Grave Rock: Cemetery Stones

Back to Elk Park Cemetery

Benji was right. There was something pulling us towards that place. I remember distinctly the harsh silence of the car ride to the cemetery. Only the sound of the rushing engine and the buzz of street lamps filled the quiet. None of us said a word while Tye drove as fast as he could towards that place.

That thing back at Benji's place was pure evil. It was wearing pieces of my friends like a poorly fitted costume. When I closed my eyes I saw the stolen fragments of them. Even as I looked out to the darkness of the night I could see it. Slithering along following close behind us. Was it really hunting us or was I imagining it?

That thing had taken Eden and Missy. It devoured bits of Renee and gutted Zoe with animalistic precision. My mind played out their final moments again and again. Once I had seen the creature it was hard to forget. Even now I can still see the rotting flesh sliding over moldy tissue as it moved to hunt us.

We rushed out of the car and through the woods. I couldn't feel the eyes watching like before. Just the cold wind of the forest around us. Tye was talking to Benji and keeping him calm. He promised not to let anything happen to him. We decided to phone the police and let them know we were in the woods. I don't recall why but we felt like it was the right thing to do.

Once we settled where the forgotten grave stones rested, Tye made the call. It was like the forest finally heard us because the air grew heavy and a thin fog drifted near our feet. Soon we could no longer see the bits of rock sticking out of the mud.

Benji started to panic and I tried my best to reassure him but things only got worse. Tye lost the call and we were unsure if the police would even arrive. When he tried to call again he only heard the sound of static. I swear it sounded a bit like laughter.

In frustration Tye kept calling for the police even though it never went through. Benji was screaming into the darkness of the woods. Telling whatever was coming to fuck off and leave us alone. It had already taken our friends. What more did it want? Benji was broken at that moment and he could no longer pretend it wasn't real. Tears and snot pouring out of his face as he tried desperately to reason with the nothing that hunted us.

The small and invasive eyes appeared all around us, this time growing large before flickering away. That was when we heard it. The creature cried out with a stolen throat and tongue from the front of the cemetery. We had no plan. Benji had lost one of the stones and there were still some missing. He wanted to get back to the car and just keep driving.

We still weren't sure why we had gone out there but we knew driving forever wasn't an option. All three of us began to think of ideas. If there were no places to go we would have to fight. The sound of whatever it was climbing over tombstones and clicking its tongue echoed out into the night. Tye was the one who thought of it. Replace the missing stones with new ones.

As the wicked thing got closer, the three of us scrambled to find large rocks or stones to fill the empty spaces. We had them all but filled when we finally saw the creature in the moonlight. It was horridly rotted and looked like it was wilting away. It crawled over the fence and slowly moved towards us like a beast ready to slay the hunted.

Pieces of Eden and Renee slithered like wet rags as the jagged skeletal creature slowly crept towards us. It moved like a panther but looked like a reptile wearing human skin. Eyes that I once knew looked right at me and I remember I almost fainted. It used Missy's voice to say our names and hum sweet nothings. The sound was like that of a radio.

We stood together for a moment before Tye took a step in front of Benji and me. That thing moved so quick I almost didn't see it. The thing with our friend's face slithered near us but was looking right at him. It screamed that horrible scream before knocking him to the side like a toy.

Before I could react it had Benji by the ankles. I had fallen and felt my elbow slam hard against a gravestone. The thing wrapped its tongue all around Benji's torso as it held him with one disgustingly crooked hand. It was like the thing could crack and bend the bones beneath the stolen skin to look however it wanted.

The creature from another world began to unhinge its jaw when I had an idea. As it began to nip at Benji's stomach, I dug up a stone. I moved as quick as I could and with all my strength I brought that stone down on the creature's head.

Grotesque brown and green liquid oozed from the spot when I hit it. I hit it again. I kept bringing that stone down onto the head of that monster until Benji pulled me off. He was ok and wanted to get out of there. Tye and I helped him walk to the front of the cemetery when we were greeted by the police we forgot we called.

I know they saw the monster. The whole force did. There was screaming and confusion but eventually that faded. Soon there was an even bigger team that would settle things. More men in jade colored suits. We never got a straight answer for what the thing was. As far as the public knows, it was a series of freak accidents not connected by one another. No serial killer or coyotes or ghosts. 

The cases are technically still open but eventually Glenwood fell back to its quiet place. A town surrounded by woods and many secrets. Terence, Benji, and I were sworn to keep our silence and a hefty settlement helped. They also took care of all the funeral expenses for our friends.

I don't know if they were the government but whoever they were cleaned things up quickly. They even removed all the stones. Elk Park Cemetery went back to being that spooky place teens and kids dared one another to go. No one knew of the stones that once rested there or the thing that protected them.

Writing all this down has helped clear some of the fog of my memory. I still dream of that time and that place. Tye and I only visit Glenwood to see our friends at Sunnyside Cemetery. Benji left town with his parents shortly after the settlement money came through. The last I checked they had moved to Canada.

At night I no longer felt like that man in the corner was there. The one who would watch me as I slept. I don't know if it was an evil spirit or a quiet guardian. Once we killed that thing and I left Glenwood, I couldn't feel his presence. For a moment. There was a part of me that knew both would be back. The thing that watched me sleep and the creature guarding the stones.