12 May 2005Tony was tuning his guitar and Courtney was adjusting her amp while Mandy was doing her warm ups and we brass were running scales. Tony had finished clearing out his garage and we could finally hold practices somewhere larger than my living room, which I'm confident my neighbors and roommate appreciate. With all the noise, I didn't hear Lori enter, and was startled when she wrapped her arms around me from behind. She had started coming to our practices about a month earlier, to be an encouragement and to hang out. It was weird at first, having someone there that wasn't really involved, but people seemed to have gotten used to it. The question was whether that was because they were fine with her being there or because we were practicing at my place.
"Lori!" Mandy yelled, setting down her sticks and running over. The rest of the brass set their instruments down and started talking among themselves about a new song we were working on. When she got close enough, Mandy stopped and rested her hands on her hips in a mock show of authority. "I heard this bum finally asked you out for real." "That he did," Lori answered, laughing. She pinched my side and rested her head on my shoulder. "Took him long enough." "I'm right here," I said, "and I thought you had plans with Mark and Beth today." "Yes," Mandy replied, before pointing to the rest of the brass, "but instead of here, you should be over there working on 'Fly.'" Lori kissed me on the cheek and then let go of me, walking around toward Mandy. "Come on, I wanna hear all about it." "They'll live without me. You have fun," Lori said, rubbing my arm. "I'll be right back." I smiled and watched them scamper off toward the drums, then picked up my trombone and went to join the others.
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1 May 2005"So you guys just do this, on a regular basis?" Bob asked, giving the hallway a sweep with his flashlight. He was with Rick, Charles, and me exploring an abandoned house in Brookfield that Tony said he'd heard ghost stories about. Bob was, admittedly, not part of the plan, but he and Charles had been hanging out a lot lately and when we called Charles to come along they showed up together. We were walking around the first floor, having only just started.
"Well, we do it when we feel like it," I said, before lighting my cigarette. Once I'd taken a drag and put my lighter away, I checked my own flashlight and walked forward. "It's usually pretty unplanned, like this." "So what're we looking for, anyway?" "Trouble," Charles muttered. Bob rested his hand on Charles' shoulder and rubbed it a bit. "Yes, okay, but what kind of trouble?" Bob asked with a big smile. Charles sighed. "Ghosts!" Rick called out, pumping a fist in the air. "Or demons, or whatever's here." "So far neither," I said, "and hopefully not demons." "Aw come on, man. You talk real big about ghosts and spirits and gods and everything, but demons? That's where you draw the line?" "Demons are the kind of trouble that follows you home." "Are...are you guys being serious right now?" Bob asked, looking between us. "Yes," Charles said. "See, Matteson believes he can see the spiritual realm, and has this masochistic interest in exploring it, and somehow we always get roped into coming along." "Roped in? That's one of my favorite things about him!" Rick said, elbowing me in the side. "Though it's still weird hearing everyone call you that." "Well, okay, but...can he see the spiritual realm?" Bob asked. We all stopped at the bottom of the stairs, and I turned and looked at him. "Yes, I can. Whether I want to or not," I answered. "And being that it's an unavoidable part of my life, it seemed sensible I should know how to handle it." "Has this been, you know, tested in some way?" "Well, okay, so, we obviously can't really confirm what he says is going on with spirits we can't see," Charles said, wringing his hands together. "But, there are a lot of strange things that happen around him we don't really know how to explain, and he does tend to know things he shouldn't have any way of knowing." "And the behemoth," Rick offered, pointing. "You and I both saw things get knocked over by something very large and very invisible when he said that thing was following him around." "Well, the size is a guess, but..." Charles paused. "But it was invisible?" Bob asked. Charles hesitantly nodded. Rick enthusiastically nodded. "Not to me," I said. "Well okay then. That certainly sounds like a start." "I'm sorry to drag you into this," Charles said. "Oh, no! No, no, this sounds fascinating! I'd kinda like to know more!" Charles looked at him with pleading eyes. "Alright, then," I said pointing my flashlight up the stairs, "shall we?" Bob and Rick nodded and we started up the stairs. Charles groaned and followed, hanging close to Bob. 4 April 2005Charles and I arrived a few minutes later than Lori had asked but since I was under the impression the actual trivia didn't start until nearly an hour later, I was sure it would be fine. She looked angry, at first, but then very quickly shifted to a smile and came over to meet us. "Matteson! You brought a friend," she said, looking Charles over. "Yeah, I mentioned that. Sorry we're late." "Did you?" She waved her hand as she turned and started walking