The Ghost of the Graveyard

       I got lost. I ended up in a graveyard, with the leaves dancing around me and the wind howling in my ear. It was a full moon. The sky was dark. Creak. I gulped in abhorrence.

         My heart was pounding. I tiptoed through the rows of graves when I saw…      

I saw a lamp, flickering in the distance. I breathed in relief. I chuckled. Oh! I’m so afraid! I walked to the figure carrying the lamp and said “hello?” The person turned around. It was a man. I saw his face. It was cracked and wrinkled. But he smiled warmly. Almost too warmly. He said, “What brings you to this graveyard lad?” My heart pounding somewhere in my throat, I said, stammering with each syllable, “I-I got lost in-in this graveyard.” “Well did you lad?” “I am just the person to help you. But, first, you must spend the whole night in this graveyard.” “What do you say lad?” I looked around. My brain  was concentrating on some other way. Any other way to leave this graveyard and get home. But I found none. So, with a shaky breath, I said, “Okay, I am ready.” He gave me another of those creepy, warm smiles. He then said, “Alrighty lad!” And little did I know that this would be the biggest mistake of my life.

       I followed him deeper and deeper into the graveyard,  passing through vines and stones, when I heard a shriek! Aaargh! Shriek! I gasped and stopped. I looked at the man. He was smiling. He he he! You don’t mind a banshee once in a while? I checked my watch. 10:00 PM . 6 more hours to go. I went further in. This time I saw a man, standing over a  roaring fire, horns protruding from his head and trident in his hand.  I whimpered in fear. The devil. The devil started leering at me. Come boy, come! He he  he! I watched in utmost horror. I checked my watch. 9:00 PM. What?! I cried. What is the time? 9:00 lad. said the man. In apprehension, I continued further. Next, I saw a coffin, and vampire, with a blood stained vest. Come! Let us drink something together! Like….your blood! He screeched. The boy shuddered. I was by now feeling faint. I checked the time. 9:00. Groaning, I walked further in. I eventually heard a rattle. Shake. Rattle. Shake. Rattle. I peeked behind a thorny bush. I saw a skeleton, with a pile of bones surrounding him, muttering around. I gasped in terror. I backed off, when I thudded into something. I slowly turned my head when I saw-hiss! A serpent, crawling slowly towards me. I ran like I was running a race for the Olympics. I was so busy looking back when-thud! I tripped over a root of a tree, casting its shadow over me, and for one brief second, it seemed like its branches were slowly reaching out for him. Bloody and scratched, I turned away from the tree, and looked toward a grave. Through my teary eyes, I saw the name that was engraved on it. Justin Turner, born November 1st, 2000 died October 31st, 2011.

       I turned over, shocked still. Justin Turner was my name. The man came over to me. Now do you understand why you came here? Why has time never passed? So you could die. I knew I was going to die, there was no choice, but then I realized something. I overcame my fears. The realization slowly crept over me, sinking into my mind, and my body. The man gaped at me in horror, when I also realized something else. My fears kept me here. Now that I overcame my fears, I overcame the night. Suddenly the sun plunged out of the trifling-too much darkness, showering me in glorious light. I gasped for joy. Suddenly, the man burst out in flame. The sun was his weakness! So, he and the whole graveyard in fact, burst into flames. I jumped for joy! Then I collapsed. Suddenly the world started to whirl around me, and once the whirling stopped, I ended up in my bedroom, like I woke up from a long sleep. 

      17 years later, on Halloween night, I still remember my encounter in the graveyard. I still do trick-or-treat, but now I do it with more care. I still wonder what happened to the graveyard and the man. And sometimes, I still find them in my dreams, and the man, cackling away!

                                                         The End.