Angel Eyes (D&G)

Sometimes things seem normal even if we aren't quite sure what normal really is. Like the early fall in middle America where school football on crisp evenings are a Friday night staple. Normal is the high school jock dating the head cheerleader. Normal is a crowd of parents and fellow students cheering on the home team. Normal is not what would be happening in a few short hours in little Sparta, Illinois.

Far from leading the team to victory, Bret Bonart was an average senior content with being average. He drove a simple Toyota truck and got the grades he deserved for his minimal effort. He wasn't much of a force on the field either, but at least he was playing, so he was that much farther ahead of the losers. He was fairly satisfied with his life so far and probably would have continued to stay that way if he hadn't seen her.

As he was striding confidently across the empty football field following a winning game, he saw her. She was walking towards him on her way to her car. He acknowledged her presence with a slight smile, but when their eyes met, he knew it was over. Something about her reached out to him and he knew she felt it too. He walked on home wondering about who she was.

After showering off the sweat of the game, Bret drove uptown to the teen hangout, a old grocery store parking lot. Teens hung around in small groups spread across the lot. It was easy to tell who went with which group. Usually, the cars gave away the class differences of kids. The upscale teens drove the sporty, newer model cars, while the farm kids sat out shooting the bull on the tailgates of pickup trucks. Bret was middle of the road, but preferred the more relaxed company of the pick-up set. "Hey Bretbo!" hollered Big Dan, appropriately named considering his size. Big Dan was Bret's best friend, the son of an older hillbilly couple from the Ozarks. He looked like a hillbilly himself with his bib overalls and missing tooth, but he was a good true friend. He didn't care about nice cars and money. Even at his young age, he knew what was important in life.

"Bretbo, what's the plan?"

"I'm not sure yet, but man, I've been really bothered by this......girl."

"Aw no, you ain't gonna get all sappy on me now are ya? Cause a girl, that can only mean trouble for you."

"Seriously Dan, I saw this girl when I was walkin' home and I have to know who she is! I mean, I don't know why, but I have to find out. I feel like she is important to me somehow even if I don't know her."

"Did ya try askin' Tammi? Ya know she knows everybody and i do mean everybody."

"I hadn't thought of that, but I'll go ask her."

Tammi Meyer really did know everyone. She was very popular and attended all the parties in the area. She would know who the girl was. Bret gave Tammi his description of the girl and the car and Tammi provided the answer he was looking for. Her name was Lonna Kipp. She went to a nearby school, but no one really knew much about her life. She seemed nice and was quite pretty, however, she wasn't popular. She was average just like Bret. Tammi called her and invited her to the parking lot to hang and she accepted the invitation.

When Lonna arrived, Tammi introduced her to Bret and Big Dan. Bret liked her instantly, but he couldn't put his finger on why. She was so pretty, but she seemed so awkward. Lonna was dressed in all black. She seemed mysterious and that was part of the attraction, Bret decided. Halloween was drawing near so it was only natural the youths would be drawn in to the excitement of ghost stories and hayrides.

"Jim Michels is having a hayride tonight to the old Davis cemetary near Big Dan's place," Tammi said. "Would you all like to go along?"

"Sure," said Bret. "If Big Dan and Lonna want to go." He secretly hoped they would want to go along. He wasn't used to getting invitations from the in-crowd at all.

"I don't know, Bret," Big Dan was uneasy. His mother was very superstitious and he wasn't going to buy into everything she said, but he wasn't going to go against it either.

"aw, come on big guy! You ain't gonna believe all that crazy stuff your mom tells ya, are ya?"

"I guess not, but man, if things get weird, I'm outta there!"

"Lonna, are you in?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Lonna said with a smirk.

The kids loaded up in an old hay wagon pulled by one of the older siblings of the group. They snuggled in closely in the brisk night air trying to stay warm as the wagon left the safety of town for old country roads.
Cornfields are king in southern Illinois and it wasn't long before the little wagon was surrounded by corn. every now and then, a farmhouse would offer a welcoming light in the black night. The little group of teenagers shared scary stories to set the mood. Lonna snuggled in close to Bret. He was pleased to know that she liked him enough to feel safe with him. As they approached the cemetary, Jim Michels began to tell the story of the angel statue of Davis cemetary.

