The Man Who Couldn't Stay Dead. (Final Part.)

MILAN, ITALY. AUGUST 16th. 8.45pm. LEGNO DI AMORE.

It was evening when they reached Legno di amore.
The taxi dropped Anthony and Sophia at a deserted picnic area amongst a scattering of wooden tables and a lonely refreshment hut, shuttered up for the night.
Anthony paid the driver who gave him a wink and a sly, knowing laugh.
“Have fun Signor. I wish I was young again like you” If he noticed the spade handle protruding from Anthony's shoulder bag he paid it no attention.
“No you don't.” Anthony said aloud as the taxi drove away.
“Antonio, this is madness. You don't even know where to begin.” Sophia had been trying to talk Anthony out of his morbid idea throughout the journey.
“I'll know.” he said. “I can feel it.”
“But you can't just go digging up bodies. You should call the police.”
“It's my body Sophia. I think that gives me the right. How would I explain that to the police ?” Sophia had no answer to that conundrum. Who would ?
“I came here once for Paolo.” Anthony said, looking around. “He'd run out of fuel after one of his amorous evenings. I brought him a can of petrol. There was a lake just off a dirt track and a huge olive tree covered in some kind of hanging plant. If it's still here I'll find it. Anthony set off into the dusk with Sophia in his wake. They hadn't gone far when Sophia called to him. She pointed to a woodland sign indicating the way to a lake in the opposite direction. He took her hand as they turned and headed together in the direction of the sign.
After almost an hour of walking up and down identical looking dead ends and dirt tracks, Anthony began to feel light headed and nauseous, just as he felt when he entered the office that afternoon.
“We must be getting close Sophia It's got to be around here somewhere.“
It was Sophia who saw it first. There was a full moon and her eye was caught by water glistening through the trees. Silhouetted in the moonlight by the lake was a large tree covered in long trailing drapes of Spanish moss, like shrouds hanging out to dry, shining eerily in the light.
“That's it. said Anthony when he saw the tree. It feels like it was yesterday. My body is here somewhere.” he walked around the tree using his nausea like a compass.
He stopped at a piece of ground that looked just like any other. His head filled with the images and sensations that had plagued him all of his life. He struggled not to pass out altogether. “I'm here. This is where I am buried.” he had to sit down against the tree to clear his head and stop his legs shaking. Sophia was even more uneasy.
“Antonio, it's not important any more. We have each other now. Lets go home.”
“I've got to finish it Sophia. I've got to get my nightmares out of my head. For my own sanity. My whole life has been leading up to this point. And don't forget the ring. If it's still there it will be worth a fortune. We can finally have the future that was stolen from us. A life together, with no worries. We deserve that don't we ?”
Sophia didn't say any more. There was no point. She undid Anthony's bag and took out the spade and torch that they'd bought on the way here.
Anthony got up unsteadily, took the spade and began digging. The deeper he got the worse he felt. Sophia took turns to dig while Anthony had to sit against the tree and regain his strength. It looked like a scene from an old horror film. Two gravediggers in the moonlight under a tree swathed in long flowing Spanish moss, floating in the breeze like the grim reapers bony fingers.
When Sophia was taking her second turn with the spade, about two feet down, there was a loud clang of metal on metal. She stopped digging, holding the spade in mid air as though frozen. Anthony got to his feet to peer into the hole. They could see nothing but dirt. They looked at each other, puzzled and wary. Sophia, standing in the hole, bent over and somewhat reluctantly brushed away the soil with her hands. Anthony got the torch and shone it into the hole, instantly Sophia screamed and jumped backwards, falling onto her back in the grass. Anthony jumped into the hole and retrieved the cause of her fright. He held it up and shone the torch on a filthy, rusty but recognisable object from both of their pasts.
“It's my grandmother's hand mirror.” Sophia could barely speak with fright.
“It's my murder weapon.” Anthony's head swam in a sea of nightmares and emotion and memories, like a film running backwards. He fell onto the grass beside Sophia. He felt like Superman holding a lump of kryptonite.
Sophia got a bottle of water from the bag and helped him drink, then she poured some on the mirror and cleaned it as warily as you might stroke a hissing cobra. She recognised it from twenty five years ago. Longer. From her childhood. Except now the glass was broken with a triangular piece missing.
“You were telling the truth. You were murdered. But it can't be possible. You can't be here now. Digging up your own body.”
“I don't understand it either Sophia. But it's true. Maybe people get a second chance ? People who were as much in love as we were, but cheated out of their future. I don't know.” Anthony hauled himself to his feet and stepped back into his own grave. He carefully dug deeper and soon revealed a skeleton. His skeleton. He brushed the dirt away from the skull to reveal a hole above the left eye socket. Instead of being repulsed or nauseated, he tenderly stroked the wound.
“Dear Antonio. Look what he did to you. Poor poor Antonio. Rest in peace now my friend. You will have your happiness after all. Love has found a way.”
Sophia was drawn back to the grave, stroking Anthony's hair to comfort him. Touched by the tenderness, her horror dissolved and she reached down to removed more dirt from the skeleton, strangely wanting to see the 'man' she once held in her arms. The man she was meant to marry. The skeletal right hand was still clenched in a meaningless fist, mostly full of dirt, but also, just visible in the torchlight was something else. A ring. The ruby and diamond ring. She gently removed it from the hand that had held it safe for a quarter of a century. She poured water on it and rubbed it clean. “It's beautiful.” she said as she handed the ring to Anthony. Just as he had once before, he held it in his right hand alongside the mark he'd carried all his life. They were identical.
“This is for us Sophia. It always was. This will give us everything we should have had before, and more. Do you still want to marry me ?”
“What do you think ?” said Sophia. They kissed lovingly, silhouetted by the full moon shining through the trees, Spanish moss drifting around them as they stood in the grave containing Anthony's 'previous' body and Sophia's former lover.

