But every time he approached in the dark, those dogs would emerge from the shadows, their eyes reflecting his flashlight, standing like sentinels over the headstone.
He tried to drive them off, but they seemed obsessed with something beneath the surface. He began to worry: “Is this some kind of sign? Is it because of my secret feelings for her?” These thoughts weighed on him. He wondered if the dogs would leave if he stopped coming. He remembered how, right after the funeral, he had made it his mission to keep the site pristine.
But every night, he witnessed the same scene: the dogs trying to unearth something. He kept asking, “Why Grace?” The question ate at him as he sat in the dark, remembering the sound of her voice and the way she carried herself. Now, those memories were tainted by this eerie mystery.
He started to blame himself. “Maybe this is a reflection of my own guilt for not speaking up.” These dark thoughts suffocated him, and he considered staying away from the cemetery altogether. But every time he tried to leave, he felt like he was abandoning her. The guilt was unbearable.
In a small town, news travels fast. Soon, the local town council and the Sheriff were discussing why a pack of dogs was fixated on the grave of such a well-regarded young woman. Despite Luke’s efforts to keep it quiet, the situation became public knowledge.
Some of the more cynical locals started to gossip. “Maybe she wasn’t as perfect as everyone thought,” one man suggested at the local diner. “If the animals are acting up like that, there’s usually a reason.”
He continued, “Everyone says she was a saint, but she lived in that old shack with a woman who couldn’t even hear what was going on in the next room. Secrets have a way of coming out after you’re gone.”
He was insistent. “I don’t buy the ‘innocent’ act. No one is that perfect. Maybe she was involved in something she shouldn’t have been. Just because she wore a long skirt and carried a Bible doesn’t mean she didn’t have a dark side.”
Luke heard these rumors, and it made his blood boil. He thought to himself:
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