Short horror stories

The gardening lady

It was getting late one night as I drove on an empty road. I hadn't seen many other cars. It was so quite outside with only the sound of my car driving and sometimes a few crickets. It was peaceful, but I had to admit it made me a little uneasy.
  As I continued to drive down the road, I noticed a strange old woman with a gardening hat and gloves. She held a small basket of flowers in one hand, and a small shovel in the other. I didn't pay much attention to her, I just found it odd that she was gardening so late. I slowed down my car as I watched her approach a house and randomly plant a flower in the garden before walking off. She didn't even seem to care that I was watching her. I didn't want to seem creepy, so I drove off.
  The next morning I sat down to watch tv as I ate breakfast. I turned on the news as I did every morning. I always wanted to know the weather and traffic before heading off to work. There was also of course the typical news reports. The bite into my egg sandwich before noticing something strange.
  "Last night tragedy struck when a young, seemingly healthy man was found dead in his home last night," the news reporter spoke from the tv.
  My heart sank once I noticed the house that appeared on the television. I thought to myself for a second that it couldn't be the right house, but as I continued to watch, I knew it had to be true. It was the house I had passed the night before where I saw that strange lady plant a flower in his yard. Did she already know he was dead? It was stuck in my head all day long as I worked. It all just seemed so suspicious that whoever lived in that house suddenly died. There were no police or anything when I passed the house. Just that strange lady...
  That night I worked late once again. I rushed out the door as I tried to make the same timing I made the night before. I wanted to see of the flower lady was anywhere around. Maybe she knew what happen to the house owner that passed away.
  I slowly drove around the area as I kept my eyes open, searching intensely. I knew this had nothing to do with me, I was just so curious. As the night grew later and later, I had finally seen the woman walking on the edge of the road. I slowly pulled up next to her.
  "Excuse me? Do you know what happened to that house you planted the flower at last night?" I asked.
  The woman didn't say a thing. She just continued to walk slowly as if I wasn't even there. Something about her just didn't feel right. I didn't know why I cared so much, it just drove me crazy trying to figure out what she was up to. I slowly followed her down the road with my lights down low. It's not like she even noticed me there anyway.
I followed her for about five minutes before the woman approached another house. She slowly dragged her feet across the grass before bending over and planting two flowers into the ground.
"Excuse me, ma'am? Do you know who lives here? What are you doing?" I tried calling out to her from my car window.
Of course, she said nothing and continued her work before slowly walking away. I was beginning to get tired, so I figured I'd leave her alone and just go home. There was just something about her that made me so curious.
  I woke up the next morning feeling very tired. I didn't sleep so well. I knew it was weird for me to let her bother me, but I just couldn't let it go. There had to be something going on.
  I turned on the tv to see another strange news story. My whole body froze as I looked at the house I had seen the night before. The two flowers were resting on the lawn, just like I had seen the lady plant. I grew more paranoid.
  "A couple was found dead in their home last night. Just like the case we had reported yesterday, they were healthy and suddenly died. Police are planning on investigating these cases more closely and prevent any future deaths," the news reporter said.
  I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What was that gardening lady doing? Why do these deaths keep happening. I was nearly late to work due to my paranoia. That woman wouldn't leave my mind. I was near those houses when those people were alive and I simply watched the woman plant the flowers. What if she did something else? Or was it the flowers?
  When I drove home that night I didn't bother to look for the woman. I didn't want to be involved and I definitely didn't want to be in an area where it's likely that people can die. I drove straight home before noticing something in my yard. It was a flower.