Past The Patch

sky.

I couldn't help but feel like that might be a bad sign for a lot of people. I had mostly caught my breath by the time I made my decision. I only hoped that Jeremy would be safe.

I did my best to hide him before I left him there. Then, I made my way back toward the hill. I had gained enough momentum from running that it didn't take much extra effort to get myself up onto it. I watched the swirling cylinder of red from behind the van, that deafening wind blowing everything away from it.

I had no clue what the hell I could possibly do to stop what was going on, but I knew I had to try something. I pushed against the wind in the direction of the vortex. The closer I came to the back of the van, the harder it was to move. I could see that it seemed to be coming directly from the fire.

As I came around from the side of the overturned van, I saw the cooler backed against one of the large gray rocks that crown the hill.

I knew then what I hoped might work. I threw my body against the blasting air coming from the red swirling whirlwind. The air seemed to stiffen as I realized whatever it was knew I was there and what I had planned to do. A red outline of Rick appeared in the base of the vortex and spoke to me.

'Go away or die,' it said in an echoing thunder. I pushed on anyway, trying to ignore the figure as it pulled from the vortex. I was only mere feet from the cooler when it reached out and grabbed my shoulder, its hand burning through my clothes and searing my flesh.

I screamed and tried to jerk away, but the wind pushed me back. I was near to fainting when the pain simply subsided and my mind went blank for a split second. Then, I saw flashes of... something.

At first I didn't know what it was, but before long, they became more complete. It was this very spot. But it wasn't at all like now. The gray rocks formed the bottom of a stone cylinder pointing up to the sky. Inside, a light brown-skinned man dressed in strips of leather and feathers clutched a long thick, whittled tree branch and screamed up at the sky as flames engulfed the lower half of his body. Somehow, I knew then he was a powerful medicine man.

Outside of the stone cylinder, a number of other Native Americans danced around the circular stone building chanting and waving their spears into the air. The medicine man's screaming became a horrible, corroding sound. As if his screams were being melted down by the fire. Then all but that bottom layer of gray rocks remained and Red Rick's hand was burning into my shoulder again. I could feel the flesh beginning to give way. I screamed and jerked myself forward, stumbling to the ground and reaching out for the cooler. Rick screamed, 'No!' as my fingers clasped around the edge of the white plastic handle of the cooler.

Leaves and rocks flung at me from all directions as I pulled the cooler to me with all of my might. Rick reached out and grabbed my ankle with his burning red hand. I felt the thin flesh melt around it and I had to fight with everything I had to stay conscious. I pulled backward then, bringing the cooler with me and thumped it against Rick's head. He fell backwards with that familiar Farley clumsiness and the red vortex began to widen toward me.

I jumped up with a force I didn't know I had and simultaneously flung open the cooler. The half-melted ice spilled onto the red fire coming out of the ground where our meager campfire had been. A great explosion of red mist scattered dirt, rocks, and steaming embers everywhere. I watched as all of the mist including what had spread into the sky simply dissipated.

Immediately afterward, Rick crumpled to the ground and lay still, his eyes staring into eternal depths that no living man would ever see.

Some time later, after years of digging up old documents, I learned something interesting about that old house out in the woods. The original owner of the land had been Lester Chaldon, a wealthy eccentric businessman.

It was mostly kept quiet, but I found out by reading old letters between his brother and sister that he had a thing for collecting the old bones of Indian medicine men. It was also said that he tended to bury them throughout the yard. He believed he was using them to put a curse on anyone who would trespass into his land.

I can't help but wonder where he got the idea.

MOON DANCE

Matthew J. Leverton

Matthew J. Leverton is the author of Bending the Darkness, and a forthcoming novel, The Veins. He resides in upstate New York with his wife and daughter.

***

Jimmy lay on the ground, staring at the flickering stars in the infinite distance. He grasped in his right hand a small folded paper. He sighed into the night and said, “Are you going?”

Felicia lay just a few feet away, her long red hair splayed out behind her like a copper blood stain. “I’m thinking about it. Stacey Kell’s parties are always wild. You never know, it may be an all out orgy this year.” Felicia giggled.

“Really?” Jimmy said, perking up.

“No, you pervert! It’s normally a costume ball. I went a few years ago, and they had about a hundred people all dressed in cloaks and masks. It was kind of creepy and really fun.” Felicia smiled. She ran her hands over her hair and the grass.

“I’m thinking about going…” Jimmy said, waiting for the moment Felicia would make fun of him.

“I think that’d be awesome. I mean, you were invited, so I guess she may want you there. She doesn’t invite everyone.”

Jimmy smiled. His gaze never left the sky that night, a rather large, lovesick smile took shape where his mouth was. Felicia didn’t look over to him, she knew he was happy, and she’d keep him that way.

The moon illuminated the sky in a sickly white glow. The sloping field beneath alight with three bonfires amongst an overcrowded forest of green trees. In the distance, figures danced, their cloaks flapping in the breeze and Jimmy could hear the giggles and cries of the party. Jimmy stood on the balcony of the Kell Estate, watching the party below.

Several people surrounded him, dressed not unlike the party-goers below; black cloaks and golden masks with rather phallic noses and slit eyes.

Jimmy rubbed his arms as a breeze blew through his cloak. Felicia was somewhere, to that he was certain. He could not see her amongst the crowd in her garish green cloak and silver mask, but he could be sure she was around.

“Having fun,” a pleasant voice said from behind him. Jimmy turned around and was greeted with astounding blue eyes behind a simple white face mask. Her face looked frozen in time; emotionless. Long, curly blonde hair flowed out behind the mask.

“Uh-yeah, I guess,” he spoke softly.

“You guess? You’re at one of the biggest parties of the year, and you guess you’re having fun?” She smiled; Jimmy couldn’t see her mouth but the way her eyes thinned into slits he could tell she was.

“Well, maybe someone should show me what fun is, at these parties.” He had no control over what left his mouth, just felt the immediate regret that he had said such a forward thing to a probable complete stranger.

She stepped closer, still smiling. The people around them left for the party below and they stood alone. “What exactly is fun to you?” Jimmy quivered, he felt a pull in his gut and his loins, but felt the shame equally. Jimmy stammered and then said, “I don’t know.” He didn’t know, that was the damnable thing about it.

The girl in the white mask laughed, she raised a hand to his cheek and touched him. Her touch was warm and inviting. His head spun at that instant, feeling a girl’s hand against his skin was more than he ever handled before. “Well, let me show you,” she whispered.

Jimmy’s body tingled, but he looked around to see who was watching him. His eyes scanned for Felicia, but