No rest for trouble

Chapter 3

"Marxes, you're in trouble now." Grace said looking at the gravestone. It was nearly out of the ground. "Don't worry about it. It's just a gravestone. At least its still in the ground, right?" Marxes questioned as he looked at the ruined gravestone. "Hey, maybe we should play a game about who could make the most leaning gravestone." He suggested. "Now that's a good idea. Do you think it's a good idea? I mean, not only are we going to be in trouble for not coming to school, but we're going to get in trouble for messing around with an old cemetery." Grace said as she had her arms crossed. She also had a mischievous smile growing on her face. "Of course, it's going to be alright. Nobody is going to see us. Besides, people are going to be thinking that the wind has blown the gravestones." Marxes replied. "Who do you think is going to have the most leaning gravestone?" Grace wondered as she ran towards one of the tombstones that wasn't leaning. "Grace!" Marxes exclaimed as he ran towards the other tombstone.

He ran to the next gravestone. Grace sat on one side of the gravestone that she found, and it was nearly out of the ground. She then got off of the gravestone when it was only seven centimeters away from touching the ground. Marxes started to push the other gravestone towards the ground. This gravestone was not only leaning, but it's left side was only eight and a half centimeters away from touching the ground. "You win Grace." Marxes said, as he went to check which tombstone was leaning the most. "Hey, why are these kids doing over there?" An adult questioned, watching from across the street. "Time to go." Marxes said. Grace pushed some of the vines away from the back. It was a wooden fence. It had a wooden door matching the wood of the fence. "Where do you think this door goes?" Grace asked Marxes. He grabbed his scooter and bag. "Get out of there!" Another adult yelled at the two friends. Grace quickly grabbed her stuff and went to the fence. They quickly bashed into the wooden door. It fell onto the rotting wooden floor. The two friends ran into they went into a room with an unfinished coffin. It was dark so they couldn't see anything. "Stop! Come out of there!" Another adult yelled from the sidewalk. Marxes struggled to move past the dark areas of the room. Grace took out her phone, and used the flashlight app. She shined it on a doorway. The top support is crumbling away. It was rotten. The right side of the door frame is leaning onto the right side. Grace went to look. Marxes grabbed his phone. He turned on the flashlight app too. "Get back here you hooligans!" A citizen said as he jumped over the old iron gate. Marxes ran towards the doorway. He ducked under the support. He was behind a counter. A cash register with a button missing was on the counter. The numbers on the cash register buttons have faded away. Grace tried to push the next door open. It was locked from the inside. Marxes swiftly climbed over the counter and tried to knock the door down.

The door wouldn't budge. "Ready or not, here I come!" An adult shouted as he stepped into the dark building. Marxes and Grace tried to knock the door down together. They could feel the door was easier to open than before. But the door was still locked from the outside. A beam of light was shining from the coffin room. Marxes rammed against the door again. The sound of footsteps was becoming louder. Marxes and Grace rammed against the door together, and it opened. They nearly fell down the one step onto the sidewalk path to the door. They then looked around. There were a few cars parked. The beam of light shined on the wooden floor. Marxes and Grace looked at each other. The adult that was chasing them through the small building went to the edge of the road. She looked around her. "Oh no." She groaned while slowly shaking her head. She looked around where she was standing one more time. The adult turned around and went back into the old wooden building. Marxes peeked from the side of the van he was behind. He watched as the lady entered the old wooden building. He got out from the hiding place. Grace was also hiding behind the van too. Marxes checked the time on his cellphone. It was nine forty-five. "So, what do you want to do now? Do you want to go to school today?" He asked Grace. "Are you kidding? No way! I think we should go to the skate park. I would want to do some rad moves." Grace spoke as she put her scooter on the sidewalk. She then started to ride on her scooter down the road. Marxes put his scooter down and chased after her. When the demolition workers came back, they were not very pleased that somebody messed around with the gravestones. They dug one of the few remaining graves. They exhumed one body. They had it moved to another cemetery. The name of that person was posted on a sticky note. The other two graves were left alone. The demolition workers moved the gravestones so they would be standing upright. Some of the earth from the hole was used to hold the gravestones upright. The demolition workers left the mini excavator and left for the day. The gate was closed up with a chain and a tight lock. Marxes and his friend was at the skateboard park for the day. They practiced some tricks. They had their lunch while at the skateboard park. "I think Holly would get over the fight you had with her yesterday." Marxes said as he did a trick on the rail. "She better not be insulting and bragging about me." She replied.

"What should we tell our parents when we get home?" Marxes queried. "They would know that we were not as school because the principal might call." "I think that we could tell our parents that were trying to get to school, but there were a few accidents." Grace spoke as she jumped with her scooter in the air. The two friends played at the park for the whole afternoon. They did some tricks at the different spots in the skate park. Grace checked the time on her phone. It was only five O' clock. "Come on, let's go home. I don't want to be yelled at by my parents." Grace adduced. "Same with me. Not." Marxes imparted as he rolled towards the sidewalk riding his scooter. "Come on Marxes. I'm not joking. My mom and dad might be really mad if I'm late for dinner." Grace declared as she got to the sidewalk. "Do you think we will see Holly on the way?" Marxes questioned as he waited for her. They went down the sidewalk riding their scooters. "I hope that she would apologize first. She started the fight with her insults." Grace uttered while riding down the sidewalk. The two friends made it home safely. They went the shorter way home. They didn't stop at any intersection. Most of the intersections that they went to have no cars waiting to go through. "Do you think that we would be bad drivers if we could drive cars?" Grace asked. "I think we would be terrible drivers. We could get into an accident. After all, that car nearly made you hurt yesterday." Marxes answered. "Do the pedestrians have the right of way?" Grace grilled him. The two friends continued to drive back home on their scooters. The old wooden building that was behind the cemetery had some yellow tape all around it.

The demolition workers now had to deconstruct the discovered old wooden building and move the graves from the old cemetery to another cemetery. The old wooden building was covered with vines, making it impossible to see looking into the cemetery from the inside. Before the supervisor of the demolition workers left, he talked to a police officer. He advised the supervisor to get the bodies moved to another cemetery as soon as possible. The two men went their separate ways. Grace and Marxes made it back home safely. Grace's parents were furious that she didn't go to school today. Grace gave the excuse that there were some accidents along the road to the school. Her parents didn't believe her. Marxes parents didn't let him make an excuse. They got him to sit at the table. And wait until supper was served. The parents let him get his full plate off the kitchen counter. He was silent during the whole meal. "Are you scared to go back to school because you're scared of the principal or that you didn't want to go to school at all today?" His father pumped him. "You are slowly starting to get on our nerves Mark. Answer us, now!" His mother yelled at him. Grace's parents were asking her the same questions. "Are you trying to avoid that girl you had a fight with?" Her father asked her. Grace nodded her head. "The reason why I got into a fight with her is that she said something bad about me." She responded. "That's hardly any excuse to get into trouble like that." Her mother said. "What should I have done? Ignored her, or tell somebody about it?" Grace grilled, nearly talking back. "You should have told someone." Her father said as he took a bite out of his supper. The two friends eventually went to bed. It was around eleven PM. The old cemetery was quiet. The two doors of the old, abandoned building behind the cemetery were screwed back into place. Yellow police tape covered the doors to the old, abandoned building. Suddenly, the ground underneath one of the gravestones started to move. The wooden gravestone moved from side to side. Then the movement stopped. Something started to burrow out of the ground. A hand shot up from the ground. It felt dirt nearby. The hand went back down into the hole. The earth started to move as something dug out from underground. Ahead with a long tongue poked out of the ground.