Jimmy Stone's Ghost Town

by Scott Neumyer

  Gasp floated in front of the statue and turned himself upside down to peer inside the cavernous nostrils of Samuel Blairsden's nose. He looked around for what seemed to be several minutes (there was a lot of nose to search) before turning himself upright and shaking his head.

  "Nothing," he said. "Not a thing up there."

  And it was in that moment when we thought all was lost, Gasp was frustrated to the very max, and we thought we might have to pull out the map and start over that I peered up at Samuel Blairsden's nose, down the bridge, and over the tip to see just where it was pointing.

  Straight ahead of the large, black statue, just out of reach of the town circle was a huge iron gate wrapped in vines, weeds, and just about every other type of vegetation you can imagine. On the front of the gate was a sign just barely hanging on by a thread. It was crooked and falling, but you could still make out the words written in bold across the front.

  GHOST TOWN CEMETERY - ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

  I pointed towards the wrought iron gate and said "over there" loud enough for everyone to hear.

  Trex barked. David mumbled something under his breath that sounded like "oh great," and Gasp literally gasped.

  "I think I know where we have to go to find that first thing," I said and took in a deep breath, filling my lungs with just enough air to push out another small sentence. "Follow me."

  Chapter Thirty

  You'd probably think that seeing a sign hanging on the front of a very ominous looking wrought iron fence that says "GHOST TOWN CEMETERY - ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK" would be enough to scare anyone away.

  And you're right. It probably would have been enough to scare just about anyone away. I know David and Trex were anxious about the prospect of heading into the cemetery, and so was I, but it wasn't enough to stop me. Not anymore. After all I'd seen in Ghost Town, what could a creepy little cemetery hold that could shock me, surprise me, or scare me out of my boots?

  "Jimmy," said David while my finger still hovered in the air pointing toward the large black gate. "Are you sure about this?"

  I was sure. It was just a feeling I had, and I couldn't really describe it, but I just knew that whatever we were looking for would be behind that fence.

  "The Oracle told us 'a nose leads the way' and I can't think of a nose more obvious than that one there," I said and moved my arm to point back up at the statue of Samuel Blairsden with his enormous and oddly shaped honker. "This has got to be it."

  "He's got a point," said Gasp as he stepped up next to me and peered into the darkness of Ghost Town Cemetery. "Blairsden's nose is pointing right past that gate."

  "If you guys say so," David said and pulled slightly on Trex's leash to make sure he joined up beside me and Gasp.

  David seemed deflated, and not really like the David I'd come to know. Maybe it was the time we'd spent in Ghost Town, or maybe it was the fact that we'd seen so much since we arrived. I don't know, but it almost felt like we'd switched roles. I'd become the strong, confident one and David lingered in the shadows.

  "Hey, Gasp," I said. "Maybe this is a dumb question, but why do you guys even have a cemetery here in Ghost Town if you're all ghosts?"

  "Actually, Jimmy, that's not a dumb question at all." Gasp glanced over at David and Trex before looking at me. "You see, all the ghosts here in Ghost Town are buried in this very cemetery. If they weren't they wouldn't be able to reside here in Ghost Town."

  "Buried? But what's actually buried here? I thought all these ghosts were once part of my world."

  I was confused and looking for answers. Not that they mattered all that much at this point, but I had to know now.

  "You're right and you're wrong." Gasp placed his hands on his hips as if preparing to begin another one of his long stories. I had to jump in right away.

  "The quick version, please," I said.

  Gasp gave me that same look he'd given me earlier to tell me to keep my mouth shut and listen.

  "Fine," he said. "The quick version. Yes, you buried these people in your world. And, yes, they're now buried here. Once you bury your dead, you all think the bones just stay there. Well, they don't. They don't just stay in the ground to rot away. They're transported here to Ghost Town. That is, as long as the ghost of your dead is destined to stay here. If they're here, their bones are in Ghost Town Cemetery."

