by Lee Jones
"Who's in there we got a bat!" says Tony. Jamie turns on the light and points it inside of the barn. They see the blood covered everywhere and Janice body. The face on her decapitated head is mutilated and covered in blood. "Fuck!" says Tony he covers his mouth as he almost puked. "Janice!" Janice!" Jamie says and runs in sobbing. "Please, please, please ohh no" he mumbles.
Tony grabs his phone and dials 911. The phone quickly disconnects there is no signal. The scarecrow is missing from the back of the barn. Jamie is sobbing, Melissa is scared and Tony is confused. "Come out here everyone," says Tony. The group heads outside by the car.
As Tony unlocks the car but it wont start. A flock of crows descends around the group. Their eyes glow in the night.
For a second the crows seem as if they are watching the group. With a freezing gust of wind the crows fly off into the wind. They disappear into the dark of the night.
CLUES TO THE PAST
"We need to find out who did this,” says Tony. Tony picks up the bat. "I'm going inside the house. You and Melissa stay out here and search the area!," shouts Tony. Tony runs inside the house. Jamie is sweeping his
flashlight around outside looking for any clues. They come to the edge of the cornfield. They hear a whisper.
"Who’s There!" says Jamie. Melissa is clinging to Jamie's arm. Jamie walks in further into the brush of corn. Meanwhile Tony is searching inside the house. He walks past the pictures sitting on table in the living room. He stops and takes a few steps back and shines the flashlight on the photos. He has an eerie feeling. Old black and white photos of a family. The family that lived at the farm. As Tony is moving his flashlight over the photos he passes by one that shines for a second. He moves his flashlight back and one particular photo of a man has his eyes shining in the photo. He stares at it for a few seconds pulls away the flashlight then points it back again. The eyes in the photo of the man no longer shine. Tony slowly heads up stairs. Each step creaks. He begins searching upstairs.
Jamie is trying to find the source of the whispers he keeps hearing. "Hello?" says Jamie. He sweeps the flashlight through the corn bush. Nothing is coming up. His flashlight begins to die down. The light is slowly fading. He hits his flashlight several times to get it going again but nothing it stops working. Its completely dark.
Tony finds an old newspaper from the 1930's with dust and cob webs. On one paper it reads that its the great depression. Another paper reads about a great drought. Crops could not grow. He finds old ledgers about the farm. It shows five years ago before the drought business was doing well but this particular year the farm was in deep debt. Another local paper reads about the Johnson family. There was a murder suicide at the property unheard of in this town and no one ever took over the land.
RUN FOR SURVIVAL
Jamie is now lost. There is a killer on the loose but who and where. He stops because he hears
another whisper. Off in the corn bush he sees two eyes glowing. It's the scarecrow. The pair turn and run through the maze of corn. The scarecrow walks slowly towards them with a sickle in its hand. Melissa is holding Jamie's hand as they run. They make it the barn. They go inside and hide in the dark trying to be as quiet as possible.
A gust of cold wind and a flock of black crows appear to fly inside of the barn. They are everywhere croaking and making noise. Their eyes glow. Jamie puts his hand over Melissa's mouth so she doesn't scream. Fog fills the inside of the barn. The Scarecrow appears at the entrance of the barn. He walks slowly inside with the sickle in its hand. The crows are croaking louder and louder.
Jamie and Melissa put their heads down and hands on top their heads in fright. They are in the back of the barn in the corner in the fetal position. A few minutes later they look up and there is no sound, no crows and no scarecrow. Its dead silent.
They stand up and without warning the scarecrow appears. With the sickle it raises its hand and slashes Jamie's throat. Blood spurts everywhere and splatters on Melissa's face. Melissa screams. She runs outside. She runs and runs to the windmill by the road. Its spinning in the wind. Suddenly their is a loud ringing in her ears. She places her hand on her ears in agonizing pain. The scarecrow is slowly walking towards her. Melissa tries to run but she can't her feet are frozen to the ground.
The scarecrow finally stands before her. It raises its sickle over her head and with one swift move it decapitates her head. The body falls. The head rolls on the ground. Blood spurts everywhere.
FINAL CHAPTER
Tony is inside the farmhouse alone. He can't call anyone, the car won't start. He is miles away from
a living soul. There is a killer on the loose but who? What? He is on the second floor of the house in the master bedroom. Nothing is there but he hears a door slowly open and close from downstairs. "Jamie is that you? Melissa?" Tony shouts.
There is no reply but he hears footsteps creaking up the stairwell. He grabs his bat and hides behind the wall in the bedroom. He is prepared for a fight not knowing who. He hears each step creak up the stair well and then it appears as if the person had reached to top. Then the steps stop.
At this point Tony is breathing heavily and is holding up the bat ready to swing it. Tony gets increasingly nervous and shouts, " Come in and fight me you piece of shit!" Tony is looking out toward the door and doesn't see anything. He turns his head and two eyes glow in the shadow corner of the room. "What do you want!? Who are you!?" Silence.
It is the scarecrow with the sickle in its hand. There is fresh blood dripping from the sickle. Tony runs charging towards the scarecrow and swings the bat at the scarecrow. Hay flings up in the air. The scarecrow stops. The black crows appear outside of the window on the tree branches. They begin croaking loudly.
