Jill was just closing the store when Jim came running up hoping he wasn’t late for their date. He’d only had a few minutes once he got to his mother’s house to take a quick shower put on some clean clothes then run back out the door. He’d cut it close but he’d made it. True to her word Jill was ready to go.
“Hi!” she said looking at him a little funny.
“Hi yourself,” he answered while catching his breath. After taking a few minutes to calm down he asked, “So, what are we going to do tonight?”
“Well,” she began nervously, “Gran came by a little while after you left to say hi and we got to talking about what all had been going on today. You know, gossiping. Well, I told her you’d come back for a short visit and that you’d been talking to Rob about Tommy’s death and how the two of you thought something a little strange was going on. She pretty much agreed but I cut her off before she could get started by telling her you and I were going to be seeing each other later. She quieted down for a minute then said if we didn’t have anything else to do then we should stop by and visit with her for a while. She said she’d missed seeing you after all these years. She also said she wanted to talk to you about something too. You know, since you were here and all.”
“Any idea about what?” Jim asked after trying to figure out what Gran might want. True, he’d known her when he was little but that was a long time ago. He couldn’t imagine anything she might want to tell him after all this time.
“No, no idea but whatever it is it must be really important. She told me not to forget at least five times before she left. She even tried to have me write it down so I wouldn’t forget but I told her that was going a bit too far. I mean, it’s our date after all right?”
He didn’t know what Gran wanted but according to Jill it was important. They might as well go find out what this was all about. He’d been looking forward to spending a night alone with Jill but talking to Grandma wouldn’t take too long. Then the two of them would have the rest of the night together.
“You’re right it is our date but it won’t hurt to stop off and see Grandma for a few minutes,” he said, “after that hopefully we can go do something else. There wasn’t much to do around here when I left but I’m sure we can find something.”
“Oh, I’m sure we’ll find some way to pass the time,” Jill said with an impish smile. Spending part of their first with her grandmother obviously wasn’t what either of them had planned but it seemed to make her happy so he didn’t mind doing it. After that though is when the real date would start. He knew what he wanted to do but wondered if it was along the same lines as what she had planned.
He honestly didn’t mind taking a little time to visit with Grandma. He hadn’t seen her in so long he’d been hoping he would get a chance to visit her while he was home. Now that chance had presented itself and he was glad did. If it hadn’t been for this date he might not have found the time to see her and knew he would’ve regretted it. She might not be around the next time he finally made it home. His own grandparents died when he was young, so Grandma had sorta become a surrogate grandparent. She didn’t seem to mind too much. Why should she, it wasn’t like he took much of her time. A kind smile whenever he came in and letting him read whatever comics were on the racks wasn’t too hard. Actually now that he thought about it she’d probably welcomed it since she’d never been able to see her own grandchild.
When he was younger Grandma used to put up with the kids from all over town being in her shop and making messes but she’d always handled it without a problem. Whenever his little group of hooligans showed their faces she’d be waiting with a smile no matter how dirty or loud they were. There was a lot of other stuff but one thing that stuck out, and he was always grateful for, was that she’d never acted like a typical adult. Other adults seemed to want the old standby of children being seen and not heard but she was the exact opposite. She wanted them to talk to her. She always seemed to have time for them not matter how trivial the topic might be. Whenever she talked to you she did it in a way that made that child feel important. She always spoke to them like they were just little people and not kids. Whether it was how much stuff they’d gotten for Christmas or if it was how many frogs they’d caught down by the creek. It was all important to her. If visiting her was all she asked from him then he figured it was the least he could do to pay her back, just a little, for all she’d done for him. Besides maybe it would be fun.
As they began walking Jill explained that she lived with her Grandma and that it wasn’t very far away so they could just walk there if he didn’t mind. She seemed a little nervous talking to him at first but soon warmed up as the conversation started flowing. Surprisingly she thought almost all of his jokes were funny and agreed with him that there was definitely something strange about Tommy’s death. Almost as soon as that subject came up Jim steered the conversation to something else. It was the first of what he hoped might be more dates and he didn’t want to ruin it by talking about his dead friend. Jim missed Tommy, but he was sure he’d understand.
