Ghost Town
E. Bard
Copyright © 2011 E. Bard
All rights reserved.
Smashwords Edition
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This is a work of fiction. Any use of currently existing people, places or events is for entirely fictional purposes. Any shockingly accurate resemblance to such people, places or events is entirely coincidental.
PROLOGUE
The sharp cold air cut her breath as she left the warmth and security of the shop. Fanny drew up her collar and shivered as she made her way into the street. It was an exceptionally cold October. The wind whipped her hair across her face, biting into her skin and chilling her spirit. Tiny ice crystals flew in the wind and coated the stone surfaces of the road.
Hurrying against the cold and growing darkness, Fanny skidded on several of the flagstones. She turned to look behind her and quickened her steps. Already the ground was white and buildings were glistening. Fanny hoped her wait would not be too long.
Such an odd place to live, Fanny thought as she carefully navigated her way along the slick lanes. The lengthening shadows made speed here almost impossible. She had never experienced anything like this town. In just this last year, Fanny had felt the shock of snow in the summer, and withstood storms that shook the ground, devoured homes and uprooted trees. She had felt bright hot sun in December, and fog so thick it buried the town for days at end.
The girl shivered again.
Geography could account for only so much. This town simply defied nature. That was what the townsfolk had begun whisper.
As hardy and rational as the local stock were, even they could only take so much. Speculation had begun to invade their minds. Even before the girl was sent to stay with her aging grandfather, Fanny had heard that this once prosperous coastal haven was suffering. The town had been battered by unpredictable weather and plagued by misfortune for five long years now.
It had not always been that way.
In her grandfather’s day it had been a growing port, a bustling centre of activity. That growth had lasted nearly thirty years. Fanny could remember the excitement of visiting her grandfather here when she was a child.
Yet all that changed in only the last few years.
Seemingly, it had changed with the weather. It changed that first year when the animals and people got sick. It changed when all the ship building dried up and many of skilled lay people moved on.
It was as if this was no longer the Knight’s Port Fanny knew and remembered. It was merely a shadow of its former self.
Why had everything changed? Fanny wondered. The girl was truly mystified. She was as baffled by the oddness of the town as anyone that had remained here.
Even as an outsider, the girl could feel it. She could feel the very strangeness in the air. When left to her own thoughts, even she had flirted with some of the less than reasonable explanations that had been whispered in many a forgotten back room.
Many of the town residents had speculated about the changes but few had answers.
Could it be that new mayor? The townsfolk murmured. Could it be his odd relations? They questioned. Had the newcomers cursed this place? Others accused. On a night such as this, Fanny could have believed all of it.
This past year alone in Knight’s Port had been anything but natural. On occasion the patrons who visited Fanny’s grandfather would share outlandish tales of unexplained sights in the woods. Sometimes they would tell of unusually dressed people mysteriously appearing in town and vanishing just as quickly.
Fanny herself was not immune to experiencing some of the eerie phenomena this little harbour could offer. Nights were often plagued by howling winds and strange animal cries. Sometimes when Fanny was awakened by the cries she would peek through cracks in the window shutters to spy strange lights moving through the nearby woods. The lights would glow like fire, float up in the air and vanish.
Although the greatest exodus from the community ended with the disappearance of the ship builders, every week someone else was gone. Moved or missing, no-one could say. They disappeared, leaving their homes as if they had just taken a walk.
It made the girl wonder why the remaining townsfolk chose to stay here.
If ever a place could be thought of as cursed, this was it, thought Fanny. She wondered why her grandfather hadn’t decided to close the shop and leave town with her and so many others.
Afraid to venture too far, several of the townspeople had merely left Knight’s Port for nearby Newville. It was a new community, smaller than the original Knight’s Port and only one or two hours away. But it seemed oddly unaffected by all the strange weather. It was simply a newer version of the town moved across the creek and beyond the town limits. Perhaps there was hope that the town centre might eventually re-establish itself at this new location?
Unfortunately the reality Fanny saw was that the town was just slowly disappearing. Newville might last for a few years, the girl thought, but it was probably doomed as well.
A strong gust of wind with its eerie howling pulled Fanny out of her reverie. This was no time to dawdle and reflect on the community she was so eager to leave. She picked up her feet and started moving as quickly as she could without slipping on the road or being blown over. Even when the wind rested, and the shattering of the tiny ice needles stopped, the road was treacherous.
Nearly slipping on a frozen cobble, the girl caught herself. But as she looked down to see how icy the ground had become and choose her footing more wisely, something bright gleamed up at her.
It was a coin. Fanny pocketed it immediately.
Surely this is a good omen, she thought. Perhaps it means this weather will break and the journey home will be less horrid? It was almost harder to believe than the outlandish mutterings of the townsfolk.
Just then, an eerie cry rose into the air just as the wind picked up again. The girl grimaced and hunched her shoulders. Fanny thought the wind came from the eastern edge of the town, near the bridge. It was exactly the direction she was headed.
It was probably just the sounds of birds and animals, the girl re-assured herself. However, on a night such as this Fanny wondered if it might be something more, something from out of those many stories her grandfather had told her.
Again, she felt relieved to finally leave this place behind.
This coin will bring me luck, she said to herself. It’s a sign that leaving is exactly the right thing to do.
As Fanny rounded the corner, the grey stone bridge leading to the main road out of town came into view. She would have to wait on the other side of the bridge for the blacksmith’s brother. He made the journey through Newville and beyond to the city every Friday evening, no matter how foul the weather. This night would be no exception. The only difference was that he would make it a slightly more profitable excursion since he was taking a paying passenger.