The scarecrow raises its hand and slices Tony's arm down to the bone. He has a deep gash and blood is pouring out. Tony runs out the room down the steps. He pulls his shirt off and wraps it around his arm to stop the bleeding. The scarecrow has started moving again. Coming down the steps creaking at each step it takes.
Tony runs outside and takes the lighter by the bonfire. He has a gas can in the trunk. He struggles with the keys and opens the trunk. He runs inside with the gas can and starts
pouring gasoline all inside the house. The scarecrow is moving slowly down the steps. the scarecrow looks at Tony right before Tony walks out. Now Tony can't move his feet are stuck to the floor. The scarecrow keeps moving slowly towards Tony down the stairwell.
Tony holds his hands together and makes a prayer. He then takes the lighter and throws it into the puddle of gasoline. A fire instantly ignites and flames plume up with black smoke. Tony is coughing. The scarecrow is halfway down the steps. The fire makes it's way under the stairwell. The stairwell catches on fire. The fire finally reaches the scarecrow and lights it. The flame plumes upwards on the scarecrow. The scarecrow struggles it moves trying to put on the flame but it just gets bigger and bigger.
Tony can finally move his feet and he runs outside the house. The house is now engulfed in flames. Black smoke fills the air. Tony is bending over trying to gasp clean air and coughing from the black smoke. He backs up a little to take a watch of the house in flames. A sigh of relief from Tony as he slouches. His arm is still bleeding but the pressure has slowed it from being worst. He looks down for a moment still in mourning over his friends. A tear from his eye drops and touches the soil.
The End.
BLOOD ON THE BAYOU
VACATION
New Orleans on a Friday night. The bars are oozing with tourist. Music is loud, and drinks are plenty. The air is filled with electricity. Three friends are out on the town. Jasmine, Nikki and John all twenty somethings that just graduated from University in Florida. The trip was planned out for months. As soon as they walked that stage, the next day they were flying out to New Orleans. They had rented a townhouse in the French quarter off Airbnb for a whole week.
John buys a round of shots for everyone. Nikki buys the second round of shots. Jasmine buys the
third round of shots for everyone. They all hold a toast, sip then slam the shot glasses on the table at the same time.
“Whoo!,” shouts John. Everyone laughs it feels great.
They call a taxi and head back to their townhouse rental. The townhouse is beautiful, three bedrooms, an amazing view and best of all a hot tub. Everyone gets changed into swimwear and slips into the hot tub. Nikki lights a joint. John pulls out a bottle of vodka and starts pouring a cup for everyone. Everyone is chill remembering old times.
“Hey!” shouts Jasmine. She points to a dark corner of the backyard. “What is it?” says John. They hear a car tire screech on the nearby street, the car takes off suddenly and turns a corner to disappear into the dark of night. “I saw someone,” Jasmine says.
“You need to relax’, says Nikki. She passes Jasmine the joint. Jasmine takes a hit, and everyone forgets what just happened. They continue the until the early morning till calling it quits.
STALKER
John wakes up at noon and starts cooking banana pancakes on the stove. Jasmine rolls out of bed. “I got a freaking headache, but I want to do it all over again”, she says. Nikki wakes up shortly thereafter. “Mourning guys” she says. Everyone has a hangover, but they want to continue the fun. They all head out to the market. The daytime provided plenty opportunity for shopping and exploring. There were no plans just be spontaneous as possible.
Jasmine and Nikki have a couple shopping bags in tow. They’ve spent quite a good amount mostly on credit cards for clothes. They head down a quaint street lined with window shops. They stop in all grab lunch. It’s everyone's first time trying the authentic food New Orleans and its cuisine.
After lunch they head out and look for what’s next. They look like tourist and that attracts the street panhandles asking for change.
They venture into a fortune teller shop. Jasmine offers her hand and the fortune teller leans forward and proceeds to read her palm. The fortune teller grabs her hand and closes her eyes. After a few minutes she suddenly drops Jasmines hand and sits back into her chair. The fortune teller looks
shocked. She is shaking her head and then a chill shakes her body.
“What is it?” says Jasmine in confusion. The fortune teller stands up and says, “I can’t help you I’m sorry here is your money back”. The fortune teller throws their cash on the table and walks briskly behind the curtain in the back of the shop. Nikki looks amused and says, “That was so weird let’s get out of here.” The gang leaves the shop looking for something new to explore.
KIDNAPPED
It’s Saturday night. The gang heads back out to the bars filled on Bourbon street. This time Nikki buys the first round of shots. Jasmine buys the second round of shots and John buys the third
round of shots. They are having the time of they’re lives.
Unknown to them is the fact that someone is stalking them. Watching their every move.
They grab a taxi and head back to the townhouse. Nikki is drunk, and John is tipsy. They open the front door and its dark inside. Jasmine goes to flip on the lights, but the light won’t turn on. John and Nikki flop on the coach in the living room. Nikki quickly passes out on the coach and start snoring. “Are the lights not working?” says John. Jasmine walks into the kitchen, “The lights won’t turn on”, she says. “Maybe we should tell the owner to pay the light bill,” says John.
