Ghost in the Graveyard is the second book in the ShadowLantern series. Continue reading for an excerpt from the book. If you would like to read the rest of this book contact me via the About page.
“But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.” Robert paused looking out the small window into the fading light of dusk. He was eager to get back into town. There had been much discussion over whether or not he would be able to go back. His mother understood his desire to follow in his father’s footsteps and, in the end, that was the only thing which persuaded her to let him go back. But not without evening study.
“Keep reading.”
Robert didn’t realize he had paused for so long. “Yes, Ma.” He scanned the old page for where he had left off reading. “Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.
And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.”
Robert found it odd that the passage which was chosen for study matched his thoughts of spirits and ghosts. He continued reading until he reached the next chapter and he was allowed to leave. He had already saddled Bay prior to reading, so she was ready to ride when he went to the stable.
“Are you ready to go into town?” Robert asked, stroking her nose gently. Bay whickered and nudged him. He smiled and led her to the path then mounted and rode toward the town.
Not surprisingly, the street in town seemed more silent than usual, though Robert couldn’t be sure as it was nigh unto dark now and there wasn’t much cause for folks to be about. Some voices could be heard coming from the saloon, but there were only a few and they were quiet.
Robert rode to the hitching posts outside the mercantile store and dismounted. Bay was accustomed to being left hitched to a post. Cars passing through didn’t bother her unless they were unusually obnoxious, but not many cars passed through this part of Rockland.
Nelson was nowhere to be seen. Robert was hoping he would come, but Nelson had seemed hesitant when they spoke earlier so his appearance wasn’t expected.
The night was still besides a soft breeze which blew over Rockland. Robert was hoping to get back in time to talk to a few more people, but the hour didn’t allow time for that, now. He began straightway toward the graveyard.
The graveyard was a fair distance from the main part of town. There were a couple of houses along the way, but other than that there was nothing. Robert could have rode Bay there, but he didn’t want to risk spooking the horse and having her run off as there was nowhere to hitch her to.
Robert kept a good distance from Mr. Oakre’s house. He had a large mastiff and it was easily upset. Often the dog would try to attack anyone who came too close to the house.
A twig snapped behind Robert and he spun around. He could see the long grass swaying, but there was no one there. Robert watched for another moment before turning again. Just as he turned a loud bark caused his heart to pound in his chest and Mr. Oakre’s mastiff was staring up at him. Robert would have turned and fled toward the house but a moment of fear froze him and by the time he was ready to run, he realized that the dog wasn’t attacking, nor did it act like it was going to. Its tongue was hanging from the side of its mouth and it was breathing softly. Robert watched it carefully then reached out slowly toward it. The dog backed away from his reach, as if frightened, or unsure, then it held still and let him touch it.
“Dobbs!?” A voice called. “Where are you, Dobbs?” Mr. Oakre was standing at his door. He must have heard the dog bark.
“He is here,” Robert called back. Walking toward the house. The dog followed.
“Dumb dog,” Mr. Oakre growled, taking the dogs collar and pulling it toward him. Then he sat down beside it and began scratching behind its ears. “Dobbs isn’t like he used to be. Once he barked at everything, and then came the ghost.”
“You have had experiences with the ghost, too, Mr. Oakre?”
“You could say that, I suppose. The same night that Mrs. Lampshire claims to have seen the ghost Dobbs began barking wildly. Even more than he usually does, perhaps. And then he stopped. Something must have scared him. Now he rarely barks and doesn’t do much good at protecting the house because he is too frightened.”
The dog didn’t look frightened. It appeared to be relaxed more than anything. “I’m glad of it, tonight,” Robert commented. “Dobbs was out in the field today and I didn’t see him until he was right in front of me.”
“He doesn’t bite much,” Mr. Oakre seemed offended that Robert was happy the dog wasn’t acting as mean as it once did. “Just a lot of bark, unless someone tries to fight back.”
