home like this. She began shaking uncontrollably. Delcie’s hand was trembling and cold as ice.
“I don’t understand! Where the hell were we? What was that place? What were those things?!”
“Delcie, I’m sorry. I didn’t think we’d… I, I guess I thought if we went out there, it would be all normal and I could prove to myself that there was nothing wrong with the place. And I dragged you right into it. I’m sorry, Delcie.” Delcie stared at her, all attempts at posturing or pretension gone. Jen’s look of apology was sincere and Delcie’s response was equally genuine.
“It’s OK. I’m glad nobody got hurt. Imagine if you went there by yourself!” Jen thought for a moment, then realized she could never have been so strong by herself.
“Thank you, Delcie. Thank you for going along, even though it turned out bad.” They hugged, and started crying and laughing at the same time. The fear dissipated and gave way to humor, the only way the girls could deal with the surreal quality of the experience.
“Were those freaking dogs, or what the hell were they!?” Delcie laughed, tears running down her face.
“Remind me to take a few shock collars next time!” Jen laughed
“Somebody hasn’t had their shots!”
“They need a little obedience training!”
“We’ll take the dog whisperer next time!!!” Delcie was beside herself crying and laughing. Jen thought she might wet her pants if she laughed any harder. This was necessary catharsis.
“Oh. God! I can’t take it! Stop!” Jen laughed. Then she thought about the crying child – man – boy outside. Her blood chilled and the laughter left her. Delcie continued to laugh, but her laughter began to dissipate as well.
“Jen?”
“Yes?”
“Why was he crying?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. I don’t know.” They sat in the new silence. Jen thought of the huge shadow; too large for child tears, and the sound of a child’s broken heart coming from a monstrous shadow.
“Jen, was that the boy from town?”
“I think so, but I don’t know…”
“So, what really did happen when you and Tanner went there?”
Jen told her everything. From the frightened deer to the shoe in the light. The picture over the fireplace especially stuck in her mind. She realized that it might be the boy himself. Why would he haunt the shack? What did he want? Jen suddenly felt angry again. This was a sick man, nothing more. Not a ghost. No, that couldn’t be. She was denying her senses, her experience. But it still pissed her off. She wanted to go back to the house with a freaking flame thrower.
“If it is the same boy, why did he appear to us in town, and why was he so nice?” Delcie asked after a few moments of silence.
“Was he so nice? I mean, really. A dead flower? It sounds more like a threat to me.” Jen said, looking at Delcie.
“Yeah, I guess not.” Delcie said, looking a little dejected. She wasn’t used to any kind of mistreatment from a boy, Jen could tell.
“I just kept an eye on him in the jeep when he was driving me into town. I didn’t trust him at all. I get a huge headache when I’m anywhere near him, apparently. I think the message was that he could find me any time, and take me anywhere. I don’t get the feeling that saying No to a ride was going to be an acceptable answer, now that I think about it. I mean, I was ready to jump out of the jeep if necessary, even though I really didn’t think that at the time.” Jen said.
“He seemed so nice in the store, at first, but, I don’t know. He smiled too much, and then gave me that weird flower…” Delcie said. “He was cute…” she added as if he had ceased to be, or at least ceased to be a prospect. She still wasn’t sure that they were talking about the same boy, and if they were, if that is who – or what - they had encountered that night.
Jen knew. If her headache weren’t telling her, she still knew. She had seen the boy, spent time with him, even talked with him a little bit. He was evil and he was powerful, and she feared him.
“I need to get home, Delcie.” She said. She really wanted to go home and call Tanner, but she left that out.
“Yeah, I suppose I should get the car home, too. We were supposed to only be getting something to eat. My mom’s having a cow, I’m sure.” Delcie said, rolling her bright brown eyes backwards.
Jen popped out of the SUV after the two exchanged phone numbers and addresses in the driveway of her parent’s cabin. She liked Delcie, and besides- they were bonded now. They shared a long look at each other, hugged and said goodbye. They would talk soon, and they both knew it. No one else would believe them.
Jen calls Tanner
Jen called Tanner’s cell. She was oddly nervous at first, then realized that it was because she was bound to get a parent on the phone. It was kind of late, but not too late.
