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A RAVEN’S QUEST
A Tale of Two Brothers
By
Justin Camp
Copyright 2010 by Justin Camp
Smashwords Edition
Edited by Brandi Camp
Cover designed and created by Mark Gentry
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
Manufactured in the United States of America
ISBN - 978-0-557-36119-9
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase a copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Foreword
Before you read this story I would just like to say a few things. Ever since I was little I liked to read. I’ve read all kinds of books, short stories, poetry and magazines. King, Koontz, and Patterson taking up space on my shelves and constantly keeping me entertained. The Gunslinger being my all time favorite and at the same time giving me the inspiration and will power to start writing again after some time. A lot of people criticize the Gunslinger saying it was boring and self indulgent but when I read it all I see is genius and an imagination as endless as the sea. If one man could write a massive epic of huge proportion I could right this book.
My late grandfather was a huge fan of old westerns even though grandma would fuss at him and tell him to turn the television because they were to violent. I say thank you to him because his love of westerns rubbed off on me and that was the inspiration behind the first town our journeyer encounters.
I also have my mom to thank for patiently teaching me how to read and write.
And last but most importantly my wife and son. They make life worth living and without them my hobbies like reading books and writing stories like these would be utterly pointless. Without those we love life isn’t really life is it?
Now I will let you, the reader, get to the real reason you are holding this book. I hope you enjoy reading this as I did writing it. But there will be those, yes there will always be those who dislike, dare I say hate this book but please remember that we all have hobbies and that whatever your hobby might be you probably weren’t a master of it when you started so please be kind in your opinions. Thanks for listening to me babble on and on and now dear reader our journey begins.
Justin Camp March 21, 2010
For my son, I hope he grows up to share the same love for reading and writing that I do…
PART ONE:THE BEGINNING
It is a proven fact that our universe is vast. Scientists have spent hundreds if not thousands of years studying it and they have found many galaxies ranging in size. Planets, moons, suns all orbiting in perfect balance. Our human minds can’t even begin to comprehend it all. So far our planet Earth is the only known planet that has, and is capable of life. But what if it wasn’t? What if there were just as many universes out there as there are galaxies? What if there were planets just like ours out there with people like us living on them? What if there was a way to travel between them? It’s just a thought, no big deal, but what if?
THE WILDERNESS
1
Somewhere off in the distance a black bird cawed, and it just sort of happened. All of a sudden out of nowhere, he just was. It was hot, very hot. Brown dirt, that in the sun kind of gives off an orange hue, was as far as the eye could see.
This place that he would eventually know as the Wilderness was not for the faint of heart. He didn’t know where he was or where he came from. Completely deracinated, the only thing he did know was his name, Raven, and a number, 081722. The reason or purpose of the number was as unknown to Raven as his surroundings but he was sure that if it was important enough its reason would become manifest.
Before he started his trek he realized there was a satchel, light tan in color and made of rawhide, slung over his shoulder. He decided at once to open it up and see what it held. A sleeping bag, pork skins, a journal, a compass, a canteen full of water, and a silver flask which he knew without opening contained whiskey.
Satisfied with his humble assets he looked up at the sun, at it’s highest point, and took his first steps across the wilderness with his compass pointing north. After about a four or five hour hike, he couldn’t really keep up with time out here, he stopped for a drink of water.
That’s when he saw the five dark figures in the distance and for the first time he felt the weight of the gun on his hip. 10mm with a twelve round clip, it felt good there hanging in its holster.
It was going to be sunset when the band of whoever or whatever would reach him. Raven knew there would be blood spilt upon this forsaken dirt, there always was with him. That’s when he had his first flashback… Dead bodies everywhere and him standing in the center knowing he was to blame…
2
As the sun set on the horizon the five reached Raven. Most of them had straggly long hair and thick beards but one had a shaved head with a thin patch of hair running from front to back…
“What a little wannabe punk with his awesome fohawk,” Tulley said…
“Tulley?” Raven asked himself, “Who the he…”
“I’m your big brother stupid, don‘t be such a little schmuck.” The voice said.
In that instant the memory of his big brother Tulley came back to him and he knew that’s what he was doing in this far away world, looking for Tulley.
“Uhh you have some unfinished business here I think you little schmuck.”
Raven realized the five raiders were staring at him, for how long he didn’t know and that scared him a little. He could tell the man with the “awesome fohawk” was the leader of the pack just by the way he carried himself, then the intuition was confirmed when he spoke.
