And Along Came Jake (2 page)

Then he took the second ring, picked out a peg and aimed carefully. He tossed the ring in the air, but it hit the top of the peg, and fell to the ground between some of the others.

"Well, young man" the game host said, walking over to Jake. "I see you've only got one ring left!"

He thought of how the host put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a bright new shiny colorful marble. "Here you go son" the hosts continued "Take this, it's a lucky marble—go on, take it!"

He remembered taking the marble, inspecting it, then he smiled at the host. He took a deep breath, and aimed ever so carefully. He was concentrating so hard, that all the noise from the carnival seemed to have disappeared; the only thing he could hear was his own heart beating inside his chest.

It almost seemed as if time went into slow motion as he tossed his last ring toward the agglomeration of pegs. It seemed to take forever for the last ring to reach them, but when it did, it hit one and bounced straight up in the air.

He remembered rubbing the colorful marble between both of his hands very quickly, as he watched the ring hit another peg, then another, and when all hope seemed to be lost, the ring somehow managed to get enough lift and was at just the right angle to land perfectly on one of the last pegs on the board. He watched in disbelief as the paint chipped ring slowly wobbled down to the bottom then stopped.

He thought of how he jumped up and down, then ran back to his mother and father, who picked him up, held him high in the air and spun him around and around.

"You did it little man, you did it!" His parents said.

Then the host congratulated him, and gave him his prize. He remembered being happy with the stuffed animal he won, but quickly gave it to his mother.

"The real prize is this lucky marble!" He said, as he tossed it from one hand to the other.

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His trip down memory lane was rudely interrupted as Mr. Cobb, who was closing up his shop, firmly grabbed Jake by the shoulders and stood him to his feet.

"No way Jake!" Mr. Cobb exclaimed "You're not sleeping here tonight, Now get away from my store, you little thief!"

Jake quickly grabbed some of the packing material, and ran away from Mr. Cobb's hardware store. He decided to try his luck at the park, where all the couples gathered together on the weekends for their romantic picnics. Not long after he lay down, a police officer found him, gave him a lecture about doing the right thing', and made him leave. Jake went here and there, but everywhere he went he was only able to manage a few minutes of sleep. It seemed that no sooner did his eyes close, someone would wake him up and run him off.

By this time, Jake was exhausted and couldn't care less if he'd slept in an old filthy barn.

"That's it!" He told himself. "I'll go over to Mr. Brierly's farm, and sleep in that creepy old haunted barn; no one will ever find me there!"

Many stories have been told about the old barn set on Mr. Brierly's land. It was mentioned that the small barn which was converted into some sort of living quarters, was haunted by an old farmer who worked and lived there in the late 1800's. It's been said that a ranch hand named Todd Beven, who was an immigrant from Wales, murdered and dismembered the entire Tanner family for not paying him his full wages.

The well-known Tanner family consisted of Mr. John Tanner, his wife Teresa, and their two small children Mathew and Lilly-Beth.

The story continues with Todd Beven digging a hole in the middle of the barn, and burying the Tanner family's body parts with no remorse what-so-ever. Then shortly after, he smoothed over the surface of the ground, cleaned himself up, ate a nice chicken and rice dinner with his family, and went right to sleep.

They say it wasn't long until Todd Beven, along with his wife and son, mysteriously disappeared and abandoned the land. Consequently, the citizens of Blackwater wanted nothing to do with the Tanner's old property; they feared that their family and crops would be cursed forever. So it sat for a few years untouched, until one day Mr. Brierly's parents moved to this small town, and bought the land for next to nothing.

Mr. Brierly's father first came to Blackwater in the late 1890's and purchased that land for a good price in 1899, then just before his father passed in the 1920's, he left the entire property to his son. Ironically, he nor his late father ever gave it any thought to tear down or renovate the small old barn, which was only about a quarter mile away from their main house; it just remained in its derelict state.

It was nearing eleven o'clock at night when Jake made his way to Mr. Brierly's land. The moon was full, and its dull light cast eerie unknown shadows on every surface. When Jake finally reached Mr. Brierly's barbwire fence, he thought again about the old haunted barn and wondered if he really wanted to do this, after all, he was wide awake now with all this excitement. But he also knew it would only be a matter of time before he got tired again, so he decided to continue on.

As he crawled and made his way underneath the barbwire fence, he was now officially on Mr. Brierly's land. He snuck right past the Brierly's large two story home, and quietly continued to the old barn, waiting patiently a quarter mile away.

He could see the silhouette of the old broken down barn in the distance and it gave him chills just thinking about all the horrible stories that's been told.

He once heard a story, that when the moon was full, and the land was quite, Todd Beven could be seen in the middle of the barn, burying the Tanner's body parts. And if Todd Beven ever caught a glimpse of you watching him, your fate was sure to be the same as the unfortunate Tanner's.

When Jake finally reached the old barn his heart was violently pounding inside his chest. He tried to escape the vision of the Tanner's body parts being buried, but it was no use. That vision was now trapped in his mind, and it played over and over again.

