Reverence

1.3 Soul Dance

Breakdawn Graveyard was rumoured to be haunted. Spooky ghosts, wailing banshees... Something like that. Wraiths, sprites, and the souls of those who have been buried in that place.

And the music.

It was said that if you walked past the graveyard late into the night, you would be able to hear raucous music, the faint stamping of feet on the ground and gleeful, empty laughter.

Of course, I didn't  believe in those silly old rumours. And so did my friends. We were just a bunch of teenagers, curious about the world and recklessly adventurous. So we decided to give a dare. Whoever managed to stay in there for half an hour and came back out, and saw something, that person would be given fifty bucks. But if she didn't, then the rumours were false.

I didn't think much of it and simply agreed to the dare. But now, as I stood outside the graveyard, I began to have second thoughts.

It looked like a cemetery out of a nightmare.

Crumbling walls, rusty gates, withered plants, moldy stones infested with moss and algae. Even ethereal lights glowing eerily from the inside. They shone dimly, like blue flames.

I shivered, staring at the gates. I was supposed to go in there? Damn.

But the past was the past. There was no turning back now.

I stealthily climbed across the padlocked gates of the graveyard, trying not to make a sound. Landing lightly on the other side, I looked around. I gulped, scratching at my throat- a nervous habit. The cold, musky air of decayed corpses and earth kissed my skin, and I sneezed. The sound resonated through the air, alarmingly loud in the deafening silence.

A twig cracked somewhere. Dead branches reached out at me likes the claws of monsters, swaying in the freezing breeze. The wind howled like a wolf calling to the moon, echoing through my ears. Tombstones poked out of the ground, rotting, defaced, and crumbling like the walls.

I gagged as a horrible stench hit me. It smelled like something had just died. Then I remembered that I was in a graveyard, and all around me were people who had died, buried under my feet.

There came a crackle of leaves, and a whoosh. I twisted around, feeling chills run up my spine. Why the heck was this place so spooky? Seeing nothing, I heaved a sigh of relief and turned back.

And saw a pair of large eyeless sockets staring at me, blood pouring out of them.

I screamed, jumping away. The sound reverberated through the air, echoing and echoing. I realised that the eye sockets were part of a skeleton, which stood, horribly mutilated, in front of me. Its joints were disproportionate and mouldy yellow, dirt red caked on the bones like flour.

The skeleton twisted its head, and to my surprising horror, turned it 180 degrees. I screamed again, turning to run away.

And found myself facing yet another skeleton, this time one that was half-rotting. Flesh still hung off its bones.

"HeLLo HeLLo," they chanted, voices booming, circling me. Blue flames began appearing behind them, morphing into the shapes of faeries and sprites.

"welcome welcome," the little creatures squeaked, giggling and laughing as they swooped around me, large jet black eyes staring at me unblinkingly.

Then a dark, hooded wraith floated along, reaching out bony claws towards me. "Behold, our glorious land," it hissed. More supernaturals beings came; headless horsemen like those from paranormal stories, their horses stamping on the ground, dancing, rotting bears in tutus, ghoul heads floating around shaking maracas, and somehow the ghosts of witches, letting out their cackles and laughs.

"PlAy witH us," they screamed and snickered, hissed and boomed.

"SIng wiTh us," a ghastly banshee let out a caterwaul, and the bears pranced like mannequins, their paws up in the air. The horsemen galloped around on their rides, the skeletons clacking their uneven bony jaws.

"JOiN ouR DaNcE," The sprites laughed in their squeaky little voices, swirling around me in blues, reds and yellows like stars in a night sky.

They surrounded me as I looked at them, wide-eyed, unable to say anything but be allured by their mystic ways.

"come come come!" High-pitched voices echoed in my head, whirling around. I took a step back, then suddenly felt the urge to join them in their little circus.

Don't. Don't be fooled. Don't fall for their tricks. Just RUN.

So I ran.

BLOODY GOD I SHOULD NEVER HAVE AGREED TO THE STUPID DARE.

Tearing through the graveyard, my sneakers digging into the soft gravel, I headed back for the gate. I ran and ran, but it never seemed to end. Then, to my horror, I found myself back in the cluster of creatures, all of whom just grinned slyly at me.

I JUST RAN IN CIRCLES.

"it's useless it's useless!" The faeries and sprites giggled gleefully.

"YoU'LL NevER gEt OuT," the deep-voiced beasts growled in their rumbly voices.

"Once someone comes in, they can never escape," the ghosts and wraiths sang.

"That can't be!" I screamed at them. "You're lying!"

"we aren't we aren't,"

"GiVe it uP,"

"Just enjoy yourself in this heaven,"

"No! This isn't heaven! This is-"

The wraiths streamed forward, engulfing me in their dark billowing cloaks. The witch ghosts flew on their brooms, laughing sickly as I struggled to see. The ghouls shook and drummed, slamming themselves on the ground. The sprites sang, and I found myself wondering how I had survived without such a beautiful sound. It sounded like a siren's song.

My mind went blank, my body stiff. A wraith reached out a hand to me and I took it.

I was falling down.

The music drifted into my ears; the voices of the creatures, their whispers and murmurs.

"join us join us,"

I began to dance.

"SIng anD DanCE wItH uS,"

I laughed merrily.

"This is our heaven,"

It was so fun. Such happiness...

"WeLcoMe tO yOUr HeLL,"

Resserell
albclub