The Haunting of Roan Mountain

by S A Jacobs

  Roger took a deep breath and stood stoically waiting.

  There was one final thud before a hand parted the brush on the edge of the clearing. The hand paused. The only thing visible was a feminine hand. Everything went silent, as if the birds had all retreated in its presence.

  “Why do you tease me?” a woman's gravelly voice said. “It’s been so long since I’ve eaten. You know he isn’t welcome here. Yet you let him leave before I arrived.”

  “I told you, I’m not going to provide you with a victim. I’m protecting him.”

  “Then why was he here?”

  “Because, I needed to make sure that he would keep his distance.”

  “Your games!” the woman hissed. “You better watch yourself. You seek in my realm too, no different than he. There will be a day when you are not protected, and I will be waiting.”

  “I’m sure you told my father the same thing, and his father before that. Yet, here I am.”

  “Your father didn’t seek. Your father respected his role! You, however, have forgotten your place. Your greed will be your demise!”

  19

  I called Melanie, praying she would pick up. She didn’t. After five more rings, I left an awkward voicemail pleading with her to call me back. My mind raced. My fingers tightened on the steering wheel as my foot pressed the accelerator. My truck barreled down the two-lane mountain road.

  I was doing everything I could to get to Melanie as fast as possible, but I knew it was no use. I was two hours away. If something happened in the forest, there was nothing I could do..

  I wracked my brain trying to think of someone, anyone who could help. Linda, even if she was at the office, would never make it down that trail. Zeke had already met his own trouble in the forest, and I didn’t even know him well enough to begin with. I realized there was only one person I could call. While he was without a doubt the last person I wanted to call, it was my only available option—Gordon.

  After spending only a minute debating it, I picked up the phone and dialed Gordon’s number. As it rang, images flashed before my eyes of his business card at Zeke’s, of his name on all those reports. I knew he was the enemy, but also my only hope. His phone went to voicemail.

  “Gordon, it’s David. Listen, I need you. It’s Melanie. She went out to the old shack on that trail, and I think something happened to her. I’m a couple hours away. You need to get out there immediately!”

  I hung up the phone and froze. I was crippled with fear for Melanie. Sweat started to run down my forehead as my eyes welled up with tears. My trembling hand let go of the phone. I watched it drop in what looked like slow motion, landing on the floor of my truck. My eyes glanced up to see a buck standing in the middle of the road.

  I slammed on the brakes and turned the steering wheel away from the deer. The deer’s black eyes boring into me was the last thing I saw before everything went black.

  When I opened my eyes, there was a searing pain in my head, and a blinding light shone on my face. It took a moment before I could see anything but white. I raised my hand to my forehead and shuddered in pain. The touch left my fingers slick with blood. As my vision began to clear, I saw a blurred shape in front of my car. I thought it was the deer, but as the outline became clearer, I realized it was a human.

  “David!” a voice said.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them again. The shape became clearer. It was a man in a uniform, wearing a hat. It was my father.

  “David, you must wake up now.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to help you, and clearly you need it more than I ever imagined.”

  “What?”

  “Melanie is in danger. You need to help her.”

  “I know that, Dad! Why the hell do you think I was speeding down this road to begin with?”

  “You need to understand what you are getting into before you do more damage.”

  “Okay, what are you talking about?”

  “Spearfinger.”

  “I know about Spearfinger!”

  “No, you don’t! You think just because you learned about the original Spearfinger, you have a clue what is actually happening?”

  “Seriously, Dad? You didn’t belittle me enough in life. You gotta come back to do it more?”

  “David, just listen! Spearfinger was raised to protect one thing. By design she was drawn with insatiable hunger for only those who seek the cache she protects. The problem is, when you raise an entity and try to confine it the way Robert did, it doesn’t work right. Initially, Spearfinger did exactly what was intended. She would lie dormant until someone came looking for her cache. As time went on though, she evolved. She began to take on more human qualities. She became vengeful. If she was ever denied a victim, not only would she continue to seek out that person but also seek revenge on whoever stopped her.”

  “That’s you, isn’t it? That is how you died?”

  “David, I spent years trying to protect people from her, but some people wronged her. She started seeking them, moving outside of the confines of her specific location. I intervened to protect them and unknowingly sacrificed myself. She will not stop.”

  Right there, for the first time, I saw my dad differently. I began to understand why he’d left me. I began to understand that he was looking out for me.

  “What does this have to do with Melanie?”

  “Melanie is going to stand between Spearfinger and her victim. Melanie doesn’t know how to stop Spearfinger. Her actions will end up killing her and the person she is protecting.”

  I had to go to Melanie, but for a moment, I realized there was something else I needed to say.

  “Dad, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “You shouldn’t have known. You don’t need to be sorry, but you need to act. Your time is short. Go now to Melanie. I will be there with you.”

  There was a flash of brilliant green light. When it dissipated, my father was gone. There was no deer. I touched my throbbing forehead and could feel the blood still there. My truck sat nearly sideways across the road. I began to take a quick inventory of my injuries. I took a look at my head in the visor’s mirror. I found some old napkins in my glove box to wipe off the blood. I had a nice gash but nothing that would require stitches. I stepped out of the truck to see if I had hit anything. Everything appeared the same as it always was.

