Scary Story Chapter 2

Up in the night tonight - I just can't force myself to go to bed.
I realized after everyone turned in and left me alone, that I have that test at the hospital tomorrow, and I'm feeling a bit edgy about it, I guess.

I started this scary story just as a lark the other day, with no intentions of going any further, but my sister wants a second chapter - so, as per her request (and since I need something to do) - ta da!

Chapter 2

Brent, Charlene, and the rest of the group drove back to the cemetery, leaving a cloud of dust boiling up on the dirt road behind them.
Each member of the group scanned the scenery through the windows as best they could in the dim light, in case Tina had attempted to walk the long road back to town. They careened through the gate, and stopped near the spot where the car had been parked earlier.

In one swift movement, they all piled out of the car.

"Hold on, you guys - we need a plan so we don't all end up getting lost!" Mike chimed up, feeling guilty for his part in the calamity.
The group of friends circled around him.
"Let's team up in pairs, and spread out so we can cover more area," he added.

"I've got some flashlights in the trunk," Brent said, as he walked to the back of the car to retrieve them.

"What? You had flashlights all along, and yet you left us here in the dark? You really are a jerk Brent!" Cindy scolded.

Brent and his friends grew quiet, the seriousness of the situation taking all the humor out of them.

Mike passed out the flash lights, and started dividing them into groups...
"Oh, no you don't" - Charlene stopped him short, we will divide boy/girl, boy/girl - we're not giving you a chance to ditch us again!"

"Aw, come on, you guys," Derek complained, "give us some credit - we're not stupid enough to do that again. This is not a game anymore."

"OK, well, just the same..." Charlene added, a little less abruptly.

Armed with flashlights, and buddies chosen, they fanned out to search the cemetery.
They covered the small area in a short time, and bewildered, gathered back at the car to decide what to do next.

"Maybe she walked out through those fields out of sight of our lights," Brent offered, "Let's make some noise - maybe we'd have a better chance of her hearing us."

He leaned inside the car door, and honked the horn repeatedly. The rest of the group yelled and called out to her as they took a second sweep of the area.

"What's that?" Mike asked, shining his light on the ground just off the path.

"It looks like footprints - maybe some kind of ...dog?" Cindy observed.

"If that's a dog, I'm a munchkin!" Mike gulped.

"Look, there are more prints over here," he said, following the trail of prints.
He swallowed hard as the footprints merged with a set of small human prints. It looks like there might have been a scuffle here," he noticed, seeing that the tracks became numerous and smudged as they led past the edge of an open grave.

As he shone his light around, something inside the grave caught his eye. He stooped, and looked more carefully.
Both he and Cindy gasped - "It's Tina's shoe!"
They called out to the others in the group. "You guys, come over here - we found something!"

As the rest of the group trickled over, Mike gingerly jumped down into the hole and retrieved the shoe.

"Yup, that's hers alright - I went with her to buy these just the other day," Cindy said, looking gravely at Mike, she added - "This can't be good, can it?"
Mike turned away quickly to hide the sense of dread that was building inside, fearing that Cindy had hit the nail on the head.

As the others joined them, they showed them what they had found.
"Shine your lights all around here, you guys - let's see if we can find which direction she went." They walked slowly and deliberately, so as not to disturb any existing footprints, and combined the beams from their flashlights to make the light more intense.
They walked down the path a bit, when Derek pointed - "Look, it looks like something is being dragged here." They all looked at the spot Derek had directed them to, the blood draining from each face.

Just Playin' Around....(Scary Story part 1)

I was blog-hopping tonight, and I ran across an old contest on a publisher's blog from last Halloween. It was called the "Scare your pants off" contest. I read all the entries, and apparently, it was supposed to be just a couple of paragraphs that were the 'teaser' to a scary story.
I thought it sounded like fun, and even though I'm a year too late (typical me) I wanted to play anyway.
I broke all the rules, I'm sure, and it's way way too long, but the contest is over sweetie, so get over it! Hee hee....

Anyway, without further ado, here's my non-entry:

The moonless late October night was too delicious for Charlene and her friends to let pass unexploited. Fall semester had been stressful and difficult, and they needed to break out and let loose some frustration.
They exited the library, and loaded into Brent's car.

