American Psycho

I wrote this story out of sheer boredom, and it stretched out over 3 or 4 months of writing. I was originally going to keep it to myself, but I worked too hard to do so. The story title and chapter titles are taken from The Misfits American Psycho. The story itself, however, has nothing to do with the songs. This was meant in no disrespect to The Misfits at all. Like I stated before, the story was written out of sheer boredom. I have done this with albums before, but this is the first to go public. All the titles used are copyrighted 1997 by The Misfits.

Please don't go running to Jerry Only or any of the other guys in The Misfits. This story has nothing else to do with them, and it is sort of my way of showing respect to a band by writing a story based on their song titles. Thank you.

The Misfits “American Psycho” track list [also titles of chapters]:
1. Abominable Dr. Phibes
2. American Psycho
3. Speak of the Devil
4. Walk Among Us
5. The Hunger
6. From Hell They Came
7. Dig Up Her Bones
8. Blacklight
9. Resurrection
10. This Island Earth
11. Crimson Ghost
12. Day of the Dead
13. The Haunting
14. Mars Attacks
15. Hate the Living, Love the Dead
16. Shining
17. Don’t Open ‘Til Doomsday

Abominable Dr. Phibes

“You must be joking!” Melissa said as she stopped short in the doorway of the living room. Before her sat her brother, Rich, in a slumped manor. Like usual he had chosen to take up semi-permanent residence in the old ratty rocking chair that he refused to allow his parents to throw out. And on the television in front of him was yet another horror movie.

“When exactly are you going to get a clue?” Rich glanced briefly up at her to pass on a sneer. Either way he didn’t care what she had to say. “Night of the Living Dead” was much more important than anything she could ever have to say.

Melissa shrugged her shoulders and walked into the dinning room. For some reason she could never find a place where she was comfortable in this house. There was always something annoying going on, and she knew she had to get out of there as soon as possible. But money was a factor. She had quit her last job at the supermarket for several reasons, and now she was having trouble finding a new job. And Rich wouldn’t exactly be a huge help. For God’s sake, he never even had a job, how would he help her find one! She chuckled to herself as Rich echoed the lines of the movie, “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!”

The TV silenced and Rich stood up to stretch. He strolled out to the kitchen. Matter-of-factly, he looked at Melissa and said, “I’m going out tonight.” Her eyes widened and she gasped jokingly. “Yeah, shut up. Me and the guys are going out ‘site seeing’.”

“Weird New Jersey sites again?” she said with false interest. She never was really sure what he saw in all that stuff. It was just one big waist of time as far as she was concerned.

“Not exactly. We’re going up to this place that Nick found. It’s some abandoned church or something that hasn’t exactly made it into Weird New Jersey yet.”

Melissa just rolled her eyes. “There’s supposedly some ghost up there. Nick said it was some doctor who went insane and locked himself in there for a few years. No one went in, and no went came out. The guy was dead a few weeks before anyone knew he was dead.”

“And I care because...” Melissa snickered.

“Ya know, you always crack on me for this stuff. Why don’t you come along?”

“Yeah, right. I have better things to do with my time!”
“Scared?”

Melissa glared at him. “No...smart.” She got up from the table and walked up the stairs. She could hear Rich laughing as she went up. This had to be proof...the boy just isn’t right!

Slamming her door, she huddled up on her bed and reached for a magazine. But for some reason, she couldn’t get that ghost idea out of her head, or at least the story of the weird doctor. What would cause someone to go nuts and lock themselves in an old church, of all places?

As if he read her mind, Rich strutted into her room. Smiling, he flopped down at the foot of the bed and stared at her. She glared at him again.

“You never asked about the weird doctor.”

“Because I don’t care.”

“You do. I can see it in your eyes. And if you weren’t such a chicken shit, you’d come with us and see for yourself.”

“You know what,” she said slamming her hand down on the mattress. “I’ll go. Just to prove to you that nothing is there but a run down building and a bunch of mental kids with wild imaginations. Tell me this “legend” or whatever, so I know what I am supposedly searching for.”

He smiled an evil grin. “Well, this doctor was supposedly some great surgeon at one point. He had all these honors and all that fun shit. Anyway, one day he started getting these headaches that were so bad he would go temporarily insane. The hospital decided he wasn’t fit to be a surgeon in that condition and forced him to retire. He did so, but wasn’t sure what he should do. He started drinking like a fish, and eventually the headaches and the alcohol together drove him permanently insane. He got this fascination for death, and started cutting up small animals and trying to reanimate them after they had been dead for some time...”

“Like Frankinstein?” she said with a doubting glance.

“Yeah, kind of, but weirder. This guy was trying to make zombies that would except him for him and not judge. They wouldn’t hurt him and most importantly, they would never die. But every time he got close, they’d die anyway. Well, eventually, the corpses of dead squirrels and chipmunks and all started filling his yard, and the people around him basically chased him out of town. He took up residence in this old church that had burned almost to the ground a few years prior. He built it up a bit again, and moved in. He continued all these wacky experiments, supposedly moving on to humans, before he keeled over and died. He wasn’t found for about 4 weeks, and by that time the stink from his and all the other corpses had gotten quite awful. But, basically, it’s said that his ghost still lives there and still tries these experiments on the living.”

Melissa looked at him. “Nice story. If this is true and this weird dead guy is killing off people, why are going?”

“Knew you’d get scared!” he said with a laugh.

“I’m not scared, I just think you are full of shit. But I’ll go and see whatever it is you think you are going to find.”

American Psycho

The car pulled slowly up to the gates of the old church. It loomed off on the hill, making it hard to believe it was ever a place of God at all. The roof was caving in and one of the huge doors on the front swung open and shut with the wind. It was the place nightmares were made of.

The kids got out of the car and looked at the huge gates that had been built up around the church, probably to keep people like them out. Griping the rungs, Rich started to shake it a bit, not even budging it.

“Figures,” Melissa said with a sigh. “We’d come all the way out here and not even be able to get close to the place.”

Suddenly, from inside, a flash almost like lightening drew their attention to the window in front. They stood shocked for a moment, before Rich started to climb.

“What are you doing?!” Melissa howled, grabbing for his ankle, but missing as he swung his legs over the top.

“Get with it!” He chuckled. “The dude might be in there! Let’s go!”