toward the table. "Doesn't matter, we still have time to eat and get some drinks first, right?" "What is she, a gym teacher?" Charles whispered to me as we started to walk. I smacked him. "It's more distinct than John," I whispered back. He looked like he was thinking about that for a moment. "Yeah, alright." "What are you guys whispering about back there?" she asked as she got to the table. "Nothing important," I said. She looked at us for a moment as if sizing up that answer. The guy at the table stood from behind her and extended a hand. "The famous Matteson, I presume?" he asked. I nodded and shook his hand. "So it would seem." Lori lightened up and introduced us to Mark, who had just shaken my hand, as well as Beth and Bob, and I introduced Charles, before we all took our seats. As we all talked and ate and drank, Charles got into the idea of calling me Matteson and seemed to hit it off well with Bob. By the time trivia started, the two of them were cracking jokes while the rest of us tried to handle the questions. Lori started to lean against me and I had my arm around her when I wasn't the one writing. We were actually doing pretty well when a question about the difference between naiads and dryads came up. Charles, by now a few drinks in and on a roll with Bob, decided to tell his new friend about nymphs showing up at my house over the weekend. Lori sat bolt upright and stared at him, then at me. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked around at the table, with everyone stopped and looking confused. "Nymphs?" Mark asked. "Like...the water spirits?" "Yeah, Matteson," Charles started, "he...has he not-" "It's not something I lead with, Charles," I hissed. "What's this about them showing up at your house?" Lori asked, her eyes boring into my skull. "Those are fake, though," Beth said, looking around for support. "Right?" Bob and Mark nodded. "It was a prank, from a...friend. Thought he was helping me out. I sent them home," I answered, quietly. "He's clearly a bit drunk and confused," Bob said, slapping Charles on the back. Charles laughed, and Beth and Mark waved the situation off and started writing the answer to the new question that came up. "I don't think I like this friend very much," Lori whispered. I shrugged. "I don't think we'll be seeing much of him for a while, anyway," I said. She scowled, then took a deep breath. She smiled as she turned back to the others. I glared at Charles, who mouthed an apology and then turned his gaze away to knock back some more beer. "How was I supposed to know you didn't tell 'em you see shit?" Charles yelled, slightly slurring, as I drove him home.
"Seriously? Think about how literally everyone reacts when they first hear it," I said. "I thought you liked the attention!" "Oh yeah. The years of mockery and the way so many people avoid me is definitely the highlight of this ability." "Does Lori at least know?" "Why would she?" "John! You're dating this girl and didn't tell her you see ghosts?" "We aren't officially dating, and it's hardly relevant!" "Look, man. If you do see what you say you see, it's always relevant." "You're drunk." "And I'm right! You need to tell her if this is gonna be a Thing." I sat quietly for a moment, then turned up the radio. He rolled his eyes and leaned on his window to watch the lights the rest of the way to his place. 20 December 2004I groaned as I reached over to the ringing phone, only barely turning my head from my pillow to be able to see the screen. It was Rick. I let out a low growl as I answered. "Yeah." "Were you asleep, John?" "Yeah." "It's two in the afternoon!" I grumbled and rolled onto my back. "I had a long night," I said, pushing myself up to sit with my back against the headboard. "Were you calling for any specific reason?" "We're on for the Devil's Church! Tony is getting some people together, they're going to meet us at the D'Onofrio's parking lot in about an hour. You coming?" Mandy groaned and rolled over, laying her arm across my waist. "Uh, let me check. I may have to do something real quick first." "But you'll be there? Charles and I need a ride, he's here at my place." "Yeah. I'll come get you." I hung up and leaned my head back against the wall for a moment, before putting the phone down and grabbing my smokes and a lighter. "Who was that?" she asked, her voice soft and still half asleep. "Your cousin." I lit my cigarette and breathed deep, blowing the smoke toward the ceiling. "We're gonna go investigate the Devil's Church." "Oooo, that cursed place up past Headliner's?" "The same." She began to trace her finger around my belly button as she scooted up to lean her head on my side. "Can I come?" "I think we've established you can." She lightly slapped my stomach and sat up, placing herself on my lap and facing me. "Are you in a hurry?" "We have an hour to get dressed, pick up Rick and Charles, and be up to D'Onofrio's." She hummed, running her hands down my sides and sliding herself down to slowly ease the blanket off me. "I think we can make that work." When Rick and Charles came out the door on hearing my horn, they were bickering about who would ride shotgun. I had my window down in case I'd need to yell to them, and was lighting another Newport. Mandy leaned over. "Chicks get shotgun in Alpha, you