“I’ll get him. He just got back from his uncle’s. This isn’t the pretty young girl he met today, is it sweetie?” Tanner’s mom said. Jen was flattered and embarrassed in equal parts.
“Well, um, I hope so!” she said and they both laughed. Tanner’s mom called for him and after a few bumping sounds, some muttered words about not tying up the line too long, he picked up the phone.”
“Hello, Jen?”
“Yes! Hi!” she said, glad that he hadn’t said some other girl’s name.
“What’s up? I mean, I’m glad you called…”
”Oh, sorry. I know it’s kind of late, but something happened.” Jen said, suddenly realizing that she was going to get in trouble when she told him she had gone to the house.
“That’s OK. I’m glad you called. Uh, I already said that, didn’t I? Sorry…”
“Oh, no problem! I was just, well, we just got back; back from there. From the house, that is…” Long silence.
“Uh, who’s “us”?” Tanner said slowly.
“Oh, I met this girl today. She’s really nice. Delcie. Kind of a rich chick, but still nice. “
“Hey, you promised me you wouldn’t go back there without me.” Tanner said. He wasn’t so much angry as relieved, and a little let down that he hadn’t been included.
“I’m sorry. A lot of things have happened. Can you talk for a while?”
“This sounds serious, Jen. You sure you’re OK?”
“I will be if I can see you and talk to you face to face…” Tanner’s heart picked up a beat.
“Can you sneak out?” Tanner said.
“Sure. Everybody here goes to bed with the sun. It’s like a nursing home.”
“Yeah. I know what you mean. In tune with the rhythms of nature.”
“That and there’s nothing to do after sundown!”
“True! Ok. Where and when.”
“My truck is kind of loud. I’ll cut the engine about half a block from your house. Can you watch for me?”
“Sure. Flash your lights or something and I’ll watch out the window.”
Just as planned, about 15 minutes later an older model GM pickup could be heard rumbling up the road, then, with its engine cut, gliding quietly up to the drive, the only sound the crunching of gravel under the tires. The lights flashed. Jen handled the screen door with extreme caution. It had the ability of sounding like a small caliber rifle when allowed to swing close of its own accord. Jen snuck into the passenger seat of the truck and closed the door as quietly as she could. The house remained dark and quiet.
“Hey. You sure you’re ok?” Tanner said, checking Jen over for obvious signs of distress.
“Yeah. Look, I’m sorry I went without you. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Delcie and I had, well, similar experiences. We both met this boy. We think it’s the same boy. I think we saw him at the house, or something like him…”
“A boy?” Tanner asked.
“Yes. At least I think so. It’s hard to tell how old he is. Or what he is…” her voice trailed off.
She shuddered as she wondered who – or what – had been driving the jeep earlier today. Jen climbed in th
e old truck. It was old, but immaculately clean. She could tell he took good care of it. She told Tanner what had happened to them. He sat silently listening. There was neither a look of disbelief or judgment on his face. He merely listened. When she paused for his reaction, he simply put the transmission in neutral and let the truck coast backwards down the slight hill leading to the house, only starting the engine when they’d gotten a good ways from the house. They rode through the night, staring into the birches and pines, ghostly trunks lit by the headlights as they glided through the Wisconsin cool summer night. Jen felt she was in a strange dream. Two days ago, boredom, sunbathing and distant boats on a lake were her whole summer life. Now, she rode through the night half expecting the rotting, living corpse of some deranged boy to jump out from behind any tree. Tanner reached out and touched her hand on the seat, sensing her distress. They linked fingers, wordlessly, exchanging a knowing and compassionate glance.
“I think it’s the boy with the jeep. The same boy that Delcie saw. I don’t’ think he’s a boy at all. Or at least not anymore.” Jen said, in a very small, somewhat childlike voice. She was afraid, and she didn’t want to hide it from Tanner. He sensed this, squeezed her fingers gently, and smiled.
“Yeah. That’s a good question. What’s real? I mean, is he a real person? A real ghost?”
“You know that shoe I saw in the house? In the beam of light?” she said.