Jasmine turns on the light on her iPhone. She sweeps the kitchen wall first looking for the fuse box. Unbeknownst to her is a man dressed in all black and a black ski mask hiding and waiting in the kitchen. He suddenly lunges at her and grabs her by the waist and smothers a napkin to her nose and mouth before she can scream. She passes out
the man in black drags her from the kitchen into the garage.
In the garage there is a black Ford Econo van with dark tint windows. He drags her lifeless body into the back of the van. John hears a slight noise. “Jasmine did you find the fuse box”? he ask. John gets up and walks into the kitchen. He notices the door leading into the garage is open. The man in black suddenly lunges from behind and smothers him with a napkin. John is instantly unconscious.
John’s body is dragged by his hands from the kitchen into the garage then pushed into the back of the van. The man in black returns inside into the living room. Nikki is passed out on the couch asleep. He picks up Nikki and throws her body over his shoulder. She wakes up and notices it’s not John. “Who are you put me down!” she screams. Nikki is punching on his chest and kicks. The man in black pulls out the napkin again and smothers her in the nose and mouth. She immediately passes out. He carries her body into the garage and dumps her body in the back of the van with the others unconscious. The man in black closes the back doors. He pulls of his black leather gloves and black ski mask. The face of the kidnapper is revealed but no one can witness what happened and who it is.
He gets into the driver’s seat, starts the van and takes off to an unknown location. There’s nothing in the back of the van. No seats or tools or anything except for a plastic tarp lining the bed of the truck and three unconscious bodies.
The van drives onto a highway then a dirt road. There are no other cars, and nothing can be seen in the dark of the night.
IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT
An old abandoned warehouse in an unknown location. It’s the early morning. It’s rural
country in the middle of the bayou. The last highway was miles away. A dirt road is the only way in and out.
Inside is Jasmine, Nikki and John all hands tied up by rope in the middle to this steel beam. A single light shines down and lights the whole inside. The light flickers as bugs get drawn to the light. Crickets are the only thing that can be heard. Its calm and quiet.
Jasmine is extremely drowsy, but she slowly wakes up. One eye first then the other. She looks to her right then to her left. She doesn't see anything but darkness in all four corners. She doesn't have that much energy and it’s hard to remember what just happened. She tries to scream for help but there is duct tape over her mouth. She looks over her shoulder and sees her friends tied up as well. Nikki and John are still passed out.
Outside on the dirt road there are the headlights of a vehicle approaching the warehouse. It’s the same black van that was in their garage. It pulls up to the warehouse, parks but leaves the headlights on. The sound of the van’s doors opening and slamming
shut is heard. A man walks up to the warehouse and opens the warehouse door. It’s a man dressed in all black. Another man in all black follows behind the first. They walk in and stand in front of the gang and watch for a couple of minutes.
Jasmine quickly realizes these strange people walking into and pretends to be passed out again. She closes her eyes and leans her head down. The now two men in black untie Jasmine, Nikki and John and again dump their bodies into the back of the van. The two men step back and stand behind appearing to talk among each other. Jasmine tries to look up and see what they are saying but she can’t make anything, and she quickly pulls her head down.
The two men in black return to the vehicle and drive down another dirt road. The van pulls up to the shore of a swamp where an airboat is waiting. This time they tie everyone's hands and feet together and load their bodies into the bed of the airboat. The man in black starts the engine and both John and Nikki wake up. They look around confused but realize they are tied and their mouths taped.
The airboat is traveling now at full speed across the
water. Alligator eyes shine when the flashlight is shined into the water. Nikki and John both look at each other they have a worried look. Jasmine looks over at them and shakes her head. After a forty- five-minute ride the airboat finally start slowing down. It pulls up to a shore. Jasmine, Nikki and John pretend to be dead again. The men in black pick up all the bodies and bring them to this camp site.
SACRIFICE
The camp site has a bonfire lit in the center. Tiki torches are lighting the outer edges of the site. There is a haunting sound in the b
ackground. A crowd of people singing a chant. A drum beat. A powerful smell of odor.
Jasmine, Nikki and John are left inside a small cabin room this time only with their hands tied and no duct tape. A man in black guards the outside door with a shotgun.
“Oh My God, what’s going on?” says Nikki. Jasmine whispers at Nikki, “keep it down I have a plan to get us out of here.” John looks out the window he sees the guard and tikki torches. “Any idea where we are”? says John. “Somewhere on the bayou.” I say we take out that guard, steal his gun and make a run for the airboat,” says Jasmine in a low voice.
In the meanwhile, on the other side of the camp is an ongoing ritual. There is the body of a man lying on a table. A priest is looming over the body of the man painting the body with symbols. A crowd of about a dozen people appear to be under the influence of some psychedelic drugs and chanting with the sound of a drum beat.
The priest picks up a dagger from the table with both hands. He says a few words then stabs the man in the chest. Blood gushes from his chest and mouth. The congregation cheers in elation. They tie the feet with weights and drop it in the swamp waters nearby.
