Featured Story Written By: Kevin Gabeci
It was just like any other Friday afternoon for me: books and solitude, until something happened. Yesterday was heavily raining and you could've felt the earth pulses all around you meeting with the steady drumbeats of liquid. But the mighty and scary clouds up above us don't feel empathy for the poor earth ground; they are armed with their tear-shaped bombs that destroy cities of million ants. The dirt mixed with water and turned into mud. Water droplets accumulated at the beautiful leaves' surfaces, but the potential energy they hold went over their head. They slipped down and transformed into kinetic power, which, in contact with the ground, does colossal damage to the little creatures nearby. What happened in this night of soothing rain, it's still a mystery for me. I will never forget what I felt that day and my confusion.
Before I continue with my story, let me give you some background information. I live in a small town in the high desert of the Trans-Pecos in far West Texas, called Marfa. It was first built as a water stop in the early 1880s, but now has become a popular tourist attraction and a major center of minimalist art. We also have Marfa's famous "Ghost Lights," which is a paranormal sighting of...well, ghost lights, or weird mysterious illuminations; it mostly happens at highway 90. I haven't seen these lights myself, but my father swears on his life that he has encountered them once before when he was younger. My home is about three hundred square meters: a three-story building where we live, a barn, and a big dog house.
Sadly, though, our German Shepherd has passed away just recently and we still haven't gotten around to moving his home. I think we are still in denial about him - that's why we haven't moved it, to keep his spirit around, I guess. Our whole family sorrowed for about a month; he was just like a member of our kin. I sorrowed too, but there was something off about that situation that kept bothering me. The night he'd passed away, we were playing catch the ball and he was very tired, so he sat at the end of my bed after we finished. I was reading and listening to the sound of rain, since, coincidentally, that night was also raining but not as bad as yesterday. Darsie would always love to play catch with me, or any one of my family members, to be honest. She was so energetic and also trained: I had made her learn that whenever I say, "Readyyyy, Gooo" that's when she'd start running towards the ball. Darsie slept with me every time it rained or thundered - it was something really cute of her. I always thought that she felt safe with me and that's why she would come. I know that I spoiled her, but that's only because I loved her so much. She was one of the best dogs anyone could have ever wished for and everyone who knew her said the same thing.
That day, she didn't stay to sleep with me but went in the middle of the night, while the rain was still pouring down at her own house outside. That was rather weird, but I didn't think much about it at the time. Still, it wasn't that odd. Yesterday, much like that one, I was home alone. My parents were at a business meeting outside of town and my little brother was at Max's house - they were probably going to stay playing PlayStation all night, since it had come out just a few weeks ago. Honestly, being the only one at home wasn't really bothering me as I'm used to staying by myself. I also had a school project to finish so the heavy rain was rather helping me stay focused on my task. Really, I'm one of those people who enjoy the sound of the raindrops touching the ground. After a few hours of working on the project, I went back to reading The Great Gatsby. I was fully involved in the story and time had completely passed without me noticing. I was generally having a great time - the novel was really interesting and thought-provoking.
I only noticed it was late when I started to yawn and there I saw the clock had clicked over 12. I put my book down and prepared to go to sleep when suddenly I heard a noise coming from outside my house. At first, I couldn't make out what it was, but later it hit me: It was a dog barking very loudly, the sound getting closer. I looked outside my bedroom window, but nothing was in sight. I was in shock as I clearly heard a dog barking, yet there was just raining and thunders. While searching frantically outside from my window, I heard the dog's bark again and, this time, I couldn't believe my own ears; It sounded like Darsie's bark. I froze for a moment. My whole body was shivering; I had goosebumps everywhere. I still couldn't place where the barking was coming from.
I tried calling my parents, but the line was down; I guess, because of the thunder and rain, something might have been broken along the way. This is where I started to get really scared and panicky. I couldn't calm down and honestly didn't know what to do. I rolled myself into a ball on top of my bed and started thinking whether I was only imagining this scenario. However, the dog barks didn't stop. It now sounded like it was inside my house and there's when I snapped. I had already thought of every illogical explanation to this situation and couldn't take anymore, so I grabbed my torch and went to investigate.
With tears rolling down my face, as I was now fully convinced that those were Darsie's barks, and the torch in my hand, I was steadily going down the stairs. Barely seeing anything, with the lights out because of the storm, I was only left with my torch's glow. The scene was practically that of a horror movie as I was now in my living room, utterly surrounded by darkness. Strangely, the barks immediately went silent the moment I reached downstairs. I looked around. Then, out of nowhere, a blast of huge light appeared, which I suppose was nearby, post the sound of large thundering. I couldn't believe my eyes anymore.
