A Sleepless Night

"I can't sleep" said Alyssa.
"Me neither" said Patrick.
Alyssa looked beside her to see Patrick, her boyfriend, who was wide awake, just like her.
"Why not?" she asked him.
"Come on, Alyssa, you know why" groaned Patrick, as he sighed with frustration.
"Hmm..." she hummed in agreement and turned back to look at the sky.
Nobody spoke anything for a while before Alyssa decided to break the silence.
"Do you think the situation would have been different, if..." she trailed off.
"If?" he asked, even when he knew what she was talking about.
She sighed before replying, "If we had not been there that night."
Patrick did not respond. Alyssa understood that he was upset. She felt guilty for bringing up the past.
"Pat?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper.
"There has not been a minute since that day, that I have stopped wishing for things to be different. The events of that day still haunt me" he answered.
She knew that he was beating himself up for everything that had happened.
"You are not the one at fault. Above all, if it was destined to happen, then nobody could have avoided it. Not even us" she said, trying to make him feel better.
"But, we had a feeling that something would have happened. We saw signs. Still, ignoring our intuition, I insisted on going on our date. Stepping out of our house was the worst decision that I have ever made. We could have avoided them if we just stayed back home, but I ruined everything" Patrick almost yelled.
"You did not ruin anything. If there is anyone to be blamed for what happened, then it is them!" Alyssa screamed.
Patrick did not know how to respond to her outburst.
"They are the ones to be blamed... They are the ones who decided that it was okay to make things right by causing an accident… By causing our car to crash down a cliff… By killing their own friends… By killing us!" she ended with a sob.
Patrick wanted to hug her and comfort her. But, he knew that it was not possible. They are spirits, wandering the earth, searching for peace. They could not touch anything or anyone, not even each other.
"How did they believe that killing us would change anything? It does not change the past" wondered Alyssa.
"True. But, it can change the future" answered Patrick.
Alyssa turned to look at Patrick, confusion written all over her face.
Patrick explained further, "Our parents betrayed their parents. Once upon a time, they were friends. A close-knit group of people who made a pact that they would be there for each other, no matter what. But, our parents forgot all about it, as soon as they came into power. Your father is a Mayor and mine is an attorney who helped him cover up all of his crimes."
Alyssa held a solemn expression. "What were his crimes? Corruption. He made a great deal of money, illegally, and blamed it on their parents. Why? Because they were easy targets. Poor, in dire need of money and most importantly, they had no power to prove their innocence. I don't know if it is called being clever or cunning. Maybe both?" she said.
Patrick shrugged, "We should have known better than to trust their children. But, they seemed so sweet and friendly, from the moment they extended a hand of friendship. I could not doubt them even for a moment. They were always there for us. We have shared fun moments and made great memories with them. It is hard to believe that they were never our friends."
"They were our friends, Pat. They loved us, maybe just not as much as we loved them. Their determination to avenge their parents overshadowed their care for us. Their judgement was clouded because of the trauma that their families had been through" said Alyssa.
Patrick chuckled, "Are you still defending them? Even after what they did to us?"
Alyssa smiled sadly and said, "I am not defending what they did. They had no right to take someone's life. What I meant was that we cannot judge them when we have never been in their situation. Can you imagine how it would feel to be in their place? To watch your parents get betrayed by their close friends? To watch them lose their jobs and be accused of something that they never did? To watch both your parents part ways and to live in a broken family? To suffer from trauma and depression?"
Patrick went quiet after listening to her questions.
"Yes, they chose the wrong way to get justice for their parents. But, think about their pain and anger that drove them to make such a drastic decision. We can never completely understand them because we never went through any of that. I believe our mothers never knew about their husbands' wrongdoings. So, there were no conflicts at home. We were a happy family, until now" she continued.
"Now, everything will be revealed and their parents will get justice. But, do you think this will solve everything? Every problem that ever existed?" questioned Patrick.
"I wish I could answer your questions. I don't have all the answers, honey" answered Alyssa.
"I have an answer. The answer is yes and no. Their parents would get justice but nobody can promise that their families will get back to how it was in the beginning. They may have felt satisfied with their revenge. But, the guilt and remorse will hit them and trust me, it will hit them hard because one day, they will realize that we had nothing to do with what happened in the past" explained Patrick.
"So, who will get us justice? No one. Nobody can do anything about it because we are long gone. We had dreams, Pat. Many, many dreams. We dreamt of going to the University, getting good jobs, travelling the world, getting married, having children, and growing old, together. Everything was snatched away from us in a moment!" cried out Alyssa.
"Think of it like this. Maybe we were never meant to experience all of that in this life. Like you said, it was all destined. But, you know what? I believe that this is not the end. Our next life will be better. We will find our way to each other. We will live the dreams that we could not realize in this life and experience so much more than just that. We will live a beautiful life and grow old, together" said Patrick, confidently, as he tried his best to comfort her.
"I believe that, too" said Alyssa, as she smiled a little.
There was a moment of silence before Alyssa spoke, again.
"Will we ever find peace?" asked Alyssa.
"Of course, we will. We just need to trust and let go. It will be alright, I promise, Aly" said Patrick, as he tried to hold her hands.
Surprisingly, they could touch each other. At that moment, they realized that all they needed was a little reassurance from each other to get rid of their fears and replace them with hope and peace.
Alyssa's face lit up with joy because she could finally hold hands with her true love.
Both of them got up from hovering over their graves.
"I guess this is it, Aly. It is time to leave, for now. Let us meet, again" said Patrick.
"See you soon, my love" said Alyssa.
They hugged each other and kissed, as if it was the last time, but they knew that this was not the end.
"I love you!" they said at the same time, as they slowly vanished into thin air, with hopes of seeing each other, sooner than they thought.