Reluctantly, she began to climb, Nick already over the other side with Rich. They walked towards the church as the flash continued, getting brighter with each one. The gravel crackled under their feet, but it did nothing to slow their pace. Melissa began to feel her doubt about the weird doctor start to fade as weird noises started to pour forth from the church.
They reached the swinging door in front and Rich grabbed it and held it open, as Nick walked in and flipped on his flashlight.

“This is what I’m talking about!” Nick exclaimed, looking around at every inch of the inside.
Rich and Melissa followed him inside. The interior of the church was worse than the exterior. The pews had all been flipped over and drug to either side until they built barriers up the stone walls. A draft came from somewhere in front of them, probably from the cracked stained glass windows over what was once an alter. It was obvious that the faces of all the saints in the stained glass had been shattered off. The alter cross hung inverted, and the savior dangled off by his hands as if hanging on for dear life, instead of crashing to the dirty marble floor below.

Melissa hugged her arms into her chest and shivered. This was not at all what she was expecting. She watched as the two boys danced, ran and laughed through the church. She couldn’t help but think something was watching this spectacle with her, and she looked around for someone. But no one stood with her.

“Let’s look around, the good doctor must be somewhere!” Nick said with an evil laugh.

The two ran off to one of the side chapels of the huge gothic structure. She decided to stay behind, for if the doctor did this, and was still there, she did not want to meet him.

Feeling her way to the wall, Melissa cautiously slid down it to sit on the ground. The cold feeling was getting worse every second and she started to wonder why she had come here at all. The only thing keeping her from sobbing was the sweet smell of jasmine that filled the church. No flowers were anywhere near her, but she didn’t care. The smell was very relaxing. It took her mind off of the footsteps coming from the marble that covered the floor by the alter.

Opening her eyes from the jasmine scented ecstasy, she glared at the alter a ways in front of her. A man paced there, back and forth. She followed her gut feeling not to cry out to see who it was. She figured hiding in the dark shadows was probably her best bet. Watching him closely, she noticed nothing unusual about him. He seemed restless as he walked in a small circle behind the alter. Without a moments notice, the figure vanished. Figuring it was just her imagination, she shook her head and sniffed for the jasmine again.

Closing her eyes and trying to picture herself somewhere else didn’t seem to work very well at this point. She began to get up to look for the boys, when suddenly a cold hand slid onto her shoulder. She froze stiff, afraid to ask.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” the strange masculine voice said in almost a whisper. “Do not turn around.”

Melissa squeezed her eyes shut and did as she was told. She knew this was a bad idea from the start, and now she was getting robbed in some old rickety church. She stood straight and waited for further instructions.

“You look like a fine choice,” he said before a short pause. “For my...experiment, of course.”

“Rich, knock it off,” she said, voice shaking, figuring her brother was being a prick again.

“Actually, my name is David, but that doesn’t matter right now, does it?”

Melissa jolted forward. The man behind her dug his long, sharp nails into her shoulder, forcing her to wince and shrink back to her original position.

“So long...so long,” the man said, until she no longer felt his cold grip. “Never doubt the power of a true psychopath.”

Melissa couldn’t help it anymore. She turned and bolted straight for the swinging door and ran out into the gravel yard. She stopped at the gate and turned to look at the church again. The figure she had seen at the alter stood in the doorway and pointed up. She followed his hand with her eyes to the stone gargoyles decorating the outside of the church. Their heads had all been amputated, every one. She glanced back at the man.

“There is no protection for you now,” was all he said as he melted away into the darkness.

All she could do was stare into that doorway. Her brother and Nick came prancing out from behind the church and met her at the gate.

“Something wrong?” Rich asked.

“Psycho,” was all she could force out.

Speak of the Devil

Opening her eyes to the morning sun that shown into her bedroom window, Melissa hoped the entire episode from the night before had just been one big nightmare. She got up and stretched before pulling on her slippers and walking out of her door.

Rich was slumped at the kitchen table fidgeting with a camera. He looked up and smiled at her.

“We’re going back tonight,” he said, holding up the camera. “To take some pictures. If nothing else, that church will make for some great photography!”

“I’m coming with you,” she said without even thinking. For some reason she felt drawn to that old church.

“OK, well, if you are going to do this with us, you gotta hear about this stuff I found out about our good doctor.”

Melissa sat down at the table and looked at the papers her brother pulled out from under the camera stuff. He handed it to her, and continued with his camera.

She glanced down at he papers and took in words about the Necronomicon, Satan, black magick, sacrifice, lycanthropes, and psychopaths. She looked back at Rich.

“Basically, this dude was one evil bitch,” he said without looking up. “It all fits. The reanimated corpses didn’t do what he wanted, and he turned them into some sort of sacrifice. The guy was a hard-core Satanist, even when he was in his right mind. The guy was a Satanic surgeon! Guess he wasn’t very open about that part, eh?”

She looked down again. “The experiments were just some sort of devil worshipping thing then?”

“No,” Rich said. “Not at first. It turns out this guy really did manage to reanimate some dead things. But he wanted them to be his servants and his companions all at the same time. A zombified squirrel doesn’t make for great company, I guess. So when they didn’t do what he wanted, he took them to that alter and sacrificed them to Satan. He also said he was doing the work of God by reanimating these dead creatures. Basically, he was playing God but saw nothing wrong with that. He thought he was making great scientific advances, and also getting what he wanted at the same time. This guy was so obsessed with death that he tried to make immortality a physical reality. What he got was a bunch of slow moving zombie rodents.”

Melissa closed her eyes and let the papers fall to the table. Jasmine. She wasn’t sure where from, but it was as strong as the night before. “Do you smell that?” she asked Rich.

He looked up and sniffed. “What?”

“Jasmine,” she said, before opening her eyes. “It’s gone.”

Walk Among Us

Rich slammed his hand down on the table, forcing Nick to look up.

“Dude, it’s OK,” he said before putting his head down again. “We’ll go tomorrow night when the rain lets up.”

“I don’t think we should let a little rain bother us, I mean, the doc is still going to be there, rain or shine,” Rich said, stashing his camera into it’s case.

“The roof, man,” Nick said with a sigh. “No one has cared for that church at all in years. There are huge holes in the ceiling. Chances are, if we go there tonight, we’ll be swimming through the church.”

Melissa walked into the room and glanced at both of them. She was with Nick about not going in the rain. But at the same time, she wanted to go anyway, just to see if the guy from the previous night was there again. She wasn’t sure what she would do if she did run into him, but she wanted to find out who he was.

