Halloween Count Down #2: Graveyard Ghosts

Superstious or not, anyone would tell you not to go to a graveyard alone at night. It's just not smart. However teens wheren't known for making the best desicions and Ryan was an excellent example of this point. He's been dared to sneak in at night, and take something from the moselium. Easy right? If he failed he was never going to here the end of it. You freak out during one scary movies and suddenly everyone was on your ass, so drssed in black adn with nothing but a phone and a pocket knife. A quick in and out. 

His friends dropped him off down the road from the cemetary and he walked the rest of the way, trying desperatly to ignore the shiver going down his back. It wasn't a big deal. He was fine. He could do this. THe black gates were locked, and he had to climb up and haul himself over the top. as he hiked through the grass and tombstones he assured himself that cemetaries were public property and he probably wouldn't get charged with breaking and entering. Probably. Clouds rolled over the moon and he had to use the flashlight on his phone to light the way. It was a lose lose. With the light off his eye's were somewhat adusted to the dark and even though he couldn't see much, he could see farther. With the light on, he could see everything in front of him, but anything outside the phones glow was pitch black. It was like being enveloped but a black tarp and he couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone standing outside of it, following him.  The gravestones passed in and out of his veiw, some of them adorned with flowers and others left bare and untouched. He made himself focus on the stones and not on the ground; or rather what was beneath the ground. 

At last the dull gray walls of the moselium came into his range of sight. It stood tall in the darkness, and he took a deep breath before approaching the wooden. They where solid and creaked loudly as he forced it open. He had to brace his shoulder on the door and push with his full body weight to accomplish the task. the inside was somehow darker then the outside and he had to raise his phone up to see anything. His eyes fell first on the coffin in the middle of the room. It was old and covering in dust and the petals of long dead roses. His heart was pounding, but he had come to far to turn back. He had to move faster. The grounds keeper was supposed to wander around at night. The seemed empty but after a look around he found  little alcove in the wall. Rested in it was a tarnished pocket watch with a cracked face. That would do it. 

He shoved it hastily into his pocket and turned to leave. He stepped out the door and decided he should probably close it. It was even hard to close then it was to open; he pulled on the handle with all his might, inching it closed.

SCREEE!!!

His hand on the door slipped and he fell to the ground with an embarassing scream. He had dropped his phone and scrambled to grab it. Once it was in his hand he point it up towards the sound and saw two large crows, perched atop the moselium. The let out more cawing sounds that his brain tried to tell him sounded like laughs. He was ready to leave. He trekked back through the graveyard and was determined to give his "friends" a piece of his mind. This whole thing had been ridiculous and he was embarassed to have been bullied into it. His imagination as starting to getaway with him and he heard strange sounds all around him. The rustling of trees, whisperes in the dark. He told himself it was all in his head and pressed forward. He was practically running when something caught his leg and he was once again on the ground. He was faster to get up this time, but a sweep of his phone light showed nothing nearby that could have tripped him. That was weird. 

He continued forword and was carfull to watch his step. He walked, and he walked, and he walked some more. Something was wrong. He had been walking for too long. Had he gotten turned around? he stopped in his tracks and looked all around him. There was nothing familiar and he had no frame of referance for his location. How big was this place anyways? before he let himself get to freaked out, he unlocked his phone to call his friends. They could send him their location or honk the car horn and flash some lights. Anything to get out of there. As he scrolled through his contacts, a hand lunged fromt he darkness and yanked his phone out of his hands. He screamed as he was plunged into complete darkness.

"Who's there!?" He shouted into the dark. There were rapid footsteps moving around him, but he was blind. That hand- it had been skinny with long, bone like fingers, and dark patches of skin. His heart beat was out of control, and he was breathing so fast he was hardly taking in air. He didn't think, he just ran. He didn't know what direction he was going, it didn't matter. The whispers where growing louder, and the crows laughter echoed all around. More hands reached out and grabbed at his arms, legs, and jacket. He could hear the voices clearly now.

"giveitbackgiveitbackgiveitbackgiveitback", Their voices were haunting. Were they talking about the watch? He pulled it out and tossed it as far away as he could. The hands were gone and the voices went deadly quiet. His lungs were burning but he didn't slow down. At long last he saw the gate in front of him. It was wide open and his friends car was parked, with his head light on. He was going to make them take him straight home and he was NEVER going to talk to them again. This whole night had been bullshit. He had to put his hand up to block out the bright light and he walked around the side of the car, ready let loose all of his frustration.

The car was empty. 

Had they gottne worried and gone to look for him? He'd have called them if he still had his phone. All he could do now was wait. They would be back. They had to come back. He climbed into the back of the car, and tried to relax. 

By the time the sun came up, they still hadn't returned and he had been to scared to leave the car again. The cops came eventually with an ambulance close behind. Apparently the grounds keeper had found his friends. Each half burried in the ground, with branches used as grave markers. The cops obviously had alot of quetions for him. He answered to the best of his ability, but he knew how he sounded to them. They last thing they asked him about was the pocket watch. The held it up in a plastic bag, covering in blood. They had found it inside of one of them. Ryan left the graveyard in handcuffs.