Moment of Truth

The old graveyard was bone chilling cold, dark and dreary. One weary old enchanted tree leaned slightly over to the right of the entrance gate and broken battered headstones were scattered all around. I could just hear that faint sound of the howling wind and the creak and groan of branches as they swayed in the storm. The smell of fear and rotting leaves filles my nostrils and I gulped and swallowed deeply afraid I would get sick.

As I stepped slowly towards my brother's grave, I heard another noise. It was slow and heavy footsteps. I turned ever so fast. A tall muscular man that looked like he was in his late 30's was walking towards me. His face looked tough and covered in stubble to hide the scares which criss-crossed his jaw.

"I do not think this is a bright idea" I shouted over the wind towards him.

"Well it is a little too late to change your mind" the man replied sharply in a low theatening voice. "Either we dig him up now or spend the rest of your life wondering how in the world did he died".

"Okay, okay" I mumbled, afraid to say anytrhing more in case the lump that clung to my throat cause tears to run down my face.

I could still remember the day those two armed officers arrived at my house to tell me my brother was dead. Their very cold hard stern faces gave little away when I asked them how he died. "Killed in the course of duty" was all they would say. Everything else was "classified". They handed me a letter from my brother, saluted, then swiftly turned and marched off, the click-clack of thier shoes on the pavement slowly fading away. I stood frozen on the spot, dazed, confused and devastated. I finally opened the letter with trembling fingures but only one line stared back at me. "I'll always be with you brother, the one I love so much. Karl". What did he mean? How could he be with me ever again when he is dead?

Now I leaned heavily on the old rusty shovel in my cold sweaty hands and started to dig, determined to uncover the truth. The scar-faced man that was now beside me begane to dig at the other side and soon my brother's coffin begane to emerge from beneath in the layers of sodden earth. Faced with this moment of truth, I began to have a panic break down. What if I was wrong? I knew Karl hated army, I knew he wanted out. His girlfriend Sarah hadn't turned up at the funeral, hadn't contacted her family in the two months since his death. But maybe she just needed some space?

I looked down at the coffin as my hired helper tugged at the sealed shut lid with a crowbar. With a loud snap and bang the lid flew open revealing the frozen corpse inside. My whole body filled with relief – there was a dead man in the coffin. But it wasn't my brother.