“You aren’t having fun?” Dad asked.
The hell of it was, he was right, but not for the reason he thought. He thought I didn’t want to go on this trip with him. I did. This was our thing. Ever since mom and him divorced, Dad and I would go on some cross-country trip in the summer. Last year we went to Yellowstone. The year before that we went to Niagara Falls. And, before that we went to the Grand Canyon. Trouble was this year, mom died. So even as Dad and I kept doing all the cool stuff and seeing all sorts of neat animals… I just kept thinking about how I wasn’t going to go home and tell Mom about any of it.
I was making myself sad, and my being sad was making Dad sad. Him being sad was further bumming me out. This was a sort of vicious cycle both of us were fighting and for the most part losing. My therapist insisted grieving was a process and things will get better with time. That said I was kinda figuring out that also meant things were gonna suck right now, and keep sucking for some time to come.
“No, I am,” I insisted. I forced a smile. “I am having fun. This is great.”
“We don’t have to keep doing this if you aren’t up to it, the black hills will be there next year,” he said.
“Dad, I want to go with you.” I paused for a moment, “Are you okay? Because same thing Dad. You don’t have to keep going.”
He smiled, “Nah I am good. We are getting close the camping site. We can stop there for the afternoon. Apparently, there is a river we can fish in there. Also, the place has showers, but we can stop at a hotel tomorrow if you prefer.”
“I am going to have to see those before I make a decision. Some of the places we stop at are nice enough, others are tetanus causing, and then there are the bad ones.” I explained.
Dad grinned. “Next year maybe I should try renting an RV. That will have to be better than this trailer.” We pulled into the campsite and stopped at the cabin. The place was called “Hillside” that was probably a bit of an exaggerations. The black hills were at least 20 miles from here. But you could see the mountains looming on the horizon. The whole place was also wreathed in trees. It felt like you were in the wild. The river was probably a stream or a creek, it looked to be about fifteen twenty feet wide and ran along the west side.
“Let’s get checked in,” Dad said shutting off the engine
I hopped out of the truck after. I wasn’t really paying attention and walked right into Dad’s back. Something had made him stop short. I looked passed him and went rigid also.
The lady behind a counter with a register looked just like Mom. I am not talking about striking resemblance. I mean it was identical. Mom had a beauty mark on her right cheek and a small scar on her chin. This woman had both. A moment later I could even smell the perfume she wore. My breathe caught.
The woman smiled in a practiced way that most people working retail do. It was completely unlike anything my mother ever did. I love my mom, but she had an unfortunate case of resting bitch face. This lady probably did too, but she knew how to hide it. It was when she spoke the illusion shattered “hello, Welcome to Hill Side. I am Hellen. Are you… Martin?”
“Yeah,” Dad said stepping into the cabin. It had the standard knick-knacks that all tourist places had. Post cards, animal skins, polished rocks, and maps. There was also a jackalope on the wall.
“Wonderful, I do always like dealing with those with reservations. Who is your traveling companion?” Hellen asked. She had a similar voice to mom, but the tone was off. Mom was always cheerful, but to the point. This lady was sly and playful.
“I “ I started. The uncanny valley of this was still getting to me. “I- I’m sorry. you look just like my mom. It is weirding me out.”
“Stephanie,” Dad started. He stopped when he realized he didn’t know what he wanted to say.
“Oh? Will I get to meet my twin? Is she waiting in the car?” Hellen asked.
“No she died,” I explained. “Sorry, I am Stephanie.” Wow that is not the way to say hello. Now she was going to be stuck juggling the whole saying she is sorry and trying to finish any greeting.
Instead, she turned to dad and with an almost leonine grin said, “So you’re single.” She laughed slightly. “I am awful I know. Let’s get to business. I gave you a spot by the river. I am sorry but you will have neighbors. If they give you any trouble, please contact me. other than that, the place is probably going to be mostly empty. You are just ahead of the tourist season.”
Dad finished paying for the spot we drove over and set up. nothing too tough. Set the legs. Put blocks under the wheels. Set the jack and unhitched the truck.