It made the girl shiver to think about it. Soon she would be stowed in the open back of the wagon facing an unpleasant journey through the remainder of the evening.
The girl looked forward to seeing her family but wasn’t very eager to leave on a night like this. Fanny worried that the route would be slow, possibly dangerous. Even a gentle first snowfall could make the roads hazardous. And this was no gentle first snowfall.
In spite of finding the coin, there were no signs of tonight being gentle. Fanny had seen no one through town, heard no sounds other than the wind and a million fingernails of ice scratching at the bridge.
The girl stood at the foot of the bridge. In spite of the chill already seeping into her bones, Fanny could see how beautiful the landscape had become. Trees shimmered with their fine coat of ice, and the ground gleamed with a faint reflected light.
The bridge sparkled.
As the girl stepped foot on the glassy surface of the bridge, she heard the strange wailing and inhuman cries carried along the stream below. It made the girl catch her breath. She wasn’t foolish enough to think those sounds were just made by the wind in the tress.
Without stepping further onto the bridge, the girl stood very still and listened. Once the eerie noises had passed, the girl was left with just the sound of tiny ice shards hitting the stones. It wasn’t very comforting.
Fanny decided to wait for her ride on this side of the bridge. The usual pick up location was on the other side. However, the blacksmith’s brother would have to come to this side before turning north. It was the route he took in the winter.
There was a small wooded section the road passed through just beyond the bridge, and not knowing exactly where the frightening sounds were coming from, Fanny was leery. The sounds could have come from the forest that bordered the creek, or they could be coming from something inside that wood across the bridge. It was too difficult to tell.
She could wave to her driver when he came into view.
Besides, the bridge was covered in a film of ice. She could slip going across it, or worse. If she climbed up on the blacksmith’s wagon and it skidded before reaching this side of the bridge… she girl shuddered to think what could happen. She could be thrown off, trampled, anything. It would be much smarter to wait until the smith’s brother was safely across the span.
While she waited in the dark and cold, Fanny hardly noticed when the wind died down. She hardly noticed as the falling ice crystals lightened to nothing. Something else had caught her attention.
Faint at first, but now growing steadily, there was a strange light flickering beneath the bridge. The light quivered and licked at the air the way firelight does.
The girl stared, transfixed by the wavering as it brightened. The way it moved was impossible, the girl knew.
When the first tormented cry broke through the girl’s fascination, the realization struck her. The sounds were coming from the light beneath the bridge. And the girl recognized them. They were straight out of one of the stories her grandfather had told her.
Without hesitation the girl lifter her ice sodden heavy skirts and turned to flee. She could hear the pound of hooves on the road and prayed she was fast enough to reach the smith’s brother.
He must be close. That must be his horse I hear.
But as the girl lifted her head, expecting to see the blacksmith’s cart hurtling toward her, she was stunned.
There was an enormous shadowy black shape bearing down on her. It was much larger than a horse and cart.
And it wasn’t the blacksmith’s brother at all.
It was death.
Chapter 1
First Impressions
Snap.
It was the branch he was on. So,
Oh snap! was what he thought.
It wasn’t a thought he’d normally have. Because Oh snap wasn’t really one of his surprise expressions. He was more of an *Oh Crap* guy. He’d just been forced to watch a lot of TV lately. So he’d picked it up.
Then the branch made that cracking noise again.
Sam Steves froze for a second. It was a long way down, he realized. And there wasn’t a mattress or anything cushy to land on. Yet. But he wasn’t going to overreact and blow his hiding spot. There were still plenty of grabs on the way if this branch really decided to give.
Very quietly Sam slipped onto another branch. He was pretty tough for a fourteen year old with lightning fast reflexes; but this was probably the wrong time just to wait and see how well the branch would hold up. He didn’t exactly want to meet that girl in some kind of awkward falling out of a tree scenario. It wouldn’t make the best first impression.
Besides. They’d only just started the unloading down there.
Sam could wait until the movers had left. He could sit tight and watch for a while. See what his new neighbours were like before he had to meet them ‘officially.’ So he squished himself back up against the tree trunk and hoped there were enough leaves to camouflage him.
Why did all of his friends have to go on vacation at the same time anyway? The thought just jumped right into Sam’s head. He wouldn’t have been stuck in this position if someone had come home early today. He would be out doing something. Anything. Not hanging in some tree avoiding his mother.
Sam took a breath and settled in. No one had looked up. Either no one had heard the cracking branches, or they just didn’t think to look up. Oh well, he could wait. There were some big tough looking moving guys on the lawn now. They were professionals. That meant the whole moving thing wouldn’t take long now. Right?
Or would it?
Sheesh, Sam thought. The things you have to do to avoid shopping with your mom when you’re a teenager.
***
Clara gingerly straightened her back as she placed her end of the couch down on the grass. Trying to move the family couch all by herself might have been a mistake. Normally the girl wasn’t one to admit mistakes lightly, but this time it was staring her in the face.
Although, when she thought about it, mistake was probably too harsh a word. Over-eagerness was better. Clara could admit she was a little over eager. It was something that happened to her whenever she threw herself into something so hard it led to over inflated ambition and consequently, exhaustion.
Moving was always exhausting, difficult work. Clara already knew that. Particularly when it seemed like you were the only one doing it.
Unlike the girl - by expertly holding up its own end - the beat up U-Haul rental showed no signs of fatigue. It could hold the other end of the couch all day if it really wanted.
Clara frowned.
