Come Get Me

Michael J Hunter

Prologue

This is a dream

The group popped from the fog so suddenly it looked as if they’d been spit. They were so full of energy they were bouncing. They were many reasons for being happy but mostly it was because they were finally out. Not stuffed in their houses under the watchful eyes of their parents anymore. But it wasn’t just being out that had them so excited, it was the reason that had them all jazzed.

They were on a mission. Something they’d been trying to do for as long as any of them could remember. Now it was just minutes away from becoming a reality. If they were honest with themselves it was more of a hunt. But not just any hunt. Oh no, it was THE HUNT. This thing had been in the works ever since the first time they’d gone camping with their fathers and heard the spooky story about the creature. What else would men talk about out in the middle of the woods with no women around. They always wondered if the legends they were told were true. Their fathers made it sound as if it was but hey, what did they know. They were just kids. Now, though, now, after what seemed an eternity of waiting, it was time to find out if the legend was true.

It all started with the words ‘There was once a man who was not just a man. He was also a goat…” Not that scary in and of itself but for them, they were hooked. The story went that this thing roamed the deserted back roads and byways, the quiet place normal humans dared not to tread not to mention the quiet woods surrounding the little town they called home. No one really knew what it was after but it was guessed to be looking for unsuspecting persons to play its devious tricks on. He would prowl around until he found a weary traveler then jump from the bushes scaring them half to death. The frightened people would then run screaming through the woods until they finally reached a safe haven. That is if they were lucky. If not, well, they were never heard from again. The Goatman, for that’s what it came to be known as, rarely hurt anyone but whenever a child or animal went missing he was always to blame.

The thing about the legend that captivated the boys so much was that none of it had ever been proven. Sure, there were supposed eye witness accounts of what happened, but the boys suspected these accounts were tainted. They figured the witnesses most likely had just spooked themselves or been drunk and then made up a story so they wouldn’t look foolish. The creature that haunted the woods where they grew up was like Bigfoot. There were plenty of people that said they’d seen him but there was no actual proof.

That was all going to change after tonight’s adventure though. The boys were going to find the proof the world had been denied so long. At least they were going to try.

The four soon to be men making up the hunting party were all well past the age when believing in monsters and things that went bump in the night was considered cool. They knew they were too old for it but just didn’t really care. It was as if they knew they couldn’t let one more second of their lives continue without at least trying to find out if the creature were truly real. So after many a whispered conversation at school it was decided that tonight was the night.

The summer was over after tonight.

It had to be this night.

School was in a few more days and they knew, in that strange way boys knew things, that they would most likely end up being to busy for each other anymore. On some unspoken level they knew this was going to be one of the last things if not the last thing they did before drifting apart. They thought of it as their last hurrah for lack of anything better to call it. After this it was off to the wonderful world that waited for them as freshmen in high school.

So, here they were, four soon to be men who had been damn near inseparable almost since birth. Tommy, Rob, Jim, and Pete, together, in their short lives they’d taken on anything and everything thrown at them so chasing a mythical creature in the dead of night would just about be the icing on the cake. They’d spent many hours discussing the most likely place they might find their quarry until finally deciding on a patch of woods that lay not more than a ten minute walk from Tommy’s bedroom window. They knew this because they’d walked it earlier before the sun set. Nothing like being prepared. Tommy didn’t like thinking he might live so close to the creature and tried to argue that it couldn’t possibly be so close, but the others were adamant in their decision. His arguments fell on deaf ears. He didn’t like it but he guessed he could live with it. It didn’t matter anyways. He kinda liked monsters.

With the major decision of where to start taken care of, they only needed to wait until the right time to begin their journey. To take up that time they came up with a plan.

The boys told all their parents they were having a sleepover at Tommy’s. They’d done it a million times. The parents suspected nothing. Little did they know that after tonight their sons would be famous for catching the mythical beast known as the Goatman. After the lights were out and Tommy’s parents were finally snoring the night away, one by one, each boy climbed out Tommy’s window.

That in itself was an adventure. They had to make sure they were extremely quiet, one little noise might wake Tommy’s dad and bring his wrath down on them. Tommy’s dad wasn’t really anyone to be afraid of but it just made the adventure sound better in their heads if they thought of him that way if only for a minute.

Once outside with Tommy’s parents none the wiser, they quickly darted from shadow to shadow across the backyard until they reached the path that would lead them to their eventual destination. Stepping from the underbrush onto the wide dirt road they were greeted by an almost impenetrable blackness.

What only minutes before was a perfect moonlit night with plenty of light to see by had inexplicably turned to something altogether different. The overhanging trees didn’t allow any light to pass through their branches. Shadows clung to every possible surface they could find. A regular tree suddenly looked like a dreaded monster ready to pounce. The creak of a branch sounded like the scream of banshee.

If that‘d been all their was they would’ve been ok. But it wasn’t. They hadn’t counted on the fog. It had risen like a long dead corpse from the ground after the sun went down and grown thicker as the night cooled. They hadn’t noticed it in the backyard when they’d left but now it just made everything seem that much spookier. They tried ignoring it but coupled with the already eerie darkness, found it more than a little difficult. None of them could figure out why they hadn’t thought of it before and brought along flashlights. After some whispered argument they decided instead of turning around they would continue on. They edged their way closer and closer to their confrontation with the Goatman.

Before they knew it they found themselves turning down one of the numerous back roads that ran around the little town. They were secure in the knowledge that the legend of the Goatman was nothing but a story used to scare kids. There was no such thing so there was no reason to be afraid of anything. Even if something strange did happen they knew the area like the back of their hands. They’d be able to easily escape whatever the surrounding woods could throw at them, without missing a beat.

Soon, they were approaching the stomping grounds of their quarry. The lair of the mythical beast was all around them. At first they started in a whisper, first one then joined by another and another and another until they were all saying it, they began reciting the words that would pull the creature from whatever hole or crevice he was hiding in and make him appear before them. After the first time through with no results the boys’ grew which showed up in their voice. What had been at first only a loud whisper was growing. The second time through you might have thought they were only talking to each other but they still had one more sentence to go and they were going to give it their all. The third and final time they were so loud it seemed almost as if they were daring the night to bring forth its evil servant and prove to them that it really existed. Having finished the call the boys stood waiting. None moved. Four sets of eyes and ears were staining for any sight or sound that might signal the dark creature’s arrival. All they heard was the echo of their voices. After a few minute the silence was broken but not by the beast.

“This shit is boring!” Rob whined. “He ain’t ever going to show himself if he’s even real. You ask me I think he’s chickenshit!”

“He ain’t chicken,” Tommy argued coming to the monster’s defense, “you just have to wait a little while. He has to have time to get here.” Tommy had a thing for monsters. Ever since the first time he’d heard about the Goatman, he’d been hooked. In Tommy’s opinion every other creature of horror paled in comparison to the Goatman. He was, hands down the best. Tommy wasn’t fond of the idea of a monster living so close by, but if there had to be one then the Goatman was the best one it could be. Goatman was a local monster, not like Bigfoot or the Yeti, which made it better. All kid dreamed of find a monster but the other two were too far away. Goatman was accessible, he was a possibility. They weren’t.

“You guys just aren’t calling him the right way,” Jim volunteered, trying to stop a fight before it began. “My uncle told me you have to call him a certain way or he won’t come. We didn’t do it right the first time. We didn’t say everything we were supposed too. We left a few words out.” He paused then added in a quieter voice, “But if I tell you how and he does shows up you’d all better be ready to run your asses off cause you sure as shit won’t want to stay anywhere near here.”

“Well,” Rob said sarcastically, “if you’re so damned smart why don’t you just tell us, using all your infinite wisdom, how we’re supposed to call the damn thing the ‘right’ way.”

“Didn’t any of you ever pay attention to the damn story we were told?” Pete asked rolling his eyes, not that they could see it in the dark. “Or were you to chicken to listen to the whole thing without hiding in your sleeping bags and covering your ears?”

“About damn time you opened your mouth Pete! Almost forgot you were there, you were being so quiet,” Rob bellowed slapping Pete on the back hard enough to make the other boy stagger a few steps. “Why are you being so quiet anyways?”

“I just don’t think we need to be so loud,” Pete said glancing at the woods to either side of the road, “you never know who or what might hear us.”

“What’re you scared?” Tommy teased.

“We’re in the frickin’ woods Pete!” Rob yelled louder than before. “Who do you think is going to hear us? The rabbits?”

“Enough of this crap!” Tommy said as he turned to Jim. “Now how do we call him? We need to get this show on the road! The nights a wasting. All this yelling and hollering might’ve woke someone. We aren’t that far from my house ya know. So let’s do this the right way before it’s too late.”

“I don’t think we should call him,” Pete said before anyone else could say anything, “I think he’s dangerous. I think if we do call him we’ll regret it.”

“Oh, how the hell would you know?” Jim said beginning to get a little bit pissed. Pete was always being a little bit too careful. When the guys wanted to do something that might even be the little bit dangerous it was always Pete that didn’t want to do it and ended up ruining the possible fun. “Who the hell cares what you think anyways?” he continued before Pete could protest, “Have you ever called him? Have you ever seen him? What’s that? No answer. Well I’ll give you one. The answer to both those questions would be a big frickin’ NO! So if you don’t want to call him fine, go home and hide but if you stay at least be quiet so that those of us who want to call him can, ok?”

“Alright,” Tommy said cutting in trying to bring a little calm to a situation that could easily spin out of control, “Jim was right, I don’t think we did it the right way the first time. Luckily what he said reminded me of the right way to do it,” he said pausing to look at each of them before continuing, “the only thing is we all have to say it, and you,” he said pointing at Jim, “have to lay off of Pete. He’s just a little bit nervous is all. We all are. He’s just the only one saying anything about it.”

After thinking about it for a few seconds Jim half-heartedly agreed and apologized to Pete. Now that everything was back to normal Tommy went to each of the boys pausing for a few seconds to whisper something in their ear before moving on. He had just told Rob and was leaning towards Pete when Rob’s hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder pulling him back.

“Is that it?” he asked with a laugh. Without waiting for an answer he continued, “Hell, if I knew that was all there was too it I’d’ve done it the right way the first time. Forget waiting for you pansies. I’ll do it myself.” Before Tommy or any of the other boys could stop him Rob took a deep breath and screamed.

“Goatman,come get me!!”

Each boy froze as they listened to Rob’s voice echo through the woods all the way back, they were sure, to each of their houses and right to their sleeping parents ears. It was funny how parents always seemed to know when their child was doing something they weren’t supposed to. In this case, Rob had pretty much just announced it to anyone who happened to have a set of working ears. Rob stood smiling at each of them until he saw the looks on their faces. All at once each of them threw a punch at a different part of his body.

“Hey!” he yelled trying to swat their hands away. “Knock that crap off! What are you hitting me for?”

“Because you’re a dumbass!” came one reply.

“You probably just woke the whole damn town!” sounded another.

“Now we really should leave.” came the last one.

Rob stood sullenly looking at each of his friends wishing he were bigger than he actually was. He couldn’t understand what they were so ticked about. He’d only done what they were going to do anyways. So what if he hadn’t waited for them, it was too late anyways. There was no reason for them to hit him.

As the boys stood looking at a pouting Rob and listening to their shouts fade into the night they slowly realized something was different than it had been a few minutes ago. Before Rob’s stunt they’d been able to hear the regular nighttime noises of bugs and wind and things like that. Now there was nothing. It was as if Rob’s yell had stolen all sound from the world, there was nothing. No sigh of wind through the trees, no chirp of a cricket calling to another. Nothing at all.

This was a spooky nighttime quiet. A things coming to get you in the dark type of quiet. A type of quiet that told little boys they should’ve stayed home under the covers and not come messing around in the dark type of quiet. This type of quiet that came to mind when you heard someone say it was as quiet as a tomb.

“You’re a frickin’ idiot!” Tommy whispered after a few uneasy seconds without some type of sound. “We were all supposed to say it at the same time!”

“It didn’t even work,” Rob said shakily trying to blow off Tommy’s anger. “Maybe we should try again or something. I don’t think I was loud enough.”

“Not loud enough?” Pete exploded. “You could’ve waked a dead person as loud as you were! Hell, for that matter you probably did. They’re probably on the way here right now! If there is a Goatman he sure as shit heard you. God, you are so frickin’ stupid sometimes!” Disgust thick in his voice Pete stalked a few steps away from the group kicking at the ground trying to calm down.

The three remaining boys stood looking at each other for a minute before breaking into laughter. Pete glared over his shoulder for a few seconds before shaking his head and slowly turning back around and joining them. After they’d calmed down a bit they all decided to give it another try. Pete’s earlier reluctance evaporated after seeing that nothing had happened. Nothing had come storming out of the night to attack them at least so they might as well try again just to make sure. Maybe Rob hadn’t done it right or something or maybe it was just all some old legend, which was more probable, that didn’t really work after all.

“Wait!” Pete said just as they were getting ready to say the call again, “I think I know why it didn’t work the first time. Rob did do it wrong.” Everybody loudly blew out the air they’d been holding as Pete continued. “No wait, I remember the last time we were told the story. Jim’s uncle said you’re supposed to say the Goatman part three times before you say the come get me stuff. That’s the only way it works. Any other way and you get nothing.”

“Who told you that crap?” Rob asked skeptically. “Sounds like a bunch of bullshit if you ask me.”

“No more than what you just yelled a few minutes ago genius,” Pete shot back. “Besides that’s how you’re supposed to do it. If you’d open your ears once in a while instead of your mouth maybe you would’ve remembered.” Pete seemed to be getting a lot braver as the night went on. When they’d first come out he’d acted like he would piss himself every time the wind blew too hard. Now he was acting like this was just normal stuff he did every day. Of course, Pete always got this way when he was sure of himself, (which he seemed to be now).

“Ok, ok calm down,” Rob quickly said to Pete trying to pull the reigns of leadership back to himself. “I was just asking.” Then addressing the group as a whole he continued, “We’ll try it Pete’s way and see if that works any better. If not then I say it’s a bust and we go home.” Each of them agreed before he continued.

“Ok, now here’s how we’re going to do it. On the count of three we go for it. Not before and not after.” They all said ok. “You assholes better not leave me hanging either,” he added before he started counting.

“One, Two, Three!” he said which was quickly followed by four voices howling into the night, “Goatman, Goatman, Goatman! Come get me!”

They all stood silently, listening to their combined voices drift away, waiting to see what effect calling the creature the way Pete had described might have. If nothing else it was definitely louder than the first one. If there really was a creature named the Goatman nearby he couldn’t help but hear his name and come a running.

As they waited thing slowly went from bad to worse. None of them had thought it was possible for the silence to get any deeper than before but they were wrong. Moments before their last call night noises had started returning but now the only sound to be heard was that of the breath slowly being inhaled and exhaled by four small kids. There weren’t even any words they could use to describe it. It was like there was just an inexplicable absence. Nothing there.

Just at that moment as if by some unspoken command the moon chose to drift out from behind the heavy fog that had surrounded them on their short journey.

For most of the trip they’d relied on what little night vision they possessed to see but when the moon finally made its appearance they found that the woods were much closer than they’d originally thought them to be. It shouldn’t have surprised them as much as it did since they knew the path passed through the forest but it still came as a surprise at how close they were. The four were quite literally surrounded. They each quickly realized how easy it would be for some creature to come rushing out at them or simply reach out and grab them. It would be easy for a creature like the Goatman to pick them off one by one or all at once. It only had to reach out. There would be little they could do about it. If they tried running in the dark they knew they would quickly be lost, and if they stayed, well, they didn’t want to think about that. Either way it was an uncomfortable thought to be added to everything else doing tonight. To top it off the darkness seemed to have a strangle hold on all the normal noises that came with the dark. Rob’s yelling didn’t help much either. There were no crickets chirping and no leaves rustling as the wind slipped through them. There were only four boys who were all beginning to get very scared.

“Aw, this is bull…” Rob whispered shakily before the other three shushed him.

“What?” he demanded. “There ain’t nothin coming.” He was trying to sound tough. Before he could say anything else a noise finally escaped the darkness and ran to their ears. It was hard to tell exactly where it came from but they were sure it was on the road before them. Unfortunately whatever it was seemed to be just out of their sight, moving around in the shadows, as if it knew they couldn’t see it. Just like something the Goatman did in all the stories they’d heard. First he made some kind of noise as a type of warning to whoever he was coming after. It could be something as little as breaking a tree branch or something as big as throwing stones at a car two people were making out in. Either way it gave only one warning then all hell would break loose.

They all listened hoping for some sign that their fears weren’t about to become a reality. When the next noise finally reached them they didn’t know if their plans had been answered or not. The sound of breaking branches reached out of the gloom like fingers on a chalkboard sending chills up down each boy’s spine and making their hair stand on end. The images racing through each of their heads soared to new heights trying to picture the creature that could cause such sounds. Huge feet crushed everything in the beast path. Nothing could stand up to the things might. It would only stop when it had devoured each of their bodies down to the last bone. Then it would slowly plod off to wherever it had come from. They tried preparing themselves for whatever might step from the fog but only succeeded in scaring themselves more. Then all of a sudden it ceased. Sure that they had actually been killed so fast they didn’t realize it yet they each looked at the other searching for some explanation. Nope, still alive. It didn’t make sense. One minute they were sure they were going to see the dreaded Goatman launch itself from the gloom the next there was nothing. No creature stalking towards them ready to eat them in a gulp. Nothing. The sounds had stopped.

After staring into the darkness for a few minutes with no results the boys again looked each other trying to make sense of what they’d heard. It had sounded as if something was walking through the woods directly towards them. But nothing materialized as far as their straining eyes could tell. There was no way they could’ve missed it. As they stood still frozen in place trying to decide what to do next, another sound worse than the one before reached out and snatched their attention. It was a simple sound at first. Just a crunching sorta sound like the sound gravel makes when someone is stepping on it. Just like the sound their feet were making whenever they took a step. The unfortunate thing was that whatever was doing the stepping was seemed big.

Really big.

The steps weren’t light. They could hear the rocks grinding together as whatever it was took each step. The steps themselves sounded unhurried, as if the thing approaching knew they were no longer in control of their bodies. It had them right where it wanted them.

Seeming to have no other choice but to stand there, the boys strained their eyes trying to pierce the dense fog swirling over the area around them. Their brains were all shouting at them to run but as afraid as they each were they were also excited. They wanted to see what it was even if it did mean their deaths. This was what they’d come for. They were about to have their proof of the Goatman’s existence. They’d come to see the Goatman and were determined to see it through to the end even if two of them had already pissed their pants from fright. The creature continued taking slow steps towards them prolonging the moment. Just as they thought they could wait no longer before tearing themselves from the ground something began to emerge from the fog.

“What the hell is it?” Rob whispered shakily being the first one to finally find his voice.

“I don’t know,” Pete quietly whispered back hoping nobody would notice the wet spot on the front of his pants.

Whatever it was took another step heedless of their whispers. The fog swirled and revealed part of their adversary. Sharp, pointed hooks slithered from the mist. The boys quickly figured out they were antlers of some sort but they didn’t look the way they thought they would. Goat antlers were usually thick and ugly; these were thin and almost regal looking. Not at all what a horrible creature like the Goatman should have. As the thing took another step the fog swirled a little more, just enough for the group to see what they were facing.

“Damn it!” Rob yelled suddenly startling everyone, “That’s just a frickin deer!”

Sure enough just before the thing realized it was in the presence of humans, they all saw it for what it was and not for what their imaginations had made it out to be. What the boys now saw was a deer that in turn saw them and bolted across the road disappearing into woods, leaving the night only slightly quieter from its passage. The fog smoothly rolled back over the path engulfing them once more. The darkness unfortunately stayed too.

“This was all a total crock of shit from the beginning!” Rob complained, “Whose frickin’ idea was this crap anyways?”

“Yours, you dipshit!” they all yelled in unison. It was almost the first time they’d agreed on anything that night. They quickly looked around as if they expected someone to yell at them for being so loud before they remembered they were in the woods.

“Screw this,” Jim said after a few seconds, “let’s get out of here and go find something real to do. This Goatman crap is a bunch of shit.”

As they turned to walk back the way they’d came another strange noise sounded behind them. They all stopped and looked around. Knowing it was probably just another deer, they were a little less worried than the first time. Looking back in the same direction the deer had come from all they could see was the fog swaying back and forth. More sounds erupted from the night startling them. These weren’t like the first ones at all. Shrieks and grunting noises sounded from what seemed like all around them. This wasn’t any little deer. This was something else entirely. The grating sound they now heard were enough to send shots of pure terror to each of their quickly thumping hearts.

“It’s probably just another deer,” Rob stammered being the only one able to voice what they all hoped.

The boys listened and waited for the fog to blow away. Unfortunately it didn’t want to cooperate. Nothing as lucky as a deer came prancing from the fog this time. Instead what was birthed was something the fog itself didn’t even seem to want any part of. It was almost as if it was spitting the thing out and retreating back from its touch. The fog hovered around its form like a transparent cloak, never really touching but never going too far away either. This made the creature all that more eerie to behold.

Stepping from its shroud not twenty feet in front of them was something that must’ve been in someone’s nightmare only moments before. The fog continued to swirl but revealed vague shapes that resembled a man one moment and an animal the next. The thing was supported not by the normal legs belonging to a human that one would expect to see but instead by two hairy, tree trunk size legs that tapered down to two huge cloven hooves. They looked exactly like goat legs except for many times bigger and many times more powerful. As four sets of frightened eyes took in the terrible sight of its abnormal legs, the thing took a heavy step forward. Those same eyes quickly traveled up the rest of the creature as if commanded to. None of the boys actually wanted to look at the thing’s face but they couldn’t help themselves. When they finally came to rest on it they found the worst was far from over.

Standing well over seven feet tall was a thing made purely from the most twisted of minds. The boy’s small brains were struggling to grasp exactly what it was they were looking at. The beast was just so far beyond anything they could’ve imagined that their minds were at a momentary loss.

Any doubt of the Goatman’s existence was gone. The smell of ammonia filled the air. There were no longer any dry pants in the group. They’d never expected anything to appear when they’d spoken the now terrible words. They weren’t supposed to work. Now The Goatman had arrived and they were sure they would be dead before he left.

The next thing they noticed after getting over the hideous beast was the things chest. It heaved like some giant bellow as air was swept in and out. It was wider than any two of them could ever think about wrapping their arms around and eventually tapered up to its shoulders. The chest, while impressive, was nothing compared to its shoulders. They were bigger than any they’d ever seen. They spoke of many years of hard living and much work. They looked just right for pulling little boys arms from their bodies. They knew there was no hope of escape from a creature like this. They’d made the biggest mistake of their young lives when they decided to call the Goatman.

All eyes were riveted on the creature’s body until something else caught their eyes when it shook its head. A light breeze swept what little fog and darkness that still clung to it away allowing them to finally view the terrible, dark, tree bark like skin stretching across the things angular face. Tiny bits of moonlight cast enough light for them to see the many deep scars crisscrossing its wretched face making it look like a jigsaw puzzle put back together wrong. Those scar seemed to speak to the boys.

They listened with shaking knees as the scar whispered the stories about the many battles their owner had been through and how he had always triumphed when the odds were against him. The scars were all that were left of the Goatman’s adversaries. Little reminders of his conquests.

Seeming to know what images were passing through their heads the goat- like face smiled, if that’s what it could be called, revealing teeth that were almost too horrible to look at. The boys had seen pictures in health class at school but nothing like this. They were crooked, pointy things that looked much too accustomed to tearing flesh from bodies and meat from bones. It licked its lips as if thinking of the tasty meal it was about to partake of. With all the sights they’d beheld they were slow on noticing what they soon found to be the worst and most alien thing about the creature. As they watched it shake its head again they saw, growing directly out of the top of its forehead, were horns. These were the horns they had expected to see but much worse. Each one twisted up and up until it reached the ended in a sharpened point. Seeing it in the moonlight, it looked as if it were stained with something dark.

Probably the blood of his last victim, they thought as one.

The horns were surrounded by greasy unkempt hair that hung raggedly down over it’s’ face and then continued down to its’ shoulders before passing out of view. The boys knew how this hideous creature had gotten its name.

As they faced the creature, having already pissed out everything in their bladders, it suddenly shook its’ entire body, spraying droplets of sweat and God knew what else in all directions and startling Pete so bad he would’ve fallen down if Rob hadn’t been there to catch him. It stared out at them from beneath heavy brows with green, flashing eyes that seemed to be judging whether or not they were worthy of living.

After only a few seconds it must have found them to be wanting in some way because it blew a quick blast of air from its nose and took a menacing step forward. Snot and other disgusting fluids trailed from its flaring nostrils and dripped onto its chest as it took another step. The boys were so transfixed they didn’t realize each step was bringing it closer to them.

When its hooves struck the ground sparks shot up from the gravel creating little spurts of light that left spots dancing before their eyes. Dust puffed up around each hoof shrouding it in a cloud of dust making it seem as if the beast was hovering instead of walking.

Jim alone noticed something else too. There was a sound, almost like the ringing of a phone but not quite, every time one of the sparks of light went off. He dared not look around to see if the others noticed anything. He didn’t even know if they were still there for that matter. Between the ringing and what was approaching, his attention was about full. He knew if he took his eyes off the thing for a second it would surely be on him. After that he didn’t even want to imagine what would happen. He knew he’d at least be dead if not something worse.

The beast continued moving towards them, taking its time, stalking them like the wild animal it was and they were its prey. Each step brought it closer and closer. Each time a hoof crashed to the ground the ringing sound echoed in Jim’s head. Every time he heard it, he thought it sounded more and more like a phone and not the sound a hoof would make. If not for being so afraid he might have thought this was strange but as it was he could think of nothing but the otherworldly animal slowly approaching him.

Slowly, step by step it came closer. With every step the fog rolled, wrapping it like some foul cloak, but still seeming to despise the touch of the dreaded creature. Jim fervently wished the fog would consume the thing and make it disappear. Then he wouldn’t have to worry about anything, he’d be safe. He almost thought his wish had come true when more fog suddenly swirled across the path in front of the creature and it seemed to disappear. Straining to see it, he could barely make out the hideous legs that carried it forward. All traces of hair and hoof were gone. The only thing that marked its passage was the ringing. That was still sounding in Jim’s skull. Even though the legs were gone it still came. If his wish was coming true it sure was taking it’s time. Unfortunately, the fog was just making it seem to disappear. It was still there and he was still going to be dead when it reached him.

The ringing continued getting louder and louder the closer the creature got. It was now only few more steps away. The ringing was so loud that Jim was sure his ears were about to burst. If nothing else they were probably bleeding. He’d seen that once in a movie and it hadn’t looked pleasant. Curiously he didn’t feel any pain so maybe they hadn’t burst yet but they were surely about to. Just as curiously the ringing didn’t seem to be coming from the creature anymore so much as it did from his own skull. He almost wished the creature would hurry up and kill him just so he could be rid of the noise ricocheting around between his ears.

Having been so preoccupied with watching the creature lumber towards him Jim hadn’t noticed that it seemed to be carrying something. The fog obscured it a little making it difficult to see. It was probably the head of its last victim or something equally disgusting. As if sensing that Jim had noticed, the Goatman swung his arm up to give him a better view. At the height of the swing, just before it started its downward descent, Jim he finally recognized what it was. The huge, disfigured hand was holding an axe. But it wasn’t just any axe. Jim had only seen one of this magnitude when looking through books about Vikings and the weapons they used in battle. The blade by itself was bigger than his head. Moonlight gleamed off the blade showing a finely honed edge. If nothing else the Goatman took care of his tools. Jim had a moment to think how sad his situation was. They’d finally found the creature of legend called the Goatman, they’d confronted him and were now about to die. One of the weapons he’d thought looked so cool in the books was slowly starting, but quickly picking up speed, towards its only logical destination, his head.

The axe cleaved the air as it made its inevitable way towards him when suddenly the ringing noise cut through his terror. It echoed so loudly and with such force that his hands shot up wrapping around his head trying to block it out. The beast was standing still but his arm still seemed to be moving. He didn’t spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. Not that it mattered much anymore. Jim’s eyes were only seeing one thing. The axe was only inches from his head and coming closer. He could almost hear a whistling sound as it parted the air but another ringing noise struck just milliseconds before the axe hit his head

This is reality

…and he sat up in bed arms still wrapped tightly around his it. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes and quickly surveyed the room. Light from outside made vein attempts at penetrating the curtains only to be halted just shy of entering. Only a few vagrant shafts made it in. From this he saw nothing out of the ordinary. No Goatman, no trees, no childhood friends, nothing out the ordinary. His dirty clothes still lay were he’d left them the previous night. It was a dream he thought to himself, only a dream.

After ensuring there were no lurking Goatmen, he quickly felt his head to make sure there wasn’t an axe or anything else embedded in it. Much to his relief he found no foreign objects of any kind sticking out from where they shouldn’t be and nothing else obviously wrong. His heart was slowly reaching a speed that didn’t feel like it was about to crack a rib as he closed his eyes, propped his head up and thanked God it was only a dream and he was still alive.

When he had awoken from the nightmare his poor heart had been trying to pound its way out of his chest. It still felt a little sore. (Luckily he was still pretty young). If he was any older he might not have woken up at all.

He swung his legs out from the tangled sheets but not before feeling a slimy wetness beneath them. Placing one hesitant hand on the sheets he quickly found out they were soaked through with sweat. Looking down at himself he found the sheets weren’t the only thing covered in sweat, at least that’s what he hopped it was.

The ringing sound from his dream intruded on his self examination. Looking around he searched for its source, he was awake now but he still heard the ringing. After a few more rings he realized it was the phone. That was the noise that had driven him out of his dream. He’d never been so happy to hear that sound in his life. He fumbled the rest of his way out of the sheets and quickly located the phone underneath one of his pillows that had fallen off the bed during the night. Untangling the cord, he happily answered it.

“Thank God you finally picked up!” his mothers’ worried voice just about shouted from the receiver.

“Hi Mom!” he said as brightly as he could manage. “Boy am I glad you called. I was having the weirdest dream…”

“Jim, I don’t know an easy way to tell you this,” she said cutting him off, “so I’ll just come right out and say it. There’s been a terrible accident out here son,” pause, “your friend Tommy was found dead in the woods. Nobody knows how it happened.”

Jim didn’t hear most of whatever else his mother had to say. He didn’t hear her asking him if he was ok or if he was still there. He didn’t hear her asking if he could come home quickly or if he needed any money to do so. He didn’t hear any of these things because a few seconds after he’d heard his mother say Tommy was dead the phone fell from his hand and hit the floor. Not much longer after that he followed it.

1

If anybody’d asked Jim what had happened after he finally picked himself up off the floor he didn’t think he’d be able to tell them. All could remember through the haze that his days became was that he’d somehow managed to call his job at the electric company and asked for a leave of absence. Since this time of the year was just like any other his boss didn’t have a problem with it. He even gave Jim his condolences, but Jim wasn’t paying attention much after he’d heard what he wanted to. He mechanically said thanks and hung up already working on the next problem. As long as he kept moving he was ok. It was when he stopped to think about something that the memories of Tommy flooded in. One minute he’d be thinking about getting somebody to check his mail while he was gone, and the next thing he knew he was lost in thoughts of when he and Tommy had played mailbox baseball or how they used to go looking for frogs in the creek. Then he was just a bawling puddle until he pulled it together and started trying to get everything arranged for his trip.

The last time Jim saw Tommy had been just shy of twelve years. It was just before he’d taken what he was sure were his first steps towards a life everyone back home would be envious of and talk about when he came to visit. Jim stopped by the hardware store where Tommy worked on his way to the airport to say goodbye. Tommy’d been stocking the shelves with different types of nails when Jim had walked up behind him and scared him so bad he almost pissed himself. Tommy was a little bitter about Jim leaving but he tried putting up a brave front for him so Jim wouldn’t feel bad. They said their goodbyes as customers passed by and that was about that. They said they’d keep in touch, but they never really did except for a Christmas card every now and then. They even planned at one point for Tommy to come out to the city so Jim could show him around but that never happened either. Now it never would.

As Jim’s plane landed he realized he hadn’t seen anyone except for his family for quite a while. Whenever he’d gone to visit either he didn’t have enough time or his friends weren’t home. Something always came up. Thinking about it though, he hadn’t really wanted to see any of the people he’d grown up with. He wasn’t even sure what had happened to a lot of them. It wasn’t that he didn’t like them anymore; it was just that after he’d left they’d grown apart. It didn’t help that none of his grand plan came to fruition. He didn’t really understand why everything went wrong, it just happened. Out of sight out of mind really was true.

Growing up in a small town hadn’t been horrible or anything like that. It was actually pretty fun now that he thought about it. When he left he thought of it as something he wanted to leave in the past where it belonged. All of his old friends were part of the past, so he had to leave them behind with everything else. Unfortunately he’d been friends with Tommy since he was old enough to walk so it didn’t work out that way. He, along with Pete and Rob had done everything together, from learning to ride bikes to getting drunk for the first time after the senior prom. But that’s where their happy go lucky times together pretty much came to an end. Even though they’d remained friends throughout the last couple of years of school, they each slowly drifted off to pursue other interests of their own. What once they would have done together without a second thought they were now doing by themselves, or with other people not part of their original group. It wasn’t purposefully done it was just something that had happened.

Jim was the only one who chose to move after high school. But having big dreams he couldn’t just move to the next town over like most of the other kids. He had to move to the big city. Unfortunately none of the bigger companies saw things the way he did. They weren’t interested in hiring someone without any type of college background or experience. He ended up working at one of the local fast food restaurants for almost a year while he went and took a few classes at the local college. Even then the only place that would accept him was the electric company. He was a driver. All day long he drove other people from place to place and carried things for them. He was technically an assistant but he thought of himself as a gopher. The people he worked with were slowly teaching him the ins and outs of electrical work but not fast enough. After almost eight years he was just now hoping for a promotion. That, he thought sadly, was the high point of his life. He’d left with big dreams only to return empty handed. He hadn’t tried to see any of his friends whenever he was home mostly because he was ashamed of himself. They’d all thought he was leaving to go and do great things not to be somebody’s helper. If he’d taken the time to think about it he’d realize his friends probably wouldn’t have cared what he did. They liked him not his job but his mind didn’t work that way. Looking back he figured he probably would’ve been better off if he’d stayed home. Maybe worked at one of the local places or opened something up himself but no, he took the longer route. All his friends remained in the sleepy, boring, old town to this day as far as he knew. Except for himself and now Tommy, he thought sadly.

Trying to get his mind off Tommy, Jim idly wondered what everyone he used to know had eventually grown up to be. Everybody had been full of high hopes about their futures after high school; some going off to college, some to the military, others God only knew where but Jim wondered if any of them had actually attained their goals. Sure, they all probably had jobs but did they achieve their dreams. Occasionally his mother gave him updates on what his old friends were up to, but since she was older then them she didn’t really keep up with them. They were nothing to her other than kids he’d grown up with. That is of course except for his little group. Those were different. Those were her boys. She felt as if she were just as much their mother as their own. The only thing she didn’t do was give birth to them. Everything else she’d been there for. She tried to keep tabs on all three of them but it wasn’t always easy. From what she’d told him Rob had eventually become a police officer or as they were known in the town, a deputy. Jim was shocked when he’d found out. Rob was about the last person he’d expected to be an officer of the law. The four of them had secretly broken so many laws when they were little it was just inconceivable one of them would actually grow up to enforce them. Then again maybe it wasn’t as surprising as he thought. Rob had always been the type that liked to help out. He may have seemed like an obnoxious ass most of the times, but that was just his way of dealing with things. Once you got past that you could eventually see that deep down he genuinely wanted to help. He just put a show on most of the time to entertain. If what Jim’s mother told him was true Rob really seemed to enjoy what he was doing so he was happy for him. Rob seemed to have been the only one out of their group who had made any real attempt at making something of his life.

His mom didn’t say too much whenever the subject of Tommy came up in their conversations. He became a somewhat touchy subject with her due to his exploits. Every now and then she would mention something about him being in the newspaper for some kind of hunting award or something of that nature. It always inevitably had something to do with shooting a deer with a big set of antlers or something else only other hunters would care about. She wasn’t a fan and was never really sure and Jim never thought to ask. That was one of the few things he and Tommy hadn’t agreed on. He’d never understood what the thrill of hunting held. Jim’d only gone with Tommy a few times and saw no real point in it. He didn’t like sitting around being still waiting for some dumb animal to come around so he could shoot it. Jim didn’t need the meat to survive and Tommy didn’t either, not with a grocery store and restaurants nearby. Plus he didn’t really like killing things, so he didn’t see the point in it. Jim didn’t oppose hunting; it just wasn’t something he enjoyed.

Then there was ‘Poor Pete’ as Jim’s mother called him. Whenever his name came up in their talks her voice would get choked up as if just on the edge of tears. She didn’t know too much about him anymore either, mostly by Pete’s choice, but what she did know made her extremely sad and worried. She’d said when he was a young boy he so full of life and promise that seeing him the way he was now just broke her heart. Pete had slowly become what the town people nastily called a hermit and that was one of the nicer names.

He kept to himself mostly but was occasionally heard from by his parents when he needed money or something else he couldn’t get himself. He never tried to talk to any of his old friends and was never seen out after dark except around his own house. When Jim asked what she meant she wouldn’t say anymore. From what little she would say he gathered Pete definitely wasn’t doing well and hadn’t been for a long time. He lived by himself and did a lot of things his mother and even Jim thought were strange. Mom always kept her comments vague but Jim knew something bad was going on with Pete. When pressed she would quickly change the subject to something not so depressing and acted as if what they’d been talking about was a closed topic.

No, Jim thought as he waited in line for his rental car, his leaving had nothing to do with his old friends and everything to do with him. He guessed he just wanted more out of life back then they did. Nothing against them or anything but staying in town just wasn’t for him. So he left. Unfortunately leaving didn’t do what he thought it would. He hadn’t found anything he thought he would. No great job, no great girlfriend, in short no great life. He doubted he would ever find those things. At this point he didn’t even think they existed. He tried to be an optimist and think his dream just hadn’t found him yet but that was quickly being proven wrong everyday he stayed in the city. He thought when he’d left he’d go out in the world and become somebody, then return home to the admiration of his friends but that wasn’t happening. Instead the only thing he got to come back to do was bury the people he left behind.

He dreaded coming back and seeing his friends again under any circumstances much less these, but at the same time he almost couldn’t wait. The line for cars was almost more than he could take. Jim didn’t quite know why but he was actually looking forward to seeing the old group. He’d had a lot of friends but none he was as close to as Tommy, Rob and Pete. They were always inseparable. It was always a good time as long as they were around.

Now one of their numbers was gone.

It would be a bittersweet reunion especially with Pete in the condition he was. But it was a reunion that was long over-due, failure or not. He was somewhat nervous about everything what with Tommy being gone, but he figured that was because of the simplest reason of all. It had just been too long since being home.

2

After the hassle of the airport the open road was a welcome relief. It gave him time to prepare himself for his arrival in the old home town. He definitely needed to get his head straight before he got there. It wasn’t a bad place, just a little different.

Before he knew it he was coming up on the last bit, drove over a small hill and there it was. The name of the place was Newton but you wouldn’t have known it since the name had worn off the welcome sign. It had probably worn off the maps leading to it too.

Driving into the town almost felt as if you were taking a step back in time. The place looked like it had tried to progress with the rest of the world but had run out of energy halfway through. Cruising down the road that passed directly through the center of town, which was of course called Main Street, he saw just how little the place had changed.

It was the type of place that if you saw a tumbleweed blow by you wouldn’t be surprised to see it. He smiled to himself none the less. He was happy to be back even for such a bad reason. Everything was as familiar as the back of his eyelids. Things he grew up with and thought would surely be gone were still there.

The old grocery store, bank, fire station and everything else he remembered was still the same as he’d pictured it on the plane ride out. They looked almost as if they were somehow suspended in time. Unfortunately seeing them like this caused them to look like exactly what they were. Old rundown buildings that needed to be either torn down or updated to fit in better with the rest of the country. The town looked as if it wanted to live in the past, and the people living there didn’t seem to mind letting its way. Otherwise things would be different.

Coming to where the main area of the town used to end, Jim saw that there were a scattering of things the outside world had been able to inflict on the old place. Surprisingly, a couple of new fast food joints had popped up. They looked as if they’d sprung from the ground already made and ready to serve like so many of the ones he was used to in the city. One day it was an empty lot, the next there was a new place to buy a burger on your way to work. A Wal Mart was probably being birthed somewhere nearby if he didn’t know better. Seemed like every place no matter how big or small had one of those now a days. Not seeing one immediately present he chuckled imagining his town just might not rate highly enough on the big organizations food chain to get one. Yup, he thought, the old town was quite a ways behind the times but it was very slowly catching up. Maybe too slowly.

Jim tried concentrating on his driving but found it difficult as he looked from one place to another, his neck on a swivel, remembering old times. He drove past the tree that he’d been standing under when he received his first kiss at the age of seven. Looking for another tree close by that he and his friends used to climb all the time, he was surprised to see it wasn’t there anymore. In its place stood a sign that proudly proclaimed that this spot and all the surrounding area was going to be the location of a new Wal Mart.

I guess we do rate, he thought sadly. That tree had been a great place to sit on hot summer days, of which there’d been quite a few, and just relax and enjoy the breeze. Whether they were sitting there reading comic books or just talking about anything that came to mind, they were always cool.

Thinking of comic books brought back memories of one of the places he’d already passed. The old grocery store. When he was little his group of friends would go there almost daily to buy penny candy from the wall behind the register or to read whatever comic books they might happen to have available which usually wasn’t all that many but for the four of them were enough. It seemed like they spent half the summers there. The owner never seemed to mind. It was the exact opposite in fact, she actually encouraged them. She always told them reading was good for them, even if it was funny books and that a little candy never hurt anyone. This last part she always said with a wink and a secret type of smile only reserved for the kids. Thinking about the little old lady brought another sad smile to his face. Everybody in town used to call her Grandma. It didn’t matter if you were an adult or child, she was Grandma to everyone. Whenever you went in the store, there she was sitting behind the counter on her little uncomfortable looking stool. She ran the place all by her lonesome. Jim’s smile slowly faded as he thought of her. She was just another part of his past he would regret not having had a chance to say goodbye to. She’d surely passed away many years ago. There was probably someone new sitting behind the counter who probably wasn’t near as nice as Grandma had been. He didn’t even think he wanted to go there while he was home. It just wouldn’t be the same. That was Grandma’s place and anybody else sitting there would just tarnish his memory of her.

