A Tale from the Hills

by Terry Hayden

  “Thank God that it was a slow night or we would all be swinging from the end of a rope. Hurry up and get your shit together Sally. We got to torch this place and get the Hell out of town tonight.” another of the trio added.

  “Are we traveling as women or men?” the all too familiar voice asked.

  “We are going as women Starla.” Sally replied.

  William almost pissed in his pants. The shock of the murder was bad enough. Now he had to deal with the fact that he spent his first real sexual encounter with a man dressed up to be a woman. He wanted to come out from under the bed and confront the imposters, but he knewbetter. He would end up just like Alex, or worse, if he even tried to do something. If only he had the pistol that he took from Eunice’s, his odds would have been greatly improved.

  The three conspirators left the room and he could hear their footsteps going back down the stairs. He needed to get out of the house fast or he would be burned along with poor dead Alex. There was nothing that he could do for Alex, so he left him on his deathbed. He did take the time to loosen the ropes from Alex’s hand and feet. He wanted the poor man to have a little bit of dignity in his funeral of fire.

  Lucky for William there was a set of steps at the back of the house that he could use in his escape. He was scared to death that the murderers would see him or be waiting for him at the bottom of the creaky steps. But he was all alone when he reached the overgrown backyard of the once magnificent house.

  He got as far as the top of the hill that was near the railroad tracks when he saw the first light from the fire. He lay down in the tall grass to watch the fire and think about Alex, and life, and the path that his own life had taken. He thought for a split second about saying some type of a prayer for his dead friend, but he had just about lost the little bit of faith that he used to think that he had. So many bad things had happened to good people in his life, that he was beginning to question the existence of any kind of a God.

  William felt very sad that his friend was dead. And he felt humiliated for himself as well as Alex. They had both been taken by imposters and low lives. Alex’s death was so ridiculous and needless that he wanted to vomit. William knew that he could not tell the police anything about Alex’s murder. The sorted details leading up to the murder would be much too hard to explain. The police would think that they were all deviants and that the man got exactly what he deserved. He should never have been at that place with those people in the first place. The murder and arson would go unsolved and unpunished.

  The fire had become a raging inferno by the time that William decided to return to the boarding house. Thefire department showed up but there was nothing they could do except try to prevent the fire from destroying any of the other houses on that street. Lucky for them all of the old houses had huge yards to separate the structures from each other.

  On the way back to the boarding house, William decided that as soon as he got his next paycheck he was going to leave Wilkesboro for good. The last few hours had completely turned him against everything in the town that he used to love. He wanted a change of scenery or heknew that he would go crazy.

  ************

  The fire completely destroyed the old mansion in the once elegant part of town. The fire marshal found human bones in the ashes and rubble. The county coroner determined that the bones were those of an adult male approximately thirty years of age. They had no way of determining who the man was but they figured that he was a bum or a hobo. They suspected that he accidentally started a fire and burned to death in his sleep. The bones were buried in the county cemetery with no grave marker or funeral service. There was a clipping in the “Wilkesboro Sentinel” newspaper that mentioned the fire. The article stated that the identity of the dead man could not be determined. William cut the article out of the newspaper and added it to the things in his suitcase. He hated the fact that his friend had simply disappeared off the face of the Earth. No one would ever tie his disappearance to the bones that were found in the old house. They would have no good reason to put those two facts together. Alex was fired from his job. He would never claim his belongings in the boarding house, and no one would ever know why except William. He would go to his won grave with that secret.

  William showed up at work as usual and acted as if nothing was out of the ordinary. But he jumped every time that he heard a loud noise or if someone came up behind him suddenly. It would be three more nights before he got paid, then he would have enough money to leave townforever. He made a silent promise to himself that he would never look back.

  ************

  The last night that William spent in Wilkesboro started like any other Friday night. He collected his wages from the mill and went back to the boarding house. He usually hid most of his hard earned money, cleaned himself up, and went out for a couple of hours to one of the local bars. He never carried all of his money with him because he had a secret fear of getting robbed.

  There was nothing at the bars that interested him anymore. As soon as he was safely locked in his room, he started preparing for his trip. He could not have packed any sooner because of his nosey landlady. He knew that she snooped around in his room while he was at work. He had purposely left things out of place and returned to find them where they were supposed to be. No one else had a key to his room except her. He kept his suitcase locked or she would have messed in it too.

  It did not take him very long to get his belongings together. He wanted to be able to leave on short notice. He suspected that the landlady got up early and he wanted to be out of town before her big feet ever touched the floor. All that he would have to do would be to put on his clothes and steal away into the early morning light. He went to sleep with travel on his mind.

