by Dale Young
33
“Colby, wake up!” Logan said as he shook Colby awake. Her eyes flickered open and for a moment she was disoriented. Then she focused on Logan leaning over her.
“What’s wrong?”
Logan wasted no time explaining. “We’ve got to get out of the house!” was all he said.
He stood up while Colby climbed out of the bed. Once she was on her feet he resisted the urge to grab her by the hand and run out of the bedroom.
“Put your pants on! And your shirt. Cover as much skin as you can. And put your shoes on.” Colby grabbed her clothes lying in a pile on the floor. She quickly pulled on her jeans, T-shirt and shoes. Logan did the same and then moved quickly to the old dresser sitting in the corner. He pulled open a drawer and grabbed an old cotton nightgown that had belonged to Rosemary. He tossed it to Colby.
“Ball that up and breathe through it.” Colby did as she was told just as Logan grabbed her by the hand. “Let’s go. We have to get out of here. The house is on fire.”
He pulled Colby to the door of the bedroom. He looked down the hall and saw that it was quickly filling with smoke. Without hesitating, he guided Colby out of the bedroom and into the hallway. Within seconds they were standing at the top of the stairs looking down into the foyer below.
“What are we going to do, Logan?”
He looked at Colby. He felt the courage that he had longed for suddenly explode in his chest. He knew that he had to save her life, as well as his own. It was all up to him.
“We’re going down the stairs. They’re not on fire yet so we don’t have to worry about them collapsing. We’ll go into one of the rooms downstairs and try to get out of a window.”
“I’m scared, Logan. I don’t know if I can do that.”
Logan looked at Colby. He raised her hand to her face, the hand holding the old nightgown.
“Just breathe through this. I’ll handle the rest.” With this, Logan bent down and lifted Colby over his shoulder and wrapped one arm around her legs as they hung in front of him. He used his other hand to grab the handrail to steady himself. Then he began to descend the stairs.
The heat coming from the front of the house was unbearable when Logan got to the bottom of the stairs. He was glad he and Colby had taken the extra few seconds to put on their clothes. Once he was off the stairs he looked to his left and then to his right. The dining room was completely ablaze. The portrait of Carson and Rosemary was already on fire and was almost completely destroyed.
He looked to his right and saw that the living room was not quite as bad. He moved quickly into the room and then put Colby down so that he could find something to use to break the window.
Colby began to cough. “Hurry!” she said as she watched Logan pick up one of the antique chairs sitting in front of the fireplace.
Logan lifted the chair and ran towards the only window in the room. It was tall and ran down almost to the floor. He threw the chair as hard as he could towards the glass, which was framed with raging yellow flames. The heavy chair broke through the window with a crash and landed on the porch outside.
He grabbed Colby and threw her over his shoulder again. Without hesitation he moved to the window and pushed his way through and onto the porch. Then he held Colby tightly as he jumped off the end of the porch to the grass a few feet below. When they hit the ground Logan’s legs buckled. He dropped Colby and they both rolled over onto their backs.
Logan got up and pulled Colby up with him. He took her by the hand and led her out into the front yard until they were far enough from the house to feel safe. Cool air rushed into their lungs as they moved.
Once they were out in the yard they turned around and looked at the Shaw house, now almost completely ablaze.
Colby grabbed Logan and embraced him. “Logan, you saved my life. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Logan replied as he held Colby tight. When they released each other Colby looked over her shoulder and saw something burning on the walkway that led to the porch steps.
“Logan, what is that? Look, there’s something in front of the porch stairs.”
Logan focused on the body lying at the foot of the porch stairs.
“Stay here. I don’t want you near the fire.” Logan then walked quickly across the yard until he was a few feet away from the burning pile of flesh that had once been Ethan McPhale. The five gallon can of kerosene lying close to the body told Logan all he needed to know. He turned and walked back to Colby.
“Looks like this town is fresh out of McPhales. Seems Ethan got a little too close to his own handiwork and caught himself on fire. Serves him right, the ignorant motherfucker.”