  "Interesting," I said and tilted my head just a bit. "So there really are buried bones beyond that gate."

  "Sure are," said Gasp.

  This made me slightly more nervous but, really, what could happen? They weren't going to come to life. They're already ghosts floating around here in Ghost Town. What else is there to be afraid of.

  "I think we need to go in there," I said and stepped forward slightly, just ahead of the group. "I just think what we're looking for is probably in there. I don't know why and I don't know how, but I have this feeling."

  "What are you waiting for then, Jimmy? Lead the way."

  And, with those words, I continued my walk toward the menacing black gate, holding closed whatever lurked inside of Ghost Town Cemetery.

  The fading sun was beginning to fall even faster as we approached the fence and the gloominess of the Ghost Town streets only added to our anxiety. There was a feeling of dread in the air, but I did my best not to let it effect me. I couldn't let it bother me. Not now. Not this close.

  "Have you been before?" I asked Gasp pointing toward the fence, my fingers just barely touching the stubbly iron.

  "Of course," he said. "Many times."

  Gasp pulled up even with me and gave me one last glance before he just floated right through the black fencing.

  Once on the other side, he looked back at us and put his hand to his head as if it might help him think.

  "I can't remember anything special about it, really. Lots of gravestones and lots of graves, but I can't imagine what would be in here that you could find for your first item."

  "Doesn't matter," I said and put both hands on the fence. I lifted the small latch and pushed the gate doors open. They swung into the cemetery and the sign that hung so delicately on the front of the fence rattled before falling to the ground with a loud clash. "Where else would we even go right now? It's worth a shot, right?"

  "Right again, sir," said Gasp. "I don't have any other ideas, so this one is as good as anything else."

  David and Trex followed right behind me as I stepped inside the gate and into the cemetery.

  Gasp wasn't kidding. It was gravestones and graves as far as the eye can see. That's really all there was except for some very faded grass, some hard dirt, and a few bare trees.

  Every few minutes, you'd see another gravestone appear in the distance and the loose dirt of a fresh grave appear in front of it.

  "New admissions," Gasp said and chuckled. "Happens all the time."

  This was wild. It was a real-time graveyard that just kept piling up with dead bodies and fresh graves.

  The sun was gone now and it was growing dark in the cemetery. We'd only been inside for a few minutes, but I could already tell that David and Gasp were losing faith that we'd find anything here. They looked bored, anxious, and ready to try something new.

  We stood in the shadow of a tree and thought about our plans underneath the moonlight. We had no idea where to go next.

  Gasp waved his arms quickly to display the map and give us the opportunity to try to find somewhere else to look.

  "Have a look," I said and leaned in close. I put my arm behind David and pulled him in as well. "Let's see what options we have."

  David, Gasp, and I began looking over the map of Ghost Town while Trex chewed quietly on some grass. After a few moments of this, David must have started to get comfortable with our surroundings so he dropped his hold on Trex's leash.

  As soon as the leash left David's hand, it was as if something came over Trex. He stopped chewing the grass and immediately looked up. His snout pointed straight ahead and his right leg lifted, the paw almost pointi
ng in the direction he was facing.

  We all stopped looking at the map and Gasp waved his arms again to put it away. We were all looking at Trex, just waiting to see what he was going to do. It was obvious to us all that something was happening.

  "What is it, boy?"

  Trex looked over at me quickly before going back into the same stance he was just in. You could see his nostrils flex in and out as he sniffed about as hard as I'd ever seen him sniff.

  "What is it?"

  And then, he took off.

  Trex raced through the cemetery at a good clip and, if it weren't for Gasp's being able to literally fly, we probably would have lost him.

  David and I ran as fast as we could to keep up as Trex weaved in and out of graves, over fresh dirt, through the faded grass, and around the sad little trees. It was dark and hard to see already, but Trex's speed made it even more difficult for us to navigate the cemetery.

