The Cold Within

~ October Round-Up Challenge ~

By Bakerj

~*~

I closed the front door and the cold snapped through me.  The sweltering heat of the day might have eased with the sunset, but it was still warm enough outside that I didn’t need my jacket.  I shivered.  Heck.  I walked into warmer ice houses.

The room was dark as pitch, except where the moonlight filtered through the windows.  I didn’t get it.  If one of us was likely to return, a lamp was always left burning, just in case. 

I moved toward the stairs and stopped.  My skin prickled.  The hair on the back of my neck rose.  Everything was too still, too quiet, as if death had moved in.  My breath escaped in quick swirls of white clouds. 

The noise spun me around.  My heart began to pound when I saw the bulky shadow by the kitchen entrance.

“That you, Joe?”

“Hoss,” I gasped.  “What’s going on?”

“The lamp go out again?”

“I guess.  Why’s it so cold in here?”

“Beats me.  It happened last night too.”

“What?  Where’s Pa?”

“He stayed in town.”

I didn’t ask why.  It was for the same reason I’d been away buying water wagons—the drought.  Pa would be in the thick of it, organizing the water distribution.

We needed some light on this situation, but when I headed for the lamp, Hoss said, “Don’t bother.  It won’t light.  At least not yet.”

“What’re you talking about?”

Movement caught my eye.  At the top of the stairs, a glowing globe of light hung at chest height.  It began to move down into the room.  No person, no lamp or candle provided it, yet there it was.

“You see that?”

“What?”

I pointed at the stairs.  “You don’t see that?”

“No.” 

I took a step back as the orb reached the last step and moved forward.  I glanced at Hoss.  “You really don’t see that?”

“I don’t see nothing.  What is it?  What d’you see?”

I pointed again.  “The light.  The light right there.”

“Joe.  I don’t see no light.”

“It’s coming right at me!”

The orb separated as it quivered and spiraled.  A man’s shape began to form.  Sweat broke out and trickled down my back.  I could see right through him. 

His mouth yawned open.  Sounds I couldn’t make out shrieked at me.  I covered my ears.  “Stop!”

When his eyes locked on mine, my mouth dried faster than our water holes.  He rushed at me.  The air was punched from my lungs.  I hit the floor.

“Joe!  You all right?”

With Hoss’s hand on my back, I managed to sit up.  “What happened?”

“You went down like a felled tree.”

“I thought I’d been hit by one.  What the heck is going on?”

Helping me to my feet, Hoss walked me to the sofa.  “I wish I knew.”

Looking around, I saw the lamps burning again.  “You lit them again?”

When Hoss shook his head, I shuddered.  But I needed to know one thing.  “Did you see him?”

“I saw … something.  Just before you hit the floor.”

“I think it was a ghost.”

“Joe.” 

“I know.  It’s crazy.  It’s not like anyone’s died around here.” 

Hoss screwed up his face.  “That ain’t exactly true.”

“What?”

“Two days ago.  One of the hands brought this fella down from the high country.  No idea how long he’d been out there in that sun with no water.  We did our best, but the heat stroke were too far gone.  I took him into town yesterday for burial and let Pa and Clem know.”

I stared at my hands, hanging limp between my knees.  My brain couldn’t seem to think in a straight line.  What the hell was happening?

Hoss slapped me on the back.  “C’mon, I’ve just put on a pot of coffee.”

We made our way to the kitchen, following the welcome aroma from Big Brother’s brew.  I settled into a chair while Hoss went to the stove.  “Where’s Hop Sing?”

“He went into town yesterday.  Pa wanted him to talk to his friends.  Make sure everyone has enough water.”

Made sense.  The Chinese community in Virginia City could often get overlooked in a crisis.  It was a shame, though.  Hoss’s coffee could strip the varnish off our floor. 

When Hoss reached for the cups, the lamps dimmed and flickered.  I leaped out of my chair.  Standing beside my brother, I swept my gaze over the room.  

“You seeing those lights?”

“No.”  The frosty mist showed again as I spoke.  The temperature had dropped faster than an avalanche.  I glanced at Hoss, who looked like I felt—scared stiff!  

When the lamps didn’t go out, we relaxed.  The crash when Hop Sing’s can of flour tipped on its side made us jump like jackrabbits.  Flour spilled across the wooden bench and scattered across the floor. 

I swallowed hard.  A finger we couldn’t see began to form shaky letters in the white powder, one after the other.

“Help them,” Hoss recited.  “Help who?”

“I dunno, but we’d better talk to whoever found that man.”

The search began at dawn.  The hands thought we were crazy.  Let them.  I wouldn’t stop looking.  There had to be a reason for all of this.  As night moved in, we found them. 

He’d done the best he could for his family.  After tucking them under an outcrop in the shade with the last of their water, he’d gone for help.  I held the woman as she cried for her husband.  But I told her he had kept his promise.

~*~

I waved as the little family drove away.  Sarah soon grew eager to reach their new place in California and continue her husband’s dream.  We’d found their wagon, and Pa replaced the horse that had broken its leg. 

Turning away, I thought of the bad luck that almost cost a family their lives if it hadn’t been for—I stopped and looked into those eyes again.  One hand raised in salute.  Then he was gone.

~The End~