Hangman

WC: 2648

He jumped as the vibrating of his cell phone echoed throughout the dark lonely house.
“Hello?” Asked the shaken voice of the young man.
“Listen to the sound of my voice, this is important.” Replied a whisper.
“What?”

“Ten men in ten tree white and tall,
Ten men with ten nooses, watch them fall
Ten men with no air left to them
Ten men dead men, in the end”

A shiver ran up his spine, but before he could say anything, the whisper returned.

“Don’t ever forget that.” And with that, the whisper terminated the phone call.

Panic set in. David sat paralyzed in his chair. He arms wouldn’t move…no his arms couldn’t move. Something weighed them down. He heard the sound of his front door opening. He screamed at the top of his lungs for help, but no sound came out. He writhed his body as much as he could, but it did no help. The sound of footsteps walking downstairs echoed through the house. David knew he was home alone. He’s been the only one living here since his girlfriend died three months ago. He tried to kick legs in hopes that he could fling himself from his prison. Footsteps could be heard coming up the staircase. Light, as if the mover didn’t want to be heard. “It has to be a killer or something” David thought to himself. A dark shadow came across the doorway, and soon its owner too appeared. It wasn’t tall, but neither was it short. His trench coat hid his body physique, and despite keeping his face in the shadows, David knew he was being stared at. His eyes traced down the figure standing before him, until something caught his notice. In this intruders hand was a snake. No not a snake David decided. A rope….A noose. The whisper spoke.

“ Ten men swing back and forth in the sky
Ten men who were duped by someone sly
Ten men with families who never said bye
Ten men, dead men, makes you want to cry”

The figure loosened the noose on the end of the rope and began to slip it over David’s head. David tried with all his might to move, but his body was trapped. All that was left to do was try to scream, and he couldn’t even do that.




“Wake up, its just a nightmare. Stop screaming, it wasn’t real. Zeus damn it David, this is getting old.” said a frantic female voice. The world was trembling.

“Alright I’m up, stop shaking me. Honey, stop shaking me. I’m up.” David said, making a halfhearted attempt to remove his girlfriend’s hands from his shoulder.

“The hangman again?” asked Liz.
“Yea, two weeks straight. I can’t get him out of my head. Everywhere I go now, I see a reference to hanging. He had two new rhymes last night. I think I’m going crazy.” David decided it was best not to tell her that she was dead in this dream.
“Well try and have a good day at work today, you’re going to be a little late if you don‘t hurry and get dressed to leave. Sorry, I couldn’t wake you no matter how hard I tried.”

David rushed through his shower, and through on his uniform and ran out the door. Liz called after him as he ran by her. “I’m going shopping today. I’ll hang you when I get home.”

Did she just say hang? No, that wouldn’t make sense. She definitely said see.

David turned on the radio on his way to work to listen to his favorite talk show host.

“Welcome back to 94 The Tour. Where we take you on a journey through the lives of everyday people. First caller is a man who wished to remain anonymous. You’re on sketch ball.”

A whisper emitted from my car speakers .

“ In the trees, so up high
Can’t believe they went up there to die
I guess its better to hang in the sky
Then shoved in an oven and left to fry”

David nearly swerved off the road as the whisper completed the rhyme. He turned up the radio to hear more, but that was all. DJ Jeff was back.
“What a wonderful experience folks. I wish I had the guts to climb the Himalayas like that man. Next caller please.”

That had nothing to with the Himalayas. Did Jeff not just hear that? What’s going on?


David pulled into the parking lot of his work “King Smoothiebucks” trying to convince himself that he momentarily dozed off, and dreamed up Hangman being on the radio. Dazed, he got out of his car and went into work.

“David, you can’t keep coming into work late like this man, you know people love there coffee smoothies in the morning. “

“Sorry Steve, had trouble waking up.” David said while pulling over the apron with the store’s logo on it.

“Its alright dude, lets just hope boss doesn’t find out you keep coming late. He might hang you” said Steve as he handed a smoothie-latte do a disgruntled looking customer
.
“What’s up with everyone and hanging lately? Everywhere I go, all I ever hear is nooses, and hanging. Shit’s gotta stop.”

