Gravekeeper

Warnings: Inc, angst, death (more will be added in each chapter as they occur.)

-=x=x=x=-

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” The catholic priest held his bible solemnly; his head bowed in reverence while the funeral wailers sobbed out in a tone deaf chorus. They were sea of black and not a dry face among them. Even the children were crying though I bet it was because they were missing their favorite cartoon show instead of actually giving a shit about the old lady being buried today.

A large picture of an elderly lady surrounded in a wreath of flowers was placed at the head of the casket which had yet to be put into the ground. She was smiling fondly but the only memory I had of her was when she had caught Derek and I stealing a few peaches from her garden. The woman had cursed up a storm, scolding the both of us with such a shrill voice that it hurt my ears even now to think about it.

I was glad she was dead but I wish she wasn’t being buried so close to my brother. There was great irony in it though, she had cursed us her entire life and now she was being buried only 15 plots away. I snacked on a potato chip and one of the ladies turned around to give me the evil eye. I gave her the finger in return and she turned back around with a huff, probably cursing my existence. Bitch.

“Be sure to steal her peaches again, yeah?” I spoke to Derek but of course he didn’t answer me. Pressing my cheek against the cold cement of his tomb stone I watched the rest of the funeral procession pass by as uneventful as it always was. Just once I wish somebody would spring out of their coffin yelling, “Surprise!” and scaring the shit outta everyone. Or maybe one of them would trip on that fancy coffin rug they used to hide the ground and fall into the pit.

Why the hell did they use coffin rugs in the first place? Did they not want the coffins to get dirt on them prematurely? I snorted and turned back around, leaning back against my brother’s tomb stone.

It had been over a year since my brother had passed away and still I came here everyday to talk to him and tell him how I was doing. I missed him; a lot. Derek was my twin and I had been in love with him.

I never had the courage to tell him this. Hell, what would I even have said? “Oh, by the way, bro, you’re totally hot and I think I’m in love with you”? Yeah, I could totally see that going over well. He’d say, “I’m in love with you too” and then we’d have hot incestuous man-sex. Yeah right!

No, I doubt he was even slightly aware of my feelings for him and that was probably for the best. It had been better to love him from afar than to have admitted it to him only to get rejected in return. I don’t know what I would have done if he had rejected my company the last few weeks he had been alive.

Derek had always had a weak immune system and had spent most of his life in and out of hospitals. The last year of his life he looked so fragile, pale and skinny to the point where his ribs were showing. Sometimes he didn’t have the energy to eat or he just couldn’t keep his food down. He tried though; I know he tried for me because I visited him every chance I could and stayed until the doctors had to kick me out. Though sometimes, on weekends when there wasn’t any school, they’d take pity on me and let me stay the night.

It was hard for me to be around him when he was like this but it was even harder for me to be away from him at all. Our parents had never been very understanding about our relationship but were usually too busy at work to be bothered with us so all we had were each other.

When he was feeling well enough we were rarely out of each other’s sights and had even slept in the same room until we were fourteen. Our parents had separated us then, moving me into another bedroom, but at night I’d sneak back in and slip into bed with him. I was so afraid that he’d die the moment I left him alone.

The last few days before he had died had been the hardest out of all of them. His immune system was failing and he was constantly wavering between life and death. He had been so weak that he couldn’t even sit up in bed and it took a lot of energy just for him to be able to speak a few sentences.

I had refused to leave him then. We both knew he was dying and there was nothing anyone could do to save him. Many times I had wished that I had been born with this weakness instead of him, just so he wouldn’t have to suffer the way he did.

When I told him this I think he would have slapped me had he had the energy.

“Don’t you ever say something like that again!” Derek coughed and wheezed and I started to reach for the call button when he shook his head. I brought his water to his lips and helped him drink it, waiting until he calmed down enough to speak again.

“I would never wish something like this on you and I never want to hear you thinking like that again. I know this is just as hard on you as it is for me, so please, don’t insult me by thinking I wouldn’t suffer just as much by being in your place.”

Thinking back on it I realized I had been acting selfishly. I didn’t want him to suffer but even if he were in my place he’d suffer still and then would have to live on after my death as I was for him. Or maybe I just didn’t want to be the one to see my brother die. There were plenty of arguments for both sides but what’s done is done and there was nothing that could ever bring my brother back.

