Headless Read online

  Robert Thompson

  Headless

  Robert Thompson calls Indiana home. He is an author, screenwriter, and filmmaker. He is also the owner of Fresh Slate Pictures, LLC, which has Produced multiple Feature Films to date.

  HEADLESS

  Robert Thompson

  This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  ©Text Copyright 2015 Robert Thompson

  Edited By Allison Gamble

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I owe a debt of gratitude to these individuals:

  My father. Who has more than tolerated the pursuit of my dreams.

  My mother. Who always believed in me. Rest in Peace.

  Author Rue Volley, who has helped me find my footing as a young writer.

  Leigh, and Douglas for being mentors who believe in my talent, and support my drive.

  My fans, family, and friends who have supported me through all of my creativity.

  CONTENTS

  About the author

  Title

  Copyright

  Acknowledgements

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER I (Pg. 1)

  CHAPTER II (Pg. 11)

  CHAPTER III (Pg. 21)

  CHAPTER IV (Pg. 32)

  CHAPTER V (Pg. 40)

  CHAPTER VI (Pg. 46)

  CHAPTER VII (Pg. 55)

  CHAPTER VIII (Pg. 65)

  CHAPTER IX (Pg. 73)

  CHAPTER X (Pg. 81)

  CHAPTER XI (Pg. 90)

  CHAPTER XII (Pg. 99)

  CHAPTER XIII (Pg. 109)

  CHAPTER XIV (Pg. 121)

  CHAPTER XV (Pg. 132)

  CHAPTER XVI (Pg, 142)

  CHAPTER XVII (Pg. 151)

  CHAPTER XVIII (Pg. 161)

  CHAPTER XIX (Pg. 172)

  CHAPTER XX (Pg. 180)

  CHAPTER XXI (Pg. 191)

  CHAPTER XXII (Pg. 199)

  CHAPTER XXIII (Pg. 208)

  CHAPTER XXIV (Pg. 216)

  CHAPTER XXV (Pg. 223)

  CHAPTER XXVI (Pg. 232)

  CHAPTER I

  October 30th, 11:15 P.M.

  The wind sang a solemn dirge as it worked through the trees along the winding road. Branches groaned and creaked as the signs of Autumn were in full effect. A beautiful array of yellow, orange, and soft brown leaves lit by the pale moonlight. Dark clouds, thick and speckled with ripples of lightning, rolled in from the West. It was a post card come to life. Headlights illuminate a sign, as a four-door compact car speeds down the street, music thumping against the walls of the trunk.

  Sleepy Hollow, 5 Miles.

  “Hey, we're almost there!” the young man driving the car yelled over the music.

  Ray was a thinly built, young hispanic male. His hair groomed, and glasses perfectly set, this kid could give Clark Kent a run for his money. His wry smile was perfectly white against his almond-tone skin. He wore a short sleeve white dress shirt, black slacks, a black tie, and a small black backpack.

  “Where are we going anyways, Ray?” The girl, Paige, yelled at him from the back seat.

  She was an attractive young woman in her own right. Thin blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, a small frame, and not much to her curves. The short shorts, and checkered top tied off at her navel was a Country girl costume that anyone would appreciate.

  “It's a surprise!” the muscle-bound monkey suction-cupped to her neck managed to grunt in between kissing on her.

  This physical specimen is Tyler. Somewhere between genetic lottery winner, and roid freak lies this walking behemoth of a human being. So large, in fact, that he barely fit comfortably in the back seat of the car. His square jaw, thick neck, and broad shoulders gave him an intimidating presence, even in the overalls and straw hat he was forced to wear opposite his date for the night.

  She laughed, and pushed him off as he groaned at her rejection of his grabbiness. “I don't like surprises.”

  “You'll like this one,” he grumbled, as he threw his weight on top of her, kissing her. She laughed as she fell back on the seat.

