A suspension - not a surprising result for his carelessness back in the Aran Islands, but at least, he was being paid. The displeasing letter from Jacob sat crumbled on the flood; confirming a "medical leave" for Cypher so he could recover from the trauma he endured after nearly drowning. A leave demanded and forced by Dr. Heung that would cost him two weeks of excitement and imprisoning him within his home. While he enjoyed sleeping in pass noon, the thrill seeker could barely withstand three days of daytime television and watching his neighbors stroll by before the cabin fever set in. Desperate to find precarious adventures to amuse his adrenaline addiction, Cypher began searching for a few local legends to indulge himself in.

His internet searches managed to help him find plenty of childish myths that occupied his time. He had debunked Bloody Mary, been kicked out of a pub to investigate a poltergeist that was believed to haunt the building, grew tired of an ouija board, and had begun to debate on summoning the Midnight Man again. However, as he sat uneasily in his office chair, he started to search for legends outside of the city limits. One in particular had caught his attention regarding a country road just outside of Manchester that had earned the nickname Brimstone Road by the neighboring town that sat along aside it; one involving an extremely rare occurrence that only appeared during a moonless, winter night with no wind. If he was going to catch it, he would have to hurry.

The soft jazz music trickled from the speakers as he drove down the winding country road. Migisi occasionally chirp along with the high pitches of the saxophone and blaring trumpets; Cypher joining in with the drum beat as he tapped his slender fingers on the leather material of the steering wheel. Swaying easily in the driver's seat while singing quietly beneath his breath. Slightly embarrassed by the way his voice cracked as he attempted to mimic the mezzo-soprano singer with his deeper baritone tone. The little jackdaw wiggled her tail as she gawked up at him, as if he was happily singing along with her. He glanced down at her before whistling. The spiked noise caused Migisi to stand tall in the seat stretching her neck in attempts to get a better look at his face to find the source of the new sounds.

Before them, the paved road emerged from the darkness, revealing itself to the driver by the bright headlights. The white dotted lines illuminating in the dim light as the car drove quickly through the English woodlands. Trees barely visible on both sides of the road as the light slit through the shadows. Highway hypnosis beginning to set into Cypher's mind as his eyes fixed themselves on the only figures they could see. The passing blurs of the painted lines and branches rushing by. Tired eyes began to water as he lifted his hand to them, gently massaging them while wiping away the moist collecting on his eyelashes. He let out a yawn before adjusting the heat in the vehicle hoping that Migisi was warm enough and questioning if he made the right decision to bring her with him. Afraid of stressing the jackdaw with the bitter cold weather that clawed away at the glass window.

He readjusted his hands on the wheel when static began to overpower the music. A thin brow rose in bewilderment has he leaned carefully forward. His fingers fumbling with the dial as he glanced between the glowing lights of the CD player and dim road. On the side of the road, a white figured appeared and disappeared within milliseconds of him speeding by. Mouth hung partly open in astonishment as his head snapped backward to try to catch a second glimpse of the entity through the rear windshield. As he sat straight, his lips drew inward and he smirked. Heart throbbing in his chest from the growing adrenaline. He turned the music off and began to slow the car. He was close but still had a few more miles to go before hitting the heart of Brimesone Road, and discovering the haunting secret that resided at its side.

The lights on the dashboard flickered as another figure appeared. Vanishing with the blink of an eye before reappearing again later down the road. Each time, his heart skipped a bit. The ghostly form wandering long the street in a translucent wisp. Back always turned to the oncoming car as it trudged along in the dirt. Shoulders sagging with white rags hanging off of a skinless, petite frame. A hairless head of a weeping woman staring down at the passing ground. Every time it appeared more solid but yet still transparent.

In the seat next to him, Migisi began to grow restless. She had huddled slightly, withdrawing her neck closer to her puffing body while hissing. Feathers stood up on ends as she cuddled near the left corner of the seat. Being as close to Cypher as she could without leaping to his lap or shoulder. Meanwhile, he was growing fidgety as well. Blue eyes darting side to side as he studied the sides of the road keeping an eye out for the entity's reappearance as he twitched. Shoulders rolling with each anxious shrug he made while turning his neck in coordination with his pupils.

The car continued at a steady pace through the clear winter night until it hit a wall of cloudy smoke. Drifting over the street despite there being no breeze to ease it across. White fog thickening as the car drove farther down the road. Cypher leaned forward uneasily in his seat to where the steering wheel rested against his lean chest as he searched the ground before him with narrow eyes. Suddenly, something appeared from the car. A ghastly face flashed before him as though he had hit thewoman but instead of a body rolling onto the hood, the image just faded away.

"Bloody hell!" Cypher yelled in shock as he slammed on the breaks. The tires whined while the rubber burned. Sliding along the pavement while Migisi flailed. Her claws scratching at the leather seat with her wings flapping about - hovering - preventing herself from being flung into the dashboard. Cypher, on the other hand, lunged forward. Having already been sitting at the edge, his head hit the cold glass of the windshield. He yelped in pain as he fall back into the seat when the car came to a screeching stop.

His scrawny frame laid lifelessly. Head rolled back against his shoulder as his arms dangling at his side. Chy...Chy! Migisi hopped across the arm rest and onto his lap. Pecking gingerly at his shirt sleeve as his arm drooped across his knee. Growing more concerned by the delayed reaction he gave her, she twisted her head and gazed up at him. Beady eyes looking him over before she leaped from his lap to his shoulder. Smooth feathers brushed against his shaved chin and cheek as she continued to silently coo "his name" in her language, trying to get him to move. After a few more quick strokes of her head, she turned to face him. Her beak curiously caressing the side of his face before her nostrils caught scent of a faint, salty smell of fresh blood.

