The Book of Plot Twists

Graveyard Shift (submitted)

*this story was written by notebook_pencil . It was inspired by my short story, Voices. All rights reserved blah blah blah you know the whole thing. Dedicated to notebook_pencil because she wrote it. It is connected to one of True_Rusher's Plot Twist stories because she asked if she could, I read it, and agreed. Very rarely will a reader submitted story be connected to mine*

I've heard the voices for a long time; now that I think about it, I've heard them since the car accident that killed my parents. My aunt always tells me I have a strong imagination. That's all I ever thought the voices were.

I've never been so wrong, especially on so many levels.

A group of my high school classmates have decided to take a trip to the cemetery down Marley Road. That place is creepy, like horror movie creepy, but nothing bad will happen. We've planned this for three months to be sure of it. Our group consists of four or five seniors, a handful of juniors, maybe two sophomores, and a nine-year- old. That might take some explaining...

Leah was suckered into babysitting her cousin Rebecca tonight. Like I said earlier, we've had this planned for a while, and Leah has always been one for exploring and horror. She was looking forward to this the most, so she agreed to babysit and brought Rebecca along.

"Here's the plan," Angela says. "We go in, look at the grave, maybe get a few pictures, move some stuff around, and get out." Angela looks like she can kick some butt in her all black attire. Her dark skin is the color of hot chocolate and her eyes are like thick golden honey. "Any questions?" David, a small boy with floppy blonde hair, asks, "Do we have to go in? I mean, I'm kinda scared." Leah moans and turns to face him. "Seriously, dude? Rebecca, are you afraid?" Rebecca shakes her head, black curls bouncing wildly as a grin smears across her face. "See? Man up, David."

I feel pumped, a mix of nervous energy and pure adrenaline rushing through my veins. "Cody, you be the leader of group two." Cody, my boyfriend, takes half of us into his group and we make our way into the woods. "Group Two" is Leah, Rebecca, David, Daniel, Jay, Jason, Patrick, Priscilla, and me. "Don't hesitate to turn back, David," Cody says with a smirk. "I won't judge you." David gulps loudly, but insists he's fine and wants to keep going.

Sticks and twigs snap under our feet as we get closer. We have mapped out the area and we know it like the backs of our hands, but we've never seen the "DO NOT ENTER", "NO TRESPASSING", or "PRIVATE PROPERTY BEYOND THIS POINT" signs on Google Earth. They must be new. David falters at the sight of the signs that mark the property line. "We really don't need to be doing this," he says uneasily. Jay rolls his eyes and punches David's small-framed shoulder. "What's the worst that could happen?" I feel a small flutter of sudden fear. There are a lot of possibilities. I shake my fear back to the inside. I won't be a coward. I won't be afraid.

As we near the graveyard, the murmuring voices get stronger. I stop briefly to get them to go away and Cody turns around. "You okay, Terra?" he asks. I hear concern in his voice and I sense that it's genuine. "I'm fine." My voice come out harsher than I mean for it to.

"Let's just keep moving," Leah grumbles as she resituates Rebecca in her arms. "Leah, is this vandalism?" Rebecca asks. She's so innocent, sitting in her cousin's arms and playing with her light brown hair. Leah's fave softens as she strokes Rebecca's face. "No, sweetie, it's only vandalism if we get caught." Patrick snickers and Leah punches him in the stomach with her free hand. "Will we get caught?" Rebecca wonders, her hand in the classic "I'm thinking" position. "Nah," Leah replies with a smile. "We're gonna be just fine." Priscilla flips her perfectly curled bleach-blonde hair. "I can't believe we're doing this!" she squeals. Everyone else in the group lets out a collective groan. "I swear, Prissy, if you can't shut up, I'm gonna kill you," I growl.

We go slowly, not sure what's around the next corner. Speaking as a person who has always known what's coming, it's frightening to not know. The moon disappears behind the clouds and darkness settles over us. Cody takes my hand and I snap back into the reality of walking through the woods in the middle of the night toward a graveyard in the middle of nowhere. A grunt sounds, along with the sound of bark hitting pine straw. Patrick laughs lightly and I hear Leah's voice tell him to lay down in the bust open grave and die in it since it's already been dug for him.

