BrightLights

From: Jake Dickerson (jake@lcs.net)
Story type: Ghost
Location: home
Source: Form Submission

BRIGHT-LIGHTS

By Jake Dickerson

'They dance around me in gyrating circles, 'Each step they take forces life out of me.

'The fire burns brighter and higher,

'To torch again my charred flesh. 'I break through that circle of death, 'To run towards never-ending misery.

'The sharp wind lashes my hair 'As it cuts deep lines in my blank face. 'The faster I run, the farther I get, 'The closer I get to the end of it all.

'My feet are burning, so swiftly, 'The pain running up my legs, all over my body.

'I scream and the fire consumes the echo

'It seems like I'm running forever, 'And slowly the flames devour my figure 'Until I am one one of the stars, burning brightly.

? BURNING A. BUSCHMANN

For a brief second, Leigh Montgomery felt as if she were in another world, as if she really wasn't here at all. That she was just daydreaming, dozing, dreaming. But after the brief second passed, she entered this world again. And with that, she had a better perspective of the things around her. Her senses were heightened and she felt as if she could feel and hear everything. The garden hose (which had been turned off over six hours ago) still had a tiny drop hanging and waiting to fall from its end. And as it made its journey downward, she heard the whistle of the wind as it flew through it. And then the thud as if splashed against the concrete step.

She was standing beside her jelly bean green sport car that she had gotten only three months before on her sixteenth birthday. Every once in a while, out of sheer boredom, she would glance over at IT (the car). It was now, literally, a hunk of crap. It was missing all windows, except the windshield, which added to its oddness; three tires were flat, and one missing; all the doors, especially the passenger and back right doors, were badly dented; the hood was beat in severally; four or five streaks, which looked like some body took the key from God's Chevy and keyed her car, ran down both sides of the car, which must've taken the side mirrors with them.

But she didn't much care. No. She didn't really care at all. It was part of the plan.

The first step. Now it was time for the second step. Now it was her turn to work. Now it was her turn to do some evil.

II

She knew what she had to do, and she did it. She began staring at the floodlights that lit her yard at nine PM. She knew she had time to get a few tears a' rolling before her parents rolled in, back early as usual. As she stared unblinkingly at the floodlights, trying to get tears strolling down her face to give herself an authentic look of crying, no laughing, she used her peripheral vision to scope out her house. It was large; the lawn was mowed almost every day and used a special kind of fertilizer that made it a beautiful green; the driveway was home to a Porsche and a Mercedes, and tonight her parents had the $80,000 Jag; the house its self, three story, not including the attic and basement, was gorgeous and admired by a number of photographers and artists every month that come from far off places just to paint or photograph her house for one of many magazines; inside it was even more gorgeous, and that was what was featured in SO many magazines over its twenty year presence. The kitchen, which as big as a normal living room, was equipped with enough tools and machinery to feed the entire world in a few hours, but yet it was one of the most beautiful rooms in the gorgeous house. The living room was large enough to hold about a hundred people, but not very comfortably. It had a large fireplace with a gas line and a switch to turn it off and on. The bedrooms, with the exception of the master bedroom, were all the same size and could at least twenty people comfortably. And all the beds were covered with old and expensive quilts and afghans that were made close to half a century ago. The bathrooms were clean enough and white enough to eat a steak off the toilet seats. The showers, which were each placed opposite from the Jacuzzi's, could hold at least, at least, five or six people very comfortably, and yet one person alone in one was also comfortable. The shower faucets were equipped with low, medium, and high speeds and could be adjusted to fit right in the middle of each of those. The closets, all walk-in, were large enough to occupy close to fifteen outfits, and each one was filled to the rim with color-coordinated and beautiful dresses. The cellar was the only messy thing in the entire house. It held all the rejected furniture and old kitchen equipment that were too expensive to sell.

Tears began to roll down Leigh's face and over her chin where they then rolled down her neck and finally met up with her shirt collar that was unbuttoned and open wide. But this tear and the tears that followed weren't real. They were fake. And as she tried to mike her lip and chin quiver, she couldn't help but smile. An evil smile.

III

Her parents, Tom and Sherrie, arrived home close to or almost exactly five minutes later, giving Leigh time to loose the smile, and turn on the water works. Her lip and chin quivered perfectly, and she knew that they were buying it. At first, their bickering (which was almost endless) made it almost impossible for them to notice the car. But as they got out of their Jag, and shut-up for a second, Tom happened to glance over at his bawling daughter standing beside a $50,000 hunk of junk. It's going to cost a fortune to be repaired, even for us, he thought.

