Just a Little Graveyard Fun

arE YUo mAD? CAN yUo SeE mE? wHAt hAvE tHeY DonE tO yOu?

Jeremy fled. Running from the dark spirit with the power of utter terror, and complete desperation. The ground flew by. Bushes and branches were torn, and tore at him in turn. He was only aware of two things: the mad spirit that he'd roused, and theboundary line of the cemetery. He ran from one towards the other, and he prayed.

The leaning gate that highlighted his hopes of safety was within sight. His vision was an endless series of smooth glides leading into harsh jolts.His eyes bouncing in unison with fleeing feet upon the hard graveyard dirt beneath. It was close now. No more than ten yards. He was going to make it.

DOn'T gO. STaY aNd PLAY!

Jeremy screamed as the voice assaulted his mind - layers of communication colliding, and shifting in perpetual taunt of clarity with all the sincerity of a desert mirage. His right foot caught on a sharp rock, sending him careening forward as he tried desperately to keep moving. With a resounding CRACK, Jeremy fell forward into a roll. He came to a stop against a weather-worn tombstone, his skull cracking against the old granite loudly before he even had time to register the broken ankle that had landed him there.

wHy dID yoO dO ThaT? doN'T YuO lIkE mE?

Screams of pain and fear mingled; suffering of body and mind combining to create something greater than the sum their parts. Something terrible. Jeremy struggled to stand but fell anew every time he tried. Between the dizziness from his head injury, and the shattered wreck that was his ankle, he didn't have a chance. He knew it. He knew it, and that knowledge only fueledhis futile efforts further.

YoU ArE sIlLy. I wiLL hELP.

Massive hands wrapped around his torso, lifting him—struggling—into the air. An enormous form danced in and out of sight. Bits and pieces passing through the corners of his eyes. A gleam of a gigantic forearm; there, and then not. The hint of a huge skull blocking out the heavens, gone as soon as it arrived. The spirit had him. Only it wasn't a spirit. This was much, much, more than that.

DOn't WoRrY. i'M hElpINg. EaT thIS.

A small mass of putrid vegetation was shoved into his mouth.Invisible fingers held his jaw until he'd chewed, and swallowed the foul stuff. The fingers shifted back to gently carrying him deeper into the shadows of the cemetery. A warm tingling crept outward from his stomach, easing his struggles, but not his pain.

ThAtS BEttER. GOoD bOy. We'Re GOiNG tO HaVE So MuCh fUn toGeThEr.

Jeremy's screams echoed through the night. A single note of entreaty amidst an infinite backdrop of indifference.

The End