My evening walk takes me past an old cemetery. I know, I know – that’s like the perfect setup for a ghost story. But it’s not like that. I mean, yes, my walk takes me past an old cemetery, but it’s literally just along one edge of the cemetery. It’s not like I go through into the cemetery and walk among the gravestones.

Well, usually that’s the case.

For one, Noodles (my husky) will not go in the cemetery. Like, period. He flattens out like a Berkeley protestor and will not budge. But Noodles wasn’t with me tonight. If he had been, the creepy guy in the Chevy Malibu almost certainly wouldn’t have immediately turned around after passing me and drove past really slowly while looking at me.. and then turning around again…

Before you ask, yes, I have several ways to defend myself. When he first turned around my hand fell instinctively to the small pocket in my exercise shorts that held my mace. My other hand tightened around the Nightcore T4K flashlight that could deliver a 4,000-lumen burst of light that is quite disabling. I swallowed hard as he drove by and felt the chain around the kydex sheath concealing my Bastinelli PiKa Karambit knife that my dad taught me to very effectively use against a tree in our yard whose bark is extremely carved up as a result. So, yeah, when I use terms like “layered defense,” trust me that I have an idea what I’m talking about.

That said, best way to survive an encounter is to avoid it in the first place. So, when the Malibu made the second lazy U-turn, I hesitated for only a moment before turning and vaulting over the low stone wall surrounding the cemetery.

The tall trees that ran along the stone wall swallowed the light from the streetlights almost immediately, and I turned my flashlight on a much more sedate and useful light level, hurrying deeper into the cemetery to put as much distance between me and the creepy guy as possible. My vague plan was to cut through and come out the west side of the cemetery and pick up Oak Avenue which I could use to get home. That was the plan, at least.

But it was very dark, and the flashlight created eerie shadows among the pale gravestones. I was only about a hundred meters in before I started to lose my nerve and wonder if maybe testing my pepper spray might not have been the worst idea as the familiar warm concrete smell of the sidewalk gave way to the earthy smell of watered lawns – I could hear the distant chick-chick-chick of automated sprinklers in a far-off section of the cemetery. A nearby owl hoot-hooted, startling me. I hurried deeper into the cemetery.

I caught movement in my periphery and trained the beam of my flashlight in that direction – nothing. I kept moving only to hear the distinct sound of leaves underfoot from that same direction. I shone the light again. Again, nothing. I moved faster. The footsteps on dead leaves seemed to keep pace. I had almost sped up to a run now. I spotted another flashlight beam ahead in the distance, and as the steps behind me picked up their speed, I broke into a sprint towards the flashlight in the distance hoping it was some night watchman. I thought I heard the footsteps sprint after me, but I wasn’t certain – I wasn’t going to check. I ran at a breakneck speed towards the person with the flashlight.

The flashlight holder clearly heard my desperate footfalls and my own erratically moving flashlight beam. “Whoa, whoa there,” a female voice came from the flashlight holder.

“Oh my god,” I panted. “Thank god. There’s something following me..”

She trained her light behind me and increased the brightness. There among the gray and bone-white tombstones stood… a deer. Well, a buck. With a pretty nice set of antlers. It paused for a second as the light reflected in its eyes like, well, a deer in headlights, before turning his head and darting into the darkness.

“Well,” she laughed, “I think you’re safe from marauding deer now.”

Her laughter made my fear evaporate, replaced by embarrassment. “God, now I feel dumb…”

“You shouldn’t. It’s spooky as hell in here. Getting scared of an animal skulking in the dark just seems reasonable.” The silence around us pressed in before she added, “Hi, I’m Mara.”

I smiled in the darkness. “I’m Leah. Thanks for, well, for being here.”

She chuckled. “Just taking my nightly walk through here. What are you doing in here, Leah?”

“Ugh,” I sighed. “There was a creepy guy… I decided to cut through the cemetery to try to get away from him.”

“Holy shit, did he hurt you?”

“No,” I said quickly. “Nothing like that. He just drove by slowly, then again, then turned to come around again.”

“Jesus, that’s scary…”

“I mean… yeah…” we were quiet. As my heartrate slowed, I broke the silence, “You cut through here regularly?”