They slowly strolled down the street towards the edge of town talking and laughing like old friends. Jim was actually surprised how well they were getting along. He usually did abysmally when it came to talking to the other sex. He was mostly glad he hadn’t put his foot in his mouth.
A lot of the houses belonged to one of the two main developments the town boasted but there were a few that had been built off by themselves. These were set closer to the edge of the town, almost in the woods. They stood like lonely sentinels guarding the inhabitants from unseen horrors that might at any minute swoop down and devour them. At least that was how Jim always thought of them. Many of the old places were left over from the original families that had settled here and eventually helped the town grow into what it was today. The developments were added later on after others families who wanted to get away from the big cities began moving to the area.
Sadly the town council in its infinite wisdom did nothing to keep the lonely, old guardians intact. For the most part they were run down, barely standing shacks. Some actually had fallen into nothing more than heaps of old rotten wood waiting for a well placed lightening strike to finally end their misery. They’d been built well all those years ago but since they were no longer occupied by anything other than an animal or two they’d fallen to disrepair. There were no families moving to the town anymore that wanted the problems that went along with owning one of the old places. Jim briefly entertained the idea of buying one and fixing it up back to the state it had once been but then his reality reared its ugly head. There was no reason for him to do something like that. He had no life here. He had his mom sure, but that was about it plus he hadn’t been back in years. The idea died before it’d really taken any shape. Glancing at Jill, he thought maybe there would be another reason for him to stay soon.
A small smile spread across his face as they turned down a road he recognized. He knew it almost as well as the one leading to his house. It went to the only school in town. The one he went to when he lived here. Jim didn’t know if it was still in use but since the road wasn’t overgrown with weeds and trees he assumed it was. Not that he’d seen many kids around since his arrival. Parents were probably keeping them close to home after what had happened to Tommy.
Trying to distract himself from morbid thoughts he pointed out different birds and trees he saw to Jill. He’d spent so much time in the forest as a kid he couldn’t help but learn what certain things were. Jill asked how he knew so much which eventually led to stories about all the mischief he’d gotten into as child growing up here. It amazed her that one kid could get in so much trouble. She had thought the town dull and boring but he seemed to open her eyes to how much there actually was to do there. At least if you were a kid.
They soon found themselves at the end of a dirt road that branched off from the main one that in turn led to a small house set slightly back near the wood line. Jill walked confidently down the road and Jim followed to what was apparently Grandma’s house. Following closely behind Jill he had to stifle a laugh at the thought. When Jill looked questioningly over her shoulder he had to explain that he couldn’t help but think of the old Christmas carol. He whistled a few note and by the time they were half way down the path they were both laughing so hard their faces were red and Jim’s eyes were watering. He didn’t know what was so funny about the whole thing and he didn’t really care. He just liked hearing Jill’s laughter.
“I used to think the same thing,” she said after catching her breath and opening the door of the porch. As they’d walked up and before the unexpected bout of singing he’d seen the house and found it to be what he would expect a lady like grandma to live in. Thinking back over the years to the days when he’d rode the bus this way he remembered passing the dwelling many times but not thinking about who had lived there. They’d passed by the little house everyday on the way to and from school, but he’d never really noticed it before. He knew it was there but he never really looked at it.
The house was a typical one story that had obviously been built a long time ago but for all its age it still looked ok. Just like he imagined Grandma would when he finally saw her again. Grandma had most likely lived most, if not all, of her life there and taken care of the place through the years. There was evidence of a few minor modifications here and there that had been made, the most prominent of which was the porch they were now entering. It was in much better shape than the rest of the house. He wasn’t sure but it stood to reason that it must have been added after the original house was built. The small enclosure ran the length of most of the front of the house almost reaching all the way around to the side. Big screened in windows gave an unobstructed view of the road and surrounding forest. The wood it was constructed of was stained dark so that it would match the house as close as it possible but the constant exposure to weather gave it away. The wood paneling on the house itself was just a slight bit lighter than the porch. The hinges of the door only squealed a little as it slammed shut behind them. If nothing else somebody took care of the door. Jim could imagine Grandma sitting on one of its three chairs watching the kids pass by in the morning on their way to school with a big smile on her face.
