The last bit of crimson faded from the wispy clouds along the horizon. Adam shivered and silently wished he’d brought a warmer coat.
“Are you cold?” Becky asked.
“No,” Adam lied through chattering teeth.
Becky gave him a bit of a half smile.
Together, the two teens strolled down the sidewalk as streetlights began to hum to life. Adam knew his mom had told him to be back before nightfall, and he was getting cold, but… it was Becky. His not-so-secret crush since middle school, she’d unexpectedly shown up at his house and asked if he wanted to go on a walk. He’d stammered something, not even sure it was words, grabbed his jacket, and yelled to his mom that he was going out.
They’d walked and talked about nothing in particular for a while. She seemed as nervous as he was, which Adam took as a good sign. He tried to push all his teenage romance thoughts to the back of his mind and focus on what she was saying. Be cool, he kept telling himself. Don’t blurt out something stupid and freak her out.
Now, as the night fully closed in, they walked up to the gates of the Barn Hill Cemetery and stopped. For a moment, they both looked over the rolling hills of the graveyard. Rows and rows of cold stone monuments stretched as far as they could see, disappearing into the darkness.
“You want to take a walk through?” Becky asked quietly.
“Um…” he mumbled. He didn’t really, but as he looked over at her she gave him a smile. “Sure.”
They climbed over the gate sporting the sign saying the cemetery was closed at nightfall. Kids were always visiting this place at night for the usual dares and drinking. The cemetery even had its own urban legend: the 66 steps to Hell.
The legend was that a staircase with 66 steps that stood at the center of the cemetery was cursed. If you climbed the steps at night and got to the top, you’d see a ghost that would drag you to Hell. Adam had never climbed the stairs at night, but he’d known plenty of kids who had. No draggings to Hell to report.
“So, why did you want to take a walk with me?” He asked meekly.
She chewed on her lip for a second. “I know you’ve… Well, you like me, don’t you?”
He nearly stumbled over his own feet. “Wha… Umm…” He had this odd knee-jerk impulse to deny it, but restrained himself. “I, uhh… Yeah.”
She smiled again, but her eyes were… what… sad? Disappointed? He couldn’t quite tell.
“Hey, I…”
“Let’s go up,” she interrupted him.
Adam looked around, realizing he hadn’t paid any attention to where they were going. Ahead of them, he saw the staircase.
“What?”
“C’mon, let’s go,” she urged, starting up the steps.
He hesitated. The 66 steps legend didn’t scare him, but it didn’t not scare him either.
“Are you coming?”
With a sigh and a shiver, he took the first step. No devil appeared; there was just the stillness of a late fall evening. He looked up to see Becky ahead of him, still climbing. He started after her.
“Becky?” He called out.
His phone rang and nearly made him jump out of his skin. He glanced to see if Becky had seen him, but her back was to him as she continued on. He dug in his pocket and withdrew his phone, fearful it was his mother telling him to come home. He didn’t want to have to tell Becky that he had to leave because of his mom.
He saw the photo of his best friend, Mark, and slid the button to answer.
“Hey man, what’s up?”
“I’m just calling to see if you were alright,” Mark said. “Your mom said you’d gone out. You sound out of breath.”
“Just went for a walk.”
As Adam neared the top of the staircase, he looked up and saw Becky standing on top of the last step. She was staring down at him with an odd, vacant expression.
“Hey, can I call you back sometime? I’m kinda busy right now.”
“Yeah, no problem,” Mark answered. “I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”
Something in Mark’s tone made him curious. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I’d heard about Becky. I know you liked her.”
Adam finally climbed that last step and stopped.
“Becky?” He asked. “She’s right here.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a few, long seconds.
“What?”
“Becky stopped by tonight. We’re taking a walk.”
More silence.
“Are you there?” Adam asked.
“Becky’s dead. Her parents found her a couple hours ago in her room. She killed herself.”
“That’s not funny, man.”
“I’m not being funny,” Mark told him firmly. “I can still see the cop cars at her house. My mom just told me.”
“Dude, I’m standing right next to her. She’s…”
His words stuck in his throat as he looked at her once more. A small warning in his brain began to grow as goosebumps gripped his entire body. She looked normal, but at the same time, something wasn’t right. Maybe it was her blank expression or the fact that, here in the moonlight, her skin appeared paler than usual.
“Mark, you swear you’re not kidding around?”
“C’mon man, I’d never kid around about something like this. Who are you with?”
Adam swallowed hard and continued to stare at the stone still figure of Becky.
“How did she die?” Adam croaked.
Mark hesitated before answering. “She hung herself.”
As if she could hear Mark, Becky reached up and pulled down on the turtleneck she was wearing to reveal a line of torn, reddish-black skin around her throat.
In his room, Mark heard his friend gasp.
“Adam? You okay?”
All he could hear was ragged breathing.
“Adam!” He shouted.
“Who are you?” He heard Adam whimper.
Mark stood up, his heart beginning to pound. “Who are you talking to? Adam, who are you with?”
Through the phone, Adam sobbed and Mark could hear his terror. He grabbed his coat from the back of his door and rushed out.
“Where are you?”
“Cemetery,” Adam stammered.
Mark ran out his front door. “Okay, I’m coming as fast as I can.”
“Don’t hang up!”
“I’m not going to,” he said as reassuring as he could. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. Who are you with?”
“Becky.”
He honestly couldn’t think of a way to respond to that. It simply wasn’t possible. But the fear in his friend’s voice made it clear that something was very wrong.
Mark ran down the street, silently cursing that his folks had taken the car. Still, he only lived a few blocks from the cemetery.
“Where are you in the cemetery?”
“66 steps,” came the breathless reply.
“At the top?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, start walking down the steps and I’ll meet you at the bottom.”
No reply.
“Listen, just take this one step at a time. Just take one step.”
Adam didn’t answer.
“Adam, just take one step. Count it off for me.”
“One.”
“Good, I’m almost there. Keep counting.”
“Two.”
Mark sprinted as fast as he could through the frigid night air.
“Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight.”
Mark reached the gates to the cemetery and vaulted over the barrier. He ran through the gravestones, the only sounds being the crunch of dead leaves under his feet and his best friend’s counting.
“Forty-one. Forty-two.”
His lungs burning, Mark at last reached the bottom of the staircase. He strained his eyes to see where Adam was. Lamps spread along the stairs threw their ghostly white light below them, illuminating… nothing.
“Adam?” Mark called into his phone. “I’m here, man. Where are you?”
“Fifty-nine. Sixty.”
Mark looked up again at the staircase. He should see Adam by now, but nothing moved.
“Sixty-five. Sixty-six.”
For a moment, there was silence on the other end of the line.
“Adam?” He whispered.
“Mark?” Came Adam’s voice over the phone.
Mark looked around, but he was completely alone.
“Where are you, Mark? Wait… who is that?”
Mark whirled around again. Nothing and no one moved in the cold, empty night.
“Adam?”