Finally arriving at what was surely the new outskirts of town he drove only for a few more seconds before turning down the first street he came to that lead to one of the two main housing developments the town boasted. Jim never understood why people chose to live here. It wasn’t really close to anything. There were no car factories or plants or anything for that matter that needed a lot of workers and yet the town still seemed to somehow exist. The next closest town, or what passed for it anyways, was a good forty five minutes away. A few of his friends’ parents had commuted when he was little so maybe that explained it. People wanted that rustic feel or something.

Discarding the ‘why’ people lived here thoughts he turned his attention to the development itself. Everything he could remember of his childhood seemed to center around New Ways Estates. From the moment he was born until the exact moment he finally left. Tommy and Rob’s families also lived in the development not too far from Jim’s so it had been almost inevitable they would eventually meet and become friends.

The three of them used to say they had been destined to meet like heroes they’d read about in their story books. The only member of their group who didn’t live there was Pete. His family lived in the slightly more upscale development on the other side of town. The people who lived in that neighborhood liked to look down their noses at everybody else. It wasn’t that they were better than the rest of the town they just thought they were. At least the adults did. Kids being kids, money didn’t stop them from meeting Pete one day while they were out playing and becoming the best of friends. In another town the money thing might’ve separated them but not here. The place was too small. Friends were made wherever they could be. Once the four of them had found each other there was no separating them. Their developments were on almost opposite sides of town which could have caused a problem but they quickly learned bikes were a great invention and put them to good use. They were a wonderful way of ensuring they could play together whenever they wanted.

Jim made a few unconscious turns as he made his way through the development. All his old memories were flooding back. He wasn’t really paying attention to where he was going. He was pretty much operating on instinct. Eventually he turned down a street that made what he was thinking of and seeing come together. This street was the one that led home.

Pulling up slowly in front of his mother’s house he glanced at the front lawn and tried not to think too much about how he and Tommy had once played there when they were little. Try as he might he couldn’t help but think of all the scrapped knees and grass stained pants they gotten there which made him quickly get out of the car and make his way to the door before he started crying. When he was only a few steps from the door it swung open and his mother stepped out with a sad smile on her face. He walked the few remaining steps and came to a halt in front of her. They stood looking at each other for a few seconds until he finally couldn’t hold it in any longer and began crying. She reached out and gently wrapped her arms around him in a comforting embrace murmuring soothing words in his ear as he wept. Seeing her had just made it all come crashing in.

She’d been there when they’d scrapped their knees. She’d been the one they asked for drinks after playing in the hot sun all day. She’d been the one that could always be counted on to be there when they needed her. Even thought she didn’t always approve of him Jim realized he wasn’t the only one who had lost Tommy, his mother had too.

After he ran out of tears and collected himself he stepped back, wiping his eyes with his sleeve and a sheepish smile, and looked at her. Not much had changed since the last time he’d seen her. She'd gone a little grayer in her short brown hair, mostly around her temples, and might’ve added on a pound or two. Other than that she was the same. If he had to place an age on her he didn’t think he’d be able to, to him she always looked young. One thing that wasn’t different was that he still had to bend down to give her a hug and kiss. Ever since he’d turned fifteen he’d been taller than her. With him now standing at six feet even she only reached to about his chin. He smiled thinking how big she used to seem to him and how he’d used to have to look up to her, now she was looking up at him. It was funny how things changed. She somehow managed to raise him and his sister without any help or major mess ups, so no matter what her height he would always look up to her.

“How are you doing honey?” she asked sympathetically as she took his arm and led him to the house.

“Bout as well as can be expected,” he said after thinking about it for a few seconds.

Walking through the living room Jim glanced around curiously. He hadn’t been home in a while and was interested in seeing if his mom had changed anything. When he was little she was always rearranging the furniture trying to make the place look bigger but everything seemed to have remained the same since the last time he’d visited. There were a few more pictures hanging on the wall of his sister and her family, but other than that there was no change. He tried to ignore the empty area on one wall mom set aside for him and the family she hoped he might one day have. He didn’t like looking at it. For some reason he always felt guilty when he did. Jim didn’t know if that space would ever be filled. He hoped with all his heart it would, but right now he just didn’t know.

Turning his thoughts to something else he sat at the table and watched his mother busy herself. She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a plate with a sandwich on it out.

“I figured you would be hungry when you got here so I made you this,” placing it in front of him. After making sure he started eating it she went back to the counter and poured two cups of coffee from the obviously freshly brewed pot and returned to the table. Sliding one in front of him she took a seat and took a sip of hers.

“It may be a little hot, so be careful,” she said as if trying to find something to say. He couldn’t help but smile. He was almost thirty years old and she was still watching out for him. She probably worried more about other people than she did herself.

While he ate she did most of the talking. Mostly it was the normal polite small talk people engaged in after not seeing each other for a while, tinted with a few personal things such as how each of them had been and who was doing what in the family. It was mostly a one sided conversation. Jim’s life wasn’t exactly what anyone would call exciting. Mom on the other hand made Jim seem like a shut in. She bragged almost constantly about the grandkids and his sister while he interjected every once in a while with a question or told her how boring his job was. She finally asked him if there was anyone important in his life which he sadly replied to with a quick no. He just as quickly reassured her that he was definitely looking for someone after seeing her face. It almost broke his heart. She wanted him to have someone almost as bad did. Course she also wanted more grandchildren to spoil. Seeing he wasn’t really in the mood to talk about it she eventually changed the subject to something a little more neutral. After what seemed like forever their conversation turned to the town and the people he’d grown up with. At first he didn’t really want to talk about them too much knowing Tommy would come up. She told him a story about one of the boys he’d went to school with getting drunk and passing out in the middle of Main Street he slowly came around and started asking about more and more people he’d known. Somewhat surprisingly, a lot of the people he went to high school with were still living in town and making quite a living doing it. Granted they all pretty much commuted back and forth, but regardless of that they were still here. There were some who’d moved away and never been heard from again.

When Rob’s name popped up she told him quite proudly about how he was doing such a great job as a deputy and how all her friends agreed that he might make a great sheriff one day. The old one was bound to retire soon and Rob was respected enough that he could probably get the job with little problem. Just the mention of the old sheriff made Jim feel uneasy. They never had seen eye to eye. He hoped he could make it through his visit without running into him (he didn’t want to think about what would happen they did meet).

Jim’s mother was telling another story about Rob which made Jim smile as he thought back to when they were younger. Back then each of the boys had called each others’ mother’s “Mom”. They were almost constantly over each other’s house so it was only natural. Jim’s mom really was almost like a mother to the other kids though. That was why she was so proud of Rob. Jim wasn’t jealous in the least. He knew other guys in his position might be but he wasn’t. He was just glad Rob was around. He hadn’t done many things his mom could brag about, she had to have someone. Since it wasn’t him it might as well be one of her other “kids”. Rob was as much one of her sons as he was and she took pleasure in how well he was doing so that was all that mattered.

Talking about Rob led to talking about others from his group. Pete was the next victim but she seemed to hedge around saying anything definite about him. While it was true all the boys had been part of each other’s families when they were little there was an exception. Pete’s family was just that. There was nothing wrong with them, they were just somewhat snobbish. None of the boys even thought about calling Pete’s mother “Mom” they hardly ever even heard Pete say it. It was always “Yes, ma am’” and “No, ma’ am” around her. Because of that they hadn’t hung out around there much. Jim’s mother had always liked all of Jim’s friends and hated saying anything mean about them so Jim knew it really bothered her to talk bad about Pete. If she could’ve said anything good she surely would’ve talked about that instead, but unfortunately there wasn’t much good to talk about concerning Pete. In Jim’s opinion he kinda brought it on himself by living out on the edge of the woods all by himself. She felt sorry for Pete and the unfortunate things he was going through. Jim’d heard he hadn’t had an easy time of it since he’d left. He’d also heard, from his mother, that Pete was hardly ever seen in town anymore except on the rare occasion he needed something. On those occasions he always showed up shabbily dressed, looking like some type of homeless person. If that wasn’t bad enough he made things worse by mumbling and talking to himself. He said things most people couldn’t understand but some of them did and they spread rumors. If anyone tried talking to him he just started rocking back and forth and mumbled something back at them. Luckily not too many people tried talking to him, his body odor kept them away pretty much. Rumor had it he didn’t bathe much. Recently, and this was what really upset his mother, some of the kids had taken to teasing him. They’d also started going out to his house at night and throwing rocks at it. The sheriff never caught anyone but his mother had heard them talking about it on more than one occasion. She’d gone and told Rob about it and he said he’d drive by every now and then and make sure Pete was ok but that was all he could do unless something worse happened. Mom didn’t think that was enough but knew there was nothing really Rob could do unless he caught the kids in the act.

Other than that Pete just came, got his food, got teased and picked on and left. Jim could tell his mother wished there was something more she could do, but knew there was nothing. It didn’t make her very happy that one of her boys was considered the town weirdo but unfortunately that was life.

After that bit of bad news was over with she surprised him and gave him a bit of good news. She happily told him that Grandma was still alive and kicking. About a year ago she’d finally quit working at the store and semi retired. Semi retired because instead of sitting at home taking it easy like a retired person was supposed to do, she could still be found making her way around town gossiping just like she used to do. The only difference now was that instead of the gossip coming to her she was going to it.

After a while the conversation drifted off into a slightly tense silence. Everything the two of them had wanted to talk about had been said. All that was left was the thing neither wanted to mention. Finally after a couple of minutes Jim broke the silence.

“So how did it happen?” he asked quietly.

“I was wondering when you were going to get around to asking,” she replied.

“Well, I didn’t really want to, but it’s not going to go away just because I want it to, so, I figured better now than later,” he snapped. “But,” he said a little more pleasantly after calming down, “I want to know so that I can have some sort of chance of getting over this whole thing. If I just keep thinking about it not knowing what really happened all I’ll do is make myself go crazy.” He watched her while waiting for her to speak. When she didn’t say anything after a few seconds he tried again. “Look Mom, I know I haven’t seen him in a while but he was one of my best friends, hell if you think about it I’ve known him for pretty much my whole life.”

“Well,” his mother began slowly, “I really don’t know all the details so I’m a little reluctant to say too much. I don’t want to get it wrong. If you want to know everything you’d have to talk to Rob. I heard he was there when they found him so he’d be your best bet. All I have really is gossip.” She paused and took a sip of her coffee. Jim wanted to hurry up and get this part over with. He really didn’t want to talk about how his friend had died but knowing would make it easier for him to accept so he had to do it. “Now then,” his mother began again, “from what I understand, Tommy went hunting by himself early that morning. Apparently he got out to his tree stand and was sitting there fine and dandy when for some unknown reason he fell out.”

“That doesn’t sound like something that would’ve killed him,” Jim said slightly confused. “His stand could only be about what, ten feet up? It might have hurt him a little bit, but it’s not something he should’ve died from. Even then it that thing was so hard I don’t think it would’ve done more than knock him out.” He didn’t know what it was but from the little he’d just heard something about this whole accident wasn’t making any sense. Falling from ten feet up wasn’t something a person should die from. Sure, it would hurt but Jim had heard of people falling from greater heights than that and coming out no worse for wear so why hadn’t Tommy?

“Jim, that’s not the only thing,” his mother said interrupting his thoughts. What else could there be, he thought.

She paused to collect her thoughts. He didn’t think he was going to like what she had to say. If her demeanor was any indication it wasn’t good, although not much recently had been. “I don’t like thinking of Tommy like this,” she said after a few seconds. “You’ll have to excuse me if it takes me a minute to get going,” she paused again. Jim didn’t want to hurry her but he was beginning to wonder what she was holding back that could be so bad that his mother was having this hard of a time speaking about it. She’d been around when other people had died but Tommy’s death must’ve been worse than anything else she’d experienced. It obviously wasn’t just another unfortunate accident that happened in most small towns.

“Jim,” his mother finally said, “once they found Tommy he wasn’t exactly just laying on the ground.”

“How couldn’t he be on the ground? If he fell he had to land somewhere. He wasn’t just floating was he?” Jim answered.

“No he wasn’t floating and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t be a smartass. This is hard for me too,” she answered smartly. Instead of saying anything else he picked up his coffee cup and took a sip. “He was stuck to a tree,” she said quietly just as he was about to swallow.

“A tree?” he squawked spitting out everything in his mouth. “How was he stuck to a tree? What are you talking about Mom?”

“Well, like I said, he fell,” she said as she started wiping up the mess he’d made, “but when he fell he didn’t exactly land on the ground. Now remember this is just a rumor. It could be nothing but gossip from them that do that sort of thing but from what I hear he supposedly landed on a broken tree of some sort.” He was about to ask just what the hell she was talking about when he looked up and saw that his mothers eyes were about to overflow. What she was saying didn’t make much sense but it also wasn’t her fault. She was just answering his question. He knew he shouldn’t be yelling at her and felt bad that he was, but unfortunately she was the only one there. How could somebody fall on a tree? He wondered. It just wasn’t something that happened, at least not around a place like this. He was trying to figure it out when it finally dawned on him.

“Wait a minute, you mean he was impaled?” he choked out hoping she would say no.

“Yes that’s exactly what I mean,” she said as tears began trickling over the edges of her eyelids. “I just didn’t want to say it like that. I really don’t like that word and I really don’t like thinking of Tommy in that way. It’s bad enough he’s gone I don’t have to think about how he went.” Jim watched the tears run down her face as he tried to comprehend how something like this could have happened.

“Are you alright?” his mother asked through her sniffles after she’d finished crying. He realized he hadn’t said anything for a few minutes. There was nothing he could think to say.

He heard her ask him something else but he didn’t respond to that either. His mind was lost in other thoughts. Impaled, echoed through his head. Thinking about it he realized he didn’t like the word either. It made Tommy’s death sound dirty. It also made it harder to believe. He almost thought this might be some kind of elaborate joke his friends had used to get him to come home for a visit. They were sure to jump out any minute and yell surprise. He looked up hoping they would but after a few seconds of nothing happening he realized this wasn’t a joke. It was all too real, he couldn’t believe it. Tommy had been an avid hunter from the time he was old enough to go all the way through high school and apparently right up til his death. Tommy used to love going out in the woods early in the morning and waiting for that one perfect moment when a deer walked into his sights. All that was left was to pull the trigger. If anybody ever asked him why he went he would tell them the thrill of the hunt was just as addicting as any drug could ever be and everything else seemed boring compared to it. He seemed to enjoy it so much that Jim had eventually allowed himself to be talked into going along so he could see what it was like. After his first kill he decided it wasn’t the thing for him. He’d gone a few more times just to make Tommy happy but always made sure he aimed a little off each time he took a shot. Tommy always thought something was wrong with Jim’s gun when this happened. Jim didn’t tell him he didn’t like it because he was afraid he would hurt his friend’s feelings, but after this type of thing happening every time, Tommy eventually figured it out on his own. After that he’d quit asking. He never said anything about Jim humoring him he’d just quit asking. It was just one of many examples of how Jim had grown apart from his friends. They liked simple things and Jim didn’t. It wasn’t their fault, if it was anyone’s fault it was his own.

He shook himself from the past and back to the present where his mother was still watching him with a concerned look on her face. He was still thinking about Tommy’s death. He just couldn’t understand how a person who’d been in and out of trees for most of his life could so easily fall out of one and not only hurt himself, but kill himself in the process. It just didn’t make any kind of sense. Tommy was always careful whenever he and Jim had gone out. He had continuously told Jim things that would ensure his safety. That was just how Tommy was. Obviously this time something went wrong he hadn’t planned for. Or something had happened that Tommy couldn’t have planned for.

“Jim? Are you alright?” his mother asked again, concern touching her voice. Judging by the look on her face he must’ve been ignoring her for some time. Instead of answering he buried his face in his hands and rubbed his eyes trying to make his mind accept the manner of his best friend’s death.

“How could something like this have happened?” he asked.

“Like I said,” his mother said as she slowly shook her head, “I only know what I’ve heard, if you want to know more I think you really should try to find Rob. He would know all the details. All I have is rumors. He a policeman plus he’s your friend, talk to him. Other than what I’ve already told you I don’t know anything else. I’m sorry sweetie, I wish I did. I wish there was some way I could make all this better but there isn’t. Rob is your best bet.” She looked at him for a moment then added, “I’m sorry I don’t know more.”

“It’s not your fault Mom,” he quickly said (she already felt bad enough he didn’t need to add to it by making her feel guilty because she didn’t know anymore). “It’s just; well it’s kind of hard to believe. I guess I’m still trying to get used to everything.” He shook his head slightly and ran his hands through his hair, “Impaled! How does something like that happen?” He still couldn’t see how it could’ve happened. He would definitely have to find Rob and see if he could shed any more light on this.

“I think I need some air,” he said getting to his feet. His mother watched him sympathetically as he walked to the door. “I think I’ll just go for a walk or something. Maybe look around a little bit. I just need some time to think about this a little. I might even try to find Rob while I’m out.” Waving goodbye, he walked out with thoughts of Tommy’s death running rampant through his head and how he was ever going to make himself accept that his friend was gone.

3

At first Jim walked aimlessly through the development not caring where his feet took him but he soon found himself seeking out all the old spots he played at as a kid. Upon arriving at each one he would stand still and let his mind reach back and replay scenes from his childhood. He was so caught up in his memories that he was surprised when he suddenly found himself at Main Street. Looking at his watch he saw that it was still early. Not wanting to go back to his mothers’ house and having nothing else better to do he decided to walk into town. Maybe if he was lucky he would be able to find Rob and get some real information from him. If nothing else it would be a good waste of time. He’d only gotten to see the changes in the town from his car before, now would be a good time to do the walking tour.

He was still finding it hard to believe he was home for a funeral of all things. Especially that of one of his friends. If he’d ever thought of a reason for coming home it sure wasn’t for something like this. He just couldn’t believe that something like this could happen. This was the kind of thing you heard about happening to other people. It wasn’t supposed to happen to him. He’d grown up in this town and for the life of him couldn’t remember anyone ever dieing from anything other than old age or some other natural cause. Something like this happening was just unheard of. After all these years Jim figured the town had gotten off pretty good but as of a couple of days ago things must have decided to catch up with a vengeance.

Being lost in his thoughts he smelled food cooking and looked up to find he was just coming abreast of one of the new fast food places that had settled in since he left. He wasn’t very hungry so decided to pass it by when he heard something.

Someone had called his name. Thinking the person calling had obviously not meant him he ignored them and kept walking. Nobody in town could possibly recognize him after all these years. Surprisingly after only taking a few steps he heard someone call out again. This time he couldn’t resist. Maybe somebody had recognized him as far-fetched as that might be. He’d changed a lot since high school. He wasn’t a scrawny, little teenager carrying a superhero book bag anymore. He was a grown man now.

Still thinking it was just some mother calling for her misbehaving child he stopped and turned around. Studying the parking lot didn’t reveal anything right off the bat except some guy sitting in his good ol’ boy pickup truck by the back of the building. Jim strained his eyes thinking he might know the guy but quickly gave up when he saw the stranger was returning his scrutiny. Quickly looking elsewhere Jim risked a glance and saw that the guy was still looking at him. This didn’t just seem to be mild interest either. He was really taking an interest. Jim almost wanted to walk over and tell the guy to take a picture but knew that would probably cause trouble. You never knew with some people and this guy looked like one of those you didn’t want to mess with.

Besides, Jim wanted to find Rob not have Rob come find him because he was coming to arrest him for disturbing the peace or something. The guy didn’t seem concerned that Jim had noticed him so Jim decided to adopt the same attitude. Seeming bored with what he saw the guy eventually looked away and so did Jim but not before risking another quick look. This time Jim realized the face actually was familiar. He just didn’t know why. It must be someone he knew when he’d lived here before but he couldn’t remember who. Not wanting to walk up to somebody who quite probably was a stranger Jim gave up the idea of trying to find out who it was and turned to leave when suddenly something else caught his eye. A woman about his age, dressed in a restaurant uniform had just come out and was jogging towards him from the back entrance of the building. Watching her bounce her way to him he thought she was awfully bubbly. She was slightly tall, maybe a little on the thin side but not overtly so, with dirty blonde hair that trailed in the wind behind her and she bounced nicely in all the right places. She almost looked like a model he’d seen on TV but not quite. Being curious as to who it was he decided to wait and see. He didn’t recognize her but that didn’t necessarily mean anything plus she was a looker so he figured it might actually be a good idea to wait. He’d been gone a long time. Hell, for all he knew the guy sitting in the truck was Rob and this was his girlfriend. Worse comes to worse it would all be a mistake but then again maybe not. He thought she looked more and more familiar the closer she got. He still couldn’t place her but he thought the possibilities of knowing her were increasing. Just about the same time she reached him a long forgotten memory flashed through his head. It was from high school and a girl that looked a lot like the one smiling at him was trailing him through the halls. He looked over his shoulder every once in a while and there she was. Then he was back staring at her hoping she hadn’t said anything to him while he’d been daydreaming. The memory still lingered. Looking at her he remembered she’d had some kind of crush on him or something. He would tell her she should stop following him but she would never listen. She constantly bugged him and his friends. They teased him unmercifully. He really hoped this wasn’t the same girl but the more he looked at her the more he was sure it was. She changed a lot since then though. He remembered her being skinny with no shape whatsoever.

That wasn’t the case now.

He was having a hard time keeping his eyes above her neck especially since her chest was heaving up and down from her running to catch up with him. Her name was on the tip of his tongue when she finally got enough air to speak to him.

“I’m glad you stopped,” she huffed, “I was calling you from the drive through. I didn’t think you heard me at first. You’re Jim Collins right?”

“Yup, fraid that’s me,” he answered. “I actually didn’t think you were talking to me. That’s why I didn’t stop. I haven’t been around here for a long time….” he finished still struggling to remember her name.

“Maria,” she said supplying it for him, “Maria Derch.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right Maria Derch. I remember now. We knew each other in high school right?” he said trying unsuccessfully to cover up that he hadn’t remembered her name. “I think we even had a few classes together.” He hopped he was right about that. It was bad enough he didn’t remember her name. That probably made her feel real good.

If the smile that spread over her face was any indication he’d said the right thing. Jim was still a little vague on anything other than the fact that she used to pester him but he figured acting like he remember more wasn’t going to harm anyone. He didn’t really want to hurt her feelings either since she was the first person he’d seen from the old days. It didn’t hurt that she was good looking either. Who knows maybe she’s changed, he thought as she began speaking.

“Right,” she said giggling like a teenager, “you do remember me! Although we had more than a few classes together if you know what I mean.” Unfortunately he had no idea what she meant. The way she said it made him think she thought he should know. Too bad he didn’t. For the life of him, all he could remember was being in math and maybe an art class or something with her back in the twelfth grade. Except her following him around but she couldn’t possibly mean that. If she was talking about anything else he was drawing a blank.

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” he said cautiously not wanting to look like an idiot. Thinking it was a safer route to take, he quickly changed the subject to something he was a little more comfortable with. “So how have you been since graduation?”

“Oh you know,” she began without too much enthusiasm, “not too much to do around here. We have a bake sale every now and then and we finally have some new restaurants and a Wal-Mart being put in but other than that it’s small town life as normal. Still as exciting as ever.” After that she launched in to how he was and what he’d been up to. He didn’t have much of a chance to say anything since almost as soon as he started speaking she took off on another topic. Something about the town and some of the people still living there. He didn’t pay much attention. His earlier idea about her having changed seemed to’ve been shot to hell, she was still as annoying as ever. She did still look pretty good he thought trying to distract himself from her voice. He could always use a gag if they hooked up. She was in the middle of saying something or other that he wasn’t really paying attention to when he caught a name he recognized.

“Excuse me what did you just say?” he asked before she could start in on another topic and forget all about the name she’d said.

“I said, you must’ve come home because of Tommy’s funeral. It is in a couple of day’s y’know,” she said rolling her eyes dramatically as if repeating herself were too troubling.

“Yeah,” he muttered, “that’s about the only reason, other than my family, I have for coming back to this place.” He hoped she might say something else about Tommy. Maybe he’d left a message with her or something. She seemed like she’d at least known him so maybe she had more information. It was like he was expecting something from beyond the grave to explain everything and he was looking towards anyone he met to give it to him. Looking at Maria though he knew she definitely wouldn’t be the one. Tommy would never be that desperate.

She looked slightly offended after hearing his words but quickly covered it up by talking again. “The rumor going around is that he was killed by some kind of bogeyman or something. They say he was out in the woods all alone and was killed but nobody knows how. I heard he was really messed up. Stuffed on a tree or something like that. Now, I don’t know if it’s true or not but I guess it could be considering all the other rumors going around. The sheriff is trying to keep it all quiet but I don’t think it’s working to well.” She looked around, then in a slightly lower voice said, “I also heard that it looked like someone pushed him but they don’t have any proof.”

“What do you mean all the other rumors and what about someone pushing him? I hadn’t heard that before,” he asked. Maybe he would get some use out this conversation after all. If nothing else he would have a few more questions to ask Rob when he found him.

“Well,” she began whispering as if there was anybody else in the general area that even cared, “everybody is saying how he was pushed out his tree stand. At least, that is, all the people I’ve talked to. I don’t see how that could’ve happened though. I mean a tree stand is pretty small isn’t it? I don’t know. Anyways, the rumor going around is that Tommy was doing something with one of the boys in towns’ wife and he kinda caught them at it. He got him back though by going out to Tommy’s stand and killing him. Yup, pushed him right out of it they say. Then to make it look like an accident he tossed him on a tree or something. I don’t know what the big deal is about falling on a tree is though. I mean falling on a tree isn’t that big a deal. I’ve seen a lot of people fall out of trees and on them too.” She said all of this as if it was an everyday occurrence. Jim almost pitied her for being so stupid. Not seeming to know any different she stepped even closer than she already was and told him it was all being kept quiet because the tree Tommy had landed on was way to far away for him to have made it there by himself. There was no way he could’ve reached it without help. Everything Jim was hearing, even considering the source, was making it harder and harder to believe Tommy’s death had been an accident.

Maria paused for a breath before adding a little gruesomeness to her already macabre story. She smiled and told him that there was also a rumor going around about there being blood all over the place when they’d finally found Tommy. She said she had it on good authority that it had been everywhere. Even on the tree stand that he supposedly fell out of. That was one of the things that were supposed to be such a secret, because if he fell out of the stand onto a tree then how did the blood get up there? This supposed friend of hers said the police’s shoes were drenched in it when they got done walking around looking for clues. As Jim stood with a look of mounting horror creeping across his face she quickly added that everything she was telling him was just rumors and that none of it was probably true and that if anyone asked he didn’t hear them from her. She must’ve thought the look on his face was acceptance of everything she said because she looked pretty happy about everything after that.

She was actually a lot happier about everything than he would’ve expected someone in this type of situation to be. She must've sensed something was wrong though because she suddenly let out an eep and a look of embarrassment sprang across her features. Jim had never heard anyone make an “eep” sound before now and if the situation were different he might’ve laughed but after what she’d just told and how much pleasure she’d taken in the telling he didn’t care.

“Oh!” she squeaked. “Wait a minute! You were, like, best friends or something with Tommy weren’t you?” She hadn’t waited for an answer to any other of her questions so why start now. “Oh God! I totally forgot! Here I’ve been going on and on about it like it was just regular everyday gossip, not thinking for one minute I was talking to one of his best friends. I am so sorry.” She would have stood there apologizing for the rest of the day if he’d let her and he was half tempted to but it eventually got on his nerves, plus he didn’t really think she was for some reason so he cut her off.

“Maria its ok, really,” he began, trying to keep his voice under control. “You made an honest mistake. Don’t worry about it. Really. I’m trying not to think too much about everything but I’m glad you told me what you did. It’ll give me something to ask Rob about if I ever find him. You made a mistake and now you’ve apologized. End of story. Let’s leave it at that.”

She didn’t look like she believed him but he didn’t really care what she thought anymore. He had bigger things to worry about than whether or not she believed him.

“It look it’s getting late,” he said looking at the darkening sky. “I think I should probably get back to my mom’s house before she sends out a search party. We’ve been talking for longer than I thought plus it is only my first night back so I guess I should at least go spend some of my time with her.” As he was talking he slowly began backing up hoping she would get the hint and let him escape before he said something that really would hurt her feelings. Not that it mattered. He definitely wouldn’t be hooking up with her while he was home, so it didn’t really matter what she thought of him, but he was trying to be nice.

She must’ve understood because she quickly said “Oh yeah, I understand. I really need to get back to work anyways.” She turned to go and Jim thought hoped he was free but unfortunately he wasn’t that lucky. After taking only a few steps she stopped and looked back over her shoulder.

“If you need to talk to someone or just want to, you know, go out or something, you can give me a call,” she offered sweetly. “I’m in the book or you can, you know, just come by here. I’m usually here if I’m not at home. Don’t be afraid to call me day or night. I’m here for you if you need me. Ok?”

He hesitated before replying. “I don’t know Maria. I think I’ll be ok. I’m only going to be here for a few days and I’ll probably be pretty busy. But, uh, you know, if I get a chance you’ll be the first person I call… We’ll see what happens. But if we don’t get a chance to get together, it was really good seeing you again.” As he finished he turned and started walking away so she wouldn’t have a chance to say anything else.

He almost felt bad. He hoped he hadn’t hurt her feelings too much by being so abrupt. He guessed her heart might be in the right place but after hearing her rendition of “The Killing of Tommy” he didn’t think he wanted to be around her too much. Something about her was just a little bit weird. She seemed like she just wanted to help him get through everything but you never knew with people like her.

He was about to turn around and check to see if she was watching him walk away when he heard an engine roar to life behind him. Stifling the urge to spin around he casually glanced over his other shoulder, the one he would see Maria over if she was there, and looked to see what was going on. The guy who’d been sitting in the parking lot fish tailed out onto the road and squealed tires as he raced away into the fading light leaving nothing but the smell of burnt rubber behind. Wondering what that had all been about, Jim noticed almost as an afterthought that Maria was nowhere to be seen. He again had a strange feeling that he knew the guy acting like a race car driver but just couldn’t place his name.

Shaking his head he put it aside for another time. He kept walking towards his mother’s house trying to figure out what exactly might be going on as he went. He hadn’t found Rob but that was only a matter of time. Then he hoped he’d get some of the answers for all the questions that were floating around in his head.

4

Jim woke with a start the next morning stifling a scream that was trying to rip its way from his throat. The nightmare he’d been having only moments before caused him a slight disorientation which panicked him even more. Images from it kept superimposing themselves over the familiar objects in his room. One minute he was looking at a chair the next minute it was a bush. He was still trying to orient himself when he looked at a poster that had been on his wall since he was ten but instead of the familiar movie star looking down at him it was a beast with dark red smoldering eyes. Stifling yet another scream he shook his head and looked again. This time everything was normal. Well, almost everything.

Unfortunately he was again lying in wet sheets. This was starting to be a regular thing with him. Now that his attention was finally somewhere else the dream he’d been having was quickly fading. Unfortunately, thinking about the creature he thought he saw a few seconds ago triggered part of it to come back. He could vaguely remember something about a beast of some sort chasing him through dark woods he’d never seen before. Every time he thought he’d escaped it he found the thing right back in front of him waiting with its mouth open like it was going to eat him. Just thinking about it gave him the chills. By thinking about it he realized something else. It was the same monster he’d dreamed of a couple nights ago. Having the same type of dream a couple nights in a row was really strange. At least he thought it was. Too bad there was nothing he could do about it. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. If only he could forget about the eyes, then he’d be ok.

He couldn’t understand why he might be having dreams like these. He’d heard somewhere that what people dreamed was a way for their minds to deal with things. What problems he might be dealing with that would make dream of monsters was beyond him though. He hardly ever dreamed of monsters. At least not since he’d been a little kid. The last time he could honestly remember doing it was back in high school.

It was around the same time as…well that was funny. He couldn’t remember. One second he’d been trying to remember a childhood dream and the next thing he knew it was gone. No more memory. He tried to grab hold of it again but it was too elusive. He didn’t know if he should be glad or not. The need to figure out what was going on still gnawed at him. It wasn’t like him to have dreams like that.

Putting dreams aside for later pondering and tiring of lying on wet sheets, he finally rolled from the bed and headed towards the bathroom. He’d planned on going back to town today to see if he could find out what else had changed since his departure. There was also the matter of finding Rob to deal with. He really hoped he could find him today. He needed to find out more about Tommy’s death and Rob was the only other person he could ask.

He thought sleeping on it might make him feel better about the whole thing but it had done the exact opposite. He just couldn’t let it go and accept that it was all just an accident, especially after hearing what Maria had to say. She was weird, but she did give him some more questions to ask when he found Rob. He didn’t know exactly what he thought Rob might tell him but it would still be more than what little he already knew.

On his way down the stairs he heard plates clinking together and guessed his mother was already there making breakfast. Looking at his watch he corrected himself. She was probably making brunch. He didn’t realize he’d slept so late, that definitely wasn’t like him. With his job back in the city he was usually up early everyday so even when he was off on the weekends he didn’t sleep in very late. Now it was almost noon if his watch was to be believed. Dream or not he’d somehow manage to sleep almost half the day away. Mom was at the stove cooking something as he walked into the kitchen.

“I thought you might want something to eat," she said glancing over her shoulder as he took a seat. “Ya know something? You don’t look like you’re eating enough. You’re gone all skin and bones since you were here last.”

It was the same thing every time he came but he was used to it by now so he didn’t even try protesting her observations. It wouldn’t have done any good anyways. Jim had always been skin and bones, his mother just hadn’t seemed to notice. To her he was always too skinny and in need of more food. For being a twenty nine-year-old man he didn’t think he was doing half bad. He still had a full head of light brown hair, hadn’t gained a lot of weight and could still play a game of basketball with guys ten years younger than him. How many guys his age could say that? Most of them were bald with no hair and sat on their butts doing nothing all the time. He’d seen a lot of them while on the job.

He found his looks had never been anything to write home about, but they were his and he was used to them and he had gotten his share of compliments throughout his life so he couldn’t be that bad. Mostly he heard about how cool his eyes were. This would usually be a bad thing if the only thing a girl could find good to say was that she liked his eyes, but he’d heard it his whole life. He didn’t know what was so cool about them though. The only thing he could think of was that they had a tendency to change color depending on his mood. When he was calm they were a nice, normal green but when he got upset or pissed off they changed to a blazing greenish-blue. If that was what women thought was cool then more power to them and good for him. Unfortunately his mother wasn’t mesmerized by his eyes. As far as she was concerned he was who he was and was always in need of more food so he could put some meat on his bones. She was always telling him that women liked being able to feel something when they hugged a man, and if all he had were his pokey bones then that explained why he didn’t have a girlfriend. He would just keep his mouth shut and let her say her piece. He wanted to tell her it was a bit more complicated than just gaining some weight but he didn’t. She needed to think it was something and not just the fact that not that many girls were interested. There’d been a few over the years but none that wanted to stick around for a while. She prattled on and on while he ate. He didn’t pay it much mind. In one ear and out the other, just like when he’d been little.

While he was eating, his mother asked what he was planning to do that day. Not wanting to speak with a mouthful of food he held a finger up telling her to wait a minute. He never understood it but his mother had always been big on talking at meals. Most parents back when he was growing up, wanted their kids to be seen and not heard. Not his mother. She conducted most of her daily conversations in the kitchen during a meal of some sort. That was one of the things his friends had liked about his mom. She was laid back unlike other parents. They ate over at his house every chance they got.

Since he hadn’t had a chance to tell her about it before, he told her in between mouthfuls about his unlucky meeting with Maria from the day before. When asked how he’d known her, he told his mom she was an old acquaintance from high school. Even with a day to think about it he still only had vague recollections of her and from those he didn’t think she had been or ever would be what he would call a friend. After telling her some of the things Maria had gleefully told him concerning Tommy’s death he asked to hear her thoughts on the whole thing. She agreed that it sounded strange but that maybe she was just excited about seeing him again. She also told him again that he should find Rob and get information from someone that would know and quit listening to gossip.

With that advice barely out of her mouth he finished his last bite of food and told her that was exactly what he was going to go do. He put his plate in the sink, planted a kiss on her cheek and was out the door before she could say anything else.

He was greeted by a slightly overcast morning that just about accurately reflected his current emotional mood. Dark and melancholy.

Yup, that was him to the bone.

As if to echo the tears that had been falling from his eyes recently it looked like it might turn to rain at some point throughout the day. Not really caring if he got wet he decided to walk to town. It was only water after all.

He wandered down the road and memory lane thinking about his childhood and the things they’d done as they grew up. He was really looking forward to finding Rob. If nothing else at least then he’d have a more familiar face to see. He hoped it wouldn’t be too hard to locate him. He could probably ask around or go to the police station if worse came to worse but if he did that he might run into the sheriff. He wanted to put that off as long as possible, if at all. Hopefully Rob would know something. The two of them weren’t as close as they’d once been, time tended to do that, but he hoped it hadn’t changed things too much.

As he walked towards town he eventually passed the restaurant Maria worked at. Glancing at the windows he quickened his pace a little. Hopefully she wasn’t there and if she was she wouldn’t see him. Just in case he walked a little faster, almost running, until the place was safely behind him. Maria was definitely a strange one he thought looking back over his shoulder making sure she wasn’t there. He still didn’t remember too much about her but he was pretty sure she hadn’t been as weird as she was now when they were in high school. The most he could remember was that she’d been one of the quiet kids who would get excited just by someone saying hello to her. That and the tagging along behind him stuff, but that wasn’t that big a deal. She sure had changed. Now it seemed like she was Dr Frankenstein’s younger sister or something. She seemed just a little too enthusiastic telling him the circumstances of Tommy’s death for Jim’s comfort. It was almost like she’d been bragging or something. She’d really seemed to enjoy talking about it that was for sure. Oh well, he thought shuddering, that’s just how some people are. He didn’t have to like it. He would just make sure he avoided her for the remainder of his stay. It wouldn’t be that hard. He wasn’t really going to be home long enough to do anything so there shouldn’t be a problem. After he was gone he wouldn’t need to worry about her or her gruesome enjoyment of death anymore and that was just fine with him. The sooner everything was over the better.

Glad to be out of any area Maria might be found in Jim realized he must’ve been walking faster than he thought. When he finally took a few seconds to look up he saw he had almost made it to the old grocery store he hung out at as a kid. It never had been much of a store, he thought looking at it. He savored the few minutes he had and studied what once had been so familiar. Back then he’d looked at it with childish eyes. Now he was an adult and saw it not for what he once made it to be, but for what it actually was.

Back when he was a kid it had seemed an almost magical place where he and his friends could get everything their little hearts desired. Now it was just an old run down store that didn’t even look like one. It actually looked like it used to be a house and Jim guessed at one point it probably had been. The place had to be one of the oldest buildings in town so it must’ve once been something other than a store. The only thing that really identified it for what it was now was the old dilapidated icebox setting off to the side of the front door and the old, faded weather worn sign proclaiming the name of the place. Grandmas.

Just seeing the sign raised goose pimples on his skin. He’d been there many a time in his childhood. It was almost his second home. Looking the building over he saw that the windows still had the old homemade decorations up that he and his friends used to make fun of when they were young. He felt bad about it now what with Grandma being retired and all. They’d just been a bunch of stupid little kids looking for something to pick on and the store had unfortunately been it. The little old lady everyone called Grandma, who was the owner, used to take the time each year to decorate just so she could help get everyone into the spirit of whichever holiday it was. Since the store only did local business she’d made the decorations herself to save a little money. They were nothing fancy, just enough to remind everyone there was a holiday and what one it was. Shaking his head he walked up to the door.

Hesitantly he opened the door and stepped inside. He couldn’t help but smile as the door let out a squeal of protest. It had always done that. No matter how much oil was put on it, it still squealed. Taking a few steps forward so the door could close he heard the floorboards groan like an old man under his weight. That was slightly new. They used to make noise but not so much. Of course he had gained some weight since the last time he’d been here so maybe that was it. The place was still the same, he thought looking around, seeing familiar little knick knacks hung here and there.

When he was little it’d been a simple little store where people were always welcomed like family. He hoped whoever ran the place now still kept that same type of atmosphere. It would be a shame if it was gone. It seemed like all the places now were just out to make a buck and screw the guy they were getting it from. Nobody ever took the time to just talk and ask you how you were doing and if they did you knew they didn’t care about your answer. Luckily it seemed Grandma’s hadn’t lost that homey feeling. So far the only thing he could see that was actually different was the selection of products. There were a lot more brand names being displayed than he remembered. The shelves were literally packed. Everything one might need seemed to be able to be found here, which was a good thing since one of the big stores was moving in. If Grandma’s didn’t keep up it would soon find itself going out of business.

The smell of dust hung in the air just as he remembered. He could actually see little pieces of it floating in the stray light. Seeing that he guessed the sun was making a try at coming out today. Just coming to this place seemed to have lightened his mood. He didn’t want dark and dreary anymore. Following the light to where it shone he saw that the floor was still just a bunch of mismatched boards that looked like they were replaced on an as needed basis. Over the years this type of repair seemed to have been done many times if what he saw was any indication. From the looks of it some had been done recently.

Shaking his head with a happy contentment Jim wondered when they would finally break down and replace the whole floor and maybe even the building. They might eventually try to catch up with the times, but he doubted it. He actually hoped they didn’t. This place was part of his childhood and he didn’t want to see it changed one bit. He didn’t think he had to worry about it considering the pace of the town and the people that lived in it. They would probably always stay a few years behind the rest of the world. Nothing had changed in over twelve years so it probably wouldn’t change for at least another twelve if whoever ran things now had anything to say about it. Thinking things like that used to bother him. He used to think the town was useless and wanted out of it as soon as possible. Now he could almost see himself coming to enjoy a place like this.

Jim’d almost finished his reminiscing when he finally noticed one other thing that had changed since he’d left. He should have noticed it before this. Especially since it was staring at him like he was possessed. The person behind the counter was no longer a little, hunched over old lady; now there was a beautiful woman. A woman Jim had never seen before. And here he was just standing there looking off into space like he was the village idiot.

