When the Moon Hangs Low by Zavier Alexander
Story by Xavier Alexander
The pine box was lowered into the ground. The sun had disappeared hours ago along with the handful of people that came to mourn. The moon gave little effort to climb high in the sky as the shovels went to work dropping dirt down the hole.
“Did you know him well?” The older of the two men asked as he leaned on his shovel.
“Not well, no. He never let anyone near his place. Kept a lot of secrets he did.”
“Yeah, I thought as much. Lucky.”
“Lucky? How?” The younger man asked still dropping dirt down the hole.
“He never had to listen to any woman gnawing his ear off. ‘Honey, do this. Honey, go kill a deer. Honey, chop more firewood.’ It just never ends I tell ya.”
“For you maybe.”
“Bah! You’re still in your younger years. ‘ow long ya been with her?”
“Still our first year. And it’s going well I must say.”
The older man laughed. “Just you wait till she gets it in her. Then you’ll come crying to me with a bottle in your hand and a slur on your tongue begging me to put you in a hole as well. Just you wait and see.”
“That’s not going to happen.” The younger man stabbed his shovel into the dirt pile and walked away.
“Hey! Were you going? Ya don’t expect me to do this all by myself do you?”
The younger man continued walking without a second look back.
Dismissing the younger man, he slipped a flask front his vest pocket and tipped it to his lips. A satisfied smack of his lips and a small belch brought a smile to his face. His less-than-perfect voice carried wrong lyrics across the open area as he set about shoveling again. As the dirt trickled into the hole, it brushed against the string coming from the pine box.
My mind returned to me as something moved my toe like a delicate moth alighting on my hand. Pitch black entered my open eyes. I tried to blink away the darkness, but it only penetrated deeper. A touch of warmth filled my bones and a pillow cradled my head beckoning me to close my eyes and allow sleep to caress me once again.
I could see no sun despite the deck of my sailboat being lit enough to work upon. My hand wiped sweat from my shaved scalp, the days old stubble crowning my head scraping against my palm like a wire brush. Looking across the deck, I took in a young woman pulling a rope and securing it off. Her eyes met mine and she smiled along with a little wave. My wife was young and fit, petite framed and ready for anything.
A bell rang across the water. Looking around, I could see nothing nearby. No other person, sailboat, nor shoreline was visible. A peace was upon my mind and the bell threatened to disturb it. Seeing the look on my face, my wife made her way over to me with that look in her eye. She stopped a few feet from me and turned slowly, heading below deck. A smile lifted the corners of my mouth as I followed with slow, determined steps.
There she stood, with her arms crossed across her chest, fingertips touching her shoulders. As I stepped closer, she wrapped her arms around my neck, allowing me to support more of her weight. Her lips nearly touched mine when the ship shook with a thud.
“What was that?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Did we hit something?”
“Not this far out.”
Just as we turned to go topside, another thud rocked the boat sending us crashing into the bed rails. Grunts of pain filled the air along with trickling water from somewhere. Another hard thud from above our heads caused us to hunch down.
“What is going on?” Claire shouted over the noise.
“Let’s get out of here!”
Another hard thud just above my head sent me to the ground dazed. My face hit the water and Claire turned me over, patting my cheeks.
“Rob. Rob, wake up.”
My vision spun and I found myself short of breath. Water was coming in faster as the thuds continued hammering with increased vigor above my head. As my eyes focused on hers, I saw a cloudless sky blue in them with more intensity than ever before. She was pleading with me to do something, but I couldn’t hear her.
I raised my head a few inches, hitting some unseen force. The cabin of the boat was closing in on me and the air going thin. Rolling over, I crawled on my hands and knees following my instincts to the ladder leading up. My hands pulled and my legs dragged along, devoid of their once useful qualities. The water lapped at my ankles and a sudden wave inside the cabin washed me up the ladder several rungs. My lungs were starving for air.
Claire was on deck shouting my name and stretching a hand out to me as my head slumped from side to side with exhaustion. Another wave picked me up and slammed me into the ceiling. My head hit hard and it was as if a soft hand held my mouth and nose, slowly suffocating me.
A small bell ringing madly could be heard, but its sound was wrong. The crisp clarity missing, replaced by a dullness heard through a wall. My heavy eyes were closed as my hands flew out in all directions, banging into unseen objects.
My head burst through the water as my eyes snapped open. I lay half on the deck and half submerged in water below. Air sucked into my lungs with slow, ragged breaths. My eyes searched in the dark. No one was visible as I felt something tugging on my big toe. The shaking thuds had stopped. I tried to pull my legs up on deck, but something kept me tethered below. I shook my legs and the bell rang again. I felt stuck in mud as I tried to move my legs. My knees hit something and again the bell rang. Panic took control of my legs and thrashed and kicked to release the hold on them and the ringing bell matched my movements exactly.
I lay there on my stomach, arms outstretched. The water level had stopped rising but the air was disappearing into a thin mist. I thrashed my legs wildly and tried to yell for help as the bell accompanied every movement of my foot.
How long it was quiet, I didn’t know as sleep came and went, whispering in my ears a comforting tune. A scraping noise above my head chased away the pixie of sleep. I looked around and all was pitch black. Moving my hands out from my side, they bumped something hard few inches out. Feeling around, my hand felt something rough and textured. Pointing my toes produced a similar barrier.
The scraping above my head went from my head to waist, I cried out and silence took control as I fell back to sleep.
My eyes jolted awake to a loud noise inches from my face. Balling up my fist, I hammered on the barrier beside me three times. From outside the barrier, three thuds responded and I hammered on it again. A moment later the scraping continued, this time along my legs and feet as a wild animal trying to get in.
Let it come and free me from this prison.
“Hello! Is anyone out there?” My words slurred more than a drunk after midnight.
I don’t know if I imagined it or it really happened but a murmured voice said something. My fists beat on the invisible prison walls. Another murmured voice sounded and my feet lifted up followed by my head being tilted to one side then leveled out. I felt and heard something slide from the right side to the left under the hard barrier beneath me as my feet lifted higher. Fierce, sudden movements had me see-sawing upwards as my eyes shut against my will.
A sudden jolt flopped my head to the side as a deafening cacophony of sharp, focused blows hammered away. Splintering wood cracked apart near my feet and waist sending a wash of fresh into my prison. I heard the voices but dismissed them as I allowed my eyes to close for the last time. Wood continued ripping away as hands grabbed parts of my body and shook me. I murmured for them to leave me alone as more hands grabbed me and lifted me up.
Cold, wet grass tickled my bare feet as someone released the tension from my big toe. I felt the delicate touch of lace dance across my face and a single drop of salty water hit my cheek. My eyes opened to see dark figures surrounding me like the wraiths of my childhood nightmares. I had not the strength to fight them and embraced the hand that clutched mine.
“I think he’s okay.” One of them said.
“There’s no way. Being down there so long?” Another questioned.
“Hush.” A female voice said. “Robert? Robert, can you hear me?”
My eyes opened again to see the wraith that cradled my head in her lap. Another tear hit my face and was wiped away.
“Seems to me that we need to change how we handle the graveyard shifts.” A strong voice said.
The group mumbled in unison as I inhaled the distinct, familiar smell of my wife.