Entry 08: A Most Unusual Welcoming Committee
Title: A Most Unusual Welcoming Committee
Entry Number: 08
Author: insaneladybug/Lucky_Ladybug
Fandom: The Rockford Files
Rating: PG-13/T (ghostly goings-on, shadow people, a cemetery)
Genre: Supernatural
Spoiler Warnings: None.
Word Count: 2,764
I think I might continue this into the next piece.
By Lucky_Ladybug
In general, Lou was perfectly alright with doing the majority of the driving. He liked it and he liked the scenery they passed while driving. Ginger was usually content to let Lou drive, unless something was going wrong with the car and Ginger and Lou had differing opinions on what was causing it.
What Lou did not like one bit was when they were traveling to a business meeting in a particular, unfamiliar town and he found himself getting lost.
Yes, he decided as he finally pulled over to the side of the road in utter exasperation, it was long past the time that they should invest in a GPS system.
Ginger had been dozing in the passenger seat-or at least, he had appeared to be dozing. But he wasn’t accustomed to sleeping in the car, so when his eyes opened the moment they stopped, Lou doubted he had been asleep at all.
“What’s happened?” he frowned. Staring at the old iron fence surrounding their new stop, he added dryly, “This doesn’t look like the convention center or the hotel.”
Lou scowled. “I’m going to get out and try to figure out where we are,” he said. “It’s so dark on this stupid road, I can’t see anything!”
“You’re saying we’re lost,” Ginger deduced, flatly.
“Well . . . I didn’t say it, but we are,” Lou admitted.
Instead of criticizing, Ginger started to open the passenger door. “If it’s as dark as all that, you might step into a pothole or a manhole. Besides, you might be gone so long I’d grow impatient. I’ll come with you.”
Lou was perfectly fine with the company. In fact, he was very grateful for it. He got out and waited while Ginger stepped out as well. In front of them and to the left, the iron fence ended in a gate that was stretched wide open.
Lou squinted. It really was dark. The night was starless and moonless and there were no streetlights. He had no idea what kind of a place they were standing in front of, but it was the only manmade thing they had passed for miles. Everything around this spot was wild grass and shrubbery and the desert plants of Southern California.
“Did you bring a torch?” Ginger asked.
Lou sighed. “I think it’s out of batteries. They always seem to be.” He looked to his friend. “Do you have one?”
“Only this.” Ginger took out his Smartphone and shined its light through the gate.
“It looks like it’s not much more than a field,” Lou frowned. “Should we really go in there?”
Ginger shrugged. “Well, the road is paved. There doesn’t seem to be anything else around, unless you saw something else and failed to mention it.”
“This is the first thing I’ve seen since we turned off on that country road hours ago,” Lou said.
“So we’d best try it, then,” Ginger said. “Perhaps there’s some sort of landmark or other identification and we can at least determine if we’re even in the correct town.”
Lou nodded. “Works for me.”
They started forward, passing through the gate and down the paved road. Nervous in spite of himself, Lou took out his phone as well and tried to shine some extra light on their situation.
“We should keep spare batteries in the car at all times for the torch,” Ginger frowned. “Just in case something like this happens again.”
“I’m going to order a GPS when we’re home, so it’d better not happen again,” Lou returned. “But yeah, I’ll get some more batteries too.”
The lights on their phones were already dimming. Ginger observed this with a displeased glower. “We’ll have to conserve what energy and batteries we have,” he said. “Stay close to me and we’ll just use one of them for now.”
Lou didn’t like the idea, but it would be better than trying to feel their way in complete darkness. “Okay,” he agreed. “Do you want to use my phone first?”
Ginger shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
Lou continued to let his phone shine. After a moment, Ginger put his away.
“Maybe there’s no point in this,” Lou said. “I still don’t see anything, except for what looks like some weird statues or something.”
Ginger had noticed as well. There had not been any near the gate, but the farther they advanced into this strange property, the more shapes and shadows were beginning to appear. “Either we’re in a park . . . or a cemetery,” he decided.