His mother had mentioned Grandma retiring but she didn’t tell him who’d taken over in her place. Seeing her now he wished she had. Jim found himself very pleasantly surprised and yet felt stupid at the same time. He’d been looking around not thinking he might be being watched himself. Trying to look as if he had come in for some purpose he smiled sheepishly and stepped to a shelf and began looking. He stole a glimpse towards the register and found she was still looking at him. Knowing that his ruse hadn’t worked he decided to just go explain what he had been doing.

Walking towards her Jim couldn’t see too much. She was sitting down with most of her body out of view but he guessed her height to be about five two give or take a few inches. Her long, dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail that gave her a young look but not a childish one. Quite the opposite in fact. It made her look like an adult who wasn’t afraid to show that she liked to have a little fun now and then. Overall he had to say he liked it. A lot. As he approached she suddenly looked up. He was embarrassed to have been caught staring at her so openly but he couldn’t make himself look away. As cliche as it sounded he was trapped by her eyes. They were the clearest blue he’d ever seen. Oceans couldn’t compare. Her gaze left him speechless. With a great effort, but not really wanting too, he finally was able to look away.

When he finally reached her he bashfully looked up and saw a wary look in her eye and a grim edge around her eyes. From it he guessed she’d seen both good times and bad in her life and didn’t know what category he might fit under. It was a look he hoped he’d never see again after she got to know him. He felt stupid standing there like an idiot but he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t exactly the first impression but it would have to do. If he’d known someone like her was going to be there he might’ve done things differently but knowing him it probably would’ve happened about the same. He’d never done well with women. He’d been ok when he was younger, but something seemed to have happened when he graduated high school and went out into the real world. He just had no luck. He was trying to think of something clever to say so he could end the problem of him looking like a fool when he realized she’d already asked him something.

"Huh?" he said dumbly, "I mean, could you repeat that? I didn’t quite hear you."

"I said, Hi! My name’s Jill and this is my store,” she said still a little wary. “I also asked if I could help you with anything." She still wasn’t looking too sure of how to handle him. At least he was talking now and not just staring off into space. That was good. He guessed if someone came into the place he worked and just stood there staring at him he would probably be acting the same way.

"No, not really," he said leaning on the counter trying to put her at ease. It didn’t seem to be working. "I'm just kinda reminiscing about my childhood." Seeing his words weren’t helping much he quickly added "I grew up around here. My friends and I used to come here all the time when someone else was behind the counter." As he finished he tried a tentative smile to let her know he wasn’t some maniac but it probably just made things worse. He wasn’t doing too well. The one time he actually wanted to make a good impression and he was doing abysmally. She was still looking at him like he belonged more in an insane asylum than a store. He didn’t know what else to do. Maybe it would be better if he just left and came back later when his feet weren’t in his mouth.

"When we were little we used to come here all the time,” he said trying again and ignoring common sense. “A little old lady everybody called Grandma would sell us penny candy and let us read whatever the newest comics she had." He pointed first at the candy that was still kept behind the counter and then at the comic book rack over in the corner trying to illustrate his point. All the while he was talking he kept throwing little smiles into what he was saying. Thinking about how he probably looked he could just imagine what was going through her head. She most likely wanted to call the cops and tell them she needed a little help with someone that was touched in the head. Just as he was about to finally listen to the little voice telling him to shut up he noticed something had changed about her face. As he’d spoke about Grandma her features began to soften. By the time he’d finished there he could actually see a tiny smile.

"Well,” she said blowing out the pent up breath she’d obviously been holding, “now I understand why you were kinda in a daze when you first walked in. At east it makes a little more sense.” Laughing slightly she continued, "I was beginning to think you were a little touched in the head or some idiot depriving his village."

"No, nothing like that," Jim said reassuring her. He was right! She did think he was weird. Great, now he had to do a lot of work to get her to change her mind. Turning his thoughts back to what he’d been talking about he continued. "I was just surprised to find someone other than Grandma sitting behind the counter. I was so used to seeing her it just caught me off guard seeing you. My mom said something about Grandma retiring but I guess it kinda went in one ear and out the other. I was still expecting to see her when I came in.” She looked like she bought everything he was saying which was good since it was pretty much the truth. He hadn’t really thought about who would be sitting in Grandma’s place. Seeing a good looking woman there had just compounded his confusion. “I've been gone for a long time,” he continued, “but I guess old habits die hard. I was actually hoping to see her again but my mother didn’t say much else about her. I’d kinda like to see her but I don’t know where she lived. Too bad though, I really missed her." He knew exactly where she lived but Jill didn’t need to know that. He was just trying to figure out some way to make sure the conversation continued until he could direct to something else. He didn’t want to just say hi, bye and leave. He wanted to get to know her a lot better and if the only way he could find to do it was to talk about Grandma well, he would take it. It would surely eventually lead to another topic. He just had to wait. He actually felt slightly foolish jabbering on and on the way he was but she didn’t seem to mind. In fact she seemed to like it. After telling her a little about what he and his friend used to do in the store he finally finished saying all he could think of so he grinned sheepishly and shut his mouth.

"Got it all out now?" she joked. He just shook his head feeling a little more foolish than he had. He knew he’d been blabbering, he’d just hoped she hadn't noticed. "Now after all that stuff you said I’m happy to tell you that Grandma is still alive and as ornery as she ever was. I should know, I'm Grandma's granddaughter.” She paused to let him take that little bit in. The surprise must have registered on his face since she smiled a little wider as she continued. “She still comes in every now and then to say hi. Heck, you might even see her today.” Seeing her beaming face Jim figured he might not have messed up as bad as he thought, maybe things were looking up.

"Well, that sure is good news,” he said keeping the conversation going. “It’s good to hear she’s still around." He remembered hearing Grandma speak once or twice about having a granddaughter but she’d always quickly changed the subject when somebody asked about her. It seemed to make her sad; the little girl had never come to visit. Nobody had ever even seen so much as a picture of her. Then again that wasn’t surprising since Grandma wasn’t one to go broadcasting her personal life to everyone. She welcomed you into her store and was nice to you while you were there and if she saw you on the street but that was about it. So, now after all these years of only hearing a word here and there about the girl he finally got to meet her. Jim had to say, she had been well worth the wait.

"So," she said when he didn’t immediately say anything else, "I told you my name. Now is usually the part when you tell me yours. Then we talk and get to know each other and soon we’re old friends and everybody lives happily ever after."

"Oh, sorry,” he said feeling like a humungous dork. He was acting like he’d never talked to a girl before. He didn’t understand what was going on. Whenever he tried to speak everything just came out wrong. Whatever it was maybe it would go away if he kept talking. “My name’s Jim Collins," he said trying to get more comfortable. "Like I said a few minutes ago, I grew up right down the road from here. We, I mean my friends and I, used to come in here almost every day. But once I was old enough to leave I did just that. I left and haven't really been back for about twelve years." After talking for a few minutes he felt better. At least he wasn’t staring at her all moon-eyed like he had been anymore.

"So, what brought you back now?" she asked nudging him along.

"Well, unfortunately I had to come back for a funeral. One of my friends died." Everything had been going good until now. He’d almost let himself forget why he was here. Now it all just came crashing back in.

"I'm sorry," she said obviously caught a little off guard. "Are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just a little hard whenever I think about it,” he said. “Talking to you helped me put it aside for a few minutes.”

“Well, if you need to talk or something just let me know,” she said sounding concerned. He couldn’t believe it. Most people now a days didn’t care about other people and here she was, someone he had just met and she was acting like they were old friends. She was there with a shoulder to cry on so to speak. That was just another thing to like about her. “I guess I should also say sorry for being so blunt when you first came in,” she added looking a little embarrassed. “It was just, you know, I'd never seen you before and when you came in you looked a little funny and whatnot, then when you didn’t answer me right away after I said something to you I thought you might be some kind of weirdo tourist or something. Maybe even worse. Now look, I've gone and been blunt and came right out and asked you why you were here like you didn’t have any kind of right to be here or something. Now I feel like maybe I’m the weirdo. This first meeting of ours isn't going to good is it?" she finished laughing nervously. He knew exactly how she felt. They were both babbling like a couple of little school kids. The meeting wasn’t actually as bad as she thought though. True, it was one of the strangest he’d ever had, but also one of the best ever too. Still, he couldn’t tell her that. She was the one that was nervous now. The shoe was on the other foot now. His slightly morbid reason for being there had probably been the cause but then again maybe it was something else. That is if he were lucky which he probably wasn’t.

"It's ok, calm down," he said reassuring her. "Like I said, I probably did look a little funny just standing there and don’t worry about all the questions. This is your place. If somebody was standing in my store staring off into space I think I’d ask a few questions too. The way you acted was about the same thing I probably would’ve done. Actually I probably would’ve done worse."

"Well, be that as it may,” she said, the look of concern returning to her face, “I'm still real sorry about your friends’ death. I’m guessing it was Tommy you were talking about by the way. It shouldn’t surprise me though that I see people I don’t know. Tommy sure did seem to know a lot of people. It is all kinda strange though. Nobody’s ever died like that around here from what I’ve heard. Everybody’s real shook up about it. It’s sad how you can be here one day and then gone the next."

"Yeah it really caught me off guard too. My mom called and woke me up from this weird dream I was having. As soon as I heard what she said I was right back out.” Seeing her puzzled look, he continued. “I passed out right there in my room. When I woke up I came right home as quick as I could. It was almost like I was trying to get here so I didn’t miss my chance to say goodbye to him or something. I hadn’t seen him in a long time. Now I won’t ever again.” He was almost talking to himself towards the end. Looking up he saw that Jill looked like she wanted to do more than just stand there listening but wasn’t sure if she should. “I guess it was about time for me to come back I just wish it hadn't been for something like this," he finished with a bitter smile.

They stood quietly for a moment before Jim spoke again and changed the subject. Trying to get on a happier note he asked her a little bit about herself. Standing there listening he couldn’t help but notice how pretty she was. The way the light shone on her hair, the way she moved her hands when she spoke. Everything about her made him want to get to know her more and more. He was so wrapped up in what she was doing that he almost missed what she was saying. From what she told him she’d been there for about two and a half to three years. She wasn’t sure since when she’d got there, she mostly been running away from a bad marriage. Her grandmother offered her a place to stay while she got things sorted out. Lucky for Jim, she had eventually divorced and her grandmother asked her to stay and help run the store. A few months later Grandma announced she was retiring and letting Jill have the place. Ever since then Jill had been here. She finished her story and closed her mouth as if she couldn’t believe she had told him so much.

Before she had a chance to think too much about it and just before Jim opened his mouth to say something else the front door slam open and a shout rang out that sent spike of terror through his body and mad him break out in an instant sweat.

"Put your hands in the air and don’t move!" the yeller ordered.

Jill’s face looked as if it had turned to ice. Her features were frozen in disbelief. Jim was similarly frozen. Of all his luck to be in the store with the woman of his dreams in a small town and have the damn place get robbed. He had luck all right; too bad it was all bad.

Jim heard the door slam shut and listened to the floor boards moaning as the intruder stomped his way towards them. Looking to Jill for some sign of what to expect he saw that she was still frozen by terror. Well if nothing else they would both be robbed for the first time together. Not an ideal first date. Hopefully he made it out alive so he could at least ask her out on a real one. It surprised him he was still clear headed enough to think about things like asking her out. Unfortunately that seemed to be the only thing he could think about. He stood there waiting to find out what would happen next. Surely the person wouldn’t just shoot them; he must have demands of some sort. Heart pounding in his chest, he felt someone move up and come to a stop behind his back a lot closer than he would’ve liked. His stomach tightening into a knot of dread he wanted nothing more than to spin around and turn the tables on the would be robber but knew that if he even tried he or Jill would probably be killed. He wished the person would at least say something. His mind was raced through all the possible scenarios he could think of that would get them out of this situation. Unfortunately everything he came up with ended with them both dead.

The person was still behind him. Jim took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. He had to take stock of the situation they were in. Trying to put everything else out of his mind he thought about everything as calmly as he could. First, he’d just met who he considered the girl of his dream. Next, just as they were getting to know each other somebody decided they absolutely had to rob the store they were in and unfortunately there was nothing he could think of to do about it. Then the last and maybe most important thing, he was pretty sure they were both about to die. All in all he figured his day had gone from great to shit in about five seconds. That was probably a new record for him.

He was startled from his panicked thoughts and almost pissed himself when he felt something poke him between the shoulder blades. He wasn’t an expert about how thing that poke you in the back feel but he was pretty sure the thing poking his back was a gun. What else could it be? Nobody was going to rob the place with a banana were they? As sure as he was he was, equally sure he was just about to die. At least he hadn’t pissed himself a few minutes ago and embarrassed himself in front of Jill. He didn’t want her last thoughts of him to be his inability to control his bladder. The assailant started breathing heavily in his ear causing the hair to stand up on the back of his neck. Jim unfortunately still had no idea of what to do.

"Put your hands on the counter," grated a voice in his ear. Well, if nothing else he knew what to do. And he quickly did it. Surprisingly the gun was immediately removed from where it had been poking him. But what happened next was worse than the gun had ever been. Hands began running up and down the sides of his body. They weren’t gentle either. After a few seconds of being searched they came to a rest on his hips. Visions of horny robbers raping him in front of Jill ran rampant through his head. He couldn’t allow that to happen! But the guy had a gun. If Jim tried to stop him he would just pull it out and shoot him. Indecision kept him immobile.

The robber seemed to be taking his time exploring Jim’s waist. Hands moved from one side to the other as if searching for a way in. Eventually they stumbled across the buckle on Jim’s belt and started to work on that. Jim wanted to turn around and scream in the guy’s face and ask him what his problem was but the guy would most likely flip out if he did something like that. Jim was tempted to do it anyways. Anything had to be better than what was most likely going to happen if he did nothing at all. Then a new thought entered his head. What if there were two of them. True he’d only thought he’d heard one person enter but what if the other guy was covering them while the first guy did his thing? Then after he’d had his way with Jim they would switch. Jill would have to watch the whole thing! Jim’s life was over. The gun wasn’t in his back anymore but he actually wished it was. At least then he wouldn’t be getting ready to be raped.

The one time he was present when a store got robbed and the robber turned out to have a hard on for him. This was really just not his day. The breathing near his ear was getting faster. The freak must be getting excited. He heard the rapist licking his lips with a wet slimy sound that made Jim’s skin crawl. The hands were still wrestling with the belt but not for long. He was surprised it hadn’t opened yet. It wasn’t like it was a safe or something. Maybe the guy just wasn’t good with these types of things. Good at robbing people, bad about opening other people’s pants. It could happen. An intake of breath behind him signaled that the assailant was about to say something. Jim expected to hear a demand for him to take the belt off himself or for him to do something much more vulgar but instead he heard a snicker. Not understanding what he’d heard the next thing the thief said left no doubt in his mind as to what was going on.

"Gotcha buddy boy!" laughed the voice behind him. The person seemed to be having a hard time keeping himself from laughing. After a few seconds with Jim only just now realizing what had happened, a loud braying burst of laughter burst out behind him. Jim couldn’t believe it. He looked at Jill to see her reaction and found, instead of a look of horror like he’d expected, a smile. The thought was now really sinking in that something wasn’t quite right about this whole situation. Whoever it was behind him obviously found this extremely funny since the laughter continued and actually got a little louder.

Slowly turning around, half expecting to be shot, he was surprised to see somebody dressed up as a police officer bent over laughing so hard he was almost choking. The man slowly started recovering, trying hard to repress new bouts of laughter, and stood up. As he did Jim came face to face with the last person he expected to see. Standing not three feet away with a red, tear streaked face was his childhood friend Rob.

"Oh, you should have seen your face!" Rob said still trying to hold in the laughter that was bubbling out of him.

Jim wanted to be angry but he couldn’t do it. He was too happy to see Rob for it to work. Instead he said the only thing that came to mind. “Ha, ha real funny dickhead. Is this the only reason you became a cop? So you could scare the shit out of us little people?”

“Hell no!” he replied before the words were even done coming out of Jim’s mouth, “That’s only a fringe benefit. I also get free food at some of the restaurants once in a while. Oh yeah and some of the tourists come up with some interesting thing to get out of tickets if you know what I mean. If you only knew some of the things I’ve seen,” he finished with a wink and a wicked grin. Jim just looked at him for a minute not quite sure how serious he was. Seeing his look just made Rob smile all the wider. He wiggled his eyebrows to make Jim wonder a little more but all that did was make him laugh. Shaking his head Jim turned his attention back to Jill who seemed to have found something that just absolutely had to be done right now behind the counter. Instead of seeing her beautiful face he got quite an eyeful of her butt. And a nice one it was if someone were to ask him. She was bending over looking at something on the floor underneath the shelves of candy. Jim was about to say something when Rob loudly cleared his throat. Sensing something wasn’t quite right and not hearing any talking Jill quickly spun around and caught Jim staring at the area where her previously exposed backside had been. Having no other choice but to admit he’d been caught Jim just smiled at her with red cheeks.

“Like what you see?” she asked slyly.

“You could say that,” he fired right back taking up the silent challenge.

That seemed to catch her off guard. He was getting good at saying things that threw her off. It was her turn to have red cheeks. Something else important must’ve needed her attention since she quickly ducked back down behind the counter. Sounds of things being moved around could be heard from the general area.

“So I guess you came back cause of Tommy, huh?” Rob said snagging Jim’s attention once Jill wasn’t in sight to distract him.

“Yeah, that’s about the size of it,” Jim sighed, “but, ya know, there’s a few other things I’m starting to find interesting around here. The scenery wasn’t as nice around here when I left. I was planning on leaving right after Tommy was buried but I might end up sticking around a little longer just for the view.” He knew he was acting like a high school kid but he still hoped Jill was listening. He was pretty sure she was. It felt a little awkward flirting with somebody when he was supposed to be mourning but he didn’t think Tommy would mind. Hell, he would probably have been encouraging him if he were there. Jim was pretty sure Jill was at least a little interested but he wasn’t as positive as he usually liked to be before asking someone out so he figured dropping a few hints every now and then couldn’t hurt anything. Jill stood up and gave him a queer look before her cheeks started turning red again. She quickly turned and began looking like she was taking an inventory of the candy on the shelves.

“Yeah,” Rob said picking up his line of thought, “there sure are some pretty nice sights to see around here. You gotta be careful of them though,” he continued with a wink in Jim’s direction, “they can be pretty dangerous sometimes. There’s all kinds of curves you gotta watch out for. Some of them are sharp but some of them are smooth too. They can also be a little snoopy too sometimes if you know what I mean. Didn’t used to be a lot of stuff like that in this town, but just recently in the last couple of years the scenery finally took a turn. I mean, not that I’ve had a chance to appreciate it too much.”

“Yeah, when I left it pretty much sucked around here,” Jim said starting up right where Rob left off, “but from what I’ve seen since I’ve been back it’s changed quite a bit. For the better if you ask me.”

Jill looked over her shoulder to where they stood for a minute shook her head and went back to her make believe inspection. She mumbled something under her breath about men thinking they were so clever making innuendos that they didn’t think women understood and something else about how they weren’t as smart as they thought they were. Glancing back and fixing them with another slightly disapproving stare she returned to looking busy again.

“So,” Jim said to Rob after a few more seconds of watching Jill, “what’s this I’ve been hearing about Tommy’s death not being as cut and dry as everybody thought.” Seeing Rob’s reluctant look he quickly added, “Look, I know you don’t want to talk about it but I really need to know. He was my friend too. I’m going to miss him but if this was anything other than a horrible accident I need to know.” He didn’t want Rob getting into any trouble for telling him specific details about the case but if there was something fishy going on he thought somebody, especially somebody as close to the deceased as he’d been, should know. Unfortunately Rob was the only source he could get that information from.

“Boy, you don’t hold back do you? Just jump right on in with both feet without the hip waders don’t you?” Rob asked shaking his head. When Jim didn’t respond right away he took that as a sign to continue. “Well, let me start by saying you don’t know the half of what’s going on. If you’d seen the things I have you wouldn’t be asking a fella to describe it to you.” Jim watched him as he spoke. It was as if an invisible veil passed over his face turning everything somber just thinking about Tommy. Jim didn’t like forcing Rob like this but if it upset him this much just thinking about it than obviously something bad was going on. After stopping for a few seconds to collect himself Rob signaled his readiness to continue with a slight smile and spoke up in an official sounding voice, “As you know I’m not supposed to talk about official police business with civilians but sometimes there are special cases.” He was trying to cover his pain by joking around but it didn’t fool anyone. Least of all Jim. He’d known him too long. Rob was acting like the big tough guy because of who their audience was. Jill was still near at the register. If she hadn’t been he’d probably have started blubbering like a little baby as soon as he started talking.

“Now with that official disclaimer having been said,” Rob continued in his big boy voice as he glanced over his shoulder making sure nobody else was in the store he might have missed, “I might as well tell you everything anyways since I know I’m going too eventually. Might as well get it over with sooner rather than later. I could never keep a secret from you, huh?” When they’d been little he’d never been able to keep secrets. At least from Jim. Every time Rob tried to keep something from them it had always been Jim he’d eventually told. Jim never even had to ask. It was like he needed to confess and Jim was the preacher. Rob never went to any of the others, just Jim. Now was no different. It was funny how they’d fallen right back into the old ways just like the past twelve years had never happened.

“You know that he was impaled right?” Rob finally blurted after a few seconds of silence. Jim told him that was what he’d heard yesterday when he was walking around town and saw Rob stand up a little straighter. It was like a great weight had been lifted form his shoulders.

“Good,” he said with that sad little smile, “at least I wasn’t the one to tell you that part of it.” Rob stopped again and looked like he was thinking about what he wanted to say. There must’ve been a lot of information because it took a few seconds before he finally seemed ready to spill the story.

“It was real strange,” he began looking Jim right in the eye. “The moment we got out to where it all went down we could tell something just wasn’t right. It was almost as if something about the air was telling us to go back. That we didn’t want to see what was waiting for us in the woods. I myself wish we’d have listened to whatever it was. I don’t think I’ll ever forget what we saw out there.” Pausing again Jim could see Rob’s shoulders shudder at the memory. Jim wanted him to hurry up and tell the story but kept his mouth shut. If he pushed him he might not get anything at all. After a few seconds pause Rob started again.

“It was just getting dark and we were beginning to think we weren’t going to be able to find the place Tommy’s body was waiting for us at when suddenly we were there. After walking through some bushes and around this one huge tree we found it. Actually we almost walked right into him. After seeing what had happened we all wished it had been darker than it actually was. I wish I hadn’t seen it as well as I did. It just got worse once they brought the lights out, but luckily I wasn’t there anymore by that point. Anyway, Tommy was stuck right on the end of a tree just like we’d been told. Right through his chest.” Rob pointed at his chest as if to illustrate his point. “He must’ve somehow flipped over in the air or something because he was laying face up with the point coming from right between his ribs. It went straight through his back and out his front. Parts of his ribs were actually sticking out. There was blood all over the place. The leaves looked as if someone had taken a bucket of red paint and thrown it everywhere. I actually got a little sick and had to run off in the woods so I didn’t contaminate the scene or anything. After the initial shock of seeing his body wore off the next thing we noticed was where his stand was located in relation to his body. It was at least twenty feet away. That definitely wasn’t right. Tommy could’ve fallen from a tree and landed the way he had but in order for him to have landed on the tree he did he would’ve had to jump. Everything we saw just on a first glance was strange enough, but we were only half finished. The next thing we found after looking for a few minutes was…” Rob abruptly stopped as the door squealed opened announcing the arrival of someone. Jim cursed whoever it was before he even saw them. Rob wouldn’t finish his story with someone else there. It was bad enough he and Jill were hearing what was said. Rob couldn’t risk another person knowing the whole story.

The door finished its opening swing and begun its closing when the last person he wanted to see strutted in as if she owned the place. Maria looked from side to side like a dog searching for a scent before finally settling on Jim. When she saw him at the counter she immediately started walking towards him.

“Hi Jim!” she practically squealed as she pushed Rob out of the way. “I didn’t know you’d be here!” He was sure she’d known exactly where he was ever since he’d passed the restaurants on his way in to town. Why else would she be here? Looking over her shoulder at Rob for help only got him shrugged shoulders and fingers pantomiming the universal signal for craziness. Jim stifled his laugher by quickly coughing into his hand. Maria, seeing that she wasn’t getting his full attention spun around and almost caught Rob in the act of making fun of her. Luckily he grabbed a box from the shelf next to him before he was completely caught. Unfortunately he hadn’t looked at what he was grabbing. Seeing what rob was holding caused Jim to have to stifle another bout of laughter.

Jim knew a lot of things had changed since he’d left but he didn’t know Rob had had a sex change. The box he’d grabbed was for tampons and he was intently studying the directions for their use. At the sound of Jim’s half cough half laughter Rob looked up trying to act as if he’d just noticed that Maria was there. She just looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“Hey Maria! How’s it going?” Rob asked brightly.

“Oh, I’m fine but you look don’t look to well.” She said sarcastically. “Have you gained weight? You look like you might be retaining a little water. Is your monthly friend here for a visit?” Maria seemed to enjoy Rob’s confusion.

“No, not really,” Rob began before noticing what he held. Once he did Jim was surprised he didn’t drop it. He visibly turned a brighter shade of red then quickly said, “I, uh, need to go look at something over there.” Then quickly moved to the spot his pointing finger was indicating.

“Yes, you do that,” Maria said with a catty smile as she turned back to Jim.

“Hi Maria,” Jim said quickly feeling like he was caught in the cats’ claws. He wanted to get this unfortunate meeting over with as soon as possible. He still had stuff to find out from Rob then there was also the problem with working up the courage to ask Jill out. He hadn’t planned on doing it but seeing Maria the idea had suddenly seemed like a very good one. The only way to get past Maria and be able to do those things was to jump right in with both feet and hope it wouldn’t get to painful. “I was just talking to Rob here about old times. Haven’t seen him in a while, you know.” The look on her face told him she wasn’t buying any of what he was saying. The conversation had already gone on longer than he’d wanted it too and she hadn’t even said anything. Maybe if he kept talking she never would so he continued. “We were just trying to catch up a little before he had to go back to work. He was just telling me about the people still living in the area and some stuff about what had changed since I left. Hopefully he doesn’t have to be back at work too soon. I’d really like to talk to him a little more if he does.” He was hoping Rob was listening and would come to his rescue but apparently that wasn’t going to happen. He must have been scared off by his earlier confrontation.

Jim knew he wasn’t being extremely polite but he wanted to get rid of her as fast as possible so he could find out what else Rob had to say. Just before they were interrupted he was sure he was about to tell him something important.

“Was there, uh, something I could help you with?” he asked trying to prod her into getting to the reason why she’d come searching for him.

“I was just wondering if you were ok,” she answered sweetly. “I also wanted to ask if you needed anything or if maybe, you’d thought anymore about getting together. I’m here for you whenever you want me.” She put an emphasis on ‘want’ and he was sure it wasn’t by accident. Jim didn’t know what to do about the whole situation. He was slightly embarrassed. She was practically throwing herself at him in front of both Rob and Jill. It would be bad enough if it they were alone but this was ridiculous. “We could even do it tonight if you wanted,” she said pulling him from his internal debate.

“Do what?” he sputtered hoping she hadn’t suggested what he thought she had.

“Why, go out silly. What else would I be talking about?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “I wasn’t really paying attention.” Going out with her was exactly the last thing he wanted to do tonight. Even if Tommy’s funeral hadn’t been set for the next day he still wouldn’t want to do anything with her. There was just something about her that gave him the creeps. The problem was he couldn’t think of a nice way to tell her to go away. He’d be happy if she never thought of him again but knew that was too much to hope for. Jim wasn’t good with words and saying something like that in a nice way was beyond him. On the other hand he could always be mean but that wasn’t really an option either. He just wasn’t a mean person. He thought that she’d gotten the hint yesterday but apparently not.

“Actually Jim and I already made plans to go out, right Jim?” a feminine voice chimed out behind him. Looking around to see who his savior was he was happily surprised to see Jill smiling wickedly in Maria’s direction. He didn’t know exactly why she was doing it but he wasn’t going to complain. That took care of two problems at once actually. Hopefully Maria would leave him alone. He also didn’t have to figure out how to get a date with Jill. She just made it.

“Yeah, that’s right we sure did,” he said after recovering from his initial surprise. Jill had given him the out he was looking for and he wasn’t about to waste it. It wasn’t the politest way to go about it but, oh well. Maria looked as if she was about to jump over the counter and scratch Jill’s eyes out. He could almost see her bristling. Maybe now it would finally get through her skull that he wasn’t going to go out with her.

Maria’s cheeks reddened as what had happened sank all the way in. After a few seconds of gathering her emotions, she gave Jill a scathing look, and said in a strained voice, “Oh, how silly of me. I didn’t know you liked her kind.” What she meant by her kind Jim had no idea. Maybe sane was the word she was looking for. “Well, I guess I won’t bother you anymore. Maybe some other time before you leave then.” Before turning and making her way to the door. She purposefully brushed Jim as she went by. He didn’t know what she hoped to accomplish by doing it but she almost knocked herself over. She must’ve thought he would move out of her way.

Grasping the handle of the door she looked back at their little group and said with a smile, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at the funeral.” Then she was gone with only the violently slamming door to say she’d been there.

He knew she was mad but her last comment made Jim think. He again got the feeling she was taking some perverse pleasure out of this whole situation. He had to be wrong though. She’d been one of Tommy’s friends too. They’d grown up in the same town and gone to the same school with him. She acted like they hadn’t even known each other but they must have. There was almost no way they couldn’t have. Tommy had stayed here while Jim had left so they must’ve at least seen each other once in a while. Why was she acting like this? His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loud outburst behind him.

“Woo-ooo!” Rob whooped. “I’d say she’s got the hots for you big time brother!” Rob obviously found the whole situation funny. Jim wondered how he’d be acting if the shoe was on the other foot. He was about to ask but Rob beat hi to it. “Looks like Jimmy-boy has a not so secret admirer.”

“Shut up dickhead!” Jim said left with no other rebuttal but a childish one. What he had been thinking of saying wasn’t the sort of thing that was polite to say in front of a woman.

Rob face turned sad as he tried looking offended but he wasn’t able to pull it off very well. When you were as big of a smartass as he was, and everybody knew it, there was very little you could get away with (his feelings being hurt by someone calling him a name wasn’t exactly something that was going to make him cry). Jim didn’t know how Rob had ever succeeded in becoming a cop. He must be a good actor. Jim decided to ignore him instead of saying anything else. Maybe that would teach him a lesson. He instead turned his attention back to Jill.

“Well,” he said trying to sound calm, “it would appear you and I have a date tonight.” He really hoped she hadn’t just been saying everything just to help him out of an awkward situation. Jim heard Rob making what sounded like kissing noises behind his back trying to get his attention but he wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of distracting him by turning around and yelling at him. If he did Rob might think he’d won their little battle. Jim couldn’t allow that.

After a few seconds of being ignored Rob finally figured out that it wasn’t working. He mumbled something about some people in the room being too emotional and picked up another box of something he probably shouldn’t have. Jim continued to ignoring him.

“Yes we do have a date,” Jill said hesitating a little bit. She didn’t sound like she really wanted one. Jim was about to say something to let her know she didn’t have to follow through when she spoke again. “That is if you want one. I was just trying to help out. Although, I did think this was as good a way as any to get a date with you.”

“Really!” he said sounding a lot less cooler than he’d wanted. “I mean, uh, don’t worry about that. I was actually going to ask you out before I left I’m just a little, you know, a little on the shy side.” How could she think he wouldn’t want to go out with her? Had the woman never looked in a mirror? He’d just about been drooling on her since the first moment he saw her.

Jim was drawn out of his daydream by the sound of Rob. He was back to his mumbling again. He’d been doing it since he’d figured out he was being ignored but every now and then he spoke a little louder to let Jim know he was still there. Jim heard him say he had to get back to work and realized he needed to hurry up. Rob still had things to tell him. The rest of the comments were just mild threat about people needing to recognize who was in charge or else they’d get thrown in jail. Jim could tell he was getting upset that his taunts weren’t having the desired effect. Rob loved being the center of attention so when you ignored him it drove him batty. Do it long enough and he’d just about start foaming at the mouth.

Jim figured a little while longer wouldn’t hurt him but he did need to hurry. There was only so much he would take. If they were lucky Rob would learn it’s not nice to tease people, but Jim doubted it. Trying to speed things up without being obvious he asked Jill what she wanted to do and talked about a few other menial things for a few more seconds before Rob finally popped.

“Alright you two lovebirds. I need to get back to work,” he announced grumpily. “Being an officer of the law is an important job and I’ve got some, uh, important stuff to get back too.”

“Well, I guess we shouldn’t keep you from those important things that are waiting for you,” Jill said teasingly. “What were they again?”

“It must be awfully hard being a great, big important policeman like you,” Jim said joining in.

“You must have a lot of important parking tickets to write,” Jill said through giggles.

“And important old ladies to help across the street,” Jim continued.

“Oh wait! I got it!” Jill squealed, “He has to go catch all the bank robbers running around town.”

Robb was turning quite a few different shades of red by this time. Jim was surprised he hadn’t stormed out of the shop already. At least that part of him had changed.

“You’re not funny you two!” Rob whined, “My job IS important! I don’t have time to stand around jawing with you two all day. I do have a lot of important stuff to do. Even if I can’t think what it is right now.” Rob looked like he could bite the head off a nail right about then.

“Oh, just calm down a little ya big monkey,” Jim said thinking they may have pushed Rob too far. “Give me just a few more minutes and then we’ll both leave.”

He turned back and quickly found out Jill wanted him to meet her at the grocery store tonight at around seven when she closed up. He gave her a quick smile, said goodbye and caught up to Rob just as he was about to stalk out the door. Jim waved to Jill once more before he and Rob made their way outside.

Rob was still a little upset so they walked in silence while Jim gave him time to get in a better mood. He needed Rob happy and willing to talk. He didn’t need him wanting to bite his head off.

“So,” he began tentatively after a few minutes, “what were you going to say about Tommy back there before we were so rudely interrupted?”

“Oh yeah,” Rob said sounding a little better and not looking half as mad as he had, “I forgot we were talking about that before your girlfriend showed up.” He couldn’t resist throwing that little bit in. Jim guessed it was his way of getting back at him for earlier. He let it slide instead of saying anything and listened to Rob talk. “There was also that part where you and your other girlfriend started picking on me. Telling you stuff you wanted to know about kind of slipped my mind.” He was still a little ticked but Jim knew he wasn’t really mad. He was just trying to make Jim think he was. He only had to wait long enough for Rob to feel he’d gotten the better of him before he started talking again. It didn’t take as long as he thought it would.

“It was real strange out where everything happened,” Rob began quietly. “When we got there we all saw Tommy’s body on the tree like I said. You already know what happened after that but what you and everybody hasn’t heard is that the tree he fell on wasn’t just some old tree that fell over like the sheriff said. It’d been broken off sometime recently. Actually the sheriff said it looked more like it’d been cut. He thought, maybe somebody might’ve used an ax or something like that on it. We’ll have to wait for the experts to decide that one. Anyways, this tree he fell on stood about twenty feet away from the stand he was sitting in. Even if he’d jumped, which I and everyone else doubt, then he wouldn’t have made it that far. He would have needed to get a running start or something to make it that far.” He paused for a minute while Jim thought about what he’d said.

Rob was right; there was no possible way Tommy could’ve made it that far by himself. There was just no way. Deer stands were usually only about ten feet or so up and maybe a few feet wide. In order for Tommy to have jumped that far the thing would’ve need to be a lot higher and a lot wider than it was. He hadn’t seen Tommy for a while but he doubted he, much less anyone else, could’ve made a jump like that from his little stand. Jim found it easier to believe he’d fallen than that he’d jumped but neither made any sense. Rob was speaking again so Jim put those thoughts on hold. He was glad he did when he heard what else Rob had to say.

“Once everyone was done being sick and whatnot we started looking around. From what we could see with the body in the way the stump or whatever you want to call it was only sticking out of the ground about three or four feet. There was a lot of brush around it so if it hadn’t been for the thing sticking out of Tommy’s chest we probably all would’ve never seen it. With it looking like it was cut and that maybe somebody tried to hide it just makes things look a little strange. If nothing else it was in the perfect place for what it did. Unfortunately there were no signs of foul play that we could find and no signs of anyone else having been there. No foot prints, trash, broken branches, nothing.”

“So what makes the sheriff think he fell then?” Jim asked.

“Well, all the stuff he brought out with him was still sitting up in his stand where he’d left it for one thing. His gun, lunch, and a chair were just sitting there. If someone had come out there to rob him or something they would’ve surely taken that stuff. But it was all still there. Since there were no signs of anything else the sheriff says Tommy jumping was the only thing that could’ve happened.”

“There were no footprints on the ground or anything?” Jim asked. He was pretty sure they would’ve checked for something like that. Rob might’ve just forgotten to mention it.

“Wait a minute,” Rob said after thinking about it for a few seconds, “now that you mention it I think there were. I said before there weren’t but now after thinking about it for a few minutes I think maybe there were.” Jim’s hopes grew. Maybe this was the clue they needed to figure out what had really happened. Now there’s a lot they could do with a shoe print. Rob was just upset. He must’ve forgotten about them before. “But those were from other hunters who’d been through there that day.” Jim’s hopes crashed back down as he listened to his friend continue. “There were a few hunters that came through that area. Those were the prints we found. We questioned them but from what they say everything was just like it was any of a hundred other times they’d been there that morning. It was when they came back later on towards evening that everything was all messed up and bloody. They said the first thing they heard were the flies. Thinking it strange they decided to investigate. That’s when the smell hit them. After that they found the body then high tailed it out of there and called us.

“At first they thought it was a joke or that they might’ve drunk a little too much while they were out since they could’ve sworn he was floating in the air when they first saw him. Course that’s not what it was but that’s what it looked like, to them, at first. They said Tommy was just stuck to the tree and blood was splashed all over the place. Now they were overreacting a little bit. There wasn’t blood all over the place, it just looks that way.” Rob glanced at Jim to make sure he was following everything he was being told. Jim reassured him he understood that the old men were just a little drunk so anything they said had to be taken with a grain of salt. But that didn’t really matter too much. They were still right about Tommy being dead.

Rob kept looking around as if somebody was watching them. He was still worried someone would somehow find out about everything he was telling Jim. Rob didn’t come out and say he was uncomfortable but then he didn’t have to. Jim knew his friend even if they hadn’t hung out together in years. He didn’t want to push him into saying anything he would regret so he just stood silently waiting to see if Rob would continue.

“I really lost it when I saw who it was,” Rob began again after a few minutes. “I try not to think about it too much but I can’t help it. I keep seeing him there on that tree every time I close my eyes.” Rob seemed to be on the edge of tear but he pushed on like he wanted to get it all out at once. “Hell, listen to me. I can’t even say the damn word. I never thought about it before now but it’s a disgusting word. Whoever thought of it should have it done to them and see how they like it. Impaled. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. What’s worse is that’s probably how I’ll think of Tom for the rest of my life. Every time I hear someone say it or see it in a movie I’ll think of Tommy with that damn stick coming out his chest. I don’t want that.”

“I know you don’t think you did very well out there Rob but its ok,” Jim said gently trying to console him. “Heck, I don’t know what I would have done if I had seen it but from what you’ve told me you did just what Tommy would’ve expected you to do. You did your job. Tommy would’ve understood. Don’t beat yourself up about losing it. Tommy would’ve teased you sure, but you did what you had to. Just because you’re a policeman doesn’t mean you aren’t human. You probably never thought you’d have to see something like that when you signed on for this job anyway. Don’t think about how Tommy looked out there. Think about all the fun we had when we were kids and the things we did back then. Tommy might not be here anymore but he’s still with us on the inside for as long as we live.” Jim didn’t know what else to say. He grabbed Rob and hugged him and was relieved when he felt Rob return the hug. They stood there like that for a few minutes in the middle of the sidewalk, neither of them caring what anyone might think or say if they saw them.

Jim didn’t even want to think about what he might’ve done coming up on a horrific scene like that. “What did you mean there was blood all over the place?” he asked as they stepped back from each other.

“That’s not what I said,” Rob quickly replied, “I just told you what the guys hunting out there said it looked like when they first got there. I mean, from the way they tell it the place was a slaughter house. It wasn’t like that though. There was some blood on the bushes around the tree where Tommy fell and a few other places but the sheriff, along with the doc, figured it was just from him struggling to get off the thing jammed in his back. They said he finally just lost too much blood and fainted. A little while after that he died and that’s how we found him.” Rob looked a little greener than he had when he’d started his story but it couldn’t be helped. Jim didn’t like making him talk about stuff like this but unfortunately he needed to know and Rob seemed to understand.

They’d slowed their pace while they were talking but now resumed a more normal step. Jim was having a hard time believing everything he’d been told. Everything pointed to some kind of accident but he was still having a hard time believing that. Tommy just wasn’t the type who would fall out of a tree. It just didn’t sound like him. Jim had seen him climb one when he was half drunk one time without a problem so he just couldn’t understand how it could happen to the same guy when he was stone sober.

“Was there anything else that you saw out there that you haven’t told me about?” he asked hoping Rob would remember something that would make it all easier to accept.

Rob didn’t answer right away. He looked as if he’d recovered somewhat from his earlier description of the grizzly scene he’d witnessed but there was something else going on in his head. Jim didn’t know what it was but he had a feeling it was important especially since Rob was having a hard time looking him in the eye. He looked almost as if he was trying to decide whether to tell Jim anything else or not. Seeming to come to a decision he shrugged his shoulders slightly then began adding more to his story.

“Alright, there were other things out there,” he said almost too quiet for Jim to hear. “But you can’t tell anyone, and I mean anyone, you know about this stuff. Not even your mom. I mean it. This is stuff nobody else is supposed to know. Before I say anything else I want your word you won’t go spouting off to anyone who will listen and getting all excited about what I tell you. Don’t make any of it any bigger than what it is.” Jim made the promise and hoped he didn’t regret it later.

“Ok,” Rob said after being satisfied, “remember how I said the tree looked like it’d been cut? Well we found what was left of it a little ways off from Tommy’s stand. It was sorta buried under some bushes and fallen trees, kinda like someone hid it or something. You definitely wouldn’t have seen it when you walked up. The only reason we found it at all was because we were looking for stuff like that. You know, things that were out of place.” Rob watched Jim as he spoke as if at the first time Jim had a reaction he would quit speaking. When he saw Jim was about to ask a question he quickly continued before his first word could be uttered.