A crack of lightening followed by a boom of thunder lit the outside of the house for a few seconds and gave way to the flickering of the lights. Melissa looked up at the hanging lamp and watched as it flickered out. They all stood speechless in the dark.

“Well,” Melissa said with a sigh. “Guess I’ll go upstairs and listen to my Walkman to see what’s going on.”

Without waiting for their response she trudged up the stairs to her pitch black bedroom. Feeling around the floor for her Walkman, she grabbed it and flopped down onto her bed. She placed the headphones on and started to search for a station with some news. She hadn’t thought the storm was that bad that it would knock out the power, but it did, and she wanted to know what was going on. Taxes at work, like usual.

Laying down with the local station’s most annoying DJ barking out sarcastic remarks about the weather, she closed her eyes. The scent of jasmine came back to her, and she started to smile. But the scent only last a few seconds before the batteries in her Walkman died out fast.

“Oh, great!” she huffed. “Figures.”

Before she had a chance to take the headphones off, the red light shot back on her Walkman. She stopped dead and stared at it. A laugh filled her headphones. Then a familiar masculine voice followed.

“I’m still waiting for you.” She flipped the headphones off and sat bolt upright. The red light went out again as the lightning flashed outside of her window. In those few seconds she saw a figure standing in front of the window. With the second flash it was gone.

“Come to me, child,” the voice called. Melissa screamed and jumped to her feet. Running for the door, she could still hear the laughter behind her. She ran down the stairs where she almost knocked her brother down them.

“What happened? I heard you scream! Are you OK?” Rich said to her clasping her shoulders and trying to hold her still.

“The man,” she said.

“What man?”

“In my room.”

Rich and Nick looked at each other, then pushed past her and ran for her room. He flung the door open just as the lights came back on. Nothing.
Melissa huddled up on the couch. She was still shaking. The laughter echoed in her head, and she felt cold all over. The jasmine scent started to fill the room strong. Rich came back down and looked at her. She was sweating and shivering, all at the same time.

“No one’s there, Melissa,” he said, looking worried.

She looked up at him. “He was there. He’s still here, somewhere, I can feel him. He’s all around.”

Nick and Rich looked at each other. “Maybe we shouldn’t go to the church anymore,” Nick said.

“It isn’t the doctor, Nick, get a grip. I think Melissa is just a bit shook up. This house does creak and crack and can be kinda scary in the dark. Especially during a storm.”

With that, the lights went out again.

“What’s that smell?” Rich asked, sniffing the air.

“Flowers,” Nick said.

“Jasmine. That’s what I keep smelling. I smelled it at the church, too. That’s how I know he’s here. He must have followed us home last night.”

The laughter echoed through the room, causing all three to jump to attention and glance around the room fast.

“Followed...hardly,” came an eerie voice from nowhere and everywhere. “I am part of you now, Melissa. I walk where you walk, and sleep where you sleep. You can’t get away.”

The jasmine scent slowly left the room, and the lights flickered back on. The three just stood there, staring at the doorway into the next room. “And he walks among us,” Nick said in a whispered tone.

The Hunger

Melissa laid in her bed, unable to fall asleep with the thoughts of the strange man filling her mind. She could still feel him around her, although she could not see him. She knew now it was not just her imagination. She couldn’t help but think why this frightening man carried a scent of jasmine with him. Such a relaxing scent to follow such a frightening being. But maybe it was part of his plan to knock down her guard.

“Come to me, child,” she heard in a whispered tone. She couldn’t help but sit up and look around. She felt a strange pull. Reaching for her shoes, she put them on and quietly walked down the stairs. The pull was getting stronger, leading her out of her house. She went with the pull and opened her front door.

“Come to me, now!” She stepped out onto the porch. The rain had stopped long ago, but the puddles still gleamed in the moonlight. She walked down the steps and started to walk down the street. She continued to walk, not sure where she was walking to. It seemed like hours, following the pull with her eyes to the ground.
Suddenly a flash caught her attention and she stopped walking. Looking up, she saw the church.

Without a second thought she climbed the fence and jumped down onto the gravel below. She stared up at the headless gargoyles as she made her way to the door, still swinging with the wind. As she got closer, she again smelled the jasmine. It was so strong she felt as if she would pass out from the scent. But still she walked, following the pull to the front door.

Grabbing the door, she pulled it open and walked in cautiously, looking around her. The church had a musty smell to it, of death and dust. She shivered, but continued on to the alter that loomed in front of her.

Reaching the alter, she put her hands on top of it. She pushed the dust away to reveal white marble, dyed a pinkish color in spots. She looked up to the inverted cross and the savior still hanging by his wrists. Suddenly, she gasped, finally realizing where she was. She flew around to face the door again, but instead was met by an eerie shadow of a figure, just feet ahead of her.

“Welcome, my child,” he said reaching a hand out to her. She glanced down at it, not taking the offer.

“Do not be afraid,” he said, stepping into the moonlight that shown threw the cracks in the stained glass behind her. The man stood before her, and she stared. It was the first time she was seeing him out of the shadows. His straight, stringy black hair hung down to his chin, some coming down over his face. His dark brown eyes gleamed at her without a sign of happiness in them. His skin was white as snow, almost transparent. A surgical mask covered the rest of his face, and a long white coat hung off his shoulders to the ground.

Closing her eyes, she stepped back into the alter again. “Who are you?” she asked in almost a
pleading tone. He laughed again.

“How soon we forget,” he said, stepping up the marble steps towards her. He stood inches from her face. “I am David,” he announced, running his hand down the side of her face. He removed the surgical mask. “There, does that make you feel better?”

She opened her eyes and looked into his face. He had a slight smile on his bluish lips, and had a psychotic air about him. But other than that, David seemed like a normal man. She allowed her muscles to relax as she kept her gaze at his eyes.

A small squeaking from behind her drew her attention away from him. She was afraid of what he would do if she turned, but her muscles tightened again.

“I have been watching you,” he said, walking around the alter. She turned to face him, and let out a gasp. On the alter sat a small brown mouse. He looked up at her. She noticed that his eyes had been cut out, and he had stitches down his back.

David glanced down at the small mouse as well. “He came out OK, don’t you think?” he asked. Melissa backed away from the alter, keeping her eyes on the mouse. She stumbled down the steps.

“Do as you will, but it is inevitable, my child. You are mine now.” The mouse leapt off the alter and landed in front of Melissa. She screamed before turning and running from the church.

