Graveyard Sleepover

Akari-Ichika examined the brand new notebook her grandmother had recently gifted her. It had her full name printed on the front page, and she scribbled out the ‘Ichika.’ She hated that part, it came from her mother. She flipped to a random blank page, and began quickly scribbling down the plan for that night. She then took a picture of it, and texted it to the group chat she had with her best friends. Akari pocketed her phone, and began changing into a different, darker outfit. She pulled on a black long sleeve bodysuit, and black skinny jeans. She tied the laces on a pair of black Vans, and tucked her long dark hair into a black beanie. Akari slunk quietly down the hallway, and dropped a folded note that read “At Eliyah’s! xoxo” on the kitchen table so that her grandmother wouldn’t worry. She silently picked up her rucksack, tucked the notebook in, and slid out the front door. She sprinted across her yard and ducked under the neighbor’s fence. 

Luckily, the neighbor owned a huge, tree-filled plot of land, so the kids could meet without anyone noticing what they were doing. Akari took 16 short steps forward, and 53 steps to the right. Once she was done with this, she was standing in front of a giant pine tree, so big that it would take several people to wrap their arms around it. She walked to the other side of the trunk, and her friends were tucked away in a large hole in the tree.

“Hey, people,” She smirked at them. 

Her friends greeted her, and then they all turned to look at Kaiser. This had been his and Akari's idea, after all. He pulled out his sticker covered notebook, and began to read from it.

“So, the plan goes like this. We’re going to crawl through the small hole on the left side of the graveyard fence, and we’re going to go to the back, all the way to Mr. Davis’s grave. We’ll set up camp there, and then we’ll stay quiet and see if we find..” He paused, shining a bright flashlight onto his face, “...ghosts!” 

The group giggled quietly at Kaiser’s antics, knowing that he was just joking. They picked up their backpacks and sleeping bags, and began walking to the cemetery that was three blocks over, on a dead end, dirt road. Just as they had assumed, the large front gates at the cemetery were locked, so the five of them shimmied under the fence. Eliyah had to be helped through, and they all walked to the very back, where Mr. Davis, their creepy old neighbor, had been recently buried. 

Mr. Davis had always threatened that once he died, he would come back and haunt the kids of the town, and ever since he passed away from a stroke all of the children had all been talking about spending the night in the graveyard. But Akari and her friends were the only ones brave enough to actually do it.

Quinton yawned loudly and pushed his glasses up on his face. They were all tired; they had been out trick-or-treating for several hours that night. They dropped their backpacks behind Mr. Davis’s grave, and began to roll out their sleeping bags. They arranged themselves in the order they were always in: Kaiser, then Eliyah, Quinton, Sydnie, and Akari, with Akari closest to the brand new grave. Akari saw Sydnie looking scared, and took her hand. Sydnie smiled shakily, and Akari kissed her on the cheek. The teens snuggled deep into their sleeping bags, and began speaking quietly amongst themselves.

“Do you think anything is gonna happen?” Asked Eliyah. 

“I hope not..” Sydnie’s voice quivered slightly, and Kaiser laughed. 

“Of course it won’t. We’ll go to sleep, wake up in the morning, and get paid twenty bucks by Grayson tomorrow.”

The others nodded hesitantly, and they all fell silent. 

A couple hours later, Quinton spoke up.

“You know.. I know we said that nothing’s gonna happen to us.. But what would we do if something did end up happening?”

“Run.” Akari responded bluntly, looking at the stars. 

Sydnie giggled quietly, and Quinton nodded.

Suddenly, the kids felt the ground rumbling. They went completely silent, and jerked up out of their sleeping bags. Akari briefly thought it was an earthquake, but she then realized that it was somehow coming from.. Mr. Davis’s grave? They all jumped up, and backed away from the grave slowly. Sydnie grasped Akari’s hand tightly, and the five teenagers watched as a hand rose from out of the soil, and Mr. Davis came crawling out. Akari’s breath caught in her throat. In one movement, all five of them turned and sprinted faster than they ever had before, heading towards the hole in the fence. But, once they got to it, the hole had been covered over with fresh dirt. 

The kids started screaming, shaking the rusty fence and being as loud as they possibly could. Mr. Davis was quickly advancing on them.

All of the sudden, Eliyah shrieked louder than she ever had before. The other kids whipped around, and saw that Mr. Davis was holding onto her ankle tightly. She was kicking and screaming, but he had a tight grip and was determined to drag her away. 

The teenagers desperately clung to Eliyah, using all of the strength in their bodies to rip her away from his hands. Mr. Davis roared. At that moment, Quinton kicked down the old, creaky fence, and the children took off down the dirt road. The man chased after him, and Akari looked behind her just in time to see him trip over a hidden rock, and his.. Face fall off? Akari stopped, and the others slowed down, yelling for her. She held her finger up, and slowly approached the man laying on the ground. He stood up, and Akari saw who he really was. 

“Grayson!” She screamed. 

He looked at her, and laughed hysterically. At this point, Akari’s friends had joined her in front of him. They all looked at him, stunned. Akari was furious.

“I can’t fucking believe you!” She fumed, and Grayson kept laughing. 

“No twenty bucks for you guys, I guess!” He howled, and Akari stomped away. The teens left Grayson at the graveyard, and went back to Akari’s house. They didn’t talk about what just happened, and knew they never would. They just hoped Grayson wouldn’t spread it around the next day.