Why Had He Kept Looking At Those Graves?

Why Had He Kept Looking At Those Graves

Synopsis

In the ominous shadow of his new home, adjacent to a haunting graveyard, a boy's, not so older than 15, idyllic life takes a chilling turn. His unsettling encounter with a mysterious old man sets off a chain of events marked by unexplained deaths and a relentless curse. As the line between the living and the dead blurs, time slips through his fingers. To break free, he must unravel the curse's cryptic origins, but sinister forces conspire against him. In this suspenseful tale, salvation teeters on the brink of the unknown, and the boy's very souls hang in the balance as he journey deeper into a nightmarish realm.

Part 1

My name is Jake, and my family and I recently moved to our new house, a spacious and beautiful residence situated along a somber road with a graveyard nestled behind it. The graveyard comprises around 16 graves, creating an atmosphere of quiet isolation, which suits my dad's need for an undisturbed workspace due to his demanding workload. He finds solace in this peculiar place. It has been a month since we settled in.

As an avid book enthusiast, I often find refuge on the roof, engrossed in my favorite novels. One day, my attention shifted to the graveyard below, capturing an unusual sight. Upon closer inspection, I noticed an elderly man fixedly gazing at one of the graves. Immovable, he stood in silent contemplation. My own gaze locked onto him without any particular thoughts.

After a few minutes, he shifted his focus, directing his intense gaze to another grave. This ritual repeated with the third, fourth, and fifth graves before he vanished into the unknown. While I could see him walking parallel to the road, his destination remained a mystery. Speculating that his family might rest there, I questioned my dad about the graveyard, only to learn that it had been abandoned for 89 years. "No one goes there now. There's nothing left there," my dad asserted.

The day concluded peacefully, and the next day, I eagerly returned to the rooftop at the same time, hoping to find the mysterious old man. To my surprise, he appeared, repeating the same ritual every day. Intrigued, I waited and observed.

Desiring answers, I confronted him at the graveyard, only to discover his inexplicable disappearance. Bewildered, I searched in vain, unable to reconcile the slow pace at which he moved with the sudden vanishing act. The graves he fixated on revealed no inscriptions, adding to my confusion and unease.

Nightmares haunted my sleep. Sometimes I saw a road accident, a woman having a heart attack, a boy falling from a roof, a couple being murdered, and an old man committing suicide by hanging himself. My health deteriorated over a month. Upon recovery, I returned to the rooftop, desperately scanning for the old man, yet he remained elusive.

Unanswered questions consumed my thoughts. Who was he? Why did he fixate on those particular graves? Why were they unmarked? Where did he disappear to? The old man never reappeared at those graves, leaving me with a sense of lingering mystery and apprehension.

Part 2

It was Friday's evening and I was completing my science homework. It had been a month since the Graveyard incident. I had totally forgotten about it untill he showed up again. But not at the graveyard. In my dream.

My dream goes like this: I was at a mansion which was dark and gloomy. The corridor cracks when you walk. I was inside the mansion and suddenly the deserted mansion turned new and filled with many people. It was like there was a party or some kind of celebration. People there were talking about witchcraft. It was lucky for me that noone could see me. I was roaming all over the mansion without being noticed.

Then all the people gathered near the pavallion. As the people gathered near the pavilion, I watched from the shadows, my heart pounding with both fear and curiosity. They began chanting in a language I couldn't understand, their voices echoing ominously through the darkened mansion. In the center of their circle, there was a figure, an old man - the same one I had seen at the graveyard.

He stood there, his eyes fixed on an ancient, weathered book that seemed to emit an eerie, pulsating light. The pages of the book turned by themselves as if guided by an unseen force. The chanting grew louder, and I could feel the energy in the room building to an unbearable level.

Suddenly, the old man raised his hands, and the book burst into flames. The flames danced with an unnatural blue hue, casting eerie shadows on the walls. The people around him fell to their knees, their faces contorted in agony, as if they were being consumed by an invisible force.

I tried to look away, but I couldn't. It was a nightmare I couldn't escape. The old man turned his gaze towards me, and even though I was invisible to the others, his eyes locked onto mine. It was as if he could see straight through me, into the depths of my soul.

Then, with a sinister smile, he uttered words that sent a chill down my spine, "You were never meant to escape this darkness, for you too shall become a part of it." 

I woke up in a cold sweat, my heart still racing. It was as though the darkness from my dream had seeped into reality. I never saw the old man again, but his presence haunted me, and the nightmares continued, each one darker and more disturbing than the last. The gloomy mansion, the chanting, and the old man's malevolent gaze were etched into my mind, and I couldn't escape the feeling that I was trapped in a nightmare from which there was no awakening.

Few months later, One moonless night, as I lay in my bed, shrouded in darkness and despair, the old man's spectral figure materialized at the foot of my bed. His presence sent shivers down my spine, but I knew I had to confront him and seek answers.

"What have you done to me? Who are you?" I demanded, my voice quivering with a mix of anger and fear.

The old man's eyes, filled with centuries of regret, met mine. "I had no choice," he began, his voice a haunting whisper. "Long ago, my family and I sought the forbidden path to immortality through a dark and unholy ritual. We believed we could escape death, but we were wrong."

He continued to explain, his voice quivering with sorrow, "The curse that befell us was cruel and unrelenting. It condemned each member of my family to die brutally, one by one, leaving only one to bear eternal suffering. That one is me."

I listened in horror as he recounted the details of the curse, how it had taken his loved ones, leaving him to witness their agonizing deaths. He explained that the curse demanded a new victim, someone who could see him, to pass the torment onto, in the hope of finally finding release from his never-ending agony.

"It was not my intention to involve you," he confessed. "But when you saw me at the graveyard, you became the conduit for the curse. It now seeks to claim your loved ones, one by one, until you find someone else who can see me and willingly take on the eternal suffering."

Tears welled in my eyes as the gravity of the situation sank in. I was not only powerless to save my family but bound by fate to find another victim for the curse. The old man's eyes held a plea, a desperate hope that I could find a way to end his suffering.

As he faded away, he left me with a haunting warning, "Time is running out. The curse will not wait, and neither will death. Find another who can see me, or your family's fate will be sealed. Every month one of your family member will die brutally. Hurry up!"

Haunted by his words, I knew that my only chance of saving my remaining family members was to embark on a harrowing journey to find someone else who could see the old man and, in doing so, become the bearer of the curse. But the darkness and despair that surrounded me seemed to grow with each passing day, threatening to consume everything in its path.

To be Continued....