Nobody Can Say It's You

52

Aurora stood within the dimness of the forest watching Hadley and Beanie investigate the back of the WARDLAW tomb. She left the mausoleum a few minutes before the two strangers arrived.

It was all right. The woods were hiding her. They would never see her.

She had come at the bidding of Button Dudley, who had visited her at her isolated cabin in the woods. He had wanted her to witness his burial. She felt privileged to have been in the presence of the Ancients as they had gathered to send Button's soul to the safety of the hereafter.

The trip down the mountain had been a long and arduous one. With only her walking stick for support, she started the journey. Arriving shortly before the midnight ceremony, she positioned herself in the shadows near a headstone that hid her from the view of the others who had gathered around the black gaping hole.

As she watched, Aurora knew Button's soul was at peace. He had successfully made the journey to the afterlife. She watched him ascend to the light and disappear. Button left with a smile on his face.

But after the graveside ceremony, Aurora discovered she was too tired to make the return journey back up the mountain. She had packed a meager amount of food that she has stored in the cloth thrown over her back. She had gotten water from the springs that dotted the mountainsides.

She could have slept out under the stars like she had so many nights as a young girl, but Aurora knew a storm was coming. All the signs were right for lightening, wind, and rain. She had to find someplace to hunker down and stay until the storm had passed.

After the man shoveled in the last of the dirt, he and the lady waiting for him had left in a car. Aurora found herself alone in the cemetery with the approaching storm and only the dead to keep her company. But she didn't mind. As long as she had a dry place to lay her head and rest for a spell, she thought, things would be all right.

She looked about for a good place to bed down for the night.

Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw movement. The dim glow shimmered and sputtered before her. It grew larger and brighter. A little girl with golden plaited hair like a halo began to appear before Aurora's eyes. Her white flour sack dress gleamed in the black of the night.

When Aurora saw the little pail of blackberries in the little girl's hand, she knew Ocey Sodder had come to visit her.

"Follow me," Ocey said. "I know where there's a safe place for you. It's dry. The winds can't beat you there. This way. Come. I will show you. It's this way. It's not far."

Aurora gathered up the material of her long flowing skirt and obediently followed the little girl. She led the old woman to a far corner of the cemetery.

A streak of lightning lit up the night sky. Aurora saw that she was standing in front of a large stone building. Ocey pointed to a spot in the wall with a decorative carving of a nesting raven in the stone.

Aurora placed her hand over the omen of death, and it turned in her hand. A small door slid open, revealing a skeleton key. Aurora took the key. Placing the key in the keyhole, she turned it.

She heard the echo of the tumblers turning in the lock. To the tired old woman, it felt as if the door magically opened when she pressed her hand on it. Putting the key back in its hidden area, she turned the raven in the opposite direction, and the little door slid back into position, concealing the skeleton key from view.

Lightning flashed, and the wind began to whip the branches of the cemetery trees. Storms in the hills can be angry things. Thunder boomed overhead, and the clouds burst open. Heavy torrents of rain began falling. 

Aurora spent the night in the lonely graveyard with only the headstones for company. In the morning, she would go home. But for the rest of the night, she would remain here – dry under the ornate roof in this house of stone carved to house a dead man.