CT 01 "The Boy Who Wasn't There"

A Chapter by dw817

Chancy hadda odd look in his eyes, much like the other boy’s now. Wolfing down the chocolates he stared straight into the looming darkness. I wished once AGAIN we were out of this woe-begotten town.

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THE BOY WHO WASN'T THERE

© October 2013 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

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This Tale is Rated: TEEN - best read beneath a full moon

I was with my Dad and we were out in some kind of small town. It was a little creepy with sparse lighting and it was nighttime so we stopped at a bright roadside diner’s.

I was with my little brother, Chancy, or Chauncleroy as his full name was.

Dad left us both in the car to go inside to get directions so we could go home. We had the windows rolled up on both sides and the locks were down so no-one could get in.

As Dad was gone, A Caucasian boy, similar in age to Chancy came up to the side of the car.

It was odd, it was like he was dressed for Halloween, some kind of wildman or bear hunter’s outfit, perhaps camouflage. It was really raggedy. I looked to his chin and saw he had long hairs coming from it which I thought was odd for someone apparently as small a stature as he had.

His fingernails were painted black and he was barefoot with black on his toenails as well as if he had been walking a long distance.

I chuckled at the depth of his costume, amazed his Mom would go so far as to do all of this for him. The boy himself was a little odd though, and not just in appearance.

He circled around the car, as if searching for something, I wasn’t sure what, and then suddenly smacked his hands soundly against the pane of the window where Chancy was.

Chancy, rather rudely, stuck his nose against the glass in return. The boy in the costume, squeaked his hands down the glass in the old rubber gloves from his hairy bear’s outfit and spoke quietly, almost as if in a trance.

“Join me.” and then he made a strange sneezing sound. He definitely didn’t look well, like he was sick or something and his voice was really creepy, like it held no emotion or he was a dangerous person.

I was already spooked from this nighttime town so I opened the door on the other side and met the little hooligan still rubbing his hands on the other side of the car.

“You need to leave.” I said in a voice with more confidence than I felt. He smiled at me, and his eyes looked watery, like he was crying which was the opposite of his expression, which was a kind of vacant contentment.

Then he looked hard at me up and down, and apparently not liking what he was seeing, his expression soured. “You’re not welcome here.“

I returned the look. “Same to you. Look, we’re trying to find the main road. Do you know where that is. You DO live around here don’t you ?”

“Live … ?” He said as if that was a difficult word. I had to assume he was a little mentally challenged from his behavior.

Finally I had enough of this more than creepy bear-boy and said, “Shoo. Go on, are you trick-or-treating or something ? It isn’t Halloween yet ya know.”

“I’m Artis.” the boy in the costume said and was clearly not impressed by my display of bravado to him.

Then I felt movement beside me and it was Chancy who had gotten out of the car to join me to see the strange confrontation.

“Get back in the car, Chancy.” I hissed to him, but he didn’t. He did something really strange. Chancy jumped ahead of me and leaned his head forward quickly to the strange boy, and the strange boy frighteningly did the same thing.

For a moment it looked like they were going to konk their heads together and then an optical illusion, I guess because I was tired, like their heads meshed together for a moment, really scary looking.

I knew it had to be the lighting. I reached out to pull Chancy back but Artis had a tight grip on his hand.

I reached out to separate their fingers but as I did so, it was like they were smoky snakes, wriggling around in impossible movements to prevent me from getting them free.

Finally, frustrated at my hallucination, I slapped Artis in the face which shocked him for a minute. Then I could free his fingers from Chancy. Looking at my hand I could see it was smudged with grime. Geez, didn’t his mother wash his face or anything ?

Chancy was crying now and I roughly ushered him back in the car. “I’ll get you some candy, okay ?” I promised. “Just stay in here, will ya ?”

Then I realized I couldn’t leave him alone even if the car doors were locked as Artis would coax him to unlock them again. So I piled in the car with him and waited.

“Where’s my candy ?” Chancy asked accusingly, not forgetting what I promised earlier.

