Writing prompts: Ghost Story / A quarry / A propeller
If anyone would have bothered to look up on the evening of August 31, 1969, they would have seen the ball of fire shooting into the dark sky. There were no witnesses of the horrific plane crash that night, so it remained a mystery until Powers Rock and Gravel decided to build a quarry in the mountains of northern Arkansas.
Imagine their surprise when they found the burnt shell of an airplane tottering on the edge of the mountainside, the propeller dangling precariously over an outcropping of boulders.
After a bit of investigative work, an employee named Alex found enough information to solve the mystery.
The plane had departed Kansas City, MO, at 11:45 p.m. with two passengers – the pilot, Mr. Henry Blake, infamous for his ability to make money no matter what he touched, and a woman simply notated on the flight manifest as “unknown female.”
Alex found headlines: MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF HENRY BLAKE; BLAKE DISAPPEARANCE STILL A MYSTERY ONE YEAR LATER; BLAKE OFFICIALLY DECLARED DEAD. There was never any mention of the unknown female.
The headline on September 1, 1981 read: BLAKE MYSTERY FINALLY SOLVED.
The quarry was in full operation by then and was a success during the building boom. Eventually, it was abandoned and left to fill with water. It soon became the favorite hangout for the local kids.
***
Sally and Bill ran hand in hand across the bluff and dropped into open air, screaming as loud as they could as they plummeted to the water below. With a splash, the liquid swallowed them, and they plunged deep down into black coolness. They emerged, laughing and yelling as their heads broke free of the cold grip. Exhilarated by the freefall into the cold depths, they quickly climbed out of the reservoir and made their way up the hill to do it again. Later, exhausted after an afternoon of swimming and climbing, the two sat by a small campfire and watched the crackling flames.
Bill’s older brother, Bart, and some of his buddies strolled by.
Bart leered at his buddies, “Bill’s here with his little girlfriend.”
“Come on, Bart. Go somewhere else,” Bill pleaded.
“No way,” Steve replied. Steve was Bart’s best buddy. “Haven’t you heard about the Lady of the Lake?”
“Yeah,” Jeff added, “there ain’t no way I’m going out there in the dark. She might get me.”
“That’s just a bunch of silliness,” Bill frowned. “A stupid ghost story our parents tell us to keep us away.”
“Oh no,” Bart shook his head. “I’ve seen her.”
“Yeah, right. You’re just being a jerk.”
“Nope. On a clear night like tonight, if you go for a swim, you can see her floating in the water.”
“Dad says she’s the ghost from the plane wreck.”
“What plane wreck?” Sally asked.
“A long time ago a plane crashed here, and no one knew about it. The bodies were eaten by the bears, but their ghosts still float around, waiting for someone to bury them, but they can’t bury them because they were eaten, so they’ll be ghosts forever!” Jeff rambled on, getting excited. “The man was cheating on his wife and then they crashed and died, and the woman is still trying to find him.”
“What? That doesn’t make sense,” Bill scoffed. “Now, go away.”
“What woman?” Sally asked, “and if no one knew about it, how do you know the man was cheating on his wife?”
“My Grandpa Alex told me all about it.”
“Yeah, to scare you,” Bill teased. “He did a good job!”
“Shut up, you little piss ant!” Jeff slugged Bill on the arm, hard enough to make Bill wince and rub his shoulder.
“Aw, let’s get out of here,” Bart drawled. “Leave the love birds alone.”
Bill scowled at the older boys as they shuffled off, laughing amongst themselves.
“Don’t worry about them,” Sally comforted him, “They’re just trying to show off.”
After falling asleep, Sally dreamt of a floating woman, her long blond hair drifting around her, spread out like a fan. She slowly sank in the water, her arms fanning back and forth as the water tugged at her lifeless body. Before she disappeared into the inky blackness she looked up at Sally who saw sunken holes instead of eyes and shredded bits of skin hanging off her ruined skull.
Sally woke with a start, disoriented, her heart beating fast. She lay still for a long time, listening to the quietness around her. Reaching out and discovering Bill gone, she dressed and went looking for him.
She spotted him standing at the edge of the cliff they had jumped off earlier. As she approached she heard him pleading with a shadow, “No, no, I’m not him. It wasn’t me, please, leave me alone.”
Hearing the desperation in his voice, Sally rushed to him. “Bill, Bill, what’s wrong?”
He spun toward her, his face as white as a sheet. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a mist disappear into the trees.
“I saw her! I saw her!”
“WHO?”
“The woman from the plane Jeff was talking about. I came out to take a leak and she was standing right there!” Bill pointed at an outcropping a few feet away.
“There’s no one there. Look. Do you see anyone now?”
They both looked in the direction Bill had indicated and saw nothing.
“It’s ok. Jeff just freaked you out. Come back to bed.” Sally took Bill by the hand and led him back to their campsite. They crawled back into the tent and gradually drifted back to an uneasy slumber. At daybreak they packed the tent in an awkward silence.
“About last night…” Bill started.
“Don’t worry about it,” Sally laughed, “it was just because we had a couple beers and Jeff told us that stupid ghost story.”
“Yeah, right,” Bill rolled his eyes and continued packing.
Sally never told him about the long blond hair she found on his pillow that morning.
14 July 2018