Walk in My Haunted Shoes

by Rose Pressey

  “Now I’m a bit nervous,” I said. “What if I make a mistake?”

  “And how long have you been doing this?” Tammy asked.

  “Over a year now,” I said.

  “Then you’ll have no problems with tonight.”

  “I’m just a bit excited, I guess.”

  “It will be a great tour as usual. Let me know how it goes.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “You said that because you have doubts.”

  Tammy shook her head. “No, I didn’t. Now get out of here.”

  “I’m leaving.” I pushed to my feet.

  “Remember, I want all the details as soon as you’re done,” Tammy called out.

  “I’ll definitely keep you abreast of all of the details.” I grabbed the bag and headed toward the door.

  Before I stepped out of the tavern, a gust of wind zipped past me and I stopped on the spot. That was odd. It was definitely a cold chill. Maybe I should have worn something a bit heavier than just a sweater. But within seconds, the chill disappeared. Something caught my attention and I looked to my right. A man stood in the adjacent room.

  Chapter 8

  That room was used more for overflow on the weekends. Tonight, the room wasn’t in use and the lights were off. The silhouette of the man standing in there was unmistakable. His creepy stare sent a chill down my spine. Did Tammy know the guy was in that room? I turned around to see what Tammy was doing. Maybe I should ask her about the guy. Tammy was talking to a man at the bar. I hated to interrupt her, but I felt maybe she should know about this strange man.

  When I glanced back into that darkened room the man was gone. I looked all around for him, but he was nowhere in sight. I walked over to the doorway that led into that room to see if maybe he was hiding somewhere out of sight. He wasn’t there. Oh, no. I knew what was going on here.

  This was the tavern’s ghost. He just liked to make his presence known every once in a while. He wasn’t much for chitchat though. The tavern was very much haunted, and the ghost had decided to make an appearance. I didn’t want to tell Tammy about this. It would only upset her and ruin her evening. Tammy knew the place was haunted, but I didn’t want to remind her by telling her what I’d seen.

  I’d seen two ghosts today. How many more would show up?

  “Is everything all right?” Tammy asked while stepping over to the end of the bar.

  Now how would I lie my way out of this one? She knew when I was lying. I had to tell her the truth.

  After releasing a deep breath, I said, “I think I just saw the ghost.”

  Her eyes widened. “Oh, no.”

  I held my hand up. “But he’s gone now. He was probably just checking how everything was going.”

  “I certainly hope so. I have to close up here alone tonight,” Tammy said.

  “I can come back after the tour.” I glanced over to see if the ghost had returned. So far, he hadn’t come back.

  “Would you?” Tammy asked. “That would be great.”

  “Absolutely I’ll come back. That’s what friends are for.”

  Tammy released a breath. “Okay, that makes me feel better.”

  “All right, I’ll see you right after the tour.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you then,” she said with a forced smile.

  “Don’t worry about the ghost,” I said. “It was probably just a residual haunting.”

  “You always say that.”

  She’d caught on to my little trick.

  “No comment,” I said with a smile.

  “Have a good time on the tour tonight,” she said.

  I waved as I headed out the door. I’d certainly had a busy day with two ghosts. And it wasn’t even the tour yet. Certainly we could encounter more. I wondered what would happen on the tour tonight. Those ten people would certainly be in for a surprise if it was as active tonight as it had been all day.

  I headed down that alley toward the graveyard. My shoes clicked against the cobblestone path. This was definitely a spooky area. The cool air encircled me, and the leaves crunched under my feet. The crispness in the air was intoxicating. When I reached the end of the alley the graveyard came into view. Huge oak trees surrounded the area. The wind whistled through the branches.

  I glanced up to the top of the tree that was right by the iron gate. An owl liked to stand guard over the whole cemetery. He was like my little helper now. Sure enough, he was up there tonight, watching every move I made.

  Chapter 9

  I waited by the old iron gate for the group to arrive. This was where I always stood. It seemed like the perfect spot to start the tour. One ghost in particular always seemed to hang around Devil’s Moon Cemetery. Mrs. Clatterbuck didn’t like that I gave tours here and she always let that be known.

  Yes, she talked to me just like any living person. She looked real too. For the longest time I’d thought she was a real live person. Then I’d found out she was actually a ghost. I crossed my arms in front of me, fighting off a chill. It wasn’t from the weather. I knew Mrs. Clatterbuck was nearby.

  I thought about just ignoring her and not turning around. This was Mrs. Clatterbuck though and that wouldn’t make her go away. She would just keep on until I acknowledged her. A thought crossed my mind: what if it wasn’t Mrs. Clatterbuck?

  Maybe it was a different ghost. It could be a scary one too. Not that Ms. Clatterbuck wasn’t terrifying, but I knew she meant no harm. Well, at least I hoped not. In the year that I’d been doing the tour she had caused nothing like physical harm. She’d scared me quite a few times though. So after a few more seconds, I decided I had to acknowledge her.

