A Thousand Steps

My story takes place through quite a few years.

When I was younger, about 9 or so, I used to always hang out with my then best friend Amanda. Her mom would always take her, her brother, sister and I to movies and we would always pass this cemetery on the way there and back. Being only 9 I never even knew the name of the cemetery just knew dead people and spirts were there. Even in the daylight that place creeped me out. I would always stare at the headstones and just feel cold even on the hottest days in the summer. Her mom would tell us how that particular cemetery was haunted and bad things had happened there to mess with us because she didn't believe in that kind of stuff. For some reason I felt there wasn't very much good around that area and though I was creeped out I always enjoyed driving by it.

Well, fast forwarding a few years in high school my basketball team was always trying to find things to do for bonding experiences. One night we planned to have a sleep over. My friend called me and told me to bring black clothing that's warm because we were going to go walk the Thousand Steps. . .I asked her what it was but she said she'd tell me when I got there.

I got home changed and drove to my friend's where the whole team was waiting for me. On our way there they began to fill me in. I guess in my hometown of Spokane there were steps that went under the cemetery that were in a tunnel and people who go there witness some crazy things. That made me uneasy but very interested. I didn't feel too worried especially since I had 10 other girls with me. . .that is until I saw where we were going.

My friend took a right on this winding road and I recognized the area. It was the same cemetery I passed so many times with my friend when I was 9. Not wanting to look like a wuss I just casually asked what the name of the cemetery was and my friend told me "It's Evergreen Cemetery".

We got out of the car and started our search for the steps with our flashlights. Yes, it was November but the climate in Spokane isn't that bad. Not cold as I was feeling that night and my friend that was with me was feeling really cold too with all the layers she had on as we searched farther down the side of the cemetery. Finally my flashlight caught some pavement and we pointed our lights at it and called for the rest of the team. We found old steps but they only lead to the top of the cemetery. Well my friends were all laughing and giggling and I was not having an easy feeling. I felt like we were being watched and that we weren't the only ones there. We made our way up to the top where it lead to an old tomb or shed, the girls were disappointed that it didn't go underneath the cemetery. (There was no way I would have gone under there if we had found it). As everyone started walking back down the steps I was frozen staring at an area on the cemetery. I honestly felt like I had about a million eyes starring at me, accusing me of something. It got really cold (so cold my joints ached and like needles were piercing my skin) and the girl's voices and laughter sounded like they were about a mile away. I couldn't walk down the stairs and I couldn't say anything.

Finally my friend grabbed me and it was weird, it was like I just fast forwarded about 2 hours like time stopped and it had only been about 4 minutes since my team headed down. My friend said she called me about 4 times and had to come up and grab me. She said that I responded to her but she could not make sense of what I said so she walked up to grab me. From that point on I vowed to never go near there again.

The story doesn't end there though. . .since I have decided to go to trade school of sorts I have some days chosen to take the city bus to avoid parking downtown because it gets pretty pricey. One night I had missed my bus to go home working on an assignment. I took a different bus that would be a longer ride but leave before my next regular one would. Of course, I didn't know that it actually took the road that the Evergreen Cemetery is on. Of course since it's November by the time it's 5.30 pm (when I get out of school most of the time) it's pretty dark. I didn't want to but I couldn't help but look at the place as the bus drove by. As I looked I noticed a grounds keeper working on an area which was kind of odd to me seeing how it was about 6pm by this time and he still be working in the darkness. I heard that another bus had issues so we waited by the cemetery for that bus to give is passengers to ours.

I continued to watch him finish up his work and head off to the building on the south side of the cemetery. I looked to the right as people passed me to move my belongings for someone else to sit by me if needed and looked up back to the grounds.

I noticed he didn't look over to see the two buses switch passengers (my city is full of rubberneckers so it's odd someone doesn't want to know what's going on) so I looked a little harder. As he went to go into the building he was gone! Just gone. . .I made a noise and the man sitting in front of me turned looking quite pale and just said "I don't know either" and turned back around. Evidently there's a lot of history to this cemetery that I'm trying to figure out.