Guardians of the Graveyard

At Twilight, the air grows heavy with discomfort and trepidation; a blanket to smother all those that break curfew laws. I meandered through the sea of the dead, my eyes skimming past the epigraphs of loved ones and the decaying flowers that sat forgotten on their dirt roof. The breaths I took were slow, almost non-existent as if I were trying to hide from the monsters of the night that rattled and moaned. However, the only monster tonight was me.

Finally, I came to a tombstone and took a deep breath. Smells of damp dirt mixed with dying flowers shot to the back of my throat and I retched unexpectedly. After a few moments of sputtering, I managed to compose myself and knelt on the grainy floor. Placing the bouquet of black hellebore flowers before me, I raised my head.

In front of me, was a dull, grey rock; etched into its rough stone was your name. It had only been a week since your passing and the grief hadn’t left. My heart became a black hole, sucking away all positive emotions. And the guilt that had devoured my sanity made your death even more painful. It was my fault you felt unappreciated, unwanted, unloved.

My fault you died.

I placed a hand on the fractured surface of your grave, tracing the letters like it was a priceless masterpiece. Tears streamed down my face, falling onto the uneven soil that covered your final resting place. In the silence of mourning, I heard movement; the sound of slow grating like stone moving on stone. I carefully stood up, the noise growing louder and turned around to encounter a hooded figure.

They were masked in shadow, their cloak the same colour and texture as the graves that surrounded us. When I stared into the faceless void, fear overwhelmed me. I was afraid of who they were, of what would happen to me. I wasn’t thinking about the pain of loss.

The figure held out an arm and I took it despite the dread that ran laps around my body. I let them lead me to a large crypt, towering above all other graves. Stood in front of this tomb were four more identically cloaked characters, all with cowls concealing their identities. Until, one by one, they removed them.

I observed their faces and found that each of them was different. One had a horizontal line as their mouth; dark stitches running parallel to each other like jail bars. One had a flat canvas with an empty patch of white in the middle. Another had rocky skin, their face covered in lumps and cracks as if they were desiccating alive. The next had a completely rounded face, no defining outline as I noticed that they had no ears. The final one had black cavernous sockets instead of eyes like two Tartarus pits.

As I stood, mesmerised by the unusual sight before me, I began to feel myself fade away. When I opened my eyes, I noticed that I was sat in my parent’s kitchen with a plate full of wonderful foods in front of me. I picked up the knife and fork, cut into the tender red meat and shovelled it into my mouth. I expected the meat to be succulent and rich but instead, it caught my insides causing my oesophagus to implode. My hands clutched at my throat as I sat there choking but I couldn’t open my mouth. Reaching up with one hand, I felt thin thread spread across my lips like a violin's neck. I snapped my eyes shut in fear.

After a while, I opened my eyes again, except this time I saw the azure sea waving calmly, extending into the endless horizon. You were there, splashing around in the shallows, playing with the shells you found buried in the grains. I took a deep breath, letting the aroma of the ocean mixed with warm air and strong salt, fill my lungs. Yet, nothing happened and I found that my breathing ceased altogether. The hand I used to feel my mouth explored the rest of my face to find that I no longer had a nose. My mind fell to disarray and the world began to turn upside down.

Once the landscape righted itself, I realised that I was no longer on the beach. Instead, I was stood at the edge of an oasis. I looked up to see a vast waterfall cascading down a jagged ledge into the clear pool below. You were there, hiding behind the liquid curtain, laughing and shouting as you kicked the water up at me. I reached out to chuck some of nature’s tears back at you but the water bounced off my hands leaving my palms completely dry. Quickly pulling out of the water, I saw that my skin had started to flake; the flesh peeling off like hardened glue. It spread across my body, heading up my bare arms and shoulders where it continued to my face. I tried to claw at the scaly skin before it could reach my eyes but I was too slow and it dried over them leaving me blind.

I kept tearing and in time, the layer peeled off, exposing my eyes once more to the blinding light. However, when I opened them, it wasn’t the sun that was dazzling me, it was the ceiling light swinging above my head. Looking around, I saw you standing next to me staring at the droplets that raced down the window. You turned to me with a smile, you used to love the sound of the rain pounding on the roof. I lifted my head to listen to the unusually soothing noise, but I unexpectedly lost my balance and fell to my knees, whimpering. I couldn’t hear you calling my name, or the rain on the slates, or even my own heartbeat.

Whilst I steadied myself, I gazed up at you. Your scruffy second-hand clothes hung loosely from your body. Your curly auburn hair sat messily on your slanted head. Your pale lips curled up at one corner as you smirked down at me. Your chestnut brown eyes peered into mine and I felt my vision began to deteriorate more and more until you vanished. Then I was left with the only friend I had this past week; darkness.

That’s when I heard your voice, “We have eased your pain. Join me, brother.”