Billy's Weblog

Short Story: The Kid From The Other Side October 29, 2008

Posted by lightnessanddark in Darkness, Original Short Fiction.
Tags: ghost story, Halloween, kid from the other side, michigan, short story
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A short story for ages 8 and up…

 

The Kid from the Other Side 

by W. P. Evans 

 I’m Jacob Alexander.  I’m not really sure I want to tell you this story, because you probably won’t believe me anyway.  No one else did at first, except my cousin Jeremy and the girls who were with us that night in the woods.  I wouldn’t believe it myself if it weren’t for the fact I saw it all with my own eyes. 

I’ll just tell you; then you can decide for yourself whether or not to believe.  I don’t really care, because I know the truth, and whether you believe me or not, it won’t change what I saw at the White Pine Campground.

My family goes on two or three camping trips every year — usually two in the summer and then another one around Halloween where by brother and I put on our Halloween costumes and do some trick or treating. 

We usually go to certain places at certain times of the year, but this year we couldn’t get a spot at our usual Halloween place, so we went back up to White Pine Lake, one of our usual summertime spots.  They were going to have the trick-or-treating on Saturday afternoon.

It was kind of weird going to White Pine Lake in October, because there was no way we could go swimming in a Northern Michigan lake that time of the year or even get an ice cream at Stuckey’s, across the woods from the campground.   We were in it for the candy, and that was the bottom line.

Since the trick-or-treating was only on Saturday, Mom said we needed to bring extra things to keep us busy.  Luckily, Jeremy and his family were coming too, so I’d have someone to do stuff with when I wasn’t begging for candy. 

We really didn’t know what we were going to do when we got there, so we brought our beach pails and shovels — which was good because my brother Max ended up playing at the beach not long after we got there.  Max insisted on going down there, even though Mom warned him he wouldn’t have much time because it would be dark soon. 

It was kind of funny seeing him digging in the sand all by himself, wearing his hooded jacket and his gloves, but he really didn’t seem to care.  That’s probably the weirdest thing about my little brother; he doesn’t care how goofy he looks.  My Dad likes to say, “Max lives in his own little world, and we just get to visit him sometimes.”  My Dad says that’s normal for most 7-year-olds, but I don’t remember being like that.

While Max was busy digging up the beach, Jeremy and I decided to take a bike ride to hunt for firewood and check on a tree house we’d started building during our summer trip.  It was during our bike ride when we first met Kristen and Julianne.

The girls were coming around from the other direction, and Jeremy just stopped right there on the spot, staring at Kristen.  To my surprise, she smiled back at him.  To my even bigger surprise, the girls stopped their bikes right across the road to talk to us.

I really didn’t want to stop and talk (I was anxious to see if our tree house was still there), but Jeremy has an eye for the ladies, so we ended up stopping anyway.  We found out they were from Flushing, only about a half-hour from where we live, and they were camped just a couple of sites down from Jeremy and me.

The girls were both tall and skinny (Julianne was a little taller than Jeremy — but not me) with light-brown hair and green eyes.  Kristen’s hair was curly, and Julianne (the older one) had long, straight hair.  They said they were sisters, born 16 months apart, but really, they didn’t even need to tell us because their faces were almost identical.  Jeremy thought Julianne was cute, but he thought Kristen was really hot.

Although Jeremy thinks he’s a ladies’ man, he clams up whenever he’s around a girl he likes, so I ended up doing most of the talking.  Julianne told us she was 14.  I said I was too.  I could have killed Jeremy because his eyes went supernova when I said it.  It wasn’t that big of a lie, since I really will be 13 in December.

When Kristen said she was 13, Jeremy spoke up and said he was 13 too.  Later I told him he really needed to work on playing it cool.  He doesn’t even look 13.  Luckily the girls didn’t question his lie or mine.

The girls asked us where we were going.  I didn’t want to tell them; Jeremy, on the other hand, had no problem telling them exactly where our secret hideout was.  Then to make matters worse, he offered to take them there.

Our hideout was a half-finished tree house we were building using boards from an old shack we found in the woods.  The shack was falling apart, and you could tell no one had used it for years, so we just took the boards we wanted for the tree house.  We could see the lake from the tree house, even though it was in the middle of the woods that bordered the campground.

I decided maybe it would be okay to take the girls there, but by then it was already getting dark.  I knew if we started into the woods right then, it would be pitch black by the time we started back. 

When I said I didn’t want to go, Julianne asked me if I was scared.  I said no, but we couldn’t go right then because we didn’t have flashlights.  That was when Kristen came up with the idea to sneak out at midnight with our flashlights and go to the tree house.

