October 2025 - Entrant

The pair stood over the hole, sipping hot soup from a flask. The silence was as thick as their foggy breath.

“I’m trying to stay calm here, Mike, but that’s a corpse in that hole.” Sam observed.

“Yes.” Mike confirmed.

“And why did you ask me to dig it up?”

“You’ve got experience in this.”

“Graverobbing? I’ve never touched a shovel before!”

“No, you’re a medium!”

“I’m a mediator! I help people fix their marriages!” Sam corrected.

“Even better; did you bring the book?”

“Yes.”

“So?” Mike prompted.

“So, what?”

“Wake him up!”

“How? He’s been dead a month by the looks of it!”

“Three weeks. Get on with it.”

Sam turned to face Mike. 

“I know sod all about raising dead people!”

“Use the book!”

Sam flipped to the first page.

“Chapter one: Upon the conservation and protection of Sula Nebouxii…”

Mike peered over Sam’s shoulder.

“That doesn’t sound like The Necronomicon.”

“I couldn’t get a hold of that. This is the Taxonomicon.”

“What?”

“The Taxonomicon and Encyclopaedia of Eastern Pacific Seabirds.”

“That doesn’t sound like it can raise the dead.”

“No, but I reckon it might have bored a few people to death. Or been used to beat them to death; it’s pretty hefty.”

Mike groaned. 

“Did you at least bring the elixir?”

“Course I did.”

“Where is it then?”

Sam rattled the near empty flask,

“We’ve been drinking it for the past two hours.”

Mike’s face turned pale.

“That was the elixir of life!” He clutched his stomach, “It’s meant to revive the dead!”

Sam poured the last of the flask’s contents into his cup.

“Dunno about that, might help a cold though.”

“You did follow the guide? Essence of foul bones, pungent Allium, Urfa Biber…”

“Yep; where did you get the recipe?”

Mike looked sheepish

“I asked ConverseBS?”

Sam nodded, draining his cup.

“Right, yeah: chicken bone broth, garlic, onions, Turkish pepper,” He put the flask away, “chicken soup.”

Sam rubbed his hands together briskly.

“This has been lovely, Mike, but to be honest; It’s freezing and I’m bloody terrified. I’m going to call the police.”

Mike’s eyes widened.

“Why?”

Sam gestured sharply to the hole. 

Mike relented, 

“Fair point. Do you want to know why before you turn me in?”

“You stalling so you can kill me too?”

Mike looked from Sam to the hole.

“Don’t you dare! Just say your piece.”

Mike sagged, 

“Life insurance.”

Sam stared, not a mote of belief about him.

“He messed up faking his death. I panicked, hid the body; then I remembered you’re a medium,”

“Mediator.”

“Whatever; I thought I’ve got nothing to lose trying this. Of course you were on holiday for a fortnight.”

“And now we’re freezing our assets off in a forest.”

The pair stood in silence again.

“Any chance of just forgetting about it?” Mike ventured.

“Literally none.”

More silence.

“Any chance of a head start?”

Sam glanced at his phone, battery dead; he sighed.

“Well, it’ll take me an hour to get home.”