Jp and Kelsey came to the scene a few moments later, thankfully Jason had calmed down and Craig could just say he slipped and fell in the river. "Craig! Wheres the vault, the notebooks!?"Jp questioned running along side Kelsey who was holding her sword in front of her "Yeah, I don't see anything besides Jason and you! What happened?"Kelsey did the same as Jp and her both took a stop when they came close enough to the two. Jason and Craig looked at each other and Craig provided an answer on behalf of Jason "Sorry guys, but the vault wasn't there just ground...I ended up ruining the flowers surrounding the rock though, sorry I ruined your flowers for basically no reason, Jason..."Craig cringed setting his hands on the ground beside him. He didn't mind how fake the apology felt at first but with what happened earlier Jason didn't feel a thing.
Jason appreciated the...I guess he'd say white lie told by Craig, if he knew Craig he'd probably be telling the whole creek about how his dad had his mom buried in their backyard. He could only imagine their reactions. "Rats! How are we going to prevent it now, we need answers!"Jp complained dropping down to sit. "*sighs* Well, I don't think it matters how the war started I think what matters is that we don't start one, y'know by digging up each others backyards and getting each other grounded...". Jason threw Craig a soft smile seeing Craig eyeing him at the last part.
Thankfully, Jp and Kelsey let Craig put the whole capture the flag case to bed and believed Craig's lie when Jp asked why he was dripping with water. The topic was changed by Jp asking who wanted to break the creek record for who could eat the most worms, Jason offered to be the referee since he had a whistle. Craig couldn't tell if he genuinely wanted to be the ref or if he wanted to get his mind off the breakdown he had earlier.
But Craig couldn't bring himself to read Jason for an answer, it struck him just now how much he looked like her. Expect alive, Craig kept looking down for the remainder of the time. Unable to look the dead wo- Ahem...Jason, in the eyes.
Time skip
The dinner horn rung and it was time for the four to get up, Craig stood back up and Jason walked towards him gesturing "Don't forget we gotta...". Craig remembered the mess he made in the backyard and almost jumped, "Oh yeah..."Craig muttered. Kelsey and Jp saw Craig walking back with Jason and didn't let them leave immune from questions "Where are you guys going? Craig, your house is the other way!" "You forgot where you lived?" "No I still know where I live, I just...Left something in Jason's backyard and I need to go get it"Craig made up on the spot.
Thankfully his lie was believed and the two continued their walk, Craig tried talking to Jason but every time he turned his head to look at Jason's left side of his face he visioned a bleeding gash from his temple to his cheek. Was that a maggot in his hair?
Craig shook his head from the thoughts and kept walking, maybe don't look at Jason...At least not for awhile...
They finally reached Jason's backyard, Craig felt himself struggle taking a single step back into the grass. He couldn't go anywhere near the rock knowing who was under there...
Jason turned around seeing he was the only one stepping in the backyard "Craig, I can't pick up a giant rock by myself"Jason sighed beginning to think Craig was opting out last minute, "I can move it! Sorry guess I got a case of the ol' jelly legs..."Craig lightly chuckled stepping in the backyard.
...
...
Craig shot his eyes open, before he knew it he was beside Jason in the middle of his backyard. He looked back at Jason who looked at him dully "What are you waiting for?"Jason asked seeing Craig just standing there, were his eyes always dead like that? "Uh...S-Sorry, let's fix her grave now..."Craig nervously chuckled.
Craig started taking his steps towards the exposed grave, the ruined flowers already dying, the purples and pinks fading to browns and blacks. "It's fine Craig, you're Craig...You always save the day and fix your mistakes..."Craig couldn't tell if his prep talk helped him or made everything worse.
Jason followed behind and put his hands around the rock to better support Craig in lifting the rock.
Craig took a deep breath then lifted the rock with Jason, the boys started moving sideways towards the square hole with the...
Craig struggled to even think it.
