Dark Things IV
Page 8
Cursed
by E.J. Tett
“Cursed?” she repeated. “Don’t you think that’s a bit...cliché?”
Brody shrugged and adjusted the baseball cap on his head. He tapped his pen against the notepad. “I don’t care,” he said. “It sounds good.”
“Right,” she said, unimpressed. “A cursed forest.”
Brody gave her a grin. “Yeah,” he said, “full of evil things that eat people.” He took his baseball cap off, ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, and then put his cap back on. “Get me a drink, Vic?” he said. “I’m melting out here.”
“Get your own,” Victoria replied, but she went into the house anyway. “My brother the writer,” she muttered to herself, taking a carton of juice from the fridge and pouring two glasses full. “Yeah right.”
She headed outside again, almost tripping over the cat as she went and spilling juice over onto her hands. She frowned, handed a glass to Brody, and then shook droplets onto the ground before licking her fingers. “Have you even started it yet?” she asked, peering over his shoulder.
***
They’d gone into the forest to play, Callum Fowler and his sister Wynn. That’s all. They hadn’t heard of the curse. Of course, the idea of a curse might not have even stopped them; they might have been more inclined to investigate if they’d have heard of such a thing. Or they might have always been destined to end up in the forest...such is often the way with curses.
***
“Of course I’ve started it,” Brody said, sipping his juice. “But I think I’ve hit a block.”
“Already?” Victoria asked, laughing. “Why don’t you introduce some monsters or something? Or I dunno, kill one of them off?”
Brody gave her a look that told her he was not impressed with her suggestion. “It doesn’t work that way,” he said. “You have to...wait...”
***
The trees were tall and wide, but it was not dark in the forest. Not during the day time. At night things changed. Moonlight didn’t filter through the branches; people didn’t camp out with their torches and their fires. It was dark at night. And quiet.
Callum grinned at Wynn as she wrapped her arms around herself, looking nervously through the trees. “Maybe we should head home now?” she said. “It’s getting late.”
“I’m not scared!” Callum scoffed. And he wasn’t. After all, there was nothing there but the trees, and it wasn’t that late.
“Neither am I!” Wynn protested. “But I am hungry. Our dinner’s probably ready by now and Mum’ll be wondering where we are. I’m going home.”
Callum watched and waited with a bemused smile. Wynn didn’t move, though her frown deepened as he looked at her. Then she huffed and marched off through the forest alone.
***
“Cliché again,” Victoria said, thrusting the notepad back into Brody’s hands. “Having them split up? Isn’t that, like, the first rule of everything? Never split up! You’ve been out here for hours now and that’s it?”
“I haven’t finished it yet!” Brody said, getting to his feet. “Are you coming?”
“Coming where?” Victoria asked, bending down to scoop the cat up into her arms.
Brody gave her a grin and then said dramatically, “Nerford Wood!”
Nerford Wood was a nature reserve just down the road from their home. Victoria didn’t think it would be particularly inspiring. She scratched the cat’s ears. “Why are you going there? It’ll be dark soon.”
“I know,” Brody said, shrugging. “That’s why I’m going there. For the atmosphere. You coming? Or are you too scared?”
“Yeah, Brody, your imagination is frightening,” Victoria said dryly. But she put the cat down anyway. “I’ll come.”
***
Callum was starting to worry. He had no idea where Wynn had got to, and he couldn’t remember how to get home. The trees groaned and creaked in the wind and it was starting to get cold. He’d called his sister’s name once and then couldn’t bring himself to call out again in case something in the dark called back.
He glanced back over his shoulders constantly, telling himself every time that he was being silly, that nothing was following him.
A fox barked and Callum gasped. “Stupid,” he muttered to himself, trudging onwards. He thrust his hands under his arms to keep them warm and wondered miserably if he’d die of hyperthermia if he had to camp out.
An owl flew silently from one of the trees and Callum watched wide-eyed as it glided right over him before disappearing deeper into the forest.
The trees were still creaking and something was rustling in the undergrowth. Just a mouse, he told himself. He looked back over his shoulder again but nothing was following him. He could feel his heart beating painfully in his chest.
The trees groaned, old wood shifting in the dark, branches creaking like arthritic old bones, leaves rustling and whispering to him in the night as the wind stirred them.
Callum stopped walking and listened.
***
“Still no monsters,” Victoria said quietly, looking over at the notepad on Brody’s lap. She sat on her hands to keep warm as it was getting cold now that the sun had gone. Her brother didn’t answer her so she turned and looked away through the trees. Creepy, she thought.
Something was making a noise as it burrowed through the leaf litter on the forest floor. A mole maybe. Victoria glanced at Brody but he was engrossed in his work and didn’t seem to notice.
“I’m going to write us into this,” he said, not looking up.
“Great,” Victoria muttered. And she watched the forest again.
***
The roots were moving. It wasn’t an animal. It was the roots of the trees! Callum watched in horrified fascination as they snaked across the ground, churning up the earth as they went.
He followed one root to a dead rabbit, then stood and watched as more roots came up from the earth and enveloped the carcass, pulling it slowly back down beneath the soil.