David stepped down from the alter. Lifting up the mouse and petting his back, he kept his eyes on the door and watched as Melissa struggled to climb back over the gate. “Such a shame,” he said to the mouse. “This could have been very easy for her.” The mouse let out a tiny squeak. “Yes, yes, I know. I hunger for a human companion a well. Soon.”

From Hell They Came

Melissa ran as fast as she could. Still not believing what she saw was real, her heart pounded and she gasped for air. All she wanted was to get home and back to her bed, or maybe to wake up, whatever the case may be. The run back seemed longer than the walk there.

Finally she got back to her house. Her brother’s car was not in the driveway and she figured he had gone out searching for her. She wasn’t about to sit out there and wait for his return. She ran into the house and slammed the door behind her. She stood still, gasping to regain her breath.

Sliding her back down the door, she sat on the floor and cried into her hands. She wasn’t exactly sure what had just happened or what she had gotten herself into, but she wanted out. She wanted to know where David and that ungodly mouse had come from, and why they wanted her. She couldn’t get his face out of her mind, and it made her cry even more. The smile on his face was so sinister, and the mouse seemed to see her even without eyes.

She picked herself up off the floor and headed up towards her room, even though she knew there was no hope of sleeping. The sun was beginning to peek out from behind the clouds, and she welcomed the help of the sun’s light. It seemed to her that nothing could go wrong as long as the sun shown down on the Earth.

Jasmine. Melissa started to sob. Not again.

Dig Up Her Bones

Melissa threw her blankets up over her head. Even at sunrise her room was as dark as night, since her two windows faced an ally way. She was afraid of what she would see if she pulled the blankets away. She just laid there covering her head, squeezing her eyes shut, and waiting to hear a squeak or an evil voice.

The scent of jasmine filled the room, like the church yard, to the point where she thought she would pass out. But she refused to remove her covers and lay sobbing into them.

“Do not be afraid,” said a female voice. “I am here to help you.”

Melissa cautiously pulled the covers off her face and looked. Before her was a woman in what seemed like a translucent purple gown. She floated above the ground, only inches above it, and her golden hair flowed around as if she were under water. The woman’s dress flowed like silk all around her, flowing over her hands and feet. It seemed as if the woman was also letting off a white glow.

“My name is Samantha,” she said to Melissa with a loving, gentle smile on her face. “I want to help you, but you must do something for me in order for me to do so.”

Melissa wiped her eyes and stared at the woman.
“The doctor used me as an experiment many years ago. I did not make it to the reanimated state and he discarded of my body. No one ever found me, and I was deemed dead, although no one knew for sure. I need you to find my body. It is in the church yard.”

Melissa continued to stare. “Then what?” she asked in a shaky voice.

“You must dig up my remains. Take one bone from any finger on my right hand, and keep it in your pocket at all times. When this is done, I will be given good enough access to you to help protect you from the doctor.”

Melissa shuttered at the thought of digging up this woman’s bones and keeping one in her pocket. But if this was the only way to stop the doctor, then it must be done.

Samantha smiled. “When you smell jasmine, I am close. Just ask for my help. If you have the bone, then I can help.” With that, Samantha disappeared into the air. Melissa continued to stare at the place where she was. She wasn’t too happy about going back to the church. And what if someone saw her digging up the yard? What would she say? Telling this tale would deem her insane to anyone to hear it. But she knew it had to be done, or the doctor would win.

Getting out of bed, Melissa ruffled her hair and headed for the bathroom. When she finished getting dressed she headed to the basement to find a good shovel. There was no way she was going to do this at night.

Reaching the garage, Melissa easily found an old metal shovel with a thick wooden handle hanging from a thick peg in the wall. A coal shovel. Perfect. This would do the job on that church yard’s gravel. She headed out the door and started walking to the old church.

During the day, the church didn’t seem as bad. It was just an old building. Grass grew out all over through the gravel, and birds sang from trees around her. She climbed the gate and dropped to the ground on the other side with ease. She stood looking around. The door to the church was closed tightly. She walked slowly towards it, keeping her eyes open for the doctor. Reaching the church, she noticed chains and a lock across the door, with a sign above them that read, “Do Not Enter.” She stared in confusion. When had that been put there?

Shrugging it off, Melissa headed for the side of the church. She picked a spot and started digging into the dry dirt.

It seemed like ages. She dug holes all over and found nothing. Still, she dug. Finally, she hit something hard with the end of the shovel. Bending over to wipe off some dirt, she found the corner of a wooden box. Her heart started to race. She dug the box out and drug it onto level ground.

She stared at it for a moment. The box had green moss growing from it, as well as water rot. It stunk of staleness and age, making her step back and fan her nose. This had to be it. She used the shovel to bang the lock off the side, and then to flip open the top.

Gasping, she jumped back. Bugs scattered off the edge of the box and dust rose out in a thick cloud. She coughed and fanned again before returning her gaze to the now open box. It was definitely a coffin. She stepped closer and looked at the skeleton inside. The bones were brown and totally void of any flesh or hair. The translucent purple gown lay draped on it, torn and stained. It had to be Samantha. She walked up closer and dropped to her knees. Reaching in, she moved the tattered gown out of the way and found the right hand. Quickly, she grabbed a finger bone, then slammed the top shut again. She stood, pushed the bone into her pocket, and sighed. Looking at the box, she braced herself, then grabbed the sides with both hands and slid it back into the hole.

She headed out towards the gate. Looking up, she gasped. Her brother stood there, leaning up against the gate.

“What in the name of the good doctor are you doing?” She looked up at him and smiled sheepishly.

“Saving our asses,” she declared, climbing up the gate once again.

He shook his head and walked over to the car. “Get in,” he said. “I’m sick of coming out here, especially for you.”

She put her hand on her pocket. The warm feeling coming from it made her smile, as she plopped into the car.

Blacklight

Melissa knew that whatever she had gotten herself into was only beginning now. This was going to be a full out battle between herself, the doctor, and whatever else he had stashed away in that church. She also knew that there was a good chance she would come out without a soul.

She went up to Rich’s bedroom. Loudly, she banged on the door, hoping he could hear over the music that was blasting out from beneath the door. He swung it open and moved aside, allowing her entrance to the dark room, lit with some sort of purple glow.

“OK,” she said. “You wanted know why I was at the church last night and this afternoon?”

