Evergreen by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 7

It was the beginning of senior year. The graduating class of Evergreen High School amounted to a grand total of nine graduates and every year, someone was chosen for a dare. The dare was an unwritten ritual among the senior class. One person was elected to take the dare, whether they were present or not and was decided upon at the beginning of the school year. The unfortunate one chosen would be obligated to carry it out, or live their senior year at the mercy of unyielding ridicule and harassment. This year, the vote was taken. The unlucky and, somewhat unwilling person to receive the dare was Bobby and the results of the vote were absolute. There was no recount. Bobby’s dare was to enter the old house in the woods. He had seen it before. When he was twelve he and Katie walked through the woods and approached it with the idea of going inside. He saw no point in this ritual. But mostly, he was afraid of what his peers might come up with. Teenagers are especially renowned for their cruelty. Katie was more than willing and bet him a pack of gum that he wouldn’t follow her in. There was something about it that terrified him. Perhaps it was its isolation. It was only a couple of miles into the woods, but to a neurotic teenager, a couple of miles can go on forever. Perhaps, it was its rundown appearance. Its previous colors had faded to gray, giving it an ancient look that could easily fill the mind of a child with ghosts and all other things dark and foreboding.

The dare always involved an accomplice of sorts. Someone to accompany the chosen in order to see them through the deed, a witness and that Saturday, Bobby was escorted by Katie. She had talked the rest of the seniors into allowing her to be his witness. At first, she was chastised as Bobby’s ‘sweetheart’. But, she offered a convincing rationale that because Bobby was so comfortable around her, it would be easier to talk him into going. He didn’t see the sense in any of it. But, he was approaching his limit of bullying and felt that taking the dare would bring an end to it. On another level, he wanted to prove himself to Katie. To show her that he was capable of doing something courageous, of being a man. One part of his mind considered the obvious. It’s just an old house, filled with dust and spiders. The whistling of the wind occasionally finding its way under doors and windows. Even the scratching of mice and squirrels echoed through its hallways, into every darkened corner and crawl space. It was just an old house, but as fearful as Bobby tended to be, he tried hard to convince himself that there was, indeed, nothing special about it. There was nothing unusual about an old Victorian style house sitting in the middle of nowhere, just beyond the edge of a mountain lumbering town in Maine.

That afternoon, they walked out from the edge of town. It was a bright October day. The pines swayed with the rhythm of the wind. The distant foliage was at its peak with reds, yellows, and greens peppering the landscape. As usual, winter promised to arrive early. Octobers in northern Maine necessitated multiple layers of clothing and Katie and Bobby hiked through the woods wearing wool caps and light winter jackets. Autumn brought out Evergreen’s true beauty. The sky became bluer. The air became crisp and clear. Even the moon appeared larger as the night sky grew cold while letting blossom its own glittering starscape. The walk was mostly uphill with the house sitting on an area nature had made level, as if making the appropriate place for it.

As they approached the top of the hill, the house loomed up through the trees. Both had been there before his children. They’d sneak away during a weekend and stare into its windows. But, neither would go inside, fearing whatever it was their imaginations conjured into existence, roaming from room to room. Soon, they found themselves standing in front of its ancient façade. As old as it was, it was far from broken down. Its wooden shingles were still intact, as was the fieldstone construction of its chimney. Every window bore a pair of shutters and each had been nailed shut.

The new deputy patrolled the area often, looking for any of the town’s teenagers who might be trying to break in.

“Well,” Katie began. “After you.”

Bobby took a deep breath of anxiety as he tried to think of a reason to leave. Even a good excuse would do. “Let’s look around a bit first,” Bobby replied. Katie rolled her eyes at Bobby’s excuse.

“C’mon. Stop being such a pussy,” she said. “You don’t have to go all the way in. Just go through the doorway.” But by the time she had finished, Bobby was on his way down the side of the house and quickly caught up to him. “I just want to get a look around first. Is that okay?”

“Sure. Whatever,” Katie answered.

In its day, the house was a magnificent work of Victorian architecture. Covered in stained cedar shingles, it stood three stories with a square tower constructed on its front corner, above the door. In another time, it would have been seen as something akin to a European castle, splendid and grandiose. Now, it was simply a shadow of its former self. Its majesty lost to time, replaced by the creeks and whispers of dilapidation and old age.

