A Ghost Tale

by Chris Raven

  “I want you to give me your son.”

  The man fell on his knees, he wept, and he begged. He offered it all his possessions: his horse, his wagon, even his pretty house. However, the spirit was rejecting each one of them. When the man, desperate, said he would do anything in exchange for not having to give it his son, the spirit of the lake seemed to have mercy.

  “I will forgive your son if in return you give me three children in the village. If you try to deceive me, there will be no salvation for him.”

  The man nodded, and the spirit vanished. The good man picked up his things and returned home running, shaking like a leaf. He went into the house and went straight to his son’s room, who slept placidly with a smile on his face. Calmer, he went to sleep too.

  The next morning the man thought that all that had been nothing but a bad dream. He went to work, walk around town and talk to his kind neighbors. At dusk, after having put his son to bed, he sat on the porch to contemplate the moon.

  The being appeared again in front of his house. The man pinched and rubbed his eyes, fearing he would have fallen asleep and he’d been dreaming again, but the being remained floating a few steps away from him.

  “What do you want?”Asked at last the man in a trembling voice.

  “You haven’t fulfilled the deal. I’m here to take your son.”

  The man fell to his knees again to beseech the spirit for a new opportunity. He wept, begged for forgiveness, and again offered him anything, even his own life, in exchange for forgiving the child. After a few minutes of supplication, the spirit spoke again:

  “I give you one last chance. You have three days to give me the first child. Besides, you will have to take some object of his and bury it under my tree, as a tribute and a sign of obedience. If you don’t do it before the sun hides, I’ll take your son and not even all the tears you can shed will move me.”

  The spirit disappeared again, leaving the man terrified and confused. How could I take one of the children in the village to that being? How was I going to make to other unfortunate parents to pass for the nightmare he was trying to avoid? Noiselessly, he went to his son’s room and sat down on the floor, keeping vigil over the rest of the little one under the soft moonlight that was sneaking out the window.

  The next morning, he had decided. He wouldn’t let that being take his son. He would walk the streets of the village and take the first child he found. He entered the barn, ready to saddle his magnificent black horse, but realized that the neighbors could see the boy who he had taken. He decided it would be a lot safer to go in the wagon. So, he could put the child in the back and no neighbor could see him.

  He began to walk through the village, looking for a child to take to the spirit and, after a while, he saw Anne. He had heard she was a naughty little girl and her parents were desperate about her behavior. The last thing he knew was that she was grounded for disobeying her father, but she must have escaped, because she was alone, taking a walk in the village. The man thought that such a bad girl would be appropriate to take to the spirit.

  “Good morning, little Anne. Where are you going so alone?”

  “Home. My parents told me that I’m grounded, that I should go home and do homework.”

  “But your house is far away. Get up on my wagon and I’ll take you.”

  Little Anne thought for a few seconds. Her parents had told her many times not to go up to the wagons of strangers, but she knew the man and she knew he was good and the people of the village appreciated him, so she went up. As soon as she was inside, the man left the village and took the lake path. Anne knew that her house was in the other direction. She was frightened, she protested and shouted, but the man ignored her.

  When they reached the lake, the spirit was waiting. The man handed Anne over it and then took off one of her belongings and buried it under the old tree. When he had done so, he knelt in front of the spirit, weeping:

  “I’ve already brought you a girl. We should be at peace: Anne in exchange for my son.”

  “You know that’s not the deal we made. You must bring me two more children, or I’ll take your son for good. Bring me another kid before a week goes by.”

  The spirit vanished without giving him more opportunity to argue. The man returned to his home dejected, knowing that he had no choice but to obey the spirit.

  A few days later, while driving in his wagon, he met little Bobby. The boy was alone, hiding behind some bushes. The man looked everywhere and saw that there was no one else nearby who could see how he was taking the child.

  “Good morning, little Bobby. What are you doing here, all alone?”

  “I’m playing hide-and-seek with my brother Jim,” he answered in a whisper. “Don’t discover me.”

  “Your mother has told me to come and fetch you and take you with her. Get up on my wagon and I’ll take you.”

  The boy hesitated for a few seconds, but as he knew the man and knew he was good and that the people of the village appreciated him, he climbed. The man took the boy to the lake, even though the little one did not stop crying and calling his mother all the way. The man felt that his heart was breaking with every one of his sobs, but he had no choice.

  When they reached the lake, the spirit was waiting again. The man handed Bobby over, took one of his belongings and buried it under the old tree. When he was finished, he knelt again in front of the spirit.

