Jim

My name is Jenna, and this is a story about how we never really know how much time we all got with one another.

I met Jim about 3 months ago. Jim was a man of large build who worked as a lumberjack in the town. I had come here thinking to just refuel my rations and car and move on, but as I entered the diner looking for a quick bite, Jim instantly grabbed my attention, this man, arms as thick as the lumber he has been chopping, beard reaching down to his chest, reading a book of sorts, I can’t really recall.

I sat at the table facing his, for I had never seen a man of such stature. I was so mesmerized by him I almost didn’t notice the waitress offering the todays specials.

As I finished my order, the other waitress had brought this man, that I couldn’t look away from, a stack of pancakes. He piled up an amount of syrup that rivalled the amount of pancakes on the dish. As he attempted to eat them, I saw his whole beard get covered in maple syrup. My fascination by the man got interrupted by it so abruptly I couldn’t even stop myself from giving out a chuckle.

“Oh, you think this is funny.” He said in a rash, yet somehow soft voice. I still couldn’t stop myself completely “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” I thought he’ll say something more about it, but instead he just laughed. “He, to be honest, I should’ve known better. Can you believe this isn’t the first time this has ever happened?” “I do wish to say no, but somehow I can imagine that this is a reoccurring thing.” He took a napkin and tried to clean himself up “By the way, my name is Jim, but for you I guess you can call me ‘Maple beard’.” He gave a loud chuckle.

“Well, Mr. Maple beard, my name is Jenna, but you can call me Jen.” As he was almost done with cleaning up, he extended his hand. “Welcome to the Beldunna, Jen.” I took his hand, expecting it to be quite rough and hard based on how he looked, be it felt as if the man had never done a job in his life. “Well thank you Jim, but I’m just passing through.” “Oh no, are you sure? It seems to be getting late and well roads here get dangerous when it gets dark.” “I think I can manage some dark woods. I have my car fuelled and stocked up, so I’m going to depart out of this village when I’m done here.” “It has been nice to at least have given you a laugh on your journey. Maybe before you leave, you could tell me what you’ve seen and where you’re going? Since we’re already acquainted. I promise not to spill and syrup on you.” I chuckled. “Since I’m still waiting, I guess it couldn’t hurt.”

I sat down with him, thinking I’ll make the time go faster as I wait for my dish to come. As we started to talk, I first told him about my journey, then we ended up exchanging stories about us as kids and older. Minutes had turned into hours, and the sun was starting to set. “Oh, seems I should get going, before the roads get too dangerous.” I said with a small chuckle, but something dark came over Jim’s face. “Hey Jen, this might seem bit much, but why don’t you stay here till morning? My lodge is quite nearby and it’s on the way to the end of the town. You could stay the night in my guest room and leave in the morning.” “Well, aren’t you forward.” I gave him a wink. “I am feeling bit tired and not sleeping in a car every once in a while, could be good for me. If you promise no funny business, I might just take you up on the offer.”

As he brought me to his lodge, it seemed closer to a small mansion than a lodge. He led me in and showed me to where I would be staying. It seemed more than a guest room just by the decor, but before I could ask, he said “this used to be my parents’ room, I hope this won’t make it awkward for you to stay here. If you wish to, I have a few beers we can enjoy by the fireplace till you decide to sleep.” “With company like this, I might actually take you up on this offer.” I smiled at him.

We spent the night chatting away, and as it always happens, one thing led to another, and let’s just say the weather outside wasn’t the only thing thundering the forest that night. I still don’t know what pulled me towards him, was it his looks, his hight or just the pure amount of charisma that was coming out of him. Well, whatever it was, it made me stay for a lot longer than I anticipated.

We lived the 19th century dream. He would work all day and I would take care of housework, and whenever he was free, we would either fool around or enjoy a date every now and then. Then one day as we had gone out, we got into a fight of sorts. Now it seemed so stupid, but back then I thought it was.

As we were sitting at the only restaurant in town, enjoying our meal I asked him if he wanted to continue my journey with me. What really hit the nerve at first was that he gave a chuckle about it. “Why would we leave? We have our life here, I have my job. Is there something that you are lacking?” “No, but this journey I was on, I still feel like I haven’t finished it. We could come back once we’re done. You could take a month or two off from work, for a little travel.” I looked in his blue eyes. He grabbed my hands “I if you want something more, but as I see it, you want to do it for no good reason.”

We bickered and argued about it for a while, but after a while, I realised he made a good point, but I wanted to travel, and I wanted him to give it a try. So instead of trying to argue, I stormed out. The evening was rather chilly. It was late October, so it was to be expected. I was walking along the street towards our home. I heard him shout from behind me. “Jen, wait up.” I heard his big feet run on the wet asphalt. “Come back inside, get your coat and let’s just drive home. We can talk about this later.”

