A/N: So I actually like how this one turned out. It is based on a true ghost story that is centered around a railroad crossing in the next town over from where I live and before you ask, yes I have seen the light and there is nothing like driving down the road in the middle of the night and seeing that coming down the tracks. The feeling is undescribable. That being said, there is very little actually known about the origins of the legend, so I did make up some details, like the man's name, the date, and the reason he was on the tracks that night. It is not known if someone actually did die on those tracks, but since the day I moved here I have been told of the legend of the light and it has absolutely facinated me. Some people say that it is actually fox fire, but I don't believe that. I don't know what it really is but there is not doubt in my mind that something is out there.
Date: Unknown Location: Chapel Hill, TN
The night was dark, the bloated rain clouds blotting out the light from the full moon. An aging signal man stared down the long stretch of tracks before him, turning his head left and right seeking the sound that had drawn him from the shack where he resided. He held his lantern high, desperately trying to pierce the darkness that enveloped him. There it was again. It sounded like a child, but what was a kid doing out so late on a night like this? Briefly, a flash of lightening illuminated the sky, momentarily allowing Old Tom to see the world clearly, but there was no sign of a child.
Sighing, he turned and walked down the tracks, tugging on the collar of his jacket in an attempt to keep dry. As reluctant as he was to travel into the night, he felt obligated to at least check the tracks before he retired once more. The rain made the tracks slick as Tom slowly yet confidently made his way down them. He had been doing this for years and was therefore surefooted and nimble as he moved despite his increased age, but that would ultimately be his downfall. As Old Tom turned to cross the tracks and head back he slipped on the rain soaked metal, falling and hitting his head on the rails he had tended for most of his life. Unconscious, he laid there oblivious to his fate as the sound of a train whistle sounded in the distance.
The next morning the locals were horrified to find him laying on the tracks, dead. The coroner was called and Tom's body was gathered and prepared for burial, but his soul was unable to rest for as long and hard as they searched the people of the town were unable to find his head.
Date: Present Day Location: Lost
"Carlos!"
The car swerved wildly as the small Latino in the driver's seat jerked the wheel, moving the car back into the lane.
"Why did we let Carlos drive again?" a voice asked from the back as the two boys there clung to each other terrified.
"Carlos! Focus!" a third boy screamed from his place in the front seat, face pale and one hand gripping the door handle tightly, the other on the wheel guiding the car back onto the road.
"Sorry, Logan," Carlos mumbled, eyes snapping to the highway in front of him.
Logan sighed, shaking his head irritated.
"You really need to focus. You're driving and you hold our lives in your hands. I don't know about you, but I value mine and I would just like to get to…."
"SQUIRREL!"
The car veered off of the main road and onto a small two lane country highway, over a set of rail road tracks, around a corner onto another, smaller, road, and through a fence into a field before coming to rest against a scarecrow that teetered precariously before toppling over onto the hood of the car.
The boys sat silently for a moment, stunned before Logan exploded.
"THAT IS IT! OUT! OUT!" he flung open the door and paced back and forth along the length of the car farther flattening the poor farmer's crops. "How many times have I told you…"
The other three blocked their friend out, piling from the car, and surveying the decimation around them.
"Dude, whoever owns this field's going to be pissed," one of them commented to Carlos, as they stood watching Logan who was now gesticulating wildly in his frustration.
"I know, James, but I'm sure Kendall can get Gustavo to pay for it."
"Hey, I'm NOT getting Gustavo to do anything. He's still upset about paying for the damages when you got your license…" he trailed off noticing the look on the shorter boy's face.
"Carlos, please tell me you got your license."
"What license?"
Logan stopped in his tracks, head turning to face the others slowly like something straight out of a horror movie.
"What do you mean 'What license'?" he asked his tone dark and dangerous. "You told us you passed the test two weeks ago."
"Yeah, about that…"
"Carlos…"
"Well, I kind of ended up in the middle of a building and it's really a funny story because…"
"You didn't pass did you?" Logan's eye twitched as he fought the urge to strangle his friend.
"No," Carlos squeaked eyes clamped shut as Logan released a sinister growl, launching himself at Carlos wanting nothing more than to tear him limb from limb.
"Whoa!" Kendall and James leapt to separate the two fighting teens, Kendall grabbing Carlos, while James held a struggling Logan around the waist.
"Of all the stupid, irresponsible…"
"Calm down, Logan."
"Calm down? Calm down? He could have gotten arrested, or worse gotten us killed! And you want me to calm down! Let me go!" he shrugged out of James' grip, but made no move towards Carlos.
"Logan, I'm…" Carlos began but Logan held up a hand silencing him.
"Don't even. Just get in the car. I'm driving."
Logan carefully reversed out of the field and onto the main road, finally taking note of his surroundings.
"Does anyone know where we are?"
"I'm hungry."
"Carlos."
"What? I am. We've been driving for hours and I'm pretty sure we're going in circles. We've passed that same tree at least four times."
"It's been five minutes and all the trees around here look the same."
"Well it seems like forever. And I'm still hungry."
"You know what? We wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for you so…"
"Okay that's enough," Kendall interrupted angrily. "Fighting's going to get us nowhere and… Oh no," he ground to a halt groaning as he caught sight of the clock. "We're late."
"So?"
