Same Self by Brad Raylend

Author:Brad Raylend [Raylend, Brad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Braveship Books
Published: 2017-10-10T23:00:00+00:00

GHOST STORIES

Todd and Luke had ridden nonstop the entire day, racing through the winding hills that rose from the desert. Side by side, their horses snorted as their hooves pounded into the soft dirt. As the sun slowly dropped below the horizon, the two slowed into a trot and eventually came to a stop in a small clearing between some shrubs and boulders.

The two laid out their sleeping rolls and began building a fire. The music of the night began to amplify as they settled onto their mats around the fire. Todd stared into the flames as Luke rolled a smoke and licked the thin paper. The howl of a wild dog in the night caused Luke to look up into the star-filled night.

“Do you think we will make it to town by tomorrow?” Todd asked, trying to break the silence.

Luke didn’t answer; his eyes dropped from the night and looked down at the fire. “It wasn’t wild dogs,” he said softly.

Todd canted his head in confusion. “Huh?”

“The night I met Sarah … it wasn’t dogs that had cut my arm open,” he said as he studied the thin cigarette between his fingers.

Todd sat up, staring at Luke. The vague story from earlier that day had left him with assumptions, but he had accepted that he would never know the full story. He had sensed from the beginning that something in Luke’s past was weighing heavily on his conscience.

Luke breathed out slowly, then licked his lips. “When I was a boy, my father left me and my ma to fend for ourselves deep in the Arizona desert. The heat was as harsh as the animals that lived in it. My mother passed away when I turned fourteen, and it was then that I realized just how helpless I truly was.” He took a long drag on his smoke, then let it out. “I took the only good horse and began headin’ north in the hopes of finding a future. I had no plan, no idea what to do. I just chased the horizon from sun up to sun down. About two weeks into my journey, my horse finally collapsed, and I continued on foot. I was a scrawny kid. My knees wobbled as I staggered through the endless desert. When I ran out of water, I ran out of hope, and I felt my mind dying with my body. I collapsed and waited for my inevitable death.”

Todd listened intensely. He sat motionless, watching as Luke spoke and gazed out into the dark night. “What happened?” Todd asked.

Luke grinned and shook his head. “I remember nothing but the calm wind rustling the dry brush around me. The unforgiving sun … blinding me through my swollen eyes. Then I heard the sound of spurs and boots drop down from a horse. I looked up, and standing above me was a grizzled-looking man with a black hat and two polished pistols. He knelt down and looked at me; his eyes were squinted hard, and he was unshaven and dirty.

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