"Dorsey Lane Extension," Jennifer read aloud, correctly interpreting the abbreviation of extension. "This must be the other end of the road through the woods near our house," she cried excitedly. "If we take this through the woods it will take us right to our house"
Jackie didn't like it. "I think we should stay on the highway," he told Jen as she started down the road. "Mom's prob'ly on her way now."
"Don't be such a chicken shit," Jen teased.
Jackie's eyes widened at her use of a swear word. "I'm going to tell Mom you said that"
"Oh, come on! Don't be such a little fink all your life. We'll walk through the woods and sing a song." She started singing to show him: "Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother's house we go"
"But Grammy doesn't live out there. She's in the hospital," Jackie said, refusing to move.
"It's just an example, stupid. Come on. If Mom was coming, she'd be here by now."
Jackie looked wistfully down the road and had to agree with her. There wasn't a car in sight that looked like theirs.
"We'll be safer in the woods, too. If we see a car coming, we can hide. No crazy guys can get us then," Jen argued further.
Jackie gave one more hopeful glance toward the highway, didn't see the family Saab approaching, and ran after his sis ter. A short distance down the road, he suddenly stopped and knelt on the road's surface. He began picking up handfuls of small white pebbles, filling his pockets with them.
"What are you doing?" Jennifer asked, coming back to him when he stopped.
"I'm getting stones to drop so if we get lost we can get back to the highway," Jackie explained as he stood, pockets bulging with pebbles.
"Who do you think we are, Hansel and Gretel?" Jen smirked.
Drop a stone.
Walk ten steps.
Drop a stone.
Pretty soon, Jackie realized he was going to run out of stones very quickly at the rate he was dropping them. He lengthened the number of steps between stones to twenty then thirty. When he ran out of stones he stopped in the road and knelt to look for more.
The road was different here deep in the woods. Instead of sand it was covered with a hard-packed mix of leaf mulch and clay dirt with no stones in it. Jackie searched in vain while Jen stood at the edge of the road, peering into the woods. When Jackie saw what she was doing, he stood and looked nervously over her shoulder.
"What are you looking at?" Jackie asked Jen. He couldn't see anything.
"Nothing," she replied.
"Then what's the matter?" Jackie asked.
"Nothing," Jen replied. "I was just listening to something. Be quiet and you'll hear it, too"
Jackie listened but heard nothing unusual. There was the rush of the wind in the trees, and the sound of birds, and once in a while the faint sound of a large truck on Route 47, which ran roughly parallel to the road in the woods. Jackie was about to say he heard nothing when he noticed that the tree branches overhead were still; there was no wind. "What is that?" he asked, moving closer to his sister.
"That's the Connecticut River," Jennifer explained. "I heard Steve say that it runs right by our house, a couple of miles back in the woods. By the sound of it, we must be close. Let's go find it."
"No way! I'm not going in the woods"
"What's wrong?" Jennifer asked, exasperation with her brother's baby attitude showing in her tone of voice.
"I just don't want to. We got to get home. Mom's prob'ly looking all over for us and we're gonna be in big trouble."
Jennifer gave him a withering look, but she knew he was right. If their mother had shown up looking for them they were going to be in major trouble, especially her, since she had talked the reluctant Jackie into it. She knew she could expect no help from the little twerp either; he'd blame everything on her just to save his own skin.
"Oh, all right, you queebo wimp. Let's go"
Jackie ignored her name-calling, glad that she wasn't going to drag him into the woods, in search of a river, no less! What if they fell in? He didn't know how to swim. They d drown! He shivered at the thought of it and started following Jen down the road again, looking for anything to drop as markers. Not watching where he was going, he promptly bumped into his sister.
"What are you doing?" she asked with a cold stare.
"I'm all out of stones," he replied looking back, trying to see the last one he'd dropped.
"Duh!" Jennifer said with disgust. "We're on a road, stupid. Besides, we're practically home. Look. There's that house we found the sign for: GRIMM MEMORIALS"
The place where they bum dead people, Jackie remembered Jen telling him. He looked to where she was pointing and could see the very same turret window of a tower on an old Victorian house through the tops of the trees ahead that he had seen on the first day in the woods with Jen.