Lou groaned. “It’s gotta be a cemetery,” he said. “With our luck, it’d never be a park. And either way, we’re not going to find anybody to give us directions.”
“Unless there is a caretaker,” Ginger pointed out. “The grass looks too neatly trimmed to have been left to itself for long.”
At the sight of a marker particularly close to the road, Ginger stepped closer and indicated for Lou to shine his phone on it. “You’re right,” he commented. “This is a cemetery. And at least according to this, we are in the right town.”
Lou stared at the worn name and birth and death dates of some unknown person. “I’ve had enough of cemeteries for a lifetime,” he declared. “Ginger, I don’t see any house for a caretaker. Maybe he doesn’t live on the grounds.”
“Perhaps not, but if we can find the office it should have his contact information,” Ginger mused. He turned away from the marker. “We’ll keep going. Anyway . . .” He glanced at Lou. “Everything is so dark, how could you possibly tell whether you see a house or not?”
Lou pointed ahead. “Well, now that we’ve been out for a while I can kind of see the trees,” he said. “I just don’t see anything shaped like a house. Or an office. Ginger, if there was one, shouldn’t it have been back at the gate?”
“We must have come in the back way,” Ginger replied. “There was no sign explaining what this is, as there should be at the front gate. If we locate the front, the office will be there.”
“I hope you’re right,” Lou said.
“You surely have to admit that the grass is neatly cut,” Ginger said. “Someone has to be maintaining this cemetery. I will not believe that the spirits of the dead are bothering to do it.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that, either,” Lou said. “It’d be weird if they’d care about taking care of this one and not all the others, like those Jewish cemeteries in New York. Man, I’ve never seen cemeteries being taken over by nature more than those.”
“Exactly.” Ginger walked on, falling into silence.
Lou stayed right beside him, tense and nervous. Every now and then a strange sound had him jumping a mile or looking over his shoulder. It was just a rodent or a night bird or some other animal, he told himself. Or maybe the caretaker they were trying to find. But no matter how many times he silently insisted that there was nothing to worry about, the more his mind insisted back that there was.
“Ginger,” he said after the road had curved to the right, “I think this is far enough. Don’t you? This place could be huge and our phones are dying out on us.” And they shouldn’t be, actually. Maybe some sort of energy was keeping them low, as much as he didn’t want to think that.
There was no response. Ginger stood silently, just watching Lou as he sometimes did. Usually it was his way of saying to keep going with the current plan.
Lou sighed. “Okay, Ginger, okay. We’ll keep looking for the office.”
Again they walked in silence for a time. As the odd sounds persisted, Lou found himself moving closer to Ginger. He didn’t want to admit he was freaked out, but he was. Now it sounded like footsteps near them, but shining his phone didn’t reveal anyone walking in the vicinity. He debated calling out, yet really didn’t want to.
“Ginger, someone’s following us,” he hissed.
Still with the silence.
“Ginger, for Pete’s sake, answer me!” Lou exclaimed. He reached out, grabbing what he thought was Ginger’s shoulder.
His hand passed through.
A horrifying chill spread through Lou’s hand and up his arm. Stumbling back, he held up his phone to shine on the form beside him.
It was only a shadow, with no distinguishable features whatsoever.
That did it. Lou screamed.
“You’re not Ginger!” he yelled. “What . . . what the heck are you?! What’d you do with Ginger?!”
The shadow simply walked past in complete indifference, soon vanishing into the night.
Lou gaped after it, his heart hammering in his chest. “Okay,” he stammered. “Calm down, Lou. You must’ve lost Ginger somewhere around that bend. He’s probably fine, just looking for you. The footsteps you heard were probably his.”
But he could not make himself calm down. What if that shadow had hurt Ginger before taking his place? And what else might be following Lou?
He ran off the grass and back onto the road, heading in the direction from whence he had come. “Ginger!” he yelled. “Ginger, where are you?! Answer me!”
