Chantree Lane
Story 1
CHANTREE LANE.
Ghostly happenings in the wood.
Mike and I were hoping we were on to a good thing. The girls, Jenny, Mike’s girlfriend, and Josie, my girl, had both promised us it would be a night to remember, and our anticipation was rising. After having several drinks at the local bar, the four of us jumped into Mike’s clapped out motor, his joy-wagon he calls it, scrap-mobile I call it, and hit the road. Mike drove with Jenny in the front, Josie and I cuddled up in back.
I’m not too sure who suggested it, but we ended up taking the short route through Chantree Lane, a dismal dirt track that snakes its way through Chantree Wood. As kids we’d all heard the stories of terrible things happening in Chantree Wood, but they were just that, stories to frighten kids to keep them from playing in the woodland. There had been the occasional article in the local paper advising all to stay away from Chantree because of some sightings of supposed ghosts and sprits, but everyone believed it is a joke.
Everything was going fine until, I guess we must have been about two thirds of the way into Chantree Lane when the joy-mobile began chugging and jolting. Its engine growled and slowed, the joy-mobile coughed and spat, and finally lurched to a grinding halt.
“You guys planned this didn’t you?” Jenny said and winked as Josie.
“If they think they’re lucks in sitting in this heap of crap they’re very much mistaken!” Josie replied with a cute giggle.
Mike turned the ignition key. “Damn it! What’s up with the damn thing?”
The joy-mobile just whined and died, even the headlights gave up the ghost, leaving us in total darkness.
“Gas?” I asked while leaning over from the back seat.
“Na, can’t be I filled her up at lunch.”
“Well honey, if you think me and Josie are going to stay here the night you’re wrong.” Jenny grumbled at Mike’s side.
“I don’t know what the hell’s wrong, there shouldn’t be any problem I had her serviced the other day!” Mike groaned now that there was a chance the night wasn’t going to go as planned.
“Get this crap heap going, Mike!” I say.
Mike desperately turned the ignition key and cranked the engine. The engine churned and slowed. He turned to face me and Josie and had a look at me sitting expectantly next to Josie then shot back round and turned the key again. The old joy-mobile spat and coughed but wouldn’t fire.
Mike hit the wheel in temper. “Damn it, god damn it! I’ll check under the hood.”
He opened his door and walked to the front of the car, I followed. He popped the hood and we both stood there looking at the engine.
“So what you reckon is up?” I inquired.
Mike takes his eyes from the dead engine and says, “How the hell should I know mate, I’m not a damn car mechanic!”
For the next fifteen Mike tinkers with this lead and that, each time he does something I get back in the driver’s seat and turn the key with little success, the joy-mobile just wouldn’t start.
“That’s it, we’re up the creak!” he finally exclaimed “this piece of crap isn’t going anywhere!”
Leaving Mike to tinker some more in the hopes he just might stumble on what’s wrong, I returned to the girls, they were now both in the back.
“Looks like Mike should send this piece of junk to the scrap yard!” says Jenny with an annoyed tone.
“Yep, and we aren’t walking either, so get on the mobile and call a cab.” Josie adds.
“Awe, come on girls don’t be like that, I’m sure we can get it going shortly.”
“Yeah, like that’s going to happen!” exclaims Jenny who is becoming increasingly impatient.
“Girls, please don’t be like that. It can’t be far to town. We can walk it and still be home in plenty of time.”
“Christ sake!” Mike shouted.
I return to Mike who has his face stuck in the engine. “How’s it coming, any luck? The girls are getting a tad impatient, you need to get it working, and soon!”
Mike straightens and slams the hood down, “Not happening mate, we’d better tell the girls its walk or spend the night here.”
Having told the girls, they voiced their objections in a crude manner with the gist of it being, no way. Then Mike comes up with a suggestion.
“Hey as far as I can remember there’s an old ranger’s station about a mile into the wood, we could hike it there and radio for a tow.”
Surprisingly, both Jenny and Josie agree, and we set out arm in arm into the dark along the dirt track that leads deeper into the wood and the ranger’s station. I guess they really didn’t want to spend a night cramped up in the ole joy-wagon, and hoped the station wouldn’t be too far away.
As we walk deeper into Chantree Wood the heavens open up and chuck it down, by the time we reached the ranger’s station we’re all soaked, and the girls are far from happy as I shove the creaky old wood door open.
“Hit the light will ya.” Mike said.
I fumble round the wall by the door looking for a switch. Eventually finding it I flipped it, nothing happens.
“Guess there’s no power.” I announce.
“Well that’s just great!” moans Josie.
“Everyone see if you can find a lantern or something!” suggests Mike.
“Sod that, you see if you can find it!” grumbles Jenny.
Mike stumbled round the station bumping into this and that. I searched as well while the girls stood by the door. Finally I grab something that feels like a candle.
“Hey, got a candle here I think, anyone got a match?”
“Yeah, come here.” Mike calls.
Feeling my way towards his voice I cross to where he is, he grips my hand and pulls the candle from me. The station lights up momentarily as he strikes the match, and the place fills with an eerie glow as the candle flickers and burns.
