Sleepover with the Dead

Salem and Jadiey had grown up together, spent their entire childhoods celebrating holidays together, their favourite being Halloween, usually coordinating their outfits or makeup effects. Now that they were old enough to spend the night away from each of their houses, they had been planning a Halloween sleepover for the past three weeks.

Some of the details had been ironed out completely, the day, resources and time were decided. They had decided that it would be on Halloween night after taking their little cousins, Jessie, Serena, Kyla, Jackson and Sabrina, out for a trick or treating trip in the evening. They had also decided to have the sleepover outside, and had packed their sleeping bags, extra blankets, a pillow each and a small tent in case it was going to rain. The last thing that they had to decide was where they were to go to have their sleepover. They were sat in Jadiey’s bedroom looking for a film to watch when the topic turned to Halloween when they saw the film in the suggestions.

“Salem, we still need to work out where we are going to stay over. Pitching a tent in a field would be boring, we have to think of somewhere exciting, thrilling, creepy even.” Jadiey said with a devilish grin on her face. Salem knew exactly what they grin meant. Jadiey already had an idea, and by how pleased she looked and the pleading in her eyes, Salem had to ask.

“Well then Jadiey, with that look on you face. Where do you suggest we go for our Halloween sleepover under the stars?” as Salem asked, Jadiey pulled out her tablet and pulled up a picture that she had saved from something or other she followed. She turned the tablet round to show Salem what she had saved.

“We have to, and I mean, have to have our Sleepover under the stars in the Old Churchyard in Kings Forest.” Jadiey’s smile widened as she watched Salem scroll through the photos in the album she had made for him to look through, his face full of shock and as he reached the final photo, he only said one word.

“Really?” Jadiey’s smiled dropped at the question, until she saw her best friend begin to smirk, they both began laughing and Jadiey threw a cushion at Salem.

Kings Forest and the Old Churchyard were only a ten minute car ride from Salem’s house, it was a small forest with a small decaying church ruins in the centre with a small cemetery around the church. Many of the graves were from the late 1880’s to the early 1900’s, with just a few that were even older than 1870. A lot of the graves had the same few surnames, meaning probably only a few families were buried here.

Many of the tombstones were labelled with a small symbol, which indicated that the person buried was known to be in touch with the other realm, witches and warlocks or were able to communicate with ghosts. This symbol could not be carved into or removed from the stone, it just appeared when the coffin was covered by dirt; it was almost a form of magic that the symbol would appear, or disappear from the stone depending on if they really were a part of the other realm.

The Old Churchyard Church used to be beautiful, but due to it being deserted in the mid 1940’s it had been decaying, crumbling and falling apart for the best part of 80 years. The inside was filled with creepy-crawlies, spiderwebs and birds nests and the outside was covered in moss, poison ivy and cracked bricks.

Only three days later, it was Halloween night and Salem and Jadiey were extremely excited for their sleepover in the graveyard, all that was left to do was take their cousins trick or treating, change out of their outfits and head out to the King’s Forest. The little cousins had a wonderful time, getting dressed up as their favourite things, knocking on doors with cool decorations, collecting far too much candy for one person to eat. When they got back to Salem’s house, Salem and Jadiey changed out of their vampire outfits, took off their makeup and put their bags into Jadiey’s car. After watching the children sort out, swap and trade their sweets with each other, Jadiey and Salem headed out to the Old Churchyard, stopping to pick up their fish and chips order from the chippy at the top of the hill.

Finishing up their food in Jadiey’s car, they were extremely excited for the night ahead. As Salem put their rubbish in the bin, Jadiey began to unpack the car; together they walked through the forest towards the Church and the Graveyard to find the best spot to set up the tent, whilst being as careful as possible. As they found the perfect spot, Salem noticed something quite fascinating and a little frightening about the closest tombstone. The surname on the tombstone was the same as Jadiey’s.

“Hey, Jadiey, come and have a look at this. They have the same name as you. Are they one of yours?” Salem pointed at the tombstone as Jadiey walked over to the grave, she knelt down at the stone and read the engraving.

“Here lies Elizabeth Jennice Hargrove wife, mother and sister. Born 15^th June 1832- died 24^th August 1889 leaving behind a husband, three daughters, two sons, five brothers and a twin sister. It’s got that weird symbol on it Salem, look, just like in the books. She must have been part of the Paranormal lifestyle.” Jadiey smiled slightly at the though of having family who were in tune with the other realm and Salem examined the symbol, running his finger over it. Normally engraving is dipped in but this symbol wasn’t, it was as if it was just burned onto the stone, it wasn’t raised or dipped, just there, no texture at all.

“This isn’t engraved on here, Jadiey, there’s no texture to it , its almost as if its not there at all. It’s fascinating.” The pair of them looked at it a little longer before they decided to just leave it, they set up their tent and went to explore the Church before it got any darker.

