This is a dream
The group popped from the fog so suddenly it looked as if they’d been spit. They were so full of energy they were bouncing. They were many reasons for being happy but mostly it was because they were finally out. Not stuffed in their houses under the watchful eyes of their parents anymore. But it wasn’t just being out that had them so excited, it was the reason that had them all jazzed.
They were on a mission. Something they’d been trying to do for as long as any of them could remember. Now it was just minutes away from becoming a reality. If they were honest with themselves it was more of a hunt. But not just any hunt. Oh no, it was THE HUNT. This thing had been in the works ever since the first time they’d gone camping with their fathers and heard the spooky story about the creature. What else would men talk about out in the middle of the woods with no women around. They always wondered if the legends they were told were true. Their fathers made it sound as if it was but hey, what did they know. They were just kids. Now, though, now, after what seemed an eternity of waiting, it was time to find out if the legend was true.
It all started with the words ‘There was once a man who was not just a man. He was also a goat…” Not that scary in and of itself but for them, they were hooked. The story went that this thing roamed the deserted back roads and byways, the quiet place normal humans dared not to tread not to mention the quiet woods surrounding the little town they called home. No one really knew what it was after but it was guessed to be looking for unsuspecting persons to play its devious tricks on. He would prowl around until he found a weary traveler then jump from the bushes scaring them half to death. The frightened people would then run screaming through the woods until they finally reached a safe haven. That is if they were lucky. If not, well, they were never heard from again. The Goatman, for that’s what it came to be known as, rarely hurt anyone but whenever a child or animal went missing he was always to blame.
The thing about the legend that captivated the boys so much was that none of it had ever been proven. Sure, there were supposed eye witness accounts of what happened, but the boys suspected these accounts were tainted. They figured the witnesses most likely had just spooked themselves or been drunk and then made up a story so they wouldn’t look foolish. The creature that haunted the woods where they grew up was like Bigfoot. There were plenty of people that said they’d seen him but there was no actual proof.
That was all going to change after tonight’s adventure though. The boys were going to find the proof the world had been denied so long. At least they were going to try.
The four soon to be men making up the hunting party were all well past the age when believing in monsters and things that went bump in the night was considered cool. They knew they were too old for it but just didn’t really care. It was as if they knew they couldn’t let one more second of their lives continue without at least trying to find out if the creature were truly real. So after many a whispered conversation at school it was decided that tonight was the night.
The summer was over after tonight.
It had to be this night.
School was in a few more days and they knew, in that strange way boys knew things, that they would most likely end up being to busy for each other anymore. On some unspoken level they knew this was going to be one of the last things if not the last thing they did before drifting apart. They thought of it as their last hurrah for lack of anything better to call it. After this it was off to the wonderful world that waited for them as freshmen in high school.
So, here they were, four soon to be men who had been damn near inseparable almost since birth. Tommy, Rob, Jim, and Pete, together, in their short lives they’d taken on anything and everything thrown at them so chasing a mythical creature in the dead of night would just about be the icing on the cake. They’d spent many hours discussing the most likely place they might find their quarry until finally deciding on a patch of woods that lay not more than a ten minute walk from Tommy’s bedroom window. They knew this because they’d walked it earlier before the sun set. Nothing like being prepared. Tommy didn’t like thinking he might live so close to the creature and tried to argue that it couldn’t possibly be so close, but the others were adamant in their decision. His arguments fell on deaf ears. He didn’t like it but he guessed he could live with it. It didn’t matter anyways. He kinda liked monsters.
With the major decision of where to start taken care of, they only needed to wait until the right time to begin their journey. To take up that time they came up with a plan.
The boys told all their parents they were having a sleepover at Tommy’s. They’d done it a million times. The parents suspected nothing. Little did they know that after tonight their sons would be famous for catching the mythical beast known as the Goatman. After the lights were out and Tommy’s parents were finally snoring the night away, one by one, each boy climbed out Tommy’s window.
