Tombstone | Teen Ink

Tombstone

November 6, 2018
By Anonymous

Ashley and Jeff had just gotten married in Fresno, California, where they both happened to grow up, it was a beautiful wedding and now they were moving onto their married life so they decided to change the scenery. They were packing up their things to leave and saying their goodbyes to their families, but as all of their families left a weird man came up to them and left them with a creepy message. The man was giving them a “warning” about where they were going. They just shrugged it off, because it must have just been a bored homeless man.

   As they were on their journey Ashley did some research on the place they were going too, and to her surprise, there have been some spooky things going on in recent past. They had also wondered how that man knew about where they were going, since they only told their family, so far. As they drove past the sign that read “Welcome To Arizona” they became nervous about what their new life had in store for them. Their new home wasn’t too far from their family, but they were on their own now, something that was new to both of them.

   As they entered their new city a broken down sign, with holes in it and dust/sand covering the letters, they were able to make out the sign that read “Welcome to Tombstone, Az.” So they pulled up to their new home and it was a nice house, but it had a very creepy feeling, much like everything here. They were originally skeptical about the name of the town and what it might present to them. It was already living up to its name and they haven’t even completely moved in yet.

   Their first night at the house was very standard, they were just adjusting to the new environment. Surprisingly they hadn’t seen any of their neighbors yet, but they just shrugged it off and assumed that they must have just been shy. Later that night Ashley went out for a run by herself and as she was running she felt like everyone was watching her. She started to speed up and she took her earbuds out because she thought she heard footsteps following her. So when she stopped and looked around no one was there, but the footsteps still were. She turned around and sprinted back home as fast as possible when she got home she told Jeff about it. They both barely slept because this town was making them very nervous already.

   The next morning Ashley and Jeff decided to run together and it went very casually, nothing odd or strange happened this time. They wondered what it could’ve been so they decided to do more research on this area, and they came across a history of missing women that went missing in the nighttime. This was very shocking to Ashley and Jeff because Ashley was in danger the last night. They decided to report it to the cops, but they just took it as a joke. They realized why she felt like everyone was watching her, it is because they were, they were shocked that she was out at that time despite the recent incidents.

   They realized that there was nothing that they could do, it was either leave or conform to this style of living and wait to see if they would catch the person. They thought about the possibility of catching him themselves, but they realized that only happened in movies and tv shows. So they decided to move back to the place that they knew, but when they got there it felt as if something or someone had followed them back. Ashley and Jeff decided to go to bed, but they were woken up by something or someone in their basement. When they went downstairs it hit them in their head and tied them up to chairs. They had thought that this must have been the thing from that small town when it emerged from the shadows it was the “homeless” man who had warned them before they left.

“Why are you doing this?” Ashley asked with tears running down her face.

“I warned you to stay out, but you didn’t listen, they never do!” He said.

Jeff had just woken up and he was still trying to comprehend what was going on. When he was finally able to comprehend what was going on he tried to get out, but with no success. They were both very scared, especially when they saw what was in the corner. When they saw the table in the corner with what looked like a bunch of knives and other weapons.

“What are those” Jeff asked.

The man just ignored them and started up whistling.

“Our family is going to find us!” Ashley said.

The man laughed “Do you like my toys?” He asked as he gestured toward the table or knives and weapons. “Your family won’t ever find you!” He chuckled, then mumbled under his breath “Alive.” The man went back to his “toys” and started to adjust them in an orderly manner.  He then yanked Jeff’s chair very aggressively, in order to pull him closer to his table. He went to cut his throat, but as he went to cut his throat a loud scream came from the other corner “Stop!”, it was Ashley. The man went over to her and hit her, “Why should I?” He asked.

“Can I please say goodbye to him?”

He hesitated at first, but he eventually allowed it.

“I love you”

“I love you too”

As they finished up their final goodbyes, they hear a loud banging on the door, “Open up Fresno police department!” We’re saved, but all this did was irritate the man even more. So he went for his table of knives and he started to pick up the pace. Why is he taking his time, it seemed as if it was an exact science to him. He acted if there couldn’t be any errors it all had to be perfect for him.

“Clunk, clunk, bang”, the door finally gave as it came tumbling down. The man was rattled now because he knew he wouldn’t be able to finish it. He grabbed his knife and headed towards Jeff, but as he was about to cut im it moved in slow motion. An officer came running down the stairs and tackled him. He started to cuff him and read him his rights, as that was going on the cops untied both of them. They couldn’t believe what had happened, they were in complete shock. They decided to move into an apartment near their parents, but this experience never left them. They are still scared for the day they see his name as a person who escaped from prison. They had prayed that the day would never come, they hated how they had to live now. They had been forced to live in constant fear and always having to watch their backs. Before he was taken off in the police  car he had vowed to find them again no matter what. HE was a very crazed man an he was very obsessive.

It was now the year 2028 and Ashley and Jeff had a full family, where they lived in the suburbs. They had two very young kids, Mike and Kyle. Mike was four years old and Kyle was eight years old.They were finally able to somewhat put the event, from ten years past, behind them. Ashley was a stay-at-home mom and Jeff was the head of a very successful law firm. Ever since his run in with that creepy man in the years past he wanted to help out his city in some way, but the police force was not so much for him. They had always hoped that they would be able to live this family life, and now they were finally able to.


The author's comments:

Mitchel Olson

1231 Grandview Blvd. Sioux City, IA 51103

Phone: 712-490-8251 email:Mpluso2002@Hotmail.com

 


 

November 6, 2018


Dear Fiction Editor,

I am submitting my short story, “Tombstone” for consideration in Teen Inc Magazine. It is 2,620 words.


I am currently a junior Bishop Heelan High School. I am a wrestler at Heelan and I plan on wrestling after high school. I am submitting this paper for my creative writing class.


Thank you for reading my paper.

Sincerely,

 

Mitchel Olson


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