“I said it looked like it was hidden that doesn’t mean that it was. The sheriff said that it might have just fallen where we found it. It was close enough to the tree that it could’ve happened like that. It was just a little suspicious.” He said pausing to let what little he’d revealed sink in.

“Anything else?” Jim asked after a few minutes of waiting.

“Boy, you sure are in a hurry,” Rob said slowly almost like he was reluctant to continue. “I really didn’t want to bring this up but it doesn’t look like I have any choice now. Like I said I don’t you want getting all excited about anything but while we were looking around we found two other things that everybody thought were just a little out of place.”

“Well, what was it?” Jim asked impatiently.

“We found some hair and some prints,” he said quickly looking away.

“Is that it?” Jim asked. “Why were you afraid that I would get excited over something like that?” He didn’t understand what the big deal was. It was the woods. There was bound to be other types of prints out there and probably a lot of other types of hair as well what with all the animals running around back there. There were things like that in the woods last time he’d checked so it wasn’t very surprising to find hair and tracks. Humans weren’t the only things that walked the woods. Maybe that actually was what happened to Tommy. He’d been attacked by animal or something. Maybe a bear or some other big animal. It could’ve scared him which in turn caused him to fall out of his stand and onto the tree.

“You’re right,” Rob said, “Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal finding stuff like that out there but the things we found aren’t what you would usually find in.” He stopped talking again and took a deep breath. These dramatic pauses were really getting on Jim’s nerves. He wished Rob would just come out and say what he had to say. “We think the tracks belong to a goat. A big one. Since the tracks look like goats we’re guessing the hair belongs to one too. We aren’t sure yet but that’s what we’re looking at.”

Goat hair? Jim thought. What the hell would goat hair be doing out in the woods. He didn’t even think there were any goats anywhere near town much less out in the woods the only goat he could think of wasn’t even a real one. With that one thought he began to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Looking at Rob he saw that he had thought the same thing when he’d first seen the tracks. The greenish color had returned to his face.

“Now Jim, you’re thinking the same thing I did. But you and I both know it can’t be. That thing isn’t real. There’s no way it was the Goatman.” Rob didn’t really sound like he believed what he was saying. He sounded like he wanted Jim to agree with him and tell him he was right. But deep inside, they both knew.

“You’re right,” he heard himself say as he looked at Rob. “It can’t be him. That all happened a long time ago. It was all our imagination. Plus like you just said, it isn’t real. There is no such thing as the Goatman.” The creature’s name flew off his tongue like a curse. Denying its existence did nothing to make his stomach feel any better. He could say it until he was blue in the face and he wouldn’t feel any better. If he didn’t even believe himself how could Rob?

There was no way Tommy could have been killed by something that didn’t exist. It simply couldn’t have happened. There had to be some other explanation for why the hair and tracks were out there. Maybe a goat had somehow gotten away from a farm and was now roaming the woods looking for food and whatever else goats looked for. That scenario didn’t make much sense but the only other option made even less. He quickly asked Rob about his theory and was shaken by his answer. No one in the area had any goats. They seemed to be far and few between out here. They’d checked, or at least Rob had.

“Well, like I said before,” Rob began after a few shaky minutes, “don’t tell anyone else. Everyone around here grew up hearing the stories about that damn thing and the sheriff doesn’t want the town to getting fired up thinking there’s some creature on the loose killing people. That’s all we need right now is a bunch of the good ol’ boys going out hunting for the thing and shooting everything between here and the next town up. The only thing they’d probably manage killing is each other and some poor animals. Tommy’s death is being reported as an accident. End of story. I don’t like it but that’s what the law says it was so that’s what it is.”

Jim knew Rob didn’t believe it but that was the way the sheriff was going to tell it so he guessed he had to go along with it. Nothing would be accomplished by trying to get him to say otherwise except getting Rob in trouble. It definitely wouldn’t bring Tommy back.

They slowly walked down the street for a few more minutes trying to talk about other things to take their minds off the Goatman. It didn’t work very well until Pete’s name came up. Rob told him that after he left, Pete started getting a little strange. First he’d moved into one of the old houses that sat on the edge of the woods all by himself. Anyone other than Rob got chased off whenever they went around including his own parents. Then a few weeks after Pete had moved in he started doing a lot of strange things. One night Rob happened to be driving by on his normal rounds when he saw a glow in the sky near the area of Pete’s house. Wanting to make sure his friend was ok he’d decided to investigate. He didn’t know what he expected to find but what he found sure wasn’t it.

There were fires burning all around the house with Pete right smack dab in the middle of it all striding back and forth poking at them making them like he was one of hell’s own demons tending the pits of the damned. Rob had gone out a few times and tried talking some sense into Pete but to no avail. All he did was watch the flames burn and mumble strange things about stuff from the woods coming to get him and how he had to, no needed to, keep the fires burning so he would be safe. Jim agreed that it was strange but confessed he had no idea what to do about it. He’d been gone a long time. If Pete was really as far gone as he sounded he might not even remember who Jim was. Plus he wasn’t even going to be there that long. There was nothing he would be able to do for Pete in the short time he had.

Rob ignored Jim’s excuses, saying that the only time anyone saw Pete anymore was when he came to town to get food. Pete’s parents were worried about him but they continued paying for everything he needed. The house he lived, the food he ate, even the gasoline he used in his fires. They paid for it all. They wanted him to get help but knew they couldn’t force him. He had refused when they suggested it and they couldn’t make themselves send him away. They’d gone to the sheriff and asked if he could do anything but he’d told them that Pete wasn’t hurting anyone and as long as he didn’t set the woods on fire there wasn’t anything he could do. Rob finished up by telling Jim that he should visit Pete and see if he could talk some sense into him. Even though he wasn’t going to be there long seeing him might do Pete some good. Jim said he’d try to make it over there but knew he probably wouldn’t. He had one friend dead already. He didn’t know if he could take seeing another going crazy right before his eyes.

“I really do need to get back to work now,” Rob said after finishing the story of Pete’s plight. He looked at his watch and winced. “Yup, I’m real late for my rounds. So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at the funeral then.”

“Yeah,” Jim mumbled as Rob turned to go. “We’ll have to get together before I leave.”

“We can do that,” Rob said turning around and walking backwards. “Next time we won’t talk about so much of this bad stuff. We can talk about other things.”

“Like what?” Jim asked giving him the opening he was looking for.

“I know, you can tell me all about your date,” Rob said with a mischievous grin.

“Hey, you know what?” Jim asked blowing off his comment. “You’re such a great police officer and all that now so why don’t you see if you can find a life or something. Quit living through me.”

“Why? Yours is so much more entertaining,” Rob quickly fired back.

“You know me; I’m here for your entertainment,” Jim shot back just as fast.

Rob waved over his shoulder and walked down the street. Jim watched him go then looked up at the sky and saw it was later in the day than he’d thought. He still needed to get back to his mother’s house so he could grab a shower and be ready for his date later on. He had no clue what there was to do around here but no matter what it was he wanted to be clean and smelling good so he made a good impression. Jill might’ve just been being nice when she’d said she would go out with him but then again she’d come up with the idea herself, so she must be at least a little bit interested. At least, he could always hope, he thought.

5

Jill was just closing the store when Jim came running up hoping he wasn’t late for their date. He’d only had a few minutes once he got to his mother’s house to take a quick shower put on some clean clothes then run back out the door. He’d cut it close but he’d made it. True to her word Jill was ready to go.

“Hi!” she said looking at him a little funny.

“Hi yourself,” he answered while catching his breath. After taking a few minutes to calm down he asked, “So, what are we going to do tonight?”

“Well,” she began nervously, “Gran came by a little while after you left to say hi and we got to talking about what all had been going on today. You know, gossiping. Well, I told her you’d come back for a short visit and that you’d been talking to Rob about Tommy’s death and how the two of you thought something a little strange was going on. She pretty much agreed but I cut her off before she could get started by telling her you and I were going to be seeing each other later. She quieted down for a minute then said if we didn’t have anything else to do then we should stop by and visit with her for a while. She said she’d missed seeing you after all these years. She also said she wanted to talk to you about something too. You know, since you were here and all.”

“Any idea about what?” Jim asked after trying to figure out what Gran might want. True, he’d known her when he was little but that was a long time ago. He couldn’t imagine anything she might want to tell him after all this time.

“No, no idea but whatever it is it must be really important. She told me not to forget at least five times before she left. She even tried to have me write it down so I wouldn’t forget but I told her that was going a bit too far. I mean, it’s our date after all right?”

He didn’t know what Gran wanted but according to Jill it was important. They might as well go find out what this was all about. He’d been looking forward to spending a night alone with Jill but talking to Grandma wouldn’t take too long. Then the two of them would have the rest of the night together.

“You’re right it is our date but it won’t hurt to stop off and see Grandma for a few minutes,” he said, “after that hopefully we can go do something else. There wasn’t much to do around here when I left but I’m sure we can find something.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll find some way to pass the time,” Jill said with an impish smile. Spending part of their first with her grandmother obviously wasn’t what either of them had planned but it seemed to make her happy so he didn’t mind doing it. After that though is when the real date would start. He knew what he wanted to do but wondered if it was along the same lines as what she had planned.

He honestly didn’t mind taking a little time to visit with Grandma. He hadn’t seen her in so long he’d been hoping he would get a chance to visit her while he was home. Now that chance had presented itself and he was glad did. If it hadn’t been for this date he might not have found the time to see her and knew he would’ve regretted it. She might not be around the next time he finally made it home. His own grandparents died when he was young, so Grandma had sorta become a surrogate grandparent. She didn’t seem to mind too much. Why should she, it wasn’t like he took much of her time. A kind smile whenever he came in and letting him read whatever comics were on the racks wasn’t too hard. Actually now that he thought about it she’d probably welcomed it since she’d never been able to see her own grandchild.

When he was younger Grandma used to put up with the kids from all over town being in her shop and making messes but she’d always handled it without a problem. Whenever his little group of hooligans showed their faces she’d be waiting with a smile no matter how dirty or loud they were. There was a lot of other stuff but one thing that stuck out, and he was always grateful for, was that she’d never acted like a typical adult. Other adults seemed to want the old standby of children being seen and not heard but she was the exact opposite. She wanted them to talk to her. She always seemed to have time for them not matter how trivial the topic might be. Whenever she talked to you she did it in a way that made that child feel important. She always spoke to them like they were just little people and not kids. Whether it was how much stuff they’d gotten for Christmas or if it was how many frogs they’d caught down by the creek. It was all important to her. If visiting her was all she asked from him then he figured it was the least he could do to pay her back, just a little, for all she’d done for him. Besides maybe it would be fun.

As they began walking Jill explained that she lived with her Grandma and that it wasn’t very far away so they could just walk there if he didn’t mind. She seemed a little nervous talking to him at first but soon warmed up as the conversation started flowing. Surprisingly she thought almost all of his jokes were funny and agreed with him that there was definitely something strange about Tommy’s death. Almost as soon as that subject came up Jim steered the conversation to something else. It was the first of what he hoped might be more dates and he didn’t want to ruin it by talking about his dead friend. Jim missed Tommy, but he was sure he’d understand.

They slowly strolled down the street towards the edge of town talking and laughing like old friends. Jim was actually surprised how well they were getting along. He usually did abysmally when it came to talking to the other sex. He was mostly glad he hadn’t put his foot in his mouth.

A lot of the houses belonged to one of the two main developments the town boasted but there were a few that had been built off by themselves. These were set closer to the edge of the town, almost in the woods. They stood like lonely sentinels guarding the inhabitants from unseen horrors that might at any minute swoop down and devour them. At least that was how Jim always thought of them. Many of the old places were left over from the original families that had settled here and eventually helped the town grow into what it was today. The developments were added later on after others families who wanted to get away from the big cities began moving to the area.

Sadly the town council in its infinite wisdom did nothing to keep the lonely, old guardians intact. For the most part they were run down, barely standing shacks. Some actually had fallen into nothing more than heaps of old rotten wood waiting for a well placed lightening strike to finally end their misery. They’d been built well all those years ago but since they were no longer occupied by anything other than an animal or two they’d fallen to disrepair. There were no families moving to the town anymore that wanted the problems that went along with owning one of the old places. Jim briefly entertained the idea of buying one and fixing it up back to the state it had once been but then his reality reared its ugly head. There was no reason for him to do something like that. He had no life here. He had his mom sure, but that was about it plus he hadn’t been back in years. The idea died before it’d really taken any shape. Glancing at Jill, he thought maybe there would be another reason for him to stay soon.

A small smile spread across his face as they turned down a road he recognized. He knew it almost as well as the one leading to his house. It went to the only school in town. The one he went to when he lived here. Jim didn’t know if it was still in use but since the road wasn’t overgrown with weeds and trees he assumed it was. Not that he’d seen many kids around since his arrival. Parents were probably keeping them close to home after what had happened to Tommy.

Trying to distract himself from morbid thoughts he pointed out different birds and trees he saw to Jill. He’d spent so much time in the forest as a kid he couldn’t help but learn what certain things were. Jill asked how he knew so much which eventually led to stories about all the mischief he’d gotten into as child growing up here. It amazed her that one kid could get in so much trouble. She had thought the town dull and boring but he seemed to open her eyes to how much there actually was to do there. At least if you were a kid.

They soon found themselves at the end of a dirt road that branched off from the main one that in turn led to a small house set slightly back near the wood line. Jill walked confidently down the road and Jim followed to what was apparently Grandma’s house. Following closely behind Jill he had to stifle a laugh at the thought. When Jill looked questioningly over her shoulder he had to explain that he couldn’t help but think of the old Christmas carol. He whistled a few note and by the time they were half way down the path they were both laughing so hard their faces were red and Jim’s eyes were watering. He didn’t know what was so funny about the whole thing and he didn’t really care. He just liked hearing Jill’s laughter.

“I used to think the same thing,” she said after catching her breath and opening the door of the porch. As they’d walked up and before the unexpected bout of singing he’d seen the house and found it to be what he would expect a lady like grandma to live in. Thinking back over the years to the days when he’d rode the bus this way he remembered passing the dwelling many times but not thinking about who had lived there. They’d passed by the little house everyday on the way to and from school, but he’d never really noticed it before. He knew it was there but he never really looked at it.

The house was a typical one story that had obviously been built a long time ago but for all its age it still looked ok. Just like he imagined Grandma would when he finally saw her again. Grandma had most likely lived most, if not all, of her life there and taken care of the place through the years. There was evidence of a few minor modifications here and there that had been made, the most prominent of which was the porch they were now entering. It was in much better shape than the rest of the house. He wasn’t sure but it stood to reason that it must have been added after the original house was built. The small enclosure ran the length of most of the front of the house almost reaching all the way around to the side. Big screened in windows gave an unobstructed view of the road and surrounding forest. The wood it was constructed of was stained dark so that it would match the house as close as it possible but the constant exposure to weather gave it away. The wood paneling on the house itself was just a slight bit lighter than the porch. The hinges of the door only squealed a little as it slammed shut behind them. If nothing else somebody took care of the door. Jim could imagine Grandma sitting on one of its three chairs watching the kids pass by in the morning on their way to school with a big smile on her face.

He felt like a bit of an intruder walking into the house but the feeling quickly disappeared when he beheld the homey environment he’d entered. If there was any other place in the world that made someone feel as welcome he couldn’t think of it. The inside just seemed to take your hand and whisper in your ear that you were considered family and to stay as long as you wanted. Everywhere he looked were pictures of people he knew. Not that he knew Grandma’s family but then again looking at the pictures he did. The faces looking back at him were filled with smiles and laughter. They were picture of all of his childhood friends. Here he saw the little girl that used to live down the street from him eating an ice cream cone, there he saw the bully that used to pick on all the smaller kids reading a comic book then he came to a picture that just about took his breath away. Stepping closer he saw faces he knew as well as his own. A picture of Rob, Tommy, Pete and himself was nestled between two of other kids he vaguely recognized. He actually remembered when it was taken. The four of them were sitting outside Grandma’s store with their arms around each other making weird faces at the camera. Grandma had come outside one day while they were there and snapped it for what she said was her family photo album. When they all protested saying they weren’t in her family she just smiled and told them they may not be flesh and blood but they were still her boys.

Jim was pulled from his revelry by a touch on his shoulder. Blinking a tear from his eye he didn’t know was there he found Jill looking at him with an understanding smile on her face. All his life, Grandma’s natural surroundings seemed to have been behind the counter at the store. He’d never thought of her any other way. Seeing this other side of her and how much all the kids actually had meant to her opened his eyes to just how special of a woman she actually was. All the kids coming and going from her store messing things up had never been a bother to her because they were the family she never had.

Knowing this made seeing her just that much more special to Jim. Taking a last look at old friends he saw something else that was surprising. Grandma was quite the collector of penguins. All the shelves that didn’t hold a picture had penguins of some sort on them. He never even knew there were that many different things with the funny looking creature on it. It brought a smile to his face almost as much as the voice he heard coming from another part of the house.

Any feelings about not being welcome that might still have lingered were quickly dispelled when Grandma’s voice broke the silence that Jim hadn’t realized existed. He didn’t catch all of it but heard something about her being in the kitchen and what was taking them so long to get there. After walking down a dim hallway with even more pictures on the wall the arrived at a door. Jill stepped aside with a smile so Jim could be the first one to enter. For some reason he found that he was nervous, but before it got the better of him he pushed open the door and entered.

Grandma was seated at a small table and looked almost like he remembered her looking when she was behind the store counter. He couldn’t help but smile as a smile brighter than his own spread across her face.

“Jimmy,” she squealed doing a good impersonation of a fifteen year old, “finally found time to come back and visit an old woman huh?”

Walking to where she sat he saw that she looked just as he remembered her. Maybe a few more wrinkles here and there but other than that she was still the same old Grandma from his memories. When Jim was little she’d always seemed much bigger than him, like most adults, but now looking at her as she stood to greet him she seemed much smaller. Of course he’d also gotten a lot bigger over the years.

Reaching her and not knowing what to do he took a minute to look at her. From this new perspective things were quite different. Now instead of her being taller than him he found that she was actually about the same height as his mother. Her hair had always been sorta grayish but now seemed almost white. Looking at her he could see just a hint of where Jill had gotten some of her looks from. The resemblance was strongest in the eyes and nose but he saw it peeking out in a few other places too. A lot of people said that he himself looked a lot like his grandmother but he couldn’t see it. How could a guy look like a girl was the thing he always wondered and never understood.

Jim smiled as he stood wondering what the proper protocol was when you saw an adult you knew as a kid. He wasn’t left to wonder for long though. Grandma unexpectedly reached out and embraced him in a rib cracking bear hug. She might’ve been old but she was surprisingly strong.

“I’ve known you too long to be shaking your hand or any other stupid thing like that young man,” she said releasing him after a few seconds and taking a step back to look at him. “Heck, I’ve know you since you were just knee high to a grasshopper. Not that way anymore though is it? Anyway, don’t be treatin’ me like some little old lady you have to treat like she’s made out of eggshells. No coddling or anything like that when you come to see me. Hell, you’re the one that’s all skin and bones not me.” She looked at him for a few seconds to make sure he knew she was joking then continued. “Then again looks, as they say, can be deceiving. I remember you were always a good little boy and now that I see you, I’m guessing you’ve probably grown up to be quite a nice young man. At least I hope you have considering how my granddaughter’s been looking at you.” Jim quickly glanced at Jill only to find her red faced and trying to find a closet to go hide in. Grandma didn’t seem to notice. “You look good,” she said. “You sure are a welcome sight for these old eyes.”

Jim was only a little uncomfortable with the welcome he’d received. They’d always been friendly but she seemed to have actually genuinely missed him. He was deeply touched to think that someone other than his mother cared about him that much and felt a little bad for not having made the effort to come see her before now. It was a lucky thing she was still alive. He hoped she would be around for a lot longer. He would definitely have to come back home more often than he had. Maybe his mother wasn’t the only thing he’d left behind after all.

“Hi, Grandma,” he said with a silly grin. “How have you been?”

“How do you think I’ve been?” she snapped back. “I’ve been getting older and more worn out as the days go by. I’m thinking one of these days pretty soon it might be time for me to take a rest. One of those long ones if you know what I mean.” She said this last part as if she were trying to elicit a response of some sort. Just as she’d probably planned Jill quickly chimed in.

“Don’t talk like that Grandma. The only kind of rest you’re going to be taking is when you go to sleep later on tonight. You know I really don’t like it when you talk that way.”

Grandma gave her a sullen look but as she turned back to him he saw a smile quickly spread over her face and just as quickly disappear. She’d gotten what she wanted and been scolded for it but now it was time to move on. Speaking to Jim, she asked all the normal things like how he’d been and what he’d been doing all these years. She asked almost as if he’d been avoiding her or something. He couldn’t help but laugh and began telling her about his life and how it had gone since leaving town. When he got to the part about how he wasn’t married she quickly asked Jill if she’d heard him. Jill, to her credit didn’t turn as red as she had the first time. Deciding not to embarrass her anymore than she was he acted like he hadn’t noticed anything and went back to talking to Grandma although with a smile a little bigger than he’d had before.

They talked about the town and who had come and gone since he’d left. Most of the people she mentioned were only vague memories as far as he was concerned but he listened and actually found himself interested in what had become of everyone. Grandma seemed to enjoy talking so he let her do it.

The conversation eventually reached the topic Jim knew was coming but short of leaving couldn’t there was no way to stop it. Tommy’s death, or murder as he was now thinking of it, brought a halt to what had previously been an enjoyable evening. He didn’t have the heart to tell Grandma he didn’t want to talk about it. He just hoped she wouldn’t take too long.

After a few minutes of silence Grandma realized he wasn’t going to be too talkative about it so began quizzing him on what he’d found out so far from the people around town. Not knowing where to start he just told her everything with the exception of things Rob had said. She agreed with him when he told her he thought it was strange the way everyone had been told what happened was an accident. After he was done she didn’t seem to be satisfied. She told him she knew the official story but wanted to know what he’d found out unofficially.

He knew she was talking about what he’d found out from Rob but didn’t know how she knew he’d told Jim anything. Then again they had been best friends so of course Rob had told him stuff. Jim had promised not to tell anyone but after thinking about it for a minute he decided that the two women could be trusted with the secrets. Besides they weren’t about to go running out the door shouting his information to the world. Grandma seemed to know everything that happened in town anyways and Jill wasn’t going to tell anyone so he figured Rob was safe.

After coming to his decision he began relating to them all the things Rob had told him especially how the tree near Tommy looked like it’d been cut and about the goat hair. He tried to add the goat hair bit as an afterthought but wasn’t too convincing. If he thought about that part too much he would start thinking those crazy thoughts again. He definitely didn’t want that to happen. Not having been stopped he quickly moved on to the part about the tracks that were found in the area and how they couldn’t figure out where they’d come from. He didn’t mention any of his suspicions but when he was done the room had gone quiet while everyone thought about what they’d heard could mean.

Grandma sat across from him looking thoughtful. While he’d been speaking he noticed her getting more and more upset so he’d ended his tale as quickly as possible but probably not fast enough. Some of the things he’d said must’ve been known to her but a lot of it was almost certainly new. Grandma slowly closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. Jim thought he heard it rattling in her lungs but hoped he was mistaken. He was just nervous. He didn’t like where the conversation had ended up and hoped it would move on to something more pleasant soon. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen.

“One of my poor boys is dead and that creature from those damn woods is responsible,” Grandam whispered. “We thought it was gone. But no! Oh no! It always comes back.” She looked as if she’d aged ten years in the last few minutes. Her shoulders slumped more than they had when he’d arrived and her eyes had lost a little of that sparkle they’d previously had. Jim looked at Jill trying to find some explanation for what Grandma had just said but if anything she looked as if she were more baffled than he was.

“You,” she said looking at Jim, “are too young to know what I’m talking about and you,” she said turning to Jill, “didn’t even grow up in this cursed town so have never even heard about the damned things I’m about which I’m going to speak.” She paused to gather her thoughts. Jill looked at her worriedly before looking at Jim hoping he might know what was going on. Not having any answers for her he just shrugged his shoulders and waited. Grandma drew a shaky breath and began speaking.

“Once a long time ago this town was a very sad and dark place. It started out nice enough. When the town was new, everyone lent a hand to help each other get on their feet. For the first few months it wasn’t actually that bad of a place to be. But eventually that changed. Things started going wrong. The town itself was, by this time, quickly filling up with houses and people, so some of the folks recently arrived from other places began venturing out into the surrounding woods looking to make a place for themselves. Others went to explore, but a lot were searching for just the right spot to build their new houses and begin their new lives. Unfortunately for most that wasn’t meant to be. Those that chose to live away from town usually were rarely ever seen again.”

“Oh sure, every once in a while one or two would come stumbling from the woods but something wasn’t quite right with them. Something had gone wrong in their heads and they quickly either wandered off again or killed themselves. Some of the towns’ people tried to talk to them and find out what had gone wrong but only got strange tales for their troubles. Those that returned told of strange creatures and strange places the quiet people of the town couldn’t begin to understand.”

“They spoke of things that were quite literally beyond their belief. Mostly, the stories they told went something along the lines of having lost their way in the woods but not being too worried about it at first. They continued by saying that as they walked they could swear they heard whispers and things moving through the woods around them. They never saw what made the noises but they knew something was there. The feeling of being watched never left them. Eventually the whispering would get louder and they would begin to think they could almost understand what was being said. At first it sounded like someone was calling them. The voices sounded almost familiar to them. The people, now beginning to get scared, would start running towards what they thought was safety but they never found anyone. They would no sooner get to the place where they were sure the voices were coming from than it would suddenly start from a totally different direction. This would go on and on until they could run no farther. Then it would suddenly stop. They would collapse from exhaustion but just as they were about to fall asleep the voices would start again. Urging them to stand and look for help again. Promising they weren’t far and were almost out of the woods. If they were lucky they might suddenly find themselves out of the woods with the whispers now turned to laughter at their backs. If they weren’t lucky, well you can probably figure out that part.”

Grandma stopped at this point to take a drink of her now cold coffee. Jim had been so memorized he hadn’t even seen it sitting on the table in front of her. Thinking Jill must’ve brought it over he looked at her only to find her face full of disbelief. She probably thought her grandmother had finally gone off the deep end. Thoughts of old folks homes were most likely passing through her head right at this moment. He was just about to trying to get her attention when Grandma took up her story again.

“Others,” she began again, “told terrible stories of monstrous creatures that would chase them night and day until they thought they wouldn’t be able to take another step. Just as they were sure they were dead and had no choice but to collapse the sounds of pursuit would stop. Chest heaving, legs aching they would finally get up the nerve to turn and look for their pursuers only to find the forest behind them empty. No beast with thousands of teeth waiting, no shrouded figure with raised scythe. Just empty woods with bird chirping at them from the trees. Thinking their ordeal at an end they would soon find themselves fast asleep with thoughts of how silly they were for thinking something was chasing them dancing in their head. But then it would start again.”

“If that weren’t enough, there were a very few others who said they actually saw the creature that chased them. But like I said there were very few of these. It probably would’ve been better if there were none. The lost ones that claimed to have actually seen the creatures were the worst off. They were the ones who usually didn’t live long after their escapes. They were never extremely clear about what exactly happened but most spoke of how the creature would only come at the end of one of the chases when there was no possibility that its prey could move another inch.”

“Then it would appear, lumbering through the woods carrying a crude ax or some other type of weapon braying its horrible call. The focus of its fury would have no choice but to sit and wait for the death the creature promised by it’s approach. It would stand over them, looking down upon them with horrible leaf green eyes until they either passed out from fright or closed their eyes to wait for the end. They would stay this way, sure they could feel the beast breath on their face, smelling it’s earthy, wet stink thinking about what was about to happen. But nothing did. When they either woke or opened their eyes the thing would be gone. They said things of this type would go on for days. There was no hope of fighting back. The creature seemed to inspire weakness in them. Once brave men became babes in its presence. Then for no reason they could figure out, they would be running from one of the beasts and would suddenly find themselves back where they had started, on the edge of the woods. Alone. No creature chasing them. Nothing but the chirping birds and themselves. Thinking themselves crazy they would slowly make their ways back to town. They would be found talking to themselves about creatures that didn’t exist and these frightening stories would then be passed to the rest of town making many a brave men crowd around a fire at night. None ever returned to the woods. Most eventually wandered off. Those that didn’t, as I said, killed themselves.”

“Now I see the by the looks on your faces you think I left something out. You’re probably wondering why nobody went and hunted these beasts down. Well, some did. Some went out to see if they could find anything. Most returned empty handed. At least those that returned. Some never did. It was almost as if the things in the woods knew that if they took too many or were caught themselves then more people would come invading there woods. After a time of searching and finding nothing fewer and fewer people went looking. Everyone stayed to the known roads and pretty much left the woods alone. The ones that did venture in never went out of sight of the road they’d left. Over time people stopped disappearing and it was eventually forgotten. A few brave souls began building houses closer to the woods. They lit fires at night to keep whatever might be lurking at bay. When nothing happened and the terrible events of the past faded to just a memory more and more people started building near the woods. People who just couldn’t live with the past moved away but most ended up staying. They’d traveled far and weren’t going to give up their new home. Where would they go? Everything they had was here.” Grandma stopped speaking to take a small sip of her coffee. The face she made indicated what she thought of it. She got up and went to the sink as she continued her story.

“All this happened a few months before my mother was born.” she said. Pausing to look at Jill, she said, “Your great, great grandfather was one of the people that went looking and never came back. He was young back then. Just married and with a little one and another on the way. He wasn’t about to back down and give up his home. So off he went one day never to return.” Almost as if caught in a memory she stopped speaking and just stared off into nothing. Jim was about to ask how she knew all this but she beat him to it. “The stories of what happened were passed down. They became things of legend. Urban myths if you will. But these legends, these myths, were based in fact not fiction.”

“Mothers used the tales to frighten children,” she said with a sad smile. “They scared them, myself included, by telling them that if they weren’t good or if they didn’t listen and do their chores, then the Goatman would come and take them away to the woods. If the parent was especially cruel or the child especially bad they would tell how he’d hang them by their toenails or strip the skin off their back and eat it right in front of them. The description of the terrible things that would be done was enough to make the kids lay awake in their beds for a week. Needless to say most kids in town were well behaved. Then again there were a few that weren’t but they never ended up staying around long.

As far as we know the beast never came out of the woods but children still disappeared once in a while. No smart parent would allow their kids to go anywhere near the forest alone. My mother didn’t need to use things like that to get me to listen. We’d already lost our grandfather. That was enough. Now after all these years the damn thing should be dead but from what I’m hearing it sounds like its back. I knew this day would come and prayed that it never would. Some damn idiot must’ve called it.”

“What do you mean called it?” Jim asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

“Well from everything I heard as a child, the actual reason that all the bad things really stopped was because of an old woman who lived nearby. Actually now that I think of it I think she lived in the woods themselves. Everybody thought she was a witch or something. Who else could live where she did and survive? Anyways, the story goes that at some point, for some reason she put a curse on the creature that was taking our people. Nothing I heard was really clear on why just that she did. After that things calmed down. People stopped disappearing and things returned to normal. A while later, after a particularly bad storm, someone went looking for the old woman and found her cottage empty. The person that went looking saw a message scratched in the wood of the door that said the beast that was terrorizing the town was gone and would only come again if somebody called it. There was this stupid little rhyme that could return it to our world where it could once again terrorize the town. All I really know is that the disappearances stopped. For all we know the witch was the one causing everything and the creature was just trying to save us. Nobody knows for sure except for sure. The only thing we know are the stories of those it chased. Unfortunately my grandfather was one of the last few people that disappeared before the old woman put and end to it. I know that creature was the one responsible and now it’s back.”

“Yeah but Grandma, you said it was somehow responsible for Tommy’s death,” Jill said. “What did you mean?”

Grandma looked at them for a moment then focused on Jim as if she knew something she couldn’t possibly know. “Do you know if Tommy ever tried looking for or maybe even calling for the Goatman?”

He could hear his hear thumping so loudly in his head he was surprised the two women didn’t notice it. As he looked at them parts of his dream drifted back to him. He heard four adolescent voices calling out as one asking the creature to appear. He saw the beast parting the shadows, coming towards them, answering their call. He saw the axe as it was raised in the air ready to speed its way to his death. He heard the whistle as it sliced the air and jumped as it hit its destination. But that was only a dream he thought coming back to himself. None of it had happened. Jim thought better of telling them anything about it for obvious reasons. He knew he and his friends were responsible for its return. Instead of answering her question he tried to deflect it.

“Grandma it was just some goat hair,” he said. “I admit it’s strange that it’s there but that’s all it was.” He hoped changing the subject to something based in the real world and not in myth would defuse the tension he felt building. He didn’t trust himself to start talking about the things Grandma had brought up. He believed that she believed everything she’d said but she couldn’t be right. There were no such things as bogeymen much less Goatmen.

“The Goatman’s just a legend,” he said having a hard time convincing himself much less them. “I’m not saying that stuff didn’t happen but it was a long time ago. This is now. People don’t just walk off into the woods and disappear anymore. We were all told the stories about the Goatman growing up but that’s all they were. Stories. None of us believed it. It’s just a legend. How could it have killed Tommy?” He felt like a shit saying all this stuff especially since he didn’t believe it but he couldn’t tell them that he and his friends were the ones who called the creature back from where ever it had been. He really wanted to believe what he was saying but he couldn’t. He just had to hope that Jill and her grandmother did.

“It’s not just a legend!” Grandma yelled ruining that thought.

Her anger surprised him so much he was at a loss for what to say. One minute Grandma’d sat across from him seemingly silently resigned the next she was about coming over the table yelling at him. He hadn’t been out to upset her but apparently he had. He could understand why she was upset and wished he could tell her he believed everything she said one hundred percent but he also had to try to keep things real. If he sat here and agreed with her that some mythical beast was responsible for his friends’ death, Jill might as well call the funny farm for both of them. Grandma’s outward appearance visibly shrank as Jim watched her prepare for what she would say next. Her momentary outburst seemed to have depleted what little energy she had.

“I’m tired,” she said rising slowly from the chair. “I’m tired and I’m going to bed. All this useless talk of the old days has worn me out. Especially since it’s fallen on deaf ears. But don’t forget what I said Jim. All legends are somehow, someway, somewhere rooted in fact.” With that she turned and wafted out of the kitchen like a ghost.

Sitting there for a few minutes, neither knew what to say. After the conversation with Grandma it seemed a mutual agreement that neither of them felt much like going out. Jill was the first to break the spell and busied herself making coffee while Jim made his way out to the porch and took a seat. It was a lot darker than when he’d first arrived. They’d spent longer talking to than he thought they would.

The night seemed much colder now than before. He didn’t know if it was just because of the season or because of all he’d heard. Sitting there he realized something else. The night was quiet. There seemed to be no sounds. Nothing like what he was used to. There were no sirens sounding in the distance, no screaming and yelling coming from the apartments around him and no sounds coming from the mouth of the teenage gang bangers that seemed to come out like a flock of locusts after the sun went down. He’d forgotten how nice his home town was. He could get used to a place like this.

His breath clouded in front of him as he sat enjoying the quiet night. You could almost imagine that there was nothing else on earth at that moment. But then Jill came out and instead of intruding on the moment she only enhanced it. She carried with her two steaming mugs of coffee that smelled as good as they looked. As she took a seat close to him she handed him one. Having her sitting next to him made everything seem complete. He’d forgotten how nice it was not being surrounded by noise all the time. He’d also forgotten how nice it was having a good looking woman sitting next to him.

The thought of buying a house here, again popped into his mind but he quickly shook his head dismissing it as nothing more than a fantasy. It wasn’t a bad idea. It was just an impractical one. There was no reason to do it. To him when someone bought a house that someone should have a family to live in it with them. Other wise what was the point.

“Well,” Jill said breaking his inner debate and bringing his mind back to the present. “That was sorta weird wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, she did get a little excited didn’t she?” he agreed not knowing what else to say.

“Do you think any of what she said could’ve been true?” she asked.

“Well,” Jim said after thinking for a minute, “it’s kinda hard to believe some of it. I mean I did grow up here and I never saw anything like what she was talking about.” The little lie made him feel like a slug but he said it anyways. “Some monster going around abducting people much less chasing them around the woods for fun is a little hard to believe. I’m sure something happened but it couldn’t have been a monster. There must’ve been some other explanation.” He was still trying to convince himself and it still wasn’t working very well. The things Grandma talked about sounded too much like what had happened to him and his friends when they were little for him to just dismiss it as the prattling of an old lady. Especially since that old lady was Grandma. She wouldn’t lie about something like this. What she said could have some truth to it but he couldn’t admit that to Jill. She’d never even heard of the Goatman before now. There was no reason scare her anymore than she already was by agreeing with her grandmother.

“Maybe it wasn’t some creature,” Jill ventured. “Maybe it was a real person terrorizing the town. It could’ve even been that old woman Grandma was talking about. She said the thing and that old woman disappeared at about the same time. Maybe it really was her like Grandma said and the lady was really some kind of Satanist or something. She could’ve been killing people as a sacrifice or something.”

“That sounds a little more plausible to me,” Jim said thoughtfully, “Your grandmother is old but she seemed pretty sure about what she was telling us. I don’t think she would’ve gotten so upset if she thought what she was saying wasn’t the whole hearted truth. Who knows maybe she got some part of the story wrong or something.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, each struggling to make sense of their own ideas along with what Grandma had revealed to them tonight.

“So what now?” Jill said suddenly changing the subject.

“Well, it is a little late,” he said not even wanting to glance at his watch to see the actual time. “Tommy’s funeral is tomorrow so, I guess, maybe we should call it a night.” She looked about as disappointed as he felt which surprisingly made him feel better about leaving her. Maybe things were looking up.

“Ok,” she said with a small smile, “but we can get together again right?”

“Oh, I think that can be arranged,” he teased as he stood to leave.

“What do you mean you think that can be arranged? It damn well better be if you know what’s good for you,” she answered hotly. Trying to hold back his laughter at her mock anger he turned to leave but she quickly stood up and snatched his arm.

“Before you leave there’s something I need to do…” she said as she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss that started out as a quick one but ended up turning in to a much longer one. Stepping back from him a little out of breathe she looked at him in a way that gave him chills in all the right places and said “Now that’s a proper goodnight kiss. So are you sure that it can be “arranged” that we meet again?” He just shook his head up and down like one of those bobble heads you see in car windows. Smiling that smile again she turned and reached for the door. “Watch out for the Goatman on your way home,” she said over her shoulder before opening the door.

Jim just stood there for a minute with a dorky look on his face as he watched her walk into the house and close the door. He didn’t even realize what she’d said. He was happier than he could remember being in a long time. When he finally remembered that if he wanted to get home he had to start walking, he almost had to force himself off the porch.

6

Moving off into the darkness it finally registered what Jill’s parting warning about the Goatman had been. Not wanting to tempt fate with everything suddenly going his way he hurried his steps just a little bit more than normal.

After only a few steps he reached the end of the dirt road and the beginning of the paved. Looking back over his shoulder thoughts of the kiss only moments gone floated back into his head. The piercing whine of a siren brought him quickly back to reality.

Curious about what was going on he stepped up the pace to a fast jog, praying he wouldn’t trip over anything in the dark. He quickly noticed something wasn’t right. Over the thumps of his feet hitting the ground he heard nothing. The siren had quickly gone silent along with the night around him. There wasn’t even a breeze to ruffle his hair. Slowing his pace he found that the night had, for some unknown reason, gone silent. All the insects seemed gone; the only sound he heard was his own heart beating in his chest.

Slowing down so he could hear better and coming to an almost complete halt he tried to will some sound into existence. Waiting for some type of noise he slowly realized what was bugging him the most about the silence. It made him feel like he was being watched.

He quickly looked back the way he’d come and could just barely make out Grandma’s house through the gloom. The Christmas carol trickled through his head again causing the beginnings of a smile to appear but something else caught his eye. Something was moving out there. He didn’t know what and still couldn’t hear anything but he was sure it was there. The blackness around him gave no indication of anything but he knew something was there.

Beginning to walk backwards he kept his eyes on the spot he thought he’d seen something in and quickly saw movement the minute he’d taken his first step. It must be some animal, he thought as he walked faster. It was stalking him. The thing, whatever it was, seemed to be keeping its distance for now but he doubted that would last long. Glancing periodically over his shoulder to make sure nothing was in front of him he tried to figure out what it might be. Considering all he’d been able to make out was one dark object moving over another dark object he didn’t have much luck. After what seemed like forever but was actually probably only a few minutes he still couldn’t see what it was. It had to be some kind of nocturnal animal that hung around in the local woods. He couldn’t remember having animal problems when he was little but they must’ve had them considering where they lived. He must’ve interrupted its hunting when he’d come walking by. Even if he did and it wasn’t going to attack him, he didn’t exactly feel comfortable turning his back on whatever it was.

After a few more minutes of walking backwards he was beginning to feel slightly silly. He was about to turn around and start his jog again when the far off lights from Grandma’s house suddenly let him see the creatures silhouette. What he had thought to be an animal had suddenly become something else entirely.

He could see the outline of the thing only and it was a quick look at that but just from that little bit he wished to God he were back at Grandma’s house with Jill. Seeing the thing he wished he’d never known what it could even possibly be. It had a vaguely mannish shape and looked to have something pointy on its head. That was all Jim needed to see.

He turned and started running. The lights of Main Street beckoned in the distance. Much to his horror the sound slapping sounds seemed to be right behind him. He didn’t know which was scarier; the fact that he was being chased through the dark or that thing chasing him sounded like it had hooves instead of feet.

He somehow knew if he made it to the lights he’d be ok and if he didn’t, well he didn’t want to think of that. Instead he just ran. He quickly found out he was a lot more out of shape than he’d thought. Luckily it wasn’t that far. He had to make it.

He threw a quick glance over his shoulder and vaguely a huge shadow that somehow seemed to be gaining on him. It was still too far back to see clearly but he caught parts of it as light from the street he was racing towards reflected from its body. Everything he saw and a lot that he didn’t, made him run just a little bit faster than he had been.

