The Box Set of Hauntings and Horrors

by Jeff DeGordick

  "Sure!" Bridgette said cheerfully, guiding their awkward tango back into her bedroom.

  Dawson stopped her in her tracks, holding onto both of her wrists. "I don't really know how to say it," he said. "So I'm just going to do it." Bridgette sat on the bed and stared at him as he began to sink down onto one knee.

  The door to her bedroom burst open and her roommate and best friend Janet walked in.

  "Oh sorry, I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"

  "No, we're just being a couple of goofballs in here," Bridgette said. "You know, the usual."

  Dawson, who only managed to sink down a few inches before she came in, stood bolt upright again, playing it off like he had a cramp in his thigh. He took the ring hiding in his palm and slipped it back into his pocket.

  "I was thinking of going shopping in a bit for some new dresses," Janet said to Bridgette. "Want to come? And don't worry, Dawson. You can come, too. I know it's your favorite thing."

  "I'm flattered, Janet," Dawson cut in, "but do you think you could give us a few—"

  Footsteps lumbered down the hallway and two more faces popped up behind Janet. Both of them were short, but he had a thin frame and she was big and round. They both bickered with each other as they tried to squeeze through the doorway at the same time.

  "Hey guys!" Bridgette said to their two other friends.

  "Nobody told me we're having a party today," Karen said, looking around at the faces in the cramped bedroom.

  Billy shuffled uncomfortably behind her. "You're stepping on my toe, sis."

  "Oh shut it," she said, shuffling off of it.

  Dawson cleared his throat, preparing one last time to ask if he could have a private moment with his girlfriend. But then he heard the front door to the apartment open and shut and another set of footsteps coming down the hallway. He hung his head and sighed, pulling his shirt over his pocket.

  "What's going on in here?" Trevor asked.

  "Orgy," Karen said. "You want to do the honors?"

  "Gross!" Billy said, slapping his sister on the arm.

  "You can't hit a girl!" Karen cried indignantly, giving him a shove. The lighthearted rabble that started in the room was ended by a loud bang.

  All of them stopped what they were doing and fell silent immediately.

  Trevor's hand was pressed on the wall where he smacked it. "Listen up," he said. "I'm glad I've got you all in one place, because I've got something to tell you."

  "What is it?" Bridgette asked.

  "You can call it the opportunity of a lifetime," he said.

  They all stared at him like he was from Mars and they waited with bated breath for him to explain.

  His eyes scanned around the room, a smile touching his lips. "How would you all like to be rich? I'm talking filthy rich."

  The Plan

  "Gold?" Karen asked. "Like, real gold?"

  Trevor nodded impatiently. He sat on the armrest of the couch, his feet up on the ottoman. He stared back and forth from each blank face, frustrated that they weren't quite grasping his meaning. "I'm serious, guys. It's out there."

  "In the sea?" Bridgette asked.

  "It's a bay," Trevor said, repeating himself. "The ship sank sometime in the 1700s at the edge of Black Bay. They stole the treasure from this huge mansion on the shore. But nobody knows what happened after that. Apparently the treasure went down with them. Some say they were attacked by other pirates. Some say the mansion's owner retaliated when they tried to escape. But the treasure and the ship are buried somewhere in the bay and nobody has found it."

  "This is some tall tale," Dawson commented. "Sounds like the kind of rumor that gets tourists to visit."

  "It's not a rumor," Trevor said.

  Karen leaned forward. "Did you say it was a museum or something?"

  Billy chimed in: "Yeah, I've heard of it. The museum belonged to Jacob Jasper. He was this big trading magnate. The whole town was named after him. It's right on the edge of Louisiana in the bayou."

  "Louisiana?" Karen whined. "We're in Texas. That's got to be a long drive."

  Trevor leaned forward and gesticulated, as if that would drive his point home. "Treasure. We're talking about treasure, here. Vast fortunes you could never even dream of!"

  "How do you know it's there?" Bridgette asked.

