Come Get Me Read online

  There was no way Tommy could have been killed by something that didn’t exist. It simply couldn’t have happened. There had to be some other explanation for why the hair and tracks were out there. Maybe a goat had somehow gotten away from a farm and was now roaming the woods looking for food and whatever else goats looked for. That scenario didn’t make much sense but the only other option made even less. He quickly asked Rob about his theory and was shaken by his answer. No one in the area had any goats. They seemed to be far and few between out here. They’d checked, or at least Rob had.

  “Well, like I said before,” Rob began after a few shaky minutes, “don’t tell anyone else. Everyone around here grew up hearing the stories about that damn thing and the sheriff doesn’t want the town to getting fired up thinking there’s some creature on the loose killing people. That’s all we need right now is a bunch of the good ol’ boys going out hunting for the thing and shooting everything between here and the next town up. The only thing they’d probably manage killing is each other and some poor animals. Tommy’s death is being reported as an accident. End of story. I don’t like it but that’s what the law says it was so that’s what it is.”

  Jim knew Rob didn’t believe it but that was the way the sheriff was going to tell it so he guessed he had to go along with it. Nothing would be accomplished by trying to get him to say otherwise except getting Rob in trouble. It definitely wouldn’t bring Tommy back.

  They slowly walked down the street for a few more minutes trying to talk about other things to take their minds off the Goatman. It didn’t work very well until Pete’s name came up. Rob told him that after he left, Pete started getting a little strange. First he’d moved into one of the old houses that sat on the edge of the woods all by himself. Anyone other than Rob got chased off whenever they went around including his own parents. Then a few weeks after Pete had moved in he started doing a lot of strange things. One night Rob happened to be driving by on his normal rounds when he saw a glow in the sky near the area of Pete’s house. Wanting to make sure his friend was ok he’d decided to investigate. He didn’t know what he expected to find but what he found sure wasn’t it.

  There were fires burning all around the house with Pete right smack dab in the middle of it all striding back and forth poking at them making them like he was one of hell’s own demons tending the pits of the damned. Rob had gone out a few times and tried talking some sense into Pete but to no avail. All he did was watch the flames burn and mumble strange things about stuff from the woods coming to get him and how he had to, no needed to, keep the fires burning so he would be safe. Jim agreed that it was strange but confessed he had no idea what to do about it. He’d been gone a long time. If Pete was really as far gone as he sounded he might not even remember who Jim was. Plus he wasn’t even going to be there that long. There was nothing he would be able to do for Pete in the short time he had.

  Rob ignored Jim’s excuses, saying that the only time anyone saw Pete anymore was when he came to town to get food. Pete’s parents were worried about him but they continued paying for everything he needed. The house he lived, the food he ate, even the gasoline he used in his fires. They paid for it all. They wanted him to get help but knew they couldn’t force him. He had refused when they suggested it and they couldn’t make themselves send him away. They’d gone to the sheriff and asked if he could do anything but he’d told them that Pete wasn’t hurting anyone and as long as he didn’t set the woods on fire there wasn’t anything he could do. Rob finished up by telling Jim that he should visit Pete and see if he could talk some sense into him. Even though he wasn’t going to be there long seeing him might do Pete some good. Jim said he’d try to make it over there but knew he probably wouldn’t. He had one friend dead already. He didn’t know if he could take seeing another going crazy right before his eyes.

  “I really do need to get back to work now,” Rob said after finishing the story of Pete’s plight. He looked at his watch and winced. “Yup, I’m real late for my rounds. So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at the funeral then.”

  “Yeah,” Jim mumbled as Rob turned to go. “We’ll have to get together before I leave.”

  “We can do that,” Rob said turning around and walking backwards. “Next time we won’t talk about so much of this bad stuff. We can talk about other things.”

  “Like what?” Jim asked giving him the opening he was looking for.

  “I know, you can tell me all about your date,” Rob said with a mischievous grin.

  “Hey, you know what?” Jim asked blowing off his comment. “You’re such a great police officer and all that now so why don’t you see if you can find a life or something. Quit living through me.”

  “Why? Yours is so much more entertaining,” Rob quickly fired back.

  “You know me; I’m here for your entertainment,” Jim shot back just as fast.

  Rob waved over his shoulder and walked down the street. Jim watched him go then looked up at the sky and saw it was later in the day than he’d thought. He still needed to get back to his mother’s house so he could grab a shower and be ready for his date later on. He had no clue what there was to do around here but no matter what it was he wanted to be clean and smelling good so he made a good impression. Jill might’ve just been being nice when she’d said she would go out with him but then again she’d come up with the idea herself, so she must be at least a little bit interested. At least, he could always hope, he thought.

  5

  Jill was just closing the store when Jim came running up hoping he wasn’t late for their date. He’d only had a few minutes once he got to his mother’s house to take a quick shower put on some clean clothes then run back out the door. He’d cut it close but he’d made it. True to her word Jill was ready to go.

  “Hi!” she said looking at him a little funny.