Taking too much time thinking about what was pursuing him almost cost him his life. One minute he was running along looking over his shoulder the next he was almost doing a face dive onto the pavement. He’d tripped over a stick or something in the dark and had lost some of his momentum. Hear the clopping of the beasts hooves quickly helped him regain the speed he’d lost.

Once more with his gaze clearly focused on his goal he was happy to see that it wasn’t that much farther away. It was a good thing too since he was sure the thing was breathing down his neck. Every couple of seconds a distinctly unpleasant smell seemed to blow up from behind him. The creature had to be close if he could smell what was could be nothing else but the things breathe. He didn’t want to risk another look over his shoulder for fear of what he might see. It felt as if any second the thing would end the charade and just reach out and grab him.

The lights were much closer now. They were almost calling to him. He was almost there. He only needed to stay away from it for a few more seconds. Throwing his last burst of energy into his legs he managed to eek out a little more speed. He leaned into every step hoping it would be the one that would keep him out of deaths grasp. Squeezing his eyes shut he tried to ignore the burning in his legs and how wobbly his knees were getting. Leaning into every stride, he peeked out of his eyes just in time to see the lights wash over him in their welcome embrace.

Not able to go any further he hoped he’d been right in thinking he’d be safe once he reached the town. Chest heaving, legs barely able to hold him up he slowly looked up. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. People were walking down the street in what he remembered was the direction the sirens had come from. Hardly anyone even seemed to notice he’d just won his race against death. Some people stopped to look at him but quickly saw he wasn’t as interesting as whatever the sirens were checking out.

Breathing heavily Jim turned to peer into the darkness that had only minutes before almost been his tomb. Nothing had pursed him into the light. Peering into the gloom, he saw nothing. No humongous slavering beast, no manic dressed in camo ready to skewer him on a huge knife, and most of all no Goatman. There was simply nothing. The darkness had closed behind him almost like a door, refusing to reveal whatever secrets it held. There was no evidence of anything chasing him. He could even still barely make out the porch light on grandma’s house in the distance.

Could he have imagined it all? Did Grandma’s story and his own imagination get the better of him? No, that couldn’t be it. He wouldn’t believe it. There was something there. He was sure of it. But if that was true then why wasn’t he dead? Why didn’t it continue chasing him? Why did it just stop? And how did it stop so fast? Jim had run for a good little distance even after he’d made it to the light. The thing had been right on his tail. He was sure of it and yet nothing came out of the darkness but him. What was going on? Was something actually chasing him or was he just loosing it?

While trying to figure out the answers to his questions he realized the people who’d been here on his arrival were now quite some ways down the street. Nobody had paid any mind to him. There was something else more interesting. The sirens he’d heard were quiet but he could still see the lights flashing.

Putting the troubling problem of his pursuer aside for the moment he shakily started trotting down the street. Catching up to a kid in a restaurant uniform he decided to try his luck at finding out what was going on.

“What’s all the noise about?” he asked in what he hoped was a friendly voice.

“From what everybody is saying something happened out at Freaky Pete’s,” the kid answered after giving Jim the once over.

“Freaky Pete? Who the hell is that?” He was pretty sure he knew the answer but he asked anyways.

“Where the hell you been?” the kids asked. “He’s the freakin’ weirdo who lives out in the woods. Damn idiot lives in one of those old pieces of crap they used to call a house all by himself doing all kinds of weird stuff. He’s always trying to set fire to the woods or doing some other satanic shit. Probably sacrificing animals or something. At least that’s what my mom says.” Jim wouldn’t mind having a few words with this kid’s mom. “Cops are out there all the time,” the kid continued, “but they never do anything to him. He must’ve messed up big this time to deserve all this.” Jim wished he could just slap the spit out of this kids’ mouth just for being a smartass, who knows maybe it would knock some sense into him, but that probably wouldn’t work. All it would do is get him into trouble. Instead he just listened as the kids continued spouting whatever came to his mind.

“Only time anyone ever sees that freak is when he comes to town to get food. You should see it! He so frickin’ funny. Everybody makes fun of him and calls him names. Its frickin’ hilarious. He don’t show his sorry ass around much but when he does its fun times!”

Jim was pretty sure “everybody” meant this dumbass and his friends but unfortunately there was little he could do about it. Pete was his friend but he’d pretty much brought all this on himself by becoming the town hermit. There was no use in arguing with anybody. He wished there was someone else he could ask but when he finally reached the gaggle of people they’d already separated into little groups of their own. They gave him and the kids a wide berth though. Jim didn’t know if it was him or the kid they were trying to avoid. After hearing the crap coming from his mouth though he was pretty sure it was the kid.

“There sure is some weird shit that goes on out there,” the idiot said after a few seconds gesturing down the road. Jim looked where he indicated and saw a faint orange glow illuminating the sky. “See what I mean?” The teenager said making full use of his high school education. “You see all kinds of lights and stuff out there. It’s just plain weird.” Jim could honestly say he now understood why the future of today’s youth wasn’t that good.

Not wanting to be stuck with the garbage mouth for the rest of the night Jim quickly said his thanks and moved towards the police car stationed just beyond where all the groups were gathered. As he passed them he heard bits and pieces of conversation consisting of everything from rumors about the woods being on fire to aliens having finally invaded Pete’s house and taking him away. He almost hoped it was a fire or something but had a feeling it was probably closer to the one about aliens than anything else.

He’d just about reached the police car when he did see an actual flicker of fire in the distance. That explained the glow in the sky he’d seen. Now that he saw where the fire was he noticed two more police cars further down from the one he was standing near and just a little ways beyond them, a house. The fires made the place look as if it were on fire but it must not have been since the police cars weren’t there. They were on the road before the house. Maybe that meant Pete wasn’t involved in whatever was going on.

Jim could vaguely see a figure walking back and forth between the burning mounds around the house. The figure trudged back and forth pausing only to throw something on whatever fire he was closest to sending sparks spiraling into the night sky. It could only be Pete Jim thought as he wearily made his way toward the police officer stationed next to the car blocking the road. He hoped he could get through to make sure his friend was all right.

7

As Jim reached the first patrol car he noticed how cold it was outside. He was concerned about Rob and knew he shouldn’t be thinking about the cold but he couldn’t help it. The fires in the distance seemed like a good idea to him right about now. The sweat he’d worked up was quickly cooling in the night air. He wished he’d brought a jacket with him or better yet that he had driven his rental. If he’d done that, everything would’ve been fine. Nothing would’ve chased him, he wouldn’t have sweated from running and he’d be nice and warm. But no, walking had seemed like a better idea, so he being the idiot he was, had walked.

Slowing down to a walk once again, Jim approached the car with one hand raised to shield his eyes from the flashing lights that were about to blind him and saw another person who liked like a deputy but who obviously wasn’t Rob. He seemed to be standing guard on the road. From the look of it he was pretty worried about whatever was going on out at Pete’s.

Jim didn’t even want to imagine what Pete might’ve done to get himself in this much trouble. True he hadn’t been around for the past few years but from what he heard Pete was capable of some weird shit.

“What’s all the commotion about?” he asked the deputy as he got closer.

The guy seemed almost startled that someone would ask him a question. Looking at him appraisingly for a minute before informing him in a voice thick with country accent that there’d been some type of accident down the road and that no one was allowed down there until it was all cleared up. Before he even started speaking Jim thought there was something familiar about the guy. The deputy reminded him of someone. Trying not to seem like some sort of weirdo Jim studied the officer while he spoke. Not being exactly close enough to get a good look at him Jim slowly shifted his body so that the lights wouldn’t be in his line of vision and so that he was a little closer.

After a few second without the lights in his face his eyes adjusted and he realized who he was speaking to. It was Johnny Langill. The last time Jim had seen, or thought, about him he’d been a kid a grade behind him in high school. When Johnny’d finished talking Jim quickly stuck out his hand and told him who he was. Johnny shook his hand in return a little unsure at first but then, like a light going on somewhere in his head, seemed to recognize Jim and shook his hand a little more heartily in return. Johnny still looked edgy but Jim was sure that was probably because of what was going on down the road.

“So,” Jim said now that he was a little more familiar with who he was talking to, “what’s really going on back there?” When Johnny didn’t answer right away he quickly added, “Pete lives back there from what I’m told and I’m a little worried about him.”

“I’m not supposed to tell anyone,” Johnny answered after a few seconds.

“Come on Johnny,” Jim pushed. “This is Jim you’re talking to not some guy off the street. You can tell me.”

“I really don’t think I should,” Johnny answered then paused, “but, I, uh, guess it would be ok as long as you don’t tell the sheriff.” After getting Jim’s promise he continued. “I’m pretty sure something bad happened,” Johnny said looking over Jim’s shoulder to make sure no one else could hear them. “A little while ago we got a call from Rob over the radio saying he was coming out to check on Pete. He said Pete was out burning his fires again and he wanted to make sure everything was ok. Nobody thought anything of it until about an hour had passed and we hadn’t heard anything form him. Then suddenly the radio in the office seemed like it came to life. At first there was nobody on it but you could tell that the mike was keyed.” He paused for a second to run a hand over his face. He looked like he was about to cry before he got control of himself and continued. “Then we heard this horrible noise coming over the speaker. At first we didn’t know what it was. It sounded like static but after a few seconds we realized it was a scream. It was awful. We didn’t know what to do but we were pretty sure we knew who it was. The sheriff was out driving around so he got here first to check things out. When he got here he called and told me to come down here and secure the entrance to Pete’s road and not to let anyone down. I was on the other side of town doing a patrol over there and heard all the screaming over my radio. I told the sheriff I’d be right over and this is where I’ve been since. He hasn’t come up and told me nothing. Not even a peep on the radio or anything. I don’t know what’s going on.” He stopped and took a shaky breath.

Jim was about to bolt down the road when the radio in the car shouted Johnny’s name. Wanting to run and find out what was going on but also not wanting to miss what might be said he forced himself to stay. Johnny climbed in the car and shut the door so Jim couldn’t hear. After a few minutes he put the radio down and got back out looking a few shades whiter than when he got in.

“The sheriff just said that the state police and the coroner would be here soon,” Johnny said as he emerged from the car. “He also said to make sure I didn’t tell anyone anything I wasn’t supposed to.”

“But what about Rob?” Jim asked.

“I asked if he was ok but he just ignored me and told me to do my job and to not ask so many questions. He said don’t let anyone but the police and coroner in.”

“So he didn’t say anything?”

“Now listen Jim, I’m not the smartest person in the world but I know when something isn’t right. You and I both know what a coroner is for right?”

Jim hoped Johnny hadn’t been expecting an answer. If he had he would just have to go on hoping. Without staying to hear all of Johnny’s words Jim darted around the back side of the car before Johnny had a chance to do more than watch him disappear into the night.

Speeding through the dark Jim could make out the sheriff’s car down the road only because of the flashing lights on to p of it. Focusing on them he poured every last bit of energy he had into making it to them as fast as his poor feet could carry him. Before a few seconds ago he would’ve told anyone he couldn’t another step if his life depended on it but knowing something had happened to Rob had galvanized him into action. Johnny must’ve called ahead because by the time Jim arrived out of breath the sheriff was standing in the road, arms crossed over his ample belly, waiting for him.

Sheriff James Harden was a fifty something, slightly over weight gorilla of a man who was only sheriff because nobody in town had ever been brave enough to mess with him. Politically or personally. Nobody except for Jim and his friends. Harden had been sheriff for as long as Jim could remember and had been just another reason Jim had had for leaving. The place being a small town, Jim and the sheriff had known each other a lot better than either would’ve preferred. Jim’s group had quite a few of close calls with the sheriff back in the day. It was just dumb luck that they’d never been caught doing some of the things they’d done with a big emphasis on the dumb part. The sheriff suspected a lot but was never able to prove anything. Form the look on the man’s face they were about to have another run in Jim wished he could avoid.

“Now what the hell do you want?” The Sheriff demanded angrily before Jim even had a chance to catch his breath.

“What’s going on?” Jim asked ignoring the question. “Where’s Rob? Is he alright?”

“You aren’t supposed to be down here boy. Didn’t you see the roadblock up there?” He shot back ignoring Jim’s question in turn. “I should lock your sorry ass up right here and now for trespassing.”

“You can do that after you tell me about Rob,” Jim answered quickly. “C’mon” he pleaded, “I’m his friend. Tell me what happened to him, then you can throw me in jail all you want.”

“Oh shit!” the man answered as if he’d just remembered he left the iron on at home. “Rob said you were back for a visit. I’d damn near forgot, what with all this shit going on.” He paused trying to decide. “Damn,” he began again as he took of his hat and ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t know how to put this so I’ll just come right out and say it but I don’t want you freaking out of me or anything. You do that and I’ll take your ass down faster than you can spit. You hear me? I have enough to handle as it is.” After making sure he was understood he said two words. “Rob’s dead.”

Jim knew to expect something like this but actually hearing it felt like a slap in the face. There’d been a bad feeling rolling around in the pit of his stomach from the first moment he’d heard the sirens. This was just the perfect ending to a perfect evening.

“I’m sorry to tell you like that but there it is. There’s no reason to beat around the bush when it comes to things like this,” the sheriff explained. “Rob came out here to check on your friend freak boy out yonder but we didn’t hear back for him for a while. Some of us were starting to get worried.” He said this last part like he hadn’t been one of the ones getting worried and Jim almost slapped him. Holding himself back he stood and listened to the rest of the sheriff’s story. “After a while some weird shit came over the radio. Like screaming or something so I came out to check on things. Didn’t know what to expect. The freak could’ve finally went of the deep end and decided to kill his buddy or something for all I knew. Anyways, when I roll up his car lights were flashing, the door light was pointing at the woods and he was lying on the ground in front of it all cut up.” He stopped talking for a few seconds to make sure Jim wasn’t about losing it before continuing. “It’s a sight you sure don’t want to take to the grave with you if you can help it. Real messy whoever or whatever did it. I shouldn’t tell you this but you being his friend and all you might know if someone, you know, maybe had it out for him or something. If not, it sure does look like it. In any case whatever it was seems to have gone at him with an ax or something, maybe even a hatchet. Soon as the Smokies get out here I’m going to see if I can go find anything useful out from freakboy.”

Jim couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He was too afraid that if he did he’d end up in jail. How could something like this happen? This wasn’t a big city or something where things like this were commonplace. This was a small town. Things like this just didn’t happen here.

The town he grew up in was a quiet place. It was a place where people didn’t need to lock their doors at night. It wasn’t this place where murders were committed almost on a daily basis. This town he was in was like some twisted version of the one he’d grown up in. He just couldn’t understand what was going on. The silly theory of Grandma’s about some mythological beast killing everyone was starting to look better and better. At least then there would be someone to blame everything on. Right now there was nothing. No one to blame or take his anger out on. Just his dead friends.

Rob was dead. He would never see him again and Pete had been just down the road when it happened and did nothing to help. Someone had gone after Rob with an axe and hacked him to death not a five minute walk from his friend’s house and now he was dead. First Tommy and now Rob. Both were dead and there was nobody to blame. The two people who’d been his life long friends, the two people who’d been like brothers to him and the two people who were now dead at the hands of some maniac, mythical creature or God only knew what. He didn’t know which was more unbelievable. His friends being dead or how it’d happened.

It seemed like he’d just found Rob again after being away so long and now he was dead. Jim slowly looked down the road and saw the fires burning around Pete’s house. He could see Pete walking from one miniature inferno to another. Back and forth making sure they burned bright to keep his personal demons at bay.

Jim looked blankly at the sheriff and without any words to him turned and started towards Pete’s house. He needed to find out what had gone so terribly wrong with his last remaining friend that he would standby and let someone who’d been like a brother to him be killed.

8

Jim approached the house with a creeping sensation he’d now become familiar with. He was being watched. Praying nothing would be following him in the dark like had happened before he stopped his headlong rush and peered back at the sheriff hoping it was just him giving Jim the uneasy feeling. No such luck. Unfortunately the sheriff had turned away from him to watch two state police cars pull up at the roadblock.

Not happy in the least, Jim looked around. He saw nothing but inky blackness. The woods, for their part, remained eerily quiet offering him no help in finding the reason for his unease. If anything they made it worse. He felt that at any minute one of the branches were going to reach out, grab him and rip his head off. At least that’s what would happen if this had been a movie.

Eyes becoming slightly more adjusted to the dark, Jim found the exact spot where he’d decided to stop was exactly where the road had decided to give up its fight against nature. He could see cracked and rutted pavement with bit of grass forcing its way to the surface, roots of numerous plants criss-crossing the road and nothing but trees reaching for him in all directions. Up, down, left and right. Nothing but the impenetrable, leafy darkness. The forest hadn’t just been making tiny forays into the world of men it had made an all out assault. It was more than obvious this road wasn’t traveled much by anyone other than Pete.

The one bright and somewhat welcoming spot in all the gloom were the blazing fires around Pete’s house. They lit up the night like a beacon. The lighting thrown off from the fires lit the front windows, making the house appear to be an oversized jack-o-lantern grinning at him in sinister welcome. Jim hurried towards the supposed safety the light offered but as he approached he began to wonder if it was safety or something else the house was offering.

Pete must’ve sensed someone coming up the road. He’d stopped his mindless walking from fire to fire and was staring out into the darkness in the exact direction of Jims’ approach. Jim, not knowing what else to do, slowly emerged from the shadows. He didn’t know what reaction he expected but seeing Pete suddenly racing towards him with two burning sticks in his hand definitely hadn’t been one of them. Pete raced at him swinging the brands for all he was worth and shouting like a madman, which Jim was quite sure he was at the moment, at the top of his lungs. Jim was quite sure he was going to die any minute.

Pete was waving fiery arcs all over the place, at times coming close enough to hitting himself that Jim thought he was about to see another friend die. His friend looked like he would most likely set himself on fire long before he ever reached Jim. Wanting to avoid either scenario Jim hastily stepped back and called out to Pete hoping he could snap his friend out of whatever demented nightmare he might be caught in.

“Pete!” he yelled. “Calm down! It’s me Jim! Stop waving those damn things around for a minute and think!” He was afraid Pete might be so far gone that he wouldn’t recognize him. Jim watched as he got closer and closer. It didn’t appear Pete was going to stop until he was almost within attacking range. Almost tripping over his own feet Pete skidded to an abrupt stop roughly ten feet from Jim. Deep throaty breathing burst heavily from his direction obviously caused by his short run.

“Jim?” whined a hesitant voice after a few tense seconds, “Is that really you?” As he spoke Jim saw the branches lower slightly. That was a good sign. Maybe he wasn’t going to die. The pain and sorrow in Pete’s voice cut Jim to his very being. If it hadn’t been for the threat of imminent attack he would’ve rushed over the few remaining feet to his friend and hugged him like the brother he was. Then he saw the torches again and thought he’d better wait until he was sure Pete wasn’t going to brain him.

“Yeah Petey, it’s really me,” he answered with tears creeping into his eyes. “Why don’t you put those things down before you hurt someone? Then maybe we can go back to your house and have ourselves a little talk.”

Pete took a few steps closer, obviously straining his eyes to see him. With no other warning than a quick sob and a flash of discarded weapons Jim found himself being rushed. He only had a few seconds to react to what was happening. His first instinct was to back up or try to jump out of the way but that was quickly forgotten as Pete reached him and threw his arms around him. The thrashing Jim was expecting didn’t come. Instead he found himself in a great bear hug of the type a little kid might give and adult. A minute ago he was sure he was about to be bludgeoned to death by his only remaining childhood friend but instead he was pleasantly surprised.

Pete was obviously a person of unexpected mood swings.

If the rush and sudden burst of affection was unexpected what was even more unexpected was that as Jim put his arms around Pete to return his hug he could feel his friends’ body shaking with great, raking sobs. The sound of them reached Jim’s ear and forced a few tears of his own out.

“It is you,” Pete repeated over and over through his tears. Knowing that Pete needed to be held more than he needed to be let go, Jim hugged him back and realized while doing it that he needed it too.

They stood in that position for several minutes before Pete finally pulled away. When they finally did separate Jim realized he’d been crying and hadn’t even known it. Pete was still crying a little and talking to himself but unfortunately it was getting more and more incoherent. Jim thought he heard something about a “fucking purple dinosaur” or something along those lines but he wasn’t sure. Having no idea what his friend was talking about he shrugged and waited until his friend had exhausted his imaginary conversation.

While waiting Jim had a chance to get a better look at what his friend had become. By the flickering firelight Jim found that time had not been kind to poor Pete. The pitiful sight before him had always been smaller than everyone else but now he looked like some kind of demented dwarf with only vague similarities to the man he’d once been. Standing at a whole five foot four inches there wasn’t much to him. Since their last meeting Pete had looked as if he’d somehow turned in on himself. He’d gotten quite a bit stockier and looked almost fat, but if the bear hug he’d received was any indication looks had definitely been deceiving. His raven black hair now hung down in his face and was quite a bit longer than it needed to be and definitely a lot dirtier than it should’ve been. It was so thick that Jim could barely see any of Pete’s face through it all. This was probably a good thing since it smelled as if he hadn’t bathed in a while.

“It’s good to see you again,” Pete stuttered, gazing out into the darkness. “But let’s go back to the house where it’s safe. My fires need tending and shouldn’t be left for long. They must never go out when night comes.” Stooping down without another eerie word Pete picked up the two barely burning branches he’d discarded earlier and started towards the house.

Jim, caught slightly off guard by his friends words, followed the waddling form ahead of him trying not to trip over any of the holes in the road that were waiting for him. Pete reached the house first but didn’t stop to wait for Jim. Instead, he continued on towards the back not even looking over his shoulder to make sure his friend was there. He seemed more worried that the roaring fires would go out than anything else. Jim thought there was no need to worry about that happening. They were actually quite a bit bigger than they should be. Especially this close to the woods and definitely bigger than any one person could handle.

Just before turning around the back corner of the house Pete paused and grabbed some wood from a nearby pile. Jim tried taking advantage of this momentary stop to make up some distance between them but Pete still beat him and was out of sight by a few steps. In his haste to catch up with Pete Jim tripped over something in the dark and half fell half tripped into the back yard. Falling to the ground he quickly pushed himself up brushing off as he did so. After he was as clean as he could get he looked up and didn’t know what to think of the sight that greeted him. He’d heard of a living hell before but never thought he’d see it. Now he had. Hell had finally come to earth. That was the only thing he could think as his eyes watered from the heat cast by the fires.

There were four separate bonfires burning about twenty feet from the back of the house. Scattered haphazardly around the yard were piles of wood and what looked like an assortment of different sized cans of gas and kerosene. Some appeared empty, at least Jim hoped they were since they were laying on their sides, but others, which must’ve been full, were sitting upright and much too close to the fires. It was those that made Jim’s skin crawl. He could just imagine one bursting and turning him into a Jim-kabob. Not exactly a pleasant thought.

Heat wafted out in waves that could be felt all the way over where he was standing. Knowing that if it was this hot where he was he didn’t even want to think about the temperature where the cans were. With every passing second he was surer and surer they were going to blow. He moved to grab the closest one so he could move it to a safer spot but Pete turned on him viciously yelling.

“Don’t touch that!” he screamed. “Leave it where it is!”

Jim, faced by the crazy Pete once again, quickly backed up to where he’d been and watched as the man he’d once known returned to his task. Over the crackling of the fires Jim could still hear Pete mumbling to himself. Moving from one conflagration to the next Jim saw Pete’s lips moving. He actually managed to catch a word every now and then but still couldn’t make any sense of what he was hearing. He was beginning to see that Pete did indeed have many problems he needed help with, the least of which was the mumbling. Seeing no hope of reasoning with Pete, Jim looked around the yard trying to decide what to do.

Thinking he’d seen all the strangeness Pete and his yard had to offer he was horrified when his eyes settled on what lay at the immediate rear of the house.

The four windows running along the back had been hit many times by God only knew what. If it’d been rocks he knew he’d see just maybe a piece here or there missing. Most likely a bunch of holes. These windows instead looked as if whole boulders had been heaved through them but that wasn’t the worst part. Around most of the holes was stuff that looked like pieces of flesh. Dried ragged hunks of blackened meat hung from some of the windows looking like jerky left too long to smoke. That was bad enough but what he saw next was enough to make his stomach heave.

Written all over the wall from the top to the bottom were words. They’d been scribbled in an almost childlike handwriting in what Jim thought was brown paint. Wanting to get a better look he took a step closer and almost tripped over something on the ground. Looking down he discovered what had actually been used to do the writing on the wall. Littering the ground from one end of the house to the other were heads. Heads of cats, dogs, deer, raccoons and a lot of other animals he couldn’t even guess at. The skin had rooted off the ones near the bottom of the pile. All he could see were eye sockets and teeth. The wall above was splattered with blood from the heads. They had apparently been slammed up against it with some force. Big splotches of brown marked the wall. After overcoming his shock Jim quickly glanced at the wall to see what was written there since that was what had first drawn him to the spot. As he gingerly crept forward he carefully avoided the heads that had rolled away from the piles but not before noticing that most of the heads didn’t look like they’d been cut off like he’d first thought. They instead looked like they’d been ripped off. Strings of meat and parts of bone were still attached to the necks.

After swallowing the bile rising in his throat he slowly looked up to see if he could make sense of what was written oh the wall.

“Goatman was here” was scrawled all over. It looked more like gibberish than actual writing. The words tended to run together and were messily written. There were other things like “Come Get Me” and various curse word but the most prominent and numerous were the call for the Goatman.

Jim’s heart slammed in his chest as he read the words. They were the words that could supposedly call the Goatman to a person. The “Goatman was Here” phrase was what the Goatman himself supposedly wrote when he’d claimed a place as his own. Who cared that it was impossible for a creature that didn’t exist to write this much less anything else. The only explanation was that Pete, in his deranged state, did it himself. Jim didn’t want to believe that his friend was so far gone that he would do something like this but he couldn’t deny the proof in front of his eyes. Pete really had gone off the deep end.

While thinking all this, a shadow slowly fell on the wall in front of him. He spun around and was confronted by an even more deranged looking Pete than he’d seen before if that was possible. Sweat was pouring from his soot covered face. His shoulders heaved as he drew in deep gulping breath. It was almost as if he couldn’t get enough air into his lungs. Smoke and steam clung to him like a cloak making him look like the boogeyman made flesh. In between the breathing noises Jim could still hear mumbling. Pete was still talking to himself even though he was looking at Jim. The few words he was able to make out made no sense. They definitely didn’t make him very comfortable. Words like “kill” and “goat” were the only things Jim was sure he understood but there were others that Jim thought he understood but hoped he actually didn’t. Looking in Pete’s eye he was only sure of one thing. He wanted to get the hell out of there. To do it he would have to go through Pete and hopefully avoid the fires. He wasn’t sure he could do that. Not with having to worry about Pete at the same time. Then there was also the long road back down to civilization. There were no lights and Jim really didn’t want to try that.

Pete looked at him without speaking for what seemed an eternity. Jim didn’t know what to do. Pete looked like he was waiting for something. Maybe the voices in his head were telling him to kill Jim and he was trying to resist them. Maybe he was just trying to figure out the best way to do it and then he could blame the Goatman. Then again he could just throw him in the fire and no one would know any better. The sheriff was the only person that knew Jim was out here. Pete could just say that he’d left if they came and asked where he was. There probably wouldn’t even be that big of an investigation if the way things had been handled so far was any indication. He stood waiting for whatever Pete would do next. It wasn’t what he’d thought.

“It wasn’t me,” Pete cried. After mumbling a few words about a purple dinosaur he continued. “It was the Goatman Jim. We made a mistake when we were little.” He said looking up at the wall behind Jim. “We called him and he came but we escaped the first time. We didn’t stay so he could finish his visit. We ran. That made him mad.”

At first Jim wasn’t sure what to think. Pete spoke as if the Goatman were real. What he was saying was at least partly true. They had called the creature when they were little but it had never showed up. But at the back of his mind he felt a tickle. He concentrated on the memory trying to bring it in to focus. They’d been calling the thing and something had come out of the woods and that was the last he could remember.

The thing didn’t come. Did it?

In the dream Jim had a few days ago he’d come but that hadn’t happened in real life. It had only happened in the dream. None of that was real. Things from dreams couldn’t kill people. All the stuff that was happening with his friends had to have some kind of rational explanation. Jim couldn’t think of one right now but there must be one. A fictional creature running around killing people just because they’d called it when they were little wasn’t a rational explanation so that couldn’t be it. But at the same time it had to be it. They were standing in a yard, at night, with a bunch of decaying animal heads rotting around them while bonfires burned merrily in the background. If this wasn’t the perfect situation to prove Pete’s theory, then Jim couldn’t think of a better one.

Although there was another possible answer.

He was just going crazy himself. That had to be it. The pressure of his friends’ deaths and not knowing how it’d happened had just gotten to him so much that his mind had decided to take a break for a little while. He couldn’t be going crazy though. He’d just met a great girl. Except for his friends dropping dead in gruesome way everything was going good. So how could he be going crazy? The answer unfortunately was that he wasn’t. He was completely sane and his friends were dead and the only explanation that fit was that the Goatman was the one responsible. Jim wanted to deny it but all the evidence he’d heard and seen pointed to everything being the work of the Goatman.

It was common knowledge in these parts that the beast carried an axe with him. That would account for the tree in the woods near Tommy. He also took perverted pleasure in decapitating animals then eating everything but the head. Once in a great while it was rumored that it would mark it’s territory by writing “Goatman was Here” or something to that effect, never mind the fact that it was an animal and couldn’t possibly know how to write its own name much less an actual sentence. But somehow it still wrote on things in the places it’d been. Never mind the fact that no one had ever gotten a picture of the creature either. That didn’t matter to anyone. It was like Bigfoot. It was an urban legend. Not real.

Jim kept telling himself that but looking at the facts he couldn’t believe it. He had to come to grips with the fact that the Goatman was very real and was quite possibly coming for them. All because of being stupid little kids looking for fun. He told himself he still had to make one more try at convincing Pete that he was imagining everything. Maybe if he could do that he might also convince himself. It was probably too late but what the hell he would try.

“The Goatman isn’t real!” he yelled at Pete. “We called him that night sure as shit but he never came. He isn’t frickin’ real and he’s not frickin’ coming for us!”

“What! You really believe that? You think I did all this shit myself?” Pete yelled back. “You think I came out here to the middle of nowhere because I like it? I may have a few loose screws here and there but trust me I didn’t come out here by choice. I came out here so everyone in town would be safe. As long as I’m not there it has no reason to go bothering them. It’s after us not them.” Jim was caught off guard. He hadn’t thought of that. If the thing was real and it was after them then the farther they stayed from people the better. He had nothing to say that would convince Pete his delusion. He wanted to say something but Pete beat him to it.

“There’s another reason I came out here too,” Jim waited. He had no choice. There was nothing to say. Pete knew Jim was convinced but he was still explaining his reasons for his belief.

“I couldn’t start the fires in town,” he said. “So I came out here where it was at least sorta safe. This way that thing will be kept away from them too.” Even though everything he said would sound crazy to someone else, to Jim it made perfect sense. He didn’t know if that was good or bad. If the creature was after him and Pete and no one else maybe it could be kept at bay out here where it was safe.

“If the creature isn’t real, as you say, then someone needs to explain why Tommy and now probably Rob are dead,” he continued. “They also need to explain to me why someone has been throwing these heads at my house every night for at least the last three weeks. If that stuff ain’t real then I don’t know what is.”

Pete was only done talking for a few seconds when something suddenly flew from the woods through the firelight and slammed into the back of the house. It hit with a wet splatter, slid down the wall and rolled to a stop between the two of them. Jim looked down and found himself staring into the eyes of a raccoon or at least what used to be the eyes of a raccoon. The head was there but nothing else. It looked like it had been hacked off or something. The blood was still draining from what used to be its neck. It was very fresh and very grizzly.

Pete yelled something about telling him so and ran for his fires. Once he reached them he started throwing more wood on each of them making them bigger. Jim just stood looking back and forth between the Pete and the bloody mess in front of him. This latest turn of events really tilted things in Pete’s favor. Why else would a head be flung at them? Better yet, who would do it if it wasn’t the Goatman? Before he could think of a reasonable answer Pete came walking up. He’d apparently gotten the fires built back up to an acceptable height and wanted to talk some more. Jim was glad he was coming back. Pete had said his piece now it was his turn.

“So you know something happened to Rob. You must’ve been out here playing with your fires when it happened. Hell, you might’ve even heard what it was or maybe even saw it,” he said harshly. He was getting mad just thinking about it. Heaven help him if he found out Pete did see everything and did nothing to stop it. He felt he was handling everything pretty well but the pressure was building. Pete just might have to bear the brunt of the explosion. “Why didn’t you go help him?”

Pete stared at him, pain etched on his face, “I heard him screaming,” he moaned, “but I couldn’t go to him. He was in the dark. It would’ve gotten me too. I couldn’t leave my fires; if I had it would’ve gotten me. My fires are all that keep me safe. If I’d went then I’d be dead too. I couldn’t go help him.” Pete was going back to his make believe world where the monsters were out to get him. Jim wished for all he was worth that he could be mad at Pete but he couldn’t. He believed the Goatman was back to get them now too. He wasn’t even sure if he would’ve run out even to save a friend, in the dark knowing the creature was out there somewhere waiting for him. Jim wanted to hate him for letting their friend die but he couldn’t. Pete was all he had left. Everyone else was dead.., he wanted to walk over to him and start beating him until he was sane again but he couldn’t.

“It’s ok Pete. I understand…” Jim said before being cut off.

“Alright I’ve heard enough of this bullshit!” the Sheriff yelled as he came storming around the corner of the house. “I’m sick of hearing you spouting this shit you crazy little freak. You’ve been going on and on about this frickin’ Goatman thing and I’ve had just about enough,” he said as he grabbed Pete. “You’re coming to the station with me and you’re going to answer some questions. I’ve got an officer dead and from what I’ve heard it sounds like you know more than you’re telling your friend here. You can be damn sure I’ll find out what it is.”

“What happened with Rob?” Jim asked interrupting the Sheriff’s tirade.

He slowly turned to Jim and looked as if he was about to start yelling at him before he caught himself. “The state boys are going to be taking over. I sent Johnny home about a half an hour ago. He wasn’t doing much damn good up where he was anyways.” Jim hoped Johnny hadn’t gotten in trouble for letting him in but he had a feeling he had. “If I were you, Jim Collins,” the Sheriff continued, “I’d get my butt home to my mama pretty quick before I take your sorry ass in as well.”

“But Pete didn’t do anything,” Jim said ignoring the suggestion. “Sure he’s a bit crazy but he didn’t do it.”

“How the hell do you know that you idgit? Were you here with him the whole time? Were you two out here roasting marsh mellows and cooking weenies over the fire?” The Sheriff asked sarcastically. “Besides I’m not taking him in because I think he did it I’m taking him in as a witness. A hostile one at that. And another thing, look at this place, it looks like the Devil’s playground. Pete could pass as one of his children the way he looks. This whole area is an accident waiting to happen. I’ll have to call the damn fire department to come put these fires out when I leave. I could arrest him for that if I wanted to. But like I said I’m not arresting him. Yet.”

Pete looked uncomfortable at the mention of the fires being put out but he wisely didn’t say anything. He’d lapsed back to his mumbling routine again. Jim looked in his eyes and saw that there was nobody home. Pete was in his own little world. The Sheriff could ask him all the questions he wanted but probably wouldn’t get any answers.

“Yeah I guess you’re right,” Jim admitted reluctantly. “But he’s not hostile. The only thing hostile around here is whatever’s in the woods.”

“What the hell are you talking about now?” the Sheriff asked.

“Well, we were standing here talking and one of those heads sailed out of the woods like it had wings and hit the house. If you want to arrest someone maybe you should go see who’s out there. Then you can arrest them.” Jim thought he might’ve gone too far with his last statement judging from the look on the Sheriff’s face. Then he smiled. That was even scarier than what he looked like before.

“Look you little shit,” he yelled, “I’ve let you get away with quite a bit more tonight than I should’ve and now you’re going to start telling me how to do my job? Boy, I was doing this job while you were still just a stain on your daddy’s sheets. I don’t want no snot nosed, wet behind the ear punk telling me how to do my job but just so you’ll shut up I’ll go take a look out in the woods and see if there’s anything out there that you need to worry about. Don’t piss yourself while I’m gone cupcake.” He drew his gun from one side of his belt and grabbed his flashlight from the other. “Oh yeah, you two stay here while I go make sure the boogeyman isn’t coming. Don’t make me have to come find you when I get back. You won’t like it if I have to.” With that said he stormed off in the direction of the woods before Jim could even think of a smart comeback. Jim looked at Pete and saw that he was giggling to himself.

“What’s so funny?” He asked.

“You,” was all he said.

“Screw you,” Jim snapped.

After their brief exchange Pete quickly retreated back into his own little world. His hands were in front of him constantly moving, never still, in a way that reminded Jim of the evil villains from the cartoons of his childhood. Just watching gave Jim chills. His nerves were damn near shot. Beneath the noises the sheriff was making he could hear Pete mumbling about the purple dinosaur again. Jim had had enough of the purple dinosaur for one night.

“Would you please shut up about the fucking purple dinosaur! That’s enough!” he yelled and immediately felt bad about it. Pete stayed in his world and ignored him. Not having anything else to do Jim turned towards the woods watching for the Sheriff’s return.

After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only about ten minutes he came stumbling out of the bushes near the other end of the house. There were a few braches stuck in his hat and one coming out of his shoe making him look somewhat comical. Jim was too worn out to laugh so he just watched instead as he walked up cursing a blue streak.

“There’s not a damn thing back there!” he yelled as he yanked the branch out of his shoe.

“Nothing?” Jim asked. “There had to be something. Maybe you scared it off with all the noise you were making. There was definitely something in there before you go there. I mean, come on, something threw that damned head at us.” Jim didn’t believe that he’d found nothing. There had to be something. Blood from the raccoon, the body, something. It couldn’t’ve just disappeared.

“All I saw were some animal tracks and not much else. Waste of my damn time. They looked like deer or something close to it. Had hooves, whatever it was,” he said straightening his clothes. “But now this shit is over. I looked in the woods like you wanted and didn’t find anything. That’s it. I’m taking Pete for a ride down to the station and I don’t want to hear no more about no damn Goatman.”

He grabbed Pete by the collar and started walking to the front of the house where his car waited. Jim almost wished one of those heads would come flying right now and smack the Sheriff in the back of the head. Maybe then he would believe them. Then again he would probably just blame Jim and take him in too. It didn’t seem like anything was going to happen so he quickly followed the two of them to the front. He watched Pete get shoved into the back of the car and the Sheriff make his way to his door. A chill ran down his spine again causing him to look around. The feeling of being watched was back. Studying the night he saw nothing that might cause his feeling so he wrote it off to nerves being tired.

The sheriff climbed in the car and drove off leaving Jim in a cloud of dust. He didn’t even ask if he needed a ride. Looking at the retreating tail lights, Jim was half tempted to stay the night in Pete’s place but since the outside looked so bad he figured the inside would be worse. Plus the thought of all the dead animal head made his stomach do flip flops so he decided against it. He saw the police car reach the end of the road and decided it was time for him to leave. The dark wasn’t getting any lighter with him wasting time standing around. It was a long way back to the main road and the safety of light but he figured it was safer running then walking. The Sheriff’s idea of going home sounded like a real good idea.

9

Jim’s muscles were screaming at him when he woke the next morning as they remembered the previous nights’ adventures. All the running around was taking its toll on him now. Muscle that had been unused now played holy hell with him as he rolled out of bed. Thinking about it now in the light of day everything seemed like some kind of bad nightmare but he knew that wasn’t the case. He dressed gingerly and walked down to the kitchen already able to smell the bacon his mother had made for breakfast.

Taking a seat at the table his mother asked about his evening and he told her what had happened. He left out the parts about the heads but told her of the fires and how bad Pete had seemed to him. She was horrified to find out about Rob. Jim guessed she hadn’t read the morning paper. He figured something like that was sure to be front page news. After taking a few minutes to collect herself she asked how he was taking it. He gave the only answer he could. Two of his childhood friends were gone. He would never see them again and there was nothing that he could do about it. So all in all he was handling it but that was about it.

The last thing he told her, almost as an afterthought, was about Pete being in jail. When she asked why he told her it was just for questioning. He hadn’t done anything wrong but the Sheriff finally decided to bring him in for the fires if nothing else. The good part was that he wasn’t a suspect in Rob’s murder. Even the Sheriff was able to see Pete was a barely functioning person. He sure wouldn’t be able to kill anyone like Rob. They just wanted too ask him a few questions since he’d been nearby when it had all happened. Jim told her he didn’t think they’d get too much out of him though since all he seemed to do when confronted with any kind of stress was mumble. Maybe if they figured out what it was about a purple dinosaur that ticked him off so much he would tell them what they wanted to know but he doubted it.

All in all Jim’s said his visit home was not going well. Hopefully laying Tommy to rest today would be the end of the unpleasantness and things would go back to normal. He didn’t mention anything about the Goatman. If he’d done that his mom might think he was going to end up just like Pete. The last thing he wanted to do was have her worrying about him.

Jim finished his breakfast and sat sipping coffee while trying not to think too much about what he was going to be doing later in the day. After a long bit of quiet his mother tried getting him to talk about other things but quickly figured out he was pretty much having none of it. Giving up on that she instead sat across from him with a concerned look on her face. He probably could have told her about his night with Jill but he didn’t even fell like talking about that. It just didn’t feel right having something to be happy about when his friends were dieing around him. After his coffee he told his mother that he was going to go back to his room and relax until it was time for him to leave. She tried to get him to stay and talk with her but he begged off telling her he just needed some time alone and went to his room. He felt bad and knew her heart was in the right place but he just didn’t feel like being around anyone right now.

Lying on his bed he thought back to his childhood with Tommy and Rob. Pete was there also tagging along as he always had but he was mostly thinking of the other two. They were gone and Pete wasn’t.

When they’d been little they always talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. It had always seemed to change from one week to the next if not from one day to the next. For a while they’d all wanted to be firemen. Next it was a policeman. Eventually it became an astronaut. He thought it was sad how none of them had ever achieved their dreams. Well, almost none of them, he thought correcting himself. Rob had achieved his. He’d made it. He became a policeman like he’d wanted and from what little Jim had seen of him it suited him. At least he’d been able to live his dream for a little while before he’d died. Jim didn’t want to venture to much farther down that road. Rob was gone. He didn’t want to think of how it’d happened.

