i like the idea that ghost stories are love stories. i like the idea that all the horror that occurred was for love.
the horror started with viola knowing her time was up but having so much love for her family that she refused to go. she wanted more time with them, but she also didn't want to hurt them. if she had chosen to let go, it would've saddened them, that's for sure, but she would've left loving them completely and them loving her the same. over time, however, and by choosing to stay despite the decay of herself and her relationships. she started a cycle of stillness, abuse, pain, and ultimately death.
things went wrong, memories and people faded, but life went on. there was a fear of being forgotten, but what viola and everyone trapped alongside her didn't know is that they too would forget. forget everything about themselves and their loved ones, just to eventually become a shell of who they used to be.
yes, maybe everything did start with and for love. but i think that very quickly changed, and things were set in motion and kept in existence by selfishness, and maybe even weakness. that, until a series of sacrifices many decades later coming from a place of selflessness, courage, and so much love, finally stopped the cycle. rage consumed viola, but love ran through dani, and so, love triumphed. even later still, when jamie knew that dani would go someday. she loved her every minute, one day at a time. and when dani did leave, she still did it for love.
jamie poured and shared all that love into the hearts of those surrounding her when she told them their story. love is to being known but also to be mourned. because in a way, we all start the mourning process the moment we chose to love someone. some day we will die, we'll become a faded memory, we will love and lose people and forget parts of them. loving isn't easy, it's scary, but we must accept and cherish that and know that no one is ever truly gone. love is one of the most beautiful and rewarding things we can live through. because love isn't a weight that traps us, but a seed that must be looked after and cared for, so something even better and stronger can bloom.