Jimmy Stone's Ghost Town

by Scott Neumyer

  We knew exactly what we had to do.

  "Let's go!" I yelled and grabbed Trex's leash. "Now!"

  Without saying a word, David grabbed a hold of Trex's leash as well and we all took one quick leap directly into the glowing circle of light and into something completely unexpected.

  A leap of faith, I thought as our feet left the ground.

  We knew we had to do it. We just had no idea why. Most of all, though, we had no idea where we were going.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The very next thing I can remember is waking up on a dusty, wooden floor. Laying flat on my back, my eyelids fluttered open to reveal a dark, dusty ceiling.

  I blinked a few times to try and wake my eyes up, but the darkness continued and it took me another minute or two for my vision to adjust.

  Where the hell am I, I thought and tried to slowly push myself up off the floor. My arms were tired and I only made it to a seated position on the floor, my body propped up with my hands planted on the floor behind me.

  I rubbed my eyes and blinked a few more times before looking around me to really soak it all in.

  I was in the middle of a dark, dusty room, on a dark, dusty floor. Let me rephrase that. I was in the middle of a very old dark, dusty room on the dark, dusty floor.

  Trex, I thought. David.

  I swung my head around quickly from side to side to scan the room, but they were nowhere to be found.

  What the hell just happened?

  I didn't see David or Trex anywhere. The only thing I did see was one window so caked with grime that barely any light shone through. What little did peek through only created small shafts of light and shadow on the wooden planks of the floor.

  I also saw a small wooden chair against one of the room's walls, and a twin metal bed frame against another. Both were also covered in a thick layer of dust.

  Now I was starting to worry. I can't even imagine what David and Trex were going through.

  It took me a few more seconds to gather my strength, and then I shoved off the floor and stood up in the middle of the room.

  The place smelled like musty gym socks, and my movement set off a chain reaction of moving dust. I could see the particles floating in the air and reflecting in the small shafts of light breaking through the window.

  Ok, I thought. I need to get out of here and find David and Trex. Like, now!

  And just as I thought that and moved slowly toward the door, I was stopped dead in my tracks by what I heard next.

  "Where, Jimmy, do you think you're going?"

  The voice came from behind me and I nearly peed my pants when I heard it. It sounded nothing like David, or anyone else I knew for that matter. But peeing my pants would have been nothing compared to my reaction when I swung my head around slowly and saw it.

  My head felt like as thought it whirled on the top of my neck and my eyes burned. There, glowing for just a short second in front of the window, was a boy just my size.

  What's odd, though, is that I could see right through him to the back wall and window. And I don't mean figuratively. This boy was literally see-through.

  "Wh... Wh... What?" I asked him.

  "Where, I asked, do you think you're going?"

  "I... I was just going--"

  "You were just going to leave," he said and smirked at me. "Weren't you?"

  "I was just going to look for--"

  "David and Trex are fine," he said. "You'll see them soon enough."

  Okay, now I was really scared. Who the hell was this, where the hell was I, and how does he know what I'm thinking?

  "It's okay, Jimmy," he said slowly as he moved toward me. "Everyone is like this when they first get here."

  I couldn't move. Even if I'd wanted to turn and run from the room - and I did want to turn and run from the room - I couldn't. I felt paralyzed and stuck to the floor all at once.

  "And, to answer your questions," he continued, "I'm Gasp, and I'm your guide. I'm here to help you on your quest and eventually help you find your way home." He smiled at me and crossed his see-through arms. "Oh, and we always know what you're thinking."

  "My quest?" I asked, more confused than I'd ever been in my life. "Where am I?"

  "You, Jimmy, are right where you need to be right now."

  Gasp moved closer and reached out his hand, as if he wanted me to shake it.

  I don't know why, but I reached out my hand, took his, and shook it. It was surprisingly strong and, despite his see-through appearance, felt just like anyone else's hand.

  "Welcome to Ghost Town, Jimmy. We've been waiting for you."

