Trick or treat Page 2

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  “I don’t want to go to the graveyard.” Peter moaned.

  Johnny and Peter made their way down the main road, which would ultimately lead them to the graveyard.

  “Stop being such a baby.” Johnny said, “Aren’t you tired of mom and dad treating you like a baby? This is your chance to break free from all that.”

  “A graveyard is sacred.” Peter said.

  “What?” Johnny laughed.

  “It’s the resting place of the dead.” Peter said.

  “You’re just scared.” Johnny laughed.

  “Of course I am.” Peter said, “What if we see something there that we are not supposed to see?”

  “Like what?” Johnny asked.

  “Like dead people.” Peter replied.

  “Oh please.” Johnny said, “You are not Haley Joel Osmond and this is not a horror movie. You will not see dead people unless you dig them up – and I doubt that you will be doing that now will you?”

  There was a moment of silence as they walked down the road. There weren’t a lot of kids in the main road. Most of the trick or treating was happening in the streets of suburbia.

  “What do you think happens to people when they die?” Peter asked.

  “I don’t know.” Johnny said, “They go to heaven or they go to hell, I guess.”

  “And what if they go to hell?” Peter asked, “That’s like prison for the dead?”

  ”I suppose you can say that.” Johnny said.

  “Don’t prisoners get parole and sometimes escape from prison?” Peter asked.

  Johnny did not respond. Peter had a point. He was not sure what the point was, but the words made him shudder. The idea of entering a cemetery was a bit unsettling, but there was no way he would admit to it. He wanted to be seen at the party by the rest of the cool kids.

  “I think hell is more like death row for the dead.” Johnny said. “You don’t get parole from death row and you cannot escape.”

  When they reached the entrance to the graveyard, they stood still. Peter looked up at the rusted archway above the giant gates. The word Cemetery spanned across the archway. There was a dead tree standing on the other side of the brick face wall. Its branches reached over the tree like fingers from the dead trying to climb across.

  Peter gulped and Johnny chuckled at his brother’s silliness.

  “It’s just a graveyard.” Johnny said.

  Johnny pushed open the gate and it shrieked. Peter covered his ears with his hands to shield them from the otherworldly noise. To him it sounded like a thousand dead babies crying out from beyond the grave.

  “Come on.” Johnny said and entered the graveyard.

  Peter hesitated a moment and then followed.