That in itself was an adventure. They had to make sure they were extremely quiet, one little noise might wake Tommy’s dad and bring his wrath down on them. Tommy’s dad wasn’t really anyone to be afraid of but it just made the adventure sound better in their heads if they thought of him that way if only for a minute.
Once outside with Tommy’s parents none the wiser, they quickly darted from shadow to shadow across the backyard until they reached the path that would lead them to their eventual destination. Stepping from the underbrush onto the wide dirt road they were greeted by an almost impenetrable blackness.
What only minutes before was a perfect moonlit night with plenty of light to see by had inexplicably turned to something altogether different. The overhanging trees didn’t allow any light to pass through their branches. Shadows clung to every possible surface they could find. A regular tree suddenly looked like a dreaded monster ready to pounce. The creak of a branch sounded like the scream of banshee.
If that‘d been all their was they would’ve been ok. But it wasn’t. They hadn’t counted on the fog. It had risen like a long dead corpse from the ground after the sun went down and grown thicker as the night cooled. They hadn’t noticed it in the backyard when they’d left but now it just made everything seem that much spookier. They tried ignoring it but coupled with the already eerie darkness, found it more than a little difficult. None of them could figure out why they hadn’t thought of it before and brought along flashlights. After some whispered argument they decided instead of turning around they would continue on. They edged their way closer and closer to their confrontation with the Goatman.
Before they knew it they found themselves turning down one of the numerous back roads that ran around the little town. They were secure in the knowledge that the legend of the Goatman was nothing but a story used to scare kids. There was no such thing so there was no reason to be afraid of anything. Even if something strange did happen they knew the area like the back of their hands. They’d be able to easily escape whatever the surrounding woods could throw at them, without missing a beat.
Soon, they were approaching the stomping grounds of their quarry. The lair of the mythical beast was all around them. At first they started in a whisper, first one then joined by another and another and another until they were all saying it, they began reciting the words that would pull the creature from whatever hole or crevice he was hiding in and make him appear before them. After the first time through with no results the boys’ grew which showed up in their voice. What had been at first only a loud whisper was growing. The second time through you might have thought they were only talking to each other but they still had one more sentence to go and they were going to give it their all. The third and final time they were so loud it seemed almost as if they were daring the night to bring forth its evil servant and prove to them that it really existed. Having finished the call the boys stood waiting. None moved. Four sets of eyes and ears were staining for any sight or sound that might signal the dark creature’s arrival. All they heard was the echo of their voices. After a few minute the silence was broken but not by the beast.
“This shit is boring!” Rob whined. “He ain’t ever going to show himself if he’s even real. You ask me I think he’s chickenshit!”
“He ain’t chicken,” Tommy argued coming to the monster’s defense, “you just have to wait a little while. He has to have time to get here.” Tommy had a thing for monsters. Ever since the first time he’d heard about the Goatman, he’d been hooked. In Tommy’s opinion every other creature of horror paled in comparison to the Goatman. He was, hands down the best. Tommy wasn’t fond of the idea of a monster living so close by, but if there had to be one then the Goatman was the best one it could be. Goatman was a local monster, not like Bigfoot or the Yeti, which made it better. All kid dreamed of find a monster but the other two were too far away. Goatman was accessible, he was a possibility. They weren’t.
“You guys just aren’t calling him the right way,” Jim volunteered, trying to stop a fight before it began. “My uncle told me you have to call him a certain way or he won’t come. We didn’t do it right the first time. We didn’t say everything we were supposed too. We left a few words out.” He paused then added in a quieter voice, “But if I tell you how and he does shows up you’d all better be ready to run your asses off cause you sure as shit won’t want to stay anywhere near here.”
“Well,” Rob said sarcastically, “if you’re so damned smart why don’t you just tell us, using all your infinite wisdom, how we’re supposed to call the damn thing the ‘right’ way.”
“Didn’t any of you ever pay attention to the damn story we were told?” Pete asked rolling his eyes, not that they could see it in the dark. “Or were you to chicken to listen to the whole thing without hiding in your sleeping bags and covering your ears?”
