Spooky Challenge 2024 - Day 2
Hello dear reader! Back again for another spooky story? It’s day two of my writing challenge and today’s prompt is:
“A rope on the sidewalk starts killing people.” – Andy Boyle
The Length With Which To Die
“It don’t look scary,” eight-year-old Cole said, hands jammed deep in his overall pockets.
His new best friend as of three weeks ago, Danny, picked up a rock and tossed it over the freshly repainted orange wooden saw horses. Each one said “DANGER” in white. The stone hit the cracked sidewalk, skipped over the limp sun-bleached length of rope, then rolled to a stop in some weeds. “My mom said it killed half of everybody when she was a kid.”
The wind kicked up, chasing leaves past the boys in a playful dance. The sun was low in the October sky, setting the horizon on fire.
Cole stepped closer to the barricades. “How?”
Danny shrugged.
The rope had been there since as long as the town could remember, as well as the barricades.
Once the neighbourhood had been affluential. Mansions, block parties, elaborate gardens. Now the sidewalks were buckled, the houses abandoned, yards overgrown.
The only thing kept up was the paint on the barricades.
“My mom just said to stay away or I’d get grounded.” Cole put his hands on the barricades. He could smell the paint, fresh and acrid. Cole’s family had moved in just over two months ago.
In the middle of the barricades was the rope. About seventeen feet in length, coiled randomly in a limp pile, bristly and rough looking. It was mottled in colour, bleached in some places, stained in others. Cole couldn’t tell what colour it had been originally.
“You know Leigh’s sister?” Danny asked.
Cole turned. The street beyond his friend was empty. The windows of the abandoned houses reminded him of eyes, watching. “Yeah, she died in a car accident or something.”
Danny shook his head, pointed at the rope. “It killed her. My mom told me.”
Cole looked at the rope again. Had it moved? Were its coils in a different arrangement. Was it closer?
Danny continued. “My mom said Leigh’s sister and some older kids were out here partying. Drinking. She fell over the barricade or something. They found her the next morning.”
Cole took a step back. “Sounds like a made up story.”
Danny smirked. “Then touch it.”
Cole froze in his steps. Leaves rattled like bones across the street between the two boys.
“I dare you,” Danny said. “Double dog dare.”
Cole looked back through the barricades. The rope seemed closer. Maybe unwound a bit more. He chewed his lip. The wind was blowing it around. Cole figured this must be some sort of Halloween trick. Some prank to play on the new kid.
“Give me your special edition Godzilla figurine and I’ll do it,” he said, stepping towards the barricades again.
“Wait, don’t!” Danny said. “I take the dare back, seriously. My mom was super serious about it being dangerous.”
“Too late! You dared me and I want that Godzilla!” Cole didn’t like being pranked. He wasn’t a scaredy cat.
He ducked under the barricade. Stepped carefully over the cracked concrete, his shoes crunching dried leaves.
“Cole! Come back, please!” Danny’s voice cracked.
Cole realized that his friend was being serious. Danny was actually afraid.
“Cole, I’ll give you the stupid figure! Just come back! Please!”
Cole’s heart kicked up in speed. There was a soft hum at his feet, rising and falling. Melodic like a lullaby. A susurrus of movement. The rope uncoiled itself. Cole stumbled back.
“Cole!” Danny screamed.
Cole’s whole body buzzed with electric fear. He was reminded, in that moment, of when his family had gone to Hawaii for a vacation. He’d gotten caught in a riptide. Swept away for a few minutes before lifeguards saved him. Afterwards, lying on the sand, crying, Cole had realized he’d really thought he was going to die out there. He felt the same way now.
A thought, a feeling, that felt like fact.
He was going to die. He shouldn’t have crossed the barricades.
The rope uncoiled faster. The faint ululation grew louder. It was beautiful and horrible.
Cole stumbled back, his limbs numb. He was afraid to turn away, to show his back to the rope. The heel of his left foot caught on a jagged ledge of concrete and he fell, slamming against a barricade. Both he and the barricade tipped backwards.
Danny stood above him, backlit by the weary sun. Cole cried out as Danny reached for him, hooking hands under his armpits. Cole kicked at the ground as Danny pulled. Seconds seemed like eternity, the song rose to a fevered pitch.
Cole knew he would never see his mom again, never get to go trick or treating, never join Little League baseball team and be famous. He was caught in the riptide again and this time, there were no lifeguards to save him.
Cole twisted, rolling from Danny, shoving his friend away so he could scramble on all fours. He heard his friend cry out.
Cole crawled, ripping nails out as he clawed his way down the street, past Danny’s backpack.
The song ended in a chortle, a sigh. Danny screamed.
Cracking sounds like the breaking of dry branches, wet sounds like how his dad slurped his coffee in the morning.
Cole didn’t stop until he was at the corner of the empty street. His palms and knees bleeding. Only then did he stand. Only then did he run, never looking back.
Hope you enjoyed the story!
x PLM
