(HSSC2) The Necklace

It was a muggy, moonless night as James Rawlings parked his van on the side of Gillis Creek Road. He and his friend, Patrick Williams, got out of the vehicle and opened the rear doors of the van to retrieve a pick ax, a couple of shovels, a winch and a lantern. They were a little nervous at what they were about to do. They both gathered the tools and equipment up and set out down the road.

They had about a mile and half to walk to their destination and they needed to hurry up a bit since they got a late start. Their destination was The Fairway Memorial Park Cemetary. James had been planning on robbing the grave of his long time employer, Miss Gwen Hawthorne, a millionairess that had passed away just a week earlier. He had recruited the help of his friend, Patrick, by promising him a cut in some money he was going to get from the sale of a gold and diamond necklace worth in the range of $60,000, that Miss Hawthorne was buried with.

"James, I don't feel good about this, man. I'm a bit nervous," said Patrick.

"Shut up and keep moving. We both agreed to do this and don't start backing out now!" James said, sounding a bit annoyed.

"What if we get caught?" Patrick asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"Just keep moving," James ordered. The two kept walking towards the cemetary, not saying a word the rest of the way.

Upon reaching the Memorial Park, the two went straight to where Miss Hawthorne was laid to rest. Her gravesite was well away from the road, so they lit up their lantern to give them some light to work with. The two commenced to digging with a pace like their lives depended on it. After a little time had passed, the two decided to take a short breather for about 5 minutes.

The two fired up a cigarette each, looking around and observing the stillness of the night. They never did hear any traffic noise coming from the road, which was out of wiew from where they were.

"You say this necklace is worth 60 grand?" asked Patrick.

" Yeah buddy," said James, " I took it to the jewelry store where ole lady Hawthorne does business to have it cleaned a few months back and asked about how much was it worth. They told me it was a custom
piece of jewelry made especially for Miss Hawthorne in her younger days."

"Let's get back to work," Patrick said anxiously, throwing his cigarette butt to the ground, "I'm ready to get out of this creepy place."

"I'm with you," James replied, grabbing his shovel, "it's starting to give me the creeps too."

As they both were digging, James started telling Patrick of how he had worked for Miss Hawthorne for the last 20 years for meager wages. He went on to say, that even though he got only a couple hundred dollars a week, at least he never went hungry, had a place to stay and transportation was provided to him. He never complained to Miss Hawthorne though. He just worked diligently through the years and hoped that he would be rewarded one day for his faithful service.

About a month ago, he was called to her bedside and Miss Hawthorne thanked James for all the hard work he had put in over the years. She told him that she felt like she didn't have long to live and that she would remember him in her last will and testament. She knew that he liked the diamond necklace and promised him that day that she would make sure that he's get it upon her death.

When she did die, and after funeral arrangements were made, he noticed that Miss Hawthorne had the necklace around her neck as she laid in her coffin, looking so peaceful. James was shocked. Immediately he thought, "She lied to me. She was never intending to give me that necklace in the first place. I'll get it if it kills me."

For the next few days, James planned on getting what he thought was rightfully his. That's were Patrick came in. The two planned which night and proceeded with their plans on this particular night.

Patrick's shovel was the first to hit the burial vault. James looked up and said, "Gold mine," quite sarcastically like. The two finished removing the rest of the dirt and using the winch they'd brought, lifted the cover of the vault and exposed the casket.

"Yes!" exclaimed James as he reached for the coffin lid. He carefully opened it and to his and Patricks surprise, the was no body in the coffin. "Damn," James exclaim loudly, "where in the hell is the body?" About the time he said that, a hoarse,coarse voice came out from behind the two saying, "Is this what you're looking for James?"

Frightened half to death, both James and Patrick turned around quickly to see Miss Hawthorne standing behind them with the necklace in her hand. "You're suppose to be dead!" yelled James as he raised his shovel and struck at the dead Miss Hawthorne.

With a smooth motion, Miss Hawthorne stopped the shovel in mid swing with her left arm, grabbing it with her right hand and swung the blade back around, severing James' head as if it were slow motion. Patrick, in a state of shock, turned around and tried to run. With the precision of a skilled hunter, Miss Hawthorne raised the shovel and threw it as it were a spear at Patrick's back. The blade of the shovel exited out Patrick's chest, instantly stopping him. He fell into the open grave on top of James, his headless body just falling there just moments before.

"I trusted and liked you more than you'd ever believe James, and now you go and disturb me," said Miss Hawthorne with a coarse and horrible voice, as she proceeded to cover her grave with the dirt that had been removed from it.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Two weeks later, Thomas Bingsley, Attorney at Law, calls the local police station asking, "Yes, this is Thomas Bingsley, and I'm taking care of the settlements in Miss Gwen Hawthorne's estate and put in a missing person report on a James Rawlings last week and was wondering have you heard anything yet?"

"No," came the reply, "We did find his van out on Gillis Creek Road, but there was no sign of him. Plus, there's been another report of a Patrick Williams being missing, last seen with this Rawlings gentleman. We're still treating this case as a missing persons case. There's no evidence of foul play. We're not ruling out foul play, but we haven't got any leads to date."

"Well, if you find him, tell him that he needs to get in contact with me as soon as possible or come down to my office," Thomas tells the policeman, "I think he'll be well pleased after his visit." The policeman answered, "Will do Mr Bingsley. Have a good day."

With that, Thomas hangs up the phone and gazes down at his desk. "This fellow must have really meant a lot to Miss Hawthorne to get this beautiful necklace. Wonder how much it's worth?" he asks to himself as he puts it into a wooden box and closes the lid.

Nice story. The very end was kinda funny if he just waited he would have gotten it.

great spooky entry.....

Thanks cpr 12r and worldwatcher for the comments. I was thinking of a story that wouldn't be a rehash of monsters and goblins. I let my girlfriend read it and she thought it was pretty good (she works in a library), so I decided to post it.

I've been attempting to write a book. Maybe I need to take some lessons. It's harder than it sounds.

Well done on the story! I have been trying to figure out lately what exactly it is that would make a good spooky story and I figured that something in the Twilight Zone type format seemed to be the best bet. Short and with an ironic twist. You seem to have come to the same conclusion as well.

Ah, like a fable, or a parable, a humble ending. I think this one is even better than the one you submitted about the young couple.

Quite good.

Originally posted by Jonna
Twilight Zone type format seemed to be the best bet. Short and with an ironic twist

Yeh totally, that is a good idea for this competition.

Well done Intelearthling, good luck in the comp.