The professional movers with their dollies and their big muscles had all left. Only the little trailer Clara’s parents hauled behind their car remained to be unloaded. And she was the only one unloading it. Clara arched her back, slightly pulling her shoulder blades together, and rested her hands on her hips. A light “phew” eased its way out of her lips.
Clara Brelle was a bright, sun speckled fourteen year old usually radiating energy. It just kind of spilled out of her and around her whenever she got started on something. Kind of like her hair.
Today her corn syrup gold hair was painstakingly folded up under a Vancouver Canucks cap. And starting something now or radiating anything at all just wasn’t that appealing to the girl. Maybe later though. Maybe after she figured out exactly how she was going to move that couch.
Because she was definitely not going to ask her mom.
Nope. No way.
Clara took a step back and her foot nearly took off without her. It had skidded back when it landed on a piece of paper.
The girl bent low to get a better look. It was a fairly amateurish looking brochure, slightly crinkled by the untimely stomping. Retrieving the foot imprinted paper; Clara could just make out the title.
“Welcome to Night’s Port,” she read aloud. It didn’t sound as ominous here in the sunlight as it had when her father first told her they were moving. Slipping the snippet of advertising into her back pocket, Clara straightened up.
Oh my aching fourteen year old back, she thought to herself and chuckled out loud. If only her parents knew how much she enjoyed mimicking them.
“What’s so funny?”
The disembodied voice of a boy made Clara start.
Poking his head out from behind the large Maple tree that stood exactly dead centre on Clara’s front lawn was a gangly boy with a dark blond mess on his head. He smiled and started picking leaves out of his hair.
“Oh, not much. I was just thinking about how my parents are making out moving all this furniture.” Clara realized that might sound a little mean, so she adjusted her reply, “Oh - but not in a bad way. I was just thinking how sore I was getting, so they must be doubled over in agony. They’re in their forties, you know … might as well be in the hundreds.”
“Yeah,” the boy agreed. “I’m Sam by the way. Your neighbour. Do you want any help?”
Sam Bytheway? Funny name.
“I’d love some. And I’m Clara. Not By-the-Way. Clara Brelle.”
“Oh. Okay.” Sam moved toward the free end of the couch and started looking for a hand hold. “Pretty brave of you to try and move this all by yourself.”
“Yeah, well. Try anything right? Thanks for helping.” Looking straight at the boy, Clara noticed there was single maple leaf still lodged in his hair. “So where were you that got all those leaves in your hair?”
“Sitting in your tree watching you struggle.” He grinned sheepishly. “I just couldn’t let you try and move this without at least offering to help.”
Clara grasped her end of the couch a little more tightly. It wasn’t everyday a girl picked up a stalker after only just arriving in town. Several possible comments raced through her mind. “How long were you there?”
“All morning. But it’s not what you think.” He added awkwardly. “I usually go and sit up there on difficult mornings. This morning was a family shopping trip I was trying to avoid. If my mom saw me I would have had to go with them – and then you guys showed up and I was kind of trapped up there. Probably wouldn’t have looked too good for some strange kid to drop out your tree with the movers and your parents and everything on your lawn. I thought it would be safer if just one person - or better nobody - saw me getting out of the tree. But then you had to try and move this thing.” Sam picked up his end.
“Okay.” Clara said looking directly at Sam. His eyes were a sparkly blue and he did have a kind of dazzling smile. He looked like he wouldn’t be out of place on a beach somewhere. With a surf board.
If he’s some kind of psycho stalker dude I guess I could do worse, thought Clara. She was surprisingly calm about it.
They made their way to the front door of Clara’s new house but were stopped by Clara’s mother. Incredibly, the petite woman with spiky cropped hair dominated the entire doorway.
“CeeCee. Who’s this?” she barked.
Startled, both Clara and Sam dropped their ends of the couch.
“Uh.” sputtered Sam
“He’s the neighbourhood boy. Came to help. Name’s Sam.” Clara shot out the words.
“’Kay” Clara’s mom disappeared back in to the house.
After angling, sliding, dipping, dropping and generally fumbling with the couch, it was through the door and plunked down in the middle of the living room. A second later two teenagers were also plunked down in the middle of the living room, one at each end of the couch.
“So where exactly do you live?” Clara asked.
“Jellybean blue house next door.”
“Wow, so that’s what you call that colour. Have you always lived here? Gone to school here?”
“Yup.”
Clara was hoping her questions would break open a new conversation, but it was looking like this was going to be a whole lot harder than she first thought.
“So your mom calls you CeeCee?” Sam asked.
“Yeah sometimes. If she’s not mad at me.”
The boy nodded but didn’t add anything. In fact, Clara thought one of those awkward silences might just be lurking around the corner if she didn’t work a little harder at getting the boy to talk.
“Tell me about the school, the place. Is there anything to do? Anything at all? Are there other kids?”
“School’s school. There’s a lot to do – if you know the right person.” Sam stretched. The boy was remarkably comfortable in his surroundings considering he had only just met the girl who lived there.
Clara was genuinely surprised by his ease. She didn’t know anyone who was this comfortable in a stranger’s house when they’d just met the stranger. Maybe it was a small town thing?
“When you guys are done moving in - send your mom over to my house. My mom’s been waiting to meet her. It’s a small town thing. My mom will probably be back from shopping in about an hour.”
“Might take my mom a little longer than that. She’s not all that friendly. Takes her a while to warm up to people.”
“Then send your dad.”
“My dad?”