“You have three choices. One, you give us all your valuables including that nice little pack and your gun. Two, you join our group and keep your stuff, after all there is safety in numbers out here. Or three, die.” The smirk on his face was gruesome.
“No one has to get hurt today friend, you and your men just go on and turn around, go back to where you came from” Raven said.
The smirk on the raider leader’s face turned into a malicious grin. “I’ll take that as choice three then, good I was hoping for a little fun today.”
He looked at the two men on his left then the two on his right and nodded. All four men had crude blunt weapons, wrenches, pipes, even a baseball bat with Louisville Slugger engraved in the side.
“Knock one outta the park you little schmuck.” His brother used to tell him.
The men on the left were the closest to Raven and when they were within ten paces he drew. He fired two shots before the raider leader could blink, one taking out the left eye of the first and the second raider got the lead right between the eyes. By this time the group from the right were running toward Raven and just as the Louisville Slugger swung at him he hit the dirt and rolled twice instantly rising to one knee and firing two more shots dropping his attackers. The ugly grin on the raider leader’s face had been completely wiped off Raven stood and walked toward him. He had to ask someone about his brother and this worthless piece of trash was the only one around. He punched him right In the face and he fell to the ground. Dropping to a knee Raven grabbed him by the hair, “What’s your name?”
“You can call me Z, maggot”
“I really don’t think your in a position to talk to me like that but none the less I need some answers, have you ever heard of a man named Tulley?” Raven saw the instant recognition in the raider’s eyes but he didn’t answer. “SPEAK!” He yelled.
“Of course I have maggot he is the one who sent us to kill you.”
At that moment Z jerked and pulled a knife from his boot and that was also the same moment Raven ended his life.
3
After dealing with the raiders Raven moved on, His compass pointing ever northward. He didn’t know why he was going north but seeing as how all he had to rely on now was his gut, that is what he trusted.
After about another hours worth of walking in the dark he came upon a humongous metal building. He thought it odd to be here since he had encountered no other structures, but odd seemed to be the norm in this world he had stumbled into. But stumbled wasn’t quite right was it? No that word would signify that his being here was by chance and that was all wrong.
He approached the building with caution and as he got to the door the sense of being watched came over him. Raven didn’t like that one bit but he knew this was going to be the best place to set up camp for the night so he entered.
The place was just as vast on the inside as it seemed from the outside. Metal beams supported the structure and it actually had a concrete floor. It seemed like forever to Raven that he had stood on something other than the hardpan, a silly thought, but he couldn’t help it…
“One can’t help ones thoughts can they…” The voice of his brother almost seemed to be right there with Raven and since he was in this place looking for his brother he thought that it would make him happy to hear the voice but it didn’t. It made him sick to his stomach, he thought for a moment he would throw up but the nausea past.
Raven searched the warehouse until he came upon the only door in the whole building besides the entrance/exit door. This door was vastly different however, the other one being metal, this one looked old and was made of wood. Written across it was one word, a name, Gravestone.
Raven put his hand around the handle and pulled, nothing. Then he noticed a keypad beside the door with the usual 0-9 buttons. But before he decided to see what the other side of the door beheld he knew he needed some rest. He pulled his blanket out of his pack ate a couple of the pork skins he had, took a shot of whiskey, and fell asleep right outside the Gravestone door.
4
“There are doors little one, doors that go to far away places.” It was the voice of his grandfather that woke Raven from his slumber. When he was a little boy his grandpa Jim had told him grand stories that Raven had always enjoyed. But now he doubted if all of the stories were make believe.
The door that had perplexed Raven last night was no match for him on a rested mind. After packing his things back into the satchel he walked right up to the keypad and typed in the six digit number that was singed into the small part of his brain that served as his memory. 081722. He heard the sound of unseen locks being undone and suddenly the little red light above the keypad turned green.
Raven slowly put his hand around the handle and cautiously opened the heavy door. Nothing but blackness, the kind of blackness that makes you want to pinch yourself to prove, for your sanity’s sake, that you still exist in this sea of shadow.
“You have to take a leap of faith you little schmuck.” Listening to his brother, Raven stepped into the darkness.
PART 2:THE DOORS
DOOR 1:GRAVESTONE
5
Raven was surrounded by blackness. He felt as if he were falling and with no vision of an end the plummet seemed unbearable. Finally he blacked out. When Raven came to he was lying in dirt once more only this time he wasn’t in the wilderness, although this could be a part of the wilderness, he didn’t know. There were buildings, mostly wooden, about a mile off in the distance. He could hear the sounds of horses, people talking and even saloon music playing.
