SavantiRomero

Among the few Gravesites that our small town boasted one of them, by far the oldest was long overlooked. The rusting iron fencing that circled the small plot of land dated back to the Colonial days, long before the United States of America was even a thing. It sat there abandoned and unloved, headstones choked in a sea of tall grasses and windblown leaves from Autumns long passed. So it came as quite a shock to suddenly one day see the place cleared out. In the span of a single night the years of overgrowth had been removed exposing the weather ravaged Gravestones to the light of the Sun for the first time in decades. I was in Eighth Grade when this particular event happened and it quickly became the talk of the School, a real genuine "Whodunit" mystery that I intended to Solve. Just by chance my Friend Charlie lived not far from the old Cemetery and a perfect opportunity to investigate happened as the end of the semester neared. The final consisted of a Project that required a partner and choosing Charlie I set the plan in motion. As the weekend neared I would float an idea to Charlie that we should hold a Sleepover at his place to finish Work on the Project, however my real Quarry lay in the nearby Cemetery and the Mystery it held. The Friday arrived and after School had completed we adjourned to his house to begin work on our Project, a Diorama of the Battle of Fort Sumter. As Charlie skillfully cut the blocks of Styrofoam into blocks for the Fort I began to paint over the Camouflage of a cheap Dollar Store GI Joe knockoff in a vain attempt to fashion him into Robert Anderson a decorated US Army officer and Commander of that ill fated Fort my attention wavered to the nearby Window and my boon not far afield, the Cemetery that was my obsession. I had made up my mind. As soon as Nightfall I would spirit myself outside the house and across the smattering of vacant lots to the Cemetery and after documenting every minute on my phone return to the house and to bed with everyone none the wiser. My eyes shot open as the alarm blared in my headphones. "Ahh 2:12 AM!" I said to myself quickly pulling my pants on. "The Witching Hour muhahahaha!" I 8 giggled as I opened the Sliding glass door and out onto the patio. Lifting my leg over the railing I was just about to jump when the patio light came on bathing me in a yellow incandescent glow. "Where are you going!?" Charlie asked in hushed tones. "I thought you were asleep. " I retorted. "I was. I woke up to use the bathroom and saw you sneaking around so my question remains where are you going?" "I'm going to investigate that Cemetery...I just need to know what the deal is." I said earnestly. "That damn Cemetery...fine but you're not going without me! Just wait while I take a piss ok?" I agreed and Charlie galloped around the corner and silently into the Bathroom to relieve his overflowing bladder. He emerged from the House a few minutes later with a change of wardrobe, his normally bright colored clothing replaced by muted forest tones, more conducive to sneaking around. As we neared the old Cemetery we could see that more renovations had been done, the rusted and pitted wrought iron fencing was beginning to vanish, replaced by new yet still antique looking replacements. Whomever was doing this was paying a pretty penny for it. Inside the Cemetery was a similar story. The years of Moss buildup had begun to fall away from the Stones, exposing the names of the deceased. As for the Stones that had broken brand new polished Black Marble replacements sat where they once were. A sudden Whistle caused Charlie and I to dive into a nearby Bush as a shadow passed over us. With wide eyes staring wildly out from the foliage we watched as a Guy knelt down and began to scrape away the Moss from another Stone. "I know you're in there." He said glancing towards us in the Bush. "I have cameras installed throughout the yard". He added motioning to the canopy of a nearby tree revealing a Mounted camera panning left and right. "Sorry." I said standing up. "We were just curious about...all of this." I said pulling Charlie up who was cowering at my feet." "Yeah Sorry Mister." He said meekly. "No worries boys there's no harm in Curiosity. If you've got questions I've got answers." He said. "So what is this place?" I asked him. "This is the original Cemetery for Avery Township." He said sighing. Avery was the next town over a few miles away from ours which didn't make a whole lot of sense. "If it's Avery's Cemetery why is it in Kennington?" "A couple reasons. One is that Kennington didn't exist. The entire parcel of land was owned by Elias Kennington a wealthy local Businessman. When what happened in Avery Township happened Kennington donated a portion of his land for the Cemetery...as a way of atoning for his misdeeds. "What happened?" I asked him. "Well Son, old Elias was a greedy son of a bitch. He discovered quite by chance that his land was littered with a strange vein of rocks that glowed bright yellow when exposed to light, similarly to how modern Glow in the Dark stuff works. He began to mine up the stuff and worked on it right here. They