Possession

Chapter 3: Hole

Chapter 3
Hole

Robert drove us over to his house to hang out until later. He'd heard somewhere that the grave yard was super creepy at night. Of course that's when he'd want to go. Robert is easily the evilest person to walk the earth.

Andre didn't seem to be interested much in the graveyard which told me it was Robert's idea. Andre got his kicks by risking his life. Not strolling through a supposedly haunted 200 year old graveyard. Either that or they like scaring me.

"I'm going to get a beer.  Do you want one?" Andre asked me as he entered the kitchen.

"No thanks. I don't drink." I say softly.

Robert claps me on the shoulder, "How about one of my grandmother's homemade chocolate chip cookies?" He asks waving the warm cookie in my face. I look at the stove to see she must have just baked some.

I take the cookie and eye it suspiciously. Robert got high on his grandmother's cooking last time. I don't care much for the same to happen to me. "It's not drugged is it?" I ask.

"No, grams says pot makes chocolate chip cookies taste weird. Just let me know if it tastes like almonds." He says offhandedly.

I drop the cookie back on the pan. What kind of grandmother puts arsenic in cookies? Is she trying to kill us?

Robert laughs at my reaction, "She only puts arsenic in peanut butter cookies. We have rats in the house sometimes and poisoned cookies gets rid of them."

"Then what does she put in the chocolate chip cookies?" I ask warily.

"Dunno, I'll check." He snatches a cookie and eats it. "Nothing this time. She must have forgotten you were coming over."

So his grandmother is trying to drug me. I feel safe and assured now. I think to myself sarcastically. Note to self, don't eat anything at Robert's house.

Andre reappears from the backyard. "It"s getting dark. Unless we want Dyllan to miss his curfew again we better get a move on." Andre tells Robert.  I feel grateful someone cares if my parents kill me or not.

We started walking down the road to the cemetery because it's only about fifty feet down the road. As usual I fall into pace a couple feet behind them and listen to them talk.

"Hey we should go over to your house tomorrow. Dyllan hasn't seen your place yet or met your nut job family." Robert tells Andre.

"Sure, I got a new game we could play. I think I could set it up so three people can play." He sounds bored. "Why'd you want to explore the graveyard anyways? It's just a bunch of old headstones and rotting corpses."

Robert looks thoughtful, "Dunno, just seemed like a good idea at the time. Plus we're not doing anything else today." He shrugs. Then he gets an evil grin, "Bet you twenty bucks Dyllan will run screaming in five minutes."

I sigh, Andre would never go for that.

"I bet he makes it ten minutes." He replies instantly.

"Deal." Robert says.

Their confidence in me is overwhelming. I'm just annoyed now. They're both assholes so I'll prove them both wrong and stay until they think it's time to go .

The sun has almost completely set by the time we reach the old section way in the back. Andre's right. It is crappy. What headstones haven't fallen over are leaning heavily. Some have cracked right in half. There's a few monuments dotted here and there that are also crumbling and falling apart. What's creepier is the sink holes where coffins have rotted away and the ground collapsed. I swear I can see a skull in one but it turns out to just be a rock. I think. The grounds are pretty bad to. The grass is long and trees and shrubs are overgrown and wild. It makes one wonder if anyone tends to the grounds anymore.

Andre brought a few beers with him so he and Robert could have something to drink. They weren't drunk yet but their judgment was not benefiting.

As it got darker the temperature dropped and fog started to come off the pond nearby. It was certainly true this place got creepy at night. The wind would stir the fog and make it look like ethereal forms dancing. The shadows of the monuments are blurred and softened and look like sentinels. I can hear night animals all around. Like bats hunting for bugs and in a broken nearby mausoleum I see a cat streak out of it carrying a wiggling animal. After it disappeared I heard a small shriek as the cat killed what it caught. Further away in the woods I can hear someone's dogs barking.

I'm starting to feel spooked and it's all I can do not to run screaming. I feel like something bad could happen any second.

"Ow!" I hear Andre yelp as he trips in a sink hole. He saves himself from a nasty fall and broken leg by landing against the grave's monument. My eyes open wider as the monument begins to shift. "I'm okay!" He announces stepping out of the hole. The monument is crumbling. He's still leaning against it for balance and looks at it confused for a moment as the stone starts to fall towards him.

"Andre! Look out!" I yell.