I set my back of chips down against my backpack and rested my head on top of the tomb, staring up at the clouds. I had memorized every little thing about my brother’s grave site and had no doubt that I could draw the whole place based on memory, if I had any artistic talent that is. Derek had been the one who could draw. Without ever taking any art classes he was able to draw things exactly as he saw them.

He was one of those people who found beauty in everything and was able to capture that beauty on paper. I never understood how he could do it. The best I could do was an elaborate stick figure where most people couldn’t even tell who it was. Derek always could though, maybe because it had always been of him.

Sighing I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the machinery as they put Mrs. Petersmith in the ground. Charlie was probably the one running the machine while Jose and Jasper waited to shovel the dirt in. If that didn’t indicate just how much time I spent around here I didn’t know what would.

I had already met everyone who worked around here at some point in time, even the mortician, and knew them all by name. When a teenage boy spends all his free time talking to his dead brother you tended to get a little curious. Keith had been the first one to approach me.

Keith was an elderly night guard that came by the place at least once a night to make sure there was no grave desecration or something like that. The night we had met I had fallen asleep at my usual spot, right on top of Derek’s grave, and was rudely awoken by some grumpy old man yelling at me and cursing up a storm. I had yelled right back at him and somewhere in the midst of our argument he realized that I was just here visiting my brother and let me go.

I still fell asleep here sometimes, sometimes on purpose so I would have to go home, but Keith had gotten used to me by now and started dropping by more frequently when I did. We still argued constantly but I really think he was just a lonely old man and was just looking out for me, though Chinese water torture couldn’t get it out of him.

My bag of chips crinkled as it was lifted off the ground and my eyes shot open to see Jasper snaking on them.

“Hey! You thieving bastard, what do you think you’re doing?” I wasn’t really angry, but really, who steals someone’s chips when the owner’s lounging on a grave?

“I’m eating your chips, what’s it look like?” Apparently grave diggers did. And without remorse too!

“Bastard!” I threw a dirt clod at him and laughed.

“Really, Shane, what would your brother think?” I rolled my eyes and mock scowled at him. My brother had been perfectly aware of my attitude and my tendency to curse, thank you very much!

“He’d think you were a bastard too!” I threw another dirt clod at him and this time he dodged it.

“Hey, you already got me once!”

“That was from my brother.” I gave him a cocky grin and he snorted with laughter. Shoving my backpack out of the way he sat down beside me and patted Derek’s tomb stone.

“So how’s he doing today?” He knew I talked to my brother and was teasing me about it, though I knew he didn’t mean any harm. I played along, ‘cause really, sometimes I wondered about that too.

“He’s been a little a cold lately and probably has an infestation of maggots.” He choked on a chip and sat the bag down, beating on his chest for a moment. It reminded me a bit of a gorilla, but that was probably because Jasper was this huge black guy that could probably snap me in half if he wanted to.

“Well, I just lost my appetite.” My grin widened and I laughed. It felt good to do so; I haven’t had a good laugh in a long time.

“Hey, Jasper, get your lazy ass back here! We’ve got a wrinkly old prune to burry!” Jose bellowed, his slight accent making his demands sound more amusing. Jasper huffed and yelled back at him before pulling his lumbering form up off the ground.

“Catch you later, Shane.” I bid him farewell and turned to wave at Jose before returning to my previous position. The sound of them shoveling dirt was calming, and I knew it was weird but I just couldn’t bring myself to care.

“Better get started right? You wouldn’t want me falling behind, would you Der’?” I pulled out my school supplies and reluctantly cracked open a text book. School had started last week and already I was starting to put things off. It’s not that I didn’t understand it but I just found that everything was so hard to focus on after Derek had died.

But I knew that my brother wouldn’t want me to give up or stop trying so I forced myself to focus and get my homework done. I had to live for the both of us so I’d do what I had to in order to make him proud. What kept me going was the thought that doing so would keep my brother alive, even if it was only inside me.