He felt something sharp in the side of his foot suddenly and, when he looked down, saw that one of the roots had pushed into his shoe. Callum cried out and wrenched his foot away. The root was glistening with dark blood. His blood. It sought him out again.
***
“Ok, did you hear that?” Victoria asked Brody.
“What?” Brody asked, chewing his pen as he looked up at her briefly.
“It sounded like a scream,” Victoria said. “We should get back, this place is starting to freak me out.”
“It was a fox, Vic,” Brody said, grinning. “They’ve got horrible barks.” He took his baseball cap off, ran a hand through his hair, and then put the cap back on before turning back to his work.
***
Callum ran until he couldn’t run anymore. He stopped and panted for breath, doubled over with his hands on his knees. Trees were slow at least, trees were...
Callum looked up and spotted the figure sat back against one of the trees. He laughed with relief. Even in the dark he could tell it was Wynn. He straightened up and headed over to her.
She was moving, fidgeting uncomfortably. “Hey,” Callum said. “Where’ve you...”
Roots jerked her body as the trees feasted on her flesh. Wynn was dead, he could see that now. The forest devoured her slowly.
Callum stared and chocked back a sob. He felt something snake over his shoe and looked down to see a sharp red root trying to find its way to his skin. He looked at Wynn again. And then he ran.
***
“I don’t think that was a fox that time,” Victoria hissed, getting to her feet. “Brody!”
“Relax,” he said, frowning over his notepad. “Sit down.”
“No, I won’t sit down,” Victoria said. “I’m going home. Come on, Brody!” She looked at her brother but he didn’t even acknowledge her. She took hold of his arm and tried to pull him to his feet but he shook her irritably away.
“Fine,” she said. “Stay here and write your stu
pid story. I’m going.” She waited but he didn’t move to follow so she shook her head and marched angrily away from him.
Victoria knew her way home, it wasn’t far after all. She walked quickly through the forest, trying to ignore the creaking of the trees and the wind rustling the leaves.
She looked back over her shoulder to see if Brody was following, and then cried out as someone bolted out of the forest and bowled into her.
They both fell to the ground in a heap, but Victoria was quick to get up again. She looked down at the boy at her feet and he looked back at her with desperate, pleading eyes.
“Help me,” he begged, grasping hold of her ankle. “Please...”
Victoria’s eyes widened and she stepped back in revulsion. He was covered in blood and as she stared at him she noticed something move in the undergrowth by his side, something dark and glistening...
***
Brody grinned. And then, he wrote, the roots of the trees burst from the earth to devour them both and they screamed into the night.
He tapped his pen against the notepad and then added…
The End.
About the author:
E.J. Tett lives in Somerset, England, with her family and psycho puppy, Beau. She loves dark and weird tales and spends quite a lot of time walking around haunted buildings in the dark searching for ghosts. She is the author of young adult fantasy novel ‘The Kingdom of Malinas,’ and its sequel ‘The Empress Graves.’
Midnight Ghosts
by S.W. Morse
The family and I had a full day cutting grass and doing basic house tending. My two boys pitched in as well as spirited children can and we spent the day taking in the pungent smell of sweat mixed with the sweet scent of freshly cut grass. By the time the sun dipped behind the pines and oak, we had reached almost all my goals and we enjoyed a well-earned dinner on the back porch. Summer in Alabama is full of that sort of thing.
Wayne had been on my mind all day so when Kelly turned in she didn’t question me when I walked out the door. She just had a blank expression as if I didn’t exist. I knew when I closed the door that things would be better in the morning. This was just something we couldn’t talk about.
I parked my truck in front of Wayne’s house and, as I approached it, a family of raccoons rambled out of the broken front door, taking about twenty years off my life. I checked the place a little more thoroughly then. The night was perfect. Humidity hugged my skin and the moon drifted wide and bright. Other than the raccoons, nothing else made a sound except for the ever heard and mostly unseen insects.
I walked around back, nearly tripping over the remains of a fresh bonfire. The teens had been there again. I spied a few empty beer cans without any emotion of the fact. At first when I discovered they were going there it made me angry, but I eventually realized there wasn’t much else for the kids to do. Our community is so far removed from the big city of Montgomery they really didn’t have much of a choice. I suppose that Wayne’s house had become infamous. A place to take dates on a dare…that sort of thing.
At least the old rocker was still there though it had been overturned. I righted it and settled in for another night of contemplation. I watched the night going into full swing and, as usual, thought of Wayne and Annie. I could imagine their smiling faces in better days as they sat on the swinging bench and almost heard their laughter. Then I thought of the night of our last weekly card game. I guess that’s when it started or, at least, when I first started to believe…
…When I saw…
…When I saw…
When I saw the look in Wayne’s eyes I knew what he was thinking. The anger he subdued from an earlier argument couldn’t mask the contempt that showed through like the glint off a jig under the Alabama River. The game of Hearts had gone our way the entire night, as is usually the case when me and Wayne team up against our wives. When he switched the card in his hand for another, I knew it was the devastating Queen of Spades he’d been saving for this particular moment. He laid it down with a wicked smile. Annie, his wife, saw it and threw her cards on the table.
