"Dead is Better: The Return to the Pet Sematary": My fan fiction sequel to Stephen King's "Pet Sematary"

This year I struck out from my familiar job field and left retail behind. My now ex was working at a factory that was and still is perpetually seeking workers and he and I were on different shifts in our different jobs. It was then we had the brilliant idea of me applying to work at the factory.

I was hired for the production floor where we were allowed to listen to music or audiobooks, and I took full advantage of this. After the morning safety meeting, I would put my headphones in and turn on my audiobook. I averaged one or two books each week and loved the fact I could finally get books off of my "to read" list.

The first audiobook I listened to was Stephen King's "Pet Sematary", I had seen the movie and meant for the longest time to read the book. I am sure the book cultists reading this article just scoffed on their tea at this, but before I get angry letters I will say I did read several other King books. "The Shining", "Doctor Sleep", and "Carrie" were how I got into his works before I moved on to other authors.

I loved "Pet Sematary" and found it now ranks as one of my favorite books, and is top three for my favorite King books. As much as I loved it I do feel that the story is not finished. The book ends with the Mic-Mac burial ground gathering power after the deaths of most of the characters. This is while Ellie Creed, the daughter of the main character, survives having been left with her grandparents out of state when the book comes to its bloody end.

The sample chapter I prepared below shows how, like "Doctor Sleep" picked up the story of Danny Torrence decades after the events of "The Shining", the story started in "Pet Sematary" can be continued with a follow-up novel or novella.

Before we get into the sample I do have some disclaimers:

1. I do not own or claim to own any of the characters or locations used in this article. All rights belong to the copyright owners.

2. This is not canon and should only be taken as my suggestion of how a sequel to "Pet Sematary" could be.

3. To keep this article from becoming too long I will be presenting several excerpts of the main plot points.

4. I am doing this for fun, I enjoy Stephen King and writing so doing both is an entertaining exercise for me.

5. What I am proposing is a sequel to the novel "Pet Sematary" and will be ignoring the films completely.

For those who saw the 2019 remake and have not read the book or seen the 1989 adaptation please note: Ellie Creed is not the one who is killed in the road. This only happened in the 2019 remake and I do not consider this to be canon.

With all that out of the way let's get into the article!

"Dead is Better: The Return to the Pet Sematary"

Ellie sat in the darkness of her bedroom for a moment before she picked up her phone from the nightstand and checked the time. It was 4:30 in the morning. She unlocked her phone, opened her email, and scrolled down to the message from her lawyer.

Her lawyer had informed her that the house in Ludlow which she had inherited many years before after the deaths of her parents had finally sold. The buyers were in the process of closing on the property and her lawyer would keep her updated.

She read the email again to see if there was anything she missed, something she had done each time she opened the email. She knew the email by heart. Her lawyer opens with an excited but still polite email, she knows Ellie wants nothing more than to sell the property and be rid of it. The buyer is a development company based in Boston that wants to tear down the house and the woods in the back.

"The back." Ellie repeated aloud.

This line always stuck with her. Every time she read the email she always stopped at this line and read it out loud. She knew what it meant, Pet Sematary will finally be destroyed. The Pet Sematary. The thought of its name alone made her uneasy.

The smell of pine and the sound of bugs buzzing overwhelmed her as the memory of her first visit to the Pet Sematary came back to her again. Judd and her walking through the woods, her father, Gage, and her mother behind them. A happy memory of them all together before...

"Let them bulldoze it," Ellie said as she locked her phone and set it back on the nightstand.

The darkness flooded the room once more, but Ellie could feel that it was not the same empty darkness it had been before she woke. She closed her eyes and tried to bring a dream, one that had nothing to do with Ludlow, her dead family, or the Pet Sematary but nothing came.

Ellie... Her father's voice called out to her.

She turned over uneasily in her bed, the bed covers constricted tightly around her.

"No..." Ellie murmured as she entered the space between sleep and consciousness.

We need you, Ellie. Her father's voice reassured her. We are all here. Your mother, me, Gage, we are all here.

"I... can't... because..."

Eileen. The voice was her mother's. Come home, Eileen.

"...you're dead."

Sometimes Ellie... A deep voice she recognized immediately as Jud's said. Dead is better.

Unconsciousness overcame her and she fell into her darkest dream. She was no longer laying in bed, she was now standing in the Pet Sematary. The rows of makeshift gravemarkers spiraled around her in their queer, unintentional order.

Stay away, Ellie.

This voice she felt she had heard before but did not immediately recognize. It was as if she was trying to pull back fleeting images from a dream she had woken from. She focused on the voice and a name came to her, one she had not uttered in many years.

"Paxcow?"

You remembered. The voice said in a pleasant tone. Your father tried to help me when I died and I have returned to warn you.

"Warn me about what?"

The forest around the Pet Sematary fell silent before a loud crash came from the trees that encircled the spirals. Ellie turned and saw a tree had fallen into the Pet Sematary. She followed the length of the tree to its base and her heart sank. No, not fallen... knocked over.

Stay away. Do not return to Ludlow. It needs you.

Another loud crash made her grow rigid. Something was moving through the forest, something large. She could not see it, but she knew it could see her. She felt its gaze fixed on her like prey that knew a predator was stalking it.

"What..." She had to force the words from her lips. "What is it?"

It is nothing, probably just a moose passing by. Her father's voice said soothingly. Come home, Ellie. We can be together again...

NO. Paxcow's voice resounded like a cannon. The barrier must not be crossed. Not again.

"WHAT IS IT?"

I told you, probably just a moose...

Wendigo. Paxcow interjected. It's the reason your family is dead, and now it needs you. Do not give it what it wants.

Ellie?

The voice made a shiver run down her spine.

"Gage."

Don't you want to play with me? Her brother's voice asked.

"No." Ellie turned uneasily in the bed.

I played with Jud, then I played with mommy...

"No."

Then daddy made me sleep, but he woke mommy and mommy played with daddy...

"No!" Ellie shouted as she woke herself.

Stay away, Ellie. Paxcow warned. Stay away from Ludlow.