"So, we're late and Gustavo's going to kill us. Remember what happened last time…"
"Bad things," James shuddered beside him. He grabbed Kendall's collar and shook him frantically, "Kendall, I don't like bad things, and it's getting dark. Bad things happen in the dark…"
The boys drove quietly, each lost in their own thoughts as the sun continued to set. It was shaping up to be a cloudy night, the light of the moon disappearing behind the thick layer of fog that had rolled in as the daylight faded into darkness.
"It's kind of creepy out here," Logan mused as he peered into the murky depths of the night barely able to see the outline of the road before him.
"Yeah, who knows what could be out there hiding just beyond what we can see," Kendall agreed.
"Guys, I'm scared," Carlos said trembling. "There could be wolves out there waiting to eat us, or aliens, or… or…. Ghosts," he whispered the last part as if terrified saying it out loud would make it real.
"Okay, first of all, even if there are wolves out there, and there aren't, we're in a car and can easily out run them, second, scientist have no solid proof that aliens exist, and third, there are no such things as ghosts," Logan stated firmly as he peered into the night trying to make out the blurry shapes in the distance.
"Yes there are."
"No, just no."
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"Guys!"
They fell silent as Kendall continued. "I think we're getting close to the main road. I'm pretty sure I remember crossing those tracks earlier," he pointed towards the railroad crossing they could just make out through the fog.
"Oh yeah, I definitely remember that," James said rubbing the top of his head in remembrance. "We crossed it doing about 90 and I hit my head on the ceiling as we went airborne." He glared at Carlos.
"Hey, that's not my fault. Stupid squirrel," he mumbled, pouting slightly.
Kendall sighed, rubbing his temples. He was getting really sick of being the referee today. "Now isn't the time for this… hey Logan why are you slowing down?"
"I'm not doing it on purpose," Logan said pressing down harder on the accelerator, before the car sputtered and died, coasting to a stop right in front of the tracks. "Great."
He turned the key in the ignition trying to get it to restart, but no such luck. "Now what?" he asked turning to Kendall like he held all of the answers.
"Why're you looking at me? I don't know anything about cars."
"Yeah, but you're the leader, you're always supposed to know what to do."
"Oh yeah? Well you're the smart one so how come you can't fix it, huh?"
"Umm… what's that?" James asked interrupting their argument.
Off in the distance was a ball of light. It flickered and danced like a flame as it hovered gently over the metal rails, slowly moving towards the stalled car.
"I don't know," Logan said, tilting his head to the side and studying it. "It kind of looks like a lantern," he fell silent, shuddering as a sudden chill ran down his spine. "Is it just me or did it get cold out here all of a sudden?"
The boys nodded, their breath rising in a visible vapor before them.
"I don't like this," Carlos whispered as the light moved steadily closer to them, unwavering from its current path. A heavy feeling filled the air, almost electrical in quality, standing the boy's hair on end. Logan tried the key in the ignition again, but still nothing. The guys turned to look at each other, all thinking the same thing, but none of them wanted to say it aloud. Ghost.
"Guys," James paused, licking his lips, "I just want you to know that I love you. You're the brothers I never had, and if we die tonight…."
"Shh… James don't talk like that. We're not going to die," Kendall reassured him, but his voice sounded hollow, unconvinced that he spoke the truth.
They fell silent as the temperature continued to drop. Condensation formed on the windows blocking their view of the outside world, but still through the haze they could see the mysterious light draw closer, now within a few feet of where they sat, stuck.
It passed before them, still flickering and twisting in a weird hypnotizing dance that held all of them captive in its embrace. Logan squeezed his eyes shut as it continued by, his life now flashing before his eyes. 'This is what if must feel like to die,' he thought, images and memories of the past playing out behind his closed eyelids. And then it was gone, warmth seeping back into his bones like nothing had even happened.
The boys looked around, bewildered. The fog had disappeared leaving behind a clear starry night illuminated by the bright light of the full moon. Behind them a cop car appeared, stopping and flicking on its emergency lights as the officer exited his vehicle and cautiously approached the car.
"Everything okay?" he asked holding his flashlight high as he peered into the vehicle at the shaken boys. "You weren't looking for that ghost light were you?"
"W-wh-what? N-n-no. Is that… How… What just happened?" Logan stuttered still trying to shake the feeling left behind deep in his soul. He felt bare, like everything he was had been laid out before him and judged.
The officer chuckled, suddenly understanding. "I think you boys just met Old Tom," he explained. "Legend has it he's been looking for his head since the night he was decapitated by the train right here at this very crossing. They say he can't rest until it's found."
"So that was a…"
"A ghost? Yep. Old Tom's been haunting these tracks since eighteen hundred and ninety-one. You boys best be getting on now, it's late and these tracks can be dangerous."
"But the car won't start," Kendall said suddenly remembering why they had been stuck there in the first place.
The officer shook his head. "Try it again. Something tells me you won't have any trouble with it now."
Logan turned the key in the ignition one more time, and sure enough the familiar sound of the engine filled the air.
"How did you…?"
"You're not the only ones that have been stuck here when Old Tom's felt a little mischievous. Have a good night boys, and drive safely."
The officer turned and walked back to his car, watching as the four young men drove off into the darkness. He smiled as the light appeared once more off in the distance.
"Goodnight, Tom," he whispered, "I hope you find what you're looking for." Then he too drove off into the night.