Ghosts and Graves
Ghosts and Graves
How many more full moons will you see?
Also checkout my other works. Amazon Author Page
How many more full moons will you see?
Also checkout my other works. Amazon Author Page
Here is a sample Ghosts and Graves I hope you enjoy.
Prologue
Hidden deep in what
is now the southern United States stands a decaying, Victorian mansion. It had once been the jewel of the south and
had placed this small town on the map.
In its hay day it was nothing short of a southern style castle. Roman like columns framed the front
entrance. Ornate crystal chandeliers lit
your way through the corridors. The
prettiest green wall paper you had ever seen covered the walls. This mansion was out in the colonies, so the
latest modern conveniences had yet to make their way to it. Houses of a similar ilk located in the city
had in door gas powered lamps, with gas piped in. However this house had something similar but
it was closer to those lanterns you would take with you camping. The master of the house was rather an ingenious
inventor. He had seen these new gadgets
during one of his trips to England and decided to copy them as best he
could. Even the chandeliers had been
rigged up with his gas system. This
house was a beacon that shinned cutting through the darkness until that night.
Just inside were the most beautiful seashell encrusted
stairs. The rainbow of colors was eye
popping underneath the twinkle of the gas lit chandeliers. That was long ago. Now the place lies derelict, nothing more
than a scar upon this land, a dark reminder of evil deeds past, it stands
casting dark and dancing shadows.
Blowing in the wind hangs a single tire swing nestled amongst countless
graves. A single light burns in an
upstairs room.
Today is a young man’s birthday he had just turned
fifteen. Instead of cake or friends and
family surrounding him, he lays dying on the second floor of this once jewel of
the south, now lying in ruins just a broken down mansion. Next to him crouches a red headed girl, about
his same age. Dressed in a frumpy
grayscale dress topped with a blue corset. She however, is watching him with a maniacal
sparkle in her eyes. Instead of helping
him she asks a single question.
“How many more full moons did you see Jack?”
Her voice contained
a hint of arrogance and superiority. As
more plaster fell from the walls the young boy, gurgled an answer as he
scrawled his final message in his own blood.
“I didn’t count you demon bitch!
I have seen your end and left the bread crumbs for the next one to
follow, may God have mercy upon your soul.”
With those words
said she embraced him; with one deep kiss his body fell limp and lifeless to
the floor. As his consciousness faded he
heard her whisper a haunting old nursery rhyme.
"Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of Posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down."
"Ring-a-around the rosie,
A pocket full of Posies,
Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush!
We all tumble down."
The years passed by
and a new family consisting of a single father and son have moved into this
sleepy little town. This is the sort of
place if you were to pass by on the road and blink you would miss it. Time has clearly forgotten this little place,
much of it has not changed in over a hundred years.
Fateful encounters
1.
Once upon a dream I met a girl, this was no fairy
tale. Far from it, she was a little
slice of Hell on Earth. You see she was
a ghost, a lingering tormented spirit here only to prey upon the living. She had haunted a particular location feared
by all, hidden away from the outside world in a little town time forgot. This town was so small it barely registered
as an ink stain on a map. She was a dark
living nightmare who stole time from me, but I gained so much more.
On that day my dad had told me to go have a look
around at my new home. As I left I
noticed the town seemed to be filled with nothing but elderly people. There were no children to speak of. As I rode my bike I came across an old
walking path on the far western edge of the town. It tore off through a darkened wood; large
and overgrown trees masked and shrouded the path. The trees had grown into a natural archway so
it was more like walking through a tunnel than a forested path. I had read about places like this they mainly
appeared in novels with a romantic twist.
So I was curious to see what secret place may lie at the end of this
path. Did this town have a hidden
lover’s lane? My imagination ran wild as
I started down the path.
The path itself was dark but not scary; it was a
pleasant quiet walk. After about a
twenty minute walk however, the path forked.
You could continue on to the right or you could go to the left. Let’s just say I should have taken the “right”
path that day and not the one less traveled by.
