Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2014 22:26:51 GMT -6
(Language and violence warning)
“Of course I've heard the stories. Everybody has.”
That's what Teagan said. That's just the kind of thing you say to customers when it's two in the morning and you're dealing with a bunch of people sobering up from the bars. She just couldn't keep the tone out of her voice though. Truth was, what she wanted to say was Everyone's heard the stories and I don't give a fuck about the stories. That was the sort of thing that led to missing a rent payment and certain roommates kicking you out of your apartment though, so she just smiled pleasantly and fed Jackie Dunn what she knew he wanted to hear while she put the coffee down on his table.
“Yeah, but do you believe 'em?” Jackie sneered over at one of his friends “Bobby does. Bobby swears to god he saw that big bastard out in the woods one day. Don't you?”
Bobby looked up at her and shrugged a little, looking like he'd rather be talking about anything else. For about the thousandth time, Teagan wondered why he wasted his time hanging around a guy like Jackie Dunn. Jesus old glory football days could only carry a friendship so far. “We're having a coyote problem right now.” Bobby sighed “So me and Dad are walking the back line checking the snares right? And I'm telling you, I saw him clear as day. Dude must have been three hundred pounds jogging through the woods. Big, tattooed up. Like a bear on two feet.”
Teagan nodded “So I've heard. One of the guys down by the Wal-Mart said a security guard saw him out there one day with a bunch of stolen food right? So the security guard goes to get a hold of him. He says he honest to god suplexed the guy. Like, picked him up over his head and slammed him right there in the parking lot.”
Jackie laughed and took a sip of his coffee “Come on man. What? We've got a hobo wrestler living out in the woods now do we? What do you think of that now, Bobby?”
“Well, anything sounds stupid when you say it like that.”
Teagan felt a flush of embarrassment at how dismissive he was being but tried to hide it. She did a quick scan around the diner to see if there were any other tables that needed help. No such luck.
Jackie's voice broke in again “He's nothing special. Probably some drunk who got kicked out by his wife and now he's out there. Oh man, maybe he's one of those survivalist nuts right? Maybe he's on the run from the government. I bet that's it. Bet he's some nutcase.” He drew a circle in the air with his finger in front of him “I saw where they say he lives right? That's what we were talking about. We went up there today.”
“What?”
“Yeah. They say he lives up there past the highway. Big ring of trees.” Jackie yawned “So went up there and checked it out. Sure enough, looks like a guy lives up there. Nasty looking old tent. Bunch of books and stuff. So yeah, I admit that somebody's gotta be living up there. I just don't believe it's some three hundred pound giant or something. Doesn't matter now. He's gotta be gone.”
Teagan crossed her arms in front of her chest. She'd seen that little grin of his a thousand times from elementary all the way up to high school “What did you do Jackie?”
He sighed “Don't start with that tone. We took out a few trees that's all. Chopped a few up and then used the winch on the truck. Dragged them right into his camp site. That ought to chase him off.”
Bobby looked away from the two of them uncomfortably. For a second, Teagan wanted to yell at him too but she kept her frustration aimed at Jackie for now “You just chopped down some random trees out in the woods and dropped them on some guy's camp? So now, if there was some guy out there, he's either starving to death or frothing at the mouth mad. Christ, Jackie, what if the guy's an axe murderer or something and he saw you out there?”
Jackie stared at her incredulously “You're unbelievable. You're worse than him. I do like that the story has moved up the ranks from angry hobo wrestler to possible angry axe murderer though.”
“Do you know how dangerous it is to just go chopping down random trees in the forest?” Teagan threw her arms up in the air and shook her head “There are things that live out there. Things that could live in those trees. Things that might live around them. We've had a crazy mild winter, what if we get flooding? You ever think of that?”
“Oh what's the matter T? We gonna rattle up some angry tree ghost? Haunted forest moss? Flower Child's all upset now.” Jackie chuckled.
Teagan opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind. She snatched the dirt plates from off their table and stormed away back toward the kitchen. For as long as she could remember, Jackie had been an asshole about her beliefs. It was impossible to explain certain things to him, and nonstandard religions were one of them. She'd sat him down back in school and had very deliberately tried to lay out the cliff notes on what was, effectively, very basic neopaganism. You might as well have told him she was a time travelling hippie. He brought it up as his trump card in every conversation with her from that day forward. It was his little tool to make her suddenly seem small and meaningless and he used it with that seem sarcastic little laugh every time.
She hated it.
So she didn't head out of the kitchen for the next hour until they closed up shop. She made herself busy on prep work for the next day and sent one of the other girls out to work the remaining tables. Teagan cursed herself for the tips she was probably missing out on but it was worth it to not have to deal with Jackie for the rest of her night. After an hour, she was ready to head home when she turned to see Bobby still standing out by his table awkwardly.
