Jim’s muscles were screaming at him when he woke the next morning as they remembered the previous nights’ adventures. All the running around was taking its toll on him now. Muscle that had been unused now played holy hell with him as he rolled out of bed. Thinking about it now in the light of day everything seemed like some kind of bad nightmare but he knew that wasn’t the case. He dressed gingerly and walked down to the kitchen already able to smell the bacon his mother had made for breakfast.
Taking a seat at the table his mother asked about his evening and he told her what had happened. He left out the parts about the heads but told her of the fires and how bad Pete had seemed to him. She was horrified to find out about Rob. Jim guessed she hadn’t read the morning paper. He figured something like that was sure to be front page news. After taking a few minutes to collect herself she asked how he was taking it. He gave the only answer he could. Two of his childhood friends were gone. He would never see them again and there was nothing that he could do about it. So all in all he was handling it but that was about it.
The last thing he told her, almost as an afterthought, was about Pete being in jail. When she asked why he told her it was just for questioning. He hadn’t done anything wrong but the Sheriff finally decided to bring him in for the fires if nothing else. The good part was that he wasn’t a suspect in Rob’s murder. Even the Sheriff was able to see Pete was a barely functioning person. He sure wouldn’t be able to kill anyone like Rob. They just wanted too ask him a few questions since he’d been nearby when it had all happened. Jim told her he didn’t think they’d get too much out of him though since all he seemed to do when confronted with any kind of stress was mumble. Maybe if they figured out what it was about a purple dinosaur that ticked him off so much he would tell them what they wanted to know but he doubted it.
All in all Jim’s said his visit home was not going well. Hopefully laying Tommy to rest today would be the end of the unpleasantness and things would go back to normal. He didn’t mention anything about the Goatman. If he’d done that his mom might think he was going to end up just like Pete. The last thing he wanted to do was have her worrying about him.
Jim finished his breakfast and sat sipping coffee while trying not to think too much about what he was going to be doing later in the day. After a long bit of quiet his mother tried getting him to talk about other things but quickly figured out he was pretty much having none of it. Giving up on that she instead sat across from him with a concerned look on her face. He probably could have told her about his night with Jill but he didn’t even fell like talking about that. It just didn’t feel right having something to be happy about when his friends were dieing around him. After his coffee he told his mother that he was going to go back to his room and relax until it was time for him to leave. She tried to get him to stay and talk with her but he begged off telling her he just needed some time alone and went to his room. He felt bad and knew her heart was in the right place but he just didn’t feel like being around anyone right now.
Lying on his bed he thought back to his childhood with Tommy and Rob. Pete was there also tagging along as he always had but he was mostly thinking of the other two. They were gone and Pete wasn’t.
When they’d been little they always talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up. It had always seemed to change from one week to the next if not from one day to the next. For a while they’d all wanted to be firemen. Next it was a policeman. Eventually it became an astronaut. He thought it was sad how none of them had ever achieved their dreams. Well, almost none of them, he thought correcting himself. Rob had achieved his. He’d made it. He became a policeman like he’d wanted and from what little Jim had seen of him it suited him. At least he’d been able to live his dream for a little while before he’d died. Jim didn’t want to venture to much farther down that road. Rob was gone. He didn’t want to think of how it’d happened.
Instead he thought about Tommy. He didn’t even come close to living any of their dreams much less his own. He’d ended up being a cook at one of the local restaurants. Jim smiled as he tried to imagine Tommy behind a stove wearing an apron. It just wasn’t a picture that came to mind easily. Tommy was always a man's man. He frowned on things like cooking and baking. He probably hated what he did. But then again maybe he’d changed after Jim’d left. Maybe he’d tried cooking and found he liked it. Unfortunately Jim would never know. He’d left the town and his friends behind to pursue what he’d thought were his dreams.
Thoughts of Tommy and Rob quickly turned into thought about when they were little. The countryside around town was their playground. Riding upon the pedals of their bikes they’d explore every back road, old house or swampy lake they could find. That was one of the things that made it even harder to believe that the Goatman was the one killing them. They’d been everywhere and never seen hide nor hair of him or any other abnormal creature for that matter. The woods were a vast place where little boys could roam and pretend to be everything from Robin Hood to Flash Gordon. Granted it was Flash Gordon stuck in a wild paradise but they made due with what they had. The woods had never been a place to fear like they were now. Jim had enjoyed those times. He even enjoyed them now even though they made him sad but he guessed that what some memories did. Unfortunately that was all he had left of his friends.