In that split second, I managed to see what looked like a dog running outside my house. I was in total disbelief - I still don't know where I'd found the courage to follow the dog outside. Again, I heard the bark coming from Darsie's cottage, but this one was different: it had more of a sad tone to it, which surprisingly made me rush over. As I looked around her dog house, my mind was filled with memories of the past. I felt really sad and scared at the same time. Nonetheless, there was nothing inside. Meanwhile, the thunder storm continued to get worse. I was soaked wet, yet, for some reason, I couldn't feel the cold or wind. Inside, I saw a small hole that hadn't been there before which sparked my interest, as I really well remember not seeing that hole before. It looked small enough for me to crawl through. So, thinking that I had to get to the bottom of the situation, I did just that - literally and figuratively. The small hole appeared to be a mini-tunnel connected to a small underground room a few meters away. This was way beyond what I had expected and nothing was making sense.
Once I had gotten out of the mini-tunnel and into the room, I noticed a newspaper on the ground, slightly stained by droplets of blood dripping from what seemed to be a scratch on my arm. Not being able to make out what was precisely written on it, my focus shifted to the surprising décor of the room. At a first glance, it was very strange; the room had no way for light to come in, not even through the tunnel, and was a very narrow place. However, as I continued to scan the room, amazement soon overwhelmed me. Despite it looking somewhat gloomy, with the only light coming from my small torch, I could see that the whole space was painted in a bright, white color. The art embedded on the walls was quite weird, as I couldn't figure out what it meant or depicted, but, be that as it may, it looked cool. Interestingly enough, I could no longer hear the rain anymore or even the thunder.
After some time passed, a sudden eerie sound filled the atmosphere. I felt my body shiver, but shrugged it off, waving my torch around to try to see if there was anything else noteworthy in the room. I looked back at where I'd first spotted that newspaper, now noticing a small stack of similar newspapers beside it. They were all very old. Not feeling nervous anymore, I took one of the prints and started reading it. The headline was from 1927 and read, 'Man Saved By His Dog in the Heroic Act.' Weirdly enough, the dog was also a German Shepherd. I was very intrigued by the article and found myself ecstatically reading along the lines.
Suddenly, I heard someone behind me. I put my newspaper down, turned around, and saw the man from the article sitting on the floor petting his dog. At that moment my knees became weak and I fell on the floor right in front of him. "Don't be scared little boy, I'm not here to harm you. Actually, I saved your life," said the old man. "What... what do you mean by that?" I asked, my voice shaking like never before. "A long time ago, this place was hit by a really bad thunderstorm. At that time, I was the current owner of the house that you are in right now. I had just moved in from Europe with my daughter and I didn't know anyone in town. The first friend I made was the dog that you see here and I treated him well, even built him a small dog house."
The old man gulped and continued. "When the thunderstorm started back then, it was brutal. Without warning, rays of lightning struck the house and viciously killed my daughter in the process. I was stunned by the impact and couldn't understand anything at first. Later, I found myself outside of the burning house, my dog having saved me, but my precious Marfa... I‘m sorry boy... a bolt of lightning managed to hit your house's electrical system and set everything on fire. Your house by now should be only a set of ruins-" I started crying loudly, unable to believe a single thing that he‘d said. "Liar, this can't be true!" I yelled as I stood up, desperately wanting to escape this room through the tunnel I’d initially crawled in from. However, the old man didn’t move and continued to pet the dog. Curious by this sight, I couldn't help but stare at them.
Without raising his head to look at me, he continued his story. "This is Maria, your dog and Darsie's great-great predecessor. I used her to trick you into coming here to safety. You know Darsie is a special dog. She-" "I can't take this any longer, I'm leaving this place!" I shouted, still heading towards the way I entered. As I reached the small tunnel and began crawling back in the direction of my house, I could hear the sound of the rain and thunder slowly getting louder; the noise from outside almost masking my crying and weeping out of utter shock at what had just occurred.
When I'd finally reached my backyard, I heard police sirens and saw that the whole house was completely burned. It was like the old man said - scary how right he was. I didn't tell anyone about what happened yesterday, not even my parents and, when they asked me how I managed to get outside, I lied. If they heard my story, they'd probably think I was crazy. Now, we are staying at my uncle's house. I was curious about the tunnel, so, before leaving our house, I went back to see if it was there, but I couldn't find it anymore.
I did end up searching on the internet about the newspaper the old man was in. After a couple of hours, I managed to find the exact same article. There wasn't any mention of the old man's daughter having died, which was really weird, but then it hit me.
Maybe they didn't mention her because they didn't find her body.
Rather, it was only reduced to ashes; her spirit, having been set loose, now roaming around.
Maybe that's the Marfa that we all know by now...