The Haunted Mine: A Lorimer Graveskeeper Choose Your Own Adventure Story

Chapter 9: The Ghost Town

"Let's go to the gold mining town," Lorimer said. "I've got a couple of twenties, Cici, can I borrow a bottle of Jack?"

"Of course," Cecile said, grabbing one from behind the counter.

"Suit yourself, but I promise this is going to be a waste of time," said Jim, wiping his mouth on a napkin and standing up. "I'll show you how to get there, but I'm not sticking around. The guy gives me the creeps." 

The heat of the day was intolerable as usual. Lorimer kept forgetting to buy a decent hat. He imagined himself desiccating, transforming into the shriveled brown brush that littered the hills beyond. They walked in silence for a half hour on the dark red dirt road.

The path made a sharp turn and suddenly they were surrounded by piles of metal rubbish and 30 or so broken cars. The cars were of all different ages, everything from an early 1900s Benz Patent motor car to an old 1970s turquoise Cadillac. An old oil barrel rested near a pile of rusted barbed wire. A refrigerator lay open with a rattle snake hissing on the bottom shelf. Far up ahead, squatting between the piles of refuse was a rickety shack with a crude sign that read "Gold Rush Museum, Entry 12 dollars. Trespassers Beware." 

"This is where I leave you, brother," Jim said. "I hope you get what you're looking for. Let me know if you change your mind about Agnes. I'll introduce you." 

Lorimer nodded as Jim turned and walked back up the crooked path.

He weaved between the rows of trash, eager to be in the shade of the house's roof. He reached the door, which had a horseshoe affixed to the handle. Lorimer grasped it in his hand and used it to knock loudly, 3 times. 

Silence, and then the door cracked open slowly. Lorimer jumped back as the barrel of a rifle stared him dully in the face. 

"What is it you want, stranger?" said a gruff voice belonging to a man Lorimer could not see. 

"I've come for the tour. I have money, and some whiskey for you. I heard you know more about these towns than anyone," Lorimer said, his voice more confident than he felt on the wrong side of the gun.

"Well that's a different story," the voice laughed loudly, without warning. The gun lowered to the ground and the door opened fully, revealing an old man in tattered overalls.

His face was the most wrinkled face Lorimer had ever seen. His skin was leather- brown, and his mouth was full of crooked, blackened teeth. The old man held out his hands for the money and bottle of Cecile's whiskey. He quickly counted the bills, took a swig from the bottle, and disappeared inside the house. When he came back he was carrying dusty glasses of the whiskey for himself and for Lorimer. 

"The name's Silas," he said. "Welcome to my humble establishment." 

"Lorimer Graveskeeper. I've just moved into an apartment in Saul." They clinked glasses and drank.

"Welcome to the neighborhood. You're here to take a look at my cars?"

"Not exactly. I heard you have a long memory and have lived here your whole life."

"That's right" Silas said, pouring himself and Lorimer another drink. Lorimer sipped slowly, it was barely noon, but he was afraid of offending the old man by refusing.

"Do you believe in ghosts?"

"What do you think I am, blind? A man can't live here for a week without seeing one of them, and I've been here for damn near a hundred years." 

 Lorimer breathed a sigh of relief. It would be easier, then, to get some answers. He could tell the truth. 

"I saw one in my room the other night and I was wondering if you could identify her." 

"Maybe. I've seen glimpses of them, but I'm not exactly keeping a catalogue." 

"This one is a girl, looks about 16. Long dark hair, black eyes. Covered in blood with bruises around her neck. She's been following me since I got here, and last night she asked me to come with her to the Henderson House."

Saul crossed himself. "Jesus Almighty Christ. I'm having a drink with a dead man." 

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I mean, you're done for," he said casually. 

"I've never known a man to survive a date with Rebecca, and she's had her fair share of gentleman. Her last victim was my brother Micah, about 40 years ago. He didn't want to go at first, but Rebecca is... persuasive. She just kept coming and coming to him at night. It got so bad near the end that he hadn't slept in 2 weeks. He had bruises on his arms and chest from where she would pinch him every time he closed his eyes."

"Who is she, what's her story?" Lorimer asked, suddenly grateful for the drink in front of him.

"Rebecca Benoit, the wife of Henderson himself. My mother, god rest her soul, knew her. Henderson, as I'm sure you've heard, was not a kind man. He beat her, and Ma said the whole town would fall asleep listening to Rebecca screaming. Two years after the family came to Saul, Henderson sold Rebecca to the Cribhouse in Husband's Alley. Told the Madame she was barren, and was not a suitable woman for him. The Madame was to give him any proceeds exceeding that of Rebecca's room and board. My mother was a Cribwalker in the same house, that's how she knew Rebecca. Ma said that Rebecca wasn't barren after all. A few months after Henderson sold her, she became pregnant from one of the men. When Henderson saw her swollen belly he beat her so savagely that she lost the baby. That very night, Rebecca counseled with one of the Cribwalkers who was well known to be a witch. She sold her soul to the devil himself in exchange for her revenge. She drugged the Madame and escaped from the Cribhouse that very night. She broke into the basement of her husband's home. In that basement there was a furnace that the mining foreman used to burn the bodies of the miners killed or too injured to work. She used the ashes from the furnace to raise the men from the dead. The ashes amalgamated into shadowed forms, creating henchman for the murderous bride. Rebecca and the shadow men snuck upstairs into her husbands bedchamber. They stripped him naked and nailed him to the wall of his entrance hall. She used his personal stationary and signature to write a letter to the Madame with enough gold to prevent her from ever looking for her. She kept Henderson alive, hanging and suffering for over a month. The devil came for her after Henderson starved. The devil is not generous, and he chose to condemn the soul she sold him to living in that house forever with the man she hated so much. So she lives there still with Henderson and he has spent over a hundred years punishing her for what she did. On certain midnights when the moon is high she leaves their home. She chooses young men, because she hates men, and lures them into the house. It gives her pleasure to watch Henderson maim and murder them and saves herself a night of agony in exchange. And she's chosen you." 

"Is there any way to stop her?"

"You can run, leave this place and never return. That's what I would strongly advise."

"Is there another way?"

"Maybe. When Micah was being haunted we went to the Cribwalker witch. She said there was a way to free Rebecca from the house. There's a chance that if she was able to escape she would let you go free."

"How can I help her escape?"

"There's a spellbook hidden in the house. The same book she used to raise the dead. If you could somehow convince Rebecca to show it to you, the Cribwalker witch said it contained answers. Micah, on the night he disappeared, went to Rebecca with the intention of finding this book. He either never found it or Rebecca wasn't willing to let him try." 

Lorimer took another shot of the whiskey. The obvious answer was run. But something in him was fighting the impulse to flee. How many more times could he run? Maybe he could strike a deal with Rebecca. Maybe they could set each other free. Then he thought about Cecile. Stupid and new as it was, he finally felt like there was a glimmer of something, or someone to fight for at last. 

"Pack your bags son, don't make the same mistake my brother made."

STAY AND FIGHT---> PROCEED TO CHAPTER 11
FLEE---> PROCEED TO CHAPTER 12