A Deadly Discovery
"It's so cold..." I whispered, as I stood under that scary tree in the cemetery.
"Where the hell is Casey? He was supposed to meet me here around this time. I'm nervous."
Everything was completely silent. There was like a dark mist enveloping the tombstones and then slowly ascending, it was like it had a life of its own.
"It's over!" I exclaimed "If Casey doesn't get here in five minutes I'm going to..." A loud thump on my back interrupted my thoughts, making me yelp with shock.
"Hey Jasper, I'm here!" exclaimed Casey with elation.
"Damn it, Casey! What's wrong with you? Besides being late you surprise me like this, are you out of your mind?"
"Hey, sorry, it's just that it's Halloween and I had to help my sister with some stuff, that's why I was late. Are you okay?" he replied as he held up a sack with tools.
I took a breath to calm down a bit after the scare Casey put me through.
"How could I be? We're in a cemetery at almost midnight, aren't you scared?" I asked him at last with intrigue.
"Oh, come on, man, no one's going to hurt you here, they're all dead. The ones you really need to be afraid of are the living." Casey asserted jokingly and smiling.
"Now come on..." He continued. "Let's get this over with quickly before someone shows up, it's Halloween and there will be more people like us doing weird things tonight."
I sighed and followed my friend towards our goal. I kept thinking about how cold the night was, and if we were really doing the right thing.
We arrived at the tombstone of the person we were looking for, it was huge and quite old, we both stood transfixed staring at it.
"Behold the grave of Greta Lowell, did you think it would be this impressive?" Casey said in a creepy tone.
"I was expecting something spookier..." I replied. "Well, get the shovels out already and let's hurry before someone shows up."
We immediately set off, my pace was a little faster than Casey's as I was so nervous.
"Did I ever tell you the Greta Lowell story?" Casey asked as we dug in.
"No, you just told me she was a witch, that time we watched that movie at Sharon's house."
"Well yes... Indeed, Greta Lowell did witchcraft and was married to a man named James Lowell. Greta loved her husband very much and wanted to please him by giving him a child, but her multiple attempts were unsuccessful. One day, she decided to turn to more powerful and terrible magic: Hell magic. So one Halloween night while alone, Greta conjured up ancient words that invoked the Devil, he offered to fulfill her wish in exchange for a sacrifice of life.
"The Devil, being treacherous, chose the victim, and it was the person she loved the most, so he made James commit suicide by slitting his own throat with a knife. This devastated poor Greta. Eventually, she became pregnant, but her belly was growing so fast that within a week she was giving birth. The creature that came out of her womb was horrible, with blood-red skin, long nails and hound fangs. Greta took the knife with which her husband had committed suicide and buried it in her heart, containing the evil forever.
"Legend has it that Greta was buried with that knife in her chest, and whoever removes it will suffer the curse."
"So that's why we're doing this, you want to know if the knife is still there?" I asked with a frown.
"There's nothing better than unearthing a mystery..." Suddenly Casey's shovel hit something hard.
"I think we made it to the coffin!" Casey asserted. "Quick, let's get it out!"
We removed the rest of the dirt and opened the lid of the coffin, getting a big surprise.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "For a skeleton over a hundred years old it's still slimy."
"Yeah..." Casey whispered. "Hey, look! It's the knife! Then the legend is true! Quick Jasper, take it!"
"Are you out of your mind? I'm not touching that. I get nervous just looking at this skeleton." I retorted.
"What a wuss you are, Jasper." Casey said and then picked up the knife.
"Look, he's got something else in his hand, it's like a little sack!" I pointed out. Casey was quick to grab it and open it.
"I think they're...coffee...grounds?" Casey commented as he sniffed them. "Mmm... they smell really good. Smell them, Jasper."
"Get them away from me, they might have fungus on them! Haven't you noticed that bag has weird symbols on it? Anyway, let's get out of here already!"
We hurried to leave everything as it was and went back to cover up the grave. Casey was left with the knife and the little sack with coffee grounds.
We raced to my house, my parents were gone as they were at a Halloween party. When we arrived, I took a breath on the couch.
"So what do you plan to do with that, huh?" I asked Casey.
"I'm going to keep them as proof of our success." He replied.
"You're so weird, dude... I'm going to go wash my hands and face, lots of emotions for today." As I was leaving, Casey was still staring at the strange symbols on the bag.
I lasted in the bathroom for quite a while, until I heard a loud thump. I quickly came out and found the coffee grounds scattered on the floor.
"Casey?" I asked. "Casey, where are you?" this time I yelled. Peeking into the kitchen, I caught a frightening glimpse of Casey's body with his entrails splayed open on the table. I screamed at the top of my lungs until I felt something behind me, something with long fingernails, blood red skin and a strong but delicious coffee aroma.
THE END
Written by @universoperdido. October 31, 2022