“Oh yeah, it’s my usual route.”

“You don’t find it scary? I mean there are terrifying deer in here and everything,” I said dramatically.

Mara laughed. “No, it’s peaceful. Well.. at least it’s usually peaceful.”

“Usually?”

“You were just terrified by a ruminant; I don’t want to add to your fears.”

“Oh, now you’ve got me intrigued.”

From the light of our flashlights I could see Mara sizing me up. “Yeah, well, this one time I ran into something a lot scarier than a buck.”

Maybe it was the company, but I felt less afraid. “Yeah? Go on…”

“I don’t know what it was. I was walking through in the middle of summer, so the sun had set and there was still just enough light for me to see an unusual statue on one of the mausoleums by the west entrance. I didn’t remember it being there before. A few steps in, I turned to look at it again and it was gone.”

“That’s… disconcerting.”

“Right? I told myself I just needed to get through, so I sped up. I passed the groundskeepers shed and heard a loud hissing. I had my flashlight,” she gestured to the light in her hand, “and shone it towards the sound…”

“And?”

“I saw… I don’t know. It was like a shadow that the light couldn’t penetrate. Pure darkness, just hovering there by the corner of the structure. Then burning red dots appeared, like it opened its eyes and looked at me.”

“Holy shit,” I said.

“Yeah. I booked it.”

“Hell yeah, you did.”

“I got maybe thirty yards before it appeared directly in front of me, the darkness coalescing into the form of an enormous crow – like ten feet tall. It spread its gaping wings to engulf me. I skidded to a stop and bolted across the grass. I could hear it take flight, I thought I could feel the wind from its massive wings, but when I stole a glance over my shoulder I could just see the dark shape and fiery red eyes soaring after me.”

“Jesus…”

“Yeah, well, I probably shouldn’t have looked behind me as I ran across the grass because I tripped over one of those low grave stones and went down hard.”

I winced just thinking about it.

“My foot went numb – I don’t know if I sprained or broke my ankle, but it didn’t matter as that.. thing settled right in front of me. I scrambled backwards and I could see other shades moving in towards me from other directions. The main being floated closer, its eyes boring into me…” she trailed off into silence.

I waited a long moment for her to continue, but the silence hung heavy in the darkness. Finally, I couldn’t stand it and asked louder than I intended, “Well? How’d you escape that thing?”

My question startled Mara. “Oh? Oh, yeah. I didn’t. That was, what? Ten years ago? I’ve been here ever since.”

My blood froze in my veins as I staggered backwards, my flashlight pointing at Mara… through Mara, before I turned and ran for the exit.

I sighed when I saw the caller ID. There was no good reason why my ex-wife, Christina, was calling me so soon after I dropped our son off at her house after my visitation weekend. “Hey Chris, what’s up?”

“Ethan, what the hell is up with that shithole you call a house?”

“’Hi Ethan, how are you?’” I mimicked her voice. “‘Good, Chris, thanks. How are you?’ ‘I’m good, thanks for asking…’”

“Cut the shit, Ethan. What happened to Noah this weekend?”

“Wait, what? We went to the zoo. I told you that. What’s going–”

“He doesn’t want to sleep in his room. Said you let him sleep with you?”

“Well, yeah. He didn’t want to sleep in his room here. I mean, he didn’t want to be in there at all. So, yeah, I let him sleep with me. I figured it’s a new place, he’s just not used to it.”

“Christ,” Christina exhaled. “Nothing else happened?”

“No, nothing else happened.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Chris –”

“Please call me Christina.”

“For Christ’s sake, I’ve called you Chris since we met, I can’t turn on a dime and call you Christina every time.”

“Well, please at least try.”

“Goodbye, Christina,” I added extra emphasis. “See you in two weeks.”

***

 “I just don’t like it, Dad,” Noah said.

“But it’s your room, buddy. Look, I put your favorite dinosaur sheets on the bed. You like those sheets, right?”

Noah nodded. “Daddy, I want to sleep with you,” he whined.

