Maddie Ann s Playground

by Mackenzie Drew

Claire didn’t head to the patio right away. With her mind unsettled, she simply wasn’t able to catch her breath. What happened to her? It wasn’t like she didn’t know what to expect once they arrived at the graveyard. She and Jennifer went over the details many times, so what’s the big deal? Why couldn’t she make herself take a step toward the back to meet the girls so they could leave? Get a hold of yourself. It’s no big deal, she told herself, but it didn’t mean anything. They were just words that failed miserably in their task of quelling her scared feelings.

  What if she died tonight or worse, what if she was responsible for her friends losing their lives? She thought about this logically. What’s the worst that could happen? Unless a living soul lurked out on those grounds, they’ll be safe. The dead sure couldn’t do anything harmful, could they? She hadn’t a clue about spirits or the afterlife. Her grandfather and grandmother passed on, but that wasn’t enough for her to go poking her nose in that subject. She hadn’t given it a thought, until now.

  Claire glanced down at her watch. She either had it in her to go to the cemetery and join the rest of her friends on the patio or forget the plan altogether. You can do this, have a little faith, she said aloud. This is going to be the wildest thing you have ever done. True, but Claire disliked the countryside. She feared nature and the dark. She quit Girl Scouts because of those reasons. The woods spooked her. It tormented her last nerve. For her to spend the night in a dark desolate place would be like walking a tight rope fifty feet in the air. It wasn’t feasible.

  She started to pace back and forth by the front door chewing the skin from around her fingernail. Claire did this when she felt nervous. And if that wasn’t enough to calm her nerves, she twirled a small lock of hair around her finger and tied it in a knot, released it, then tied it in another knot. She didn’t think anyone noticed, but that’s how everyone knew when she had a problem. Okay, maybe if we just stay long enough to prove we were there, she thought. Then a certain someone would believe me.

  Claire made up her mind. She had to go to Old Creek cemetery, regardless of how scared she was. She didn’t walk into the crowd; instead she rushed through, eyeing Jennifer who stood close to the sliding doors. She grabbed her wrist, slinging her to a dark corner.

  “Are you ready?” Claire sensed tension right away between her and Jennifer.

  “Do I have to answer that?”

  What the hell has gotten into her now? “Yes. I’d like to know one way or the other. It’s getting later by the minute,” Claire retorted.

  Jennifer furrowed her dark brows, pinching them together. “Sure, let’s go.”

  Claire didn’t like the tone she used but shook it off. Nodding, and with Jennifer’s help, Claire pulled Lisa, Kari, Tina, and Liz to the side, fleeing through the back gate.

  “Where are we going?” Kari questioned, falling into the fence.

  “Have you been drinking?” Claire asked. She took Kari by the hand and dragged her to her feet.

  “No. I lost my balance, okay?” Kari said, dusting off her jeans.

  Looming ahead of them was the thick rolling darkness, blinding them and making it harder to get around the house. Growing darker and darker the further they walked, it felt like a sickness that kept getting worse. Claire took the flashlight from underneath her shirt, and shined it towards the ground to see where to walk.

  “You still haven’t said where we’re going,” Kari reminded her, again.

  “Just wait until we get down the road and I’ll tell you. It’s a surprise,” Claire told her.

  Jennifer glanced at Claire and then toward the girls. She tried to keep a straight face.

  The girls tiptoed out to the curb, piled in the car and took off, leaving just the parking lights on. Making their way slowly through the crowded street filled with kids trick or treating, the end of the block was soon behind them. Claire took her time driving through town. She stopped at a nearby gas station to pick up a soda.

  “Would anyone like something to drink?” she asked, stepping out of the car.

  “You know what we like. Just get it and hurry,” Lisa replied. She looked cramped sitting on the edge of the seat.

  “Okay. Be right back.”

  Jennifer followed Claire inside the gas station. She helped Claire gather the drinks and placed them on the counter, along with a bag of M&M’s.

  “Is that it or do you need something else?” Claire asked pulling the money from her pocket.

  “No, I don’t feel like anything else right now,” Jennifer, replied. “I’m feeling sick and chocolate settles my stomach.”

  Tossing the receipt in the trash, the girls headed back to the car. As they started to get in, a carload of boys’ drove by hooting and a hollering at them. Claire found it funny. She stuck her half-naked leg out, whistled loudly, and as she turned, she tapped on her butt. “Ready or not, we’re off,” she said. She sped out on the road going toward the back roads.

  Jennifer snuggled down in the seat and held on tight.

  “Hey, why are we going out of town?” Kari asked. Claire watched her from the rearview mirror and she looked pissed.

  The sudden silence in the car felt suffocating. Claire rolled down the window and turned on the radio to put everyone at ease. The chill in the night air was like a dagger piercing her body as chills went up and down her spine. Getting closer to the county road, the wind had a sound of its own as a whistling noise blew through the tops of the trees. Nature came alive that night, and Claire could feel its energy the closer they got to Old Creek Cemetery.

