Sunday, March 27, 2011

The Cemetery

The letters stood out in bold yellow against a black backdrop, announcing the location of the cemetery.  It seemed rather ill-placed, houses lining one side, a small shack of a business on the other, and all manner of thriving enterprises - primarily restaurants- directly across the street.
A little gravel roundabout large enough for a car's passage encircled the grassy area.  The unsettling aspect came in gazing across the yellow-brown expanse and seeing the sparse scattering of naked trees, which were the only things standing erect.  There were no tombstones, no flowers, just an enlarged emptiness.
Walking across the field, for so it appeared to be, gave one the uncanny feeling that no one had visited the place for quite some time.  Then-invisible from the front of the cemetery, and indeed until one was practically on it, was a headstone, lying flat in the ground.  There were five in all- a number which only made the area seem more desolate- all spread out, isolated even from each other.
The sky darkened and a chill wind started up.  Leaving the lonely cemetery behind with its melancholy air of times past came the most disturbing sight of all - a white real estate sign portraying the words "For Sale" in a bright and cheery blue.

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