“About damn time you opened your mouth Pete! Almost forgot you were there, you were being so quiet,” Rob bellowed slapping Pete on the back hard enough to make the other boy stagger a few steps. “Why are you being so quiet anyways?”
“I just don’t think we need to be so loud,” Pete said glancing at the woods to either side of the road, “you never know who or what might hear us.”
“What’re you scared?” Tommy teased.
“We’re in the frickin’ woods Pete!” Rob yelled louder than before. “Who do you think is going to hear us? The rabbits?”
“Enough of this crap!” Tommy said as he turned to Jim. “Now how do we call him? We need to get this show on the road! The nights a wasting. All this yelling and hollering might’ve woke someone. We aren’t that far from my house ya know. So let’s do this the right way before it’s too late.”
“I don’t think we should call him,” Pete said before anyone else could say anything, “I think he’s dangerous. I think if we do call him we’ll regret it.”
“Oh, how the hell would you know?” Jim said beginning to get a little bit pissed. Pete was always being a little bit too careful. When the guys wanted to do something that might even be the little bit dangerous it was always Pete that didn’t want to do it and ended up ruining the possible fun. “Who the hell cares what you think anyways?” he continued before Pete could protest, “Have you ever called him? Have you ever seen him? What’s that? No answer. Well I’ll give you one. The answer to both those questions would be a big frickin’ NO! So if you don’t want to call him fine, go home and hide but if you stay at least be quiet so that those of us who want to call him can, ok?”
“Alright,” Tommy said cutting in trying to bring a little calm to a situation that could easily spin out of control, “Jim was right, I don’t think we did it the right way the first time. Luckily what he said reminded me of the right way to do it,” he said pausing to look at each of them before continuing, “the only thing is we all have to say it, and you,” he said pointing at Jim, “have to lay off of Pete. He’s just a little bit nervous is all. We all are. He’s just the only one saying anything about it.”
After thinking about it for a few seconds Jim half-heartedly agreed and apologized to Pete. Now that everything was back to normal Tommy went to each of the boys pausing for a few seconds to whisper something in their ear before moving on. He had just told Rob and was leaning towards Pete when Rob’s hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder pulling him back.
“Is that it?” he asked with a laugh. Without waiting for an answer he continued, “Hell, if I knew that was all there was too it I’d’ve done it the right way the first time. Forget waiting for you pansies. I’ll do it myself.” Before Tommy or any of the other boys could stop him Rob took a deep breath and screamed.
“Goatman,come get me!!”
Each boy froze as they listened to Rob’s voice echo through the woods all the way back, they were sure, to each of their houses and right to their sleeping parents ears. It was funny how parents always seemed to know when their child was doing something they weren’t supposed to. In this case, Rob had pretty much just announced it to anyone who happened to have a set of working ears. Rob stood smiling at each of them until he saw the looks on their faces. All at once each of them threw a punch at a different part of his body.
“Hey!” he yelled trying to swat their hands away. “Knock that crap off! What are you hitting me for?”
“Because you’re a dumbass!” came one reply.
“You probably just woke the whole damn town!” sounded another.
“Now we really should leave.” came the last one.
Rob stood sullenly looking at each of his friends wishing he were bigger than he actually was. He couldn’t understand what they were so ticked about. He’d only done what they were going to do anyways. So what if he hadn’t waited for them, it was too late anyways. There was no reason for them to hit him.
As the boys stood looking at a pouting Rob and listening to their shouts fade into the night they slowly realized something was different than it had been a few minutes ago. Before Rob’s stunt they’d been able to hear the regular nighttime noises of bugs and wind and things like that. Now there was nothing. It was as if Rob’s yell had stolen all sound from the world, there was nothing. No sigh of wind through the trees, no chirp of a cricket calling to another. Nothing at all.