The sound of a car approaching fast along the dirt track ended their brief moment of pleasure. Anthony immediately thought it must be Peeping Toms, or maybe the police.
It was neither. It was far worse. The car crunched to a halt, lighting them in its headlights The doors opened and three men got out. One was three parts dead. Beaten to a pulp. The two hulks threw his broken body to the ground in front of Anthony and Sophia.
It was Paolo, or what was left of him.
“Look Mario, how kind. They've dug a grave for our friend here.” Hulk number one was still as sarcastic as ever.
“Mafioso.” Sophia whispered, terror struck.
“Paolo tells us you've got something for us. Something very valuable.”
“We've got nothing for you.” said Anthony. He pointed at Paolo lying at his feet.
“If he owes you money, that's his problem. It's nothing to do with us.”
“It is now. We're not fussy who pays so long as we get our money. Now where's this ring ?”
“There is no ring.” Anthony bluffed. “We've been searching for hours, it's not here.”
Hulk number two pulled out a gun from inside his jacket.
“Patience Mario. Patience.” said hulk number one. It was a well used routine.
“You can shoot us if you like, We've still got nothing for you.” Anthony played the ultimate bluff.
“Oh we're not going to shoot you. We're going to shoot your friend here.”
Psycho hulk pointed his gun at Paolo, lying in a heap on the ground.
“Wait.” shouted Sophia. “You can't just shoot him like that.”
“Silly me. You're right.” said sarcastic hulk. He went to the car and turned on the radio. Music filled the night and bounced around the shadowy trees.
“Legno di amore. Lovers everywhere. We don't want to frighten them do we. Carry on Mario.”
“Wait. Stop.” Sophia shouted again.
“You have the ring ?” asked sarcastic hulk.
Sophia's mind froze. She didn't know what to say.
“Carry on Mario.”
Mario calmly pointed the gun at Paolo's bloody, crumpled body. Sophia screamed as a shot rang out. Paolo jerked and moaned as the bullet hit him in the stomach.
As all attention was on the dying Paolo, Sophia surreptitiously took the ring from Anthony's hand and without looking, flung it backwards into the open grave.
“Now you have the ring. Yes ?” asked sarcastic hulk coldly.
“I told you. There is no ring. Paolo lied to you to save his own skin.” Anthony played his last desperate card.
“Well that's unfortunate.” said sarcastic hulk taking his own gun from his jacket. “Because Mario doesn't like witnesses to his carelessness. Professional pride you understand. Nothing personal.” he raised the gun towards Anthony. With nothing left to lose, Anthony swung the spade that he was still holding. It smashed into the gun and sent it spinning into the air. Psycho hulk quickly aimed his gun at Anthony.
“No.” screamed Sophia, flinging herself in front of Anthony just as psycho pulled the trigger. The bullet hit her square in the chest, piercing her heart. Anthony caught her as she fell. Her fading eyes looked up into his face. “Oh Antonio.” she said as her eyes closed for ever.
“Nooooooo.” screamed Anthony at the top of his voice. The shout seemed to echo around the woods for ever.
“Finish him.” sarcastic hulk said icily to Mario the psycho. Another shot rang out. Anthony flinched, waiting for the pain. A trickle of blood ran from Mario's mouth, then he fell sideways to the floor like a demolished chimney stack. Anthony and sarcastic hulk looked at Mario, dead on the ground, then at each other, momentarily confused. Then, as though a whistle had blown, they both raced for Mario's gun. Anthony dropped Sophia's body, she fell into the open grave on top of the skeleton of Antonio. The two men reached the gun at the same time, they both had one hand on the weapon while trading punches with the other. Anthony was no match for the hulk, a man mountain and a hardened killer. As they rolled over in the dirt, he felt an intense pain in his guts. He looked down to see the hulk stabbing a large hunting knife into his ribs.