“Yeah. It’s kind of a local tradition thing. My folks just want to meet the new people. You know how it is.”
Considering Clara really didn’t know how it was, she just nodded and thought it was a bit weird.
Sam then leaned forward and stood up. “I should get back home now.”
“Oh, okay.” Clara offered a little sadly. She was enjoying getting to know her new neighbour. But really, they’d only just met and Clara did have a lot of unpacking to do.
“Maybe your mom will let me show you a little bit of the town when she comes over?”
Again Clara nodded but thought it unlikely. Her mom hadn’t met the neighbours yet and she would never let Clara go anywhere with someone she hadn’t had time to form an opinion about.
So maybe that was the motivation behind such a quick neighbourly meet and greet. Maybe there weren’t an awful lot of kids to hang out with here?
At any rate, the boy seemed genuinely friendly and Clara didn’t feel any of those warning vibes kick in – those city instinct vibes that told a person if there was something really not right about somebody.
So Clara took a second to be sure before she replied to the boy’s suggestion.
“I hope so. But before you go, what’s the town like? I mean really. For kids our age?”
Sam thought for a second. It seemed to Clara that he was taking a little longer than he should for such a simple question. Then just as he started to leave, he answered.
“It’s a ghost town.”
Chapter 2
No Impression
The slight flicking motion of the man raising his collar against the cool dark air was the only movement that could possibly give away his location. In every other way, the man was as still as a rock. He blended perfectly with the shadows and the trees.
Through the jumble of branches the man could see the house across and a little ways up the road. Bright yellow light blazed from the windows and the thumping beat of the raucous music made the ground vibrate, even at that distance. The man watched as several young people entered and exited the house through the front door. At various times, a few of the adolescents would linger on the small veranda, talking or smoking.
Filthy habit, thought the observer.
Already the man had waited virtually motionless for a couple of hours. It didn’t bother him to do so. He was a patient man. It was a far more important thing for him to take his time and achieve perfection. A few hours wait was nothing to the man. He had endured so much worse.
Past midnight, the air had a distinct chill. It was a minor annoyance to the stranger; he disliked the cold but was comforted by the knowledge that it would soon end. He just had to be patient a little longer. He would find the right one soon enough.
Keeping a close eye on the house, the man continued to watch the young men and women that made their brief forays to the veranda. There were a couple of possibilities. The ones that stood out being the ones that seemed oblivious to the chill in the air. They were the ones who spent the most time on the veranda, in nothing more than short sleeves.
Of particular interest to the man was a boy that seemed barely able to contain his energy. As the man watched the boy interact with his peers, he noticed that the boy rarely stood still. Even when he was talking, he might shift a foot or peel some paint from the veranda railing.
The boy looked healthy, robust.
But the boy’s colouring wasn’t quite what the man had in mind.
As the stranger continued his vigil, the young people’s get- together seemed to be coming to an end. Several of the party goers started leaving, all of them heading up the road in the direction of the town.
Given the appearance of many of the boys and girls the man had seen leaving, the man was surprised the revelry had gone on as long as it had.
When there were only a few left, the man refocused his concentration. He peered at the few stragglers on the veranda. Although some of the lights inside the house had been shut off, the man could see the young men and women quite clearly.
His vision was very sharp.
Of the few remaining guests, the man noted that the energetic boy was among them. The man watched him carefully.
The music stopped. The young people on the veranda looked awkwardly at each other.
The music came back on at a much reduced volume.
Although the house was still a little noisy, the man could now make out conversations between the guests on the veranda. Most were winding down their conversation, preparing for their goodbyes.
His hearing was very sharp as well.
Just as the man was reaching a decision, namely a decision regarding the energetic boy, someone else stepped out of the house and onto the veranda. It was a tall slender girl with long straight black hair. Her skirt was too short and her blouse too revealing. But she seemed completely unaffected by the now decidedly cold air. The man didn’t have to think twice. She was the one.
With the grace and ease of a shadow, for he was barely more substantial than a shadow, the man slipped between the trees to find a more appropriate spot; one from where he could slip out and intercept the girl in a less suspicious manner.
He watched as the girl walked slowly up the increasingly steep lane to the intersection where the man was hidden. The girl was steady on her feet and didn’t appear to show any signs of intoxication that the man could see. Before the girl reached the pool of light thrown by the single street light at the corner, the man stepped into the light from the opposite side. He kept his head down and moved slowly so as to appear as if he was lost in thought, oblivious to his surroundings.
It had a predictable effect. The girl stopped immediately just short of the illuminated street corner. Her feet scuffed against the road surface. Jerking his head up, the man appeared startled. He caught his breath.
“Oh.’ He said.
The girl stepped forward cautiously, appearing at the edge of the faint light, but still mostly obscured by shadow. It was exactly as the man had hoped.
“I’m sorry,” said the man. His voice was quiet. “You startled me.”
For just a second, the man looked confused and surprised. He hoped the girl would assume he had been deep in thought, unaware of his exact location. Although this late at night, and given that the girl’s exact state of mind was unknown, the man knew that any subtleties could easily be lost.
“It’s okay. I’m sorry.” The girl said as she stepped into the light. She was either brave or had already dismissed the man as non-threatening. Good, the man thought.
The man relaxed a little.
As the girl started to walk around the man, keeping to the rim of the light, the man realized the girl was cautious. Even better, she was sober.
“Uh… I don’t suppose you could tell me if there’s a way to cut back to the town centre from this road?”
The girl had just stepped past the man and had to turn around to face him. Definitely brave, the man thought. He then pointed down the intersecting road, the long straight avenue perpendicular to the lane the girl was on.
