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Salvia Rune Cemetery was once beautiful.
People showed up at the little graveyard nearly every day, coating the place in fallen petals as they gave flowers to their lost loved ones. Footprints in the mud seemed almost permanent and the sound of bittersweet humming could be heard.
A church stood nearby and from the cemetery gates, you could hear a choir, their voices haunting and siren-like. The kids that attended would visit the graveyard every Sunday with flowers they picked gripped tightly in their tiny hands.
People would sit outside, just on the sidewalk, doing whatever they felt called to do. The holidays created a melancholy atmosphere, but people still showed. The lifeless were treated like they were home, and maybe that was why it was so loved.
It was enchanting how a place for tragic endings could create such comfort, even for the ones that could no longer be there.
But then the smell of smoke rose in the air.
The church went up in flames on a Saturday night, taking trees and homes with it. The fire spread faster than its natural pace. It burned hotter, taking down everything in its path. There was no way to stop it.
It went on for weeks. Flats burned, and homes were destroyed.
15 injured...five dead.
Nearly everything and everyone were engulfed in the flames, but it was all but one building, one place that stayed untouched. The graveyard.
Salvia Rune Cemetery was now known as one of the most haunted places in London. With the fire only scorching the edges of the trees around it, people that were once comforted became afraid.
They say it was the ones buried that caused it. Angered over the years. That was just one of the many rumors that surrounded the once-beautiful place.
Now, it has been eleven years, and since then it has been neglected over the years, sitting in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London with dead flowers and forgotten promises.
Broken, vine-covered headstones littered the front, surrounded by the the gate that was uprooted in the far left. The building in the back had broken windows and graffiti. The roof had caved in, leaving a few holes visible if you squinted.
The trees that encircled the cemetery and recanted structures, were rotted in certain areas, which enhanced its startling appearance. Moss covered the concrete with pretty green and brown colors.
Footsteps on the ground, creaks from the building, the snaps of twigs echoed throughout the night. Most people weren't brave enough to take a step past the gate, the sounds that came from within during the stages of twilight sending them away.
Tonight snow covered Salvia Rune Cemetery, and a young girl rested against a headstone. It was cleaner than the others, newer, only a decade old. She looked up and blinked as the wet, soft snow melted against her skin. A frown rested on her face as she curled up, hugging her knees to her chest as she waited for the chime of midnight.