Dad yawned, “You cool to manage yourself for a few hours while I take a nap”
“Yeah, did we get an annual fishing license for just the daily?” I asked.
“I got a three day one,” Dad said. “You’re under eighteen so you can just fish. Do me a favor and catch and release. I would rather head out to the steakhouse tonight.”
In the end I didn’t go fishing. First, I checked out the showers. They had a men’s and women’s. the men’s was a mystery, but the women’s had four shower stalls each with a note that hot water lasted about twenty minutes. It was alright. The tiles and fixtures looked old, but everything was clean. They also had indoor plumbing for toilets which beat porta-potties any day
I walked around the rest of the site. There was a wasp nest near the dumpster. An eagles nest the south end. The bird squawked at me from the tree, that is how I noticed it. Also, Eagles sound a lot like a seagull. I took a few pictures of the bird and left it alone. The big bird probably explained the lack of other birds or squirrels and such that normally were around these places.
By the time I circled around we had neighbors. A Winnebago pulled into the spot next to ours. Two large RV’s were in the next two spots. Hellen wasn’t kidding. The river is the spot people wanted. The RV’s looked to belong to a bunch of guys with muscles. They were setting up a volleyball net. And had a bunch of red solo cups. Of course it would be the dudebros.
I picked up the pace but no luck.
“Hey Cutie!” one of the shirtless guys called. When I ignored him he jogged over. “Hey! Hold up! what’s a pretty girl like you doing here?”
“I am traveling with my dad,” I said pointing toward our spot.
“Cool, Wanna grab a drink?” he asked. He hooked a thumb over his shoulder.
Before I could say no, an even bigger guy called over, “Buck! Walk away from the kid. Get over here.”
Buck scowled, “I gotta deal with Moose and his fun hating. Come by later” He flashed a quick smile to me and turned and walked back to his group. I kept walking. The thing about dudebros is most of them were nice to look at, turns out I was into big muscles. Trouble was like most paints; those guys were toxic. I was also just old enough to understand that someone of college age slinking up to minors was probably doing that because women his age knew better. Also, there was the vague concern he could kidnap, rape, and murder me. weird stuff happens on the road. All that and I still had some tummy tickles from him. That seemed like something to unpack… later. Better deal with other stuff first.
Like our direct neighbors. A thin lady wearing overalls cut to shorts over what looked to be a two piece swimsuit. That is not that odd. What was odd was her pushing a steel fence post into the ground with her bare hands. The ground here was hard and rocky. Probably why it was part of the grassland. Most people use this thirty pound hammer on a tube called a post pounder to force them into the ground. this lady just pushing it into the dirt seemed impossible.
The lady caught me staring, she smiled, “Hello. I’m Lyka.”
I walked closer, “I’m Stephanie. My dad and I are in the trailer next to you.”
“Cool,” she said. I could tell she was sizing me up. “If the other’s give you any trouble. Come to me or call out my name. I got your back.” She looked down at the chain running around their space. “We staked out our territory. You and your dad are welcome anytime. She pulled her black hair into a ponytail. “gotta set boundaries.” She said in a tone my mom used a lot when she was talking about a lot of things at the same time.
A lot of things hitting the remember mom button today.
“Do you mind if I hang out with you for a bit? My dad seems to be sleeping still,” I asked.
“Sure, Gren is going to be cooking, I am going to be sun bathing though,” Lyka turned and started walking to the other side of the Winnebago.
Huh, I don’t know what I expected. Gren was weird. He was a wiry dude, pushing malnourished. He had tan skin that sort of put him at any race. The right side of his face was covered in rippled scars and his eye was the milky white of blindness. He was wearing a gray leather long coat with a cap that matched. He had boots that looked to be made of similar material. Then there was his right hand. It was metal.
He looked at Lyka and me and frowned, “Is my eye deceiving me, or are there two of you now?”
“There will only ever be one of me Gren,” Lyka said. “This is Stephanie. She and her dad are traveling together.
