[story] the ghost of billows park
author: cleo/istoria (istoria)
email: istoria [at] gmail.com
"Close the door!" More urgency the second time. "Close the door!"
He slams it shut, hands running up the side to find the lock, the chain, anything to secure it. It's dark, so dark he can't see his own fingers. One of the girls is crying loudly, begging for a light.
"No lights!" he yells, hearing the crier stumble around.
"Just for a second," she sobs, "just for a..."
There's a loud slap and the crier is silent for a moment before wailing again.
"Don't hit her!"
"Then shut her up, Beth," he orders.
"She's hysterical!"
The crier gets slapped again and starts to tone down to more of a whimper. "Please don't let it come in here, please don't let it come in here," she's repeating, over and over.
"We need to push furniture against the door," he says.
"You think that will help?" Beth asks.
"It might!"
"It tore Jason in two! Do you think a few chairs against the door is going to stop it?"
"No, okay no! I don't think it's going to help. But what the fuck else do you want me to do?"
"Please don't let it come in here, please don't let it come in here..."
"Shut the hell up!" He hits the door with his fist. The crier gets quieter.
"We need a weapon," Beth says, dropping to her knees and searching the floor. "Something... something to hit it with."
"I tried!" he yells. "It had Jason and I hit it with the ax. I slashed the thing five times and it didn't flinch, like the entire blade went through it like it was..."
"A ghost... it's a ghost," the crier whimpers. "We can't stop it with doors or walls or chairs, it will just walk right through and then... then..." She screams. And screams. And screams.
"Shut up!" they both yell. But the crier won't stop.
A branch breaks outside. Something passes by the windows, a quick blur of some intangible thing. The crier wails. The windows rattle.
"Please stop," Beth pleads. "Please stop." She tries to cover the crier's mouth but the screams get through.
It's beyond panic, beyond hysteria, there's something primal in her reaction, instinct is driving her, forcing her to seek safety so she's no longer in danger.
"Shut up!" He roars as he grabs her by the neck. "So help me, if you don't shut up right now I'll break your neck."
The crier whimpers and Beth tries to push him away. "Are you crazy?"
"I want to stay alive!" he hisses back.
She wraps the crier in her arms, murmuring soft words. "What are we going to do?"
"Think," he replies. "We have to think. I was asleep in the tent. You woke me up when you heard the noise. I went outside. Jason was there."
Jason smiled, joked about taking some city girls camping. They'll jump at anything that doesn't sounds like a taxi's horn or a mugging. They laughed. Jason went for the flashlight while he went for a beer. There were none left.
Jason swung the flashlight around but found nothing. More jokes. Then something... it was supposed to be a joke but it just made Jason mad. He apologized, offered to get Jason a beer. But there are none. They drank them all, the entire case. Jason wants him to apologize. He doesn't see the need. They shout, Jason pushes him. Then Jason is struggling and he's swinging the axe, over and over and over and...
He stops thinking. He looks down at his clothes but can't see anything. His eyes have adjusted to the night but there simply isn't enough light to make out any details let alone the condition of his clothes. He needs to know. No. He knows, it can't be that. He didn't just kill his best friend in a fit of drunken rage. He's sober now, he couldn't have been drunk enough to attack Jason just minutes before.
"You got us," Beth says, filling in the second half of the story. "Told us to run and we did."
They ran, stumbling through the forest, tripping over branches until Beth saw the cabin on the hill. So they ran here and came inside and...
"You were covered with blood," Beth continues. His heart stops. No she's wrong. "Why were you covered with blood?"
"I tried to... save him," he whispers, as if saying it will make it true. That has to be it. He tried to save Jason when the ghost got him.
"Oh God Jason," the crier wails. "Why? Why didn't you save him!"
"I tried," he cries, feeling his voice crack. Is it sadness or the truth trying to push through?
"WHY?" she cries, pounding at his chest over and over as she screams.
"Make her stop!" Beth yells but it's too late. There's knocking at the door, then pounding, then the door is shaking threatening to come off the hinges.
"Oh God," the crier sobs, trying stand to her feet but falling down with each step.
"Stop moving!" he yells, grabbing her ankle and trying to keep her still.
