Silenced
This story is dedicated to one of my best friend's ex-boyfriends. On October 15, 2008, he was killed by his brother. Josh was 2 days away from turning 18. He was silenced too early. For Josh, and for Kaley, who was there to witness the entire thing.
I claim no ownership of TDI.
"Why are you guys dragging me to a cemetery?!" Courtney whined as Duncan, Bridgette, Trent, Gwen, Izzy, and Geoff pulled her along with them. There had been a series of confusing bets that day, which happened to be Halloween, and they had ended up being forced to go to a graveyard.
"Come on, Princess! It'll be fun!" Duncan said, smiling. He seemed, to put it delicately, overeager to go there. Courtney rolled her eyes and looked behind her at the distant city lights of Toronto. It was so far away, so if some psychopath ended up being here, how was anybody going to know? And it was so cliché, a bunch of teens going to a graveyard at night on Halloween. There was probably some psychopathic ax murderer hiding in the bushes! Courtney whimpered as they dragged her in.
The fence surrounding the graveyard was an old, rusted, wrought iron fence that was covered with thick vines. A sign hung on the fence, that said in faded letters "City Cemetery #3, No Trespassers." Courtney quickly took note of this.
"Ah, see? No trespassers! Well, that was fun!" Courtney tried bolting, but failed.
Duncan sighed.
"Princess, this cemetery is 200 years old, nobody has been buried in it for 50 years. Nobody has been in it for 25 years. They are not gonna get mad at a bunch of 18-year-olds for going in! It's Halloween, they expect it." He said, obviously annoyed at his severely freaked out girlfriend.
"THAT'S WHY ALL THE AX MURDERERS COME HERE ON HALLOWEEN! THEY EXPECT US TO BE HERE! WE'RE GONNA DIE!" Courtney shrieked. Duncan quickly put a hand over her mouth, silencing her.
"If there is an ax murderer, you're going to get us killed by screaming." Duncan whispered in her ear. Courtney mumbled something about them all being crazy. Izzy started humming Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones, which at the moment seemed to be her favorite song. However, everyone around her at that time knew it was what she sang whenever she got nervous about something, even though Izzy being scared didn't normally make sense.
The graveyard was completely empty when they got there. Dry leaves covered the ground, about several inches thick. Tall, ancient oak trees covered with Spanish moss grew everywhere, blocking the sky. A few shafts of moonlight managed to get through the leaves, but were quickly blocked by clouds. Courtney bit her lips. This was creepy. Way too creepy. Why wouldn't they let her leave? Duncan wasn't helping matters either. What were the chances an ax murderer was gonna be there?
The leaves rustled as the teens stepped on them, trying as hard as they could to be quiet. And they were succeeding – until Bridgette tripped over a tree branch, that is.
"Ow! Who's the genius that put a tree right here?" she shouted. Geoff pulled her back to a standing position and pulled out the leaves she had gotten in her hair. Bridgette looked upset, and Courtney went into another rant about how this wouldn't be happening if they hadn't gone in.
"Okay, just to freak you guys out, now I'm going to tell you the myth that goes along with this cemetery." Duncan said. Courtney looked at her feet, severely frustrated. Izzy was reading the gravestones. Bridgette and Geoff were sitting on a tree stump nearby, and Trent was whispering something under his breath to Gwen, who smiled, trying to suppress a laugh. Duncan rolled his eyes.
"OKAY!" Duncan raised his voice, snapping everybody out of their mild trances. They all stared at him, listening.
"Anyway, here's the myth." Everyone sat down in what Duncan thought looked similar to a rehab circle. He shook the thought out of his head and cleared his throat.
"As you all know, this graveyard is over 200 years old. It was once owned by a wealthy plantation owner, who owned most of Toronto's buildings at the time. He had a huge mansion, that was once over there, but the building was condemned and torn down. His name was Jonathan Williams. I'm sure you've heard of him, maybe once. Anyway, he had five sons and one daughter. Unlike a lot of families in those days, he cared more about his daughter than his sons. The daughter's name was Elizabeth Jane Williams."