  “Hi yourself,” he answered while catching his breath. After taking a few minutes to calm down he asked, “So, what are we going to do tonight?”

  “Well,” she began nervously, “Gran came by a little while after you left to say hi and we got to talking about what all had been going on today. You know, gossiping. Well, I told her you’d come back for a short visit and that you’d been talking to Rob about Tommy’s death and how the two of you thought something a little strange was going on. She pretty much agreed but I cut her off before she could get started by telling her you and I were going to be seeing each other later. She quieted down for a minute then said if we didn’t have anything else to do then we should stop by and visit with her for a while. She said she’d missed seeing you after all these years. She also said she wanted to talk to you about something too. You know, since you were here and all.”

  “Any idea about what?” Jim asked after trying to figure out what Gran might want. True, he’d known her when he was little but that was a long time ago. He couldn’t imagine anything she might want to tell him after all this time.

  “No, no idea but whatever it is it must be really important. She told me not to forget at least five times before she left. She even tried to have me write it down so I wouldn’t forget but I told her that was going a bit too far. I mean, it’s our date after all right?”

  He didn’t know what Gran wanted but according to Jill it was important. They might as well go find out what this was all about. He’d been looking forward to spending a night alone with Jill but talking to Grandma wouldn’t take too long. Then the two of them would have the rest of the night together.

  “You’re right it is our date but it won’t hurt to stop off and see Grandma for a few minutes,” he said, “after that hopefully we can go do something else. There wasn’t much to do around here when I left but I’m sure we can find something.”

  “Oh, I’m sure we’ll find some way to pass the time,” Jill said with an impish smile. Spending part of their first with her grandmother obviously wasn’t what either of them had planned but it seemed to make her happy so he didn’t mind doing it. After that though is when
the real date would start. He knew what he wanted to do but wondered if it was along the same lines as what she had planned.

  He honestly didn’t mind taking a little time to visit with Grandma. He hadn’t seen her in so long he’d been hoping he would get a chance to visit her while he was home. Now that chance had presented itself and he was glad did. If it hadn’t been for this date he might not have found the time to see her and knew he would’ve regretted it. She might not be around the next time he finally made it home. His own grandparents died when he was young, so Grandma had sorta become a surrogate grandparent. She didn’t seem to mind too much. Why should she, it wasn’t like he took much of her time. A kind smile whenever he came in and letting him read whatever comics were on the racks wasn’t too hard. Actually now that he thought about it she’d probably welcomed it since she’d never been able to see her own grandchild.

  When he was younger Grandma used to put up with the kids from all over town being in her shop and making messes but she’d always handled it without a problem. Whenever his little group of hooligans showed their faces she’d be waiting with a smile no matter how dirty or loud they were. There was a lot of other stuff but one thing that stuck out, and he was always grateful for, was that she’d never acted like a typical adult. Other adults seemed to want the old standby of children being seen and not heard but she was the exact opposite. She wanted them to talk to her. She always seemed to have time for them not matter how trivial the topic might be. Whenever she talked to you she did it in a way that made that child feel important. She always spoke to them like they were just little people and not kids. Whether it was how much stuff they’d gotten for Christmas or if it was how many frogs they’d caught down by the creek. It was all important to her. If visiting her was all she asked from him then he figured it was the least he could do to pay her back, just a little, for all she’d done for him. Besides maybe it would be fun.

  As they began walking Jill explained that she lived with her Grandma and that it wasn’t very far away so they could just walk there if he didn’t mind. She seemed a little nervous talking to him at first but soon warmed up as the conversation started flowing. Surprisingly she thought almost all of his jokes were funny and agreed with him that there was definitely something strange about Tommy’s death. Almost as soon as that subject came up Jim steered the conversation to something else. It was the first of what he hoped might be more dates and he didn’t want to ruin it by talking about his dead friend. Jim missed Tommy, but he was sure he’d understand.

  They slowly strolled down the street towards the edge of town talking and laughing like old friends. Jim was actually surprised how well they were getting along. He usually did abysmally when it came to talking to the other sex. He was mostly glad he hadn’t put his foot in his mouth.

  A lot of the houses belonged to one of the two main developments the town boasted but there were a few that had been built off by themselves. These were set closer to the edge of the town, almost in the woods. They stood like lonely sentinels guarding the inhabitants from unseen horrors that might at any minute swoop down and devour them. At least that was how Jim always thought of them. Many of the old places were left over from the original families that had settled here and eventually helped the town grow into what it was today. The developments were added later on after others families who wanted to get away from the big cities began moving to the area.

  Sadly the town council in its infinite wisdom did nothing to keep the lonely, old guardians intact. For the most part they were run down, barely standing shacks. Some actually had fallen into nothing more than heaps of old rotten wood waiting for a well placed lightening strike to finally end their misery. They’d been built well all those years ago but since they were no longer occupied by anything other than an animal or two they’d fallen to disrepair. There were no families moving to the town anymore that wanted the problems that went along with owning one of the old places. Jim briefly entertained the idea of buying one and fixing it up back to the state it had once been but then his reality reared its ugly head. There was no reason for him to do something like that. He had no life here. He had his mom sure, but that was about it plus he hadn’t been back in years. The idea died before it’d really taken any shape. Glancing at Jill, he thought maybe there would be another reason for him to stay soon.