Lying beside him was a cowboy hat and for some reason it just felt right for him to put it on. He even dropped his hand to the butt of his pistol because he just knew that there would be a six gun strapped to his hip, but he was wrong. As he drew closer to the town perimeter the familiarity of this town was astonishing to him.
The town entrance had a big sign being held up on either side by two tall wooden stakes that would resemble a telephone pole in our world. It read, GRAVESTONE. On seeing this another flashback occurred.
Raven, as a child, sat with his Grandpa Jim on the couch watching an old western movie on television. Grandpa Jim loved westerns, in fact anytime Raven would come visit, which was often, they would sit together and watch them. And of course there had been snacks, oh the snacks. This one they were watching now was his brother Tulley’s favorite. His brother didn’t visit quite as often but he had liked westerns too. The name of the movie was…
“My god what was the name of that movie?” Raven asked himself.
6
“Tombstone you little schmuck!”
“That’s right but you called it Gravestone because you always made up names for things because Grandpa Jim had told us about the doors and places where things seemed the same but had different names.” Raven said but then shut up because he realized he was talking to his brother who wasn’t there.
As Raven walked down Main street of Gravestone he received very ominous looks from the various pedestrians who littered the street and sidewalks. Parents pulled their little ones inside and store clerks guarded their doors. One man though seemed oblivious to Raven and as soon as he got close enough Raven could smell the whiskey on his clothes. When the old man opened his mouth in greeting Raven thought to himself that he could probably get a good buzz just by breathing in the stench.
“Howdy pilgrim, what brings you to the wonderful town of Gravestone?”
“Just passing through,” Raven lied, “where can a thirsty traveler quench his thirst in this town?”
“That‘d be Orbison‘s saloon, go straight down Main Street and hang a left, the watering hole be the first establishment on the right.” All of his words came out in a slur and he had come from that direction so Raven knew he was telling the truth.
“Thank you sir, say, what’s your name ol’ timer?”
“Everybody around here just calls me Elmo, I reckon that‘ll work just fine for you”
Elmo? That had been Grandpa Jim’s middle name. Was this just a coincidence? Raven didn’t believe in coincidences. Without even thinking about it he threw the man a couple gold coins from his pocket, “The next round is on me Elmo, enjoy.”
Had those coins been in his pocket the whole time? He hadn’t noticed them if they had, but it didn’t really matter did it? They served their purpose and they would continue to because there were more of them there now and you cant drink for free. Everyone knew that the best place to get information on anything, or anyone for that matter, was the local saloon. This was the reasoning behind asking the old drunk Elmo about the watering hole.
Putting the gold coins out of his mind, for the moment anyways, he headed for the bar.
7
Of course Orbison’s saloon had the traditional batwing doors from any run of the mill western movie saloon. They made a loud squeak as Raven pushed through them. Everyone in the “upstanding establishment”, as Grandpa Jim would have called it, except the drunk guy passed out in the corner, gave him a cold stare as he walked towards the bar.
Raven noticed that the souse in the corner looked astonishingly familiar to old Elmo he had met out on Main Street.
“What’ll it be pal?” the bartender asked cautiously.
“Whiskey,” Raven said resolutely, “the best you got, I don’t want the cheap stuff.”
“Wouldn’t think of it.”
“Are you Orbison?” Raven asked
“In the flesh, been runnin‘ this bar for the past fifty years.” His speech came out slow and drawn out in that deep southern draw you would expect from an old cheaply done western movie.
Orbison was a short stubby man with a bald head. He had a missing front tooth that was replaced by a gold tooth. That reminded Raven of the coins in his pocket that were the same shade. He pulled one out and laid it on the counter. “How many shots does this get me?” He asked.
“Two.” Orbison said flatly and poured the first shot.
Raven pulled out another coin and laid it on the counter. “I need some information.” The barkeep raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak. His expression seemed to say go on, so Raven did. “Lookin’ for a man, a man named Tulley.”
At this Orbison got a smirk on his face and kind of let a small laugh escape from his mouth. “Then your looking for death my friend, nobody around here in these parts looks for Tulley unless they got a death wish.”
“Why is that?” Raven asked as he downed the first shot.