I knew it was a bad idea right away, but I didn’t want to be the one who would chicken out first.  Plus, Jeremy agreed to it right away, so I really didn’t have a choice.  I could either be the scaredy-cat or I could be the 14-year-old who isn’t afraid of anything. 

After what I saw that night, I know I will never be the 14-year-old who isn’t afraid of anything.  There are some things we should all be afraid of, but we’ll get to all of that later.

Our plan was to go our separate ways until midnight, so our parents wouldn’t suspect anything.  The girls even helped us gather up some extra firewood so our folks would think that was all we’d been doing.  Unfortunately for us, it all worked perfectly.

Jeremy and I ate hot dogs roasted over the campfire and followed that up with three s’mores apiece.  That was when Jeremy put our part of the plan into action.  He was better talking to parents than he was talking to girls.

Jeremy asked his folks if I could sleep in their camper, while I asked mine if he could sleep in ours.  Neither of us have big campers, so we knew the answer we would get would be “No.”  Neither set of parents let us down.

We also knew my Aunt and Uncle brought their old tent, even though they had a camper now.  Add to that the fact my Uncle is the soundest sleeper this side of Rip Van Winkle, and we were in business.

It was too perfect.  We didn’t even have to suggest sleeping in the tent with Uncle Bob.  Aunt Cathy suggested it for us.  We could tell Uncle Bob didn’t want to sleep in the tent when he had a mattress waiting for him in the camper, but he was a good sport about it.

Later we told our parents we were too tired to take our showers, and we’d just take them in the morning.  They suggested we get our pajamas on and go to bed.  We protested a little, asking if we could just sleep in our clothes.  They went for it right away. 

Our parents were pleased at our willingness to go to bed early, but their total lack of suspicion pleased Jeremy and me.  We asked for flashlights, and soon we were bunked out in the tent with our clothes still on and the flashlights tucked neatly at the sides of our sleeping bags.

After a couple of minutes, Jeremy asked how we were going to know when it was midnight.  It was my turn to come through.  I reached in my pocket and pulled out my game player.  I told him it was already set to chime at 11:50.  Jeremy told me I was a genius.  I said, “I know.”

It took about three weeks for Uncle Bob to finally come to bed.  When he came in, we acted like he woke us up.  We asked what time it was.  He said 11:35.  It was going to be close.  The whole plan was going to be ruined if Uncle Bob wasn’t snoring in about ten minutes. 

We were almost sure our plan was over, but nine minutes later, Uncle Bob was sawing some serious logs.  We could have played the bongo drums in there, and I don’t think he would have moved a muscle.  We were ready to go.

In the quiet of the night, the tent zipper sounded like a crazy clown with a kazoo.  We looked back over at Uncle Bob.  No response.  We slipped out of the tent and zipped it back up.

As soon as we were outside in the night air, I had an incredible feeling of freedom.  I could see Jeremy was feeling it too.  We could do whatever we wanted, and no one would know.

The funny thing was, all I wanted to do right then was get back inside that tent.  Later, I wished like everything that was what we’d both done.

I was about two seconds from turning back when Jeremy gave me a thumbs-up.  I took a breath and returned the gesture.  We were on our way to meet the girls.

We got to the edge of the woods, but the girls were nowhere to be found.  I wondered if we’d been stood up, but Jeremy was confident Kristin wouldn’t do that. 

He asked me if he should kiss her if he got the chance.  I said yes knowing he’d never get the chance.  He said he would do it, but only if I kissed Julianne.  That stopped me for a moment.  Jeremy thought Julianne might let me kiss her.

Just then, I was yanked out of my thoughts by the two giggling girls on their bikes.  “We didn’t think you’d really come,” Julianne admitted.  She had on pink lipstick that made her look even older.

“We said we’d come,” I replied.  I tried to sound confident, and I think I did.  “Are you ready to do this?  We’re ready.  Me and Jeremy both have flashlights.”

“We could only find one, and it isn’t very bright.” Kristen held it up, and we knew right away it wasn’t going to last long enough.

“You can share with me.”  Jeremy held up his light.  She said thanks, and for a minute there, as she stood next to him, I thought she might kiss him.  She didn’t.

“Then I guess we’ll have to share too.” Julianne smiled at me.

“Uh, I guess so.” I couldn’t think of anything cool to say. 

