Part Three: The Eye of the Storm

"At this point in time, the Doppler radar is showing signs of." Rob's mother was listening to the weather report. They had interrupted programming for an update. ".We expect this all to end by midnight tonight."
A tornado watch was in effect. Farther west, the storm had caused considerable amounts of damage and produced tornadoes, high winds, large hail, and tons of rain. Rob's mother started worrying. She didn't know where Rob was or if he was safe.

"What do you mean 'your father?'" asked Julie after the surprise wore off.
Jake continued to cry and rock back and forth. "You've killed him!!!!!" he screamed.
"How can he possible be your father?" Asked Julie still wondering what was going on.
"He left when I was two," Jake stated to explain, "Mother kicked him out." he paused.
Rob took the opportunity to interject, "Jake, why didn't you ever te."
"BECAUSE IT WAS NONE OF YOUR BUISSNESS!" Yelled Jake cutting of Rob. Jake, still crying, started to explain, "He beat her."
"Well that's not too hard to believe," said Julie under her breath.
"He beat her so bad that she bled you didn't have to KILL HIM!!" Jake was hysterical now. Rob couldn't see through the black mask of the reaper costume but he was sure that Jake's eyes were fiery red with anger. His rage could be felt by both Julie and Rob. He no longer cried. Instead, he breathed heavily through clenched teeth and stood up shaking. "He may have beat mom," he said, "but he loved me! He loved me and I loved him and you will PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Jake lunged for them and Julie and Rob took off running leaving Kyle behind, unconscious and possibly dead.
They exited the cabin and the trampled out into the wet grass and pouring rain. They could hear Jake tossing things around and screaming with fury from inside. As they left the front lawn of the cabin, the door flung open and Jake appeared holding a pistol, presumably his father's.
Two shots rang out over their heads and they heard Jake yelling again as he slipped back inside the cabin.
"What are we going to do?" asked Julie through tears as they ran.
"Well," replied Rob, "we can't leave or I'll die."
"You don't still believe that do you?"
"Well I don't want to chance way," said Rob as they turned and changed directions.
"Melvin said that they all died at the front gate of Oak Park," said Julie, "So, if we went to the forest.."
"I won't die!!!" exclaimed Rob.
"Exactly!" Replied Julie.
The changed directions again and as they ran off through the stormy night towards the forest of Oak Park cemetery, they heard another shot ring out.

They had interrupted programming again. The tornado watch had been upgraded to a tornado warning. Rob's mom jumped for the phone. She called Kyle's mother. "Have you heard from Rob?" she asked worriedly. "Oh, they haven't come back yet? Ok, well if they do, make sure they stay there. I'm going to look for them." Rob's mother hung up the phone and ran to the car leaving the television, the light, and anything else she may have been using, running. She opened the garage door and got in the car. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed as she sped off down the slippery, rain soaked pavement.

The storm's intensity increased as the neared the forest. The wind picked up and blew Julie's witch dress, making it hard for her to run. The rain had smeared her makeup. When they had finally reached the forest they were blocked in by the same eight foot fence that encased the rest of the cemetery.
"Great!" said Rob, "Now what?"
"Maybe there is a gate?" said Julie "Let's take a look," she said, pointing in the very direction they didn't want to go.
"Back to the cabin!?" screamed Rob, "Are you crazy?"
"Well, it's either that or the front gate Rob! You decide!"
Rob sighed and after a moment of silence he had made up his mind. "All right, let's go."
"Where?" asked Julie?
"We'll try for the forest gate."

Rain pelted the car and wind shook it as Rob's mother drove 80 down the street towards the cemetery. Julie mentioned it earlier; it was possible that that is where the children are. She flipped on the radio and listened to the weather report. "Everyone is strongly urged to seek safety at this time. A funnel cloud has been spotted two miles west of Oak Park cemetery. If you are on the road, stop and find shelter. It i.." static filled the speakers and with shaky hands, Rob's mom clicked off the stereo.
Oh God, she thought, Please let them be safe.

