gentle and soothing tone.
"Once upon a time," she began smoothly, "There was a girl who grew up innocent and blissful and loved. She was always courteous and generous and people thought that she was the epitome of everything that beautiful and just in the world."
Duncan had stopped his rocking and seemed to be listening to her, but he still had his head in his hands. Taking an unnecessary breath, Courtney continued to speak.
"One day, a boy came to the village where the girl lived. This boy had grown up far away from the girl and very differently. He had been betrayed and mistreated and forgotten; he was always angry and ignorant and unforgiving. People that got anywhere near him believed him to be the very essence of sin and vice."
Courtney had finally reached Duncan's headstone and now stood before him, watching for any sign that he had stopped listening. Not finding any, she sat down and pulled her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Settled down, she continued her story, her voice taking a poignant and quiet tone.
"When the boy saw the girl, he wanted to destroy her. What right did she have to be fulfilled when he was miserable? So one night, the boy convinced the girl to come with him to an old and abandoned stone house on the outskirts of the village. The boy raped the girl and then killed her in a fit of anger and jealousy."
At that, Duncan looked up and Courtney leaned forward until she was on her knees, her face inches from his own. Her tumultuous black eyes bored into his tormented teal ones, trying to fully grasp the extent of his suffering. Still at a loss, she persisted onward in her tale about the two of them, fervently hoping that she would make things right.
"But you know," she said in a heartbreaking tone that made Duncan wince, "the worst part wasn't that the boy got away with it."
His eyes widened and the torment gradually faded into curiosity. And for the first time in centuries, he spoke to Courtney, his voice soft but a little shaky with uncertainty.
"Or that the guilt over wrongly killing the girl drove him to kill himself?"
She smiled sadly at him, "Right."
"Then what was the worst part?"
"The worst part," she whispered, looking down, "Was even after all of that, the girl fell in love him… and he didn't even notice."
In response, Duncan simply grabbed Courtney and crushed her to him. It wasn't until what seemed like forever that he loosened his grip a little and spoke again.
"You're wrong, you know. The worst part was that the boy only did all of that because the minute he saw the girl, he loved her. He just didn't think she could ever love him back."
It was then that she kissed him, running her fingers through his hair.
A/N: So that was it. If you didn't like it, sorry. I was kind of going for a darkish romance and it seemed really awesome in my mind. So... if you want, tell me what you think. Tchau!