“Only if you want to walk about three miles out of the way first. And then you have to keep taking the right at turn offs. Plus there are few dead ends. If you go the opposite way down that street, toward the water, you can cut the distance in half. Just take the lefts.”
“Oh okay. Thank you.” The said, making sure he looked uncertain. “Maybe I’ll just go back the way I came.”
When the man started forward slowly the girl immediately looked suspicious.
“I’ll walk in front so you don’t think I’m following you okay?” The man said, sounding as mild and unthreatening as possible. Still, the girl looked sceptical.
“I can even walk on that side of the street,” he added flicking his hand toward the opposite side of the street. “It’s only a few blocks back to the centre of town yes?”
As he was not a big man, he imagined he had put the girl at ease. But the girl kept her eyes on him when he slid past her out of the light. His relief was immediate. Standing directly in the light was a fairly big risk to begin with, and he really had no idea how much longer he could have done it.
When he was a couple of paces beyond the girl, he heard her turn to follow.
“You’re not from around here are you?” asked the girl. She was not very far behind. “You have an accent.”
“That’s correct.”
The next step brought the man out onto the road showing his clear intention to cross to the side opposite the girl and head toward the town centre.
“You don’t have to walk on the other side,” she said. “Just as long as you stay in front of me. It’s probably a good idea to stay away from those trees. The coyotes have been coming right into town lately and they’re extra big this year?”
Trust was so easily evoked in the young, the man thought.
“That’s alright,” he replied. Although he did hesitate to show indecision. Then he proceeded to cross to the other side.
Opposite the girl, the street was wooded for about a block. The smallish looking trees suggested second growth. Although the lots may have once been developed, perhaps as much as half a century ago, they could just as easily have been smaller woodlots. Like so many other parts of the town, they were forgotten, left to return to nature.
A lone wolf’s cry broke the quiet air. It was a very distant sound, but still unexpected this close to town. The two strangers paused for a moment, startled by the noise.
“You can run back here if you have to,” the girl said.
The man chuckled.
“I’m quite certain I can last. Maybe we can walk on the same side when we reach the well-lit town centre?”
“Sure,” the girl said. All reservations were now gone.
The two walked a little ways in silence, but close to the edge of the woods where the trees thinned and before the first house lot; there was something in the woods. All of a sudden, low growls and snarls filled the empty air.
Rather than run, the man stood frozen. The girl would have to react. He decided to appear petrified. It was so innocuous a reaction.
Almost as a second thought, he gasped.
He could hear the girl’s feet on the road surface pounding toward him.
“Come on!” she yelled.
He sensed her reaching out to him and turned to face her. She was a very brave girl. He almost felt a trace of regret.
As her hand shot out to grab the man’s arm, to pull him to safety, she closed on something barely more substantial than air. There was very little left of him now.
Although, that was about to change.
When the girl’s hand caught onto the cold, nearly immaterial bone, she knew. It was impossible to live in this town for any amount of time and not know the old stories. It was impossible for her to not know what she was about to face.
The man could see the expression on the girl’s face. Her horror.
It was just too late.
Chapter 3
Impressed
Resting in the shadows of steeper terrain, Knight’s Port had kept its secrets well. The long abandoned settlement of about thirty derelict buildings sprawled out over remnants of a cobbled roadway and narrow dirt lanes. Several old brick and stone buildings with boarded window wells crowded together along what was once probably the main road. Other buildings bearing warped and faded clapboard, broken partial walls and missing roofs barely stood. Everything of value, from the interior walls, ceilings and floors, doors and windows had long been reclaimed. Nothing but the skeletons remained.
Wisps of fog caressed the ground and shells of gnarled and twisted old trees; swirling and dividing as if stirred by invisible hands. Even this late in the morning the sun cowered behind higher ground, abandoning the old town just as the rest of the world had.
“Creepeey.”
“Disturbing”
Emerging from the shade of the forest, the first two teens spoke with hushed voices, sharing looks between themselves and over their shoulders. At least they were with their friends, seemed to be a silent but mutual thought that hung in the air.
“Awesome” piped Sam. His voice nearly echoed in the overwhelming stillness.
Disbelief and full moon eyes rolled around to stare Sam in the face. Clara’s mouth was gaping as she struggled for words, “You weren’t kidding. It really is a ghost town. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Clara turned her head forward to see the reactions of her two other companions, Toni and Zak. The two teens stood a little in front of Clara and were friends of Sam’s. All four of them had met up on the way to the former town centre which now stretched out before their widening eyes. They looked at Clara and grinned. The four friends edged away from the trees and slowly approached the forbidden town.
***
It had taken the four of them almost two hours to reach the old town site. They had had to hike down the old main road and along the creek, crossing over through the shallow slow moving waters and continuing into a swampy area choked with Devil’s Club and Skunk Cabbage. All that just to reach the remains of a small town that had once been a vital hub to the nearby communities.
Clara was the first to break their momentary silence, “This could be the scariest place I’ve ever seen. No wonder they abandoned it. Does it ever get sun?”
“Sure, late in the day. But other things were more important back in those days. Knight’s Port was originally built here in a protected area. The old road that goes through town wraps around that slope and heads out into the valley toward Hill Spring City. It’s wicked crazy wind through the valley. ‘Specially in the winter. My dad and I got stuck just outside of the City snowmobiling one winter. Worst thing ever.”
“Wow. So what about all those weird plants we walked through?”