"Let's go "" Jennifer started off down the road in the direction of the house. Jackie had to run to keep up with her.
The road, which had been fairly wide and sunny through most of the woods, got very narrow, and the thick overhang of trees blocked out the sun more and more the closer they got to Grimm Memorials. The rush of the Connecticut River, still hidden in the woods to their left, was louder.
The road rose, then dipped suddenly and went through a thicky overgrown gully. The bushes were as tall as some of the trees and hung over the road like menacing spirits. The ground became muddy and Jackie could see several large earthworms squirming in it. In the middle of the gully, an open wooden bridge spanned a ten-foot-wide stream flowing to the river.
"Look," Jennifer cried, her eyes lighting up with mischief as she gave her brother a sly, teasing look. "It's a troll bridge. You have to pay the troll to get over."
Jackie stopped in his tracks. "You mean pay the toll, don't you?"
Jennifer laughed tauntingly. "You pay whatever lives under the bridge. Now, what do you think lives under a troll bridge? "
Jackie looked at the bridge, then at his sister. His breathing speeded up and his throat went dry. "Cut it out, Jen. 'Member what Mom said."
"I'm only kidding," she said nonchalantly, then froze, staring intently at the bridge.
"What's wrong?" Jackie asked, frightened by her theatrics.
"Did you see that?" she said mysteriously.
"Cut it out, Jen," Jackie pouted.
"For a minute there I thought I saw .. ." Jennifer paused for dramatic effect, then screamed the rest wildly as she galloped over the bridge, "a troll!" She reached the other side and went up and over the gully's edge, disappearing into the woods.
Her sneakers had thudded on the wood of the bridge so loudly, like gunshots to Jackie's ears, that any hope he'd had that if there was something under there it might be asleep, quickly disappeared. His heart hammered in his chest, his fear growing, as he looked at the bridge.
The forest grew suddenly quiet; the birds stopped singing and the sound of the river seemed far, far away. A cloud passed over the sun, deepening the shadows created by the overgrown bushes and trees. The bottom of the gully became a murky place, and to Jackie's eye the murkiest part was the bridge.
Jackie looked up at the tower window of the house where they burned dead people and shuddered. It was easy to imagine it as the baleful eye on the jutting head of some great monster lying in wait in the woods ahead. Imagining this kind of thing was normal for Jackie, but feeling, in a deeply instinctive way, that it was somehow true was definitely more than his overactive imagination at work.
Jackie stepped back out of sight of the window peeking through the tops of the trees. He looked back the way they'd come, but no matter how much he wanted to get away from the bridge and that house, he knew he couldn't go back that way by himself. Going all the way through the woods and facing Route 47 without Jen was out of the question.
He turned to the bridge again. He knew Jen was only teasing him and that there was nothing to be afraid of-he could tell himself that at least. It didn't help the fact that, as usual, she had succeeded in
scaring him. Knowing that he was in view of that cyclopean window didn't help, either. He looked beyond the bridge, scanning the top of the gully where the road twisted away out of sight. He figured Jen was hiding up there now, spying to see what he would do and getting ready to jump out and frighten him one more time when he got safely across the bridge.
"There are no such things as trolls," he said softly but with little conviction. A thought, like a foreign voice popped up in the back of his head. Quietly but clearly it said, Don't let the troll hear you say that. He immediately looked up at the window of Grimm Memorials as if the thought had somehow come from there. A chill seeped into his bowels and he found himself reaching instinctively for his penis the way he always had, since infancy, when he was frightened or nervous.
"Come on, Jackie. We haven't got all day," Jennifer called from not too far away, by the sound of her voice.
Trying to keep from looking up at the window, Jackie walked slowly forward to the edge of the bridge. The smell of the wood was fragrant, but nauseating at the same time; the spice of the wood was sweet, yet it was diseased with the damp scent of mildew and rot. The boards were old but looked safe enough.