know that!" she yelled out my window. Rick jogged down and leaned against my door to peer in as Charles grumbled and moved around to climb in the seat behind her. "Mandy! John picked you up on the way?" "No," I said. She laughed and winked, then sat back up in her seat. He looked puzzled for a moment, then concern washed over his face. "Get in or we're gonna be late." With that, I began rolling up my window and turned my attention forward. Rick stood upright, paused, then got in the back behind me. He tried to bum a smoke off Mandy but she reminded him we were going to a store and he could get his own, and he was quiet the rest of the trip. D'Onofrio's is a standalone grocery store on the northern edge of the business district in Hermitage, and the last real stop before 18 becomes a freeway the whole way to Greenville, or at least the last one we acknowledge. For those of us who grew up in Sharon, it was an unstated fact that our home region ended at the store, and everything north was country. When we arrived, Tony's car wasn't there. Rick and I went in to get drinks and smokes while we waited. "John," he finally said, softly, once we were out of earshot of the car and the store, "did you fuck my cousin?" "Yes." He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. "If you-" "It was her idea. I didn't induce her to anything." "Fine. But, please, did you at least-" "I'm not answering any questions about how I had sex with your cousin." We were silent the whole time we were inside, and when we returned Tony's car was parked next to Alpha and Olivia was talking to Mandy through their open windows. As we got closer we saw that he also brought Karen, Mitch, and Rob. Mitch suggested we stop by Headliner's while we were up that way, citing his belief that strippers are always more friendly to a group that includes other women. He was soundly voted down. Rick and Olivia switched cars. After Tony and I confirmed we both knew where we were going, we set out. We joked and carried on the whole way, and judging by the way they were laughing as they got out of the car I suspected the rest of them did roughly the same. Even Rick seemed to be in a better mood. Karen went straight for Olivia and Mandy and they began talking among themselves near Alpha as the rest of us gathered next to a headstone with letters faded beyond recognition in the dying winter light. "What's the deal with this place, anyway?" Tony asked. "Wait, they didn't tell you?" I asked, looking to the group. "I thought he knew," Rick said with a shrug. "I thought everyone knew," Rob said. "Yeah, it's haunted, right?" Mitch offered. "More than that." Rick was nearly jumping when he cut back in. "It's called the Devil's Church because there's a real church in there, somewhere in the haunted woods! They went dark, started worshiping the Devil, hosting orgies, human sacrifices, the whole thing. They got so corrupt that the Earth opened up and swallowed them whole; and now, the souls of the people who died wander the woods, tempting and tormenting people that enter!" "And...why are we entering?" Tony asked, his brow furrowing. "Because! We're gonna find the church!" "No one has ever found the church itself," Rob said. "Everyone who tries falls to the spirits, and those who die there join the ghostly army." "They're gonna try to kill us?!" Charles blurted out. "Only if we don't join them willingly." "That's not better!" "They get people to do all kinds of things," Mandy said as the girls approached us. "They say groups who go in there can be best friends, but somewhere in the woods they start killing each other, or going mad. Sometimes eating each other!" "Some stories include rape," Rob offered. I raised my brow. "There...some very compelling reason you guys wanted to come along?" I asked the girls. "Oh come on, you don't really believe the stories, do you?" Olivia asked. "Besides," Mandy said, walking over to me. "If we were gonna start believing the stories, we should also believe you can just," she started fake punching the air in front of me, "break the curse and keep us safe, right?" The others laughed. "John's our ringer, guys," Rick said. "We're gonna be the first ones to find that church cause nothing gets by him." I sighed and pointed my cigarette toward the trees. "Fine. Lead the way." "I will!" With that, Rick started walking toward the woods, and we all fell into groups following him. As we got closer and closer to the trees, Karen was growing visibly more hesitant. Finally, when Rick was just past the tree line, she stopped dead in her tracks and started to shake. We all stopped and turned to face her, as Rob and Olivia tried to calm her down. She started to protest going any further, and when Rob put his hands on her shoulders and told her it'd be okay she kicked him square in the balls. He stumbled backwards and she fell to her knees, crying. Olivia and Mandy swooped down to her. I looked around. "You know, guys," I said, "it uh, it looks like no one brought a flashlight and it's getting dark. Maybe another time?" "Yeah," Tony said, weakly, "Another time." "Headliner's?" Mitch offered. "How about Denny's." We all agreed to Tony's suggestion, and started heading back to the cars. 18 december 2004The hollow on Hogback is distinct both because of