Later that night, I awoke to the sound of digging and opened my eyes to find that it was already dark out. After I had finished my homework I had laid out in the grass to snack on the rest of my potato chips, watching as the clouds passed by and evidently had fallen asleep. Jose, Jasper, and Charlie had already headed home by now and I didn’t have a watch on see if it was time for one of Keith’s rounds.

Sitting up I peered around Derek’s tomb stone and saw that several lights had been placed around Mrs. Petersmith’s grave. Two men were arguing with each other as they dug their shovels into the ground, digging up what Jasper and Jose had buried earlier. Grave robbers? In this day and age?

I tried to listen in but couldn’t hear them very well over the shoveling. Just what the hell were they thinking? Suddenly I remember all the expensive jewelry Mrs. Petersmith had worn every day of her life and had no doubt that that was what the grave robbers were after. Undoubtedly she had been buried with the stuff and with all the money she had had you could bet that the jewelry was top notch and would fetch a pretty penny if they could sell it to someone who didn’t recognize it.

Cursing silently I wish I had a cell phone or something. It was out of date for me not to have one but I really didn’t have anyone I needed to call, or anyone that would call me for that matter. I had been so involved with Derek that I hadn’t had the time, nor did I want to have the time, for anyone else. And even after his death I wanted nothing more than to be left alone in order to mourn.

I watched them for a few minutes longer before I was certain that they didn’t know I was here. Very slowly I started packing up my things, pausing whenever I made a sound that was too loud in my ears. They didn’t notice over the shoveling and soon I was zipping up the zipper as slowly as possible.

It was a pain staking process but looking at the size of these guys I didn’t stand a chance if they caught me. I wasn’t weak or anything, but I definitely wasn’t a fighter and would probably get my assed handed to me before I even knew what had happened. Besides, guys like this usually freaked out and reacted without thinking of the consequences.

That and I had no idea if these guys were armed or not. It was bad enough that they had shovels but if they were carrying firearms as well…I didn’t even want to think about it.

I slipped my backpack on, pausing to make sure that it didn’t make too much noise, before moving into a squatting position. The grave robbers didn’t notice and I let out a shaky breath and then slowly started backing away. The loud crunch of the potato chip bag froze me in my tracks and my eyes widened exponentially as my breath caught in my throat. Shit!

The grave robbers whipped around at the sound and I let out a curse. Double shit! I sprung to my feet and ran off in the opposite direction, dodging around tomb stones and for once being thankful that I knew this graveyard so well or I was sure I’d end up flat on my face. There were yells ringing out after me and soon after I heard their footsteps as they followed, flashlights illuminating my path from behind.

I tried to lose them around the small batch of mausoleums but was foiled by my own plan as one of guys appeared in front of me, blocking off my escape path. I looked around for another exit but there was none as the other guy closed in behind me and the mausoleums themselves were just too big for me to climb. That and they’d probably tear me down before I could get up and over them.

Now trapped, I started to panic but forcefully stopped myself before I did something stupid. There was no way I could actually beat these guys and trying would only get me hurt sooner rather than later, though if I saw an opening I was totally going to go for it. As much as I loved him I had little desire to join Derek in his grave so soon.

“Hey, guys. What’s up?” I laughed nervously and quieted as they closed in. They were not amused.

“What are you doing here, boy?” The one in front of me asked, the metal of his overalls clinking as he walked. Really, who wore overalls these days? And since when did people still call someone ‘boy’?

“Who cares? He’s seen too much.” That was what I was afraid of, these guys over reacting and doing something stupid without thinking of the consequences. Even worse was if they decided not to care.

“Too much? What do you mean, too much? I haven’t seen anything, I was just passing through. You guys were just burying someone, right?” I backed up against the mausoleum and looked between the two. They one on my left seemed to be considering it for a moment before the one on my right interrupted him.

“I don’t believe you. If that’s the case then why were you running?” My mind raced trying to come up with something that these guys would believe. Maybe I could talk my way out of this.

“Why were you chasing me? I just didn’t want to get in to trouble, man.” Once again the guy on the left seemed to be on my side while the other just didn’t want to believe me. Maybe he was just paranoid but I didn’t think he was going to let me go so easily.