Colby looked past Logan at the burning remains of Ethan. “How do you know it’s him?”
“I can tell. It makes sense. He probably came over tonight to avenge his sorry ass brother. Now they can both rot in Hell together. They got what was coming to them.”
“Logan, your house…” Colby turned her gaze from Ethan’s body to the raging inferno of the Shaw house.
“I don’t really care, Colby. It’s probably better this way. All those restless souls, maybe they can move on now. Besides, I have plenty of land. We can build another one.” Logan then pulled Colby to him. “I managed to save the only thing in the house that’s important to me.” At the sound of this, Colby kissed Logan and held him tight. Then she released him and looked up into his eyes.
“I knew there was a hero in there somewhere,” she said as she placed her hand on Logan’s chest.
For a moment, Logan and Colby were lost in each other’s eyes. Then Logan snapped back to reality and looked at the burning house once again.
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of this town for tonight. We need to get out of here. We can come back tomorrow or the next day but right now let’s just get out of town.”
“Where are we going?” asked Colby.
“Just come with me.” Logan then took Colby by the hand and led her to his car sitting near the fountain in the circular portion of the driveway. It was far enough from the house that it had not been damaged by the flames. Once in the car, Logan tipped the sun visor. He smiled as the keys fell into his lap.
“I know a place,” he said as he cranked the engine.
34
Colby was asleep when Logan pulled into his trailer park. He eased the car up to his mobile home and then brought it to a stop, the headlights illuminating the front door of his trailer in a wash of white light. He looked over at Lowell’s trailer and saw that the lights were out. It was just after four in the morning.
“Colby…” Logan said as he gently put his hand on her shoulder. “Wake up, baby.”
His eyes fluttered open. She sat up in the car seat and was momentarily disoriented, but when she looked over at Logan she immediately relaxed. She could see him smiling at her in the reflected glow of the headlights.
“Where are we?” Colby said as she looked around her. Then her eyes settled on the mobile home in front of the car.
“Welcome to the Casa de Shaw. The real one. Believe it or not I actually bought this with my own money. Well, insurance money anyway. The trailer’s all mine, I just pay rent on the lot. And as far as I know my humble little abode here isn’t haunted.”
Colby turned her head and looked at Logan, a sleepy grin working its way onto her face.
“I love it. The big old house in Starlight wasn’t really you. And to tell you the truth, it wasn’t really me either. Can we go inside?”
“Yep. I asked my neighbor Lowell to keep an eye out while I was gone. Looks like he fell asleep on the job.” Logan then nodded towards Lowell’s dark trailer. “You can meet him and his wife tomorrow.”
Logan reached over the seat and grabbed the manila envelope Harmon had given him during one of their meetings. It contained a copy of Rosemary’s will and information on how to access the money in the bank.
“What’s that?” Colby asked.
“I’ll tell you all
about it tomorrow. For now, let’s go in and try to get some sleep. We only have a few hours before the sun comes up.”
He got out of the car and walked around and opened Colby’s door. Then he took her by the hand and led her to the front door of his mobile home. He had forgotten to leave a light on when he had left for Starlight over a week ago and was apprehensive about opening the door and walking into the dark trailer.
Once inside, Logan patted the wall beside the door until he found the light switch. One flick of the switch bathed the small living room with the warm glow of incandescent light.
He locked the door behind them. “Wait here,” he said as he let go of Colby’s hand. “Just let me give the place a quick check.”
Logan moved through the trailer turning on lights as he went. He checked the bedroom windows and then the closet. He switched on the light in the small bathroom as he walked through the narrow hallway back to the kitchen. Colby was still standing by the front door.
“All secure. Let’s hit the sack. Tomorrow will be another day.”
She smiled as she and Logan embraced by the door. Then she followed him to the bedroom. They stripped naked and crawled under the sheets. Then Colby leaned over Logan lying on his back beside her.
“Thank you again for saving my life, Logan.” She looked into his eyes as the dim glow from the streetlight outside sifted through the window drapes and cast crooked shadows through the bedroom.
