Grave Rock: Cemetery Stones

The Place Once Forgotten

I can't recall if I slept that night. Everything seemed to melt all together, the funeral and the morning after becoming one single memory. Tye was at my place early with Benji tagging along. The three of us would traverse back through the woods and to the Elk Park Cemetery. I distinctly remember the crisp scent of a coming storm filling the air.

We talked about Zoe and Eden as we walked towards the menacing graveyard. Benji had heard from someone at the funeral that the two girls went on a break just before Zoe died. A cousin of Zoe had been talking with her the day before she was found. Benji couldn't believe it but he kept bringing up how Eden had acted.

Tye cleared things up a bit more. He had spoken with Eden that morning and it was true. They had decided to take a break. I started to feel a strange presence as we got closer to our destination. It was a familiar feeling like that of a loved one. Someone watching over you and making sure you were ok.

Just as I let myself sink into that feeling there was a crackle of voices. Evil whispers that echoed out and broke the moment. I no longer felt comfort but great fear. Someone was watching us but it was not a friend. The sound of our feet crunching fallen leaves brought me back.

Benji was already making wild guesses as to why they would take a break. I could tell that Tye had wished he hadn't brought it up. We reached Elk Park Cemetery and it was not like I remember. The feeling of deep loneliness was no longer there. It was just a small graveyard with a few weathered stones. The black iron fence was rusted and the gate was missing.

We walked around the fence and headed down a path between the trees. It was clear no one had been here in a long time. Now even the Elk Park Cemetery was but a forgotten monument to families no longer in Glenwood. Benji found the stones. He told me not to panic before I even reached them. He even tried to get me to leave before I saw what happened.

There was more than one missing. Of the ten stones there were only six left. Four grave markers had been taken from their proper place. Benji tried to tell me that we were still unsure if they were gravestones. Tye asked what I wanted to do next. I wasn't sure. It was as if I was slowly floating out of my own body.

I was looking at the three of us from above. Who had taken the other stones? I felt that powerfully evil presence loom closer to us. There were a dozen little eyes watching as something much larger was waiting to strike. I remember saying that Zoe should have never taken the stone.

Benji said it was just a rock but I went off. How could she do that? After what happened in high school? Zoe didn't believe and now she was dead. Renee had probably stolen a stone as well. I blamed the gravestones and the ghosts that haunt them for their deaths. I remember every emotion bubbling over and pouring out of every inch of me.

This made Benji laugh. He kept telling me to calm down. There were no ghosts. He did not believe in any of that. I could feel the creatures no one could see inching closer. The anger and fear I felt started to fill the air around us. Those tiny eyes began to bleed and release quiet clicks in the air only I could hear. Tye said that we still did not know if Renee had taken one.

That night I would find out everything with a single phone call. I had decided to call Missy and tell her all about the missing stones. She already knew. Missy told me everything I had wanted to know. A part of me wished I hadn't found out.

Zoe and Renee had taken stones but so did Missy. They all did one night after they had been drinking. Renee had been fighting with her husband and the girls wanted to make her feel better. Someone suggested drinking in the graveyard.

It was supposed to be a fun thing meant to be the end of a marriage. The death of a couple if you will. Missy says she didn't think it was a big deal but then the others were killed. I could hear the anxiety and paranoia in her voice. She was afraid of something and she told me she felt she would be next.

When I asked her why she said she just had a feeling. As she said she felt the painful feeling of being watched my heart dropped. Missy described that heavy and unnerving dread that seeped in whenever it felt like it. Like something otherworldly was crawling ever closer.

We decided to meet the next day and return the stones. Missy kept saying sorry but I don't recall forgiving her. She said she should have believed me back then and I suddenly realized she never believed. The times she said she had or was still unsure were just a lie. Missy did not believe.

All those years ago and I was the only one who believed. Tye said he saw something but maybe he had been lying too. I know we all saw the same thing that night. It was not a prank and it was not my imagination. We saw what was going to kill our friends all those years ago.