This is the first of three stories written by my cousin, Melodie. Sweet name, right? These stories are typical of the bedtime stories she'd tell her younger sister, my brother and me when she was babysitting us!

Chapter One

Armed with her new digital camera Jan went to shoot some pre-Halloween photos at the old Melville Cemetery. Years ago, after the closing of the Bleeds Plastic Factory in Melville the town had sunk into financial ruin. The once pristine cemetery had become an overgrown mess.

In the late afternoon dusk none of that was on Jan's mind. She craved just the perfect shot to send out to her friends that would convey that ghostly feeling only the dead and buried could portray.

After she had shot half a dozen shots she headed home. Strangely, Wolf (her gorgeous shiba inu) seemed ready to go as he pulled on his leash in that direction.

The house was quiet when she returned. Larry (her brother) and MB (her cousin) were not home yet. Jan was anxious to download her latest pictures so she sat right down at the computer. As she waited for the usual connection to be made there was a glow of light and the word "DEATH" appeared so briefly that she thought she was just imagining it. Then her pictures came on the screen. Jan just sat there looking at them, but not really seeing them. After a few minutes she calmed down enough to pay attention and she could see that they were all very ordinary and not one really conveyed the "feel" of Halloween spookiness.

Still she saved them for the time being but decided to head back to the cemetery tomorrow to try again.

After a restless night of not sleeping Jan got up early and figured she would try to take some early morning shots. With Wolf by her side she quickly walked back to the Melville cemetery.

She just knew right away that her decision to return in the morning was the perfect idea. She took a few more than the night before and raced home.

When she sat down at the computer an eerie feeling set over her and she thought of the death message of the night before, but then she pooh-poohed it as her own Halloween imagination.

She connected her camera.... before she had time to take a breath the same glow appeared and then "Blood" clearly printed in red. This time Jan jumped up knowing it really was not her imagination. At this point Wolf began to growl which added to Jan's feelings of panic. Death and Blood, Death and Blood!!!

Then it came to her in a flash and she laughed out loud. Her brother and cousin were playing a trick on her. They were both computer whizzes and somehow they had set up the computer to scare her.

She was going to get them. She had a plan already forming in her head. HA, HA!!!

Chapter Two

As the house came to life that morning, Larry and MB were rushing to eat breakfast and get ready for work. Knowing they were busy and not really thinking straight was the perfect time for Jan to ask them to go with her to the cemetery on Halloween night. "It'll be fun! Maybe we'll see a ghost or two. Please?" she pleaded. Neither was enthusiastic, but they agreed to go as they ran out the door.

That day at work Jan sent out an email appeal to all her friends, she wrote, "Please help me play a joke on Larry and MB? Dress in bloody death-like costumes and hide out at the Melville Cemetery at 10 PM! I'll owe you big time!" Without hesitation they all agreed.

After work that evening Jan made one stop on her way home. She wanted to take a few pictures of good places where her friends could hide in the cemetery on Halloween.

When she got home she went straight to the computer to down load her pictures and in the excitement over her plan of revenge she forgot the messages that had appeared on her computer screen. As she quickly made the connection to download her pictures the screen flashed as before and this time the word "TERROR" appeared. It flashed again and this time in quick succession the words DEATH, BLOOD and TERROR flew across the screen in red. It caught her totally off guard.

Then up popped her latest pictures and she just shrugged it off smiling to herself at the thought of getting even with them for their Halloween prank.

The next day was Halloween and Jan could hardly contain herself! The day just seemed to drag by. Everything was ready for a night full of terror that Larry and MB would never forget!

Chapter Three

Finally it seemed that all of the !!!trick or treaters!!! had come and gone. It was nearly 10 PM. Larry was complaining about going to the cemetery. He'd had enough of Halloween and just wanted to eat one of the left over candy bars and go to bed. MB was worried about being cold out there in the middle of the night. Jan was tempted to tease them about being afraid of the graves but it might somehow give away the surprise that was ws in store for them so she just sighed and reminded them that they had promised to go with her and after all they knew that Halloween was her favorite holiday!!!!