“Why is it me? It’s always me, ain’t it? Just once I’d like to see you give that damned card to Kelly.”
“What would be the fun in that? I like Kelly,” Wayne said as he drank the last couple of swallows from his beer can.
“Then go home with her if that’s what makes you happy.” Sudden tears welled in her brown eyes and her bottom lip quivered.
“Don’t think Roger here would take to that too well. Kelly’s a keeper and he probably don’t want nobody messing around with her. Do you, bro?”
I stared at Wayne, trying to see if he was serious or if it was just the beer talking. Kelly shot me a look I couldn’t read and I knew I had to do something. Once again our card game had gotten out of hand.
“Go on, Wayne, stop teasing Annie.” I laughed the best I could fake.
“Who’s teasing? Want another beer?”
With that, the game was over. Annie stormed out of the kitchen and Kelly scooted along after her, but not without first slapping Wayne’s baseball cap on the bill, toppling it off his head.
Once Kelly and I got home I figured it would be a long night.
“Catch,” Wayne said and tossed me a can. He walked out the back door and, with a quick glance down the empty hall, I followed him.
June evenings are comfortable in central Alabama. The mosquitoes haven’t reached their fierce September peak and the nights have the feel of a favorite shirt that fits as fine as skin. Wayne dropped onto his swinging bench with a protesting squeal of springs and I took my customary place in the old wooden rocker. We popped our beer cans and settled into a relaxed silence. Inside Wayne’s house I knew a storm was brewing.
“Why do you say those things to her? What’s the point?”
He shrugged his shoulders and looked out over the four acres of partially cleared land that constituted his back yard. He wasn’t ready to talk so I drank my beer and watched the moon rise above the slender pines. Crickets sang and a pack of coyotes howled like screaming babies somewhere in the distance.
“Picked up a scabbard for the cavalry blade. Didn’t cost much either,” Wayne said with no sense of emotion. That surprised me as his Civil War collection always seemed to be a high point for him.
“Don’t sound so excited.”
“It’s just a scabbard. Turned down a colt too.”
“You did? But you’ve been looking for one for months.”
“I know. But it was expensive and a Union piece. I’m waiting for a CSA revolver. When you have the best CSA collection in the state, you should be picky.”
I laughed. “I think you just didn’t want to pick up another Yankee piece.”
Wayne smiled. “Got my number, don’t you?”
“Ever since school.”
He smiled and kept looking out toward the field.
“How’s the job hunt going?” I asked more or less just to keep the night from being too quiet.
“No change. I’m hoping to hear from the auto plant. Bo says they’re going to hire soon. Maybe I should have done what you did, go back to school and all.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Wayne. School isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.”
“You saying I ain’t got the smarts for your engineering?”
“Hell no. I’m just saying that a degree doesn’t guarantee a thing these days. How’s the trust doing? You and Annie still okay?”
He drank the last of his beer, crumpled the can, and tossed it off the porch. “Lawyer says it’s about gone. Wish my daddy had made it a little bigger.”
“Be glad you had it at all. Kept you and Annie going quite a while now.”
“I ain’t knocking it. What I should have done was get some training like you did instead of buying this farm, the boat, the four-wheeler…then me and Annie wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“It’s not too late. Polytech has some good vocational courses and they’re reasonable.”
“Want me to lend…”
“Stop. I don’t need any handouts. I’ll do what I have to do and that’s that.”
From within the house I could hear Annie’s voice. Though I couldn’t hear the words, I definitely heard the tone.
“You sure you and Annie are all right?”
“Shit yeah. She’ll get over it because she knows what will happen to her if she gets me too riled up.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing. Let’s just say I learned how to keep her in line.”
Now my mind was spinning. Had things between them deteriorated that far? I couldn’t imagine Wayne hurting Annie physically. It just wasn’t him. Sure he could be loud and obnoxious, but then so could anyone. Hell, me too for that matter, but not that, never that.
I had grown up with Wayne. As kids we used to catch crawdads on the Alabama. We played high school football together. Summer camp outs, double dating, we did it all. And in all those years I’d never seen him do anything to anyone who didn’t have it coming, and especially, never to a girl.
Seeing him like this now and thinking about the kid he used to be, I started thinking maybe I should have left after high school, somewhere far away where I didn’t have to see my friend turn out like this. But then I wouldn’t have married Kelly and would have missed out on the kids and the comfortable life I had. Sitting there in that rocker I found myself missing the friend of my childhood.
I started to say something else when Wayne spoke first.
“Bro, I’ve been hearing the bugles again.”
I cocked an eyebrow at him and let loose a fruity belch. He didn’t flinch. Instead his eyes seemed locked on the back field and something about their set told me he wasn’t joking. I’d heard about the bugles before, but only when Wayne had had a few brews. Up till now I had always assumed it was a joke.
“What bugles?” I asked. My mind stumbled over the fading images of childhood.
“Every now and then I hear bugles coming from way back in the woods. It sounds like an army going to battle, you know, like in them old westerns.”