A body swung on the wind somewhere in the woods, a new addition to an endless multitude, examined briefly, then left far behind by the two travelers.
“Craw~”
Sarah turned irrately to Nathan, who had produced the offensively bird-like sound.
“Please don’t do that. It annoys me.”
“I can’t help it. I’m turning into a crow from all this scavenging we’ve been doing, we’ve been hopping around the woods since 5 AM. I’ll become a gorgeous man crow and all the girl crows will love me very much. Very much. Look at how good I am at finding dead stuff! That has to be attractive in a crow!”
Nathan spread his arms wide towards the remnants surrounding him. There were seven all in all, nested between the trees. Most were more than half gone, having decayed with the passage of time. Though one seemed just about intact, or as whole as these things could be.
“It was my Idea to come here, lover boy. You’re just a lackey. No one wants a lackey.”
“And what a great idea it was, but no one told the crows that, did they?”, Nathan said before cooing at one of the remnants, “Awww. You’re gonna make me sooo popular with those corvaceous babes, won’t you boy?”
It remained motionless, nothing but a shapeless, humorless blob. Its surface undulating as memories rose out of and sank back into the main mass.
Time had eroded what bits of memory remained to the point of half coherency, grinding them into a coarse-grained mental sand whose grains then stuck to each other in clumps, forming a composite of sorts. As Nathan stared into the blob, one of the more coherent memories surfaced.
A pot of crimson liquid on a stove, and in it floating vegetables. The water boiled with soft whimpers in place of bubbling. A paintbrush, moved by an unseen hand, stirred delicately. When the stew was done, the brush pulled long lines of color on a nearby canvas, the strokes slowly morphing into the silhouette of a woman; she wept. It reeked with the stench of blood with a waft of vegetable stew.
The memory stayed on the surface briefly, long enough for Nathan to catch each and every horrifying detail. It wavered, oozing downwards, and dripping onto the floor before disappearing back into the blob.
“Always an adventure, these things,” commented Nathan in a relaxed tone, “You must be getting more detail than me with how good you are, and you still look every time. How do you cope? I know I do it by trivialising the experience, and I know that wouldn’t be considered “healthy”, but I also don’t think I want to stop. I kind of like myself this way. Unbothered.”
“I had a lot of motivation to start with. You get used to it.”
“But the experience you get from Sight is as vivid as the rest of your senses, hell it basically is the rest of your senses. It’s like getting used to eating vomit inducing, half-rotten food. The mental stuff is easy, just don’t give it any importance, but you can’t just block out a visceral experience.”
“Look, what do you want me to say? Yeah it kind of sucked at first, but then I stopped caring about the gross and disturbing bits. People are uncomfortable with butchery, but butchers get along just fine. We’re like butchers, carving dead stuff into a desirable product. Except more ethical, since our stuff was dead before we got there.”
“In some places, butchers were considered untouchables, you know? Maybe they had the right of it. Our souls might be tainted, dirty in ways we can't see, or have trained ourselves to ignore, and that’s why we can stomach stuff like what we were doing now. Maybe it’d be best for the world to shun us. Though that might happen regardless, I can’t imagine people having a good reaction to us harvesting ghosts for profit. ”
“Just drop it, and they aren’t “ghosts”. I’ve told you several times. Do you even care about all this?” said Sara tersely.
“No, not really. I think about it sometimes, when prompted, but right now I’m just kind of bored,” replied Nathan.
“Thought so. It’s 10 AM already, we should get back to the car. Wouldn’t want to be late for our meeting now, would we?”
----------------------------------------
“Now leaving Buckwood” proclaimed a road sign as they drove back home.
They knew there was a rest stop just up ahead, even though it was only a 30 minute drive between the largely rural towns of Buckwood and Riverdane. The road between the two towns was part of a regionally important highway, and so there was a rest stop dead center in between the two towns. It was staffed mostly by Riverdane residents, since it was the larger of the two.
“Stop at the rest stop, would you?”, asked Nathan, “I think they have burgers, and I’m really hungry after running around in the woods for five hours.”
“Fine. Guess you’re not turning crow-like after all, otherwise you’d have feasted on some forest rat.”
“Hardy har har.”
When they reached their destination, they pulled over into a parking spot. Curiously one of the parked cars had two spirits around it. It wasn’t exactly uncommon, since people died in accidents all the time, but you didn’t see it every day.
They got out of the car and noticed that a girl was looking intently their way. While they were used to getting stared at it was usually because they were behaving strangely while looking for remnants. It was slightly unnerving to see someone so focused on them just because, so Sarah used Sight, and Nathan could, as always, tell when she did.
