NOME NIGHTMARE
A Balto Fanfiction
Journal Entry: June 6, 1958
Nome isn't like most towns. It's located in the coldest U.S. state, after all. It seems like I'd moved there only yesterday. My dad, David, was down on hard times, jobless, when he heard of job offerings in Nome. Before I knew it, my mother, Julia, and I were being carried of to the town of Nome, Alaska. Who am I, you ask? My name is Nathan. Nathan Marlon, that is. This is the story of how my life was forever changed by Nome.
My family arrived in Nome on November 29, 1927; I was twelve years old at the time. I had heard great things about this town, especially how a half-wolf canine named Balto had saved its children. I grew pretty close to this town pretty quickly, partly because I was a dog lover. Snow was falling on the day we moved in, and I was entranced by the beauty of the white stuff. As I played in the snow, I noticed four people coming up to greet me, two boys and two girls. Tabitha Smith and Michael Bain were the first to say "Hi" to me. Tabitha was a girl aged about twelve years with long hair as back as a raven's plumage with grass-green eyes. Michael was an eleven-year old boy with brown hair and brown eyes. Then there were the siblings Anna and Samuel Sheridan. Anna, a girl aged about thirteen, had hair as red as fire and beautiful hazel eyes. Samuel, Anna's fifteen-year old brother had blonde hair and hazel eyes like his sister. The five of us became best friends very quickly.
Over the next week, my four friends and I played every day together. We had snowball fights and sled dog races (they all had their own dogs, but I had to borrow a dog from one of them). Anna and Samuel's dog was Nikki, Michael's was Star, and Tabitha had Kaltag. I lost most of the races since I was the one who was the least experienced. There was to be a town-wide dog race in a few days, and we were all pumped for it; well, everyone except for Anna and Samuel. I asked them why they were so glum about this whole thing. I was stunned when they told me that their dad had been killed by wolves one year ago, during a dog race; it took a week for his torn corpse to be discovered. Dog races brought back painful memories for them. I asked them why they raced sled dogs with us if that was so; they said they didn't want us to feel insulted.
Then, one day, I received a shocking bit of information. An old man told me that, after the aforementioned dog race of 1926, a great tragedy took place. The winner of that race, and his family, were found slaughtered; the winner of the race appeared to have died from an arrow through the throat, while his wife died from an arrow to the head. Their two children were found sliced into pieces, with some sort of long blade, it seemed. I was horrified by this news. Now they told me this stuff? I suddenly felt uncomfortable. I had seen a hunting sword mounted on a plaque, as well as a crossbow, in Anna and Samuel's house many times when I visited them. I shrugged this off quickly, knowing there was no way it was possible.
The next day, I told Anna about what the old man had told me about the massacre. I told her how strange it was that she was the only person I knew that had a crossbow in her house, along with a hunting sword. She suddenly became visibly nervous and defensive, emphatically proclaiming that it was no big deal. I was a bit disturbed by the tone of her voice, but I shook it off quickly because I trusted her. We resumed doing what we usually did together: we played all day.
The next morning, I received news that shook me to my core: the old man I had met two days before was dead. The police judged from the wound that he had died from what appeared to be an arrow through the heart. When I met Anna and Samuel the day and told them the news, they didn't seem worried at all. I was stunned by how little emotion they showed. Angered, Tabitha shouted that it would be nice of them to show some sympathy for the old man; he had no family, after all. Anna and Samuel suddenly repented and said that they were quite sorry for their behavior. I found it odd that their behavior changed so quickly, but then I mentally scolded myself for being suspicious of two of my closest friends.
For the next two days, everything was pretty normal. I enjoyed going to school in Nome. The teachers were strict, yet very friendly. One day, I headed to the bathroom to relieve myself. When I got there, I was greeted with a horrendous sight. Michael and Tabitha were lying on the ground, lifeless. The police deduced that Michael had been strangled, while Tabitha had died from a single stab wound to the chest with some sort of knife. I was horrified; I couldn't understand why these murders were happening. It seemed as though Samuel was the only witness, claiming that the killer knocked him down before he could see his face. Who was killing these people, and why were they killing?