  We were tripping over gravestones, stumbling in the dirt, and generally looking foolish. If it weren't for Gasp, we'd have lost Trex for good and been completely stranded in the middle of Ghost Town Cemetery.

  "Over here," we heard Gasp say before too long. "We're over here!"

  We followed the sound of Gasp's voice to a nearly secluded spot under a tree. Trex had slowed down now and was pacing around the area.

  It was the oddest thing, too. All throughout Ghost Town Cemetery were tons and tons of gravestones lined up meticulously, but this spot Trex had found was different. It was like nothing else in the place.

  Here, where Trex was now sniffing furiously and batting his tail back and forth, was just one gravestone underneath a very full tree. Every other tree in the cemetery was nearly bare, but this was in full bloom. It was thick and strong and looked like it would be there for centuries.

  "What do you--"

  "Shh," said Gasp. "Don't bother him. Let him do his thing."

  So we shut up while Trex rooted around in this patch of cemetery and, within minutes, he suddenly stopped pacing. His sniffing increased, his nostrils flared, and he started to dig furiously.

  Trex's paws were moving a mile a minute and his nails dug into the hard dirt between the tree and the gravestone. He was panting and digging like a crazed animal. You'd have thought the world's biggest doggie treat was buried there.

  "What does it say?" I asked Gasp, who was standing slightly closer to Trex, the gravestone, and the tree. We were all watching in amazement at how fast he was digging. "The gravestone. What does it say?"

  "It's just a name," said Gasp. "A name and nothing more."

  "Well?" I asked annoyed that he didn't just tell me without me having to ask. We were already completely on edge. "Well?"

  "Sarah," he said. "The name on this gravestone is Sarah Anose."

  "Anose," I said slowly as the pieces of the puzzle started to come together in my mind. "Anose leads the way."

  I looked back at David and his mouth was wide open. He was completely silent, but he was there and excited by the prospect of what we'd just found. That was the David I knew.

  "Indeed it does," said Gasp as he nodded toward Trex, who had finally stopped digging, for us to look in his direction. "It seems Anose and a nose both lead the way."

  David and I turned our heads slowly towards Trex, who was stationed in between the gravestone and the tree.

  There he sat on his hind legs. Just sitting there like the good dog he'd always been. Sitting there quietly and peacefully. Sitting there with a large white bone in between his clenched teeth.

  It was human. It had to be human, it was so big. Maybe something from the leg, like a femur. Yeah, that had to be it. A femur. We'd just learned about the bones back in Boredsylvania and that was the only thing it could be. The biggest bone in the human body. The femur.

  I looked up at Gasp and David. Neither of them had anything to say and it was almost like they were looking to me to do something.

  "Bring it here, Trex," I said and patted my leg. "Come on, boy!"

  Trex walked over with the bone still firmly in his teeth. He came right up beside me and sat back down on his haunches.

  "Drop it," I said and put out my hand below Trex's mouth. "Here ya go, boy. Drop it."

  Trex opened his clenched jaw and the bone tumbled out in what seemed like slow motion. It fell right into my open hand.

  It was smooth and white as pearl, and it felt heavier than I'd expected. But that wasn't the most amazing thing about it. No. Not even close.

  The most amazing thing about the bone was the fact that on one end, right where the bone started to spread out near the end, was what looked like a carving. Yes, that's right. It was a carving or an etching of some sort.

  I brushed the small bit of dirt off the bone and the etching became crystal clear. It was an ornate design in the shape of a circle. Inside the circle was a star, and inside that, another circle. And the design went on just like that until there were seven circles. But the most important thing - the thing that I won't forget for as long as I live - was what was inside that seventh circle.

  Right inside that seventh circle on the bone that Trex had found and dug up in Ghost Town Cemetery, between the oddly placed tree and the grave of Sarah Anose, was, as clear and plain as a bright summer day, a perfectly shaped number one.