  He dreamed that he was standing across the street from Paradise. The place was lit up like New Year’s Eve, and he could see the outline of many people stirring around inside. He knew that he did not want to be there, but something was compelling him to go to the front door. The rest of the neighborhood looked deserted, and the big houses on either side of Paradise were boarded up. Weeds and vines were growing over everything in sight. Even though it was a dark night he could see bugs and spiders crawling over the vines, and snakes were hanging from the tree limbs and porch railings. He watched rats fighting over the grisly remains of some kind of dead animal.

  When he reached the front door of Paradise, it opened as if by magic. There was a swooshing sound that seemed to announce his entry into the room. A room full of strangers turned to acknowledge his arrival. The women curtsied and the men bowed at the waist. The looks on their pasty faces seemed to say, “It’s about time that you were getting William.”

  He felt out of place in the crowded room because everyone was dressed in fancy attire, and he was only wearing boxer shorts and a button up shirt with all of the buttons missing. An old lady stood at the foot of the stairs and motioned for him to go on up. As much as he wanted to be somewhere else, his feet were moving independently from his will. As he climbed the stairs he saw three pairs of shoes standing together at the landing. His eyes moved up their bodies as he climbed to the second floor. Their bottom halves looked like beautiful ladies. But as his eyes moved upward their appearances changed. They were no longer the beautiful ebony Queens that they once had been. They were wrinkled old trolls with bulging eyes and matted hair. Their lips were painted brightest red but when they smiled at him, their teeth were yellow and broken and fiercely sharp.

  The troll standing in the middle spoke in a girlish voice, “We have been waiting for you William. Some of the people that you know are already here. They have been waiting for days to see you.”

  William had no control over his movements. He was standing in front of the three ghastly beasts as if by magic or witchcraft. He wondered what kind of power could control him in such a manner?

  “We must prepare you to see the others.” another of t
he trolls announced. “It won’t take us very long to get you ready.”

  One of the trolls proceeded to remove his shirt and he was powerless to stop her.

  “Such a pretty boy.” she said in her girlish voice and flashing a grotesque smile. “I sure would like to sink my teeth into you.”

  They were all laughing now.

  “Your friend was lots of fun until he just gave out. We drained all of the fun right out of him.” she added. “And by the way there is someone else here who wants to see you again too. You have not talked to him in quite a while.”

  As he stood there trembling the one who used to be called Starla, bowed before him.

  “You loved this the last time that you were here.”

  She began removing his shorts as she looked into hiseyes.

  “Try to control yourself this time.” she sneered.

  Now he was completely naked in the company of the three ugly trolls. They took a moment to glare at his body before one of them spoke.

  “Now you are ready to join the party.”

  One of the trolls walked in front of him, and one stood on either side of him. It was an escort straight from the bowels of Hell. They proceeded down the hallway. William soon heard a familiar voice that only added to his fear and loathing.

  “William my boy, how the Hell are you?” the old man spoke before William even saw him.

  In his vulnerable and humiliated state, William beganto cry.

  “Cry baby!” the old man said. “How can you call yourself a Hill? Seventeen years old and crying like a baby. Your friend here has not made a sound and he’s been here for days.”

  The old man gestured toward the other side of the room. Alex was sitting in a chair naked like William. He looked up at William and moved his mouth, but no sounds came out. William could see blood oozing from the huge gap between his chin and Adam’s Apple. The old man and his three ungodly disciples began to laugh mockingly at the staged production in front of them.

  William woke himself up crying into his pillow. He must have been crying for a long time because his pillowcase was wet from all of the tears. A voice from thehallway startled him.

  “Is everything all right in there?”

  It was the landlady.

  “Yes, yes. I’m fine.” he answered.

  “You were talking and crying and mumbling about something that I could not understand. Are you sure that you are all right?”

  “Yes, I just had a bad dream, that’s all.”

  “All right then. Goodnight.”

  Now he would have to wait until he was sure that she was asleep again before he could leave. That gave him time to think about the events from his dream.

  He decided that the old man who had taken on the appearance of his long dead grandfather was the Devil himself. But William could not understand why the Devil was so interested in him. He was just a poor dumb kid from the mountains of Virginia with nothing to offer but his immortal soul. What could that be worth?

  In his groggy state of semi-consciousness he decided to make the old man a counter offer. In a low voice that only he could hear he spoke.

  “Please stop torturing me old man. Let me sleep in peace and when the time comes you can have my damned old soul. Just leave me the Hell alone while I am alive old man.”

  From just outside the door, in an all too familiar voice, he heard, “You just made yourself a deal my boy.”

  William thought that he had imagined the whole episode. He rushed to the door and opened it, but no one was there. He brushed the whole thing off and decided to leave the boarding house whether the old lady heard him ornot. He just did not give a damn anymore.

  ***********

  Chapter Four

  The year was 1937. In parts of the world that William

  Hill had never even heard of, history making and groundbreaking events were taking place. Franklin Roosevelt was beginning his second term as President of the United States. His reelection was the result of the greatest outpouring of voters in the history of American politics. The huge turnout was perceived as an overwhelming endorsement of the New Deal, which was designed to bring the nation out of the grips of the Great Depression.

