Original Scary Fiction
The following story is an original work. It may not be reproduced or published elsewhere without the author's permission.
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On Holdby Richard Banse
Copyright 1997, 2000 All rights reserved
Legends of ghosts and hauntings have been a part of human history for as long as man has been keeping records. Stories of haunted houses and enchanted weapons have suggested that, given a sufficiently shocking end to life or simply a task left unfinished, a human spirit may take up residence... elsewhere.
The man in the Taurus was more than a little tired, and would have appreciated the friendly lights of a diner, if only for a cup of coffee to boost his flagging energies. But the only lights offered to his eyes were the annoyingly bright headlights of the oncoming traffic, magnified in their intensity by the sheets of water covering the rain-slicked West Virginia highway. In a frustrated motion he momentarily turned the wipers off just to see if they really were making a difference. Almost snapping the control off its stem, he set it back to high speed and resigned himself to squinting and blocking the blinding lights with his hand.
"At this rate it'll be after midnight before I get home! Penny will kill me!"
Talking to himself was not an uncommon occurrence, particularly on the long, daily drive. This was the worst section of the commute, driving up the mountain on the outside lane, in a state that felt guardrails were a luxury. He stole a glance out the passenger window into the blackness beyond and suppressed a shiver. Instead, he dropped his gaze to the seat where the bouquet of long stemmed roses were wedged into position with skillful placement of cardboard boxes and his briefcase.
"Of all days to be held up by the weather - her birthday! And I promised to be there in time to celebrate." Returning his eyes to the road, he smiled and patted the briefcase. "She'll love the roses, of course, but the transfer papers will bring the biggest smile to her face. No more two hour commute through these mountains. I'll be home to her at a reasonable hour from now on."
The tractor trailer coming down the mountain was hauling rough cut timber, stacked in long logs held into position by a series of ratcheted straps. The driver was playing Hank Williams at full volume to help him stay awake. Even so, it was a losing battle.
Penny was nervously checking the roast and eyeing the clock, trying to decide whether to put dinner on hold, or take it on faith that Jack would be home shortly. It wasn't often that they got to play the "Ozzy & Harriet" roles of marriage, so it was something of a novelty. Her career as a publisher often meant odd hours, combine that with Jack's long commute and most people would say you had a recipe for disaster. But through 4 years of marriage, they managed to make it work. She finally decided to let the roast continue to cook, reasoning that Jack would call if he was going to be much later.
The men who had loaded the truck were tired and wet, anxious to be home with their families. So it was not surprising that in their haste a smaller than average sapling was included in the load with the huge trunks. Though the diameter was a full 10", the length was 4 feet shorter than the rest of the load. Only two of the straps held the trunk to it's larger brethren. A combination of the rain, carelessness, and the occasional lurch as the truck driver struggled to remain alert, had loosened one of the two straps...
Ever mindful of the edge of the highway, Jack didn't take his eyes off the road as he reached down and traced the power cord for the cell phone from the cigarette lighter. He hauled it in like a small gray fish, flipped it open and hit the memory-dial button to call home and warn Penny that he was going to be late after all.
As the tractor-trailer rounded the bend, the smaller sapling slipped from the grasp of the second strap, and swung out from the side of the truck like a jousting lance. Hank Williams finished his last song and as the tape clicked to a stop, the driver's eyes closed...
As the phone rang, Penny's heart sank. "Oh no" she thought, "Jack's calling to say he'll be late." She hurried to pick up the cordless and maintained momentum to carry her into the kitchen to salvage the roast.
"Hello?"
The hiss and crackle in the earpiece made it difficult to tell if there was anyone on the line. "Hello? Is that you Jack?" She moved about the room in an attempt to find an area of better reception. "Damn these cordless phones" she thought, "It's bad enough that the kid down the block can probably listen in, but rotten weather makes reception lousy." She yelled into the mouthpiece "Jack, if this is you, we have a bad connection. Try calling back in a minute. I'll use the bedroom phone."
She hung up the cordless and went to the bedroom where the phone was an old fashioned hard-wired model. In fact, the very phone she had made her first date with Jack on, while still living in her parent's house. It seemed so far away, those months of living at home after college, feeling like an overgrown child. Then Jack came along and changed all that. For the better, she had to admit.