The town was in a panic. No one dared to leave their homes at night. Everyone knew that that killer could be anyone in this small town. I was wrought with grief and depression. A few days after the murders of my two friends I was sitting behind a building and weeping silently. Then I noticed someone in front of me. I recognized that someone as being the famous half-wolf Balto. He seemed to have a worried look on his face. He put his paw on one of my legs and then leaned forward to lick the tears from my face. His kindness made me smile. Suddenly, he ran off. I ran after him for some time until I came across an abandoned boat, which I presumed was his home. Inside, I found that there were three others living in the boat: a goose and two pudgy-looking polar bears, one small, one large. Normally, the sight of a polar bear would terrify anyone, but these two bears didn't seem vicious at all to me. My animal-loving instincts kicked in before I knew it. I poked the belly of the fat-looking goose; he didn't seem too amused by it. I played with these four animals for the rest of the afternoon until all of us were tuckered out. I remember resting inside the boat, with Balto and the smaller polar bear resting their roads on both of my legs, and the goose laying somewhere near us; the belly of the larger polar bear made quite a soft pillow. By some miracle, I heard my mother calling me, and I got up without waking the others and rushed home as fast as I could.
The next day, I found out that yet another murder had taken place. The winner of the last dog race, the owner of a dog named Steele, had been decapitated with a sharp blade. The mayor announced the cancellation of the annual dog race that same day. That settled it; I had to something about this, and I knew what I had to do even if I hated doing it. I ran over to Anna and Samuel's house, knocked on the door, and asked them to step outside. "Alright, tell me why you killed them." I said. "What do mean?" Anna asked. I shouted, "You know darn well what I mean! All of these murders are related to you two in some way! The man who won the race last year was killed after he beat your father in the race, and that old man died after I told you what he told me!" "DON'T EVER SAY HE WAS DEFEATED! DON'T EVEN IMPLY IT!" shouted Anna. The anger in her voice chilled me to the bone. Samuel said, "Our dad was the best. He would never let himself be knocked off his sled by a novice. Also, the town just assumed Dad had been killed by wolves, but what are the chances of that happening during a sled race?" I was very disturbed by the conversation at this point. Samuel grabbed me and threatened to harm me bodily if I didn't leave immediately. I bolted out of there like a pig from a slaughterhouse.
I couldn't sleep a wink that night. I had awful nightmares filled with blood and mangled corpses. I woke up sweating and panting and I trembled as I got out of bed. I walked downstairs and noticed that my parents were still in bed; they were usually up at that hour. My mother had instructed me the day before to go to the doctor and pick up some medicine I took daily, even though it tasted revolting. But when I got there, something caught my eye. I noticed blood stains on the windows near the entrance, and my heart skipped a few beats. I rushed inside. I looked in every room and discovered numerous dead bodies. Two doctors had been cut into pieces and two nurse ad wounds on both sides of their bodies, as though arrows had gone right through them. I also found one patient dismembered, and another with a wound similar to the dead nurses. I had to alert the town, but two people were already standing in the entranceway. It was Anna and Samuel. "Anna…Samuel… why?" I asked. Anna said, "Why? Why are we killing the people who shrugged off our dad's death like it was nothing? Why are trying to keep others from blabbing about what they shouldn't know?" Then Samuel said, "The man who 'won' the race last year killed our father. I told you father would never lose to a novice like him. That's why we took care of him and the rest of his family." "But why Tabitha and Michael? Why them?" I shouted. "They were catching on to our secret, so I had to shut them up." replied Samuel. Anna said, "Oh, I almost forgot. Did you wonder why your parents were up already? Take a good guess." I realized instantly what had happened. I fell to the ground, dumbstruck and horrified.
"I have an idea. Why don't we kill little Rosie's family next?" asked Anna. Rosie! I knew that little girl! I couldn't let them get away with what they'd done. "NOOOOOOO!" I shrieked as I rushed forward, pushing both down onto the snowy ground. I managed to dodge many of there arrows and slashes until I was stunned by a slash across the knee. Samuel was about to deal the finishing blow when, suddenly, Balto jumped and bit his arm. That goose was with him, and he latched onto Anna's face, blocking her vision. There were other dogs , too, including Balto's mate, Jenna, Nikki, Kaltag, Star, Balto's son, Kodi, Steele, and many others. I was amazed that so many dogs were coming to my aid. They raised such a ruckus that they soon woke the entire town. The police soon arrived, and the dogs prevented Anna and Samuel from escaping; the two were soon apprehended. It still pains me to think about all the people they killed. I told them the location of my parent's bodies; one had been killed from an arrow to the head, and the other had had his throat sliced.
It's been years since that day. It is now 1958. I'm very grateful to have survived. Even now, I remember those events as thought they happened only yesterday. My life was pretty normal after that day. I was adopted, went on to graduate, got married, and had two beautiful children; of course, I also have two dogs, along with one cat. I currently live in a small town in Georgia. I hope that whoever reads this will know the truth of what happened on that day.
Dedicated to my friends Michael and Tabitha
And to Anna and Samuel
May You Find Peace and God Bless You
NATHAN MARLON