I first wanted to argue and yell, but this was the 2^nd time I had heard his voice like this. He was afraid of something. “Jim, what are you afraid of right now?” He tried to shake it off and say it was nothing. “Jim, Tell me.” I tried to sound more determined. “Come with me to the car and I will tell you everything”

We got into the car, Jim seemed quite nervous and in a bit of a rush. “Jim, what’s happening?” He started the car and looked back. “You see, I haven’t really told you everything about me.” “What do you mean? Is there someone after you?” He chuckled “If only that, I could try to deal with it.” “Then what is it?” as we left the car park and moved out, Jim relaxed a bit and started telling me. “You see, I’m a descendant of an old and powerful shaman.” “You mean one of those old-time people who read bones?” “Well to make this shorter, yes. But you see, my great great, great, great grandfather did something more than just that. When the Americans well in those time the white man first came over to this land and started to take over, many tribes fought and died, but he decided to try a big gamble.” He got silent all of a sudden. “What gamble?” I inquired.

He seemed like he didn’t want to say, but as he was looking around, he went on. “He made a deal with… let’s call It the devil.” “What do you mean?” “Well, he made a deal with a dark spirit to protect these lands. And in exchange he would give the devil his body and soul. And it did work, the devil took my ancestor away and called upon his own army to protect this place. But apparently the Devil never really pulled back his soldiers. So now, every night his soldiers walk through our town, looking for souls to drag back down to hell.” Jenn laughed. “Well then why hasn’t he come for either of us this whole time?” Jim darted his gaze at Jen, and it made her stop laughing. “Because, before the deal was made, he made the devil agree, that no matter what happens, nobody who is inside a house protected by his sigil would be harmed and the devil agreed.”

Jim was franticly looking around, his whole stress and feared had rubbed on me as I started to look out of the windows and into the forest we were passing right now. That’s when I saw them, the devils’ soldiers, as he called them. They looked humanoid and yet not really. They were mostly black shapes trying to hold human form as they dashed alongside the car. I could see their red eyes gleam in the night and one of them bared a smile that shook me to my core.

“Why haven’t you left this place?” still frantically looking around. “I can’t, if I die or leave, the soldiers will be freed. They are tied to me and my blood line, if nobody from my blood is in town, they are free to leave the ton and ravage the world.” “Why didn’t you say anything?” he chuckled “I didn’t want to scare you, I guess it didn’t work out too well.” Even with the Devil himself chasing us, somehow his voice and just him being there put me at ease.

We had driven for quite a while now, I could see the lights coming from our home already. It had put me at ease, but the calm was short lived as one of the creatures jammed something that resembled a claw in my door and almost ripped it off, luckily Jim noticed it and he drove closer to the side and hit the being off with the trees along the road. The creatures kept ramming into the car trying to knock it over, but Jim held his big jeep under control as he kept speeding forward.

We turned into out drive, I had never felt so happy to be home, but just as the happiness reached me, we heard a pop… it was one of our wheels, it blew, one of the creatures had jammed this claw into the tyre. We were so close, but the car stopped about 100 meters from our home. We jumped out of the car and dashed towards.

While inside the car, I never heard the creatures’ steps, but the steps sounded out of rhythm and purely impossible, but seeing them, and hearing them close on made my blood rush and forget all about it. We were about 10 meters from our home when I felt a claw touch my shoulder. I shouted in fear and Jim heard me, he put his hand on my back, and stopped as he pushed me with all he could.

I had never experienced flight in my life, but that push, it made me fly the erst of the way to the front of out porch. Our house was special, since the shaman had set up a barrier that the creatures couldn’t pass, so we had our whole garden as a safe zone.

I got to my feet, and I turned back. I saw Jim, covered by black claws as tears filled his eyes he still smiled and shouted, “I love you, Jen.” Those were his last words as the creatures dragged him back. I could hear ripping of flesh and Jim’s screams in despair. I had never heard him scream even once. As I looked into the pitch darkness, I saw one of the creatures staring at me, not just staring, it was glaring and grinning at me, as if it achieved its’ lifelong dream.

It had started to rain, Rain tried to muffle the gorish sounds, but it was not enough. After a while, the screams ended and the flesh ripping went along with it, but the one staring at me was still there. It had started to move towards me, slowly but surely it closed in. I stepped back, but the figure stopped. And after a bit, something flew out of the darkness… It was Jim’s head. The grinning ones smile grew even bigger, it almost felt like all the creatures grinned together. Then a rough, low and disgusting voice echoed. “Finally, we are free. With his death, we are free, thank you woman for giving us this chance. Now so you know, all these ills we’re about to do, they are all thanks to you.” As the voice said it, the creature turned and seemed to walk away.

As the rain poured down, I moved closer and took Jims head in my arms. His eyes were empty and full of fear. I closed his eyes with my hand and pulled him near. “Jim, I’m sorry, but you can rest easy. These creatures are not free… Jim, I’m pregnant.” I said as tears fused with the rain and dropped on his decapitated head.