I'm on a roll here 😂 it's been a while since writing was actually fun instead of a chore.

***

It was still dark, but it had stopped raining.

At first, it was like opening his eyes after a deep sleep, then later, Pollux Duhaime felt the wrongness settle in his bones like a shiver. He was lying on wet grass and the moon gazed down on him like a predator.

Only when he stood up that he realized that he had been resting his head on a headstone, and only when he saw the numerous headstones around him did he realize he was in the cemetery. He remembered running into the wide gates with Castor behind him and then nothing else, but the darkness.

Pollux glanced around, the chill in his bones sinking further. The cemetery was somehow different than he remembered, after all he was no stranger to the death, he had buried his parents, his sisters and his best friend last year. The headstones had been bigger than these ones that were small, and haphazard in arrangement, the cemetery seemed to go on for miles and he could hardly see where it ended.

Where was his brother?

"Castor?" He called out in the darkness, feeling ridiculously afraid and remembering the first time he had been in a cemetery at night. Pollux had been eleven and his father had worked the night shift at the cemetery in a time when it was known for high school kids to sneak in for stupid games and pranks. He had wondered away from his father's post and from Castor, for once he hadn't been keen on dragging his twin along, Castor would have only tried to dissuade him. He remembered having wandered far away to the extent of being lost, he was sure a skeleton would jump from the freshly dug graves and drag him into the underworld, in that moment, Pollux was sure he had glimpsed a shadowy figure in the dark, then he ran as fast as his gangly limbs would carry him, screaming Castor's name as he ran.

It was the first time he had ever felt fear. Now the taste filled his mouth like something sickly sweet.

"Castor?" He shouted now.

"I'm here," A voice said behind him, Pollux whirled around, ready to scream bloody hell but he saw his brother's displeased face, twisted like he tasted something bitter.

"What the hell happened?" Pollux asked, ashamed that his voice was lower than he intended. "I don't remember falling asleep."

Castor hissed loudly with clearly no regard for the dead. "I thought you'd be happy to explain, since this was your idea."

"This place feels wrong somehow," Pollux said, in spite of the glares his brother sent him.

"I thought I was the only one who thought that." Castor parted his lips to speak, but it wasn't his voice Pollux heard. Both boys jumped at the feminine voice into each others arms.

Two shadows drew nearer to them in light jogs. The light from the moon illuminated their face and for a moment, the twins calmed down.

"What the hell are you girls doing here?" Pollux spoke first, resisting the urge to wipe his eyes to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"I think we need to ask you guys that too," Yurika Takahashi said. She had a booming voice that was reminiscent to Pollux's soccer coach. She crossed her arms over her chest, ignorant of the fact that her clothes were drenched, like his. When had it stopped raining?

"We were following you guys," Her friend, Tehani, said. "It was the both of you who broke into the school I'm guessing."

Pollux rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"It was Pollux's idea." Castor said sharply. He eyed both girls like he wasn't sure what to make of them.

"I told you." Pollux heard Tehani whisper to her friend. He was almost surprised, Tehani was a girl of few words, much like his brother. Except for the fact that she was much smarter than him.

"We better get out of here before your dad notices that we're missing." Tehani said, before adding; "Before the cops get you guys."

Castor hissed sharply in irritation. Pollux winced at the sound, it usually meant a lecture was forthcoming.

"Please don't tell me I'm the only with common sense here," He said.

Tehani looked mildly offended but also curious.

"Eden cemetery hasn't looked this way in about a hundred years or so," He spread out his arms. "Where's the office building? Where's the stone path that divides the headstones? This place looks like one dump of land with  headstones placed anyhow."

Realization slowly dawned on them.

"Were we kidnapped?" Yuri was saying over Pollux's nonsense rambling.

"I'm too young to die," He said. "I'm too young to be kidnapped and left to die in a cemetery, what if we were brought here to be used in a ritual?"

Tehani and Castor shared a quiet gaze that spoke volumes.

"This isn't Eden cemetery, is it?" She asked.

Castor nodded slightly.

"I'm not sure, there is only one way to find out, I can see the gate far ahead."

