Grandma's Coffin

Grandma was pronounced dead after a week in the hospital. She had been put into an induced coma after her heart began to fail. The monitor flat lined and they pulled a white sheet over her body after a minute of pushing on her chest trying to revive her. Mom and Dad both squeezed their son's hands and then rushed him out of the hospital room.

Her funeral was two days later, and Mom and Dad prayed over her closed casket. Twenty or so people sat through the service and then everyone flocked to the graveyard where Grandma was going to be buried. The Son stood in the back of the crowd as the coffin was lifted down into the six foot deep hole. None of this felt right to the Son. Sure, Grandma was old and was having heart problems, but why would she suddenly just up and die? It felt all wrong.

Dirt was thrown into the hole and the people started disappearing. Mom and Dad went back to the church to clean up and left their Son sitting infront of Grandma's freshly buried grave.

Grandma opened her eyes and began to cough. At the hospital, her heart had been beating so slowly that it was undetectable, and was pronounced dead when she truly wasn't. She had just come out of the induced coma. Everything was black around her. She could hardly breathe. She reached out and her hands barely moved before they hit something velvety and hard above her. She began screaming, her heart pounded and she choked and yelled. The Son heard noises from the ground and put his ear against the dirt. He heard screams. He began screaming himself and he started to dig up the loose dirt with his hands.

After a long while he uncovered the coffin and was greeted with silence. The sun had gone down and the only light was emitting from street lamps and lights from the church. He pulled the coffin open, wiped the tears off of his face with his dirty hands, and jumped back at the sight that he uncovered.

Grandma was in the coffin. Her arms were stiff and her fingers were bloody and broken as she had tried to scratch her way out. The top of the inside of the coffin was ripped apart. Her eyes and mouth were open wide and rigor mortis had taken over her entire body. She had died, really, from the lack of oxygen.