The Haunting of Roan Mountain Page 4

  After recovering, I stood up and began to pack up my equipment. As I reached for the digital recorder I’d set up in the loft, I hesitated, considering leaving it there. That was me being less concerned about the paranormal and more about wanting some answers from Melanie. A ghost or not, that didn’t explain the emptiness of the house or the fact that her next door neighbor, who apparently drinks on the porch all day, had never seen her. I begrudgingly powered the recorder off and brought it downstairs.

  I knew it was none of my business, but it bothered me for some reason. The voice in my head turned into a childhood punk that kept telling me that I liked her. So what if I did? It wasn’t like she was interested in me. Those thoughts shut the voice up for the time being. I was annoyed with myself. I hurriedly packed up my stuff and left the house.

  It was just after three in the afternoon. I decided to head straight to the office in hopes that I could catch Linda there. Just over a half hour later, my truck rolled into the parking lot of my office. Fortunately, Linda’s trademark VW beetle was there, complete with the bright blue Coexist bumper sticker on the back. I shook my head looking at it, questioning not only how that old thing still ran but how it even had enough power to make it up the hills around here.

  I stormed into the building, anxious to talk to Linda. As I walked through the entry area, the strong smell of burning incense hit me. Linda sat cross-legged on the floor in the corner of the conference room. Her face appeared completely peaceful, and it showed no sign that she even realized I’d walked in.

  “Linda, we need to talk,” I said in a much harsher tone than I’d intended.

  Her head gently turned to the side as she opened her eyes. They bore into me for a moment, not with malice or even concern. I knew immediately what was happening. She was reading me. Linda had an uncanny ability to understand all the emotions a person carried with just one penetrating look.

  “David, my dear, what is troubling you?” she asked.

  4

  I pulled up a chair and sat down next to Linda. A wave of trepidation ran through me. I’d sat in that room countless times watching Linda read people, and within minutes, their deepest concerns and secrets flowed out of her mouth like a river. But now I was in that seat. My palms began to sweat as she gracefully stood up and sat in the chair across from me.

  “How did you become so lost?” she asked.

  I stared blankly at her, unable to compose a response. She was right. I was lost.

  “Is this about your case, the girl, or the general confusion as to your place in this world?” she asked.

  “Stop for a second. I don’t need you to rip apart everything going on in my head, Linda.” I shifted in my seat, trying to avoid the conversation. “Tell me what you know about Melanie. I am not talking about your feelings or my feelings, or any of that. I need to know what you know about her. From the world of gossip.”

  “David, you know I am not one to gossip,” she replied with a look of mock surprise.

  “You know just about everything about everyone in this town. Cut the crap and tell me.” I was becoming agitated.

  “Pretty simple...married, realized her husband was nothing more than a wife beater, divorced, moved out to Roan, but you know all that. Why don’t you ask me your real question?”

  “Okay, something isn’t right about her. I don’t know what it is. I spent the morning at her house, but it doesn’t seem like she lives there. It doesn’t feel like a home. It’s more like a hotel room before she even brought in a suitcase. Hell, I talked to her next door neighbor, and he had no clue she even lived there. He thought the place was owned by some old man.”

  “The old man is the answer you are looking for, David. You know how this goes…but Mel...is a different story. You’ve spent the last several years of your life solving puzzles, finding the key that unlocks every mystery. Sometimes people are not a puzzle. No amount of research or information will help you understand a person. If you want to understand a person, talk to that person.”

  We sat there silently as I tried to make sense of what she was saying. Her words swirled around in my head.

  “What are you saying?” I finally asked.

  “The case is a puzzle. If you are seeking to solve that, treat it like one. How often have you ever cared about the comings and goings of a client? You don’t because it has nothing to do with the puzzle you are trying to solve. Mel, she is not a part of the puzzle. Yet you are treating her like she is. Her history, her actions, have nothing to do with that house. Yet, you want to know and understand all of it. Not because it will help you solve the puzzle, but because you are interested in her as a person. The only way you can understand her is by talking to her, not me.”

  I leaned back in my chair and stared at the purple fabric Linda had draped over the ceiling. It had taken her less than five minutes to rip apart everything that was going through my head. I knew she was right. I leaned forward and again eyed Linda.

  “I don’t know how to talk to her,” I replied.

  “Excuses, David. Are you looking for me to spell this all out for you?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Talk to her. Of course, I would say you must first come to terms with the fact that you are interested in her…but we’ll take baby steps here. And you do know how to talk to her. I know that much. You two were inseparable for how many years?”

  “Linda, so much has changed since then,” I stated matter-of-factly.

  “Excuses again!” she insisted. “Look, you are the same people you were then. Sure, life moved on and put you in different places. If you could talk to her then, you can talk to her now. Now stop making excuses, and just do it.”

  I rolled my eyes in defiance. I knew she was right, but I was certainly not going to admit it. As if sensing that very fact, she smirked at me and leaned in close, like she was going to tell me a secret.

  “Enough of this now. I would have become a high school counselor if I wanted to do this all day. Why don’t you tell me about something that really interests me? Tell me what you felt in that house.”