She panics, kicking at him, landing one kick on his shoulder and then one in his nose. His head snaps back and he can taste blood. "Dammit it! Beth catch her!"
Beth tries but only ends up tripping on something on the ground. The crier is at the back door in the kitchen, pulling at the handle but not getting it open. In her panic she forgets she need to turn the knob. It gives him enough time to stand up and grab her, yanking her away from the door and pinning her to the ground.
"Just be quiet," he whispers. "Please just be quiet."
He can feel her heart racing, feel her body shaking under his. He knows if he can just keep her quiet a little bit longer it will go away. It has to go away. After a minute, there is silence. The crier is finally calm, her heart has started to slow down. Finally, she'll be coherent enough to help them plan.
"Beth, can you find a blanket or something?" he whispers.
"Yeah sure," she says. She stumbles to the other side of the room.
"That will keep you warm," he tells the crier.
"Who... why do you keep saying her name?"
"Her name?"
"Beth."
"Because she's..." He stops. The other side of the cabin has gone quiet. "Beth?" he calls.
"Why is the park called Billows Park?"
"It's named after the old widow Beth," the ranger replied, handing them the parking voucher. "Local celebrity. Used to own all the land in this park and had a habit of making any trespassers disappear."
"Seriously?" Jason laughed. "So what made her hand over the land to the public."
"It wasn't by choice. A couple from the city were visiting and made the mistake of getting lost in her forest. They disappear and it turns out the wife was the daughter of the state senator. He launches a massive search and they find this mass grave, senator's daughter right on the top." The ranger handed them a map and a set of rules. "They arrested Beth on the spot. She spent two years in prison screaming that no one's watching her land. In that time, the senator makes sure her land gets repossessed for failure to pay taxes and then pushes through a bill to buy the land for a state park. Then he sends her the article about the grand opening and the widow drops dead the second she finishes reading it."
"Ouch," Jason said, riffling through the paperwork. "So what, she haunts campers and tries to scare them out of the woods?"
"Something like that," the ranger smirked. He leaned his head into the window so all three occupants could see him. "Local legend is she stirs up unsuspecting campers into a rage and then strangles them. In her youth, she was quite a looker you know. Had a voice so sweet it would make a man do whatever she wanted. She used to love watching them fight over her. So... rule number one," he continued pointing to the paper in Jason's hand. "No fighting."
"We'll be good, sir, thanks," Jason nodded, pulling away the second the ranger's head has left their window. And the moment they're out of earshot, "What a crock."
He looks around, frantically for the smallest sign that he hadn't been imaging this other woman the entire time.
"She's here," the crier whispers. "The ranger... it wasn't..." She reaches for him, grabbing at his arms.
"Calm down, this is impossible."
She stops and brings her hands back in front of her face. "Blood. you're covered in blood. You killed him! You killed Jason!"
"Hey man, you so whipped," he said. Jason glared at him. "Small little noise and she makes you get out of bed."
"Shut up," Jason replied. "You're out here too."
"How the hell am I supposed to sleep while you're stomping around. Aw, look at the big hero, saving his girlfriend from a little noise."
"Yeah, I don't see anyone warming your bed," snorted Jason.
"I got lots of women warming my bed. Lots of fun, lively women, not chained down to ball like that one."
"Take it back," Jason snapped.
"Big and round and weighing you down," he said.
"Shut the fuck up man," Jason yelled, pushing him away.
"Face it man, she might be nice to talk to but in a sea of fishes, you caught yourself one hell of a whale."
"Shut..." His words got caught in his throat. Something was strangling him. The flashlight fell to the ground and rolled under his feet. He was two inches off the ground and being strangled. The flashlight rolled around and lit up the area behind him. There's nothing. He took the axe and swung at the air. Nothing. Again and again and then suddenly that awful noise, the sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing and it's a downpour of blood and...
"You killed him!" she screams, panic and fear and confusion all mixed into one sentence. "You murderer!"
He runs the story through his head again. No, he didn't. He couldn't have. He wouldn't. Jason was his friend. It had to be...
