by Hood, E. B.
It would have been a good time to have charged him, but I hadn’t planned that out. Throwing things at Jim gave me a new idea. I picked up a nice size rock off of the ground.
It was a game to me, a sick and twisted game throwing a rock at Jim, then flashing to a new location and doing it again. I felt like a little girl playing a mean trick. I did know better, but I was still enjoying myself.
I don’t know if this dark side of me was because I was a vampire, raped and killed or just a part about myself that I never had the power to act upon before. Nonetheless, here I was, flashing from one spot to another, stoning Jim to death.
Jim screamed or yelped every time a rock hit him. He was down on his knees after half dozen rocks hit him. I threw one that caught him in the side of the head. It didn’t knock him out, but it dazed him enough that he dropped his weapons. Blood was now gushing out of his head.
It was time to stop playing with Jim. I moved in behind him with blinding speed; grabbing his arms to his side, I held him around his chest. Then, without any more hesitation, I bit into the side of his neck.
The blood was filling my mind once more; it was truly bliss. My mind was full of pleasure drinking the blood. It was over before I wanted it to be.
I lifted Jim’s body off the ground; and headed back to the cabin. It was amazing how light Jim’s body was, minus the blood, I enjoyed the walk back even though I was carrying a dead man over my shoulder.
The woods were not lost to me. I enjoyed the forest. With my new senses I could hear and see all the little animals; it was amazing. I returned to the cabin in no time at all.
Running through the forest chasing Jim had felt like a great distance. I guess I was afraid that Jim would escape. It made time slow down; now that I was relaxed, I realized that Jim didn’t get very far at all. As I came into what was left of the cabin, I dropped Jim’s dead body on the floor, not too far from Dave’s. I looked around wishing these rednecks would have put in a nice shower with hot water. I don’t need hot water; I just like hot water.
“Thank you.”
Did I just hear, thank you? I spun around and didn’t see anything. It had sounded like a woman, no, a girl. It had sounded like, thank you. Well, that’s official; I was losing it. Wait, make that lost it, or maybe I never had it to begin with.
Just as I was thinking I had an overactive imagination, I caught movement up in the loft. I couldn’t see up there. I listened; I couldn’t hear anyone.
I used my second sight and whistle, but I could not make out the shape of a body.
There were a couple of beds up there. There were also two dressers and two end tables; one of the tables had a lamp on it. The other table had an assortment of stuff scattered across the top of it. The only way that I couldn’t see someone up there is if they were hiding under one of the beds.
Well, I guess I will have to check; ok I am a vampire; why is it that I am all spooked? I need a moment; if someone is up there, they will have to wait.
I went over and picked up my dress that I had tossed into the corner of the room. Thank goodness that none of the blood spray got on it. I went to the little makeshift kitchen. I placed my dress on a little round dining table.
There was a big stainless steel sink, big enough for my entire body, probably used for cleaning their kills. Oh well, I jumped in and washed all the blood off with the little spray hose. Pleasant surprise, they have hot water. I hopped out, dried off and got dressed, turned and looked at the bottom of the staircase. Ok coward, time to investigate.
I was three quarters up the staircase, and just high enough that my eyes were level with the floor of the loft. I could now see under both beds. There was nothing but dust under them. Wow, I need a friend; I am going crazy; there is no one up here. I walked all the way up to the top of the stairs… empty beds. I turned to go back down the stairs.
Who is that? Right down in the room, a girl was standing. She was looking down and staring at the two dead bodies.
She looked to be about my height and build. She had on jeans, cowgirl boots, and western style shirt. She was pretty with brown hair that hung just past her shoulders with just a little bit of curl; unlike mine, straight as a ruler. The only thing that was missing was a big old cowgirl hat and a giant buckle for her belt.
Well how did she come into this cabin without me hearing her, and that’s not all. I have been practicing like crazy with my second sight. I am always letting out a little whistle to look around me.
