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Laura The Gravedigger

Laura was the local gravedigger who lived near the village cemetery. She would dig graves and bury the dead at midnight. Laura began to see the buried bodies as seeds she had planted, having dreams of strange plants growing from the graves. One night, after finishing a grave, a glowing spirit approached Laura, mistakenly calling her the gardener who had planted them. More spirits arrived, thanking Laura for giving them life. They insisted Laura had planted them in the earth and they had now grown. The spirits surrounded Laura and forced her to dig her own grave, laying down in it so she too could enjoy eternity with them. The next morning, Laura was nowhere to be found, with only a freshly dug grave

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45 views3 pages

Laura The Gravedigger

Laura was the local gravedigger who lived near the village cemetery. She would dig graves and bury the dead at midnight. Laura began to see the buried bodies as seeds she had planted, having dreams of strange plants growing from the graves. One night, after finishing a grave, a glowing spirit approached Laura, mistakenly calling her the gardener who had planted them. More spirits arrived, thanking Laura for giving them life. They insisted Laura had planted them in the earth and they had now grown. The spirits surrounded Laura and forced her to dig her own grave, laying down in it so she too could enjoy eternity with them. The next morning, Laura was nowhere to be found, with only a freshly dug grave

Uploaded by

proyectate
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Laura the Gravedigger

(John D. Connelley)

Laura lived in a small, stone cottage that sat nestled just


outside the small village's cemetery. When people of the
village died, they were brought to her, the local minister
performed a ceremony, and then the bodies were left. Then,
at midnight, Laura would begin digging. Even when people
passed away in the bitter winter, she would still only start
digging at midnight. It would just take a little longer.

Laura used to wonder if all this planting of bodies would


ever make anything grow. Then, one night, just as she
finished a grave, she found it did. As she was gently patting
the mound of soil with the back of her spade on the newly
finished grave, she felt a light tapping on her left shoulder.
She turned slowly and saw the outline of a slightly glowing
figure.

"Are you the gardener?" the specter asked in a faint


whisper.

"No," said Laura, her eyes widening, "I'm the gravedigger."

"I was looking for the one who planted us. Are you sure
you are not her?" asked the specter.

"Planted you? No, I buried you," said Laura. Then she


remembered how she used to think about how putting the
bodies in the soil was like planting huge seeds. She used to
have dreams of strange plants growing out of the soil,
draping themselves around the tombstones. She had not had
those dreams in a long time or even thought about the bodies
as being huge seeds.

"You must be her," insisted the specter, "You are the only
one here who could have planted us."

Laura wondered how the specter could have known her


thoughts from so long ago. "You were not planted, you were
buried. You are dead," Laura told the glowing specter.

"But we have sprouted. We have grown. We are here,"


stated the specter.

Through the trees and shrubs surrounding the cemetery,


Laura saw more faintly glowing figures approaching.

"We are here to thank you," said the specter, "You have
given us life."

"No, you died. I have given you a grave. You must stay there,"
Laura pleaded as she watched more and more glowing
figures draw near.

"We were there, in the soil, now we have grown up. Are
you not happy?" asked the specter.

"Yes. That makes me happy," she lied, "What do you


want?"

"To thank you. We all want to thank you," said the specter,
kneeling in deference.
The throng of glowing specters had now surrounded Laura,
kneeling as they encircled her.

"How do you wish to thank me," asked Laura nervously,


looking around at all the softly glowing, smiling faces.

"By giving you to the earth as you have done for us," said
the specter. "But you must prepare the earth to receive you,
for we cannot."

"Dig…my own grave?" exhaled Laura.

"Yes, so that you may grow and enjoy eternity with us,"
said the specter, rising with the others to their feet.

Laura slowly dug her own grave and, when finished, lay
down inside. The specters gathered around and smiled deeply
at her. She closed her eyes as it began to rain lightly.

The next morning, the minister came to inform Laura that


the cemetery was to be closed because it was deemed too
full. He was to explain that a deal had been struck with a
neighboring village that had a huge tract of cleared land for a
new, larger cemetery. He searched for Laura for quite some
time, but all he found was a freshly dug grave with a spade
placed where the tombstone should be.

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