That Night at Grave

 ‘Come on! it would be fun’, Jake said finally irritated by Daniel’s whimpering and protests against their vivid adventurous plan. Five of us had gathered in Jake’s and Daniel’s hostel room to discuss the plans for coming Halloween.

‘Yeah, It would be an extraordinary experience’, Rose chirped and looked expectantly in my direction. She was propped up in the bedside chair. Her honey colored blonde hair waved slightly in the middle and her eyes shone with elation. Her profile was the most impeccable one I had ever laid eyes on. Striking skyblue color of her pupils, high cheekbones and perfectly outlined rosy lips along with a manifesting physique gave her look of an innocent angel who enjoyed every moment of her life. Deeply compassionate and vivacious, this girl had attracted me since the very first day I had met her.

‘Er… Yes- It would be awesome’, I agreed taken aback and turned pink from embarrassment, all of my friends, of course except Rose were well aware of my secret crush. Jake smiled and winked teasingly towards me. I scowled slightly at his act to which he shamelessly muffled a laughter. Jake was one of the most amiable and jubilant person one would ever come across. He never cared seriously and had one mantra to guide himself, life is short don’t waste it on tensing yourself with unimportant things. Fair skin and decently cropped short hair, along with sturdy and sporty muscles and mischievous brown eyes gave him one of the most attractive personality. No doubt he was popular amongst the girls.

‘Guys… I don’t think …. It is the best idea, you know we could visit a more cheerful place….’, Daniel cried trying for a hundredth time to persuade his friends to drop the idea of visiting the cemetry at the dead of midnight, ‘There would be way too many spirits partying in the middle of night and well, we are not the immortal magicians of fantasies who could fight them off! ’. Daniel, a Scottish boy, had moved here a year before me, nervous and introvert as he was, he went along great with us. He had never been a part of planning of all the vivid trips and preferred a sweet and easy life, but still when the plan was made, he was left with no option but to join in, and later on, he would be one who would enjoy and live the best time from all of us.

‘Oh Dan… Don’t be such whimp !’, Leah rebuked, eventually losing her temper over Daniel’s constant outcries. Leah Hastings, was the most outgoing and sporty fellow from us. Her tan skin, beautiful curls tightly tied in a long pony and round chocolate brown eyes contributed significantly to her tough physique. She had seen the worst of times in life in her short life and that’s what had toughened her changing her to the strict person before us. We had seen her let go off the tough mask and knew that the indifferent Leah was just an image she had decided to show the world.

‘Alright guys! So it is decided, we are meeting at nine at Crown Square’, Leah concluded firmly, turning a deaf ear to Daniel’s muttering.

‘And Ed, please don’t forget the Ouija game, I am dying to play it! ’, Rose added excited by the idea. ‘This girl has some real nerve! ’, I thought smiling faintly towards her. I was slightly frightened by the idea but it really did sound fun.

We all departed to assemble decided itinerary. I headed towards the old store outside city, it was a store of sinister objects, ran by an old, cranky lady who was passionate about foretelling the disastrous death of her customers. I was used to it, I really enjoyed her interpretation of omens which were definitely invisible to me. On my way I recounted the memories of my past one year, I, Edward Foster, had moved to the prosperous and bubbling town of Hamilton city to pursue my higher studies. Initially timid and terrified, I had befriended a group of four extraordinary pupils, and following months had witnessed the rapid and astonishing transformation of timid Edward Foster to a much more outgoing and lively Edward or Ed as I was popularly called. Five of us were completely different souls, but the compassion and bond was strong enough to bind us to one another. We had carried out many out of the box excursions and it was on one such leisure excursions with my group that I stumbled upon the old store in valley.

Initially repelled by the weird and ominous owner, I soon found myself enjoying her funny company. The lady might be ridiculous and an outcast, but her heart was really big and lively, and that’s what appealed to me. Poor lady had always dreamed of becoming a successful fortune teller, but her own fortune had ended up betraying her, after losing her husband in a brutal car accident, she had opened a store packed with objects tracing their origin to dark magic and Halloween. After that I had visited her a few more times and each time she had predicted my death in the most ludicrous and worst possible manner! 

I entered the store and rang the bell on counter, ‘Miss Sybill?’, I called out. Sybill Finnigan popped out of the cupboard behind me.