She flopped back on the bed and allowed herself to reminisce about those heady days. She hugged herself as she remembered how they couldn't keep their hands off each other, how they once got caught by her uncle Tony, a cop who was patrolling the local Lover's Lane behind her old high school. She had screamed when she recognized her uncle was the officer wielding the flashlight as it shined into their parked car... and then laughed when he asked her if she wasn't a little too old to be "parking". The smile of those pleasant memories faded as she realized with a start that 20 minutes had gone by and the phone had not rung again. "The roast!" she gasped as she ran back to the kitchen, twisted the oven dial to the off position and grabbed a pair of potholders. She saw with relief that the roast was not yet ruined, and placed it on the stove to cool.
The impact was enough to jolt the driver awake. But before he could react, a larger impact threw him to the passenger side of the cab. He saw in the split second of clear view through the windshield that he had driven into the back of a tanker truck, and it was in the process of jackknifing. He threw himself at the wheel and twisted it to the right, stabbing for pedals. He watched in horror as the tanker slued sideways and swept two cars off the highway. His trained eye spotted a truck trap on the right and in desperation he attempted to aim his rig at the sand ramp. Debris splashed like water as the tractor-trailer plowed into the last hope for truckers with no brakes. The rig careened up the incline. With the sound of rending metal, the trailer overran the cab of the truck, rolling it onto its face and climbing on top like some prehistoric behemoths in heat. As it came to rest, the load shifted, and a single 10" thick log fell from the truck. It was badly splintered and a full twelve feet shorter than it had been when loaded.
Now she was getting a little worried. Was that Jack earlier? Was he in some sort of trouble? So far he was only a little over twenty minutes late, so she really shouldn't get too worried. But it wasn't like Jack not to call. Especially tonight. He had promised he would be here tonight to celebrate.
The phone rang. Penny grabbed the cordless and hurried towards the bedroom. "Hello?" She heard only static and that wind sound again. Frustrated she shook the cordless and repeated "Hello? Is that you Jack?" This time she was sure she heard her name. "Jack! Are you all right? Can you hear me?" She reached the bedroom and picked up the second phone and repeated "Jack, can you hear me now?" Without the static of the cordless phone, Penny could hear the odd noise a bit better. It sounded like a recording she once heard of what the planets were supposed to sound like, with the hiss, pop and strange wind-like harmonics of otherworldly electromagnetic fields. The she heard her name again. Swirling out of the wind, a voice that sounded almost like Jack said her name. "Jack!" she replied "Are you OK?" Moments passed as she strained to separate the voice from the background harmonics. Finally one word came through that she could recognize... "Accident..." Her heart in her throat, she screamed "Jack!", but the line went dead.
She stood for a moment paralyzed, trying to remember her husband's car phone number. Cursing her memory she went to the desk drawer and pulled out one of his business cards. As soon as she saw the first three digits she remembered it fully and hurried back to the bedroom. She dialed the number and waited nervously as the distant connections clicked and rang.
"I'm sorry, but the party you are trying to reach does not seem to be available. Message 213."
"Shit, shit, shit!" she said as she hung up the phone.
Alerted by travelers with car phones, the police were on the scene in only ten minutes, and the ambulances were not far behind. The combination of the flashing red lights and the rain made the highway and the side of the mountain look like it was awash in blood. The two cars that were swept off the road by the tanker were found twenty feet below in a ravine. A middle-aged woman in a Lexus and her poodle were the only two casualties. The second car was a VW Bus driven by a young man with long hair and wild eyes. Although miraculously unhurt physically, he appeared to be having hallucinations. He was bundled into an ambulance and sedated. The Tanker driver had regained control of his rig and eventually pulled it to the side, shaken and distraught. The driver of the tractor-trailer of timber was not so lucky. In a perverse twist, the impact of the trailer overrunning the cab had restarted the tape player, and Hank Williams sang as the driver's blood seeped into the surrounding sand.
Penny racked her brains trying to decide what to do. She first thought of calling the hospitals, but realized that although she knew her husband's route, she did not know the names of the towns along the way, and the road atlas was in the car with Jack. In despair she sat back down on the bed. "Tony!" the said with a start! Uncle Tony would know what to do. She ran to the desk and looked up Tony's number. Returning to the bedroom phone she dialed and waited impatiently for it to ring.
"Hello?" the voice on the other end said.
