The Legend of Annie Murphy

by Frank Peretti

  Jay had to make up his mind not to be afraid. Right now, panicking would be very easy. “You okay?” he whispered.

  Lila’s eyes were wide, continually scanning in the direction of the sound. Her throat was so dry she couldn’t speak, so she nodded to her brother.

  Jay reached into the camera bag and pulled out his father’s night camera, flipping off the lens cap.

  Now they could hear the woman’s voice clearly.

  She seemed to be crying out in fear, pleading with someone, but they couldn’t make out the words.

  “Don’t move,” Jay cautioned Lila. “We don’t want to scare it.”

  Lila’s head snapped around and she gave him a look that carried a clear message: We don’t want to scare it?

  Then she saw Jay’s eyes and knew he’d spotted something. She turned to look in the same direction, not wanting to, but wanting to.

  It looked like a blue puff of smoke coming up the road toward them, floating, wavering, the edges unclear. A moment later they could tell it was someone running. As it came closer, they could see a face.

  It was a woman in a long blue dress, with long hair waving in the wind behind her as she ran. Her face was contorted with fear. Her faint, faraway voice came in agonized gasps. She was transparent; they could see right through her.

  “The ghost!” Lila whispered. “The ghost of Annie Murphy!”

  THREE

  At the first sight of the ghost, Jay’s mind had gone numb. But now he remembered the camera in his hands and raised the viewfinder to his eye. He got the woman in focus. CLICK! He zoomed in on her. CLICK! He could see her face and her frightened eyes, her mouth open as she gasped for air. CLICK!

  He lowered the camera and saw her only thirty feet away, still running. She looked behind her. Jay and Lila could make out a few words: “No . . . please . . . please let me go . . .”

  Abruptly, the woman turned off the road and ran through the ruins on what used to be a side street.

  Jay clambered out of the jeep. “Come on. We have to help her!”

  Lila’s voice was a frightened gasp. “Help her? Help her do what?”

  “Can’t you tell? Somebody’s after her!”

  That made Lila look down the road again. Was there another ghost back there even more frightening than this one?

  Jay grabbed her by the arm and they ran together, following the vague, wavering form through the ruins, around cacti and piles of boards, over rubble, past frightened lizards and clumps of sagebrush.

  “Look,” Jay exclaimed in a whisper. “She isn’t casting a shadow!”

  “We should get Dad!”

  “We can’t lose sight of her! Come on!”

  They followed her beyond the ruins, moving rapidly up the gradual slope toward the base of the cliffs. She was looking over her shoulder at . . . someone, something . . . but she wasn’t looking at Jay and Lila.

  “Annie!” Jay called, so suddenly and so loudly that it almost stopped Lila’s heart. “Annie Murphy, wait!”

  Annie only screamed and ran faster. She reached the cliffs and disappeared.

  “Where’d she go?” Lila gasped.

  They ran up to the base of the cliff and found an opening in the rock about four feet wide. Jay unclipped his flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. Lila did the same.

  They stepped into the gap, light beams searching ahead of them and up the sheer walls. It was like going into a cave with no ceiling, a tight, viselike alley in the rocks. They moved ahead deliberately but slowly, listening, looking. The opening penetrated into the cliff twenty feet, then thirty, then forty.

  Jay kept searching the sandy floor. “She didn’t leave footprints.”

  “Oh right,” Lila responded sarcastically.

  Jay stopped. “Shh.” They stood still, listening. “I thought I heard her.”

  Lila called out in a gentle voice, “Annie? Annie, it’s just us, Jay and Lila. We won’t hurt you.”

  They moved ahead slowly and came around a corner into a wider gap in the rocks, a roomlike area about ten feet wide.

  The ghost was standing in the center of the room, looking back at them, gasping from her long and desperate run. She appeared two-dimensional, like a flat picture projected on an invisible movie screen. The image wavered in the same way distant objects waver when seen through heat waves. They could hear her breathing, but the sound was very faint, as if coming from another room. Her hair was deep red and fell in waves about her shoulders. Her face was beautiful.

