DEATH AT GREEN HOLLOW’S CURVE
Anthony Brewster
Copyright © Scream Chamber 2012
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, alive or dead, private and public establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and is not responsible for any author or third-party websites or their content.
DEATH AT GREEN HOLLOW’S CURVE
It was a breezy Saturday morning, and despite the rainclouds forming from afar, the day seemed very promising. Anna was busy selecting the clothes she would bring to her weekend retreat with her long-time boyfriend, Paul. She could not believe that they were really finally going to have a mini vacation. Anna worked as a fact checker for the local newspaper, and Paul was a feature editor there. They had been buried with work for weeks, and having this weekend for themselves was a well-deserved break. Anna planned for this weekend, and she would make up to Paul for her self-imposed isolation this past few weeks. “Nothing will go wrong this time,” Anna reassured herself, as she arranged her clothes in her backpack.
“Honey, have you seen the shirt you gave for my birthday? You know, the green one with a collar. I figured it would be nice to wear that for our weekend,” Paul said as he entered their bedroom. Paul was a lanky guy with a bad case of freckles all over his face. He was a bit insecure of these, but was glad that Anna did not care for them. He approached Anna, and watched her as she packed her clothes.
“I think it’s still in the dryer. Please, do not wear that. We both know I bought that without thinking it over. You look like a giant praying mantis when you wear that green shirt. Just pick something else, or better yet, just wear this. You look good in this,” Anna replied as she handed Paul a black turtleneck.
“Fine, but I’m bringing it anyway. I really like that one. Do you think we’ll be able to leave before lunch? I want to have brunch at that Italian diner near Haven Road, “Paul said as he put on the turtleneck.
“Yeah, I think so. Grab me some socks, and I’ll just give a call to the bed and breakfast to confirm that we’re coming. Brunch sounds really nice. I’m famished,” Anna said.
By ten in the morning, Anna and Paul were set to leave for their mini vacation. They loaded their backpacks in the station wagon, and checked the locks of their apartment.
“Let’s go! Old Moor Cottage Inn, here we come!” Anna cheered as she positioned herself beside the driver’s seat. Paul’s station wagon was a bit old; he got it from his college roommate who later went overseas to work. It took a few attempts, but Paul managed to start the car’s engine. “Look at those rainclouds. God, I hope we won’t have to pass through that. This car is a mud away from total destruction,” Paul said. Anna sighed and said, “Well, we can’t let those rainclouds scare us away. We are going to New Jersey, no matter what.” Paul looked at Anna, and gave her a kiss. He loved Anna’s stubbornness and determination. He promised himself that he would make this weekend perfect for the sake of Anna’s happiness.
They drove to that Italian diner Paul liked so much. It was almost full, and the only seats they could take were at the counter. They walked towards their seats, and settled. After giving their orders, Paul pulled out his state map, and showed it to Anna.
“Hey, I was thinking last night. If we take the Morgan Road, and head straight for Green Hollow’s Curve, we can be at the Interstate Highways before nightfall. If we don’t take these roads, we’ll probably be stuck in the traffic at this road,” Paul explained to Anna, as he pointed the marked roads in his map.
“By nightfall? That is one long drive, huh. Fine, we will take those roads, but I would like you to know that we would be missing an amazing sunset. It’s one of the most beautiful things that the Old Moor B and B are offering. It would have been so romantic,” Anna sighed, as she accepted the drinks from the barman. Paul took a sip from his drink, and he countered, “Sunsets are beautiful no matter where you are. Besides, the Green Hollow’s Curve is our best bet if we want to reach that inn today.” The barman did a double take from what Paul had said, and he creepily whispered, “Don’t take the Green Hollow’s Curve. It’s too dangerous for couples like you.”
Paul and Anna were startled by the barman’s comment. The barman’s name was Mateo. He was an Italian-American man in his late fifties. He had this bald spot, and really dark eyes, which made Anna a bit uncomfortable.
“Excuse me. What did you just say?” Paul closed his maps and faced the barman.
“Don’t you know about the infamous story of the Mad Axe-man of the Curve? That story has been told and retold in this diner for several years,” Mateo replied. Anna’s love for facts and verifying them kicked in, and she started questioning Mateo about this so-called ghost story. “Well, it happened a very long time ago, about fifty years. There was this man named Henry, and he married a nice, young lady named Anne. They lived in this same town, and you know that in a town this small, anything unusual that you do will be certainly talked about by your own neighbors. Now, you see Henry and Anne had some troubles in their marriage. They cannot connect with each other because of the age gap, and Henry was always away. He was a lumberjack, you see. Anne kept to herself on the days that Henry was away, but her neighbors took her isolation as a sign that she was hiding something. They started some really nasty rumors about Anne, and one of these rumors was that she was having an affair with a childhood friend of hers. These rumors passed from one ear to another, until it finally reached Henry’s. Now, you see, Henry was a big guy with a bit of a wild temper. One day, he decided to take Anne for a drive, and confront her about these rumors. Anne was caught off-guard, and she failed to explain and defend her side. Henry grew more frustrated with her, so he pulled over by the side of Green Hollow’s Curve. He demanded Anne to step outside the car, and he pulled his axe from the backseat. He was so angry and jealous, and before he knew it, he hacked Anne to death. Fortunately, or unfortunately, a police car was patrolling the Green Hollow’s Curve. The policemen saw Anne’s bloody body and decapitated head and Henry’s axe dripping with blood. They put two and two together and ordered Henry to drop the axe, and face the ground. Henry, still boiling with rage, decided to hack the policemen, too. But an axe was nothing compared to guns, and Henry was gunned down before he even took a step. He died right on the spot, beside his wife, Anne. The murder of Anne and Henry’s attack shook the town for a while, and a few weeks later, everything seemed normal again. It was not until the policemen took another drive down the Green Hollow’s Curve, and they saw some eerie lights and the spirit of Henry, looking angrier and more menacing than ever. He was holding his axe, and there were numerous people who claimed that they had seen Henry’s ghost, too. Many of those who had seen him were couples passing the Green Hollow’s Curve in the dead of the night.” Mateo finished his ghostly tale with a sip of his own drink.