“I don't have anything else to say to you.” She sighed “Just go home will you?”
“He doesn't mean anything by it you know? He's just playing.” Bobby explained with a shrug “You know how people can be around here.”
“Yeah. And I know you're one of the good people. But it doesn't matter too much when you stay quiet. Every time he cracks a tree hugger joke and you just let him get away with it you're sending the message that it's okay for him to make fun of me.”
Bobby frowned “You know that's...he's just a hard guy to talk to. He's kind of always got a kick out of making fun of you, but I don't think he really means anything by-”
“Because I lived out there. Because I lived out in the woods. Because me and my mom weren't obedient little church goers like everyone else in this fucking town.” Teagan rolled her eyes “You know what? I was happy about there. I was happy and throwing up my thanks to the goddess and the green man made every bit as much sense as what you did on sundays.”
“I'm not him. You're getting angry at the wrong person.”
“I'm getting angry at the person who's supposed to be a friend of mine who doesn't defend me at all.” She spat back “God, just...You know what? It does bug me. It does bug me that he's got a complete lack of respect for out there. It bugs me that his entire world is wrapped up in this little bow and he thinks that just because that part of the world isn't important to him and he can go hacking it up.”
Bobby looked like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world, but nodded slowly “I didn't want to go out there with him but once he heard those stories he just had to. He HAD to prove there was nothing out there. You know he can't leave that shit alone...can't help himself.”
“Yeah, well, he should be more careful.”
“They're just stories Teag. I know you hate when I say that. I really do want to have your back more.”
“There isn't a damn thing in the world that's 'Just a story'.” She sighed and took her coat off the hook “That's the problem. People think they know but they don't. And when you try to tell them, they act like you're crazy. There's a whole other world out past those pines. I know, I used to be part of it. And if he's smart he'll stop banging on its door. We're fine though Bobby. Just stand up for yourself a little more. Don't let him say that crap when you don't want to. I can see it every time he goes off how bad you want to tell him to stop.”
She hugged him and felt the weight fall out of shoulders. He held onto her for a second and smiled at her with that big, goofy looking grin of his. Teagan never could stay mad at him.
She let him go and zipped up her coat “If you really want to let me go you could give me a drive home. It's not a long walk but the snow is really coming down hard tonight. Everything is slush right now.”
“Wish I could, but we're still in Jackie's truck and I don't think you want to-”
WHUMPFF!
It was a heavy, hammering sound from outside the building that instantly shut Bobby up. There was an accompanying crunching sound a second later. Both of them froze in place. They might of stayed there with no idea what to do until the scream drove them into action. Jackie Dunn's terrified howl sounded like a cat caught in a dryer and Bobby bolted out of the kitchen toward the front of the diner to check on his friend. Teagan swallowed nervously and headed out after.
The parking lot was empty except for Jackie's truck. Jackie's truck, in addition to it's driver sitting in the front seat, had itself another passenger. A thick section of tree stump sat awkwardly on the hood, with it's front end having been smashed through the windshield into the car. Lucky for Jackie, it's path had mostly sliced up through the middle of the cab. Jackie himself lay unconscious in the driver's seat with blood dripping down his face.
“Oh god...” Teagan swallowed the lump in her throat and walked around to the driver's side. It had been smashed clean through and shattered pebbles of laminate glass lay all over the parking lot. They'd gone straight through the window at him “Jackie? Jackie?”
No answer.
“911? I'm out at Baxter's and we need an ambulance.” Bobby was pacing around trying not to yell into his phone “My friend was...I dunno, he's bleeding or...yeah. He's breathing fine. He's bleeding pretty heavily. Please, I can't...I don't-”
Right about then Teagan stopped listening. Her eyes locked on a little red spot on the snow. She followed the trail of tiny red drips through the lot and on in a straight line past the building to the woods itself. At first, she couldn't say she really saw him. You didn't see anything that far out through the heavy, falling snow. But she saw where he stood. She spotted where the snow seemed to sort of hit a wall. She could just see him move in the shadows under the trees. A huge black shape moving against a an even bigger black shadow. Just enough. Just enough for her to know the stories were true.
He stretched out his hand toward her. She opened her mouth to yell something to Bobby but all that came out was a useless little squeak. It waived her in, inviting her to go into the trees. Even if she wanted to, and there was no way she did, she couldn't get her legs to move. The hand moved back into the dark and a moment later he was gone into the black and green.
She stood and stared. She stood and stared when Bobby yelled in her ear. She was still standing and staring when the ambulance showed up to check on Jackie. It was his scream when they finally managed to wake him up that snapped her out of it. That night would never really leave her. Every time she'd head into work she'd take a long look out into the woods. Out into the Black and Green...