  Chapter Seventeen

  The only ghosts I'd ever known had always been on TV, or in movies, or the books I'd read. They'd remained footless beings draped in white sheets, in my imagination, for my entire life until about five minutes ago.

  Ghost Town? I thought. I wasn't even sure I believed in the possibility of ghosts being a reality until I saw (and heard) Gasp standing in front of me all see-through and chatting like this was just another day for him.

  Ghosts? Was this all some really weird dream that I was bound to wake up from and be back in my room resting on my bed, my head on the pillow? Ghosts?!

  The thought of David and Trex flashed through my head again as I tried to compose myself and deal with the reality (or at least the seeming reality) of the situation.

  I ran my hand through what little hair I had and shook my head slowly as if that were going to bring me the answer I was clearly searching for.

  "My guide?" I asked and gave Gasp a sideways glance. "Guide to what exactly?"

  Gasp chuckled and looked slowly around the room before his eyes settled back onto me.

  "All your questions will be answered in time, Jimmy."

  Gasp moved toward the door and motioned with his hand for me to follow him.

  "I think now, though, we should probably find your dog and your friend David. Wouldn't you agree?"

  I nodded in agreement and followed Gasp to the door.

  "Follow me," he said and proceeded to float right through the door. Well, I obviously wasn't going to be able to follow him like that. Or was I? Hmm... Who knows what's actually possible here...

  So, in my earnest attempt to "follow" Gasp, I proceeded to walk straight into the door, smacking my nose into its stiff wood.

  Gasp stuck his head - yup, just his head - back through the door, and chuckled a bit.

  "Unless you're a ghost, Jimmy, I suggest you use the knob there."

  "Funny," I said and shot him a crooked look.

  Gasp's head disappeared back through the door and I reached down, grabbed the knob, turned slowly, and began inching the old, wooden thing open.

  When the door was finally open just enough, I peeked out my head, saw Gasp standing (floating?!) there.

  "Well," he said. "Let's get going, sir!"

  I spun my head around and peered down what appeared to be a never-ending hallway. It was lined with doors, and small sconces hung on the walls, every few feet, lighting the way.

  There was an old, red and yellow carpet that ran the length of the hallway and looked like something you might see in a hotel in an old movie.

  "Where are we going?" I asked. "There are so many doors."

  "Just follow me, Jimmy," said Gasp as he turned and started down the enormous hallway. "We're going to find your friends."

  * * * * *

  If this is Ghost Town, I thought, where was my mother? The idea of my mom possibly being there and the thought of actually seeing her again was one of the only things keeping me somewhat calm in this situation.

  The chance, however slight, that I might be able to see my mom again was the one thing keeping me from telling Gasp to get me the hell out of Ghost Town right now!

  But was that really possible? Was there really even an off chance that I might be able to find my mom? Talk to my mom? Hug my mom? I really wasn't sure just what was possible here in Ghost Town but it's something that I intended to fin
d out as soon as possible.

  "So," I said to Gasp as he started to lead me down the long hallway. "What exactly is this place?"

  Gasp stopped in his tracks and turned to me. He didn't look angry, but he certainly didn't seem pleased with my line of questioning. I guess he was just banking on my blind faith in him?

  "I know what you're getting at, Jimmy, and yes there's a chance that you'll be able to find, see, talk to, and hug your mother here."

  My eyes shot open wide and my ears began to hear every single word, now that Gasp had said what I wanted to hear. So it was possible!

  "She's here somewhere. They're all here," he said and waved his left arm out to the side, inviting me to follow it and look down the hallway.

  It was then that, all of a sudden, some wispy shapes started to come into focus. They were just as see-through as Gasp and they walked up and down the hall just like they were going to find their rooms - just like they were going about their days.

  At least twenty different ghosts (some with their animal companions - dogs, cats, even chickens and pigs) all moving through the same space as me and Gasp. I could barely believe it, but things like this were starting to shock me less and less by the minute.