“That’s the protected part of it … of here I mean. It’s the one place that doesn’t ever get really hot or cold. Barely gets snow even. So brave kids over the years have tried planting a variety of…er… medicinal plants. Really bizarre plants in places. Some of it’s stuff that can’t grow this far east but for some reason it does here anyway.”
“Makes sense. I guess…” Clara replied uncertainly. What medicinal plants? She was afraid to ask. “So kids come here a lot?”
“No.” Her three friends chorused together.
“Takes forever to get here and there’s no way to drive. It discourages most of the people and nearly all of the teens.”
Sam smiled at the new girl as if he was welcoming her into some highly secretive club.
“Plus there are heavy no trespassing laws and fines or something. It’s too dangerous. Because it’s such a weird place it attracts animals. Kids have gone missing in these woods and the town - our town - is afraid it will get sued.”
Maybe it was the way he said it. Clara wasn’t really sure. But the one thing she was sure of was that Zak had included her in the ‘our’ part of town. It was record time, but Clara knew she was already accepted. She was already their friend, almost as if she had been for years.
It was weird but comforting. She’d somehow magically avoid the new kid label and subsequent ostracism pending judgment. And although it had really only been half a day since they’d met, Clara was beginning to recognize their different roles in the group.
Zak was the boy with the information, but Toni was the one to start things moving.
“So are we going to look around? Show Clara some of her neighbours?” Toni asked. Normally cheerful and adventurous, even Toni looked a little reluctant to begin exploring. Both she and her cousin shared a cautious look with their deep brown eyes.
Zak began moving away from the forest and closer to his cousin. Venturing from the relative security of the trees, the air in the old settlement was cooler than they expected. Clara shivered. “Neighbours? We hiked for ages to get here! Are you kidding?”
“We’re only about twenty minutes from Sam’s house.” Toni added.
Clara was a little slow moving and Sam tugged her forward lightly by the elbow. She wasn’t exactly hanging back. It was just that she was still in awe. She’d never seen anything like it before. It was unreal.
“The old main road is the one our houses are on,” Sam informed Clara. “At the bottom of our street, the old bridge used to cross that stream we came up. There’s nothing left but the abutments and some stones in the stream. It’s way too deep and muddy to cross there. Plus the sides of the ravine are too unstable. This is the only place.”
“So let’s look around okay?” Toni seemed a little more eager to explore.
“Yes!” Clara’s enthusiasm hid her misgivings. The eerie lighting in the abandoned old town site made the girl think that it was the kind of place you could catch glimpses of fleeting shadows out of the corners of your eyes.
Besides, didn’t her new friends just say there were there were animals around here? Could that mean bears? Wolves? Wild cats? A super creepy town was one thing. It begged for exploration. But wild animals were something else. It might make this place a little more than just nerve straining.
“There’s something over here I want to show you -” Toni began before Sam cut her off.
“Toni.” Sam was looking at the girl like he was warning her about something.
“What?” The girl quipped. “You brought her here so you must trust her.”
“Yeah,” Zak was looking at his friend questioningly.
“Trust me?” Clara asked. Maybe this really was some kind of secret club.
“She – you have to promise not to talk to anyone about this place.” Sam was staring hard at Clara. “There’s too much at stake. None of us can afford to get caught here. So you can’t tell anyone or even talk to us about it when we’re around others or in school or anything. Got it?”
“Uh…yeah. I mean sure. I promise.” Clara was surprised at how quickly Sam could show his non laid-back-surfer-type-dude side. He looked pretty serious. Maybe even grave, Clara thought.
“Okay then. Sorry if I sounded freaky like a parent, but it’s really important.” Back to his easy going self, he let Clara have one of his sheepish smiles.
“So come on then!” Toni was already walking forward.
The four teens moved quietly along the main street. Nothing was said aloud, but it was fairly unanimous that quiet was the way to go. Clara wasn’t certain exactly why, but the place really did give off an air of foreboding.
Clara smiled to herself. Who was she trying to kid? The place was absurdly creepy. Of course it would radiate foreboding.
Stepping lightly along the half buried cobble stones, Clara again noticed that most of the buildings were little more than foundations and a few broken walls. Strange looking reddish coloured ivy grew over several of the structures.
While Clara saw that the broken state of the old settlement applied to most of the structures in her immediate field of vision, it didn’t quite apply to all. A few still looked like buildings.
When Sam had managed to slip past Toni, taking the lead and heading the group in the direction of a smaller square brick building, Clara got a better look. All four walls of the structure appeared to be intact and there was something resembling a kind of roof. The roof was made of what looked like pieces of particle board and other scraps, but it served its purpose. There were more pieces of scrap wood and sheet metal covering the openings for windows, and a large piece of plywood across the front entrance. Set into the bricks above the main doorway was a plaque that read Post Office.
Clearly it was more than just some old post office. It was some kind of clubhouse.
“So this…” Zak’s hand clamped over Clara’s mouth before she could finish her question. Toni whipped around with a frightened expression and held a finger up to her lips.
Clara was so shocked she didn’t notice that Sam was already pulling back the plywood from the doorway. But she did notice that when she spoke a shadowy form flitted behind one of the other structures just barely within her peripheral field of vision.
Keeping a hand clamped over Clara’s mouth, Zak was jabbing a finger in the direction of the old brick post office. As the girl followed with her eyes, she realized that Sam had already slipped inside and Toni was close behind. It looked to Clara like there was a drop beyond the threshold.
Zak let his hand drop from Clara’s mouth, lightly grasping her arm instead as he pulled her forward. Once up the three stone steps, the boy held the plywood back gently prodding Clara to go in.
