The Ghost Barn

ISABELL

What am I doing?

No, truly, what was I thinking agreeing to meet my crush at this old, abandoned barn house? I must be smoking rocks to have actually come too. And now, I must be suicidal, because I'm still walking towards this barn like it doesn’t resemble a possible crack house or a mass murderers hidey-hole. Jackson was cute, but not this cute.

What I could see of the grass and lawn in the dark looked dead and patchy. And all I could hear was the occasion croak of a frog or buzzing of the local annoying insects. The barn wasn’t near any house that I could see. It was just a lone barn, out in the middle of the woods, less than a mile from the main road. The wooden boards of the barn were rotting and missing in some places. It looked to have been abandoned for many years now. The people in my town called it the Ghost Barn. It definitely looked like it housed ghosts, among other things.

I was almost to the dirty barn door that looked to be loosely hinged and ready to fall over from the slightest touch. I gave myself one last time to run from the madness of this situation. Jackson wasn’t worth this fear. But I really didn’t want to chicken out and have to explain to him that I didn’t stand him up, I just got scared and ran. It didn’t sound very attractive of me, and I was kind of trying to go for that. So, I took a deep breath, pushed my glasses higher up my nose, and gently pulled the crusty barn doors open.

It was completely dark inside. Pitch dark. None of the moon light from outside was reaching in the old barn at all. I pulled my phone out, activating the flashlight feature. When I shined the light into the barn it was almost like the interior absorbed the light I tried to shine in it. I still couldn’t see much at all. Only a couple more feet that revealed dusty and dirty floorboards. The goose bumps on my arms doubled.

“Jackson?” My voice croaked out. I cleared it and tried again with a louder voice. “Jackson? Jackson, are you there?”

Silence.

“Jackson!” I whisper-yelled. “Stop playing around, are you there? I'm going to leave if you don’t come out!”

My fear seemed to be feeding my anger and I started to get louder. “Jackson? Jack-”

A rustling noise cut me off and made my stomach drop out. My breathing became choppy and my sweat ran cold on my skin. Despite me continuing to talk and yell for Jackson, I didn’t actually think someone… or something, was in the barn. I figured I got here before him. But that noise was unmistakable. Something just moved in the barn and I had a feeling it wasn’t Jackson.

Please, please be a wild animal. Oh God, please.

I took a step back from the barn door and tried to get my breathing under control. I wasn’t very successful.

“Jackson?” I whimpered. “Is that you?”

Silence once again.

I tried to strain my hearing, but all I could hear was the fast beating of my own heart and my stuttering breath.

“Jackson… this isn’t funny. I'm leaving if you don’t quit playing around.” I was close to tears. I prayed for it to actually be Jackson, but my instincts told me I'd be lucky it was human.

As I took another step back, ready to run from this place reputation be damned, I heard another rustling noise, much closer than the last one. I was near hyperventilating at this point when the light from my phone caught movement. I zeroed in on it and my heavy breathing finally stopped because it was caught in my throat.

A shadowy leg was visible in my flashlight, a dark arm following behind. The leg was covered in ratty and dirty material, and the arm look emaciated and grotesque. The little finger on the hand was bent at an almost ninety-degree angle, making me wince at the imagined pain. I was starting to get lightheaded from not breathing but I couldn’t look away from the figure that was slowly revealing itself in my flashlight. I was so absorbed with the sight before me I couldn’t even consider breathing at this point. The figure continued to reveal itself but it was oddly hard to focus on. It seemed to flicker in my vision, not appearing to be fully solid or tangible. It was very confusing to look at and my brain kept trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

Finally, the figure appeared fully and I felt ready to pass out. It was a man, human if I had to guess, but so unnatural and bizarre that my brain was having a hard time settling on the designation of human. Its face was hollow, with skin near melting and rotted just as much as the barn. Most of its teeth were missing and what was left was blackened and decayed. It's hair hung long, but patchy, in a matted mess of tangles.

By god, is it a zombie? Has the apocalypse begun?

The figure was still partially hard to focus on, almost blinking in and out of focus while somehow fading in and out as well. It was hard to understand what I was looking at, it truly was. But I got my answer: It wasn’t Jackson. Heck, it didn’t seem to be human as well.

“W-w-what-” I tried to stutter out some form of a question. Perhaps ‘what are you?’ or ‘what are you doing here?’ or ‘what will you do with me?’

It's crooked jaw attempted to move in answer to my unfinished question. No sound came out at first, but then…

“Will… you…be… my friend?” It somehow rasped out, sounding like nails on a chalkboard. And, a marigold flower fluttered to the ground near my feet, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

I made an embarrassing squeak and my brain and body finally started to match up and work together. Flight mode was activated.

I screamed and immediately started running as far away from the barn as I possibly could. My brain finally caught up to what the inhuman creature said and without missing a step or stopping to pause, I yelled out, “No, I'm sorry!”

Why I apologized to this unknown monster, I'm not sure. Perhaps my mind thought it was safer to be polite while refusing this creature’s request. And maybe it worked, because I made it home with no casualties and no glimpse of the grotesque visage again.

BILL: THE SUPPOSED MONSTER

I watched as the young girl ran away screaming, flailing her arms wildly, while stomping on the marigold flower in the chaos; her direction of choice a weird zigzag that made sense only to those overcome with overwhelming terror. I think I heard her scream ‘no, I'm sorry’ and I appreciated the polite answer, as many rarely answer at all when I ask them to be my friend.

She was only the fourth person I've ever been able to talk to, as most humans cannot see or hear me unless they have a visual and/or auditory hearing deficiency. Seeing as she wore glasses, I guessed it to be visual.

I knew what I looked like, I truly did, but I wished someone would overlook my outward appearance and judge me off my inner self. I even gave her a pretty flower! Don’t girls like flowers nowadays? I mean, really, what’s so scary about asking someone to be his or her friend? Maybe I needed to find something less terrifying to say next time. Perhaps, ‘Hi, what’s your name?’ or ‘Would you like to come in for tea?’ I didn’t have any tea, but maybe they’d appreciate the sentiment behind the question. I was at a loss for words, being a little over a hundred years out of communication with the outside world and a lack of socialization. I’ll try harder next time. Maybe I shouldn’t reveal my full figure. Maybe only my face? But, I'm pretty sure that’s the part they scream at… Perhaps only my arm or leg? But that seemed too little to judge on…. Okay, I decided. Next time, I wont reveal anything at all, and will only speak from the darkness.

I grinned, one of my last teeth falling to the dirty barn floor. Next time, I’ll make a friend. Hopefully someone new will come by soon and I’ll win them over with my husky voice that I was told could make anyone swoon back when I was alive. Plan: Unknown Voice In The Dark will be next on the agenda!