Years ago, a wealthy man's wife took ill. Everyone knew that she was a witch and few were concerned for her life. But the man loved her dearly, and after she passed on, he had a statue of an angel erected for her grave. He insisted that two special gem stones that she kept with her be used for the eyes of the statue. The monument builder did as instructed, however, shortly after, he took ill and died. Some time later, a grave digger working in the cemetary saw a strange red glowing deep in the cemetary where the statue was. He went to investigate and realized it was the gem stone eyes. He tried to touch them, and he barely escaped before a tree fell nearly fell upon him. He reported the incident to the townfolk, but was looked upon as crazy.

For years, people would report seeing the eyes glowing in the cemetary at night and if anyone tried to steal them, they met with death. No one had succeeded in removing the eyes.

Jim had the group successfully creeped out by that point. The little wagon headed deep into the cemetary. The statue still stood weathered with time and the elements, but the eyes were still there. They were not glowing and in fact were covered in heavy dust. The teens disembarked from the wagon to stare at the statue. It seemed harmless enough, but what would happen if someone touched the eyes?

Big Dan warned everyone to get back into the wagon. It may have been his upbringing, but he could feel things were not right. He yelled, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears as everyone was mesmerized as Lonna reached out to the stones. Her hands wiped away the dust and the stones glowed a faint red at first, but soon began to throb a deep blood red. They seemed energized by her touch. All at once, the Earth shook as the eyes shot out a stream of crimson light. Big Dan grabbed Tammi's arm and pulled her to the other side of the wagon. Bret tried to reach out to Lonna, but she was being lifted from the ground.

"My house is safe!" yelled Big Dan. "Run, we might make it!"

"We have to save Lonna, " shouted Bret.

"I don't know if we can." "Mom can help us."

Big Dan, Tammi, and Bret ran hard towards Dan's house. The other teens had scattered in every direction and Lonna was still suspended before the statue. Big Dan lived in a hillbilly shack just a few feet from the cemetary. It felt like miles to the frightened teens. Big Dan's mother was standing in the doorway as they ran up.

She knew that something was terribly wrong even before they had arrived. Jean White knew about these things. She had experience with talking to the dead, and she was waiting for this day to arrive. That's why she was waiting for Big Dan to get home when she felt the ground shaking. Jean was frightened, but she was ready to protect her son and his friends.

"Mom, I don't know what just happened! The statue, the eyes, she tried to touch them and....." He trailed off as Jean ushered them inside quickly.

"We haven't much time," she said urgently. "We have to cover the windows. We mustn't look out. The evil will lurk out there and we have to stay put."

The four began covering the few windows with whatever they could find. Every opening to the shack had to be sealed. The wind outside began to howl with a low, wicked groan. There was a heaviness in the air that was evil. They could all feel it as they huddled in the center of the room. Jean began to pray and the kids followed her lead. The evil banged at the windows and called to them to look at it. Bret fought the urge to open his eyes, but fear helped him keep them shut. The voices spoke soothingly to their ears trying to give them a sense of security.

"We have to maintain until daybreak," Jean instructed. "The evil can't bear the light of day."

As the evil continued to swirl around the outside of the shack, Tammi was breaking down quickly. She could hear the voices telling her Lonna was out there wanting in. Then she heard Lonna calling for help. She broke free of the group and began tearing paper from one window. As a tiny bit of the window appeared, she was sucked through by the evil outside. Jean pushed the Bret and Big Dan into a smaller room and closed the door behind her. They rode out the rest of the night praying and weeping.

Just as the first inkling of light began to appear, the wind stopped and the evil began to recede back to it's wicked beginnings in the cemetary. The cemetary glowed with a red haze that Jean and the boys watched from the safety of the shack. After the sun was fully risen, Jean, Big Dan, and Bret headed out to the cemetary with a hammer and some cement.

The statue was toppled over and the body of Tammi was lying beside it. No one else was to be found. Jean used the claw end of the hammer to pry out the gem stone eyes and Big Dan smashed them to bits. Bret helped to encase the bits into concrete. The trio then sunk the concrete into a river.

No one ever learned what became of Lonna, but it is rumored that she was a witch herself. Strangely, no family had ever came forward to look for her.

So this is how it is in small towns in the fall. Teenagers still play football and sit on parking lots. Ghost stories still are told and retold every Halloween and sometimes things just aren't as normal as they appear.

S&F you have to love teens and cemetery’s

My teenager is into this ghost hunting stuff right now, so I thought I'd give it the teen slant. But anyway, it was also good for taking me back to what it felt like to be a teen in the fall in Illinois.