Out There: A Rural Horror Story

by Cademon Bishop

  As she lay in bed thinking through her dream, something crept by the window—feet pressing in grass. She closed her eyes, expecting a set of glowing eyes pass by, but nothing came. The footprints circled behind the wall, then vanished into the rain.

  Around eight, Lara smelt eggs cooking in the kitchen and slid out of bed. Out of the living room window’s closed blinds, Lara watched the indigo glow of the rising sun faintly behind the rain clouds. The hardwood floor under the stained carpet creaked as she stepped towards the window. The blinds felt cold and welcoming against her fingertips. A little peep out of them wouldn’t do much harm, right? Rain pipped and popped against the window as she looked out at the dull street.

  Lara and her mother found themselves in the kitchen around eight. Their past tension was thick enough for Lara to slice the air with a butter knife and feel its slow drag. She couldn’t let go of how her mother treated her. And Mellisa couldn’t either.

  “I brought food from the house.” Her mother said, as she brought two plates of eggs over.

  “Thanks,” Lara said with genuine gratitude. That word, thanks, echoed off as they ate together in silence. Lara wanted to start some conversation, but ‘sorry I left’ wasn’t a good place to begin. If we need time to warm up, then we got time to warm up, Lara thought.

  Lara went into Denver’s room around eight. She stayed in the room. She needed a place to think, a place to be private in the storm.

  She sat on a rocking chair in the corner of the bedroom. The blinds were turned open, giving Lara full view of the empty backyard. The only thing that moved was the rain. Lara rocked back and forth, letting the movement sway her thoughts. Almost all the people she cared about were in the same house. All except for Dian and Michael. She needed to call her sometime.

  Lara paused mid rocking chair sway and thought about what Michael said. They had close to one day till the town goes kaput. She let go of the thought. The world would end without her control and she was happy where she was.

  Lara glanced at Denver’s dresser and noticed something off. There was a ball cap turned towards the wall. Denver wasn’t the kind of person to wear a hat. She let it go and returned to rocking. The chair cracked with each sway. She watched the rain grayed light of the window illuminate the clock on the adjacent wall. The wallpaper, which was once vibrant yellow, diminished into an almost colorless pastel in the light. She noticed that there was a random t-shirt poking behind the dresser below the clock. She pondered on cleaning things up in the afternoon.

  At nine, they gathered at the dining room table and waited for the news on the radio. Denver turned on the vintage radio in the kitchen and raised the volume.

  …HAS OCCURRED NEAR ELK HORN WOODS… the radio clicked into static then rang three eerie beeps …IT IS NINE AM… THIS IS NOT A TEST, REMAIN LOCKED IN AND IN LOCKDOWN, THE SITUATION SHOULD CLEAR UP WITHIN TWO WEEKS. WE KNOW THE RAIN HAS PLAGUED YOUR TOWN, AND WE ARE TRYING TO TAKE SWIFT ACTION. MANY HAVE TRIED TO ESCAPE TO OTHER HOUSES, IF YOU NEED SWIFT ESCAPE CALL 373 THATS, 3,7,3. WE ARE OFFERING A EMERGENCY SERVICE TO THOSE IN NEED… The message closed out with three more monotone beeps and then another click…

  “This thing on?” A man with a syrup thick accent murmured on air. “Howdy, uh, fellow citizens of Joselean Springs, this is mayor James Hale steepin’ to offer a few words of advice.”

  “Y’all still got the same mayor?” Danny asked.

  “Yeah,” Melissa stated dully. “We don’t need to look out for another one.”

  Mayor Hale cleared his throat loud enough to surpass his mic’s volume limit. “As you know, we all should stay indoors and, uh, stay calm… our estimated time on the situation is two weeks… the military has stepped in to deal with the rain and deal with the bein’s outside. I wanted to make sure I was the first to tell you about these things. So, good news, bad news. The good: these things will be harmless, as long as you do not agitate them. The bad… these things are the people of Joselean Springs who have passed away… if you knew someone who had strong anger towards you, take extra care by lockin’ up and even boardin’ doors and windows. These beings look like black shadows, but underneath that layer, they might be someone you know…. tay…af... and…” the signal broke away with three haunting beeps.