Paul and Anna did not know how to react with the story. It all sounded like a campfire story for Anna. She believed that this was just one of the ghost stories that old people told to discourage teenagers from driving at night. She had heard plenty of stories like this in her job, and from what Mateo said, rumors l
ike this was very common in their town.
“Look, mister. I’m a fact checker at the Daily Herald, and Paul here is an editor there, too. The story you just told us is pretty good, but I don’t think the haunting part is entirely true. Ghost stories are great, and I love them. But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, and swallow them entirely. Thanks for your story, and for your fair warning. But, Paul and I really need to pass that road to be at New Jersey as soon as possible,” Anna explained to Mateo. She looked at Paul for backup, and Paul added, “That’s right. Plus, we would be out of that road before nightfall anyway, so I don’t think we would encounter the spirit of Henry”. Mateo shrugged, and mumbled something that sounded like, “Kids these days…” Paul handed their bill plus a good tip for Mateo, and Anna headed for the car.
Once inside the station wagon, Anna launched her questions to Paul. “You don’t seriously believe what he said, do you? There is nothing to worry about, right?”
Paul replied as he started the car, “Well, the story spooked me a bit. But, you don’t have to worry. If we ever see that ghost, he won’t be able to do anything. We won’t be stopping the car and saying hello to him.”
Anna gradually relaxed as they went back to the road. She could see the incoming rain clouds. She really hoped that it would pour on other areas instead. Paul turned on the music, and Anna began to slip into dreamland. In her dreams, she was standing beside a road she had never seen before. It was so foggy, and she was having a hard time looking for something familiar. She started to call out for Paul, but all she heard was a distant thumping sound. She walked towards the direction of the sound, hoping that she would find Paul. She stepped blindly into the fog, and it slowly dispersed. From where she was standing, she could see that it was a wooded area. There was a lone figure by the nearest tree. She tried calling out for Paul again, but the figure just ignored her. She carefully made her way to the figure, who, upon closer look, was a man. She recognized the green shirt she really hated, and was relieved that Paul was just a few steps away. She approached him, but he was facing the opposite directions. “Hey. Paul, what’s wrong?” He slowly turned towards Anna, and what Anna saw made her scream. Paul was all bloody, and he was holding an axe to his chest. He grabbed Anna, and said, “Where were you, Anna?”
Anna awoke and she noticed that it had started raining. “Are you okay? We have just passed the Morgan Road. We’ll be at the Interstate soon,” Paul informed her. Anna was still shaken by her nightmare, and she could not tell Paul about it because she was sure that he would tease her. Instead, she nodded her head and reached for her bottled water. She looked outside the car window, and she was surprised by what she had seen. The side of the Green Hollow’s Curve looked exactly the same as the wooded area in her nightmare. The trees looked the same, and the unsettling fog was starting to fill up the woods. She was twisting the bottle cap nervously, when Paul noticed her unusual behavior.
“Are you alright? You look nervous.” Paul asked. Anna sometimes hated that Paul knew her too much. She replied, “Nothing.” But she knew that Paul would not believe her, so she added, “Well, I’m actually worried about your car. This station wagon is so old. I don’t want to be towed away when your car’s engine fail again.”
Paul gave a little smile, and replied, “Don’t worry about this car. This baby will deliver us to our perfect weekend together. Why don’t you take a nap again, and let me drive in peace. I need my full concentration in this road. It’s named Green Hollow’s Curve for a reason.”
Anna took his advice, and she tried to sleep again. She kept reminding herself that it was merely a dream, and that her mind was just playing cruel tricks on her again. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not get back to sleep. She could not shake the uneasy feeling she was having. This road was starting to creep up on her.
The rain was pouring harder, and road visibility was almost zero. Paul was having a hard time driving, and Anna was also starting to get more and more anxious. She took a peek outside the car window once again, and could not see the woods properly anymore. It was already early evening, and she did not think that they would reach the Interstate before nightfall. They had been going slowly because the road was pretty slippery and Paul could not see through it well. They had not encountered a passing car or any other living soul since they had entered the Green Hollow’s Curve. Anna kept thinking back to her nightmares and the old barman’s story. They should have not listened to him, or even stopped at that diner. A lightning flashed out of nowhere, followed by a loud rumble of the thunder. The rain was showing no signs of stopping any time soon. All of these things were making Anna more worried every minute, and Paul had no idea what was going on with Anna’s mind.