the rickety wooden one-lane bridge at the bottom and the local story surrounding the name. The former is dangerous because, with the trees and curves on the way down into the hollow from either end, you can't really see the bridge or anyone else hoping to cross it until you're dangerously close. This depends somewhat on the speed you drive through it, of course, but it's almost a rite of passage for local kids to go tearing through it as fast as they dare, and an unrelated rite to stop in the dead center of the bridge and watch for the ghost. Thankfully, both events very rarely happen at the same time. The story is actually fairly unimaginative and more than a little misogynistic. Dude pays a hog as dowry to a farmer up the road, marries the farmer's daughter, wife turns out to be a bitch, dude kills his wife and carries her body to the farmer demanding his hog back, road gets named in honor of that guy for reasons no one seems to know. There are variants, but the ones I've heard largely follow that formula (except one in which she kills herself because he's a bitch, which seems almost sensible in light of the other one). It probably isn't true but the fact is no one is as interested in the story as they are in the rumor that the wife's ghost hangs around the bridge. This claim is, itself, something of a disappointment, both because no one even seems to believe she does anything interesting other than hang around, and because she isn't there. People keep dragging me into these damn woods to confirm the ghost is there, and I always have to decide whether it's better to play along or tell them the truth. "So there's nothing here?" Rick asked, rolling a blunt. "God I hope so," Charles offered. We had actually parked in the dirt beside the road and walked out to the middle of the bridge, and Charles was leaning on the side and looking down at the creek. The light was growing dim and we were all talking quietly enough to listen for an engine coming. "I didn't say nothing," I answered, as Rick put the blunt to his lips and got it lit, "I said there's no ghost." Rick let out the smoke as he passed to his cousin, Mandy. "How can you be sure?" Rick asked. "I've been here a dozen times, and there's no sign of her. Just kind of an...echo." Mandy handed off to me and I took my turn. "What's an echo?" I signed for him to wait as I passed to Charles and then exhaled. "It's like...there seem to be things that only exist because people think they exist. And they're only as real as the amount of people making them real. I call them echoes." "So there is a ghost, just not a, uh, real ghost?" "More or less." "Your friend is weird, Rick," Mandy muttered. "Your cousin is rude, Rick." She sneered at me as Rick smoked. He coughed a little as he visibly tried not to laugh. "I think that still counts as a ghost," Charles said, inching closer to the group. Rick passed. "Yeah! Isn't that ghost enough, John?" "Well, look. I can't talk to it, it can't possess anyone, and near as I can tell it just stands over there," I gestured toward a tree on the side of the creek opposite where we'd parked, "so if you wanna call it a ghost, fine, but it hardly seems worth it." Charles quickly looked to the tree. "Is it there now?" he asked, with a quiver in his voice. Rick laughed. "You're afraid! Look at you, it isn't even really a ghost and you're terrified!" "You agreed it was a ghost!" "Guys," I said, exhaling and passing. "Chill." "I'm going back to Alpha," Charles said. "We can smoke just fine there." "Hardly seems like your decision." Charles waved me off as he hurried back off the bridge. I turned to the others and saw Rick was still laughing and Mandy sighed. "I guess we might as well go get some food." With that, we all headed over and climbed into Alpha. I started the engine and we listened to the music as we finished the blunt. Right when I began to pull out, a rusty Chevette came tearing out of the trees and across the bridge, honking and veering as it passed us. It just clipped the front corner of Alpha and kept going, vanishing into the woods behind us. I grumbled, turned up the music, and punched the gas. 14 March 2001Last week, a witch at school brought in a focusing crystal. It was a solid piece of quartz, about four inches long, and since we had some downtime in choir she was showing it around and answering questions about what she does with it and letting people take a look. I was reading when Rick nudged me and asked if I'd seen it yet. I told him I hadn't. "This is the type of thing you're into, though!" he announced. I mean, yeah, I research magic here and there, but it's less that I'm into magic and more that I'd like to understand why spirits keep wanting my attention. The nuance had always been lost on him. "I mean...kinda?" "You want to see it?" she asked. It was then I noticed we'd drawn the attention of the whole group gathered around the crystal. "Ah, no, me and magic don't exactly get along," I offered. "Oh don't be ridiculous," she said, coming over. "Open your hand." "I don't think this is a good idea." "I can tell, there's something about you, try it. Just hold it for a second and see what happens." I sighed and opened my hand, and she began to hand the crystal over. As soon as it touched me, it snapped in half, and she was