Come Get Me Read online

  “Yeah but Grandma, you said it was somehow responsible for Tommy’s death,” Jill said. “What did you mean?”

  Grandma looked at them for a moment then focused on Jim as if she knew something she couldn’t possibly know. “Do you know if Tommy ever tried looking for or maybe even calling for the Goatman?”

  He could hear his hear thumping so loudly in his head he was surprised the two women didn’t notice it. As he looked at them parts of his dream drifted back to him. He heard four adolescent voices calling out as one asking the creature to appear. He saw the beast parting the shadows, coming towards them, answering their call. He saw the axe as it was raised in the air ready to speed its way to his death. He heard the whistle as it sliced the air and jumped as it hit its destination. But that was only a dream he thought coming back to himself. None of it had happened. Jim thought better of telling them anything about it for obvious reasons. He knew he and his friends were responsible for its return. Instead of answering her question he tried to deflect it.

  “Grandma it was just some goat hair,” he said. “I admit it’s strange that it’s there but that’s all it was.” He hoped changing the subject to something based in the real world and not in myth would defuse the tension he felt building. He didn’t trust himself to start talking about the things Grandma had brought up. He believed that she believed everything she’d said but she couldn’t be right. There were no such things as bogeymen much less Goatmen.

  “The Goatman’s just a legend,” he said having a hard time convincing himself much less them. “I’m not saying that stuff didn’t happen but it was a long time ago. This is now. People don’t just walk off into the woods and disappear anymore. We were all told the stories about the Goatman growing up but that’s all they were. Stories. None of us believed it. It’s just a legend. How could it have killed Tommy?” He felt like a shit saying all this stuff especially since he didn’t believe it but he couldn’t tell them that he and his friends were the ones who called the creature back from where ever it had been. He really wanted to believe what he was saying but he couldn’t. He just had to hope that Jill and her grandmother did.

  “It’s not just a legend!” Grandma yelled ruining that thought.

  Her anger surprised him so much he was at a loss for what to say. One minute Grandma’d sat across from him seemingly silently resigned the next she was about coming over the table yelling at him. He hadn’t been out to upset her but apparently he had. He could understand why she was upset and wished he could tell her he believed everything she said one hundred percent but he also had to try to keep things real. If he sat here and agreed with her that some mythical beast was responsible for his friends’ death, Jill might as well call the funny farm for both of them. Grandma’s outward appearance visibly shrank as Jim watched her prepare for what she would say next. Her momentary outburst seemed to have depleted what little energy she had.

  “I’m tired,” she said rising slowly from the chair. “I’m tired and I’m going to bed. All this useless talk of the old days has worn me out. Especially since it’s fallen on deaf ears. But don’t forget what I said Jim. All legends are somehow, someway, somewhere rooted in fact.” With that she turned and wafted out of the kitchen like a ghost.

  Sitting there for a few minutes, neither knew what to say. After the conversation with Grandma it seemed a mutual agreement that neither of them felt much like going out. Jill was the first to break the spell and busied herself making coffee while Jim made his way out to the porch and took a seat. It was a lot darker than when he’d first arrived. They’d spent longer talking to than he thought they would.

  The night seemed much colder now than before. He didn’t know if it was just because of the season or because of all he’d heard. Sitting there he realized something else. The night was quiet. There seemed to be no sounds. Nothing like what he was used to. There were no sirens sounding in the distance, no screaming and yelling coming from the apartments around him and no sounds coming from the mouth of the teenage gang bangers that seemed to come out like a flock of locusts after the sun went down. He’d forgotten how nice his home town was. He could get used to a place like this.

  His breath clouded in front of him as he sat enjoying the quiet night. You could almost imagine that there was nothing else on earth at that moment. But then Jill came out and instead of intruding on the moment she only enhanced it. She carried with her two steaming mugs of coffee that smelled as good as they looked. As she took a seat close to him she handed him one. Having her sitting next to him made everything seem complete. He’d forgotten how nice it was not being surrounded by noise all the time. He’d also forgotten how nice it was having a good looking woman sitting next to him.

  The thought of buying a house here, again popped into his mind but he quickly shook his head dismissing it as nothing more than a fantasy. It wasn’t a bad idea. It was just an impractical one. There was no reason to do it. To him when someone bought a house that someone should have a family to live in it with them. Other wise what was the point.

  “Well,” Jill said breaking his inner debate and bringing his mind back to the present. “That was sorta weird wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah, she did get a little excited didn’t she?” he agreed not knowing what else to say.

  “Do you think any of what she said could’ve been true?” she asked.