This was a spooky nighttime quiet. A things coming to get you in the dark type of quiet. A type of quiet that told little boys they should’ve stayed home under the covers and not come messing around in the dark type of quiet. This type of quiet that came to mind when you heard someone say it was as quiet as a tomb.
“You’re a frickin’ idiot!” Tommy whispered after a few uneasy seconds without some type of sound. “We were all supposed to say it at the same time!”
“It didn’t even work,” Rob said shakily trying to blow off Tommy’s anger. “Maybe we should try again or something. I don’t think I was loud enough.”
“Not loud enough?” Pete exploded. “You could’ve waked a dead person as loud as you were! Hell, for that matter you probably did. They’re probably on the way here right now! If there is a Goatman he sure as shit heard you. God, you are so frickin’ stupid sometimes!” Disgust thick in his voice Pete stalked a few steps away from the group kicking at the ground trying to calm down.
The three remaining boys stood looking at each other for a minute before breaking into laughter. Pete glared over his shoulder for a few seconds before shaking his head and slowly turning back around and joining them. After they’d calmed down a bit they all decided to give it another try. Pete’s earlier reluctance evaporated after seeing that nothing had happened. Nothing had come storming out of the night to attack them at least so they might as well try again just to make sure. Maybe Rob hadn’t done it right or something or maybe it was just all some old legend, which was more probable, that didn’t really work after all.
“Wait!” Pete said just as they were getting ready to say the call again, “I think I know why it didn’t work the first time. Rob did do it wrong.” Everybody loudly blew out the air they’d been holding as Pete continued. “No wait, I remember the last time we were told the story. Jim’s uncle said you’re supposed to say the Goatman part three times before you say the come get me stuff. That’s the only way it works. Any other way and you get nothing.”
“Who told you that crap?” Rob asked skeptically. “Sounds like a bunch of bullshit if you ask me.”
“No more than what you just yelled a few minutes ago genius,” Pete shot back. “Besides that’s how you’re supposed to do it. If you’d open your ears once in a while instead of your mouth maybe you would’ve remembered.” Pete seemed to be getting a lot braver as the night went on. When they’d first come out he’d acted like he would piss himself every time the wind blew too hard. Now he was acting like this was just normal stuff he did every day. Of course, Pete always got this way when he was sure of himself, (which he seemed to be now).
“Ok, ok calm down,” Rob quickly said to Pete trying to pull the reigns of leadership back to himself. “I was just asking.” Then addressing the group as a whole he continued, “We’ll try it Pete’s way and see if that works any better. If not then I say it’s a bust and we go home.” Each of them agreed before he continued.
“Ok, now here’s how we’re going to do it. On the count of three we go for it. Not before and not after.” They all said ok. “You assholes better not leave me hanging either,” he added before he started counting.
“One, Two, Three!” he said which was quickly followed by four voices howling into the night, “Goatman, Goatman, Goatman! Come get me!”
They all stood silently, listening to their combined voices drift away, waiting to see what effect calling the creature the way Pete had described might have. If nothing else it was definitely louder than the first one. If there really was a creature named the Goatman nearby he couldn’t help but hear his name and come a running.
As they waited thing slowly went from bad to worse. None of them had thought it was possible for the silence to get any deeper than before but they were wrong. Moments before their last call night noises had started returning but now the only sound to be heard was that of the breath slowly being inhaled and exhaled by four small kids. There weren’t even any words they could use to describe it. It was like there was just an inexplicable absence. Nothing there.
Just at that moment as if by some unspoken command the moon chose to drift out from behind the heavy fog that had surrounded them on their short journey.
For most of the trip they’d relied on what little night vision they possessed to see but when the moon finally made its appearance they found that the woods were much closer than they’d originally thought them to be. It shouldn’t have surprised them as much as it did since they knew the path passed through the forest but it still came as a surprise at how close they were. The four were quite literally surrounded. They each quickly realized how easy it would be for some creature to come rushing out at them or simply reach out and grab them. It would be easy for a creature like the Goatman to pick them off one by one or all at once. It only had to reach out. There would be little they could do about it. If they tried running in the dark they knew they would quickly be lost, and if they stayed, well, they didn’t want to think about that. Either way it was an uncomfortable thought to be added to everything else doing tonight. To top it off the darkness seemed to have a strangle hold on all the normal noises that came with the dark. Rob’s yelling didn’t help much either. There were no crickets chirping and no leaves rustling as the wind slipped through them. There were only four boys who were all beginning to get very scared.
