The bell chimed 2'oclock. We stood in the bone-chilling cold. Every part of me was warm enough, what with the shirt, sweater, thick jacket, scarf, hat, earmuffs, stockings, socks, pants, and thundering boots, but my heart was as cold as the weather if not chillier. Myself and nearly 20 other souls stood in the church graveyard. There, a beautiful, black and gold casket lay, waiting to be lowered into a 6 foot grave, forever. The old priest rambled about what a devout Christian, the dead was, her achievements, plans for the future. Each sentence stabbed my heart with terrible sadness. I wondered what she thought of this whole hullabaloo. I knew she would smile, let off a tinkling laugh and start discussing some philosophical ideas, squeezing out my thoughts for her to analyze and discover. But she was gone, my best friend, Alicia Taylor, gone. Tears started overflowing through my bright green eyes, stinging in the wintry weather. I remembered how it had happened; she was waving to me ferociously, did not see the car driving 65 miles an hour and was hit. Three brain injuries, broken collarbone, ribs, legs, arm, nose, fingers, hip, if she had lived, suicide would be a first thought. I heard a male sniffle and turned to my right to see her boyfriends/fiancé Jason. His eyes were unusually puffy and red, from crying at his lost love and life companion. Her parents stood a few paces away, staring sorrowfully at the casket which held their only daughter, their very life itself. The casket was lowered, she was officially gone now. Many, wailing, sniffling, crying left the graveyard in hurry, including Alicia’s parents. The only people left were Jason, his best friends Travis, and I. Having not slept for 10 days straight as well as was wanted, I collapsed onto the powdery snow, near the grave. Jason came by me and Travis, both sitting down quietly. Even though I was a witness of her death, I still could not believe she was dead. She couldn’t be in my mind. I kept expecting her to pop out somewhere and scare the living dickens out of me. Jason, laughed a little, or more grunt laughed but it was a laugh. This turned my attention to him,
“My best friend, one I have known since 5th grade is dead, you are laughing, why?” he smiled and answered,
“I was remembering when she used to fake sick or something terrible and then pop out un-expectantly and scare the living dickens out of you.” We all three spent the entire afternoon talking all about our dead friend. At about five, Jason and Travis wanted to go home partially because of the bitter cold weather, but also, they were scared. There was a legend this graveyard and, really all of them came alive after sundown. I myself could not bring myself to believe such nonsense, but there had been strange reports. They left me there and my butt, freezing up begged me to leave the hallowed grounds. Then I heard a voice calling my name. It felt oddly familiar, like someone in my long ago past speaking to me after years of silence, staggered breaths followed each time my name was spoken. I ran as fast as I could from there. What or who could that creepy voice been or used it?
i needed coffee.....