The Shades Upon Trapingus Way
by Madame Estrella
In Muriel's Words
"My God,
the sky looks black up there." I
said to myself. There's going to be
a bad storm tonight.
I was driving
my daddy's faded, red Ford pickup truck home from my school dance.
I go to school at Collinsworth Senior High in southern Indiana.
Tonight was our fall harvest dance but it was a waste of time for me, of
course.
I had gotten
all dressed up in a short, light green skirt and a white, long sleeve blouse.
I did my hair up in a long, blonde braid and then went to meet my
boyfriend Bobby at the dance.
I had to drive
my daddy's truck because Bobby had some errands to run after school this Friday
and couldn't pick me up in time for the dance.
My momma and daddy had sent me off with well wishes that I would have a
wonderful evening. Lord, I wish it
had been.
Collinsworth
Senior High is a big school because it serves a whole county; out here in the
country we only need one. I live
about twenty miles from school, so it's a pretty long drive along the back
roads.
I got to the
dance and didn't see Bobby. Maybe
he was late, I didn't know. Anyway,
I sat out with the other wallflowers. I
was one of them, always had been. This
was the first year I had a boyfriend. It
was my senior year. I had to wait a
long time to get one.
I sat and
talked with the other girls for an hour. I
got more restless by the minute and finally I couldn't take it any more.
I jumped to my feet and looked at the other girls.
"Ladies,
I'm going to get a drink." With
that, I steeled myself and walked to the front doors.
I paused, and strode right on out. I
decided to see if I could find Bobby's car. After looking around the parking lot for a while, I found it.
I found Bobby necking in the back seat with Sue Ann.
I could have killed them both.
I opened the
car door and punched Bobby. He
looked up at me in shock and Sue Ann screamed.
I stepped back and started laughing.
Bobby got a really angry look on his face, but I only laughed harder.
He pushed Sue Ann aside and got out over her.
He stood all tall and tough and sneered at me.
I felt a chill run down my back and felt a little frightened.
I saw his hand
from the corner of my eye and was almost able to brace myself before he hit me.
I touched my stinging cheek as Bobby began to scream at me.
I didn't hear anything he said. I
just stared at his twisted, angry face and looked at Sue Ann's frightened one. I finally spoke.
"Sue Ann,
go ahead and take this hunk of man, I don't want him!"
With that, I
turned and stalked away. One of
Bobby's friends and Sue Ann held him back from me.
So here I am,
all alone and going home to my momma. I
suppose I'll carve a pumpkin for Halloween tomorrow.
I'm sure everybody's going to be talking about me and Bobby and Sue Ann.
Let them talk. I'm not going
to be smacked around by any man!
I concentrated
on the darkening deep blue sky ahead. I
had heard there was going to be a storm, but this is going to be a bad one.
It's almost nine-thirty. I
noticed some folks driving up ahead in the other lane.
I was kind of concerned because they didn't have their headlights on.
I flashed the high beams on my daddy's truck to warn them to turn theirs
on.
They passed me,
but then I saw them swerve and do a U-turn.
They came speeding up behind me. They
came at me faster and faster. They
flashed on their high beams again and again as they closed in on my daddy's
truck. Then they hit me. I swerved, but got under control. I sped up faster, but they caught me and hit me again and
again. I finally lost control and
went off the road.
My daddy's
truck rolled over and I bounced around inside.
I had my seat belt on, but I hit my head on something. Finally, the car came to a stop.
I lay in my
seat for a while. I was out in the
middle of nowhere on Trapingus Way and realized that nobody knew I was there.
My whole body ached and I felt bruised.
I unfastened my seat belt and crawled out through the broken windshield.
My daddy's going to kill me.
I slowly
climbed out of the ditch and up to the road.
I started walking up the road to my house.
I was still about ten miles away. I
held out my thumb and stared up at the approaching storm.
I walked for
what seemed like forever and the rain began to fall.
I was soaked through in minutes. I
eventually saw the dim beam of light on a tree ahead of me, which meant that
someone was coming up behind me. I
stopped and turned around and held my thumb out as far as I could reach.