He felt like a bit of an intruder walking into the house but the feeling quickly disappeared when he beheld the homey environment he’d entered. If there was any other place in the world that made someone feel as welcome he couldn’t think of it. The inside just seemed to take your hand and whisper in your ear that you were considered family and to stay as long as you wanted. Everywhere he looked were pictures of people he knew. Not that he knew Grandma’s family but then again looking at the pictures he did. The faces looking back at him were filled with smiles and laughter. They were picture of all of his childhood friends. Here he saw the little girl that used to live down the street from him eating an ice cream cone, there he saw the bully that used to pick on all the smaller kids reading a comic book then he came to a picture that just about took his breath away. Stepping closer he saw faces he knew as well as his own. A picture of Rob, Tommy, Pete and himself was nestled between two of other kids he vaguely recognized. He actually remembered when it was taken. The four of them were sitting outside Grandma’s store with their arms around each other making weird faces at the camera. Grandma had come outside one day while they were there and snapped it for what she said was her family photo album. When they all protested saying they weren’t in her family she just smiled and told them they may not be flesh and blood but they were still her boys.
Jim was pulled from his revelry by a touch on his shoulder. Blinking a tear from his eye he didn’t know was there he found Jill looking at him with an understanding smile on her face. All his life, Grandma’s natural surroundings seemed to have been behind the counter at the store. He’d never thought of her any other way. Seeing this other side of her and how much all the kids actually had meant to her opened his eyes to just how special of a woman she actually was. All the kids coming and going from her store messing things up had never been a bother to her because they were the family she never had.
Knowing this made seeing her just that much more special to Jim. Taking a last look at old friends he saw something else that was surprising. Grandma was quite the collector of penguins. All the shelves that didn’t hold a picture had penguins of some sort on them. He never even knew there were that many different things with the funny looking creature on it. It brought a smile to his face almost as much as the voice he heard coming from another part of the house.
Any feelings about not being welcome that might still have lingered were quickly dispelled when Grandma’s voice broke the silence that Jim hadn’t realized existed. He didn’t catch all of it but heard something about her being in the kitchen and what was taking them so long to get there. After walking down a dim hallway with even more pictures on the wall the arrived at a door. Jill stepped aside with a smile so Jim could be the first one to enter. For some reason he found that he was nervous, but before it got the better of him he pushed open the door and entered.
Grandma was seated at a small table and looked almost like he remembered her looking when she was behind the store counter. He couldn’t help but smile as a smile brighter than his own spread across her face.
“Jimmy,” she squealed doing a good impersonation of a fifteen year old, “finally found time to come back and visit an old woman huh?”
Walking to where she sat he saw that she looked just as he remembered her. Maybe a few more wrinkles here and there but other than that she was still the same old Grandma from his memories. When Jim was little she’d always seemed much bigger than him, like most adults, but now looking at her as she stood to greet him she seemed much smaller. Of course he’d also gotten a lot bigger over the years.
Reaching her and not knowing what to do he took a minute to look at her. From this new perspective things were quite different. Now instead of her being taller than him he found that she was actually about the same height as his mother. Her hair had always been sorta grayish but now seemed almost white. Looking at her he could see just a hint of where Jill had gotten some of her looks from. The resemblance was strongest in the eyes and nose but he saw it peeking out in a few other places too. A lot of people said that he himself looked a lot like his grandmother but he couldn’t see it. How could a guy look like a girl was the thing he always wondered and never understood.
Jim smiled as he stood wondering what the proper protocol was when you saw an adult you knew as a kid. He wasn’t left to wonder for long though. Grandma unexpectedly reached out and embraced him in a rib cracking bear hug. She might’ve been old but she was surprisingly strong.