“You’re not the only one that has been saved, Colby. You’ve rescued me too.”
He pulled Colby on top of him. The lovemaking was slow and passionate. He could feel her heart beating as he held her body to his, her breath hot against his neck. When they were finished they fell asleep curled up together in the small bedroom, a room no bigger than the pantry had been at the Shaw mansion in Starlight. The last thought that went through Logan Shaw’s head before he fell fast asleep was how much more like home his trailer felt now that he was sharing his bed with a woman that he loved, and who loved him in return.
***
Logan finally woke up just after eight o’clock. Instinctively he sniffed the air for the smell of coffee only to remember that he had not set up the coffeemaker the night before when he and Colby had arrived from Starlight.
Colby was still sound asleep beside him. Logan eased himself out of bed and slipped on his pants and shirt. He knew he didn’t have anything to cook for breakfast but he knew he could at least make coffee. That would be a good start. He could always make a biscuit run once Colby woke up.
He moved down the hallway to the kitchen and in a few minutes had a fresh pot of coffee brewing. He leaned over the sink and stared out across the trailer park through the kitchen window. In the distance he could hear the sound of the large cranes working the cargo in the nearby port. He knew he needed to call Sheriff Patterson. Now that the sun had come up the news of the Shaw house burning down was probably all over Starlight, as well as the news of Ethan’s burnt corpse.
Logan began to run the events of the previous night through his head. He thought about the burning house and how he and Colby had barely escaped with their lives. He thought about the charred corpse of Ethan McPhale and the bloody, mutilated corpse of his brother Chip. Logan thought about how he and Colby had pieced together the puzzle of the ghost of tobacco road and how maybe now Clara’s ghost could rest in peace. He thought about how the house had shared its secrets with him during the long nights he had spent there. Now it was all gone. But like he had told Colby, Logan knew they could rebuild the house. Or build another one somewhere else. He could sell the land, or he could keep it. But as long as he had Colby he knew everything would fall into place.
His final thought was about Scarlett, and how her ghost had saved them from dying in the fire. Hopefully her soul was now at peace as well.
Outside the window Logan saw a car slowly drift by on the road in front of his trailer. He watched as the car turned into the short gravel driveway of Lowell’s trailer. Logan knew he needed to go out and thank Lowell for watching over his trailer while he had been gone.
The smell of coffee had spread all through the trailer and Logan could hear Colby stirring in the bedroom. He turned his attention once again to the distant cranes working the port. Then he pushed himself away from the sink and walked to the front door. Maybe he could catch Lowell before he went inside his trailer. Then maybe later when he and Colby had themselves together he could formally introduce her to Lowell and his wife.
He unlocked the front door and pulled it open. Just as he was about to step through the door he looked down. His mouth slowly opened and he drew in a deep breath, unable to believe what he was seeing. His mind had to be playing tricks on him. Logan knew that what he was seeing had no place in a trailer park outside of an industrial shipping port. And he knew it was not there by accident.
He slowly reached down and picked up the small yellow flower. Just then, Colby walked up behind him and almost scared him into the next life.
“What is it?” she said as she rubbed one of her eyes.
“Looks like we had a visitor last night,” he said as he handed the flower to Colby.
Thank you for reading. Click here if you would like to leave a review for The Ghost of Tobacco Road.
About the Author
Dale Young was born in North Carolina. His family has deep roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a dark and spooky land where superstitions about the dead run deep. The ghost stories and tales of wandering spirits passed down through his family over the years caused him many sleepless nights and inspired him to become a writer at an early age.
Dale writes horror and supernatural suspense novels set in the American South, where the souls of the dead seldom rest in peace. His novels are available in ebook format and in print.
Visit Dale’s website at dalejyoung.com and subscribe to his blog to receive posts about Southern ghost folklore as well as notices of upcoming book releases and special discount offers.
Novels by Dale J. Young
Horror and supernatural suspense:
The Darklands
The Ghost of Tobacco Road
The Summerland Trilogy
Other novels