His wife noticed it next. Both seemed to ignore their daughter, who was sobbing her beautiful little eyes off.

"Huh, huh, honey..." were the only sounds that could escape his lips. He finally composed himself and deeply inhaled. "Honey, what the hell happened?"

Between sobs, Leigh answered him. "I-I don't know. It-it just hah-hah-happened."

She broke out in even more tears and began sobbing louder.

Tom rolled his eyes and turned away, throwing his arms through the air like a mad baseball player throwing his cap onto the ground. Sherrie glanced at him, a very mad and frustrated look on her face that told him that he'd better be quiet and comfort his only daughter.

Sherrie approached Leigh, who had her head down on her car, crying. "Honey. Honey. It's okay. We'll get it fixed, sell it, and buy you a new one. Honey, stop crying," she said soothingly.

Tom, still five feet away and on verge of swearing up a storm, said, "Leigh, just tell us what happened."

She sniffed hard and said, "Okay, daddy."

"Let's go inside," Sherrie said.

IV

The family of three entered the house from the side door and made their way through the kitchen. Tom flicked on lights as he walked through rooms, leading the rest of them. They were alone for the maids were off tonight because of a death in the family. The house wasn't a mansion, it was just one of the very modern big houses that was placed right in the center and most beautiful part of a very expensive and very exclusive neighborhood.

They walked into the living room, Tom flicked on the lights, and then they took their seats. Tom got himself a glass of brandy, his wife some scotch, and his daughter a diet Pepsi.

After they were all seated and comfortable, Leigh curled up on the sofa with her legs under her, Tom in the recliner, and Sherrie in a cushioned and very costly rocker, Leigh began her story.

"After you guys left, I just sat up in my room and watched some TV. Then, about an hour later, Meagan called me and said that her boyfriend Tyler had just broken up with her and she was feeling really down. So I said that I would come over and bring some CD's and movies and we'd just pig-out on chips and cookies and ice cream, you know. She said that that'd be great and so I said that I'd see her in a few minutes..."

Leigh's voice began to fade away in Tom's mind. She began to get blurry and he felt a wave of dizziness.

("Welcome to Eternity," a voice told him in his head.)

"Huh?" he said aloud.

"What?" said Leigh, as if she didn't know what was happening.

After a moment of concentrating, Tom said, "Nothing. I was just thinking about something."

Sherrie glanced over at him with on eyebrow raised in scolding way. He just looked away and shrugged. "Go on," she told her daughter.

"Okay," Leigh said. "I got on the by-pass, because she lives on one of the back roads leading from it. I'm all alone for a while, and then this crazy guy gets behind me and rides my bumper. For a while, I drive fast enough to keep away from him. But then I start thinking about the cops, and if I get pulled over again, I'll have my license taken. So I slow down and start really watching the jackass behind me. We're okay for about five minutes, then the jerk bright-lights me. I can hardly see, and I am really pissed. I change lanes as fast as I can, but the guy does the same. And then he starts riding me again. I'm like really freakin' now. I was going to call the cops from the cellular but I knew that I was really close to Danielle's house so I call her instead. But nobody picks up and the answering machine doesn't come in. So immediately I know that I'd dialed the wrong number, so I try again. Same thing happens. I'm really scared and so I call Nine-one-one." Then she said slowly, "The phone didn't even ring."

"You dialed 911," asked her father, "and the phone didn't even ring?"

Leigh shook her head. "No."

"What happened with the ass behind you?" asked her mother, her speech slightly slurred from the scotch.

"He followed me like that forever. And that wasn't the weirdest part either. It takes twenty minutes once you get on the by-pass to get to Danielle's house, and I had been driving for at least thirty-five. It was like the road just stretched on forever... and ever. I have never been so scared in my entire life. I was absolutely terrified and could hardly drive for the guy behind me. I couldn't look in my rearview mirror to see him. And no matter how fast I went, he seemed to stay right with me. When I'd change lanes, he'd change right with me. Like he knew before hand that I was going to switch..." Her voice trailed off.

There was an odd silence in the room. The kind that destroys a first date. But this one was worse. It had a texture and a shape. Although the silence was invisible, Tom could still "see" it.

