Kisses from the Grave - Chapter One (standard:Ghost stories, 2030 words) [1/8] show all parts
Author: kissofthehungry	Updated: Jan 22 2005	Views/Reads: 3838/2616	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Mark is on the verge of killing of himself when his parents walk in. Feeling that they are doing what is best for everyone, they buy a house out in the country. However, there's a secret about the house that even the townspeople don't know.

Mark lay in his bed, contemplating life.  He was only seventeen and yet
felt the weight of the world crushing his chest.  Everyone said that 
being a teenager was hard but that was an understatement. 

First off, there was what happened with his car and his best friend,
Benny. Being seventeen with testosterone flowing through his system, he 
had decided that it would be a great idea to race a few of his friends 
out on the backroads.  Benny had been along for the ride, he had to be 
a part of the fun since he didn't drive.  He was two years younger than 
Mark but still liked to take part in the games. 

The other driver, Josh, had lost control of the vehicle and spun out
taking Mark with him.  Josh flipped his Honda Civic three times and 
landed out in a field.  Him and one of the passengers, Leslie, didn't 
walk away.  Philip was in a coma and not expected to ever come out, 
he'd been thrown from the vehicle on the first flip.  The last 
passenger, Jessica, had both legs broken and a concussion.  Mark's 
baby, his 94' Supra merely spun out from the hit but Benny hadn't been 
wearing a seatbelt.  Josh had slammed into the passenger side, crushing 
the car in upon Benny.  Mark had no idea how long it had been, but he 
had sat there holding his friend's hands as he took his dying breaths, 
each one a struggle.  He had actually looked into Benny's eyes as he 
had died, seen his last moment.  Something inside of him had died as 
well when his friend passed away. 

Upon investigation, it was found that Josh not only was drunk but was
stoned as well.  His whole carload was, Jessica didn't even remember 
the crash.  However, the results would never leaver her.  Philip was 
her boyfriend and had been for four years.  They had planned a future 
together.  Anyway, Mark was now looking at criminal charges for 
excessive speeding and reckless driving, but that was honestly the 
least of his worries.  He was wracked by guilt over Benny, Benny who'd 
been his friend since he was seven.  He'd been so smart that, though 
two years younger than Mark, he was in the same grade, graduating that 
year.  His future had looked bright, but now it was over cause Josh and 
he had thought it would be fun to race. 

Benny's parents told him that they didn't hold it against him but he
would never forget seeing Benny's sister, Elizabeth, for the first time 
after the accident.  She'd walked up to him, her face a mask of fury, 
and had slapped him then screamed at him that he murdered her brother.  
Thinking of the incident made him start to cry, he had killed her 
brother, out of stupidy and goddamn arrogance. 

His girlfriend, Michelle, of three years, had left him two days ago with
the excuse they needed to take a break.  In reality, he knew that she 
couldn't deal with all the changes he was going through nor did she 
want to date him because of the accident.  Benny had been a close 
friend of her's as well and she blamed him for his death.  Not that he 
held that against her, he understood her reasons and bore her no ill 
will but it didn't make him feel better or any less abandoned. 

Of course, his grades were suffering immensely, though that was no
surprise.  It was a question of his actually graduating now, though he 
didn't really care one way or another.  High school was the least of 
his concerns, and it showed in his studies. 

To say his parents were displeased was an understatement.  His mother
had been unable to look him in the eye once she'd found out he was okay 
and going to survive his accident. His father had not a kind word to 
say to him, kept reprimanding him and telling him what an idiot he was. 
This did not help matters, now Mark held a bottle of prescription 
sleeping pills that his therapist had prescribed.  The warning on the 
lable warned against accidental overdose which could result in death.  
It sounded so tempting, more than tempting, it sounded like the answer 
that he sought. 

With images of Benny and Michelle and Elizabeth dancing in his head, he
downed the whole bottle, five big horsepills at a time, chasing them 
with pepsi. They took effect quickly and he laid down groggily, seeing 
the ghosts of his mistakes dying beside him again.  In the fogs of his 
drug induced sleeps, he saw his door open and his mother's horrified 
face looking at him then he sunk blissfully into blackness. 

Light seeped through the slits in his lids and slowly, painfully, he


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