Come Get Me (15 page)

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.