What Happened Next
Ahead
of them, the graveyard slowly came into view. Though it was near midnight, the
full moon filtered through the branches of the oak trees, and illuminated the
cemetery in silver and gray. As they neared the cemetery, Mimi, who had been
walking fast, gradually slowed. Steve slowed too, until they were walking with
tiny steps through the menacing iron gate.
Nothing
moved. The old oak trees and their bare black branches were eerily still. The
only sound was of their sneakers crunching through the leaf litter. In the cold
light of the moon, the graveyard looked oddly peaceful. Then startlingly close,
a barn owl hooted. They both jumped.
It
was Steve who spoke first. “Come on, Mimi, let’s go. There’s nothing here.” He
said. He felt a strange, panicky urge to be far away from here, to be sitting
in his cozy room with a cup of cocoa in his hand. The dark sky seemed to have a
physical weight, pressing in on him.
Mimi
looked at him, face wide and pale like the stark moon above them. “It was your idea to be here. We’re not backing
out now.” Her voice was hushed. They were both whispering, though there was no
one else there.
Steve
was nervous, but he didn’t want to sound scared in front of the girl he liked.
“Fine, then.” He had an idea. “Where’s the tombstone they found your
grandmother in front of? Let’s go look at it.” He said with false bravado.
“Okay.”
Mimi said. She started striding to the other end of the cemetery, and Steve
hurried after her.
The
back of the cemetery wasn’t so well-tended as the front. Withered tufts of
weeds poked up around the gravestones, and dead leaves lay thick on top of
them. Mimi stopped in front of a large, crumbling tombstone at the very end, in
a hidden corner. “This is it,” she said. Steve reached up a faintly trembling
hand, and brushed the oak leaves aside.
“Edna
Parker,” he read aloud. “Died in 1888.” He was getting more and more nervous.
Knock it off, he told himself. There’s nothing here. All of a sudden, there was
a rustling noise behind them. They both jumped, turning around fast. There was
nothing there. “Let’s go, Mimi.”
Steve said. He could no longer disguise the fear in his voice. Mimi shook her
head. She was staring at the ground in front of the tombstone. Steve followed
her gaze. The earth was turned up. It looked fresh.
“Something
was dug up here,” Mimi said, eyes wide and scared. Steve wanted nothing more
than to run. But Mimi reached out her hand, and scrabbled in the freshly turned
dirt. Her fingers touched something cold and hard. She unearthed it. “It’s a
wedding ring,” she said. They both stared at the plain gold ring, glinting
ominously in the moonlight.
Then
a hand reached out of the dirt, and grabbed Mimi’s wrist.
They
both screamed, shrill and high. Steve stared in horror at the hand. It was
dark, scabbed, and seemed damp. He turned to run. Mimi’s voice stopped him.
“Steve!”
she cried piercingly. “It’s pulling me in!” Steve stood there, hesitated for a
lengthy moment. Mimi’s legs were braced against the gravestone. Her calves were
quivering with the strain. “Steve!” She screamed, and her voice was pure
terror.
Steve
reached out a hand to help the girl he liked. He took hold of her other hand,
and yanked hard. The hand was supernaturally strong. He grunted with effort,
mind blank with horror, breath coming in little puffs of adrenaline. Finally,
Mimi came free. They both stumbled backwards. Dark, rotting fingers were still
fastened to Mimi’s wrist. She shrieked and shook them off. Beneath the grave, a
fingerless hand was grabbing at the hole, a dark arm snaking out, bracing
itself. It was trying to climb out. Without another thought, they ran.
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