The Long Steps
Beyond the furthest reaches of the burial grounds there sits a barren place. Where the main cemetery is well maintained, the empty space is little more than dead earth.
There are stories about this spot, though. Tales of nights when the air feels thin and crooked steps emerge from beneath the fallow ground.
Witnesses tell of people ascending the steps, arms raised to the night sky in reverence. Those people are never seen again, but on the nights of ascension, choral voices echo across the land. The sound is off, like a warped record played at the entirely wrong speed.
Gnarled
When seen at the right angle or under a certain light, it seems as though a face is carved into the bark of the gnarled old tree. The face never looks the same. More often than not, it smiles, but there are times when it grimaces.
Some say that it is little more than a cruel trick played by Mother Nature, while others suggest that the tree is there to judge who enters the cemetery it guards.
When the tree approves, it sucks in the souls of the dead, smiling. When someone rotten enters, that is when the grimace emerges.
The Gravedigger’s House
The cemetery has accepted the dead of the town for centuries, the tombstones stretching as far as the eye can see. All of it is maintained by the gravedigger, although no one knows who he is.
Whenever a death occurs, a new pit emerges overnight, six feet deep and perfectly formed. The assumption is that it is the work of the gravedigger, but no one has ever seen him leave his house.
If they did, they would see a robed figure standing where the light from within the rotten old mansion falls on hallowed ground. His work is never done.
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The three stories for today were all written rather quickly and came from the image below:
"...warped record at entirely the wrong speed." ❤️
I liked the Gravedigger's House the best!