Brave Grave

Prologue

*WARNING* This chapter contains sensitive content dealing with bullying and homicide. Please do not continue reading if you are sensitive to this type of content.

1964

Bruised and scabbed legs dart through the woods, leaves and dirt fly up behind them as four pair of legs run at full speed. High pitched laughs echo throughout the woods as three boys chase little Gregory Micheals all the way to a tall pointed fence that has the dead laid to rest on the other side.

Gregory rested with his back against the gate since he was trapped in by the three twelve year old boys, Fin, Travis, and Seth. They had followed Gregory off of the bus since they got off the bus stop with him. They've always teased him for being smaller than the rest of the kids. He was only eleven years old and he had a long ways to go until he reached his full growth, but that didn't matter to these three boys. They found someone they could over power and Gregory became their target.

Out of breath and pale faced in fear, Gregory stayed silent and watched the three boys as they closed in on him.

"You can't go anywhere now." Fin snarled.

"Just leave me alone. I gave you my lunch money, I just want to go home." he says holding back the tears that were beginning to form in his eyes.

"Yeah, for only a week." Fin said with his brows raised. He looks over at the other two boys and began to laugh.

"You really thought that would be enough?"

Seth and Travis rushed him, grabbing him by both arms so he could not escape. Fin led the pack into the entrance of the cemetery while Gregory, frightened and confused, began kicking, trying his best to escape their grip, but their combined strength was too strong for him to bear.

"We are going to play a game." Fin says with a mischievous grin on his lips to match his dark brown eyes.

"It's called brave grave. You will be locked into a coffin and if you can't last a whole minute, you lose and have to stay in there even longer. Gregory... you're going first."

"Fin... don't you think that's—"

"Shut up Travis and do what I said." Fin interrupts.

Eyes widened with fear, Gregory planted his feet into the dirt, his heels cutting into the soil and making tracks as the two boys drag him towards the coffin.

"Let me go!" he pleaded wearily, kicking and screaming, with a cold realization dawning...Not a soul was there that could hear him or help him.

Fin unlocks the latch to the wooden coffin which sat beside the open grave which was only partially dug with more to finish it.

Seth and Travis pulls Gregory over to the coffin and quickly shove him in while Fin slams the lid down while Gregory, frozen in fear, stares up at them through the puddle of tears forming in his eyes. With no remorse, he locks the latch and starts to count down.

Inside of the coffin it was humid and pitch dark. Being much smaller, Gregory had enough room to move around. He began wildly kicking the lid of the coffin, afraid they would never let him out. He could hear laughter on the other side of the lid.

"Let me out!" Gregory began screaming and panting as his panic rose to new heights.

"Thirty more seconds." Fin says looking at his pocket watch.

"Come on Fin, Travis is right. I don't think this is a good idea." Seth says as he listened to Gregory scream in terror.

"What is wrong with you? I thought you were on my side? I expected this from Travis, but not you." Fin stated, as his brows knit together in anger.

"I am, but this is going too far. This isn't even a real game, it's just something you made up." Seth replies, biting his lip anxiously.

But before Fin could reply, a car pulled into the cemetery coming their way. It was Mr. Carl, the care taker coming to cut the grass and was headed to the work shed for the lawn mower.

"We have to go!" Fin said, making a run for it.

"We've got to let him out first!" Travis said looking back at the coffin which was lightly shaking from Gregory kicking on the inside.

"There's no time, we will come back for him." Travis and Seth both look at each other knowing what the right thing to do was, but Fin grabbed them both by the shirt and they all took off running into the woods leaving little Gregory behind in the coffin.

"Let me out, this isn't funny." Gregory screamed as loud as he could.

"I just wanna go home." He began to murmur, as he realized no one was there to let him out. He couldn't hear Fin's raucous laughter anymore. He was alone,

but not for long.

Mr. Carl starts the lawn mower, forever drowning out the sounds of Gregory's cries.