He paused, looking at the reactions of everyone else. Most looked bored. He sighed and went back to the story.
"Elizabeth wasn't normal, though. When she was very young, she would spend hours locked in her room, watching something completely mundane. The older she got, the more she talked of voices. One night, Jonathan and his wife woke up to horrible screams. They found the girl's brothers all dead. Two had been stabbed in the chest, two had their throats slit, and the oldest one had been hung from the rafters in the attic. Elizabeth was in her room, covered in blood and screaming about the man's slaves trying to kill her. They decided she was insane, and put her in a room on the highest floor of the house. Anybody could get in, but nobody could get out. Elizabeth was 15. She lived in that room for three years, and never left.
"One night, a neighbor heard screaming coming from the mansion. He rushed over and found the parents beaten to death. Elizabeth was found in her room, dead. Written on the walls in blood over and over was 'Disbelief". Elizabeth lay in her bed, wearing a white gown. Her eyes and mouth had been carefully stitched closed. Her throat had been slit, and there was a red gash, still bleeding. Her hands were folded over her chest, holding a knife. It was Halloween Night, 1861."
Duncan paused again. Nobody seemed to react.
"SCREW YOU PEOPLE! Anyway, onto the myth. Legend goes that if any blood falls on the ground in this cemetery, Elizabeth will come back and try to kill the person whose blood fell, because she believes it is the person who killed her. Only on Halloween, though, will she try killing them." Duncan looked at the ground, pausing again. "She will kill anybody around the person at the time, too." With that, Duncan pulled out his pocketknife and cut his wrist, wincing slightly at the pain.
"DUNCAN!" Courtney screamed, now upset. Duncan smiled as the blood started running down his arm.
"What, Princess? Scared?" Duncan said, voice filled with sarcasm.
"Why did you just do that?" She shouted, looking mildly shocked.
"To freak you out! Why else?"
"But what if it's true?"
"It's not."
"The psycho killer was real!"
"Yeah, but that was a coincidence!"
"SO? Every story you tell seems to come true! Like the crazy, rabid dog you said lived at school!"
"It was not my fault the dog was rabid. It just chose to come to school that day!"
"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP? NOTHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN!" Gwen screamed. Trent quietly grabbed her neck, knocking her out almost instantly. Everyone stared at the now-unconscious Goth. All was quiet.
"SECRET NINJA DEATH TOUCH!" Izzy suddenly screamed, breaking the silence. "SERIOUSLY, SOMEBODY HAS TO TEACH ME THAT! TRENT, HOW DID YOU LEARN THAT?" she screamed.
"Izzy, did you have energy drinks again?" Bridgette asked.
"I am not teaching you something that could kill someone else. And I learned it from some Asian dude who lived next door to me." Trent said. Gwen was still unconscious on the ground.
"Is there anyway you can wake her up?" Courtney asked, concerned. Trent nodded. Pulling a water bottle out of nowhere, he opened it and dumped the water on Gwen's head. She woke up almost instantly, sputtering, and quickly jumped up, slapping Trent. Trent smiled.
"Told you!" Trent yelled at a still-concerned Courtney.
"Courtney, you're being superstitious." Duncan said, changing the subject.
"Why do you keep saying that?" Courtney retorted. Duncan just smiled and pulled her close to him.
oOo
It had been an hour since they had arrived, and everything was normal.
At least until they realized Izzy was gone.
"Where's Izzy? She was right here a minute ago." Gwen asked, looking around for the red-haired girl, who would be pretty hard not to see in the gloom.
"Probably trying to figure out how to scare us. She's probably going to dress up like that Elizabeth girl and come out of nowhere." Courtney replied, shuffling the leaves around with her foot.
"Elizabeth Williams was blonde!" Duncan shouted, changing the subject. "She was dirty blonde, she had ice blue eyes, and she was severely schizophrenic." He explained.