Despite the beautiful ruins and decaying of the Church, it wasn’t really that fun to explore, it was just as it would be imagined, but less fun. Disappointed at how uninteresting and predictable the ruins were, the pair began walking back to the tent when a huge flutter of Bats flew above them, out of the church and out through the forest. Jadiey and Salem jumped as the bats flew over them, laughing at each other and themselves for being frightened.

Listening to music and talking in their tent, Jadiey and Salem were having the best Halloween night so far. They talked for hours until the early hours of the morning, telling scary stories, discussing next years Halloween potential and the tombstone that had Jadiey’s family name on it. As time went on, 3am hit and the sounds of the Forest around them changed.

“Salem, did you just hear that?” Jadiey looked at her best friend with a confused look on her face. Salem put his fingers to his lips, nodded and began to crawl to the front of the tent and opened the front panel to look out to see if anything had changed outside. What he saw was not expected at all.

“What the, how?” Salem jumped back and landed on Jadiey, shivering and muttering something unintelligible. Jadiey looked at the extreme paleness of her friend and looked out of the panel to see if she could see what had terrified Salem. Jadiey saw the same thing as Salem but she was not frightened, as she saw it a wave of calmness washed over her, and she reached for the zip and began to open the tent. Salem reached for her arm and pushed her from the zip, staring at her with terror and slight anger in his face.

“Salem, what are you doing? It’s Elizabeth, her spirit is out there, I need to talk to her.” Salem tilted his head at the knowledge that Jadiey had just told him. He let go of her arm and took a deep breathe.

“If you’re going out there, I’m coming with you.” Jadiey smiled sweetly and pulled open the tent, she crawled out quickly followed by Salem and then zipped it back up. Together they walked around the tent and were greeted by the ghost of Elizabeth Hargrove, who was dressed in a very old style brown dress, a little torn and frayed at the hems, short brown boots and she had deep brown hair and deeper blue eyes. For a ghost, she wasn’t that see-through.

“Elizabeth?” Jadiey asked the ghost. Salem watched in awe as the ghost and Jadiey had a conversation, talking about the symbol on Elizabeth’s tombstone, her involvement in the paranormal, the other realm and their relations.

“I was a witch when I was alive, I could speak to the dead, creatures of the other realm including fairies, giants and gnomes. I could telepathically communicate with my family, particularly my twin and my eldest daughter, Katrina. I have been watching my descendants from the astral plain since I died.” Elizabeth explained to the pair of best friends. Salem nudged Jadiey, indicating to ask the question that they both had.

“Elizabeth, you have the same surname as me, are we related?” Jadiey asked, with anticipation in her voice and a tinge of hopefulness. Salem smiled at his best friend in support whilst they waited for the answer.

“Jadiey Hargrove, my great-great granddaughter. My youngest daughter Genevie had three daughters, Jessica, Harper and Nari. Then Harper had two daughters and a son, Francesca, Lilith and Edward. Your mother is Lilith, and you have two sisters, Quinn and Brooklyn and a brother, Christopher. Your friend here, Salem Jarfort, although not related, will be in your life forever, the Hargrove and Jarfort family lines have been friends, acquaintances or have crossed paths for generations.” Jadiey and Salem’s jaws dropped at the news that Elizabeth had.

“I told you we were going to be forever Jadiey, now it’s been confirmed by your own family. Our bloodlines are tied.” Salem smiled at his best friend, laughing a little as he spoke, happiness overtaking him.

“Destiny is a thing that cannot be changed, children. It cannot be stopped or made. It just is.” Elizabeth exclaimed, agreeing with the sentiment of Salem’s comment. Jadiey smiled and nodded at Salem and then had a bizarre thought.

“Can you see our futures, Elizabeth?” she asked her ancestor. Smiling pleadingly, hoping for the answer to be yes, with her fingers crossed behind her back and wishing that all that she wanted was in her future.

“I can see the future of my own family and usually cannot see the future of another’s but I can see both of your futures, because of how close you are, I can see both of you, together for the rest of your lives. I can tell you more, but I must warn you, whatever I say, you cannot change it, no matter how hard you try or wish it different.” Salem’s smile faltered and he looked at Jadiey, but she was smiling, just as her ancestor’s ghost.

“All I need to know is, is my future bright, filled with happiness and children?” Jadiey asked. She grabbed Salem’s hand as she asked and looked from him to Elizabeth.

“Yes, my dear descendent, your future’s are bright, happy, child filled and together.” Jadiey and Salem smiled, Jadiey began to yawn and leaned on Salem slightly to prop herself up.

“You need sleep, lets go back to the tent. We can see Elizabeth again another night.” Salem suggested, Elizabeth nodded and Jadiey gently protested as she yawned again.

“Sleep will be good my dear child. We will see one another a different day, I promise it. Sleep, begin your future and I will visit again, no matter where you end up, I will always be able to find you.” Elizabeth smiled and Salem took Jadiey back to the tent. As they were out of view, Elizabeth’s smile lessened and then she disappeared, leaving a little gust of wind, whispering goodnight to the teenagers, beginning their futures.