  “Hey, don't fuck up my dad's car Ty! Be careful!” Ray yelled, watching in the rearview mirror.

  “Fuck your dad, I'll pay to have it steam cleaned if I make a mess. Besides, she swallows, right?” A hand slaps him lightning quick.

  “Pig!”

  He simply laughs this off and goes back to kissing all over her body. The other occupant of the car, another young woman, Melody, sits in the passenger seat taking large drinks from a Vodka bottle. She was a bit more blessed in the curves department, but dressed relaxed and even a bit sloppily. Sweats, and a hoodie adorn an otherwise respectable physique. Ray wasn't exactly her idea of an ideal blind date.

  Ray turns the music down, and looks over at her. “Care to save some for the rest of us?”

  “Whatever.”

  Another heavy drink. Someone clearly doesn't want to be with them, tonight. As the road goes deeper into the woods, the trees seem to get thicker, and the light from the moon fades as the clouds get closer, and closer. A couple minutes further, and the car creeps to a stop. Ray puts the vehicle in park, and unbuckles his seatbelt.

  “Well, we're here,” Ray announces.

  The others look out the front window to see a decrepit wooden bridge set over a small ravine, illuminated by the car's headlights.

  “What is this place?” Paige whispers, leaning through the front seats to get a better view.

  Tyler sits back in his seat, staring at her from behind, appreciating the short shorts she dons.

  “Sleepy Hollow,” Ray exclaims with an amused air.

  “I've been to Sleepy Hollow, this isn't it,” Melody scoffs.

  “This is the original town, the modern one is about twenty miles that way,” Ray points in the direction of the passenger window. “Everyone eventually just up and moved out of here back around the depression.”

  “Why?” Paige stared at him.

  She then squeaks in surprise, and looks back over her shoulder at Tyler who's working his meaty hand between her legs. She quickly slaps his hand away, and he gives her a disapproving glare.

  “Long story. What do you say, want to go check it out?”

  “Yeah!” Paige's eyes light up.

  “I'd rather hit up a bar, dude,” Tyler exclaims, frustrated.

  “Stop being such a pussy,” Paige hisses at him over her shoulder.

  Ray pushes his car door open. “We've got to walk then.”

  Melody grabs his arm, “Wait, walk? Why?”

  “Electronics don't work well once you cross the bridge.”

  “Bullshit,” the drunk blonde to his right scoffs.

  “I swear, plus I'm not driving a fifty-thousand-dollar car across that old ass bridge. Not the way I want to spend Halloween,” Ray laughs, climbing out.

  Paige jumps out without hesitation, and this leads a very frustrated Tyler to join the group. Ray walks to the back of his car and unlocks the trunk, lifting a cooler out of it, and grunting as he drops it to the ground. He then takes a couple cases of beer, and bottles of liquor from the trunk and sticks them in the cooler before slamming it shut, and lifting the cooler up to carry it to their destination.

  Melody sits there a moment, befor
e pushing her door open, and following. “Wait up, fuckers! Don't leave me here!”

  Before even reaching the bridge, their eyes find something interesting at the opening of the cross. Several lit pumpkins line the edge of the opening. A mix of ghoulish grins and cheesy faces welcome them. An owl's hoot fills the air in the distance. Melody grips at Tyler's sleeve as they slowly make their way along the winding path.

  “I don't like this,” she whispered, clutching the large man with one hand, her bottle of vodka with the other.

  “Aw come on, it'll be fun!” Paige giggles, beginning to run for the bridge.

  “Your girlfriend's got moxie,” Ray notes to Tyler, noticing that his prospective date is clutched to the other man's arm.

  “She's a pain in my dick,” Tyler grumbles.

  He side-eyes the young beauty latched to his side. He doesn't make much fuss about sliding his arm around her shoulder, and very quickly letting it slide down to pat her on the rear. “It'll be alright.”

