The woods had gotten thicker. They had begun their hike early in the morning; the day was waning as the sun crept closer to the horizon, and the shadows were getting longer and darker.
“Think we should be heading back soon?” He asked her. He had some experience hiding through the woods, but nothing compared to her. They had met on a hike. That day had been one of the greatest days in his life. He had been hiking for a few months when he joined a group. That day they talked and walked so much that they never noticed the rest of the group had turned around hours before.
“Let’s just go a little further. There is a path up ahead I wanna check out.” She said. He nodded and followed her to the path. He was becoming worried because he knew they would wander around the woods in the dark if they didn’t return soon, and getting lost and turned around was easy.
“I think we should start thinking of heading back soon. We don’t want to be out here when it gets dark.” He said a little after they had been walking the path. He had begun to wonder how she knew about this path.
“I know, and you’re right, “she said, “but just a little further, ok?”
“Ok.” He said, nodding. “So, how did you learn about this path?”
“I was here a few years ago with Sheila; we found the path, but you know Sheila.” She said, and he did. Sheila was her friend from college; although she was fit, she didn’t like hiking at all. She would rather spend an hour in a gym on a bike than walking or riding a real bike out in the real world, and when she wasn’t happy, she complained a lot. “We came across it, and I begged her to go down it with me, and she refused. She turned around and started heading back to the car. And you know my rule.”
“No hiking the unknown all alone.” They said in unison. He enjoyed hiking, but he didn’t like hiking at night. “If we don’t get anywhere before twilight, let’s go home and come back another weekend, and we can camp out and make sure we explore it properly.” He said.
“Just a little further, please, ten minutes, I swear.” She said. She looked at him with her deep blue eyes, and he relented as always. Damon could not tell her no when he looked into those eyes; it was a weakness he knew but a weakness he enjoyed having.
“Fine,” Damon said, “But no more than ten minutes.” He smiled at her, and she smiled back. They clasped hands and began down the path.
After walking for a few feet, the path began to curve and narrow so much that they had to continue in a single file. The path wound around a hill and above a shallow ravine filled with large rocks below them. Damon followed closely behind Tabitha. She had pulled her naturally curly blonde hair together through the back of her ball cap. He watched as her hair bounced in the sunlight, and he didn’t notice the ground below began to shift under his weight until he began to slip. He cried as he began to fall. She turned quickly, faster than either thought possible, and grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him back onto the path before he fell into the ravine.
“That was close,” Damon said, breathing heavily.
“Be more careful; what were you thinking? I almost lost you, and I can’t lose you.” Tabitha said, looking into his brown eyes. They both peered down into the ravine. “Maybe we should go back?”
“No, I’m fine. Let’s continue on,” Damon said, “Besides, it looks to widen again soon. Let’s get past this ravine, and then we can catch our breath.”
Tabitha nodded, and they began to move again. As Damon had said, the path began to straighten and widen again. Once they got to more solid ground, they stopped. Tabitha wrapped her arms around Damon, and she could feel his strong arms wrap around her.
“We should go back,” Tabitha said as she lessened her grip.
“I may need a few moments before I can dare that part of the path again,” Damon said, “Besides, you’re ten minutes aren’t up yet. They smiled at each other as they knew the ten minutes had been up a while ago.
Side by side, hand in hand, they began to walk again. The path led them through a heavily wooded area. The woods were so thick that sunlight barely breached the canopy overhead. Just as they began to think the path would dissipate into the forest, the trees began to separate, and they saw a clearing ahead. As they entered the clearing, they saw a building in the middle.
They looked at each other and smiled. They walked closer to the building. The building stood at least two stories high, with a dome in the center. The building itself was decorated with ornate styling around the outside, giving it the impression of an ancient Greek temple. The walls were cracked, with ivy growing all over them as if the forest was trying to claim it. The original entrance of the building was blocked by a large piece that had fallen from above.
Tabitha and Damon began to walk around the building. Damon noticed a deep crack in the side and peered in. “Oh, my God.” He said
“What?” Tabitha said. She tried to see into the crack, but it was too high, even on her tiptoes.
“It’s a theatre,” Damon said, continuing to look around.
“Here. We can get in here.” Tabitha pointed to a large crack that went down to the ground and was wide enough for them to squeeze through.
“We can, but should we?” Damon asked, “The building doesn’t look all that sturdy.”
“ It stood this long.” Tabitha stated, “If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but I’m going in.