The crimson liquid trickled from the cut above his eye brow, following along the curve of his eye socket rolling over the puff of his check. Hissing again, she quickly pulled away. Typically, her predatorily instincts would have kicked in, stirring some sort of a desire within her but there was something about the scent of his blood that caused her to cringe. Chy! Tkych kych chy! She continued to caw anxiously at him as she twitched about. Unsettled by the heavy feeling of unearthly eyes gazing at them from somewhere in the darkness.

Groaning, Cypher began to regain consciousness. He lifted his hand to his head, trying to contain the agonizing headache that was surfacing. His finger tips touching the sticky blood that clang to the fine hairs of his eye brow as he gently examined the clean cut. Chy! Chy! Chy! Migisi exclaimed as she spread her wings in excitement, head bobbing upward and downward. With his pinky finger, he reached over to scratch her head as he applied pressure to the bleeding wound, "Easy now, my dear..."

His eyes adjusted to the darkness as he searched through the windows, gazing out in the smoke that surrounded them. The aroma of burning wood filled the air but everywhere he looked was nothing but a pitch black wall. Had there been a forest fire alongside the road, he should have been able to see the flames or at least their faint glow from the car. There was no wind outside, so the smoke had obviously not blown in from elsewhere. It seemed to have appeared from an unseen source but was was originating the right side of the road. Not too far into the woods. Eagerly, Cypher fumbled with the seat belt as he opened the car door. Expecting to be hit with a blast of icy winter air but incredibly stunned to discover the air was warm. He glanced at the thermometer that had been built into the dashboard. It read that in reality, the temperature had dropped dramatically. Settling well below freezing despite the meteorologist's report saying it would not drop below four-degrees Celsius. Though the air was burning to the touch; like he had discovered a chamber in hell.

He stepped out of the car and wobbled as his head spun. Leaning against vehicle to balance himself, Migisi dug her claws into the fabric of his vest. Huddling herself near his neck right below his chin as she hissed. Her body completely puffed up with discontent and fear; something about the atmosphere was making her uneasy and the scent of burning wood was only worsening the jackdaw's panic. However, Cypher stood with happily in the middle of the road. The ethereal heat tingling upon his exposed skin, sending shivers up his spine as the hair on the back of his neck rose. His grin widdened, soaking in the self-applied pride from finding such a rare phenomenon.

In the distance, he could hear nothing but silence. Yet the smoke poured from between the tree lines. Weaving through the trunks from somewhere in the woods. He grabbed the flashlight that he had placed in the pocket of the car door and flipped it on before darting blindlessly in the direction the smoke was coming from. He jogged quickly, pushing himself forward, while ignoring the pounding headache and Migisi's annoyed caws. He had come too far to not capture evidence of the occurrence and even with the possibility of needing medical attention, he was refusing to turn around.

A few minutes passed before the air around him grew to an almost unbearable temperature in a clearing. No trees grew around the patch of black grass that followed the circular pattern of the tiny meadow. Small stone formations stuck out from the burnt soil. Blackened by ash as the smoke poured from them like water from a fountain. Sweat dripped down his face long his sideburns as he gasped for air. The smoke attempting to choke him as the hot air zapped his energy.

The local legend stated that a man had gone mad from serve depression during a drought decades ago. He was nothing more than a poor farmer, attempting to raise and help his family survive on the little crop he managed to grow. As his children laid in bed one winter night starving, their sorrowful cries caused the man to snap. Apparently, he had taken them to the kitchen promising them food but instead, burned them alive in the stove before waiting patiently at the kitchen table for his wife to return home. She had arrived the next day from town, concerned by the cynical grin that ung on her husband's face as he spoke about how he managed to take care of his children and was now ready to take care of her as well. A domestic had broken out between them as the wife tried to fend herself from her insane husband's grasp. He managed to push her into the gas oven but she forced her way free. Running in pour desperation through the woods as her hair and clothes were aflame, begging for help before the burns killed her at the road side. The husband apparently sat on the porch of the house as it burned; laughing with pleasure before the smoke and flames claimed him, too. Sending him to the fiery hell he seemed so eager to return to.

Of course though that was only a myth; police and fire records did indicate an isolated forest fire taking place in this area almost seventy years ago, but the reason for the fire was never released publically. The woman's identify never released and her murder they said never existed. All claims of a house fire were quickly 'disproved' and covered up in the local papers. Many believed it was because the truth behind the tale was too gruesome for the quaint villagers to hear, but naturally, ghost stories spread just like the fire they tried to hide. Just like many before him, Cypher was determined to discover the truth; wanting to know if the folktales of being able to hear the house still burn were true or not. He had already witnessed the ghostly image of the scarred wife wandering the side of Brimstone Road; surely, the rest had to be true as well.

Leaning forward, Cypher rested tired hands on his knees and dug into his pocket. He pulled out a small voice recorder and pressed 'play' before holding his hand up in the air. He said noting, allowing the recorder to just pick up whatever it could in his attempt to capture an EVP. The smoke began to clear and the air grew colder as the first arrow of sunlight pierced through the night sky. While the occurrence began to deteriorate, Cypher held the recorder to his ear and listened
carefully... He heard nothing but...



(A short ghost story inspired by an incident that my boyfriend and I witnessed on our late night drive home to Charleston. Naturally there was no ghost, but we did drive pass an active, distance forest fire.)