Chapter Text
“ Things used to be different for me. Now, I don’t mean that in a bad way, not at all. It’s simply just a fact, much like how the river always flows the same way, or how the clouds always seem to look the most plump on just the right days. You know the type, the sky bright blue, the air is hot ‘n heavy, but the breeze that is pushing those clouds lazily through that sky also lets you feel just a little lazy yourself. It’s just about perfect with the birds chirping off somewhere. No, it really can’t be beat, can it? But I digress, I was talking about how things used to be. Now, this story I’m about to tell you is about a young and dashing cowboy who was, and dare I say, still is, brave and honorable. I s’pose it’s about a lot of people, really, all stories are. A go-getting and enthusiastic prospector, a dependable and boisterous bartender, a whole group of bandits, hell, even a celebrity from overseas made an appearance in our little adventure, but I couldn’t go on to list each and everyone of the cast of this whole thing, can I? I have to leave a little to the imagination, or at least a little something to keep your attention if the clash between outlaws and bounty hunters doesn’t! Yessiree, it’s everything you would expect a cowboy’s ramblings to be about: action, romance, friendship, drinking, mysteries, and yeah, I s’pose even a few cows. But maybe that’s enough talking about the whole thing, let’s just get right into it.”
☁️🌵☁️
“Now, I figure, now’s the perfect time to crack out one of those stories you’re always coming up with,” Kevin said while pushing his plate aside on the dusty ground. The glint of the fire in between took a residency in the eyes of the man sitting across from him. Kevin thought that it made the playful glimmer that was usually there burn with a radiant intensity. It suited him.
“You think you’re ready for that? It’s getting pretty late, isn’t it? It’s not too dark for you, is it?” Norton teased while adjusting how he was sitting on the ground, earning a smirk from the cowboy. “So, what do you wanna hear today? One about a train, a mysterious rider, a ghost that plagues a workhouse on a hill, or a witch?”
“Norton, you know I always choose the one about a witch--”
“A witch,” he interjected, his speech neatly overlapping. “I know, it’s always the witch.” He gave a small sigh of resignation, and then a small cough to clear his throat before talking once more. “So, the story begins deep in the mountains, far away from any sort of town or fort. A duo of young travelers had been making their way from the east to find someplace to stay in the west, with the promise of riches and a new life. The night was creeping in upon them, and though they knew it to be dangerous to push on much further, they knew that if they lost much more time on their journey the cold months would be on them, and their prospects would be much grimmer than what nighttime traveling could bring them. For, as we both know, nighttime travel is a gamble, but for them, traveling in winter meant certain death.
“They pushed through the rocky path, making light conversation as to let each other know they were still together, but mostly to ward away any feelings putting them ill at ease. It felt like no time at all before the sun was on its final descent, hardly any of it poking over the distant mountain tops now. It was at that moment that the traveler in front saw something on the path ahead of them, their conversation broke as they gestured for their partner to stop. It seemed to be a child, alone, standing just yards ahead with their head down. Both travelers couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being watched. It certainly wasn’t normal nor safe for a child to be out on the mountain path alone, and certainly not at this time of night. They remembered what they were told at the fort they had just passed through, to watch out for strange traps set by bandits. They agreed quietly to speed out of the area, as fast as their horses could take them, and find a place up ahead to rest even if the night was dangerously close. With that, they gave their horses a prod, and they sped past the child at a full gallop.
“They were able to safely find a quiet space to camp, but they both stated that the feeling of being watched never truly left. What’s strange, they said, more than that was that the child didn’t seem to move at all when they approached it with their horses. That, and that they swore to have heard something like a large snake slithering around their camp, but never saw any sort of strange tracks.” Norton finished his story with a grin. Kevin gave a polite clap, as he now moved to adjust himself from laying on the ground to sitting up once more.
“Well, shit,” he said with a short laugh, “You figure any of those giant snakes are around here? I’d hate to wake up with one of them trying to worm its way into my boot.” Norton shook his head with a roll of his eyes.
“You never know! Not for sure, that is,” he replied.
“Nah, I s’pose not. Them giant ghost snakes, that’s what they’re known for, after all!”
“Shut up!” Norton said with a laugh, tossing a stone over Kevin’s way. “Anyway’s it’s your turn. I’d like to see what you got planned if giant-- Hey, wait, you were the one who wanted a story about witches! Why are you complaining?”
“I didn’t hear about no witch in that story nowhere, Norty-boy.”
“You don’t have to say ‘ooh, and then a witch popped out of the bush!’ for there to be a witch in the story, Kevin!”
“So then which one of them was the witch, Norton?” Kevin asked with a glint in his eyes and a small smirk he was trying to keep hidden.
“Well, it’s the insinuation that there is a witch behind the weird events!”