  I wanted to take a moment and lick my wounds. It wasn’t easy to get such blunt advice from someone. Unfortunately, Linda knew I’d experienced something at the cabin. It was time to shift gears and chat with her about it.

  “Do you know anything about the cabin?” I asked.

  “All I really know is that everything out there tends to be far more than what it seems,” she replied, pausing as if she was holding something back. “It is clear your connection with this runs very deep… and I am not talking about any connection you may have to Mel.”

  I took a deep breath and told Linda everything I knew and everything I’d experienced with the cabin, including my conversation with the neighbor. It was the type of conversation I was used to having with Linda, and it was far more comfortable than my talk with her about Melanie. When I finished, she set her palms down on the table and stared as if she was reading me for a moment.

  “Well, you are far from finished there, David,” she said.

  “Where do you think I should go next?” I asked.

  “The same place you do with all of these cases—the history. Unless there is a direct message from the entity in that place, the history is the only thing we can use to piece the clues together.”

  “I figured as much,” I replied with a hint of defeat. “There are typically no shortcuts on these things.”

  With a lot on my mind, I headed home. There, I grabbed a beer and went out to my back porch. As I sat on the rocking chair, I was surrounded by the sounds of the forest around my house. I silently gazed into the trees as if looking for something to guide me. Never had I been so out of sorts. I certainly had never needed Linda to ground me like that. My life up to that point hadn’t been anything particularly spectacular, but I always moved forward with a sense of true direction. I was losing that.

  With a deep sigh, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and texted Melanie.
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  Spent day at your house and observed a bit. Tomorrow I will be heading to the library to research the history of your property. If you need anything, give me a call.

  I set the phone down on the table and took a long sip of my beer. Linda’s voice replayed in my head, telling me to talk to Melanie. I knew she was right, but the idea was terrifying for no reason I could comprehend. Part of me knew it was the Melanie I always had talked to, and there was no reason to worry about it. Then there was the other part. I felt guilty for many things. It was a small town; everyone knew Austin was a piece of shit and on bad days would take his frustrations out on her. Yet I had never been there for her. I sat ignoring everything because she chose him. Just as my thoughts began to dive deeper, my phone started to buzz. Melanie’s name appeared on the screen. I took a deep breath, preparing for the call.

  “Hi Melanie,” I answered, trying to sound cheerful.

  “Hey David, how’d it go today?”

  “Oh, pretty interesting. You were right. There is definitely some energy in that house. It seems to be centered in the loft. I still haven’t put together all of my data, but there is something there for sure. The trick now is figuring out what and why.”

  “Um, okay. Look David, I don’t really know what that means. I guess I’m asking, is it safe for me to be there?”

  I paused for a second. Part of me wanted to respond with brash sarcasm, informing her that it didn’t matter because she was never even there. Then, I realized she was trying to get some peace. I needed to bite my tongue and help her.

  “Oh…yeah it’s safe. I mean...you may hear some sounds from time to time, but I have seen nothing to make me think it’s anything malicious.”

  “Not sure I like the idea of hearing things in the night,” she replied.

  “Hey, I got an idea!” I said with unmistakable enthusiasm. “I don’t want to cleanse the house yet since I’m still learning why the spirits are there in the first place, but I could confine them to the loft. That way you can have some peace while I work through this.”

  “That would be great,” she replied.

  “I can even do it tonight if you want. We could meet up for dinner somewhere, and then I could come by and confine everything up in the loft.”

  “That would be really great, actually. Wanna meet me at the BBQ place in downtown Roan at six?”

  “I’ll see you then!” I said, unable to contain my excitement.

  I set my phone down with a smile and took a sip of beer. My eyes fell upon my ridiculously overpriced watch.

  “Oh shit!” I yelled to no one.

  It was already five, and I was meeting her in an hour, plus I still needed to shower. I stopped for a second, asking myself if this was a date. I didn’t know. Either way, I wanted to look my best. That of course brought up the question of what to wear. Did I go Hollywood David, or Erwin David?

  I ran into the house and took a quick shower. I ended up splitting the difference on my clothes. I wore a designer pair of jeans and a Columbia buttoned shirt. I looked in the mirror, satisfied with my choice. I ran to the spare bedroom and threw open a bin in the closet, pulling out a couple boxes of sea salt and a smudge stick. I threw them in a backpack and ran outside to my truck. My watch said 5:33 pm. If I drove just fast enough, I would make it.

  A gas station was up ahead on my left. I realized I needed to stop and buy some gum. I couldn’t believe myself as I pulled over. I hadn’t ever worried about my breath, and here I was buying gum like my life depended on it. I was out of my comfort zone in every way possible. Thankfully, everything was moving too quickly for me to overthink my actions.

  I pulled into the parking lot of the rustic looking BBQ restaurant right on time. I spotted Melanie’s Jeep already parked under the sign, which couldn’t be missed thanks to the old lights of a patrol car on top. I checked my hair in the rearview mirror and headed inside.