“I’ve known you too long to be shaking your hand or any other stupid thing like that young man,” she said releasing him after a few seconds and taking a step back to look at him. “Heck, I’ve know you since you were just knee high to a grasshopper. Not that way anymore though is it? Anyway, don’t be treatin’ me like some little old lady you have to treat like she’s made out of eggshells. No coddling or anything like that when you come to see me. Hell, you’re the one that’s all skin and bones not me.” She looked at him for a few seconds to make sure he knew she was joking then continued. “Then again looks, as they say, can be deceiving. I remember you were always a good little boy and now that I see you, I’m guessing you’ve probably grown up to be quite a nice young man. At least I hope you have considering how my granddaughter’s been looking at you.” Jim quickly glanced at Jill only to find her red faced and trying to find a closet to go hide in. Grandma didn’t seem to notice. “You look good,” she said. “You sure are a welcome sight for these old eyes.”
Jim was only a little uncomfortable with the welcome he’d received. They’d always been friendly but she seemed to have actually genuinely missed him. He was deeply touched to think that someone other than his mother cared about him that much and felt a little bad for not having made the effort to come see her before now. It was a lucky thing she was still alive. He hoped she would be around for a lot longer. He would definitely have to come back home more often than he had. Maybe his mother wasn’t the only thing he’d left behind after all.
“Hi, Grandma,” he said with a silly grin. “How have you been?”
“How do you think I’ve been?” she snapped back. “I’ve been getting older and more worn out as the days go by. I’m thinking one of these days pretty soon it might be time for me to take a rest. One of those long ones if you know what I mean.” She said this last part as if she were trying to elicit a response of some sort. Just as she’d probably planned Jill quickly chimed in.
“Don’t talk like that Grandma. The only kind of rest you’re going to be taking is when you go to sleep later on tonight. You know I really don’t like it when you talk that way.”
Grandma gave her a sullen look but as she turned back to him he saw a smile quickly spread over her face and just as quickly disappear. She’d gotten what she wanted and been scolded for it but now it was time to move on. Speaking to Jim, she asked all the normal things like how he’d been and what he’d been doing all these years. She asked almost as if he’d been avoiding her or something. He couldn’t help but laugh and began telling her about his life and how it had gone since leaving town. When he got to the part about how he wasn’t married she quickly asked Jill if she’d heard him. Jill, to her credit didn’t turn as red as she had the first time. Deciding not to embarrass her anymore than she was he acted like he hadn’t noticed anything and went back to talking to Grandma although with a smile a little bigger than he’d had before.
They talked about the town and who had come and gone since he’d left. Most of the people she mentioned were only vague memories as far as he was concerned but he listened and actually found himself interested in what had become of everyone. Grandma seemed to enjoy talking so he let her do it.
The conversation eventually reached the topic Jim knew was coming but short of leaving couldn’t there was no way to stop it. Tommy’s death, or murder as he was now thinking of it, brought a halt to what had previously been an enjoyable evening. He didn’t have the heart to tell Grandma he didn’t want to talk about it. He just hoped she wouldn’t take too long.
After a few minutes of silence Grandma realized he wasn’t going to be too talkative about it so began quizzing him on what he’d found out so far from the people around town. Not knowing where to start he just told her everything with the exception of things Rob had said. She agreed with him when he told her he thought it was strange the way everyone had been told what happened was an accident. After he was done she didn’t seem to be satisfied. She told him she knew the official story but wanted to know what he’d found out unofficially.
He knew she was talking about what he’d found out from Rob but didn’t know how she knew he’d told Jim anything. Then again they had been best friends so of course Rob had told him stuff. Jim had promised not to tell anyone but after thinking about it for a minute he decided that the two women could be trusted with the secrets. Besides they weren’t about to go running out the door shouting his information to the world. Grandma seemed to know everything that happened in town anyways and Jill wasn’t going to tell anyone so he figured Rob was safe.
After coming to his decision he began relating to them all the things Rob had told him especially how the tree near Tommy looked like it’d been cut and about the goat hair. He tried to add the goat hair bit as an afterthought but wasn’t too convincing. If he thought about that part too much he would start thinking those crazy thoughts again. He definitely didn’t want that to happen. Not having been stopped he quickly moved on to the part about the tracks that were found in the area and how they couldn’t figure out where they’d come from. He didn’t mention any of his suspicions but when he was done the room had gone quiet while everyone thought about what they’d heard could mean.
