Grave Rock: Cemetery Stones

Places We Used to Disappear

A few days after the funeral, I woke up to the sounds of voices talking loudly downstairs. Booming voices that were familiar and comforting. Benji and Tye had stopped by to check on me. Tye was driving Benji around for a week because his car was in the shop.

It felt like old times. My parents were in full nostalgia mode, showing off faded pictures and asking intrusive questions. They had all but found out more than I had over a single breakfast. I tried my best not to pry but it seemed like Benji wanted to spill. He really enjoyed coaching and teaching kids.

I shoved a handful of Apple Jacks in my mouth and rushed them out the door. The air was crisp and carried a soft scent of honey. Tye had the same car since high school. It used to belong to his dad but it was gifted to him on prom night. A 1967 Chevy Impala that was a radiant shade of blue and looked like it was plucked right out of a movie.

We decided to stop by the high school just for laughs. No class was in season so we just parked outside for a moment to share old stories. When it was time for Benji to go, Tye joked that his car wouldn't start. We laughed but a part of me felt like he didn't want the moment to end. He commented that he missed this. Just the three of us having laughs like old times.

Benji had to do some tutoring at the library so we dropped him off and went to where the retro arcade used to be. It no longer held the greatest beat 'em ups nor the random stale pizza that tasted like seasoned wood. The building was now a tanning salon. Tye and I walked around the place looking at how all the stores had changed since then.

After a while we decided to get some lunch. Tye didn't want to eat inside. Instead we drove to the old 'Meet Me' shacks. They were abandoned cement structures that had times written on the walls for hooking up. We found them one day during high school when we all decided to ditch fourth period.

Behind the sex shacks was a small pond. On the other side was a bridge resting in the middle of some trees. Missy had said once that there might have been a stream that would have passed under but now it was a bridge over weeds and stones. We enjoyed our lunch and talked again of distant times.

I told him of life in the city and he told me stories of the people we used to know. We remembered how racist kids used to think Eden and Terence would end up together because they were both black. How wrong they had been about Eden. I realized the majority of our group had gone through some rough times. With the exception of Renee, we all felt the sting of small town racism and bigotry. I almost forgot the time some seniors spray painted 'faggot' on my locker and car. 

When Tye helped clean it up, they spray painted worse on his locker. There was a sort of bond we all gained going through fire together. I wish I had kept in touch. Tye said he had reached out to me before but I hadn't responded. There was a flash of before, when I was caught up in my life with Elliot Monroe. I thought he was my everything. Tye had sent a letter to my old dorm which went back to my parent's.

There was a funny feeling I hadn't felt in years. I had known Tye for a long time. In high school when I was realizing who I was and how I felt, there were feelings I couldn't grasp. I didn't want to grasp. I felt a love for Tye. A deep connection that was beyond the love I felt for Benji or Missy. It was like something outside myself would always pull me towards him.

Being gay in a small town can be tough. I was bullied before and after coming out, with very little promise of it getting better. The one thing I could count on was my friends. At the time at least. Before we began to drift and go our own ways. I still had those feelings for Tye but I didn't want to ruin what we had. I needed him as a friend and couldn't risk losing that.

When I had heard I got a letter from him I was just starting to get serious with Elliot. There was a part of me that didn't want to further bury those feelings and reach out. I wanted to know if those deeper feelings were there after so much time had passed. I didn't want to ruin what I had with Elliot and Tye was but a timeworn memory. In that moment Tye looked at me with those soft brown eyes and I didn't know what to say. He smiled that goofy smile and it nearly broke me.

In the quiet of the forest we sat and enjoyed the company of each other. Like so many times before, the two of us were left alone with a feeling like it was meant to be. I remember those moments back then but I wasn't sure if it was just my heart longing to be loved. Were my feelings confusing the fragmented memories? Was there a real bond or just my delusion?

Tye and me soaked in all the noise and beauty of the woods.The sounds of animals moving in the distance. Buzzing of bugs and the gentle wind harmonizing with it all. Tye said he really missed this. Just hanging out. Enjoying the time together. He said he enjoyed it a lot when it was just the two of us.

I drifted back for a moment to when we were much younger. With curfews and worried parents, Benji or Missy would often have to head home first. Eden and Zoe would go off alone together and Renee rarely hung out in the woods with us. Terence and I always explored the forest or town together. There was the time Tye had found a geocache and we wrote our names on the piece of paper inside.

One time we found a pit that was full of car parts and laundry machines, rusting and rotting away like most things in the woods. Tye even saved me from almost falling to my death off a very tall tree. It was odd but since Glenwood was surrounded by dense woods, there was so much to discover. I remember Tye making us vow to explore all of it. I swear there was an inviting comfort in the way Tye looked at me. I was afraid to feel it.

I had thought it was all just my imagination before. Like something I only wished to be true but would never be so. That bubbling of butterflies in your gut that slowly turns to a sensation you long to feel. When he looked at me like that I could feel my heart struggling to keep a beat. He put his arm around me and joked about leaving Benji to walk home. He wanted us to stay there until the sunset.

Just as I let myself truly enjoy the moment I felt it. A sudden and painful surge of doubt. As the terror began to twist the knife, I could suddenly feel the eyes watching us. The things others could not see. Wicked remnants stuck between worlds started to whisper and move towards us. The air suddenly brought with it the stench of burnt flesh. Then I heard the clicking.

Tye reminded me of the time and we quickly left to get Benji. As we made our way to the car I swear we were being followed. Not by the watchers but by the creature. The thing in my dreams. That charred skeleton with its coat of stolen flesh. Just as we drove away I saw it crawling back into the woods.