Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

She?d dr eamt of Adam again. He had been her e, at his mother ?s gr ave, but not to
see her. She?d dr eamt of him pulling the over gr ow th away fr om the tiny headstone
next to his mother ?s; clear ing the leaves fr om that plot. It had been night-time in the
dr eam but they?d both been able to r ead the w or n inscr iption: Adam?s bir thday, the
name Emma, and the fr agment of poetr y taken ? she knew this somehow ? fr om a
book that Adam?s mother had studied w hen she had been at univer sity. His tw in
sister ?s gr ave. She watched him now , feet fr om the small plot w hich she knew was
ther e. He was oblivious and she w ouldn?t have said a w or d to snatch that innocence
fr om him now that he was finally happy. In the dr eam he had been on his knees,
digging his finger s into the moist ear th as dr izzle patted his head and back w ith
cold kisses. Pulling up clumps of musty ear th and pr essing them to his face. Feeling
the sod that had lain betw een him and his sister for 19 year s heave upwar ds
slightly.
Now he glanced over at her and she smiled. She saw him saying something to the
gr ound and then he was gliding back towar ds her thr ough the mar ker s and stone
memor ies, as though he w er e a ghost alr eady and she had met him too late.
In her dr eam, the w ind had pushed the gather ing r ain into his face as he tor e at
the gr ound. The loneliness beneath him r ose like a smell to gr eet him. He r eached
the tiny coffin. He claw ed ar ound the fr agile w ooden casket until he had enough
pur chase to lift the w eightless load out, br eathing heavily, feeling a thr obbing fr om
inside the box, w r enching the lid off and cr ying out.
?You hungr y?? he called out to her and she shook her head.
Ther e she lay. The dr eam r ushed back to Cassy now. All of it. Adam stood in the
pit he?d dug, r ever ently cur led his hands under his sister as if she w er e a kitten and
lifted the tiny skeleton out of its coffin. The smell of fr eshly dug ear th filled his
nostr ils and he cast the empty casket aside, his head giddy, blood pounding in his
ear s. And ever so slow ly ? as if he w er e tr ying not to wake her ? he dr opped to his
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