Genre: Horror
Inspired by a short story by Ms_Horrendous

I was peacefully walking back from my school, as I always do on the week days, a part from when it's a holiday.

I checked my phone to see what the time was- it read '16:04, Mon, 16th Jan 2020'. I sighed at the fact that it was monday, and I still had a full week of school left before I could actually relax on the weekend again. Ugh.

I turned off my phone and slid it into my pocket.

I turned a corner to my least favourite place to walk. The graveyard. I always had to walk passed it to and from school, and it always gave me the creeps. Who wouldn't have the chills, though?

Ring ring.

Huh?

I dug into my pocket and checked my phone, assuming that I had a notification.

'16:04, Mon, 16th Jan 2020'. Nothing.

I sighed and kept walking.

Ring ring.

I sighed more aggressively this time, then dug into my pockets once more to have a look.

Still, nothing.

Thump.

"Hu-"

Ring ring. Ring ring ring.

I looked behind me, and sure enough, it was coming from the graveyard.

Thump thump. Ring ring.

"Hell no." I cleared my throat and sped up a little bit. No way in hell was I going in a fucking graveyard on my own when there's weird sounds coming from it. That's how you die. Nop-

RING RING RING RING RING.

Another aggressive sigh escaped from my throat "FINE! Jesus Christ!" I turned around. "If the universe wants me to die this badly, then sure. Fine. God, take me now."

I huffed as I made my way over the short wall of the graveyard while the ringing continued.

"Yeah, yeah." I stopped "Listen, if any ghost or spirit, or... whatever, wants to kill me, why did you wait until now? You could have done it this morning, I had a test today, y'know?" I trudged in the mud, trying not to step on any graves.

RING! Ring! Ring ring!

The ringing progressively got louder.

"Where is that coming from..?" I muttered.

Then I stopped.

A grave with an unordinary stone on it, it looked like a baby cupid was sitting on a stone slab holding a bell.

Ring. Ring. THUMP THUMP.

"Nope. Not dying today. Bye." I backed away one step, before I heard a faint sound of a voice.

"Help."

A sob.

"Help me. I'm stuck." Ring ring. Thump thump.

My eyes widened. Oh shit. Wait, I've been told about this in class before! Graves usually have those weird safety things in them, to alarm people on the ouside that they're trapped, or to put it in simpler terms- buried alive.

This person was buried alive. I'm the only one here... crap.

I glanced around and noticed a shovel leaning on the wall of the church, the shed was open, and it had fresh mud on it- so I only assumed that it had previously been used before I turned up.

I ran around the graveyard, even in the church, still- nobody. I had to do this by myself. Shit.

I dug into my pocket for my phone, and dialed 999.

No response.

"What the hell?!" I angrily checked my phone screen.

No service.

"Ugh..." I groaned and closed the phone app, going back to my home screen.

'16:04, Mon, 16th Jan 2020'.

16:04? Still?

I shrugged it off and threw it on the floor, then started digging relentlessly.

I'm not letting someone get trapped underground. No way.

***

The coffin was cold and damp as it laid in front of me.

"Okay, don't worry. It'll be fine."

Thump thump.

I whacked the lock off of the door of the coffin, and slowly opened it.

Creeeeeek...

"It's okay, yo-"

Nothing.

Nothing was in there.

I froze.

"Wh... Where did? Who..." I looked at the eerie gravestone.

Here lies Rebecca Watson, a loving wife, daughter and sister.

1604 - 1635

Grrrrrnnn....

...

Raahgr...

...

The groaning was coming from behind me.

I closed my eyes then slowly moved my head. I was cautious.

After my head was positioned properly so I could look behind, I opened my eyes. Nothing.

I sighed a sigh of relief.

"I should get going..."

Ding.

My phone made a noise.

I checked it.

Nothin- wait.

'16:35, Mon, 16th Jan 2020'.

I turned around.

The decomposing corpse was sitting up straight inside the coffin, looking at me with its rotting eye sockets.

***

Here lies Robbie Sanders, a loving son.

1604 - 1635.