His hands shaking, he tried to dial Ginger’s phone while he ran. But as he half-expected, it rang with no answer. He gave up and continued to run, using the phone to light his way as he shouted for his friend.
****
Ginger, meanwhile, had long ago turned off onto the grass, thinking he spotted a building somewhere on the grass and not on the pathway. It was too big for a mausoleum, so he was certain it had to be the missing office building.
“Lou, shine your phone over this way,” he instructed.
Lou remained where he was, seeming extraordinarily interested in an obelisk monument.
Ginger frowned. “Lou!” he snapped.
Lou straightened and turned back, shrugging as he held out his hands for Ginger to see there was no phone in either one.
“You lost your phone?” Ginger said in disbelief. “You wouldn’t be that careless. Nor would you be this silent.” Immediately he took out his own phone, shining it on the being that was with him.
As Ginger had half-expected by this point, it was not Lou. But he also wasn’t sure what it was. Even a regular ghost would have been less surprising than this.
“You . . . you’re nothing but a shadow!” he choked. “What have you done with Lou?!”
The shadow strolled past, going up the hill and vanishing near the building.
Cursing to himself, Ginger turned back and hastened over the grass, making his way back to the road. “Lou!” he called. “Are you alright? Where are you?”
He was just attempting to dial Lou on the phone when someone suddenly slammed into him from out of nowhere. With a surprised cry, they both toppled over onto the grass.
“Ohh . . .” Lou groaned. “Ginger, is it you? I don’t think I could plow into a shadow.” He rose up on an elbow, holding a hand to his head. “I’m sorry I bowled you down.”
Ginger rose as well, shining his phone on the other man. “Nevermind that. Are you hurt? Did that thing harm you?”
“No, I’m okay,” Lou said. “I thought it probably hurt you!”
Ginger sat up. “It seems that we are the victims of a devilishly juvenile plot,” he remarked. “The shadow people separated us and each assumed the identity of the one left behind.”
Lou cringed. “Ginger, did you hear me calling for you? I was screaming and screaming, but I never heard you say anything back.”
“I was calling for you, also without any result,” Ginger said.
“And trying to get you on the phone didn’t work,” Lou added. He picked his phone out of the grass, frowning at it. “These things, whatever they are, are capable of some pretty creepy stuff.”
Ginger heaved a sigh. “. . . There’s a building up on that hill,” he said, nodding in its direction.
“Yeah?” Lou looked over at it, uncertain. “Do you . . . think it’s the office?”
“I had hoped so, but perhaps it’s simply an overly large and ornate mausoleum after all,” Ginger said.
Lou swallowed hard. “We could . . . walk up there and see, I guess, if you really want to.”
Ginger frowned. “I would have. I’d like to show these shadow people that I am not amused or intimidated. However.” He looked to Lou. “It would likely be a further waste of time. And we don’t have time for childish games; we have to find the hotel and register or we won’t get any sleep before the conference tomorrow.”
“So . . . we should just get out of here and keep driving?” Lou said hopefully.
Ginger got to his feet and held out a hand to Lou. “Let’s.”
Relieved, Lou accepted the help and stood.
As they walked back the way they had come, there were no more footsteps or unsettling traveling companions. But they each felt countless eyes upon them. The shadow people were waiting and watching.
It was an immense relief to step back through the gate and to their car.
“You know, sometimes I see weird shadows out of the corner of my eye, but then they’re gone,” Lou frowned. “It’s freaky, but it’s nothing like this.” He unlocked the car and climbed in.
Ginger grunted, easing into the passenger seat. “I’ve heard tales of the shadow people. No one really seems to know what they are. Perhaps they’re simply another form of ghost. Some people believe they’re demons. And still others are of the opinion that the shadow people simply observe, for some reason or another.”
“It’s all creepy,” Lou declared.
“One thing is for certain,” Ginger said as he adjusted the heavy coat around his shoulders. “These particular shadow people have highly irritating senses of humor.”
Lou nodded in agreement. “I guess we just have to be grateful they weren’t a lot worse than they were.”