Instead he thought about Tommy. He didn’t even come close to living any of their dreams much less his own. He’d ended up being a cook at one of the local restaurants. Jim smiled as he tried to imagine Tommy behind a stove wearing an apron. It just wasn’t a picture that came to mind easily. Tommy was always a man's man. He frowned on things like cooking and baking. He probably hated what he did. But then again maybe he’d changed after Jim’d left. Maybe he’d tried cooking and found he liked it. Unfortunately Jim would never know. He’d left the town and his friends behind to pursue what he’d thought were his dreams.

Thoughts of Tommy and Rob quickly turned into thought about when they were little. The countryside around town was their playground. Riding upon the pedals of their bikes they’d explore every back road, old house or swampy lake they could find. That was one of the things that made it even harder to believe that the Goatman was the one killing them. They’d been everywhere and never seen hide nor hair of him or any other abnormal creature for that matter. The woods were a vast place where little boys could roam and pretend to be everything from Robin Hood to Flash Gordon. Granted it was Flash Gordon stuck in a wild paradise but they made due with what they had. The woods had never been a place to fear like they were now. Jim had enjoyed those times. He even enjoyed them now even though they made him sad but he guessed that what some memories did. Unfortunately that was all he had left of his friends.

His mother came in some time later to remind him that Tommy’s funeral was going to be soon. As if he could’ve forgotten or something. He forced himself from the past and into the present where he started preparing for the funeral.

Once out the door and on his way he again started thinking about the strange circumstances of his friends deaths. None of it made any sense. All the clues seemed to point at the Goatman but the cop’s content to just write Tommy’s death off to being an accident. Jim knew it hadn’t been though. He hopped that they were at least not dense enough to try and say the same thing about Robs. He could hear it now. They would try to say he had an axe with him and somehow fell on it repeatedly until he was dead or something else just as ridiculous. No, he had to give them some credit. They couldn’t be that stupid. Jim hopped that the state police, with their superior experience, would be able to formulate a better idea than what he and Pete had come up with. There had to be something better than the Goatman. So what if everything about both cases pointed to the perpetrator having been some mystical creature out of an urban legend. What difference did that make? Any rational thinking person would figure that thinking like that was just crazy. Unfortunately at this point in time Jim wasn’t included in the rational thinking people’s group. He was on the fringe of it though, still hoping someone would figure out a more plausible explanation than his.

Goat hairs being found in the area of Tommy’s death, coupled with the fact that the tree had been hacked off with an axe, then only days later Rob being attacked and killed with what the police were saying was an axe or a hatchet, pointed in Jim’s irrational mind, towards the Goatman. Pete had watered the seed planted in Jim’s mind by telling him that he, himself, had been under attack by the Goatman for the past three weeks.

As impossible as all this sounded and given the fact that Pete had gone off the deep end, Jim had seen the splattered proof against the wall. It could be argued that since Pete was insane at least to some degree that he’d staged everything himself but who wanted to think that? He could have easily gone out and killed Tommy but why? And then a few days later he could’ve gone and lured Rob to his death but again, why? If you wanted to believe he’d killed two of his best friend, set everything up in his yard so that he could have proof that he was under attack by some unseen force and then have himself arrested as a witness and not a suspect you still had to ask why. Oh yeah and if you could believe all that then you could believe in the Goatman too. But that was maybe giving Pete a little too much credit. He was smart and all but not that smart. Even if he was faking everything. Jim quickly put that out of his head. Pete was definitely a goner in the brains department but not so far that he would do the things terrible things that had happened.

If you disqualified Pete as a suspect then the question was now; who was doing it? Things flying from the night, bloody writing on the walls, and dead friends being found here and there. All this stuff wasn’t happening by itself. Oh wait, here’s another piece of evidence he thought ruefully. Once the sheriff had arrived and charged off into the wilderness to see what, if anything, could be found he’d come back with more support for the village idiots theory. Goat or deer tracks in the woods around Pete’s house.

Jim knew there had to have been someone in the woods when that head took flight and came roaring at them but he’d been too afraid to do anything when it’d happened. He could’ve gone after the sheriff left but hadn’t. He was scared not stupid. Instead he’d left with his tail between his legs and almost no doubt that the prints in the woods were made by a hoof that belonged to the Goatman. Nothing else other than a human being or him could have heaved that head and unfortunately there were no other humans running about that night that anyone knew of. He didn’t want to believe any of it, and knew he would go crazy if he did, but there was only one thing it could be.

Jim’s mind was still whirling as he pulled to the side of the road in front of the graveyard. Leaving his car and walking up a slight hill he saw that most of the town had already arrived. In a town this small everyone had known Tommy and had come to say goodbye to him one last time. It was slightly surprising to Jim. Tommy had always had friends but he didn’t think this many people would’ve shown up. Small town or not.

Tommy’s parents stood next to the grave with a group of people Jim vaguely recognized as being distant relatives. The only way he recognized them was that he’d met one or two of them when he was little at one of Tommy’s birthdays. It was funny how little some people changed over the years. They were all dressed in shades of black and gray as befitted a funeral.

The service began as he walked up, almost like they’d been waiting for him. He knew they hadn’t been and it was only a coincidence but it still made him feel slightly uncomfortable.

Looking through the faces of the crowd he saw many he felt should look familiar but he was unable to come up with any of their names. Most likely people he’d known in school or something like that but it still made him realize one thing. He’d been away a long time. Everybody was a lot different than the way he’d remembered them. As his gaze traveled around the congregation he noticed a few people were returning his curious look with ones of their own. Unfortunately the looks he was receiving weren’t curious. Instead they were angry and sometimes down right hostile. The sheriff was one he caught giving him a harsh look but to his credit his cheeks colored and he quickly looked away when he saw Jim’d caught him.

He felt out of place. The general feeling of the place made him feel like he wasn’t supposed to be present. The glares seemed to say he’d missed his chance to be part of Tommy’s life so what right did he have to be there now that he was dead. He’d abandoned Tommy to his fate. Now, when it was all over he decided to return. What good could he do now? The looks told him none.

In the face of these imagined accusations Jim began to think maybe they were right. Maybe he’d never left Tommy wouldn’t be dead right now. Maybe Rob wouldn’t have died either. It was crazy to think things like that and torture himself but when you were receiving the looks he was you couldn’t help but feel that way. If he’d stayed things might have been different. Then again he countered; they might just have stayed the same too. He could also just be imagining it all too, he told himself.

Tiring of the hostility directed at him by people he once thought of as friends he tried to remove himself from the group he’d unfortunately become stuck in. He slowly began to make his way towards the back of the group trying not to jostle anyone as he did. No need to have anybody any madder at him than they already were. He took a step a little too quickly and accidentally bumped in to someone. Looking over his shoulder to apologize he was startled to see a bright smile. He was dismayed to see who it belonged too.

The last person he’d wanted to see today was the only one that seemed to want to see him. Maria stood directly in his path to the rear of the assembly. Looking for another escape route he was greeted only with the disapproving looks of the town’s people. They were definitely not going to let him through. He was stuck. He resigned himself to standing where he was and enduring the remainder of the funeral the best he could. After a few minutes he noticed Maria was standing a little close for his comfort but he had no real choice in the matter so he tried to ignore her and hoped the funeral would be over soon.

After a few minutes passed he felt her move a little closer than she’d been before. Looking back to ask her for a little room he noticed what she was wearing. It wasn’t close to what everyone else was wearing. She stood out like a peacock in a group of hens. Her clothes were in bright blues and purples and looked as if she were about to attend a party as opposed to a funeral. If it hadn’t been for the circumstances he would have thought she was at a party. The only thing she was missing was a drink and some music. She had the clothes and the look already. He turned back without a word and tried focusing his attention on the service but was unable to with her so close. He could feel her studying him. He knew if he turned around she would be standing there with a sympathetic look on her face ready to console him in any way he asked. Most guys would kill for someone like that but not him. If he’d been attracted to her in any way it might have brought some ideas to mind but instead it made his stomach turn.

From what little of the service he was able to pay attention to, it appeared to be a good one. All the right things were said to console the attendees and make them think Tommy was in a better place and that everything was generally alright. Jim wasn’t much into religion. He never had been. Tommy, himself, probably would’ve been surprised to find him there. Jim had always refused church and anything else having to do with religion. But he had to be there for Tommy.

After the preacher finished speaking he was surprised to find that he did actually feel somewhat better than when he’d arrived. He also felt a little batter about saying goodbye too. He didn’t want to admit Tommy was gone but he knew he was and he could now accept it a little better than he had. He still wasn’t comfortable with the way it’d happened or the circumstances surrounding it but the service made saying goodbye much easier than he thought it would be.

As Tommy’s body was slowly lowered into the grave the group of people began breaking up. Most moved forward to pay their respects to the family members while others moved towards the road in preparation to leave. They tried not to look hurried but they couldn’t hide it very well. A lot of people didn’t like to be around death. It reminded them of their own mortality.

When the crowd parted sufficiently for him to pass, he quickly made his way towards Tommy’s parents. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Maria wasn’t following and was happy to see that Johnny Langill had come up and was occupying her attention. He was talked to her somewhat excitedly but it wasn’t his business so he turned back and continued to Tommy’s family. Better him than me he thought as he waited for someone in front of him to finish saying his piece to the family. When he was finally able to he told Tommy’s mother how sorry he was for what had happened and said he wished he had been there. She gave him a quick hug and said it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Tommy’s parents were big into religion. They probably thought since Tommy was gone it was just his time. God had called him home and all that other stuff. Jim didn’t believe it for a minute. He stood and talked for only a minute before saying his goodbyes and moving on to make room for the person behind him.

Walking slowly back to his car with thoughts of Tommy and Rob running through his head he barely heard Maria’s voice yelling at someone. Once he noticed it though he was curious as to who might deserve her wrath so he continued walking in the direction it was coming from and soon found that the unfortunate person was still Johnny Langill. Whatever they’d been talking about when Jim went to see Tommy’s family must’ve been pretty important. If Maria’s reaction was any judge it must not have been good news. She continued giving him a good lashing until she seemed to suddenly realize she was making a scene. Quickly smiling she grabbed Johnny’s shoulder, pulled him a little further away and started yelling at him again. Better him than me, Jim thought as he began started back in the direction of his car. He was almost there when he heard his name called behind him. He grudgingly turned to see who it was only to see Maria waving at him. Not wanting to be held up, especially by her, but being too polite to leave without seeing what she wanted he stayed where he was until she reached him. “Hello Maria. How are you doing?” he said calmly.

“I’m fine but it’s you that I should be asking that question to isn’t it?” she asked.

He waited for her to say something else but all she did was stand there. Jim didn’t know what she expected him to say. She hadn’t asked him anything so he just stood waiting for whatever was next.

“I know this has all been really rough for you,” she said when she realized he wasn’t going to say anything, “but I just wanted to see how you were.” After he told her he was fine she quickly said, “Well, that’s good. I was hoping you were.” She again stopped as if waiting for him to say something. This was getting on his nerves.

He knew she was only trying to be nice but he didn’t have time for her to play any of her little games. He just wanted to get out of here and back to his mothers’ house where he could relax but it seemed she was determined to keep that from happening. Wanting to end their conversation as quickly as possible he decided to cut to the chase.

“Is there something you need? I’m kind of in a hurry.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said grumpily.

Jim didn’t really care anymore if he hurt her feelings or not. She was acting like some jealous little girl that couldn’t take no for an answer. He’d hoped she gotten the hint about him not being interested but apparently she hadn’t. Maybe if he was a little meaner to her it would work. Couldn’t hurt to try, he thought grimly. He knew she was going to ask him out before she said it but hoped he’d be wrong. He didn’t fell like telling no again. She should’ve gotten the hint last time. Unfortunately she hadn’t.

“I was just wondering if you’d thought anymore about our getting together,” she began. “We could do something right now if you wanted to. I thought you’d probably be leaving soon and didn’t want you to forget. We’ll have so much fun! I’ve got everything planned already, you just have to tell me when.”

He couldn’t believe what she was saying. His friend hadn’t even had the dirt thrown on his coffin yet and she was asking him out on a date. This girl really did live in her own little dream world. She was worse than Pete. Any doubts he might’ve had before were gone now. He’d never heard of anyone asking someone out at a funeral. It just wasn’t something he thought was done. Until now that is. He was about to tell her what he thought of her when Jill walked up beside him and took his arm.

“Ready to go?” she asked smiling as she looked at Maria. To her credit Maria’s mouth only hung open for about five seconds before it snapped shut with an audible click of her teeth. She quickly recovered and gave Jill a withering glare before storming away through the crowd.

“Jill to the rescue again, huh?” he said as he looked at her. “None of that me Tarzan you Jane type thing for you is there?” he finished while trying to hold back laugher. He was surprised at how good it felt to see her. Just being near her made him feel a lot better than he had.

“Nope,” she said smiling sweetly, “But just in case you were wondering you I’d let you come to my rescue anytime as long as you don’t beat on your chest afterwards.”

“You seem to do just fine by yourself,” he said after a few seconds of pretending to think about it. “Plus this is the twenty first century you know. Women do all kinds of things for themselves in these modern times. You don’t need men anymore. Remember.”

He tried looking serious but once he saw the indignant look that came over her face he couldn’t help but laugh. She tried looking mad for a few seconds then joined in but not until she’d swatted him on his arm. Hard. They were getting a few strange looks by then but Jim didn’t really care about that anymore. He was sick of all these people and their petty little looks they gave people they thought didn’t fit in.

They climbed in to his car still laughing. Once they finally were able to bring themselves back under control he asked, “So now I’m your driver?”

“Yup, you get to take me home,” she said smiling.

Pulling away from the graveyard they began talking about little things like the weather but by the time they’d arrived he knew almost her whole life story. Before getting out of the car they agreed that since their previous attempt at a date hadn’t really worked out too well they’d try again that night.

Jill was just getting out of the car but she suddenly leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips and said in a mischievous voice, “See, women do need men for some things after all.” then she jumped out with a giggle leaving him to stare after her.

10

When Jim returned to his mother’s house there was an unexpected message for him from Pete. He wanted him to come to the police station so that he could talk to him. Jim debated on whether he should go see him or whether he should just ignore his request. He didn’t really want to see Pete when he was behind bars but he knew that if Pete was reaching out to him he should probably at least go and find out what he wanted. If nothing else at least he could be there for him since he hadn’t been there for Tommy or Rob.

After being home for only a few minutes he once again found himself in his car on his way back to town. Arriving at the police station within a few minutes, he went inside only to be told he had to wait a while before he could see Pete. After what seemed hours but was only probably ten minutes he found himself seated in a room with a guard.

While he was waiting he looked around and idly wondered if it was always this easy to see someone in jail. When he arrived he asked why Pete was still being held, and was told they were afraid that if they released him he would either disappear or hurt himself in some way. So it was safer if he just stayed with them a little while longer. According to what little the guard would tell him he hadn’t been any help in figuring out what had happened to Rob so far, so he didn’t see the point in keeping him. Then again, he quickly added, it was his job to follow orders not make them, so that’s what he did. They exchanged little else before they finally brought Pete in. They just about threw him into a chair on the other side of the table before retreating to the corner of the room closest to where he sat. The guard that brought him informed Jim he’d become violent last night and it had taken three other guards to restrain him. One of those guards was in the hospital now, so they were going to stay in the room whether he liked it or not just in case it happened again.

Ignoring their hostility, Jim instead sat quietly across from his friend and waited to see what it was Pete wanted. Not much was changed since he’d last seen him. He thought they’d at least make some attempt at cleaning him up but apparently not. He was still dressed in the same clothing he’d been wearing the previous night. The only thing different was his head. His hair and complexion looked much greasier than they had last night. Jim figured it must’ve been the lighting. The night before he’d only seen Pete in firelight, now he was seeing him in the light of day or what passed for it in the police station. Jim wished he still only had firelight. It would have made it much less painful for him to see his friend. Say Pete didn’t look well was an understatement. As these thoughts passed through his head the smell of extreme body odor assaulted his nose. He turned his head looking askance to the guards who only shook their heads and looked at Pete. Leaning forward slightly made the smell stronger. He quickly figured out Pete was its source. He tried ignoring it but that only seemed to make it become stronger. Pete must not have showered in days, maybe even weeks judging by the reek that emanated from him.

Oblivious to everything, Pete sat across from him rocking back and forth, mumbling to himself just as he’d done the previous night when confronted with a situation he didn’t like. He hadn’t said anything since they’d brought him in. Jim wasn’t even sure if he knew he was there. If he did he gave no evidence of it. He tried a few times to engage him conversation but Pete just sat there ignoring everything that came his way. Jim tried a different approach.

He talked about Tommy’s funeral for a few minutes but when he notice that wasn’t going to get an answer either he let his sentences trail off into silence again. Jim looked at the guards hoping they might have a suggestion but they only shrugged their shoulders and stared back at him blankly. He tried once more and thought he might have gotten through to Pete when he paused in his mumblings and looked up at him as if he might say something but then he farted and began talking to himself again. Jim felt helpless and disgusted at the same time. He couldn’t do anything to help his friend. He stood up sadly and started making his way to the door feeling that spending anymore time here would be useless. As his hand reached for the doorknob he heard something behind him.

“Did you say something?” he said looking at the guards. They both shook their heads and pointed at Pete. Jim looked back at the table only to find Pete staring at him. “Did you say something Pete?”

“It’s not over,” he said as he stared at Jim through his greasy hair.

“What’s not over Pete?” Jim asked.

“He’s not done,” Pete said in a quiet singsong voice. “He didn’t finish,” he continued, “There’s two more left.”

“Two more what?” Jim asked quickly. “Who are you talking about? Who’s not done?”

“What are you a fucking owl?” Pete yelled almost standing up before the guard shoved him back down. “What do you mean who? You know who you damn idiot!” Pete yelled springing from his chair. The guards swiftly stepped forward and grabbed Pete’s arms. They wrestled him back to his seat and stood waiting to pounce should he try again. Pete looked over his shoulder glaring at them before turning his attention back to Jim.

“You know who Jimmy,” he said meaningfully.

Pete was right. Jim did know who he was talking about but he couldn’t say anything in front of the guards. He might end up in here with Pete if he did. Instead he said, “There’s no possible way that it could be what you think it is Pete. The thing isn’t real. I’ve been trying to tell you that.” He paused to look at the guard to see what they were making of all this. They seemed to not care at all about what was being said but Jim knew they were paying very close attention to everything. If Pete really hadn’t said anything since being brought in this was a golden opportunity to find out what he knew. Jim understood now why it seemed so easy for him to get in. They wanted him to get Pete to talk. Unfortunately for Pete all he had to say would make him look even crazier than he already did. Before he could say anything else Pete started talking again.

“We called him Jimmy,” he said in a rough voice, “whether you want to admit it or not we called him and he came. He came for the ones who called him but we ran. We thought we got away. We thought we were safe. But, no, oh no, we didn’t get away. He just waited. He waited until the time was right. Now he’s back. No, we didn’t get away at all. He’s back now and he’s going to get us just like he got Rob and Tommy!” Pete was bouncing up and down in his chair by now. The guards were holding his shoulders but they didn’t seem to be doing anything other than keeping him from falling out of his chair. They threatened to get rough but Pete didn’t seem to hear them. He was focused on Jim.

“If it was him, why would he wait all this time before coming for us? Why not just come and get us the next night or the night after that? Why wait all this time?” Jim was still trying to figure out how to calm Pete down. Yes, they had called the creature but he’d never shown. So, if he’d never been there in the first place how could he come back? “It doesn’t make any sense that he would wait so long. C’mon Pete think about it.”

“Think about it!” Pete said sarcastically. “What do you think I’ve been doing ever since it happened? Why don’t you think about it?” He must’ve seen the look in Jim’s eyes because he started laughing. “You don’t remember, do you? You don’t remember that thing chasing us through the woods for hours. You don’t remember it disappearing then reappearing right in front of our eyes. You don’t remember us hiding all night long, playing mouse to its cat. You don’t remember that the only thing that saved us was the sun coming up the next morning. It could’ve caught us any time it wanted but it just toyed with us instead. That whole thing was just the preliminaries. This, what’s happening now, the deaths and heads and stuff, this is the finals! He’s back and he’s already got two of us. What do you think's going to happen next Jimbo? I’ll tell you what, since the proverbial cat seems to have gotten your tongue, we’re the only two left from that night so all this means is that we’re next. We’re the next ones to be killed. We’re both going to die!” Pete was straining against the guards grip and laughing hysterically by the time he finished. Jim could only stand across from him horrified at what he was seeing and hearing. He didn’t know what to say. He knew everything Pete said was crazy but deep down he knew it was true. They had been chased. They had been terrified that night and the only thing that had saved them was morning. Both Tommy and Rob had been there that night and now they were dead and not from natural causes like he kept trying to convince himself. The only explanation left was that the Goatman was coming to get them and there was nothing either of them could do about it.

“You know I’m right!” Pete yelled. “I can see it in your eyes! Time doesn’t matter to him! All that matters is that we called him and now he’s going to get us. We might as well bend over and kiss our asses’ goodbye!” his voice trailed off into insane laughter.

The guards were having a hard time holding him. They were shouting for other guards to come help. Jim turned and quickly made his way to the door wanting to get as far away from Pete’s insanity as he could. Other officers rushed in as he reached the door. Pete was still laughing as they grabbed whatever they could to try and restrain him. As he stepped out the door Pete quit laughing and called to him again. He turned even though he knew he shouldn’t and looked at the person who had once been his friend. “C’mon Jimmy, say it with me once more for old time’s sake!” he yelled as a smile spread over his face. Jim tore his eyes from Pete and began to shut the door but not before he heard Pete yelling, “Goatman, Goatman, Goatman! Come get me!”

Jim ran down the hall and out to his car. His hands were shaking so hard he could barely get the key in the ignition. Once it was in he didn’t turn it on, he just sat for a while trying to will his heart to slow its frantic beating. He slowly regained control and started the car. It roared to life but the sound of the engine did nothing to quiet the sounds in his head. Driving off he could still hear Pete yelling the words that had brought the Goatman after them all those years ago and that now would surely bring him after them again.

11

Jim started the drive back to his mothers’ house with every intention of getting some sleep before his date but when he came to the turn off for Jill’s house he took it and drove down her road. He knew he was going to see her in a little while but after his disturbing run in with Pete he didn’t really want to be alone right now. If he went home his mother would just want to ask all kinds of questions he didn’t want to answer.

He didn’t want his mother right now. He wanted Jill.

If he was going to talk to anyone he wanted it to be Jill. She at least might understand a little bit about what he was going through since she’d heard Grandma’s story. When he stopped in front of her house he was surprised to see Grandma sitting on the front porch.

“She ain’t here,” she said as he got out of his car. She didn’t sound too good to Jim. Now that he thought of it he hadn’t seen her at Tommy’s funeral either. She sounded tired. Not wanting to pry he just assumed she wasn’t feeling well. He couldn’t really blame her what with all the stuff going on. She’d been close to both Tommy and Rob when they were little. It was probably actually harder on her since she’d watched them grow all the years he’d been gone. When he’d dropped Jill off earlier he hadn’t thought to ask about her and now felt bad about it. She looked as if she might blow away in the wind if the screens hadn’t been covering the windows.

“She said she was going for a walk and would be back later,” Grandma said.

That was a little strange, he thought since he was supposed to be coming by in a little while to get her for their date. He knew he was early but he wasn’t that early. His disturbing conversation with Pete had taken longer than Jim had thought. The sky was beginning to darken and he worried for Jill’s safety. Trying to put the unpleasantness from out of his mind and wanting to find Jill he asked, “Do you know where she went?”

“No, no idea,” she answered. “Just said she was going for a walk, gave me a kiss and left. I was in the back so I couldn’t even tell you which way she went. All I can say is she did.”

Jim looked at the sky. It was getting dark out faster than he’d thought. Even if she’d left just before he’d arrived she still would’ve come back before dark for their date.

“She’s a good girl Jim. She’ll be alright,” she said seeing his concern.

He smiled at her trying to make her think she’d reassured him but she hadn’t really helped at all. He was still worried. Walking out to the road he looked both ways hoping to see her approaching. He saw nothing. Coming back to the porch Grandma tried talking to him but soon found his concern for her grand-daughter out weighed his social needs at that moment. Jim stayed for a few minutes before his impatience got the better of him and he stood to leave.

“You take good care of her when you find her Jimmy,” she said stopping him before he could take a step. “She’s a nice girl. She doesn’t need to be hurt anymore than she already has been, so you make sure you take care of her.”

He didn’t know what to say. Were his feelings that obvious? Had Jill confided something in her Grandmother? If she had what was it? He admitted things were off to a good start between then and he already cared for her more than he probably should this early on but it wasn’t like they were getting married or something. They were just dating. He was leaving soon too so who knew what was going to happen then. Maybe nothing, then again maybe Jill had told her Grandmother something. He wished he could ask but he knew she wouldn’t reveal anything to him. That would be too easy.

“Don’t worry Grandma. I will,” he said instead of asking his question. He quickly walked to his car only to have Grandma stop him again.

“Oh yeah Jim, I forgot something. That Maria girl came by looking for Jill about a half an hour before you got here. Don’t know what she wanted or whether that helps you any but there you go just the same.” He thanked her and got in his car.

Why would Maria come looking for Jill he wondered as he drove off. As far as he knew they didn’t like each other much less come and visit each other at home. He didn’t know what the problem was other than him. He didn’t want to seem conceited but they both seemed to have the hots for him. Every time he’d been around the both of them at the same time he felt like a fight would break out any minute. Jill usually tried to control herself and settled for just making a few barbed comments but Maria acted like she was in heat and he was the only male around that could satisfy her. He couldn’t understand why she didn’t just give up and go after Johnny. It was obvious from what he saw that he was in love with her. Johnny was a good guy too. Maybe she just couldn’t see it.

Trying to figure out where Jill might be he slowly drove down the road through the quickly gathering darkness hoping his headlight would spot Jill walking back to her house. Unfortunately he reached the end of the road and had seen nothing. Since he had no idea of where to look for her he decided he would do the next best thing. Grandma said Maria had come looking for her earlier. He might not know where Jill was but he knew where Maria was. If he couldn’t find the one he would ask the other. Hopefully she knew where Jill could be found.

12

Jim drove through town until he came to the second of the new restaurants that Maria had said she worked at. Driving through town was slightly spooky this time of night. It seemed like it something dead. Nothing was moving. There were no people about on last minute errands or even eating at the restaurants. It was as if the town was afraid to be out after dark. Jim could certainly understand that feeling. If it weren’t for Jill he probably wouldn’t be out either.

When he turned into the dimly lit parking lot outside the place his lights quickly picked out Maria’s form leaning against the rear of the building. At first look it seemed as if she’d been expecting someone. But that couldn’t be right. She must’ve just been taking a break. His mind was making him see things that just weren’t there.

He thought he saw her smile as the lights pinned her in place but wasn’t sure. He slowly got out of the car but left it running as she held her hand up to block the beams shining in her eyes. When he’d first seen her everything had appeared normal, at least as normal as someone dressed in a restaurant outfit could look, but as he approached he noticed something wasn’t quite right. Her hair which was had been perfect every other time he’d seen her now looked as if a small tornado had passed through it. Usually she was one of those types that had to have everything just right and in place before she’d venture out into the world for all to see but now her hair was hanging down in her face like an old mop and what he could see of her face was flushed and pink like cotton candy. Maybe she had found Jill and things hadn’t turned out the way she wanted. Jill was nowhere to be seen so he reached into the car and turned off the lights.

As he walked up she tried fluffing her hair into some semblance of its normal look but quickly gave up when she realized it was doing no good. Jim saw a flash of red on her knuckles as she did and immediately suspected something bad had happened to her. Looking around the parking lot he saw nobody in any obvious places lurking about but he wasn’t sure about the shadows. They were dark and uninviting and seemed to be watching him. Any manner of creature could be hiding there. Even a creature like the Goatman. Pete’s words were getting to him. Not wanting to pursue that thought he turned his attention back to Maria.

“The manager was getting a little too touchy feely,” she said before he could even ask anything. “He didn’t seem to understand that when a girl says no she means no.”

Jim was instantly relieved. Not because she had been attacked but because it was by something human. When he’d seen nobody upon arriving he’d thought for a moment that maybe she had found Jill and they’d had some type of altercation and that maybe Jill, had come out on the wrong side of things. Quickly looking around again he saw no sign of Jill but that still didn’t mean they hadn’t met. He was still suspicious but since there was no sign of anything else he had no choice but to accept her explanation.

“Oh, I thought maybe something else might’ve happened,” he said.

“Now what else would you think could happen?” she teased. For someone who’d just been attacked she was in a good mood. Maybe she was into that type of thing. He’d seen and heard of some weird things since he’d left town. Maybe they were catching up to the normal world in ways other than just getting a few new places to eat. Then again maybe not. Her comment just reinforced Jim’s earlier thoughts about her being to strange for him to have anything to do with. If she was into stuff like that he wanted none of it.

“So did you change your mind about our date?” she asked hopefully. “Managers don’t really appreciate it when you knee them in the nuts, so I don’t think I have to worry about having a job anymore, which means I’m free to do whatever you want whenever you want.” The last part of her little request was said in such a way that Jim knew exactly what she wanted. It didn’t get his interest like she probably hoped it would. Quite the opposite in fact. Having a mental picture of what she insinuated made his skin crawl.

“No actually, I didn’t come looking for you for that reason.” He could almost see her deflate a little but that wasn’t his concern, Jill was. “I heard that you had come by looking for Jill earlier and was wondering if you’d found her or not.”

“Yeah I found her,” she answered. What had once been a voice filled with innuendo was now one filled with razors. If her words had been capable of cutting, Jim was sure he’d be dead. “Johnny told me he’d heard she was looking for me so I decided to go to her. You know, being nice and whatnot.” She smiled wickedly for a moment then continued. “Anyways, after I left the bitch’s, I mean Jill’s house I saw her walking up the road all alone. Why do you think she was alone Jimmy? Oh, I know, maybe she was coming from someone’s house or something.” Jim knew she was just trying to make him mad but he refused to take the bait. Instead he just stood there in the cold waiting for her to continue.

“Guess you don’t know either,” she continued. “Well, being the nice person I am I pulled over and asked her what she wanted. She asked me if I knew where Tommy had died. Well, needless to say I was surprised. I mean how would little old me know where something so horrible had happened. I told her this and asked her why and she said she wanted to go out and have a look at it. When I asked her why she just said she did and wouldn’t give me any kind of reason. For the life of me I can’t think why she would ask me of all people something like that. I mean I’m not the most innocent person in town but I wouldn’t have anything to do with something like that. Tommy was almost like family to me.”

Jim knew most of what she said was an act. Tommy hadn’t even known who she was when he’d left all those years ago. Then again maybe they did know each other. They could’ve hooked up after he left and he’d be none the wiser. He doubted it though. Tommy would never be caught with someone like her, she just wasn’t his type. She was right about one thing though. It was kinda strange for Jill to be asking about the place Tommy had died, and what was it she wanted to look for out there. What did she hope to find? Some clue that the police might have missed? He had to admit it was possible after seeing the local police force in action but still, why would she want to go there alone. Unless maybe she was trying to hide something. No, he thought, that couldn’t be it. Jill was a nice girl, he was just being paranoid. Instead of giving voice to his paranoia he came up with another question.

“Did you tell her where it was?” he began. “Her Grandmother told me she went for a walk, but now I can’t find her. She also said you came by so I figured you might know where she went. I’ve found you but not her. Now you tell me she was looking for the place Tommy died which doesn’t make any sense at all but if that’s where she went then that’s where I’m going. So, do you know where she is?” He knew he was babbling, but frankly he didn’t care. It was pitch black out now. He considered going back to Grandma’s to make sure she hadn’t come back but he’d only been gone for a few minutes. Looking at Maria he was sure she wasn’t going to be any help but she surprised him.

“I’ll do you one better,” she said. “I’ll take you there.”

“That’s ok,” he said a little too quickly. “If you just give me directions I’m sure I can find it by myself. Plus Jill and I were supposed to be going on a date so if I do find her then we probably won’t be coming back to town for a while.” He threw in the last part hoping she would take back her offer. “I don’t want to put you through any trouble.” He added when it didn’t appear she was going to.

As if sensing his discomfort she smiled and happily said, “No, it’s too dark for me to give you directions Jimmy. You’d never be able to find it without me. I think the best thing is for us to go together. At least then if we get lost you won’t be alone.” When he started to protest she quickly put on a mock innocent face and said sweetly, “Don’t worry about me wasting my time. I’d do anything for you. You know that.”

He was sure she would do anything for him and that actually kinda scared him. He was unnerved by how forward she was being. The innuendos were flying and they were all hitting home. But they weren’t having the effect she wanted. What would it take to make her understand he wasn’t interested? He repressed the urge to shudder as he tried to find a suitable answer. He’d been feeling uncomfortable since he first pulled into the lot and her offers were only making it worse. He couldn’t understand what had gotten into her. While he still couldn’t remember what she’d been like in high school he was sure it wasn’t this. He only wanted to find Jill. Now it seemed he would have to take Maria along with him on a ride to God knew where in order to do that.

Finally realizing she wasn’t going to take no for an answer he threw his hands up in disgust and turned to the car. Maria clapped her hands happily in triumph and trotted to the other side. He was about to open his door and get in when he huff from the other side got his attention. Maria was looking at him expectantly. It took him a second to figure out what she wanted. When it did finally dawn on him he almost called the whole thing off. Keeping in mind he had to find Jill he stalked to the other side and opened the door for her. She smiled happily as she slid in and said thank you. He told her she was welcome by slamming the door in her face. He was quickly getting sick of her.

Before walking back to his side of the car, he looked around again hoping God would smile down on him and show him where Jill was so he wouldn’t have to go anywhere with Maria but God must not have been watching. He saw nothing. Resigned to his fate he went back to his side and got in. As he slid the key into the ignition he was startled to feel Maria’s arm snake around his. Looking at her in almost undisguised horror he saw that she’d also taken it upon herself to slide as close to him as she could get.

“See,” she said when she saw that he’d noticed her moves, “we do get to have our date after all.” Jim was sure she would feel his skin crawling as it tried to get away from her touch. Evidently not since she tightened her grip and smiled even wider than before.

“Look this isn’t a date,” he said as he shook her off as politely as he could. “You’re just taking me to where ever you sent Jill. That’s it! Nothing more! There is no date! There is no you doing anything for me! There is nothing! Get it through that thick skull of yours! There is nothing between us! There never will be! Period! Understand?”

Everything came out in a rush and a little bit harsher than he’d planned but he felt much better afterwards. The instant he’d started yelling she’d recoiled as if he’d struck her and scooted back to the other side of the car. After that she’d just stared at him until he’d finished. He hadn’t wanted to be so nasty about the whole thing but she needed to get it out of her head that he would ever go out with her. If this was what it took then so be it. She would just have to finally act like an adult and deal with it.

“Are you ready to go now?” he demanded still a little mad. He almost expected her to tell him to go to Hell and get out but instead she just shook her head up and down and looked straight ahead ignoring him. When they finally pulled away from the restaurant Jim figured they’d wasted about twenty minutes. That was twenty minutes he could’ve been using to find Jill. With the sun gone and the temperature dropping every minute might count.

He glanced at Maria from the corner of his eye and found that she was apparently pouting. She huddled as close to the passenger door as she could, sitting still and ignoring everything around her. She almost looked like some warped type of doll.

Oh well, he thought as he focused back on the road, as long as she takes me to Jill I don’t care if she doesn’t talk to me for the rest of our lives. He’d had enough of her antics for a lifetime. The only things that matter now were finding Jill and getting the home. Screw Maria and screw the Goatman as far as he was concerned.

13

Maria gave no directions so Jim decided to drive whichever way he wanted. He was following Main Street leading in the direction of Tommy’s house and then the country beyond that. Even though he was doing the speed limit the edge of town was fast approaching and she was just sitting there pouting. He wished she would stop acting like a child and give him directions like she said she would. He had no idea where to go. The only thing he knew about Tommy’s death was that it had happened off in the woods somewhere. Looking out the windows he figured that could be anywhere. The town was surrounded by an intermingling of open fields and woods. If she didn’t get on the ball soon he would have no choice but to stop and force her to tell him something. He didn’t know how he would do that but he would figure something out if he had too.

The last vestige of civilization came and went and still she said nothing. What he could see of the town was slowly getting smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror and he was about to slam on the brakes and demand to know where they were going when Maria finally said something.

“Turn right,” she whimpered.

Jim stopped and looked to his right. There was no road there. He was about to tell her so when he noticed something. There was a small path that led out into a field. Beyond that he couldn’t see. The darkness wouldn’t let him.

“That’s not a road ya know,” he yelled.

“Well, that’s where your precious Jill went so if you want to find her then that’s where you have to turn,” she yelled right back.

Cursing under his breath he turned and drove into the weeds at the edge of the road as directed. After driving for so long on a smooth surface he was unprepared for what the field held for him. Ruts and bumps and holes seemed to jump under his tire with a frequency that was unbelievable. Most of the time when you looked at grass swaying in the wind it looked so smooth and gentle that you thought you might be able to lie down and take a nice relaxing nap in it. You never thought about what might be underneath that calm exterior. Jim’s poor car was now finding out. The two of them were being thrown around from one side of the car to the other. The only thing that kept Jim where he was supposed to be was his vice like grip on the steering wheel. He felt Maria slam into his side a few times and could’ve swore he felt her coping a feel but he was too busy trying to avoid what few holes and hills he could. He didn’t really want to have to pay for a new suspension on the rental car but, Jill was out here somewhere so he didn’t have much of a choice.

They drove slowly down the road bouncing up and down whenever they hit an especially big hole until Maria yelled for him take another right. The road they turned onto wasn’t much better than the other but it seemed to have a few less holes than the previous one so Jim counted himself lucky. After being on the new road only a few minutes she had him take another turn and then another. The second one he almost missed because it was so overgrown with weeds. This type of twisting and turning continued for the better part of a half hour before she quietly told him to stop. He strained his eyes trying to penetrate the darkness surrounding the car. From what little he could make out, there was nothing there.

“Where are we?” he asked suspiciously.

“Just give me a minute,” she snapped.

“What? Are we lost? I thought you said you told Jill how to get here,” he demanded.

“We aren’t lost I just need to get my bearings,” she said angrily. “I’m sure your precious Jill is safe and sound. Now would you shut up and let me think?”

Just when Jim was resigning himself to being lost in the middle of God knew where she told him start driving again. Almost immediately after that she had him take a left. As he spun the wheel trying to avoid a tree that loomed out the darkness he thought he saw the headlights pick out the form of a person standing not twenty feet away.

“Who was that?” he asked as he hit the brakes.

“Who was what?” Maria answered.

“That,” he said pointing. “I saw someone standing a little ways that way.”

“I didn’t see anyone,” Maria said spookily. “Maybe there’s some sort of monster out there or something. Who knows, maybe it already got Jill and now it’s coming for us.”

Her words brought images of the Goatman flooding into his head. This was crazy. He was out in the middle of nowhere, with one of the weirdest people he’d ever met, looking for a girl he hoped liked him and oh, by the way, the Goatman was after him and his only remaining living friend. Pete wasn’t the only one that needed to have his head examined.

“Maybe there wasn’t anything after all,” he stammered.

“Course there wasn’t, sweetie. You’re just excited. That’s all. You know, I could take your mind off all that stuff.” He glanced over and saw her unbuttoning her top. She’d already gotten it down far enough that he could see a little bit of some dark colored lace from her bra in the light from the instrument panel.

“How much longer?” he asked as he quickly looked back in front of them. Whatever answer she might have said, he didn’t hear. Just out of reach of the headlights he saw a big shadow move across the road.

“There it was again!” he yelled.

“There’s nothing out there,” she huffed. “If you’d just look over here long enough you wouldn’t even care what was out there.” Before he could catch himself he looked. The buttons on Maria’s top were undone and her bra was in plain view. The lace he’d seen ended up being just about all it was made of. He knew he should look away but he couldn’t. He was a man after all. His eyes seemed to strain to see what was hidden underneath the lace. He was sure if it was lighter he’d be able to see everything. He was just reaching for the interior light when something struck the car. Startled by the impact Jim snapped back to reality and looked around.

“It was probably just some animal or something,” Maria said trying to swing his attention back to her. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got something much better for you to look at.” “Maria I’m out here to find Jill, not to watch you act like the whore you are,” he said as he fought to keep control of the car and himself. He refused to give her the pleasure of making him look at her. He regretted doing it the first time but he hadn’t been able to help himself. It was just a natural male reaction, he told himself. “Put you damn clothes back on and tell me where to go and no, hell is not an option.”

“You know you want me Jimmy,” she purred. “I saw you looking. You liked it, didn’t you? If you’d just look again you might see some more things you like.” He could feel her inching closer but he’d had about enough.

“Look you stupid bitch,” he yelled as he slammed the brakes, “I’m not going to do anything with you. I thought I got it through that thick skull back at the restaurant but I guess not.” He’d held himself in check long enough. It was time to vent a little on the target of his anger. “You’re here to help me find Jill. End of story. After that you can go back and live in your little fantasy world. Right now tell where the hell I need to go. Other than that keep your damn mouth shut.”

Before when he’d yelled at her she’d looked almost ashamed of herself. Now she just returned his stare almost like she was challenging him to do something more. He was sorely tempted too but instead just held her look. He refused to be the first to look away. After a few more seconds the contest of wills seemed to be over. Maria looked away and started buttoning herself back up.

“It’s right up here,” she grunted. “Keep going up over this hill in front of us. It’s on the other side.” She was back to her pouting routine. Jim started forward again thanking god this ride was almost over.

“It’s about time,” he said anxiously trying to fill the silence in the car.

They topped the thing Maria called a hill and started down. At first Jim saw nothing but after a few seconds of searching the area spread out in front of them he did see a faint light a little bit further down the road. Bouncing and thumping their way down the hill they slowly got closer and closer until they were almost there. It was a good thing too. He didn’t know how much more of this his poor rental could take. The return trip might be it. All they needed to do was stop long enough to get Jill and then hightail it back to town.

