Anna's Garden

In the area behind Anna's garden, there was a mound of dirt and it was as high as her cabin's roof. The mound was overgrown in weeds and trees that looked as if they were ancient. Most were oak and tulip poplar, both native to the area. There were maple too, the kind that turned gold and red in the fall. She had cleared a path from her backdoor to the base of the mound, afraid to go much further, now, she decided to set up a camera facing the end the trail. She had heard odd noises in the area and needed to make some attempt at discovering just what it was. And her dog Telly was not helping. He would bark, but then run and cower beneath the back porch, adding to her apprehension. His behavior was causing as much fear as the mound and she was getting more, now, than just a little worried. But there had to be an explanation, She had work to do, and no time for nonsense. She put Telly in the small garage and decided to allow the night-vision camera do it's job. As the moon made it's appearance from behind dark clouds, Anna slept deeply. And the night-time came alive.


An owl called softy as a coyote made a brief appearance in the moonlight. And from the top of the mound wisps of fog arose. Out of the misty crystals, shapes of human forms developed, very slowly and silently, their brown skin rippling with sinew and muscle. They were not happy, another interloper had moved into the old cabin and would have to be removed. Telly barked frantically from the safety of his garage, his voice getting more shrill by the second. But Anna slept on, completely unaware of the danger just outside her door.


Had the young woman been observing the back yard through her new camera system, she would have seen the Cherokee warriors advancing up the newly cleared trail to her cabin door. But she had taken sleeping pills and was in a deep sleep, completely unaware. The braves dispatched Telly with one swift slice of a knife. And they continued, walking through the structure as if it were not there. They would not be disturbed. By anyone or anything. This was their land, their sacred burial grounds and it would not be taken over by intruders. The fog swirled around them and they entered the bedroom, as if they already knew just where Anna lay sleeping.


Moonlight fell across her beautiful face, giving her golden hair a soft and alluring sheen. And the warriors were tempted to take her where she lay. One touched her face gently, almost reverently. She stirred, aroused, her dreams taking her to places she had thought forgotten. And she spread her legs. As she slept then, one brave had his way with her, a dream that was real. She moaned in sheer ecstasy, the other braves had to look away, the spell of the scene before them, powerful and unpleasing to the Great One in the sky. And when the dream ended, Anna's throat was cut, her golden hair sliced off of her head and she lay dieing in a bed of blood. The fog faded, leaving only the sharp, acid smell of fresh blood, as proof that they had been there.


Another week went by, calls to the young woman's phone went unanswered, until finally the smell emitting from the cabin was noticed by the mail-lady. The landlord knew better than to rent the cabin out, but he was of Cherokee descent and had tried to live there himself. He too, would have been murdered, but he had the blood of the Cherokee. It had been all that had saved him. And he had promised the keeper's of the mound, that he would send intruders to them, for vengeance and for blood.