“Of course I've heard the stories. Everybody has.”
That's what Teagan said. That's just the kind of thing you say to customers when it's two in the morning and you're dealing with a bunch of people sobering up from the bars. She just couldn't keep the tone out of her voice though. Truth was, what she wanted to say was Everyone's heard the stories and I don't give a fuck about the stories. That was the sort of thing that led to missing a rent payment and certain roommates kicking you out of your apartment though, so she just smiled pleasantly and fed Jackie Dunn what she knew he wanted to hear while she put the coffee down on his table.
“Yeah, but do you believe 'em?” Jackie sneered over at one of his friends “Bobby does. Bobby swears to god he saw that big bastard out in the woods one day. Don't you?”
Bobby looked up at her and shrugged a little, looking like he'd rather be talking about anything else. For about the thousandth time, Teagan wondered why he wasted his time hanging around a guy like Jackie Dunn. Jesus old glory football days could only carry a friendship so far. “We're having a coyote problem right now.” Bobby sighed “So me and Dad are walking the back line checking the snares right? And I'm telling you, I saw him clear as day. Dude must have been three hundred pounds jogging through the woods. Big, tattooed up. Like a bear on two feet.”
Teagan nodded “So I've heard. One of the guys down by the Wal-Mart said a security guard saw him out there one day with a bunch of stolen food right? So the security guard goes to get a hold of him. He says he honest to god suplexed the guy. Like, picked him up over his head and slammed him right there in the parking lot.”
Jackie laughed and took a sip of his coffee “Come on man. What? We've got a hobo wrestler living out in the woods now do we? What do you think of that now, Bobby?”
“Well, anything sounds stupid when you say it like that.”
Teagan felt a flush of embarrassment at how dismissive he was being but tried to hide it. She did a quick scan around the diner to see if there were any other tables that needed help. No such luck.
Jackie's voice broke in again “He's nothing special. Probably some drunk who got kicked out by his wife and now he's out there. Oh man, maybe he's one of those survivalist nuts right? Maybe he's on the run from the government. I bet that's it. Bet he's some nutcase.” He drew a circle in the air with his finger in front of him “I saw where they say he lives right? That's what we were talking about. We went up there today.”
“What?”
“Yeah. They say he lives up there past the highway. Big ring of trees.” Jackie yawned “So went up there and checked it out. Sure enough, looks like a guy lives up there. Nasty looking old tent. Bunch of books and stuff. So yeah, I admit that somebody's gotta be living up there. I just don't believe it's some three hundred pound giant or something. Doesn't matter now. He's gotta be gone.”
Teagan crossed her arms in front of her chest. She'd seen that little grin of his a thousand times from elementary all the way up to high school “What did you do Jackie?”
He sighed “Don't start with that tone. We took out a few trees that's all. Chopped a few up and then used the winch on the truck. Dragged them right into his camp site. That ought to chase him off.”
Bobby looked away from the two of them uncomfortably. For a second, Teagan wanted to yell at him too but she kept her frustration aimed at Jackie for now “You just chopped down some random trees out in the woods and dropped them on some guy's camp? So now, if there was some guy out there, he's either starving to death or frothing at the mouth mad. Christ, Jackie, what if the guy's an axe murderer or something and he saw you out there?”
Jackie stared at her incredulously “You're unbelievable. You're worse than him. I do like that the story has moved up the ranks from angry hobo wrestler to possible angry axe murderer though.”
“Do you know how dangerous it is to just go chopping down random trees in the forest?” Teagan threw her arms up in the air and shook her head “There are things that live out there. Things that could live in those trees. Things that might live around them. We've had a crazy mild winter, what if we get flooding? You ever think of that?”
“Oh what's the matter T? We gonna rattle up some angry tree ghost? Haunted forest moss? Flower Child's all upset now.” Jackie chuckled.
Teagan opened her mouth to say something but changed her mind. She snatched the dirt plates from off their table and stormed away back toward the kitchen. For as long as she could remember, Jackie had been an asshole about her beliefs. It was impossible to explain certain things to him, and nonstandard religions were one of them. She'd sat him down back in school and had very deliberately tried to lay out the cliff notes on what was, effectively, very basic neopaganism. You might as well have told him she was a time travelling hippie. He brought it up as his trump card in every conversation with her from that day forward. It was his little tool to make her suddenly seem small and meaningless and he used it with that seem sarcastic little laugh every time.
She hated it.
So she didn't head out of the kitchen for the next hour until they closed up shop. She made herself busy on prep work for the next day and sent one of the other girls out to work the remaining tables. Teagan cursed herself for the tips she was probably missing out on but it was worth it to not have to deal with Jackie for the rest of her night. After an hour, she was ready to head home when she turned to see Bobby still standing out by his table awkwardly.