  I spun around with my flashlight in hand. No one was standing there. It must have just been the wind. Just then some of the dry fallen leaves scuttled across the way, dancing in the wind. I released a deep breath. I was certainly on edge. Of course, it wasn’t a big surprise that my nerves were frazzled after what had happened at the old school, the library, and the tavern. It had been a scary twenty-four hours.

  I hoped the group arrived soon. I was kind of getting spooked standing out here. Yet I continued to do the tour night after night. The crunch of dry leaves under footfalls caught my attention.

  “It’s a bit chilly tonight,” a woman said.

  I jumped and spun around, seeing the woman standing right next to me.

  “Oh.” I clutched my chest. “I’m sorry I didn’t know anyone was here.”

  “Excuse me, I didn’t mean to startle you. I thought you heard me.”

  “No, I was just looking around, I guess.”

  I didn’t want to tell her that I was already suspicious that there might be ghosts floating around. How would she react to that news? I assumed she was here for the tour.

  “Are you here for the tour?” I asked.

  She stared at me for a moment, as if she had no clue what I was talking about. The woman was about my age—early thirties. She had long dark hair that reached past her shoulders in bouncy waves. Her big brown eyes were gorgeous. She wore a yellow and white striped sweater with blue jeans.

  “The haunted tour,” I said. “You’re here for it, right?”

  “Oh, yes, the tour,” she said. “Of course.”

  She still was acting weird, but I was used to people kind of being nervous before the tour.

  “As soon as the rest of the tour arrives, we’ll get started. It should be a lovely evening,” I said with a smile.

  Now was when I had to come up with more small talk. I didn’t want to start telling her about the ghosts around without the other people in the group here. What would we talk about? Books?

  “Are you from Devil’s Moon?” I asked.

  I supposed this was better than talking about the weather. We had already discussed how it was chilly.

  “Yes, I am,” she said.

  “My name is Ripley,” I said.

  I had my hands full with flashlights and my phone or I would have offered a handshake.

  “My name is Haley Aleman.
” She gave a bashful smile.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said.

  Another noise sounded from behind me. I turned around, sure that Mrs. Clatterbuck had arrived this time. Still no one was there. This was one of the strangest days I’d had in a long time.

  When I turned back around, the woman was gone.

  “Haley?” I called out with a frown.

  Where was she? I shone my light down the alleyway, but she was nowhere in sight. Had something scared her away? I hadn’t thought she could get away so quickly, but I supposed she had run away. She was awfully skittish.

  What had scared her so badly? Surely the noise hadn’t been enough to make her run away. I was suspicious of Mrs. Clatterbuck. Maybe she’d been behind me and then disappeared quickly. Something was off at the moment though. I was ready to get this tour started. Maybe the woman would return once the rest of the group gathered.

  The sound of voices carried across the night air. Oh, good, the others were finally here. The chatter was louder than usual. I supposed that was to be expected with such a large group. I hoped I could keep track of everyone on the tour. Usually I only had a handful of people.

  The large group headed down the alleyway toward me. They were talking amongst themselves and hadn’t even noticed that I was watching them yet. Unfortunately, Haley wasn’t with them. Maybe she wouldn’t return after all. I felt bad that she had been scared. A few seconds later the group stopped talking and focused their attention on me. I smiled and waved. The group consisted of five men and five women. It looked as if they were all couples. This must be a date night event.

  When they had all gathered in front of me, I said, “Welcome to Devil’s Moon Haunted Tour. Tonight, I will guide you through the haunted streets and buildings of town.”

  I had my presentation down. I hadn’t changed it much since I first started the tour. I could almost recount the stories in my sleep. Sometimes I even dreamed about the tour.

  “There are flashlights for everyone. We’ll need them as we tour the graveyard behind us.” I handed out the flashlights to everyone.

  The group took the flashlights and immediately checked to see if they were working. Lights lit up the darkened space. A streak of something misty caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. In a flash the mist had disappeared.

  Chapter 10

  “Tonight we’ll start the tour right here in the cemetery behind me.” I gestured. “There are many ghosts that haunt this whole area, including a woman in blue and a man in a black suit.”

  I always left out the details of Mrs. Clatterbuck and her haunting hijinks. I didn’t know if that made her happy or angry. She wouldn’t tell me either way. All she ever said was for me to stay away.

  I opened the gate and gestured for everyone to step inside. However, before the group could even make it over the threshold, I received a text message. I thought about not reading it, but I feared it could be important. I never got texts at this time of the evening because everyone knew I was leading a tour. Maybe it was urgent.

  I know you’re giving a tour, but there’s a lot of commotion out here in front of the tavern. Perhaps you should come check it out right away.

  The message was from Tammy.

  “Hold on, everyone,” I said. “There’s been a slight change of plans. Apparently something’s going on in town and maybe we should go check it out.”

  “What’s going on?” a woman asked with a frown.

  “I’m not sure. I just received a text from my friend saying that we should come to the front of the tavern.” I motioned for everyone to step out of the cemetery.

  “Nothing was going on just a minute ago when we were out there,” one of the men said.

  He had a point. However, it had been about five minutes since they had walked all the way down the alleyway and I’d given them my opening presentation and handed out flashlights. Something could have happened in that amount of time. Things could change in the blink of an eye.

