The Purchase by Amy Cross

Author:Amy Cross [Cross, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Munver stayed right where he was, kneeling in front of the door. It had now been maybe ten minutes since the last knocking sound, and maybe four or five minutes since he'd thought he'd heard Garrett's voice, but he knew that both those things couldn't really have happened.

Could they?

It's not easy, keeping from going mad, he told himself. I've gotta stay strong.

He stared straight ahead at the door. Every so often the wind caused the wood to rattle and shake slightly, and this actually made Munver feel better in some perverse way. It was something normal, something he understood, and he took it as a sign that maybe the natural order was doing right. Even the wind itself was comforting, and every blessed second of normality felt like a miracle.

And then, eventually, he heard a faint creaking sound over on the far side of the cabin, and he knew full well that this was the sound of something moving in the chair.

Slowly, forcing himself to face the truth, he turned and saw Garrett's body still in the chair, still silhouetted against – and looking out through – the window. A moment later, Munver saw the glint of the knife's handle still sticking out from the back of the chair.

Telling himself that he had to stay strong, Munver stared for a moment at the chair before turning and starting to crawl over to where he'd dropped the rifle. He was still trembling with fear, but he figured that was only natural. He'd been through a lot during that night, and he reckoned he wasn't going to miss the cabin when he set off in the morning.

“What exactly do you think is gonna happen?” Garrett's voice said suddenly.

Gasping, Munver grabbed the rifle and pulled back against the wall, and he aimed the gun directly at the chair.

“You know what he wants,” Garrett's voice continued, “and you're only -”

“Shut up!” Munver yelled, waving the rifle around but not firing. Not yet. “You're dead, so shut up!”

At this, Garrett's voice began to chuckle.

The back of Garrett's head remained completely still, but the sound sure seemed like it was coming from round the front.

“You're not real,” Munver said through clenched teeth. “I sure ain't gonna go crazy now, not when I'm so close to going back and showing them all.”

“You won't be going anywhere unless you make this right,” Garrett's voice replied. “Did you think those coins were just decoration? Just an oversight on my part? Didn't it occur to you that maybe I squeezed them into those cold, dead hands before I ever set off along this road? Didn't it occur to you that maybe I had a good reason for doing that?”

“I'm not listening,” Munver said, shaking his head. “I'm not letting you into my head.”

“There are some dead folks who stick around,” Garrett's voice continued. “Or rather, who insist on coming back. I first saw it during the war. A priest told me I had a special inclination to noticing this sort of thing, that maybe if I survived the fighting it'd be a sign that I had a job to do for the Lord.

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