("Welcome to Eternity," said the voice again in his head.)

He took long swig of is brandy and tried to push all that aside, trying to tell himself that he was half-drunk. But he wasn't.

"Go on, sweetie," he said quietly.

"After about an hour of doing that, I decided that this guy was after me and going

to kill me. I thought that he was going to rape me. Or maybe he was serial killer. A million bad thoughts cruised through my mind. But really I didn't know what to think about it all. I realized that I didn't have too much gas left. And I got even more worried. And then-just like that-the car was gone, lights and all. I checked the rearview, nothing but road. So I headed to Danielle's and we watched some movies and called Ben Simpson and Josh Shockley. But I told her nothing of what had happened to me. I stayed at her house for about three hours and then I decided-mostly because I didn't like being around Danielle that much when she was like that-that I was going to leave. 'But what do I do?' I remember her asking me. And then I said 'Go call Christina.' I don't know why that stuck with me. It just did. Like when Rhett Butler told Scarlet that he didn't give a damn. After I said that, I left. And got back on the by-pass.

V

I drove for a while, not seeing the jerk anywhere, but knowing that he was waiting for me. I felt his presence all around me, yet he wasn't there. For a while I thought that I might make it back home normally, but then he showed up. Right behind me, lights as bright as they could be. It was as if he had just appeared, out of now where.

He road me for at least ten minutes, but I'm a better driver than he anticipated, and I didn't go through the bridge railing or off the side of the road.

Then, just like before, he and the car disappeared. Along with the lights.

I drove in peace, but a disturbed peace. Like sleeping peacefully, but having a nightmare at the same time. It was freaky.

But, very soon after that, the peace ended.

As I was staring at the road ahead of me, something white exploded, and came rushing at me. It was the car, it's lights very bright. And for the very first time in my life, I was absolutely scared out of my mind. I felt that way when I looked straight into the car, and could see the driver, a skeleton. Both bony hands on the wheel, a determined yet permanent look on its face as it rushed straight at me. I tried to swerve, but I was hypnotized by the lights, like a deer at night when it crosses the road right in front of an on-rushing vehicle. And as I entered the bright lights, I thought that I was heading into eternity. Heaven maybe, but I didn't think so, not the way that I was being welcomed.

Everything was bright for a few seconds, then I seemed to just reach the end of it and come on the other side, and onto the road. I felt a feeling of being jerked as I came back onto the by-pass, like I had just come up for air after swimming. It's hard to explain.

And then I drove until I got home, and didn't notice the car until I got out. And you know the rest.

VI

Tom obviously didn't believe her; and Sherrie was too drunk from seven glasses of scotch and then at least twice that at the party of wine.

"Honey," Tom started, "It's not that I don't believe you, its that that story is so unbelievable."

"You don't believe me," Leigh said flatly.

"That story is a lie, and you know it," he replied.

"It is not!"

"Leigh, got to your room! Now!"

"Why?"

"Because I said to! Now go!"

Leigh, her face flushed and angry, spun around and stomped up the stairs.

Tom took another long swig from his brandy, and walked outside to have another look at the car. He was going to try to come up with an estimate, which was probably through the roof.

VII

In her dark room, Leigh sat down and stared out the window at her father who was looking at the car.

She could care less if the guy believed her story. It was all true. And when she finally looked at the car, she understood everything. All that needed to be done, and all that needed to be avoided. And her parents were two of the things that needed to be avoided, and the easiest way to avoid them is when they're dead.

Leigh saw the car's lights a few moments before she saw the car itself. She recognized it immediately as the car the that had chased her up and down the by-pass. And she knew that her father recognized it too, even though it took him longer.

As it drove slowly down the street towards them, Tom stared at it, knowing what it was. He squinted from the absolute brightness that came from car. He knew not what was going to happen. He knew not that was the first link in a series of humans to be killed, to be tortured and thrown into the very deepest pits of Hell.

"Welcome to Eternity," Leigh said as the car slowly turned left into their driveway, heading straight toward Tom, it's lights as bright as a supernova.

As she turned away, Leigh heard her father scream, and the she laughed as the scream was suddenly cut off.

She laughed hysterically as she heard her mother screaming, and then it too being cut off quickly.

She felt the power surge through her again as her skin was skewered by her inner heat, by her bright-lights. And then she was converted, her body no longer hers, she was one of them now.

This was the begining of the end.