Julie and Jackson, they loved being called the two Js, had known each other since they were children. They grew up as neighbors, went all through school together, had the same friends and went to the same parties. It wasn’t until they went to different colleges that they realized how much in love they were.
It had been there all those years, growing together, laughing and even crying together, yet they didn’t recognize it for what it was. There was true caring and friendship and yes, love. That first year apart had been devastating for both of them and over the summer they decided to get married.
That was five years ago. They finished college and both had good jobs. Their lives seemed to be like something out of a fairy tale, yet something had died. Or had it really died? Was it just lying dormant under the everyday things of life? Where was that spark, that caring and cherishing they’d had? They both knew it was missing but neither spoke of it.
Maybe this vacation would bring it back. A trip to the beach seemed just the thing to bring back that feeling of first love that they both missed. So it was that they packed up bathing suits and causal wear and headed to the coast of South Carolina. The four-hour drive was spent laughing and talking about old times at school and the fun they had growing up. Just maybe this would be the cure for them.
They were sitting at a bar on the beach and overheard one of the bartenders telling a ghost story. Seems many, many years ago there was a very wealthy older man who fell in love with a young woman. He worshiped her and decided to build her a castle on an island he owned. The young woman, while taken with him, felt he was just too old for her and she refused his love. The man, thinking the castle would change her mind, began having it built.
The young girl would stand on the shore and stare at the island. The man was so kind and her heart did love him, but she couldn’t make herself give into someone so much older. Over the months as she watched the supplies go back and forth to the island she felt herself drawn there. She knew that pure love waited for her there and her heart began to melt. Finally she made up her mind to go to the man and declare her love for him.
She put on her best dress, combed her long black hair and began the walk to his house. Her heart was light, her face radiant and her eyes sparkling. As she walked up the hill to his house she saw many people gathered outside. There was lots of whispered conversation and the mood seemed to be very somber.
Eyes followed her as she walked up to the house. She heard someone whisper, “There she is. She is the reason for this.” People were pointing at her and she didn’t know why. Suddenly she stopped – there was a black wreath on the door. Someone had died. Oh god, no! It couldn’t be! A woman dressed in black walked up to her. “You are the reason he has died. His heart broke over you. He spent all he had and all he was to build you that castle and it has killed him!”
Julie and Jackson were mesmerized by the story, as was everyone around them. The tale was that the ghosts of the older man and the younger woman still haunted the ruins of the castle and if you went there by the light of a full moon you could see them trying to find one another.
That night Julie and Jackson were sitting on the beach after a lovely dinner. The sound of the waves was so soothing and the stirrings inside them so strong. They lay in each other’s arms for a long time, kissing and feeling their bodies together. As they caressed each other a strange thing happened. If was as if the full moon suddenly moved over the top of the island and all of the clouds above it moved away.