“Well Tulley and his band of raiders run these parts. They aren’t good people. They take what they want, do what they want, and kill who they want when they want to. If you comply with their wishes and stay outta their way there is usually no trouble. But you don’t go looking for ’em and you sure as Hades don’t cross ’em.”
“I’ll ask again, where can I find Tulley?”
Shaking his head the bartender hesitantly answered, “They stay in the big place up on Raider Hill, you can’t miss it. But just remember mister, whatever your looking for, if you go up the hill your gonna find it, more than your aiming to find I reckon.”
“Then it looks like I‘m gonna need that other shot don’t it.”
8
Just before leaving the bar, Raven ran into his buddy from the street Elmo entering bar.
“Hey there big fella’ I decided to go ahead and use these coins you gave me to quench my thirst.” Elmo bellowed.
Raven thought it must be a never ending thirst since the smell of whiskey on his breath was just as potent as it was earlier in the day. “Well I hope you enjoy.” Raven gave him a tip of the hat, but for some odd reason just felt that it would not be the last time he ran into sir Elmo.
Raven walked out of the batwing doors and surveyed his surroundings. He knew it would be dark soon and he needed to find a place to stay. Down the road a ways, opposite the direction he had came from was a sign reading, inn. He walked down the steps of the saloon and headed for the building.
As he walked in he noticed the smell of the place. It reeked of must, mold and mildew. The face Raven made must have been noticeable enough for the clerk at the front desk to see.
“Nobody is making you stay here partner.” the clerk said.
Raven said nothing and went right up to the counter and placed the gold coins on the counter.
“That’s only enough for one night.” the clerk said coldly.
“That’s all I plan on stayin‘ for friend.”
The clerk handed Raven a key to room 105 and watched him closely as he headed up the stairs to the right of the front desk. The stairs creaked under every slow footfall of our adventurer. If he were needing to stealthily sneak up on a hostile it would be dang near impossible.
The dirty red carpet of the inn was stained with most every color imaginable. Raven didn’t even want to imagine what some of the stains could be. He reached room 105 and put the key in the hole then slowly turned the knob. He was hoping for better than what he had already seen but just opened the door to the same smell and stained red carpet.
The bed was small and looked very unclean, not to mention uncomfortable. There was a little nightstand with a lamp sitting on it and a chair in the corner. Raven sat down on the bed next to the pale lamp light and for the first time pulled out the worn leather journal from his bag.
He undid the leather tie on the outside and opened it with the care a mother gives her newborn child. It seemed to him that this little journal was very important and might hold answers to questions he didn’t even have yet.
The first page simply read, A Raven’s Quest. As he flipped to page two he was astonished to find it blank as well as page three and four. He briskly thumbed through the rest of it to find all pages blank except for on the very bottom of the back of the last page, it read in tiny print, open the drawer.
Raven reached out and grabbed the pull handle of the nightstand and cautiously slid it open. Sitting right inside the drawer was a black ink pen and nothing else. He now realized that it was not somebody else’s journal but it was his. He took the top of the pen and started to pen the first entry into his journal.
9
Once Raven had finished writing down his happenings from the previous two days he thought he should plan his strategy for the next day but he realized that he didn’t know the layout of the town and didn’t really know who or what he was dealing with.
Raven decided to just play it by ear, shoot from the hip his Grandpa Jim might would have said.
Grandpa Jim had been a hobo in his younger days. He had traveled all over the States. His home was Georgia but his illegal train ride travels took him all the way to California one year. Before he met Grandma E he was wild and free, going anywhere the train tracks took him. Working odd and end jobs at one town after the other just to have money for food. He was cold in the winter and hot in the summer but he was happy.
“It was that trip to Cali though where I first found a door.” Grandpa Jim told Raven and Tulley when they were boys. “I had just arrived and had snuck off the back of the cart I had ridden in on. It was 1945 and times were hard. I headed into town to see if I could find any work or just a place to stay before nightfall. After finding didly squat I headed on over to the tavern on the west side of L.A. for a shot of the good stuff, I think it was called the Alamo or something like that. But when I got there I realized I didn’t have any money so I had to improvise, shoot from the hip. I headed around back of the place where the dumpsters were, I figured I could find a place to sneak in and grab a drink but what I found, there was no explanation for. The door at the back of the building had a neon exit sign over it but it just read xit because the e had quit glowing. When I opened that flippin’ door expectin’ to see the kitchen, there was nothing there but blackness. Not dark like a light was turned out but pitch black, the kinda’ black that corrupts the mind and drives sane people mad.”