That would have made all the difference.
In ancient Christian philosophy the left was considered evil the domain
of the enemy. The fallen one himself
controlled it.
Originally I was not from this town my Dad and mom had
gotten divorced and he had moved away, at first to another city then to this
forgotten place. When I was about thirteen
my mother fell ill and a little over a year later she died, so I naturally
moved in with my dad. I went from semi
big city to the middle of country BFN.
All of the locals knew not to go near this place but I was new here and
Dad told me to go have a look around “who knows you may make a friend” he said,
right! I had a bike and I decided to
ride around. However, this town mainly
consisted of aging elderly people who were all happy to see a young man in
town. I wish I had known why at the
time. They all waved to me and wished me
well I thought it was so nice maybe this place will not be so bad after all…
I discovered the
path around late evening, but I was so curious, I had to know. The path was overgrown and too narrow for my
bike so I chained it to a tree. As I
walked and limbo-ed my way through the trees the sun began to set, it felt as
though I had been walking for an hour, when it was more like twenty
minutes. I soon came to the fork in the
road. From here the path was clear. I was a huge fan of Grimm’s Fairy Tales and I
guess at this point in my life I truly did not appreciate what they had to say. In fairy tales things happen in threes and in
other philosophies the number four is bad it can divulge the path of
death. It was here at the fork I met
her, her name was Anna. I wish I had listened
to her then, but I was a big city guy too full of crap to care. I had started down the path to the Left and
she came charging up to stop me. She
yelled out to me.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
My
answer was tainted by anger and just a hint of sarcasm.
“I am going down this path, what does it look like I am doing?”
On this day I had mistaken her concern for rude
backwoods ignorance. Again she yelled to
me, but I was already ten yards or so down the path.
“Don’t go that way it’s dangerous!!!”
Again I answered her with a hint of anger in my voice.
“phhh, dangerous it’s just an untraveled path!”
I turned and walked quickly away with her crying and
pleading for me to stop. As I walked
away her image lingered in my mind. She
had long Black hair that shimmered with blue and purple highlights in the
fading sunlight. She was about Five foot
three inches. Her face had a pale tone
to it. Her black t-shirt made her doll
like appearance glow. The one feature
that stood out to me most of all were her grey eyes. I have heard of people with the eyes of
wolves but I had never seen one. As I
turned to look she was gone. Thank god,
I remember thinking, damn that was annoying, later I would be thankful she had
gone…
As I walked a large southern style mansion began to
poke out of the trees. Clearly the
design was Victorian; it looked like the kind of place you might see in a
costume drama. I had never seen a house
quite like this one. It was two stories
tall at least that is what the windows suggested. The place was so large I wondered how many
rooms it had. Whose home was it. The front entrance was off to the left of the
path and had the largest and prettiest marble columns I had ever seen. They were intricately carved and etched from
top to bottom, with a dull rose pink overtone.
The style looked to be Roman based, I had seen pictures of column like
this in books.
As I got closer I noticed the trees had formed a
gnarled, impenetrable maze around it, it reminded me a little of Sleeping
Beauty. The place looked a little
ominous and the closer I got the more and more it reminded me of the old fairy
tales. Lofty, isolated places were often
never a good sign. At the time my eyes
were fixed on the mansion, I had not even noticed its grim surroundings. Chunks of marble lay everywhere, adding to
the fairy tale setting.
As I got closer I remembered much of the modern
retellings of Stories like Sleeping Beauty and many others leave out details. Lots of bad and terrible things occur in
fairy tales. As this thought crossed and
left my mind I stopped dead in my tracks.
It was then I noticed the chunks of marble surrounding the house were
graves and it hit me, how many princes had met their end trying to reach the
sleeping princess in the story of Sleeping Beauty?! The whole place looked out of place and
time. If I had only known time had
stopped for this place. I would have…I
would have thought twice and run.
