Orange Light Haunting
 

This is part one to a short story that is 2,000 words long. I will post the next half if it is requested.

Orange Light Haunting


There they are again, thought Danny as he saw the mysterious orange lights in the field. It seemed the lights appeared every night he drove to town, which was often considering his wife Marie’s cigarettes habit.

The highway, Danny drove, cut through the fields of soybeans. Locals called the fields “The Bottoms” and are one of many fields that make up the massive floodplains of the Ohio and Scioto River.

The smaller Scioto River snakes through the fields then flows into the much larger Ohio River; Danny noticed the lights always appear at the confluence of the two rivers.

The shape and orientation of the orange lights seemed odd to Danny. Usually, lights where round, but these two where rectangular, and they hovered a few feet off the ground. They looked ethereal floating together in the dark and quite field.

He had become obsessed with the origin of the orange rectangles. They shouldn’t be there and he wanted to know how and why they where there. In the past, he never saw lights in the bottoms save for a camping fire. So, he knew it was something he would (must) investigate.

Early the next morning Danny decided it was time to explore the area where they appeared. So, he parked his truck along the highway. He walked towards where he thought the lights occurred. Danny assumed he might find a camp and was cautious because it was private land.

Danny stood by the mouth of the tributary and realized he was standing close to where the lights shone. To his disappointment there was nothing but a plowed field with partial cornhusk on the ground and huge trees lining the banks of the tributary and main river.
Suddenly he noticed something on the ground, he bent to get a closer look. It was an old clay bottle and Danny picked it up. The brown bottle felt thick and heavy in his hand and he could see some writing as he wiped away dirt.

Alexandria, O. was carved in its surface. Danny had never heard of Alexandria, Ohio and decided to research the bottle and the town, besides there was nothing to make the lights so he walked back to his truck.

When he got home he looked the bottle up on the Internet. He learned the bottle was from the early 1800’s. He hoped the old bottle was worth some money. Then he typed in Alexandria, Ohio in the search field.

He learned that there used to be a town named Alexandria, Ohio during the early 1800’s. The town, made up of cabins and old stone houses, continued to flood yearly so most of its citizens move to Portsmouth, Ohio. Portsmouth sat on higher ground.

Danny became surprised to discover the old town of Alexandria sat on the site where he had stood earlier today.

“Danny, what are you doing with that dirty bottle?” Asked his wife Maria in a grouchy tone interrupting his train of thought.

Danny almost jumped out of his seat startled from the sudden voice of his wife Marie.

“Why did you jump? Your not on those filthy porno sites again are you?”

“No! It’s just looking up an old bottle I found.” He replied irritated.

Danny thought how fat ass his wife had become but too big of a coward to tell her himself. He remembered secretly subscribing her to a Weight-Watchers magazine and he laughed when she puzzled over getting the first magazine.

“Well… I don’t like dirty things in the house. You’re going to get the computer desk dirty.” Maria said with a disgusting snarl on her plump face.

“I was just looking it up on the Internet. I will put it out in the shed in a minute.”

“If you don’t I will.” Maria said.

“I will do it… don’t you worry.” Danny said.

He hated when his wife bossed him around and he wished he had the balls to tell her off. But in the present he had other things on his mind.

“So… where did you find that filthy bottle, Danny?” He knew Maria only saw dirt and didn’t care about the bottle or if it meant something.

“Um… you know… in the bottoms.” He said.
Danny cringed knowing there would be an outburst.

“Where…?” Maria said.

She placed her thick hands on her heavy hips.

“You mean the bottoms where you see the lights? How many times did I tell you to forget about them lights? People will think your crazy and you can’t go snooping around on private property. What am I going to do with you and those stupid lights?”

Marie threw her hands in the air from frustration; it made Danny feel stupid for looking for the lights. But what did Marie know? She never saw them. He thought.

“Uh… I know… but…” Maria didn’t let him finish his stammering.

“Just get that ugly, dirty bottle out of the house and stop snooping around the bottoms. Lord knows you’ve gone plum crazy over them lights!” She yelled.

“Alright, alright! Damn…” Danny said.

Crazy or not Dean was sticking to his plan. He would find out what the lights where and would show Maria he wasn’t crazy. He should have never told her about them. He would prove they existed and she would apologize for calling him crazy.

“I have to go to the bathroom and then I will put it in the shed.” Dean said. “You know there is some interesting history about this bottle.”
He told her as he walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

“I don’t really care. It just a dirty bottle to me.” She replied but Danny didn’t hear her from behind the door. Then she looked at the bottle. “I will show him… in the trash with ya’.” She said to the bottle as she picked it up.

The bottle began to shake in her hand on its own. Then the thick clay bottle exploded into a thousand pieces in her hand. The shards penetrated her clothing and into the thick flesh of her arms, hands, breast and face. One of the pieces pierced her right eye and she screamed.

“Ooouuucchh! Oh my God, my eye!” Maria screamed.

“Damn! I can’t have any privacy!” He said as he pulled up his pant and ran into the living room.

He saw his wife holding her eye and he could see her body peppered with blood spots and pieces of the bottle where everywhere.

Of course you should post the other half. I want to know what happens....

Orange Light Haunting Part 2
 

Here is part two:

“What happened?” Danny asked perplexed by the scene.

“You’re what’s wrong! You brought that damn bottle in the house and it exploded. So it’s your fault!” Maria screamed hysterically.

Danny couldn’t believe a harmless bottle could explode, and thought maybe Marie had busted it somehow. Serves her right for messing with my find.