Her friend’s silhouettes could just be made out in the dimness as Clara jumped down. It was about a three foot drop and the girl stumbled through a bad landing. Both Zak and Sam were at her side quickly and someone put a finger to her lips.
A spark lit the silence and the sharp unpleasantness of sulphur hit Clara’s nostrils. Toni was lighting a very old fashioned looking oil lamp. As soon as the pale light began to illuminate the room, everyone relaxed noticeably. Zak even sighed with relief.
It occurred to Clara that this was the strangest situation she had ever been in. Sure they were in a creepy abandoned town, in a creepy abandoned building, but it was daytime, there were four of them and they were all reasonably fearless teenagers.
Zak was the first to break the silence.
“You can talk now. It’s safer. The light’s on.”
“Safer?” Clara inquired. Her question was met with silence.
“Anyone want to tell me what’s going on? What was that about anyway!?” The tone Clara used might have been a little angrier than she intended.
“Hey. Sorry.” Sam said. “It’s the noise. For some reason it attracts things instead of scaring them off.”
“Things?” Clara asked. “You mean animals?”
“They’re probably animals.” Zak said noncommittally.
“Yeah. Probably animals.” Toni agreed.
“Forget it. It’s animals.” Sam said on a positive note. “But they don’t come here. This building is safe as long as there’s a light on. There are others, but they aren’t safe at all. Some have huge drops because they had basements but there’s no floor left. Others are also like that but they’re full of water. And then there are the buildings that look ready to cave. So this is it. It’s not much, but as you can see we’ve already started on it.”
The boy held his arm out and swept it over the interior, inviting Clara to have a look around.
There wasn’t much to it. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the light, Clara could see they were in the shell of a smallish square brick building with few surprises from what she had seen on the outside. The walls were bare brick, and the roof, if it could be called that was clearly a makeshift structure formed from some old boards hammered to some very homemade looking beams. Clara thought it looked like it could barely withstand a strong breeze. The shafts of dull light peeking through didn’t help any either.
Drawing the girl’s attention to the far corner, Sam began to tell Clara of their plans.
“We have to finish the roof before school starts next week. Don’t worry, it’s not that big and it really is stronger than it looks. We’ve got some asphalt sheeting over there we’ll use to cover it up.”
“We’ve got to have it all done before school ‘cause soccer starts pretty much right away and other stuff a bit later. So we won’t have much time.” Zak added.
“Yeah like all that nerdy chess club stuff, book club, geek club…” Shoving an elbow in Zak’s ribs, Sam started an impromptu shoving match. But the non serious fighting ended quickly enough when Zak caught Sam in a headlock.
“Okay I give!” Sam exclaimed in a muffled voice.
Zak chuckled as he released his friend but Toni just shook her head at them and muttered, “Boys.”
With the oil lamp held aloft, Toni led Clara to the far corner where she immediately saw that part of the floor remained. The girl could see several joists and cross pieces that looked like they could be almost level with the ground outside. Pieces of floorboard covered the wood near the wall, and amazingly, there were even sections of linoleum in places. Toni placed the lamp on one of the linoleum patches and sat on the floor board beside it. Clara sat on the other side.
“So I guess I can see why this place is off limits. It’s pretty cool. An abandoned town site in the middle of the woods.” Clara took a few seconds to let it sink in, but knew deep inside that if something was really fun or interesting to kids it had to be changed or made forbidden. That was always the way.
“It’s cool alright. And it’s ours as long as we all keep it secret.”
As Sam spoke, he jumped up onto a sturdy looking joist and bounced little.
“Sam! Stop that!” Toni nearly shrieked.
“Nervous much?” The boy replied with a wide grin. He jumped off the beam, perching on it instead so he could hold his legs out and balance. It made Clara think he was the kind of kid that probably couldn’t sit still for long.
“So what are you guys fixing the place up for? Is it like some kind of club or something?”
Raspberries and pfffts filled the air.
“Hardly,” Zak said as he took a seat on a separate joist. “Over in the other corner we’re stockpiling stuff we’ve found. Some of it’s really cool. Old tools, some household items, old watches, a compass and stuff like that.”
“We haven’t figured out exactly what to do with it all. There’s always eBay, but I think some of it might be really valuable. We just have to be really careful. We can count on you right?”
“Completely! I won’t say anything. And I can help.”
“Good,” Toni said seriously. “We have a lot of exploring and scavenging to do still.”
“Yeah but it’s also a great place just to get away if you just want to hang out or read…” Zak trailed off and Sam finished his sentence.
“Or just be a geek.” Sam smirked. “He really means if you want to avoid chores, homework or family shopping trips.”
“Alright you guys. She gets the idea,” Toni interrupted. “But it’s not the kind of place you want to come alone. Buddy system.”
Sam made a scoffing noise but Toni continued.
“Anyway. You’re here so I guess you’re part of all this now. Sam decided pretty quick about you, but Zak and I don’t really know anything. I mean you seem okay but what kind of stuff do you do? What did you do back in the city? Do you have brothers and sisters? Did you have lots of friends…”
“Or just geek around the internet like Zak here?” Sam cut in as he started swinging his legs.
“Hey!” Zak said defensively.
“Ignore them,” Toni said. “Zak’s just touchy because he’s got a younger brother and sisters to look after most of the time so he can’t be as irresponsible and carefree as Sam.”
“Hey!” Sam echoed.