I whistled again, and there was no one there. How can that be? Sound bounces off of the body and comes back to my ears… whoa, hold the phone. Now that I have been watching her for a minute, I can see through her.
Of course, my luck is unbreakable. Of course, there is a ghost in this cabin. If my luck stays true, she will want to haunt me for killing redneck perverts.
I didn’t know what to say. I just decided to see if she could speak to me and find out what she wanted. “I just want you to know that I am not afraid of no ghosts.”
The girl looked up at me in surprise but then started laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I said.
She stopped laughing, and said. “That’s the line from Ghostbusters; you’re pretty funny aren’t you?”
“What?” I replied, what on earth is a Ghostbuster?
“Oh, I am sorry, how rude. Like my mom didn’t teach me no manners or anything. My name is Carrie; I am just so happy you can see and hear me. How is that anyway?” The ghost just keeps on talking while she asked questions “And thank you for killing these guys; maybe I will be at rest soon. Don’t you think? Or do you think I have to wait until daytime or something? Oh, wait you probably don’t know that I disappear during the day, do you? Every time they bring a girl up here I hide up in the loft. Boy, I wish I could leave this shithole; can you leave? I thought they were going to kill you; boy did it surprise me when you started fighting them. Where did you learn to fight like that? I have seen my brothers fight but not like that. Boy, Oh boy, can you hold your own. Have you been in a lot of fights? Just listen to me prattle on and on and not let you add a word in edgewise, didn't I? My mother said I could talk a rooster into not crowing. What you think she meant by that? She was always sayin stuff that didn’t make a lick of sense. Don’t take this the wrong way or anything; what are you? I reckon it ain't any of my business or anything…”
I couldn’t take it. I held my hand palm forward and said “I am a vampire, and my name is Melabeth. I know the dead have no need to breath, but I fear for you, that you might suffocate; one question at a time please.”
The girl looked a little ashamed and said, “I am sorry; just ever since these guys killed me, I haven’t had anyone… Sorry I don’t mean to be a bother.”
“No that’s okay,” I said, feeling a little like an ass now, but I went on by saying, “I haven’t had anyone to talk to for a long time either; sorry, please don’t get upset; I would love to talk to you.”
The ghost gave me a big smile, “I wasn’t going anywhere. Well, technically, I can’t anyway. I can never go more than a few hundred feet from the cabin, and I disappear during the day. I don’t even know where I go; as soon as the sun comes up, BAM, it is night again.”
“I have never heard of a daytime haunting.” I said to Carrie. “I wonder what the significance of night for the dead is?”
Carrie said. “Not sure. Haven’t met any other ghosts; hell, you’re the first person I have been able to speak to for the last year, not to say that I have had a lot of opportunity to try. The only folks that come around here are Dave, and Jeff and their victims. And I never can seem to warn them. Not that it would help; by the time they got them in this cabin, they ain't escapin.”
Her deep southern accent made me think she wasn’t from around here. So it seems these men hunted more than deer. I had to ask. “Did they rape you before killing you?”
The ghost image went out of focus as rage crossed her face. “Why the hell would that be any of your bus
iness?” She looked down at the floor and I could see the rage melt away to pain. “I just don’t want to talk about that; you wouldn’t understand. I didn’t let them and we all can’t fight like you. I didn’t reckon it would be so dangerous to hitchhike without my boyfriend. We wanted to see a concert in Washington. We live in Georgia. See, it was my fault I got mad at Rick. Rick is my boyfriend, or he was. Probably goin with someone new, I got so mad at Rick when we reached Colorado; I stormed off and thought I could hitch to the concert by myself. Then, when he finally caught up to me at the show, he would be sorry. Only now I am the only one that is sorry.”
I quickly clarified. “Oh… well the only reason I asked is that is the way I died, only a few nights ago. Well, technically it was fifteen years ago, but I was asleep in the ground. This is only my second night as a vampire, and I haven’t had anyone to talk to about what happened to me.”