“Yeah?”
“It was a penny loafer. When was the last time you saw a penny loafer?”
“On my dad about 10 years ago…”
“I saw two today.”
“Where did you see the other one?’
“In the jeep…”
It was quiet for a while. Jen noticed they were about to turn onto the logging road.
Back to the House at Night
Tanner felt secure in his good, big, solid pickup. He wondered why this mattered. Did he feel physically threatened? Should he? He pointed the truck at the ditch next to the locked gate to the logging road, the truck brushing pine boughs as it passed around the blocked entrance.
“Are we going there?” Jen asked.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m kind of headed that way.”
“Please don’t. Please don’t, Tanner. Not at night!”
Tanner realized that he was angry. Someone or something had threatened Jen and he wanted to hurt them.
“I just want to check this out. It’s not that I don’t believe you. I do. That’s why I want to go there. I want to find out who this is.”
“It’s not something to mess with at night. Please, Tanner.” Her voice was low, serious, but still showed her fear. He pulled the truck to the side of the logging road and sat for a moment staring out the window. Jen could see the tension in his jaw. A vein throbbed in his temple. He looked at her, his bright eyes shining even in the dark.
“I guess I feel the need to do something macho to stick up for you. Sorry. I’m still having a hard time with all this. I mean, part of me wants to believe that there’s nothing supernatural going on at all, but some punk messing around.”
Jen started to insist, but paused. She found herself questioning her own experience. Then she remembered the things that rose from the ground. The dog-things. And the giant crying boy. Her blood ran cold.
“I can’t go one foot closer to that house tonight, Tanner. I’m sorry.” Her headache was returning.
Tanner realized this before she said it and was already backing the truck around.
“I’m sorry Jen. I wasn’t thinking about you.” He squeezed her hand, soft, but firm. She felt the strength even through the softness. Tender and strong. She scooted closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. Tanner could feel the gentle sobs coming from her as she clutched his upper arm. He reached up with his right arm and pulled her head close enough to kiss the top of it.
The soft pine needles, damp with the night dew, were even quieter than they’d been during the day. Were it not for the rumble of the truck’s exhaust, there would be no sound at all, like gliding on ice. It was a pleasant feeling, especially now that they were pointed away from the house. Shafts of moonlight occasionally striped the road, dappling it in shades of dark greenish grey. The truck’s old headlights pierced the darkness, but not like Delcie’s big halogen beams had. The overall effect would have been romantic were it not for the location.
As they approached the exit to the main road, the truck’s light shafts shone on the back of the gate, still locked. Where there had been only rusting white paint on the logging road sign, something now stood out in stark contrast. Words, written large in black paint, or something that looked like black paint, stretched the length of the sign.
COME BACK GURLEE. I DAER YOO!
Tanner stopped the truck and the two of them stared in amazement. Tanner flushed hot with anger, and slammed the truck into gear, taching out the V8, and dumping the clutch. The big front bumper sent the chain gate with the sign on it flying into the ditch across the road. But this time Jen was glad. She was as angry as Tanner, despite her sobs.
At the Police Station
“We’ve got to do this right.” Jen said when she’d calmed down on the ride back to her house.
“What do you mean?”
“Go to the police. Tell them.”
“Tell them I just ripped one of the logging road signs down?” Tanner half laughed.
“Well, sort of. I mean, the sign may not have anything to do with me. It might be about Delcie. Hell, it might not have anything to do with any of us!”
Tanner looked at her as if to ask “Do you really believe that? Jen, I’m pretty sure that writing wasn’t even on the sign when we pulled in here. I looked at the gate on the way through to make sure we cleared it, and I’m pretty sure I would have noticed that! Somebody is messing with you – with us.”
“And that’s why the police should know.”
“Do you know the sheriff here?” Tanner looked at her and asked.
“No.”
“My dad went to high school with him. Two kinds of people come out of towns like this. Those who have half a brain and go away, and the others who stay because this is about the best they can do. He falls into the second category.”
“We still need to do this right.”