"How do you know this?" Everyone else, excluding Izzy, said all at once.
"There was more to that legend, but I can't remember it all. Now it's coming back to me. Now that I'm thinking of it, there was a part where it said she had a hatred of blood, and threw rocks at her brothers if they hurt themselves playing. And no, Courtney, not pebbles like this," Duncan bent down and picked up a random pebble on the ground. "I'm talking about really heavy stones about half the size of a normal human head." He continued.
"Anything else you need to tell us about this? Like, did she carry around a flamethrower or a gun?" Courtney replied, sarcastic.
"They didn't have flamethrowers in the 1850s, smart one." Duncan said. Courtney replied to this by flipping him off. Duncan retorted by grabbing Courtney's upper arms tightly, pulling her as close as he could, picking her up off the ground, and kissing her. Courtney looked very embarrassed when he finally let her go. Bridgette and Gwen, however, found it entertaining.
"Guys, no making out! Duncan, just tell us anything else you remember so it'll shut Courtney up." Gwen scolded. Courtney looked at her shoes, turning many different shades of red.
"Yeah, so the girl's a blonde, blue-eyed schizophrenic, her name's Elizabeth, and she killed herself!" Duncan said, recounting all he remembered.
"What? You never said anything about her killing herself!" Courtney screeched.
"They found her with a knife in her hand. Her throat was slit. She was schizophrenic. Her mouth and eyes had been sewn shut by one of the slaves, and then he forced her to slit her throat, and because she was a schizo, she thought she had to. THE END!" Duncan screamed.
"But what…" Courtney began.
"THE END!" Duncan interrupted. Courtney looked down, mildly ashamed.
"But I'm a C.I.T.. You can't yell at me." She whispered under her breath.
"WHO CARES?" Gwen screamed.
"IZZY'S A PSYCHO AX MURDERER!" Bridgette suddenly screamed, interrupting. They looked up, confused, to see Izzy, wearing a hockey mask and holding a chainsaw. Everyone except Duncan screamed.
"You guys do not get the point of jokes, do you?" He asked. Everybody shook their heads. He sighed and they continued walking deeper into the graveyard. Suddenly, he stopped.
"Where did Bridgette and Geoff go?"
oOo
Bridgette and Geoff were lost.
They had looked away for what, 5 seconds? And when they looked back, everyone was gone. Now they were lost, in centuries-old graves, and personally, Bridgette thought the fog filling the graveyard smelled like crack. She looked at Geoff, who really looked annoyed at the moment.
"Just because you thought you heard something, Bridge. JUST BECAUSE! You're lucky I love you or I would kill you." Geoff screamed. Bridgette looked slightly hurt.
"I did hear something!" She whimpered. As if on command, there was a sudden rustling behind them. Bridgette yelped, startled, and ran to Geoff.
"Duncan's cursed us!" She shouted, loudly. Geoff just shook his head. Suddenly, there was a loud noise behind them, and Geoff heard it this time.
"What was that?" Bridgette ran to Geoff, who quickly pulled her close, protectively. They turned around to see a shadowy figure with long, blonde hair, wearing a tattered white nightgown. The figure was looking down, but as she looked up, they could see her mouth and eyes were sewn shut. Her eyes suddenly opened, breaking the wire. Blood dripped down, and they could see her eyes now. They were red, constantly swirling, demonesque.
Bridgette screamed.
oOo
"This is creepy, guys. Can we go back now?" Courtney asked timidly. Izzy shook her head.
"No WAY! This is awesome!" Izzy shouted. The group of teens continued walking, until they noticed a strange silence.
"Where did Bridgette and Geoff go?" Gwen asked, looking around. Duncan was the first to respond, even though his response wasn't exactly normal.
"They're probably on the other side of the cemetery making out or something." Duncan elaborated. All this earned him was a slap from Courtney.