  Returning to the cab, I picked up my phone from the floorboard and glance at it to see if there were any new messages. There weren’t. There were so many thoughts I wanted to explore and think about, but it wasn’t the time. I still had to get to Melanie. I turned my truck on and sped down the road.

  As I drove, I began to process everything that happened. I realized that after seeing my dad, I was dealing with multiple versions of the truth: from what Robert’s spirit told me, to my father’s words to me, to the real world data. There were plenty of consistencies, yet each had a different spin. I realized that Linda was right. I was too close to the case. My emotions were getting in the way of my ability to approach it objectively. The number one rule I had always followed in my investigations was that communications with spirits, much like communications with people, can never be trusted as rock-hard facts. It made sense. In life, people lied and bent the truth to get you to believe their perspective. The first mistake many people make is believing a spirit is more trustworthy than the person was in life. I simply had not paid attention to my rules during this case.

  As the miles flew by, my concern for Melanie increased exponentially. The message from my dad was cryptic, and I couldn’t make complete sense of it. The only thing I knew for sure was that she was in trouble, and I needed to help her. I pushed my truck to the limits of what was safe to drive. Soon, I was passing Melanie's house on my way to the Gap. I was getting so close that I could barely breathe. My fingers tightened around the steering wheel. I pulled into the Gap and saw her Jeep near the entrance to the old trail. I parked and leapt from the car, sprinting th
rough the brush and down the trail.

  The first mile of the trail passed by in no time. Soon, I turned the corner, leading me to Spearfinger’s Shack.

  “Melanie!” I yelled.

  I heard nothing over the sound of my panting breath. I bent over with my hands on my thighs, trying to catch my breath as I yelled her name again. Then I heard it. There was a rustling sound coming from the shack. I approached and immediately saw her inside.

  Melanie lay there. She was tied up and gagged. I dove into the shack and tore the cloth gag off her mouth.

  “David, you need to leave. He’s here waiting for you!”

  “What? I’m not going anywhere without you!” I pulled out my knife and began cutting the ropes that bound her ankles together.

  “David, please listen! He’s coming for you. You need to go now!”

  “Who’s coming for me?”

  There was no response to my question. As I made the final cut in the rope, I looked up at her. Her eyes were wide with fear. She was ever so slightly turning her head back and forth as if to say ‘no.’ Aside from that slight motion, she remained still. Then I heard the click of a pistol being cocked.

  “Well, well, well, David,” a whiny male voice said. “You still aren’t very bright. In case you didn’t figure it out yet, I’m the one who is coming back for you.”

  I slowly began to turn my head to see my assailant.

  “Whoa, there. I wouldn’t be moving too much if I were you. After all, you wouldn’t want this hollow point to accidentally rip your skull apart, would you?”

  I stopped moving. I didn’t need to face him. I recognized his voice all too well. It was slightly different with age but still unmistakable. The voice of the one person I truly loathed. Austin, Melanie’s ex. I crouched there in the momentary silence, picturing him. His long greasy black hair now thin. His tall, slightly overweight build. The patchwork stubble on his face. The only thing I really couldn’t assume without seeing him was whether or not he was wearing his trademark bandana. My fists clenched with rage as I awaited his next command.

  “Slowly turn around, but keep your eyes closed. I wanna get a great look at you when you get to see who I am.”

  “You think I don’t know it’s you, Austin?” I couldn't contain myself. I slowly turned and kept my eyes shut as instructed.

  “Oh, so you really are the smart guy… go ahead, open your eyes and look at me.”

  I opened my eyes to see the man in front of me. Austin stood there looking even older than I’d expected. There was no bandana, but he still wore the tight black tank top, making him look ridiculous. I half expected to see a pointy guitar under his arm, but there was none. He held the chrome pistol sideways like a gangster on TV. On his wrist, I noticed the same broken clock tattoo Melanie had, a detail I wished I could unsee. I loved Melanie but refused to picture her with him.

  He looked like a broken man. The years of trying to sell CDs that no one wanted while trying to find some semblance of income to pay the bills had caught up to him. He was ruined, and as such, unpredictable and dangerous. Despite all this, he was the man who robbed Melanie of so many years. Beaten her and controlled her. I didn’t care how broken he was, I could give him no pity.

  “What do you want, Austin?” I asked.

  “You know damn well what I want.”

  “Actually, I really don’t. I mean, it could be Melanie, but seeing as you had your opportunity to take her long before I arrived, I’ll scratch that off the list. I don’t know. Maybe you just think you’ll feel better about your existence by taking me out. Am I at least getting warm?”

  “Fuck you!” He hit my cheek with the pistol.

  I’d pissed him off. It wasn’t on purpose. It was what I always did to him in school. It’s probably the reason he’d always hated me. It was definitely the reason Melanie and I couldn’t be friends once she was with him.