Finally, Anna could not take it anymore. She was so worried that they might crash and get stuck in the Green Hollow’s Curve for the whole night. She touched Paul’s arm and said, “Paul, let’s stop for a while. Let’s wait until the rain lets up or stops. Just pull by the side of the road now, please.” Paul looked at Anna for a second, and he nodded his head in agreement. There was something wrong with Anna. He was slowing his car to a stop, but as he stepped on his brakes, the less friction between the road and his tires started to create some problems. He was losing control over the station wagon, and instead of slowing down by the side of the road, their car took a sudden plunge off the road. Their car slid down more until it stopped at the bottom of an incline. By the time it was all over, Paul and Anna were both sickly pale and very shaken.
Paul and Anna were both very shocked about their little road accident. The station wagon’s engine was starting to give unusual noises, and he could sense another incoming problem. Paul finally came to his full senses, and he hurriedly asked if Anna was all right. He could see that she had turned very pale, and she was visibly shaking. Anna gathered up her remaining willpower, and she slowly nodded her head. Paul would not simply settle for those nods, so he probed more.
“Are you hurt? Did you break anything? Did you hit your head or something?”
Anna did not want to upset Paul more, so she pretended that her head hurt after being hit against the car windows. Paul looked for Anna’s purse, and located an aspirin for her. She obliged him, and told him that she was slowly feeling much better. Paul finally relaxed a little bit, but he knew that this was just a minor hiccup to the other possible problems that the slide had caused.
After a few more minutes of silence, Paul decided to head out in the rain, and check the extent of damage the crash had caused his old station wagon. “Hey, I’m going out to see how bad it is. Stay here. Do you have an umbrella or a rain coat in here?” Anna shook her head in reply because she still could not find her voice fully. “Oh well, I won’t be long. Check your phone for service in here. We might need a tow truck or the police. Mateo told us that policemen do patrols, right?” Anna nodded in agreement, as she pulled out her mobile phone.
Paul went out in the heavy rain and checked the front side of the station wagon. Anna watched his blurry figure as it was illuminated by the headlights. It was really dark now, and the headlights were the only light source she could see from the inside of their car. She unlocked the screen of her phone, and her heart sank when it displayed that there was no signal reception in this part of the Green Hollow’s Curve. She silently cursed their luck, when Paul jumped right back in to the car. He was soaking wet, and he was dripping rainwater all over the driver’s seat. Anna could tell from his expression that they were in real trouble this time.
“How was it? We did not hit any tree at all. It can’t be that bad,” Anna inquired. Paul shook his head, and answered, “The car is not badly damaged at all. Actually, I’m a bit surprised that the engine is still somehow working fine. However, we are deep in the mud, inches and inches of mud. Remember when I told you that this station wagon is a mud away from total destruction? Well, it’s happening right now, and I don’t think that I can get us out of here. I’m really sorry, Anna. Our weekend is starting to spiral
down. But, don’t despair yet. I’m going out to get us some help. How’s the reception here?”
Anna informed Paul that there was no reception here, but she would keep watching in case that a stray signal would be intercepted by their phones. Paul sighed in response, and said “I guess our only hopes are other travelers or the cops. I’m heading out. I’ll turn off the engine and the headlights. Now, please keep safe. Lock the doors when I go out, and don’t ever open it for anybody other than me. I have a bat in the backseat, in case things take a turn for the worst. In any case, just be safe for my sake, Anna.”
Anna gave him a small reassuring smile, and she replied, “Don’t talk to me like I’m a seven year old kid, Mr. Paul Stanley. I will stay here and wait here and pray that some car will arrive and help us. So, go, and keep safe, Paul, for my sake, too.” She kissed Paul on the lips, and settled down in her seat. Paul went out again in the rain, which was starting to show signs of stopping. He smiled at Anna, and closed the door firmly, and decisively.
Anna was silent for a moment. It was true that their weekend retreat at New Jersey was now starting to sound impossible. No more romantic sunsets, or soothing massage, or even those activities that the inn prepared for couples like them. She would give anything right now to be out of this mess, and be back at the comforts of their own apartment. If she had been back there, she would have probably been watching some comedy TV show with Paul because those TV shows were their guilty pleasures. They would have probably ordered a box of pizza and shared six-packed beers. They would have been alone in their own little space in the world, completely safe, warm, and away from any ghosts or whatnots. She was pondering whether she had been too greedy to want this vacation so badly. Anna was the one who proposed for this trip anyway. She persuaded Paul, even though he clearly wanted to keep things simple, and just stay within the state. But, it was not all too late for her regrets, and blaming herself would not save them from this mess. She checked her phone again, and hoped that there would be a signal reception. The mobile phone displayed that there was none at all.
Death at Green Hollow’s Curve: Scary Story to Tell in the Dark Page 1