As I approached, I could see the place was in
disrepair, like no one had lived there in years. Something was glinting in the light from the
setting sun, I quickly ran up to see what it was. I was both intrigued and sorry I had on the
right hand side near the front right corner were three graves, a husband, a wife
and their young daughter who was sealed in glass perfectly preserved. Just beneath the glass was the form of a
beautiful teenage girl with bright red hair.
She was wearing a frumpy Victorian dress, with a blue corset, my god she
was beautiful. Clutched in her right
hand were the couple’s wedding rings.
The headstones had nothing written on them besides Husband, Wife and
daughter. The whole thing, no this whole
place struck me as odd if only I had run away then and there.
As I stood up
and took a closer look at my surroundings.
I soon became aware that there were countless graves here the total
amount was staggering. I had seen the
graves but had not really taken the scene in until I saw the girl under the
glass. One fact that stood out to me,
they were all young men about my age.
You might even say it bothered me.
The three graves closest to me had dates that suggested the young men
had only lived fifteen years. I soon
became aware of a creaking sound like that of something tied to a rope swaying
in the wind. Then I noticed something
totally out of place there was an old tire swing. It was just tied to a tree like it belonged
there.
The tire swing was hanging from a tree on the far left
side of the front porch, above which was a single window which had a light on
in it? I thought to myself maybe someone
does live here! My curiosity got the
better of me again; I guess that light to me was the equivalent of the white
rabbit to Alice. I had to follow it, I
was a moth drawn to the flame. That’s
when I saw her she had this other worldly look to her a kind of forgotten
beauty. Skin as pale as moonlight and
listless blue eyes with flaming long red hair, she was wearing a dull grey
dress and blue top, which was not from this time period, but all this had not
registered until…It was too late. I had
fallen victim to the siren’s call, when a sudden and unexpected voice sounded
behind me.
“Young man, what are you doing!?”
Startled by an aged husky voice, I whirled around to
see an old man standing with the black haired girl; at this point I still did
not know her name. She was standing
hands on her hips staring at me like “I told you so.” Admittedly all I could think was you little
tattle tale. Her stance pissed me off a
little too. Suddenly the eyes of the old
man grew about six times their original size and the girl had started to back
away slowly much like you would if you encountered a wild bear. The sun had set and as I turned there was the
girl, her blue eyes were now blood red and it was here I realized it, she was
translucent, a ghost!? And, she was
crouched on the window sill of the second floor glaring at me. She continued to lean into her crouch until
she was in a position that defied gravity.
She had this eerie glow about her it was pitch black, night had fallen,
darkness surrounded us, but she was as clear as day. Her hungry eyes burned my soul to ashes, as my
courage faded and crumbled beneath her stare I began to shake and shiver. My knees could have registered a magnitude
ten on the Richter scale. I was staring
at the stuff of nightmares and worse yet she was staring back. The temperature had dropped and I could now
see my breath on the wind. It was like
all the warmth of the world had run away from this place out of terror. If only this was a dream!
Tonight was the night of the new moon. It was so dark not even starlight could
penetrate this place. Before I could
blink she had dove from the window sill.
I turned to run and somehow I must have gotten that ____ tire swing
behind me, I ran right into it. As it
swung upward with me tangled in it, I heard her hit the ground behind me, the
sounds of cracking bones and squishing flesh, God! It was a horrible noise, on the swing’s
return I was sent flying through the air.
I slammed into the wall directly behind her broken remains and sunk into
my own knees, whispering:
“This has got to be a dream…this has to be a dream…this must be a
dream.”
The tire swing
looked like a demented pendulum as it swung back and forth counting down frozen
time. My eyes were fixed on a broken
pile of human remains. There was no
blood, for a second I forgot she was a ghost and then to my utter horror. Her
broken neck craned and her eyes looked right at me as I flinched in a flash I
saw the glass coffin again and realized it was her. This ghost was the woman in the coffin! Her body began to contort and twist until her
arms were under her. Propped up on her
palms she dragged her broken body toward me.
