The Immortal Valentine

© Michael L. Emery


When Valentine's Day comes, people either look upon it with romantic thoughts, irritation, or depression.

On Friday, February 14th 1969, a woman named Janet Harrison experienced all of these.

It looked as though her boyfriend, Todd, would avoid being drafted into the war, and Janet had managed to get a nice job at a local department store. Life seemed to be going quite nicely for this perky 23 year old, so she expected this Valentine's Day to be no different.

Janet shared an apartment with her childhood friend, Gina, who was single. Gina had behaved like to the day did not bother her, but Janet still refrained from talking much about her and Todd's plans for that night.

As Janet left for work, she found a red envelope placed under the wiper of her 1963 Ford Fairlane. It was obviously a Valentine's Day card, and from Todd, she reasoned, so Janet's mind danced with many romantic images as she got into the car.
At first she just sat there and held the envelope in her hand, smiling wider than her mouth could probably sustain for very long. Should she open it now, or wait until she and Todd had dinner that night?

She started her car, and as it idled, she debated.

Finally, her curiosity and excitement got the better of her and she opened the envelope.
Inside was a folded piece of red stationary, very high quality by the feel of it. She unfolded the stationary and it had one simple sentance handwritten inside:

Always Yours, My Immortal Valentine.
Todd

Janet felt all warm and fuzzy inside, the statement was so powerful to her despite so few words.

When she got to work, Janet showed it to all of her co-workers. The women melted and many of the men just teased and made fun of it.
The hours seemed to drag along so slowly, as her mind never stopped thinking about seeing Todd that night.
She wanted to call him at work and thank him for the card, and just to hear hias voice. If she had the nerve, she would just leave work and go see Todd and show him her appreciation on top of one of the cars in the repair shop he worked at. She did neither, she just did her job and entertained thoughts of all the ways the night might go when she saw him.

Five O'Clock finally came, and Janet wasted no time going home and getting ready for dinner. Todd had promised to take her to that fancy Italian restaurant she had been dying to try. He had told her yesterday that he would be by to pick her up at 6 o'clock, so she kept one ear focused on hearing his car honking, as she did her make-up.

Six O'Clock...no Todd.
Janet waited another five minutes, then called his home. No answer. She figured he was probably just stuck in traffic or had run late at work, which had happened a couple of times.
Six-Thirty...still no Todd.
Janet was becoming irritated, though also quite worried. If he were just running late, surely he would have called to say so. Her mind filled with many uncomfortable thoughts...

Did he get into an accident?

Did the shop get robbed again and he was hurt?

Is he dead?

Janet grabbed her car keys and her purse.
She almost knocked Gina over, who was just coming in through the front door. Janet only offered a simple, "Sorry about that. I'm going to find Todd." as she went out the door and to her car.

As Janet headed out toward Todd's house, she frantically glanced around, looking for any possible sign of Todd's car. Soon her worry began to turn to irritation. If Todd was alright, why hadn't he called? If he was hurt, why hadn't anyone tried to reach her? Was he having second thoughts about the relationship and was avoiding her? Did he meet someone else and was too much of a coward to say so? Why did he write those beautiful words in the card if he didn't mean them?
Her face became wet with tears. She felt a wave of depression come over her, a feeling that her whole world was coming apart.
As she drove, she fumbled in her purse for something to wipe her eyes. Her focus was off the road for a moment, so she did not see the truck pulling out onto the road until it was too late.
She swerved her car to the right, trying to avoid the truck...unfortunately there was a bridge up ahead and she plummeted almost sixty feet down and into the water below.

Two months later her car was discovered. When they pulled her body from the vehicle, they found that she was clutching the card that Todd had left on her wiper.

Sadly, just minutes after Janet had raced out of her home that fateful night, Todd had called. When Gina answered, Todd had explained that he was calling from a pay phone at a gas station. His tire had gone flat and he had forgot to replace the spare, so it had taken him over an hour to call because he had been walking.

Distraught upon being told Janet's body was found, Todd got very drunk. He did not want to live without his beloved Janet...so he drove his car off of the same bridge where Janet had perished.

It is said that their spirits appear every Valentine's Day...and since their spirits are "lost" they show up in various parts of the country...searching for each other...unable to rest until they finally reunite.