  "They're all here around us, Jimmy," he told me. "They're practically everywhere here in Ghost Town, just like you're everywhere in your world. You just can't see them unless they want you to."

  "Huh," was all I could muster.

  "These ghosts have been here all along, but these guys and gals only revealed themselves after I invited them to. Only after I told them it was okay."

  Wow, I thought. Gasp is like the Good Witch telling the Munchkins it's okay to come out and meet Dorothy. So where was my Yellow Brick Road? Was it this hallway?

  "And they're everywhere? Like even outside this hallway?

  "Everywhere, Jimmy," Gasp said and turned down the hallway again. The apparitions we were seeing started to fade until they were no longer visible. "This is Ghost Town, remember? Ghost being the operative word."

  "Yeah," I said and shrugged. "I got it now."

  I guess it takes a while to get used to being in a place like this. I could do it though, if for nothing more than the remote chance of seeing Mom.

  We kept moving down the hallways and my thoughts shifted back to David and Trex. All the talk of my mom made me temporarily forget that they were still somewhere in Ghost Town and I had no idea where.

  "We're on our way to them, Jimmy."

  "Where are they?"

  "Through one of these doors," Gasp said and smiled like it was some kind of clever inside joke that I wasn't getting.

  "But how do we know which one?"

  "That's why I'm here, sir. If you remember, I did tell you that I'm your guide."

  "Right. Right," I said. "Okay, so let's get going. Lead the way."

  * * * * *

  Gasp and I walked the hallway for what seemed like hours. There were straight-aways, twists, turns, corners, and at one point, it felt like we were spinning upside down. Almost like we were in some crazy video game and we had to make our way through the maze to get to rescue the Princess. There may not have been any obstacles but this was certainly no easy journey either.

  As we walked the hallway - I followed Gasp mostly in silence - I wondered just how many more spirits we'd passed on our way. Once they'd disappeared, I hadn't seen another on the entire walk, but it was pretty obvious that they were there anyway. Gasp said they're "everywhere," and I didn't expect them to up and leave on my account, so I assumed they were still walking past, around, through us as we made our way to wherever the heck we were headed.

  "Do you really know where we're going?" I asked, wondering just how much longer we'd have to walk this crazy hallway.

  "Of course, Jimmy." Gasp said and shook his ghostly little head. "We're going to Room 7."

  Room 7? I thought. But none of these doors had any numbers. At least not any that we'd passed had numbers on them.

  "But--"

  "I know," he said before I had a chance to finish my thought. "None of the doors have numbers, right?"

  "Uh huh," I mumbled and nodded towards Gasp, looking for him to lead me in some direction. He'd been leading me down this wacky hallway for long enough and I was starting to get frustrated. I just wanted to see David and Trex.

  "Not everything here, Jimmy, is what it seems."

  And, having said that, Gasp waved his ghostly, see-through hand in front of the door that we happened to be standing in front of. He waved it back and forth three or four times then stepped back to watch my reaction as solid brass numbers began to reveal themselves on the front of the bright red door.

  1408.

  "This is Room 1408?" I asked. "And we're looking for what room?"

  "David and Trex should be behind door 7, Jimmy."

  I shook my head and nearly collapsed on the hallway floor. I wasn't sure I had the strength to pass another thousand rooms. I wasn't sure I had the strength to pass another hundred rooms, much less over a thousand.

  Gasp swiped his hand in front of the solid red door again and the brass numbers began to dissolve. Within seconds, the door was blank again. Just a big red slab with a brass doorknob and a peephole.

  "I can't," I said. "I just can't."

  "You can't what, Jimmy?"

  "I can't possibly make it past another thousand rooms, Gasp. There's no way. There's just no possible way I have the energy, strength, whatever to make it all the way to Room 7. 1408?! We've been walking for what seems like forever already, Gasp. FOREVER. There's just no fricken way!"

