Chapter 5

Would I remember this day as the scariest day of my life?

The three of us began to run again. Riru turned

at the street. "I'm going home," she cried. "This

is too scary. See you later."

I watched her run toward her house on the

next block. Sai and I darted up the front

steps to our house.

“We're going from a haunted graveyard to a

haunted house," I muttered.

"Our new house isn't haunted,” sai said.

“It's just old.”

"Old and haunted," I insisted.

I fumbled with the front doorknob. The old

wooden door was stuck. It took all my strength

to pull it open. We burst inside, both breathing

hard, shaking off rainwater.

I was desperate to tell Mom what happened in

the graveyard. But she wasn't home. She was at

one of her jobs.

Sai and I tossed our wet clothes in the

laundry hamper. We dried ourselves off and

pulled on clean T-shirts and jeans.

Mom had left a pot of tomato soup on the stove

with instructions on how long to cook it. I found

a loaf of bread and made cheese sandwiches for

the two of us.

Sai and I ate our lunch at the kitchen

table. We didn't talk much. I kept seeing the

deep, dark hole of the grave and the worms and

the mud, and hearing the howling wind and the

whispered, raspy voices. They played in my mind

like a horror movie.

Sai was probably thinking the same frightening thoughts. Neither one of us wanted to talk about any of it.

Riru came over before lunch was over. She wore

a long, black skirt and a different green sweater.

She finished the tomato soup in the pot and ate

the second half of my cheese sandwich. "Graveyards can make you hungry,” she said,

smiling as always.

"Don't mention the graveyard,” I said.

"Do you have any cookies?” she asked. She

started opening cabinet drawers. She pulled out

a box of graham crackers. “Oh, I love graham

crackers. I could eat a whole box."

We passed around the graham crackers. "Where

does your mother work?” Riru asked.

"At the box factory downtown," I said. “She's

some kind of secretary.”

"My mom is a bekar," Riru said.

"Does she ever bring home any samples?”

Sai asked.

That made us laugh. Sometimes Sai can

be funny. When he isn't being a complete pest.

I couldn't shake off the scene in the graveyard.

I couldn't think about anything else. "It...it

was like the graveyard was alive," I said.

Riru's expression turned serious. She set down

the box of graham crackers. "My brother, Chi...

He's always reading. He's a real bookworm. Chi

read a book about zombies."

"Zombies?" I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. You know. Dead people

who come back to life. And all they want to do is

eat human flesh."

“Yum!" Sai said. He crunched up a

cracker between his teeth. “Flesh! I love flesh!”

"Shut up," I snapped. “You don't even know

what flesh is.”

"Do too.” I had a graham cracker in front of

me on the table. He smashed it with his fist.

"You'll eat that!” I said.

"Cut it out, you two," Riru said. “Don't you realize we might have heard zombies in the graveyard

this morning? Don't you think those whispers

we heard--"

“Stop!” I said. I pressed my hands over my ears.

Sai laughed. "My big brother, Asahi, is

afraid of zombies! Afraid they'll want to eat

you?” He turned and bit my arm.

"Hey! That hurt!” I gave him a hard shove.

He tossed back his head and laughed again.

What a little creep.

I turned back to Riru. "I don't believe in zombies," I said. “I don't believe in ghosts, and I don't

believe in dead people whispering in graveyards."

She shrugged. “We heard something, Asahi.

It wasn't just the wind.”

"Let's do something," I said. I was desperate

to change the subject. I was scared. I mean,

really scared. But I didn't want Riru to know.

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