Thinking about driving back he found he was actually happy Maria was there. She was the only one that knew how to get back to town. Jill might know, but then again maybe not. She’d come out here during the day when it was easier to see land marks and other things she might’ve used to navigate. It was pitch black now. There was nothing to see but what the headlight could pick out. That wasn’t enough to find their way back. Even though they’d just drove out here he was totally lost which meant Maria was their only hope.

Concentrating on navigating his way down the small hill he was only able to catch quick glimpses of their destination. The house if that was what you wanted to call it stood lost and alone surrounded on almost all sides with trees. The forest was slowly taking back its own. During one of his glimpses he noticed something that sent chill down his spine. From what must have been the front door drifted an eerie glow. He wasn’t even sure he actually saw it but the closer he got the more he was sure it was there. The glow became the center of his world as the car seemed to bounce from one side of the road to the other. It kept getting closer and that was all that mattered.

They finally came to a stop no more than thirty feet from what passed for the entrance. The glow was still coming from the door but now it had a slight flickering quality to it. For some reason this made it seem spookier than when it had just been an undefined glow. As the dust settled down around the car and Jill bounced from the passenger side Jim took a moment to study the place he’d worked so hard to reach. When Jim actually parked outside it he saw that he had been partially wrong.

It wasn’t what he expected. He thought they were coming to some place far off in the woods somewhere not an actual house. What stood before him would’ve almost been livable if not for the fact that half of its upper floor seemed to have been burnt away at some point. The house was fronted by three frames where windows must’ve once been. Above these was an overhang that brought to mind cool summers sitting in the shade but was now nothing more than dirt and decay. Above that, as he saw when he first arrived, was what was left of a second floor. The part that was still standing had one blackened window looking out into the night. He looked over at the burnt part but saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Something had moved in the window. He saw nothing there a second ago, but as soon as he’d turned his head he’d seen something. The creepy crawly sensation of being watched settled over him again. He strained his eyes trying to pierce the darkness but after a few moments gave up. It was just too dark for him to see anything. Shaking his head he noticed Maria standing on the front porch waiting for him.

He couldn’t figure out why she’d sent Jill here. His mother said Tommy was killed in the woods not in a house. Maybe was here just before he died or something and that was why Jill was here. He could see Jill’s car parked off to the side of the house but there was no sign of Jill. If it’d been him he would’ve rushed outside to see who’d arrived. He’d at least want to know whether it was friend or foe. But there was nobody except for Maria.

Well, no Jill but at least now he was sure she’d made it out here. He’d been worried at some points that maybe she hadn’t come and the whole thing would be a wasted trip. What made it worse was the place was so hard to find. He’d grown up here and thought he knew the location of all the old houses still standing around town but this one was a new one for him. If he hadn’t known it was here then nobody else did either. All the more reason to get Jill and get the hell out of here, he thought as he hurried towards where Maria was waiting.

“Isn’t it spooky out here?” she said greeting him as he approached. “I just love it. Sometimes I think I can do anything out here.” She sounded a lot happier than she had a few minutes ago and what was all this about doing anything out here. Had she been here before? He was glad she’d gotten over the scolding he’d given her earlier but she was sounding kind of strange. She sounded bubbly, excited even. Not exactly what you would expect when coming to the place someone was murdered. Then again it was Maria. She wasn’t exactly a normal type of person.

“Yeah,” he said instead of what he was thinking “let’s just find Jill and get out of here.” He didn’t know if he liked the happy Maria or the skulking one instead. Either way he wanted to be gone.

“But Jim, this place is perfect,” She purred sweetly in answer. “We can do whatever we want and nobody will ever know.”

He found he was having an easier time seeing things the closer he got to the doorway. The light coming from inside was making things a lot brighter. By its light he could see the smile that was slowly spreading across her face as she slowly rubbed her one hand over her breasts and the other snaked its way towards her groin.

“I thought we already went over this,” he said shakily. He wasn’t attracted to her but he was also a man. He couldn’t deny that what she offered was tempting but then he thought of the perverse pleasure she seemed to take in everything going on lately and how difficult she’d been about bringing him here. Just that made it easy to resist her spell.

“We are here to find Jill and then leave,” he growled.

“Oh come on,” she cooed. “She could even join in if you wanted.”

“Damn it, I said no! Why the hell can’t you listen?”

“Cause I’m not hearing the right answers.”

“Well, that’s the only answer you’re going to get.”

“You sure about that?” she asked sliding a hand down her pants.

“Yes!” he said breathing heavily. She really needed to stop what she was doing. She was distracting him from what they’d came to do. Jill was somewhere inside and he needed to find her. What would he do if she came out while Maria was putting on her little show? How would he explain that? They just needed to do what they came to do and leave. But the nymphomaniac couldn’t take no for an answer.

“Look let go get Jill and get out of here,” he said. “I’ll take you home and you can do your thing there by yourself.”

“You don’t sound too sure of yourself Jimmy. Sure you don’t want some before we go find little Jillykins?” She pulled her hand from her pants and raised it to her lips licking her fingers.

“I’m sure,” Jim said.

“Last chance,” she said huskily sliding her hand back down.

“Stop! Just stop!” he yelled. “I know you’re a damn whore so just stop shoving it in my face. Let’s just get Jill and get out of here. You can finger yourself silly when you get home if you want, I don’t care. Just do what you said you’d do and that’s it. Nothing else. After that we’re done.”

By the glow of from the house he could see her face turn from sensuous to pouting. He hoped this wasn’t a return to her earlier state. If that was the case they’d never get out of here. She just might make them stay here out of spite.

“Fine. Have your way,” she said as she turned and walked through the door.

Left unprepared Jim could only stand there looking at the place she had been. He’d expected some kind of argument or at least another attempt at seducing him but instead she’d given up. It had to be some kind of ruse. She hadn’t given up that easily before so why would she now. And where in the hell was Jill? All this yelling you would think she’d have come running to see what was going on but nope, no sign of her anywhere. Things just weren’t right. Something was going on and he was missing it. Maria had gone inside, presumably to pout, and with her went all of his answers the most important of which was the whereabouts of Jill. If he wanted to find out anything, he’d have to follow her whether he wanted to or not.

Bracing himself he stepped through the door and was quickly assaulted. The light was brighter on the inside than he’d thought. He couldn’t see a thing after being in the dark for so long. Before his eyesight even had a chance to clear he started sneezing. The smell of vanilla, cinnamon and lavender was so strong it almost knocked him off his feet. As it was it felt like walking into a wall it was so thick.

During his sneezing fits his eyes slowly adjusted to the interior. Through his tears the first thing he saw was candles. That explains the light and the smell, he thought. Looking around he saw that there were candles of every shaped and color positioned about the room on every surface that could conceivably hold one and even some that probably couldn’t. Big fat candles trailed up the stairs leading to the second floor, little tiny candles were placed here and there between candles that looked like everything from animals to cars. What was left of a chandelier hung from the ceiling draped with long skinny candles dripping wax down to the floor below. Through all this was a narrow path that led to another room. Maria was nowhere to be seen so left with no other option Jim slowly began to follow it.

While walking he thought he heard movement overhead but when he stopped he heard nothing but the sputtering of the candles of the dripping of wax. When he was only a few steps from the corner that led to the next room he thought he heard talking. It sounded like Maria but he wasn’t sure. It was too quiet. Wanting to get to her and demand to know what was going on he quickly covered the few remaining steps and stalked into the next room.

What he saw was beyond his comprehension for a few seconds. His heart dropped at the sight before him. He couldn’t breathe.

“See, I told you he was coming!” Maria cackled as he sputtered to regain his senses.

Maria stood on the far side of the room in front of the fire place with Jill. But it was a Jill he barely recognized. Gone was the perfect country girl look. Gone was the friendly smile that he’d grown to love. Gone was everything that made her recognizable to him. Instead he saw her strung up, hands above her head tied to a rafter in the ceiling. Her head rolled from one side to the other as Maria batted it back and forth. There was a string of drool hanging from her mouth. Her clothes had pretty much been torn from her body. Her shirt had been ripped open and was hanging in tatters that barely covered the parts of her that Jim had only dreamed of seeing. Her pants were still on but they had been ripped. There were also dark spots on them he was sure was blood. His earlier thoughts of Maria having done something returned. He wished he’d brought some type of weapon but he hadn’t been expecting anything like this when he’d come to find Jill. Nobody would’ve expected something like what he was looking at.

“I told you she could join in,” Maria said seductively as she groped Jill’s chest. “I offered to share you with her but she said no. She wanted you all to herself. I couldn’t allow that.”

“What the hell are you doing?” he finally managed to say.

“Whatever do you mean Jimmy dear?” she asked innocently. “We’re just two girls having a little fun.”

“What have you done you crazy bitch?” he said recovering a bit more. The initial shock was starting to wear off. He wanted to run across the room and help Jill but the way Maria looked he didn’t think that would be a good idea. She’d changed almost as much as Jill had but in the opposite direction. If anything she looked better than she had when they were driving out. While he’d been outside wasting his time she’d used hers to change clothes from the frumpy old restaurant stuff to a flimsy see through nightgown type thing complete with matching bathrobe. The whole outfit left nothing to the imagination. He could see everything down to the mole on her inner thigh.

“I haven’t really done anything but sit here and watch,” she said. “Oh, well, I did also bring her out here before I brought you too. Does that still count as nothing? I sure hope so.”

“Is she even alive?” he asked stepping forward slowly. He didn’t want to make her think he was going to rush her or anything but from where he was he couldn’t tell if Jill was breathing or not.

“Well, I don’t know,” Maria said thoughtfully. “Let me check.” She spun around went over to Jill and slapped her right in the face. Jim could already see a red mark forming as a quiet groan reached his ears.

“Yup,” Maria said happily, “I’d say she’s alive. Not too happy maybe but alive nonetheless.”

“So what is all this?” Jim asked as he inched forward.

“It’s about us Jimmy. You and me. I didn’t like what our little Jilly was doing so I took matters into my own hands.”

“Now what happens?” he asked hoping he wouldn’t hear what he knew she’d say.

“You’re a smart boy Jimmy. I think you know what comes next.”

He figured if he could keep her talking long enough he might figure something out but he wasn’t quite able to make it that far. The next thing he knew something had slammed into the back of his head and the floor was rushing up to say hi.

He was sure it should’ve hurt more when his head finally struck the ground but strangely he felt nothing. He tried moving his arms and legs but got no response from either. His vision was beginning to darken. There were people talking but he wasn’t sure what they were saying. He struggled to make it out but was only able to hear a little before he passed out.

“Does this mean no goodnight kiss?” Maria asked as she began to laugh. He wanted to spit some smartass answer back at her but he couldn’t. Everything went dark and he heard nothing else.

14

I must be dreaming, Jim thought as he looked around. He and Jill were sitting in a sauna, both had towels wrapped around their bodies. Looking at Jill, wearing barely anything, he smiled but when he tried to reach for her he couldn’t move. He tried again and still nothing. He couldn’t see any reason why he shouldn’t be able to move but that didn’t make any difference. He still couldn’t. Maybe they were playing some type of game. Why they would be doing it in a sauna and how they’d got there was beyond him but he was with Jill so he knew he was safe.

Movement in front of him caught his attention. Jill’s hand was slowly moving up to where her towel was tucked in so it wouldn’t fall. It looked as if she was reaching to undo it. Jim sat motionless waiting for it to drop so he could gaze upon her beauty. Her hand undid the tuck and started pulling the towel open. Jim’s heart was beating faster than it ever had. You would think he was some little kid seeing boobs for the first time or something. He felt a stupid grin plastered across his face and glanced up to see if Jill had noticed. To his horror the person he thought was Jill was actually Maria. Eyes almost bulging out of his head he had no choice but to watch as she ripped off the towel and tackled him. Before he knew it the thing was wrapped around his neck strangling him. Over the rushing noise in his ear he could hear Maria’s insane laughter as she tightened her grip on him. He was beginning to see stars. She was going to kill him and he still couldn’t move.

With a start he woke up. The dream still lingered so much that his throat hurt and he had a bit of a problem getting a deep breath. After a few seconds of gasping he realized some things from the dream weren’t a dream after all. The biggest one was that he was still unable to move but this time he knew why. Through blurred eyes he could barely see the floor a lot closer than he thought it should be. When he saw his feet closer than they should be he figured out that he was down on the floor lying on his side. That didn’t make much sense. The last thing he remembered was looking at Maria molesting Jill. He quickly looked around trying to find Jill. She was nowhere to be seen. He tried to move his hands but found he could barely move them. They were tied just like his feet. Struggling to move around so he could get a better look at his surroundings he finally found out where Jill was. Once he’d turned enough he could see her still hanging just as he remembered. She looked no different than she had. Still unconscious and absolutely no help in getting out of whatever mess they’d gotten into. As he watched her eyes popped open and looked around lazily.

“Jill!” he whispered. He didn’t know where Maria was so he knew he’d better be quiet. He hadn’t seen her when he’d been thrashing around but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. Jill wasn’t responding to him. She just continued looking around in no particular direction. A string of drool dripped out of her mouth onto her shirt as he watched but she didn’t seem to notice. After a few more seconds her eyes fluttered closed. Whoever grabbed her must’ve drugged her to the gills, he thought as his own mind slowly began to clear. The inside of his head felt like a little gremlin had taken up residence and started pounding a drum, but other than that he was ok. Reassuring himself that she was fine for the time being he took stock of the situation. He was tied up in the middle of nowhere, his soon to be girlfriend was also tied up but even worse off than him and he had no idea where the people that had done this were. Yup, they were screwed.

Cursing to himself he looked around to see if there was anything close enough that could be used to cut himself loose. From another room came the sound of voices. At least now he knew where those other people were. He couldn’t hear what they were saying but he could tell they were arguing. He didn’t care what they did as long as they ignored him. He needed time to get out of here. Unfortunately he didn’t see anything that would help him in that endeavor. Looking back at Jill he saw she was still off in la la land and of no help yet. With no sign of a weapon of any sort and no help coming from anywhere he figured unless a miracle happened then they were both going to die.

Since no solution out of the situation presented itself he turned his attention to the argument. From the sound of Maria’s voice she stood just on the other side of the doorway the voices were coming from and she wasn’t happy. He could hear her yelling at someone but everything she said seemed to run together. His pounding head did little to help matters any. He only caught a few words and those didn’t make sense. The person she was arguing with interrupted her but Jim couldn’t hear any of what they said. Just a quiet mumbling. He struggled to hear what was said but got nothing. When he was hit it must’ve been pretty hard to mess up his hearing so bad. It didn’t surprise him much though. His vision was already blurry, so his hearing being messed up was just par for the course.

He was just going to start feeling sorry for himself when he heard a noise. He froze where he was. Maybe there were more than just the two in the other room. When he hadn’t moved for a few seconds the noise came again.

“Pssst!”

Jim decided to take a chance and turn around to see what it was.

“It’s Johnny Langill.” He heard as he wormed his way around. He almost stopped moving when he heard the voice but it was too late now so he kept going. At least if someone was going to talk to him he’d like to be able to see who it was. When he finally squirmed enough so that he was almost facing the other way he was surprised to come almost face to face with Pete. Sitting a few feet away Pete was propped up against a wall near where Jim had been laying. He didn’t know how he’d missed him before but there he was regardless.

“I think it has something to do with that damn purple dinosaur. I think he made him do it,” he said giggling to himself.

Jim almost couldn’t speak for a minute. Pete was the last person he’d expected to see here. “What do you mean it’s Johnny?” he said recovering himself. “And how did you get out of jail?”

“All I know is that one minute I’m sitting in a jail cell minding my own business and the next thing I know the lights go out,” he answered sounding slightly confused. “Then I heard some loud bangs I guess were gunshots, then silence. A few minutes later keys are rattling in my cell door and it pops open. Before I could even ask what was going on somebody hit me and I was out. After that the next thing I see is Johnny. He picks me up and throws me in here like a sack of potatoes. Do I look to you like a sack of potatoes?” Pete looked at Jim so seriously he almost started laughing. He would have if the situation was just a little different.

“He’s pretty strong,” Pete added when Jim didn’t answer. “You wouldn’t think it from looking at him though. He must work out or something.” This sent Pete into another giggling fit for some reason but Jim ignored it.

“What the hell did they bring us all the way out here for?” he whispered. “Do you know what’s going on?” He hopped Pete knew more than he was letting on. If they were both clueless then they were even more screwed than he’d thought.

“Well my dear Watson,” Pete said after calming down a little, “I’d guess we’ve been brought here for a very good reason. Not a reason we came up with mind you but one that someone here thinks is pretty good. Oh yeah, if the reason, whatever it may be, wasn’t good enough I’ll add this. It probably won’t matter too much since we’ll probably die in some horribly painful way before we find out anything else about the afore mentioned reason for us being here. Do you understand?” Pete said everything as if he was just telling someone that it was dark outside. It didn’t seem to bother him one bit he might only have a few more minutes to live. He was totally calm. If his demeanor wasn’t bad enough he started cleaning his finger nails, at least the ones he could reach, as Jim laid on the floor staring at him. He at least could try to get him free or something. Instead he didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

“Oh you want more? Well, it would seem our dear Maria has a thing for you.” He added when he noticed Jim was watching him. “She seems to have decided that since our little drugged up Jilly has made your heart go all pitter patter, she would just have to remove her.”

After his little speech he quietly started giggling as if something was funny. Jim wished he could see everything like Pete did. Maybe he would be laughing too but he doubted it. Yup, good old Pete was gone. He was going to die and he thought it was all funny.

Maria suddenly came storming back into the room followed a few seconds later by Johnny. Neither of them looked very happy. Seeming to want someone to vent her anger on she walked directly over to Pete and planted a stinging smack to his face.

“Shut the hell up ya damn freak,” she yelled. “I heard you talking all the way in the other room. Don’t think I didn’t hear all your snide little remarks but that’s ok. I have plans for you.”

Turning her attention to Jim she said, “It’s about time you woke up. I heard the freak talking to you. He was actually pretty close to the truth. I’m actually kind of surprised he was smart enough to figure out his own name much less anything having to do with what I’m going to do. I guess he’s a lot smarter than we all gave him credit for.” She turned and kicked him it seemed just for good measure. Maybe she hoped he would eventually match her image of him if she abused him enough. Thinking about kicking someone into stupidity made Jim snicker at the absurdity of it, but if there was anyone that would try it Maria was surely going to be first in line. This thought just made him laugh even more. He didn’t even try to stop himself. If he was going to die he might as well enjoy it. He looked up to find Maria looking at him. She still didn’t look very happy. Forcing himself to calm down he figured it was time for some real answers.

“What’s all this shit really about?” He demanded. “It can’t all be just because I didn’t fall madly in love with you when I got here. There has to be some other reason for all this.” The look in her eye wasn’t pleasant but he didn’t care. He was trussed up like a Christmas pig and he wanted to know why. “And another thing,” he added, “what in the seven bells of hell have you done to Jill? She looks like the poster child for drug abuse. Oh yeah, last but certainly not least, will you quit looking like the evil step-mother from some fairy tale and say something. Usually we can’t shut you up but now when I want you to talk I get nothing.”

“My, my, my,” she said looking at him thoughtfully, “we’re just all kinds of full of questions tonight aren’t we?” she looked at Pete then continued, “Freak boy, here figured out some of it. Isn’t big handsome Jimmy intelligent enough to figure out the rest?”

Jim was sick of the games so he just gave her a bored look and said nothing. He figured it was better to put on a brave face. If she thought he wasn’t afraid maybe she wouldn’t try to do anything.

“To answer or not to answer, that is the question,” she said when she saw he wasn’t going to talk. She tried to sound like she was really having a hard time deciding but he knew she’d talk. He was right when he’d said it was usually hard to shut her up. If there was a chance for her to brag about something she would do it. Now he just had to wait and see what came out when she started talking. “Well, I guess it won’t hurt anyone if I explain everything to you. Except you that is, since you won’t be leaving here alive. That usually ends up hurting a little bit.” Jim didn’t find anything about the whole situation the least bit funny but she must have since she started laughing. Johnny joined in but he didn’t seem to think it was as good a joke as she did. Jim’d almost forgot he was there he was so quiet.

“So where to begin?” she asked when she’d calmed down. Jim couldn’t help but look her in the eyes when she talked. He didn’t like what he saw. He’d heard you could see things in people’s eyes but had never believed it. He did now. All that was behind Maria’s eyes was insanity and hate and it was all directed at him. He didn’t know what he could’ve ever done to deserve something like that. He didn’t have time to dwell on it though since she was still talking. “The story is so long I don’t really know where to begin.” She glanced at Johnny from the corner of her eye. “Johnny, where, oh where, do you think I should start?”

“I guess you should start where ever you want,” Johnny said sheepishly after a few seconds of internal debate.

“That is usually where normal people start isn’t it? But since when am I normal? Plus, it’s just oh so boring to be predictable like that but I guess for speeds sake it will have to do. So, Jimmy,” she said turning her gaze back on him, “let me tell you a story. Let me take you back, way back to yesteryear, not just yesteryear but all the way back to a time you should remember quite well. Why would you remember it? I’ll tell you why. Because it was back in your heyday, back when you were a big man on campus, as it were. Its high school where my tale begins, and no not a tail from my butt so don’t ask.” This was mostly directed at Pete. At the mention of a tail he’d perked up and raised his hand to ask a question. When his dreams had been dashed he sadly went back to cleaning his finger nails.

Maria seemed to be taking quite a bit of pleasure being the center of attention. She’d slowly started walking around the room waving her hands in the air as if she was trying to paint a picture of what she was talking about. If anything it made her look even crazier. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a grown woman walking around in her negligee telling a story surrounded by candles. It was almost but not quite comical. There was no doubt she was just as gone as Pete but whereas he was calm most of the time she was off the deep end. She was totally gone. He shot a glance at Johnny to see what he was making of the performance and was heartened to see he didn’t appear as sure of himself as he had. Jim could tell just by the look in his eye he still worshipped her but he also might be realizing she wasn’t all there. Jim quickly turned his attention back to Maria as she turned her attention back on him.

“Would it surprise you if I told you I had a huge crush on you back then?” she asked. “You must’ve known. There was no way you couldn’t. I mean I worshipped the ground you walked on. I followed you everywhere. Basically I made a total fool of myself but that didn’t matter to me as long as I was close to you. Unfortunately, instead of returning my feelings you acted as if I didn’t exist. Sure, you were nice if you saw me in the hall or happened to notice I was stalking you. Sometimes you even deigned to talk to me but usually nothing more than a quick hello or something but oh, how I lived for those little things. I tried working up the courage to actually carry on a conversation with you a few times but you were always too busy with your mean, little friends. I know they poisoned you against me. That’s the only reason I can think of that you never talked to me. Because of them.” She was becoming more and more excited as she spoke. Facing him she took a deep breath. This seemed to calm her because when she started talking again her voice sounded a little closer to normal.

“Tommy, Rob, Pete, and Jim bestest friends forever,” she said in a sing song voice. “Never letting anyone or anything come in between their close knit group. You know a lot of people thought you four might be gay or something. But I knew you weren’t. You had all the time in the world for girls, just not me! I would’ve treated you way better than any of them did. I would’ve treated you the way you should’ve been treated. I would’ve given you anything and I mean anything. But no, you thought all you needed was them. What bullshit! You didn’t need them! All you needed was me!” She’d become agitated again and had slowly been walking towards him. Before she was finished speaking she was so close he could feel the spit flying from her mouth as she yelled. She stood looking at him for a few seconds, shoulder heaving from her excitement before suddenly spinning and walking towards Johnny. He stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders as she approached and whispered something to her. Jim hoped he was trying to talk her out of continuing what she was doing. She shook her head so whatever it was obviously hadn’t worked.

Jim took this break in the story for another opportunity to look around and try to figure some way out of this mess. He hadn’t had much luck before but maybe he’d missed something. Peeking at Jill he saw she was still dead to the world and Pete just continued rocking and mumbling. He was just getting ready to give up when he noticed something odd. He’d seen Pete rocking but he hadn’t seen him moving. Each time he rocked back he used his feet to push himself a little closer to the wall. Looking over Pete’s head Jim saw an open space with night and starry sky behind it. He was slowly working his way to one of the windows. Jim was sure it was just by accident but if it wasn’t and if he got close enough he might be able to jump out and run for help. The only thing tied on Pete was his hands. If he got out he really might be able to find help and bring them back but Jim didn’t hold much hope of that idea working. Pete wasn’t suddenly going regain his sanity and save the day. He was just sitting there rubbing his hands together and rocking back and forth without a care in the world. Nothing else. There was no grand escape plan forming behind those dark little eyes. He was in his own world where he was safe and nobody could hurt him. Why come out now?

“Now then Jimmy boy, let’s flash forward,” Maria said catching his attention. “When you left town, you just left. No words of goodbye, no telling me how you really had loved me all those years and would send for me when you could. No nothing. You just left without a word or a backward glance. Do you know how bad that hurt me? I was heartbroken. I couldn’t understand why you’d left me. You didn’t bother saying anything least of all goodbye. One day you were there then next you weren’t. I just didn’t understand what I’d done wrong. What was I to do?” She looked at him like she expected him to answer. Not knowing what else to do, he just silently stared back. She was deep into her delusion but as long as she was talking they were relatively safe. All the stuff spouting from her mouth was sort of true but only sort of. He remembered her from high school and how she was almost always in the places he was but that was it. She must’ve somehow gotten the idea that they’d had some type of relationship with each other. He didn’t know how though. All he could remember saying to her was hi.

“I knew we were meant to be together,” she said as she walked over to Jill and slowly ran a finger down the side of her face. “But we weren’t. You left to go God knows where and do God knows what with God knows who and left me here with no idea of when I might see you again. Then I thought maybe you were testing me to see if I really did love you and would wait for you. I knew I would but I also knew I had to figure out a way to get you to come back. Then, one day, a few years ago it came to me. I had an epiphany.” She brutally pushed Jill’s head to the side, spun and walked back to the center of the room. Stopping with her hand raised and looking up at the ceiling Jim almost thought she really was having a true vision then he remembered who he was thinking about and just shook his head.

“It was like a sign from the heavens. I didn’t know why I hadn’t thought of it sooner. I knew that day I just had to make it so you had no choice but to come back. After that the rest was easy,” she said smiling, “Do you want to guess what my idea was?” she looked at him expectantly. He wasn’t about to try to answering anything. He didn’t know what was right or wrong in this situation so he figured being quiet was safest. “Boy,” she said looking at Johnny, “I thought he was a lot smarter than this. It’s a good thing we didn’t end up together; our children probably would’ve made the freak over there look like a genius. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, my idea. Well, since you won’t guess I’ll just tell you.” She took a few seconds to gather her thoughts. While she did this she just looked at him with shinning, evil eyes. Her hands idly roamed over her body in many provocative ways but Jim didn’t think she was trying to entice him anymore. It seemed more out of habit than anything. He didn’t have much time to think about it, which was fortunate.

“I thought about it for what seemed a long time but actually wasn’t,” she began, “Finally, I figured out just what it would take. I knew if something happened to one of your precious little friends you would probably coming running home right away. I could’ve gone after your mother but I figured that was too old hat. You know something that someone else would do but not me. I’m better than everyone else so my plan had to be better than what someone else might come up with. The thing about my plan though, was that it had to be something drastic. It couldn’t just be some little accident. Why would you rush home for that? It had to be deadly. So the logical choice was killing one of them. I figured that would do the trick. Then, once you were back I would be here to comfort, console, and love and nurse your damaged emotions back to the way they should be. Then you would finally love me and we would be together forever and ever!” She sounded like she really believed her plan would work. Jim cast a quick glance at Pete to see what he was doing. He was a little closer to the window but still not close enough to jump out. Pete’s eyes flicked in his direction and Jim saw one of them wink at him. He thought he was seeing something at first but decided he hadn’t when he looked at Pete’s hands. His bonds were loose. Almost loose enough for him to get free. In a few more minutes he probably would be free. Then he could make a break for it and get help. At least that was what Jim was hoping for.

“Ok, at least I know why I’m here now,” he said trying to give Pete as much time as he could. “But why did you take Pete and Jill? They didn’t have anything to do with any of this. Well, I guess Pete did, but he was out of the way stuck in jail and probably on his way to the loony bin.”

“Well,” she said looking towards Jill, “little Jilly over there is here simply because she’s just like all those other girls you used to date. She was trying to take you away from me. See, you did everything that you were supposed to do as part of my plan. You came home and we reunited with each other but then you made a mistake. You went and met Jill and picked her instead of me! How could you go and do something stupid like that? You’re mine! Don’t you understand that? She sure didn’t seem to. When I found her earlier I tried to explain it to her nicely but she just got all smart and started asking all kinds of dumb questions so since she wasn’t cooperating I brought her out here to explain things a little better.” She looked at Jill angrily for a minute before continuing.

“Freak boy over there is here because my loving dolt of a partner got just a little bit ahead of himself. He thought it would be a good idea to change the plan from what I’d originally designed. I actually was content to leave Petey sit in jail and rot but Johnny boy thought of something else. It’s something I don’t really like, but I guess it might work. We don’t really have much of choice now either way but he can tell you that.” Maria was beginning to go into pout mode again but she surprised him.

“Why don’t you tell them what you had planned lover boy,” she said teasingly.

To Johnny’s credit that looked like the last thing he wanted to do but he took a deep breath and fixed Jim with a glare. “Well, let me tell ya, when you left all that while ago she was pretty messed up. I’m talking not eating, not taking care of herself, stuff like that. She was bad. Hell, all she really did do was drink and cry. Other than that she just sat in her place day in day out doing nothing. I didn’t really understand why until one day when I went over to check on her she finally told me. She was drunk as a skunk and was barely coherent but I understood enough to know what you done. I thought that was a pretty mean thing for you to do leaving her like that but then again I was happy too. See, I was there and you weren’t. I was there for her when she needed somebody. You weren’t. I’d loved her for as long as I could remember but every time I tried to tell her, all she wanted to talk about was you. But now all of a sudden you weren’t there anymore. You left. I knew she and I would finally end up together now. But no, she said she wasn’t going to let you go that easily.” Johnny paused here like he was remembering something he didn’t really want to and Jim guessed he was. He actually felt somewhat sorry for the guy. Johnny’d been in love with the crazy bitch all these years and all she’d ever wanted was Jim. If it’d been him he would’ve just moved on but it didn’t seem Johnny was able to do that. He held out hope all those years she would eventually love him back and she never did. Johnny himself was probably half crazy by now.

“She went on and on about how you’d come back for her one day,” Johnny said starting his story again. “She said you’d realize you’d made a mistake and you would come back and take her away with you and ya’ll live happily ever after. I tried doing things to get her to love me, hell, just to even notice me, but none of it worked.” Johnny was getting angry now. All of his pent up aggression was about to come poring out. Jim could see that trying to explain anything to Johnny right now was going to be a waste of time. “Then a little while ago she got her idea,” he said continuing. “I guess over the years she’d at least decided she could trust me so she told me about it. I couldn’t believe what she wanted to do at first. Then I thought of all the crap I’d been listening to about you and figured why not.” A change was slowly coming over his face as he talked. He actually looked like he was getting happier about something. Jim didn’t know what was going on but he hoped it was something good. Pete was still slowly struggling with his ropes so he still needed some time. Johnny was doing a good job giving it to him. Maria surprisingly was just standing nearby twirling her hair. She must’ve known about Johnny’s feelings. There was no way she couldn’t. Then Jim understood. She’d used those feeling as a way to get him to help her. Maybe in her own demented way she did care about him but Jim doubted it. At this point she probably didn’t care about anything but the revenge she thought she was taking on him.

“Actually I was kinda hoping it would turn out this way,” Johnny said startling him. “See, I hoped you’d come back and not want her. Then you’d be gone again and I’d have her back to myself like before. It’s a little unfortunate you three have to die but that’s how it’s got to be. Who knows, maybe once you’re dead and buried she’ll finally love me and not you.”

Even though Johnny was telling him they were going to kill him he still almost felt bad for him. He couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like living with her all these years. If he’d had to do it he’d probably feel almost the same way except without the killing people and stuff. This thought sober him quickly and got him thinking right again. The reasons they had for doing the things they were doing were the reasons of the insane. One wanted to kill him because he didn’t love her and the other wanted to kill him because he’d had to listen to the complaining about him over the years. This really was crazy. He was going to be killed for pretty much nothing. At least if he’d done something maybe it would’ve made a little bit more sense but he hadn’t. There was no real reason except they were crazy.

“But you didn’t tell him the best part,” Maria said whined. “You didn’t tell him what we did after we had the plan all together. You also didn’t tell him what we did to Tommy and that was one of the best parts. With your little pee sized brain I shouldn’t be surprised you forgot to mention how I, myself, went out in those yucky woods where Tommy was and acted like I was the typical damsel in distress so he would come out of his tree and rescue me. That really sucked by the way, I got all hot and sweaty and stinky but boy was it worth it. You should’ve seen the look on his face when he realized what was really happening. I should’ve gotten some type of award for that let me tell you” She paused to make a few scared-surprised faces, mocking what Tommy must’ve looked like, laughing harder each time she looked at Jim’s face.

“You also seemed to have forgotten to tell him the rest of your involvement in this whole plan. How once he actually did come down to check on me you came up behind him and cracked him in the back of the head then threw him on that tree stump you’d cut earlier to make it look like some kind of dumb accident.”

Jim was grateful she stopped to catch her breath for a few minutes. She’d worked herself into such a state of excitement that she was starting to hyperventilate, which wasn’t a bad thing, but he also didn’t really want to hear all the gory details of Tommy’s death. Jim was actually hoping she would pass out then all he’d have to do is deal with Johnny. At least he still might be able to be talked out of what Maria wanted to do. Then again he had already killed Tommy so maybe it was better if Maria just stayed conscious and kept talking. Left to his own devices Johnny might decide to put an end to thing and get out while the getting was good.

“You also didn’t tell him about what happened to Rob,” Maria chimed in apparently done calming down.

“That’s because you did Rob all by yourself!” he spit back defensively.

“Oh yeah, I did didn’t I? Sorry,” she said smiling. “Yes, it’s true. I did call him begging for help with my car. I told him I’d broken down out near the freaks place and I was scared and needed help. Him being the Boy Scout he was he rushed right out to help.”

“You took advantage of him!” Jim yelled. Pete still needed more time. He had to keep her talking.

“Of course I did. What else was I supposed to do?” she responded. “I couldn’t very well confess to killing his best friend in an attempt to make you love me could I? Plus Tommy’s funeral was coming up then you’d be leaving. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to find some way to keep you here a bit longer. You needed that extra time to realize where you belonged and that Jill was wrong for you. So to help you out I chopped Rob into little, itty, bitty pieces the first chance I got.” She finished with a giggle. “But,” she started again apologetically, “it wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. Sure the screaming was cool and all but you can only take so much of that before it gets boring. You should’ve heard him! When that hatchet hit him he let out such a scream that I thought they’d hear it all the way back at the sheriff’s station.”

She began limping around and moaning to demonstrate as she was talking. She reached behind her acting like she was trying to pull something out of her back until she finally fell down. She lay with her eyes closed for a moment before they popped open, “And do you know what the best part was?” she asked whispered only a few feet from his face.

“We weren’t even caught!” she answered gleefully when he said nothing. “I knew the sheriff here was an idiot but I thought for sure he would notice something strange was going on. I mean it was a decent plan but there were at least a dozen things we should’ve been caught on. I mean at the very lest we should be suspects now or something. But as you can see, nothing, nada, zip. They have no idea what’s going on around here.” Jim couldn’t look directly at Pete without giving him away. He decided to try to shift himself to another position more away from him than he already was. If he could keep her attention focused on him then there was at least some slim hope still left that they might survive. He didn’t need to worry about her though. As soon as he moved and got slightly comfortable she smacked him in the head.

“You don’t move unless I tell you too!” she yelled. “Now, where was I? Oh yeah, then my little Johnny-wonny came up with his brilliant addition to my plan. This in turn brings us to the reason for Pete being here. Deputy Dog’s bright idea was to make it look like Pete was the one that had done everything. He was afraid he was about to have the murders pinned on him so he broke out of jail. Johnny was going to make it look as if Pete had somehow over-powered him and taken his gun when he’d gone to check on him. Then the freak, who probably has no knowledge whatsoever about guns, was supposed to shoot his was out of the station with Johnny as his docile hostage.” Maria chuckled a few times before continuing. She obviously didn’t think Johnny was too bright. Either that or she just liked putting him down in front of others.

“For some reason,” she continued, “Pete was going to contact you and Jill and talk you into meeting him out here so you could help him escape. But at the last possible minute, Johnny, suddenly being the big strong hero, was going to wrestle the gun away from whoever had it at the time and dramatically shoot everyone before they could escape. Then supposedly all the blame for everything would be placed on you three and we would be in the clear. Sounds like a great plan huh?” Jim thought it did sound like a half decent plan. Not one he would use but it might’ve worked out ok.

“Oh,” Maria added, “did I forget to mention he didn’t really think of any kind of reason why you might help Pete or why Pete might’ve killed his friends? I mean he was crazy sure but not like that. Everyone knew he wasn’t violent.”

“It wasn’t…” Jim started to say.

“Well,” Maria said cutting him off, “I didn’t like it. It wasn’t my plan and my plan was better so I didn’t want to use it. Now I don’t really have a choice.”

“Well, if that wasn’t your plan,” Jim said jumping in feet first just to keep her talking. “Then what was it? What did you actually have planned? Did you just think killing all of us would be written off to another type of accident? You couldn’t actually believe you were going to get away with it could you? Practically everyone in town saw the display you two made at Tommy’s funeral. They also saw you fawning all over me too. If we were to turn up dead after that it would look mighty suspicious wouldn’t it? How did you think you’d get away with it?” He knew Pete only needed a little more time. If he wasn’t out after this, it was over. The last time he’ had a chance to look at Pete’s way he’d seen he was at the window. Hell, if he stood up he would probably fall out. Jim didn’t know why he didn’t do just that other than his hands were still bound but even they were loose. He should’ve made a run for it but instead he just sat there.

“Well, all that’s true isn’t it?” Maria said taking his bait. “But if you remember I did leave enough clues for even a jackass like the sheriff to get some pretty wild ideas about what was going on didn’t I?” Maria said. “I mean I left goat hair at most of the places we did stuff. Then I left the hair and tracks at Petey’s house. We even wrote who we wanted everyone to think of on Petey’s house. If that wasn’t a good enough clue I don’t know what was. If nothing else it would just be written off to one of those strange disappearance types of things.”

“You actually thought you could blame the whole thing on a legend?” Jim asked incredulously.

“Why not?” she asked. “You four seemed to believe in him enough way back in the day so I figured why not use that to my advantage? See, I know something you don’t know. Remember when you and your little buddies went looking for him.”

“How do you know about that?” Jim asked defensively.

“Oh you know, one of those days you didn’t notice me, you know back in high school, well I saw all of you crowded around each other like you were trying to keep a secret so naturally I had to know what was going on. Don’t look at me like that. I was practically your girlfriend so I felt I needed to know what my man was doing. Boy was I surprised to find out you idiots were going out to find The Goatman.” She started laughing at this. Jim didn’t think it was very funny. The four of them had been very serious about finding proof of his existence. According to Pete they’d found what they were looking for. “Hey pay attention,” Maria said when she saw his blank look. “Anyways, when I was coming up with my plan for getting you back I thought why not use the exact thing that had scared the piss out of you when you were little? Why not just do what I had to do and then blame it? I mean sounds like a pretty good idea right? I thought it was. If I did everything just right there was no way I’d ever be caught. As you can see I haven’t been caught so everything must be working right. Johnny’s little brainstorm threw a wrench into everything for a minute but it doesn’t really hurt any of my plans too much. There’s only one thing left to do.” She started walked over to Jill and grabbed her by the hair. Reaching up and behind her on a shelf Jim hadn’t seen before she took something down. It flashed as it caught the candle light. She had a knife. A big one.

“Now I just have to kill three instead of two,” she said smiling at his surprise. “I think I’ll start right here.” She put the knife to Jill’s throat. He could see her arm tensing, ready to pull the blade across her throat but it never happened.”

“Goatman, Goatman, Goatman,” Pete yelled exploding off the floor, “come get me!” Then he was jumping through the window into darkness. Their two captors had been caught completely off guard. They stood there with their mouths hanging open looking at where Pete had been only moments before. All that was left were the pieces of rope that had held his hands.

Jim had to admit he was slightly stunned himself. He hadn’t thought Pete had it in him. He’d hoped something like this might happen but Pete wasn’t exactly the hero type.

Pete had probably surprised himself too. At least now he had a chance at getting away. He might even be able to find help before Maria decided to cut her loses. Then again who was he kidding? It was Pete they were talking about and they were in the middle of nowhere. Where was he going to find help at?

“Well, that sucks,” Maria said being the first to recover from the surprise. “I guess we better go get him. We wouldn’t want him going and bringing back help would we?” As they turned to leave Jim felt his hopes rising. Left alone for a few minutes he might be able to free himself and Jill then get away.

“Oh! Wait a minute!” Maria said spinning back around and surprising him. “It wouldn’t matter even if he did get back to town would it? Everyone there thinks he escaped from jail so no one will believe anything he said. He’ll be lucky if they don’t shoot him on sight.” Her laughter echoed throughout the house as she turned and followed Johnny out the door. The little hope Jim had was destroyed when he heard her. He’d completely forgotten about Pete’s supposed escape from jail.

After he was sure they were gone he rolled over and sat up. At least he wouldn’t die lying down if at all. He was still alive so far so maybe things weren’t over yet. He glanced at Jill hoping she might’ve woken up but saw instead that she was still mostly out of it. If they were going to get out of there she wasn’t going to be much help. He studied the area immediately around him thinking maybe there was something he’d missed that could help him. He momentarily thought of using the fire from one of the candles to burn through the ropes but was afraid he might set himself on fire in the process. Maria didn’t need anymore help killing him than she already had.

Just when he was about to give up Pete suddenly came rushing through the door. He was waving his hands around his head like he was trying to ward off evil spirits and mumbling to himself as he approached. He was only a few feet away when Jim noticed something wasn’t quite right. His hands and parts of his shirt were covered with some type of dark liquid.

“Holy shit!” he almost yelled before catching himself. “What the hell happened to you? Is that blood? Why didn’t you go get help or something?”

