Little scary grave

What can possibly go wrong when you are alone, at night and on a graveyard? Finding out that you are not so alone as much as you thought...

He looked over his shoulder. If he could bet all his money in the world, he would bet that someone was watching him. From the shadows. From the dark. From distance. Hiding and staring at him with big golden eyes, watching his every little move... 

A dark feeling crept up his spine, causing goosebumps on his arms and his every hair to stand up straight. Why was this happening? He has done it a million times before, so what was different this night? Is something out there tonight, that can ruin his plans?

Graveyards were always creepy at night, he consoled himself. There's no one there, you're imagining things. He returned to his previous work. Shovel felt strangely heavy in his arms. The smell of night and freshly dug out dirt, which always excited him, now brought fear and impatience with it. Someone was watching him tonight, and that look almost burned holes in his back. Small sound of cracking branches found it's way to his ear. He suddenly stood up and looked around.

"Who's there?" He asked the tombstones before him. Another cracking sound. He threw the shovel into the pit, and asked again, almost yelling. "Who is there? Don't f**k with me! Come out!"

After a couple of minutes of nothing happening, he started walking around the graveyard. It was a cloudy winter night, so there was not much of a moonlight. But, he spent years of his life on graveyards like this. His eyes adjusted to darkness and he could see almost everything. On one side of the graveyard, there was a forest, but he never walked into it. Not even in daylight. It wasn't going to happen this night, either. As he made careful steps between graves that read a thousand different names, he felt strange. What if there really was no one, but a wild animal? What would I do? I left my bag with knives at the pit. Little balls of sweat appeared on his forehead. Slowly, he made his way back to the pit, but his bag was nowhere to be found. He was sure that he left it on the right side of the gravestone, but now, there was only dirt. Someone is playing with me... I can't do my work, with a witness around. I better do it tomorrow. But.. What if he gives the bag to the police? They'll find my fingerprints on it, and all the DNA on the knives! I need to get that bag!

He sat still behind a big tombstone, watching over the place. He was sure his eyes would catch every little move. Nothing happened. Suddenly it became cold. He came very well prepared, with layers of clothes on him, and a warm overcoat, but soon he started shaking underneath it. Determined to reclaim his bag, he remained still. It became a game, of who can longer endure the cold. Him and his opponent the only players. Both of them hiding behind two headstones. He felt something on his nose. A wet drop. There it was again. He pulled his hand out of the sleeve and reached out. Little snowflakes gently landed on his palm. They looked so beautiful. As they melted on his hand, he realized his fingers were almost numb. He huddled under the big coat. His teeth were making clacking sound, and he feared it could be heard. With one hand, he held his jaw tight. He will not loose the game. Soon, it became hard to see the other side of the graveyard, from all the snow. It was falling harder and harder. The strange feeling of someone being there, never left him. The other person was still out there, with his bag, hiding and probably laughing at him. Look, I have a grave robber's bag, isn't that funny? Anger raised within him. He stared into the distance, looking for a pair of golden eyes. 

As he sat there silent and still, his eyes caught a glimpse of movement somewhere on the edge of the forest. How could I be so stupid? Of course he ran into the woods!

With strength that came out of nowhere, he jumped onto his feet and ran straight for the forest. A thick layer of snow formed underneath him, and his shoes slipped a couple of times. But his determination and strong will pushed him forward as he entered the dark forest. Trees were dense, so the layer of snow on the ground was significantly thinner. His eyes searched for footprints, but none was to be found, but his own. Following his intuition to keep going and listening to every little sound, he proceeded deeper into the woods. He was still shaking from cold, and his feet were going numb. It was getting harder to make another step. Sounds were all around him, just like the darkness, trying to suppress him from going further in. Pushing forward became a struggle. Panic arose in his weakened mind. Suddenly, he wanted to get out of the forest. He was looking around him, spinning in circles, having trouble finding his own footprints. Please God, don't let me get lost! He started walking in one direction, for which he thought that it's his ticket out.

After a couple of steps, a spooky sound surrounded him, and a ghostly shadow appeared, floating above the ground. His mouth opened, letting out a silent scream. Shadow had no skin, it was made entirely out of bones, with patches of rotten meat on couple of places. The smell he always enjoyed, now froze him down to the very bones. He was paralyzed when the apparition laughed. As his adrenalin rushed through the veins, he gained strength to run away. But, as he turned, a different apparition appeared in front of him. It wasn't ruined as much as the first, and he recognized it as his previous loot, a couple of nights ago. That was the time he came home with a big fat Rolex in his pocket.

This isn't real! This isn't real! He repeated to himself. Scared, he was unable to turn away his eyes from the corpse that floated in the air. Laughing, too. Again, he tried to run away. There was no shaking from the cold, no bag he came for, no numbness in his feet, only the raw fear that kept him going. Creatures and ghosts appeared, but he would just close his eyes and keep on running. Cold air burned his throat. Buzzing sound in his ears became unbearable. Panic strongly overcame his mind, as he just wanted to get out of the forest alive. Something scratched his neck. Chills went through his spine and every other bone. Hands of corpses whose graves he raided over the years, were reaching out of the darkness for him. Scared, he kept running, not knowing where he was going. 

Bright snow appeared in front of him. He knew he managed to get out of the woods. But now , snow was a lot thicker. He could barely move his feet in it. Frightened of what he could see, he managed to turn around and look behind him. Creatures and corpses stopped at the end of the forest. They all stared at him with big round golden eyes, laughing. Why are they laughing? How could this be? He made a couple of steps back. This isn't real! Another step. It's not happening! One more step back and he fell.

         * * *

Tomorrow's news reported of finding a man, frozen to death in a local graveyard. As the police stated, the man was a grave robber, caught in a bad weather, with a record of 22 'F below zero. Police found his bag, with all his tools, near the grave he fell in, under a pile of dirt and snow. They also suspect that there was no foul play involved, as no such evidence was found at the scene. Some officials stated that this was an act of nature's law at it's finest.

Author's Note

Italic sentences are the main character's thoughts. As it turns out in the end, he accidentally shoveled dirt over the bag, so later he couldn't find it. Being in such cold, he imagined the sounds and creatures, troubled from within by his own conscience.

Reviews

[Brian H.]

The ending works very well. I had a little trouble with the pacing, as it seemed to drag a little in the beginning . I would've liked to have known early on exactly what he was there to do. Perhaps which grave he intended to rob. And while he's preparing, to do so, we get our first hint that something is amiss. Overall, a good read.

[Cay]

Amazing! i really love how this story is done. This is the kind of story that makes people curious on to what's going on and it really makes you want to read until the end. Keep up the good job!

[Ashle]

This was amazing!! I really enjoyed it! I liked how you formulated, and I liked the ideas...this was quite...mysterious.I rarely found this kind of mystery stories!
Keep it up!

[alyssa vicknair]

i gave an 100 because you're really amazing with details and i love how you switch from one persons point of view to another, like the grave robbers to the police. Great story so far. Please continue.

[Misty_Prophet]

Thank you :)

[alyssa vicknair]

your welcome. :)