Town of the Tall Man (English Version)

Tall Man

Another abandoned homestead passed by in the dead of night, the rotten buildings illuminated only by the lights of Gareth's beat-up Saturn. He counted it in his head as he continued down the endless, winding road through the rolling hills of the Dakotas. Along the way he passed the sign informing him he was now entering the reservation. Once a welcoming sight, it now felt as hollow as the decaying structures that had littered the roads and small towns up until then.

He could already hear his father-in-law warning him to be careful when driving onto the rez at night, but that didn't matter anymore. At this point the trip was a formality, a ritual. He knew the route, and he knew the better places to stop. He'd spend the night somewhere decent and finish his journey in the morning before returning back to what now passed as his home.

His car forced itself uphill and through the steep curve of the cracked road, the engine griping as if it was as tired of this journey as he was. Thankfully Fort Ridge was not too far ahead. It was another fifteen minutes of driving in darkness and silence before he made his way past the faded homes on the outskirts. Gareth gave cursory glances to his surroundings, the few working streetlamps illuminating the empty streets and closed buildings. The grill was closed for the night, and the bar lacked so much as one vehicle in front of it. Not a single person stirred, and even after rolling down the windows he didn't hear so much as a stray dog howling in the void.

He sighed. Had it really been so long since last he came this way? Or was it always like this and he had just never noticed? No matter. There wasn't anywhere to stay in town itself; all his in-laws had moved to other towns or off the reservation altogether. He'd drive the extra few minutes to the casino and stop there for the night.

The large, looming block of a building revealed itself to him some turns later, the large sign proudly proclaiming its name next to where the town ended and the highway began again. The casino also looked oddly empty, but at least he saw some cars present and enough light to assuage any doubts he had. The casino's nearby gas station was also lit up, a practical mecca of illumination after the suffocating blackness he'd been coping with for the past several hours.

He pulled into the station, stopping by the pumps before getting out to stretch his legs. Nothing but wind blowing across the prairie coupled with a hidden speaker belching out tinny muzak. He was about to fill up his car but stopped at the sight of the touchscreen monstrosity that had replaced the original gas pump. What exactly had been wrong with the usual buttons and credit card slot that the casino had decided they needed to be extravagant?

He was not dealing with this. Too tired, too drained, too empty. He walked to the front doors of the gas station and went inside.

The door chime chirped out as he stepped into the fluorescent-lit haven of snacks and sodas, everything stocked and tidy but the front desk unmanned. "Hello?" he called out, ruffling his unkempt blonde hair to scratch an itch. "Is anyone here? I need twenty dollars on pump one."

No response.

Gareth walked further into the store, letting the door shut behind him as he moved to look down the hallway toward the bathrooms. "Not trying to rush you," he said. "I just don't want to have to deal with the touchscreen. It's been a long night."

Still nothing. Just the easy listening playing at its muted volume.

"Never mind," he called out, turning around and going back out the door to the same chime. Perhaps if it was earlier in the day he would have been concerned, but this late at night he just wanted a hotel room with a bed he could throw himself onto. He moved up to the touchscreen, doing his best to figure out how it worked and what magic needed to be performed to get the gas flowing.