The pain melted off of Carrie’s face, and then she looked at me with understanding and said. “Well doesn’t that make us two peas in a pod.”
I realized that I was still standing at the top of the stairs, and neither of us had moved this entire time, so I asked. “Would you like to sit and talk? You don’t have to.”
Carrie smiled, and said. “I would like nothing better. Not that I ever need to sit.”
I laughed. “Me too; I could stand forever, or it feels that way. It is all most impossible for me to describe.”
Carrie walked around to the bottom of the staircase, and then started up to where I was standing. The closer she got to me the more solid she became. I moved into the loft area as she followed behind me. I took a seat on the edge of one of the beds. That’s when I noticed Carrie looking at her hands with this strange look on her face.
“What on earth. I feel like I am alive, almost like I could touch something.” Carrie said.
She looked solid enough to me, so I encouraged her. “Well, try to pick something up.”
“Okay.” Carrie responded.
She walked over to one of the end tables. She reached down and picked up an old pocketknife. She rolled it around in her hands and opened and then closed the blade. She looked over at me and said. “I have never been able to pick stuff up; with all my concentration the best I ever been able to do is move something.” Then she got all excited and started with high-speed questions. “Do you think I will be able to wear new clothes? I have been wearing this outfit for a year, not that I stink or sweat. Do you think maybe I could leave this cabin with you? Would you let me come if I could? Do you think I will disappear during the day?”
I cleared my throat loudly; then she stopped and I said. “I am not sure if I have any answers for you, Carrie, but maybe we can figure out something together. And if you can come with me, you’re welcome to.”
“Thank you, Melabeth.” Carrie said. Then she jumped over to me and gave me a hug, which was the strangest hug I have ever had. She felt solid, but at the same time she had no life to her. She pulled away and gave me a sheepish grin. I knew then that I had made my first friend.
On the way over to the cabin, Jim and Dave were playing some music in the car. I have never heard of any of the songs. Most of them were country, which I didn’t care for much. The DJ on the radio said. And now for a new song, from Garth Brooks, Friends in Low Places.
I guess you can say that all my friends are in dead places.
Carrie and I stayed up all night talking about everything; also, we did some experiments to see what she could, and could not do. Then, as soon as the sun crested, she disappeared, right in front of me. I laid down on one of the beds in the loft; I was tired. As I rested my head against the pillow, I thought about all the things that me and Carrie did and talked about.
We both shared our experience of being murdered. After that wonderful conversation, we lightened the mood and talked about movies and music. I guess I have missed a ton of stuff. Go to find out the picture on that boy’s blanket was from a movie called Star Wars. Carrie said, it was a must see; also, I guess when I said that I wasn’t afraid of no ghost Carrie had started laughing, because I was quoting a movie called Ghostbusters. The president of the United States was George Bush, and he just took office from Ronald Reagan, the actor? That’s hard to believe; I will have to check up on Carrie’s information; she might be unreliable.
We spent a lot of time discovering her abilities. She was still unable to go more than 100 yards away from the cabin. The further she got away from me, the less solid she became; the strongest she got was in the back of the cabin. It only took a minute for Carrie to realize she was the strongest when we stood over the spot where the men had buried her body.
At first, I thought maybe this was why there were no more ghosts at the cabin, that the men had buried the rest of their victims further away. Carrie informed me that all the victims were buried behind the cabin because these men were sooo lazy. So it didn’t make a lot of sense to me why she was the only victim haunting the men, and why she was not at peace now.
I promised Carrie that I would sleep here and see if she returned the next night. I don’t know why I promised, seeing as I need to get back to California, but she is my only friend. I hope she doesn’t come back. I hate to leave her at this cabin all alone, and it was obvious that my vampire power somehow gives her power to feel and touch again. How can I take that from her? Well, I need to get sleep; with rest, I will be able to think clearer. Hopefully, I will be able to work all this out tomorrow night.