“That makes more sense,” Gren muttered. He held his right hand and a small ball of flame appeared in his fingers. He flung it absent mindedly into the fire pit. Which erupted into a full flame immediately. “A doppelganger would actually look like you.”
“neat trick with the fire,” I said.
“Magic,” Gren explained. He slid into one of those old folding chairs made of bent tubing and woven cloth. He picked up a little guitar and started strumming. He was good. Actually, how was he doing that with a prosthetic hand? I wasn’t going to ask hat felt rude.
“Like the stuff they have on that message board?” I asked. Forcing my mind to change the subject.
Lyka offered me a chair I took it; I glanced across the drive and didn’t see any signs of dad waking. Honestly this looked like as good a place to crash for a few minutes as any. I worried about dad a bit. He wasn’t sleeping well. he also wouldn’t talk to me about it. I was going to let him rest
“I don’t know what is on a message board,”Gren said.
Lyka popped the buttons on her overalls and was just like that was in a little bikini. She sprawled out on a lounge chair. “Didn’t you help Mike with that internet thing.”
“Oh yeah,” Gren said missing a few notes, “Most of that was nonsense. He honestly didn’t need my help with any of that. maybe the temporal distortion for the replies.
“Wait you know Michael Trace?” I asked. I was about to pull out my phone, but this needed further exploration.
“Yep,” Gren said. “We work together.”
“Gren, are we working?” Lyka asked. There was an edge to her tone that implied the answer better be no.
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“We are camping,” he replied, “Mike said he would be stopping by tonight.”
“That wasn’t a no,” Lyka pointed out.
“If there is work, Mike is bringing it?” Gren said mollifyingly. “You’re hungry. You get angry when you are hungry.”
“Hangry is the word for that,” I added. “What do you and Mike do?”
Gren opened a cooler and pulled out a massive hunk of meat. He impaled it on spit and put it over the fire. “Mike, Lyka, and I mostly talk to people. There is also a bit of putting folks in contact with others. It is a lot of case-by-case stuff.”
That sounded like one of Mike’s replys, “Are ghost real?” I asked.
“Yes,” Gren said slowly pouring some glaze over the meat as he turned it. “They are quite rare. Most of them are harmless. The ones that aren’t though. They are crazy dangerous. There isn’t much anyone can do about them. If you are talking to something that is supposed to be dead ask it something it shouldn’t know. If it knows it, it has crossed dark lines you need to stay away from it.”
“what about vampires?” I asked.
“They are real and for the most part should be avoided. Also, they are not into playing baseball, nor do they sparkle in the sunlight,” Gren said. He thought for a minute, “some of them will flat out catch fire in the sun.”
“Most just blister,” Lyka said keeping her eyes closed. She thought for a moment. “Didn’t one explode.”
Gren thought for a bit and nodded, “more of a rupture sort of thing. She popped like a balloon full of rot.” He cut a bunch of the seared meat of the chunk on the spit. “First round is up.”
Lyka is a thin lady but she eats like someone who…. No she eats like a family of four. I cannot begin to describe the amount of food she ate. In the coolers were three more massive chunks of meat they also had chips and sandwich fixings, cookies, and a cake. She devastated all of it. she also drank regular soda like it was water.
Gren is a good cook also.
“Stephanie, are you bothering these people?” Dad asked.
“No, Her and Gren are talking internet stuff,” Lyka said. “Care to join us? Gren is cooking, and we have another friend on the way.” I could tell my dad was running things through a bunch of parental filters. Gren looked suspicious as hell. Lyka looked, I don’t how my dad saw her.
I was starting to wonder if I had managed to get myself in trouble. That would be the first time I managed that since mom died. Hurray for progress? “They are helping me shelter from our other neighbors.” I added.
That was the exact moment that face down ass up that the way I like to fuck by the 2 live crew blared. I could see Dad’s shoulders slump, “Dudebros?”
“I suspect they are,” Gren said, “subtle clues and all.”