  She looks up at him, and returns a sly grin. The small group crosses the creaking, rickety bridge slowly. Paige is ten paces ahead of everyone else, basically skipping her way across. The others can't help but notice the number of holes letting them watch the water rushing by below.

  “Way to pick the biggest pain in the ass way to get there, Roy,” Melody hisses.

  “It's Ray, and this is the only way in, or out. They built the town on a peninsula. There's a river to every side, and instead of cutting down all the trees and shit, they just dug a big ass hole to connect the water ways, then built a bridge. Kept outsiders away; for the most part,” he answered.

  That's when his footing gave way, and he dropped a couple feet immediately. The wood splashed in the water below, as Ray gasped, holding on to the edge of the planks tightly.

  “Someone help me!” he screamed, begging for assistance.

  He hung there, as his feet dangled above the dark abyss below him. The rush of water doing nothing to ease his mind, as fear overtook his senses. Tyler's hand dropped down almost immediately, and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him up.

  “I got you buddy, hang on. Don't look down,” Tyler groaned as he pulled the much smaller man out of the hole.

  This plea of course led to Ray looking over his shoulder, and even in almost complete darkness, he felt a sense of vertigo as the water seemed to rush further and further away from him. His grip slowly loosening on his friend's arm.

  The girls watched in horror as Tyler hauled him up. He stumbles back as Ray grabs on to the wall of the bridge, staring at the hole. They all stare at each other a moment before Ray starts to laugh. The others join in. Tyler gets up first and heads off with Melody. Paige has already started back across the bridge, and Ray is the last one up, brushing himself off.

  “Hey! I almost died, I can't get a little help with this?” After a moment of no answers, he grabs the cooler and follows after the others.

  The bridge made a noise that echoed through the silence, with every one of their steps. They may as well have been walking on mortars. Owls hooted their displeasure at the ruckus in the distance, and small animals chattered away from various locations. The bridge was a considerable size, once meant to allow large carriages through. Paige had already made it to the other side, and disappeared into the darkness, by the time the others had made it only half way across the bridge.

  By the time they joined her on the other side, the ancillary noise had all but died down again. There wasn't much here that they couldn't have seen on the other side of the bridge. Trees, bricks, garbage. What one would usually expect from a deserted town.

  “Great, way to bring us to more forest shit,” Melody complained.

  “We still have about a half mile to the town, you impatient broad,” Ray snapped back.

  “What did you call me?”

  “Guys, shut up. Where's Paige at?” Tyler stepped between them, looking around. “Paige!”

  They were surrounded by darkness.

  “Paige!” Melody screamed out as well. “She didn't get eaten did she?”

  “There's nothing out there that could eat her. I don't think. Except maybe coyotes?” Ray hesitated, thinking.

  “Coyotes!?”

  “And wolves.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me!?” Melody groaned, taking another long drink from the bottle.

  “I'm certain she's fine. Paige!” Ray went on about yelling for her.

  Nothing. Darkness all around them. Tyler goes for his phone, and dials her, but quickly finds out that Ray wasn't kidding. No service. Next, he turned the light on his cell phone. This gave him an extra few feet of visibility, but there was still nothing but trees in almost every direction.

  “Why did you bring us to the middle of God’s nowhere, Ray?”

  Then Tyler’s light caught them. Eyes reflecting back at him. The other two noticed and turned their gaze on the mysterious creature staring. Tyler slowly began backing away, as did Ray and Melody. The eyes blinked a couple times in the light of the phone, before a chatter was heard, quick footsteps scampered away, and the eyes were gone.

  “It's just an animal, pansies,” Tyler grumbled, straightening himself up. Both Melody and Ray looked at him, unimpressed by his lack of fortitude, before looking at each other, laughing.

  The movement from the tree line on the other side of them was so fast, it barely caught their attention, and they turned just in time for Melody to scream, Ray to stumble back and Tyler to hit the ground as Paige leapt on him, tackling him, and laughing hysterically.

  “Got ya!”