  They stood still, full of wonder. Words failed them. But their terror was gone. Strangely enough, expecting and waiting for the ghost had caused them the most fright; it was not seeing it that had chilled them. Now, as they stood face to face with Annie Murphy—or whoever it was—they were not as afraid as they were curious.

  “Annie?” Lila coaxed, her hand outstretched as if to a timid deer. “Annie, don’t be afraid.”

  Jay sensed a danger he couldn’t see. The ghost was looking in their direction, but she wasn’t looking at them. She seemed to be looking beyond them, toward something or someone else. Jay slowly raised the camera to his eye again and started snapping more pictures as he reassured her. “Annie, don’t be afraid now. This is a little camera. I just want to take your picture—”

  Something frightened her, but it wasn’t Jay’s camera. It was something behind them. Jay and Lila shot a glance backward but saw nothing.

  The ghost let out a scream that sounded far away. Then she panicked, leaping at them, arms flailing, terror in her face.

  Jay dropped the camera and ducked, his arms over his head. Lila screamed, dropping to the ground. All they could see were bright flashes of blue, then white, then blue again as the earth reeled under them. They felt they were spinning in a vicious whirlwind, and from every direction they could hear the ghost of Annie Murphy still crying and pleading with one word echoing over and over again: “No . . . no . . . no . . .”

  Everything stopped.

  It was quiet. The earth was steady, unmoving.

  Jay squinted. The little room formed by the cliff walls was suddenly filled with light. He felt dizzy and rested his hand against the wall to steady himself. Lila found herself flat on the sandy floor, feeling like she’d just awakened from a nightmare. She was squinting too, and wondered where the light was coming from. Looking up, they could see blue sky above the breach in the cliff. It was morning.

  “What happened?” she wondered aloud, sitting up and making sure she was still in one piece. “Are you all right?”

  Jay stood still, not sure where he was. The change had been so abrupt, so sudden. “I think so. I mean, I’m all here.”

  “We must have been knocked out or something. It’s morning.”

  “Yeah.” Jay still had his flashlight in his hand, and it was still on. He clicked it off. “Where’s the camera?”

  They both looked around the room, but there was no sign of it.

  “Oh-oh,” said Lila. “Do you suppose the ghost stole it?”

  “Come on. We’d better find Dad and let him know we’re okay.”

  Jay helped her up and they made their way back through the narrow passage toward the outside. They could hear faint sounds out there: horses’ hooves, some voices, some rattling and squeaking like wheels and wagons.

  “I’ll bet people are out there looking for us,” Lila offered.

  “This is going to be tough to explain.”

  They stepped out into the fresh air and bright morning sun.

  Lila grabbed Jay’s arm. They froze.

  They could see the old desert canyon below them, still the same as the day before. They could make out the old ruins: the lone chimney and the piles of weathered boards, the crumbling foundations, and the hints of where the streets had been.

  But now they could see something more. Ghostly, transparent buildings stood over the old foundations. Houses with porches, windows, and roofs stood over the piles of boards. There were ghosts of people walking where the
streets used to be, as well as men on horseback and horse-drawn wagons. The kids could hear the faint, faraway sounds of the old town starting a new day: people talking, laughing, yelling; the clip-clop of hooves; the shouts of wagon drivers.

  The town of Bodine was back just the way it had been, superimposed over the old desert ruins like a double-exposed photograph.

  Jay looked at Lila and she looked back. Neither had to tell the other: They both saw it.

  “Is it real?” Lila wondered.

  No sooner had Lila asked the question than the town began to intensify in color and sound, “filling in” and becoming solid. The old foundations and piles of boards disappeared, hidden by the solid buildings they used to be. The old streets that had been overgrown by sagebrush and cacti became clear streets again, rutted by wagon wheels and roughened by horses’ hooves. The people were no longer ghosts, but solid people going about their business. Some rode solid horses and drove solid wagons. The sounds of the town—the voices, the horses and wagons, the clatter and bustle—rose to a natural volume.

  “Maybe,” Jay replied. “Come on. Let’s have a closer look.”