His mother came in some time later to remind him that Tommy’s funeral was going to be soon. As if he could’ve forgotten or something. He forced himself from the past and into the present where he started preparing for the funeral.
Once out the door and on his way he again started thinking about the strange circumstances of his friends deaths. None of it made any sense. All the clues seemed to point at the Goatman but the cop’s content to just write Tommy’s death off to being an accident. Jim knew it hadn’t been though. He hopped that they were at least not dense enough to try and say the same thing about Robs. He could hear it now. They would try to say he had an axe with him and somehow fell on it repeatedly until he was dead or something else just as ridiculous. No, he had to give them some credit. They couldn’t be that stupid. Jim hopped that the state police, with their superior experience, would be able to formulate a better idea than what he and Pete had come up with. There had to be something better than the Goatman. So what if everything about both cases pointed to the perpetrator having been some mystical creature out of an urban legend. What difference did that make? Any rational thinking person would figure that thinking like that was just crazy. Unfortunately at this point in time Jim wasn’t included in the rational thinking people’s group. He was on the fringe of it though, still hoping someone would figure out a more plausible explanation than his.
Goat hairs being found in the area of Tommy’s death, coupled with the fact that the tree had been hacked off with an axe, then only days later Rob being attacked and killed with what the police were saying was an axe or a hatchet, pointed in Jim’s irrational mind, towards the Goatman. Pete had watered the seed planted in Jim’s mind by telling him that he, himself, had been under attack by the Goatman for the past three weeks.
As impossible as all this sounded and given the fact that Pete had gone off the deep end, Jim had seen the splattered proof against the wall. It could be argued that since Pete was insane at least to some degree that he’d staged everything himself but who wanted to think that? He could have easily gone out and killed Tommy but why? And then a few days later he could’ve gone and lured Rob to his death but again, why? If you wanted to believe he’d killed two of his best friend, set everything up in his yard so that he could have proof that he was under attack by some unseen force and then have himself arrested as a witness and not a suspect you still had to ask why. Oh yeah and if you could believe all that then you could believe in the Goatman too. But that was maybe giving Pete a little too much credit. He was smart and all but not that smart. Even if he was faking everything. Jim quickly put that out of his head. Pete was definitely a goner in the brains department but not so far that he would do the things terrible things that had happened.
If you disqualified Pete as a suspect then the question was now; who was doing it? Things flying from the night, bloody writing on the walls, and dead friends being found here and there. All this stuff wasn’t happening by itself. Oh wait, here’s another piece of evidence he thought ruefully. Once the sheriff had arrived and charged off into the wilderness to see what, if anything, could be found he’d come back with more support for the village idiots theory. Goat or deer tracks in the woods around Pete’s house.
Jim knew there had to have been someone in the woods when that head took flight and came roaring at them but he’d been too afraid to do anything when it’d happened. He could’ve gone after the sheriff left but hadn’t. He was scared not stupid. Instead he’d left with his tail between his legs and almost no doubt that the prints in the woods were made by a hoof that belonged to the Goatman. Nothing else other than a human being or him could have heaved that head and unfortunately there were no other humans running about that night that anyone knew of. He didn’t want to believe any of it, and knew he would go crazy if he did, but there was only one thing it could be.
Jim’s mind was still whirling as he pulled to the side of the road in front of the graveyard. Leaving his car and walking up a slight hill he saw that most of the town had already arrived. In a town this small everyone had known Tommy and had come to say goodbye to him one last time. It was slightly surprising to Jim. Tommy had always had friends but he didn’t think this many people would’ve shown up. Small town or not.
Tommy’s parents stood next to the grave with a group of people Jim vaguely recognized as being distant relatives. The only way he recognized them was that he’d met one or two of them when he was little at one of Tommy’s birthdays. It was funny how little some people changed over the years. They were all dressed in shades of black and gray as befitted a funeral.
The service began as he walked up, almost like they’d been waiting for him. He knew they hadn’t been and it was only a coincidence but it still made him feel slightly uncomfortable.
Looking through the faces of the crowd he saw many he felt should look familiar but he was unable to come up with any of their names. Most likely people he’d known in school or something like that but it still made him realize one thing. He’d been away a long time. Everybody was a lot different than the way he’d remembered them. As his gaze traveled around the congregation he noticed a few people were returning his curious look with ones of their own. Unfortunately the looks he was receiving weren’t curious. Instead they were angry and sometimes down right hostile. The sheriff was one he caught giving him a harsh look but to his credit his cheeks colored and he quickly looked away when he saw Jim’d caught him.
