Mark Tufo - The End Has Come and Gone

“Do you know what kind of beer it is, because that sounds really good right now.”

“That’s not really important to the story.”

“Sorry.”

“Can I go on?”

“Wait, did they ever find the boat?” I asked.

Gary shook his head.

“Any debris from a wreck then?”

Gary shook his head again. “Can I continue?”

I motioned with my hand that he could.

“So Sam is on the porch and this car pulled into the driveway. It’s Tabitha, she was down in New Orleans taking her daughter to her new college for orientation and thought she would show her where she used to go on vacations with her family while she was down there. Before she can even come across the yard and hug Sam, this truck pulls up. Its David. He lived in LA but had to go to New Orleans for a conference. When it was done, he decided to go see the beach he had spent so much time on.”

I was sitting up now.

“Sam, Tabitha, and David are all talking and hugging about what good fortune it is that they all came together at the same time when another car pulls into the driveway. It’s Donnie, the youngest of the group. He had no reason whatsoever to make the drive from his home in Texas. He told them he just felt compelled to do it. So there they all are sitting on the front porch reminiscing when Mrs. Keenagh comes out the front door. She is sheet white. Her son Sam got up so fast he knocked his chair over.”

“Did he spill his beer?”

“Do you want to hear the rest?”

“Well yes, I just figured that was the scary part, him spilling his beer and all.”

“Mike!”

“Sorry.”

“So Sam is pretty concerned for his mother and asked her if she’s alright. She can barely talk she’s so upset. ‘It’s the Sparrow,’ his mom tells him, ‘it’s back.’”

“The Sparrow came back? Damn, that gave me goose bumps,” I told Gary. “So they finally did honor their pact. And that’s a true story?”

“Supposed to be.”

“Damn.”

“Okay, you want to hear another one?” Gary asked, “It’s a little freaky-deakier.”

“Deakier? I’m supposed to be the one that makes up words.”

“All right, so there’s this guy.”

“Wait, is this true?”

“Yes.”

“What is your source of information?”

“What are you talking about Mike?”

“I mean did you read this in a book or did you hear it from a friend of a friend whose uncle it happened to.”

“I read this in a book about hauntings.”

“I thought you said this wouldn’t be scary?”

“It’s not really,” Gary said.

“But by its definition ‘haunting’ is a scary thing.”

“It’s not.”

“You know, because I’m pretty maxed out already with this whole zombie thing. I don’t need another genre to keep me awake at night.”

“Mike, I don’t remember you always being this difficult.”

“I’ve been away for a long time Gary. I’ve developed all sorts of neuroses.”

“Did you seek professional help?”

“Why? Do you think I need it?”

“You tell me. Can I get on with the story?”

“Don’t let me stop you.”

Gary looked at me with a sideways glance and began his story. “So there’s this guy.”

“What’s his name?” I asked. Gary looked like he was going to hit me with his canteen. “I’m just saying, it’s a lot easier for me to visualize the story if I know the people’s names.”

“Fine, his name is Rob.”

“Really? He’s got the same name as the kid in the last story?”

“JAMES, his name is James.”

“Like Bond.”

“Sure, whatever. So James is married to Tricia and they have a son together, his name is…” Gary paused trying to think of a name, “Mickey and they live in Wyoming.”

I didn’t agree with his name choice, but I let it go for the sake of the story.

“It’s about five years later and the three of them are going through life as best they can when the dad gets laid off. He’s falling behind on his bills and the mortgage and he panics and robs a bank.”

“Damn, I thought you were going to say he robbed an investment banker for $35 and then stabbed him to death.”

“No, it was a bank and he got caught. Spent the next seven years in prison. When he got out he got an apartment within the Cheyenne city limits. His wife and kid were about a half hour away. James had paid his debt to society and wanted to try and rebuild his family. He had visited Tricia and Mickey a few times and had asked her if she would be willing to take him back. His wife told him that it wasn’t just her decision to make. They had been on their own for so long she would have to ask Mickey too. So she and her son went out the next day to do some hiking, clear their minds and talk about the decision they needed to make. While they were climbing up the hill, they came across an open crevice which led into an abandoned mine.”

“That’s not a good move if they went in.”

“Afraid of being buried alive?”

“Who the hell isn’t?” I asked, not believing that I wasn’t on the side of the vast majority in this.

“They went in, they’d gone about ten feet when Mickey leans up against one of the support beams, problem is it’s all rotted out and the ceiling gives. The cave-in was devastating. At the same time as the ceiling collapses, James hears a frantic knocking on his door. He immediately answers it and standing there is a bloodied battered and bruised Tricia screaming at him that she needs his help, Mickey is trapped in a mine collapse. James grabs some tools and hops in his truck with Tricia. They drive for forty-five minutes to get to the site and James starts digging like crazy to get to his son. He tells his wife that she needs to get to the roadway and get some more help. Sure enough, after about ten or fifteen minutes two guys come up in different cars. They are all helping each other and they finally find the pocket where Mickey is trapped. They dig out a hole big enough to pull him out and Mickey is screaming at his dad to go further, that his mom is a few feet past him. James is trying to tell him that his mother is safe, that she came and got him and that she’s fine. Mickey is having none of it. He’s frantic, starts digging at the rocks with his hands. James and the men who came to help start digging and in a few feet they come across Tricia’s body.”

“Holy shit,” I said.

“Yeah, for the love of her son, she went to get the help of his father. What is really weird, when they interviewed the two other men, one of them said what he heard could have been the howling of the wind but felt compelled to check it out. The second one said he definitely heard a woman screaming for help.”

“Man that just gave me the chills.”

This was a different night with Gary but in its own way it was way scarier, at least to me.

“Do you want a drink?” Gary asked handing his canteen over.

“No, I’m fine man. I’ve got my own,” I told him.

“This isn’t water.”

So I’m figuring Vodka or some other such libation. “I’m good, I don’t want to drink. I’ve got watch in a few hours.

“Mike, it’s Kool-Aid.”

“I’m good,” I said, feigning that I was getting ready for sleep.

“It’s really good,” he said, placing it under my nose coaxingly.

“Gary, I really don’t want any.”

“This was your favorite as a kid. I remember making it for you all the time. I especially got this for you.”