  She held back. “I don’t know if I want to go down there.” Jay tugged at her. “I’ve just got to.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to regret this.” Feeling like they were in a dream, they started down the slope toward the town.

  For Dr. Cooper and Richard MacPherson it was not morning, but twenty minutes before midnight. Only half an hour had passed since Jay and Lila had gone down the hill after the other camera, but in Dr. Cooper’s mind that was long enough. “We’d better go down there and make sure they’re all right.”

  They abandoned their post by Cyrus Murphy’s grave and headed down the hill into the ruins of the town.

  “They may have been alarmed by that gravitational tremor we just had,” said Mac. “But I doubt it created any danger for them.”

  “But it isn’t like them to be gone so long.” Dr. Cooper kept scanning the town in the dark. He could see the jeep, sitting by itself in the middle of the road, but there was no sign of Jay or Lila. “I still don’t see them.”

  “Hold on. Who’s that?”

  Dr. Cooper followed Mac’s gaze across the ruins toward the cliffs just outside of town.

  There was a man standing there. He was big, wearing a long black coat and a black Western hat, and he wasn’t just out for a leisurely stroll. He was walking stealthily, crouching a little, looking warily about as if stalking something. And he was carrying a gun.

  Dr. Cooper feared the worst. “Oh no . . .”

  “This could be trouble,” Mac said. “He may have heard about the boys seeing a ghost up here, and now he’s trying to hunt it down.”

  “We don’t need this.”

  “Well, we’ll try to talk to him.” Mac waved and called out, “Hey there! Be careful with that gun!”

  The man spotted them immediately and quickened his step, dodging through the sagebrush to the main road and hurrying toward them. When he came to the jeep, he stopped a moment, eyeing the vehicle suspiciously and then eyeing Mac and Dr. Cooper. He had a beard and a wide mustache, and they could see the glint of a sheriff’s badge in the moonlight.

  “Oh brother,” Mac said quietly, “this guy thinks he’s Wyatt Earp. Look at that outfit!”

  The man hollered, “Hold on, you two!” then hurried toward them, the gun safely pointed at the ground, at least for now. “I’ll have a word with you!”

  They walked onto the main road to meet him. He was agitated, breathing hard from running, and his forehead was beaded with sweat. “Did you see a woman come running through here?”

  Mac tried to be very calm—it was obvious this fellow was not. “No sir, and I don’t expect we will. Now why don’t you put that gun away—”

  “She was wearing a blue dress, had red hair— well, you must know what Annie Murphy looks like!” Mac and Dr. Cooper exchanged a glance.

  Dr. Cooper also spoke calmly. “Sir, how about putting the gun away? You can’t shoot a ghost with a gun.”

  That only made the man indignant. “I’m not after a ghost, you idiot! I’m after a fugitive from the law!”

  “And just who are you?”

  “Are you blind?” He fingered his badge to call their attention to it. “I’m Dustin Potter. I happen to be the sheriff.” He gestured with the gun, waving it in their faces. “And I might ask who you are. I’ve never seen you around here before.”

  “I’m Dr. Jacob—”

  “What’s that around your neck?”

  Dr. Cooper touched the camera hanging against his chest. “It’s a camera.”

  The sheriff cocked his revolver and aimed it between Jacob Cooper’s eyes. “I know what a camera looks like. Drop it. Real slow.” He waved the gun at Mac. “And you, get your hands in the air where I can see ’em!”

  Mac slowly raised his hands and Dr. Cooper slowly removed the camera and set it on the ground.

  The sheriff stooped to pick up the camera, keeping his gun trained on them. “Now both of you sit down with your hands in the air and we’ll have ourselves a little talk.”

  Mac said quietly, “We’d better do as he says.”

  They sat in the road, their hands raised.

  “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

  “I’m Dr. Jacob Cooper, a biblical archaeologist.”

  “And I’m Richard MacPherson, professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona.”

  “And we’re here . . .” Dr. Cooper hesitated. Just how could they explain what they were doing?

  Mac gave it a try. “We’re here to examine the gravitational and time/space anomalies indigenous to this area.”

