Deep Creek

Chapter 8 - The Cemetary

I sped off the main road; I was still fighting the steering wheel as I turned the corner. Hoping that my body would listen to my mind and turn back onto the main road.

No avail, we were on the single lane road, not enough room either side to do a U-turn and too dangerous to reverse back to the main road. No choice but to drive on and hope for the best.

Marli was looking confused, “Where are we going now?”

“Nowhere, just a shortcut back home.” I lied, it seemed to be getting easier and easier each day that passed.

I followed the road around and the first of the headstones came into view, caked with years of dust and fallen debris from the trees that towered over the sacred grounds.

“Is that a cemetery?” Marli sounded slightly shocked, “Wait! That’s not the one you were telling me about is it?"

“Might be, I can’t really remember. It was a fair while ago.” Another lie, I knew it was, there was no lying to myself.

The sickness never really left after passing Deep Creek. But now it seemed that the further we went along that road, the more miserable I felt. And by the next corner it was at its worse. So many emotions, so much confusion.

I felt depressed, like I wanted to drive off the road into the next tree. Confused, because I didn’t know why I was feeling that. And mourning, but not for the dead. It seemed like I was mourning for the living, as strange as that sounds.

“Are you okay?” Marli was staring at me, leaning forward in her chair to get a better look at my face.

“I don’t know… I feel so strange. Why?”

I didn’t know what to say to her, how could I explain what I was feeling? Was she feeling it too?

“Because your face has gone all red. And it looks like you’re crying.” She said, with worry in her voice.

I wasn’t too concerned, I might have been crying. I was more focused on keeping the car on the road, fighting every motion my hands made towards the tree line.

Marli was still staring at me; she might have completely forgotten that the cemetery was there. I only glanced over for a second but she looked like she was going to break down crying too.

We passed what was left of the headstones and started heading away from the sacred grounds; back to busy roads again. I was comforted by that thought. And the further away we were, the better I seemed to feel. But I couldn’t shake a feeling that lingered on, I couldn’t pinpoint it either. It was similar to the feeling you get when you’ve got some nosy person peering over your shoulder when you’re writing lyrics to a song or doing homework. Judging your every movement, your every nervous twitch.

We turned on to the main road; I let out a slight sigh of relief. I had been crying without even knowing it. I wiped the tears from my eyes with the sleeve of my jacket.

“You were crying!” She sounded proud of herself for noticing.

“I guess so.” I reluctantly admitted. “But I still don’t feel right. I know you’re here but I don’t feel alone. At least not the same as before.”

“I thought it was just me, it feels like someone’s watching me.”

I decided it was better to keep driving and not pull over. Needed to get some distance between us and the cemetery. At least the roads weren’t quiet anymore. Maybe, that’s why I didn’t feel alone.

We drove for several minutes, watching the odometer click over and over again until it became unbearable.

“I can still feel it; maybe I’m just freaked out.” I mumbled, eyes still changing between the odometer and the road ahead.

“Pull over.” She sounded scared and confident at the same time.

I waited for a side road and turned down it. It was surprisingly quiet with all the cars passing a mere 40 metres away. As soon as the car was in park, Marli was out the door and started her way to the rear of the car.

“Wait here.” She turned and yelled back at me.

I watched her in the mirror, walking to the back of the car and then facing the other direction. Towards the main road to be exact. She stood there for a few seconds before I heard mumbled talking. Definitely the voice of a woman, but not familiar. What was Marli saying out there? Was she praying? I couldn’t tell, it was too quiet and muffled. It almost mixed in with the background noise of cars flying past along their homeward bound. Or wherever they were off to.

A few minutes passed and she slowly made her way back to the car.

“Still feel it?” She asked as she opened the door.

“A little bit, but not as much.” I sounded calmer, even to myself. If she was praying, maybe it did some good.

We turned around and started our way back home. A few more minutes passed and curiosity got the best of me, I needed to know what she was saying outside the car.

“When you stood behind the car, were you praying?” A shot in the dark, but it was the most logical reason I could think of.

“Huh?” She sounded puzzled.

“Just before, when I pulled the car over and you got out.”

“Yeah, I know what you’re talking about but I didn’t say anything.”

I felt a chill run down my spine and the feeling of nausea was back.

“I heard you talking out there, what were you saying?” I asked again.

“I swear I didn’t say anything, I just wanted to see if the feeling was still there with me out of the car. Wait… So you heard talking?” She sounded cold, startled even.

“Yeah, I could have sworn I heard a woman talking, I couldn’t make out what she was saying though.”

My first thought was to check the radio, maybe the volume was up slightly. I turned the volume knob and it rose from zero. But not to talking or music, instead it was static between channels. From a local radio station that the sub-city life couldn’t tune into, and probably never would.