Dancing of the Dead

The ad lied to me. They promised me a quiet and peaceful night shift as a caretaker at a local cemetery. And you know what? I knew that even then, that there would be an occasional trespasser, maybe even a thief or just groups of drunk kids sneaking in to catch a glimpse of a ghost. Well... maybe just to drink more sneakily.

What I did not expect was the rattling of what sounded like bones and strange clapping noises. And shadows, the terrifying shadows in the fog. Moving, circling around.

I needed the job, so I kept going back, but I spent most of the nights locked in the building, with the doors secured and windows boarded up. I spent three weeks like this, until the storm hit and the huge tree fell onto my little safe haven.

I managed to climb out from the rubble, but before I could get my bearings back, I heard it behind me, I heard it even through the strong wind. The ratling. It wasn't like before, it was like it was trying to stay quiet.

I gathered my willpower and turned towards the noise and there they were. The occupants of the cemetery in all their skeletal undead glory. By this point, I wasn't even able to scream. In fact, by this point, I have actually expected to see them at some point, but in my head they have always been hordes of monsters tearing through my safe walls. I did not expect to look at me, like this, with curiosity and sheepishness and... some level of concern? Were they scared of me as well?

One of them stepped carefully forward and offered me their hand. I don't know why I took it, I might have hit my head. I might even be distracted a bit by thinking about how they are even holding themself in one piece in this weather. But I took it, and then...

I was suddenly dancing with them. I have now understood the movement and the noises in the fog. It was not a mass of terrifying creatures, it was just the residents that I was to protect, trying to cling to a tiny bit of life that remained in them.

So I danced and I laughed. And then the thunder lit the cemetery and I caught a glimpse of something. No. Someone. Lying in the rubble of the caretaker house. I... Have I really seen it? Everything started to get fuzzy and the rattling grew louder and louder, the dance grew more frenzied. The body. It wore my clothes.

No. The body was me. I can't think anymore, the song, the dance, it's so hard to keep track of what is happening. Was there, no there couldn't be a body right? The dance. It is so fast. What are we laughing about? Hey... are those emergency lights? How long are we going to dance for? What is that shape in the rubble? Body? Did somebody die there? I am so tired. It should be nearing dawn. I think? It should be getting lighter so why is it so dark? And so quiet. Why is... where is everybody?

Hello?