“Aw, this is bull…” Rob whispered shakily before the other three shushed him.
“What?” he demanded. “There ain’t nothin coming.” He was trying to sound tough. Before he could say anything else a noise finally escaped the darkness and ran to their ears. It was hard to tell exactly where it came from but they were sure it was on the road before them. Unfortunately whatever it was seemed to be just out of their sight, moving around in the shadows, as if it knew they couldn’t see it. Just like something the Goatman did in all the stories they’d heard. First he made some kind of noise as a type of warning to whoever he was coming after. It could be something as little as breaking a tree branch or something as big as throwing stones at a car two people were making out in. Either way it gave only one warning then all hell would break loose.
They all listened hoping for some sign that their fears weren’t about to become a reality. When the next noise finally reached them they didn’t know if their plans had been answered or not. The sound of breaking branches reached out of the gloom like fingers on a chalkboard sending chills up down each boy’s spine and making their hair stand on end. The images racing through each of their heads soared to new heights trying to picture the creature that could cause such sounds. Huge feet crushed everything in the beast path. Nothing could stand up to the things might. It would only stop when it had devoured each of their bodies down to the last bone. Then it would slowly plod off to wherever it had come from. They tried preparing themselves for whatever might step from the fog but only succeeded in scaring themselves more. Then all of a sudden it ceased. Sure that they had actually been killed so fast they didn’t realize it yet they each looked at the other searching for some explanation. Nope, still alive. It didn’t make sense. One minute they were sure they were going to see the dreaded Goatman launch itself from the gloom the next there was nothing. No creature stalking towards them ready to eat them in a gulp. Nothing. The sounds had stopped.
After staring into the darkness for a few minutes with no results the boys again looked each other trying to make sense of what they’d heard. It had sounded as if something was walking through the woods directly towards them. But nothing materialized as far as their straining eyes could tell. There was no way they could’ve missed it. As they stood still frozen in place trying to decide what to do next, another sound worse than the one before reached out and snatched their attention. It was a simple sound at first. Just a crunching sorta sound like the sound gravel makes when someone is stepping on it. Just like the sound their feet were making whenever they took a step. The unfortunate thing was that whatever was doing the stepping was seemed big.
Really big.
The steps weren’t light. They could hear the rocks grinding together as whatever it was took each step. The steps themselves sounded unhurried, as if the thing approaching knew they were no longer in control of their bodies. It had them right where it wanted them.
Seeming to have no other choice but to stand there, the boys strained their eyes trying to pierce the dense fog swirling over the area around them. Their brains were all shouting at them to run but as afraid as they each were they were also excited. They wanted to see what it was even if it did mean their deaths. This was what they’d come for. They were about to have their proof of the Goatman’s existence. They’d come to see the Goatman and were determined to see it through to the end even if two of them had already pissed their pants from fright. The creature continued taking slow steps towards them prolonging the moment. Just as they thought they could wait no longer before tearing themselves from the ground something began to emerge from the fog.
“What the hell is it?” Rob whispered shakily being the first one to finally find his voice.
“I don’t know,” Pete quietly whispered back hoping nobody would notice the wet spot on the front of his pants.
Whatever it was took another step heedless of their whispers. The fog swirled and revealed part of their adversary. Sharp, pointed hooks slithered from the mist. The boys quickly figured out they were antlers of some sort but they didn’t look the way they thought they would. Goat antlers were usually thick and ugly; these were thin and almost regal looking. Not at all what a horrible creature like the Goatman should have. As the thing took another step the fog swirled a little more, just enough for the group to see what they were facing.