“Would be nice,” Rich said, walking over to the radio to eject the Misfits tape he been blasting. “Ya know, considering mom and dad are on my ass about it and all.”

She reached into her pocket and removed the finger bone. She held it out to Rich, who just twisted his nose and backed off a step.

“This is why,” she said. “It belongs to a girl named Samantha. She was one of the doctor’s experiments that didn’t go so well. He buried her on the property and forgot about her.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in all this stuff,” Rich said, taking a seat next to her on the bed.
She sighed. “I didn’t, at first. But now I have no reason to doubt. I met the doctor.”

Rich’s eyes opened wide as he jumped to his feet. “You what?!”

“You heard me. Last night. I felt a pull towards the church and walked all the way out there before I even had a chance to think about it. When I got there, I met him...and his ‘pet’,” she said, shivering at the thought of the mutilated mouse.

Rich stood still, mouth open, staring at her. “What happened? What did he say?”

“He is trying to get me for his experiments. Which is why this bone was so important. That jasmine scent, it’s Samantha’s spirit. She is trying to help me but I needed to have this bone in order for her to do so. I found her body, took the finger, and now hopefully I am a little bit safer.”

She glanced around the room at the glowing posters hanging from the walls. The purple glow illuminated off the curtains and sent out a white/purple reflection. Looking back at Rich, she noticed that his face let off the same reflection.

“Stay away from there, Melissa,” he warned. “This is getting too weird.”

Melissa stood, pushing the bone back into her pocket. “Someone has to stop him. And I am the one.”

Resurrection

Stuffing the last of what she needed into a black backpack, Melissa braced herself. She knew this wasn’t smart, and probably not the best course of action, but she had to meet the doctor face to face. She liked living, and she wasn’t about to let this weirdo try and take that away from her. She wasn’t going to let her body become a slave to some twisted spook.

Tossing her backpack over her shoulder, she quietly walked out of her room and crept down the stairs. She reached for the door only to have Rich push it closed.

“You aren’t going alone,” he said, looking her strait in the eyes. She smiled and pulled the door open again. She didn’t mind the company.
Rich drove up to the gates of the old church. They both sat for a moment, just staring at it. Lightening flashed behind it, making it a wonderful backdrop for a cheesy B horror flick.

“You’ve come back to me.” Melissa shuddered at the sound of that voice. She knew Rich didn’t hear it.

She pushed the door open. The scent of jasmine wrapped around her and she felt an air of confidence. She was secure. Looking at Rich, she smiled, then climbed the gate. She didn’t bother to wait for him as she walked towards the church.
Again the door swung open and shut with the wind. She stopped dead and stared at it. What happened to the chains and lock? Her heart started pounding. Maybe the doctor had been expecting her the whole time.

Gazing over towards the still open hole where Samantha’s corpse lay, she gathered up her spirits again and walked on. She grabbed the door and held it open as Rich popped his head in. The lights were on.

The two slipped in as the door slammed hard behind them. The laughter echoed through the room and the stained glass rattled with it’s echo. They both stood strong, eyes locked on the alter. Rich walked forward, heading up towards the cross hanging above it. Melissa kept her eyes open for the doctor.

A light squeak came from next to her and she almost fainted. Realizing it was probably the ungodly little brown mouse, she flung herself forward and ran for the alter.

Rich had reached it already and flung his backpack on the alter. He stared at the crucifix for a moment, just long enough to watch the savior dislodge himself and fall to the marble ground, shattering all around his feet. The hands remained on the cross. Rich crossed his eyes and laughed at the sinister sight.

Melissa shushed him as she came up from behind. She still heard the laughter all around her, and her confidence was beginning to dwindle. The jasmine scent grew stronger.

“Sit,” the voice told her, and she flung around to see one of the pews piled against the wall fall and slide to the center. She was lifted off her feet and flung back into the pew. Rich’s eyes widened and he ran for her. Slamming into an unseen barrier, Rich stepped back and stared at her.

“I thought it was obvious I wanted you alone.” Rich looked all over.

“Who’s there?” he yelled out.

“You can hear him?” Melissa asked, gasping.

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“Who are you?” the voice rumbled through the church.

“I’m Rich, her brother. What the hell do you want and where are you?”

“I want her, and I am all around you.”

“Fucking coward, show yourself! I’m not letting you take her!”

“So brave aren’t we?”

With that, Rich was lifted and flung through the barrier towards the back of the church. Crashing onto the floor, Rich quickly flipped into a sitting position, only to be faced by a strange dark figure.

“And you plan on stopping me how?”

The doctor walked into the light and gazed at Rich. The mouse crept up alongside Rich with a tiny squeak.

“No, not good enough,” the doctor said, shaking his head at Rich. “A shame, too, really. You seem to still have some fight in you.”

Rich jumped to his feet and walked to the doctor. Looking straight into the doctor’s face he growled, “What the hell is your problem?”

The doctor just laughed. “My problem?! It doesn’t look like I am the one with the problem here!”

“What do you want with Melissa?!” Rich screamed into his face.

Without so much as flinching, the doctor replied, “Resurrection.”

He grabbed Rich by the throat and lifted him off the ground. He walked to the door, Rich gasping and clawing at his hand. As if he were a feather, the doctor tossed Rich out the door and slammed it shut. Rich got to his feet and for the door, only to be met by chains and the lying sign.

This Island Earth

The doctor turned to Melissa, who sat struggling to get out of the invisible grip holding her to the pew. He walked to her again.

“Must I introduce myself again, seeing as your memory is so bad?”

“No, David,” she spat out. “Let me go!”

“Where’s the fun in that?” he asked with a chuckle.

“What do you want? What did I do?”

“Nothing. You did nothing dear.” He smiled at her, running his hand down the side of her face and neck before moving to her chest. She grabbed his hand tight and pushed it off. “Now now,” he said with a smile.

Lightening flashed again through the stained glass. Melissa sat and tried not to cry. She could still hear Rich outside yelling into the church as he ran around the perimeter.

“He’s getting annoying,” the Doctor said looking at the window. “But he shall grow tired with time, as have I.”

“So go take a nap, and leave me alone!” Melissa yelled.

With a quick motion of the hand, Melissa was lifted off the pew and forced to float above the ground a few inches.

“Why sleep? We have work to do. After all, I need a companion to help me.”

“With what?”

“Why, repopulating this little island we live on. Earth is so far behind every other planet and civilization out there. You and I together could change that, I am sure. At least bring us up to speed.”

