Ghost In the Graveyard | COMPLETED

• 2/10 • Dawn of the Dead

"Ghosts" by James Vincent McMorrow

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Wednesday: October 12, 1994
7:06 AM

I woke chilled to the bone. I opened my eyes to look up at a cloudy gray sky, not unlike the usual in the town of Crystal Falls. When I looked around, I saw headstones littering the ground. I was still in the graveyard.

What happened last night? It was all a blur. Something bad went down here, but I couldn't remember what it was. It was like there was a wall in my brain, and the answers were hidden on the other side.

I jumped to my feet, but vertigo almost took me back down. My head felt like it was floating. I hobbled down a hill and found my bike lying in the same place I'd left it. I hoisted it up and climbed on, then started toward home.

My parents were going to kill me. They would demand to know where I went and what I was up to last night, and then I was toast. I wouldn't be surprised if they already called the police and filed a missing persons report.

It was a short ride to my house from the old graveyard. I dropped my bike in the driveway beside a police cruiser and booked it inside, only to find the house empty aside from a single police officer and my mother.

My mom was usually getting ready for work and doing her makeup at this time, but she looked no where near ready to go out. He eyes were sunken like she hadn't slept but puffy like she'd been crying. She wore one of my dad's baggy shirts but had on a pair of her own pants. Her hair was the only thing that looked like she'd touched it, but only by brushing it quickly so she didn't look like a wreck when the cops showed up.

The rest of my family must have been out looking for me. I'd snuck out after everyone went to bed, so they had no idea what time I even went missing. I wished I'd told someone where I was going. Then maybe they would've come looking for me hours ago and the police wouldn't be involved. Maybe they could've even stopped me from going in the first place.

The officer had a notebook out and was taking down some notes as my mom spoke to her. She nodded for Mom to continue.

"This is nothing like my Sam," Mom explained, her voice rather hoarse. "She wouldn't do something like this. Especially not on a school night."

"I'm here, Mom!" I said as I jogged into the living room where they stood together.

"We have an officer on his way down to the school to see if she shows up there," the female officer spoke to my mom in a soft voice. "We have faith she'll be there. Could she have gone to a friend's house to do homework and lost track of time?"

Mom shook her head. "I mean, it's possible, but I really doubt it. She would've called."

"Maybe she was tired and fell asleep?"

Mom looked down at the picture of me she held in her hand. It was taken last month on my birthday. I could see in her expression how much she wanted to believe the officer, but she knew me too well.

"Mom, look at me," I said, waving a hand between her and the picture. "I'm right in front of you."

A tear glimmered in her eyes. "I'm just so worried," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I hear so many awful stories of kids being taken. I couldn't bare it to be my little girl."

"Mom," I said one last time, a marble forming in my throat. My eyes stung with the threat of tears. "Please look at me."

"If she doesn't show up at school, we'll have a search team out by nine," the officer noted. "Don't worry too much, Mrs. Jackson. This is a small town. We'll find her."