Jackie stared at the dark cracks between the boards, straining to see if anything was moving under there and fervently hoping there wasn't. Did the dust swirling lightly on the boards indicate the presence of something huge just beneath, its anxious breathing barely contained as it lay in wait for him, or was he just imagining it? He had a sudden urge to look at the window of Grimm Memorials but fought it.
Just get across the bridge and away from here, he thought.
There's something under the bridge!
One of the boards had moved. Right in the middle of the bridge, a lone board had popped up and down as if some monstrous thing had rubbed against it from beneath. Deciding to take no chances, Jackie walked upstream a little way, keeping his eyes on the underside of the bridge. He went as far as he could through the thick brambles growing at the stream's edge and saw for himself that there was nothing under the bridge. As if on cue, the birds started singing again, the sun came out of the clouds, and the roaring sound of the nearby river returned.
What are you afraid of? There are no such things as trolls. The thought, like an adult voice, reassured Jackie. "You're right," he said aloud in answer to himself. He took a deep breath. Should he charge across the way Jen had? What if he slipped and fell? Splinters! No. He'd show Jen he wasn't a queebo wimp. He'd take it nice and easy, like he was enjoying it.
He started across, hands in pocket, head down-no matter how brave he was feeling, he still didn't want to look up at that window again. He remained calm and didn't walk too fast, but kept right in the middle of the bridge. He found himself glancing nervously at the sides and mentally scolded himself. Hadn't he seen with his own eyes that there was nothing under the bridge? And "seeing is believing" was something he'd heard his stepfather say more than once.
To keep his mind off it, Jackie scanned the other end of the bridge. There was a large, gnarled oak tree that grew out of the top of the gully bank, half its roots exposed like strange wooden intestines. He made the tree his goal; if he could make it to there he was safe and only had to worry about Jennifer jumping out at him. When she did, he wouldn't move a muscle. He'd show her!
A board behind him creaked loudly. Jackie immediately told himself that it was because he had just stepped on it, but he quickened his pace anyway. Water splashed nearby, maybe from under the bridge. A fish, Jackie reasoned. Twenty steps to go to safety. More water splashed, definitely from under the bridge this time. This didn't sound like any fish; it sounded like legs slushing through deep water.
The next board he stepped on pushed up under his foot as if something underneath was straining to break through. A low growl from under the bridge chilled him to his bowels, making him so terrified that he almost went to the bathroom, numbers one and two, right there.
Jackie broke into a run. His facade of bravery was over. At the first thump of his feet on the boards, there was a tremendous bellowing from under the bridge. The boards beneath him shuddered with the volume of it.
"Pay the troll! Pay the troll!" a monstrous voice demanded. It sounded like a cross between an elephant and a dog, if either of those animals could talk.
Jackie's feet felt like they were no longer attached to his body. The tree of safety seemed to be farther away than it was before. Directly beneath him, something wet and heavy slapped against the wood nearly knocking him off his feet. Somehow he managed to maintain his balance and run on, his legs moving as if he was running under water.
Something grabbed the side of the bridge. He looked. It was a gigantic hand, its skin blue-gray like that of meat gone bad. It reached up from under the bridge and slapped down on the boards a few feet in front of and to the side of him. A monstrous head, as big as a tractor trailer tire, emerged. Its eyes were huge beneath three horns sticking out from a tangle of greasy long red hair at both temples and from the middle of its forehead. Its mouth was as large as a manhole cover. Inside, it was studded with spiked teeth several inches long that still held the reeking remains of dead flesh from its last meal. Its nose was flat and caked with snot, wet and dried.
"Pay the troll," the creature growled. The rest of it was rising from under the bridge now. Jackie couldn't pump his legs anymore; the connection between his legs and brain had been sabotaged by fear. He stopped and stared in horror as the creature, nine feet tall, emerged. Its hair hung to its scabious shoulders, and swinging from its chest were two huge, veiny blue breasts with dark purplish black nipples.
"Pay the troll! I've got to feed my baby," the creature cried.