“She wants to… look at you?” said Sarah.
Objectively speaking, Nathan was the eye candy of their group. He had attractive facial features, while being solidly built. He didn’t even need to try with clothing and Sarah was almost sure she caught him wearing makeup once or twice. Either way, while it wasn’t a bad thing to have something nice to look at all day, people didn’t tend to look at him that way just randomly on the street.
“Huh.The crow life seems less appealing now, what a confidence boost!” said Nathan happily. He waved at the girl, smiling benevolently. She fluttered away, nervous, trying, and failing, not to stare.
Having turned towards the entrance, a glistening neon sign informed them that they had reached the “Big bad rest stop”. From the outside it appeared to be made of wood, though it was likely that concrete lay beneath the faux-wood façade. Though the outside was all fake, they at least delivered on the implied promise of a homey feel. The interior was dotted with chairs and rectangular tables, strewn tastefully around a—presumably fake—taxidermy bear. Over to one side of the room there was a buffet-style lunch line packed tight with people, and opposite to it an empty fireplace; it was summer after all.
Among the multitude of enticing smells mostly coming from hearty, nutritious food, one could quite clearly make out the undertone of burgers. Judging by the half-empty burger section of the buffet line, despite the rest of the food seeming to be in near infinite supply. They were clearly a much sought after commodity.
Nathan and Sarah joined the line, oohing and awing at the food. It really did smell good. Sarah wasn’t quite hungry enough to buy any, but Nathan filled his plate with a burger and a plate of cucumber salad. As he did this, the man behind them turned their way.
“The burgers here taste great, don’t they? I drive over here on most of my lunch breaks. The rest stop might as well be an actual restaurant with how popular it is. It’s only a 15 minute drive too!”
“Sure,” said Nathan, smiling awkwardly. He didn’t quite know how to respond to people suddenly striking up a conversation with him while waiting in line. Sarah just remained silent, ignoring the guy.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Thankfully, the guy took the hint. He seemed just a bit dejected though. Nathan felt bad, but what could he do? He assumed the guy was a bit eccentric, and so wasn’t really up to making friends. It took a special kind of personality to drive fifteen minutes each way just to get a particular burger to eat on your lunch break.
They reached the end of the line, paid and then sat down on one of the tables furthest from the center.
When he began eating, it was clear to see on Nathan’s face just how much he really enjoyed the burger. As he took each bite his face would switch briefly to a grimace. His jaw would then move up and down, chewing methodically, before an audible swallowing sound could be heard.
“It tastes like what I imagine iron dissolved in turpentine would,” explained Nathan.
“That sounds chemically implausible,” Sarah would know, she was enrolled in their college’s chemistry course, ”Don’t stare at remnants so much.”
“Mmm,” agreed Nathan through a mouth that had suddenly been filled with deliciousness.
“Actually, once the weird synesthesia clears up a bit these things really are good. Like, I can totally believe a person driving fifteen minutes each way just to get these, at least occasionally. They’d have to be a bit of a burger fan to do it as often as that guy though.”
“I don’t exactly feel like braving the line again. I’ll try one the next time we’re here. I have a feeling we’ll become regulars.”
“True, true.”
They finished their food in silence and made to leave, but as they reached the door the girl from before bumped into Nathan.
“Oh, s-sorry,” said the girl.
“Oh, hi again! My name’s Nathan. What’s yours?”
“Olivia.”
“Nice to meet you, Olivia! I couldn’t help but notice you staring at us while we were in the parking lot and I have to ask… Do you want my number?” said Nathan brazenly. He was slightly more nervous on the inside then he showed, but he wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity.
“Um… I-ah…”, she mumbled seemingly startled by such a blasé action from a complete stranger, “Actually yes! I’d like that, ah, very much!”
“Great! It’s xxx-xxxx.”
“Could you repeat that?” asked the girl while pulling out a notepad covered densely in text.
When all was said and done, Nathan left with a satisfied smile on his face. Under more normal circumstances he would have asked her for her number too, but he’d feel bad pressuring the girl any further.
“Aren’t we feeling good about ourselves?” asked Sarah.
“Yes actually! It’s surprisingly flattering when you know a cute girl wants to stare at you. I guess being good at Sight really does have its upsides! Anyway I couldn’t just let an opportunity that magically landed in my lap go to waste. People can rarely be as certain about this kind of stuff as we can, imagine all the happy couples that might have been, but weren’t. I have a unique opportunity here, which I’d rather not waste.”
“That is much more insightful than your usual clap-trap.”
“Hey!” objected Nathan as they made their way to the car.