They were finally close enough and could drop the rock over the hole to hide the woman under there. Just when Craig was preparing with Jason to put the rock over the hole, a rough and aggressive grapple that felt like a hand tugged around Craig's ankle. But what was digging in his skin was a gold metal ring with patterns carved in the gold metal besides those there were sharp uncut and dirty fingernails making bruises.
The grab almost made Craig drop the rock, "Ah!"Craig let out a shrill scream at the seize of his ankle, wait, did Craig check where the hand grabbing his ankle was coming from? Craig quickly looked at the square hole he thought contained the vault.
She should be dead, she should be laying there letting maggots eat her not...Not grabbing Craig's ankle and trying to pull him down with her "Ah! Stop, I'm sorry for ruining your grave I-I thought a vault was here! Jason, Jason help!"Craig screamed.
The pulling was too strong now that she was using both hands to pull Craig in the hole, "Jason!"Craig tried screaming digging his finger nails in the dead grass and dirt. Screaming and pleading for the blond to tell his mother to stop and that it was accident, anything would have helped. A scream, an explanation of what was actually going through Craig's head or even a word of Craig's real intention.
Silence, Jason's mouth didn't move. No words or sentences, he just silently stood there as if he was also dead. Craig looked back at Jason's mother, she wasn't saying anything else. Her thinning and damp hair just covered her face as she dragged and dragged him into the hole with her. Craig tried using his unbound ankle to kick her off him but she saw in his eyes what he was trying to pull over her and using her right hand to grab his other ankle this time tighter.
It was no use, nothing to be do now that she holding him down in her arms in the hole. "No, Jason! Stop standing there, please!"Craig screamed until his lungs gave out and he was closing his eyes as if he was going to sleep. Back against the ground and bugs crawling over him. Looming over him was just her, her hair dripping on his face.
...
...
Craig peeled his eyes opened shooting himself upwards in his bed, he almost fell out his bed from the side. He threw the covers off to check his ankles, but marks or scrapes just his dark and ashy skin from forgetting to put lotion on earlier.
Craig turned to his phone to see what time it was, 4am.
Craig took a deep breath and plopped back down, he had put the rock over the hole to cover her what did he do wrong?
Hours earlier
Jason turned around seeing he was the only one stepping in the backyard "Craig, I can't pick up a giant rock by myself"Jason sighed beginning to think Craig was opting out last minute, "I can move it! Sorry guess I got a case of the old, jelly legs..."Craig lightly chuckled stepping in the backyard.
Jason sighed waiting for Craig to walk next to him to lift the rock "Hey Craig, I know it's hard just try not to look inside. You have already seen her so at least you know what to expect...". Craig didn't listen well to Jason's prep talk to soothe over the violation the tableau did on his brain. Craig lifted up the rock along with Jason, braced himself for dropping it down the rock and tried not to look inside the hole.
"Okay, 1...2...3!"
The rock dropped down successfully making it look like it was never touched. If you ignore the flowers...
"Phew...Glad that's taken care of, sorry again about the flowers and grave..."Craig said patting his palms down from the dirt of the rock "Don't worry about it...I'll see what I can do about the flowers..."Jason replied rubbing the back of his neck. He later walked in his house through the sliding door and Craig watched. He could have sworn when Jason was walking back inside he could parts of her in walking away with him.
Craig looked back at the grave, now he was a fellow bearer of this secret. Even with the rock covering the square hole she was rotting away in, Craig could still see through what the rock hid.
Present
Craig sat up straight in bed, he wouldn't dare turn on the light after this nightmare. Even though when you wake up from a nightmare the first thing you do is turn on the light...
Craig tried shutting his eyes to go back to sleep "Wonder if Jason is sleeping well..."But his brain had other plans, Craig wanted to think about Jason for a minute but his brain twisted itself around to recall what he saw.
That was a long night for Craig.
This is a pretty heavy show don't tell chapter so I decided to show what Craig's going through instead of telling it. I'm kinda interested in how you interoperate this chapter as though so don't be afraid of being wrong bout this one you can even share your interpretations if you want.