Eddie’s eyelids opened up in darkness. The last thing that he remembered was sitting in front of the TV watching the game, feeling a spark of heartburn, feeling his arm go numb, an anvil sitting on his chest, and turning around to yell for Julie to bring him some antacids while she cleaned up in the kitchen. He remembered that she didn’t respond, and maybe she didn’t hear him because of the dishwasher going or the TV was too loud. Or maybe it was because all he could do was whisper her name from the intense pain that split across his chest.

Oh, God, was he...? No. Couldn’t be!

Trying to raise his hands to his face, his knuckles knocked against wood. At first, he thought that it was the headboard to the bed. He thought that maybe he had just fell asleep in the chair, woke up, and hadn’t remembered climbing the stairs and sliding under the sheets with Julie. His beloved.

And he also thought that he was lying on the silk sheets that Julie always loved to cover up the bed with. The ones that she would snuggle under, hold over her breast, conceal the rest of her naked body, and then gaze at Eddie with her big blue eyes.
But, this was not his bed. It was a wooden box.
Feeling along the sides, he knew that he was trapped. Fear started to crawl under his flesh. Why am I in here? Where’s Julie? What the hell is really going on here?
His mind asked the questions, but the door stayed locked.

Someone had taken him away from Julie. That was it. Took her away doing God-knows-what to her! An anger rose in his chest. Who would do that? Who in their right mind would do such a thing?
Moving around and pushing on the wood, he only found out how stiff he was. How completely rigid he felt. Was it getting colder in here? Felt like it.

Wanting to be free of this horror, he pushed on the wood in front of him. Stiff and as cold as he was. It did not give. He even pushed harder, but it was no use. The inside seemed as solid as a rock.

And the air was musty, hard to breathe in.

Needing more leverage, he used his legs and knees to push. His body started to ached. But no matter, he didn’t want to let up. He had to get out of here. Had to find his Julie!
Beating his fists against the wood and using his legs and feet, he hit the walls in a furious rage. Nonstop with the hope to leave this darkness. Leave this cold place in which his body rested in.
Suddenly two of his fingernails broke off.
Damn! That hurt! They bounced off of his cheek and nose.

Surprisingly, Eddie finally managed to open a hole in the wood. Moist dirt poured inside. Not only was he sealed up in a wooden box, but buried too! A shudder ran through him.
But was it from fear, or from the cold?

Who the hell put me in here! he screamed inside of his skull. What about Julie? Was she buried, too?

Frantically, he smashed through the wood. More dirt began to fall inside, covering his face, and into his mouth. He tasted the grime and spat it out.
After breaking away enough wood, he began to claw out through the dirt. It was cold and clumpy in his fingers. He kept his eyes shut and every so often he could feel the slimy worms attached themselves to his face. Sticking on there for a moment, then sliding off.

Further and further he went. Higher and higher he rose. And when he thought there would be no end to this madness... then there was light.
As he rose up, he was stiff as a board. His bones did not want to move inside of his flesh. They merely wanted to rest and be at peace.

The morning sun shined down through the trees. Birds chirped. A small wind blew and fluttered the leaves across the grass under a grave sky, toward a church that lay beyond the cemetery. All around him were tombstones. Loved ones buried deep who were long gone, never to walk the Earth again. Except Eddie.

He raked off dirt from his suit and tie that covered his body – exquisite wear for the casket. Looked at all of the graves and wondered if Julie could be under the ground like he had been.
Underground, in the dirt, in the darkness, sealed up in a wooden box, crying, shouting for someone to help her, someone to save her, if only she could gasp enough oxygen to stay alive...

Wait. Eddie realized something. He was in the exact cemetery where his mother and father had been buried, not so long ago. He and Julie were even married in that church over 40 years ago.
God, had it really been that long?

This morning, the church was in service as Eddie heard the voices singing hymns. Sounding nice, pleasant. Rising and falling in unison.

Eddie had to find help. Fast!

Staggering toward the church, like some drunk, he fought with his bones to move beneath his ash gray flesh. When he was at the threshold, he swung the door open and stepped inside.
The grave where Eddie climbed had a tombstone that read:

EDDIE GAINS
APRIL 20, 1920 – MARCH 4, 2000
LOVING FATHER AND HUSBAND
ALWAYS IN OUR PRAYERS

Before the birds flew up into the clear blue sky, the pleasant voices who sung the hymns turned into screams, a white angel named Sable walked over to Eddie’s grave to collect his soul and deliver it into the afterlife and thought: “Damn. Late as usual!”

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