“I don't have anything else to say to you.” She sighed “Just go home will you?”
“He doesn't mean anything by it you know? He's just playing.” Bobby explained with a shrug “You know how people can be around here.”
“Yeah. And I know you're one of the good people. But it doesn't matter too much when you stay quiet. Every time he cracks a tree hugger joke and you just let him get away with it you're sending the message that it's okay for him to make fun of me.”
Bobby frowned “You know that's...he's just a hard guy to talk to. He's kind of always got a kick out of making fun of you, but I don't think he really means anything by-”
“Because I lived out there. Because I lived out in the woods. Because me and my mom weren't obedient little church goers like everyone else in this fucking town.” Teagan rolled her eyes “You know what? I was happy about there. I was happy and throwing up my thanks to the goddess and the green man made every bit as much sense as what you did on sundays.”
“I'm not him. You're getting angry at the wrong person.”
“I'm getting angry at the person who's supposed to be a friend of mine who doesn't defend me at all.” She spat back “God, just...You know what? It does bug me. It does bug me that he's got a complete lack of respect for out there. It bugs me that his entire world is wrapped up in this little bow and he thinks that just because that part of the world isn't important to him and he can go hacking it up.”
Bobby looked like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world, but nodded slowly “I didn't want to go out there with him but once he heard those stories he just had to. He HAD to prove there was nothing out there. You know he can't leave that shit alone...can't help himself.”
“Yeah, well, he should be more careful.”
“They're just stories Teag. I know you hate when I say that. I really do want to have your back more.”
“There isn't a damn thing in the world that's 'Just a story'.” She sighed and took her coat off the hook “That's the problem. People think they know but they don't. And when you try to tell them, they act like you're crazy. There's a whole other world out past those pines. I know, I used to be part of it. And if he's smart he'll stop banging on its door. We're fine though Bobby. Just stand up for yourself a little more. Don't let him say that crap when you don't want to. I can see it every time he goes off how bad you want to tell him to stop.”
She hugged him and felt the weight fall out of shoulders. He held onto her for a second and smiled at her with that big, goofy looking grin of his. Teagan never could stay mad at him.
She let him go and zipped up her coat “If you really want to let me go you could give me a drive home. It's not a long walk but the snow is really coming down hard tonight. Everything is slush right now.”
“Wish I could, but we're still in Jackie's truck and I don't think you want to-”
WHUMPFF!
It was a heavy, hammering sound from outside the building that instantly shut Bobby up. There was an accompanying crunching sound a second later. Both of them froze in place. They might of stayed there with no idea what to do until the scream drove them into action. Jackie Dunn's terrified howl sounded like a cat caught in a dryer and Bobby bolted out of the kitchen toward the front of the diner to check on his friend. Teagan swallowed nervously and headed out after.
The parking lot was empty except for Jackie's truck. Jackie's truck, in addition to it's driver sitting in the front seat, had itself another passenger. A thick section of tree stump sat awkwardly on the hood, with it's front end having been smashed through the windshield into the car. Lucky for Jackie, it's path had mostly sliced up through the middle of the cab. Jackie himself lay unconscious in the driver's seat with blood dripping down his face.
“Oh god...” Teagan swallowed the lump in her throat and walked around to the driver's side. It had been smashed clean through and shattered pebbles of laminate glass lay all over the parking lot. They'd gone straight through the window at him “Jackie? Jackie?”
No answer.
“911? I'm out at Baxter's and we need an ambulance.” Bobby was pacing around trying not to yell into his phone “My friend was...I dunno, he's bleeding or...yeah. He's breathing fine. He's bleeding pretty heavily. Please, I can't...I don't-”
Right about then Teagan stopped listening. Her eyes locked on a little red spot on the snow. She followed the trail of tiny red drips through the lot and on in a straight line past the building to the woods itself. At first, she couldn't say she really saw him. You didn't see anything that far out through the heavy, falling snow. But she saw where he stood. She spotted where the snow seemed to sort of hit a wall. She could just see him move in the shadows under the trees. A huge black shape moving against a an even bigger black shadow. Just enough. Just enough for her to know the stories were true.
He stretched out his hand toward her. She opened her mouth to yell something to Bobby but all that came out was a useless little squeak. It waived her in, inviting her to go into the trees. Even if she wanted to, and there was no way she did, she couldn't get her legs to move. The hand moved back into the dark and a moment later he was gone into the black and green.
She stood and stared. She stood and stared when Bobby yelled in her ear. She was still standing and staring when the ambulance showed up to check on Jackie. It was his scream when they finally managed to wake him up that snapped her out of it. That night would never really leave her. Every time she'd head into work she'd take a long look out into the woods. Out into the Black and Green...