Pete ignored Jim’s question and began untying the knots holding Jim’s hands and feet.

“Lover boy won’t be coming back anytime soon,” he grunted. “He had an unfortunate accident with a freak and a rock.” Jim thought it better not to ask anything else. Pete looked at him vacantly for a minute then laughed and said, “Ya know it’s really dark out there. He never even saw me. I just kinda stood still and he walked right past me then, Whack! He went down and I ran back here. Those two or actually one really aren’t some of the smartest people I know.”

“You don’t know that many people anymore Pete,” Jim reminded him.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said smiling and continued working on Jim’s ropes. He seemed to be having a problem getting the knots undone. Maria must have tied him a lot tighter than he’d thought. He hadn’t really noticed until now but he couldn’t really feel his fingers very well. The tingling sensation he felt was the only reason he did notice anything. He wanted to tell Pete to hurry up but thought it might distract him if he did so he asked him about something else instead.

“Why’d you come back? Why not save yourself or go for help?” he asked calmly not wanting to sound frantic and cause Pete to get upset.

“Couldn’t leave you here by yourself now could I?” he answered with a quick smile. “You just said I didn’t have that many friends left plus there’s no fire outside. It’s all in here. I didn’t have any. I forgot to grab it on the way out. I can’t go wandering around out there without it.”

“What do you need fire for?” Jim asked. “Maria just said that everything that’s been happening to you wasn’t done by the Goatman. It was them. Her and Johnny. Not the Goatman.”

“Oh it might have been them,” he laughed, “but he’s still coming no matter what they say. We called him whether you want to admit it or not we still did it. He’s still on his way. Don’t you doubt it. He’ll be here soon.” Pete quietly started giggling. He’d been working on the knots the whole time he was talking. Jim could feel them loosening as he watched. His fingers were starting to get a little more feeling in them and he could move his fingers freely. He was almost free. Pete was working on the last knot just as Maria stormed back into the room like a hurricane holding a gun in her hand. Pete must’ve had some kind of sixth sense or something because he was up and half way out the window, yelling something about the Goatman and how he was coming for them, when she fired her first shot. Everything happened so fast that all Jim heard was a grunt from Pete as the slug hit him in the back then he was out of view. Jim hoped he hadn’t been hit but knew he almost surely was. It would’ve been hard for her to miss at that range.

Jim couldn’t waste much time worrying about Pete. Maria was still in the room waving a gun around.

“You damn freak! You killed my Johnny!” she yelled as she continued pulling the trigger. Jim knew he was lucky he hadn’t been hit then again it might’ve been better that way. Before she might’ve just planned on killing him quickly but since Pete had gotten Johnny he had no idea what she would do. He looked at her tear stained face while he struggled to free himself from the last little bit Pete hadn’t had time to untie. He hoped he’d be able to work the ropes loose before she finally decided to turn her attention back to him.

“God damn it! Now what am I supposed to do!” she wailed. Turning her back on him she started crying. He could care less. He hoped she stayed that way the rest of the night. At least by then he’d be free. Unfortunately after only a few seconds she turned back around. Tears were still running down her face but she seemed to be done crying. “Well,” she sneered, “I guess it’s back to Plan A.”

She quickly turned around and walked into another room. He continued struggling with the ropes but couldn’t help but listen to what she was doing. It sounded like hurricane Maria had come to town. Things were being thrown all over the place. He heard things hitting the walls, scraping across the floor and one thing even went flying from the door only to land a few feet from where he was on the floor. He hoped it was something he could use but it was only an old stack of magazines. He didn’t know what she was looking for but it probably wasn’t going to be good for him. At the same time he got loose of the last knot all noise stopped in the other room. He started to stand up but heard Maria coming back his way. He quickly sat back down hiding his hands. He still needed to get Jill before he could leave. Now that he was free he could probably over power her and everything would be alright. But he had to use his element of surprise. He couldn’t give her a chance to run. It had to be quick.

Maria slowly walked into the room holding something behind her back. He couldn’t see what it was but it looked bulky.

“You know how I made it look like Tommy and Rob had been killed by the Goatman?” she began. He just looked at her. Staying silent was still the safest route. He didn’t want to provoke her any more than necessary. He knew it didn’t really matter anymore since he was free but Jill wasn’t. Maria could probably kill her before he could reach her so he had to keep her attention on him. “Well, you and Jill are going to get to join them and I’m going to do it the same way I did your friends. You get to be another victim of the Goatman!” she squealed as she moved the object she was holding from behind her back. In her hand was an axe. Not just a little hatchet type of thing but one of the big ones. Just the thing you average monster would use to dismember his victims.

“The Goatman has just been such a busy little killer hasn’t he?” she asked merrily as she stepped towards Jill raising the axe. Jim knew it was now or never. He dove towards her and hit her just as the axe was starting its downward swing.

The impact drove most of the air from his body. The landing wasn’t much help either. He hadn’t got up this morning planning on fighting a crazy woman with an axe but if he was going to save Jill he had no choice. They tumbled across the floor as they landed and Jim managed to knock the axe from her hands almost loping his arm off in the process. It didn’t cut him but he did take a solid hit to his shoulder which made his whole arm go numb. Things were just not going in his favor today. He knew his chances of defending himself and Jill had just gone down quite a bit but Pete was still out there somewhere, hopefully alive, and hopefully looking for help. Things weren’t looking good for the home team.

As they both struggle to get a hold on the other Maria surprised him by landing a glancing blow to his crotch. He, just like every other man when hit in that area, instantly lost all control of himself. He tried to hold on to her but the pain was so intense she was able to wriggle free. During the scuffle he found out another thing that wasn’t going to make this escape very easy. She was a lot stronger than he’d thought. He also found out just how useless his arm really was. Every time he tried to move it pain shot from his head to his toes. Between that and his crotch he had no choice but to release her. He didn’t want her getting away but he couldn’t stop her.

Once she was free she quickly jumped up and began looking for the axe. Luckily she had totally lost track of where it’d flown when he’d knocked it away. It wasn’t much but at least it was something. While she looked it gave him time to recover. Jim was in an extreme amount of pain but he was slowly trying to make his way to his feet. He only made it as far as his knees before his head began swimming. As if things weren’t bad enough his stomach decided to rebel and emptied itself all over the floor. He was on his one good hand and knees stomach still heaving when he was violently kicked in his ribs. As he tumbled across the floor he rightly guessed Maria had given up her attempts to find the axe. Instead she’d decided to use his ribs to practice kicking field goals. When she kicked him again he tried to roll with it but wasn’t quick enough. Once upon a time someone had told him that if you rolled with a kick it wouldn’t hurt as much. If he made it out of this alive he swore he’d find that person and kick them then ask how it felt. He had rolled with the kick but still felt like he had caught every last bit of it.

“Damn, I’m glad I never dated you,” she yelled as she readied for another shot. “If I’d known it was this easy to kick your ass I would’ve definitely found someone else.” She emphasized her last statement with another hard kick to his ribs. Jim was sure he felt something crack on this one. He instantly started coughing and quickly regretted it. He watched as spit dribbled from his mouth and puddle on the floor. To his horror he could see there was just a little bit of blood mixed with it. She’d probably punctured something he probably would’ve rather not have punctured. He’d already been having trouble breathing but now every time he tried to take even a little breath it felt like his chest was in a vice. The great thing about this was that it made him cough which made him hurt all the more. His vision was starting to dim and knew that wasn’t a good sign. Struggling to remain conscious but losing the battle he tried getting back to at least his hands and knees. It didn’t work very well.

“C’mon! Do something, you frickin wimp!” she taunted him. “Don’t just lay there!” she yelled landing a nice kick to his head. Jim saw her, as if through some type of fog, throw her hands up in disgust and retreat to the room she’d got the axe from. Through the ever-thickening fog that was covering his eyes he wondered what she was waiting for. He was lying defenseless. She could kill him whenever she wanted and yet she held off. He felt half dead anyways. He'd probably thank her at this point if she did kill him he was in so much pain. Then again there was Jill to think about. She was still here too. Looking at her he was ashamed to feel slightly jealous. At least she didn’t know what was happening. She’d pretty much been drugged up throughout this whole ordeal and would probably end up never waking again.

“Jim!” he heard someone whisper. For the first few seconds after hearing his name he thought he was dreaming. Just moving his head made his vision dim but he did it anyways so that he might see who was calling him. Maybe it was somebody from the other side come to help him on his way. He didn’t immediately see anyone but wasn’t too surprised. His vision was getting blacker around the edges at an alarming rate. Moving his head hadn’t helped much. Luckily after a few seconds of thinking he was passing out he was able to see a little better. Unfortunately that didn’t help. He still didn’t see anything.

“Jim over here!” called the whisper again. “It’s me Pete!”

Jim knew he was fading and the voice he heard actually was from the other side. He’d seen Pete shot in the back. That must be why it was him. When Jim had thought of death before he never thought he’d be greeted by Pete when it happened. He was almost disappointed. At least someone was there though and he guessed that was all that mattered. Looking around he was still unable to see where Pete was but moving around caused him to realize something. He wasn’t actually dead. If he could still feel pain then he was still alive. If he was still alive then he was still in danger. Wanting to slap himself for almost giving up he forced his eyes to focus and found Pete’s head sticking up above the window he’d jumped out of a few minutes before.

“Jim, wake up damn it! I need some help here,” Pete whispered a little louder. Once he saw Jim was looking in his direction he began talking again. Jim couldn’t hear most of it since his hearing had decided to rebel but he did hear Pete tell him he just needed to hold on for a little longer. He said the Goatman was almost there and that all he had to do was wait a little longer.

Great, Jim thought, the Goatman was almost there. Maybe he could talk him into putting him out of his misery since no one else seemed to want to. For someone who said she wanted him dead Maria was sure taking her time. But hey at least the Goatman was on his way. Yup, Pete was still crazy. Leave it to him to think some mythological creature was on the way. Forget all about going for actual living, breathing help. Not that it mattered much anyways since, if the thing was real, it wanted to kill him almost as much as Maria did if not more. Jim was still slowly processing everything when he was startled and almost smacked his head on the floor as shots split the night and pieces of wood started flying from the window frame where Pete’s head was.

“Damn he’s a fast little bugger!” Maria exclaimed. “Think I got him that time though. If not oh well.” She turned her attention back to Jim and smiled.

“I’ll just deal with him after you and I are finished.”

Jim’s concentration was lost as a result of the gunfire but he still tried to focus his eyes enough so that he only saw one Maria instead of three. One was bad enough, but three was enough that he almost asked for the gun to kill himself for her. It was too much trouble trying to see her so he just closed his eyes and rested his head on the floor. It was making his head hurt worse anyways. He figured he might as well be as comfortable as possible if these were going to be the last few moments of his life. He didn’t like giving up but there was nothing he could do. There wasn’t much he could do with one arm and no weapon. Maybe if the army or something came in right now they might live but as it stood now he could barely move his head without passing out much less fight for his life. Maria held all the cards. Opening his eyes he looked her way to see what she was doing and was saddened to see tow of her standing across the room from him. Gun in one hand, gasoline can in the other. Not a good mix. She saw the direction of his gaze and smiled. “Don’t worry; it’s still the axe for you and the tart. I can’t use the gun on you. It wouldn’t fit the story. Remember? The Goatman carries an axe not a gun, silly.”

Nonchalantly tossing the gun over her shoulder she slowly sauntered over to Jill. Staring at Jim she slowly began spilling the contents of the can around Jill’s feet. The smell of gasoline slowly reached his nose making him sneeze. This just added more agony to his already tortured body. He was clear headed enough to wonder how the whole house wasn’t an inferno by now. Between the two of them rolling around a little while ago to the gasoline it was a wonder they weren’t toast by now.

Squinting he saw the interior actually did look a little darker than he remembered. He assumed the darkness was a result of his head injuries but that apparently wasn’t the case. Adjusting his head he saw most of the candles that had been lit the last time he’d seen them were now scattered, smoking as they died. Maria must’ve taken advantage of the time he’d been unconscious to extinguish most of them so she could draw out her little plan as long as possible.

In his mind he still struggled to regain enough of his senses to mount some kind of resistance; he couldn’t let it end this way, but his body wouldn’t obey him either. He was still having a lot of trouble breathing and his arm was still dead. His hands and knees were the farthest he’d been able to make it since his pummeling had begun. He didn’t know what to do. If there were ever any option he hadn’t seen them. Now all he had to pin his hopes on was a creature that didn’t exist. Oh yeah, said creature wanted to kill him so there went that idea.

Through a haze of pain he watched Maria as she danced around the room dumping gas here and there like it was water instead of a flammable liquid. While most of the candles were out he knew some were still burning otherwise they wouldn’t be able to see. It wouldn’t take much for a small flame to become a big one. Especially in an old place like this. It would go up like it was made of paper.

She made it most of the way around the room when she suddenly stopped and tossed the can to the ground. Bending over she shifted some boards and papers out of her way, let out a small squeal of delight and stood up.

“Looky what I’ve found Jimmy!” she shrieked happily.

Shit, Jim thought, she found the damn axe. Why couldn’t Pete have made himself useful and grabbed the damn thing before he left. At least then he would have been of some help instead of running around spouting stuff about the Goatman. He really did sound like some kind of freak when he did crap like that.

“So, which one of you do you think I should kill first?” Maria asked no one in particular. “Maybe I should do the Eany, Meany, Miney, Moe thing. That always works in the movies. Then again I could do the Rock, Paper, Scissors stuff but that’s no fun alone.”

She stood thoughtfully for a minute.

“Oh! I know! We can draw straws!” she said jumping up and down. “Wait a minute. Jilly isn’t awake enough for that. This is really a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be.” She stood undecided for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and walking towards Jim.

“Well,” she began sounding somewhat sad, “since Jill won’t be awake for a while I suppose you and I will just have to have our fun first. Nothing that will kill you or anything like that. We have to wait until I kill Jill for that. Who knows, maybe if we’re lucky your yelling and screaming will help wake her up, then I can have some fun with her while you watch. You have to watch you know.” Pausing again with a finger to her lips, “No, I think we’ll just make sure you’re in a lot of pain first. The fun stuff will come later.” She took a step closer fingering the blade of the axe, “Let’s see, where should we…” she was abruptly cut off as a tremor shook the floor. Jim could almost swear he heard a ringing sound accompany it but he guessed that was probably just from his injuries.

Dust sifted down from settling around them in a cloud. Jim could hear groans of protest sounding from the upper floor of the house. Maybe someone was looking down on him. If he was lucky the house might come crashing down around them. If he was really lucky it would just fall on Maria, killing her allowing him and Jill to make their escape.

“What the hell was that?” Maria yelped.

Almost as if it had been waiting for some signal the tremor rocked the house again. Pieces of plaster fell from the walls this time. Jim’s hopes rose as he thought about something falling on Maria. He also heard the ringing sound again. It sounded vaguely familiar but he couldn’t remember from where

Maria looked unsure of what to do. Obviously what was happening wasn’t part of her grand plan. She looked around the room like a deer caught in headlights. Her eyes were wide and darting all over the place trying to find the source of the miniature quakes. He’d actually like to know himself.

Glancing at the front entrance to see if maybe Pete was there causing this he saw nothing. He briefly entertained the possibility that Pete might’ve been able to reach someone and they come to the rescue like the proverbial cavalry. Apparently that wasn’t the case. There was some other explanation for what was going on. He just didn’t think he would be around to find out what it was. His vision was blurring quite a bit around the edges. If it wasn’t for the situation it might’ve been kinda interesting but as it was it was just a bad sign of things to come. Looking at Maria he could barely make her out. Between the drifting dirt and dust and his failing eyes she looked more like a ghost than an actual human being.

Jim knew the combination of all his injuries were finally taking there toll on his mind. His body was telling him it was time to shut down for a while and relax. But he couldn’t. There was still a crazy woman with an axe he had to find some way to deal with so he willed his addled mind back to the brink of consciousness. He probably wouldn’t be able to talk her out of killing them but he could try. At the very least he would face his death awake just like his friends had.

“Come on,” he croaked, “this place is getting ready to fall down around our ears. Let’s go. We won’t tell anyone what happened. We’ll all just go our own ways.”

“You won’t tell anyone?” she repeated. “What do you think I am? My name isn’t Johnny. I’m not some puppy dog following someone around so close that if they stopped his head would go up their butt. Give me a little more credit than that.”

“You’re right,” he said gritting his teeth, “obviously something isn’t going according to your plan. Maybe you should just get out of here and leave us. That would work wouldn’t it? Nobody would find us for days. We might even be dead by then.” He couldn’t believe he was saying crap like this but he didn’t really have any choice. A bum arm and a rattled head weren’t the best things to have when trying to negotiate for your life. He was about to say more when the house suddenly shook again worse than either of the previous two times. Things fell from the roof, boards splintered in the walls, a crash sounded from another room then everything stopped. Nothing broke the silence but the echo of the metal on metal sound he kept hearing. It still sounded familiar to him. Almost like something from a dream he’d once had but he couldn’t remember what it was about.

“Well,” Maria said totally forgetting anything Jim might have said, “I don’t have the slightest idea what that was,” then to Jim, “but where were we?” She acted as if she were trying to remember. “Oh yeah, that’s right you were begging for your life like a little girl and I was ignoring you and getting ready to start cutting off little pieces of your body.” She sound really excited about this. “Let’s just make sure this is sharp,” she said as she reached up and plucked some hair from her head. Jim watched the dust cloud out from her head like a man on death row watched his lethal injection be plunged into his

IV.

The dust settled about her shoulders and chest but instead of watching what she was doing a slight movement in the doorway behind her caught his eye. He couldn’t see what it was but his heart started beating faster with excitement in anticipation of a rescue. Unfortunately this proved to be just a little too much for his throbbing head and body. As the blood pumped through his veins faster than he was used to a blinding pain shot to his head. He almost thought Maria had somehow kicked him again without him having seen her move. When the pain finally subsided, through blurred vision, he looked past Maria to the door. He could vaguely see the outline of somebody standing in the doorway. No, he had to correct himself, whoever it was filled the doorway. It must have been his injuries but Jim would’ve sworn it looked as if the doorway could barely contain whoever it was. Regardless of what it was it didn’t move. It seemed to be waiting for something.

Maria didn’t seem to notice and Jim had no intention of warning her about his possible rescuer. Instead he stayed where he was and kept his mouth shut. His vision was really starting to play hell with him. It was quickly giving way to blackness. He knew he wouldn’t be able to remain in the world of the wakeful and happy for much longer whether he liked it or not.

Beginning to drift off he remembered what Pete had yelled as he dove out the window earlier. He’d said they’d called the Goatman and that he was coming just like they’d asked. He just needed to wait a little longer. Jim was sure that whatever his pain filled mind was telling him was in the doorway couldn’t be much worse than the Goatman and was I all probability a whole lot better so more power to it. Maria had finished her inspection of the axe and quickly stepped closer to him covering the last few remaining feet between them before raising the thing above her head readying her swing.

“Any last words?” she asked.

“Yeah I think I do have some,” he said after a moment’s hesitation. He’d finally remembered why the ringing sound was so familiar. Unfortunately he couldn’t say anything since a coughing fit seized him. Everything in his line of vision flashed alternately between black and white. It didn’t help him much in his efforts at remaining conscious. Maria obviously hadn’t expected anything from him since the look of glee that had been covering her face turned to a pout as she waited for him to spit out his last words. Once he able to speak again he quietly whispered his final words in this world.

“Goatman,” he said once, “Goatman,” he said again gaining a little more volume, “Goatman,” he almost yelled for a third time, “Come get me! And come get me now!”

It was the most defiant thing he could think of doing at this point. He didn’t know why he’d said those words but somehow it’d felt right. It was almost sad that this was the most he could do in his current state but it would have to do. His head fell back to the floor with a thud causing his vision to fade even more if that were possible.

“What the hell was that all about?” Maria scoffed after she’d made sure she’d heard what she thought she’d heard. Jim barely heard her. The world was quickly leaving him or he was leaving it. He wasn’t sure which. When he opened his eyes he could still make her out but only just barely. He could tell who she was but that was about it. Any details about her escaped him. Not wanting to waste anymore energy he let his eyes shut until they were just barely cracked and all he saw was a sliver of the world in front of him. “Oh well,” she said seeing him drifting off, “time to make Jimmy feel just a little bit of my pain!”

He saw her arms start their downward swing when he suddenly felt the house shudder again. The ringing sound that accompanied it felt like it was piercing his skull. To her credit she only faltered a little but it didn’t matter. The axe was descending on a course that ended somewhere near the middle of his body. Steeling himself for the impact he forced his eyes open so he could at least defy her that little bit but the blow never landed. Instead Maria was knocked from her feet and slammed into a wall across the room by an arm the size of a tree trunk. Jim struggled to sit up but his body still wasn’t letting him do it. If anything he was worse from lying so still for so long. Gathering enough strength he looked toward where Maria had taken flight.

Gasping for air, he saw her roll over to her hands and knees trying to get her feet back under her. She still clutched the axe in her hand but what he saw next showed him that was the least of his concerns. He felt the floor shake again and saw a hoofed foot come into view. Numb with horror he watched as the arm he’d seen only seconds ago reach down and pluck Maria from the ground by her neck like she was a newborn baby. Unable to keep himself from following that arm back to its source he found himself gazing open-mouthed at a creature that looked like it had stepped from the pages of some satanic book.

The creature looked just as it had in his dream only more horrific than he could’ve possibly imagined. It’s horns sprouted from the crown of its head like small twisted trees, hairy legs that looked like they would be better suited to a buffalo tapered down into huge cloven hooves and last but not least the thing that had haunted his night for as long as he could remember. The Goatman’s' Axe. Not just any axe but one that might’ve at one time belonged to Paul Bunyan or some Norse God from the heavens. It showed glaringly clear even in the dim light. Looking at it Jim thought he could almost feel his soul being ripped form his body. He idly wondered if Pete were any where nearby seeing any of what was taking place. He really hoped he was because if Jim made it out alive he really wanted to know someone else saw what he was seeing. If this was some type of weird figment of his imagination he really did belong in the loony bin with Pete.

Maria dangled inches from the creatures face as it took its time studying her. Her face was turning nice shades of blue that Jim thought were quite becoming. The creature looked at her as if trying to decide what to do with the strange soft thing it had picked up. Luckily Maria chose that second to help it out in its decision. Using what little strength she had she raised her axe, which she’d somehow hung onto, and buried it in the creatures shoulder. Bellowing in surprise it dropped her in a heap on the floor.

“What the hell is that thing?” she screamed as she scrambled to her feet.

“The Goatman,” Jim said with a weak laugh.

“Shut the hell up!” she yelled gripping her axe in both hands readying for another swing.

The creature had retreated a few steps to examine its wounded arm. It turned its head and sniffed the place Maria had struck it. Looking up it hissed at her in what could only be anger.

Maria darted forward and swung her axe again, connecting with only a glancing blow this time. It wasn’t enough to actually hurt the creature but it did make it mad. With blood that looked slightly green running down its arm the thing hefted its axe and warily advanced on Maria. It moved slowly, taking its time almost as if it were stalking her even though she was right in front of it. Jim couldn’t understand why it didn’t just use its superior size and strength to end things quickly. As he watched through hazy eyes he saw that it seemed to be herding her towards the door. He was surprised it was being so nice. He wanted to yell at the thing and ask what the hell it thought it was doing. If it kept moving her the way it was she would escape.

That couldn’t happen.

If she got away she would just run back to town and act like she was the victim in this whole mess. He was pretty much an outsider after all these years plus everyone knew Johnny was in love with her. All she would have to do is tell everyone he and Jill had abducted her for some kind of kinky stuff that she didn’t want to do and when she refused he threatened to kill her. He could see exactly how it would all play out in his head. She would have the whole town ready to shoot on sight by the time they made it back. He just couldn’t understand why the creature was trying to let her go.

Maria, in full bloodlust now, didn’t realize what the creature was doing until she felt a breeze on her back. Quickly glancing over her shoulder she saw nothing but the doorway to darkness and freedom. Smiling, she took another tentative swing at the creature, almost as if she were testing the waters. Instead of striking out at her, the creature retreated a step. It dipped its head towards the door as if trying to tell her to leave.

Seeing the pleading look on the Goatman’s face, Jim suddenly understood what it was doing.

The thing didn’t want to kill her. Even though everything she did was aimed at harming since it stepped foot in the house, the creature still didn’t want to harm her. Looking back over her shoulder then at the creature again she shook her head.

“Hell no I’m not going,” she yelled at it. “I still got work to do on Jimmy boy. I’m going to take your damn ugly head then I’m going to take his. Think I’ll hang them on the wall next to each other.”

Not giving the beast a chance to make a move, she quickly made an awkward swing at the things leg but missed. Overbalanced by her overconfidence, she was surprised when the beasts arm shot out and clenched an iron grip around her throat. It pulled her close, making sniffing noises and shaking its head like it didn’t like what it smelled.

Maria, not one to be defeated so easily, continued struggling. She reached up with her hands and tried prying the creatures hands from her throat, kicked her legs trying to hit some vital spot that might make it let go; she even tried spitting in its face but that’s hard to do when you’re having a hard time breathing.

It hissed in her face, spraying her with spit and mucus tossing her aside. Jim couldn’t believe it. The creature turned its back on her and slowly walked towards Jim and Jill. The creature hesitated when it reached them as if trying to decide which one to help first. Jim was about to tell it to tend to Jill when he saw something leaping through the air behind him. His words of direction turned to a feeble yell of warning. The Goatman spun just in time to have the axe Maria had been using planted in its chest. Jim saw his hopes of making it out of here alive fall to the floor. He wouldn’t have thought it was possible for someone as small as Maria to kill a beast like the Goatman but she seemed to have just done it.

“That takes care of one of you,” she rasped as she yanked the gore covered axe from the brutes’ body. “You’re next,” she said staggering in his direction.

“Lucky me,” he laughed. Why not? He had nothing to lose.

“I’ve waited a long time for this you little bitch,” she spit at him as she loomed over him. Well, not exactly looming, more like leaning. Leaning on the axe like it was a cane if he wanted to be exact about things. If only he had any energy he might be able to beat her. The Goatman had softened her up for him but too bad for him his limbs weren’t obeying him at the moment. First he’d gotten his ass beat by a girl. Now he was going to get killed by that same girl after she finished killing a creature that by all rights shouldn’t exist. If anyone had told him he was going to die like this he would’ve had them committed.

Maria slowly raised the axe and Jim closed his eyes. He didn’t think he wanted to see what came next. After a few seconds he realized he was still alive and thought he shouldn’t be. Cracking an eyelid he looked up and saw Maria standing there just like she had been a few seconds ago. But there was something different. The Goatman’s hand was around her throat again. That couldn’t be right, he thought. The Goatman was dead, wasn’t he? Maria’s face was turning a brilliant shade of purple and her eyes were starting to protrude a little farther than Jim thought might be healthy for her when he heard a snap. He was reminded of braking branches when he was a child. At the sound of the snap Maria’s body went slack. Then she was unceremoniously dropped on the floor where she landed with a thump. He couldn’t really turn his head to see her and was pretty sure he didn’t really want to. His attention was caught by something else.

The Goatman was swaying back and forth in front of Jim looking for all the world like he might follow Maria to her resting place. He really hoped that didn’t happen considering he was the only way they were going to get out of here. The gash in his chest seeped something but Jim was pretty sure it wasn’t blood. Focusing his eyes as best he could he swore he saw movement in the things chest. He was pretty woozy but he was sure the hole was closing. It took a few more second but after what could’ve only been a minute the wound was no longer there. The only thing left was another scar that matched all the others. The beast shook its head like a horse, flexed its chest muscles and stood straighter. It was completely healed. Jim just wished it was that easy for him.

Even after everything it had done for them, when the Goatman moved towards Jill he wanted to scream. All he could do was watch as the creature looked at first one of her hands then the other trying to figure out how to get her down. Jim strained himself into a sitting position to get a better look but it cost him. Stars danced in his vision for a few seconds before everything went black. Drifting off into unconsciousness he whispered an apology to Jill for not being able to save her and for ever getting her into this mess. It didn’t make him feel any better since he was sure she would never hear it.

He wasn’t sure how long he was out when he was suddenly shaken from his forced slumber. The creature was hovering over him sniffing him the way it had Maria a little while ago. If he could’ve he probably would’ve screamed. He knew he was indebted to it but the creature still wasn’t the prettiest thing he could think of. Especially after being forced to wake up.

Seeing he was awake the beast raised its head so that they were eye to eye. Dreading having to look at the creature much less stare it in the eye Jim squeezed his tightly shut. Jim could feel its breath blowing gently across his face. It didn’t smell as bad as he thought it would. Actually it smelled almost like flowers. He still kept his eyes shut. It might be some kind of trick. The brute didn’t seem to care. It seemed content to wait him out.

Finally after what seemed an eternity Jim gave in. Cracking his eyes he found exactly what he expected but then not what he expected. He was face to face with The Goatman. Instead of the animal savagery he thought he was going to see he saw something surprising. Kindness and caring seemed to reach out from the creature’s eyes and wrap him in a warm embrace. All his life Jim had heard horror stories about this creature and how it had killed and maimed too many people to count but looking into its eyes he couldn’t believe it. He knew it wasn’t true. This creature had never harmed anything that hadn’t harmed it first. All the stories were just that. Stories.

Not taking its eyes from him, he, as Jim was now thinking of it, gently picked him up and cradled him to its chest like a lost child. Turning swiftly from the room, it strode from the house barely looking away from Jim to see where it was going. Jim could only look up, smiling at it in wonderment. The creature gave him what must have passed for a smile and said in a rough voice unused to speaking, “You called and I came.” The sound was like two trees rubbing together in a strong wind. They seemed to echo in his head for a few seconds. After the words faded to nothing but a memory Jim was unsure if he even heard it right.

Wanting to ask it all the questions that were almost brimming over in his mind Jim found he was unable to. His body once again chose the most inopportune time to hit the shut off switch on him. As he slowly passed out he knew he was in no danger as long as he was in the creatures arms. What had scared him for life was now like coming home to a familiar friend he’d never known he had. All these years they thought the Goatman was out to hurt them but they had it all wrong. He was only there to help. If he actually chased them when they were kids it was probably only his way of playing. The poor creature life had to be one of the loneliest in existence. Now Tommy and Rob would never know the wonder of meeting this wonderful creature. With that unhappy thought floating through his head he was out.

He awoke some time later to the alarming smell of smoke. Opening his eyes too quickly he found he was momentarily blinded by a bright light. Not immediately understanding where he was he tried to sitting up but quickly found he was unable to. As his eyes adjusted he saw that the bright light was just the morning sun. He must’ve been out for quite some time. Making small movements trying to sit up he felt his muscles scream their protest. He was sore from head to toe not to mention spikes of pain still shot through his body every time he tried taking a deep breath. Turning his head slowly to keep the pain to a minimum he found Jill curled up on her side not more than two feet away. He could see her breathing was deep and steady and felt as if a great weight had lifted from his chest. She was ok and so was he. Quickly thanking God that she was ok he looked in the other direction and was greeted by the smiling face of Pete who was propped up against a tree.

“Got any hot dogs?” he giggled pointing towards Jim’s feet. Jim looked down between his legs and saw the house from last night. It didn’t look that bad by daylight he decided. Especially since it was on fire. One of the candles must’ve finally caught on something and then that was all she wrote. It was well on its way to being nothing but a bad memory. As he watched what was left of one of the ground floor walls fell over in a shower of sparks.

Pete began laughing for no apparent reason and for no apparent reason Jim soon found himself joining in. This once again proved to be too much for him. He quickly fell back hitting his head on the soft ground behind him. It was just enough to send stars shooting through his vision and make him pass out again. He could still hear Pete’s laughter and the sound of approaching sirens as he started to dream of a familiar dream but his time it wasn’t scary. This time it was just a normal dream about a walk through the woods. The Goatman wasn’t physically present but Jim’s dream self knew all he had to do was call and he would come.

Epilogue

The two of them sat in comfortable silence on the front porch of their newly purchased old house watching the sun slowly set over the horizon. After all the moving they’d done recently it felt good to be able to just sit and relax a little now and then. It would take a while before the place felt like a home but it was theirs and they were together and that was all that mattered.

The events that occurred over the past couple of months were already fading in their memories and those of the town. For the first couple of days after the events of that horrible night they weren’t left in peace for more than a few minutes at a time. Finding three people in the middle of nowhere next to a burning house was bad enough but after sifting through the rubble and finding two bodies they almost ended up being locked away for good. It was even worse when those two bodies were identified. The police had nothing but questions and threats after that.

They’d finally gotten the hint after about two weeks. The story they heard was always the same with nothing that could be proved or disproved either way. It was their words against those of dead people. This time the evidence had supported the living. The cops were still confused as to what had actually happened but Jim, Jill and Pete had no more answers to give them. They’d said all they could say about what happened. Well, at least Jill had told them everything she knew which wasn’t much. She luckily slept through everything that happened. The one thing that she did shed light on was how she’d been abducted.

Apparently when she’d been out for her walk Maria had come upon her in a hysterical state saying all kinds of crazy things. When she’d finally gotten her calmed down enough that she could understand her what she heard terrified her. Maria told her that Jim found her and demanded to be taken out to the place Tommy had been killed. Jill thought this sounded funny and said so but Maria explained it away saying that her and Jim had been old childhood friends and that they hadn’t parted on the best of terms but that they had made up since he came back and had come to her for help since she knew just about everything that went on in town. After that the scenario played much the same as it had with Jim. She was taken out to the abandoned house and jumped from behind. Instead of leaving her free to wake up on her own though they drugged her. They used a little more than they should of though which explained why she was unconscious for so long.

Jim and Pete, when asked had just told a seemingly outlandish tale of a lover scorned. They said Maria was crazy and had somehow gotten Johnny to go along with her plan to make Jim lover her. They also made sure that the police understood that part of Maria’s great plan was blaming the local legend for everything that happened. At first they weren’t believed. It was too crazy. Most of them knew Maria. A few of them had even dated her. They were ready to throw the both of them in the asylum until they were finally searched Maria’s house. Then the story was suddenly much more plausible.

Upon entering her home they’d first been confronted by a normal everyday single woman’s home. Then one of the officers had been being a bit of a pervert and was looking through Maria’s underwear drawer looking for a souvenir when he’d stumbled across some pretty damning evidence. A nice hefty stack of pictures was found in the back of the drawer buried under everything. Flipping through the pictures they found little notes Maria had made to herself about when she’d taken them. But that wasn’t all they found. In the back of her closet hidden behind a few old boxes they found notebooks filled with love letters and stories all dealing with one person.

Jim Collins.

Apparently Maria had a very vivid imagination and liked committing most of it to paper for later remembrance. After finding all this stuff it was pretty hard not to believe their story.

Then they found the goat.

In the woods behind her house they found what was left of a rotted goat. After doing some checking, the police found that one had been stolen from a town a few miles away. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. The police quickly apologized for detaining them so long and released everyone but Pete. They wanted to know what his part had been in the whole adventure. That took a little more explaining but he too was eventually freed with no charges filed against him. The only thing that was ever mentioned about the creature was how Maria was going to blame everything on it. Nothing about how it saved them. They knew if it was ever mentioned that asylum was still out there waiting for them.

Jim knew why he wasn’t talking but couldn’t understand why Pete didn’t. He, unfortunately, was going to be staying in a mental hospital for a while. Not a full blown asylum, but close enough. With Jim’s help Pete’s parents had finally convinced him he needed to get some help. If nothing else he could rest for a while. Jim kept his mouth shut so he wouldn’t have to join him.

When the police and ambulance had arrived at the smoldering ruins and found them, Pete had lapsed back into talking to himself about the damned purple dinosaur again and laughing at a joke only he had heard. Who knows maybe he was laughing at the world around him and the people who thought they were sane. After talking to Pete with his parents Jim didn’t see him again until the day they took him to the mental hospital. Jim went to see him off with his arm in a sling. He tried not to be too sad about the whole thing because he knew Pete would at least have some peace and quiet where he was going. He also wouldn’t have to worry about lighting his nightly fires anymore. But he was still sorry to see him go. Maybe Pete would be sane enough to return to the outside world again someday. Jim wanted to be there waiting for him. He hoped now that Pete knew he didn’t have to fear the creature he would be able to get better a lot sooner than the doctors were telling everyone. Jim wasn’t holding his breath though. This was Pete they were talking about after all. Jim was hoping Pete would say something, maybe act like his normal self, before he left to give everyone a little hope but he didn’t. As he got in the van to leave Jim heard Pete mumbling about the purple dinosaur again and decided he needed to get to the bottom of at least this part of Pete’s problem before he could let them take him away. He walked over to say goodbye and quietly asked what the whole thing with the dinosaur was about. Surprisingly Pete looked at him and smiled like his old self.

“Oh, that?” he said happily. “It was just something I saw on TV one day that bothered me so much I can’t get it out of my head. Kinda like one of those damn jingles you hear on the radio. That stuff annoys the hell out of me.” Then with a wink and a wave he climbed into the van and was off.

Jim couldn’t help but laugh. Something as simple as that and it made him seem like a raving lunatic. He decided Pete really was laughing at the world when he giggled to himself.

He hadn’t seen Pete since that day. He kept meaning to go see him but hadn’t made the time to do it. He scolded himself almost daily for not going but he still couldn’t bring himself to do it. He just didn’t want to see Pete in a place like that. Somehow he thought Pete would understand and not hold it against him. As far as the Goatman went Pete hadn’t uttered a word and if he did there wasn’t anyone that would believe him.

Since Jill didn’t remember anything, Jim chose to wait until they were both out of the hospital to tell her everything that had happened. He figured there was no reason to confuse and upset her when she was being asked so many questions about what happened.

One day while they were still trying to figure out where their relationship was going he sat her down and told her everything that had happened. At first she didn’t know whether to believe him or not. Her initial reaction was that he was playing a joke on her but that night her grandmother sat her down and told her all the legends that had been passed down through the years and had ended up with her. Come to find out what she’d said earlier about her father having died at the hands of the Goatman wasn’t exactly true. It was actually a hunting accident that had done it. The only reason she thought it was the Goatman was because he’d supposedly been seen near his body. Even after that she still wasn’t completely convinced. Finally she said it didn’t really matter because they were all still alive and that was something that everyone should be happy about. With that she ended the conversation and would hear nothing more about it.

Jim, himself, had ended up having three broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. It had fallen on Jill and his mother to nurse him back to health. It was the worst time he could ever remember in his whole life.

The two women had hit it off right away and spent most of their time mothering him until he thought he would go crazy. He even thought about going to join Pete until he was better but wasn’t sure he’d ever want to leave so decided against it. Slowly but surely he finally healed and was able to fend for himself once again but through it all he’d ended up growing closer to Jill than he ever hoped to be. With her helping him do almost everything they’d slowly fallen in love almost like it was planned. He finally decided to stay in his home town for good. Except for recent events it actually was a nice place to live. Now that the town psycho was gone there was hardly any crime, just the occasional kid breaking some windows or something equally harmless. That’s what was nice about small, out of the way towns. After thinking about it he realized that was what he’d missed when he was living in the city.

With him needing a place to stay and the two of them growing closer by the day they figured why not move in together. They went to the local bank got a home loan and bought one of the better old houses on the outskirts of town. It needed some work but that was ok. It was a sturdy little house and it was what they wanted so they’d bought it. Now here they sat quietly enjoying each other’s company.

The silence was suddenly shattered by a loud banging noise from the rear of the house. It sounded almost like rocks hitting the paneling of the back wall. But that couldn’t be right. All that was behind the house were woods; there weren’t any rocks back there.

Looking at each other for a confused second they quickly got up and ran off the porch and around to the side of the house. Stopping at the corner they slowly approached the backyard. When they finally rounded the corner they were surprised to find nothing. No animals or anything else that might have caused the ruckus. They did hear something running heavily through the woods. They didn’t see it but it could be heard rushing through the woods breaking branches as it went. After a few minutes the noises suddenly stopped. It was a little eerie.

Eyes darting here and there, neither of them saw anything out of place in the yard itself. The table and chairs were still where they’d put them, the flowers in the garden were undisturbed and everything else appeared normal. There was no evidence of where the noises had come from.

Then they turned to look at the house. What they saw instantly set Jill into a yelling fit but for some reason it didn’t surprise Jim in slightest.

“Goatman was here” was written in very small letters for one end of the house to the other finally ending right next to the backdoor. It was at a level that looked just about right for a kid but the writing was nowhere near neat enough for it to have been done by one.

Jill was outraged. She was yelling at the top of her lungs telling whoever was hiding in the woods to come back and do it now that they were there. She also told them in no uncertain terms that if they did come back they’d better watch out. She was going to set some bear traps that would take care of them and how did they like that. She was sure there were kids back there laughing at them. At one point she even thought she could hear them but that turned out to be Jim himself. Her anger was turned on him for a while after that. She thought he was encouraging stuff like this. She surprised him by saying that when they had kids he better not act like that. She obviously surprised herself too by what she’d let slip because she instantly shut up.

Jim was prepared to just let her calm down but when she made that little slip he couldn’t help but pick on it. Eventually he let her maneuver the subject back to what she wanted and demanded to know why he wasn’t mad. He told her he couldn’t get mad. He gave her some lame excuse about doing the same type of thing when he was little and luckily she bought it. Not happily but she still bought it and let the whole thing drop. Although she did tell him in no uncertain terms that he was cleaning up the mess. He thought that was a fair trade.

As they walked back around the house he made sure she didn’t notice what he had. On the ground under the place where the writing was were huge goat shaped prints. Not deep and not really that noticeable if you weren’t looking like he was. This was something he remembered from childhood. If he looked closely he could see them coming from the woods to the house and back again.

“This doesn’t piss you off?” she asked once more as they walked.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said putting his arm around her, “it’s just kids being kids. We are kinda famous now after all.”

Then he tugged her gently towards the front of the house. Looking over his shoulder once more as they rounded the corner he could almost swear he saw something with a huge set of antlers walking along the edge of the woods toward the back side of their property. He just turned around with a smile on his face and continued walking knowing they had chosen the right place to live. Maybe, if what Jill had said was true, they would have kids of their own and he could tell them all about the Goatman one day.

Content

Come Get Me

Michael J Hunter Prologue

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IV.

Epilogue