“Damn it!” Rob yelled suddenly startling everyone, “That’s just a frickin deer!”
Sure enough just before the thing realized it was in the presence of humans, they all saw it for what it was and not for what their imaginations had made it out to be. What the boys now saw was a deer that in turn saw them and bolted across the road disappearing into woods, leaving the night only slightly quieter from its passage. The fog smoothly rolled back over the path engulfing them once more. The darkness unfortunately stayed too.
“This was all a total crock of shit from the beginning!” Rob complained, “Whose frickin’ idea was this crap anyways?”
“Yours, you dipshit!” they all yelled in unison. It was almost the first time they’d agreed on anything that night. They quickly looked around as if they expected someone to yell at them for being so loud before they remembered they were in the woods.
“Screw this,” Jim said after a few seconds, “let’s get out of here and go find something real to do. This Goatman crap is a bunch of shit.”
As they turned to walk back the way they’d came another strange noise sounded behind them. They all stopped and looked around. Knowing it was probably just another deer, they were a little less worried than the first time. Looking back in the same direction the deer had come from all they could see was the fog swaying back and forth. More sounds erupted from the night startling them. These weren’t like the first ones at all. Shrieks and grunting noises sounded from what seemed like all around them. This wasn’t any little deer. This was something else entirely. The grating sound they now heard were enough to send shots of pure terror to each of their quickly thumping hearts.
“It’s probably just another deer,” Rob stammered being the only one able to voice what they all hoped.
The boys listened and waited for the fog to blow away. Unfortunately it didn’t want to cooperate. Nothing as lucky as a deer came prancing from the fog this time. Instead what was birthed was something the fog itself didn’t even seem to want any part of. It was almost as if it was spitting the thing out and retreating back from its touch. The fog hovered around its form like a transparent cloak, never really touching but never going too far away either. This made the creature all that more eerie to behold.
Stepping from its shroud not twenty feet in front of them was something that must’ve been in someone’s nightmare only moments before. The fog continued to swirl but revealed vague shapes that resembled a man one moment and an animal the next. The thing was supported not by the normal legs belonging to a human that one would expect to see but instead by two hairy, tree trunk size legs that tapered down to two huge cloven hooves. They looked exactly like goat legs except for many times bigger and many times more powerful. As four sets of frightened eyes took in the terrible sight of its abnormal legs, the thing took a heavy step forward. Those same eyes quickly traveled up the rest of the creature as if commanded to. None of the boys actually wanted to look at the thing’s face but they couldn’t help themselves. When they finally came to rest on it they found the worst was far from over.
Standing well over seven feet tall was a thing made purely from the most twisted of minds. The boy’s small brains were struggling to grasp exactly what it was they were looking at. The beast was just so far beyond anything they could’ve imagined that their minds were at a momentary loss.
Any doubt of the Goatman’s existence was gone. The smell of ammonia filled the air. There were no longer any dry pants in the group. They’d never expected anything to appear when they’d spoken the now terrible words. They weren’t supposed to work. Now The Goatman had arrived and they were sure they would be dead before he left.
The next thing they noticed after getting over the hideous beast was the things chest. It heaved like some giant bellow as air was swept in and out. It was wider than any two of them could ever think about wrapping their arms around and eventually tapered up to its shoulders. The chest, while impressive, was nothing compared to its shoulders. They were bigger than any they’d ever seen. They spoke of many years of hard living and much work. They looked just right for pulling little boys arms from their bodies. They knew there was no hope of escape from a creature like this. They’d made the biggest mistake of their young lives when they decided to call the Goatman.
All eyes were riveted on the creature’s body until something else caught their eyes when it shook its head. A light breeze swept what little fog and darkness that still clung to it away allowing them to finally view the terrible, dark, tree bark like skin stretching across the things angular face. Tiny bits of moonlight cast enough light for them to see the many deep scars crisscrossing its wretched face making it look like a jigsaw puzzle put back together wrong. Those scar seemed to speak to the boys.