  The place was fairly busy. Inside, the walls were covered in wood paneling, and proud taxidermy trophies adorned the walls. My eyes wandered to the counter where a few people stood in line to order. Melanie must have spotted me a second before I saw her. She stood up and walked towards me.

  She looked amazing. Her dark, slightly curly hair fell elegantly on her shoulders. She was dressed casually in jeans and a nicer shirt, but she pulled the look off perfectly as she sauntered up to me. There was a smile on her face. I was just opening my mouth to say ‘Hi’ when she gave me a hug.

  “Thank you again, David,” she said, releasing me from her arms.

  “I haven’t really accomplished anything worthy of thanks yet, but I’ll take it,” I replied with a smirk.

  “Well, why don’t we get in line and order?” she asked.

  “Sounds good,” I said, my attention moving toward the menu board.

  “Ribs or pulled pork?” I asked.

  “Well, this place is supposed to have the best sandwiches anywhere, but just about any place with a smoker claims that down here.”

  We ordered our food, went back to the table and sat down. She eyed me cautiously while swirling her straw in her drink.

  “Why are you here David?” she finally asked.

  I gave her a puzzled look. “I’m here to help you. Maybe we haven’t talked much, but I still consider you a friend. That’s just kinda what I do.”

  “Not here and now. I mean in general. How are you still hanging around these mountains?”

  “I dunno,” I replied, still unsure of what she was trying to get at. “This is just home.”

  “Look, before we kinda drifted apart, we were best friends. It’s been awhile, but we still know each other, right?” She paused and looked at me with her soft green eyes. “You know what I remember most about you? Well, about us?”

  “What?” I replied.

  “Both of us wanted to get out of here more than anything in the world. No, we needed to get out of here. We plotted, schemed, and dreamed of ways of leaving these small towns behind and starting a new life. We were going to find treasure and leave, never looking back.”

  “Well, that was a while ago,” I replied.

  “Of course it was! But you made it!”

  She was right. I had made it. Yet, the further I got from home, the more I wanted to come back.

  “Look, I get it,” she said. “I placed my bet on a guitar player who was gonna make it big, and I lost. So yeah, I’m stuck here for now. But you…you made it. You got out, and yet...here you are.”

  I looked at her, stunned. I was trying to come up with something to say when I heard a booming voice. “David, your order is ready.” I was saved for the moment.

  “Hold that thought,” I said.

  I returned a few moments later with two trays of food and still no clue how to respond.

  “Look,” she said cautiously, “I didn’t mean for it to come out like that and put you on the spot. I just… well, as much as I hoped you would call, part of me was hoping you wouldn’t. For you. I just hoped one of us was living out those dreams we had.”

  “I get it.” I said as I grabbed a couple of fries. “You know, I never really thought about it. I guess at some point I stopped dreaming of ways to get out of here and just focused on the day in front of me. On some level, I have kinda been drifting in the wind, I s’pose.”

  As I spoke those words, a light bulb went off in my head. I wasn’t going to say it, but it was her. Those dreams just kinda stopped when she took off with Austin. After she got married, I stopped dreaming of leaving town. Maybe those dreams had been ours together, and they just weren’t the same solo.

  “You ever stop and consider the fact that you cannot get BBQ like this anywhere else?” I said trying to add some levity to the conversation. “Maybe I’m here because of food like this.”

  “This place is good, but not that good,” she replied, now smiling again. “It’s no Ridgewood or anything,”

  “I can’t tell you why I’m here,” I said. “The fact is, I don’t know. I fly all over the
place and live out of hotels for half the damn year, and it’s always nice to be back here. I don’t know that it is anything in particular beyond the fact that it’s just comfortable.”

  She nodded in agreement as a large clump of slaw from her sandwich ran down her chin. I grabbed a napkin and gently wiped her face.

  “I see you still make a mess of your food,” I said.

  She took a moment to swallow. “Yeah, well. you’re still short!”

  “You know, you can still get out of here, too. What’s holding you back?”

  “Please, like that can happen,” she said, waving her hand dismissively.

  “Seriously,” I replied.

  “C’mon, I can barely afford a roof over my head. A roof of a tiny haunted cabin, no less. I never went to college. I could barely hold the shitty job I have. How am I gonna get out of here?”

  “To hell with that,” I said. “You can do whatever you want. For what you spent on that haunted cabin of yours, you could have gotten a place nearly anywhere. You say your job sucks. Well, so do most of the jobs everywhere you go. Look, I’m just trying to say, nothing is stopping you from getting out of here either.”

  She shrugged. “I guess I just envisioned being in a different financial situation when I left. Same reason I guess I expected you to bolt out of town as soon as you landed that TV gig. Maybe we are both stuck here. It was all so much simpler back then. Adult life sucks sometimes.”

  For the first time, I started to see how she’d changed. She was still the same Melanie I’d always known, but now she was lonely. So was I, when I really thought about it. I was lonely when I was on the road longing for home. After being home for a couple weeks, I’d long to get back on the road. I was leading a nomadic existence.