The Haunted Traveler December 2017 Edition

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with a dull thump-thump-thump. James’ feet pattered across the floor with its rhythm.
“Where is it?” he shouted.
His light darted over the keg and he almost missed it. Hauling it up, he ripped off
the cap and dumped it at the scarecrow. The bulk of the contents splashed across the
floor. Without thinking of what that might do, the panicked boy lit a match and threw it.
The flames leaped with startling power. They swallowed the writhing scarecrow and
rushed for James. With an alarmed cry, he sped out the door, leaving the keg in the
middle of the room. He lunged for the trees, the flames swept inside the container and
BOOM!! The cabin blasted apart. Bits of wood, nails and roof showered like shrapnel.
James rolled behind a tree, ears ringing, head throbbing. His very bones seemed to have
come loose.
He lay behind the tree for he didn’t know how long, but when he raised his head, gray
morning light filtered through the smoky remains. The cornfield had been riddled with
debris, all but destroyed. As he stood to survey the damage, a startled deer darted from
the cornfield and loped into the forest now singing with merry birds. James cried out
in terror and stumbled against the tree. Heavy Metal screamed from his pocket and he
almost jumped out of his pants.
“Crap!” He shoved his shaking hand into his pocket and pulled out the phone. He
would have to change that shrieking mess as soon as possible. It wasn’t good for his
shredded nerves. R-I-T-A scrolling across the screen did nothing to calm him either.
“Hello?”
“What do you want?” Rita said as if he had been intruding. “You need a ride home,
Cheeseburger? You stop by your—”
“I don’t need anything,” James cut her off and hung up. He didn’t need her nagging,
and he surely wasn’t going to listen to it just to get a ride. As he headed back to town
on foot, his eyes so long closed in the darkness of his gaming room opened, his ears
cringing with VR battles took in the soft roar of the trees. Lights and shadows rippled
on crunchy pine needles as a squirrel scurried across the road.
James halted and breathed in the mountain air. It filled him with a life that he hadn’t
felt in so long. A memory that he belonged here dispelled the itch in his fingers for a
controller that had ruled him as much as it had the characters on the screen. Glancing
at his torn sweater, he pushed the long bangs from his face. These belonged in the
graveyard of the gaming room. With one last glance at the road, he tramped into the
trees.