Bed, Bath and Way Beyond

Elements of this story are true-there is actually a local shopping center where I live that does contain a small cemetery. It does capture the imagination, a very cool place.

Darkness. He sees nothing, feels nothing but the pitch black of cool oblivion. From a great distance he can hear a rumbling, a jumble of noise that he can't quite place. It is all around him now, a tremor that works its way up from the depths beneath him into his very being.

What am I? Where am I? A brief flash of recognition begins and passes before he can catch it....a glimpse of a face, beautiful, framed in a bonnet...the sound of heavy wheels on uneven land...laughter, light and lyrical comes unbidden, like music to his ears as a great burst of light explodes into his vision. Brighter than anything he could ever imagine, it jolts him out of his reverie and drops him back into the blackness.

And he is grateful.

He sleeps without dreaming until that incessant, constant rumbling slowly brings him back. From somewhere a sound blares into his head, loud and terrifying like opening the gates of hell....What is that? Where am I? He can feel his pulse quicken, a cold sweat overtakes him. In his mind's eye he sees her, hears her gentle voice call out to him...Elizabeth...small children running across the open prairie, their blond hair shining in the sun...a mountain vista rises before him filling him with awe. Jeremiah! Awaken my love-the daylight beckons. Jeremiah? Is that who I am? The incessant humming gets louder, and he can feel its pulse throughout his body, forcing him to rise back into the light. He sees her again, beautiful, reaching out to him-Elizabeth.

Of course, how could he ever forget? Her porcelain features and tiny stature concealing an iron will, a formidable character. Who else could get him to pack up and follow a dream thousands of miles across the great plains? Trust in the Lord, Jeremiah, and He will provide. I am Jeremiah. Jeremiah Graves. The realization hits him like a burst of cold water. Elizabeth. Marjorie, William, Charles....he sees his wife, each of his children smiling at him in turn. He hears the bellow of an ox and a dog barking. He feels the sun on his face and smells the rosewater scent of his wife. I am Jeremiah Graves from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and I am seeking a new beginning, freedom on the open frontier for myself and my family. Suddenly an unbearable blast of sound jolts him from his rest and spits him out into a dark, cold night upon a hill of dirt.

Frantically, he leaps to his feet. His shoes come apart, shards of leather flying off into the night. His first sensation is extreme dizziness as he falls to his knees and tries desperately to make sense of his surroundings. His eyes, long accustomed to complete darkness, try to adjust. Flashes of rapid light dance across his vision. There it is again! Sounds burst past him from every direction like a barrage of terrifying waves in a deranged symphony. He lies back on the hard dirt and looks up to the heavens as he tries to catch his breath. A spidery cloud slides by revealing an enormous blood-red moon in the night sky. A spattering of stars, constellations he vaguely remembers, appear through the haze. What is that smell? Where on earth am I? On the wind he faintly hears the voice of his wife calling out to him-Jeremiah! He feels her fingers gently caress his cheek then jolts up when the sensation is revealed to be a fat, wriggling worm. He tries to scream but only a hoarse scratch comes out along with a mouthful of wet earth. He closes his eyes and tries to summon her, find her in that comforting darkness but he is utterly alone, completely bereft. I am Jeremiah Graves. I am Jeremiah Graves he repeats over and over as the horrific sounds continue to speed past him.

Elizabeth, my love, are you there? Has God forsaken me? Is this hell? His fingers claw the ground as he scrambles back up and tries to stand. Out of nowhere a large, monstrous object roars across the sky trailing a line of bright, white smoke. Jeremiah screams, the sound finally breaking free in a hideous wail. He falls back to the ground, rolling down the hill and straight into the husk of a dead tree. He looks to the top of the hill and barely makes out the shapes there. Headstones? Am I in a graveyard? He ducks and covers his head as the flying monster passes directly above him then mercifully, out of sight.

He takes one, two, ragged breaths and tries to collect his thoughts. A graveyard? How can this be? An overwhelming sadness washes over him as a distant memory tugs at his mind. A tiny cross lovingly placed alongside a desolate stretch of land. Elizabeth, inconsolable, wracked with sobs. William. His own beloved Willy sleeping forever in the prairie grass. An earth shattering crash nearby slams him back to reality and sends him hurtling over the wrought iron fence into...

At first glance, he is convinced he has descended into utter madness. The scene unfolds before him, assaulting his every sense with unflinching disbelief. What sorcery is this? What horror! Harsh yellow lights come at him from every direction. Dozens of false suns encased in glass. What manner of fire is this that does not flicker? Giant wooden poles the height of twenty men tower above him holding wires that crackle and hum like devil's tails. Bright, enormous words jump out at him in unearthly hues he has never before seen.