  I gestured for everyone to follow me toward the alley. “We’ll just see what’s going on, then we can tour the buildings and come back to the graveyard at the end.”

  The large group followed me down the alleyway toward the street like ducklings following the mama duck. I couldn’t stop wondering what was going on out there. It had to be something big for Tammy to text me in the middle of a tour. Soon we reached the street. I looked to the right and spotted the commotion. Down past the tavern in the middle of the street was a bunch of police lights.

  “What’s going on?” one of the women asked.

  Her guess was as good as mine.

  “Looks like a bad accident,” one of the men said.

  A crowd had gathered on the sidewalk. Of course, action like this would attract everyone in town. And it seemed as if everyone in town was out on the sidewalks watching now. I spotted Tammy standing with a group of other employees. She hurried over to me.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Apparently there was a bad accident,” Tammy said. “I heard someone was killed.”

  “Oh, no. That’s horrible. How did it happen?”

  “I’m not sure yet. Maybe Brannon will tell you soon,” Tammy said.

  “Yeah, I’m sure he’ll tell me what happened when I talk to him later, but it could be a while if he’s investigating the scene. I suppose I should cancel the tour.” I looked back at the group.

  They were watching me, expecting me to give them an answer soon.

  “Probably so. I doubt you’ll be able to get past that police line up there.”

  I sighed. “You’re right. I should just tell them we’ll take a raincheck.”

  I hoped the group wouldn’t be too disappointed with the news. Under the circumstances, I figured they would understand.

  “I’ll go tell them now,” I said.

  “Don’t forget to get the flashlights,” Tammy reminded me.

  I stepped back over to the group. “I’m sorry, everyone, but I have to cancel the tour. There was an accident up there and we won’t be able to get past the police tape to the buildings.” I gestured over my shoulder. “I’ll give everyone a raincheck or a refund. I hope you will come back for the tour at another time.”

  I’d never had something like this happen.

  “It’s all right, we understand,” the dark-haired woman at the front of the group said.

  “We’ll get together and see when we can come back,” the man said, nodding toward the others.

  “That would be great. I look forward to it and thank you all for coming,” I said.

  “Here’s your flashlight,” the woman said.

  I held out my bag and everyone placed the flashlights back inside. After saying one final goodbye, I left the group and I joined Tammy again.

  “How did they take it?” Tammy asked.

  “They totally understood,” I said. “I just hope they really come back.”

  “I heard that someone was hit by a car. But that could just be hearsay, you know,” Tammy said. “We’re not close enough to see if there are cars involved.”

  “Yeah, it’s hard to see. I kind of see one car.” I stood on my tiptoes, straining for a better look. “So maybe it was a person who was hit.”

  “Immediately when I heard there was an accident I panicked, but somebody told me where it was, and I knew you didn’t have time to get there yet. So I calmed down just a bit,” Tammy said.

  It was nice to know that she had been so concerned over me, but I hated to make everyone panic like that. I understood why they would think of me though because I walked these streets so often. I felt terrible for whoever had been hit. It could happen so easily. Especially since it was dark out. Unfortunately, accidents like this happened all the time.

  Tammy and I stood there without knowing exactly what was going on up ahead. A short time later though I spotted Brannon as he headed down the sidewalk. Soon Brannon and I made eye contact. Based on the look in his eyes and the expression on his face, I knew so
mething bad had happened. Brannon had big brown eyes and they were always expressive, letting me know exactly what he was thinking. And I knew now he was upset. He wore his usual work attire of pants and a dress shirt, but his tie was missing, and his sleeves were rolled up on his forearms. He was definitely stressed.

  Brannon stepped up to us and I asked, “Is everything all right?”

  He shook his head and pulled me to the side just a bit, I supposed so other people wouldn’t hear. However, everyone knew who he was, so they were all watching and trying to eavesdrop. Including Tammy.

  “Someone was hit,” he said.

  “By a car?” I asked.

  “Yes, right up there by First Street.” He gestured over his shoulder.

  I shook my head. “That’s terrible. Do you know who it is?”

  “A young, dark-haired woman about our age. She was wearing a yellow and white sweater and jeans.”

  “That’s odd,” I said.

  The girl who had been at the tour matched that description. I hoped it wasn’t her, but she had taken off in a hurry. Had there been time for her to get down there to that intersection? I had just been talking to her.

  “What’s odd?” Brannon asked.

  “That actually sounds like the person I was talking to, but I don’t think she had time to get down there. Is there any way you can find out her name?”

  “We’ll have that info soon. Why, do you have her name?” he asked.

  “Yes, it was Haley. She was there for the tour but then she took off,” I said.

  Brannon raised an eyebrow. “That seems odd. Why would she take off?”

  “Well, her behavior was a bit weird, but I just thought maybe she had changed her mind and got scared about the tour.”

  “Are you sure she didn’t have time to get down there to that spot?” Tammy asked.

  I knew she’d been eavesdropping.

  “I’m almost certain. Unless she ran,” I said. “She ran away from the tour though. I figured she’d stop once she got to the sidewalk. I checked the time on my phone.”