He felt out of place. The general feeling of the place made him feel like he wasn’t supposed to be present. The glares seemed to say he’d missed his chance to be part of Tommy’s life so what right did he have to be there now that he was dead. He’d abandoned Tommy to his fate. Now, when it was all over he decided to return. What good could he do now? The looks told him none.
In the face of these imagined accusations Jim began to think maybe they were right. Maybe he’d never left Tommy wouldn’t be dead right now. Maybe Rob wouldn’t have died either. It was crazy to think things like that and torture himself but when you were receiving the looks he was you couldn’t help but feel that way. If he’d stayed things might have been different. Then again he countered; they might just have stayed the same too. He could also just be imagining it all too, he told himself.
Tiring of the hostility directed at him by people he once thought of as friends he tried to remove himself from the group he’d unfortunately become stuck in. He slowly began to make his way towards the back of the group trying not to jostle anyone as he did. No need to have anybody any madder at him than they already were. He took a step a little too quickly and accidentally bumped in to someone. Looking over his shoulder to apologize he was startled to see a bright smile. He was dismayed to see who it belonged too.
The last person he’d wanted to see today was the only one that seemed to want to see him. Maria stood directly in his path to the rear of the assembly. Looking for another escape route he was greeted only with the disapproving looks of the town’s people. They were definitely not going to let him through. He was stuck. He resigned himself to standing where he was and enduring the remainder of the funeral the best he could. After a few minutes he noticed Maria was standing a little close for his comfort but he had no real choice in the matter so he tried to ignore her and hoped the funeral would be over soon.
After a few minutes passed he felt her move a little closer than she’d been before. Looking back to ask her for a little room he noticed what she was wearing. It wasn’t close to what everyone else was wearing. She stood out like a peacock in a group of hens. Her clothes were in bright blues and purples and looked as if she were about to attend a party as opposed to a funeral. If it hadn’t been for the circumstances he would have thought she was at a party. The only thing she was missing was a drink and some music. She had the clothes and the look already. He turned back without a word and tried focusing his attention on the service but was unable to with her so close. He could feel her studying him. He knew if he turned around she would be standing there with a sympathetic look on her face ready to console him in any way he asked. Most guys would kill for someone like that but not him. If he’d been attracted to her in any way it might have brought some ideas to mind but instead it made his stomach turn.
From what little of the service he was able to pay attention to, it appeared to be a good one. All the right things were said to console the attendees and make them think Tommy was in a better place and that everything was generally alright. Jim wasn’t much into religion. He never had been. Tommy, himself, probably would’ve been surprised to find him there. Jim had always refused church and anything else having to do with religion. But he had to be there for Tommy.
After the preacher finished speaking he was surprised to find that he did actually feel somewhat better than when he’d arrived. He also felt a little batter about saying goodbye too. He didn’t want to admit Tommy was gone but he knew he was and he could now accept it a little better than he had. He still wasn’t comfortable with the way it’d happened or the circumstances surrounding it but the service made saying goodbye much easier than he thought it would be.
As Tommy’s body was slowly lowered into the grave the group of people began breaking up. Most moved forward to pay their respects to the family members while others moved towards the road in preparation to leave. They tried not to look hurried but they couldn’t hide it very well. A lot of people didn’t like to be around death. It reminded them of their own mortality.
When the crowd parted sufficiently for him to pass, he quickly made his way towards Tommy’s parents. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Maria wasn’t following and was happy to see that Johnny Langill had come up and was occupying her attention. He was talked to her somewhat excitedly but it wasn’t his business so he turned back and continued to Tommy’s family. Better him than me he thought as he waited for someone in front of him to finish saying his piece to the family. When he was finally able to he told Tommy’s mother how sorry he was for what had happened and said he wished he had been there. She gave him a quick hug and said it probably wouldn’t have mattered. Tommy’s parents were big into religion. They probably thought since Tommy was gone it was just his time. God had called him home and all that other stuff. Jim didn’t believe it for a minute. He stood and talked for only a minute before saying his goodbyes and moving on to make room for the person behind him.