Ginger nodded as well. “The faction that believes they’re demons think that because of the malevolent feelings that often accompany them, or so it’s said.”
Lou shuddered. “With our luck, the hotel’s gonna be haunted too.” He started the engine, pulling away from the curb with the greatest of relish.
“It could be,” Ginger agreed matter-of-factly.
“I even think I might remember reading something like that,” Lou moaned. “Maybe Syl told me.”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps you are simply allowing your imagination to run away with you.” Ginger settled into the seat, perfectly glad to be leaving the strange cemetery behind.
“Ginger . . .”
“What.”
“If there’s rooms available with two beds, would you mind sharing a room tonight?”
Ginger stared out at the darkened road as Lou resumed the drive. “No,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind.” Ginger did not blame Lou for being unsettled or even outright scared. He did not want to admit to it, but he was rather disturbed himself.
Some ways down the path, a figure suddenly appeared in the car’s headlights. Lou gasped, throwing on the brakes, but he was not quick enough. As the car hit into the being, it vanished in the headlights glare.
Sheet-white, Lou leaped out of the car, followed closely by Ginger. “What the heck!” Lou cried. “That was another one. Another shadow thing, I mean. It jumped into the headlights on purpose! What was it trying to do, get us in a wreck trying to not hit it?! If that was supposed to be funny, I’m not laughing!”
Ginger’s eyes narrowed at the road. “Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that there is the outline of a man right there.” He pointed to a spot half-under the front of the car. “Maybe instead of another shadow person, this was a manifestation of a spirit that was the victim of a hit-and-run.”
“Oh!” Lou threw his hands in the air. “If it wasn’t for this meeting, Ginger, I’d turn around right now and not stop until we were back home.” He turned, storming back to the car.
Ginger studied the outline on the road, his lip curling as he followed Lou into the car. “And I would fully support you in that venture,” he declared.
Lou revved the engine and sped on, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. He was whispering a prayer for protection under his breath.
The town of Sickle Flats loomed in the distance.
Entry Number: 08
Author: insaneladybug/Lucky_Ladybug
Fandom: The Rockford Files
Rating: PG-13/T (ghostly goings-on, shadow people, a cemetery)
Genre: Supernatural
Spoiler Warnings: None.
Word Count: 2,764
I think I might continue this into the next piece.
By Lucky_Ladybug
In general, Lou was perfectly alright with doing the majority of the driving. He liked it and he liked the scenery they passed while driving. Ginger was usually content to let Lou drive, unless something was going wrong with the car and Ginger and Lou had differing opinions on what was causing it.
What Lou did not like one bit was when they were traveling to a business meeting in a particular, unfamiliar town and he found himself getting lost.
Yes, he decided as he finally pulled over to the side of the road in utter exasperation, it was long past the time that they should invest in a GPS system.
Ginger had been dozing in the passenger seat-or at least, he had appeared to be dozing. But he wasn’t accustomed to sleeping in the car, so when his eyes opened the moment they stopped, Lou doubted he had been asleep at all.
“What’s happened?” he frowned. Staring at the old iron fence surrounding their new stop, he added dryly, “This doesn’t look like the convention center or the hotel.”
Lou scowled. “I’m going to get out and try to figure out where we are,” he said. “It’s so dark on this stupid road, I can’t see anything!”
“You’re saying we’re lost,” Ginger deduced, flatly.
“Well . . . I didn’t say it, but we are,” Lou admitted.
Instead of criticizing, Ginger started to open the passenger door. “If it’s as dark as all that, you might step into a pothole or a manhole. Besides, you might be gone so long I’d grow impatient. I’ll come with you.”
Lou was perfectly fine with the company. In fact, he was very grateful for it. He got out and waited while Ginger stepped out as well. In front of them and to the left, the iron fence ended in a gate that was stretched wide open.
Lou squinted. It really was dark. The night was starless and moonless and there were no streetlights. He had no idea what kind of a place they were standing in front of, but it was the only manmade thing they had passed for miles. Everything around this spot was wild grass and shrubbery and the desert plants of Southern California.