Grandma sat across from him looking thoughtful. While he’d been speaking he noticed her getting more and more upset so he’d ended his tale as quickly as possible but probably not fast enough. Some of the things he’d said must’ve been known to her but a lot of it was almost certainly new. Grandma slowly closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. Jim thought he heard it rattling in her lungs but hoped he was mistaken. He was just nervous. He didn’t like where the conversation had ended up and hoped it would move on to something more pleasant soon. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen.
“One of my poor boys is dead and that creature from those damn woods is responsible,” Grandam whispered. “We thought it was gone. But no! Oh no! It always comes back.” She looked as if she’d aged ten years in the last few minutes. Her shoulders slumped more than they had when he’d arrived and her eyes had lost a little of that sparkle they’d previously had. Jim looked at Jill trying to find some explanation for what Grandma had just said but if anything she looked as if she were more baffled than he was.
“You,” she said looking at Jim, “are too young to know what I’m talking about and you,” she said turning to Jill, “didn’t even grow up in this cursed town so have never even heard about the damned things I’m about which I’m going to speak.” She paused to gather her thoughts. Jill looked at her worriedly before looking at Jim hoping he might know what was going on. Not having any answers for her he just shrugged his shoulders and waited. Grandma drew a shaky breath and began speaking.
“Once a long time ago this town was a very sad and dark place. It started out nice enough. When the town was new, everyone lent a hand to help each other get on their feet. For the first few months it wasn’t actually that bad of a place to be. But eventually that changed. Things started going wrong. The town itself was, by this time, quickly filling up with houses and people, so some of the folks recently arrived from other places began venturing out into the surrounding woods looking to make a place for themselves. Others went to explore, but a lot were searching for just the right spot to build their new houses and begin their new lives. Unfortunately for most that wasn’t meant to be. Those that chose to live away from town usually were rarely ever seen again.”
“Oh sure, every once in a while one or two would come stumbling from the woods but something wasn’t quite right with them. Something had gone wrong in their heads and they quickly either wandered off again or killed themselves. Some of the towns’ people tried to talk to them and find out what had gone wrong but only got strange tales for their troubles. Those that returned told of strange creatures and strange places the quiet people of the town couldn’t begin to understand.”
“They spoke of things that were quite literally beyond their belief. Mostly, the stories they told went something along the lines of having lost their way in the woods but not being too worried about it at first. They continued by saying that as they walked they could swear they heard whispers and things moving through the woods around them. They never saw what made the noises but they knew something was there. The feeling of being watched never left them. Eventually the whispering would get louder and they would begin to think they could almost understand what was being said. At first it sounded like someone was calling them. The voices sounded almost familiar to them. The people, now beginning to get scared, would start running towards what they thought was safety but they never found anyone. They would no sooner get to the place where they were sure the voices were coming from than it would suddenly start from a totally different direction. This would go on and on until they could run no farther. Then it would suddenly stop. They would collapse from exhaustion but just as they were about to fall asleep the voices would start again. Urging them to stand and look for help again. Promising they weren’t far and were almost out of the woods. If they were lucky they might suddenly find themselves out of the woods with the whispers now turned to laughter at their backs. If they weren’t lucky, well you can probably figure out that part.”
Grandma stopped at this point to take a drink of her now cold coffee. Jim had been so memorized he hadn’t even seen it sitting on the table in front of her. Thinking Jill must’ve brought it over he looked at her only to find her face full of disbelief. She probably thought her grandmother had finally gone off the deep end. Thoughts of old folks homes were most likely passing through her head right at this moment. He was just about to trying to get her attention when Grandma took up her story again.
“Others,” she began again, “told terrible stories of monstrous creatures that would chase them night and day until they thought they wouldn’t be able to take another step. Just as they were sure they were dead and had no choice but to collapse the sounds of pursuit would stop. Chest heaving, legs aching they would finally get up the nerve to turn and look for their pursuers only to find the forest behind them empty. No beast with thousands of teeth waiting, no shrouded figure with raised scythe. Just empty woods with bird chirping at them from the trees. Thinking their ordeal at an end they would soon find themselves fast asleep with thoughts of how silly they were for thinking something was chasing them dancing in their head. But then it would start again.”
