by Etta Faire
Everyone thought old George had suffered a heart attack. They called 911, and attempted to get him out of the forest safely. It had taken five people to even lift the man up, and when they finally did, they noticed a black leather wallet directly under him with the initials BFF. Bobby’s full name was Bobby Furgus Franklin. It was actually Robert Furgus Franklin, but he hated the name Robert so much he even refused to acknowledge it as a letter in his monogram.
When they opened the wallet up, they confirmed its owner. Along with his driver’s license and debit card, that wallet had also contained more than twenty-five hundred dollars in it.
It was almost the same amount Shelby had reported missing from their mattress bank.
Fortunately, George was fine. It hadn’t been a heart attack. The official report was stress and anxiety, but I think it was fear. George said he couldn’t remember what he saw in the forest that triggered the incident. But he was probably blocking it out.
And now, the police were coming in. The big ones from upstate.
As soon as I got back into my car, my ex-husband appeared in the passenger’s seat beside me. He was just a faded version of himself now that he was dead, which meant he was just as annoying but not as visible. His coloring was actually good today, a stark contrast to my gray leather seats. And he was chuckling a little.
“Did you really think they were going to let you walk into the forest with them, or hang out and critique their police work,” he said as I pulled my car along the dirt path again.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, honestly.” I passed four unmarked police cars heading down the deserted road to the drive-in as I drove out. I waved politely. Stoic faces stared straight ahead, hands at ten and two. No smiles. No waves. And I thought we Wisconsinites prided ourselves on friendliness.
I waited to talk to my ex again until all the vehicles had passed. Since I was the only one who could ever see the ghosts around me, it had become second nature to avoid looking crazy unless absolutely necessary. “I can’t explain it. It’s just a gut feeling. But I know I am meant to be here. Maybe not to go into the forest, yet, but I just feel like I’m needed.”
Jackson tugged on his ghost beard, a pretentious move that annoyed me just as much now as ever. But at least he wasn’t combing, styling, and talking to his beard anymore.
“What you could be feeling is our newest client. She haunts at the Dead Forest,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s it.”
“Or, your delusional egotism could be acting up again, even though you pretend that I’m the one with the large head.”
“You are.”
“Yes,” he said. “You’re right. Your police officer boyfriend needs your help to do his job. You should go back and demand to be a part of it all.”
Two more police cars passed me. I slowed down and watched them zoom by. “Six cars? For a wallet.” I put my foot on the brake and peeked at them in my rearview mirror as they kicked dirt along the path, driving full speed to get to the others. “And they do seem to be in a hurry. Those hyper-focused police officers probably wouldn’t even notice a Civic turning around, and parking far enough away to watch.”
“And the delusions know no boundaries,” he said.
After waiting a good five minutes to see if anymore cars came along the path, I quickly turned my Civic around and headed back toward the drive-in, slowly so I wouldn’t make too much noise.
The Dead Forest seemed fine in the day, or at least that’s what I told myself. The trees didn’t look dangerous or ominous. No paranormal mist circling through bone gray branches.
Just before the bend in the road that would reveal my car to the others, I stopped along the road, grabbed the bear spray I now kept in my glove compartment next to the regular mace, and opened my car door.
Jackson stared at me like I was insane.
“Just come with me and let me know if you see anything strange,” I said.
“Carly doll, you know I adore you, and I’d do anything for you, but you also know that means only the things that are fun or that benefit me.”
I got out and gently closed the door. Thankfully, Jackson was right behind me.
“And to think I was worried you hadn’t thought this through,” he said, sarcastically.
“Only talk if you notice something,” I snapped, pulling the key fob out of my pocket, about to hit the door locks. I thought better about it last second. The bee-beep from me setting my alarm would probably not be in my best interest.
I quickly checked the watch on my cellphone. It was a little after ten. I’d need to head into work soon. I only had about twenty minutes to spy on my boyfriend. And I wasn’t even sure why I was spying.
After jogging down the short embankment that the road sat on, I realized I was very close to the forest. And that it seemed to want me to get even closer.
It looked like a normal forest, even though I refused to look into it too much. Instead, I walked about thirty feet from the path. But every once in a while when I’d look up, I’d notice I was getting closer to it than I’d intended, as if I was a piece of metal being slowly drawn by an incredibly strong magnet.
I made a conscious effort to notice the distance and move away from the magnet every time I realized I was drifting.
The air was crisp around me, and my nose and eyes ran a little. I sniffed back the smell of leaves and dirt.
I peeked around the bend and saw them. More than ten police officers stood by the path that I suspected was where the search party had discovered the wallet. There were three German shepherds smelling an article of clothing Shelby probably provided for them. It looked like one of Bobby’s t-shirts.
Justin and Caleb didn’t seem to be contributing anything to the search beyond yakking and pointing. Half the police officers and all three dogs went down the path, while the remaining ones stayed on the outskirts watching with radios.
From what I could tell, the dogs were just sniffing around the forest, none were going crazy.
I held my breath, hoping they wouldn’t find him. Shelby would be devastated. The baby would never get to know his daddy. No big loss there, but still. And all because Bobby’s brothers had come for Christmas and stayed until February. So, Shelby had given him the ultimatum, them or her.
But why would Bobby have taken that ultimatum to mean run into the Dead Forest with 2,500 dollars?
While I was thinking of all the possibilities, I saw something out of the corner of my eye, a black mass moving swiftly between the lanky trees in the forest just ahead of me. It was moving toward the police search. And it was going at a faster-than-human pace.
I held in a scream as I dropped my bear spray down by my feet then quickly scrambled to pick it up again. The shadow was like nothing I’d ever seen before. I took off up the embankment and back over to my car, my eye on the fast-moving shadow the whole time. “What the hell?” I kept repeating under my breath as I checked the car over for a hook on the handles or anything else out of the normal before grabbing the driver’s side door and getting in. Growing up watching horror movies will make you a little paranoid.
I checked the backseat over thoroughly. Then, after a complete inspection for hidden killers, I finally turned on the car.
“Did you see that,” I asked my ex-husband. “I don’t know what it was, but I should warn Justin. We have to get out of here.”
“Am I allowed to talk now?” Jackson said in his trademark snotty tone. He appeared in the passenger’s seat again. “I never saw anything except you freaking out over nothing.”
I turned my car around and pulled up the dirt road again. Unfortunately, I still had to drive slowly so the police wouldn’t hear me, making this a slow-motion getaway from probably nothing. I stopped briefly to text Justin.
Be careful. I saw something moving near you guys in the woods on my way out. Something short, squarish, and dark that didn’t seem human or German shepherd like.
As I was about to pull onto the main r
oad to get to work, I suddenly got the feeling there was more in this car than my ex. But I also knew I’d checked everything over in my fit of panic. That could only mean one thing.
I pulled over and pointed into the backseat’s upholstery. “Show yourself,” I demanded.
Coming June 20. Read free in KU.