In Sam's Words
The rain was
falling hard and I could barely see the road for the water hitting the
windshield. It was almost like
driving through a waterfall. If I
hadn't seen the movement, I wouldn't have seen her at all.
There was a
girl standing out on the roadside sticking out her thumb and smiling.
I stopped the car and reached over to open the passenger side door.
She lunged for the car and slid in quickly.
She slammed the door and began to rub her upper arms. I flipped a switch and turned up the heat and she stared at
the console in amazement.
"Wow, I've
never seen a car like this before!"
"It's a
new '98 Honda."
"Oh, well,
that explains it, I guess."
"Yeah.
You must be crazy to be out walking around in that!"
"It wasn't
my choice. Some jerk ran me off the
road."
"You were
in an accident? Are you
alright?"
"I'm a
little sore, but beside that, I'm okay."
"Do you
want me to take you to a hospital?"
"No, just
take me home."
I shifted in my
seat and pulled off my jacket. I
handed it to her and she smiled in gratitude as she pulled it on.
"Thank you
very much, sir. Um, what's your
name?"
"Muriel
Hunnings."
"Well,
Muriel, if you'll tell me how, I'll get you home."
"Thank you
so much, Sam."
She gave me
directions and I started to drive the nine-mile route to her house.
There was something about Muriel. She
seemed amazingly calm for someone who'd been in a car accident.
I figured she was in shock. She
had a pale, delicate face with a small bruise on her right cheek.
I had to drive
slowly because parts of Trapingus Way isn't paved and gets really muddy in the
rain. During the long drive, I got
Muriel talking. She was a senior in
high school and coming home from a school dance. She'd gotten into a fight with her boyfriend and he'd hit
her. Then she got into her
accident. I felt for the girl
though it seemed amazing that all this could happen to one country girl on
Halloween night.
We reached her
house, which was dark and very old and dilapidated.
"Are you
sure this is it?"
"Yes, this
is my house."
"Well, it
doesn't look like your parents were expecting you."
"It's
early yet. Maybe they went out to
get something to eat."
"Let me
give you my phone number. You know,
for insurance purposes." I
quickly scribbled my number down on an old receipt and handed it to her. She smiled and accepted it.
"Goodnight,
Sam. Thank you."
"Take care
Muriel."
She got out and
closed the door before disappearing inside the dark farmhouse.
I went home and tossed in a restless sleep.
That was when the dreams began.
I dreamt I was
on a lonely country road. I was
walking along and I could hear someone crying.
I listened closely and figured out that it was a girl.
I looked all around, but couldn't see anyone.
It was an eerie black night and the wind howled and seemed to bring the
crying with it, in waves.
I saw
headlights coming behind me. Then I
heard laughter, mean laughter. I
saw headlights flash and then heard the sounds of two engines screaming and the
crying and mean laughter, all in one terrible chorus.
Then I saw the cars race up over the hill. One car, a black sleek speedster, was ramming a red pickup
truck.
The cars were
cast in a strange, illumination and the sounds of engines, crying and laughter
were deafening. I covered my ears
and cried out at I saw the black car ram the truck one last time, and the pickup
flying over the side, missing me by inches.
Then they were gone.
The next
morning, on my way to work, I stopped out at the Hunnings farmhouse. I found an old, abandoned house with a partially collapsed
roof and no sign of life.
I got out of my
car and stumbled up to the front porch. My
hands were sweating and my heart thundered in my chest.
I slowly climbed the stairs and caught my breath at the sight of my
jacket folded neatly on an old chair.
I nearly
tripped over my feet rushing over to grab the jacket and picked it up.
As I did the receipt fell from within and landed at my feet.
I reached down to pick it up and saw something scribbled beneath my phone
number.
Sorry, Sam, I
don't have insurance. Muriel
Hunnings
I felt sick.
I nearly collapsed and somehow found my way back to my car.
My hands trembled and I sat there for a while waiting for them to stop.
I began driving
to work at the Collinsworth Police Department.
I am a Detective and new in town as I moved here about a month ago.