"Where to guys?" Brent asked, glancing in the rear-view mirror.

"Do you want to check out that Spook Alley that just opened up the street?" Derek offered.

"Naw - that's lame," Cindy complained, "let's go ride out to the old Wheeler place, or somewhere really creepy like that!"

"Are you sure you want to do that girls?" Mike teased, the wheels turning in his head. He sensed an opportunity for some real mileage here - scare the girls half to death, and they could get real clingy...

"I know just the place." He elbowed Derek with a wink when the girls all approved.

They drove down a long country road, giggling and trying to out-do each other by recounting frightening urban legends.

Tina sat quietly, pressed next to the back passenger door. She hated it when they got this way. Being scared was not her idea of fun.
She wished she had opted to stay at the library and just walk back to the dorm, but the truth was, she was afraid to cross campus by herself on a night as dark as this...

They drove through the old rusty gate which hung precariously by one hinge.

"Last chance to change your mind girls," Mike tortured, with an evil grin.

"You have got to be kidding!" Charlene protested when she realized where he had taken them. "Not this old deserted cemetery!"
The girls grew quiet, having second thoughts after all.

There were no street lights in this out-of-the-way relic of a small town's past.
Many of the neglected old graves were just mounds of earth, and some were so ancient that they had since sunken into deep eerie depressions. Most of the headstones no longer stood as straight monuments, but tilted, cracked, or toppled over all together.

Tingling with nervous tension, they all climbed out of the car.
"Leave the lights on Brent, it's too dark to see where we're walking," Cindy requested, a shudder passing through her.

"Okay," Brent acquiesced, nudging Mike and Derek.
He held his fingers to his lips in a shushing gesture.
He motioned for the other guys to follow him, and they quietly crept back into the car. Brent turned on the lights - and then started the engine.

He drove past the girls, his window rolled down - all of them guffawing and waving at the girls as they drove around the trail and back out through the gate.

Tina froze, as the other girls screamed and ran after the car, engulfed in the cloud of dust that trailed behind it. Out of breath, they huddled together, cursing themselves for letting themselves get into this situation to begin with.

Without the aid of the headlights, they stood, frozen.
They were afraid to move in any direction, not knowing where the graves were located, and terrified of tripping over, or worse - falling into one of them.
Several terror stricken minutes passed, when finally they saw two specks of light which were Brent's headlights returning to the scene of the crime.

Filled with relief, but at the same time frothing with righteous indignation, the girls plotted their revenge.
They practically fell over each other clambering back into the car, and ordered Brent to "get them out of there - NOW!"

Brent peeled out, throwing gravel as the wheels spun through the gate. All of the boys had a second laugh at the girls' expense.
The mood was ugly on the return trip, as the girls minced no words letting the boys know just how funny their little "joke" had not been.

They arrived at the dorms, and unloaded, deciding what - if anything, to do next. They were at a stalemate as to whether to go get ice cream, or just call it a night.
Cindy turned to make sure everyone had given their input. She looked panicked, searched left and right, then said, "Uh, guys - where's Tina?"

Everyone stopped talking, stunned.

"Cindy, do you remember seeing her get back into the car?"

Cindy, suddenly very pale, croaked, "...No, I don't remember seeing her at all since we first got out of the car!"

Now, all of them feeling panicked, ran to Brent's car and urgently climbed back in...
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

...Tina groaned, and pushed herself up from the ground where she had landed after everything had gone black.
She brushed off the gravel that clung to her cheek.
She looked around disoriented. Where was she? It was too dark for her to get her bearings. She turned, looking up into the star sprinkled sky.

She took a step, and dropped. She found herself waist deep in - what, a ditch? Just then, horror gripped her as she realized where she was. She had fallen into an ancient grave!
She scrambled desperately to get out, losing a shoe in the process. She shuddered as she stood, planning to just leave it there, but the realization hit her that she was also all alone, and that she was going to have no choice but to walk home.

She knelt and with a trembling hand, reached into the hole to try and retrieve it.
She heard the crunch of gravel behind her, and felt a whiff of warm breath cross her neck. Relieved, she turned and grouched; "It's about time - where have you... wha?...

Aaauuuuugggghhhhh!!!!!

...To be continued - or not...