They listened with shaking knees as the scar whispered the stories about the many battles their owner had been through and how he had always triumphed when the odds were against him. The scars were all that were left of the Goatman’s adversaries. Little reminders of his conquests.
Seeming to know what images were passing through their heads the goat- like face smiled, if that’s what it could be called, revealing teeth that were almost too horrible to look at. The boys had seen pictures in health class at school but nothing like this. They were crooked, pointy things that looked much too accustomed to tearing flesh from bodies and meat from bones. It licked its lips as if thinking of the tasty meal it was about to partake of. With all the sights they’d beheld they were slow on noticing what they soon found to be the worst and most alien thing about the creature. As they watched it shake its head again they saw, growing directly out of the top of its forehead, were horns. These were the horns they had expected to see but much worse. Each one twisted up and up until it reached the ended in a sharpened point. Seeing it in the moonlight, it looked as if it were stained with something dark.
Probably the blood of his last victim, they thought as one.
The horns were surrounded by greasy unkempt hair that hung raggedly down over it’s’ face and then continued down to its’ shoulders before passing out of view. The boys knew how this hideous creature had gotten its name.
As they faced the creature, having already pissed out everything in their bladders, it suddenly shook its’ entire body, spraying droplets of sweat and God knew what else in all directions and startling Pete so bad he would’ve fallen down if Rob hadn’t been there to catch him. It stared out at them from beneath heavy brows with green, flashing eyes that seemed to be judging whether or not they were worthy of living.
After only a few seconds it must have found them to be wanting in some way because it blew a quick blast of air from its nose and took a menacing step forward. Snot and other disgusting fluids trailed from its flaring nostrils and dripped onto its chest as it took another step. The boys were so transfixed they didn’t realize each step was bringing it closer to them.
When its hooves struck the ground sparks shot up from the gravel creating little spurts of light that left spots dancing before their eyes. Dust puffed up around each hoof shrouding it in a cloud of dust making it seem as if the beast was hovering instead of walking.
Jim alone noticed something else too. There was a sound, almost like the ringing of a phone but not quite, every time one of the sparks of light went off. He dared not look around to see if the others noticed anything. He didn’t even know if they were still there for that matter. Between the ringing and what was approaching, his attention was about full. He knew if he took his eyes off the thing for a second it would surely be on him. After that he didn’t even want to imagine what would happen. He knew he’d at least be dead if not something worse.
The beast continued moving towards them, taking its time, stalking them like the wild animal it was and they were its prey. Each step brought it closer and closer. Each time a hoof crashed to the ground the ringing sound echoed in Jim’s head. Every time he heard it, he thought it sounded more and more like a phone and not the sound a hoof would make. If not for being so afraid he might have thought this was strange but as it was he could think of nothing but the otherworldly animal slowly approaching him.
Slowly, step by step it came closer. With every step the fog rolled, wrapping it like some foul cloak, but still seeming to despise the touch of the dreaded creature. Jim fervently wished the fog would consume the thing and make it disappear. Then he wouldn’t have to worry about anything, he’d be safe. He almost thought his wish had come true when more fog suddenly swirled across the path in front of the creature and it seemed to disappear. Straining to see it, he could barely make out the hideous legs that carried it forward. All traces of hair and hoof were gone. The only thing that marked its passage was the ringing. That was still sounding in Jim’s skull. Even though the legs were gone it still came. If his wish was coming true it sure was taking it’s time. Unfortunately, the fog was just making it seem to disappear. It was still there and he was still going to be dead when it reached him.
The ringing continued getting louder and louder the closer the creature got. It was now only few more steps away. The ringing was so loud that Jim was sure his ears were about to burst. If nothing else they were probably bleeding. He’d seen that once in a movie and it hadn’t looked pleasant. Curiously he didn’t feel any pain so maybe they hadn’t burst yet but they were surely about to. Just as curiously the ringing didn’t seem to be coming from the creature anymore so much as it did from his own skull. He almost wished the creature would hurry up and kill him just so he could be rid of the noise ricocheting around between his ears.