***

Yurika Takahashi had seen or rather, heard a lot of strange things, she had heard cases of the paranormal, of spirits and ghosts, of demons. Nothing could have ever prepared her for the sight that greeted them outside the cemetery. Tehani had been wrong after all, they were still in Eden, and also, they were not.

The bungalow buildings of Eden and the suburb homes across the street from the cemetery had been replaced with buildings that felt as ancient as they looked, red bricks that looked like they could collapse any moment. The grocery store that usually faced the cemetery was gone, replaced by a half destroyed building.

The scene was reminiscent to a picture she had seen during a history class about Eden town. Ravaged by disaster and hunger.

There was also a tree by the sidewalk few feet from them, under it was a payphone cubicle. She almost lost her footing at the sight, payphones were a thing of the past. To an extent, Eden could be described as a backward society due to it's certain strict views about religion and humanity, but it was also technological advanced to an extent, not like this version of Eden. Yuri was almost sure she was stuck in a nightmare.

"This has to be a joke." She heard Pollux say besides her, and for once she didn't want to shut his mouth. Hell had to be freezing over if she was agreeing with something Pollux Duhaime was saying.

"This place is Eden after all. Look at the building besides where G&D store is supposed to be," Tehani said, the other three followed her pointed finger, it was hard to make out the words on the building but it was clear to them that it was the post office.

"Eden feels dead, something feels dead here." Castor was saying.

Yuri forced herself to snort in derision, because someone had to, someone had to be convinced that this was all a dream.

"I'm sure this is all a very strange dream." Yuri said.

Castor looked at her like she was a foolish child.

"Why would you dream about me?" He asked her. Yuri felt her cheeks redden.

"Dreams are weird, trust me, the last person I'd ever dream about is you." Yuri said making emphasis on the 'you'. Castor's eyes flashed with anger and for a moment, she felt bad then she remembered how condescendingly Castor liked to look at people that weren't like him. Like how he looked like her now, sneering at her.

"Pendejo, you insinuated that you dream often of me." Castor finally said. His twin, Pollux tugged at his arm and fired several words in Spanish at him. Yuri was sure he had just called her stupid and she boiled in anger.

Tehani shot her warning glance, she chose to ignore it.

"I can taste death." Castor said after a silent moment, the four of them stood, steps halted outside the cemetery gates. Pollux was leaning against the lamp post.

"How can you taste death? It doesn't exactly taste like something bitter." Yuri mocked, she itched to make him feel stupid like he had just did to her.

She was surprised when Pollux shot her a glare in the dark. Yuri could not remember anytime she had ever seen the soccer captain anything other than smiling.

"He found our parent's body when we were thirteen." Pollux said darkly.

"There's someone in the payphone glass." Tehani cut in. And when Yuri looked, she saw that there was indeed someone inside the glass, the moonlight shone above on it.

Castor moved first, hesitantly to the payphone under the tree. They followed slowly behind him in suspicion and curiosity. Slow relief hung in the air at the thought that they would get some answers. Yuri was still hoping this was a nightmare.

Castor knocked once on the glass then he pulled on the knob of the glass, yanking it open. The body fell to the cold ground with a loud thud and Yuri could barely contain her scream. She shrieked and almost fell into the arms of Pollux who looked white with fear.

She was staring right into the milky white eyes of the still woman, her hair was a thick afro that was neatly combed into a pigtail. Her skin was even darker than Tehani's and her lips were slightly parted.

Yuri's eyes darted from Castor's haunted eyes to Pollux's white face and trembling fists to Tehani who only stared at the woman with recognition and fear. Then she realized why, this woman was a carbon copy of her best friend, the same soft eyes and the same full lips.

"This woman, she looks like my grandma, she is my grandmother." Tehani said in a whisper. Her arms wrapped around herself. "I have this same dress at home." Her eyes were fixed on Castor as if asking him to explain what the hell was going on.

"My grandmother died at eighty seven, not young like. . . this." She continued in a tone that borderline on tears. "This is my grandmother."

Was, Yuri wanted to say, because make no mistake, this woman was dead.