I walked into the P.D. and grabbed a cup of coffee.
I stood into the break room and listened to some of the accounts of
teenagers and their Halloween Night antics.
My partner, Robert Block looked at me and his face changed from laughter
to concern.
"Hey, Sam,
what's the matter? You look like
you've seen a ghost."
"Don't be
so quick to joke, Bob. Has anyone
ever heard of a Muriel Hunnings?"
It was Robert's
turn to gray.
"Oh, well,
yeah." He looked at the others
and Sheriff Holliday looked at me with a cocked eyebrow.
"That's
one of our local Legends." He
said. "Muriel Hunnings died on
Halloween night about thirty years ago. She
was driving home from a school dance and wrecked her daddy's pickup truck.
Why do you ask?"
"I just
heard the name is all." I
replied.
I looked at my
partner and headed to my office. Robert
walked in and sat at his desk and stared at me.
"What is
it, Bob?" I asked
"I just
want to know how you heard about Muriel."
Robert replied.
"You
wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try
me."
"I picked
her up last night. I drove her home
and I left her at her house with my jacket and phone number, see?"
I pulled out the receipt and tossed it at him.
He grasped it desperately and looked at me with an animal-like fear in
his eyes.
"You
talked to her?"
"Yes?"
"What did
she say?"
"Why do
you care?"
Robert got up
and cautiously closed the door. He
stepped close to me and spoke in a low voice.
"Muriel
was my girlfriend."
"You're
the guy who smacked her up?"
Robert
shuddered; his forty-eight year old hands wrung each other.
"I was a
different man then. I have always
blamed myself for that girl's death. I
just wish I hadn't lied to her. Maybe
then, she wouldn't have killed herself."
"Muriel
didn't kill herself."
Robert's neck
popped as he whipped it up to look at me.
"What?
How do you know?"
"She told
me that someone ran her off the road. She
signaled them to turn on their headlights and they chased her down and knocked
her truck into a ditch."
"Someone
murdered her?"
"It sounds
like that."
"Grab that
jacket, Sam, we're going on a road trip."
The two of us
drove to the library. We pulled up
old articles and papers about the incident.
There were many stories written about the incident which all resigned it
to "folklore."
The librarian,
Laura Motts a wrinkled old spinster, was much help in our research.
She found the article we were looking for.
It was the one that talked about the condition of the truck.
We contacted
all the old junk yards in the area and finally found the one that had the
Hunnings old Ford pickup. We had it
brought in the station and put old Mike to work on checking it out.
He found that
the dents had black paint chipped into it.
We went back to do some more research and found all the vehicles with
black paint in the area at the time.
We laid
Muriel's case aside for a couple of months in order to do our job, but always
left the door open for information. In
late March, Laura Motts called me with some more stories.
Apparently,
there were many stories throughout the years of an old black speedster reported
on Trapingus Way. The speedster
belonged to Mickey Stern, a roughian with a hot ride.
Robert had
known him in High School as one of the biggest bad Asses who lived for fighting
and drag racing. He was a reckless
driver and loved to scare the hell out of other people on the back roads.
However, in
early November, following Muriel's death, Mickey rolled his speedster off
Trapingus Way late one night after drinking with his pals. Ever since, the phantom roadster had terrorized teenagers on
the old road.
We did some
more searching and found Mickey's speedster.
We took it to old Mike and got the results we expected. It was the car that ran Muriel off the road on Halloween
night. We reported the findings of
our long running investigation to Sheriff Holliday.
We got the anticipated response.
"Are both
of you crazy? I know you were
working on some secret case, but, these are just local Legends!"
"Yeah, but
it looks like the two directly correspond with each other."
Sam replied.
"So what
do you want me to do about it?"
"I guess
make it official."
"You want
me to put a dead man on trial for the murder of a girl when they've both been
deceased for thirty years?"
"It makes
sense to us." Robert said.
"Now you
know why our court system is so messed up."
"I don't
think this will make it any worse."
After much
debate and scrutiny, the trial of Mickey Stern in the murder of Muriel Hunnings
went to trial, albeit a speedy one. Mickey
Stern was convicted of murder and sentenced to hell for his actions.
