Andy

We walked forward, and at first, there was nothing. I stared into the drifting fog, trying to make out what Andy swore was there. We stood together, grasping each other’s hands anxiously.

There, in the fog, rose a tall, narrow shaft. At first, I couldn’t figure out what it was. I took a cautious step forward, and the fog drifted away from the base. It was a large wooden crucifix, bound in old fashioned steel barbed wire. It was strange, yet beautiful. My eyes trailed over the detailed in the wood, until my gaze fell up on the very center of the cross at the top.

A brittle, fraying rope swayed gently, a tight noose attached to the end, and all the remained attached to it was a skull, vertebrae, and the hip bones, which swayed crookedly in the wind.

I choked back a gag of disgust and stared at the morbid sacrificial statue. Around the base was the arms and legs, scattered in the dusty soil, the bone stained with dried blood and muscle, all bleached from the sun.

“My God...” I whisper in horror.

“Meet Mr. Charlie Apture.” Andy said with dread heavy in his voice.

“He was the murderer?...” I murmur in shock. He mustered a slight nod.

I winced, looking up at his ancient bones, clacking together in the breeze like some macabre windchime.

“Wait...” I whispered to myself, “Charlie Apture? As in the Apture house?”

I looked over at Andy, and held his gaze until he nodded, his eyes sullen.

“It turns out that that was his house. There used to be a barn, and some animal pens as well, but those burned down years ago. He abandoned the house after the death of his wife, and went to live like a recluse in the woods.” He winced, “what a shit way to leave your legacy.”

He walked away, further in the meadow behind me. I just kept staring at it. “Do you think he did it because he lost his wife?” I asked, to no one in particular.

“As like a weird pact to honor her or something?” CC asked, shrugging. “Dude sounds like a nutcase, I wouldn’t doubt it.”

“Christian Coma,” I addressed him using his full name, “that my friend, is how you get ghosts. Don’t cross the dead.”

He pouted slightly, “You crossed the dead and got a hot boyfriend ghost. I’ll just get an axe wielding psycho who’s mission is to kill me in my sleep as a ghost.” he snorted, “some people get all the luck.”

I heard Andy laughing somewhere behind me, and I could feel my cheeks growing pink.

“Hey Ash, did you see these?” I heard him call. I tore my eyes away, and walked towards Andy. He was standing in front of a large mount of round, smooth grey stones.

“It’s an old burial site.” I noted softly.

“Look at this.” he picked up one of the top rocks and held it to my face. I looked at it carefully, and saw the word crudely carved into the stone. Greed.

“Shit, they’ve all got ‘em.” CC said, picking up rocks alongside Andy, reading the titles out loud, making me grow increasingly more and more uncomfortable.

“Whore, cheater, arson, thief, guilty, liar, innocent, rapist, murderer, boy, girl...”

“Some of these seem random as fuck.” Andy noted, reading off a few more. “Obviously he killed more than a handful of innocent people and stashed them away here.”

“Do you think they’re all under here?” CC asked, kicking a rock at the base. Andy shrugged, “I really don’t know... But what I do know is, I can’t stay here much longer. It’s making me sick and restless, what about you guys?”

Me and CC both nodded. “What are we going to do with the bodies?”

He frowned in thought, “We’ll have to come back and dig ‘em up. The weather won’t do us much good, and we don’t know if Charlie laced the graves with traps. He was pretty unstable as it was, I’d hate to find out what he’d do to keep his secret even after death.”

“True.” CC nodded thoughtfully.

“How did you find out all of this? About the guy, and the house?...” I trailed off, furrowing my brow in confusion, looking at Andy. “Did you get this all from the ghosts?”

“Yeah,” He nodded, laying the rock he held back down on top of the pile with a sharp clatter, “they’re crazy, though. All the years have gone to their heads. They were trying to warn me, I think. From what, I do not know. Their state did get me thinking about Ashley today, though.” he became distant in deep thought. “I’m just worried of him becoming like that, he’s already becoming very strange.”

“What do you mean?” CC interrupted. Andy gave him a sympathetic look. “When I first came across him in California, he was fine. But as we hung out, he forgot important parts of our relationships and major memories, and wanted to do some dark shit.” he shivered and shook his head. “I don’t know what’s up with him.”

