Friday Frights: Story Two Part Two

The Haunting of Atoka

By Robin Renee Ray

         We never made it to the school’s gym that night. I drove everyone home, then went to my house, where I stayed awake thinking about what we had experienced the short time that we were at Atoka. Three nights later, I had things ready to go again. This time we were going to walk the tracks by the school and see if the stories of the glowing dead or the phantom train were true. I had asked Eric from work if he wanted to go with Kysha and myself. His sister, Stephanie, overheard and joined us along with my neighbor, Crystal. She was addicted.

            Everyone met at our house and we all made sure each other was wearing solid black and if someone was wearing things that would reflect any form of light, it either came off or was covered up. The last thing we needed was the law asking what we were doing and doing it so close to Government property.

            “What if we really see something?” Stephanie asked, causing Kysha and me to crack up. “Man, I know people who tried to walk those tracks at night. Scared the shit outta them.”

            “So they didn’t make it to the other end?” Crystal asked, showing she was already spooked.

            “Hell no, they saw those glowing things and took off. I ain’t even lying.”

            “Stephanie’s talking about Oscar’s cousin. He’s always telling people what he’s seen out by Atoka,” Eric explained as he put on his black gloves.

            “He ain’t the only one,” Stephanie stood and grabbed her hoodie sweater. “All the old timers talk about shit that’s happened out there at that old school. I just want to see if any of its true.”

            “And if you see something?” Eric laughed.

            “It’s all lies, nothing like that is really real,” Stephanie shrugged. “And if you do something to freak me out, I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

            We all started laughing, gathered our things and piled into my daughter’s car. Kysha’s mustang made it a cramped tight fit, with one person sitting in the others lap, but it was the easiest car to hide by the tracks. We took a back road out of town to keep from being seen and parked the car by the trees next to the fence that kept the public away from the school. It put the tracks on the other side of the car and hid it from vehicles that might happen to come in either direction.

            Our coats were on and our heads were covered. It was time to walk the mile long track, hit the other end with hopes of seeing this glow and then turn around to face the phantom train that had been seen on the tracks for over fifty plus years. I locked the car and we were off. I took the lead with Kysha and Crystal getting as close as they could, and Eric and Stephanie brought up the rear. It wasn’t long until we had to stay up on the tracks due to the depths of the drop off on both sides.

            “Don’t move so fast, Eric,” Stephanie yelled, slapping her brother on the side of the arm.

            “The slower you get the longer this is gonna take,” he said, pushing her hand away and turned to catch up with us.

            “Wait, don’t you leave me. I’ll fall,” she froze the moment she looked down. “Eric, I wanna go back.” With her hands held out, she worked on trying to turn around, but her legs wouldn’t work with her mind.

            “Just come on,” Eric walked back and grabbed her by the elbow. “You wanted to do this, so let’s do it.”

            “Fuck you, Eric. If you leave me again, I’m telling mom.”

            That one statement had us all laughing again. But we soon all fell silent when we reached the area on the tracks that lost the rocks and earth and was left with the gaps between railroad ties. It was a large draw that the farmers used to move their cattle under and it was big enough to drive a good size truck beneath. I took off and was one fourth of the way across when I noticed that no one was following me.

            “You can’t fall through the cracks,” I smiled at Kysha.

            “I know but I don’t know if I can cross this, mom.”

            “Give me your hand, I won’t let you fall,” I walked back and took her trembling hand.

            “Oh hell no,” Stephanie said when she finally got close enough to see the dark abyss. “We have to go down and walk to the other side. I’m not joking, I can’t cross this.”

            “I don’t think I can either,” Crystal admitted.

            “It’s just a little bridge,” Eric said stepping out on the first railroad tie that showed the earth below. “But, I’ll go down the side and help you two.”

            “Are you kidding me?” I laughed shaking my head. “Didn’t you guys ever walk across the top of the monkey bars when you were little?”

            “No,” Stephanie blurted out.

            “I have but it wasn’t dark and the drop off wasn’t that far down,” Crystal said as she turned to follow Eric and Stephanie.

            We hadn’t all been back on the tracks for five minutes when we heard movement in the undergrowth to our right. Everyone hurried to get closer together. Eric accidentally kicked a rock and we all screamed and took off down the other side of the track when ‘It’ burst through the shrubs. A cubby of quail flew up into the air and we all laughed out in a gesture to hide how nervous that that had really made us, including myself. Seeing a group of birds take flight and the sounds that they made had me swallowing my heart back down my throat.

            “Oh my goodness, that scared me so bad I need to pee,” Crystal crossed her legs.

            “That freaked me out, too,” Kysha laughed.

            “I can’t see you squatting in the woods, Kysha, but we can,” I winked.

            “Not a squatter,” Kysha blushed, “that’s why I went before we left the house.”

            “I went too,” Crystal bounced slightly, doing her version of the pee pee dance. “I guess that really scared the pee out of me.”

            Eric didn’t have to be told, he just turned around while Stephanie, Crystal and myself found a big bush to hide behind and relieve ourselves. “No way…what is that?” I came around the bush and saw him pointing down the track. I made my way back up the rocky side to see what he and Kysha were staring at. “Did you set this up?” Eric asked, stepping up beside me.

            “I count three. Isn’t that how many that were murdered in 1952?”

            “And Oscar said it was the land off to the right after the first junction,” Kysha proclaimed. “He said the houses have been gone for more than thirty years, but he said you could still see the steps that went up to one of the porches.”

            “Oscar’s old and will tell you guys anything to scare you. I know some of this stuff is true.” Eric jerked when Stephanie ran her hand under his arm. “But I didn’t think we would see anything like this.”

            “That’s bullshit man, that’s coming off the street light,” Stephanie said, as she tried to pull her brother to go back the way we had just come. “Let’s go back now.”

            “I’m going all the way across the track, that’s what we came here for, right?” I said, wiggling my brows at Kysha.

            “I’m in,” she smiled and joined me a few feet from the rest.

            “If you’re going, then I’m going,” Crystal added.

            “I’ll stay here with Stephanie. I don’t wanna go any further either,” Eric said, putting his arm over his sister’s shoulder.

            We three grouped together and continued down the tracks. The closer we got to the crossing, the dimmer the strange glowing lights became until they had completely disappeared. The wind was lightly blowing as we crossed the track where several had lost their lives, either having their car hit by a train or simply were hit while walking, like the twins that were killed at the crossing by the school. Crystal was the first to see it when we turned back to wave at Eric and Stephanie. Her hand froze in mid-air. “We have to get off the track.”

            I could see it…it was really there, but there was no sound or vibration on the track.

To be continued next Friday……..