  A thought pecked at the back of Claire’s mind. She wondered how the girls would react the minute they laid eyes on the place. Claire paid close attention to the roads. She turned the high beams on and the engine roared with anticipation as she sped up the dark blacktop road.

  “Turn around right now,” Kari, piped up. She kicked the back of the driver’s seat.

  “Hold on. You don’t even know where we’re going. It could be loads of fun,” Claire replied. She smiled, big.

  Claire saw the turnoff. Putting on the blinker, she went down an old desolate road that led toward the woods. She didn’t bother to look back at her friends to see their reactions. She kept her eyes focused ahead watching for where she had to stop. To the left of the gravel road was a grassy area suitable for parking. As the engine went silent, the darkness pressed in on them. “You guys ready?” she asked the girls in the backseat. No one replied. She looked over at Jennifer gazing out the window. “Are you ready for some fun, Jen?

  Jennifer gave her a weary, disgusted look. “I don’t think I want to go.”

  “What do you mean you don’t want to go? Come on Jen, don’t be that way,” Claire replied, grabbing the keys from the ignition.

  Kari opened the car door and climbed out. “Come on, Jennifer, if we’re going in this insane place, so are you.”

  Jennifer shook her head.

  Liz crossed her arms over her chest. “Just leave her here if she doesn’t want to go.”

  While the girls tried to pressure Jennifer into going inside the cemetery, Claire produced three flashlights from under the front seat. “Come on you guys. Let’s go have a midnight visit with the dead.”

  Lisa giggled. “Claire, you’re crazy.”

  Tina grabbed a flashlight, and pulled Liz outside with her. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Claire turned on a flashlight and shined it in Jennifer’s eyes. “You coming or not?”

  “No!”

  “What in the hell’s wrong with you tonight?”

  Jennifer ignored her and continued to stare out the window.

  “Fine, be a chicken shit, Jennifer!” Claire said as she turned to leave. “But don’t forget, an escaped lunatic can get you out here, just as easily.”

  Kari laughed, put a flashlight under her chin, and pressed a distorted, ghoulish face against the car window.

  Jennifer threw an empty Coke can at her.

  ***

  Beyond the muffled c
onfines of the car, the night grew quiet. Jennifer settled into the seat, staring into the face of an enormous harvest moon. Moonlight and shadows playing off the bare trees and shrubs along the dirt road made her feel uneasy. For a minute, she swore she felt the seat shake, but then she realized her body trembled.

  As the outside grew eerily silent, a hand suddenly slapped against the window. Jennifer jumped so high her head brushed the ceiling of the car. Mouth open, a scream lodged somewhere below her larynx, she could only gape at the face beside the hand...

  Its eyes, ebony and glowing, had golden specks near the irises like the man in the park.

  Her eyes darted side to side. Her rapid heartbeat thumping in her chest, she reached for the door and felt for the lock button. All at once, a clicking sound rang in her ears. She looked back to see the face. It had disappeared.

  Then, the sound of claws scraping against metal sent goose bumps scurrying up her body. Jennifer slid into the driver’s seat and frantically checked the door locks again. She reached for the keys. The ignition was keyless and then she remembered Claire had handed her the key ring. Where did she put it? She patted her pockets.

  Empty.

  Her eyes darted toward the passenger’s seat.

  Empty.

  Where did they go?

  She tried to think, but there was no time. Jennifer broke out into a crying frenzy bashing her fists against the steering column. “Help me,” she screamed. “Somebody, please help me.”

  Suddenly, the scratching noise stopped. She grew silent. Her breathing slowed. She craned her neck around to the darkness behind her. Where did the face that haunted her go?

  Jennifer didn’t let her guard down just yet. She sat still listening to the outside. It seemed Calm, but not a good calm, like a chilling calm right before a storm. “I know you’re there,” she growled. “Show yourself!”

  Silence.

  To stir the apparition, she flipped on the headlights, pushed against the horn and held it down. The car slowly rocked from side to side as the little fiend jumped on the hood of the car. Jennifer screamed. Suddenly, the horn went mute. The headlights blinked off. Jennifer's eyes widened and she sucked the last of the air from her lungs. She pushed her hands against the dashboard trying to ward off the approaching evil. The hideous face pressed against the windshield.

  A young girl appeared gaunt and disheveled. Her skin, pasty and riddled with open sores, stared at her. Her eyeteeth came to a point like piranha’s.

  “Jennifer, J-e-n-n-i-f-e-r….”

  Jennifer closed her eyes and covered her throbbing ears. The need to yield to this creature overpowered her. “No, no, no,” she screamed and shook her head vigorously.

  “J-e-n-n-i-f-e-r, look at me!”

  Jennifer felt her control slipping. Her mind struggled to remember The Lord’s Prayer. Our Father whom art in Heaven ...was all she could say before a black void pushed the prayer away. She sobbed and pressed her spine against the car seat. Suddenly her hands grew warm, then hot, then hotter until savage pains seared through her arms. She shrieked and jerked her hands away. Her eyes flew open and the cat eyes of the demon invaded her mind.

