Excerpt
Again, my sight shifted to the clumps of earth on the floor of the grave. Still, I detected a faint phosphorescence, mixed within the dirt, that possibly came from the golden dust. Needless to say, the setting of this dark grave with its dark shadows had an eerie effect to it that contributed to the thickening tension. The shadows in the grave sat entirely still, frozen, as if waiting for something to happen. Both of us were silent as the air stilled, with the landscape making no sound. Occasionally, the haunting wind whispered through the trees, giving suggestions of horrors unimaginable. Suddenly, something broke the dead silence. The clumps of dirt moved! They shifted, heaved and undulated in the darkness of that cold, forbidden grave.
Stupefied, I stared at the phenomenon. Then I dropped the spade in disbelief. Burns froze and gazed downward. My mind could not accept this. My heart leapt in my breast like a gazelle and my pulse pounded like a drum in my temples. My breathing grew laborious as I began to hyperventilate. For a bony talon with long fingernails thrust itself through the floor of the grave! It wriggled outward, protracting and contracting. Then I screamed. Burns, perceiving the urgency of the situation, lifted me out of the grave from my armpits.
"I can't believe this! I can't believe this!" He exclaimed, limping towards the station wagon.
Coming to my senses, I stood up and strained toward the car. It was hard to believe, but a monster emerged from that grave and it emitted a horrible hissing that filled the night air, producing a disorienting effect! Burns opened up the doors and we both scrambled into the front seat of the station wagon. We slammed the doors shut! Both of us made sure that all the doors were locked. Despite the closed windows, we could still detect that terrible hissing. It seemed to be everywhere.
Burns quickly pulled the keys out of his pocket. He thrust them into the ignition and started the car, but it would not catch. The car had died. The headlamps must have drained the battery! Why did we make such a poor decision? Why didn't Burns just let the engine run? Certainly, something had impaired our thinking and compromised our judgment. We noticed that beneath that intense hissing came a faint but familiar tittering. It seemed to emanate from somewhere near those dark twisted skeletal trees that sat beyond the cemetery.
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