Come Get Me (2 page)

“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.