  …OUR NEXT UPDATE WILL BE TOMORROW SEPTEMBER NINTH AT NINE THIS IS NOT A TEST, REMAIN LOCKED IN AND IN LOCKDOWN, CALL 373 FOR SERVICE REQUESTS, THAT’S 3,7,2 FOR SERVICE REQUESTS…

  “Two weeks?” Lara muttered in disbelief. “Hey, Denver, remember what Michael said about what the angel told em’?”

  “You believe the world ending’? I didn’t take him on that.”

  “Well, it fits though, doesn’t it? What he said. The worlds fallin’ apart as we know it.”

  “Michaels always been way too close to the church,” Melissa said. “I always through he would cross the line when he would bring up god out of nowhere as if he were sittin’ right next to em’ or somethin’… was the strangest thing.”

  Danny turned towards Melissa and grinned. “We are in strange times, and Gods work in mysterious ways.” He shrugged and brought his breakfast plate to the sink, “I’d believe him.”

  “Well, what? Should we wait till we die then?” Melissa asked.

  Danny snickered then turned away from the sink, “It’s not like we weren’t doin’ that before.”

  They had lunch at twelve. The three working radio stations cleared into their regular music, playing that numbing ‘this is not a test’ message every 10 minutes. The four played poker, blackjack, rummy, and Texas hold em—saving war for the most apocalyptic scenario.

  Danny held a playing card in front of Lara. Denver left to take a nap in his room. It was three o’clock, and the rain still streamed down the living room window. Lara had never seen such steady rain in her entire life. Her father and her sat on the ground cross-legged and 3 feet apart.

  “Now breath in and-” her father held a card in his hand. She held one in hers. “Out… take in your lost thoughts as you would the rain, focus on your card.” They tried making her angry, stress, depressed—none of it worked. Every time she would start by thinking that it was all so stupid, that she was out of control. However, this final time was different, this time she didn’t think. At least tried to. Her mind blurted blips of dreams to herself like a slide show of recall.

  There was a vision of a pool, of her sinking, the feeling of the water, the sky, the undefinable shadow of a person ahead of her, just when she could make out the details of the person, the thought blipped away.

  — — —

  Lara’s mind now placed herself in a separate version of the living room, Johnathan held his hand out in front of her. She rose to grab his hand, then back away. Lara watched his blank face twitch, his fingers flicked and shake like windswept tree limbs.

  She lowered her hand, took in a deep breath, then spoke, “It’s time for you to leave.”

  Johnathan did not respond. His curly, soaked hair stuck to his face. The corners of his mouth twitched into a frown.

  — — —

  Something clicked in her train of thought.

  A bolt of energy flicked through her hand and into the card. The card disappeared. Lara and her father looked at each other in disbelief.

  “Lara, I think you got a letter?” Melissa said. A letter with the word ‘Lara’ on it was taped to the front of the door.

  “Shit,” Lara jumped up and walked towards the kitchen. “Those shadow things don’t come out much during the day. Right?” Lara checked the kitchen window and side door’s mesh screen, “You see anything?”

  Her mother checked the window that faced the vast backyard.

  Lara clutched the front doorknob, “Nothin’?”

  “Nothin’!” Melissa said. Lara cracked the door open, snatched the letter, then slithered back in. She felt the envelope, trying to see if there was anything strange inside. There was only the imprint of a paper and a small key. Lara left her mother’s overhanging gaze and tore i
t open in the kitchen. There was a handwritten letter inside.

  Dear Lara,

  It’s Lucy, you almost ran me over when I tried to stop you on the road last week. I waited a good 30 minutes down Because you left me hanging, I’ll leave you a little hanging as well. Although this key should let you piece things together. I don’t know what to say in letters, so I’m just gonna start by throwing whatever shit I can and see what sticks. You need to learn the truth.