“What do ya mean man? I was just joking. I didn’t mean he was actually going to hang you. If anything he’ll probably fry you.”

Dave tried to force a laugh. “Yea I guess I’m just a little edgy. I’ve been having nightmares almost every night now for a few weeks. Always has to do with hanging.”

“That sucks man. You need a vacation or some shit. Just get out of town. Go camping or something.”

“Actually that sounds pretty good. You wanna go on a hike or something this weekend? I remember hearing about this sweet trail the other day. Plus I wanna get a final hike before the cold sets in.”

“Sure I’m down with that. I love hanging out with you dude.”

On the drive home David was hesitant to listen to the radio after this morning’s episode, but the silence of the car left way to much room for thinking. As he reached to turn on the radio, a tingling sensation ran up his leg as his phone vibrated in his pocket.

“Hello?”
“Hey Dave its me” said the sweet voice that could only belong to Liz, “Can you swing by the middle school and pick up my nephew Kyle? My sister got caught up at work.”

“Yea sure no problem sweetie. Oh and Liz, me and Steve are thinking of going on a nature hike tomorrow and Sunday, hopefully the peacefulness will quell these nightmares.”

“Sounds like a great idea. I’ll be home at five, see you then.”




David pulled into the middle school just as the kids came bursting out the door. They were running all over the place, screaming and playing. David could barely remember what it was like to be excited about a Friday.
He watched three girls play jump rope near by. Entranced as the jump rope went up and down, up and down. The sing song melody of the girls sounded like your typical pre-teen girl jump rope song. One that is easy to sing along to. David found himself mouthing the words to the song even though he couldn’t hear it.

“Dead Men, Dead Men, hanging in a tree. How many Dead Men do you see? 1, 2, 3.…..” David broke out into a cold sweat. There’s no way those girls were singing that. David continued to watch as the girls twirled the noose around the young girl jumping in the middle. Did they even realize what they were playing with?

The loud annoying knocking on his window drew him out of his trance.
“Uncle Dave unlock the door!” shouted little Kyle. That kid looked way to young to be in 7th grade.
Dave looked back at the girls, but they were gone. He turned around to look at Kyle.
“Hey buddy, did you see those three girls jump roping over there?”
“Don’t be silly Uncle Dave, no one jump ropes in middle school, that’s for third graders.”
Well despite what little Kyle thinks, David definitely saw what he saw, and more importantly, heard what he heard.

The car ride back to Kyle’s house was relatively silent except for the occasional awkward coughs by Kyle.
“Have a good weekend bud” David said as he unlocked the car doors.
“Thanks for the ride Uncle Dave” said Kyle as he closed the car door and ran back to his house, pushing a tire swing out of the way as he ran across the front lawn. David watched as the tire swing swung back and forth, wobbling as if about to fall. David sat there and stared through the circle until it finally hit the ground. David snapped back to reality and pulled out of the drive way. With a final glance over his shoulder, he could swear that the rope that was holding the tire swing looked peculiarly similar to a noose….





David awoke with a jolt. With his eyes still closed he stretched out his arms out, but was met with the shocking cold of a window. He opened his eyes to reveal that he was sitting in a dark, cold car. His dark cold car. The moon was already high in the sky. He must of dozed off when he pulled into his driveway after dropping off Kyle. He knew Liz was going to be pissed, but as he stepped out of his car, he realized Liz’s wasn’t there. He tried calling her but all he got was an answering machine.
David wrapped his jacket around himself as he walked into his apartment. “Hey Liz you home?” he shouted. Silence. Think David, did she say anything about going out tonight? David checked his cell phone for the time, 9:15pm. She must have gone out for the night when she realized I wasn’t coming home. Maybe she assumed I was leaving for the hiking trip tonight. That would seem the most logical. It’d be a good idea to leave her a message asking to be called back anyways.





