1.

Castlemount cemetery sits way up on a mountain side overlooking the town that it is built upon. Quite a large ground, Castlemount cemetery is a place which has and will become the final resting place for many of the inhabitants of the town below and as well as for some of those living beyond the town's limits.

Saturday late on in the month of September 2008, and the multi-coloured morning sky was an upsetting start to Julie's day. As the saying goes 'red sky at night, Sheppard's delight, red sky in the morning, Sheppard's warning'.

Even though it wasn't going to be her birthday for another three days, this was the day Julie was planning to celebrate her twenty first birthday, and her plans of an afternoon barbeque looked as if they might become somewhat dampened, but since the red, pink and lavender colours of the sky were quite a bit off in the distance then maybe, just maybe there would be no rain to fall anywhere near her home. And wouldn't it be great if the sun were to make an appearance?

First order of business of the day was to get over to the local sports club hall and sort out the decorations for the evening time celebrations. She moves down the street faster than a walking pace, more a jogging pace, and spies one of her elder neighbours standing in his doorway.

'You're coming to my party tonight, Mister Hoffman, right?'

'I wouldn't miss it for the world Julie, after all, any of us only ever turn twenty-one once ...'

Oh, what a thing life is ...

Julie's best friends Emma and Sandra were already there and had been for a while by the time the girl of the hour arrives. The three friends were so close that if there was a big day for one of them then there was a big day for all three, so Emma and Sandra were ready to make sure that this would be a night to be remembered, though even before this day began it held fears for what the future might hold.

Indeed, it was to be Julie's twenty first birthday, the girls may have been friends for as long as any of them can remember but this day marked the fact that they have grown up, and with that, things change. They have changed and will continue to change, life goes on.

'Hey guys, we will be friends forever, right?' asks Sandra.

'Sure ... we will, why wouldn't we?' replies Julie.

'We're not kids anymore ya know, things are a bit different now', this line of thinking was beginning to bring more than a tear or two to Sandra's eyes.

'Well, I am not going anywhere' says Julie, 'well except for home right now to get the food sorted for later.'

Julie made Emma and Sandra make a promise then and there that they would remain friends forever and of course Julie would also make the same promise. More tears accompanied a group hug.

'See you guys later.'

Julie went outside and sure enough her fear from that morning had come to be, a light hazy rain had begun to fall so she got into a cab and asked the driver to take her home. Unfortunately, and sadly home would be a place she was not going to make it back to. Julie could see from the license on the dashboard that the cab drivers name was Frank.

'Everything alright?' asks Frank as he begins to drive off.

'Yeah, well sort of, I'm having my twenty first birthday party today and the rain has just put a bit of a dampener on things.'

'Well happy birthday then so.'

'Thanks, but it's not till Tuesday, Saturday is just a better day to celebrate.'

Frank stops at a red light, his taxi was the only car stopped at this junction, it had been a quiet day, didn't seem to be many people about at all. With a light rain still falling, little attention was being paid to what may be happening outside the cab. The passenger side door opens and a man wearing a ski mask gets in. Before he could notice the ski mask Frank speaks a 'sorry but this cab is taken'.

'I don't want your cab, I want your money, give me what you have, now' demands the masked man, sticking a gun into Franks side.

Before Frank could react, the gun unintentionally goes off. Julie screams. The masked man had not noticed prior to this point that there actually had been someone else in the cab, so upon hearing the scream he turns and reacts without thinking and shoots Julie in the stomach.

Her eyes opened wide, and she places both her hands to where she had been hit. Her head moves forward and down slightly to see the blood on her right hand as she takes it away from her body.

Julie looks back towards the intruder. He takes his mask off and the shocked look on his face bares an expression as if to say ... 'what have I just done?' ... It sends him into somewhat of a panic, so he just grabs Frank's money then leaves. It was to be a robbery ... plain and simple ... and this is not what occurred.

Julie spends the next three days in hospital fighting a fight she would lose on the Tuesday, the actual day of her twenty first birthday. Her family and both Emma and Sandra were all at Julie's side at the moment she passes away.

At her own burial service, Julie stands next to her mum while Emma and Sandra stand the far side of the coffin. How Julie wished that she could just talk to them, tell them all that everything is alright, and make them not cry anymore tears.

'This is my funeral, why am I getting so upset? It's not as if anyone is going to be able to console me', Julie speaks out loud.

'I was never any good at the whole consoling thing but at least you'll have someone to talk to' speaks somewhat of a familiar voice.

Frank the taxi driver walks right through Emma and Sandra as if they were not even there.

'How strange, I have had a very strong feeling that somehow I would see you here' says Julie.

'Yeah, and I've been waiting for you to arrive, what kept ya?'

'Oh, I don't know, maybe it was the whole not wanting to die thing along with some good care at the hospital delayed me' Julie says as she tries to decide as to whether she should laugh or cry.

