Hauntings at the Graveyard

All the neighborhood kids say this will be the best Halloween in years. The stores kept selling out of their candy, and the big decorators and party houses are said to be going hard this year. At twelve years old, Mike will be finally able to go out on his own for trick-or-treating. This year he was so ready, he had all five of his pillowcases to carry this year’s haul. He spent two months planning his vampire costume right down to the fangs. Staring at himself in the mirror, Mike was even surprised that he could see his own reflection. That was how good his costume was.

“Mom!” Mike called, “I will be back soon.”

“When will you be back?” she called back.

“Maybe an hour or two to drop off my candy,” he answered.

“Be safe, Mike,” she called.

“I know, mom,” he said.

“I know you’re a big boy, but again please be safe,” she said.

“Yes, mom,” he said.

Mike left his house and looked at his phone. Kyle and Dan should be here at any moment. Then, as they always say, speak of the devil and he shall come. Kyle was dressed as a zombie with some grey face paint, tattered clothes, and fake blood. Dan was a miner with a yellow hard hat and a flashlight, overalls, a flannel, and a pickaxe that held his candy bag aloft.

“I thought you were going to be Frankenstein’s monster,” Mike said.

“I was, but he kinda sucks,” Dan said shrugging, his bag flailing in the light breeze.

“But we were all supposed to be the undead,” Mike said.

“I told him the same thing,” Kyle said, rolling his eyes, “But he’d just waste our time changing.”

Despite their town being small, it was big enough that any delay might mean that they’d miss out on a ton of candy. Hopefully, people will think Dan’s a zombie miner, and their costumes will match anyway.

“Well, let’s go,” Mike said, shrugging, “We better not waste any time arguing.”

“Wait,” Dan said, “Me and Kyle are getting candy from your house.”

“Well you better hurry up,” Mike said.

“It’ll take us a second,” Kyle told him.

Mike plopped himself on the curb. He rested his head on his palms and watched the kids skip between each of the houses and claim their loot like the greedy pirates and goblins they’re costumed as. He saw the witches with their wicker brooms and wondered what was taking Dan and Kyle so long. Mike looked back and saw them chatting with his mom. Of course. At this point, Mike was half-tempted to go on his own. He decided against that. Instead, he went back to watching the other kids.

“BOO!” came from behind him.

Mike jumped to his feet and turned. Dan and Kyle were on the ground laughing.

“What took you so long?” Mike asked them.

“You know your mom,” Kyle answered breathlessly, “She was telling us how nice our costumes were.”

“Yeah,” Dan said, “She was saying how she wished you were a miner, too. She said vampires are stupid.”

“Shut up,” Mike told him, “I know she didn’t say that. Let’s go. I haven’t got any candy yet.”

“You should have taken some from your mom,” Dan said, “She’s got all of your faves.”

“That’s like cheating,” Mike said.

Dan rolled his eyes, “Let’s just go, then.”

The boys went up and down Mike’s street. There weren’t any surprises. The houses that gave out all the best candy like the chocolate bars and peanut butter cups still did that. Those houses that gave out the bad candy like the ones that look like rat food and the candy corn still did the same. Then the few houses with the people who would pretend they weren’t home, though they clearly had their TVs on still did that. Each time the boys found the latter houses, they debated egging them. The only reason they didn’t was because nobody wanted to provide the eggs.

“I’m tired of trick-or-treating!” Kyle said.

“How? We just finished my street,” Mike told him, “We got a whole town left.”

“Yeah,” Kyle said, shrugging, “But I wanna go to one of the parties.”

“We can go to one later,” Mike said.

“I want something exciting, though,” Kyle argued, “And I heard some of the girls from math are gonna be at the McGlynns’ party.”

“You know what’s more exciting?” Dan asked.

“What?” Kyle answered.

“Who can claim they dug a grave and saw a dead body?” Dan asked with an evil smile, “On Halloween night at that.”

“Oh, that would be so cool!” Kyle said.

“Yeah,” Mike said, “I’m not doing that. Especially not on Halloween night.”

“What are you?” Dan asked, “Scared?”

“Yes,” Mike said, “I don’t want to be haunted by a ghost or something.”

“Hm,” Kyle said, “Maybe you have a point.”

“Ghosts don’t exist,” Dan said, “That’s stuff to scare babies. All we gotta do is go in, dig up the body, and then we can go to the McGlynns’ party.”

“We don’t even have shovels,” Mike said.

“My dad’s got a few from work in the basement,” Dan told them, “I just gotta sneak in and grab ‘em.”

“We’d be the coolest kids in town,” Kyle said.

“Well what about you, Mike?” Dan asked, “You up for some true Halloween thrills?”

“I might as well come,” Mike said, “My mom won’t let me go trick-or-treating alone anyways.”

The boys walked a few blocks to Dan’s house. Mike watched every house with bright golden lights, welcoming trick-or-treaters to come with a heavy heart. He hoped that this whole grave and party business would go by fast so he could get more candy. His bag was not even half full and there were so many houses left.

“Wait here,” Dan said as they got to his house, “And try not to let my parents see you.”

“What if they see us anyway?” Kyle asked.

“Tell them I decided to be Frankenstein’s monster after all,” he told them.

Dan ran along the side of his house, disappearing into the darkness. Mike and Kyle both sat on the curb. Of course, they were waiting yet again.