Buck and three others ran by one holding a football. They looked our way and saw Lyka. This of course meant they needed to come closer. Amazingly they stopped just at the edge of the chain “Hey! Hey, Beautiful! You wanna grab a drink?” Buck called.
“Gren, is a gibbon hooting at me?” Lyka asked.
“They look to be some sort of ape,” Gren acknowledge. He waved at the guys. “Sorry fellas she is not interested.”
“How about you have her say that, dude,” Buck said.
“I don’t make her do anything,” Gren pulled a cigar out of his jacket he bit the tip off. A snap of his fingers and the cigar was lit. “I don’t think you are very welcome here. How about you go back to your space and we just pretend to not notice each other?”
“How about you get fucked?” Buck snapped back. He walked right up to the chain but didn’t cross the line.
Gren stood his ground impassively, “I do most days. It is quite pleasant. You should give it a try.”
“Keep talking shit and I am going to be all over you. Is that what you want?” Buck reached over and grabbed the front of Gren’s coat.
Gren didn’t seemed to mind this at all. He considered for a moment, “If you insist, but I warn you. I scream mid-orgasm. It is a primal dominance thing.”
“Fag,” Buck shouted pushing Gren away.
Gren took all of two steps back and never came close to losing his balance. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
Buck stepped up to him again, “What are you going to do? You, bitch!”
“Nothing,” Gren said.
Buck looked confused, “What?”
“I have been protecting you from… well her,” Gren said.
Lyka had hopped back into her overalls, “Out of our space,” she instructed pointing. Toward the river.
“Or what?” Buck demanded. He towered over Lyka. He tried to push her too, but she did some sort of grab and twist thing and Buck was on his knees with his arm in a lock. “Owe! Fuck! Ouch! Goddammit! Stop!”
Lyka turned slowly on her heels, and Buck scrambled on his hand and knees to follow cussing the whole way. Lyka led him to the edge chain, “you still want to stay here?”
“No! Fuck, I’m sorry!” Buck said.
“Cool,” Lyka let him go.
The music stopped.
“Run!” a deep voice bellowed. Moose and three other guys sprinted into view. Moose was covered in blood. When he saw us he waved for us to run. “They’re coming!”
What appeared behind them was difficult to describe. Even now things sort of blur when I try and remember. What I saw was six beings riding monsters. The beings looked like men and women with mottled green skin. Their faces were masked with white wooden plates. The men had pitchforks the women had barbed chains. The things they rode looked like dogs. They had short legs and thick fur made of leaves. Their triangular heads had over large jaws full of obsidian teeth with a burning light glowing down their throats.
I froze when I saw the monsters. Gren grabbed my dad and prevented him from stepping out of the chained area.
A chain wrapped around one of the guys outside the circle. the woman yanked him off the ground and into the jaws of the dog. The dog bit him. He screamed, and kept screaming. The thing was holding him in its teeth. It wanted him alive.
Moose and his crew made it to the Winnebago. “They got Dougie!”
The things all veered away from us. They circled us for a moment. They were so fast. I realized I had been trying to run, but Lyka had been hold me and my Dad with one impossibly strong hand each on a shoulder. I had wanted to bolt. Good thing I hadn’t.
“It can’t cross the circle,” Gren said. “We just have to wait and it will leave. “He raise his voice, “Michael Trace the Mask Breaker is coming!”
“What about Dougie?” Moose demanded. He tried to stand but the massive cut in his torso was still bleeding and he was visibly paling.
Dad pushed him back into a chair. “You are going to bleed out if we don’t stop this. Stephanie get the kit out of the truck.”
Not thinking I took a step to the truck. Lyka grabbed me. Her grip was like iron. “We are not leaving the circle. “There is a kit the camper. Let’s get that.” Kit was an understatement. It was a one of those big crash kits with a defibulater and all the controlled pain meds. Actually this could have been taken from an ambulance.
Dad packed the wound and tapped it. “Just stay still. “
“Shouldn’t you stitch this up?” Moose asked. He was clearly super high from the pain meds.
“After we get you to a hospital, some more blood and get the cut clean, yeah,” Dad said. “For now, just stay still.”