Moaning a little bit they put on their jackets as Larry said, "Let's get this over with! And I am not staying more than ten minutes."

MB wrapped a scarf around her neck and Jan grabbed a flashlight and her camera. They set off walking down Main Street with Wolf leading the way. Not a soul was out now. There were some smashed pumpkin remains in the middle of the street. There were lights shinning out from some of the houses. The moon was barely giving out any light as some clouds had blown in creating a light cover over the sky. The wind and night air were quite cold and as they walked along MB pulled her scarf around her face as she began to shiver.

Jan's blood was racing through her body keeping her nice and warm! The moment she had been waiting for was near!!

Shortly they came to the front gate of Melville Cemetery. There were no cars in sight. Jan had told her friends to park a block away so Larry and MB would not be suspicious.

As they got to the front entrance Larry reached out to push the gate to open. He had forgotten his gloves and his bare hands felt the cold steel, but also he felt something sticky, wet and warm. "UGH!" he muttered as Jan switched on the flashlight. The three of them looked at Larry's hands and then at the gate. It was dripping with red blood. MB just laughed and said, "Leave it to the kids around here to think of a prank like this, it's pretty cute!"

"Here you touch it then." said Larry. Secretly Jan was thinking that her friends had not failed her. What a great job they were doing, and she hadn't even told them to add the blood to the gate.

Just then the light from the flash light died out and they were left in the semi darkness.

Chapter Four

"Alright my ten minutes are up!" said Larry as he started to turn around to leave.

"Oh, come on we haven't even gone into the graveyard yet and I want to get a shadowy picture of you standing over a tombstone." Jan said, thinking fast.

MB took the lead as Larry lagged behind. Without being able to see much they moved along till something flew overhead. Jan joked about it being a witch on a broomstick just as MB let out a cry and Wolf started to bark. At that very moment the moon came out from behind the clouds and right in front of them was an open grave. The three of them stood frozen to the spot.

Jan's mind was racing, her friends could be in big trouble for this, digging up some poor guys grave, what were they thinking? Still it was a nice touch.

Larry moved close enough to see the headstone and started to read it aloud. "John Bleeds He lies here not in peace, but in DEATH, with BLOOD on his hands, and TERROR in his heart and he will seek his revenge on Halloween night. "

"Those were the words on the computer!" Jan muttered. "What words are you talking about?" MB said. "You know the joke you two played on me with the words flashing on the computer screen!" "We don't have clue what you are talking about!" Larry said.

Just then the ground began to move and shake and They could see red blood oozing and bubbling out of the ground all around the grave. Then there was a loud C...R...E...E...E...K and the coffin started to open up. As it opened a horrible smell overcame them, but before they could move away a huge green slimy BLOB oozed out. It's voice was deep and garbled and it was chanting, " DEATH, BLOOD, and TERROR! You shall all die!"

They could see as they held onto each other that the BLOB was without shape or form. It had no bones, but still it moved quickly toward them. Not one of them was able to move a muscle till Wolf started growling and began pulling them away toward the gate.

Their feet sunk into the bloody earth as they tired to run. It took what seemed like hours to reach the gate. They never stopped as they ran back down Main Street and into the house and locked the door.

It was a long time till Larry finally went over to the phone to call the police. Still thinking what he'd say to the police about what had happened and what he saw he noticed the message light was blinking so he hit it. They all heard, "Hi Jan sorry we weren't able to make it to the cemetery tonight we ended up getting lost and by the time we found our way back into town it was after 10:30, too late to hide out and scare your brother and cousin. I hope you still had a good time! Happy Halloween!"

THE END

Im not going to sleep tonight

thanks

Ummm? You can come and change my P@mper now! Thanks alot!

It was a computer virus all along,wasn't it. lol j/k

I shouldn't have read this so close to bed time!

Those things that move very quickly freak me out! What an excellent horror story!!! Very creepy! Awesome! Hopefully I'm not gonna have nightmares now. lol

Great story!!

Wicked!!! I was actually feeling freaked out when Larry touched the gate and felt the sticky blood. Great story!

That was awesome Janet!

Who's a clever girl then?