Part of me wanted to take a stand – isn’t that what you’re supposed to do as a father? Put your foot down? This was the third weekend Noah had been over since I moved into the house on Sutter, and he hadn’t slept a single night in the room I made up for him. But I was tired. He was tired. Neither of us had the energy to talk this one through. Maybe in the morning… “Okay, buddy, come on.” He climbed onto the bed. I settled him in, turned off the light and then started to get into what apparently now was my side when Noah was over.

“Dad?”

I stopped. “Yes?”

“Can we leave the bathroom light on?”

I looked through the darkness to the outline of the dark bathroom. I sighed, “Sure, buddy.” I turned the light in the bathroom on before climbing into bed. “Good night, Noah.”

“Night, Daddy.”

He fell asleep almost instantly. Me, not so much. It’s weird, but it felt like the house changed when Noah was in it. I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s just been my perspective on the house – with the little one around, it’s no longer my bachelor pad and now I have to change my mindset to be “Dad” – or whether it was something… else. That night I thought I heard whispers right at the edge of hearing. I couldn’t make out any words, and I thought it might be the kids next door having a party and the sound drifting over. But there was no bass music or laughing or anything you’d associate with a party. Just what sounded like people whispering. My mind tried to rationalize it, but nothing made sense and the more I concentrated on trying to figure out what they were saying, the more unsettled I got. But I must have been tired because next thing I know the sun is streaming in the window, and Noah’s head is on my chest leaving a drool puddle on my shirt.

Most visitation weekends I pick up Noah from his Mom’s Saturday morning and bring him back Sunday evening. This weekend, though, Chris had gone out of town for the weekend and asked if I could take him to school on Monday and she’d pick him up after school. To me it meant I had extra time with my son, so that’s fine. We watched the latest Minions movie and then I took him out to dinner at his request. Again, he wanted nothing to do with his room, and I was happy to have another night with him so I didn’t argue when he asked to sleep with me.

But the whispering was back again. I mentally tuned it out and was nearly asleep when movement caught my eye. Something had moved between the lit bathroom and the bed. Eyes wide open now, I stared hard t the rectangle of light that was the bathroom door, waiting for a repeat. No movement, no dimming. But the whispers grew louder so that I could almost make out words… but not quite.

***

“Who did you have over at the house this weekend?”

“Hello to you, Chris – Christina,” I caught myself. “What are you talking about?”

“Noah told his friends that you always have people over when he’s there. Is that true? Do you have what’s her name there? Ellie?”

“Eleanor? No, we broke up like six months ago. Christina, no one was over at the house. It was just the two of us. What exactly did he say? I had people over?”

“Apparently, he said he doesn’t like the people at your house. Ethan, if any of your stupid friends is messing with my baby, so help me God…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down there. No one is at the house when he’s here. It’s literally just us.”

“So, he’s lying then?” she said in clipped tones. “You’re saying our son is a liar?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose to stave off the headache I felt coming on every time Chris and I would fight. “Christina, no, no one’s calling him a liar. I don’t know why he’s telling people there’s people over here.”

She was silent for a long moment. “You swear to God?”

“Jesus, Christina…”

“Swear to God?”

I sighed heavily. “Yes, my hand to God, I’m not having anyone at the house when Noah’s here. That’s our time.”

She was quiet again. Then said, “…Because I won’t hesitate to go to court…”

“Goodbye, Chris,” I said deliberately, ending the call.

***

Two weeks later, Noah was asleep next to me in bed and I couldn’t tune out the whispering. I rolled over and caught something slip between the bed and the bathroom. I stared at the lit bathroom doorway – nothing. Something blurred in my periphery by the door to the hallway. The whispering grew louder, so loud that I looked down at Noah to see if it had woken him – still sound asleep. My eyes dart from the door to the hallway to the bathroom doorway and back, my arms instinctively holding Noah.

The whispering stops suddenly. The house is silent.

“You can’t protect him,” a female girl’s voice whispered right behind my right ear.

I leapt out of bed, spinning to see who was there. No one. I saw a shadow cross in front of the bathroom.

“Did they talk to you?” Noah’s voice came from the bed.

I looked down at him staring up at me, fear plain on his face. “Who? Did who talk to me?”

He shrunk into himself, tears welling up in his eyes. “They told me I can’t tell you or they would hurt me.”

