Lingering Darkness

“I cannot believe you talked me into this.”

“Easy money.” Louise smirked.

I looked around at our spooky environment, our accommodation for the night. Spending the night in a cemetery, for a mere £100 bet, is hardly easy money. Our torches had little effect on the vast darkness. Thankfully there was a full moon, giving some illumination through the wispy clouds, allowing us to see row after row of well-kept graves, stood in parade in the absolute silence.

Louise my girlfriend of six months has a morbid fascination in making out in grave yards at night. So, when your friend offered us a bet to stay the night, Louise jumped at the opportunity, provided she chose the grave yard and the night. Why this creepy unlit graveyard?

Clunk. I heard the grave yard gate slam shut, as they did at 10 o’clock every night, locked until 8 o’clock the next day. There was no backing out now. Trapped!

‘Scared”, quipped Louise with a grin, “We’re stuck here for the night.”

“I’m not scared, what’s there to be scared of?”

“Me”, she seductively said, “I have you where I want you.”

“You said that in your bedroom.”

She looked at me with the yearning I’ve seen in her eyes many times before. I looked into her warm brown eyes and brushed back her long black hair. We held each other as we kissed. She wore a thick blue coat suitable for this chilly April night.

“We need to find camp for the night.”

“How about here, between these two graves”, suggested Louise, “or there’s a mausoleum.”

“How about under that tree”, pointing to a tree in the raised corner. I didn’t fancy sleeping in a mausoleum.

From under the tree we could just make out much of the moonlit grave yard, including the path down the center to a small white mausoleum, barely bigger than a large shed.

“Let’s explore”, Louise suggested with enthusiasm.

I was hoping for a quiet night, which I knew was not possible with Louise around. “What's there to explore? Graves and more graves. Dead boring!”

Louise was not impressed. “How about the mausoleum”, I was afraid she would say that. Begrudgingly I agreed to go with her, only to find the door was locked. Around the back we found a window. Looking through we could just make out four tombs with their lids neatly placed.

Back under the tree, we settled for the night, huddled together, under the vastness of the stars above.

“Dale”, Whispered Louise, “There’s a story behind the mausoleum”.

“Oh”

“They’re not English, they are from eastern Europe.”

“Why are they buried in Yorkshire?”

“They were vampires from Transylvania, their fans brought them to Yorkshire, so they don’t get vandalized".

Louise was good at exaggerating, especially if there’s a good wind up involved. She once said there were aliens in the zoo. I didn’t believe her then; I don’t believe her now. “Vampires don’t exist, just folk law"

“You said that about ghosts"

“I said that about Father Christmas, and I was right.”

Louise looked at me with the snake eyes that warned me that her temper was about to boil. “I take it that they've all had a stake through their hearts".

She looked at me pondering whether I still mocking her. I think she was too tired to make a fuss, and she wouldn’t be able to walk out. We were trapped, together.

We laid down looking up at the great cosmos above. Louise quickly fell asleep, whilst I felt unsettled sleeping in a graveyard. When I did fall asleep, it was a short-lived uneasy sleep. Seriously, what is there to be afraid of?

Later...

“Dale”, whispered Louise gently shaking me, “Wake up".

Everything seemed a blur, then I remembered, we were still in that graveyard. “What time is it? I slurred.

“Three"

“Let’s go back to sleep", I said trying to doze off.

“No, the mausoleum doors are open"

It took a moment for that to register, as I fully woke up. I looked across, and it did appear that the doors were open, although it was too dark to be sure.

We grabbed our torches went down and found that the doors were indeed open. Looking in we could see the lids were off the tombs. I was about to go in for a closer look when Louise grabbed my arm, and led me away.” Let’s not hang about".

We retreated back and hid behind a couple of large gravestones.

“See vampires", she claimed.

“it could be Steve, trying to scare us"

“Why?”

“To win his bet"

“Steve’s outside the gates in his car"

We decided to hide, and keep a low profile, and watched the path. As i waited I could feel the tiredness spread and harden across my face. Then after waiting, what seemed an eternity. Then we saw four figures of mist quickly move up the path, into the mausoleum. Then the doors slammed shut.

We returned to the spot under the tree, both of us were too stumped for words. I was dog tired, but too frightened to sleep, what I had seen went round and round in my head.

I was awoken by the sun’s powerful rays. I looked at Louise, who was still slumbering. Should I wake her, or let her sleep. She can get grouchy in the morning. 

“We won, one hundred quid into our holiday fund”, she muttered, with her eyes still closed.

‘Clunk’. The cemetery gates opened for the day. Must be eight o’clock.

We made our way to and through the cemetery gates and spotted a red Renault car parked outside.

“I can’t believe Steve stayed all night”

“I can”, she replied as we walked to the car.

“Wake up!”, shouted Louise. “He's still asleep”.

Steve’s bulbous body was slouched across both front seats. His face was pale, with a fixed terrified look on his face. His eyes were locked open. There were two obvious puncture marks in his neck.

He was dead.