Ghost Story: A Surprise

Laurence killed Derrick while Derrick was on his run. Laurence waited in the bushes in the parkland he knew Derrick ran in. Then when Derrick came by, Laurence hit him with a baseball bat, dragged him into the brush and bludgeoned him to death.

The police questioned everyone, including Laurence. But they had no good leads. Derrick had disappeared. That was all they knew.

But then Derrick started digging himself up. He was found in a pile of dirt by the grave Laurence dug for him in the brush by a jogger and her dog.

The police asked everyone about Derrick including Laurence. But they didn't find out anything.

Derrick was buried in a cemetery. But he dug himself out. The groundskeeper found him out of his plot. He was lying motionless and highly rotted in a pile of dirt on top of his grave.

Chock it up to gauche pranksters. Derrick was buried again. The news of Derrick's second coming had disturbed Laurence. Grave vandals? He didn't know. 

Winter came. A snow fell. The groundskeeper of the cemetery was alerted by visitors to a foot of snow displaced and a dirty little hole emerging in front of a grave.

The groundskeeper shrugged it off. Why bother anyone about a little hole. Nothing important could have anything to do with the hole. Dog went digging there, or some critter. He filled it.

A day later, a skeleton was found on the road outside the cemetery. More news. The body was identified as Derrick. More news still. Pranksters again. The body would be secured in a mausoleum on the grounds.

Thank god, Laurence thought. He was a rationalist but Derrick seemed to be coming for him. Agonizingly slowly. But persistently.

Laurence dismissed the thought and got on with his life. But he couldn't sleep.

Well, you conquer irrational fears by confronting them. Laurence would go to the crypt.

A visit was arranged with a cemetery manager. Laurence was allowed into the mausoleum. The manager gave him some time.

After an hour or so the manager checked on Laurence. The manager found Laurence dead on the floor. The room was as it had been when the manager left, though it looked like Laurence had disturbed the sarcophagus' marble lid when he fell. It was ever so slightly askew.