The door to Noah’s room slammed shut with a bang. I jumped. The door to the bathroom slammed shut, plunging the room into darkness.

I lunged for the light switch, but no lights came on. I leaned over and scooped Noah up and moved into the hallway, heading for the front door. The table by the door tipped over, sending everything crashing to the floor, including the little bowl I kept my keys in. I bent, grabbed the keys, unlocked the front door and pulled. The front door didn’t budge. With a Herculean effort I can only attribute to Dad adrenaline strength, I wrenched the door open and strode out into the night, the door slamming behind me.

“I’m scared, Daddy,” Noah said as I buckled him into his car seat with shaking fingers.

“I know, buddy,” I said as reassuringly as I could. “We’ll be fine…”

“Where are we going, Daddy?”

I didn’t rightly know – I hadn’t thought that far ahead. “We’re going to find a hotel for the night. Everything will be better tomorrow. You have school in the morning.”

I started the car and hurried out of the driveway as I could see lights inside the house wink on and off furiously. As we sped through the neighborhood, I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know what the hell was going on with my house, but I’d sort it out. Or burn the place to the ground – I didn’t rightfully know. I turned the radio on to soothe my nerves.

The loud whispering emanated from the car’s speakers.

Going with a little shorter story tonight. The goal is to get a full night’s sleep – especially since it feels like the heat might actually have lifted!

As I approached my dorm room at the end of the long corridor, I was grateful to see light coming from under the door – Aiden was still up. Not surprising – I was expecting him to be studying, what with midterms coming up.

I unlocked the door and let myself in. “Hey buddy,” I said.

“Hey Jacob,” he said over his shoulder as he sat at his desk.

“Sorry I’ve been a shitty roommate, bro. It’s just…”

“Ella,” he said with a smile. “Dude, I can’t blame you. Why would you hang out here when you could hang out with her?”

“I know, but I feel bad – we haven’t hung out in like a week.” I dropped the small duffel on my bed and started putting the dirty clothes in my hamper.

“Dude, seriously, it’s cool,” he turned completely in his chair.

“Let’s do something this weekend,” I offered. “Just the two of us – you want to drive up the coast and hit that surf spot off the point?”

“I’d like that,” Aiden said, turning to look at his surfboard leaned up against his bureau. Then added, “I need to see if I’m available, though.”

I laughed. “See if you’re available? Should I check with your secretary?”

“Screw you, man, I’ve got, you know, stuff…”

I stopped and turned to face him. “Stuff?”

“Stuff,” he said flatly.

A grin spread across my face. “Dude, what’s her name?”

“Who?”

“Whoever it is you’re going to see this weekend instead of surfing. You tell me!”

Aiden chuckled. “There’s no one…”

I was going to press him, but his demeanor had changed, he looked sad. “Alright, man. Text me, okay?”

“I will.”

I nodded at the book on his desk. “O chem?”

Aiden rolled his eyes. “Ugh,” he groaned.

“I’m telling you, man, Comp Sci doesn’t require O chem,” I threw a couple clean shirts in the duffel and grabbed some clean-ish underwear.

“I know…”

A knock came at the door.

Aiden and I looked at each other. “Expecting anyone?” I asked.

Aiden shook his head.

I shrugged and moved to the door. Opening it, I saw Mason, one of our RAs. “Hey Mason, what’s up man?”

His face was drawn, his eyes serious.

“Bro, what’s up?”

“I… I saw the light and hoped you were here. I didn’t want to text you…”

The look on his face started to make me nervous. “Dude, what’s up?”

“You haven’t heard?” he looked incredulous, his expression falling further.

“Heard what?”

“Aiden was in an accident. He was killed by a drunk driver two days ago.”

“The hell?” I said, confused. I turned to ask Aiden what Mason was talking about, but Aiden’s chair was empty, desk light off. I stared at the dark desk, at the empty chair…

“Daniel?” Mason asked gently.

I turned back to him, “I… he… We were just…”

“I’m sorry, man, I thought you already knew…”

I stared at Mason wordlessly, my brain unable to process.

Behind me came a crash that made both of us jump as Aiden’s surfboard crashed to the floor.