My feet clawed the dirt trying to gain momentum to run. Before I could her hands were on my knees,
they felt cold and lifeless. Her blood
red eye’s flames burned my remaining spirit to ashes. Then she spoke in this airy condescending
voice.
“I Caught You!”
If there was ever a
time in man’s life where pissing himself was allowable this was it!! She cupped my chin with her left hand and
pressed her lips to mine. Her kiss was
so cold and lifeless, I felt as though I was lying in my own grave.
As she released me I fell over to my side. She had stolen more than my first kiss. As I lay there my consciousness fading I felt
two hands on me, it was the girl with black hair dragging me to safety, and
here in this situation she finally told me her name.
“Can you hear me, my name is Anna but please call me Anny.”
I could hear her but death was calling my name, he had
come for me and I knew my time had come.
A cloaked hooded figure reached out his hand to me, my thoughts returned
to her, the situation was grave and dangerous and this was the time she had
picked to be cordial. Even while dying I
was still sarcastic, your typical jaded city kid. Her entire demeanor had changed she was being
so kind it was here I realized it; she had only been trying to help me. At this moment I made a promise between me
and God if I live I want to stay with this girl, even if we are only
friends. The delirium had begun as my
life slipped farther away. I heard her
yell something but could not understand it; death was calling me too loudly. Dark shadows had begun to swirl around me as
his voice boomed all around me.
“Jack McCrae, I have come for thee.”
Those echoing words
were all I heard, for some odd reason sounds filtered through. Like those of frogs and crickets, I could
hear all of them so clearly but her voice seemed so far away. I could swear I heard a loud church bell
clanging in the distance. Between the
knell of my requiem bell, Death’s voice and the amalgamation of other sounds I
could hear, her voice was the only one I wanted to hear, but I could not make
it out.
“Gramps he wants to live I can feel him fighting!”
I could however;
make out the tone of her voice, even though she was yelling it was so sweet. It made me want to stay. It seemed so distant to me though. It was like I was in the mountains and she
was in the valley. Her voice seemed so
muffled. I heard the whip of something
flying through the air followed by a familiar whap as someone caught it. Seconds later I heard the familiar sound of a
cork popping out of a bottle. Death’s
voice grew louder welcoming me into his tender embrace. Then something happened an audible voice
pierced the veil. It was the old man.
“Get him to drink it!”
For some reason I
understood what he had said, I wondered what the old man was talking about,
drink what? As that question crossed my
fading mind…suddenly I smelled sage?!
Anny had my head in her lap as she opened my mouth I tasted it, tea made
from sage. I was too weak to swallow it
by this point. Anny decided to take
drastic measures she gently placed my head on the ground took a huge swig of
the bottle’s contents and kissed me forcing the contents down my throat. I had been kissed twice within a matter of
minutes, one wanted to steal my life the other wanted to save it. Needless to say I was a little confused. Anny had been right my spirit was fighting to
live. The effects of the tea showed
themselves quickly, my mind became clearer and the hooded man faded, his last
words haunted me though.
“Be seeing you Jack!”
I didn’t know at the time the sage tea was blessed, so
the kiss was too, foretelling my future…
I managed to open my eyes slightly, my sight was so blurry. The old man was holding a crucifix and was
standing between us and the Demon, that’s right she was no ghost, that thing
was a redheaded devil! Her red hair now
resembled the flames of Hell as she tried to close the distance between her and
me. Anny was cradling my head, she felt
so warm to me. The color had even begun
returning to my face. That is when I
heard her voice for the second time; it was so harsh and condescending.
“You managed to save him; it will be to no avail just look around
you. That is his destiny he is
mine! I know you can hear me young man,
tell me, how many more full moons will you see?”
With those words
echoing in my head and her burning red eyes trapped in my thoughts, I passed
out. Slipping into a nightmarish sleep,
moments later I found myself walking up to an old two story house. With a tree off to the left, something was
out of place; the tree had a tire swing hanging in it…?!
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