They began running back toward the cabin where Jake would no doubt be waiting for them. Rain smacked them in the face as their legs carried them through the wet grass toward their certain doom. Half way there hail began to fall and winds picked up. They pushed on.
They arrived at the forest gate two minutes later, faces red form the hail. They slowed as the approached the gate and didn't hear Jake's approach. Rob walked toward the gate and began to unhook it. Silently, Jake tiptoed up to Julie. With one hand he clapped her mouth shut and with the other he jammed the gun in her side. Rob turned to call Julie and that was then he noticed Jake. Jake began laughing. "I figured you would be too scared to try for the front gate," he said. Rob moved forward and Jake burst out, "One more step and you can say good-bye to this witch." Jake pushed the gun harder and Julie moaned in pain.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Rob
"You know!!!" Screamed Jake, "You know damn well why I'm doing this. I can pretend to not mind the ridiculing, I can pretend to not care about the names that people call me, I can pretend to just shrug off all of the comments, I cannot, however, sit down and let ANYONE!! Even you, my best friend, murder the one man who actually loved me for who I was." Jake was crying again, "You killed him! Both of you! YOU KILLED HIM!!!!!" Jake was again shaking because he was so angry, "and you know what?" He jammed the gun into Julie harder and screamed, "vengeance is a bitch!" He pulled the trigger.

The bullet exploded from the front of Julie's gown. Julie fell and smacked the ground. Water from the day's rain splashed up. Rob stood dumbfounded. ".," he mumbled, " did you do?"
"I did what had to be done. She got what was coming to her. Now, you are too." He raised the gun to Rob's eye level and Rob ran. He ran for the front gate and through the rain, hail, and wind, Jake followed, black cloak dragging in the grass absorbing the water. Jake fired a shot which flew to the left of Rob's shoulder and into the distance. "Get back here! You've got no where to run! You're a dead man! You saw the gravestone yourself!"

Rob's mother had slowed her speed. After she spun out while taking a hard right turn she didn't want to chance crashing. She was a quarter of the way to the cemetery and she slammed on the accelerator again when she saw in her mirror the child of the storm currently pounding the city. A tornado had touched down. It was behind her, and it was big.

Robert had reached the front gate. He was stopped dead in his tracks. "Scared to go on Snow?" Jake said, "Hahaha, how ironic, earlier today you would have given your left arm to stay out of this cemetery and now, only two hours later, you are willing to give your life to stay in it. There is just one thing I would like to know to before I put a bullet in you. Did you get the closure you wanted? Are you peaceful?" Rob did not answer. Jake shot the gun in the air warning Rob. "ARE YOU PEACEFUL!?" Jake asked again.
"Of course I'm not peaceful!" yelled Rob, "I've got a mad man starring me down with a gun, I can't run or I'll die, you've killed my friends, I was almost murdered by your gravedigger father, and I'm in the middle of a cemetery getting pelted by balls of ice. How could I possibly be peaceful?"
"Well, if you're not peaceful now," said Jake as he raised the gun, "Then I certainly hope you can rest in peace." Wind picked up and Jake's eyes bulged. Rob turned to find a tornado coming their way. They had a couple of minutes before it would be upon them.

Rob's mother tried to beat the tornado but she was unlucky. As she sped off toward the cemetery the storm picked up the car and she was spun into the sky and up into the dusty vortex.

Jake pulled the trigger, nothing. Again he pulled the firing lever and again, nothing happened. He threw the gun and advanced on Rob. Rob backed up farther without leaving the park. "I may not have a gun left," said Jake as he approached. Rob continued to inch back, "but you are forgetting one thing," Rob could feel the gate of Oak Park on his body. Two more steps and he would be out of the cursed cemetery. "One very important thing," Jake started running, "I am the GRIM REAPER!!!" Rob had no choice. To avoid Jake's lunge he had to take the final two steps. Rob exited Oak Park as Jake ran for him and as he did, his mother's car landed on top of him and crushed him. Robert Snow was dead.

"At this time it is believed that only two of the five victims were indeed killed by the storm. The remaining three were either shot or impaled during the night. Details are still surfacing. We have reason to believe that a survivor has been taken into custody. Police are not revealing the name." Jake, still in his reaper costume, watched this on the news in the police station. As they mentioned the deaths a smile crossed his face, invisible to the cops through the blackness of his hood.

Jake confessed to the murder of Julie and Kyle, who he shot in the head, and was sentenced to time in a juvenile detention hall until he turned eighteen when he would be sentenced as an adult. He hanged himself before that day came.
After searching the cabin of the cemetery it was found that Melvin had indeed killed the thirteen. Their remains were discovered buried in a shallow grave under Melvin's cherry red pickup truck. The truck was later identified as the one that killed Robert Snow's father. The cabin was eventually burnt down and the truck impounded.
The five who died were buried next to each other in a publicly shown ceremony two days after the storm. Virtually the whole town showed up to remember the lost lives.
Oak Park's two new gravediggers got the task of burying the five. "I just can't believe it," said one of the gravediggers as he dumped dirt on Rob's casket, "I mean five people! All in one night!"
"Well, you know what they say," said the other who was taking care of Julie, "When it rains it pours."
"Yeah," the first agreed with confusion, "but snow doesn't always mean a blizzard."

THE END