“If that weren’t enough, there were a very few others who said they actually saw the creature that chased them. But like I said there were very few of these. It probably would’ve been better if there were none. The lost ones that claimed to have actually seen the creatures were the worst off. They were the ones who usually didn’t live long after their escapes. They were never extremely clear about what exactly happened but most spoke of how the creature would only come at the end of one of the chases when there was no possibility that its prey could move another inch.”
“Then it would appear, lumbering through the woods carrying a crude ax or some other type of weapon braying its horrible call. The focus of its fury would have no choice but to sit and wait for the death the creature promised by it’s approach. It would stand over them, looking down upon them with horrible leaf green eyes until they either passed out from fright or closed their eyes to wait for the end. They would stay this way, sure they could feel the beast breath on their face, smelling it’s earthy, wet stink thinking about what was about to happen. But nothing did. When they either woke or opened their eyes the thing would be gone. They said things of this type would go on for days. There was no hope of fighting back. The creature seemed to inspire weakness in them. Once brave men became babes in its presence. Then for no reason they could figure out, they would be running from one of the beasts and would suddenly find themselves back where they had started, on the edge of the woods. Alone. No creature chasing them. Nothing but the chirping birds and themselves. Thinking themselves crazy they would slowly make their ways back to town. They would be found talking to themselves about creatures that didn’t exist and these frightening stories would then be passed to the rest of town making many a brave men crowd around a fire at night. None ever returned to the woods. Most eventually wandered off. Those that didn’t, as I said, killed themselves.”
“Now I see the by the looks on your faces you think I left something out. You’re probably wondering why nobody went and hunted these beasts down. Well, some did. Some went out to see if they could find anything. Most returned empty handed. At least those that returned. Some never did. It was almost as if the things in the woods knew that if they took too many or were caught themselves then more people would come invading there woods. After a time of searching and finding nothing fewer and fewer people went looking. Everyone stayed to the known roads and pretty much left the woods alone. The ones that did venture in never went out of sight of the road they’d left. Over time people stopped disappearing and it was eventually forgotten. A few brave souls began building houses closer to the woods. They lit fires at night to keep whatever might be lurking at bay. When nothing happened and the terrible events of the past faded to just a memory more and more people started building near the woods. People who just couldn’t live with the past moved away but most ended up staying. They’d traveled far and weren’t going to give up their new home. Where would they go? Everything they had was here.” Grandma stopped speaking to take a small sip of her coffee. The face she made indicated what she thought of it. She got up and went to the sink as she continued her story.
“All this happened a few months before my mother was born.” she said. Pausing to look at Jill, she said, “Your great, great grandfather was one of the people that went looking and never came back. He was young back then. Just married and with a little one and another on the way. He wasn’t about to back down and give up his home. So off he went one day never to return.” Almost as if caught in a memory she stopped speaking and just stared off into nothing. Jim was about to ask how she knew all this but she beat him to it. “The stories of what happened were passed down. They became things of legend. Urban myths if you will. But these legends, these myths, were based in fact not fiction.”
“Mothers used the tales to frighten children,” she said with a sad smile. “They scared them, myself included, by telling them that if they weren’t good or if they didn’t listen and do their chores, then the Goatman would come and take them away to the woods. If the parent was especially cruel or the child especially bad they would tell how he’d hang them by their toenails or strip the skin off their back and eat it right in front of them. The description of the terrible things that would be done was enough to make the kids lay awake in their beds for a week. Needless to say most kids in town were well behaved. Then again there were a few that weren’t but they never ended up staying around long.
As far as we know the beast never came out of the woods but children still disappeared once in a while. No smart parent would allow their kids to go anywhere near the forest alone. My mother didn’t need to use things like that to get me to listen. We’d already lost our grandfather. That was enough. Now after all these years the damn thing should be dead but from what I’m hearing it sounds like its back. I knew this day would come and prayed that it never would. Some damn idiot must’ve called it.”