He heard a noise coming from inside the barn; an eerie rustling sound. Jake was so scared, he didn't even realize that he peed a little, in his pants. He wanted to run but his legs seemed to be paralyzed. Then his eyes widened, as all of a sudden the barn door creaked open just a little, all by itself.

Without warning, a small fox bolted out of the barn, into the darkness. Jake threw himself on the ground, scooting backwards using his hands and feet, until he realized it was nothing more than a little fox.

Jake took a deep breath, regained his composure, then cautiously entered the old haunted barn. It was pitch black, and he could swear he heard the sound of a shovel digging in the ground.

He took out a matchstick and attempted to light it, but his hands were shaking so violently, that he dropped it on the ground. He took out another, but he was so frightened that he didn't realize how much pressure he placed on the fragile matchstick, and broke the tip clean off.

He took out a third one, and struck it once, twice, then on the next try, was finally able to get it lit. The tiny flame gave him just enough light, as he waved it this way and that, fearing that at any moment he would see the ghost of Todd Beven and the whole gruesome scene. To his relief, the only thing he could see was a filthy, dusty, dirty, and broken down barn, that seemed to have been converted into some sort of living quarters.

As he began to search through different areas of the barn, he felt a burning sensation between his fingertips, reminding him that the matchstick wouldn't burn forever. He quickly shook his hand, putting out the flame, then lit another.

He cleared some debris in the middle of the dirt floor with his foot, grabbed two small boards and some dried out grass, and put them in the middle of the small clearing. Once again, the flame from the match reached his fingertips, causing him to put it out, and quietly squeal in pain. He reached into the matchbox and lit one more, but this time the match would be used to light the small boards and dried out grass, making a tiny fire in the middle of the barn.

Once he got the fire going, he was able to see the inside of the barn completely. It was very small in size, and there were broken boards everywhere. There was some old furniture thrown here and there, and a small wooden box at one of the corners, next to an old, worn out, wood burning stove.

Intrigued by the box, he removed the wood lying on top of it, picked it up, brought it over to the fire, and hoped that it might contain some money. When Jake opened the box, he saw a few old newspaper clippings and some pictures.

As he picked up one of the newspaper clippings, dated August 9, 1895, he read the headline aloud:
'Brave man dies after saving entire family.'
The headline caught his attention, so he began to read the article in its entirety.

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"Last night, the Tanner house caught fire as a result of one of their children playing with matches. As the flames engulfed the front of the house, the Tanner family was forced to retreat to one of the back bedrooms. Their screams for help were silenced, as the smoke caused the family to go unconscious. All of a sudden, their brave ranch hand, Todd Beven, ran the quarter mile from the small barn, rushed into the Tanner's house, paying no attention to the flames burning his flesh. His heroic efforts paid off, as he carried all four members of the Tanner family to safety. Unfortunately, Mr. Beven, who was burned over thirty percent of his body, died later that evening from wounds, as well as smoke inhalation. But just before Mr. Beven died, he was asked why he did it. Todd Beven was quoted as saying:
"After I arrived here from Wales with my wife and son, the Tanner family took us in and treated us like kin, I consider them a part of my family as well, and I'm sure they would have done the same for us."

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Jake carefully put the article down, and thought about what he just read. He picked up another article, that contained the funeral event of Todd Beven. According to the article, the entire town came out to pay their respects to the late hero, and give their condolences to his wife and son.

It also said Todd Beven's body was buried in back of the old barn, in front of a large oak tree. The last article in the box stated, the newly widowed Phyllis Beven, and her son Arnold, moved away from Blackwater, but continue to live somewhere in Missouri. The article mentioned the Tanner family, and how after the tragedy, they could no longer live with the guilt of Mr. Beven's death, so they left Blackwater, and were never heard from or seen again.

Jake then looked to see a few photos in the box. They were pictures of the Tanner family, and the town's hero, Mr. Todd Beven, his wife and son. As he looked at Mr. Beven's photo, he was nothing like how the stories projected him.

It was always said that Todd Beven was a large, hairy, disfigured, angry old man. But in this picture, Mr. Beven seemed quite happy, standing in front of his new home, this little barn, with his wife and son. Jake also noticed that Mr. Beven was a good looking fellow, probably in his early thirties, standing about five foot seven inches tall, and skinny as a rail.

After looking through pictures of both the Tanner and Beven families, Jake put everything back in the box, and laid down next to the small fire. He closed his eyes, and tried to understand how someone could portray such a wonderful man as Mr. Beven, to be this terrible monster who's done such horrible things. As his fire began to die down, he unknowingly drifted off to sleep.

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When Jake woke early the next morning, he could see the inside of the barn clearer, and thought he'd fix it up, since he'd be using this as his special hideout from now on. He looked around and found a few old tools scattered about, which reminded him that Edwin's father helped out at Mr. Cobb's hardware store a few times each week for some extra cash.

Jake slowly peered out from the barn door to see if any of the Brierly's were in sight, wondering how he'd be able to sneak past the house without being seen.

"There must be another way into town." he thought to himself.