  “Well,” Jim said after thinking for a minute, “it’s kinda hard to believe some of it. I mean I did grow up here and I never saw anything like what she was talking about.” The little lie made him feel like a slug but he said it anyways. “Some monster going around abducting people much less chasing them around the woods for fun is a little hard to believe. I’m sure something happened but it couldn’t have been a monster. There must’ve been some other explanation.” He was still trying to convince himself and it still wasn’t working very well. The things Grandma talked about sounded too much like what had happened to him and his friends when they were little for him to just dismiss it as the prattling of an old lady. Especially since that old lady was Grandma. She wouldn’t lie about something like this. What she said could have some truth to it but he couldn’t admit that to Jill. She’d never even heard of the Goatman before now. There was no reason scare her anymore than she already was by agreeing with her grandmother.

  “Maybe it wasn’t some creature,” Jill ventured. “Maybe it was a real person terrorizing the town. It could’ve even been that old woman Grandma was talking about. She said the thing and that old woman disappeared at about the same time. Maybe it really was her like Grandma said and the lady was really some kind of Satanist or something. She could’ve been killing people as a sacrifice or something.”

  “That sounds a little more plausible to me,” Jim said thoughtfully, “Your grandmother is old but she seemed pretty sure about what she was telling us. I don’t think she would’ve gotten so upset if she thought what she was saying wasn’t the whole hearted truth. Who knows maybe she got some part of the story wrong or something.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, each struggling to make sense of their own ideas along with what Grandma had revealed to them tonight.

  “So what now?” Jill said suddenly changing the subject.

  “Well, it is a little late,” he said not even wanting to glance at his watch to see the actual time. “Tommy’s funeral is tomorrow so, I guess, maybe we should call it a night.” She looked about as disappointed as he felt which surprisingly made him feel better about leaving her. Maybe things were looking up.

  “Ok,” she said with a small smile, “but we can get together again right?”

  “Oh, I think that can be arranged,” he teased as he stood to leave.

  “What do you mean you think that can be arranged? It damn well better be if you know what’s good for you,” she answered hotly. Trying to hold back his laughter at her mock anger he turned to leave but she quickly stood up and snatched his arm.

  “Before you leave there’s something I need to do�
��” she said as she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss that started out as a quick one but ended up turning in to a much longer one. Stepping back from him a little out of breathe she looked at him in a way that gave him chills in all the right places and said “Now that’s a proper goodnight kiss. So are you sure that it can be “arranged” that we meet again?” He just shook his head up and down like one of those bobble heads you see in car windows. Smiling that smile again she turned and reached for the door. “Watch out for the Goatman on your way home,” she said over her shoulder before opening the door.

  Jim just stood there for a minute with a dorky look on his face as he watched her walk into the house and close the door. He didn’t even realize what she’d said. He was happier than he could remember being in a long time. When he finally remembered that if he wanted to get home he had to start walking, he almost had to force himself off the porch.

  6

  Moving off into the darkness it finally registered what Jill’s parting warning about the Goatman had been. Not wanting to tempt fate with everything suddenly going his way he hurried his steps just a little bit more than normal.

  After only a few steps he reached the end of the dirt road and the beginning of the paved. Looking back over his shoulder thoughts of the kiss only moments gone floated back into his head. The piercing whine of a siren brought him quickly back to reality.

  Curious about what was going on he stepped up the pace to a fast jog, praying he wouldn’t trip over anything in the dark. He quickly noticed something wasn’t right. Over the thumps of his feet hitting the ground he heard nothing. The siren had quickly gone silent along with the night around him. There wasn’t even a breeze to ruffle his hair. Slowing his pace he found that the night had, for some unknown reason, gone silent. All the insects seemed gone; the only sound he heard was his own heart beating in his chest.

  Slowing down so he could hear better and coming to an almost complete halt he tried to will some sound into existence. Waiting for some type of noise he slowly realized what was bugging him the most about the silence. It made him feel like he was being watched.

  He quickly looked back the way he’d come and could just barely make out Grandma’s house through the gloom. The Christmas carol trickled through his head again causing the beginnings of a smile to appear but something else caught his eye. Something was moving out there. He didn’t know what and still couldn’t hear anything but he was sure it was there. The blackness around him gave no indication of anything but he knew something was there.

  Beginning to walk backwards he kept his eyes on the spot he thought he’d seen something in and quickly saw movement the minute he’d taken his first step. It must be some animal, he thought as he walked faster. It was stalking him. The thing, whatever it was, seemed to be keeping its distance for now but he doubted that would last long. Glancing periodically over his shoulder to make sure nothing was in front of him he tried to figure out what it might be. Considering all he’d been able to make out was one dark object moving over another dark object he didn’t have much luck. After what seemed like forever but was actually probably only a few minutes he still couldn’t see what it was. It had to be some kind of nocturnal animal that hung around in the local woods. He couldn’t remember having animal problems when he was little but they must’ve had them considering where they lived. He must’ve interrupted its hunting when he’d come walking by. Even if he did and it wasn’t going to attack him, he didn’t exactly feel comfortable turning his back on whatever it was.

