Dead Men Tell No Tales

She looked at the tombstone, looking just like any other from a distance. It took a trained eye to notice the camera and speakers, as well as the slight gloss identifying part as a digital screen just pretending to be stone right now. Their friends had already called her to tell her about the burial ceremony, where voice fragments and videos had responded to each of them approaching the grave, making jokes, retelling embarassing anecdotes, and more. It was a shame, they said, that two of them had been unable to be there.   With a smile she approached the stone, wondering what message he had prepared for her. She was not disappointed when his face appeared, holding a finger in front of his mouth. "Sssssh... He's right behind you..." For a moment she stood still, blinking in surprise, before turning around.   She saw the last missing friend standing there and waved at him. "Evening, Joe! I see you still prefer your quiet. I'm done here myself, so don't feel burdened by me, go ahead. We'll catch up another time."   Joe gave her a timid nod before walking past her towards the grave. He stood just outside the sensor reach, needing to gather his courage before finally stepping up. The video that appeared had their friend smiling at him, making him release a sigh of relief. "Heya Joe! How are you? Better than me, right, since I'm dead! Hah! Hey, one last thing? She knows."   A gunshot echoed through the graveyard, followed by maniacal laughter from the video.



Cover image: Dark Woods by Free-Photos

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