“Did you bring a torch?” Ginger asked.
Lou sighed. “I think it’s out of batteries. They always seem to be.” He looked to his friend. “Do you have one?”
“Only this.” Ginger took out his Smartphone and shined its light through the gate.
“It looks like it’s not much more than a field,” Lou frowned. “Should we really go in there?”
Ginger shrugged. “Well, the road is paved. There doesn’t seem to be anything else around, unless you saw something else and failed to mention it.”
“This is the first thing I’ve seen since we turned off on that country road hours ago,” Lou said.
“So we’d best try it, then,” Ginger said. “Perhaps there’s some sort of landmark or other identification and we can at least determine if we’re even in the correct town.”
Lou nodded. “Works for me.”
They started forward, passing through the gate and down the paved road. Nervous in spite of himself, Lou took out his phone as well and tried to shine some extra light on their situation.
“We should keep spare batteries in the car at all times for the torch,” Ginger frowned. “Just in case something like this happens again.”
“I’m going to order a GPS when we’re home, so it’d better not happen again,” Lou returned. “But yeah, I’ll get some more batteries too.”
The lights on their phones were already dimming. Ginger observed this with a displeased glower. “We’ll have to conserve what energy and batteries we have,” he said. “Stay close to me and we’ll just use one of them for now.”
Lou didn’t like the idea, but it would be better than trying to feel their way in complete darkness. “Okay,” he agreed. “Do you want to use my phone first?”
Ginger shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
Lou continued to let his phone shine. After a moment, Ginger put his away.
“Maybe there’s no point in this,” Lou said. “I still don’t see anything, except for what looks like some weird statues or something.”
Ginger had noticed as well. There had not been any near the gate, but the farther they advanced into this strange property, the more shapes and shadows were beginning to appear. “Either we’re in a park . . . or a cemetery,” he decided.
Lou groaned. “It’s gotta be a cemetery,” he said. “With our luck, it’d never be a park. And either way, we’re not going to find anybody to give us directions.”
“Unless there is a caretaker,” Ginger pointed out. “The grass looks too neatly trimmed to have been left to itself for long.”
At the sight of a marker particularly close to the road, Ginger stepped closer and indicated for Lou to shine his phone on it. “You’re right,” he commented. “This is a cemetery. And at least according to this, we are in the right town.”
Lou stared at the worn name and birth and death dates of some unknown person. “I’ve had enough of cemeteries for a lifetime,” he declared. “Ginger, I don’t see any house for a caretaker. Maybe he doesn’t live on the grounds.”
“Perhaps not, but if we can find the office it should have his contact information,” Ginger mused. He turned away from the marker. “We’ll keep going. Anyway . . .” He glanced at Lou. “Everything is so dark, how could you possibly tell whether you see a house or not?”
Lou pointed ahead. “Well, now that we’ve been out for a while I can kind of see the trees,” he said. “I just don’t see anything shaped like a house. Or an office. Ginger, if there was one, shouldn’t it have been back at the gate?”
“We must have come in the back way,” Ginger replied. “There was no sign explaining what this is, as there should be at the front gate. If we locate the front, the office will be there.”
“I hope you’re right,” Lou said.
“You surely have to admit that the grass is neatly cut,” Ginger said. “Someone has to be maintaining this cemetery. I will not believe that the spirits of the dead are bothering to do it.”
“Oh, I don’t believe that, either,” Lou said. “It’d be weird if they’d care about taking care of this one and not all the others, like those Jewish cemeteries in New York. Man, I’ve never seen cemeteries being taken over by nature more than those.”
“Exactly.” Ginger walked on, falling into silence.
Lou stayed right beside him, tense and nervous. Every now and then a strange sound had him jumping a mile or looking over his shoulder. It was just a rodent or a night bird or some other animal, he told himself. Or maybe the caretaker they were trying to find. But no matter how many times he silently insisted that there was nothing to worry about, the more his mind insisted back that there was.