  In England, King Edward the Eighth abdicated the British throne to marry Mrs. Wallis Simpson, a divorcee from America. His title was downgraded to the Duke of Windsor and the world famous couple were to share many years together.

  There was civil war in Spain. The cruelty and brutality of war influenced the famous painter Pablo Picasso to paint a huge mural entitled Guernica, as a form of protest.

  Floods along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers left more than a million people homeless. The Golden Gate Bridge, the world’s longest expansion bridge, was finished in San Francisco, California. Benny Goodman’s band was taking the country by storm.

  There were two major air disasters. The Hindenburg Blimp blew up on May 6, 1937. Amelia Earhart was lost at sea during an around the world flight in July of that same year.

  Hugo Black, a self admitted former member of the Ku Klux Klan, took a seat on the Supreme Court. In Germany the Nazi Party was gathering for mass rallies. Soon the world would become involved in a great war to end the tyranny ofa madman named Adolf Hitler.

  ***********

  In Alleghany County life was good for the Hill family. Tom and Eunice shared an equal interest in the family farm and prosperity came to them even before it did for the rest of the country. Tom and Samantha formed a close relationship that pleased Eunice almost as much as her own relationship with her only living brother.

  It had been years since Tom had worked on a farm but he fell back into the routine very easily. Actual farm life was so much different from his childhood days when work began early and ended late. Now he felt motivated by forces other than his father’s greed. He felt like he was a part of a real family operation that needed more from him than the sweat from his weary brow. He was so thankful that he was back where he belonged.

  Tom kept in touch with all of his sons except William. He had not heard a word from his youngest son in close to five years. He used to spend many sleepless nights worrying about William, but he very soon discovered that it did not help the situation at all. He realized that William was old enough to make his own decisions and that he would come around if he wanted to come around. And if he did ever show up at Jewel Ridge Mountain, Josh was still living at the old home place, and Alan was managing the general store.

  Electric lines were run into parts of Alleghany County at about the same time that Eunice’s new house was being built. She was lucky enough to have that luxury when Tom came to live on the farm again. One of the first electrical appliances that they bought was a radio. They were listening to it on that fateful night when the Hindenburg Blimp blew out of the sky. The three of them cried along with the pitiful newsman who was reporting the tragic story. They did not hear the inaugural address of their hero FDR, but they were kept well informed about the Nazi situation in Europe. Tom worried that his sons, like his brothers, might have to go to war. The radio had made the world a much smaller place, and sometimes he wondered if they were not better off being uninformed about a lot of the news that they now heard on a nightly basis. But he finally realized that time was not standing still, and that the old saying about ignorance being bliss, was not always true. He could personally vouch for that falsehood because of all of the years that were lost between himself and his sister.

  *********

  William’s three brothers were doing quite well in Virginia. Joseph was a foreman at the mill in Abingdon, and he was the proud father of two little boys. He hardly ever thought about William anymore. He figured that William was probably dead like little Alice and their mother. He had never thought that his littlest brother had a strong enough constitution to survive on his own. And besides, he had his
own family to care about, and he kept in close touch with the rest of the family, even his daddy, on a regular basis.

  Josh was working at the same job that he took right after finishing Mountain School. He was living in the old home place and saving most of his money. People who knew him well, kidded him about having the very first nickel that he ever made. They were pretty close to being accurate with that assumption because he was extremely frugal with his money. He had a tidy sum hidden in the old silver box along with the family Bible.

  Alan and his wife had taken full ownership of the general store, and since the deaths of her parents, Alan was putting in much too many hours at the store. His wife complained to him all of the time about not spending enough time with her. The couple had two children, but she was not sure that either of them belonged to Alan. She seemed to have an itch that she would allow almost anyone to scratch. Alan was either unaware of the situation or he simple did not care. There was gossip in the community but he turned a deaf ear to it. He treated the children like they were his own, regardless of their true parentage. His heart was much bigger than his libido.

  Like Joseph, Josh and Alan always figured that William was either dead or in an insane asylum somewhere. They did not speak of him often because that part of their childhood was still hard to deal with. The siblings agreed that their daddy should have committed William to the institution in Marion when he was a little boy. Every time any of the Hill boys heard someone mention the town of Marion, they automatically thought about the mental hospital and William.

  ***********

  That early morning when William Hill left Wilkesboro, he was preoccupied with the dream that only hours before had terrified him. Not only terror but extreme sadness and hopelessness characterized the nightmare. He could not shake those dreadful feelings from his mind. He was so distracted that he almost walked into the path of an oncoming train. When the engineer blew the train’s whistle, William cried out in fear and almost dropped the suitcase. He was so embarrassed by the whole outburst that he looked around to see if anyone heard or saw him.