I looked around us, and in the slow moving fog, I could see the silhouettes of more cairns. I walked towards them, brushing my hands against the cold, wet stones thoughtfully. Reading their titles in passing.

I felt alarmed by the amount of graves I was passing as I walked. Something like this took time, dedication and careful planning. Even down to the rocks, each one was polished and perfectly smooth and round, each one adorned with a dark message on those unfortunate souls who crossed paths with Charlie Apture.

Everything was left untouched since the day he died, and no one had ever found it... The stories the land bared tied to the spirits here, the only ones left to share the stories. The horrific, terrible stories.

I guess the quote “dead men tell no tales” is not entirely true.

“Okay, so we found way more than we bargained for, what are we doing now? Can we go back, and perhaps get some food?”

CC was growing restless, we all were. We laughed just to break the tension. “I’m ready to go, are you, asshole?”

“Oh yeah bitch.” Andy laughed, the sound of his voice echoing off the trees, bouncing back at us, another dark reminder that we were alone out here.

“Your relationship is ah... Interesting.” CC commented, “but I’m feeling like a third wheel here. Someone give me a mean nickname.”

“Okay,” Andy agreed easily, reaching out for my hand, I happily took his. “You can be ‘cunt’.”

CC’s excited face fell in disappointment. “Why do I have to be a girl’s junk? Why can’t I be a bastard or something?”

“Because bastard is a badass word.” Andy replied matter-of-factly.

“Fine... Can I be fucker then?”

“No.”

“How about fuckelster?”

Andy peered at me as a smile broadly spread across his face. “Oh, okay, I think I can allow that one. Welcome to the club, Fuckelster.”


~~~


We headed straight south, probably not towards my backyard directly, but I estimated that we’d end up in someone’s flooded backyard and could backtrack from there.

My boots are sopping wet, and the leather has become very uncomfortable. A clean, dry change of clothes is in order.

“So what did you guys do in California?” CC asked, though when I glanced across at him, I saw him wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh, you know, went to strip clubs, broke into malls, did drugs, all the best things California has to offer.” Andy replied, easily keeping a straight face.

“Sweet.” CC grinned. “Now tell me what you actually did.”

“We didn’t fuck if that’s what you’re asking.” he replied, cocking a questioning eyebrow at him. “just hung out, visited Ash’s family and friends, and then we broke into my dorm and collected some of my things.”

“I didn’t realize crime was your latest fashion.” CC said sarcastically, “anyways, you missed quite a bit here, if you didn’t notice.”

“Oh, I’ve noticed.”

We had left behind the Dead Zone almost ten minutes ago, and ahead I could see a break in the trees. I can’t wait to get back and put this unnerving experience behind me.

Though, I don’t know how well I’ll sleep tonight with the image of the brittle sun bleached skull floating in the pond in the forest just behind my house. I’d seen a lot of scary shit in the last few weeks, sure, but this takes the cake.

We walked out, and found ourselves on a secondary highway.

“It’s the highway that goes on the nature route.” CC informed us, “Ash’s neighborhood is maybe a ten minute walk that way.” He pointed to our left. We started walking, but hadn’t been doing so for long before we all heard loud, fast footsteps on the pavement behind us. We all turned around in surprise, expecting to see a jogger, but to my surprise, shock and confusion, it was Ashley.

“How’d you know where to find us?” I accused him immediately, earning me a sharp glare from him.

“Ashley fuckin’ Purdy.” CC laughed as he went to hug him. I watched their reunion with a growing feeling of unease in my gut. The did a three person group hug and talked for a bit before we pushed on walking. Something was wrong about the situation. How had he known exactly where to find us?

I discredited it to me being tired and irritable, and sick of the rain. I purposefully fell behind a little bit to keep an eye on Ashley. I’d watch him for a few minutes before either Andy or CC invited me back up to join them. I was trying to recall everything Andy said last night about giving him space to do his own thing... But it didn’t feel like a lack of personal space was the problem. He flat out did not like me, perhaps because of how accusive I am. (understandable) But perhaps it’s something else, too.

Whatever it is, there’s something not right with Ashley Purdy.

Notes