Keep Me Company

While sneaking a smoke break between our junior high classes, our little
clique decided a cemetery seance would be great for Halloween. Spooky and fun and we even had a kid that said he was a warlock.

Couple more days and smoke breaks and it was decided that we would all meet at 8 p.m. Halloween night at the only gates to the Glendale Graveyard. It would be chained but we all knew how to squeeze through.

Halloween day I took a candle and candle holder and after school headed up to the graveyard. Looking around I found what I was looking for, a gravestone near the front and on a slight slope so it leaned. If I wedged my foot against it, then it would straighten up enough to set the candle holder on it. If I moved my foot, it would settle back down leaning about 3 inches. I left the candle holder with the candle in it beside the tombstone and headed home to get ready to do a little trick or treating.

That evening we met at the gate about 8 pm. After waiting an extra five minutes to see if anyone else was coming, we squeezed into the graveyard. I lead them over to the tombstone I had chosen earlier and took a position at a corner, then reach down and picked up the candle and candle holder. At the same time I pushed gently with my foot and the tombstone set straight. I set the candle into the candle holder and set them on the flat top of the stone.

One of the others lit the candle and we all looked toward the warlock kid. He told us to hold hands and look at the flame. He mumbled some stuff about spirits being around and please show themselves. glancing around I saw everyone was locked onto the candle flame and quickly shifted my foot, so the tombstone fell back into its slanted position. As this happened, I puffed on the candle as it fell and it all broke loose.

There was hollering and screaming as the sound of a bunch of teens ran and hit a 6-foot fence barely touching it as they scampered up and over and running as fast as possible down the street. This all occurred in a matter of about 5 seconds, and I was standing there laughing so hard the tears was rolling down my face. Still watching the last of them going down the street I reached down and picked up the candle.

Something grabbed my hand and gripped it tight and pulling down. I screamed and struggled as I felt myself being pulled into the ground...my dirt muffled screams barely audible now as the last thing I hear is a raspy voice

“You have disturbed me! Now you can keep me company!”.

The next morning a maintenance worker doing his first walk through policing up the grounds finds a burnt candle and candle holder. He tosses into his bag of garbage and carries on.

For few days nobody at school talked of what happened till a police officer stopped by to question them. One of their friends were missing. Same story from all of them...seance and scared and everyone ran.

Soon they cashed it up to a runaway. It was 1968 and runaways were very common then.

How ever…to finish the story, yes, I died that night. And even now

I still keep them company.