  We got a lot of secrets we keep in the gang. Secrets that glue this town together. Johnathan got a little too close. He threatened to send over the police or take us down himself. I don’t blame him. If I told you what we do, you’d want to do the same. I suggested we simply warn him; however, someone decided against it. That someone was set on killing both of ya. If you don’t believe me, then use this key and search for a small safe. I’m assuming this someone also lessened the dosage on you. He had this fixation with you. I knew it would come up somewhere. I’m pretty sure he took my key to my little secret place and tossed it your way. I remember Johnathan like I remember all of our other hits, cold and filled with regret. I gotta gift from some dark beings. It gives me a small bit of extended insight as long as I keep an item from the person and stain it in blood. I took his wallet and took some blood under that watch of his.

  You know it’s funny, this little angelic crew you made for yourself. Compared to mine, we are just two sides of the same coin. Maybe we ain’t so different, I never thought about it that way. Go find the truth.

  Lara shielded her mouth. Denver… no, no, he, he didn’t… no, no. His name skipped around her head like the last clicks of a record player. No, no, no. She pressed herself against the kitchen sink and sunk towards the floor. Her mother knelt down to hold her, her arms felt foreign as they wrapped around her. The entire room felt like a lie. Every second spent with him was washed down the drain.

  “Is everything—” Her father dipped his head into the kitchen. He overheard the commotion, and swooped in. Lara’s hands shot off small blue sparks. She could keep it all in thought the calm her parents ushered in. “Lara, what happened?” her father laid a weightless hand on her shoulder.

  “It’s,” she thought about saying everything but stopped. She realized they were all stuck with him. “It’s a letter from an old friend, it’s fine, it’s fine.”

  “You sure?” Danny asked.

  “Yeah, yeah, it’s…” Lara felt the sparks on her hands dance. She pinched a playing card between two fingers and froze and glanced at it. She thought about Denver, the past lies. The sparks began to grow, the suit and numbers flicked wildly on the playing card. The last line of the letter clicked, ‘Go find the truth’. The sparks diminished. The card changed less and less. She stood up and peered down the hall towards Denver’s room.

  Lara ambled through his doorway. Denver lay, asleep. That would explain it all, she thought. He came into Walling's out of nowhere. I thought he looked familiar… but I couldn’t remember. She turned the ball cap on the dresser. The words ‘Wild Rye Dinner’ were patched on the front. She then crept towards the clock and pick up the black cloth hastily tucked behind the dresser—It was an apron. He worked at Wild Rye and drugged me. She leaned against the back wall. Denver snored four feet in front of her.

  Lara tried to control her shaky breaths and crept to the front of the dresser. She opened every drawer. Tucked in the back corner of the bottom drawer was a safe the size of a book.

  Lara slid the key out of her envelope and opened the safe. The safe unlocked silently, Inside was a post-it note, an empty notebook, and an amber-orange pill bottle—one-eighth of the way filled with white powder. She spun the bottle around, looking for any sign of what it was. He tore off the label. She grabbed the post-it note.

  1. Close down shop at 6:30, leave Collin and Cain on watch.

  2. Serve drinks, 3 tablespoons each.

  3. 8:30 Set into rain.

  Lara pulled the letter Lucy wrote and compared the handwriting. They didn’t match. She wept.

  I don’t want to hear it, Lara thought. Don't you dare ask a single-

  “It just feels like you’re ignorin’ me all of a sudden… I wanna know why?” Denver said as they sat In his bedroom. After dinner, Lara tried to calm herself by taking a warm shower, but that only reminded her more of the rain. Her hair was soaking wet as she sat on the corner of his bed. Water dropped onto the shoulders of her white pajama shirt. “I’m just worried about-”

  “Lucy told me.” Lara’s hands ran up and down the top of her thighs for comfort, “When did you plan on tellin’ me?”

  Denver bit his lip and looked around the room. He paused and looked at the antique yellow lamp, as if it knew the words he needed to say, “I had no choice I—”

  “When!? Just fuckin’ when! I, I,” Lara clung to her sides then shook her head. She sighed. “Just say when?”

  Denver held his hands together as if he were in deep prayer. “I don’t know when… I don’t think I ever planned on tellin’ you… I’m sorry, I just never thought I’d had…” Denver laid a hand over Lara’s, only for her to swat it away like a fly. “I care about you a lot okay. I had to do that but look where we are now. This is one thing we gotta go through/ I know we can work it out.”

