AN/ Disclaimer: I own only the idea. Actually, not even that. It happened to someone once (actually, it used to happen a lot, back before they had the medical technology they do now) anyway, this was written for a challenge which states: Write a scene at the grave of a Newsie. No back-story necessary, a snapshot if you will. Or something like that; that's the gist of it. Enjoy! BTW, it just occurred to me that this is being posted on Halloween. What irony, since this is a little creepy....
Graveyards in general are sad, solitary places and this one was no exception. The old, crumbling gravestones marked the final resting places of New York's poor, and the lot was ringed with tall, stately weeping willows. They hid the tiny plot of land from the bustle of the city, cutting off the graveyard and lending a quiet, solemn atmosphere to the place. It was ringed with a tall iron fence, too tall to climb over, that kept out miscreants and grave robbers.
A group of boys sat clustered around a new, untarnished gravestone. A fresh mound of dirt stretched out in front of it, as long as their friend Pie Eater had been tall. They all looked as though they had been crying, and several were holding handkerchiefs.
"He would have liked it here," Jack Kelly stated gruffly. He was gazing into a stand of trees, pointedly looking anywhere but at his friend's tear streaked faces.
Snoddy nodded, sniffling into a handkerchief, tears still pouring down his face. He had been Pie's best friend. "He always did," Snoddy sobbed. "I remember once when we..." He shook his head, unable to speak. The boys, usually not adept at showing emotion, embraced, each trying to comfort his friends.
And then, less than two feet below the surface, in a flimsy wooden coffin in that shallow grave, Pie Eater awoke with a jolt.
"I'm alive," was his first thought. Pie didn't even bother opening his eyes, he just lay there in what he thought was his bed. He was still weak and shaking, and could feel traces of the fever that was at last leaving his body. He slowly lifted one hand to his aching head... and his knuckles scraped wood. Later, Pie would swear that his heart stopped. His blood ran cold and he opened his eyes.
Everything was dark and it hit him, all of a sudden, what that meant. He began to scream, shoving at the top of what he knew now was his own coffin. His cries echoed in the tiny space, deafening him so that he felt sure someone would hear him. But no one heard, and no one came.
"How long have I been here?" He wondered. "What time is it? Where are my friends?" At this last thought, of his fellow newsies, all the family he had, Pie began to cry in spite of himself. He pushed frantically at the lid of the coffin and had nearly decided to give up and die when it moved. He stopped short, and pushed again. Sure enough, the lid was moving upward. Each time he pushed, the dirt shifted a little more above him.
Near the grave, the other newsies sat, still reflecting on their friend's brief life. As he stared at the mound of dirt, Snoddy could have sworn that it had moved.
"Hey," he said, quietly, startling his friends out of their morose silence, "Look at that. Did that just move?" The second time, they all saw it.
Pie Eater shoved frantically at the coffin, what little he could muster of his strength draining rapidly. With one last shove, the dirt flew off the grave and the coffin opened. Daylight streamed in and Pie was shocked to see his friends sitting there, staring at him. He struggled upward, flushed with fever and shaking wildly.
"Help," he gasped, "Someone, help me..." And with that he collapsed to the ground beside his own coffin...
A/N: Yeah, there are two of these. Sorry. Anyway, I kind of like this whole story idea. If you want me to write the rest in a longer one shot, review and lemme know and I'll do that. I dunno, maybe set up a second chapter or something. But a longer one wouldn't have fit the challenge so this is all for now. Hope you enjoyed.