Rose Bay Cemetery

I woke up to a furious downpour of island rain, again. Dousing itself against the windows of my car. the sky, threatening to crack its thunder overhead. But merely a threat. I slowly roll my head to my left shoulder, a little more aware now. My eyes are dry and sore, what else is new. I close them shut for some relief, inhale deeply and blow my warm tired breath onto my divers side window. I peel my eyes open and see the small fog patch I've left, I don't even bother with making a doodle in it. I take my sleeve and wipe it away annoyed. I haven't seen the sky for ages. I haven't felt the warm vibrating sun on my skin in just as long. Faded memories now, i guess. I lick my lips, cracked, thirsty...bloody. I bite my lip to peel the dead skin away from my mouth, I pull a little to hard and taste the iron. I need to stop doing that, i think. I keep my gaze to my left, sucking gently on my lip now. I see the rain has made made no difference with the tide being out, even though its pouring. Everything is coated in a layer of salt and mud.

I lift my head from my shoulder and rub my eyes with my hands, doesn't seem to make a difference. Feels just as dry and crispy like a discarded leaf in the sand. I continue to rub. I notice the wind died down to a gentle whimper, looks like I can get out and stretch a little, finally. Still raining, I open my door and it lets out a long moan. I need to fix that, too. I slid out onto the wet pavement and shut the door behind me. While I was looking for a secluded place to park and sleep last evening, I became irritated and pulled over to the nearest patch of grass and parked for the night. Turns out I parked at what looks like an unkept cemetery near what used to be the ocean. I shift my attention to an old wooden salty sign that read " Rose Bay Cemetery ". I take a careful look around and see a handful of graves and tombstones poking out of the tall grass. Some are sunken into the earth, some broken into pieces. I arch my back carefully, stretch my neck and step into the lot. There's a plethora of grass and plants I don't recognize here, so I'm careful not to touch them as I make a small path from my car to the graves. Everything has a thick layer of rain on it so even if I'm walking delicately, I'm still going to get soaked. whatever, I want to check this place out. There's a sudden shift of air around me, humid and still. My skin is radiating with goosebumps, but I keep going. My boots and clothes are drenched at this point but I cant seem to stop walking towards the stones, even if I wanted to.

The air is becoming thicker, warmer, a little harder to breathe. I rub my throat and take a long deep breath and blow it out slowly. I blink hard and swallow a shallow groan. I take a step forward and scrape something on the ground as I lift up my soaking wet boot. "what the fuck is in the grass?" I breathe out loud. Its so overgrown that I cant see what it is, so I pull my jacket sleeves over my hands and part the weeds anxiously. It felt like a small rock or a stick at least, but the sound it made against my boot I wasn't sure. I get my hands to the bottom of the grass and feel around with my fingers for the "thing" I just kicked around. I felt a mud covered flattened stone with a vine wrapped around it. Great. I rubbed it between my fingers, while pressing my dry lips together. I shot a glance around the cemetery. Not a sound to be heard, other than the rain. No birds, no wind. Nothing. I was growing uncomfortable and didn't feel like exploring anymore. I put the stone in my dress pocket, and trudged back to my car. I open the door quickly and it let out a surprisingly loud scream at me. I nearly shit. I really need to fix that. I slump into my drivers seat, slap the keys into the ignition and turn on the rickety heat. Since it hasn't stopped raining, my car windows immediately start to condensate and fog up. whatever, it'll sort itself out eventually.

I rub my shoulders with my hands quickly and stick my damp hands inside my pockets for some relief. I felt around and pulled out the mud lump I forgot i picked up earlier. I carefully go over its exterior with my thumbs and forefingers. the vine fell off and startled me, but didn't fall to the floor. It looked like it was attached to the stone still. I didn't understand what I was looking at, so i reached for an old water bottle from under my seat. I spun off the lid, but as I did that, I felt a sharp sting in my thumb. i cut myself, on a plastic water bottle lid? how does that even happen? Ill deal with it later, besides, its just a small cut. I hold the mud lump over my boots and gently pour water over it while rubbing my with my wounded thumb. it stings. I kept rubbing until I saw dulled out silver in colour and what seemed to be a lumpy shape? What in the sweet shit is this? I rub the dirt off the vine and the rest of the stone and cup it in my hand. The rain outside is pouring harder and the wind is picking up. Howling, scraping. I lift my eyes above my dashboard and I see no one around. Not a single car, animal or sign of life. I look back towards my hand and realized everything was covered in my blood. I let out a hard exhale. I pour the remaining water onto my thumb and clean up the rest of the silver object. I uncover that it's a small heart shaped locket. Obviously tarnished, I held it in my hand flipping it over to see if I could find the opening. I dug out my pocket knife and tried to flick it open. Nothing. it didn't budge. I found another water bottle with just enough warm fluid in it to maybe get the remaining crud off. Easy does it.

I wedge the blade delicately into the crevasse, slowly and carefully open the locket. "What in the living Hell was a locket doing in the cemetery" I thought. I wondered how long it might have been there, too. Lonely, covered in years of dirt and salt. I was lost in thought when the locket made a bursting noise and flung open. Bits of earth and blood fell onto my lap and i realized it was from cutting my thumb earlier. The wind is howling now. Debris scattering around the ground, tossing leaves and sand in every direction. tapping against my vehicle. I reached over and turned up the heat biting my lip again. I look back at the opened locket. I gently wipe away the mud so I can see if there's at least a photo inside. I remove most of the silt. I hold the locket up closer to the natural lighting from my drivers side window. As I lift it to the light, an immediate burst of thunder cracks throughout the sky causing me to shriek in terror. I flung the locket so violently that it ended up loosely around my neck. "Holy.....fucking...fuck" I yelled at myself. With shaken hands, i clasped the chain together and let it rest on my sweating chest. My heart was pounding. The locket was still open though, "strange" I thought. I picked it up again and looked closely at the two photographs.

I rubbed my filthy hands into my eyes again, "shit that stings" I said weakly under my breath. My eyes were playing a game with me. I looked at the locket photographs once more and my voice caught dry in my throat. My hands, closed tight and clammy. My heart pounding so hard I think its going to burst through my chest. I notice my thumb, still bleeding, throbbing. My body feels like its smoldering cold. I glance at the photographs. How are they so familiar...they're of me? No way. No. They're of me. One as a baby and one of me in...the dress im wearing now? "H-h-ow..the..f-fuck?" I stuttered quietly. The second photograph I looked carefully at with confused tears burning into my dried eyes. This does not make sense. I tear open the door to my car and I stumble my way back to the cemetery. I thump my feet against the wet soft ground, I cant get there any faster. Sweating and breathing heavily, cries held in my mouth I finally reach the first of the gravestones. Fuck. it's so old the engraving has been worn away. I look at the locket again. Furious and scared I trudge over to the next four tomb stones. Broken. Faded. Faded. Cracked. I snap my head over my right shoulder. I see a fully intact tombstone. The last one. I make a path to it and separate the grass quickly. My nails now covered in dirt and my blood. What the hell is happening right now? I peel the grass from the tombstone. I rub away the earth and moss. I run my shaking fingers across the stone. Tears are now streaming from my eyes. The thunder cracks into the ominous sky above me, I shot my glance above. Lightening tears through the rain. I felt a surge of excruciating pain course through my entire body. I am still, I cant move. My eyes are no longer dry. I didn't wake up.