  Gasp just looked at me. He didn't say anything, at first, and just stood there staring at me. He smirked just slightly as if he was waiting for me to keep going... So I did...

  "I'm not even sure how we got here. I have no idea where we are. Sure, you told me. We're in Ghost Town. That's great, Gasp. That's just great. We're in Ghost Town." I was on a roll now and I didn't intend on stopping any time soon. I don't even think I took a breath in between sentences. "Well that's fine. Ghost Town. What the hell is this place, Gasp? Why am I here? How did I get here? Sure. I know. I messed with that crazy tree we found and suddenly I'm standing in this room and you're flying around by the window. But WHY??? Why did I end up here and why the hell did David and Trex end up in Room 7 without me? Why--"

  Gasp was smiling now. It was almost as if he enjoyed watching me fly off the handle and lose it for a while. I'd been so composed and calm up until this point. I'd listened and heard what he was saying. I'd followed his rules and trusted what he told me to do mostly blindly, but now I was beginning to lose it.

  "Jimmy," he said and looked me dead in the eyes. "Relax. You're losing it a little."

  "I know I am. I just need some answers, okay? I need to know why I'm here and what is the purpose of all this. I need to know how the hell I'm going to make it all the way to Room 7 to find my dog and my friend." This time, I took a deep breath, let out a short sigh, and looked up at Gasp. "And I need to know how to get home."

  "Easy, Jimmy," Gasp said and stepped back, closer to the big red door. "We have all those answers for you, and you'll get them soon. First we need to find David and Trex, and then I can explain everything."

  "But they're over a thousand rooms away!!"

  "Not everything," Gasp said and waved his hand back and forth in front of the red slab of a door again, just like he had before, "is exactly as it appears here in Ghost Town, Jimmy. You seem to keep forgetting that."

  And within a matter of seconds, the solid brass came into focus on the front of the large red door. The number curving once at a sharp angle and pulling the breath right out of me as it became completely clear in front of my shocked face.

  7.

  We were here.

  Chapter Eighteen

  There was a brief moment when I first found myself in Ghost Town that I wondered what Dad might be think when he woke up in front of the buzzing television, surrounded by empty green bottles, a
nd realized that he was alone in the house. No dog barking. No closed bedroom door down the hallway. No Jimmy slaving away at his homework or pulling together garbage bags full of empties.

  I wondered if his mind would trip over the situation at all or if he'd pop open a brand new bottle, sip it long and deep, and settle back in for some more mindless entertainment. I wondered if he'd call the cops or the neighbors, or if he'd start panicking and tossing everything around our house until he found what he was looking for (like he does when he can't find the remote control).

  But, mostly, I wondered what he'd do when he realized that I was, in fact, gone. I wondered if he'd heave a sigh of relief that it was just him now or if he'd do everything he could to find me. I wondered if he was the kind of father I remember him to be when Mom was still around and we were expecting my almost-sister. I wondered if he'd man up, throw out his own empties (and not make anymore), throw on his boots, and head into the woods to search for me. I secretly hoped he would, but I couldn't be sure of anything. Not anymore. Not with Dad.

  Chapter Nineteen

  "No!" I said. "Really?"

  "Really," said Gasp and laughed a little when he saw the bundled up blast of energy ready to escape from my body. "I tried to tell you before, Jimmy. Things are different here than where you come from. Things are very different."

  I want to reply and tell Gasp that I understand - that I get it now - but the only thing I can think about is putting my hand on that shiny brass doorknob, twisting it just enough, and swinging open that door number 7 to find David and Trex.

  I lunge forward and grab the doorknob before Gasp has a chance to stop me and the last thing I hear him say before I'm twisting it is "be careful."

  Careful of what? I think as I swing open the door and jump through it. And, before I know what's happening, I'm sliding down.

  And down.

  And down.

  And down.

  I'm on some type of slide and there's no stopping me as I'm blasting down the tube towards God-knows-what.