GetLit is a semimonthly series featuring works of fiction and creative nonfiction submitted by New School students. Each month has two opportunities to submit: an open call and a themed call. To submit your work or find more information, please visit GetLit’s submissions form.
Due to an influx of fiction submissions, we have chosen two fiction pieces this month. Our first selection is “In Between the Veil” by Sami Genevieve.
Sami (she/her) was destined to write as a natal Gemini sun and Mercury. She lives in New York with her two cats (Hendrix and Tsuki) and dreams of saving as many cats as possible. She is in her second year of the creative writing MFA program with a concentration in fiction, set to graduate in May 2025. She is a tarot reader, a practicing witch, and your new favorite writer. She loves writing about witches, vampires, faeries, soul contracts, and the other side. You can typically find her drinking coffee, listening to music, crafting, reading a book, or writing in her journal.
The cool air dances around the unsuspecting children as they leave with their ice cream. Kids skip out of a red restaurant with smiles and drop offerings on the cracked concrete. Trees sway and moan with the wind. The golden-hued leaves fall and flutter in the breeze. The blue sky darkens as the year creeps closer to an end. The green grass withers yellow and prepares to be painted white.
Despite the dying season, the ice cream parlor remains chipper as usual. Every day I observe the living going in for their daily fix. There isn’t much else to do. Besides, watching the decaying foliage replace the vibrant flowers at the gray headstones. Every year the lush green pathways turn amber and crunchy. Even the air develops a bite to it.
Empty and full beer cans press against the cool-toned markers. The stairs leading down to the mausoleum are hidden with fallen branches and leaves. The undressing trees shiver as they prepare for colder temperatures. Trees of all kinds have taken root in this soil. Pine, sugar maple, and red oak are some of our famous residents. The evergreens decorate the beautiful property, even as all are decaying.
In each lane, an eternal decomposing body resides. Some graves differ from the others. Some have crosses, little statues, or small rectangles. Most etched with a name and date. Surrounded by the will of nature. Persistent branches and weeds make their home on abandoned graves. The kept ones are weeded and adorned with fresh flowers.
Squirrels chase each other up and down the tombstones and the trees. It is their playground and humble haunt. Unlike us, the squirrels can come and go as they please. While we are bound to linger about the grounds. Noticing how the green grass turns yellow, white, then back to green. See the flowers bloom and fall. Year in and year out. Watch the kids drop their ice cream at the eatery outside the gates. Crying to their caretakers even though they’ll be back next week for more. No matter the season because it is never too cold for ice cream.
What was once dreary, and gray is now full of life. Even when the snow coats the hallowed ground, squirrels nestle in their nests. Noisy cars speed past us down the highway. Mourners come to visit us and leave presents. Teenagers escape their prisons to have peace of mind here. Sometimes new spirits move in, and we get to witness their burial. The well-dressed guests are always solemn with sobering thoughts of their own mortality and the loss of their loved one vexing their consciousness.
The new neighbor is always welcomed with loving arms and a map of their new terrain. We stand by their side as they watch their loved ones say their goodbyes. This in-between realm isn’t too bad. We get to observe the change of seasons, the children laughing as they get their ice cream, and our visitors always leave presents or kind thoughts. As the seasons change, so does one’s appreciation of the beauty that surrounds us. There is life everywhere, even in what some consider dead.