  After a few more minutes of walking backwards he was beginning to feel slightly silly. He was about to turn around and start his jog again when the far off lights from Grandma’s house suddenly let him see the creatures silhouette. What he had thought to be an animal had suddenly become something else entirely.

  He could see the outline of the thing only and it was a quick look at that but just from that little bit he wished to God he were back at Grandma’s house with Jill. Seeing the thing he wished he’d never known what it could even possibly be. It had a vaguely mannish shape and looked to have something pointy on its head. That was all Jim needed to see.

  He turned and started running. The lights of Main Street beckoned in the distance. Much to his horror the sound slapping sounds seemed to be right behind him. He didn’t know which was scarier; the fact that he was being chased through the dark or that thing chasing him sounded like it had hooves instead of feet.

  He somehow knew if he made it to the lights he’d be ok and if he didn’t, well he didn’t want to think of that. Instead he just ran. He quickly found out he was a lot more out of shape than he’d thought. Luckily it wasn’t that far. He had to make it.

  He threw a quick glance over his shoulder and vaguely a huge shadow that somehow seemed to be gaining on him. It was still too far back to see clearly but he caught parts of it as light from the street he was racing towards reflected from its body. Everything he saw and a lot that he didn’t, made him run just a little bit faster than he had been.

  Taking too much time thinking about what was pursuing him almost cost him his life. One minute he was running along looking over his shoulder the next he was almost doing a face dive onto the pavement. He’d tripped over a stick or something in the dark and had lost some of his momentum. Hear the clopping of the beasts hooves quickly helped him regain the speed he’d lost.

  Once more with his gaze clearly focused on his goal he was happy to see that it wasn’t that much farther away. It was a good thing too since he was sure the thing was breathing down his neck. Every couple of seconds a distinctly unpleasant smell seemed to blow up from behind him. The creature had to be close if he could smell what was could be nothing else but the things breathe. He didn’t want to risk another look over his shoulder for fear of what he might see. It felt as if any second the thing would end the charade and just reach out and grab him.

  The lights were much closer now. They were almost calling to him. He was almost there. He only needed to stay away from it for a few more seconds. Throwing his last burst of energy into his legs he managed to eek out a little more speed. He leaned into every step hoping it would be the one that would keep him out of deaths grasp. Squeezing his eyes shut he tried to ignore the burning in his legs and how wobbly his knees were getting. Leaning into every stride, he peeked out of his eyes just in time to see the lights wash over him in their welcome embrace.

  Not able to go any further he hoped he’d been right in thinking he’d be safe once he reached the town. Chest heaving, legs barely able to hold him up he slowly looked up. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. People were walking down the street in what he remembered was the direction the sirens had come from. Hardly anyone even seemed to notice he’d just won his race against death. Some people stopped to look at him but quickly saw he wasn’t as interesting as whatever the sirens were checking out.

  Breathing heavily Jim turned to peer into the darkness that had only minutes before almost been his tomb. Nothing had pursed him into the light. Peering into the gloom, he saw nothing. No humongous slavering beast, no manic dressed in camo ready to skewer him on a huge knife, and most of all no Goatman. There was simply nothing. The darkness had closed behind him almost like a door, refusing to reveal whatever secrets it held. There was no evidence of anything chasing him. He could even still barely make out the porch light on grandma’s house in the distance.

  Could he have imagined it all? Did Grandma’s story and his own imagination get the better of him? No, that couldn’t be it. He wouldn’t believe it. There was something there. He was sure of it. But if that was true then why wasn’t he dead? Why didn’t it continue chasing him? Why did it just stop? And how did it stop so fast? Jim had run for a good little distance even after he’d made it to the light. The thing had been right on his tail. He was sure of it and yet nothing came out of the darkness but him. What was going on? Was something actually chasing him or was he just loosing it?

  While trying to figure out th
e answers to his questions he realized the people who’d been here on his arrival were now quite some ways down the street. Nobody had paid any mind to him. There was something else more interesting. The sirens he’d heard were quiet but he could still see the lights flashing.

  Putting the troubling problem of his pursuer aside for the moment he shakily started trotting down the street. Catching up to a kid in a restaurant uniform he decided to try his luck at finding out what was going on.

  “What’s all the noise about?” he asked in what he hoped was a friendly voice.

  “From what everybody is saying something happened out at Freaky Pete’s,” the kid answered after giving Jim the once over.

  “Freaky Pete? Who the hell is that?” He was pretty sure he knew the answer but he asked anyways.