  "An acquaintance of mine did a little diving 'round that area three months ago. He found some gold and a string of pearls. Genuine stuff. Netted him about eight grand. He shared the tip with me because he knows I'm hot for this stuff. The water's restricted, though, and he said there was a police boat crawling around when he was there, so he didn't have time for a good look, and now he's too busy to go back because his mom took ill. But he showed me this old coin he found there before he pawned it. It was stamped in this real old, weird kind of way. Definitely not something modern."

  Dawson waved him off. "Give me a break, if there's actually something there, just how are you going to get it where everyone else failed? Don't you think someone else would've carted it all off by now?"

  "Most people think it's a rumor," Trevor replied. "Probably a lot have gone looking for it, but no one's found the ship with the bulk of it. It's a big bay."

  "And what makes you think you're going to find it?"

  "We," he emphasized. "Right? Doesn't that excite you guys? Is anyone even going to thank me for sharing this opportunity with all of you rather than just going myself?"

  Dawson cut him off. "I mean, how do you even expect to search there? If the water's off-limits and there's police around... hell, the museum would have security looking over the bay anyway. You'd get caught for sure."

  Trevor smiled. "That's where I'm three steps ahead of you, buddy. I am the security."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "The museum had a job posting for a security guard. The whole place is closed for renovations for a few weeks. I applied, and I got the job. So I'm going to have the whole place all to myself. We'll have the whole place to ourselves. Just so long as you lay low and we watch out for the construction crews. But they should only be there in the daytime. We can search that whole damn bay."

  "Real pirate treasure?" Bridgette said to herself, losing herself in fantasy and thinking about the novel she was just reading. "But... we can't just go in there and take it, can we? Isn't that illegal?"

  Trevor rolled his eyes and got up. "Illegal," he muttered under his breath. He paced around the room. "Are you guys hearing yourselves? We're talking about a fortune here. A fortune that's been lost and unclaimed for hundreds of years, I might add. Do you know what that means? What that could mean for each one of us? We wouldn't have to worry about a thing for the rest of our lives. We could live like kings!"

  "Not all of us want to live like kings, Trevor," Dawson said, leveling a piercing gaze at him. "Some of us just want the simple things in life." He looked over at Bridgette, but she didn't notice him.

  "He's right," Janet said. "It all sounds exciting, but I don't want to get into any trouble."

  "Well no one invited you," Trevor shot back.

  "Hey!" Bridgette said. "Don't treat her like that! She's a human being, you know. And if she's not going, I'm not going."

  "Yeah," Trevor scoffed. He was about to offer the same disinvitation to her, but he bit his tongue and paced to the living room window.

  Janet glared at the back of Trevor's head.

  "Just ignore him," Bridgette said quietly to her. "If we go, we'll stick together no matter what. It couldn't hurt to take a look, right?"

  Janet sighed. "I guess not," she said. "But I'm not really looking forward to a road trip with him."

  "Don't worry. If he gets annoying, we can always toss him out the car."

  The two of them snickered.

  Trevor returned to them, clapping his hands together impatiently. "So? We're all in agreement, yeah? You'd be crazy not to be."

  "I have to admit I'm pretty curious," Billy said.

  Karen let out a nervous sigh. "
Well all right, count me in, too. But I hope you know I'm hightailing my ass out of there at the first sign of trouble!"

  Janet glanced at Bridgette, then she gave a silent nod.

  "I think we're in agreement," Bridgette said.

  "Like hell we are!" Dawson piped up. They all looked at him and he stood up and grabbed Bridgette's arm. "Excuse us," he said.

  He led her down the hallway to her bedroom and shut the door behind them.

  "Come on, baby," he said. "This is crazy! What are you thinking?"

  "It wouldn't be so bad," she said. "You heard Trevor. He'll have the place to himself. We can just take a look at the very least. If it doesn't seem right or we can't find anything, we can always leave, right? But you hear about these things from time to time... lost treasure and all that. It can't always be a myth."

  "And what if we get caught?" he said. "Trevor may have done a stint in juvie before, but I'm not keen on going to prison."

