Graveyard Shift

By: Mace Styx

Narrated by: Katrina Medina

Length: 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Short stories by Mace Styx:

"The grave keeper opened the door, stepping awkwardly outside at such an unbearably slow pace Jonah wanted to scream.

“Where is it, this grave you saw?” he asked, vaguely, as though Jonah had informed him that he’d left the kettle on.

“Over there, near the tree.” Jonah told him, pointing. “I dropped my lantern right next to it.”

“I’ll take a look,” he said, still speaking as if finding the earth broken open was a mild, everyday inconvenience. “You wait right here.”

Ordinarily Jonah may have protested this instruction - he wasn’t a kid! - but in this situation he wanted as little to do with that place as possible, so he just nodded and watched as the old man limped off, his own lantern creaking as it swayed in time with his unsteady footsteps. Soon, it looked kind of like a firefly bobbing in the distance.

Jonah slumped against the wall of the cabin, sliding down until his rear touched slightly damp grass. Trying to get his breathing back under control and steady the wild galloping of his heart. He still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong - something unnatural - but he had no words to explain it properly and the grave keeper’s own lack of concern made his worries feel too vague to be a real thing, an actual threat. He didn’t know for how long he sat there. But eventually Jonah realized he could no longer hear anything. No hooting owl, no shuffling steps of the old man, nothing.

Cautiously, he rose to his feet.

“Hello?” he called, feeling foolish. “Sir?”

No response.

With a sigh, Jonah got up and walked back down the wide gap that separated the cemetery into two halves. A cloud had passed briefly over the moon, making it harder to see by. He clutched his shovel in his hands, holding it in front of him. If anybody dared pop out at him now, he’d whack ‘em with it good. Consequences be damned.

Then, he saw it.

“Sir!” he shouted, dashing forwards.

The old man lay there in a motionless lump, mostly obscured by his black cloak. If you didn’t know better you’d think it was just a large, overturned sack. Jonah crashed unsteadily to his knees beside him, shaking his shoulder."

©2021 Mace Styx (P)2021 Mace Styx