Her body was taken to a quiet graveyard run by a 38-year-old called Elijah D'Souza. He was the one assigned to dig Clara Mercy's grave.
For nearly eight years, he had been the quiet keeper of this land of the dead.
Two hours past the dusk, he was wrapping up. Most of the work was already done.
The sky darkened rapidly. Black clouds swallowed the moon, and a strange wind howled through the trees. The leaves of trees seemed to be flying.
Elijah muttered to himself, "Time to shut this place. The weather is not feeling right."
He grabbed the old lock and key from the rusty hook near the pine tree. Stuffing the keys into his pocket, lock still in hand, he headed toward the gate. Suddenly, it felt like someone ran past behind him. He gasped, clenched his fists, and rushed toward the gate, heart pounding in his throat. Something caught his foot. He tripped hard and hit the ground. Panic throbbed in his chest. His toe was bleeding. Still trembling, he dared to look back.
He turned slowly and what he saw nearly ripped the soul out of him.
A freshly dug grave. One he hadn't made. Right beside John's.
It was all dark. The soil was fresh and the coffin was wide open. He squinted his eyes at the tombstone. It was –
Elijah D' Souza
27 October 1987 ~ 27 May 2025
He realized it was today's date. He got up from the ground and before he could run, something shoved him hard from behind. He crashed straight into the coffin.
He screamed, cried but no one heard him. He looked up. He saw ten shadows gathered around the coffin, watching him silently.
"Please!" he begged. "Please don't bury me!"
His limbs stiffened, as if frozen by some unseen grip.
They just stared him in silence. The casket lid creaked shut. He banged it but it was too late. The lid closed, locked, Elijah left to die and suffer.
The rain poured and with every breath, Elijah was fading.
The soil began to slide.
One clump after another, burying him six feet under.
The shadows watched him die and then disappeared.
By morning, the sweeper spotted the new grave and spread the word of Elijah's death.
He stood by the grave, eyes wet. Then he noticed something written beneath Elijah's name–
"SOLD".
He didn't know why. But those ten figures knew. They knew how Elijah sold bodies to occult groups year after year for bribes. Even the bodies of children. He fed his greed, disturbing the peace of the innocent souls. He had debt to pay them and that was:
His own soul.
The soil didn't just bury his body, it buried the debt he owed to the dead.