Prissy has managed to stay quiet for five minutes, and in those five minutes, we made it to the graveyard. Really, it's quite peaceful. The moon has broken through the clouds and is illuminating the broken stones and dead tree stumps and fog clings to the ground. I squeeze Cody's hand tighter. "Dude, this is one legit creepy graveyard," Patrick murmurs as he looks around. Patrick is a tall and awkward junior with deep brown eyes and black hair. His hood is pulled up and his hair sticks out the bottom. Cody runs his hand through his red hair. His head is like a beacon of fire in the moonlight. "I guess we just wait until the others get here."

His order doesn't stop us from looking around. We are, after all, in a creepy cemetery with signs that say "NO TRESPASSING" and "PRIVATE PROPERTY PAST THIS LINE". We're such rebels. I find the grave we plan to mess with and peer into its depths. Inside, the coffin has busted open from a tree growing at the head of the grave. In fact, there's no top at all. There is, however, a near perfect skeleton laying inside, its arms folded across its chest. The skull is slightly tilted to the right- towards me. I back away from the grave, but I feel the eyes of the skeleton, the empty eye sockets, staring at me- staring into my very soul. I feel like there are bugs crawling all over me. In my haste to escape the glare of the skeleton, I bump into someone and scream. One hand covers my mouth; the other spins me around. I sigh in relief. Daniel. "Sheesh, Terra, you got a set of pipes on you," he mutters. Before I can apologize, I hear a gunshot. Pain erupts in my stomach.

"RUN!!!" Cody shouts. Our group scatters, dispersing among the trees. I leap over a log, Daniel right beside me, though slightly ahead. A bullet whizzes past my ear and a scream from my left makes me slow a bit. I pale as I look, praying Cody hasn't been hit. Another bullet misses me by an inch and I take off again. I don't get too far; I trip over a stump and fall to the ground. My face slams into the forest floor and my vision goes fuzzy. The wind has been knocked out of me, but I manage to manipulate my arms into a position that will help me to my feet. Without looking back, I push myself up and run. "Terra!" someone yells. "I'm coming!" I shout back, pushing myself harder. Breath seems harder to gain as I continue my sprint toward the signs that mark the property line.

People come into view and I sigh in relief as I slow and duck behind the tree line to catch my breath. "Where's Terra?" I hear Cody ask. "Last I saw her, we were still in the cemetery," Daniel tells him. "I didn't see her fall, but I heard her hit the ground." "Well wherever she is, we don't have time to sit around and wait for her. I'm ninety percent sure that guy's called the cops, and none of us can be around when they get here," Jay announces. "We have to leave," Leah agrees. "I'm not leaving until she gets here!" Cody shouts. "Cody, I hate to say this, but we don't have a choice!" Leah yells back. "We either get our butts outta here, or risk our butts to go back for someone we aren't even sure is there. She's a smart girl, Cody. If anyone can find a way out of here alone, it's Terra."

In my rush to escape the gun, I had forgotten about the voices, but now they're back and stronger than ever. "What's she doing here?" "Who is she?" I cover my ears and a jolt of panic shoots through me- the voices aren't in my head anymore.

"Guys, I hear sirens!" Jason yells. "We gotta go!" Leah places her hand on Cody's shoulder. "She's gonna make it out," she says softly. Rebecca clings tighter to Leah's neck and they head off without me. "Guys, wait!" I shout desperately. I emerge, but they're gone. I start off after them, but an invisible force yanks me backwards. My vision blurs, and for a moment, the only things in focus are the signs. The footsteps of my friends have been replaced by the footsteps of others.

I sit up and look at the space in front of me with confusion. "Need help?" someone asks. I look up and a boy no older than eighteen has his hand extended. He has kind grey eyes and pale brown hair. I take his hand- it's as cold as ice. "Why can't I get out?" I ask. He looks forward sadly. "No one gets past the property line," he says, not looking at me. "Believe me: I've tried just to see if I could have one more glance at my Evelyn Rose." I look around and notice that everyone has a slight grey aura around them. My stomach liquifies and I realize suddenly what the voices have always been. My brush with death had caused me to hear them- I now understand them because that's what I am.