Melissa just stared. Nothing the doctor said was making any sense to her at all, and she was starting to wonder where Samantha was. She smelled the jasmine, and was starting to wonder if she was actually helping the doctor instead of her.

“Earth is an island now, is it?” She felt like she was talking to a three year old.

“In comparison, yes.”

She continued to stare. Rich’s voice had faded off, and she waited to hear the car turn on. She felt totally alone.

“Do you love me?” the doctor asked out of nowhere.

“Hell no!” she screamed.

“You soon will,” he said with a smile.

Melissa felt herself being lowered to the ground. As her feet touched she looked up and saw no sign of the doctor. She ran for the door, slamming into it.

“It’s locked. Find another way out,” the personless voice declared as the lights once again flickered out.

Crimson Ghost

Melissa leaned her back against the door and slid down to the ground. Resting her head in her arms, she began to sob. The dark wasn’t helping to ease her fears at all, and she was to frightened to think of what was going to become of her.

“David likes to play with his victims,” Samantha said. “He did it to me, too.”

Melissa looked up to see the woman floating in front of her, giving off a warm light. “Where the hell were you during all that? And where is Rich?”

“I was with you. David wasn’t going to hurt you, I sensed it. He loves you, as he loves all of his choice ‘companions.’ Rich is asleep outside the door. He is safe.”

Melissa put her head back down and continued to sob. Samantha moved in closer to her and reached out to her. Her touch was warm on Melissa’s arm and her tears stopped.

“I will not allow you to be hurt.”

Again, Melissa raised her head. The light around Samantha was no longer white and soft. It had turned an odd red, like blood. She gasped as Samantha flew backwards.

“You, again?” the doctor asked.

Samantha got her ground once again. The light around her grew to a crimson red. The doctor was still close, but unseen. She returned to Melissa and held out a hand to her, before being flung backwards again.

“The ‘crimson ghost’ is no good to you, my love. She was no good to anyone!” The laughter rang through the church again as Samantha cried out, before vanishing from sight. The scent of jasmine left Melissa. Fear took it’s place.

Day of the Dead

Melissa jumped to her feet and ran again for the alter. She wasn’t sure why she did that, other than the reason that there was nowhere else to run. She got down on her hands and knees and tried to crawl under the alter. Thick marble stopped her from doing so. Laughter echoed through the church, fading off into the distance on the right side of her. She looked over to see nothing but darkness.

A light squeak pulled her attention to her left side. She froze as she found herself staring at the stitches over the mouse’s eyes. It stood no more than an inch from her arm, gazing up at her as if it could really see her. Maybe it could. Thing was dead and strange anyway, and it never seemed to be confused or out of place anywhere. Melissa let herself drift into thought about the mouse before it bit her arm, drawing a scream from her lips before she even knew what ad happened.

She sprung to her feet and kicked the little mouse as hard as she could. She watched as it flew across the church and slammed into a wall. It slowly slid down, stitches torn open on it’s back, but not dripping any blood. It hit the ground silently and ceased to move altogether. Melissa started crying again. The confusion and fear was getting the best of her.

The silence was broken by a shuffling noise from the back end of the church. She stood straight and stared off into the darkness. Fearing death was coming for her in the shadows, she backed up. She shook her head back and forth as visions of her own life passed through her mind. She saw her parents fighting in the living room, and Rich hugging her close through it all. She tried to remember why she never ran away. She never made an effort to make anything of herself, never made an effort not to be a bitch. She hadn’t hugged Rich lately and told him she loved him.

She let the tears flow free as she walked back into the wall. She looked over to her side at the inverted cross, and looked down at the savior broken across the marble ground. His eyes seemed frightened, yet dead.

The shuffling noise got closer. Melissa was able to make out two figures coming her way. They were almost identical, and both equally as hideous. They looked like a cross between a person and a bear, both with eyes sewn shut and stitches on their arms and chests. They wore no clothing, but didn’t seem to be naked either. Melissa gasped as they climbed to the alter, reaching out for her from either side. Grabbing her arms, they lifted her off the ground as she screamed and kicked in panic.

Rich awoke from his sleep outside the door to hear Melissa screaming. He jumped to his feet and tried to bang the door down, with no success. He began his run around the church again as the lightening lit his path. The rain began to fall heavy, enough to hide his tears as Melissa’s screams started to fade off, as if going under him.

The Haunting

Rich stood staring at the doors for awhile before deciding he couldn’t do this on his own. He ran for the gates and jumped the fence with no problem. Revving the engine in his car, he flipped it into reverse and flung around before speeding off down the road. He wasn’t sure where to go, or who would help him, but he had to do something.

He barreled down the road towards an overpass. He could barely see through his tears, and he had turned the radio up almost all the way to keep himself focused. He gripped the wheel with both hands and leaned forward trying to see out the window. The rain was falling like a running faucet at this point, and the driving conditions were horrible. He could feel the car slightly hydroplane every so often as he sped past houses and cars.

Pulling over to the side of the road on the overpass, Rich turned the car off and got out. He figured it was easier to run than drive, since seeing was easier that way. He ran away from the car and towards a pay phone at the other end of the overpass.

“Going somewhere?” Rich stopped on a dime and stood bolt upright. He was afraid to turn around.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw nothing but his headlights in the distance. He shook his head and squinted.
Nothing.

He turned again and continued towards the pay phone. “Cat got your tongue?” Again, he stopped.
“Who’s there?” he yelled without moving from his spot.

Laughter filled his ears from all around as the lightening struck the ground next to the overpass. Rich jumped in shock as it hit a tree and he watched it burst into flames. He just stared for a moment in disbelief. Sirens started to sound from somewhere in the town, although he couldn’t see where they were coming from.

“Chicken!” he heard, followed by more laughter.

Before he could say a word, someone’s hand came from behind him and covered his mouth. Rich fought to get free from the person’s grip, but he held tight, dragging him to the side of the overpass.

“Well, this was predictable,” he heard the voice say as he felt himself lifting off the ground. He looked down to see the littered park below him.
His eyes grew wide as he got closer to the side. As fast as it had come, the man removed his grip and let go of Rich. With a scream, he plummeted down towards the ground. He called out for his sister before landing back first on a steel fence. He looked up at the overpass to see the figure walk away from the side. Rich grabbed the part of the fence he was impaled on. He could feel it rubbing on his spinal cord as he let out another scream.

