S&S

During this conversation, of which he couldn’t recall a thing, despite his best efforts, something bizarre occurred, the unnatural way she spoke and the strange things she conveyed - though he didn’t necessarily recall the words, he remembered the feelings they invoked - evoked a rising, childlike, uncontrollable fear inside him. Suddenly, he found himself gazing into the deep, black voids that had taken the place of her eyes! He shivered from head to toe in horror. Her body was half way inside the car, he realized, leaning through the open door. Her face, close to his, seemed to come nearer by the moment. He stared at her, almost paralyzed, unable to look away from her pale, chalky, occasionally bruised complexion, the absence of her eyes terrified him to madness - the black voids that replaced them, covering almost a third of her face.

One mere instinct was enough for him to start the engine. The girl flinched when she found herself being pushed out of the car. She stepped back, seemingly resuming her silent crying. Then, suddenly, a terrible scream pierced the air. The man floored the accelerator as hard as he could, trying to get as far away as possible from the strange thing.

He shut the door while driving rapidly away. Scared, sweaty, and shaking, but somewhat relieved - thinking he had left her behind - he looked into the rear-view mirror. Yet, he saw her again, this time, in the back seat! And, whenever he told the story, he would reveal, lifting his hat to show them, that that was when his hair had turned all white, on the spot, from terror, he claimed. Due to the shock. He yelled, jerked the steering wheel, not quite sure if he was aiming for a tree or simply just avoiding it. Whatever he saw at that moment, he refused to share any further….

It was too terrifying, he would claim, for even him to remember. He woke up the next day in the local hospital, his head banged up, without any concrete memory of the crash or the events of that night. Except for the girl - the chilling white figure of the eyeless apparition haunted his nights forever onward, after that accident.

A ghost, most concluded, an evil Spirit, some whispered. Others, of course, had a different theory, the man had crashed into a tree, and everything else was simply the fruit of his shaken up mind, which tried to give some meaning to the trauma he had suffered. The debates continued for a while, the tale being recounted countless times in countless versions, all over the city. It became a kind of urban legend, a modern myth of the region. But Billy’s father never returned to that road again… He would rather make a detour of several tens of kilometers to avoid it. And that, of course, was more than enough to convince many people of the validity of this tale.

Although he wasn’t particularly superstitious, David felt an unexpected shiver of fear at the thought that a wretched ghost might appear in his path at that given moment, on a strange road such as that. He started the car and accelerated forward hastily. Now, he couldn’t stop smiling, thinking back to his childhood and the naiveté with which they listened to all those fantastic, nonsensical stories told by adults, or even by older boys, that were trying to spool them. Despite the many hardships, his childhood was also filled with many fun, or at least interesting events and memories of all sorts. It was the kind of childhood he wished for his children as well, should he ever have any. And if he did, he would make sure to share with them all the shenanigans he’d personally witnessed, all the beautiful moments he lived through, and even the foolish mistakes, minor or grave, that he himself had committed. Despite their nature, these memories always evoked some genuine, spontaneous smiles. No matter how tough or grim life seemed to be at times, he could always retreat into those memories of a vibrant childhood and adolescence, lived to the fullest, without a hint of regret or of hesitation. He wasn’t sure he could control the future of his children - nor did he wish to. Ultimately, it was up to them. He never wanted to impose anything upon them but hoped, at the same time, to expose them to as much of life’s offerings as possible - allowing them to make their own choices thereafter.

Out of the right window, a powerful bolt of lightning streaked, and he could’ve sworn he heard a distant scream, muffled by the fog and rain. Reflexively, he turned towards the window, scanning for the source. All he saw, however, was a sharp, crooked line of electricity, aggressively striking the ground in a field nearby. He sighed, relieved… Only a thunder strike, he thought.

He shifted his gaze back to the road ahead and that’s when he spotted it - albeit a moment too late, the obstacle in front of him seemed to have risen suddenly, out of nowhere, as if from the ground itself, right before him. The speed was too much … the horse and carriage to close.

He hit it straight on - a brief flash of light and the excruciating sound of crushing metal and wood was all that he could see and hear, a moment before he blacked out.

Eli jolted suddenly. He heard a noise, like heavy thunder - a metallic crash, unfamiliar to his ears, coming from somewhere beyond the hills, He involuntarily gripped the axe’s handle tighter. His arms began to tremble, followed by his legs. Brave…., he immediately thought, filled with concern. He felt something was amiss, but he dared not surmise what it could be.

‘Well, What do you say, Eli?’ The Prospector asked.

‘What, What are you talking about?’ Eli replied, terribly confused.

‘The boy, Eli, the boy! Diligent! I said he’s diligent, hardworking, helps everyone out. Oh, you’re not listening to me at all, are you!’ the old man reprimanded.

‘What’s gotten into you today? What’s troubling you?’

He paused, hesitated for a bit.

‘Didn’t … Didn’t you hear that?’ Eli asked, aghast, after a moment of silence, constantly casting a sceptical glance towards the forested hills up ahead.

‘No - What was I supposed to hear, Eli?’ the Prospector inquired, puzzled, tracing and following Eli’s gaze towards the hills - looking at them too, genuinely intrigued, trying to discern what had so intensely captured the young man’s attention.

‘Over there,’ Eli pointed beyond the hills, toward the horizon that sprawled in countless potential directions. ‘There was…. There was a noise, a ….sound, of some sort,’ he stated pensively.

‘Oh, come on!’ the Prospector exclaimed, exasperated, ‘Enough with this nonsense! What on earth has gotten into you?’

‘Nothing… Nothing,’ Eli concluded, dissatisfied, still suspiciously eyeing the hills.

‘Well then, snap out of it! We’re not playing games around here. We need you sharp tomorrow, as you very well know,’ the old man chided - then turned his back at him and proceeded to walk away.

Eli remained silently behind, axe in hand and trembling. He continued to squint in the direction of the hills, uncertain about what to do next… His anxiety only abated when he finally spotted little Brave carefully descending the valley. The boy was surrounded by other children, some younger and some older than he, and dragging behind him a huge kettle filled with clear spring water, which he could barely move.

He sighed in relief… Then caught the stern gaze of the Prospector, who looked back at him with a mocking grin. Staring him straight in the eye, drained of all plausible emotion or good humour, Eli raised his axe energetically, stretching his entire body upward, and then channelled all his pent - up frustration into a precise strike on the wooden log before him, splitting it in half.