It made him angry, but he faked concern and acted apologetic.

“I’m sorry…” Danny said.

“You will be sorry!” Maria interrupted. “I can’t see out of my eye because of you!”

Danny finally calmed her down enough to take her to the ER. The doctors rushed her to emergency surgery. After a couple hours of surgery the doctor walked into the waiting room. He told Danny they managed to save the eye but her vision wouldn’t be the same. Also, that she needed stitches in several place and they would keep her overnight for observation.

Danny felt uneasy that Marie almost lost her eye, but relished the idea of having the house to him self for the night. It had been a long time since he had the house alone. Danny remembered a couple of years back when he had the house all to him self. A time when Marie had and affair and left him for a month.

The memory still stung and Danny had never fully recovered from the shock and hurt of Marie’s infidelity.

Danny reluctantly walked into the recovery room. He felt bad for her even though she was a fat bitch. He just couldn’t gain back the respect he once had for his wife.

“Um, Maria?” He hoped she wouldn’t yell at him. “Are you awake?”

He saw Maria’s right eye covered in thick white bandages. When she heard his voice Maria slowly opened her undamaged left eye.

“Oh, it’s you! You did this to me!” Maria said.

“I didn’t have anything to do with the bottle exploding.” he said.

“But… You brought the bottle in the house. After I told you not to go snooping around in that field. But you didn’t listen.” Maria said.

She lowered her head and began to sob. Danny stood motionless not knowing what to do. After a few minutes the sobs stopped and she looked at Danny with her good eye. The gaze was piercing and accusing.

“Danny I want a divorce. Your crazy.” She said

“Oh come on… I’m sorry.” Danny said. “Look. I will go get you a few things from the house and sneak in some cigarettes.” Danny didn’t like the big “D” word even if she bitched and ate all the time, and might leave him again if she took a notion.

“You do that and we can go from there but I refuse to stay married to a nut!” Maria said.

Danny held his head down, turned, then walked silently out of the room. He hated when she yelled at him. He felt that she didn’t have any right to be mad at him, because it was she that had betrayed him.

It had gotten dark outside as Danny drove back home. An excitement seized him as he saw the orange glow of the square lights in the field again. He thought if the lights were still there when he came back then he would stop for a minute and discover their origin.

He packed a few Twinkies and a change of clothes for Maria. He held her dress in the air marveling at how big. He couldn’t believe how Marie had let herself go.

As he drove back toward the hospital the ominous orange glows where still shining their eerie glow. They were like beckons calling for Danny to find them. He didn’t hesitate to pull off the road and walk into the bottoms toward the lights. As he walked closer, he thought he could see the shape of a house. He paused a moment to stare and study the silhouette he thought was there.

Danny cautiously walked closer and realized it was a house, an old stone house to be exact. He knew this house was not here during the daytime. He imagined the house looking like the stone house described in the Alexandria web site.

He looked at the tree line for reference, confirming his discovery. The old stone house was in the same area he found the bottle. In the silence he began to hear voices coming from the house and shadows moving among one of the lights. It was obvious the orange, squares were windows in the house.

Danny didn’t have much time to celebrate, because he heard something come from the house.

“Paw, I see sump’n in the field.” Said a concerned woman’s voice.

Danny saw two shadows standing in the window; he stopped dead in his tracks. He noticed the voice talked a different accent. Although, he could tell it was a woman talking.

His heart began racing and he could hear the blood flow inside his head. Danny could do nothing but stand still, hoping they would think he was an animal. Danny knew he should run but he couldn’t. Then he heard a man’s voice.

“Yeah, I sees it. I think it one of dem injens. I bet he’s wantn’ to steel our horse.”

Danny spurred by the fact there where more than two people in the house moved his body into a crouch. His fear of being seen over rode his fear of moving. Danny felt exposed in the large open field.

How can this be? How can there be a house with people! It’s shouldn’t be here! Now they see you, you idiot! Danny’s mind screamed over and over.

Danny couldn’t believe his ears. He wasn’t an injen and didn’t want to steal their horse. He noticed the man talked in the same funny accent. Than noticed one of the shadows leave the square of light only to return with a long object. Danny realized it was a gun; the shadow in the window leveled it in his direction.

Out of sheer reflex Danny took of running. He no longer cared about the house; Danny only cared about getting home and he didn’t want shot. Again. His grandpa shot him in the leg while hunting, and he didn’t want that feeling again.

He heard the woman’s voice yell ugently.

“Hurry, Paw, shoot’m before e’ gits’ away!”

Danny was running for his life when he heard the first shot. He felt a sharp pain in his right arm but continued running like a rabbit chased by a hound dog.

Damn! There’s that feeling again. Danny, you are a dumb ass.

“Ya missed paw! Now e’s gettn’ away!” Yelled the woman’s voice.
Danny didn’t stop running until he reached the truck. He climbed inside and sped off peeling gravel and swerving as he returned to the pavement.

Danny pissed his pants. He could feel another wetness running down his right arm. It was blood from where the bullet had grazed him.

“Oh, great. How will I explain this to Maria.” He thought as he drove on to town.
Here is part two:

Cool, he got popped by rednecks:)
Is there going to be more to this story?

No, this is all the story. The rednecks where ghost from the past did I make this clear enough in the story?

Thanks for reading.

Honestly, it feels like the story has more to go. The ghost thing wasn't terribly clear, but I liked it anyway.

I will fix the ghost part, but a good story makes you want more. Of course, I have considered adding another twist to the ending. Who knows, I may do that.

Had she considered looking out of her brown eye?

:confused: