Starfall

Chapter 18 - Ghost Story

The fire crackled as soft waves of glowing light and radiant heat emanated from the fire warming Pacifica's face and the front of her body. The cool breeze on her back felt refreshing as the trees rustled softly in the dark, their shadows long and imposing as they cast the campsite in shadows.

One of the embers popped loudly as sparks flew from the fire accompanied by an ensemble of cracking sounds. Wendy sat up properly in her chair before leaning in closer to the group. The light flickered and cast shadows on her face as she prepared to speak.

Wendy cleared her throat dramatically. "There are some nights...much like tonight...when you can feel a chill breath in the air. It clings to the bone like a presentiment to the mind. It whispers from the shadows unseen, rather discerned."

Wendy closed her eyes and shifted in her chair before she continued, Pacifica noted that Wendy had really thrown herself into the role of storytelling this time with an emphasis on chilling ambiance. Pacifica withdrew into her jacket pulling it closer around her. The twins meanwhile looked piqued with excitement, their brown eyes glowing with the same family resemblance.

Wendy's green eyes snapped open full of exacting purpose. Her sharp eyeliner only added to the emphasis. She started to tell her tale.

>=^=^=^= The Tunnel =^=^=^=<

"The moonlight always seemed dull and lurid in the pale wispy fog that crept upon the grounds as the night fell. It seemed to muffle the sounds of the highway and even the woods as Tyrus and his sister Chloe made their way down the dirt road path heading home for the night. Chloe was seven while Cyrus was eleven. Chloe pipped up, 'Why do we have to take this way home Cyrus?' Cyrus gritted his teeth gathering himself before he answered calmly. 'You know why.'

Chloe trudged on quietly for a few minutes. She bit her lip as she turned to face Cyrus again, 'Can't we go around it tonight?' Cyrus hung his head and sighed. 'You know full well that the land on either side of the tracks is farmer Evan's field and we are not trespassers are we, Chloe?' Chloe grudgingly sighed, 'No.'

Chloe walked in silence for a few more minutes. Cyrus muttered, 'I told you there's nothing to fear. Kids just made up stories over the years to scare little children. You really should be getting old enough to know when others are lying.'

Chloe bit her lip in trepidation, 'It's just...Cyrus...I can feel something when I walk through there...even before I had heard about the stories from school. That tunnel always gave me the willies.' Cyrus sighed openly, 'We have been through that tunnel hundreds of times and I never felt a thing. Perhaps you just imagined it.' Chloe frowned as she looked forward pensively, 'Don't patronize me. I know what I felt Cyrus.' Cyrus put up his hands placatingly, 'I didn't mean to mock you. I just don't want you letting the kids from school work you up needlessly.'

As the siblings rounded the corner Chloe saw the gaping maw of the brick tunnel that led under the double-wide railroad tracks. It was a thirty-foot-long brick tunnel with no lights and a smooth worn cobblestone floor. The bridge had stood for over a century. The story in school was that a woman named Clara had died down there. The story went that she had been the hard-working daughter of a farmer. She had married a young man named Amos out of obligation to an arranged marriage.

The man she married was a hard worker and a farmer as well and was the reason her father had taken a liking to him. Her father however was a good man and had always made sure she was taken care of. Thus he made sure Amos was a good husband for his daughter. Though once her father had his accident with the thresher he was never the same after that. He could barely walk let alone work. Fortunately, her three younger brothers had grown into hard-working young men who could tend the farm in their father's stead proudly.