When my eyes finally opened, I was still swathed in darkness. A tiny bit off moonlight seeped through an open doorway, and its edge peeked out from behind a huge grey cloud. Sitting up, I squinted through the dark blackness and made out the form of Hayley sitting across from me. Struggling to wake up my mind, I blinked a few times, forcing myself to think. Suddenly the realization hits me like a ton of bricks. Hayley has been behind this whole operation. And she's brought me here to kill me. When Hayley saw I was awake, she began to laugh, making chills race up my arms and spine. Her voice echoed around the cemetery, making me want to run. I stayed glued to the spot, though. When she finally recovered herself, she wiped her eyes and said with a giggle,
"Figured it out yet?"
"I did, witch." Except I didn't use the word witch. I used, what my kindergarten teacher would have said, a rhyming word. Abruptly Hayley stopped laughing and pushed herself up off the ground, grabbing me around the throat. And she squeezed, none too gently.
"So, is this how it'll end?" I wheeze, struggling to pry her fingers off my throat. Surprisingly, she released me, surveying me on the ground.
"No, I think I'll make you suffer." She picked up the shovel and grabbed my by the hair, dragging me out the open doorway. We passed by rough thumb-shaped stones engraved with names and dates, and I realized we were in the graveyard. I struggled, clawing at her hands, but she only gripped tighter and hit back with the shovel savagely, making a gash open on my cheek. I pressed my fingers to the gash, feeling warm blood flowing out, but soon I went back to struggling, trying to make the death grip on the top of my head loosen. We sloughed to a stop beside a shallow hole, which had an open casket beside it. My blood ran cold when I realized what she was going to do. My only weakness, respiratory weakness, and she was going to bury me alive. I began to struggle even harder when I knew what she was going to do, but she shunted me over to the casket and, with a hard shove, pushed me inside. The next thing I knew, the casket lid slammed shut and I was enveloped in humid, stuffy darkness. I heard hissy laughter from outside, and I banged on the lid, but Hayley had sat on it.
"Why are you doing this?" I blared.
"Well. You broke the rules. You were supposed to die in the crocodile swamp, but dear Avae saved you, didn't she? To prevent that from happening again, I made sure she never tried anything again. Of course, I was very discreet about it. I hid in the freezer, waited for Leilani to go through, took care of Avae, got out, and Thea never saw a thing. You broke the rules by helping Thea, so you have to die as well." Hayley said calmly, with the air of someone explaining to an over-emotional three-year-old why she can't have ice-cream for every meal. I stopped pounding on the lid, sickened by the sheer despicableness of Hayley. Hot tears wormed out of my eyes as Hayley got off the lid and shoved the coffin toward the hole.
"Say hello to Avae for me," Hayley hissed, and I felt the coffin slam into the dirt. Soft crumbling sounds were heard from outside, and I realized that Hayley was scooping the dirt back over the coffin. I began hyperventilating, but realized that I was going to use up all my air that way. I took a slow breath. Not helping. I heard the shovel fall on top of the earth pile, and nothing more. Hayley was gone, leaving me to either crawl out of the hole, or die.