  The sheriff chuckled. “You talk like a professor. Have you figured out why it’s so dark all of a sudden?”

  The learned professor knew the answer. “It’s night.”

  The sheriff grabbed Mac by the collar. “What kind of a fool do you take me for? I ought to haul you both back to Bodine and throw you in the hoosegow.” Then he added, under his breath, “If I knew where it was.”

  “Sir, we’re in Bodine right now,” said Dr. Cooper. The sheriff straightened up in anger and glared down at them. “What are you talking about? I just came from Bodine.”

  Mac tried to explain, “Sheriff, uh, Potter, this is Bodine. We’re sitting right in the middle of it.”

  They could tell the answer startled and even scared this weird, would-be lawman. He began looking carefully around the canyon, then aimed his gun in their faces. “Now think real hard and try answering again.”

  The kids entered the town along a bare dirt road, walking past a row of single-story houses where other kids were playing in the street. Mothers and fathers called good morning to their neighbors. Jay and Lila couldn’t help staring. The folks on the street and even some of the dogs were starting to stare back.

  If Jay and Lila were seeing things, the “things” were seeing them as well.

  “You know what?” said Lila. “This place is starting to look awfully real.”

  “Act natural. Don’t stare.”

  “Hey, hey you kids!” said a voice from up the street.

  Oh-oh. A lanky fellow came running toward them, his boots pounding up little clouds of dust. They could see a lawman’s badge on his brown leather vest.

  “Are we in trouble already?” Lila moaned.

  But he wasn’t just talking to them. He was talking to all the kids on the street, “Did any of you see the sheriff come this way?”

  None of them had.

  The deputy ran up to Jay and Lila. “How about you?”

  Jay and Lila looked at each other. Well, they knew the answer to that one. “Uh, no,” said Jay. “Haven’t seen him . . .”

  The deputy gave them a second look. “Are you new in town?”

  Jay couldn’t help chuckling as he answered, “Yeah, we sure are.”

  He gave them one more careful looking over, then ran on, asking some of the othe
r folks whether they’d seen the sheriff.

  Lila looked down at the light shirt and khaki shorts she was wearing. “I guess we’re not blending in very well.”

  Jay considered his Chicago Bulls T-shirt and bright blue and white running shoes. “Well . . . we’ll just have to tell people we’re from out of town.”

  “Way out of town!”

  They passed an attractive brick building, the Bodine Public Library. Lila reached out and touched the brick wall warming in the sun. The bricks felt just like real bricks.

  They reached the main street, the same dirt road where the jeep had been. It was full of people, wagons, horses, and activity. Stores were opening for business. As a bank opened its doors, a wagonload of lumber pulled by a team of four mules rolled into town. On one corner, the curtains in the Bodine Consolidated Mining Company were being pulled back. And down the street, a blacksmith was just getting ready to shoe a horse.

  Then they saw something that chilled them: At the other end of the street stood a gallows with a hangman’s noose dangling from the crossbeam. A workman was standing on a ladder untying the rope, and two other men were removing boards with crowbars. If there had been a hanging, it was apparently over.

  “Annie Murphy was going to be hanged,” Lila whispered.

  They could see beyond the gallows to the cemetery hill north of town. They were spellbound.

  “Look out!” A wagon driver hollered as his team of horses bore down on them. Jay and Lila scurried out of the street and onto the wooden sidewalk as the wagon rumbled past.

  “Now hold on, young lady!” This time it was an older, chubby lady wearing an apron and standing in the doorway of the Bodine Mercantile. “Haven’t you forgotten something?”

  Lila didn’t know what to answer.

  The lady glared down at Jay, indignant. “You let your sister walk out in broad daylight wearing nothing but her bloomers?” She looked at Lila’s outfit quizzically. “Where’d you get those, anyway?”

  Lila looked down at her hiking shorts. “Uh . . . Outback Outfitters in Wheaton.”

  “Wheaton?”

  “Near Chicago.”

  The lady laughed. “I didn’t think you bought them here. So you’re from back East, are you?”