Robert knew of a couple of people who had been bitten by the dog, but he wasn’t about to argue. He changed the subject, instead. “Has anyone else who lives near to the graveyard spoken of strange things happening or claimed to have seen a ghost?” Robert asked.
“Of course they have. The only people that I know of who claim to have seen the ghost are Mrs. Lampshire and the three White boys, but there are plenty of tales which people credit the ghost with, all of them began four nights ago. Mr. Thompson just across the street was working outside on that same night after Mrs. Lampshire had gone home screaming. He set down his trowel, went inside for a glass of water and when he came back, the trowel was gone. No one in town would have taken an old trowel for no reason and Mr. Thompson is certain that he left it where he said he did and when he returned it was gone. Even if he had put it somewhere other than he had thought, he would have found it by now. It had a bright red handle—hard to misplace, that.”
Robert agreed and bid farewell to Mr. Oakre then continued on his way. As soon as Robert began to go, Mr. Oakre hurried back inside, as if frightened by the thought that he was outside after sunset.
Once again the night was still. The graveyard was in a little gully and it extended up onto the hillside, making it difficult to see from a distance. By the time the graveyard came into view, he was almost there.
Robert walked slowly down the hill. There was a fence with a gate that served as an entrance, but the fence only ran along the east side of the graveyard, making the gate quite useless, however, when people visited the graveyard, they nearly always passed through the gate. Robert did so, too. For some reason passing through the gate seemed more appropriate. The gate was old, dented and rusty. No one knew who had put it there or how long it had been there.
The graveyard wasn’t arranged in any mannerly fashion. Many of the graves were old, too. The carved stones on many of them had become illegible after so many years. Many graves were decorated by a large uncarved stone rather than a fine gravestone. Some graves were large and had stone on the ground around it, as well as a carved stone at the head. Tall weeds had taken over much of the graveyard, but the areas around the graves were kept trimmed at least somewhat.
Again a twig snapped from behind Robert, pulling him from his thoughts and observations. He quickly spun around.
“Its me! Its me!” Nelson squealed, throwing his hands in the air, as if Robert had been pointing a gun at him.
“What are you doing here!?”
“I wanted to see if you could find anything out. I had to sneak out of the house to get here, too.”
“If you get in trouble for it don’t include me in the blame,” Robert said, trying to keep his breathing steady so as to show that he had not been frightened.
Nelson scrambled down the hill and joined Robert at the gate. “If I hadn’t have come, you may have thought I was afraid, and I’m not.”
Robert nodded and walked further into the graveyard. On the left near the entrance was Mr. Lampshire’s grave. “This is where Mrs. Lampshire would have been when she first saw the ghost,” Robert whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” Nelson asked.
“Because!” Robert hissed, putting a finger over Nelson’s mouth. “If there is someone playing a hoax and they hear us, they are going to know that we are here and we will lose the element of surprise.” Robert paused. He walked around for another moment, being careful not to step over the graves, then he said aloud. “Come, Nelson. There is nothing here. Let’s go back home.”
Nelson looked confused. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but Robert quickly threw a hand over it. “Just play along, Nelson,” he whispered softly. “As far as anyone who might be listening is concerned, we are going home.”
“I am tired anyway,” Nelson said aloud and he followed Robert to the gate, then they both moved behind a gravestone and waited.
Robert watched each of the graves carefully. He had a good view of Mr. Lampshire’s grave. All was silent. A crow cawed in the distance and another answered it. Time seemed frozen. Thin clouds were scattered throughout the sky. Through the gaps in the clouds the starlight shone through as well as the light of a large round moon. Robert could feel the chill in the night air as he remained still. He would have to start moving after a while in order to keep himself from getting too cold.
A sound like the turning of a stone came silently through the graveyard, almost too quiet to be heard. Then it came again, a little more loudly. And then the breathing started.
Like the grinding of bones it echoed in the air sending chills down Robert’s spine. He gripped the gravestone in front of him. Nelson held on to Robert’s shoulder.
Again came the breathing as the breath of a mighty beast. Grinding bones, crushing out life, it seemed.