An icy cold weakness rushed through Anthony's body. He was helpless as the hulk withdrew the knife and stabbed him again with two hard vicious thrusts to his body.
“Snivelling sewer rat.” snarled the hulk as he picked up Mario's gun and pointed it at Anthony's head. A shot rang out and once again Anthony waited for oblivion. Sarcastic hulk fell to his knees, his white designer shirt rapidly turning crimson, wet and glistening in the headlights. He stared at Anthony with a look of utter shock, before falling face down into the dirt.
A faint groan came from where Paolo lay in the shadows. Anthony tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't obey. He could feel the life draining out of him. He crawled to where Paolo lay on his back, the hulk's smoking gun in the dirt beside him.
“I thought you were dead.” Anthony said weakly.
“I am.” said Paolo through a mouth full of blood. “Not long now.” he looked at Anthony's blood soaked stomach, then over to where Sophia lay.
“Sorry I wasn't quicker.”
“You tried.” said Anthony, getting colder and weaker.
“It's the least I could do after all the .....” Paolo didn't finish. He gasped loudly and his head fell to one side.
Anthony lay in the dirt feeling sick, not just because of his vicious stab wounds but with grief for Sophia. The only sound was the metallic voice of the presenter on the car radio announcing the next song. The tune filled the night air and filled every atom of Anthony's fading body. It was Dean Martin singing That's Amore. Every note of the song dug deep into his psyche. He knew that fate was playing its final card and telling him his time in this life was over once again. He wasn't sorry. There was only one place he wanted to be. He crawled over to the grave that now contained two bodies. His own skeleton and Sophia, his one love from both of his lives. He slid into the hole in the ground next to Sophia and kissed her softly on her still warm lips. He put his arms around her and lay there in the night, in his own grave holding the love he'd twice been been cheated of.
He didn't give a thought for the ruby and diamond ring Sophia had thrown into the grave minutes earlier. The ring that was going to give them a future together.
“Goodnight Sophia darling.” he said softly. As he closed his eyes and slipped into eternity, he didn't notice Sophia's clenched fist.

For the second time, Anthony left this life as Dean Martin finished singing That's Amore.
He didn't hear the radio presenter ending his programme.

“Well that's all from me tonight. The time has just gone midnight. It is now August 17th 2014 and I'm off home. Take care everyone. I want you all back here tomorrow night. Sleep tight”

The date meant nothing to him of course. Why would it ? How was he to know it was the birthday of Anthony Walsh and 25 years to the day that Antonio Petrini was buried in this wood. In the very same hole in the ground where he now lay once more.

FLORENCE. ITALY. AUGUST 17th. 2014 3am.

A hospital maternity ward. Two babies are born in adjoining beds.
One boy. One girl. They both have peculiar scars. The girl, on her chest, the boy on his stomach. The girl also has a red oval mark on the palm of one hand. The junior midwife dismisses them as birth marks.
The two mothers have become friends during their stay in hospital and will stay friends for life. Their children will grow up together, fall in love, marry and raise a family.
Their parents joke that they were 'meant to be.'

End. Fine.

Thankyou for reading this far. All comments/constructive criticism welcome.