  “What are you possibly gonna accomplish by shooting me? You think you won’t get busted for that? What, a good prison sentence is the best future you can come up with?”

  “You may die, but if you do, it will be the same way as your worthless father did.”

  “So wait, if that’s the only way I might die out here, that tells me you have zero intention of actually killing me. Why not put the gun down then before something stupid happens?”

  “Shut up!” he shouted, waving the gun in my face. “You’ll talk when I ask you to.”

  “As you wish,” I said, raising my hands to show my compliance.

  “You’re going to give me what your father promised my dad. You are going to walk into that forest and get me the treasure, and don’t even act like you have no idea what I’m talking about.”

  “Fine, let’s talk about it, but put the damn gun down first.”

  Austin reluctantly complied and lowered his pistol.

  “Okay, now that you’ve done that, what the hell are you talking about with my dad and your dad, and what makes you think I actually know where the treasure is? I mean, I know it’s out there somewhere, but that’s it.”

  “You really don’t know anything do you?” he said, following his words with a bellowing cackle. “You’re not finding the damn treasure. You’re retrieving it for me.”

  “You know where it is?”

  “I know where it is, my dad knows where it is… hell, even your dad knew where it is.”

  “Then go get it yourself!”

  “If only it were that easy. Last person who tried to get it was my brother, and you know how that worked out for him… Oh wait, someone else tried…. Who was it? Oh yeah, your dad. I’m in no hurry to follow in their footsteps.”

  “My dad was nothing like your brother. He could care less about the treasure out there!”

  He burst into laughter, and his lips curled up on the edges, making him resemble the Joker. I wanted nothing more than to punch him in that moment.

  Austin gathered himself before speaking again. “Okay, okay, you’re not this stupid. You have to know, right? Think you’re gonna catch me on something? Your dad was more obsessed with that treasure than anyone. Problem was… he was too stupid to find it on his own. My dad wouldn’t go near this forest after my brother died. So he cut a deal with him. My dad told him where it was. He went to retrieve it.”

  I slowly lowered my hands a bit. “That’s the story you heard, anyway. Let’s say it’s true. Say my dad did go out there with a heading from your father, and let’s assume that’s why he died in this forest. What the fuck makes you think I’ll be any more successful than he was? Christ, he spent his life out here. I’ve barely been out here in the last five years.”

  He paused and looked at me with that dumb stare. It reminded me so much of when I sat by him in classes. It was like he was waiting for his brain to process before he could respond. I hated him so much.

  “See, there you go trying to be all tricky. There is a secret to this forest, a way to get by that beast out there. It’s a secret I think you know. I’d bet my guitar collection and dirt bikes on it! The best part is, it doesn’t matter if you know it or not. I don’t care about you. If you end up just like your dad, it doesn’t affect me at all. In the off chance you really don’t have a clue, oh well!”

  At that moment something happened in the forest. Large flocks of birds took flight out of the trees. Austin didn’t seem to notice anything until the ground shook. There was a massive thud back about a hundred yards in the distance. It was followed by silence.

  Austin’s eyes narrowed, and his jaw opened as he looked towards the sound. Then came a thrashing in the brush. Still far away, but it sounded like a large animal ripping through every branch in its way. At the sound of a second thud, Austin holstered his pistol and turned back to me.

  “Well, here’s your test. I’m getting the fuck out of here. If you and Mel make it out of this, I’ll find you.”

  He took off in a sprint down the trail, leaving Melanie and I to deal with whatever was coming for us.

&n
bsp; The thuds seemed to be getting louder and closer together. I found the knife I’d dropped when Austin interrupted me while cutting Melanie’s ropes.

  “It’s Spearfinger, isn’t it?” she said in a dazed voice.

  “I don’t know what the hell it is, but I don’t want to stick around to find out!”

  I prodded her to move, but she stood paralyzed with fear.

  “Melanie, we gotta get out of here!”

  I pulled her arm, trying to get her moving down the trail. The thuds were close now. Only a few yards beyond the clearing.

  “Melanie, move!”

  Just then there was another thud, followed by absolute silence.

  Melanie’s eyes were wide, like that moment when Austin was standing behind me. I turned to follow her gaze. The brush at the edge of the clearing began to rustle. Then a hand was visible. I took a deep breath and swallowed hard.

  A figure made its way slowly through the brush. Then it faced me. It was a face I recognized immediately. It was Zeke.

  20

  Zeke silently stared at me. He was dirty and looked like he’d been living in the forest since I’d last seen him. His clothes were torn. As he looked at me, his eyes appeared vacant.

  “Zeke!” I said, slowly approaching him. “What are you doing out here?”

  He gave no response and continued to stare at me. Finally, he raised his right hand as if to say ‘stop’.

  “This isn’t the first time I was denied a meal,” he said in a low, guttural tone. “Do you really think this action will serve you better than it did your father?”

  “Zeke? What the hell are you talking about?”

  “My calling. Those who come seeking do not leave this forest. That is, of course, when humans do not intervene. He will come back, and when he does, you best not protect him. You wouldn’t want my blood lust pointed toward you as well.”