The moon hung low in the sky, casting an eerie, silver glow over the sprawling cemetery. The air was crisp, biting with a chill that cut through the silence like a blade. The headstones rose from the earth like jagged teeth, their inscriptions barely legible under the pale light. The ground was damp beneath Sarah’s boots as she walked, the soft squelch of mud the only sound accompanying her in the stillness of the night.

She hadn’t planned to come here. In fact, she wasn’t even sure how she ended up wandering among the graves. Something had pulled her, an invisible thread that tugged her in this direction, a compulsion she couldn't resist. The events of the past days weighed heavily on her mind, the terror of what she had seen—what she had become—hanging over her like a dark cloud.

Her duplicate had been waiting for her. Her. Sitting at the dinner table, hollow-eyed, wearing her skin like a mask. The memory made her shudder, and she wrapped her arms tighter around herself, pulling her jacket closer as she walked. The cemetery stretched on for what felt like miles, the rows of tombstones endless in every direction. The wind whispered through the trees, carrying with it faint, unintelligible murmurs that made her skin crawl.

And then she saw it.

Up ahead, past the next row of tombstones, the ground was disturbed. A large, open hole yawned at the earth’s surface, the dirt piled neatly beside it. Her footsteps slowed, and a knot of unease tightened in her stomach. Something about the freshly dug grave made her throat dry up, her heartbeat quickening as she approached.

The closer she got, the more she realized what was wrong. There, at the head of the open grave, was a tombstone. Its smooth, gray surface reflected the moonlight, but as she stepped forward, the name carved into the stone became clear.

Her own.

Sarah Ellis.

Her breath caught in her throat. Her name. The date beneath it—her date of birth—was correct. But the date of death was missing, as though the stone was waiting for something, for someone to finish it. Her stomach lurched with a sickening realization. It was her grave.

"No," she whispered, her voice trembling, barely audible over the growing wind.

But as if in response, something shifted. The dirt beside the grave began to move. Slowly, deliberately, the loose soil rose into the air, clumping together and falling into the open pit. Sarah’s eyes widened in horror as she realized what was happening. It wasn’t just the wind. Someone—or something—was burying her.

Her mind screamed for her to run, but her legs wouldn’t move. She was frozen, rooted to the spot as the invisible figure continued its grim work. The soft, steady thump of dirt hitting the bottom of the grave echoed in the still night air, growing louder with each passing second.

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“No, no, no…” Sarah muttered, panic clawing at her throat as the dirt fell faster now, more insistent. The mound beside the grave grew smaller as the hole began to fill, the earth rising higher and higher as if it were preparing to cover her, to swallow her whole.

She stumbled backward, finally finding her footing as her body trembled with terror. She tried to turn away, but her eyes were drawn back to the grave, to the dirt that continued to fall, unstoppable. The sound of it was deafening now, like a rushing waterfall of earth, piling up, preparing to bury her alive.

And then she saw it—something moving in the darkness at the edge of the grave.

A shadow.

A figure, twisted and hunched, crawled toward the tombstone. Its movements were slow, deliberate, almost like it was savoring the moment. Sarah’s breath hitched as the figure straightened, its pale, gaunt face illuminated by the moonlight. Hollow eyes stared back at her, empty and endless, and its lips curled into that familiar, jagged smile.

The Crawler.

The same thing that had stalked her through the shadows, whispered her name through the wind, and stared back at her with her own face just days before. Its presence was an infection that spread, corrupting everything it touched, warping her reality into a living nightmare.

The Crawler’s hollow gaze locked onto her, and it tilted its head as though it were confused.

“You’re not supposed to be here, Sarah,” it said, its voice low and rasping, the same mockery of her own voice that it had used when it wore her skin. “But I’ll finish it this time.”

Her entire body went cold as she watched it reach down, its long, twisted fingers sinking into the mound of dirt beside the grave. With a flick of its hand, it sent another clump of earth into the hole, the soft thud making her heart jump in her chest.

It was burying her.

“Stop,” Sarah whispered, her voice shaking, but the Crawler only smiled wider, its broken teeth glinting in the pale light.

“How much blood, Sarah?” it whispered, the same cruel question it had asked before. “How much blood will it take?”

With a flick of its wrist, the Crawler hurled another clump of dirt into the grave, the sound echoing in her skull like a death knell. Sarah stumbled backward, her breath coming in ragged gasps as the world spun around her. The tombstones seemed to blur, their shapes twisting into jagged, unnatural angles, like broken bones rising from the earth.

She had to get away. She had to run.

Sarah turned and bolted, her legs finally obeying her, carrying her through the cemetery at a frantic pace. The wind roared in her ears, the whispers rising again, louder now, screaming her name, demanding that she stop, that she return to the grave.

But she didn’t stop. She couldn’t.

The ground beneath her felt uneven, shifting as though it too was trying to pull her down, trying to drag her into the earth. Her foot caught on something, and she stumbled, nearly falling before catching herself against a nearby tombstone. Her heart thundered in her chest, her legs trembling with exhaustion.

But when she looked back, the Crawler was gone. The grave, half-filled with dirt, stood open like a gaping wound in the earth, waiting for her to return.

She didn’t wait. She couldn’t. The wind whispered her name one last time, and Sarah ran, disappearing into the night as the cemetery lay silent behind her.

But the grave remained, with her name carved into the stone, the earth slowly falling into the hole, preparing for the day it would claim her for good.