  A small smile spread across his face as they turned down a road he recognized. He knew it almost as well as the one leading to his house. It went to the only school in town. The one he went to when he lived here. Jim didn’t know if it was still in use but since the road wasn’t overgrown with weeds and trees he assumed it was. Not that he’d seen many kids around since his arrival. Parents were probably keeping them close to home after what had happened to Tommy.

  Trying to distract himself from morbid thoughts he pointed out different birds and trees he saw to Jill. He’d spent so much time in the forest as a kid he couldn’t help but learn what certain things were. Jill asked how he knew so much which eventually led to stories about all the mischief he’d gotten into as child growing up here. It amazed her that one kid could get in so much trouble. She had thought the town dull and boring but he seemed to open her eyes to how much there actually was to do there. At least if you were a kid.

  They soon found themselves at the end of a dirt road that branched off from the main one that in turn led to a small house set slightly back near the wood line. Jill walked confidently down the road and Jim followed to what was apparently Grandma’s house. Following closely behind Jill he had to stifle a laugh at the thought. When Jill looked questioningly over her shoulder he had to explain that he couldn’t help but think of the old Christmas carol. He whistled a few note and by the time they were half way down the path they were both laughing so hard their faces were red and Jim’s eyes were watering. He didn’t know what was so funny about the whole thing and he didn’t really care. He just liked hearing Jill’s laughter.

  “I used to think the same thing,” she said after catching her breath and opening the door of the porch. As they’d walked up and before the unexpected bout of singing he’d seen the house and found it to be what he would expect a lady like grandma to live in. Thinking back over the years to the days when he’d rode the bus this way he remembered passing the dwelling many times but not thinking about who had lived there. They’d passed by the little house everyday on the way to and from school, but he’d never really noticed it before. He knew it was there but he never really looked at it.

  The house was a typical one story that had obviously been built a long time ago but for all its age it still looked ok. Just like he imagined Grandma would when he finally saw her again. Grandma had most likely lived most, if not all, of her life there and taken care of the place through the years. There was evidence of a few minor modifications here and there that had been made, the most prominent of which was the porch they were now entering. It was in much better shape than the rest of the house. He wasn’t sure but it stood to reason that it must have been added after the original house was built. The small enclosure ran the length of most of the front of the house almost reaching all the way around to the side. Big screened in windows gave an unobstructed view of the road and surrounding forest. The wood it was constructed of was stained dark so that it would match the house as close as it possible but the constant exposure to weather gave it away. The wood paneling on the house itself was just a slight bit lighter than the porch. The hinges of the door only squealed a little as it slammed shut behind them. If nothing else somebody took care of the door. Jim could imagine Grandma sitting on one of its three chairs watching the kids pass by in the morning on their way to school with a big smile on her face.

  He felt like a bit of an intruder walking into the house but the feeling quickly disappeared when he beheld the homey environment he’d entered. If there was any other place in the world that made someone feel as welcome he couldn’t think of it. The inside just seemed to take your hand and whisper in your ear tha
t you were considered family and to stay as long as you wanted. Everywhere he looked were pictures of people he knew. Not that he knew Grandma’s family but then again looking at the pictures he did. The faces looking back at him were filled with smiles and laughter. They were picture of all of his childhood friends. Here he saw the little girl that used to live down the street from him eating an ice cream cone, there he saw the bully that used to pick on all the smaller kids reading a comic book then he came to a picture that just about took his breath away. Stepping closer he saw faces he knew as well as his own. A picture of Rob, Tommy, Pete and himself was nestled between two of other kids he vaguely recognized. He actually remembered when it was taken. The four of them were sitting outside Grandma’s store with their arms around each other making weird faces at the camera. Grandma had come outside one day while they were there and snapped it for what she said was her family photo album. When they all protested saying they weren’t in her family she just smiled and told them they may not be flesh and blood but they were still her boys.

  Jim was pulled from his revelry by a touch on his shoulder. Blinking a tear from his eye he didn’t know was there he found Jill looking at him with an understanding smile on her face. All his life, Grandma’s natural surroundings seemed to have been behind the counter at the store. He’d never thought of her any other way. Seeing this other side of her and how much all the kids actually had meant to her opened his eyes to just how special of a woman she actually was. All the kids coming and going from her store messing things up had never been a bother to her because they were the family she never had.

  Knowing this made seeing her just that much more special to Jim. Taking a last look at old friends he saw something else that was surprising. Grandma was quite the collector of penguins. All the shelves that didn’t hold a picture had penguins of some sort on them. He never even knew there were that many different things with the funny looking creature on it. It brought a smile to his face almost as much as the voice he heard coming from another part of the house.