"What? It's a possibility. Am I the only one besides Gwen and Izzy who actually watches the old horror movies every once in a while? It's cliché!" Duncan shouted. Gwen nodded in agreement.
There was a sudden scream from deep in the woods. Courtney jumped into Duncan's arms, Gwen quickly walked over to Trent, and Izzy just began climbing a tree. Everybody began talking at once.
"See, I told you something would happen!"
"Princess, you do realize I'm holding you, right?"
"That was Bridgette. That was definitely Bridgette."
"Gwen, you look freaked out right now."
"Guys, there's something glowing over there!" Izzy shouted from her place in the tree. Everyone looked up towards the red-head, and then to where she was pointing. Sure enough, there was a faint red light glowing far away. Nobody moved.
Bridgette suddenly crashed through the bushes, leaves in her hair, looking very distraught, crying uncontrollably. She collapsed to the ground in front of everyone.
"There's like…some demon ghost thing…it took Geoff…it tried to kill me…" Bridgette sobbed. Gwen helped her up.
"I told you!" Courtney shouted as Duncan put her down. Nobody tried to say anything otherwise. Not even Duncan.
"We're going to die now, aren't we?" Gwen asked, suddenly very somber.
"Silenced forever." Trent whispered.
Nobody moved for a long time. Courtney pulled out her rosary and held it tightly, her knuckles turning white. She began quietly whispering something that sounded very similar to Spanish. Duncan pulled Courtney closer to him, protecting her. All was silent. At least, until Izzy shouted that the glowing light was coming closer. Everybody panicked and tried to find somewhere to run, but ended up running into each other and falling onto the ground.
"We're all gonna die!"
The figure, at this point, moved out of the trees. Everyone stared.
"Blood fell. It was one of yours." the figure said. Duncan stepped forward.
"Mine." Duncan said as calmly as he could. Courtney began pulling out the rosary again.
"Now you must die." The figure stepped forward. Everybody was somewhat frightened about what happened next. Courtney lunged forward at the ghost, who just laughed. She stopped inches away from the glowing figure. They stared each other down.
"Leave." Courtney stated firmly. The figure stared at her, angry.
"I have been here too long. I am bound to this earth." The figure stated.
"Elizabeth, it's been 150 years. Choose where to go. Heaven or Hell. Your choice." Courtney seemed to be in a trance, and everybody seemed shocked at her bravery. The figure, who they now knew was Elizabeth, laughed again.
"Why should I?" Elizabeth was angry now. Courtney pulled out the rosary and stepped forward.
"Leave!" Courtney shouted. Elizabeth was holding onto the earth, but was fading quickly. Elizabeth stepped backwards.
"It's better wherever you end up than here." Courtney said. Elizabeth finally stopped.
"You were the lucky ones. But it could have been worse. Your lives are obviously worth something more than everyone's is. I could not harm you. You will do good. Life is too fragile to waste. Everyone lives. Everyone dies. Some die before others. Some die at the hands of others. Some die by their own hand. But in the end, all will be gone. Those who die young are the ones meant to do someone. There will be no bloodshed this time." Elizabeth stated. Without another word, she disappeared into a cloud of red smoke, but not before her eyes changed color.
Nobody moved.
"What just happened?" Gwen finally asked.
"She was silenced." Courtney said.
Suddenly, a blonde figure wearing a cowboy hat walked through the bushes, covered in leaves. Bridgette screamed and ran to him, nearly tackling him while hugging him.
"Geoff! You aren't dead!" She screamed. Geoff looked mildly confused as he fell onto the ground, being hugged to death by the still-frightened surfer.
Courtney said nothing. She just began walking back towards the gate.
"Princess? Where are you going?" Duncan asked, concerned.
"The one place I know I won't be hurt." She replied. Duncan was confused.
"Where is that?" he asked.
"Buenos Aires." Courtney replied, walking out of the gate.
Nobody stopped her.
oOo
In Memory of Josh
October 17, 1990 – October 15, 2008
R.I.P.
The ones who die young are those meant for something.