"You bastard!" the crier rages, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling at it. He pulls away, hearing the fabric rip as he did. But he has to get away. He runs for the door, forgetting like she did to turn. Instead he yanks at it. "I'll kill you!" she yells. "I'll..."
He doesn't need the flashlight this time. He can hear her choking, hear the life being strangled out from her. He runs from the kitchen to the front door, his hands are searching for the latch that locks it in place until he remembers that there is nothing keeping shut. He pulls at the knob and then remembers to turn it. The door opens and he looks outside.
It is silent in the cabin. "Irene?" he calls. But no answer. "Irene!"
He wants to run but now that he knows he can escape he has to get her. She's stopped crying. She's so quiet. "IRENE."
Laughter.
He turns and tries to run but the door is blocked. Beth stands in his way. She laughs.
He woke up in his tent. Something caressed his cheek. "There is someone in my forest," it whispered, the voice like a song that is a perfect symphony in his ear. "There is someone in my forest and I want them gone. Make them angry. I like them angry."
He wanted to do what it wanted, he wanted to do more then that. Anything the voice asked for, he would give.
He walked out and found Jason. They joked. They argued. Then it was like the wind grabbed him, wrapped itself around his neck and stopped him from breathing. But Jason stopped being angry, he was afraid. "Hit him!" the voice called out. "Hit him with the ax!"
He found it but he couldn't do it. He hit the air. "Hit him!" it yelled and once more he wanted to do what it asked, every part of him wanted it. So he did. Over and over and over again. Irene was scared. She was terrified. Beth wanted her angry. Calm her down, make her angry. "We have to get her away," it said. "We'll get her away and calm her down. Follow me, follow Beth." He saw her suddenly, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her voice was a siren's song and he nodded at her words. Get her away from the ghost. Beth will help. His memory is being rewritten but he doesn't care. He just listens to her voice and he believes.
Beth laughs.
He stares at her. Tricked, forced to do her bidding. He sees the truth now. His hand clench, he wants to kill her, wants to beat her into the ground.
He can't breathe. Her hands are wrapped around his neck. She's laughing. "Too easy. You people always make it too easy. Good night Kevin."
the end
email: istoria [at] gmail.com
"Close the door!" More urgency the second time. "Close the door!"
He slams it shut, hands running up the side to find the lock, the chain, anything to secure it. It's dark, so dark he can't see his own fingers. One of the girls is crying loudly, begging for a light.
"No lights!" he yells, hearing the crier stumble around.
"Just for a second," she sobs, "just for a..."
There's a loud slap and the crier is silent for a moment before wailing again.
"Don't hit her!"
"Then shut her up, Beth," he orders.
"She's hysterical!"
The crier gets slapped again and starts to tone down to more of a whimper. "Please don't let it come in here, please don't let it come in here," she's repeating, over and over.
"We need to push furniture against the door," he says.
"You think that will help?" Beth asks.
"It might!"
"It tore Jason in two! Do you think a few chairs against the door is going to stop it?"
"No, okay no! I don't think it's going to help. But what the fuck else do you want me to do?"
"Please don't let it come in here, please don't let it come in here..."
"Shut the hell up!" He hits the door with his fist. The crier gets quieter.
"We need a weapon," Beth says, dropping to her knees and searching the floor. "Something... something to hit it with."
"I tried!" he yells. "It had Jason and I hit it with the ax. I slashed the thing five times and it didn't flinch, like the entire blade went through it like it was..."
"A ghost... it's a ghost," the crier whimpers. "We can't stop it with doors or walls or chairs, it will just walk right through and then... then..." She screams. And screams. And screams.
"Shut up!" they both yell. But the crier won't stop.
A branch breaks outside. Something passes by the windows, a quick blur of some intangible thing. The crier wails. The windows rattle.
"Please stop," Beth pleads. "Please stop." She tries to cover the crier's mouth but the screams get through.
It's beyond panic, beyond hysteria, there's something primal in her reaction, instinct is driving her, forcing her to seek safety so she's no longer in danger.
"Shut up!" He roars as he grabs her by the neck. "So help me, if you don't shut up right now I'll break your neck."
The crier whimpers and Beth tries to push him away. "Are you crazy?"