----------------------------------------
Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.
The needles, reinvigorated by mana from the spirits, knit continuously in the cool air. The forest provided ample shade in the summer, keeping the hut cool even with noon fast approaching.
Sarah was reading a book on the tarp, while Nathan watched the needles working. Their rhythmic motion, unobstructed by hands at work, was almost hypnotic. Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.
The door opened briefly, letting Dan in. He was dressed less casually than the others, clearly having come from some more formal engagement than prowling the woods.
“Hi guys! Sorry I’m late, the meeting with my sister's teacher ran long. They kept telling me how wonderfully talented she is, and she is—really—but I can’t make her participate in inter-school competitions if she doesn’t want to, no matter how much the school begs. I do feel like she might be wasting her potential somewhat, but what she wants to do is on her, isn’t it? And…” Started dan.
“Dan,” said Sarah, “Breathe.”
“Ah… yeah. I got a bit carried away, didn’t I? Eitherway, I’ve bought the supplies already and I’ve sent you two your cash,” he said, pulling up his left arm. In it were several very large spools of quality yarn.
“Finding a place which sold yarn of this quality in bulk was a real nightmare. I’ve added the expense to our ledgers already and all that. We’ve gotten popular online lately, so we need the yarn; we’re quite cheap for the quality we offer.
“There’s people waiting in line to buy stuff, I’ve got a list five names long! It’s good that you found six, or is that seven, of the things? You know how bad I am with Sight. Anyway, It’ll be good to be able to churn out the sweaters on a consistent schedule, people don’t like having to wait god knows how long. How was the forest by the way?”
“It was fine, we didn’t run into anything too troublesome,” lied Nathan, ”They were mostly bound to some rocks sitting on the ground. There was one bound to some sort of huge boulder, but no trouble beyond that.”
“Good to hear.”
Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.
The room was again silent but for the clicking of the needles. It was a companionable silence, they had covered all that needed to be said and were waiting for their guest. The needles worked on, a small tuft of circular fabric emerging in a vibrant green color. Knit, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl—
Bang!
“HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Was that a gunshot!?” Said Nathan as he stared towards the source of the sound, the window. The bullet had hit one of grandma’s posters right in the face and ricocheted onto the floor.
Nathan and Sarah stared at the deformed bit of brass sitting on the floor, with eyes wide open and minds completely blank. This event was so far from their expectations that they couldn’t even begin to react.
Dan had moved away from the window, and was looking at the blood slowly seeping from a graze on his upper arm in confusion.
That was when the spent bullet started floating upwards. The flat, broken remnants that remained after it had hit the wall rose into the air.
“Get down!” Said Nathan dropping to the floor. Right before the floating shrapnel shot towards them in what might as well have been shotgun fire.
Sarah had escaped the shot by pressing herself to the wall, but Dan hadn’t. His right arm was spurting blood, from several wounds, and a bit of shrapnell had embedded itself in his sternum, breaking ribs from the conducted force.
Sarah ran over to—
Bang!
Another bullet hit the far wall. Nervously, they watched, and the shrapnel rose once more.
“Fuck!” Said Sarah, as she was hit with it head on. But the shot was weaker this time, and while she was scratched up, there were no punctures.
They listened, but no third shot came, instead there were rapid footsteps.
“Lock!” screamed Sarah as the door burst open to reveal a man partway through the doorway. His left hand had cleared the porch and was apparently stuck limply in its position, constricted and without circulation, sitting half inside half outside. He had slammed head first into the now warded doorway and bounced back slightly. His right hand reached for the gun that had slipped from his hand in the crash, futilely trying to stretch out and grab it.
“He’s… He’s a sheriff?” said Nathan, Dan’s blood dripping of him. Dan’s bleeding somehow seemed to have stopped and Nathan was now looking at the man in the doorway.
He was leanly built, and visibly desperate to reach his gun. His left hand had turned a light blue already. Most notably, he was dressed in a sheriff’s uniform.
Crack!
His left shoulder let out a sickening crack, extending far beyond its usual capacity and dropping the sheriff’s body down low enough that he could reach his gun.
Nathan lunged and grabbed the sheriff’s ischemic left arm.
Suddenly, the sheriff's neck started to extend, getting longer and longer inch by inch until—Crick!—With a pop, his neck jerked, stretching further and then stopping as the sheriff went limp, hanging from his trapped limb.
He hung there for a long moment. Swaying in the wide open doorway from a single point of suspension. His arm blue, his shoulder dislocated, and his neck unsettlingly long. He looked a parody of a man—a mutilated, disturbing corpse.
The body dropped.
thump.