I felt a chill as we started into the woods.  Branches swayed in the wind, sounding like whispering voices as Jeremy led the way, followed by Kristen and Julianne; I was in the back.  I couldn’t help but wonder if Jeremy knew where he was going because I was just realizing the woods didn’t look at all like I remembered.  They were much darker and more sinister.

I don’t have a good imagination like my brother Max, so I really don’t scare easily, but I remember feeling scared as we went deeper into the darkness of the woods.  I kept a hold of the back of Julianne’s jacket as we walked, drawing some comfort from the fact the girls hadn’t suddenly decided to turn back. 

I looked up and all I could see were black branches swaying against a deep purple sky.  My heart was pounding in my chest so hard it hurt.  All at once, Jeremy stopped dead in his tracks.  Kristen ran into the back of him, followed by Julianne and then me. 

I almost lost it when I saw the eyes glowing down from a branch above the path.  Just before I started a mad dash out of there, Jeremy’s light hit the creature, and it stared at us with the same fear we were feeling.  A raccoon.  “Get!” Jeremy scolded it like a mongrel dog, and it scurried to another branch out of sight.

“I almost peed my pants.”  I said before realizing it.  I hadn’t meant to speak.  Everyone was quiet for a moment, and I felt like a total dork.

“I think I did pee a little.”  Julianne joked.  We all let out a nervous laugh at that.  That was when I knew how cool Julianne was.

A few minutes deeper into the woods, I thought I heard whispering.  “What?  I can’t hear you.”  I whispered back.  Julianne looked back at me, and I knew right away she hadn’t said anything.  We kept walking until I heard it again.

“Did you hear that?”  Again Julianne gave me a puzzled look.  “I thought someone said something.”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“Knock it off.”  Jeremy scolded.  “Quit goofing around.”

“I’m not.”

“Hey you guys, is that it up there?”  Julianne grabbed my hand and aimed the flashlight along the path just ahead.  My hand felt warm.  There, just off the path, was the old shack where we’d taken our building materials.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Jeremy answered.  Julianne was still holding my hand with the flashlight inside it. 

“That is the creepiest place I have ever seen,” Kristen began.  “I’m not going anywhere near it.  Let’s just see the tree house and get out of here.”

We shined our lights on the shack, and somehow it looked even worse than I remembered.  It was a one-room shack, smaller than our trailer.

“You can go in,” a voice said from behind me.  Julianne and I both let out a shriek.  I swung the flashlight around, ripping my hand away from Julianne.

There, behind us on the path, was a kid just a little older than us; maybe 15.  He had on a Detroit Tigers cap and jersey.

“You jerk!” Julianne yelled at the kid.  “You almost made me have a heart attack.”

“You scared the crap out of us,” Jeremy added.

“What are you doing in the woods in the middle of the night?”  I asked.

The kid just smiled at us.  “I could ask the four of you the same thing.”

“We were going to check out a tree house we made in the summer.”  Jeremy was obviously having some trouble with the whole secret hideout concept.  So far he’d told our secret to every single person he saw.

“You put that there?  That place is awesome.  I go up there all the time.  You can see the whole lake from there.”

“Yeah, that’s the place.”  Jeremy blurted out.  I wanted to kick him, but Kristin was standing between us.

“Why are you going there right now?”  the kid asked.

“We thought it would be kinda spooky and fun.”  Kristin answered.

“We like scary things.” Julianne added.

“Yeah, but we didn’t think the woods would be this scary,” I admitted.

“You don’t need to be afraid in these woods.  I come through here all the time.  I can help you get wherever you want to go.”

“Do you live in the houses next to the campground?” Julianne asked.

“Oh, no,” he replied.  “I’m from the other side.”

“Oh, you live over by that ice cream place.  What’s it called?  Stumpys.”

“No, it’s Stuckeys,” the kid and I replied at the same time.

“So what’s your name?” Julianne asked.

“Oh, I’m Ben Shreve,” he smiled brightly at Julianne.  I was disappointed by the way she smiled back.

“Ben Shreve, I’m Julianne Porter.  This is my little sister Kristen, and these are our friends Jamie and Jacob Alexander.”

“It’s Jeremy.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Well it’s good to meet you Julianne, and friends.” 

“Nice to meet you,” I said stepping in between Ben and Julianne.  “Can we just get moving?”

“Hey Ben, do you want to come with us?” I really could have slapped Jeremy.  He just didn’t get it. 

“Wait!  Let’s check out this creepy little shack first.” Julianne suggested.  I wondered if she was trying to impress Ben — and hoped she wasn’t.

“That place?  It’s really no big deal.”

“Then why don’t you lead the way?”  I said to Ben.