“You should probably rework that then, it’s a little unclear--”
“Oh shut the hell up and just tell your damn story!” Norton said throwing his hands up before crossing them in front of his chest. A moment passed as the cowboy toyed with his gloves briefly. His heart started to sink in his chest.
“Norton, look,” he started slowly, his voice low and soft.
“Kevin, your story, just tell it. It’s not that big of a deal,” he said looking back at the cowboy. “Honest to God, it’s not. Besides, you know I hate it when you get that sullen look on your face. It doesn’t suit you.”
“And it doesn’t suit you either.”
“Oh my God, stop it with that shit,” the words escaped him with a scoff out of a stifled smile. “Just tell your damn story.”
“Fine, fine, if you insist! I’ll start with mine,” the cowboy said as he got up with a stretch. “This story isn’t so much of a story as it is a cautionary tale to those traveling the mountains, as plenty of people have claimed to see this ghost.”
“Oh jeez, here we go,” Norton jeered, “One of them ‘real-life’ stories?”
“Hey, quiet! I let you talk with no interruptions, I reckon you can do the same!”
“Yeah, but you didn’t hesitate to tear me to shreds afterward.”
“And you can do the same after all’s said and done, but right now--”
“I gotcha! I gotcha! Just tell the story!”
“I was tell-”
“Kevin! The story! Just tell it!”
“Alright!” he gave a cough as if to punctuate the air from the small quarrel, and throw it aside completely as he brushed his gloves. “So off in the mountains lived a sort of recluse. He was known by the people living at the foot of the mountain to be one of the best-damned mountaineers that they had seen in years. Rumor has it that he knew ways in and out of those mountains that even the deer didn’t. Well, one day after selling some of his wares he went back into the mountains, which wasn’t all that strange, of course. Mountain men do what they do in the mountains. But townsfolk said there was something off about him before he left, not that they could place it, not exactly. They had their suspicions, of course. Fever, a bad run-in, maybe even a curse, but most folks thought he was just going mad from being all by his lonesome in those woods for so long.
Well, they send some folks in to check on him a few weeks later, as he didn’t show up to sell his wares as he usually did. Now, say what you want about his proficiencies as a man of the wild, but a guy could use some of the finer things in life, like a nice pair of boots or something, and surely he did. He had to do something with the money, so even if he wasn’t interested in selling, him being gone for a few weeks is enough for concern, especially when the guy is your best damn guide through the place. The posse they got going up to check on him walks the woods for a few hours, calling out for him with no answer but maybe from a cheeky crow. They think it’s a lost cause and start heading home, til’ they see him walking through the forest holding a knife. They knew he was a champ at parading through the woods, but he seemed to be walking through thickets without ease. One of them calls out to him, and he pays them no sort of courtesy but starts walking towards them. That’s when they notice he isn’t walking through the thicket at all, at least, not like any human does. He seemed to be plowing straight through it as if it wasn’t there at all. They flee, of course, messing around with a ghost-like that isn’t anything that winds up going well for someone.
All would be well and good, of course, if this was the end, but it ain’t. The issue they came across in this little town is that people have been found in those woods dead. Murdered. People have heard screaming and animals hollering up that way, and they swear up and down that it’s the work of the Ghost of the Mountainman.” Kevin finished his story with a confident crossing of his arms. A moment of silence hung in the air and the faint sound of chirping crickets, the rustling of grass, and the crackling of the fire filled it.
“Really?” Norton asked, looking up at his proud partner.
“Really.”
“No, I mean ‘Really?’ as in, you really expect me to believe that? There’s no way that’s real! No offense, Kev, but a ghost brandishing a knife doesn’t really strike me as a real-life threat.”
“Alright, mister witchy ghost snake, you tell me what sounds real,” Kevin teased.
“Hey, I never said the witch story was real! Most ghost stories aren’t!” Norton leaned in, pointing a finger at Kevin with a squint. “But you said yours was, and you sure did a shitty job making it sound like it was!”
“It’s real! You don’t gotta believe it, but I heard about it from someone in town alright?”
“A drunk. You heard it from a drunk, Kev. You believed a drunks’ ghost story, and now you expect me to believe it too.”
“No, I heard it from a real sweet young lady,” Kevin said curtly.
“Right, right, a sweet young lady that I’m sure gave you the time of day, alongside a very believable ghost story.”
“She did!”
“Right, anyway, enough of all this. It’s getting us nowhere but in trouble with each other. How about we play a different game, huh?” Norton offered to Kevin, who responded with just a raise of an eyebrow. “You know, we still haven’t figured out how we’ve met!”
“Oh, right! Right! We probably try to figure that out, huh?”
“ Exactly ,” Norton replied with a solemn nod. “So, I’ve been thinking. A bear.”
“A bear?” Kevin asked, his voice rich with confusion. He moved to sit next to Norton, turning to him. “Alright, humor me, how did a bear get us to meet?”