"Aunt Martha? This is your niece Penny. Is Uncle Tony there?" "No" Aunt Martha replied, "He's on night shift tonight. Is there a problem, dear?"
"No... well... yes" Penny said, already feeling a little foolish. "Jack is late, and I got an odd call from him... something about an accident... I didn't... I don't know quite what to do. I know that if I call my local police they won't do anything for at least 24 hours... till he is officially missing... and I thought... well, perhaps Uncle Tony might be able to tell me what to do."
There was silence on the other end for a moment... Aunt Martha was a rather strict Catholic, and although tale of Penny's adventure in lover's lane had long since become part of family lore to laugh about, Aunt Martha had never quite lost her look of disapproval. "OK dear, I will call him on his emergency number, but I must warn you, he may be cross... I'm not to call him at all unless it is a true emergency. If he thinks he can assist you he will call back. Goodbye now." Penny fought the urge to stick her tongue out at the phone.
Operating on autopilot, Penny went back to the kitchen and started to prepare the roast for leftover status. "Happy Birthday to me" she thought glumly. Ten minutes later, feeling helpless, Penny sat by the phone in the bedroom, willing it to ring. When the phone actually did ring, she jumped. As she grabbed it she exclaimed "Jack?"
"Penny? This is Uncle Tony. What seems to be the problem, dear?" Recovering, Penny said "Oh Uncle Tony, I really am sorry to bother you about this, but I really don't know what to do and I'm very worried about Jack."
"Hey" says Uncle Tony, "I'm always happy to be of assistance to rescue my sweet niece, especially from the clutches of Romeos in parked cars."
"Uncle Tony, that joke is getting pretty old now, and I am very worried about that particular "Romeo" I married. He was due home 45 minutes ago, and I know that doesn't sound late enough to get panicky about, but it is my birthday and he promised."
"I see," Uncle Tony interrupted, "Maybe he stopped off to buy you a present?"
"Well, that might explain if he was just late" Penny replied, "But what I am worried about is his phone call. He called me twice I think, but the connection was so bad I couldn't hear him the first time. The second call was 30 minutes ago, and I could tell it was him, but all I could understand was the word "accident". I tried calling him but the message comes on saying he is unavailable."
Suddenly Uncle Tony's voice lost it's jocularity. "What route does Jack take to get home? Does he take the mountain highway?"
"Yes," Penny's heart sank at her Uncle's sudden seriousness, "Why, have you heard something?"
"Well, I wouldn't worry too much, since he did call you, but there was a bad multiple car accident up there about 45 minutes ago. They are still cleaning it up. I heard reports of two fatalities, but one was a truck driver and the other was a woman. If he called you 30 minutes ago, I'm sure he is OK. The traffic mess probably held him up. I'm sure he will be home as soon as possible."
Penny absorbed this, not knowing whether to be relieved or concerned. "Uncle Tony... can I call you again if he doesn't show up or call?"
"Sure... like I said, I am always ready to come to your rescue! Here is my beeper number. Now, don't abuse the privilege. And don't tell Aunt Martha I gave it to you either. Good night dear." Penny wrote the beeper number down.
Penny wandered into the living room, unsure of what to do next. She hated waiting. Dinner was already ruined, but she didn't have the heart to start clearing away the mess. So she sat down in front of the TV and thumbed the remote to the evening news. Sure enough, there was the top story of the evening... Big Accident on the Mountain Highway. The images looked lurid in flashing red, and she struggled to see if a certain blue Taurus was visible. The oddest part of the story was a report about one of the survivors who was babbling something about giants doing battle on the highway. It was explained as possible drug use and the trauma of the accident. He claimed to have seen a medieval tournament taking place between a wooden knight and an iron bull. The young man was pictured being bundled into the ambulance, still trying to explain something to the attendants. She suppressed a shiver and switched channels.
Penny could hold it no longer and headed to the bathroom despite her fear of missing a call. Sure enough, just as she started to relax enough to relieve herself, the phone rang. "Damn, damn, damn! Why didn't I bring the cordless with me!" she silently cursed herself. Stumbling out of the bathroom into the bedroom she tried to reach the phone before the fourth ring. Too late, the answering machine picked up just as she reached it and said "Jack? Is that you?" Waiting for their now seemingly endless message to run it's course, Penny thought she could hear the wind sound again in the background. "Jack hang on till the message ends, I'm in the bedroom." The recording beep signaled and she repeated "Jack, is that you? Are you OK?"