“If you want to see something scary, I know someplace a whole lot better than that.”

“You do?” Julianne was starting to get on my nerves.

“Yes, I do.”

“Let’s go there then,” Julianne suggested.

“Wait a minute.  You don’t even know where he’s taking you!”  I hoped I didn’t sound whiny, but I couldn’t let him lead us who knew where.

“Okay, where are you taking us?  What’s scarier out here than the woods themselves?”  I had a strange feeling then that something bad was going to happen.  I just didn’t know what it was.

“A little farther down, there’s some bones in a thicket a little ways off the trail.”

“What kind of bones?” I asked.

“Chicken bones!”  The kid gave me a look like I was a little dork who didn’t know anything.  “Real, human bones!  Do you think I’d offer to show you a bunch of chicken bones?  Where’d you find this kid anyway?”

“Hey, lay off him.  He’s my cousin.”

“I was just kidding,” the kid leaned toward us as if he were going to tell a secret.  “So do you want to see ‘em?”

“Is it really gross?” Kristen asked.  “It’s not going to make me barf is it?”

“No.  They’re old bones.  They’ve been there at least 20 years.”

“How do you know they’re human bones?” I asked.  “Maybe they’re animal bones?”

“No, they’re human.  Let’s just say I’m sure of it.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Well, there’s a hand poking up like it’s trying to claw its way out of the grave.  Come see for yourself – unless you’re too chicken.”

“I’m not chicken,” I replied.  “But those bones of yours probably are.”  Julianne smiled at me.  I smiled back.  That was it.  I couldn’t back down now.  I had to go.

“All right then.  Follow me.” 

When the kid turned away from us, I saw he was wearing a number 3, Alan Trammell jersey.  I thought the retro jersey was cool because Trammell was my dad’s all-time favorite baseball player.  I started to think maybe the kid was all right.

I didn’t know about any chicken bones, but I had to admit, the kid knew his way around the woods.  I didn’t realize until later he’d been leading us out there in the dark without a flashlight.

The kid led us farther down the trail past our half-built tree house.  We stopped and looked at it for a moment, but by now everyone just wanted to keep moving.  After the tree house disappeared from view, the kid took a right turn and started wading through the thicket. 

I was right behind him, but it was hard to follow him with all of the thorns and burrs catching on my clothes.  I was afraid I was going to rip my jacket, but I kept following him deeper into the thicket. 

I figured there must have been a path because the kid was moving so fast, but I couldn’t find it, so I had to push my way through. 

After a couple of minutes, I turned around to ask Jeremy if he was getting all scratched up, but he and the girls had fallen way behind the kid and me.  I stopped for a minute to wait for them, but the kid urged me on.  “Just a little farther.  We’re almost there.”

I started getting suspicious.  This was a perfect setup.  A pretty, older girl acts like she likes me.  Then her younger sister suggests we sneak off into the woods in the middle of the night.  Then some strange kid shows up in the middle of the woods at midnight and happens upon us.  This whole thing was starting to look like one big practical joke – on me!  I wondered if Jeremy was somehow in on it.

I decided I wasn’t falling for it.  I was heading back no matter who called me a chicken.  I tried to turn around, but the thicket had enveloped me.  I pulled harder, but I fell, dropping my flashlight. 

The light went out, and the woods went completely black.  I was blind.  I fought off a scream.  I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.  Their joke wasn’t going to work on me.  I reached around for the light, breaking a few twigs in my search.

Finally I felt the cold metal of the handle and picked up the flashlight.  I shook it, but it didn’t do anything.  I rolled onto my back to free my other hand to twist the end of the light.  Finally it came back on – and I screamed!

Caught in the thicket about two feet from my face was a hand.  It was all bones, but it looked like it was reaching toward me. 

I tried to scream a second time, but I could only make a shrill squeal.  I jumped to my feet and started barreling through the thicket, not caring what damage the thorns might do.

Somewhere up ahead of me, I heard the others screaming.  If this was a joke, they were not in on it.

I ran to the trail.  I ran past our tree house and the shack where we’d stolen our wood.  I ran past the girls and then Jeremy, all of us screaming now.  I ran all the way back to our campsite and starting banging on the door to my mom and dad’s trailer.

“Mom, lemme in!  Mom, it’s me.  You gotta lemme in!”

My mom opened the door in a panic, and I wrapped my arms around her waist, nearly tackling her in the doorway.  “Jacob, are you okay?  What happened?”

“Mom, a dead boy tried to get me in the woods.”  I could feel the hot tears streaming down my cheek.  Just then, Jeremy came running up behind me.

