* The Crossing

The Crossing – Nicholi Pavlova
The sound of boots crunching in the grass was loud in the quiet graveyard.

The long haired boy with the blue eyes behind round glasses and scar on his chin

looked both in front of him and back  seeing the path  he left  behind through the damp evening grass.

Winter was close this all hallows eve but its cold fingers

hadn’t begun caressing the bare skin of the people of the tiny town yet.

A thud  echoed in the silence from  his toe connecting with a slightly raised tombstone and a muffled grunt of surprise, then the steps continue to the crypt in the far corner.

The groundskeeper for some reason never took care of the vines on this corner of the  ancient graveyard.

Most graves in here were so old nobody was sure when they started,
some said there were unmarked graves that went back before even christians walked the earth. 

But  though no-one had been laid to rest here for at least a quarter century the rest of the grave yard was in good repair.

Years earlier it had garnered the title of a bird habitat so the state paid for the grounds constant upkeep.

Daniel knew all this but him and his friends were curious
what was the mystery of this corner and what better night than all Hallows eve to be here
 when the living and dead walk under the same sky?

Having thoroughly spooked himself he looked over his shoulder to see that he was alone again and kept on,

stepping between the vines carefully so not to twist an ankle and end up shivering the night away in one of the worst possible places…

 He managed to avoid the thick of it  and made it to the iron gate that was locked with a big shiny padlock.

What the heck?
 why lock it if you dont care about it?
  Jiggling the chain to see that yes it wasn’t even slightly carroded

 he dropped it with a expletive and moved further past hoping for another gate around the back.

He regretted it when he stopped paying attention to his footing and dropped to his knees in a cleared patch.

 He jerked back quickly because when he had put his hands down reflexively to break his fall they met only air where there should have been ground.

Sitting back on his heels he pushed his glasses up on his nose and focused hard on what his mind was telling him was there.

The grave was open.

Grabing his tiny keychain light he shone it on the headstone that was covered with moss,  The words were totaly gone because it’s age was so great  that didn’t give any clue.
Backing away he didn’t want to know who or what was buried there, he just wanted to run back to his friends and tell them the dare was pointless, he couldn’t get in the crypt.
Turning to go Daniel heard a noise and stoped, holding his breath to be sure he wasn’t imagining it and there it was again.
(soft slow whisper) “D a n i e l”

“Who’s there?! if you guys are trying to make me FREAK your a bunch of asses!”
Turning right and left not wanting anyone to jump  out at him he doesn’t see anything moving  or a telltale sign his friends were here.
He didn’t want to BE here, he hated supernatural things.

He had lived his whole life with a mother who practiced witchcraft and he’d suffered for it from the day kids at school learned he was Lady Raven’s son.

(longer whisper) “D  a  n  i  e  l”

It was coming from the grave, and it wasn’t a single voice, it was like a chorus of several voices whispering but sounding like a yell  the number so great.

Daniel backed up fast and rolled up to his feet scrambling away only to feel a grip at his ankle dragging him back.

Letting out a yelp he shook himself free or thought he had until he is jerked so hard  he flew through the air.

Falling for what seemed a long time through  pitch black, then into light just before slamming into  a hard surface.

He lost his breath and the world went black.

It could have been minutes, or it could have been hours, but Daniel finally blinked his eyes open looking through his strands of hair at a pair of scuffed boots…

big boots from  his vantage point.

He still hears the voices but tries not to move listening to what they are saying.

“Father he doesn’t belong here, blended with “send him back it hasn’t been long enough” with ” We should have left him with the humans he hates the dark world.”

It was sounding more and more hostile but he didn’t dare move and bring attention to himself.

It was pointless he realized when a deep voice spoke close to his face.

“Your not fooling anyone Daniel, worst that happened is you got the wind knocked out of you but you wouldn’t be hurt.”

Strangely the voice was right so lifting his head turning to look towards it he sees a dark man with intense eyes, a smile.. and fangs.

Daniels brain stops on that thought and repeats it several times, like screaming it in his head will make it go away.

But the man  or monster stays crouched there relatively unthreatening for a monster anyhow.

“Let me introduce myself, I am Obscuro”
and he stands and waves his arm to encompass all the forms in the dark around them .

“And the rest, are all your family” 

Daniel surreptitiously looks around and sees many forms..

More vampires, giant wolves, deamon like beings, wicked looking faeries, even a few that looked human.

He starts shaking his head no at what he’s seeing ..

its all from the fall, he must have hit his head really hard, and then also being halloween is making him see things.

” I see you’re not sure how you feel about what I’ve said..

but it’s true, you were left above for many years to learn like many before you have so you could bring your knowledge back to the family.

Your Mother said that she felt it was time you came back and received your legacy.”

Daniel was shaking his head
no even with everyone and everything closing in on him and just fleeting,

before he felt the sting along his throat he thought  that being the son of a witch was the least of his troubles after all.

Later that week..days after Halloween the shop Lady Raven ran was closed,

no one wise to her not even being there any longer.

A poster flapping in the icy November wind on the lamp post outside 
showed a Missing poster of a Long haired Boy, with  smiling blue eyes  behind round glasses and a scar on his chin.

the END…?

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