  “Hidin’ the fact that you killed one of the closest people to me ain’t some little thing. Anything could be little compared to that,” Lara felt energy spark in her wrist and up her palms. “Look!” the sparks receded, yet Lara could feel them still dormant within her body, “I can’t handle any more bullshit today.”

  Denver didn’t respond.

  “Why did you want to do it?” She said without looking at him.

  “Lara, I didn’t want to do any of it. I had no choice. Lucy was insane. She threatened to kill us.”

  “That ain’t the truth. You had a fix on me.”

  “Lara, why do you think I left?” Denver stood in front of her. “I thought what they did was awful. Lara, she’s a satanist. A damn satanist. You think you can trust her?”

  Lara stomped out of the room, “Better than trusting you.”

  That night, Lara laid on the far corner of the bed. She could almost teeter off with the force of a single breath. Rain beat harsh against the windows. She couldn’t sleep. She felt as though something was out there. A white light dimly lit the window above the bed. Laure froze and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for it to pass by. The light only grew. She glanced at her chest, watching the shade of the blinds slither up her blanket. It moved. Then she heard it. A car engine hummed past the house, then stopped nearby. Lara closed her eyes. A door slammed shut. Someone hammered against the screen side door.

  Lara jumped out of bed. She kept silent as she snuck towards the bedroom door.

  Denver's eyes flicked open, “Is someone at the-” KNOCK, KNOCK. Denver shot up, white bedsheets spilling over his side, “The hell is that?”

  “Some, body, thing, I don’t know.” Lara peeped down the doorway, a shadow blocked the hall. It turned.

  “Oh, Jesus Lara, ya scared the shit out of me.” Her mother said. KNOCK, KNOCK. Both their eyes shot at the door. The three of them focused on the door as if it were an eye doctor’s test, squinting at every little detail.

  “Hello! Anyone?” Someone shouted behind it. Lara’s heart dropped as she heard that young, strong, familiar voice. Pushing her mother aside, Lara bolted towards the door, fiddled with the lock, and opened it.

  “Lara, we need to head out right now!” Michael said.

  “Michael?” Lara paused there and eyes wide. Michael looked back with equal confusion, “Oh…uh, hey, I’m alive!” Lara felt the outline of his ribcage on her chest as she hugged him tight. “Now come on. Let’s get. We don’t got much time.”

  “Shit, I got my parents over here. Can I have a chance to say goodbye.”

  “Your parents?” Michael held his head and shook. “Dang it, dang it, dang it!”

  “You’re alive?” Denver lurked into the k
itchen.

  “Oh, come on!” Michael knocked his forehead on the doorway, “Any ya’ll gotta car that can fit all us?”

  “My truck got a back seat in it?” Danny stepped forward. “Why do you need our help so much?”

  “I’d say it’s the other way around. You all need to get outta here quick. The government is coming over. I’ll tell ya’ll in the car. Just get goin’—and fast.”

  Lara packed a bag, Denver grabbed the pistols, Melissa brought food, and Danny drove the car. Lara, Michael, and Melissa squeezed in the back seat. Michael had no clue where they were headed, only that they had to get out of that house. Lara, however, had the perfect idea for where to hunker down.

  Chapter 13

  Side D Track 13

  Spotlight

  Light rain trickled in a circle around Michael. Cassiel’s white light hung over him like a streetlamp. Michael felt like a drunken man huddled under the glow. He fumbled up to his feet as pain shot across his palms from the rained soaked ground. He looked up, puzzled, and frustrated. Cassiel had taken the form of an umbrella. The umbrella hovered in the air and had a frost white glittered texture to it.

  Michael put his hands on his knees and gasped, “What took you so long?” his breath was worn and rapid.

  Cassiel’s voice emanated from the umbrella, “It takes quite a bit to expel myself from your body, and taking a physical form is a task that requires further strength… and I enjoyed watching you run a bit.” Darkness swept the forest. Michael grasped the handle of Cassiel and trekked into the Elk Horn Woods. Stream plumed from the crater behind him as water struck the red amberous cracks.