Follow You To The Graveyard

Each tombstone has the same red roses. Hana, a college journalist from New York, has been interested in this graveyard for a year now. She first heard about this peculiar site when her dad, Wayne Miller, passed away and, for some reason, was buried in the little town in Georgia. She always wondered why he was placed here instead of up where her family is, so she did any research she could. For a year straight, she looked everywhere to find any information she could. She researched the town, the people, the graveyard, and even tried to find if her dad was in any way associated with it. Every path led to a dead end; nothing made sense to her. Why was her dad buried in this place with only one red rose left to his name?

In her family, death has always been a sacred thing. When Hana's grandmother passed 4 years before her dad, everyone in her family was there at her tombstone. They left her gifts, letters, and flowers of every color. This was tradition, so it made no sense for her dad to be sent away. Her dad was loved by everyone in the family, being named the "Jokester" for the family, keeping them together with laughter and smiles. Was there something she didn't know? Her final option to find out what happened is to travel down there herself.

𓇢𓆸

Hana always had a good relationship with her father. He was known throughout their community as a good father, husband, and just an all-around good person. He tried to give back to his community in any way he could. He worked at and owned a small bakery right by the ocean, which Hana would work part-time at. They sold a variety of baked goods, homemade coffee, specialty lattes, and their special bagels that Wayne would handmake every morning. All this made his disappearance so confusing, and why he wasn't buried within his community cemetery. He disappeared so suddenly; one day he was there, with his small family, and the next he was just… gone.

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Being the broke college student she is, she couldn't afford a plane ticket. She took her beat-up 2018 Honda Civic and prepared for the trip ahead of her. She had to drive 16 hours to get to the town where her father was buried.

The drive there was long. She tried to ask around to see if anyone would go with her, but her few friends were busy. She went alone, with her depressing music and the rest stops she stopped at every couple of hours.

During her first three hours, two crows found and started following her. When she stopped, they stopped. She fed them bread, which made them follow her more. After the second stop, and with more bread, a guy walked up to her. He had pitch-black hair, a long gothic coat, and dark sunglasses to hide his face. He looked to be about 6'0. Wait… Is that…?

"You must really care for animals." He said to her, snapping her back into reality.

"Oh… Yeah, I do." She responded in a daze.

"You look like you do, Hana. Be careful out there." He said as he walked away.

"H-hey! Wait!" She tried to call back out to him, but he didn't turn back. He disappeared into his car.

How the hell did he know my name?

𓇢𓆸

"Finally in Georgia…" Hana thought to herself. After that interaction with that strange man, she was shaken up. She booked a small motel close to the graveyard, a 5-minute walk away. The place was cheap, which she understood when she walked inside. The place was small, with a single twin-size bed that was poorly made, a TV that looked like it was from the 1960s, and a desk and chair that were barely useable. She didn't care, as long as she was close to that graveyard and had a place to sleep. When she arrived at the motel, it was already 7pm. She decided to rest for a while, then investigate first thing in the morning.

After checking in, she unpacked her main backpack, which included her laptop, journal, a small pencil case, and a folder. She went through all the information she has on Immortal Flames Graveyard.

Immortal Flames Graveyard was established in 1840. Open daily from sunrise to sundown, roses are kept fresh and replaced weekly by our gravekeeper. Located at 1071 Riverside Dr, Macon, GA.

Ran by a guy by the name of Ashen Inure. Gravekeeper is now Neo Inure. There are a lot of rumors about this graveyard. People say that if you visit, you won't ever leave. People have asked why their family member was randomly buried here when they have no association with the place at all. Several reports have said that family members try to visit this graveyard, but all reports have said that they have gone missing after traveling here. One report really stuck with me;

MISSING PERSON

Wayne Miller, father and loyal husband, Missing since October 19, 2022, in Long Island. Last seen at his job's parking lot. The last person to see him was his wife, saying he was leaving work early due to a headache. She never saw him again.

Information after that was blocked off with tear marks.

"This was the information for my dad before going missing…" Hana thought to herself, tearing up as she read it over. No one saw him again, no one even saw his body. Why was he all of a sudden found in Georgia of all places?

𓇢𓆸

6am rolls around fast. Hana didn't sleep at all. She sat at the sad desk in her motel, reviewing every file she had on this graveyard. She packed up everything on her desk and started to walk towards the graveyard.

The sunrise was as beautiful as a painting, which shocked her. In New York, dawn has never looked like this before. She took out her phone to take a picture, but right as she went to take a photo, her phone turned off.

"Shit, did I forget to charge it?" She thought to herself. She tried to turn it back on, but nothing. Not even a dead battery screen, just pitch black. "That's odd…"

Thankfully the walk without her phone was straightforward from the motel. Hana always had a fondness for mornings, when the birds would chirp and everything was just peaceful and quiet. Today, however, was too quiet. Besides the sunrise, everything else was gloomy. It's like no one ever lived here. Was there anyone who did live here? She realized that no one even checked her in at the motel. She hasn't seen anyone since the guy back in New Jersey.

When she walked up to the counter where the graveskeeper would be, there was no one.

"Hello…?" Hana called out, hoping to at least see someone. No one answered. Slowly. She made her way into the graveyard.

The air became bitter, cold against Hana's skin. She prepared for it to be chilly, wearing her dad's old long coat and loose-fitting black pants. Even with these layers, it was freezing cold. Before her, she saw rows and rows of gravestones, with one single rose perfectly next to them. Even though she read about this a dozen times, it was still odd to see it in person. If no one lives here, how are these flowers managed? Maybe people do live here, she thought; they are just in a different area? But that wouldn't make any sense?

The graveyard was surprisingly clean. Everything seemed up-to-date, like someone does in fact come in every day to clean and check on it. Maybe the rumors were false, and this is just an ordinary graveyard. She decided to take a look around to see if she could find her dad's grave. She never got to say goodbye properly, so maybe today she will be able to.

𓇢𓆸

Looking around, she noticed some names she saw in the papers she read about this place. It was weirdly comforting here for her. She looked at one name, Every Connor. She picked up the rose on her gravestone, looking at it intensely. The story she saw on Every… She lived in Boston and disappeared similarly to how her dad did, but instead it was after her shift at the hospital. She disappeared a year after her dad did and ended up in the same place as him. She looked at the stone closely; it looked brand new for being a couple of years old. The surrounding areas looked the exact same; the grass was kept up with, and the gravestones were spotless and kept up to date. The rose was in fact real, looking at it up close.

She kept searching. Each grave was 2 inches apart exactly, with the roses being 2 inches from the stone. It was eerie, seeing how perfect everything in this place was with no one around to mourn. Maybe that's why no one comes here?

She finally came up to her father's grave. Nothing besides his name and the date he went missing was written. She sat there, finally saying what she's wanted to say out loud.

"Hi, Dad... I miss you so much…" She starts to tear up but manages to push through.

"Everyone does. Mom misses you the most; she's barely able to support us anymore. I catch her crying a lot; she wants to act strong around me, but I know deep down she's in as much pain as I am. I got into the college we dreamed of. I'm doing journalism now; I know you would be proud of me. I hope you are, at least. I hope you are watching over us."

She sat next to the grave for a while in silence. She brought a couple things that he liked to collect with her. His watch, a couple rocks by the beach, one of his childhood race cars, and a stone he kept when he and Hana's mom got married. She left them neatly by the rose and started to get up from where she was sitting. While she was getting up, she looked to her right at the other gravestone next to her. The stone read a name she wasn't expecting to read: Hana Miller.

𓇢𓆸𓇢𓆸