After coming to his decision he began relating to them all the things Rob had told him especially how the tree near Tommy looked like it’d been cut and about the goat hair. He tried to add the goat hair bit as an afterthought but wasn’t too convincing. If he thought about that part too much he would start thinking those crazy thoughts again. He definitely didn’t want that to happen. Not having been stopped he quickly moved on to the part about the tracks that were found in the area and how they couldn’t figure out where they’d come from. He didn’t mention any of his suspicions but when he was done the room had gone quiet while everyone thought about what they’d heard could mean.
Grandma sat across from him looking thoughtful. While he’d been speaking he noticed her getting more and more upset so he’d ended his tale as quickly as possible but probably not fast enough. Some of the things he’d said must’ve been known to her but a lot of it was almost certainly new. Grandma slowly closed her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. Jim thought he heard it rattling in her lungs but hoped he was mistaken. He was just nervous. He didn’t like where the conversation had ended up and hoped it would move on to something more pleasant soon. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen.
“One of my poor boys is dead and that creature from those damn woods is responsible,” Grandam whispered. “We thought it was gone. But no! Oh no! It always comes back.” She looked as if she’d aged ten years in the last few minutes. Her shoulders slumped more than they had when he’d arrived and her eyes had lost a little of that sparkle they’d previously had. Jim looked at Jill trying to find some explanation for what Grandma had just said but if anything she looked as if she were more baffled than he was.
“You,” she said looking at Jim, “are too young to know what I’m talking about and you,” she said turning to Jill, “didn’t even grow up in this cursed town so have never even heard about the damned things I’m about which I’m going to speak.” She paused to gather her thoughts. Jill looked at her worriedly before looking at Jim hoping he might know what was going on. Not having any answers for her he just shrugged his shoulders and waited. Grandma drew a shaky breath and began speaking.
“Once a long time ago this town was a very sad and dark place. It started out nice enough. When the town was new, everyone lent a hand to help each other get on their feet. For the first few months it wasn’t actually that bad of a place to be. But eventually that changed. Things started going wrong. The town itself was, by this time, quickly filling up with houses and people, so some of the folks recently arrived from other places began venturing out into the surrounding woods looking to make a place for themselves. Others went to explore, but a lot were searching for just the right spot to build their new houses and begin their new lives. Unfortunately for most that wasn’t meant to be. Those that chose to live away from town usually were rarely ever seen again.”
“Oh sure, every once in a while one or two would come stumbling from the woods but something wasn’t quite right with them. Something had gone wrong in their heads and they quickly either wandered off again or killed themselves. Some of the towns’ people tried to talk to them and find out what had gone wrong but only got strange tales for their troubles. Those that returned told of strange creatures and strange places the quiet people of the town couldn’t begin to understand.”
“They spoke of things that were quite literally beyond their belief. Mostly, the stories they told went something along the lines of having lost their way in the woods but not being too worried about it at first. They continued by saying that as they walked they could swear they heard whispers and things moving through the woods around them. They never saw what made the noises but they knew something was there. The feeling of being watched never left them. Eventually the whispering would get louder and they would begin to think they could almost understand what was being said. At first it sounded like someone was calling them. The voices sounded almost familiar to them. The people, now beginning to get scared, would start running towards what they thought was safety but they never found anyone. They would no sooner get to the place where they were sure the voices were coming from than it would suddenly start from a totally different direction. This would go on and on until they could run no farther. Then it would suddenly stop. They would collapse from exhaustion but just as they were about to fall asleep the voices would start again. Urging them to stand and look for help again. Promising they weren’t far and were almost out of the woods. If they were lucky they might suddenly find themselves out of the woods with the whispers now turned to laughter at their backs. If they weren’t lucky, well you can probably figure out that part.”
Grandma stopped at this point to take a drink of her now cold coffee. Jim had been so memorized he hadn’t even seen it sitting on the table in front of her. Thinking Jill must’ve brought it over he looked at her only to find her face full of disbelief. She probably thought her grandmother had finally gone off the deep end. Thoughts of old folks homes were most likely passing through her head right at this moment. He was just about to trying to get her attention when Grandma took up her story again.
“Others,” she began again, “told terrible stories of monstrous creatures that would chase them night and day until they thought they wouldn’t be able to take another step. Just as they were sure they were dead and had no choice but to collapse the sounds of pursuit would stop. Chest heaving, legs aching they would finally get up the nerve to turn and look for their pursuers only to find the forest behind them empty. No beast with thousands of teeth waiting, no shrouded figure with raised scythe. Just empty woods with bird chirping at them from the trees. Thinking their ordeal at an end they would soon find themselves fast asleep with thoughts of how silly they were for thinking something was chasing them dancing in their head. But then it would start again.”
“If that weren’t enough, there were a very few others who said they actually saw the creature that chased them. But like I said there were very few of these. It probably would’ve been better if there were none. The lost ones that claimed to have actually seen the creatures were the worst off. They were the ones who usually didn’t live long after their escapes. They were never extremely clear about what exactly happened but most spoke of how the creature would only come at the end of one of the chases when there was no possibility that its prey could move another inch.”
“Then it would appear, lumbering through the woods carrying a crude ax or some other type of weapon braying its horrible call. The focus of its fury would have no choice but to sit and wait for the death the creature promised by it’s approach. It would stand over them, looking down upon them with horrible leaf green eyes until they either passed out from fright or closed their eyes to wait for the end. They would stay this way, sure they could feel the beast breath on their face, smelling it’s earthy, wet stink thinking about what was about to happen. But nothing did. When they either woke or opened their eyes the thing would be gone. They said things of this type would go on for days. There was no hope of fighting back. The creature seemed to inspire weakness in them. Once brave men became babes in its presence. Then for no reason they could figure out, they would be running from one of the beasts and would suddenly find themselves back where they had started, on the edge of the woods. Alone. No creature chasing them. Nothing but the chirping birds and themselves. Thinking themselves crazy they would slowly make their ways back to town. They would be found talking to themselves about creatures that didn’t exist and these frightening stories would then be passed to the rest of town making many a brave men crowd around a fire at night. None ever returned to the woods. Most eventually wandered off. Those that didn’t, as I said, killed themselves.”