would pulverize this stone, grinding it into powder and mixing it with white paint created the first ever glow in the dark paint. It became a hit product and was used in good manufactured right here for the enjoyment of hundreds. At first business was good but soon enough the sickness started. You see Downwind from Avery Township in the Settlement area that would become Kennington the families of the Employees began to suffer from an unknown illness. It began with irritation of the eyes and nose and eventually led to coughing and labored breathing. It quickly became apparent that something was amiss. Turns out that the pulverized mineral powder was aerosolized and floating in the air, getting inhaled by the People of Kennington leading to severe respiratory damage. Without any remedy People began dropping like flies. Entire families were suddenly gone in an instant and Elias felt personally responsible. Be it a guilty conscience or just a bid to save himself from the hangman's noose Elias dedicated the profits of his folly to the eternal rest of all those inflicted by his curse. "But why are you here, restoring the Cemetery after years of neglect sir?" Charlie asked. "Well kiddo my story is inexorably tied to this place." He said grinning. "You see these four Stones grouped together? This is the Jameson Family. Husband Mark, Wife Abigail and their children Katie and William. Katie was aged 8 years old and William was only three. However there was a 3rd child in this particular Family, the eldest child Henry aged 21 at the time." "Whatever happened to him?" I asked. "Well like his Family, Henry got sick. However unlike his Family he survived. Because what Henry didn't know, at least not until after he lost his Family that they weren't his family at all. Henry had been taken in by the Jameson's and raised as one of their own. Upon learning this information Henry departed from Kennington and vowed to never return. "What happened to him?" Charlie asked. "Well. Henry moved to Massachusetts and got involved in the burgeoning American Revolution. He watched as the British Colonies tossed off the shackles of Tyranny and took their first steps into becoming the World's premier Superpower...or he would've had if not for a shot from British Musket during the Boston Massacre. As he lay dying on the cobblestone streets of Beantown his thoughts drifted back to Kennington and his Family plot... "No!" Said his voice weakly and choked by blood and foam as he sat up and dusted himself off. With each step he took he felt more and more energy returning to his body, tearing his bloodied shirt off revealed the wound beginning to heal right before his eyes, the Round ball shot plopping out onto the ground as he walked triumphantly defeating Death itself. Months later as the American Revolution began Henry joined the fight using his immortality as a secret weapon, known only to a select few in the Culper Ring, an actual Revolutionary War Spy Network started by General George Washington himself. Under the codename of "Methuselah" Henry worked in secret gathering intelligence and oftentimes being executed by the British as a spy only to miraculously turn up alive not long after. Henry continued to serve his Country through the years, acting as the secret weapon throughout History from the Wsr of 1812, the Civil War, both World Wars and the Korean War. However by 1955 Henry's age began to catch up with him. His perennially youthful appearance began to crack. Wrinkles and grey hair had crept into his carefully manicured appearance signifying that his immortality was not as eternal as he once believed. And so "Methuselah" had to retire from the World and live out however many years he had left. And so he began to travel, exposing himself to different peoples and cultures, learning all about the World he inhabited but kept at arms length until finally he returned home, to visit his Family and honor the families that perished so that he might live. "Wait a minute?" I asked incredulously. "Are you trying to say that you are Henry, the Immortal guy?" "Yes." He said bluntly. "What a load of Bull Shit!" Charlie said. "The guy smiled and nodded before tearing open his sweat flecked shirt revealing lifetimes worth of scars on his chest and torso, including one very prominent scar in his center mass just below his left pectoral muscle...that initial kill shot from over three hundred years ago. Charlie took off running and after nodding I followed him back to his house and into his Bedroom as the first rays of the morning sun beamed over the horizon. "We have to tell someone!" Charlie said. "Bullshit we do!" I shot back. "If the Government finds out that we know about "Methuselah" we'll find ourselves in Guantanamo Bay, don't say anything!" And for over twenty years I have kept the greatest American Secret, the secret of a Patriotic Hero "Methuselah" who was witness to some of the most Heroic and Tragic events in the history of our country. And so as you and your family celebrate the 4th of July remember those who sacrificed their time, bodies, minds and tragically their lives to give us all Freedom from Tyranny.