Seeing his wife sitting between the graves holding a flower over Jebediah’s resting place, Justin rolled away again, dodged another swipe of the scythe and yelled, “DO IT!”

Without looking up, Susan dropped the flower onto the weed covered ground and spoke the words, “‘So Eden sank to grief,…’”

Whipping his head around to glare at her, where she knelt between the two slightly elevated mounds of earth, Archibald screamed in rage and began stalking toward her, swinging the scythe in wide arcs. Realizing he was coming after her, Susan said, “‘So dawn goes down to day.…’” as he dematerialized. Justin climbed painfully to his feet and struggled over to defend her.

He hobbled toward her and was just able to parry Archibald’s surprise attack when he materialized, barely preventing the deadly blade from slicing through the back of Susan’s neck. Hearing Justin’s sigh of relief and his grunt of effort as he forced her attacker back, she leaned over Emma’s grave and gently laid a flower amongst the weeds, then spoke the final line of the poem, “‘Nothing gold can stay.’”

This time Archibald’s scream was one of terror and pain, as he staggered away from the graves shaking his head back and forth, “Noooo!”

Justin helped Susan to her feet and the couple watched as a pulsating red glow appeared in the center of the ghost’s chest. Archibald continued backing away from the couple, seeming to panic as the red glow spread across his body, moving as a fire would devour dry tinder. He dropped the scythe and began frantically brushing at the glowing area, trying to wipe it away, as it grew brighter and flickered as if it were burning him. The entire time, he continued to scream in agony, “No, no, no! I’m not finished! This can’t be happening yet!”

Once Archibald’s body was completely engulfed by the spectral fire, the flames began to spread outward, moving throughout the entire greenhouse. Trying to protect his wife and not knowing what to expect, Justin wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Soon the fire was so bright that they had to close their eyes and turn their faces into one another’s shoulder in order to block out the scorching light.

Suddenly they no longer heard Archibald’s screams of agony and could tell the flames had decreased. Opening their eyes, Justin and Susan noticed an empty spot where Archibald had stood as the flames retreated outward from where he stood. Once the fire had retreated, they noticed that where previously there had been weeds, there were now hundreds of thriving plants with thousands of flower buds waiting to open. Around the greenhouse walls, pristine panes of glass sparkled in the morning sun, reflecting the light and trapping its heat. Turning to face the rose bushes which marked Emma and Jebediah’s graves, they gasped in awe at the majesty before them. The two bushes were covered in crimson blooms, with the highest of those just brushing the glass of the ten foot ceiling. Backing away from the towering bushes, they noticed the slight mounds that had been the only indication of the murdered couples exact resting places were now covered by a blanket of short stemmed, rust colored zinnias, the exact flower that Susan had laid upon each grave in turn.

Still cradling her injured arm, Susan rested her head on Justin’s shoulder and after a moment, she whispered, “I guess it’s over now.”

Wrapping his arms around her shoulder to not only comfort her, but to also allow them to support each other while they staggered back to the house, he said, “Let’s get the car keys and go to the Emergency Room.”

Susan nodded her agreement as they walked toward the house. “How are we ever going to explain this wounds?”