“Why don’t we go to these houses for candy?” Mike suddenly asked, “That way we have something to do.”

“Why not?” Kyle said.

They got up in a rush and went to a house across the street. The lady who answered the door threw a few pieces in their bag. They barely knocked at the door of the second house when Dan texted them both, “Where are you?”

They walked back to Dan’s house and saw him struggling to hold three shovels. He no longer had his pickaxe, treat bag, or his helmet.

“Where did you go?” he asked, offering them shovels.

“We just did some more trick-or-treating,” Mike said, taking his.

“We should hurry so we can get this over with,” Kyle said, taking his shovel.

The walk to the cemetery didn’t take them too long. Granted, it didn’t feel quick with the shovels they were lugging around. The boys got to the gates and Dan tried to pull them open.

“Locked.” He said.

“We might as well head back, then,” Mike said.

“I’m not carrying this shovel all the way back for nothing,” Kyle said.

“Yeah the fence is low,” Dan said, “We can jump it easily.”

Without saying another word, Dan threw his shovel over and jumped the fence. Kyle threw his candy bag and shovel over and jumped it as well. Mike let out a sigh and then did the same. The boys looked around the graveyard. It was covered in a light fog that contrasted the moonlight from the stygian darkness. The graves themselves stood like gnomes in orderly rows. The withering trees loomed over them like silent guardians. A chill went down Mike’s neck. He turned to look at the warm light shining from the houses just across the street.

“Keep your phones off,” Dan said, “We don’t want anybody seeing us.”

The other two remained silent as they moved between graves. Mike treaded carefully, hoping not to trip over anything. Then Dan stopped in front of a grave with a name that Mike could not make out in the night.

“This is the one,” he said, “Let’s start digging.”

Dan plunged his shovel into the soil, the sound echoing across the cemetery. Kyle followed a second later with a shovel plunge of his own after setting his bag of candy down. Mike looked at the grave, feeling sorry. He tossed his candy bag down and stabbed his shovel into the soil. His nerves surged up his forearms and his hands went cold. The shovel didn’t go far because the ground was hard with frost. He pulled up a tiny amount of soil and continued to dig. With each stroke of the shovel, Mike’s stomach grinded more, and acid bubbled towards his throat. Occasionally, he’d think he heard something and look around to only see darkness and shadows.

Eventually, sweat started beading on his forehead and he peered at the other two in the darkness. He was sure they were also sweating. It was hard digging covered in vampire makeup and clothes suitable for a cold autumn night. He looked at the work they did and there were just a few small holes around each person, just enough to fit both of their feet in. Mike knew there was no way they were going to finish this in time to even go back to the party, let alone trick-or-treat.

Mike kept shoveling without saying a word, trying to expand his hole. He wondered how deep this grave even was. The boy kept pondering that and digging for what must have been half an hour. Soon, he was breathless and sweat smeared his brow. He set his shovel down and looked at his work. It was no bigger than earlier. Mike then looked at the other two holes and the others were making the same progress.

“What are you doing?” was shouted through the darkness.

Mike looked and there was a shadow in the fog with a pale, blue light moving towards them.

“Ghost!” Mike called.

Without waiting for the other two to react, he grabbed his candy bag and sprinted. He wasn’t sure how he was running as fast as he was without tripping and he didn’t spare a moment to look back. At this point, Mike didn’t care, either. He reached the fence, threw his candy bag over, and jumped it like a hare escaping a predator. Dan and Kyle followed him soon after.

“Are you okay?” Mike asked once they made it over the fence.

“Go!” Dan barked.

The boys ran down one of the cross streets. They ran until each of them were too out of breath to keep going. They sat on a curb.

“Do you still think ghosts are baby stories?” Mike asked Dan.

Dan just looked at him, pale as one and was only able to let out sharp breaths. Kyle also sat panting with sweat smearing his zombie makeup.

“Let’s just never talk about this night again,” Dan said.

Mike and Kyle both nodded in agreement.

“Wait! I left my candy bag!” Kyle said.

“And I left Dan’s shovel,” Mike echoed.

“We gotta get them!” Dan said, “I’ll be in big trouble if I don’t get it back.”

“I’m not going,” Mike said.

“You have to,” Dan told him, “You were the one who left it there.”

“We shouldn’t have gone in the first place,” Mike said, starting to walk away.

“Get back here!” Dan shouted.

Mike ignored him.

“Let’s go, Kyle,” Dan said.

“Mike’s got a point,” Kyle said, dropping his shovel and walking away, “I’m not going back. I’ll just get the candy from somewhere else.”

“Guys!” Dan called.

Dan eventually followed them back, and he said nothing else about retrieving the third shovel. He turned onto his street and headed for his house and that was the last they saw of him that night. Kyle left similarly after saying a quiet goodbye. Mike walked all the way home.

“How was trick-or-treating?” his mom asked as he walked through the door.

“It was fine,” he lied.

Mike walked to his room and went to bed without another word. None of the boys spoke to each other for the rest of the weekend, either. Though the news of three Halloween “grave robbers” spread through the town like wildfire and haunted them at school that Monday. People all over town said they saw three boys walking around with shovels, but beyond that nobody ever found out who did it. The boys never talked about it, either just as they agreed. Mike didn’t even know if Dan’s parents found out. All he knew for sure was that it was the worst Halloween of his life.