Blood Red Hills

Ghost on the Road

Lana checked the time before closing her laptop for the night 12:30 am. As she expected, the wifi was in and out. You didn't get much when you live in a small town. Her stomach rumbled and she groaned.

Need dinner, but there was no place around Red Hills to eat. All the major fast food chain places that were open were at least a thirty minute drive away. She had a meeting at the morgue at 8 am. Did she venture out at this hour or try to sleep on an empty stomach? Her belly rumbled again and that's what won the self argument.

Lana grabbed her purse and her old-fashion room key. She locked up her room and quietly made her way downstairs. She jumped and gasped seeing a man in a uniform sitting at the front desk, snoring. Her gasp woke him up and he scurried to his feet. "Mrs. Banks I'm awake I promise!"

Lana laughed, "It's Lana Morgan, and your secret is safe with me so long as you let me back when I come back."

The man's eyes lit up, "Lana! Hey! I heard you were coming back in town. It's me! Steve Hathaway! So sorry about Eric, this must be so hard on you."

"Steve?! Oh my God hi!" Lana exclaimed as the two embraced one another. Steve was one of Eric's best friends and ex-boyfriend to Gwen.

"What the heck are you up to these days?" Steve asked as they pulled away.

"Well, I'm a detective in New York City." Lana smiled, "What about you?"

"So it's true, Lana left to live life in the big apple." He grinned, "I'm a police officer, but work security here at night."

Lana nodded, Steve working security for his ex-girlfriend. Not my business. "Sounds like you're doing well for yourself. Stayed in shape and all that."

"Yeah! I trained at the police academy in Orem, and came back here to work. I really love what I do."

"Everyone should love what they do, congratulations on finding something you love." Lana smiled.

"Yeah..." Steve answered awkwardly.

"It was good to see you, Steve. Listen, I gotta drive out and get myself some food. Do you want anything? My treat."

"Oh, thank you. Where are you going?"

"I was thinking Arbys or Carl's Jr."

"Arbys sounds good."

"That's exactly what I was thinking. What will you have?"

Steve thought for a moment, "I'll have that new chicken sandwich they got and loaded curly fries with a chocolate shake."

"Stay awake, I'll be no more than an hour." Lana winked.

Steve laughed, "Someone's got to let you back in!"

"Yes they do so watch for me."

Lana walked out to her car and slid inside, blowing out a breath. The people in this town had a way of surprising you in ways that didn't surprise you. She started her car and drove out into the night. She got on the freeway and headed toward Richfield. Driving at night was something Lana was never comfortable with, but driving along these roads, it felt as though someone was watching you. Lana always thought she was just paranoid when she lived in the area, but now that she'd spend a sizeable amount of time away from there, she wasn't just paranoid. Something lurked in the shadows surrounding the freeway at night, and hid behind the hills by day.

She turned on her brights and cranked up some music to distract her of the eerie feeling crawling through her. She spotted a figure up ahead and it looked like a deer so she slowed down. The closer she got to it, she realized a human was standing there. Probably some meth-head. She rolled her eyes and swerved around the figure and sped on. Suddenly the car turned cold, and not just because the AC was on. She could see her breath, "Stay calm, Lana. Just stay calm." she told herself as she picked up speed. She saw the exit going into Richfield coming up and sighed with relief. But the feeling vanished as she felt an ice, cold hand seize her shoulder.

Lana gasped and turned to see what grabbed her. A man, with dark hair, a huge hole in his head and blood coming out his mouth stared at her. "Lana...help...me..."

A blood curdling scream projected from her mouth as she slammed on the breaks, tires screeched as she came to a stop. The man was gone, temperature back to normal. Lana sat there in the middle of the empty, dark freeway with only the headlights as light. She cried. Who wouldn't? She thought about the man, replayed his features through her mind. Eric. "I'm probably just really hungry." she told herself.

Lana pulled herself together and proceeded to the exit where she got the food and sped back to the Broken Road Inn. She didn't sleep that night. She barely even ate. She got up at 6, took a shower, threw on a casual outfit, and headed for the morgue in Salina.

"Hello Dr. Foley, it's nice to finally meet you. I'm Lana."

"It's nice to meet you as well, Detective Morgan. Now this autopsy you've ordered on Mr. Banks rules out that this was unfortunately a suicide." Foley replied in his deep voice.

"I'd like you to walk me through your findings, please." Lana smiled. She wasn't surprised that the pathologist would rule it out as a suicide. That's what they all did.

Dr. Foley agreed and pulled Eric's body out of the corpse freezer. She saw his feet, blue, exposed, and a tag around the big toe. She'd seen this many times in her line of work, but this one hit her differently. Painfully. She watched as Foley pulled the sheet from Eric's head and she gasped. The dark hair, the hole in his head, no pooling blood, but he looked just like he did in her car last night.

"Detective Morgan, are you feeling alright?" Foley asked.

Lana nodded and cleared her throat, "I'm fine."

"You don't have to see Mr. Banks this way."

Lana shook her head emphatically, "Yes I do, proceed Dr. Foley."

Foley gazed at her warily and went about pointing out the angles of the wound could only have been brought on himself. Lana was pale. The last time she saw Eric, they were both in tears. Now he was here. Dead. Foley's voice became distant, her ears began ringing. Lana felt her stomach start to boil, her throat expanding. She turned toward the nearest trash can and vomited into it. The next thing she knew, everything turned black.