“What do you mean called it?” Jim asked with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
“Well from everything I heard as a child, the actual reason that all the bad things really stopped was because of an old woman who lived nearby. Actually now that I think of it I think she lived in the woods themselves. Everybody thought she was a witch or something. Who else could live where she did and survive? Anyways, the story goes that at some point, for some reason she put a curse on the creature that was taking our people. Nothing I heard was really clear on why just that she did. After that things calmed down. People stopped disappearing and things returned to normal. A while later, after a particularly bad storm, someone went looking for the old woman and found her cottage empty. The person that went looking saw a message scratched in the wood of the door that said the beast that was terrorizing the town was gone and would only come again if somebody called it. There was this stupid little rhyme that could return it to our world where it could once again terrorize the town. All I really know is that the disappearances stopped. For all we know the witch was the one causing everything and the creature was just trying to save us. Nobody knows for sure except for sure. The only thing we know are the stories of those it chased. Unfortunately my grandfather was one of the last few people that disappeared before the old woman put and end to it. I know that creature was the one responsible and now it’s back.”
“Yeah but Grandma, you said it was somehow responsible for Tommy’s death,” Jill said. “What did you mean?”
Grandma looked at them for a moment then focused on Jim as if she knew something she couldn’t possibly know. “Do you know if Tommy ever tried looking for or maybe even calling for the Goatman?”
He could hear his hear thumping so loudly in his head he was surprised the two women didn’t notice it. As he looked at them parts of his dream drifted back to him. He heard four adolescent voices calling out as one asking the creature to appear. He saw the beast parting the shadows, coming towards them, answering their call. He saw the axe as it was raised in the air ready to speed its way to his death. He heard the whistle as it sliced the air and jumped as it hit its destination. But that was only a dream he thought coming back to himself. None of it had happened. Jim thought better of telling them anything about it for obvious reasons. He knew he and his friends were responsible for its return. Instead of answering her question he tried to deflect it.
“Grandma it was just some goat hair,” he said. “I admit it’s strange that it’s there but that’s all it was.” He hoped changing the subject to something based in the real world and not in myth would defuse the tension he felt building. He didn’t trust himself to start talking about the things Grandma had brought up. He believed that she believed everything she’d said but she couldn’t be right. There were no such things as bogeymen much less Goatmen.
“The Goatman’s just a legend,” he said having a hard time convincing himself much less them. “I’m not saying that stuff didn’t happen but it was a long time ago. This is now. People don’t just walk off into the woods and disappear anymore. We were all told the stories about the Goatman growing up but that’s all they were. Stories. None of us believed it. It’s just a legend. How could it have killed Tommy?” He felt like a shit saying all this stuff especially since he didn’t believe it but he couldn’t tell them that he and his friends were the ones who called the creature back from where ever it had been. He really wanted to believe what he was saying but he couldn’t. He just had to hope that Jill and her grandmother did.
“It’s not just a legend!” Grandma yelled ruining that thought.
Her anger surprised him so much he was at a loss for what to say. One minute Grandma’d sat across from him seemingly silently resigned the next she was about coming over the table yelling at him. He hadn’t been out to upset her but apparently he had. He could understand why she was upset and wished he could tell her he believed everything she said one hundred percent but he also had to try to keep things real. If he sat here and agreed with her that some mythical beast was responsible for his friends’ death, Jill might as well call the funny farm for both of them. Grandma’s outward appearance visibly shrank as Jim watched her prepare for what she would say next. Her momentary outburst seemed to have depleted what little energy she had.
“I’m tired,” she said rising slowly from the chair. “I’m tired and I’m going to bed. All this useless talk of the old days has worn me out. Especially since it’s fallen on deaf ears. But don’t forget what I said Jim. All legends are somehow, someway, somewhere rooted in fact.” With that she turned and wafted out of the kitchen like a ghost.
Sitting there for a few minutes, neither knew what to say. After the conversation with Grandma it seemed a mutual agreement that neither of them felt much like going out. Jill was the first to break the spell and busied herself making coffee while Jim made his way out to the porch and took a seat. It was a lot darker than when he’d first arrived. They’d spent longer talking to than he thought they would.