“What are we going to tell him? We saw a scary shoe, some dogs barked at you, and a kid was crying and chasing you? The first thing he’ll do is ask you why you were trespassing. Believe me, I know Red Collins, and he’s about as useless as they get. Every time he comes up for re-election, the only reason he gets the spot is because no one else wants it. He won last time with 27 votes, and most of those were probably his family!”
Jen sat thinking. She was rehearsing in her head how she would tell some local yokel about what she’d seen. It didn’t sound good. ‘
“Still, even if he doesn’t believe us, he’s got to file a report. That way, if something happens, he’ll already know there’s a problem.”
Tanner wondered about this, but assumed she was right.
“Tanner, you believe me, right?”
He stopped the truck, pulling onto the sloping shoulder only a mile or so from her house.
“As much as I believe the sun will come up tomorrow. I believe you, Jen. What I am having a hard time with is this whole thing. Part of me wants to disbelieve my own eyes. But I believe you, Jen.” He said this and their eyes locked. The two shared a long look, then their first kiss.
Lunch with Tanner
“Jen, it’s for you!” her little brother screamed from the breakfast room.
Jen struggled to one elbow, and squinted into the bright light filtering through her curtained bedroom window. The sun looked pretty high already, and she wondered how late she’d slept. Glancing at her watch on the bed table, she was surprised to see it was already 11 am. She was going to scream back telling her brother to take a number, but she knew he wouldn’t hear. She popped a big tee-shirt over her head and emerge
d into the hallway.
“It’s some guy!” her brother said, waiting to see her response. She gave him none, simply taking the phone from him.
“Hello?” she said, hoping it was Tanner.
“Good morning, sunshine!” his voiced beamed into the phone. She was nowhere near as awake as him, and decided not to try to convince him she was.
“Mornin’” she drawled sleepily.
“Did I wake you up? I’m sorry!”
“’Sokay. I slept too late anyway.” She said brushing the hair out of her eyes.
“You sound cute when you wake up.” He said in a low voice. Jen simply mumbled back to him, a sort of cute moan that made his heart beat a little faster.
“Are you awake enough for some news?” he said after a moment of simply silently appreciating the delicious warmth of her purr.
“I am now.” She said, more awake by the moment. She’d been thinking about his hands for some reason, and got a little sidetracked.
“OK. I talked to my dad this morning. This is going to blow you away. My dad knew this kid!”
“You say “knew” as in past tense – like he’s dead.”
“Oh, he’s dead. Very dead!” Tanner said. “He died in 1963! There was a murder. A multiple homicide.”
Jen stared at Tanner, her mind spinning. To her surprise, she was not surprised. In fact, some part of her knew this. On some unconscious level, she knew that there was death involved.
“Well, that pretty much throws us into the supernatural side of things, I guess!”
“Oh, it gets even worse. Way worse. When can we talk? Can I see you today, I mean?”
“I hope so!” Jen said, fully awake and enthusiastic about the idea.
“When can I come by?”
“Can you come by for lunch? It won’t be much, but mom will make something.”
“OK, sure. What time? “
“About an hour?” That would give her time to make herself look good, fully wake up, and put her mom on notice to serve something other than hot dogs.
“I’ll be there!”
Tanner’s truck pulled up in the driveway just about the time her Dad was pulling the hot dogs off the grill. Jen was waiting on the porch.
“Hey!” he said, climbing out into the midday sun.
“Hi, cutie” she risked. Actually, not much of a risk, as she knew how it would be received. A totally cute glance of the blue eyes up through tussled hair was her response, and it was plenty. Their eyes met and they both knew that a long kiss on the front porch at high noon before eating with her family, no matter how desirous they were of it, was probably out of the question. Still, they took each other’s hand as if they had been greeting one another in just that manner for 20 years.
“Nice to see you smiling. You OK today?” he said. Jen noticed that just inside the circle of dark blue around his pupils, which served to set off the crystal blue within, were flecks of silver and green. She wanted to just stand on the porch and stare into them for an hour or so. But they had to go in and do the family thing. Besides, with no breakfast on board, the hot dogs were beginning to smell pretty good even to her.
“You, too! I didn’t sleep much, but when I did, I passed out.”
“Me, too. I just kept thinking you were in danger.