Dougie screamed in agony.
That never stopped. The dog dragged him across the river to the tree line. It held him pinned and would occasionally chew on his leg. Each time the teeth would close its jaws when Dougie went still. The bites didn’t seem like they were deep but that kept chewing. At some point it was going to take his leg off.
The woman that caught him with the chain turned to look at us. She tilted her head from one side and to the other. “Who wreaths this claimed territory in the bane?”
“I did,” Gren called. “I am Grendel Ironarm. This ring will repel you and any working you could muster. Again I warn you. The Mask Breaker is coming! You should leave now.”
One of the men still on his hound rounded the Winnebago and stopped inches from Gren. Again, Gren didn’t flinch. The man gazed down at us, “We are here, waiting for him. You are a pleasant coincidence. The chattel a bonus.” He stabbed with the pitch fork.
I screamed. Others yelled. The chain rattled Gren’s right hand glowed orange with heat. The pitch fork melted and then burn to ash before crossing the chain.
He snorted a cloud of smoke. “I am Grendel Ironarm. I am not prey, nor will I be your player. These people are under protection. This ring is your bane. You nor any of your workings will cross it. I warn you a third time. Michael Mask Breaker comes soon!”
Lightning flashed and thunder roared. The multicolored sky of sunset darkened as a storm rolled in.
The man dismounted the hound and stepped up to Gren, “You will break. My lady will…”
Gren flung his glow red hand at the thing. The heat jumped from him to being. It burst into flames, and almost instantly crumpled into ashen leaves and sticks. Gren turned to us, “nothing to do but wait.”
“No!” Buck shouted. “Tell me what is going on! Now!”
Lyka stepped passed me, but Moose got there first. “Sit the down, Buck.”
“Moose I,” Buck started.
“I know you’re scared!” Moose cut over. “We all are! These people saved us. Unless you know how to help Dougie. Shut up!”
“You need to sit down,” Dad told Moose.
Moose tried to say something but wobbled. He leaned hard on Dad and Buck. They managed to get him back to the lounge chair. He clearly wanted to sit up but was losing strength. “We got to help Dougie.”
It was when Lyka’s hand rested on my shoulder that I realized I was shaking. Dougie screamed again when the dog gnawed on him again. Lyka held me tight for a second, “it will be okay.” She whispered. “Stay here.”
Thunder exploded and drowned out all sound.
Dad and Buck were trying to get Moose to stay still. Lyka and Gren were talking to each other. The other guys had taken shelter inside the Winnebago. I rounded the corner and sort of collapsed to against the wall. The hell was going on?
“Stephanie?” a voice that made my blood run cold asked seemed to whisper in my ear.
I looked up to see, “Mom?” I asked.
She was impossibly pale, but it looked like her. Even that sort of angry gaze that always twisted her expression. It wasn’t angry, like I said, unfortunate case of resting bitch face. She was draped in white and looked almost not there.
“Yes dear,” she said with a flicker of her smile. “I, I missed you. I don’t remember what happened.” Mom stumbled and feel in the mud.
I staggered to my feet, “Mom,” I took two steps toward her. But stopped at the chain. “Are you actually here?”
She pulled herself to her hands and knees, and crawled closer, “I don’t know what’s going on Stephanie. I think I was in a crash.”
She had been. I had lied to her saying I was going to be studding with friends. We went to a party at a bar that didn’t card. I was tagged in a picture and my mom saw it. while driving to come get me…
My eyes burned. “You.” I stepped back, “Mom, get inside the chain. Please.”
Mom tried to move but hurt arm crumbled as the bones shattered. Her face sunk as her skull caved in. her spine contorted. Her face pealed. She lay their crumpled and bleed. One loose eye hanging free from her head. The socket gaze at me. just like that night. I was in the car that hit her. She hadn’t been wearing a seat belt. The ghostly whisper of her voice crept into my ear, “Help me , Stephanie.”
I hesitated. Something made me recoil at the sight of her.
