Deacon

An Excerpt from: The Sound

Copyright © 2008 Stan Grimes

All rights reserved, Wild Child Publishing.

Her trip from Whitehorse so far had been uneventful. Meeting Josie and her newfound love, Larson, was foremost on her mind. What the hell was this marriage stuff? Josie had always said the big town of Titus owned three good-looking single men and unfortunately all three were gay. Tempest looked out the bus window and let out a sigh of relief when she saw the small town come into view. Getting up, stretching her legs, and smoking a cigarette would be heavenly.

When they stopped in Whip Knob, the town seemed unusually quiet. A one-hour lay over for the next bus to Titus would be perfect for replenishing Tempest's energy. Only two cigarettes left in her pack, that wouldn't do...nope not at all. Tempest walked down to Carbie's Stop-and-Shop and spent the last of her money on a pack of generics.

On her way back to the bus station, while passing a converted Quick-Tan Tanning Shop, Tempest met a strange man with a small black mustache coming from the opposite direction. He tipped his hat to her and smiled. The top of his head was empty...completely empty. No hair, no scalp, and no brain. It was an apparition wasn't it? She turned to see the man heading for the Stop-and-Shop store. He turned his head around and grinned an animal-like grin, his teeth bared like a dog ready to bite. The hair on the back of her neck bristled. Tempest knew fear and had lived fear her entire life with her bipolar disorder, but she had never felt the shackles of death come so close to her. Certain that she had nearly rubbed elbows with the grim reaper's twin, an audible gasp escaped her lips. No one was around to hear it.

When she arrived at the bus station, it had closed. The hair and tanning salon apparently didn't stay open after 5:00 P.M. There were benches in front of the building and one streetlight beginning to flicker to life. Tempest felt ill at ease, and the cold evening air was making its way into her skin. The bus would arrive at 5:47 P.M. according to the chalkboard outside of the salon. Her watch showed 5:38, nine more minutes. Nine minutes could be a brief moment of foreplay, or nine minutes could be a lifetime if you were scared shitless. Tempest looked around. No sight of the brainless stranger, the dog-faced bastard. Another cigarette was in order. She knew it took approximately four minutes to smoke one cigarette. In two cigarettes the bus would be rolling in. Cupping her hand around the match so the wind wouldn't extinguish it, she lit the second one. When Tempest looked up, the dog-man stood directly in front of her. Nausea began its slow slither up her throat. Her stomach crawled its way up to her mouth, the bitter taste of bile choking her. "What's the matter, Tempest?" asked the brainless man. "Stomach bothering you?" He grinned and his teeth seemed to be bigger than the last time he had looked at her.

"Who are you?" she demanded. "What do you want?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he backed quickly away from her and disappeared as fast as he had appeared. Tempest heard the diesel noise of her bus. She looked at her watch, 5:45. Thank God. She grabbed her overnight case and boarded the bus. The bus driver noticed her paleness. "You okay, lady?"

"No," she said quietly. "No, I'm not okay." She glanced behind her and the creature had disappeared, which made her feel even sicker. Tempest had this haunted feeling that she would see this...this thing again. How did it know her name? What was it? The bus moved quietly through Whip Knob. She stared out the window, seeing only shadows that soon blended into the pitch dark of night when the slight glow of Whip Knob's streetlights were behind them. She scanned around the bus and saw nothing unusual. Tempest closed her eyes and allowed herself to rest for the brief trip to Titus. Her sister, Josie, would be surprised to see her.

Tempest knew somehow that the bus stopped too soon. Everyone except for her and two elderly ladies got off into the dark night. The passengers who disembarked walked towards a very large building in the middle of nowhere. She remembered her sister talking about a new oil company that had come to Sugar Hills, but she couldn't remember the name of the place. She noticed one man getting off the bus. Before he stepped out the door, he grinned widely and said with a growling voice, "See you later, my dearest Tempest." She wanted to scream. Instead, she stared straight ahead and held on to the armrests of her seat with all of her strength. The two old ladies looked at her blankly, and she couldn't see the face of the bus driver.