WWC 5 -- disapperingvapour

The wind whistled through the graves, blowing into the faces of the group walking down the gap between the rows. The snow lying on the ground crunched under their feet as they looked for the recent grave of their friend.
       “We still don’t know how you died, but…” The young man closest to the grave stopped, lost for words, and a girl next to him hugged him.
       They stood in silence for a moment, just staring at the fresh gold lettering on the white marble, and the snow laying on top of it, glittering in the evening sunlight.
       They were all wondering the same thing; what killed the once healthy and happy young man now lying under the snow and earth beneath their feet. He’d been found in this graveyard, amongst the older, crumbling graves, covered in blood and torn beyond recognition. No one could decide what had happened, and had allowed him to be buried a few days ago.
      
       He’d been in the older graves looking for members of his family; after his mother’s recent death, he’d been researching his family tree, and visiting her grave at the same time, so he had been spending a lot of time amongst the dead… and now he was one of them. The group started to move away as snow started to fall again, flurries moving through the still graves and empty tree branches on the wind. But one of them didn’t move.
      
       “Dana?”
       The girl looked up, staring at the girl who had called her name.
       “What?”
       Dana didn’t move; she just kept staring at the girl, silent tears running down her face.
       “Erm… aren’t you coming?’  
       “No. You go.”
       Dana looked back at the grave, staring at one word… ‘Brother’. She’d lost her mother, then her brother… It was just too much.
       The other girl looked at her, concerned, and rejoined the group, who then left the graveyard, looking back over their shoulders at her every few steps. They thought she’d follow them, but she didn’t, she just stayed in the same spot, staring.
      
       It had started to get dark by the time Dana moved. She laid the single white rose she had been clutching for so long on the fresh snow, then decided to go home. She wasn’t sure of the way anymore; it was dark there, among the tall marble memorials and the bare trees. More snow had fallen, and she couldn’t see her friend’s footprints anymore. She looked around, saw nothing she recognised, and just walked, sure she’d find a way out sooner or later.  The more she walked, the darker it became. The graves were older, the trees broader and taller and the now dying and snow covered bushes overgrown. She looked around, confused. She’d gone the wrong way.
      
       An old, flickering light shone from a group of trees. She decided to stop for a minute, while she gathered her thoughts, and stood, shivering, under the largest tree. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled; she didn’t feel …right, standing here alone with a large group of dark trees and bushes behind her. Who knew what was in there?
      
       Just as she thought that, she heard a soft movement, like something gently scraping the snow. Thinking it must be a bird or something, she ignored it, and tried to remember the way out. Looking down, she noticed she was standing on a path; she could see the cracked paving stones in her footprints. She sighed with relief, thinking that the path must eventually lead to an exit, and began to follow it, disappearing into the thick knot of trees.
      
       For a while, the only noise was her feet crunching on the snow. Then, one scream of sheer terror shattered the silence, birds flew from the trees in panic, and the graveyard was silent.
      
                                                      ***
      
       The wind whistled through the graves, blowing into the faces of the group walking down the gap between the rows. The ground was wet, and a few drops of rain were starting to fall. The snow had melted, but the graveyard looked exactly the same, only there was a new gravestone, next to the spot where the group had stood not so long ago, white like her brother’s, identical apart from the name.
       Dana.