Graveyard Dogs

      Tory’s dog Greer went through the gate, excited to see his friend Mathis, a beautiful brown dog with white features in the face. She was happy to see his owner Jared too. He was a friendly guy who knew dogs and she always enjoyed conversation with him.

           “Hey Greer,” Jared said as the gray and black dog bolted over to him. He had a tendency to greet every dog. He knew most of them since he was there all the time.

           “Hey, how are you?” Tory asked.

           “Good. Just got done with work and figured I should bring her since she’s been stuck inside all day.”

           “Yeah. Tasha wanted to come tonight too but she was tired,” Tory explained. Usually she and her sister brought Greer together.

           Greer and Mathis were running around together and playing with the other dogs at the dog park as well. Greer was barking as usual and Mathis was just being her playful self.

           “Do you have plans for Halloween?” Tory asked. The holiday was only a few days away and she wondered what people were doing.

           “Nothing specific. A few friends talked about having a party but nothing concrete was ever decided. Do you have anything going on?”

           “No. Tasha and I don’t usually do much.”

           “You know something I’ve always wanted to do? I’ve been to haunted houses but I’ve always wanted to spend the night in a graveyard. Could be just me, could be with others.”

           “That sounds like fun! Tasha and I have talked about doing that before, just never had the guts to follow through. We’d probably want to bring Greer too, just for protection.”

           “Would you want to do that this year? I could bring Mathis and we could make a night of it.”

           “Yeah. I’ll talk to her but she’ll probably be up for it.”

           Just then Smoky ran in, exciting all the other dogs as his little brindle body went streaking by. He was the shortest and often smallest one there but also the fastest. Greer immediately went over to say hi, and Mathis wasn’t far behind. Landon and Kara walked over too.

           “How’s it going guys?” Landon asked. Kara was quiet but looked happy to be there and petted one of the dogs when it ran by.

           “Do you guys have plans for Halloween?” Jared asked. Landon looked at Kara before answering that they didn’t.

           “Do you want to spend the night in a graveyard?” Tory asked, making it sound like the most interesting idea ever. Kara looked a little surprised but also interested. Landon looked interested.

           “Like by myself or with someone?” Kara asked.

           “We’re going to leave you there to fend off the ghosts,” Jared teased. Kara didn’t believe in ghosts but she laughed anyway. “We were just talking and we’ve always wanted to spend the night in a graveyard. Tory’s going to get Tasha on board too.”

           “Are we bringing the dogs?” Landon asked.

           “Yeah. Maybe we can see if Samantha would want to join,” Kara suggested, naming another dog owner who had Max, a bigger white dog who loved to jump on people.

           “I wonder if they’ll be here tonight. I haven’t seen them in a few days,” Tory mentioned. That was odd. They were there most days.

           “I’m sure we’ll see them before Halloween. We can ask then,” Jared pointed out.

           Over the next few days, Tory, Tasha, Landon and Kara, and Jared met at the dog park like they typically did a few times a week. Samantha and Max showed up and they joined the graveyard party. They decided they wanted to bring snacks and drinks since they’d be there all night.

           The night of Halloween Landon and Kara got ready and drove to the dog park. The group had agreed to meet there before sundown so the dogs could still play, and then move over to the cemetery, which was right over the fence.

           Getting to the graveyard was less climactic than Kara had thought it would be. It wasn’t scary, just dark and eerie since the stones loomed in the dark.

           Smoky didn’t like the tombstones. They did look slightly creepy but Landon and Kara had seen him growl at a balloon so they didn’t make anything of it. Greer just sniffed, Mathis still wanted to play but also sniffed around the stones. Jared had to stop her from eating a bouquet of flowers left on one of them. Max peed on one of them and then grabbed the ball Landon had brought and ran off with it. They figured that the dogs might get bored so had brought their normal toys.

           “What are we supposed to do now?” Tory asked a little hesitantly. Her sister Tasha, who normally gave off a gentle, somewhat timid vibe, actually looked pretty happy in this situation. Kara wondered if she had a darker side, as she considered herself to have.

           “I think we just sit and hang out,” Samantha said. They’d brought snacks and Landon had brought a deck of cards, but they all assumed that between being with each other and the dogs that they’d be fine.

           Smoky came over to Max and tried to get him to play. Max jumped after him and the two ran off, Mathis in slow pursuit and Greer still sniffing, but after a moment, joining in the fun. They’d let them off their leashes because there was nowhere for them to go to get lost, and it was fenced.

           They all settled in and realized it wasn’t that bad. It was quiet and a little creepy, but nothing that scary. The dogs were having fun and that was important too.

           After a while of the dogs running around they grew tired and came back to the area their owners were in. They’d brought water and all four dogs drank thirstily for a minute. Max stopped first and went to pee again, then stopped again and began digging. Mathis joined in and before Jared or Samantha could stop them, they had dug a pretty sizable hole.

           “What the heck?” Tory had grown curious, especially since Greer was now jumping around barking. He was a hunting dog and often got involved in other dogs’ playtime.

           The others got up to look at what they’d dug up.

           “Are those bones?” Tasha had been reluctant at first but now looked over and asked timidly. The others just looked confused.

           “Should we call someone? I mean, we’re in a graveyard but that’s not buried in the right place,” Kara, who loved murder mysteries asked.

           “Who would we call?” Landon asked.

           “We could call the cops,” Samantha chimed in. It was a good answer since who else are you supposed to call in that situation.

           “We’d have to tell them where we are though. I think we’re technically trespassing right now,” Jared pointed out which until then none of them had thought of.

           “Are we going to get in trouble?” Tasha asked.

           “Not if no one knows we were here,” he replied.

           “Yeah but what if this is a missing person. We could close a case, or help a family,” Kara chimed in.

           “We could also go to jail,” Jared said.

           “We would really go to jail? Wouldn’t it just be a fine or something?” Samantha asked.

           “I don’t know but I don’t want to find out,” Tasha said.

           “Couldn’t we just tell them our dog ran inside? They don’t have to know we were all here,” Landon pointed out.

           “We could also just leave them. No one would ever know and it would just make for a cool story,” Samantha commented.           

           “Could they even do anything with what’s here?” Tory asked.

           “Possibly. There’s not a lot here though,” Jared said. There was only a small pile and it didn’t look organized or anything.

           “Let’s just leave it,” Kara said. It was easier and there was a chance the cops wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.

           “Let’s decide as we leave,” Tory said. They all agreed and didn’t speak of it the rest of the night except for having to stop the dogs from trying to eat them.