“Jeremy, what’s he talking about?”

Jeremy tried to answer, but the words never made it out.  By then my Dad and Aunt Cathy had joined us.  Only Uncle Bob and Max were left sleeping.

My Mom got suddenly angry.  “Bob, did you do something to these boys?”  Bob wasn’t there to answer, so she started heading for the tent.

“Theresa, what’s going on?  Jeremy, are you boys all right?  Where’s your father?”  Jeremy still couldn’t say anything.

My mom ripped open the tent, and there was Uncle Bob, still sleeping.  She turned to me with a puzzled look, “What’s going on?”

By then I’d calmed down enough to tell the story.  In between breaths, I told about the girls.  I told about sneaking out to meet them.  Finally, I told about the kid with the Tigers cap and the number 3, Trammell jersey. 

My dad said something about Trammell being his favorite player, but he was interrupted by a large man, followed by a tall blonde woman who was in turn followed by Julianne and Kristen.

“What is going on here?  What’s wrong with you boys, taking my daughters into the woods and scaring them like that.  I called the Police, and they’re on their way.”  I thought he was going to kill me with his bare hands, but my dad stepped in between the girls’ dad and me.

I told the story for the second time with my Dad standing between Mr. Porter and me.  When I got to the part about the hand, I could tell no one believed my story.  Mr. Porter asked the girls if they had seen anything like what I described.  They both nodded no. 

Uncle Bob, who must have woken up somewhere in the middle of my story, asked Jeremy if he’d seen the hand.  I was hoping Jeremy would say yes, but I knew no one saw it but me.

Soon the police arrived, and I was telling my story for the third time.  Everyone kept staring at me, maybe waiting for me to change my story, but I didn’t.  I knew what I’d seen.  Finally, when I told them about the hand, one of the cops asked me where the kid was.

No one else had asked about the kid, and before I answered, a thought occurred to me.  What if, like the hand, no one else backed me up about the kid?  I was afraid that was exactly what was going to happen, but Kristen came to my rescue.  “Brian Shreve,” she stepped out from behind her mother.  “The kid said his name was Brian Shreve.”

“No.  It was Ben.  He said his name was Ben Shreve,” Julianne corrected.

The other cop spoke for the first time.  “Wait a minute.  What was his name?” 

“His name was Ben Shreve.”  Jeremy finally found the ability to speak. 

The two cops looked at each other with wide eyes, and the first one asked, “Who are you people?  And what do you know about Ben Shreve?”

“Nothing,” I answered, “We just met him tonight in the woods.”

“You met Ben Shreve in the woods?”  The two cops looked at each other again.

The second cop asked what Ben Shreve looked like, but I really didn’t remember.  None of us were really able to describe him until I remembered the jersey.  “He had on an Alan Trammell jersey.”

Both cops stopped cold.  I think the one swore under his breath.  The other said, “Take us there, now.”

I started to resist, but the looks on their faces made me almost as afraid as when I was in the woods.

So, I took the cops into the woods.  All 3 of our dads came along as well.  We followed the path past the shack and then the tree house, and finally to the edge of the thicket.  It was much easier to see now with so many lights.

“The hand was in there.”  I held onto my Dad, but somehow that didn’t take care of the fear raging now inside of me.  I wanted to be anywhere but near that thicket.  I knew if I went in there, the hand was going to pull me into the grave with it.

The cops started to work their way into the thicket to the spot I’d pointed to.  I could tell they were getting impatient.  They kept asking the others if they had seen anything.  No one changed their story.  It was still just me.

I thought the cops were going to give up looking and come back, but one of them pointed at me and said, “We need you to come in here and show us the spot.”

I shook my head no.  I couldn’t go back into the thicket.

“Sir, tell your boy to come and help us.”

I looked up at my Dad.  He looked as scared as I felt, but something told me he might not be afraid of the same thing I was.  I didn’t want to go back in there, but I didn’t have any choice.

A wave of fear enveloped me, even though we had enough flashlights to light every corner of the thicket.  As I waded back into the thicket, I waited for the hand to reach up and grab me. 

Finally, I found the place where I’d seen the hand, and when I looked down everything started to make sense.  He really was from the other side.  “He’s right here.  It’s Ben Shreve.”

This time I couldn’t see the hand, but I did see an old, dirty Tigers cap and a torn piece of yellowed fabric I was sure had once been part of an Alan Trammell jersey.  The jersey Ben Shreve had been wearing 20 years earlier, the last night anyone saw him alive.