“Ginger,” he said after the road had curved to the right, “I think this is far enough. Don’t you? This place could be huge and our phones are dying out on us.” And they shouldn’t be, actually. Maybe some sort of energy was keeping them low, as much as he didn’t want to think that.
There was no response. Ginger stood silently, just watching Lou as he sometimes did. Usually it was his way of saying to keep going with the current plan.
Lou sighed. “Okay, Ginger, okay. We’ll keep looking for the office.”
Again they walked in silence for a time. As the odd sounds persisted, Lou found himself moving closer to Ginger. He didn’t want to admit he was freaked out, but he was. Now it sounded like footsteps near them, but shining his phone didn’t reveal anyone walking in the vicinity. He debated calling out, yet really didn’t want to.
“Ginger, someone’s following us,” he hissed.
Still with the silence.
“Ginger, for Pete’s sake, answer me!” Lou exclaimed. He reached out, grabbing what he thought was Ginger’s shoulder.
His hand passed through.
A horrifying chill spread through Lou’s hand and up his arm. Stumbling back, he held up his phone to shine on the form beside him.
It was only a shadow, with no distinguishable features whatsoever.
That did it. Lou screamed.
“You’re not Ginger!” he yelled. “What . . . what the heck are you?! What’d you do with Ginger?!”
The shadow simply walked past in complete indifference, soon vanishing into the night.
Lou gaped after it, his heart hammering in his chest. “Okay,” he stammered. “Calm down, Lou. You must’ve lost Ginger somewhere around that bend. He’s probably fine, just looking for you. The footsteps you heard were probably his.”
But he could not make himself calm down. What if that shadow had hurt Ginger before taking his place? And what else might be following Lou?
He ran off the grass and back onto the road, heading in the direction from whence he had come. “Ginger!” he yelled. “Ginger, where are you?! Answer me!”
His hands shaking, he tried to dial Ginger’s phone while he ran. But as he half-expected, it rang with no answer. He gave up and continued to run, using the phone to light his way as he shouted for his friend.
****
Ginger, meanwhile, had long ago turned off onto the grass, thinking he spotted a building somewhere on the grass and not on the pathway. It was too big for a mausoleum, so he was certain it had to be the missing office building.
“Lou, shine your phone over this way,” he instructed.
Lou remained where he was, seeming extraordinarily interested in an obelisk monument.
Ginger frowned. “Lou!” he snapped.
Lou straightened and turned back, shrugging as he held out his hands for Ginger to see there was no phone in either one.
“You lost your phone?” Ginger said in disbelief. “You wouldn’t be that careless. Nor would you be this silent.” Immediately he took out his own phone, shining it on the being that was with him.
As Ginger had half-expected by this point, it was not Lou. But he also wasn’t sure what it was. Even a regular ghost would have been less surprising than this.
“You . . . you’re nothing but a shadow!” he choked. “What have you done with Lou?!”
The shadow strolled past, going up the hill and vanishing near the building.
Cursing to himself, Ginger turned back and hastened over the grass, making his way back to the road. “Lou!” he called. “Are you alright? Where are you?”
He was just attempting to dial Lou on the phone when someone suddenly slammed into him from out of nowhere. With a surprised cry, they both toppled over onto the grass.
“Ohh . . .” Lou groaned. “Ginger, is it you? I don’t think I could plow into a shadow.” He rose up on an elbow, holding a hand to his head. “I’m sorry I bowled you down.”
Ginger rose as well, shining his phone on the other man. “Nevermind that. Are you hurt? Did that thing harm you?”
“No, I’m okay,” Lou said. “I thought it probably hurt you!”
Ginger sat up. “It seems that we are the victims of a devilishly juvenile plot,” he remarked. “The shadow people separated us and each assumed the identity of the one left behind.”
Lou cringed. “Ginger, did you hear me calling for you? I was screaming and screaming, but I never heard you say anything back.”
“I was calling for you, also without any result,” Ginger said.