"I want to stay alive!" he hisses back.
She wraps the crier in her arms, murmuring soft words. "What are we going to do?"
"Think," he replies. "We have to think. I was asleep in the tent. You woke me up when you heard the noise. I went outside. Jason was there."
Jason smiled, joked about taking some city girls camping. They'll jump at anything that doesn't sounds like a taxi's horn or a mugging. They laughed. Jason went for the flashlight while he went for a beer. There were none left.
Jason swung the flashlight around but found nothing. More jokes. Then something... it was supposed to be a joke but it just made Jason mad. He apologized, offered to get Jason a beer. But there are none. They drank them all, the entire case. Jason wants him to apologize. He doesn't see the need. They shout, Jason pushes him. Then Jason is struggling and he's swinging the axe, over and over and over and...
He stops thinking. He looks down at his clothes but can't see anything. His eyes have adjusted to the night but there simply isn't enough light to make out any details let alone the condition of his clothes. He needs to know. No. He knows, it can't be that. He didn't just kill his best friend in a fit of drunken rage. He's sober now, he couldn't have been drunk enough to attack Jason just minutes before.
"You got us," Beth says, filling in the second half of the story. "Told us to run and we did."
They ran, stumbling through the forest, tripping over branches until Beth saw the cabin on the hill. So they ran here and came inside and...
"You were covered with blood," Beth continues. His heart stops. No she's wrong. "Why were you covered with blood?"
"I tried to... save him," he whispers, as if saying it will make it true. That has to be it. He tried to save Jason when the ghost got him.
"Oh God Jason," the crier wails. "Why? Why didn't you save him!"
"I tried," he cries, feeling his voice crack. Is it sadness or the truth trying to push through?
"WHY?" she cries, pounding at his chest over and over as she screams.
"Make her stop!" Beth yells but it's too late. There's knocking at the door, then pounding, then the door is shaking threatening to come off the hinges.
"Oh God," the crier sobs, trying stand to her feet but falling down with each step.
"Stop moving!" he yells, grabbing her ankle and trying to keep her still.
She panics, kicking at him, landing one kick on his shoulder and then one in his nose. His head snaps back and he can taste blood. "Dammit it! Beth catch her!"
Beth tries but only ends up tripping on something on the ground. The crier is at the back door in the kitchen, pulling at the handle but not getting it open. In her panic she forgets she need to turn the knob. It gives him enough time to stand up and grab her, yanking her away from the door and pinning her to the ground.
"Just be quiet," he whispers. "Please just be quiet."
He can feel her heart racing, feel her body shaking under his. He knows if he can just keep her quiet a little bit longer it will go away. It has to go away. After a minute, there is silence. The crier is finally calm, her heart has started to slow down. Finally, she'll be coherent enough to help them plan.
"Beth, can you find a blanket or something?" he whispers.
"Yeah sure," she says. She stumbles to the other side of the room.
"That will keep you warm," he tells the crier.
"Who... why do you keep saying her name?"
"Her name?"
"Beth."
"Because she's..." He stops. The other side of the cabin has gone quiet. "Beth?" he calls.
"Why is the park called Billows Park?"
"It's named after the old widow Beth," the ranger replied, handing them the parking voucher. "Local celebrity. Used to own all the land in this park and had a habit of making any trespassers disappear."
"Seriously?" Jason laughed. "So what made her hand over the land to the public."
"It wasn't by choice. A couple from the city were visiting and made the mistake of getting lost in her forest. They disappear and it turns out the wife was the daughter of the state senator. He launches a massive search and they find this mass grave, senator's daughter right on the top." The ranger handed them a map and a set of rules. "They arrested Beth on the spot. She spent two years in prison screaming that no one's watching her land. In that time, the senator makes sure her land gets repossessed for failure to pay taxes and then pushes through a bill to buy the land for a state park. Then he sends her the article about the grand opening and the widow drops dead the second she finishes reading it."
"Ouch," Jason said, riffling through the paperwork. "So what, she haunts campers and tries to scare them out of the woods?"
