Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

Chapter 130 Story 130: The Gravedigger's Bride

Under the watchful gaze of the full moon, the cemetery was a place of eerie stillness, where the dead rested in their eternal slumber. But tonight, the peace was shattered by the sound of shovels piercing the cold earth.

Harlan, the gravedigger, was no stranger to the dead. He had spent years tending to the graves, his only companions the whispers of the wind and the hoot of distant owls. But Harlan was not just a gravedigger. He had a secret, one that kept him working long after the sun had set.

He was searching for something—or rather, someone.

For months, Harlan had been plagued by visions of a woman, her face as pale as the marble tombstones, her eyes wide with fear. He didn't know who she was, but he knew she was trapped, buried alive beneath the heavy soil. The visions became more vivid each night, until Harlan could no longer ignore them.

And so, he dug.

As the moonlight bathed the cemetery in a ghostly glow, Harlan's shovel struck something hard. He froze, his heart pounding in his chest. Could this be it? Could this be the woman from his visions?

With trembling hands, he cleared the dirt away, revealing a wooden coffin. He hesitated, then pried it open, his breath catching in his throat.

Harlan's grip tightened on the woman, his heart racing. "I was trying to save her!"

"She is not yours to save," the spirit snarled. "She belongs to us."

The woman looked up at Harlan, her eyes filled with sorrow. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "You should have left me."

But it was too late. The spirits closed in, their cold hands reaching out to drag her back into the grave, to return her to the earth where she belonged. Harlan tried to hold on to her, but their strength was too much. With one final, anguished cry, the woman was pulled from his arms, disappearing into the darkness.

The last thing Harlan saw before the darkness consumed him was her face, pale and sorrowful, as she was swallowed by the earth once more.

And then, there was only silence.

The cemetery returned to its eerie stillness, the grave resealed as if nothing had ever happened. Harlan was never seen again, but those who visited the cemetery after that night swore they could hear the faint sound of a shovel digging in the distance, accompanied by the soft cries of a woman, forever lost to the shadows.