“What did you do Grandpa Jim?” the thoroughly entertained young boys asked excitedly.
“I shot from the hip boys”
With that memory, Raven fell asleep on the uncomfortable, musty bed.
10
Raven woke up with a strange feeling of sentimentality and anger at the same time. Neither of those feelings could be explained at the moment but they were unimportant anyways. He had some questions that needed answering and he knew who had those answers.
With every intention of getting what he wanted, Raven left the nasty hotel room. Out on the dusty street the sun was blinding and blistering even at the early hour of seven o’clock. Raven knew how to tell the time by the position of the sun, just another trick his late Grandpa Jim had taught him.
He headed to the south end of town and the place where the bartender had told him he could find the Tulley that had sent raider bounty hunters to kill him.
Raven made it to the end of the actual town of Gravestone and looked up. Sitting up on the hill, some mile or so away, the huge mansion that housed the band of raiders shone brightly in the sun.
The barbwire fence that separated the town limits from what might have been part of the wilderness had a broken gate that hung from one rusty hinge. There was a sign that said:
WARNING! NO TRESPASSING! ANY VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT ANY SURVIVORS WILL BE TORTURED!
The print was in red, Raven thought dried blood. After reading the sign that calmness came over him. Not the calmness that everything is just fine and dandy but the kind of calm that comes over veteran soldiers right before battle. He took a deep breath, shoot from the hip, and headed up Raider Hill.
Half way up the hill three figures exited the front door of the raider house. His hand automatically fell to the butt of his pistol. Two minutes later they met face to face, rifles in hand.
“You sure do have some guts partner.” said the raider on the left.
“Tulley said he would come Og.” replied the big guy in the middle.
“I know what he said Sihon,
“It‘s still pretty impressive though.” The one apparently named Og snapped.
“Well obviously we know what you did to our friends out in the wilderness because if they had done their job you wouldn’t be freaking standing here would you? So here is how its gonna go down, you got one more shot. Join us or die.” Sihon gave the ultimatum.
“What’s it gonna’ be partner?” Og asked.
“Unfortunately for you fine gentleman you get the same answer that your buddies got…” And with that Raven drew his pistol at the speed of light and fired three quick shots from left to right. Sihon and Og both dropped to the dirt but the third shot found nothing but air. Then all in a split second a dull thud and sharp pain shot through Raven’s head. He fell to his knees and realized that what struck him was the butt of the silent raiders rifle.
He hadn’t uttered a word the entire time, Raven was now kicking himself for not paying more attention.
“You gotta watch out for the silent types ol’ Ravey ol‘ boy.” Raven spun around but old silent but deadly wasn’t there.
“Either he can teleport or he is just abnormally fast.” Raven thought to himself. But either way it was all but mute. “I don’t give a rats if he can fly to the moon or play a flute with his butt, I just gotta’ find a way to drop this guy like a bad habit, think quick.”
“Shoot from the hip.”
And that is just what he did. He knew he only had five rounds left before he had to reload and with this guy reloading meant dying. So he jumped to his feet pointing his gun forward then in a split second in a half turn, half dive motion he dropped his gun belt high and fired three shots in the opposite direction from that which he had regained his feet. The actual blood materialized a second before the body of old silent but deadly but then he too was clearly visible and fell to the dirt, joining his friends in Hell.
11
Raven sprinted up the rest of the hill to the mansion. It wasn’t something extravagant but it was about as big as houses got in old western times. Two stories and made of wood, the structure stood out against the backdrop of the sun.
As he made it up the steps he took cover against the front wall of the house beside the front door. As he crouched there he reloaded his gun awaiting the fight that awaited him inside the raider’s hide out.
When he got the clip loaded a deafening blast exploded the front door off of its hinges. Raven instantly knew that someone on the other side had a twelve gauge shotgun full of shells with his name on it.
Raven took a short deep breath and made a rolling move, not into the house but across the doorway to the other side taking a quick glance of the interior of the house. He saw just enough to know that the shotgun wielder was right underneath the stairway and another raider in the far right corner opposite that same stairway.
Raven, without so much as a second thought, snuck to the window to the left of the door and with a running start he dove through the window breaking all the glass and causing quite the commotion. He fired three quick shots towards the stairway taking out that threat then took cover behind the short wall separating the stairway and the common room. Then he stuck his gun around the corner and fired two blind shots for cover fire then dropped to a knee and peeked out enough to shoot once ending his immediate danger, or so he thought.