Mars Attacks

Melissa opened her eyes slowly. The air around
her felt damp, and she had a sick feeling in her stomach. Lifting her head, she glanced around at the wet brick walls surrounding her. She couldn’t help but think this entire thing should be in black and white.

A cold breeze drifted from somewhere under a door to her left. She shifted herself in attempt to get up, but found herself to be held down. She glanced at her arms. There was nothing holding them, yet she couldn’t move them at all.

Moans started to resound from all corners of the little room. She felt a chill go up her spine as she tried even harder to free her arms from whatever was holding them down. The moans got louder, and footsteps could be heard from down the hall. She kept her eyes on the door as she heard David’s voice snapping at nothing.

“Fucking mouse!” she heard him say. “I tell him to do a simple thing and he botches it up! Well, it’s his afterlife.”

She heard the footsteps stop. “Where the hell is she? You stupid excuse for a living thing! Can’t anyone do anything right around here?!”

Her muscles tensed as she heard him head for her door. She gave up trying to break free out of fear.

“Yeah, OK. Now where is she?” David’s voice sounded angrier than she had ever heard it before. Usually his voice was even and calm, but now he sounded totally insane. And nothing was answering him back.

“Ah!” He opened the door to her tiny room.

Clasping his hands in front of him, he looked at her and smiled. “My condolences, child.”

“What?” she said in a weak tone.

“For your brother...Rich, was it? He had a slight...accident when going to get help.”

“You stupid horse fucker! What did you do to my brother?!” she screamed, straining her arms in their restraints.

“Such a vocabulary!” he said shaking his head mockingly. He walked over to her and sat next to her.

“Things get better from here, I promise,” he whispered to her. She just looked at him with tears in her eyes.

“Better? BETTER?! How are they getting better?” she yelled in his face.

“Well, well, well!” he exclaimed, still smiling. “Getting a bit brave now, are we?”

David snapped his fingers and Melissa’s arms shot free. She looked down at the ground next to her. Nothing.

“A magic trick I like to perform,” he said, still smiling.

Melissa looked at him. He seemed like a different person now. His eyes had a dead look to them, and his skin was whiter. He winked at her.

Standing up, David looked down at her. He reached out his hand to her and helped her to her feet. She just looked at him in disbelief as he stroked the side of her face again. He had a gentle look to his face now, the look she remembered him always having. She couldn’t help but think this guy was getting weirder and weirder every second.
Her thoughts were brought back to her situation quickly as she felt David’s hand slide down to her chest. She pushed his hand off of her.

“Don’t touch me, you sad excuse for a person!”

“Person? I like to consider myself an alien, dear,” he said as he started to laugh. “I am much too advanced to be like you!”

His laughter stopped almost suddenly as he grabbed her arms and pulled her in to him. She looked into his eyes with a frightened look, and tried to pull out of his grip. Either he was nuts, or he really was from Mars.

He stared at her for a moment. “They say the eyes are the gateway to the soul,” he said before leaning in and kissing her.

She pulled back with enough force to break his grip and fling her backwards onto the floor. He straightened himself and glanced at her. Slowly, he walked towards her as she slid herself across the ground towards the other end of the room. David had a fierce look in his eyes, as if a fire was burning in him. She reached the wall and brought her legs up into herself.

David stopped a foot in front of her before clapping his hands twice. Melissa’s arms slammed into the ground and she felt as if she was being pulled into the Earth.

“Don’t be a bitch,” he said, getting down onto the ground. He began stroking her face again, before moving his hand down to her chest for the third time. Melissa started to cry, for she could do nothing else.

“This will be over soon,” he said, grabbing the collar of her shirt and tearing it from her body before pulling her legs wide open.

Hate the Living, Love the Dead

Melissa sat curled in the corner of the room. David had removed her restraints when he was done with her and she was free to move about. She had no idea how long it had been since he had been there, and she didn’t care either. She hadn’t stopped crying since he raped her, and thoughts of Rich flew through her head fast. It was all getting to be too much for her. If David was going to try to zombify her, or just kill her, she wished he would just do it and get it over with.

The door to the room creaked open, and she cringed into herself. She used her arms to shield her bare chest and remained in the fettle position with her eyes squeezed tight. She heard a grunt that forced her to open her eyes. In the doorway stood a figure that looked like one of the man-bears. It trotted over to her and grabbed a hold of her hair. It drug her from the room as she screamed in pain.

David waited for them in the hallway. He looked down at Melissa still crying on the floor, and knelt down. He flicked a piece of her torn jeans before looking into her eyes.

“The pain will stop now,” he said, pushing a needle into her arm. She cringed, and then started to drift off into a sleep.

When she finally awoke she found herself in a different room. She was strapped down to a cold metal table, and she had been stripped totally naked. Her arms were strapped down to pieces that stuck out from the sides of the table, and her ankles were strapped together. She felt a bit like Christ on the cross, and probably just as scared.

There was no one else in the room with her. She felt cold and scared, and at this point she would even take David as company.

The room was spotless clean and white, different from the rest of the hell hole. Cabinets and tables lined the entire place and the glass windows on the cabinets were almost non-existent. A huge light hung over her, turned off. She began to shiver. It looked too much like a hospital operating room.

The door swung open and she could hear footsteps coming towards her. Her muscles tensed up as she felt a hand glide up her leg. She looked up and saw David standing over her. He moved his hand up her leg and pressed it between her thighs.

“Relax,” he told her as he began fingering her. “You’ll be happy soon.”

Melissa began to sweat and struggle against his touch. He laughed at her futile attempts to free herself and pushed his fingers deeper into her. She screamed in pain and pleasure all at once, and felt ashamed that David’s touch was actually making her feel good.

Removing his hand, he walked up to look down into her eyes. She glanced up to see the fire in his eyes again. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small jar. Holding in front of her she saw the crimson light coming from it. The scent of jasmine lightly tickled her nose and she gasped.

“She may have been able to help you,” he said looking at the jar. “But she is a bit tied up at the moment.”

Melissa saw the figure of Samantha pressed up against the jar. She looked like she was trying to say something, but the glass refused to allow sound to pass. He placed the jar on the counter next to the table Melissa lay on and turned to face her again.