"Something like that," the ranger smirked. He leaned his head into the window so all three occupants could see him. "Local legend is she stirs up unsuspecting campers into a rage and then strangles them. In her youth, she was quite a looker you know. Had a voice so sweet it would make a man do whatever she wanted. She used to love watching them fight over her. So... rule number one," he continued pointing to the paper in Jason's hand. "No fighting."
"We'll be good, sir, thanks," Jason nodded, pulling away the second the ranger's head has left their window. And the moment they're out of earshot, "What a crock."
He looks around, frantically for the smallest sign that he hadn't been imaging this other woman the entire time.
"She's here," the crier whispers. "The ranger... it wasn't..." She reaches for him, grabbing at his arms.
"Calm down, this is impossible."
She stops and brings her hands back in front of her face. "Blood. you're covered in blood. You killed him! You killed Jason!"
"Hey man, you so whipped," he said. Jason glared at him. "Small little noise and she makes you get out of bed."
"Shut up," Jason replied. "You're out here too."
"How the hell am I supposed to sleep while you're stomping around. Aw, look at the big hero, saving his girlfriend from a little noise."
"Yeah, I don't see anyone warming your bed," snorted Jason.
"I got lots of women warming my bed. Lots of fun, lively women, not chained down to ball like that one."
"Take it back," Jason snapped.
"Big and round and weighing you down," he said.
"Shut the fuck up man," Jason yelled, pushing him away.
"Face it man, she might be nice to talk to but in a sea of fishes, you caught yourself one hell of a whale."
"Shut..." His words got caught in his throat. Something was strangling him. The flashlight fell to the ground and rolled under his feet. He was two inches off the ground and being strangled. The flashlight rolled around and lit up the area behind him. There's nothing. He took the axe and swung at the air. Nothing. Again and again and then suddenly that awful noise, the sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing and it's a downpour of blood and...
"You killed him!" she screams, panic and fear and confusion all mixed into one sentence. "You murderer!"
He runs the story through his head again. No, he didn't. He couldn't have. He wouldn't. Jason was his friend. It had to be...
"You bastard!" the crier rages, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling at it. He pulls away, hearing the fabric rip as he did. But he has to get away. He runs for the door, forgetting like she did to turn. Instead he yanks at it. "I'll kill you!" she yells. "I'll..."
He doesn't need the flashlight this time. He can hear her choking, hear the life being strangled out from her. He runs from the kitchen to the front door, his hands are searching for the latch that locks it in place until he remembers that there is nothing keeping shut. He pulls at the knob and then remembers to turn it. The door opens and he looks outside.
It is silent in the cabin. "Irene?" he calls. But no answer. "Irene!"
He wants to run but now that he knows he can escape he has to get her. She's stopped crying. She's so quiet. "IRENE."
Laughter.
He turns and tries to run but the door is blocked. Beth stands in his way. She laughs.
He woke up in his tent. Something caressed his cheek. "There is someone in my forest," it whispered, the voice like a song that is a perfect symphony in his ear. "There is someone in my forest and I want them gone. Make them angry. I like them angry."
He wanted to do what it wanted, he wanted to do more then that. Anything the voice asked for, he would give.
He walked out and found Jason. They joked. They argued. Then it was like the wind grabbed him, wrapped itself around his neck and stopped him from breathing. But Jason stopped being angry, he was afraid. "Hit him!" the voice called out. "Hit him with the ax!"
He found it but he couldn't do it. He hit the air. "Hit him!" it yelled and once more he wanted to do what it asked, every part of him wanted it. So he did. Over and over and over again. Irene was scared. She was terrified. Beth wanted her angry. Calm her down, make her angry. "We have to get her away," it said. "We'll get her away and calm her down. Follow me, follow Beth." He saw her suddenly, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her voice was a siren's song and he nodded at her words. Get her away from the ghost. Beth will help. His memory is being rewritten but he doesn't care. He just listens to her voice and he believes.
Beth laughs.
He stares at her. Tricked, forced to do her bidding. He sees the truth now. His hand clench, he wants to kill her, wants to beat her into the ground.
He can't breathe. Her hands are wrapped around his neck. She's laughing. "Too easy. You people always make it too easy. Good night Kevin."
the end