Walking slowly back to his car with thoughts of Tommy and Rob running through his head he barely heard Maria’s voice yelling at someone. Once he noticed it though he was curious as to who might deserve her wrath so he continued walking in the direction it was coming from and soon found that the unfortunate person was still Johnny Langill. Whatever they’d been talking about when Jim went to see Tommy’s family must’ve been pretty important. If Maria’s reaction was any judge it must not have been good news. She continued giving him a good lashing until she seemed to suddenly realize she was making a scene. Quickly smiling she grabbed Johnny’s shoulder, pulled him a little further away and started yelling at him again. Better him than me, Jim thought as he began started back in the direction of his car. He was almost there when he heard his name called behind him. He grudgingly turned to see who it was only to see Maria waving at him. Not wanting to be held up, especially by her, but being too polite to leave without seeing what she wanted he stayed where he was until she reached him. “Hello Maria. How are you doing?” he said calmly.
“I’m fine but it’s you that I should be asking that question to isn’t it?” she asked.
He waited for her to say something else but all she did was stand there. Jim didn’t know what she expected him to say. She hadn’t asked him anything so he just stood waiting for whatever was next.
“I know this has all been really rough for you,” she said when she realized he wasn’t going to say anything, “but I just wanted to see how you were.” After he told her he was fine she quickly said, “Well, that’s good. I was hoping you were.” She again stopped as if waiting for him to say something. This was getting on his nerves.
He knew she was only trying to be nice but he didn’t have time for her to play any of her little games. He just wanted to get out of here and back to his mothers’ house where he could relax but it seemed she was determined to keep that from happening. Wanting to end their conversation as quickly as possible he decided to cut to the chase.
“Is there something you need? I’m kind of in a hurry.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said grumpily.
Jim didn’t really care anymore if he hurt her feelings or not. She was acting like some jealous little girl that couldn’t take no for an answer. He’d hoped she gotten the hint about him not being interested but apparently she hadn’t. Maybe if he was a little meaner to her it would work. Couldn’t hurt to try, he thought grimly. He knew she was going to ask him out before she said it but hoped he’d be wrong. He didn’t fell like telling no again. She should’ve gotten the hint last time. Unfortunately she hadn’t.
“I was just wondering if you’d thought anymore about our getting together,” she began. “We could do something right now if you wanted to. I thought you’d probably be leaving soon and didn’t want you to forget. We’ll have so much fun! I’ve got everything planned already, you just have to tell me when.”
He couldn’t believe what she was saying. His friend hadn’t even had the dirt thrown on his coffin yet and she was asking him out on a date. This girl really did live in her own little dream world. She was worse than Pete. Any doubts he might’ve had before were gone now. He’d never heard of anyone asking someone out at a funeral. It just wasn’t something he thought was done. Until now that is. He was about to tell her what he thought of her when Jill walked up beside him and took his arm.
“Ready to go?” she asked smiling as she looked at Maria. To her credit Maria’s mouth only hung open for about five seconds before it snapped shut with an audible click of her teeth. She quickly recovered and gave Jill a withering glare before storming away through the crowd.
“Jill to the rescue again, huh?” he said as he looked at her. “None of that me Tarzan you Jane type thing for you is there?” he finished while trying to hold back laugher. He was surprised at how good it felt to see her. Just being near her made him feel a lot better than he had.
“Nope,” she said smiling sweetly, “But just in case you were wondering you I’d let you come to my rescue anytime as long as you don’t beat on your chest afterwards.”
“You seem to do just fine by yourself,” he said after a few seconds of pretending to think about it. “Plus this is the twenty first century you know. Women do all kinds of things for themselves in these modern times. You don’t need men anymore. Remember.”
He tried looking serious but once he saw the indignant look that came over her face he couldn’t help but laugh. She tried looking mad for a few seconds then joined in but not until she’d swatted him on his arm. Hard. They were getting a few strange looks by then but Jim didn’t really care about that anymore. He was sick of all these people and their petty little looks they gave people they thought didn’t fit in.
They climbed in to his car still laughing. Once they finally were able to bring themselves back under control he asked, “So now I’m your driver?”
“Yup, you get to take me home,” she said smiling.
Pulling away from the graveyard they began talking about little things like the weather but by the time they’d arrived he knew almost her whole life story. Before getting out of the car they agreed that since their previous attempt at a date hadn’t really worked out too well they’d try again that night.
Jill was just getting out of the car but she suddenly leaned over and gave him a kiss on the lips and said in a mischievous voice, “See, women do need men for some things after all.” then she jumped out with a giggle leaving him to stare after her.