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“Oh.” I said, and reached in my pocket. I hadda few wrapped chocolates in there. “Here ya go, sport.” and gave them to him.

Chancy hadda strange look in his eyes, a kind of odd wateriness, much like the strange boy’s now. He wolfed down the chocolates and then stared straight ahead of the car into the looming darkness. I wished once AGAIN we were out of this woe-begotten town.

Dad was taking a very long time asking directions I thought to myself. Just as I was getting ready to leave and investigate, he returned back.

My ears popped from the pressure of the door slamming with me in it as he sat down and crumpled a map noisily under his hand looking at it for a moment.

“Oh ! Hey, the people here are really friendly, but not very knowledgeable. They said we should follow this road and it should turn into the main highway right HERE.” And he pointed on the map which to me was just a series of colored scribbles.

I looked ahead and for a moment I thought I saw Artis gripping the side of the car, but when I blinked and looked again, I didn’t. He was gone. I looked all around the windows, front, sides, and back. He wasn’t there. Good riddance to the little cretin, I said to myself.

Dad tried to turn over the car’s ignition but it couldn’t. Something had messed with the engine. I knew it was impossible but SOMEHOW I was blaming Artis for it.

“D****t.” Dad said. “Hold on a sec.” and then he got out of the car. I was so busy paying attention to him that I didn’t see Chancy trying to sneak out the side door.

“Chancy !” I yelled in frustration. “What is it now !?”

“Bathroom.” he said quietly.

“Fine.” I said, “But I’m not leaving you alone in this place. Here, give me your hand.”

He did so and it felt like he was sweating up a storm. His hand was hard to hold onto it was so slippery, but I finally knotted and tightened my fingers around his.

It seemed like he was getting a kind of red rash on his hands too. I wondered if he had handled poison ivy earlier. But I was more concerned with him finishing his business and getting back in the car.

“Awright, let’s go.” and we started to head towards the restaurant’s open door, but then he jerked in the opposite direction towards the beckoning darkness.

My grip was so slippery that if I pulled, I would lose him, so he essentially dragged me as I howled after him, “Where are you going NOW !?”

“Play …” he said cryptically, and his voice sounded a little funny. And then I looked down at my grip. It was like ethereal serpents were wiggling there way around my fingers to loosen our grip.

I grabbed onto his single hand with both hands and somehow it STILL slipped out. Then I grabbed his shoulder and it was like his shirt didn’t want to stay on so it was slippery like wet rubber.

Then he snapped free and was off like a shot around the corner, some kind of large bush. I bounded after him. He was only a few feet ahead of me. He made a hard turn around the bush again.

I realized now the bush was brightly colored, with white and pink blossoms. Rather odd to be out here as it seemed to be the middle of the road. I looked back over my shoulder but couldn’t see the car or Dad.

We circled around the long bush a few times and then I heard him start to sing, “Ring a Ring of Rosies, Pocket full of Posies, Acthishoo, Acthishoo, we all fall down !“

That certainly didn’t sound like the classic one I learned in school. What the devil was an Acthishoo ? I started to run faster after him and then saw Artis ahead of him, as if he was leading him on.

That got my adrenalin going ! I didn’t want Chancy to have anything to do with that cursed boy ! Then they both began to sing the same song, and somehow both of them knew the lyrics. Chancy was starting to sneeze now. I guess it was that damned bush which had to have been just loaded with pollen as pretty as it was.

Then I somehow started losing speed and he ducked around the side of the bush. As soon as he vanished and I made the turn to meet him, both him and Artis were gone.

It was impossible ! He had only gotten a few feet ahead of me yet there was no sign of him. I had enough of this game !

“Chancy !!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “You better get back here or you’re gonna be in big trouble, mister !”

Then I heard Dad yell in pain back at the car. It sounded like something might’ve fallen ! Was it the hood of the car and he was checking out the engine now ?

I turned to face the sound and suddenly it was like the ground had turned to a black pudding. Where it touched me it created terrible red painful boils. It was so slippery and I fell into it.

Then …

ALARM GOES OFF - DREAM ENDS