The two of them moved closer together and started arguing about what to do with me. I tuned them out in favor of looking for an escape route. There wasn’t much chance of me getting away but the chance was there, though I still wasn’t sure if they were armed or not.

The click of a gun being loaded answered my question and I froze, slowly turning back to face the one holding it. His partner was still arguing with him in my favor but from the look on his face he was not about to be deterred. My heart was pounding so loudly at this point that it was a wonder that they couldn’t hear it as well.

My mind was racing as well but I couldn’t come up with anything that would get me out of this situation without severely wounding or killing me. Derek wouldn’t want that though. He wouldn’t want me to do something foolish.

I swallowed and slowly held up my hands in surrender, showing him that I was unarmed and not about to make a death defying escape attempt. I wasn’t surprised to find that my hands were shaking and noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was a mist rolling in all around us. For as long as I’ve been in this graveyard that had never happened before.

The sound of the man swearing brought my attention back to him and I watched warily as he waved his gun around, his argument with his partner growing louder and more heated. I just hoped that he didn’t accidentally pull the trigger while he was waving it about like that.

The mist started coming in heavier and soon it was rolling around like a thick, white fog. It was so prominent that even the grave robbers were forced to stop and take it into account. “What the hell is this? What did you do?!”

My eyes widened at his accusation, wondering just how in the hell he could think that I had anything to do with this. He was started to get even more paranoid and jumpy too. If things kept progressing like this that fear I had would most likely occur.

“I didn’t do anything, I swear!” Thankfully his partner tried to calm him down and see reason but the other guy wasn’t having it.

“I say we off him now and put him in with the old bat.” What?! Oh fuck no! They couldn’t seriously be thinking about killing me and burying me with that nasty old Mrs. Petersmith, could they?! At least bury me with my brother! Wait—what the hell am I thinking?!

The fog closed in around us and within seconds everything was coving in a blanket of it so thick that I couldn’t even see my hands. The grave robbers started yelling and while I had the chance I dropped to the floor. Just in time too for the man’s gun went off and ricocheted off the wall of the mausoleum right where I had been standing.

A struggle went on and I stayed on the ground, not moving in fear of getting shot by a stray bullet. I heard the sickening sound of bones breaking and one of them screamed before it all went silent and the two bodies fell to the ground one by one. Shaking I stayed where I was and listened intently as the fog started to clear but I heard nothing. Not even a cricket chirped and in a sudden moment of sanity I wondered why the hell I was thinking of crickets in a time like this.

Less than a minute later the fog had turned back to mist and slowly I got up to my knees, not wanting to turn and look but knowing that I had to. I had to know what had happened. I had to know who my apparent savior was.

Turning to look I froze in shock and my jaw hit the floor. Before me was a boy my age, pale as death with hair that extended past his hips. His eyes were a dull, pale gray, the same as his hair, and he stared at me with an empty expression that made me shutter just seeing it.

What shocked me most of all were the large pair of wings protruding from his back. They were skeletal, made of bones and nothing else and they were covered in what looked to be spider webs. There was nothing else holding them together. There was no skin, no muscles, nothing.

He crouched between the two grave robbers, clothed in nothing but his skin. His eyes never left mine and he didn’t move. It was then that I realized he was waiting for me to react.

Frankly, this guy scared the shit out me but he didn’t seem to want to hurt me. Glancing down at the grave robbers I saw that the same could not be said for them. Blood stained parts of their clothing and from what I heard earlier there had to be more than one broken bone among them. They were still breathing though, so at least this guy hadn’t killed them.

Looking back up I noticed that he hadn’t moved an inch. I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing and that creeped me out even more. Slowly I rose to my feet and his eyes followed me the whole time but he did nothing other than stare so I decided to take the risk and started backing away.

He did nothing to stop me. Finally finding my voice I figured I should at least say something to him. Even though he was a creepy, naked, zombie-thing with wings he had just saved my life.

“Uh…I—thanks!” Freaking out now I turned and darted away, glancing behind me to see if he was following. He wasn’t and the only thing I could see was the trace remainder of mist disappearing behind the mausoleums. Shuddering again I made a mad dash for home and hoped to hell that I didn’t run into anything else tonight.

-=x=x=x=-