Michael Hunter - Come Get Me

Jim knew Rob didn’t believe it but that was the way the sheriff was going to tell it so he guessed he had to go along with it. Nothing would be accomplished by trying to get him to say otherwise except getting Rob in trouble. It definitely wouldn’t bring Tommy back.

They slowly walked down the street for a few more minutes trying to talk about other things to take their minds off the Goatman. It didn’t work very well until Pete’s name came up. Rob told him that after he left, Pete started getting a little strange. First he’d moved into one of the old houses that sat on the edge of the woods all by himself. Anyone other than Rob got chased off whenever they went around including his own parents. Then a few weeks after Pete had moved in he started doing a lot of strange things. One night Rob happened to be driving by on his normal rounds when he saw a glow in the sky near the area of Pete’s house. Wanting to make sure his friend was ok he’d decided to investigate. He didn’t know what he expected to find but what he found sure wasn’t it.

There were fires burning all around the house with Pete right smack dab in the middle of it all striding back and forth poking at them making them like he was one of hell’s own demons tending the pits of the damned. Rob had gone out a few times and tried talking some sense into Pete but to no avail. All he did was watch the flames burn and mumble strange things about stuff from the woods coming to get him and how he had to, no needed to, keep the fires burning so he would be safe. Jim agreed that it was strange but confessed he had no idea what to do about it. He’d been gone a long time. If Pete was really as far gone as he sounded he might not even remember who Jim was. Plus he wasn’t even going to be there that long. There was nothing he would be able to do for Pete in the short time he had.

Rob ignored Jim’s excuses, saying that the only time anyone saw Pete anymore was when he came to town to get food. Pete’s parents were worried about him but they continued paying for everything he needed. The house he lived, the food he ate, even the gasoline he used in his fires. They paid for it all. They wanted him to get help but knew they couldn’t force him. He had refused when they suggested it and they couldn’t make themselves send him away. They’d gone to the sheriff and asked if he could do anything but he’d told them that Pete wasn’t hurting anyone and as long as he didn’t set the woods on fire there wasn’t anything he could do. Rob finished up by telling Jim that he should visit Pete and see if he could talk some sense into him. Even though he wasn’t going to be there long seeing him might do Pete some good. Jim said he’d try to make it over there but knew he probably wouldn’t. He had one friend dead already. He didn’t know if he could take seeing another going crazy right before his eyes.

“I really do need to get back to work now,” Rob said after finishing the story of Pete’s plight. He looked at his watch and winced. “Yup, I’m real late for my rounds. So, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at the funeral then.”

“Yeah,” Jim mumbled as Rob turned to go. “We’ll have to get together before I leave.”

“We can do that,” Rob said turning around and walking backwards. “Next time we won’t talk about so much of this bad stuff. We can talk about other things.”

“Like what?” Jim asked giving him the opening he was looking for.

“I know, you can tell me all about your date,” Rob said with a mischievous grin.

“Hey, you know what?” Jim asked blowing off his comment. “You’re such a great police officer and all that now so why don’t you see if you can find a life or something. Quit living through me.”

“Why? Yours is so much more entertaining,” Rob quickly fired back.

“You know me; I’m here for your entertainment,” Jim shot back just as fast.

Rob waved over his shoulder and walked down the street. Jim watched him go then looked up at the sky and saw it was later in the day than he’d thought. He still needed to get back to his mother’s house so he could grab a shower and be ready for his date later on. He had no clue what there was to do around here but no matter what it was he wanted to be clean and smelling good so he made a good impression. Jill might’ve just been being nice when she’d said she would go out with him but then again she’d come up with the idea herself, so she must be at least a little bit interested. At least, he could always hope, he thought.

Jill was just closing the store when Jim came running up hoping he wasn’t late for their date. He’d only had a few minutes once he got to his mother’s house to take a quick shower put on some clean clothes then run back out the door. He’d cut it close but he’d made it. True to her word Jill was ready to go.

“Hi!” she said looking at him a little funny.

“Hi yourself,” he answered while catching his breath. After taking a few minutes to calm down he asked, “So, what are we going to do tonight?”

“Well,” she began nervously, “Gran came by a little while after you left to say hi and we got to talking about what all had been going on today. You know, gossiping. Well, I told her you’d come back for a short visit and that you’d been talking to Rob about Tommy’s death and how the two of you thought something a little strange was going on. She pretty much agreed but I cut her off before she could get started by telling her you and I were going to be seeing each other later. She quieted down for a minute then said if we didn’t have anything else to do then we should stop by and visit with her for a while. She said she’d missed seeing you after all these years. She also said she wanted to talk to you about something too. You know, since you were here and all.”

“Any idea about what?” Jim asked after trying to figure out what Gran might want. True, he’d known her when he was little but that was a long time ago. He couldn’t imagine anything she might want to tell him after all this time.

“No, no idea but whatever it is it must be really important. She told me not to forget at least five times before she left. She even tried to have me write it down so I wouldn’t forget but I told her that was going a bit too far. I mean, it’s our date after all right?”

He didn’t know what Gran wanted but according to Jill it was important. They might as well go find out what this was all about. He’d been looking forward to spending a night alone with Jill but talking to Grandma wouldn’t take too long. Then the two of them would have the rest of the night together.

“You’re right it is our date but it won’t hurt to stop off and see Grandma for a few minutes,” he said, “after that hopefully we can go do something else. There wasn’t much to do around here when I left but I’m sure we can find something.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll find some way to pass the time,” Jill said with an impish smile. Spending part of their first with her grandmother obviously wasn’t what either of them had planned but it seemed to make her happy so he didn’t mind doing it. After that though is when the real date would start. He knew what he wanted to do but wondered if it was along the same lines as what she had planned.

He honestly didn’t mind taking a little time to visit with Grandma. He hadn’t seen her in so long he’d been hoping he would get a chance to visit her while he was home. Now that chance had presented itself and he was glad did. If it hadn’t been for this date he might not have found the time to see her and knew he would’ve regretted it. She might not be around the next time he finally made it home. His own grandparents died when he was young, so Grandma had sorta become a surrogate grandparent. She didn’t seem to mind too much. Why should she, it wasn’t like he took much of her time. A kind smile whenever he came in and letting him read whatever comics were on the racks wasn’t too hard. Actually now that he thought about it she’d probably welcomed it since she’d never been able to see her own grandchild.