Damon watched as she squeezed through the large crack in the wall. Reluctantly he followed her inside the theatre was even more amazing. Rows and rows of wooden seats face a large stage. Remnants of cushions, long since rotted away or carried off by small animals for the nests or dens, could be seen. The stage protruded into the audience by a round apron. The seats closest to the stage arced to match. Above them, balconies lined the decorated walls. Above the stage hung remains of a tattered curtain, once bright red and large, now rotted to an almost maroonish gray.
They could see faded images painted on the wall around them. “This place is so beautiful and sad,” Tabitha said
“My god, can you imagine this theatre back in its prime, filled with guests laughing and crying as they watched the shows before them,” Damon said as he took his pack off. He had been getting a headache since he fell, which had worsened since they entered the theatre. He dug around in his pack and found the bottle of Ibuprofen, poured four small gel caps out onto his hand, and took them with a swallow of water from his bottle.
“I can,” Tabitha said. At first, she thought the sound she heard was the wind blowing through the trees. As the sky darkened, the sound got louder, and she could hear people chatting. “I swear I can hear people talking.”
“I hear it too.” Damon stood up and looked around to see if he could see anyone through the cracks. “HELLO.” He shouted at no one in particular. The sound seemed to come from the area by the theatre’s front doors, but they could see nothing and what little bit of light shone through the crack had faded. Then a bright light lit up behind them, and they turned to see candles along the walls burning brightly. “uh, those weren’t there when we came in, were they?
“No,” Tabitha said, her voice cracking a little. They watched as people seemed to appear from the shadows before them. At first, they were thin and see-through, but as the sky darkened, the people seemed to become solid, more alive.
2.
They stood there in silence as the theatre began to fill, and the crowd, formed out of thin air, began to take their seats. The candles then went out, re-lit, and re-lit once more. When the candles came on the last time, every seat in the theatre was full but two. The lights dimmed, and behind a brand new, bright red curtain, which hung where the rotted one used to be, came what looked like a short man with hooves.
“Welcome one and all to the Ethereal Theatre. Tonight, we will be performing William Shakespeare’s divine comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The show will begin as soon as we have ALL taken our seats.” And with that, the entire audience turned to look directly at them, and Damon and Tabitha looked at each other and took the last two open seats.
“For two of the living, they move as if they were dead.” The goat man said as the audience laughed, “Now let the show begin, and with that, he faded back into the curtain—this time when the curtain opened to a lavishly grand palace. Tabitha and Damon watch as the players act out the play to perfection. They laugh at Puck’s devilish tricks along with the audience. When the final scene closes, and the curtain drops, the entirety of the audience stands. Among the thunderous applause, they could hear shouts of bravo and cheers. As the curtain draws, the applause gets louder at the introduction of each player. Damon and Tabitha, applauding along with the crowd, watch as bouquets of roses are thrown onto the stage. The players bow in unison as the curtain drops for the final time.
Tabitha notices that the sky has lightened, and the audience has become less corporeal. As the first rays of dawn enter the small cracks in the theatre’s walls, she watches as the audience dissipates and disappears into the morning fog.
“Let’s go.” She said, “If we hurry, we can be home and in bed by noon.” They begin to walk back to the crack in the wall they came in.
“Tabitha, I don’t think I can go with you,” Damon said. Tabitha turned to face him and asked why, but when she saw, she realized she was seeing through him.” I think I hit my head a little harder than we thought.” He turned, and together they looked back to where they were seated, and sitting just one seat in from the aisle was Damon.
Tabitha’s hands covered her mouth as tears began to flow.” oh my god.” She said it was all she could say.
“Hey, it’s ok. I will be here. Maybe you can come back sometime.” Damon said. “Hell, who knows, maybe one day they will let me have a role. Always thought I would make a great Caesar.”
“I-I-I’m so sorry.” Tabitha said, crying, “I am so so sorry. If I…”
“Shh, it’s ok. It’s not your fault. It was an accident, and honestly, I feel better; I feel good.” Damon said, looking at her. ‘Besides, now I can tell you what I have wanted to tell you since our first day.”
“What’s that?”
“That I love you.”
3.
After Damon’s declaration, he dissipated into the morning as the rest of the ghostly audience had. Tabitha hiked back down the path until she got a signal on her phone and called for help.
On the Anniversary of Damon’s death, Tabitha returned to the Ethereal Theatre. There Damon waited, and they watched as the troupe of the dead performed King Lear. She returned every year for the next forty years on that date, and every year Damon and she watched a new play together. They laughed and cried together.
On the fortieth anniversary, when the play ended, Tabitha, now old with gray hair, looked over to Damon and said, “I love you too, and always have.” With that, they both faded with the morning light.
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