Hiding From Shadows: Part One
A serialized Louisiana ghost story.
Welcome to part one of Hiding from Shadows — my new short, serialized ghost tale. It will be released in four parts up to Halloween day. This first episode is free. The other three episodes are available to paid subscribers only.
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four
PART ONE
Ellen shivered. A chill dug into her bones and laced its fingers through the marrow one bone at a time. But the penetrating coldness attacking her did not originate from the thick damp air surrounding her back porch.
No. This was an otherworldly chill. Stirred by fear. A lingering dread of what lurked beyond her house.
Staring at the same thicket of trees each night, once the sun fled from the sky, did her no favors. Ellen knew as much. Her widened eyes trailed every inch of every tree cloaked in shadow, darting from exposed roots up to lofty branches towering overhead like giant leafy arms, until her mind convinced her hidden monsters lurked within those shadows.
One monster to be specific.
When darkness conquered her known world anew after sunset, the trees adopted an increasingly menacing appearance. Ellen wanted to retreat inside her house, lock the deadbolt, and wrap herself inside a soft fleece blanket. Forcing herself to sit on this back porch and stare into those woods amounted to a nightly dose of self-torture. She longed to end her vigil and go back inside.
It couldn’t hurt to take a break.
Could it?
She always stopped herself before setting down the bat and rising from her rocking chair. Sometimes, Ellen scolded herself for thinking she earned a reprieve from doing what she needed to do.
A foolish thought considering the stakes involved.
“Ray is lurking out there somewhere. You know it,” she said, lecturing herself like a weary parent addressing an ignorant child. “You can’t ever let your guard down. He promised he would come back.”
Those final words from Ray haunted her, tattooed on her mind and soul. Marrying him turned into a tragic error. She wanted to be free of him and his simplistic, patronizing ways. Living with that bastard drained her life away in aimless monotony.
Ellen wanted to travel and experience the world outside their rural Louisiana parish. She always told her friends at Northwestern State that one day she would grace stages from coast to coast, gazing out on adoring crowds gathered to listen to her voice.
“My name will top the charts,” Ellen always said. “Just you wait.”
Those plans and dreams faded when Ray entered her life. A drawer stuffed full of song lyrics served as an unwelcome reminder of that earlier time.
Brumeux Bayou never felt like home, no matter how much Ray tried to convince her otherwise. The woods bordering their home and the one-lane road leading back into town were merely bars on a cell locking her inside this open-air prison.
Ray saw everything in a dull and infuriatingly complacent way.
“This is God’s country, Ellie Bell,” he told her, the last time she broached the subject of moving away from their house on the bayou. “There’s no other place I’d rather be.”
She recalled his words as if he said them only a few minutes earlier. Ellen cringed internally every time that pet name for her rolled off his tongue. God, she hated it so much. So fucking condescending.
Her eyes drifted past him and fixed on a long metal trough running parallel to the backyard fence. Ellen scowled and those same eyes filled with fire.
“There’s more to life than hunkering down in this trash hole and raising a bunch of pigs! The world has so much to offer.”
Ray shrugged at her and shook his head.
“I’m happy here. The pigs are happy here. Why can’t you be happy too?”
He cracked a brief smile, exposing a crooked front tooth on his bottom jaw. Ellen crinkled her nose and pierced him with her most hateful gaze.
“So now I’m supposed to fall in line and act like one of your disgusting pigs? God, you’re such a moron at times.”
Ray slammed the slop bucket in his hand down on the ground. A chunk of slop splashed over the brim and struck his left boot.
“If you hate it here so much, then why don’t you just pack up and leave?” Anger and hurt dripped from his words in equal measure. “No one is forcing you to stay married to me.”
They weren’t married any longer. Ellen took care of that problem. Or so she thought.
Ray did not handle rejection as well as his tough talk led her to believe. He pleaded with her to give him another chance when she took him up on his challenge. When Ray failed to sway Ellen from carrying out her plan, he vowed to return one day and deal out justice for every wrong she committed against him.
Ellen took him at his word.
Efforts to sell the farm fell flat. She finally pulled down the For Sale sign when too many weeks came and went without a reasonable offer. Ellen was stuck in this dump. And that realization haunted her for as long as she remained awake.
Ray knew right where to find her.
Every night she planted herself in the rocking chair and cradled the same old bat. She had kept this vigil going for an entire year since she last laid eyes on him. Hot and muggy. Bone-chilling cold. It didn’t matter what conditions greeted her on her back porch. Ellen forced herself to watch the woods until she had almost forgotten how sleeping in a warm soft bed felt.
Letting her guard down was not an option – not even for a single night.
Ellen’s eyes darted from tree to tree at every sound that greeted her ears. Her fingers tightened around the handle of the wooden bat until the sound passed. It usually turned out to be a cricket chirping or a dog barking. Still, being extra cautious meant one thing.
Staying alive.
to be continued …
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