Abel stepped up to the hole and looked down at the partially covered coffin. Ignoring a dull throb behind his right eye, Abel began singing his grave digging song. This time the words held the heavy weight of a dark premonition.
“Yeah, I’m goin’ down
Way, way down
Gonna sing my song
Deep, deep down, down in the ground”
The shovel dug into the mound of earth. Soon, Abel was pitching load after load into the grave. He could hear the hollow thud each heap of dirt made inside the dark depths of the grave. Even though Abel had become used to the sound, today it made him shudder.
His digging became more frantic. He sang louder. Dug harder. Ignored his aching bones.
The dark, heavy clouds that had been building on the horizon all morning began moving over the graveyard. Thunder rumbled through the sky like a monstrous thing up there was waking from a long slumber.
Abel had forgotten about the broken pocket watch now buried with its master. But beneath all the loud lyrics, he still heard it. Very quiet, very clear.
Tick, tick, tick
Each tick came out a little louder, more insistent. Some were short, quick sounds while others stretched out over a few seconds. Sometimes in the break between each sound, Abel heard something else. A whisper. A voice. Sometimes a male’s voice, sometimes a female’s, sometimes it sounded like something else entirely.
Tick…come…tick…get…tick…me…
Abel sang out even louder trying to drown out the sounds and the voices. His voice cracked and rose in pitch as each word left his mouth faster than the last, one stumbling out over the next.
He shouted the lyrics at the top of his lungs, his shrill voice stirring the quiet of the cemetery. But the sound continued. When the grave was filled, he dropped to his knees, punched his ears with his grubby fists, and screamed the lyrics at the sky.