Page 136 of Under the Lies

“Now, run.”

I look back to the entrance. A cloaked figure now stands in front of it. Arms crossed.

He steps in my line of sight and shakes his head. “You’re not leaving this cemetery tonight, Sayer. Now. Run! Let us chase you.”

I have a choice.

Do as he says and think of a plan or eat more dirt with him physically assaulting me. He’s already established he can overpower me so if I pick option A, at least it gives me time to think of a way to escape this hell I’ve woken up to.

So I run. Run as fast as my shaking, beat up legs can carry me, once again weaving between headstones and silently apologizing to every grave I run on, for disturbing their peace and to take their revenge on the fiend chasing me.

Except.

He’s not.

Stealing a glance over my shoulder, no one is behind me. He’s nowhere in sight.

I stop. Turning in this direction, then that. Where is he?

“Did I say you could stop?” Amplified by hidden speakers, his voice roars around me. Stuttering my already erratic heartbeat. I feel the muscles straining. Feel my lungs seizing. Trying to fight as my legs take off once again, farther into the cemetery, where the dates of the deceased go further and further back in time.

I’m glancing over my shoulder to see if anyone is behind me when I run into an ancient and elaborate grave marker. The force of the blow causes me to fall backward, eyes stinging with tears.

Crunk. Crunk.

I look to my left, where leaves crunch under pressured weight and see several feet away, a hooded body. Standing. Shadows cast over his face, making it impossible to see his features. It’s not a man though. This build is smaller, more petite.

A woman.

Pushing up, I run in the opposite direction only to skid to a stop. Another person steps into my path. Cornered. I’m surrounded on all sides, each one of them moving closer and closer to me.

I’m trapped. They caught me.

The man who grabbed me tsks down at me, sucking air from behind his teeth. As if he’s disappointed in me. “I had higher hopes for you. Thought you’d last longer.”

They all shift to line up before me, stepping closer and closer. Forcing me to walk back. My feet stumble but I right myself. Huffing a breath as I do, one that quickly plummets as the ground below me turns to air.

No.

I fall with a scream, going down and landing on something soft. A box. My hands wrap around either side as I fight for the breath that got knocked out of me on the landing.

As my breathing catches up to me, I realize a few things. The first is that I’m flat on my back. The three people who were chasing me have doubled. Six people stand above me.

And the last thing is that I’m not in a box. I’m in a coffin.

With six hooded figures standing above me, sinking lower and lower in the ground.

The descent is slow, and I can’t even scream. Not when my body is being taken over by a new kind of fear. One that’s pure terror. One that locks my muscles.

A hand goes to the casket’s lid and flicks it with enough force to close. “Sleep tight, darling Sayer.”

I don’t move. Can’t. My eyes won’t even blink as I struggle. It’s like my body is locked in a cage from within, fingernails clawing at the lock to free me. To free my limbs, my mouth.

Thunk

Thunk

Thunk

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