"Penny.... Penny can you hear me?... I can hardly hear you...."
"Yes, Jack!" she yelled into the phone "I can hear you!" The sound of the wind harmonizing washed over her words, then receded.
"Penny.... I'm not sure where I am... there was an accident... I can hear people talking to the police and each other about it.... but I can't see anything..." The sound of the wind returned, carrying with it more voices that seemed to whisper things just short of being understood. Penny strained to hear Jack's voice as it seemed to wash in and out of the sea of voices. "...so sorry ...missed your birthday...." hiss... garble.... "...present for you...."
"Jack! How can I help you? Jack, tell me where you are!" Penny cried.
"So cold..." Jack's voice said, then was echoed by the sea of voices "...sssooo coooolllddd..."
Penny felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising. "Jack... oh, Jack.... where are you?" she whispered. Suddenly there was a rush of sound like a wave crashing over her, a thousand voices all calling her name, and Jack... Jack's voice only one among them. "Jack! She screamed "What has happened to you!" Suddenly, the line went dead. The silence was eerie in contrast to the constant background noise. She sat staring at the wall with the phone at her ear till the sound of the closing beep and time/date record of the answering machine broke her trance. Shaking herself like someone coming out of the ocean, she stood and looked out the window at the sheeting rain. "Jack..." she whispered.
When the phone rang again, ten minutes later. Penny walked slowly to the bed, sat down, and answered it.
"Penny?" It was Uncle Tony. "Penny dear? Are you OK? ... Hello?"
"I'm here, Uncle Tony." she replied.
"Penny, are you sitting down?"
"Yes, Uncle Tony." She said in a calm voice.
"Penny.... I'm afraid there has been an accident... A blue Taurus matching the description of your husband's car has been spotted a little further up the highway from that accident I mentioned earlier... The car had come to rest in the branches of a tree upside down. Jack may be injured, but if he was able to call you he should be all right. There is a crew trying to reach the car now... Are you OK, my dear? Hello?"
"Yes, Uncle Tony. I understand."
"I want you to stay by the phone in case he calls you again. If he does, tell him help is on the way, OK?"
"OK, Uncle Tony. Goodbye."
The cherry picker crew had finally maneuvered the unit beneath the tree, taking care not to position it in the path of a fall should the car topple from it's perch. They had been warned that there was likely an injured party in the vehicle, and were also preparing a medevac chopper. As the cherry picker slowly and gingerly rose through the branches of the massive tree, the extent of the damage to the car became more evident. A low whistle escaped the lips of one of the two men when he spotted the long, slim log extending from the windshield.
Penny waited in silence by the bedroom phone. When it rang, she hit the button that would record the conversation. "Hello?" The wind, stronger now, sounding like a chorus, sang her name in an awful harmony. "Jack..." she whispered "Are you there?"
"Penny...." more echoes... "Penny... I love you..."
"Jack" she whispered "I know... I love you too. I will always love you."
"Penny.... I can't stay..."
The sound of the wind rushed and swirled around her. She closed her eyes and said "Goodbye, Jack." "...goodbye..."
A thousand voices echoed goodbye... goodbye... and then the line was dead. Penny sat rocking, cradling the phone in her hands, and crying.
The men in the cherry picker were used to the carnage produced by auto accidents, but even they were taken aback by the sight of the wrecked Taurus. As they drew abreast of the side window of the vehicle, they could see the body of a man, strapped into the driver's seat, with a length of log occupying the spot where his head should have been. In the roof of the inverted Taurus, laying in a pool of blood, were a dozen long stemmed roses and the cell phone still clutched in the man's hand. Unnoticed by the would-be rescuers, the cell phone battery light was pulsing like the beat of a human heart. But it was slowing... slowing... and finally it glowed one last time, and went dead.
The funeral was as nice as could be expected, and even Aunt Martha warmed up to her. Uncle Tony was still acting a little strange over the whole issue of the phone calls, because according to the coroner's report, Jack died instantly when the twelve foot section of tree smashed through the windshield and took off his head. Uncle Tony was not a man given to flights of fancy, and preferred to believe she imagined the calls. She chose not to push the issue. What was the point?
Penny goes home, sits in the bedroom and pushes play on the answering machine. The sound of the wind and a thousand voices swirls around her as Jack says "Penny.... I love you..."