The story of the Tic tac toe

i played tic-tactoe

with a gravestone and i think i lost

now i know this sounds terrible but i

promise you that i didn't mean any

offense when i did it

i was just out in my town's historical

graveyard it's been around since the

1800s

doing some grave rubbings in one of the

less maintained sections

when i found it a grave i presume had

been

defaced a long time ago i thought

because the carvings were a little faded

and weathered

you know how when a mark is fresh it's

got ragged edges

like a cut but over time the wind and

rain

smooth down those rough patches and it

becomes smooth

this was like that i would have thought

it original to the tombstone if it

weren't for the fact that it was

on the back and that it was a

tic-tac-toe board

i have no idea when tic-tac-toe was

invented to be fairi just

assumed that it wasn't in the 1800sthe idea of it just amused me an

eternally

unfinished antique game of tic-tac-toe

i wondered who had started the game if

they'd filled it out all on their own or

if they'd had a partner

if the game had been left deliberately

unfinished

as some kind of macabre joke or

if something had happened to prevent

them from finishing it

the longer i squatted there my forearms

resting on my knees

the funnier and more whimsical it

seemed

to me

there were already three x's on the

board two in the top corners and one in

the middle space

there were two o's on the board as well

one in each of the bottom corners

it looked like x was poised to win so i

reached up with my chalky hand

and etched an o right in the middle of

the top row

the residue on my hand was barely

enough

to leave an entire circle

it was gossamer and practically

invisible in the afternoon gloom

a storm had been threatening all day soi figured it was harmless

the rain would wash the mark away by

nightfall anyway

and it wasn't like i defaced the

tombstone

it had kind of brokern my concentration

though

i looked up after making my move and

realized just how late it had gotten

i'd skipped lunch because i was so

engrossed in the etchings

my stomach was pinched and sour

feeling

time to get something to eat i got to my

feet

joints popping and aching despite the

fact i was only in my mid-20s

spent too long hunched over my back

and

knees hurt

i felt decrepid hobbling out of the

graveyard and over to my trusty old kia

about as old as those tombstones

but as i backed out of the parking lot i

couldn't shake the weirdest sense of

unease like a shadow had rolled over me

it was probably my imagination i told

myself

on the way back to my apartment latest

superstition from working in a graveyardi figured as i gathered my sketches and

trotted up the steps to my apartment

i even managed to forget about it while

i cooked myself dinner and worked on

entering the names and dates id

recorded into the database for the local

historical society

by the time i hopped in the shower i was

blissfully

woefully unprepared for the night ahead

i got my first inkling of what was

coming

when i got out of the shower whisking

the curtain aside with a cheerful jangle

of the rings

i was humming to myself as i snagged

the

towel off the rod and roughed my hair

with italmost walked right past the mirror

without looking

but i did i did look

and i stopped dead in my tracks

there in fat finger wide lines

was a tic-tac-toe board two

x's in the top corners two o's in the

bottom

one x in the center one o

in the center of the top line and now

an x between the os at the bottom

a chill ran down my spine my heart rate

went

through the roof i stared

uncomprehending for at least three

minutes

before it sank in either i was

imagining this or the

alternatives were almost as frightening

some psychopath had seen me in the

graveyard broke into my apartment

and scribbled a game on my mirror while

i was in the shower

i had done it in some kind a few state

or my mouth was dry

i turned toward the bathroom door too

Scared to open it at first

but my phone was in there and my keys

and my clothes and anything to defend

myself with for that matterand if someone had broken in they would

have heard the shower stop by now

so i tooka deep breath and bumped the

door open with my foot

winding the towel up in my hands

no one was there i dropped to my knees

and checked under the bed

then scrambled up and got dressed as

fast as i could

i'm a pretty big dude but i have to say

that my knees were knocking asi

searched my apartment

top to bottom for any sign of an

intruder

all the windows were locked the doors

were still

dead bolted i lived on the third story

So it's not like someone could just

fricken rapunzel the balcony

which meant that either i had done that

or a ghost had and frankly

i was more ready to accept that i had

eventually i chalked it up to exhaustion

and some kind of

weird muscle memory or something and

decided to call it

an early night i was woken froma sound

sleep by the creaking of the bedroom

door

i wasn't alarmed not at first.