  “J-e-n-n-i-f-e-r, Maddie Ann awaits in the cemetery, waiting for you and your friends. She’s patient, eternal, and hungry for your blood, your soul, the very essence that makes you human.”

  A vicious growl filled the night air and the demon's head jerked up. Her cat eyes darted in every direction. A swirling mass of red cloaked her. She raised her arms toward the heavens and ascended into the night sky.

  Jennifer released her firm grip on the steering column. She had no time to question what had happened. If she wanted to see her friends alive, she had to hurry to find them.

  Opening the car door, she slid out of the seat and reached for a flashlight. As she turned around, a light mist swirled over the spot where the demon girl previously stood and then slowly dissipated into the air leaving behind a strong sulfur odor. Right then, realization struck. Jennifer closed her eyes and screamed. She fell against the car door, and slid to the ground with her hands resting atop her knees, crying. Oh my God, we’re going to die.

  Once again, the demon’s face rushed through her mind. Her head spun and the world around her looked foreign. She tried her best to focus, but her eyes became blurry. Get a hold of yourself, Jennifer…you have to make yourself do this, she thought as she got up and sprinted toward the cemetery.

  Gazing up into the night sky, it seemed flat and starless, except for the moon hovering overhead, which appeared bloodstained like the demon’s eyes. She kept seeing those eyes. Those cat’s eyes that pierced into her soul. The demon must have done something to her. Maybe put a spell on her or maybe sucked some life out of her. She wasn’t certain. She just knew that her mind wasn’t the same. Her surroundings appeared broader. Colors from the trees and foliage ran together, and then the dirt under her feet turned to an onyx black.

  Jennifer shook her head. She stumbled up the gentle slope like a drunkard, but nonetheless, she managed to make it. The gates stood about ten feet high, with dagger like spikes on the tip ends. Across the top of the gates in bold dark lettering, it read “Old Creek Cemetery.” As she considered the enormity of what she had to do, she saw that someone had left the gate partially open. “Claire…,” she cried out. “Please answer me.”

  A sudden gust of wind blew against her as her voice carried out into the dark domain of the dead. For a moment, she heard the familiar voices of Claire and the others actually laughing and talking. But why couldn’t they hear her if she could hear them?

  Jennifer had to do something, but the fear coursing through her stopped her. It clutched her so tight, she had trouble breathing. Your friends’ lives depend on you, she reminded herself. With trembling hands, she reached out and slid the gate all the way open. Without another thought for her own mortality, she took a deep breath, and entered the eerie darkness.

  ***

  Watery moonlight increased the shadows across the headstones. Claire’s flashlight illuminated the markers that lined the rugged pathway. Some of the plots held families buried together for over a hundred years. The old and the young nestled together in narrow neat rows. When she noticed a grave off by itself, an irresistible force drew her to it. She knelt down to rub her hands over the bumpy texture. “Poor little girl, she was only five when she died,” she whispered. Twigs and limbs snapped behind her. She whirled around to find Jennifer standing behind her. “Jen…where the hell did you come from? I thought you wanted to stay in the car?”

  Jennifer grabbed Claire’s shoulder. “We have to get out of here! Round up the girls and let’s go.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “Maddie Ann’s after us. She’s the demon who controls this cemetery. While I was in the car, she sent a demon after me and they’re going to kill us.”

  “Who’s Maddie Ann?”

  “I can’t explain it now. We just have to get out of this cemetery and we have to go now, Claire.”

  “Jen, you’re acting crazy!”

  Jennifer grabbed Claire’s shirt and yanked her close. “Listen, dammit, this isn’t a joke and I’m not crazy. If you don’t listen to me, we’re all dead.”

  Claire’s eyes widened and her body went limp. “You’re scaring the shit out of me, Jen.”

  Jennifer put her arms around Claire. “I’m scared too. Now come on and let’s go get the other girls. We have to leave before it’s too late.”

  As they hurried towards the others, a scent of sulfur rose from the child’s grave and followed them.

  “Hey, the crybaby got out of the car,” Kari said when they reached the others.

  Jennifer’s fingers curled into a fist. She lunged at Kari, but before she hit her, Claire slid between them.

  “Please, don’t fight. Something went wrong and it’s important that you listen. All of you,” Claire explained. “We’re not supposed to be in this graveyard. Not now—not ever.”

  “What?
” Liz asked pushing through Lisa and Tina. “Excuse me…I don’t think I heard you right. Are you trying to tell us this cemetery is dangerous?”

  Claire stepped to the side of Jennifer and lowered her head. “Maybe, but I’m not sure,” she mumbled.

  Liz crossed her arms and kicked the dirt under her feet. “Well, yes or no? I think we have a right to know if a deranged lunatic is about to butcher us.”

  Jennifer stepped around Claire before a fight broke out. “Okay, I know everyone is freaked out, but the last thing we want to do is cause a scene. Don’t shout and don’t run up the path like a bunch of wild animals. If we’re going to get out of here alive, you have to listen to me,” Jennifer said. Fear filled her eyes. “A child named Maddie Ann controls this place and she knows we’re here. Her intention is to kill us.”