Bobby took his time walking around the house, with Katie following behind. He hoped that something would happen, something that would prevent him from going inside. They circled back around to the front as Bobby purposefully walked to a place of some distance from its façade. He looked up at the windows, squinting into the sun with Katie standing by his side. As much as they felt for each other, Katie couldn’t help teasing him about his obvious hesitation to go through with the dare. “C’mon, stop stalling,” she began. “You know you’re going to have to go in some time.”

But as she continued to taunt him, Bobby saw something move. Through the glare of the afternoon sun, a yellowed lace drape appeared to brush itself aside. It could have been a breeze or a product of Bobby’s neurotic imagination. But, as much as he tried to rationalize it, it happened again. This time, a pale figure faded into view. An elderly woman stood glaring at him from behind the cracked window pane. She wore a black Victorian style gown - traditionally, the color of mourning. The image was only there for a moment, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Bobby took a startled gasp as he felt the blood leave his head.

“Did you see that!?” he asked Katie.

“What?” she replied.

“Up there in the window!” he said.

“Are you serious?” she began.

Now, she became a bit more taunting. “Did you see a ghost?”

Bobby was not known for expressing anger, but in spite of what he was sure he’d seen, Katie’s teasing pushed him toward a reaction neither had expected. One might suppose he had begun to reach his limit of a lifetime of teasing and harassment.

“It was right up there!” he began, pointing up to the window. “It was right behind that window! God dammit, why can’t you fucking people leave me alone for a change?!”

Katie was left speechless. She wasn’t aware that she had been so merciless towards him. As far as she and the rest of the seniors were concerned, the dare was, for the most part, all in good fun. But coming from high school students, the taunting was to be expected. Where teenagers are concerned, cruelty is usually the norm.

Katie looked at him with a guilty expression. “Bobby, I’m sorry.”

Her teasing tone quickly changed to one of kindness and sincerity.

“It’s just a stupid game. It’s different every year.” Bobby’s anger quickly subsided to frustration. He always found Katie’s voice to have a soothing effect on him. Naturally, his feelings for her lent a great deal to his response.

“Well, why couldn’t it be something else this year?” he asked. “Fuck! This place gives me the creeps!” He turned to walk back down the hill when he was startled by the deputy. Chuck was still new to the job, but he knew that kids have always had a way of getting into trouble and made it his business to patrol the woods around the house as often as possible. However, Chuck had also developed a fear of the house as well. He would comb the surrounding woods but never went inside. Instead, he wrapped chains tightly around the door and padlocked them. The windows were less than accessible. A stone’s throw had shattered those on the first floor. But, their distance from the ground made it impossible to climb through.

“What are you kids doing up here?” he asked. Katie was not quite as startled but was nonetheless, taken by surprise.

“Oh, hey deputy,” she began.

She wanted their presence at the house to seem innocent, but the mischief of teenagers was never innocent. “Chuck, right?”

His expression became stern. He felt it acceptable that a few of Evergreens elderly call him by his first name. But, teenagers especially, need to display respect for authority and Chuck made certain to learn the names and faces of everyone under eighteen.

“That’s deputy to you,” he replied.

He then looked over at Bobby with the same sternness. “So, Bobby and Katie,” he continued. “What brings the two of you up here?”

Surprised that Chuck already knew their names, they remained silent. Not because they chose to, but because they had been caught and were at a loss for an answer. “I don’t suppose this has anything to do with that dare I heard about, does it?”

The teens were dumbstruck, wondering how the deputy could have known about the dare - something that was supposed to be kept a secret and only among the seniors. As intelligent as Katie was, she found herself struggling for an answer.

“Uh, we... we’re just looking around,” she answered. Chuck had established constant eye contact - a tactic of intimidation.

The intent was to impose control over any given situation. Basically, it was a head game. One that would cause almost anyone’s will to crumble to the ground. “You kids really shouldn’t be up here,” he began. “This house isn’t safe. If either of you got hurt, we’d never be able to get an ambulance in here.”

Bobby and Katie were clearly nervous about being caught near the house. But Bobby saw it as a relief and didn’t want to go inside in the first place. Now, he would be unable to fulfill the dare, at least, for the time being.