  Chapter Thirty One

  I remember it so clearly now, that day when everyone came home from the hospital. Well, everyone except my almost-sister, Charlotte, that is. I can picture them pulling into the driveway and I can see my dad pushing my mother up the path, in her wheelchair, toward the house.

  I can hear the yelping of a tiny puppy and the muffled tears of my grandmother when she entered the house. I can even smell the hospital stink of mints and hairspray on everyone when I hugged them.

  I remember that day like no other day in my life and, now, I remember it even more as the day that everything changed. Nothing would be the same again after that. Not Grandma. Not Dad. Not my almost-sister. Not Mom. And sure as hell not me.

  And in the hospital, weeks later, with me at my mother's side. It all seems so long ago now, but I can see it so clearly. I can hear her voice in my head fighting to win out over the sound of sucking machines and beeps and whirs in the background.

  She knew something that day. She told me I'd be the man of the house. She told me she'd see me again. She said she liked Trex's name and that he'd lead the way.

  How could she have possibly known how right she'd end up being?

  "It's a great name, Jimmy," was the last thing I ever heard her say. Ever.

  But I think, now at least, things were looking up. I think things were about to change for the better. Things were about to change forever. And there was a chance that I might make her premonition come true. There was a chance, albeit slight, that I might see her again. She knew Trex would lead the way. She must have known that I'd see her again.

  And what would she say this time?

  I had no idea.

  All I knew was that now - in this very moment - I knew that I didn't intend on letting "It's a great name, Jimmy" be the last thing I ever heard my mother say.

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Before we even had a moment to soak in the fact that Trex had just dug up a human bone with some crazy carving on it (with a number one on it no less), the tree we were standing under began to shake like we were right in the middle of an earthquake. The already-dark sky above seemed to turn a darker shade of black and the moonlight disappeared completely.

  Right there in front of David, Gasp, Trex, and me a glowing ball of light began to form. It grew larger and larger until it began spinning fast. The middle pulled back and it looked like a mini-tornado was spinning inside of this massive glow.

  We'd seen this before. We knew we had.

  David looked over to me and Gasp followed. We all looked at each other and just nodded before bracing ourselves for what we seemed to know was coming.

  It was only a matter of seconds before the whole show
was over and there before us floated, once again, the same Oracle Essex we'd seen earlier when she delivered her letter.

  None of us said a word as we just stared at her floating above us. There were no words for moments like this. It was as if we'd all been rendered completely mute.

  "I see you've found your very first item, Jimmy Stone," the Oracle Essex said in her most beautiful and frightening voice. "Congratulations."

  We all just continued to stare.

  "But there are seven things you must find, Jimmy. This is merely the first."

  The Oracle Essex writhed above us in the air and her tattered dress waved and curled in the wind around her.

  "Now, you must leave Ghost Town and make your way to the next realm. There you must find your second item."

  I wanted to speak. I wanted to say something to Gasp, to David, to Trex, to anyone, but as much as I moved my mouth it didn't make a difference. No sound would come out.

  "Seven things you must find, Jimmy," she said again. "When you see the Transport Tree appear, trace the letters on it, just like you did in your world and it will take you to your destination."

  The Oracle Essex seemed to smile slightly and wave her hands wildly before us. It was almost as if she truly enjoyed being the bearer of these messages, whether good or bad.

  "Good luck," she said. "They won't all be as easy as this one."

  And with those words, the Oracle Essex began spinning quickly in a tight hurricane of wind and dress and dirt and everything else you can imagine. As she started to disappear into her glowing ball of light, I heard her repeat the first few lines of the letter.

  "Seven things you must find.

  One thing for each day.

  Seven things you must find.

  Or else they all will pay!"

  The words faded out just as the glowing ball spun away into the night sky, but we already knew them by heart anyway. We knew our mission by now and we planned on doing our best to find those seven things, save the Seven Realms, and find our way home.