The Skinny Walker

It was a Friday night and Halloween to boot when James suggested that a small group of his friends--his girlfriend, Anita, and his best bud, John along with his girl, Yenovah--all venture out to his family's ranch to have a bit of a private Halloween party away from the prying eyes of tribal police in town. So remote that there wasn't even cell service and the only electricity in the house came from an old diesel generator in the back, it was perfect for them to all cut loose a bit and celebrate the night.

After a quick jaunt out to collect up some snacks trick or treating through IHS neighborhood and getting candy handed out to them by staff with arched eyebrows, off James and his pals went to the family ranch, loaded with candy and beer that James had stashed from his dad's hidden supply in the garage. The moon had already started to set as James turned down the washboard dirt road that led to the family ranch house. He heard the girls' squeal as his pickup truck bounced down the road, kicking up dust behind it.

The windows of the small home were totally dark when they finally arrived and James let the girls in through the door to wait while he and John went around back to start up the generator. In a few minutes and after a little effort, the small one room ranch home was lit with light and John and James congratulated each other on a successful mission as they walked back round the house to join the girls. Cracking open beers for each of them, the kids settled in, munching on their ill-gotten sugary gains and telling jokes.

It wasn't that long, though, til they heard a loud thump on the roof, silencing the kids' party going instantly. Still sitting in place around the room, all of their eyes were glued to the ceiling of the little home as they listened to the sounds of dragging and scratching above them. After continuing on for several minutes, Anita, whispered with a shaking voice, "Aren't you going to do something?"

James looked at John and saw that John was about as thrilled with the idea of seeing what was out on the roof as he was. John glanced at his girlfriend, Yenovah, who was sitting beside him and found that she, too, was looking at him both scared and with expectation. John looked back at James with resignation and shrugging, they both got up.

"My dad's got a rifle in the cabinet over there. Let's go grab it and make sure it's loaded," James said as he crossed the short length of the room to the cabinet in question. The rifle was old but still serviceable. Seeing it empty, James grabbed a few bullets from a box in the cabinet and started plunking them in. Another thump came from the roof above them and startled, James dropped a bullet. So much for looking brave, he thought to himself, his face burning a little as he finished loading the gun and stuffed a few more bullets in his jean pocket.

"Grab the flashlight," he whispered to John, nodding at its place in the cabinet.

Rifle and flashlight in tow, James and John walked to the front door of the home and, nodding to each other quietly, opened the door to the night air. It creaked loudly in the silence, splitting open the darkness which was so dense that the vast high desert view that James was used to just wasn't there. Swallowing and mustering up his courage though, he stepped out into the night and heard John click on the flashlight, following behind him. The two boys backed up while gazing up so they could be ready the moment they saw anything on the roofline--James with his rifle pointed towards the roof and John, the flashlight. James' heart raced as he heard a faint scrambling sound above them and sure enough, just as the roofline came into view, so did a dark form sitting on the edge of it just above them. John flipped the flashlight's beam to the dark lump on the roof above them and they both screamed as they saw a white face above them, savagely grinning with the head of a mountain lion whose eyes has been torn out hovering above it. James finger flinched on the trigger and, instead of hearing the sound of a rifle, his heart clenched as he heard just a quiet little click.

Without even speaking, the boys both ran back into the home, slamming the door behind them. After staring at each other wide-eyed for a minute, they heard both of their girlfriends start to whimper and cry. "We're gonna die," Anita whimpered.

"No we're not," James whispered. "We're gonna all leave at the same time and run to the truck."

"I don't want to go out there," Yenovah whispered. "Can't we just stay here til it goes away?"

"And get in trouble for being out too late? No way, my dad is gonna be made enough if he figures out there's beer missing," James said. "We have to go."

The kids all collected up their things as James put the jammed rifle away in the cabinet. Worthless thing, he muttered to himself, though he remembered his grandfather telling him that guns would jam around them. Within a few minutes, the group were huddled together by the front door with James' hand on the doorknob. He'd run out first, having the keys to the truck, the girls would follow him and then John would be last to protect the girls. That was the plan at least. With his heart racing, James opened up the door, hearing its creaking seeming to splinter through the silent night air. With a deep breath and a quick nod to the others behind him, James hissed "Go!".

James ran wildly in the direction of where he had parked the truck near the sheep corral. It was so dark out that he could barely see it in the short distance but as he got closer, he saw what looked to be a donkey standing a short distance away from it. James hesitated for a moment, frowning. His family didn't own a donkey--just sheep. Shaking off his concerns, he closed the distance to the truck and opened the doors so that the girls could climb in, followed by John. James dashed around the backside of the truck and then realized, the donkey thing had crept even closer. His heart froze as a whistling sound erupted from the donkey.

"You'll not be leaving here alive tonight", a man's voice growled both quiet and wild from the dark around the donkey that was not a donkey.

With a holler, James finished rounding the back of the truck and climbed into the driver's seat. His hands fumbled with the keys for a moment til he managed to slide the key into the ignition and the engine roared to life. As he backed up the truck, James glanced in his rear view mirror and saw the donkey man standing, illuminated in the red lights, laughing at him. Slipping the truck into gear, James drove down the washboard dirt road to bring he and his friends back to civilization and its safety.

The End

Happy Halloween!

a reply to: WhiteAlice



Happy Halloween!

a reply to: Jennyfrenzy

Telling these kind of stories at dinner time in October is a tradition in our house with the difference being that the ones being told at home are real. This one is an amalgam of some of those stories and I made sure to put in as many hallmarks of a good skinwalker story as I could.

So, Happy Halloween from our house to yours! Have a fantastic, fun and spooky night.