and his shadow seemed to grow larger with each step. "Do you want to go out and get your own coat?"
"Well, no, I was just-"
"You were just too scared to go get it yourself," Brent interrupted him.
"What the hell? I just told her to get it to scare her," Rob argued.
Brent frowned and pulled back to the center of the room. "Maybe you shouldn't wish to scare anyone until you learn the consequences. You see, this phantom isn't like the ones you watch at the theater or in the movies. This one's real, and he's definitely dead. He died over two hundred years ago, and his soul has been wandering these woods ever since."
"How'd he die?" someone spoke up from the dark.
"They say it was an accident, but nobody really knows. You see, nobody was there when he died. They just found him lying out there in the woods. He was on his back with his eyes staring up at the trees." Brent lifted his arm and glided it up in the direction of the cemetery. "They buried him there in a giant mausoleum he'd built for himself hoping that would keep him at rest. He couldn't have been any more wrong."
"So what he'd do? Get up for a stroll and meet some of his old buddies?" Rob spoke up. He tried a laugh, but nobody joined in.
Brent slowly turned his shadowed eyes on my stupid boyfriend. "That's exactly what happened. A few nights after the burial a wagon rode by with two of the local farmers who had known him in life. When they saw a figure in the middle of the road, they knew him in his death. They only survived the encounter because the horse bolted from the cemetery road, but others haven't been so lucky. Over the years they found, shall we say, traces of people who wandered through."
"Like what?" somebody whispered from the group.
"Like footprints, bags, and even a car. All of them had been waylaid by the phantom, and they were never seen again."
I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt my hands squeezed. My head snapped back to my friend, and even in the weak light I could see her eyes were wide. "Please make him stop," Ashley whispered to me. "I don't want to hear any of this."
I nodded my head and gave her hands a squeeze. Then I turned back to the crowd. "Could we turn on the lights now? After that story I'd like a drink." I gave a nervous laugh and a few others joined in.
"Fine. That story wasn't very interesting anyway," Rob chimed in. He got up and turned on the lights, and I swear Ashley breathed a sigh of relief. As everyone got up from their seats Rob glanced around the room. "Now where's all the beer at?"
While he was busy getting drunk and making me the designated driver, I turned to Ashley. With the lights on I could see how pale her face was and how she'd nearly bit her lip all the way through the skin. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost," I teased her. Her hands were still in mine, and I felt them tremble. "Or maybe a phantom?" I guessed, and that hit it on the nail because she glanced away.
I looked around the room and didn't see anywhere to talk privately, so I dragged her toward the front door. She didn't like that idea one bit. "No, Jess, please don't make me go out there," she whispered to me. I stopped us, and turned back to her with a wink and a smile.
"Come on, I'm here with you," I reminded her. I held up my cutting knife. "Nobody's going to dare try to attack an Alice that's holding a knife."
That got a small, shaky smile out of Ashley, and I was able to drag her out onto the lit, wraparound porch. It had a great view of the open fields that surrounded the house and the road that led away to the clump of woods a hundred or so yards off. That was where Rob and I had come through to get to the party, and it stretched out across the horizon, blotting out the sky like a shadow.
I glanced to the side at my friend and noticed her eyes were glued to the trees. "You want to tell me what went on in there? You really didn't want Brent talking about that ghost."
Ashley shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself. After a bit she sighed and nodded at the woods. "It's just, well, living so close to that place doesn't really make those stories very funny."
"So have you seen anything, or just heard about stuff?" I asked her.
"When I was little I think...I think I saw something," she admitted. "I was outside playing and I didn't notice how dark it'd gotten. When I looked up from making some mud pies I realized it was night and I wasn't too far from the trees by the road. I got up and started toward the house, but then I heard something behind me. When I turned around, I-" She choked out a sob, and for the first time I noticed tears in her eyes. I went over and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.
"You don't have to go on," I told her, but she shook her head.
"No, I think I have to. I never told anyone outside my family about this before, and it feels better to have a friend know about it." She let out a shuddered sigh and continued. "There was a shadow standing there in the darkness. You'd think I couldn't see a shadow in the dark, but I could see this one. It was even blacker than the night and had the outline of a man. There weren't any glowing red eyes or anything like that, but I could kind of see his face. He was staring at me and I, well, I was drawn to him. I couldn't help myself. Before I knew it I was taking a few steps toward him and he held out his hand to me. I was so happy to see him do that that I actually smiled and started running toward him. Then my dad called my name from the driveway."
"And that shadow disappeared?" I guessed.
"No, worse." Ashley turned and glanced out to the trees. "He rushed at me and he didn't run, he floated. His smile was gone and he looked so angry and possessive. I screamed and ducked to the ground. When I looked up the shadow was gone and my dad was running toward me. He was shaking really bad and hauled me back to the house. I don't remember much after that, I think I was so scared I didn't want to remember it, but what I told you has stuck with me ever since."
"Creepy..." was all I could think of saying. I wasn't sure whether to believe her or not, since she might have been pulling one on me, but she looked serious. I looked out on those trees and remembered that creepy old gate along that forgotten road. That gate and its metal had looked so inviting.
"You okay?" Ashley asked me. She jolted me from my thoughts.
"Hunh? What?" I replied. She scowled at me. "You had a funny look on your face. Is there something you're not telling me?"
"What? No, of course not. I was just thinking about your story and how I saw the road to the graveyard when Rob and I were coming up. It looked pretty spooky."
"That's because it is," Ashley insisted. "Nobody goes up there at night, not even if there's a fire. I heard stories like the one Brent told about a fire that started up there because of lightning, and nobody went up to put it out. The whole place got burned and you can still see the heat marks on the tombstones."
"Have you ever been up there? I mean during the day," I asked her. I just couldn't get that twisted gate out of my head.
"A few times to help clean up, but even during the day it's creepy as hell. We were in and out of there so fast I didn't get a chance to explore it." I must have had a strange look in my eye, because she leaned forward and put a hand on my shoulder. She looked worried. "You sure there isn't something you should be telling me? You look funny."
"Nah, just the night. Well, that and Rob and I had a big fight while we were driving over here. It happened just before we got to that gate," I admitted with a shrug. It didn't bother me too much, but it felt like we were fighting more and more lately. This spooky crap was just one thing on top of another.
"Oh, that mess. Why don't you just dump the ass? He's not good enough for you."
"Well, I can't dump him just yet," I replied with a smile. "He's the only one with a car."
Ashley looked past me and through one of the front windows. She frowned and rolled her eyes. "You'd better be the driver on the way back, because that idiot is being himself." She pointed at something, and I turned around to see Rob through the glass with his shirt off. He was happily grindi
ng himself against another girl. Heck, he was drunk enough already that I was surprised he wasn't grinding another guy. "He can't handle beer at all, can he?"
"Nope," I told her. This was going to be a long night, and boy was I ever right about that.