Hold your breath
Through the fog, there was the sound of a child sobbing. A sobbing without rhythm, as the child tried to hold back their sobs but quickly broke down again, time and time again. In front of the figure was the silhouette of a grave, barely visible through the morning mist. Even the lights on it were nothing but a soft glow, the names utterly unreadable when not up close.
As the child wept and mourned, they suddenly became aware of sounds nearby. Their ears tried to focus on what turned out to be voices, but only barely managed to catch a few words. The tone, however, came across clearly. A ridiculing one, filled with mocking. "-gain, weepi-" "-o foolish, that chi-" "-ould get rid of it al-" "- a shame if any-"
The child spooked at the hostility, turning around and trying to pierce the dense fog with their eyes, attempting to discern people but failing. Crawling backwards in an attempt to escape, it only took a few seconds before their back hit the grave they had been mourning at. The sudden touch caused them to yelp in fear, and the voices responded with more cruel mumbling, leading the child to curl into a ball.
As the child sobbed incoherently, mouthing desperate cries to parents no longer present, they stopped being able to understand the words around them. Swarmed by emotions, all they could do is cry, fearing the hostile voices haunting them, merciless and dangerous.
Suddenly, a sharp cry broke through their stupor, as one voice shouted in fear. "Iscariot!" The other voices did the same, and the child could hear the sound of people running away. They looked up and tried to see through their own tears, wondering in both fear and hope what had caused this change.
A voice gently called out to them, "little one, are you okay?" As they faced the direction of the voice, a silhouette came into view, then turned figure, then turned into a woman with gentle dark eyes and hair that seemed to have a tinge of red in it. A sad smile was on her face as she halted, then kneeled before the child. She spoke up in the same gentle voice, a tone softer than a blanket.
"Hey, it's okay. That was just a bunch of jerks, deliberately scaring you through the fog. They ran off but I'll tell them off later, okay?"
In response, the child burst into tears again, now of relief. Through the sobbing their voice broke in fragments, a scared rambling about ghosts and more, showcasing their fears. The woman made soothing sounds, with a hint of anger in her eyes that the child only subconsciously noticed. Only after several minutes did the child manage to gather themself. "Who are you, miss?"
The sad smile was on her face again, seemingly filled with compassion for the fear the child had gone through. "Call me Tina, little one. I was just passing by and noticed the ruckus, so I stepped in. But little one, you shouldn't be here by yourself. Come, you've paid your respects, it's time to go, alright?"
The child nodded and got up, face still wet but now an attempt to be brave on their face. The woman nodded at them and the child nodded back, then turned and ran over the path towards the graveyard exit. As their figure disappeared into the swirling mist, the woman got up, her eyes now blazing. She held back for a few more seconds, making sure the child was gone, before she shouted out in rage at the people hidden nearby.
"What were the lot of you thinking, traumatising that little one?! As if they haven't gone through enough already! And here you go and gossip about them, and mock them for getting scared?! If I catch any of you lot doing that again, I'll put an icepick through your ears and you get to see if you can become an e-ghost as well! Now sod off, or I'll turn you into target practice!"
Sounds of frantic running filled the air as the hidden people ran off. The fog had started to clear now, and the grave was becoming more visible to the woman. She bowed her head towards the three names on the gravestone, then walked off herself, letting silence reclaim the graveyard.
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