  "It'll be fine. Plus, what's life without a little risk? Sounds pretty boring to me."

  Dawson sighed. "Don't you think this is all a little much?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean everything. Your head is always up in the clouds, and sometimes I feel like I'm just standing down here on earth, waiting for you to come down."

  "But I like being up here in the clouds," she said with a smirk. "Don't you? Don't you have dreams for us?"

  "I do. That's just the thing. I want to think about our future, honey. I want to think about us. We've been together for five years now and I want to think about—"

  Bridgette pressed a finger to his lips. "Oh no, no! Don't you dare say the M-word!"

  Dawson was stunned. "Why not?"

  "I mean, yeah, of course we'll get married eventually, but I'm not ready to settle down yet, you know? I mean, of course I'm settled in with you, but I'm just not ready to settle down, if that makes sense? There's too many adventures I haven't gone on. Too many things I still want to see out there."

  "We can still do that when we're married."

  "But it's not the same! When I think of marriage, I think of quiet nights in, barbecues with the in-laws, antique shopping. But right now we're still free! We're still in our twenties for another couple years. I want all that, don't get me wrong. And I want all of that with you, but... just not yet."

  Suddenly the ring in Dawson's pocket felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. He stared at the floor. "I don't really know what to say."

  She grabbed his hands. "Say yes. Come with us, and maybe if it pans out like Trevor thinks, we can have the money to have the most amazing marriage and life ever!"

  Dawson scoffed. "I wouldn't put any stock for my future in that jackass."

  "Come on, baby," Bridgette reasoned. "I know none of us always see eye-to-eye with Trevor, but he's still our friend. And he might be on to something." She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. "Will you come with us?"

  Dawson got in one last good eye roll, but then he nodded. "Okay."

  The two of them returned to the living room where the others waited expectantly.

  "So?" Trevor asked.

  Bridgette smiled. "We'll come, but you better promise me a good adventure out of this."

  Trevor smirked. "Bridgette, were going to have the adventure of a lifetime."

  Her smile widened, not knowing how true that statement really was.

  The Drive

  They got started just after sunup the next day. Billy came in his van with Karen and picked up Bridgette and Janet, then they set off to get Dawson.

  Bridgette blinked her eyes, still trying to get the sleep out of them. She peered out the van's window next to her and saw the thin orange on the horizon starting to fade away as a dome of clear blue stretched in the sky. All of them were excited for various reasons, except for Janet. If she had to put a word to her feelings, she would say anxious. Bridgette saw her uneasy look and squeezed her hand. "You okay?"

  Janet faked a smile. "Yeah." She looked away and swallowed as she stared out the window.

  They stopped at Dawson's house and Bridgette bounded out of the van and excitedly knocked on the door. When he opened it, she jumped into his arms and he twirled her around. They kissed and she said, "Ready to go, sweetie?"

  "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

  She pecked him on the lips again then made sure they were out of view from the others before slapping him on the butt. He locked his door and they set off on the road again to the edge of Texas City where Trevor lived. When they got to his house—an old tilted shack of a thing, with shingles that let water through the roof like a sieve and tall, mangy weeds twisting around the property—they found him shirtless up in his fishing boat that was sitting in the driveway.

  "About time you showed up," he said, wiping his forehead with a rag. He jumped down to the driveway and flicked his stub of a cigarette into the weedy bushes. The golden-brown skin of his torso glistened in the morning sun. He eyed Billy's van, a rusting Ford Aerostar straight out of the 90s. "That thing got enough horsepower to haul a boat?" he asked.

  "This thing will haul your house," Billy replied.

  Trevor slapped him on the shoulder then helped him back the van up to the boat. He had spent the morning loading all the diving equipment into the boat's storage area below deck, so when they had the boat hitched to the van they were good to go. He pulled on a wrinkled collared shirt and piled into the van with the others, then, with all their purses and luggage packed, they hit the road.

  "So where is this place exactly?" Bridgette asked.