‘Oh, it’s you Edward….’, She said in a mystified voice. I greeted her and mentioned my at the moment priority to her, the Ouija game. After interpreting my death in a car accident and a few omens which were hovering above my head she lent me the game. I turned round to leave when a strange sound made me turn back towards the old lady, she was shivering in an unusual way. ‘Miss are you okay?!’ I asked alarmed. ‘TODAY THE HISTORY WILL REPEAT ITSELF….’, Sybill said in a loud ominous voice and went numb. I was petrified. Sybill was bizarre and intimidating, but this was not something I had witnessed earlier. I helped her back into the shabby shack behind the store and made my way towards the meeting point.

I reached Crown Square and found Daniel waiting anxiously in a dark corner. He looked unnerved, clearly frightened from the idea. I decided to pull his leg while we waited. ‘Hey Dan’ , I called out, masking my voice perfectly to sound mysterious and frightening. Daniel jumped at the sudden sound and screamed at the top of his lungs. ‘It’s just me, Edward. ’Daniel wailed loudly cursing Jake furiously for his adventurous idea. We waited for others, Daniel sobbing and muttering beside me. Finally at nine we all departed for the cemetery. An unusual silence lingered in the usually crowded city streets. We tried to take a taxi to cemetery but somehow we never managed to find one. We reached cemetery on foot, Rose twitching with excitement beside me and Daniel frozen with fear on my other side.

Leah led the way in, followed by Rose, Jake and me, Daniel lagged behind hesitating to enter but pushed the idea of going home alone out of his mind and eventually followed us in. We sat in a circle under a tree, I Settled the Ouija board while Jake lit up the candle.

‘Now let’s start…’, Jake’s voice spooked out my high spirits, Leah rolled her eyes, Rose laughed and Dan groaned. We held hands and Jake spoke some incantations after which he nervously asked, ‘If somebody is here, would you like to answer our questions?’

Nothing happened for a few moments, we were getting relaxed when suddenly the instruments recorded a supernatural activity and the piece of wood on board moved to one word, YES. We were frozen, Dan for the first time stopped sobbing but had definitely fainted with open eyes. I held his hand tightly trying to make him stay awake. Jake gulped and proceeded with his questions, ‘What’s your name?’, the plectrum on the board dragged itself around, spelling the word OLIVIA. The sight of plectrum moving was unnerving. We all sat glued to our spots, refusing to move our eyes from the board before us. The instruments were still alight, lights flickering furiously. I was so absorbed by the frightful sight before me that I never sensed Daniel slipping away from my side. He had had enough, and was running feverishly towards the exit.

‘DAN, NO!’ I screamed out to him, but it was already too late. The circle had been broken, the procedure interrupted. I looked at the group of my friends sitting around me, all too freaked out to speak up. We had committed the dreaded mistake.

The instruments had stopped blinking, the plectrum on board was still. All of a sudden the candles went out and we were submerged into the eerie darkness of frightful night. I felt Rose’s hand tighten around mine. We were all numb. The blood in our veins seemed to have dried up.

 A terrible sound was heard. As though a woman was being choked ruthlessly. We did not have the courage to look up to the source. The sound grew louder, the bones of woman were cracking beneath her skin now. It was the most dejecting and frightening sound I had ever heard. I wanted to look up now, save the woman whomsoever she was. I closed my eyes tightly, my heart pounding against my chest, threatening to burst out any moment. From my closed eyes I saw a horrifying vision. Rose dangling in midair, her eyes were horror struck, she was pleading to me. Suddenly she let out a blood curdling scream, and cracking of her bones were heard. Her limbs were twisting at a dreadful angle. She was choking. Her pleas were getting fainter every second, I stood there, unable to anything, and watched the girl I admired succumb to the vicious pain. Her face slowly turned towards me. The sight of it was hideous. Huge empty holes had been dug where the eyes should have been, her pretty face was pallid, and mouth was dangling at a strange angle with lower jaw ripped off.

My eyes flew open, unable to take in the horror of the scene, and without I second though I looked up.

And a second later I knew, I had committed a grave mistake. A mistake big enough to hurl us into the most horrendous fate someone could encounter.

The sight before me was horrific, a sight which no living eyes would ever want to encounter….