“That’s okay,” Clara smiled. Already she liked all three of her new friends and her head was still reeling from the awesomeness of their situation.
“I guess I’m just average. I have an older sister but she’s staying back in the city with relatives to finish her last year at the same school. She’s always been the top of her grade so my parents didn’t want to mess with it. I do okay, but my parents figured we’d have a better life in a small town. So we moved here.”
There was a pause before Clara realized her new friends were waiting for more.
“Back in the city, I had a lot of friends I guess. But mostly I just saw them at school, practice or competitions. There wasn’t a lot of hanging out time. There was always soccer, basketball, ball, hockey, karate, dance, music, tennis and swimming. There wasn’t a lot of down time.”
In the pale lamplight Clara could see Sam grinning broadly, but Zak looked a little concerned. His eyebrows looked like they were trying to meet somewhere over his nose.
“But when I did have down time, I guess I just liked to read. Sometimes write stories. And there was that time me and a couple of friends cut up our used clothes and made them into hammocks for hamsters, ferrets and cats. We even made a web site and sold the stuff online for a while.”
Clara watched Zak and Sam’s facial expressions completely reverse. Now Zak was smiling and Sam looked constipated. But Toni looked satisfied.
Relief was what Clara felt the most. She didn’t really like to talk about herself, but sometimes it was necessary when you were making friends. And making friends was something the girl really was good at. She wouldn’t admit it to herself, but making friends had never been difficult for her. She was easy going and good natured. Most kids liked her, even the difficult and annoying ones that everyone else avoided but she could tolerate fairly easily.
“Okay you pass,” snapped Zak. But he was still smiling.
“Hold on a second,” Sam squawked. “We don’t know if she has any really psycho weird habits or anything… like …eating grasshoppers or something.”
“Hey I just did that once!” She had accidentally reminded Sam about that on their way to meeting up with Zak and Toni. “Some stupid boy next door dared me! And I didn’t swallow it!”
She glared at Sam. “Plus I’m too nice to say what he did later.”
“What did he do?”
Toni was all ears as she stared at Clara over the lamp.
“He peed on the corner of my house when I couldn’t get the front door open fast enough.”
“Dude that’s-” Zak began.
“Gross!” Toni finished.
“Hey! She was taking a really long time…” If the lamplight was a little brighter, Clara was sure she’d see the boy blushing.
As the boy let his words drop off, the wind suddenly picked up. It was an odd wind that rose up out of nothing but made a loud wooshy noise around the outside of the building and rattled the roof boards sending a brief array of light beams cutting through the dim interior.
To Clara, it was just an odd wind, so she was immediately startled when she saw her friends reactions. All three of them stiffened immediately and stared up at the roof with wide eyes. A single finger flew to Toni’s lips to ensure the others stayed hushed. The tension didn’t abate until the wind died away entirely. Only then did the teens relax.
“Okay what was that about?” Clara asked.
Her three friends shared some awkward looks before Zak spoke up.
“It’s just that sometimes the wind…uh… the wind kind of comes with the…animals.”
It was a little too obvious that Zak was a bad liar.
“Uh huh. But what….really?”
Toni squirmed a little as she replied.
“We think it’s animals. It’s just that it can’t be anything else. Not really. They just move too fast and hide well so all you really catch are shadows flitting around.”
It just wasn’t very convincing. Obviously her friends had speculated, but whatever it was that they really thought, they were keeping it secret.
“Come on. It’s obvious you guys aren’t saying something. Out with it. I won’t laugh. I promise. If there are town loonies wandering around in the woods no one talks about, experimental pet breeds gone wrong, giant mutant sewer rats or something – anything – just tell me okay?”
After a few more shared awkward looks, Sam stared into Clara’s eyes.
“You said you wouldn’t laugh.”
“Okay.”
“And we did tell you it was animals first.” Zak added.
“Okay.”
“Do you remember what I first told you when we met? When you asked me what the town was like?”
“Yeah. You said it was…”
“A ghost town. Well it is. It really is a ghost town.”
***
The girl was captivated by the teen’s stories. Each of her friends took turns explaining the various strange goings on in the town that had gone on for as long as they had known, their whole lives in fact.
First there were the strange cries, in the woods every autumn, cries of torture and despair most often heard down by the old creek. Most people claimed it was the sounds of house pets succumbing to the boundless hunger of the ever braver coyotes. Although anyone that listened could tell they were not like the cries of any animal that could be identified in these woods. No, they were something else entirely.
Then there was the creek itself. As Zak explained, it was really a tidal river. But not like just any tidal river of which he had heard. This one was almost always blanketed in fog. Sometimes even when the sun was beating down on it all day long. Of course there were probably other tidal rivers or creeks like that somewhere in the world, but how many of those had shadowy shapes moving up and downstream well above the surface of the water? Maybe if someone had really bad eyesight, they could mistake those shapes for birds. Fog birds that didn’t need vision to navigate maybe.
And then there was this old town site. Here everything was a little off from normal. When Zak and Sam first discovered it a year ago, they started a campaign of exploring every structure they could find that was even remotely interesting. Or just plain standing. Soon they realized that there were several other complete structures on some of the overgrown lanes, but none were safe like this one. Not only were the structures themselves hazardous, but the strange shadows and eerie noises the young people had experienced in the town site were always much closer to those buildings. And those eerie noises were much worse than the wind they had all just heard a few minutes ago.
Those eerie shadow noises were unnatural.
“But that’s not all,” Toni added. “Even in this building weird stuff happens. Sometimes when we’re gone for a while and then return, it’s changed a little bit.”