Having been so preoccupied with watching the creature lumber towards him Jim hadn’t noticed that it seemed to be carrying something. The fog obscured it a little making it difficult to see. It was probably the head of its last victim or something equally disgusting. As if sensing that Jim had noticed, the Goatman swung his arm up to give him a better view. At the height of the swing, just before it started its downward descent, Jim he finally recognized what it was. The huge, disfigured hand was holding an axe. But it wasn’t just any axe. Jim had only seen one of this magnitude when looking through books about Vikings and the weapons they used in battle. The blade by itself was bigger than his head. Moonlight gleamed off the blade showing a finely honed edge. If nothing else the Goatman took care of his tools. Jim had a moment to think how sad his situation was. They’d finally found the creature of legend called the Goatman, they’d confronted him and were now about to die. One of the weapons he’d thought looked so cool in the books was slowly starting, but quickly picking up speed, towards its only logical destination, his head.
The axe cleaved the air as it made its inevitable way towards him when suddenly the ringing noise cut through his terror. It echoed so loudly and with such force that his hands shot up wrapping around his head trying to block it out. The beast was standing still but his arm still seemed to be moving. He didn’t spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. Not that it mattered much anymore. Jim’s eyes were only seeing one thing. The axe was only inches from his head and coming closer. He could almost hear a whistling sound as it parted the air but another ringing noise struck just milliseconds before the axe hit his head
This is reality
…and he sat up in bed arms still wrapped tightly around his it. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes and quickly surveyed the room. Light from outside made vein attempts at penetrating the curtains only to be halted just shy of entering. Only a few vagrant shafts made it in. From this he saw nothing out of the ordinary. No Goatman, no trees, no childhood friends, nothing out the ordinary. His dirty clothes still lay were he’d left them the previous night. It was a dream he thought to himself, only a dream.
After ensuring there were no lurking Goatmen, he quickly felt his head to make sure there wasn’t an axe or anything else embedded in it. Much to his relief he found no foreign objects of any kind sticking out from where they shouldn’t be and nothing else obviously wrong. His heart was slowly reaching a speed that didn’t feel like it was about to crack a rib as he closed his eyes, propped his head up and thanked God it was only a dream and he was still alive.
When he had awoken from the nightmare his poor heart had been trying to pound its way out of his chest. It still felt a little sore. (Luckily he was still pretty young). If he was any older he might not have woken up at all.
He swung his legs out from the tangled sheets but not before feeling a slimy wetness beneath them. Placing one hesitant hand on the sheets he quickly found out they were soaked through with sweat. Looking down at himself he found the sheets weren’t the only thing covered in sweat, at least that’s what he hopped it was.
The ringing sound from his dream intruded on his self examination. Looking around he searched for its source, he was awake now but he still heard the ringing. After a few more rings he realized it was the phone. That was the noise that had driven him out of his dream. He’d never been so happy to hear that sound in his life. He fumbled the rest of his way out of the sheets and quickly located the phone underneath one of his pillows that had fallen off the bed during the night. Untangling the cord, he happily answered it.
“Thank God you finally picked up!” his mothers’ worried voice just about shouted from the receiver.
“Hi Mom!” he said as brightly as he could manage. “Boy am I glad you called. I was having the weirdest dream…”
“Jim, I don’t know an easy way to tell you this,” she said cutting him off, “so I’ll just come right out and say it. There’s been a terrible accident out here son,” pause, “your friend Tommy was found dead in the woods. Nobody knows how it happened.”
Jim didn’t hear most of whatever else his mother had to say. He didn’t hear her asking him if he was ok or if he was still there. He didn’t hear her asking if he could come home quickly or if he needed any money to do so. He didn’t hear any of these things because a few seconds after he’d heard his mother say Tommy was dead the phone fell from his hand and hit the floor. Not much longer after that he followed it.