David picked a movie out of his collection and put it on. As the previews played he decided he’d call Steve to double check about the hiking trip.
“Hey Steve, its David. Still game for the trip?”
“Hey David, yea I was just packing now. Did you ask Liz if she wanted to come?”
“Na, I couldn’t find her. I think she is hanging with some friends tonight, or maybe her sister.”
“It seems like everyone is hanging somewhere this weekend. I called up my girlfriend and asked her if she wanted to come, never picked up her phone. Called her like six times too. I also called the boss to tell him I can’t work this weekend. He never picked up. I guess tonight is a big party night.”
“Haha it must be. Well I guess its just you and me then. Well I gotta go pack myself. I’ll pick you up tomorrow.”

“Where is everyone?” David wondered aloud. He packed all the clothes he needed as quickly as possible, and then hopped into bed for a good nights rest. Hopefully there’d be no more nightmares.

“Fun Fun, Fun for me
Fun for you, you will see
The tree is there, the noose is set,
They walked into it like fish in a net”

Laughter began that didn’t stop till morning. Laughter and darkness.


David awoke at three. The sun wouldn’t be up till at least seven. He lied in his bed and stared at his clock, as the figure in the corner stared at him.




“You look like shit man.”
“Thanks Steve, lets just get in the car and go.”

The rumble of the engine shook off the little bit of frost on the hood. The silent purr of the engine cruised down the street into the rising sun. Steve slept as David stared down the road into the wilderness of the forest. The colorful leaves of the trees slowly fell the grassy floor and the wind caused the branches to wave at the travelers as they passed. “It was going to be a good day.” Dave thought to himself.

As they traveled along the bumpy dirt road into the forest, Steve began to wake.

“Hey Man, how close are we?”
“Probably about five or minutes from the starting point.”
“What’s the starting point look like? I can help you look for it.”
“There’s an area where there’s no trees with leaves, and there’s a big one at the center.”
Steve began to lean back in his chair, but something made his eyes suddenly widen.
“Hey David, another car has already traveled down here recently. Look you can see the tracks. Maybe we‘ll see some other hangers.”
“Other hangers Steve?”
“I said hikers. Man those dreams really have you worked up don’t they?
“Look there’s a few trees whose leaves have already fallen off. Now look for a really big tree that stands above the rest.”
A great tree rose before them, as did another object that was dwarfed in size compared to the tree.
“Hey what’s that in front of the tree?” Steve said pointing at what looked to be a small Honda Explorer. In fact it was a Honda Explorer, Dave noted. He knew that car….
“That’s Liz’s car. What’s she doing here?” Dave said as he pulled up next to it. “I’m gonna stop here and check it out. You can get out to and stretch.”

Steve got out of the car and walked behind the Explorer. He noticed a length of rope tied to the back. “Hey Dave, I’m gonna see where this leads.” Steve started walking towards the big tree, while Dave was searching through the Honda for a sign of Liz. “Yea sure Steve go ahead.”
David opened the glove compartment where a small yellow sticky note fell.

****
Meanwhile Steve followed the rope and found it to be attached to the bottom of a ladder. A ladder was at the base of the big tree. “Hey David, come look at this.” Shouted Steve as he started climbing.
At the top of the ladder, Steve found the perfect practical joke to play on David.

****
The note was written in handwriting quite similar to his own. He never knew Liz’s handwriting was so much like his, but what David read made David forget all about the handwriting.
David could here Steve’s voice calling him.
“Oh help David, I’m being hung. The noose is so tight around my neck”
David looked back in a fright to see Steve standing at the top of a ladder with a noose around his neck and Steve was laughing.
David turned back to the note. “Steve is the hangman. Drive fast and far away.”

David got into the car, put the keys into the ignition, and put it into drive.
In his rear view mirror he could see a body swaying back and forth as a ladder was being dragged behind the car. And to his left he saw Kyle and his parents, while on his right were his own parents. As he traveled and looked at the sights, he saw his boss, and Steve’s girlfriend too. He passed two more on his way out, but neither he knew. And then just as he began to turn out, he saw a beauty swaying in the wind. He waved up at her believing she smiled, but deep down he knew, that Liz would smile no more.
And David sang as he drove along.

Ten men in ten trees white and tall
Ten men with ten nooses watch them fall
Ten men with no air left to them
Ten men, dead men, in the end.