left holding her end of it as the rest fell into my palm. "What the hell?!" "I did warn you." When I tried to hand it back to her she refused, stating that I needed to keep it. She wasn't sure what had happened, but was confident that if I didn't keep the crystal I would be cursed in some way. There was just something about it. I could have probably told her that this is what happens when I come across magic, but it didn't seem like she was really listening, so I pocketed it and went back to my book. I threw it into some trees on the way home. I woke two days later and sat up to find a massive, black, four-legged beast sitting next to my bed and looking down on me with its white eyes. We stared at each other for a few moment before I registered that it was a spirit. "What are you doing here?" I groaned, throwing off my blanket. "Cuuuurse," it whined. I sighed and got out of bed, heading to my dresser to get ready for school. "Those don't work on me. Did they not tell you that?" I turned and saw that it was just watching me. "Please tell me you can say something other than 'curse.'" "Follow." "You want me to follow you?" "Follow." "...You're going to follow me?" It perked up slightly. "Follow!" "Awesome," I muttered, turning my attention back to getting dressed. It just sat there, waiting, while I got ready to go. When I finally walked out of my room, it got up and started following, knocking my lamp over. I stopped. "You can affect the physical world?" It purred. The thing is, it is true casting a curse on me would just not work. Any spell, really. Been like that all my life. But whatever was behind all of this was clever. "You're telling me that Tamara put a curse on you and it worked?" Charles asked. We were sitting at our lunch table after a disastrous morning. Behemoth, as I'd started calling it, was sniffing at my tray. No one could see it, of course. And it seemed to only affect physical things when it got very excited, which happened at the least convenient moments. Tapping at a brightly-colored jar of liquid in chemistry class was why I had some school-provided t-shirt on now. "She warned me there would be a curse, but I don't have any reason to suspect she cast it. And it isn't a spell, anyway, it's an actual being following me around." "Which you're not protected from?" Rick offered. "I assure you, if I knew how to get left alone by spirits, I would have done it years ago." "Right, but your-" Rick trailed off and wiggled his fingers. "Still not magic." "Right right, but like. It's weird, though." "So you think the curse didn't stick so they just sent some...thing, to annoy you?" Charles asked. Behemoth got too close to my tray and materialized just enough to knock it to the floor. Charles and Rick jolted upright. I closed my eyes, took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Something like that," I said. Behemoth was wagging its behind and trying to lick up my corn. I barely made it through two days trying to ignore Behemoth. I had a black eye to show for the time I tried to distract it and slip away and it knocked into a linebacker while catching up to me and had to replace most of our glasses after trying to do dishes the night before. I was done. It took me a couple more days of digging through dad's books and my own to find a ritual that seemed promising. I couldn't cast magic, part of the deal with being immune to it, but I suspected that if I could repel magic maybe I could use things that repelled magical beings. At this point, it seemed worth a try. I took off my necklace and stored it in my room before heading out. I had to piece the ritual together, using pieces from three different sources, but in the end I had something that seemed like it would work. It didn't, but it seemed to catch Behemoth's attention. I fiddled with the details some, trying to find out if I just did it wrong, and then tried again in a secluded part of the park. Behemoth's eyes turned glossy black and it reared up, roaring at me. A wind started to whip up around us, but only Behemoth, the paper I'd written the runic circle on, and I seemed to be affected. "Shit!" I yelled, as I nearly lost the paper. Behemoth fought against the wind which was trying to push it back, and then charged at me. I stumbled backward and the paper slipped from my hand, fluttering around in the wind briefly before slipping under Behemoth as it got near me. I barely had time to notice that the runes lit up as it was under Behemoth, and quickly threw my hand out. As soon as I felt its fur, I screamed, "Begone!" and was thrown backward. I landed in a shrub and it took me a moment of fighting to get back out of it. When I emerged, I found that the wind had stopped and Behemoth was gone. The paper was laying in the grass. Lindsay, who sat next to me in trig, hurried around some trees. "What's going--John? What the hell? Are you okay?" I dropped down to sit in the grass and waved it off as i tried to catch my breath. "Yeah," I wheezed. "Yeah. Thanks." "Fucking weirdo," she muttered, walking away. I just stared at the paper for a few minutes, and decided I needed a notebook to collect more like it. |
AuthorThe blog of John Matteson. Boost on TopWebFictionTall Tales: Volume Two now available
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