Garish, unnatural colors on dozens of sprawling structures that make his eyes water as he tries to read them. He finally discovers the source of the ghastly sounds as it barrels towards him in the night. A great steel monster heads straight for him with two eyes of supernatural light, rendering him immobile with fright. The hellish cacophony of sounds, unbearably loud and jarring, fill his head as the creature bears down to attack him. At the last possible moment, he manages to break free of its evil spell just seconds before it can strike. He can feel the demon's breath as it passes, emitting an earth-shattering scream in a tone he never knew existed. As he watches it pass he could swear he saw a man in its giant glass belly, a chariot driven perhaps by Satan himself. The spell broken, he begins to run, jamming his unshod feet onto a strange blackened surface that cuts at him. But wait! There are hundreds of these demon chariots, speeding together in an unbroken line, belching out their infernal smoke like dragon's fire. They are everywhere, an unending mobile army marching through the night. He runs past sleeping chariots, still creatures that lie in wait for their evil passengers. He does not wish to disturb their slumber and risk their wrath so he runs until he feels his lungs must burst. For the first time he notices that his clothes are mouldering and falling away with every step. Bony white fingers poke through what used to be his Sunday best, and he realizes in wonderment that those are his actual bones jutting out of the rotting suit. Nononono! He tentatively reaches out, touches his face....

Before his mind can react, a giant golden dog leaps into his line of vision, pink jeweled leash dragging behind, followed by the stunned face of a woman transfixed in horror. He pivots back as the creature lunges for him. Maniacal barks fill the air and temporarily drown out the demon chariots. He has a fleeting remembrance of his children playing with a young pup as they wove in and out of the legs of an unamused team of oxen. Where were they now, his children? The two remaining, his one in heaven? Where is his love, his precious Elizabeth? He prays fervently that they are nowhere in this strange world, that he has been the one transported to hell and not them. He feels a tear fall across his exposed skull and wonders how it is still possible for him to cry. Up ahead he can see the graveyard as he dodges sleeping chariots and the few passersby that gape at him in open astonishment. He briefly notes that the women are all wearing men's trousers and all of them hold up square objects that they pull from their pockets. The citizens of hell eagerly watch his macabre dance as parts of Jeremiah begin to come apart and fly off in different directions. He barely manages to vault the iron fence as the dog slams into it at full speed. He lands hard and watches what was once his left leg fly back through the iron bars. He begins to crawl, praying his arms will hold out just a little while longer. The sounds of barking, excited voices follow him from behind, but he is not deterred. He knows where he must go, perhaps he has known all along...

Joan Claire could hardly wait to shut off the lights and lock up for the night. Her shift was at an end and it had been a very long day. It was “All Hallows Eve.” Seriously, who wanted to buy matching sheets or a foam body pillow on a night like tonight? She had a date for the first time in awhile and she knew that she had just enough time to shower and change before heading to the party. She pulled out her cell phone and briefly scanned her texts-yep, Kyle was all set to pick her up in an hour. She pulled the keys from her jeans and headed out the door. The neon white “Bed, Bath and Beyond” sign buzzed and sputtered. One of these days the manager was going to have to fix that, it was extremely annoying.

She locked the door behind her and turned to look, as she always did, at the odd little cemetery in the parking lot of the Pioneer Hills Shopping Center. It was the strangest thing-the family that sold the land for the shopping center had one unique provision: the little pioneer cemetery must remain exactly where it had been for over 150 years. They did not want to disturb the graves of their ancestors so the lot was fenced off intact and the concrete jungle grew up all around it. It sat right behind the Chic-Fil-A, across the way from the Bed, Bath and Beyond and the rest of the homogenous shops that can be seen in every strip mall across the country. Joan sighed-the cemetery seemed so forlorn in this endless sea of parking lots. A physical reminder of a simpler time, maybe a better one...she shelved the uninvited wistful feeling and turned toward her car when she saw a sight that had to be some sort of a prank. A large Golden Retriever had escaped from its owner right outside of the PetSmart and appeared to be chasing a skeleton wearing rags at full speed across the parking lot. The rare blood moon shone down upon this eye popping scene as pieces of the skeleton began to fall off inciting the dog even further. What the...Joan's first reaction was instantaneous-she snapped up her phone and hit the record button. Was this the set of a Halloween movie? Some kind of Youtube joke? The cemetery did attract a few oddballs during nights like this-this had to be something good! She was able to catch it all the way to where the amazingly limber set of bones flew over the fence and into the darkness of the graveyard beyond. The last shot she took was of the Golden Retriever happily prancing off with what looked to be a femur bone. Man, she was glad she got that! Who would ever believe her? She got into her car and drove off to do what all good teenagers do-share the amazing video with everyone on all of her social media accounts.

Jeremiah knew that his time was short as he continued to crawl his way back through the lonesome graveyard. He could hear them even louder now as he approached his final, and hopefully, eternal, destination. Even knowing, the shock of seeing it took what was left of his breath away. “Jeremiah Graves, 1800-1865”. Pictures of his long life dance before him. Elizabeth in her wedding gown of lace, Marjorie taking her first steps in the prairie flowers, Charlie's deep blue eyes-the very image of his mother. And Willy. His fair haired little boy, sitting upon his knee as Jeremiah passes the reins of the oxen over to him and they lead them forth to begin their incredible journey. Together as a family, always together. Papa, papa! Like the sweetest music he has ever heard and then she is there... waiting for him, they all are. Their loving embrace welcomes him home as he falls head first into the open grave.

And he is grateful.