Tombs, Crypts and a Walk in the Cemetery by Ken Santiago

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There, just inside the crypt walls, was the shape of a man, or what appeared to be a man, in a long dark flowing robe with a hood covering its head. It was moving as if it were without gravity, just floating a few inches above the ground. I just stood their, frozen with fear, unable to run. I couldn't believe what I was seeing at first. I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head, and then slowly, very slowly reopened them. It was still there. This was no man or human, I thought. It was some sort of phantom, or ghoul. Then, it began to slowly move its arm. It was reaching up to remove its hood, and when it did, I noticed its hand was that of a decaying corpse, with long boney fingers and patches of decomposing flesh covering the bones. Under its hood was a rotting skull with protruding eyeballs that moved in their dark sockets. The phantom focused its vision on me and I knew I had to get away.

I was able to move again, so I ran as fast as I could. As I ran, I turned my head to see if the phantom was following me, and just as I did, I was uplifted into the sky by a powerful force. The phantom had captured me, but did not harm me. In fact, it held me gingerly in its skeletal like arms. As I glided through the night sky, I could plainly make out the tombstones of the cemetery far below. We continued to fly higher and higher into the sky, so high, the town below looked like a thousand tiny lights. Where was the phantom taking me, I wondered? We flew through the night and traveled over hundreds of cities. We flew through thunder storms and ice cold blizzards, but I never got cold. We flew so high, I thought I might be able to reach out and touch the moon; the stars looked like shining white crystals. Then, suddenly, the phantom took me back to the crypt where the last thing I heard was the slamming of the steel doors.

When I awoke, I remember how comfortable and warm I felt. It was if I was home again, nestled in my bed. I opened my eyes, but had a difficult time focusing them. I could see a light, but didn't know how far away it was. I let my eyes adjust to their surroundings and realized I was in some kind of stone box. A candle burned brightly near my head. There was something resting up against my back, but it was too tight to turn around to see what it was. Suddenly, I felt something touch my shoulder. I forced myself to roll over to see what it was. What I saw made me scream in horror, for I now knew where I was. I was inside a tomb contained within the crypt. But why, why did the phantom capture me, and fly me around the earth, and bring me back here to its crypt? Suddenly, I heard people talking just outside of the doors to the front of the tomb. A man and a woman. The man said to the woman, "poor old Grandpa Ellis. He was so heartbroken when his only grandson was killed in that horrible car accident. He died of a broken heart you know." Now I knew why the phantom had brought me back here. I screamed out to the people to help me. But they couldn't hear my cries. I yelled as loud as I could, but they just walked away, leaving me here, inside the tomb, just me and the phantom.