Ghosts of the Desert by Ryan Ireland

Author:Ryan Ireland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Crime, Western, Desert, Ghost town, Cult, Outcasts, American Dream, Utah, Dark, Dead, Harrowing, Violent, Scary, Horror
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2016-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

Oz and Norman climbed up the mountain, higher up than Norman ever cared to explore. When they reached the spine, the ragged edge, they traversed it. At the onset of their excursion, Gay Jim followed them, but had since turned back. The wind whipping off the desert pan jetted up the slope of the mount and flapped in the wayward’s clothing.

‘Scared of the mine,’ Oz said after his brother turned around. He raised his voice, competing against the bluster of the wind. ‘Cant blame him much, bein like he is.’

Norman asked what happened—said he knew Gay Jim hadnt always been this way.

‘True,’ Oz said. ‘As a boy he was always lively—gettin into trouble, runnin around like the fool he is now.’ Oz slowed his pace to walk next to Norman. With the constant uphill climb, his speech became labored with pauses. ‘We played round Jacobyville, same as Lucas Browns children do now. We came up here into the mountains where people used to dig dig dig.’ He panted. ‘Gay Jim, he went down into a mineshaft, opening not much wider than his shoulders. I waited for him to come out, seein what he might find; he was always findin things.’

The peak of the mount came into view and they turned off the ridge and started down the slope. Being on the leeward side of the mountain, the wind nearly ceased altogether. Farther down the slope, Norman spied a tailing.

‘We takin the long way around?’ he asked. ‘Couldve just walked around the base.’

‘Thats where the Wyrick’ll go in,’ Oz said. ‘Our job is to always make sure Wyrick is never in control of the situation, but let him think he is.’

Norman said he understood, then asked what happened after Gay Jim went into the mine.

‘Nothin,’ Oz said. ‘I waited an he didnt come out. I didnt pay it no mind cause he knowed the caves an shafts an such better than me. He liked goin in and sneakin around, tryin to scare me.’ Oz stopped and picked up a slender piece of driftwood to use as a staff. He continued down the slope, using the stick to stabilize his descent. ‘I got tired an went back home, told Pa what happened when I realized Gay Jim was still missin.

‘He grabbed me by the neck, took the rope an we ran up the slope with Raybur. The opening was too narrow for either of them, so they tied the rope round my waist, told me to scramble in there, feel round. I cant forget it—Pa held my head in both his hands and told me to hold my breath as long as I could, then to breathe real shallow like.’ He demonstrated and as he did so, he stopped walking. ‘He told me I would get confused, feel sick. Just yell when you get a handle on him, Pa said. Said he’d pull us both back with the cord, said not to fight it. The air in mines is bad—stale, no good for breathin.

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