  "Jasper, Louisiana," Trevor replied. "It's just off the Mississippi River Delta, 'bout an hour southeast of New Orleans. The museum overlooks the bay. It's up on a bit of a cliff, I guess. Nothing but bayou behind it. Should be about a six or seven hour drive, depending on how hard Billy steps on the gas."

  Billy glanced in the rearview in disapproval at the suggestion to drive recklessly. He turned his attention back to the road and hiked up his belt holding up his freshly-pressed khakis.

  "So how on earth did you get this job?" Karen asked. "Why would they hire someone from so far away?"

  Trevor shrugged. "Beats me. When I was doing some research on the place after that buddy of mine showed me the coin, I just saw the job opening and I applied. It's pretty off the beaten path; maybe they didn't get much interest."

  The six of them crossed the border into Louisiana and made one stop along the way. Half of them went to the bathroom at the gas station, and the other half wandered into the store, mindlessly browsing the aisles and delighting in the choice of what junk food they wanted to put into their bodies. All of them were sweating because the air conditioning was broken in Billy's van, leaving them to crack the windows and deal with the sweltering southern heat. Bridgette picked up some Twizzlers and a couple packages of Sno Balls and brought them up to the front. Dawson, being the sensible one of the two, grabbed a few bottles of water from the back, passing Janet on his way to the counter, who was pressing her reddened face against the freezer door.

  Trevor walked into the store. "Come on, I haven't got all day! We gotta be there at 2pm sharp."

  Billy and Karen came in behind him and quickly grabbed a few snacks and drinks for themselves. After everything was paid for, they set back out on the road with about half the distance to go.

  It was half past ten, and they were making reasonably good time, but every so often Trevor would shout up to Billy from the back of the van, telling him to step on it. He glanced at the boat behind him once in a while to make sure it was still attached. Once he met with his liaison at the museum and he had the place to himself, they could get started. He rubbed his hands together. He could almost taste the money.

  Janet had her phone out, mindlessly browsing it as the tedium of the drive set in. Bridgette glanced over at one point and saw her brow furrowed. "What is it?" she asked.

  "I'm just reading about the museum," Janet answered. "It says here that people have wi
tnessed some strange things there. Like ghost sightings and stuff."

  "What?" Karen cried from the front, cocking her neck around. "Nobody told me anything about ghosts!"

  "Oh don't give me that happy horseshit," Trevor said. "Don't tell me you guys wanna back out now."

  "No," Janet said quietly. "I'm just reading what it says here." She pulled her smartphone closer to her face and scrolled through the website slowly. "It says one visitor was driven mad. They had to take her to the hospital. That was only four years ago. And there's more," she said, flicking her thumb across the screen. "Something that happened a long time ago."

  "What?" Bridgette asked.

  Janet looked up at her. "Murder."

  "The pirates must have killed a person or two stealing that treasure, right?" Billy guessed.

  "No, this was more recent than that," Janet said.

  "When?" Bridgette asked.

  "A hundred years ago. Everyone inside—all tourists—found dead."

  Jasper Estate

  They sat parked at the side of a narrow road with no one else in sight. Tall grass and weeds stretched up and blew in the wind on either side of the dusty lane. Tree canopies crowded over them and brushed the top of the van. The windows were rolled down all the way, each of them soaked in sweat. Janet sat uncomfortably in her seat, feeling claustrophobic. Trevor had a map spread out on his lap. He tapped his finger on it. "Yep, right there. We're five minutes down the road from it."

  "So what's the plan?" Bridgette asked.

  "I'm supposed to meet the guy alone," he said. "I guess he runs the museum or something. You guys have to stay out of sight. I'll take the van and drive it up there myself, otherwise it's going to look suspicious if I just show up on foot." He inspected the map and tapped at another spot nearby. "There's a short side road straight up ahead. We'll pull around the corner out of sight and unhitch the boat. You guys can get out and hide around there. I'll go up to the place and see this guy off. Once he leaves, you guys can come up. We'll see what we're working with, and then we'll get the boat in the water. If there's construction crews there right now, you guys might have to wait a bit longer. I'll give you a signal either way."