The night seemed much colder now than before. He didn’t know if it was just because of the season or because of all he’d heard. Sitting there he realized something else. The night was quiet. There seemed to be no sounds. Nothing like what he was used to. There were no sirens sounding in the distance, no screaming and yelling coming from the apartments around him and no sounds coming from the mouth of the teenage gang bangers that seemed to come out like a flock of locusts after the sun went down. He’d forgotten how nice his home town was. He could get used to a place like this.
His breath clouded in front of him as he sat enjoying the quiet night. You could almost imagine that there was nothing else on earth at that moment. But then Jill came out and instead of intruding on the moment she only enhanced it. She carried with her two steaming mugs of coffee that smelled as good as they looked. As she took a seat close to him she handed him one. Having her sitting next to him made everything seem complete. He’d forgotten how nice it was not being surrounded by noise all the time. He’d also forgotten how nice it was having a good looking woman sitting next to him.
The thought of buying a house here, again popped into his mind but he quickly shook his head dismissing it as nothing more than a fantasy. It wasn’t a bad idea. It was just an impractical one. There was no reason to do it. To him when someone bought a house that someone should have a family to live in it with them. Other wise what was the point.
“Well,” Jill said breaking his inner debate and bringing his mind back to the present. “That was sorta weird wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, she did get a little excited didn’t she?” he agreed not knowing what else to say.
“Do you think any of what she said could’ve been true?” she asked.
“Well,” Jim said after thinking for a minute, “it’s kinda hard to believe some of it. I mean I did grow up here and I never saw anything like what she was talking about.” The little lie made him feel like a slug but he said it anyways. “Some monster going around abducting people much less chasing them around the woods for fun is a little hard to believe. I’m sure something happened but it couldn’t have been a monster. There must’ve been some other explanation.” He was still trying to convince himself and it still wasn’t working very well. The things Grandma talked about sounded too much like what had happened to him and his friends when they were little for him to just dismiss it as the prattling of an old lady. Especially since that old lady was Grandma. She wouldn’t lie about something like this. What she said could have some truth to it but he couldn’t admit that to Jill. She’d never even heard of the Goatman before now. There was no reason scare her anymore than she already was by agreeing with her grandmother.
“Maybe it wasn’t some creature,” Jill ventured. “Maybe it was a real person terrorizing the town. It could’ve even been that old woman Grandma was talking about. She said the thing and that old woman disappeared at about the same time. Maybe it really was her like Grandma said and the lady was really some kind of Satanist or something. She could’ve been killing people as a sacrifice or something.”
“That sounds a little more plausible to me,” Jim said thoughtfully, “Your grandmother is old but she seemed pretty sure about what she was telling us. I don’t think she would’ve gotten so upset if she thought what she was saying wasn’t the whole hearted truth. Who knows maybe she got some part of the story wrong or something.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, each struggling to make sense of their own ideas along with what Grandma had revealed to them tonight.
“So what now?” Jill said suddenly changing the subject.
“Well, it is a little late,” he said not even wanting to glance at his watch to see the actual time. “Tommy’s funeral is tomorrow so, I guess, maybe we should call it a night.” She looked about as disappointed as he felt which surprisingly made him feel better about leaving her. Maybe things were looking up.
“Ok,” she said with a small smile, “but we can get together again right?”
“Oh, I think that can be arranged,” he teased as he stood to leave.
“What do you mean you think that can be arranged? It damn well better be if you know what’s good for you,” she answered hotly. Trying to hold back his laughter at her mock anger he turned to leave but she quickly stood up and snatched his arm.
“Before you leave there’s something I need to do…” she said as she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss that started out as a quick one but ended up turning in to a much longer one. Stepping back from him a little out of breathe she looked at him in a way that gave him chills in all the right places and said “Now that’s a proper goodnight kiss. So are you sure that it can be “arranged” that we meet again?” He just shook his head up and down like one of those bobble heads you see in car windows. Smiling that smile again she turned and reached for the door. “Watch out for the Goatman on your way home,” she said over her shoulder before opening the door.
Jim just stood there for a minute with a dorky look on his face as he watched her walk into the house and close the door. He didn’t even realize what she’d said. He was happier than he could remember being in a long time. When he finally remembered that if he wanted to get home he had to start walking, he almost had to force himself off the porch.