“Geez, I reckon this place hasn’t been used in ages!” I announce seeing the dust covered desk.
Mike pours a little melted wax onto the desk and pushes the candle into it to hold it upright.
“There, nice and cosy. What ya think girls?” he says with a broad smile.
Jenny looks at Josie; Josie sticks her nose in the air. “Yuk, too dirty, and it smells awful!”
“Don’t be so stuck up! We’ve been in worse places than this.” Mike grumbles.
“Well what’s in there?” Josie asks pointing to a door next to where I’m standing.
I reach out and turn the doorknob, the door creaks open…”Shit!” I yell as something flutters against my face.
The girls squeal and duck, Mike just stands there laughing.
“You dozy pillock…it’s only a bat!” he laughs. “Now go see what’s in there.”
He throws me his matches; I strike one and shove my arm into the room. I can just make out a tatty old bed with a rank mattress. A small locker sits next to the bed covered in an inch of dust.
“Looks like this is where the ranger used to sleep.” I announce without looking at them.
“Is there a lantern or maybe a radio?” is Mike’s first question.
“Er…well…no, not that I can see.”
Jenny and Josie are whispering to each other, when Jenny suddenly says, “We think we should go back to the car, it’s too scary here!”
“Maybe they’re right Mike. Maybe we should just head back.” I suggested.
“Can’t see the point in that, much better to stay put and look for a radio, there’s got’a be one here somewhere!” exclaims Mike.
“Is there another candle round here?” I ask.
“Why, sacred of the dark?” is Mike’s reply.
“A little light wouldn’t hurt.”
Jenny moves to her right and knocks something over; it is followed by a metallic clatter. Josie leans down and picks up a rusty old oil lamp. I throw Mike the matches as he takes the lamp from Josie and shakes it. The lamp has a little fuel, Mike strikes a match and the wick catches. The station lights up in a dim yellow glow, we can now see the station is in disrepair and hasn’t been used in ages.
Jenny grabs the lamp from Mike and she and Josie go into the other room. There is a small iron stove a few feet away from the rickety old bed, Jenny lifts up the rusty lid.
“How about you get some kindling so we can have a fire?” she says.
Josie pulls the tattered dust ridden blanket from the bed and throws it into the corner; she then taps the bed gesturing for Jenny to sit with her.
“Have you forgotten it’s chucking it down out there?” Mike exclaims.
“No we haven’t forgotten, but we are cold!” Josie states.
“Guess we’d better get outside and grab some kindling then.” I say.
“Okay, but don’t be too long.” Josie called from behind the door.
Mike goes round back of the station while I scavenged at the front. It is pitch black, and the cold rain doesn’t help either. As I collected a few lumps of broken branch I suddenly get the strangest feeling that I am being watched. I stand with branches in my arms, unable to move for a few seconds. My eyes try to search out through the dark to find anyone or anything that might be of danger.
“What ya waiting for?” Mike’s voice calls from behind me, I almost jump out of my skin with shock.
“I…I…I’m sure there’s someone out there!”
Mike strains to penetrate the dark foreboding wood, “You’re losing it mate, nothing out there but what’s in your mind!”
I know he’s right of course, but I still get this nagging feeling that we are not alone. Shrugging the feeling aside I gesture to the station.
As we step up the few wooden steps to the door we hear a high pitched scream from within. I drop the logs, Mike shoves the door aside and we charge straight into the back room. Both girls are kneeling on the bed cuddling each other, and have a look of fear on their faces.
“What? What is it?” I urgently demand.
“There!” Josie points.
“Where?”
“There…in the corner!” adds Jenny.
Mike and I cautiously move to the corner only to find a large grey rat cowing near a pile of rags.
“It’s only a rat!” Mike exclaims.
“Only a rat! Only a rat!” snaps Jenny. “Rat’s carry diseases!”
I couldn’t help myself and let out a snigger.
“Oh that’s right, laugh!” scolds Josie.
The rat in the mean time is frantically trying to run away, so Mike grabs its long thin tail and picks it up. He dangles it towards the girls, who immediately go into a fit of screams and shrieks loud enough to deafen anyone within a two mile radius. Mike laughs and eventually throws the rat out of the wooden shuttered window.
I returns to the main door to pick up the dropped firewood, as I stoop to retrieve the logs something catches my vision, just out the corner of my eye. Something moved round the back of the station, I’d only just caught a glimpse but was sure it did. Quickly I return inside, and placing the logs onto the desktop, motion Mike over.
Mike comes through and pulls the door shut behind him.
“What’s up?”
“Someone’s outside.”
“You sure, can’t see anyone being out here this time of night.”
“Well, I only caught a quick glimpse, but I’m positive there’s someone out there!”
“All right, we’ll take a look. Best not tell the girls though, might make them uneasy.”
Agreeing, Mike calls to the girls. “Just fetching some dry wood from round back, be back in a minute.”
Cautiously, and with apprehension Mike leads the way round back, we both retain a large lump of wood for protection. Once round the back we find no one there.
“See, you must be imagining things!” Mike grumbles.
“I could have sworn!”