I woke up around three in the afternoon. The clothes I had on seemed fine. Now that I don’t sweat, and my skin has no oil; changing clothes seemed optional. I woke up with an idea on how to deal with the mess downstairs. So I zipped down the staircase. I looked down at the two dead bodies. I didn’t want to leave a trail. I had to make this seem to be an easily solved case for the police. If cops were half as lazy as my father used to tell me they were, I have an idea.
I picked up the shotgun and I shot Jim’s dead body on the floor, then I laid the shotgun next to Dave’s body. I went over to my bag and took out the gun that I had stolen. I stood next to Jim’s body and fired four rounds into Dave’s body. Then I stuck the gun into Jim’s dead hand. Now this probably would not work if I left this cabin the way it was.
My thinking is that, first, they will link that gun to the house I broke into. Second, I will dig up some of their victims behind the cabin. My hope is that the cops will realize that these men were kidnapping girls, then raping and killing them. Also they will think they have been robbing houses in the area. This insures that they will pin every unsolved crime on these guys.
If I am right, the cops will not really care to solve their murders. After all, these are the bad guys. So they will come to the conclusion that they got into a fight over moving the dead girls’ bodies and killed each other. Case closed.
Part two of my plan; I really didn’t look forward to. I found a shovel behind the cabin in a little storage locker. Soon I was digging in the spot that Carrie pointed out the night before. It didn’t take long to find her bones around her mud-stained rags. Her feet still had her cowboy boots on; also I could see shredded pieces of her jeans.
If it wasn’t for my sunglasses, I wouldn’t be able to see anything, it was a bright sunny day with few clouds and no wind; it was also very cold. As I looked across the ground, it didn’t take me long to find three more graves. One of the graves was real obvious, I think, because it was dug recently. I would have never found these graves if the snow hadn’t melted here.
Here I am now standing over four dug up graves; the bodies were at different stages of decomposing. Carrie and another girl were nothing but bones; one of the other girls still had flesh around her bones. The girl that was buried in the newest grave had just started to decompose. I could still clearly see her face and her red hair; none of the girls were more than three feet deep.
I don’t think these guys worried too much about anyone coming around and finding them, and, most likely, because this was
a hunting cabin, it wouldn’t have raised any alarms to smell rotting flesh.
I shoved the end of the shovel into one of the mounds of dirt and dusted off my hands. I looked at Carrie’s remains one more time, and a thought came to mind. What if I picked up Carrie’s bones and put them in a bag? Then maybe she could come with me.
As I bent over to collect Carrie bones, something caught my eye as the afternoon sun shone down on Carrie’s remains; I could see something shimmering from her neck. I got down on my knees to get a closer look; it was a necklace. I reached down to grab it.
When I touched the necklace, it shocked the tip of my fingers. “Ouch” I said out loud. It was more of a knee jerk reaction, because it really didn’t hurt. It felt like static shock but somehow different.
I reached down again, this time ready for the shock. It shocked me again, but this time I didn’t pull back. It really wasn’t shocking me as much has tinkling the tip of my fingers. It almost felt like a low voltage of electric current was going through the necklace.
It took me a minute to work the chain around to undo the clasp, and then I was able to slide the chain out without disturbing Carrie’s bones. Once I got the necklace off of Carrie’s neck, I stood up and walked into the cabin to wash off the dirt, so I could get a better look at it.
After washing the necklace off, I went up the stairs to the loft where I took off my sunglasses, there were no windows up in the loft. I could see a lot better without all the blinding light. The necklace was silver, and the chain had thick links. The pendant was silver and shaped like a half gallon glass milk bottle. On each side were carved markings. The markings looked as if they were glowing green.
It was really a striking necklace, and from human eyes they may see it as a pretty piece of jewelry with strange green symbols on it. With my eyes, I could see or maybe feel the power coming out of this piece of jewelry.
In fact, it would surprise me if this were not the reason for Carrie’s predicament. A cursed necklace comes to mind. When she reappears, which I am sure she will, I will have to ask where she got this from.