I Belong in the Graveyard

Intro

Lost Boy
My feet scuffed the dirt and I kicked a pebble out of my way. A cold breeze ruffled my shirt and sent a chill running down my spine. When I looked up, the gates to the graveyard came into view and I sighed and averted my gaze back to the hard dry ground.

Family was rough for me, the graveyard was my only escape. My parents were alcoholics and my mother smoked every chance she got. These days were brutal at my house. My father had recently brought up the idea of divorce.

Every time he did my mom lost it. He was her source of money and if he left she wouldn't be able to afford her drugs or alcohol, it was stupid really. My dad used to be the best man I knew, up until my older sister died of cancer. We lost all our money and we didn't even have my sister to show for it. My father was devastated. He had always favored her. That's when he started drinking and gambling, he would stumble into the house at ungodly hours and that's when my mothers drug addiction began. I could run away and put myself up for adoption, but I already get beat up at school enough, and at least I can still say I kinda have a family. Kinda.

I belong to the graveyard. I should be dead, I would rather be dead than live this life. What a life, it's not even close to a life. Not too long till I will lie in one of those coffins with my own headstone, unless my parents won't pay for one. Do you pay for headstones? I don't really care.

I crossed the thresh hold into the graveyard and took a deep breath. The dusty air didn't bother me anymore; I came here almost every day. Well, more like snuck out to come here everyday.

The graveyard was my only escape. No one would judge if I cried here, I could stay here as long as I pleased without so much as a glance from the workers. Some of the grave divers became suspicious of me, probably thinking I was digging up graves and taking the dead persons prized possessions, but on the other hand if someone was here to morn the loss of someone close to them would you bring it up?

It was stupid but sometimes I would sit at my sisters grave and pray to her. I wasn't this extremely religious kind of guy but if I could somehow communicate to my sister, I would at least try.

I would come almost daily after my sister died. It lessened as my parents kept a closer eye on me and wouldn't let me go out, but I would sneak out every so often. I even have a running lie that school ended at 4:30 instead of 2:30, just so I could go to the graveyard.

I walked through the graveyard and looked at all the tombstones. Some were very ornate, some were plain and tiny, some had ivy vines crawling up the sides, some were chipped off, some were fading, some were new, some were even planted today.

I walked not on the usual pathway but over and through the graves. I noticed a new grave and recently turned up dirt.

The tombstone was almost to my hips and was as broad as an elephants chest. It read "Here lies the beautiful and graceful Alison Parkinson
May she rest in peace and be set free of her cancer."

As someone that lost a sibling of cancer I stopped at the grave. I stopped and sighed. Yet another soul lost to this plague. I stopped and stood in silence and quickly mourned for the person.
"I'm sorry..." I whispered, "I have also lost someone with cancer. I hope you can find peace wherever you went to."

I'm not exactly sure if I believe in a religion but I am positive there is something after death, I just don't know what, truly no one does and I don't care if someone was clutching to life and said they saw something like a God or Gods, I truly do not believe anyone could ever get to that moment until they were actually dead. All I think is that there must be something after death. But those are just my beliefs and I do not try to shame other people's religion, those are just beliefs, no one knows for sure.