The Gravedigger

The graveyard sat up on top of the hill; forgotten by the locals, overlooked by tourists, unknown to anyone who hadn’t been to the city before. Annie was smart, funny and popular among her tight group of friends— Lucky 7, they were called, with her being the one who always stood up for others and was well-known, but not for anything a girl in a big city had a reputation for; she was known to never turn down a well-played challenge.

One day after school, Annie and her friends decided to play their favorite game– a game they have been playing together since they were in elementary school– Truth or Dare.

They all took turns, everyone choosing Truth, so nobody was made to go to the creepy graveyard. Then came Annie’s turn. Her friends were expecting her answer to once again be Truth, but were shocked when she chose Dare. Her friends sat in silence for a minute, processing her answer. They all looked at each other, when finally her best friend spoke up. She told Annie to go to the top of the hill, read and touch the headstone of the oldest grave, then come back down…they all froze with wide eyes. The oldest grave? There were quite a few there, she’s going to have to search.

Annie made it to the top of the hill and upon reaching the fence around the graveyard, she looked up and saw a woman looking directly at her, shovel stamped into the ground, with her fist clenched tightly around the wooden handle, standing almost motionless and covered in dirt. Shielding her eyes from the setting sun, Annie got a better look at this woman; she had her hair tied up in a messy bun, strands of silver hanging around her ears and glasses on a silver chain with rock gems, hanging down around her neck. She had jewelry made of stones; cut and polished, all colors and sizes– a necklace, rings on what looked like each finger, earrings and even a hair clip. She had a look of curiosity and annoyance on her face and was forming a smile that was almost haunting.

Snapping back to the thought of what she was doing there to begin with, Annie gathered up her courage and her voice, then asked as casually as she could where the oldest grave was, followed by explaining why she wanted to know; and by mid sentence, the woman instructed Annie to follow.

It seemed as if the cemetery went on for miles, even being as small as it was. Twenty, maybe twenty-five graves, max…so she and her friends thought. Approaching the very top of the graveyard, the woman stopped and looked back to Annie, who was following closely. Looking over the backside of the hill, at least 50 more graves were hidden, along with 7 holes that were freshly dug. This would take forever and her friends would probably go home after some time, so she thought about just making up the fact she found the oldest grave, then thought of a date of death to throw out, too—for realistic purposes.

As she thanked the woman for showing her the rest of the grounds and made her way back through the fences, Annie noticed something was off. As she walked, she looked behind her and didn’t see the woman or the 50 plus graves, but instead, those 7 freshly dug holes on the backside of the hill, were now right up next to her. She got goosebumps and all her hair raised. She looked at each hole, noticing that suddenly 6 were covered back with 1 still untouched.

Annie looked up at the woman who had that same malevolent grin across her face as when she first saw her, but seemed as if her clothes were dirtier than before. The woman stood tall, looked at Annie and asked, “Still glad you chose Dare?”

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