An award was
given to Muriel Hunnings; however, her whole family had since passed.
The award was established in support of unsolved cases in Collinsworth
County.
Robert Block's
conscience was cleared, and Sheriff Holliday still held the belief that the two
of us are crazy.
As for me, I
have a nice little apartment and a puppy named Lon.
A bad joke, I know. On
Halloween night, I patrolled Trapingus Way.
A lot of my fellow officers laughed me out on my way tonight, but I
didn't care. My conscious hadn't
been eased and I started having other dreams.
I didn't see a
single old red Ford go off the road, or a hitchhiker with a pretty, bruised
face. I also didn't see a black
speedster tearing up the old, dirt road.
At midnight, I
gave up. I was driving to an all
night diner when I saw the flash of headlights screaming toward me in my lane.
They quickly snapped off and the car swerved into its lane just as I
swerved toward the shoulder.
I turned my car
and sped back along the highway chasing the black car with my high beams on.
I saw another car coming up the other lane and, to my horror, the other
car flash its high beams. Suddenly,
the black car slowed and turned to follow the red pick-up.
I slowed and
then joined the pursuit. I tried to
go as fast as I could, but could not catch up.
It felt like there was something pushing my car back away from the
pursuit. I kept going and watched
the two vehicles ahead.
I saw the red
pick-up jolt as the black speedster rammed it again and again.
Then I saw the final blow that sent the red pick-up careening off the
side of the road into the ditch. I
slowed down and almost felt like I was going to go flying through my windshield.
I saw red
taillights glow and come toward me. The
speedster was backing up. It
finally stopped, as did I. I saw a
sinister looking fellow in a black leather jacket climb out of the speedster. He glanced at me and then walked around and down the ditch.
He returned a
few minutes later, carrying a girl in his arms.
He set her on the hood of his car while he opened the passenger door.
Then he helped her down and into her seat.
He closed the door and walked around the back glancing at me once more.
He got into his
car and then drove off down the road. I
turned off my ignition and sat there for a while absorbing what I just saw.
Then I started the car and continued to drive to that all night diner.
I parked my car
and walked into the diner where I shook off the cold I'd felt since I saw those
headlights. Then, I sat down at the
well-lit counter. I took a look at
the pretty, young waitress before picking up a menu.
In My Words
Just after
midnight, a good-looking young man walked in and sat at my counter.
He studied the menu and didn't even look up when I asked if he wanted
coffee. He just nodded.
I went to the coffee machine and grabbed a fresh pot.
I walked back to the counter and set it down before him.
He looked up
and smiled at me. I smiled back.
"Can I get
you something else?" I asked.
He looked about
the empty diner and then back at me.
"How about
some conversation?" He asked.
I smiled again and nodded.
"What do
you want to talk about?"
"Well,
have you heard about the ghosts on Trapingus Way?"
I noted his
attire. He was a police officer.
I couldn't fathom why an officer would be interested in an old ghost
story.
"Well, I
have read about it in those scary stories books, why?"
"I
investigated it last fall."
"Oh,
you're a funny one."
"No, I'm
serious. I just spent all night
looking for them."
"I thought
I heard something about a couple of crackpot detectives down here who actually
prosecuted and convicted a local ghost, but I never thought that it was
true."
"Down
here?"
"Yeah, I'm
new in the area."
"Really?
Why would a young girl like you," he looked at my nameplate and
paused in silence for a moment. He
slowly spoke my name and began once more. "Muriel,
why would you move to a backwater County in Indiana?"
"Because
I'm a writer. I needed someplace
with wide open space to let my stories expand."
"That's
interesting, I could never write."
"It's not
very hard. Just pick up a pen and
let it flow."
"You must
have some kind of gift. So, have
you found anything interesting to write about?"
"Well, I
have a couple of things started, but it sounds like you have an interesting
story yourself."
"Not
really. It's just superstitious
nonsense."
"We create
superstition to explain that which we can not explain."
That's what I told him anyway.
"Well, I
do believe that I explained it."