It's a mummy troll, Jackie realized. For one terrifying second, the troll looked like his mother, then his bladder let go and he wet his pants good before he got it under control again by clutching at his crotch and pinching off the flow. The hot liquid on his legs stimulated them and he leapt forward in a mad dash to get by the creature.
The troll's arm, two yards long, swept toward him. Its hand was four-fingered, each finger ending in a rapier claw. There was another claw, which was more of a spike, jutting from the heel of its palm.
Wed love to have you down for dinner, the she-troll said, her strange, horrible voice suddenly inside his head. Her words left a residue behind, like a light mist that got thicker and thicker, making Jackie sleepier and sleepier. All of a sudden it seemed like a good idea to just lie down and give up.
The she-troll's hand clutched at his ankle and he was jolted awake. He yanked his foot away, kicking it forward the way a halfback does to avoid a hand tackle from behind. One of its clawed fingers caught on the cuff of his blue jeans, ripping through it as he jerked his foot away.
"Je-e-en!" He screamed for his sister with all his might. Behind him, the bridge groaned and creaked as if under a sudden great weight. Jackie looked back. The troll had climbed onto the bridge. Her arms and legs were covered with a thick reddish hair like that on her head. The hair from her crotch grew over her stomach and up over her ribs. The shape of her body, with its long spindly arms and legs and swollen bulbous torso, reminded Jackie of a picture he'd once seen of a tarantula.
"Come back little boy," the troll roared. The air moved around him and he could feel her voice vibrating in his bones. "You forgot to pay the troll." She grinned, yellow saliva running from the corner of her mouth, dripping from her chin, and snaked out both arms for him as she lunged forward.
Jackie timed his leap to avoid her but guessed wrong. She managed to wrap one hand around his left shin. He screamed as he felt her claws dig into him and the horn spike in her palm pierce his leg to the bone. She tripped him up, sending him sprawling forward on his chest, his hands outstretched, on the dirt at the edge of the bridge. Immediately, the troll began dragging him back.
"Come pay the troll," she said sloppily through a mouth watering hungrily with gobs of saliva. "Treat me to dinner," she added, chuckling and gurgling.
Jackie clutched at stones and at the wooden end of the bridge but could find nothing substantial to hold onto to keep himself from sliding inexorably back. The pain in his left leg was excruciating. He could feel hot blood flowing over his ankles, soaking his socks and filling his Reeboks. With panic and the pain in his leg threatening to take his senses away, Jackie realized he had one chance to save himself. Using the last of his quickly failing strength, Jackie pushed himself painfully to a standing position and pressed his good foot down on the leathery arm grabbing his leg. He stepped on it with all his might, scraping the troll's arm harshly against the splintery old boards of the bridge.
The troll screamed horribly as daggers of wood pierced her inhuman flesh. Jackie glanced back for a second and saw that a long, spiked splinter had impaled the monster's wrist. Green blood bubbled from the wound, flowing in abundance over the troll's hand and down its arm. Howling in anguish and rage, the troll let go of him.
Jackie scrambled off the bridge on his belly, dragging his mangled leg behind him. He struggled to his feet, nearly passing out from the pain, and hopped headlong up the embankment on his good leg. At the top of the gully, he lunged right into his sister, Jennifer.
"Run! " he screamed at her, his face pale with fear.
She laughed at him.
"Run!" he screamed again, pointing back at the bridge.
She kept laughing.
Jackie looked back in mortal terror that quickly turned to confusion. The bridge was empty behind him. "The troll .. he mumbled.
"You pissed your pants," Jennifer cried and laughed harder, pointing at the wet stain that covered his crotch and ran down both legs to his knees.
Jackie looked at his sister and teetered on his feet as if his balance had suddenly deserted him. The pain in his leg swelled and shot through his entire body making him cry out. His face paled, draining completely of color. The pain knocked him down and he landed hard on his fanny. A wave of nausea washed over him forcing him to turn away and lose lunch in the bushes at the side of the road.
Grimm Memorials Page 10