The Bone Orchard

The apple trees stood silently, row upon row like soldiers long forgotten. The corpse beneath the earth was cold and still, yet its soul shook violently with a malevolent, unrelenting rage. This missing person was missing no more.

She had cried for mercy, begged through her tears, but the man had only laughed when he changed from her kidnapper to her murderer.

The soil cradling her body devoured her fury, and spread it throughout the orchard, infecting the ground and poisoning the roots in its wake. The man was long gone by now—the man with her blood on his hands—but three new voices crested over the hill, approaching the site of her unmarked grave. She could hear each of their footsteps as they neared, the sound like thunder in her ears.

The orchard speaks to her, for she is the orchard, and the orchard is she.

Delinquents, every single one of them. How dare they traipse carelessly over her soil, disrespect her final resting place, and take for themselves her fruit from her trees? They just let that horrible man take her life and throw her corpse underneath the earth! They could've helped her!

As soon as they bit into those apples, she knew she'd get her revenge.

Parker dreamed he was tied up; the feeling of coarse rope rubbing against his wrists felt so real... He blinked hard, but his vision was submerged in pitch darkness. The faint smell of over-ripened apples reached his nose, and he was abruptly made aware of the damp soil underneath him. Where was he?

Suddenly, he felt the presence of something sharp and cold pressing against the soft flesh of his neck. No sooner than he had shivered at its touch was the sensation replaced with something warm and syrupy. The strange, viscous liquid dribbled down his throat and onto his chest.

A shrill cry echoed in the mist, and it took Parker a moment to realize that it was himself who screamed out.

Parker jolted awake to the sound of his two friends' hysterical mumbling. Their eyes were bloodshot and dilated, reflecting utter fear. The trio's strange visions started nearly two days ago, each one more vivid and terrifying than the last. However, Parker had never seen the two of them act this after them before: so crazed, so rabid... almost like they were possessed.

They had finally snapped, and Parker knew if he couldn't piece together these visions, he'd be next.

He soon found himself back at the abandoned orchard, stumbling aimlessly through the trees, seeking any form of relief from his maddening visions. Why did it feel like he was nearing the gallows?

Everything seemed so eerily familiar. Through the veil of thick fog, Parker didn't notice the ghostly spirit. Watching his every move, the taste of revenge danced on her tongue, sickly sweet, as the boy caressed the rusty knife clutched in his hands.

Indeed, her bones were buried beneath this orchard, but soon they'd be lonely no longer.