'Come on, I'll introduce you to some of our neighbours.'

Frank tries to take Julie's mind off things as they walk away from the burial service while Julie has trouble avoiding looking back.

The first of the souls residing at Castlemount Cemetery to be introduced to Julie is that of Peter Rosewood, a former teacher at the school where Julie had been a student only just a few years prior. Julie knew of the circumstances of Peter's death.

He had died of a heart attack not long before a class was to begin and he was discovered by students as they entered the classroom that morning, and this story had become legend at the school as many of the students have a teacher or teachers with whom they'd wished had met a similar fate. Peter had been at the cemetery for twenty-two years now.

'Why are we here?' asks Julie, 'like is there no heaven or hell? No place for us to go since we are dead?'

'Well,' says Peter, 'most souls do go straight to wherever they are meant to go, but then there are others like us that don't, I guess it's maybe that we either are not ready to go to wherever it is we go or maybe we might have a reason to still be here.'

Words continue to be exchanged and not long into their conversation, the ground would begin to shake as if there was some sort of an earthquake happening, but this was only noticeable by the residents of the cemetery, and not by its visiting mourners.

'Oh no, it's coming, run' says Peter just before making a beeline to find somewhere safe.

'What's coming?' asks Julie.

Frank quickly tries to explain.

'Look if you see something moving underground, kinda burrowing like, and it looks like it is coming towards you, just get as far away from it as you can. Apparently, once every six months, and over a period of six days, six souls are taken, one each day and this is day number two.'

Joining Pete, Frank begins to put some distance between himself and whatever the thing burrowing its way underground is, but Julie becomes frozen still. Noticing this Frank scurries to make his way back over to Julie but this means him having to sacrifice himself to save Julie. Whatever this thing was or is, it grabbed Frank and pulled him underground. If Julie wasn't already in shock ... she was now, totally stunned by what she just witnessed.

Even though Frank no longer has a physical body, he feels as if he was drowning, and even though whatever had grabbed him was pulling him under ground, he felt like he was underwater.

The deeper Frank got, the more he could see. All around him, mixed through the dirt and soil, were distorted entities which in some way or other resemble people for maybe that's what they once may have been, all now squirming in pain as if they are souls that have been and still were being tortured. He could almost make out what seemed to be facial expressions and strangely enough he could also hear their moaning cries of pain.

Moments pass and Frank soon feels that he is no longer being pulled under. Whatever had grabbed him had released him, and up above where he had entered this 'hellhole' he can see a bright light, so Frank began, as best he could to make his way up to this light while some of these tortured souls all around try to grab on to him.

Frank gets out but it had taken its toll on whatever it is that powers the life force of his soul, and it takes Frank a few minutes to recover, and as he was doing so, whatever it was that had grabbed him had made a return and this time it got a hold of Peter. Peter was pulled under and would not be seen or heard from again.

It, whatever it is, needed to claim a victim ... and with Frank's release, whether intentional or not, claimed Peter instead.

When Frank had emerged out of the ground, he had come out right by where Julie was. No one ever returns after having been taken. The only reasoning to why Frank may have returned was that there was and is some sort of connection between himself and Julie, the very same connection they both felt when Julie arrived to the cemetery. Yeah, the power of this connection bringing Frank right to Julie's feet.

This connection means that if one of them was to be taken then they both have to be taken and since only one soul gets taken at a time then just maybe it couldn't take either or both Frank and Julie.

By the time things settled, Julie's burial service had come to an end. Her friends and family had all left the cemetery grounds. John, the junior grounds keeper arrives late for his shift and Michael, the senior grounds keeper begins to give John a hard time, apparently for arriving to the cemetery so late. Julie takes no notice of this; she was too busy contemplating spending eternity in this place that she found herself in, well that and what had just occurred.

'I can't stay here ... no, this is, not good ... not right. ... Are we able to leave here at all?' she asks Frank.

'I don't think so, according to what I have been told, it is something that shouldn't be tried. It can result in something just as bad as being taken by that thing ... whatever it is, and after what I experienced ... I'd rather not test the theory of might come if I try to leave this place.'

'So, we are stuck here, lovely' Julie says, thinking as to if things could get any worse.

Frank is still visibly shaken so Julie considers giving him some space. Julie's grandparents are also buried at this cemetery. She is not sure of what to make of this sudden realization, so she makes her way to their grave.

'I guess they made it to heaven.'

John unknowingly passes close by Julie. Of course, he could not see or hear her though she did notice him.

'Oh my god, it's him.'

'What is him?' asks Frank, this connection is like a tether keeping him in close proximity to Julie.

'That guy there, he's the guy; he is the one that killed us. I saw his face before he got out of the taxi.'

'Are you sure?'

'Of course, I'm sure, I didn't die straight away, and I was still alive when he took his ski mask off'.'