  “I can’t do this anymore. I’ve already given you two children. Forgive my son and let us continue to live in peace.”

  “If you leave now, everything you’ve done will be useless. I’ll get angry and take your son. Is that what you want? Are you going to give up now that you’re so close?”

  The man shook his head while the spirit faded. He returned home, feeling the evilest man on Earth, but seeing his son safe and sound, playing happy, he thought he was doing the right thing. He couldn’t let the spirit take him, so he’d have to finish his mission.

  A few days later, he found little David. He was a weak and sickly child. The man thought he was doing his parents a favor, so he came up with his wagon.

  “Good morning, little David. What are you doing here all alone?”

  “I’m waiting for my brother, who’s gone to buy treats.”

  “I just saw your brother and told me he was going home. Get up on my wagon and I’ll take you.”

  Little David thought about it for a few seconds. His parents had told him that the village children were disappearing and that he should not trust anyone. Besides, his brother wouldn’t have gone home without telling him anything. So, although he knew the man and knew he was good and the people of the village appreciated him, he decided not to go up.

  “No, thank you. I’ll stay here and wait for him.”

  The man insisted and insisted, but David refused again and again. The man’s face was turning red and his voice grew ever higher. David started to panic and to think that maybe that man was not as good as the people in town thought he was, so he decided to escape. Unfortunately, he had always been a slow and clumsy boy, so the man caught him and put him in his wagon. David knew that his brother and his friends would worry and go out looking for him when they saw that he was not there, but their ponies were much slower than the man’s wagon, so he was afraid they would not arrive on time.

  David protested, wept and tried to escape and hit the man, but he went on until they reached the lake. The spirit was already there, waiting. The man handed David with tears in his eyes and then took away one of his belongings and buried it under the old tree.

  “I’ve already given you the three children. Our deal is over.”

  “You’re right. Your son’s life belongs to you now, but I have another deal to propose. If you give it to me too, I will leave this town forever. If you don’t, I’ll come back again and again and other men will have to do what you’ve done.”

  “Why are you doing this? Why are you so mean? Leave the children of this town alone.”

  The sp
irit did not answer. He merely shook his head while waiting for the man to tell him if he wanted to accept the deal. The man didn’t even think about it. He had done horrible things to save his son from the spirit. He was not going to give it to him after all that, however much his heart would break to think that other men would be obliged to do what he had done, and in many children condemned to stay with the spirit forever.

  “No, I’m not going to do it.”

  “Then I’ll come back and get more children. You will see the pain in their parents’ eyes and you’ll know that you had in your hand the possibility of stopping all this and that you refused.

  The spirit vanished, and the man stood on the shore, weeping. Suddenly he heard noises behind his back. They were the boys who had pursued him, who at last came to the lake. The man ran out, he came up to his wagon and escaped from there as fast as he could.

  The man was happy to have saved his son, but he knew he had in his soul a black sorrow that would accompany him for the rest of his life. He decided he didn’t want to live in that town anymore. He did not want to see the despair in the eyes of the parents of the children he had given in to the spirit, and he did not want to be there when the spirit returned to take more children. So, he took his wagon, he got his family in it and left far away from that lake.

  The children’s spirits watched their departure with sorrow. No one would release them, and soon more children would come to share their sad confinement. Only one of the spirits smiled: little Anne’s. She knew that there was hope.

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  III

  That’s how the book ends, with a bunch of pages full of horizontal lines. I can’t believe it. I spend the next few minutes trying to find if she wrote somewhere that there is a continuation, if there is any page stuck... Anything but this. When I give up, I leave the book on the bed, opened by those meaningless pages, looking at it as if waiting for some revelation to explain to me why the hell it ends like this.

  There’s only one logical answer. I’ve taken a book with typos. I can’t believe I have such bad luck. Now I’m going to spend the whole night going around my head until tomorrow I can take another copy from the bookstore and find out the end.

  I close the book and keep it in my backpack, while I think that right now, I do not care to know the end or not. What I just read is crazy nonsense. Despite being written as a classic tale for children, what is recounted in those pages is the murders of my friends. I don’t understand who could have written it or why. And, besides, using the name of Anne, one of the victims. I could almost think that this book has been designed specifically to test my sanity, but I don’t want to add paranoia to my long list of psychological disorders.

  I lie in bed and stay a while looking at the ceiling, trying to find some logic to what I read. The author of this book knows exactly what happened. These pages describe in detail the murders that occurred that summer, so the name chosen is not a coincidence. It’s a macabre joke.