“This is going to hurt you more than it is me,” he said, pulling the mask over his mouth and nose and reaching for a control on the counter. He pressed one of the buttons and the table lifted, then flipped so that Melissa was starring down at the floor. With the press of another button, the bottom of the table drew open to show her back.
David lifted the scalpel off the small table and felt along the base of Melissa’s back. She felt as the blade made a small incision right at the spine. She winced in agony.

When David finished making his incision, he snapped his gloves and began to tear at her flesh with his hands. Melissa screamed again in agony as he slid his hand inside. She felt him grab a hold of her spine. The bones tingled under her skin, and an involuntary shiver traveled up her back into her skull.

David gently shook his hand, shaking her spine just a little. The wave of pain drifted up and down her back as her eyes began to flip back. She was wishing for death like she had never wished for anything before.

Just as she was about to pass out, David removed his hand, closed the table, and flipped her back over. Her eyes were badly blood shot and the room looked red now. She glanced weakly at David and saw the blood covering his white coat and his right arm. He took a pen and started to make marks on her forehead. She was too weak to beg for mercy, and too close to death to ask him to kill her.

He looked at her and stroked her face. “You will be what I always wanted.” With that he lifted the scalpel and placed it on her forehead. “The dead are so much nicer and more excepting than the living. I like it that way. Dead girls never fight me back.”

Melissa felt a horrid surge of pain before all turned black around her. Her heart began to slow down. Samantha wept as she pushed at the side of the jar.

“We’ll be together forever,” was last thing Melissa heard David say.

Shining

David tore the mask off his face and slammed it down on the counter. He looked down to the floor and shook his head in disbelief.

“I told you before,” he said out loud. “This is never going to work!”

He looked up and turned around. “Yes it will. Eventually. I just need the right specimen. She wasn’t it.”

“Maybe the boy was. I shouldn’t have thrown him over the side. Oh, what am I saying. This is stupid. Fifty people, and fifty dead.”

“Maybe you aren’t doing it right.”

David glanced up at the door. “Maybe not.”

He walked over and pushed the door open. He stepped out into the hallway and walked fast towards the stairs. Someone was in the old church, he felt it.

Reaching the top of the steps, he looked over to the door. It swung open in the wind. Confused, he walked toward it. Blood dripped across the floor, leaving a pathway from the operating room to the front door. He paid no mind to that fact as he glanced outside. The rain had stopped, although the wind had picked up quiet a bit. He grabbed the door and pulled it shut, content in the fact that the wind had forced it open like it had so many nights before.

He turned towards the alter. Standing frozen, his gaze locked on one of the man-bears lying across the marble alter. A new cloth had been lain out under him. David walked closer and saw that the things hands had been removed. He stopped and looked around the church. He didn’t see anyone around him anywhere.

Approaching the man-bear, he smacked it’s face lightly to see if it would respond.

“Great, dead again,” he said with a sigh.

“Care to join him?” David turned fast. Nick stood dead center in the church and looked up at David.
A group joined him at the center. “We’ve had enough. Where’s Melissa?”

David laughed. “Seems you are a bit late. She’s with god now!” he said sarcastically. He looked towards the stairs and made a run for it. Nick and his gang followed, only to be met by the trap door slamming locked in front of them.

He reached the operating room where Melissa’s corpse still lay. He looked at her, blood still dripping from the table in slow drops as the last of it escaped to the ground.

“Great. Another failed experiment and now a bunch of crazy teens after me. This really makes my night.”

He walked over to the table and removed his coat. Swinging it around to lay it down, the tails of it caught the jar where Samantha lay weeping in failure. The jar fell to the ground and shattered in a crimson cloud through the room. David walked quickly backwards as Samantha gained her footing and turned towards him. In a panic, he ripped open the door and ran out into the hallway.
“There you are, you silly man!” Nick said with a sarcastic grin. “Say your prayers!”

Don’t Open ‘Til Doomsday

The group of boys managed to get the struggling doctor up the stairs to the alter with less trouble than they had imagined. Nick pushed the man-bear off the alter and watched as it rolled down the isle a short way, before pushing the good doctor down on to it. David looked up at him with a blank stare.

“Just like the rest, I guess you think I deserve this.”

“And you do. How many people did you kill? Rich and Melissa were the last ones!” Nick tied the doctor down with already blood soaked ropes. “Let the ritual begin.”

“Ritual?” The doctor asked, surprised. “What ritual?!”

Nick just looked at him and smiled. Facing the rest of the kids there, he nodded for them to bring the coffin. They lifted the skeleton of Samantha out of it and placed her down on some cloth before laying the now empty box next to the alter. Nick raised his hands up and looked towards the ceiling.

David looked around at all the kids circling the alter. He knew this ritual. They were banishing him. Struggling, he cried out for help.

Nick jumped as the trap door flew open. Samantha floated outward. “No help now, David! It’s done.”
The church doors flew open and closed again as the rain pored in. David just laid still and listen to the rain tap the floor of the dilapidated church. He didn’t listen to the words Nick spewed forth or the chants the others did as they moved around him slowly. He just watched and listened to the rain.

Nick stepped back from the alter. “It’s time to finish this cheesy B-flick wanna-be.” He raised his athame into the air before bringing it down fast. A light glared out from the alter as David screamed in agony. It was the first real pain he had felt in ages.

The light faded out and everyone looked back to the alter. David was gone. Nick walked over to the coffin and placed a hand on it feeling the warmth. The second man-bear came out from the side of the church and looked at Nick calmly before it dropped to the floor.

The kids lifted the now heavy coffin up and walked outside with it. Samantha followed behind them, allowing her light to turn white again. She watched as they placed the box into the hole.

“I just wish I could have helped her,” she said to no one. Nick raised his head and looked at her.

“You did. She wanted to stop the doctor. He’s been stopped and we needed you to do it.”
Samantha smiled at them. In a way, she figured they were right. Smiling to herself, she let herself fade back before disappearing.

Nick stared at where she had been before being snapped back to attention. The coffin lid started banging wildly, forcing them all to jump back.

“Quick! Knock it into the hole!” The kids all grabbed the box and shoved it into the grave as fast as possible and started shoveling the dirt onto it. Laughter was heard all around them as they dug, covering the box with dry dirt.

Nick dropped his shovel and sat down in exhaustion. “We were still too damn late.”

He looked to the side as the laughter faded down, and found a large rock. Taking the can of red spray paint out of his back pack, he spray some words onto the rock and pushed it onto the grave.

“Good instructions!” One of the boys said laughing at the inscription on the stone...Don’t open ‘til Doomsday.