“And trying to get you on the phone didn’t work,” Lou added. He picked his phone out of the grass, frowning at it. “These things, whatever they are, are capable of some pretty creepy stuff.”
Ginger heaved a sigh. “. . . There’s a building up on that hill,” he said, nodding in its direction.
“Yeah?” Lou looked over at it, uncertain. “Do you . . . think it’s the office?”
“I had hoped so, but perhaps it’s simply an overly large and ornate mausoleum after all,” Ginger said.
Lou swallowed hard. “We could . . . walk up there and see, I guess, if you really want to.”
Ginger frowned. “I would have. I’d like to show these shadow people that I am not amused or intimidated. However.” He looked to Lou. “It would likely be a further waste of time. And we don’t have time for childish games; we have to find the hotel and register or we won’t get any sleep before the conference tomorrow.”
“So . . . we should just get out of here and keep driving?” Lou said hopefully.
Ginger got to his feet and held out a hand to Lou. “Let’s.”
Relieved, Lou accepted the help and stood.
As they walked back the way they had come, there were no more footsteps or unsettling traveling companions. But they each felt countless eyes upon them. The shadow people were waiting and watching.
It was an immense relief to step back through the gate and to their car.
“You know, sometimes I see weird shadows out of the corner of my eye, but then they’re gone,” Lou frowned. “It’s freaky, but it’s nothing like this.” He unlocked the car and climbed in.
Ginger grunted, easing into the passenger seat. “I’ve heard tales of the shadow people. No one really seems to know what they are. Perhaps they’re simply another form of ghost. Some people believe they’re demons. And still others are of the opinion that the shadow people simply observe, for some reason or another.”
“It’s all creepy,” Lou declared.
“One thing is for certain,” Ginger said as he adjusted the heavy coat around his shoulders. “These particular shadow people have highly irritating senses of humor.”
Lou nodded in agreement. “I guess we just have to be grateful they weren’t a lot worse than they were.”
Ginger nodded as well. “The faction that believes they’re demons think that because of the malevolent feelings that often accompany them, or so it’s said.”
Lou shuddered. “With our luck, the hotel’s gonna be haunted too.” He started the engine, pulling away from the curb with the greatest of relish.
“It could be,” Ginger agreed matter-of-factly.
“I even think I might remember reading something like that,” Lou moaned. “Maybe Syl told me.”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps you are simply allowing your imagination to run away with you.” Ginger settled into the seat, perfectly glad to be leaving the strange cemetery behind.
“Ginger . . .”
“What.”
“If there’s rooms available with two beds, would you mind sharing a room tonight?”
Ginger stared out at the darkened road as Lou resumed the drive. “No,” he said. “I wouldn’t mind.” Ginger did not blame Lou for being unsettled or even outright scared. He did not want to admit to it, but he was rather disturbed himself.
Some ways down the path, a figure suddenly appeared in the car’s headlights. Lou gasped, throwing on the brakes, but he was not quick enough. As the car hit into the being, it vanished in the headlights glare.
Sheet-white, Lou leaped out of the car, followed closely by Ginger. “What the heck!” Lou cried. “That was another one. Another shadow thing, I mean. It jumped into the headlights on purpose! What was it trying to do, get us in a wreck trying to not hit it?! If that was supposed to be funny, I’m not laughing!”
Ginger’s eyes narrowed at the road. “Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that there is the outline of a man right there.” He pointed to a spot half-under the front of the car. “Maybe instead of another shadow person, this was a manifestation of a spirit that was the victim of a hit-and-run.”
“Oh!” Lou threw his hands in the air. “If it wasn’t for this meeting, Ginger, I’d turn around right now and not stop until we were back home.” He turned, storming back to the car.
Ginger studied the outline on the road, his lip curling as he followed Lou into the car. “And I would fully support you in that venture,” he declared.
Lou revved the engine and sped on, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. He was whispering a prayer for protection under his breath.
The town of Sickle Flats loomed in the distance.