“Listen to what Dr. Stein said. You have to reach out again,” Mom’s voice whispered.
That broke the illusion. “you’re not Mom, are you.”
Something jerked in the thing pretending to be mom. Like a broken puppet it sat up, “Pity. You would have been a magnificent actress. Such beautiful stories we could have told. Your sadness is so sweet, like honey. Oh well.” She didn’t stand. She simply rose. She kept rising until she floated above me. her hand just reaching toward me. “Would you come willingly?”
Dad pulled me back, “Stephanie, don’t look at it.” he gasped. His eyes were wild.
“What the thing that looks like mom?” I asked. I gripped his arm harder than I should. I need to feel him. I needed to know he was really there. That he was real.
He hugged me, “no the thing behind her.”
I didn’t listen I should have listened. Lightning flashed again. Behind the thing pretending to be mom was a massive insectile shape. A segmented limb reached out of the dark. My eyes follow the limb to the body. The creature was tremendous. The trees that surrounded us grew out of its back like hairs on a person’s skin. The weight of its eyes on me all but crushed me. When it looked at me it saw everything. It saw my thoughts, my fears, my secrets, my pride, my shame. I could tell it wanted me to step outside the circle. it wanted to take me. I also knew if it did, I was never coming back.
The mad part about this is. part of me thought about going. If it could be mom, it could be dad. It could be both of them before the divorce. We could all be together.
“It’s not real,” Dad said like he was trying to convince himself as much as me. Dad pulled me back to the other side of the Winnebago. I screamed. Lyka was…. He left are was broken with the bones of the wrist protruding. Her right cheek was missing leaving her teeth visible. Her legs were covered in massive gashes. Her stomach was impaled one a wooden stake. I could see here ribs through another massive chunk missing on her skin of her chest.
She was standing there with Dougie over her shoulder. The man was bawling in agony. She looked almost unbothered by her injuries. She didn’t seem to be bleeding enough. Blood dripped from the injuries like her body fought to keep it.
When I screamed she looked around. Realizing I was upset about her injuries, she tried to smile. When that failed, she said, “icht okay. I’ll be fine. Just had to fight to get Dougie back.”
Rain began to fall. The storm was here. Dozens of ghostly specters wondered the night. They called to us. They beckoned. Some screamed and pleaded.
It was when Dougie went silent that Moose broke. He wept openly. So did Buck. The others when sheltering in the winnebago.
Shortly after everything went silent except the wind and the rain.
A lone lamp ignited revealing a tall man in black. He gazed at us with eyes that glowed golden. That was odd. Something about him caused my stomach to knot and the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up.
“Lyka, Gren, is everyone alright?” he called
“Down by one with another following.” Gren called back, Lyka is jacked up again also.”
“Eat my ass, Gren,” Lyka said.
“I don’t like seeing you hurt so often,” Gren Said. He sounded very tired when he said it.
A statuesque woman in a fine black gown appeared in from the new guy. She curtsied, “Mask Breaker, I am so pleased you have come.” She offered a hand
“Please call me, Michael,” he said with a deep. He kissed her hand. “May I ask your name?”
“I am Atropa,” she answered with a coy smile.
“What is someone like you doing in a place like this?” Mike asked.
Atropa sighed, “I’m trapped here. I have fallen beyond edges, and I can no longer find my way back home. I would ask that you destroy me?”
Mike paused for a long moment, “Dramatic as that would be, how about I simply take you home?”
The world twitched. Atropa seized Mike, “You could do that? You could bring me back to mother?”
“Yes. Swear you will release these people, never reveal the path to anyone, nor allow anyone to hunt the way, and I will deliver you back to your home.” Michael said.
I felt something leave contact with my mind as Michael to Atropa’s hand, “let us be away.”
I can’t get into every detail about the wrap up. when the sun rose the campsite and all the trees were gone. We were just in a field by the river. Moose lived. Gren and Lyka spoke with the cops and then some other people who made the cops leave. Dad and I went home. We still go on a yearly trips, but now we go to places like Disney land. Crazy things happen on the road.