Just them we hear the girls screaming yet again.
“Come on, probably a mouse this time!” jokes Mike.
Before we reach the door it swings open and Josie charges past running into the woods ignoring us both.
“Hey Josie!” I call, but she keeps running.
“I’m going after her.” I announce and set off as Mike goes back inside.
Deeper into the wood I go. “Josie babe! Come on hun!” I call into the darkness.
It is then I hear the snapping of twigs further out in the dark.
“Josie…that you…what’s wrong? Don’t play games now, come back here.”
Slowly I walk further from the station, the noise of the cracking twigs drawing me deeper and deeper. It is way too dark to see beyond a couple of meters, and the rain clouds my vision. Then I suddenly see something running to my left. I begin running, following, hoping to catch Josie and end this stupid little game.
The wood is now silent. I can’t see the station, I’ve come so far. The silence is suddenly shattered by a harrowing scream, the scream of a girl. I run, hoping to hell nothing has happened to Josie. I stumble over something and fall; something has caught round my trainer. I grab it and fight to free it from my trainer, it is material. I get up and pull the garment to my face, my eyes widen and my heart pumps hard as I realise it is Josie’s shirt.
Josie!” I shout in panic, but there is no answer.
I run again, hoping I’m heading back towards the station, all sense of direction is now lost. A few yards along I stop. At first I can’t believe what I see, my eyes water, my chest hurts, my mouth is dry, I can’t speak. Swallowing I move closer, and see an arm dangling from behind a tree. Slowly I move round the other side. My breath becomes erratic; my stomach turns as bile fills my mouth. I bend forward and vomit.
Josie…my Josie, is next to the tree. Her body ripped, lacerated, and splattered with blood. Her stomach has been savagely torn apart. A rusty scythe impales her dead body to the tree trunk. I fall to my knees unable to take my sore crying eyes from her. How long I stay on my knees I’m not sure, it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. My mind was in confusion, I didn’t know what to do. Then it hit me, Mike and Jenny, I have to get back to the station.
I run, faster than I thought I could ever run. My chest feels like it is going to erupt; I catch a stitch in my side, but know I have to find Mike and Jenny. My hands are shaking when I turn the door handle to the station. Inside the fire is now burning, I walk in and move to the back room door. I hesitate, I can’t hear any noise. I know Mike and Jenny are in there. So why is it so quiet, perhaps they have gone to look for me and Josie?
I grip the door handle, wait a few seconds, take a deep breath and open the door. I real back in horror…lying on the bed is Jenny…her body ripped open from groin to neck…her flesh pealed back exposing her innards…her eyes…so cold and dead.
Again and with extreme force I quickly lose the contents of my stomach, watery puke flows freely from my mouth in four gushing spurts. It splatters onto the floor and my trainers then mingles with the pool of Jenny’s blood that slowly creeps towards me. I backtrack in a rush back into the other room.
What the hell’s happening? Mike, where’s Mike?
I shake all over. I don’t know what to do. I’m scared, but I know I must try to find Mike. I try to pull myself together, and seeing a baseball bat in the corner I grab it then go back outside.
“Mike…Mike!”
It is now I hear a muffled groan from the rear of the station. I slowly go round back, holding the baseball bat defensively. Mike is lying on his stomach, he’s covered in blood. I move to his side and kneel.
“Mike.” I say in a whisper.
Mike doesn’t reply. I slowly turn him over and scurry back quickly. I sit there looking at him, not believing what I see. His chest has several stab marks, each oozing blood. Mike’s eyes are wide and staring, he can’t talk, he throat is agape and blood flows with ease spurting down over his chest. Mike’s eyes slowly close as he dies.
I cry freely now, just like a baby, I’m not ashamed of it, I am scared, more scared than I’ve ever been. My whole body trembles as I hug the baseball bat, my only protection, to my heaving chest. Fear gips me as I hear the crack of a branch behind me.
I want to run…need to run…but fear has a firm grip on me, so much I find it hard to move. I know I must, I force myself to get up and turn round. I wish I hadn’t…what it was I don’t know, but it wanted my death. My first reaction is the throw the baseball bat at it, but it missed.
I run…it follow…a thing in a black full body gown that weaves a rusty scythe, slashing at me as I try to put distance between us. The twiggy ground beneath me cracks underfoot, yet the thing makes no sound. I keep looking back and there it is following and slashing. I can hear the swish of the scythe behind me. Death will take me this night if I don’t run faster. This evil thing has murdered my girlfriend, my friends, and if I’m not quicker it will have my life.
Just how I managed to get away and back to town I can’t remember. The sheriff found my story hard to believe. The authorities recovered Mike, Jenny, and Josie’s bodies, their fatal wounds were just as I described, but there was no evidence of a mysterious thing, or even anyone else. The scythe they pulled from Josie had no fingerprints on it. What they did find was a black full body gown, a gown that had DNA all over it, Josie’s, Mike’s, Jenny’s…and someone else.
You want to know the real horror of this story?
In two days I take the long walk…the green mile to the chair. The other DNA was my own. Guess that’s why the jury found me guilty….but I didn’t do it…DID I?
END