  “You bitch,” Melody gasped, bent over and catching her breath.

  She kissed him passionately before he pushed her off of him.

  “You're lucky I didn't shoot you.” He made a point of noting, warmth rising to his cheeks. He wasn't embarrassed often. Especially not by a woman.

  “Aw, big bad Tyler scared of little bitty old me?” She mocked, and laughed.

  She patted him on the chest, before climbing off him and points to a skyline of buildings in the distance, some seemingly perfectly preserved, others destroyed from years of erosion, lit by the waning moonlight.

  “I found it, by the way!”

  “Wait, you have a gun?” Ray questioned, as Tyler stood up, brushing himself off.

  “Shut up,” Tyler mumbled, still embarrassed. He saunters off towards the buildings, and the other three laugh.

  They all join him in making their way towards the town.

  CHAPTER II

  October 30th, 11:34 P.M.

  The small group of friends meander towards the small town. A broken down, splintered wagon sits at the edge of the dirt path one could call a road. A well with cracked bricks, broken awning, and missing bucket sits back in the woods, tangled in years of growing vines. Melody hugs herself tightly, watching the moisture in the air with each of her breaths.

  “Are we almost there, yet? It's cold out here,” she groaned.

  “You really do complain a lot; you know that?” Ray chided, looking at her. “I'm the one carrying this heavy ass thing.”

  He motions to the cooler in his hands.

  “...And almost died,” Paige chimes in.

  “And almost died,” Ray agreed.

  Melody rolls her eyes, putting the hood on her sweater up. As the dirt road made one final turn, the town came into full view. Beautiful old buildings rose two and three stories tall. Several had severe damage, whether from time, weather or fire, they didn't make it out. But others stood this test of time, and they were towering brick and mortar emblems of a bygone era.

  As they reached the town square, Tyler came to a stop. “This is good, I think.”

  The others came to a stop around him. Ray makes a point to drop the cooler as hard as he can. This causes the others to jump, and turn to him. He grins, and shrugs looking back at them, rubbing his hands together. He reaches in the cooler and takes out a beer, twisting the cap off and taking a swig.

  �
��I want to look around,” Paige whispers, looking at the buildings.

  “We need to build a fire first,” Tyler points out, “It's too damn dark out here.”

  “Who cares? If it rains, we won’t have one anyways,” Paige retorts.

  “Until it rains, I'd like to have some light,” he snips back.

  “Then you build a fire, I'm going to go look around. Anyone want to come with?” Paige looks at both Ray, and Melody.

  Melody has already taken a seat on the cooler, drinking from her bottle of vodka. She's not going anywhere. Ray looks between the others and shrugs.

  “I'll go.”

  “That's the spirit!” She claps enthusiastically.

  She grabs his hands and pulls him off towards the buildings.

  “Hey! Be careful!” Tyler yells after them.

  “Don't worry, I'll protect him!” Paige yells back, before the duo's laughter fades into the distance.

  “I really don't want to fucking be here,” Melody grumbles.

  Tyler looks at her. “You just need to find something to pass the time. It's not so bad.”

  He takes out his phone, and turns the flashlight on.

  “What are you doing?” She asks, looking at him.

  “Going to find some wood to build a fire,” he responds.

  “You’re just leave me here?” Melody whimpers, looking around into the darkness.

  “You're welcome to come with, if you want?” He grins, playing with her.

  “Haul wood? Do I look like Paul Bunyan?” She scoffs at the idea, taking another drink.

  “If Paul Bunyan looked like you, I'd fuck Paul Bunyan,” he notes, chuckling and walking away.

  She stares back in the direction that Paige and Ray had left, taking yet another drink from the bottle.

  “So what do you think happened here?” Paige asked, walking through a large hole that used to be a door.

  “Well, there are rumors, but nobody really knows, honestly,” Ray answers. “Some say it was a plague that made people up and leave, some say it was the fallout from the Revolutionary War. Others have different theories.”