The pale sunlight glistened off the polished rows of granite and marble as the lone figure walked slowly through the graveyard. Aside from her, the graveyard was vacant. She brought not flowers and cried no tears as she picked her way between the headstones. She didn't quite seem to know where she was going.
After several minutes of searching, the woman found the grave she was looking for and knelt down in front of it wearily. She tucked her long hair behind her ears and pushed her glasses up her face to get a clear look at the inscription on the polished rock.
'Yumi Ishiyama,' it proclaimed, followed by dates of birth and death and a carving of an angel. There were fresh flowers laid out in front of the headstone, a sign of a recent visit by relative or friend. The current visitor was neither, a fact she was acutely aware of as the sun beat down on her back.
"Hello, Yumi," she said, voice shaking slightly. "It's been a while hasn't it? Four years, in fact. You probably wouldn't even remember me now."
Do I look familiar?
If I don't, well I should.
I'm sure you've seen me around.
She laughed quietly. "You probably think it's ridiculous that I'm here, right? You probably think I've come to brag or something." Another laugh. "Well, I'm not here to say that I won. I got Ulrich in the end, didn't I? It's a hollow victory.
"I wanted him so bad. I always loved him, even in Jr. High. I almost had him once, and I saw how jealous it made you to see me with him. It didn't seem fair to me when he just forgot about us. But hey, that's life right? C'est la vie and all that.
"You two were together all through high school. The ideal couple, always together and obviously in love. You could see it in the way he looked at you. Ulrich was positively entranced by every word you spoke, every move you made. And unlike Sissy, I knew when I had no shot at a guy. That doesn't mean I didn't want him, because I did. I love him the way you did, and I still do."
Emily paused and sighed. "No one could believe you were in that accident. The whole school went into a state of shock. You were eighteen, graduating in less than two months. It just didn't seem real that you were gone. Ulrich was completely devastated. When he finally came out I guess we just...bonded."
If you've got a minute,
I'll buy you a drink.
I've got something to say.
"I wasn't really trying to replace you," she added hastily. "I was just concerned for him...He just folded into himself. Never left the dorm room, wouldn't speak to anyone. I started visiting him, trying to cheer him up. I had no illusions of him ever loving me, but when we were nineteen, he proposed to me.
"Naturally, I was elated. I was like my greatest wish had been granted. Perhaps I was blinded by the fact that I was in love with him."
Emily sighed. "We're happy...Or at least, I think we're happy. Our marriage is good, we don't fight or anything like that. But still...Sometimes I wonder..."
It may sound crazy
But last night in his sleep
I heard him call out your name.
"That brings me back to why I'm here," Emily said. Tears were starting to course their ways down her tan cheeks to splash onto the green grass grown over Yumi's grave. "Last night, I woke up because Ulrich was thrashing around on the bed. He was crying and calling your name. I think he was dreaming about the night you died. I held him down to keep him from hitting himself on something, and after a while he quieted down."
Emily took a shaky breath, wiping away the tears jerkily, as though ashamed that Yumi should see her cry.
This ain't the first time,
He's done it before
And it's hard to face the truth
"It's happened at least once a month since we've been married. That, or he wakes up in a cold sweat from nightmares about your death. He can't forget you, Yumi."
Emily punched the engraving of the angel on the headstone, collapsing into tears. "No matter what I do, or how much I love him, I just can't make him forget you. He may love me, but he's not in love with me. And I finally learned the difference. It took six months or marriage, but I finally learned the difference!"
I'm the fool
In love with the fool
Who's still in love with you.
"Are you happy, Yumi? I can't get on with my life, because he can't get on with his! I couldn't have him when you were alive, and even when you're dead you still have a hold on him! It's not fair!"
But you hold his heart
In the palm of you hand
And it's breaking mine in two.
Emily rose, picking up the flowers laid by the grave as she did so. "Congratulations, Yumi," she said through the tears. "Even though you're gone, you still won. No other girl will ever truly have Ulrich, because he's in love with the one girl he can't have. You. I'm his wife, and I can't even be the one to make him truly happy."
"So I hope you're happy, wherever you are," Emily spat. She threw the flowers at the grave, creating an explosion of petals as they connected with the grave. "You won."
Emily turned and marched out of the graveyard, still crying.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer- I do not own Code Lyoko, or the song by Lee Ann Womack
I'm not saying anything... I will caution you though: Don't assume anything in the first couple of paragraphs.
I'm not saying anything... I will caution you though: Don't assume anything in the first couple of paragraphs.