*******
Chris awoke in the morning and found himself lying down on the ground in front of the Cooper’s farmhouse. I must have slipped and fallen right here last night. As he held his head in pain, he then looked over at the house.
It was obvious that no one had lived there for many, many years and that it was damaged from a fire. Longer than the twenty-plus he’d been gone. He wandered as he slowly walked around the property, inspecting the ancient equipment, the condition of the old house and the barn that was collapsing in on itself from the fire damage. He looked behind the barn. When it was abandoned, the owners had left many objects behind; rakes, shovels, even an anvil. He stared hard at it, wondering what they could have used it for.
Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone running outside the barn. Chris walked outside and saw another person running around into an area of tall grass near the barn. Chris began to sweat in fear, thinking they could be scavengers or squatters living near or around here. Chris then picked up an old hatchet that he found and held on to it like a weapon.
As he tip-toed around the next corner, he felt a chill coming from behind him as if, someone was watching him from behind. He slowly turned his head around and saw two horribly disfigured little boys staring straight at him. Chris screamed as he fell to the ground while shutting his eyes in fear. “Go away! Leave me alone!” He screamed. There was a long pause of silence as he shivered in place, he tightened his grip on the hatchet with his eyes still shut while thinking, Was it Jed and Marcus?
“Jed? Marcus? Is that really you?” Chris asked.
“Yes, it is us, Chris,” Marcus grotesquely smiled, “Why did you take so long to see us again, we missed you Chris.”
“I missed you too, and I wanted to comeback but I couldn’t,” Chris nervously replied as he opened his eyes.
“I’m sorry Chris,” Marcus said followed by Jed, “But we have go home now and we can’t play with you anymore.”
“Why? I’m here now,” said Chris, “Why can’t you play anymore?”
“Because we can’t anymore,” Marcus frowned as he and Jed both pointed towards a thick area of tall dried grass.
“Bye-bye Chris,” Marcus said as he and Jed waved and ran into the tall grass and vanished from site, Chris sadly waved his hand at them and said, "Wait, I'm coming with you," as he followed them into the tall grass. Chris entered the tall grassy area and looked everywhere for his two friends but to no avail. Suddenly he tripped over a small headstone inside the tall grass that read,
Angelina Cooper-1901-1931- Beloved wife and mother. Taken by housefire. Never forgotten.
David Cooper- 1899-1931- Beloved husband and father. Taken by the housefire. Never forgotten.
He spotted two smaller worn-out gravestones just beyond the way, surrounded by a small divider. He made a beeline for it. Perhaps this would give him some clue as to what was going on. He stared at the weather-worn headstones of the two boys.
Chris stood in stunned silence, staring at the four gravestones. He turned and headed back to the barn, and grabbed a shovel from where it sat leaning against the outside wall. He headed back and began to dig. It took him several hours, but he managed to get to the two small coffins. His shovel easily pried the rotted wooden top from each.
He stood in between the two graves, staring at the contents, feeling his body go numb. Inside each coffin was a child-sized skeleton.
One was wearing a Wayne Gretzky jersey.
The other was wearing a Mike Tyson t-shirt.
Chris's eyes began to tear, "May you rest-in-peace my friends."
The Cooper's Farmhouse Page 2