A loud clicking noise came right from behind his head and Raven knew that he hadn’t checked behind the front door, it had been a blind spot.
“Say goodnight sweetheart.” The raider growled.
And then the gun went off… Raven felt no pain but stood tensed waiting for it…
“Goodnight.” said a voice from behind Raven.
He twirled around and saw his buddy from town, ol’ Elmo, holding the smoking gun, literally, and the dead raider’s body crumpled on the floor.
“You were so kind to me in town, I’m a drunk and I know it but that don’t mean I don’t have feelings too. Most people act like they don’t even see me. Ol’ invisible Elmo I imagine they say. But you are different and I figured I owed you one”
And with that The old drunk, Ol’ invisible Elmo turned and walked out the front door without so much as a glance back.
The stairway was what Raven now turned his attention to. Slowly, one step at a time, Raven ascended the stairs. A short hallway was all that greeted him when he reached the top. Three doorways, one to the left at the end of the hall and two to the right were what had to be explored.
The first door to the right held nothing but old wooden furniture. A bed, dresser, nightstand and chest of drawers. The second door on the right had what looked like card table that was full of beer bottles. They were all over the room, not just the table.
Apparently the last door on the left held what Raven was after, Tulley had to be waiting for him there. He tried the knob but it was locked. Raven stepped back and kicked in the door. All that awaited him inside was another bedroom that had the same furniture that was in the last bedroom. However Raven notice a piece of paper folded up and laying on the nightstand. He picked it up and saw that it was a letter written to him.
Dear Raven,
My adventurous little brother, if you are reading this you obviously made it by my friends here in Gravestone. I hope you enjoyed visiting here as much as I did. Unfortunately the stay couldn’t last any longer, you actually work faster than I had given you credit for and I had to depart. But fear not little brother for I left my favorite little schmuck a surprise in the closet. Maybe you will catch up to me in the next where, maybe not, but whatever happens just remember The Alamo.
Your big brother,
Tulley
Raven couldn’t believe it. It actually was his brother who had had people try to kill him. He didn’t know why the Alamo sounded familiar but he couldn’t waste time now trying to figure it out, he had to find his brother as soon as possible.
Tulley had set up this group of raiders in this small town and caused all kinds of trouble, there was no telling what he was capable of. Raven now turned his attention to the closet. The door, for some strange reason, just looked different to Raven than all the other doors he had seen in the house.
Slowly, he opened it. For some odd reason it didn’t shock him at all to see the hard pan of the wilderness instead of a small closet with clothes hanging in it.
Without hesitation, Raven stepped across the threshold.
DOOR 2:ISTRIDEL
12
Raven awoke to the smell of smoke. He sat up in the wilderness and noticed that there was a small campfire burning. The sun had already set on the wilderness and the breeze almost made it chilly. A small pan was spitted over the flame and the smell was almost irresistible. Raven ran to the fire and took the pot from over the flame. Inside was a stew that Raven ate ravenously. He hadn’t had a meal this tasty since… God he didn’t know when. He ate and ate until the entire pot of mysterious stew was gone. When his insatiable hunger was put to rest for the moment he pulled out the old worn leather journal from his satchel and wrote down all his happenings from the small town of Gravestone. After that he slept.
13
Raven was awake to see the sunrise. It was verging on beautiful in this place that seemed so ugly. He knew that he had a trek ahead of him, for some reason he just knew that it would be longer than his first journey across the hard pan. This lonesome walk gave him time to try to remember the rest of his Grandpa Jim’s story.
“I shot from the hip boys,” Grandpa Jim had told them, “I walked through that smucking door.”
The blackness had consumed him like it had Raven when Raven had gone to Gravestone. Jim Elmo Langston had regained consciousness in a place that was alien to him. In all his travels he had never seen a place like this. It was tropical, palm trees lined the shore. Yes he was actually on the beach and the smell was absolutely delightful. Oranges, kiwis, and some smells that his nostrils had never encountered before. This has to be Florida Jim had thought. He had never been there before but he just knew this is what it must be like. But where were all the people. Florida was a huge tourist state, if this was indeed the state on the south eastern most part on the continent of the United States of America then the beaches should be full of people.
Jim Langston started walking down the beach, he loved the way the sand felt between his toes and for the first time he noticed that his shoes hadn’t made the trip to this deserted beach.
After a half days walk he sat down to rest and watch the resilient waves wash up onto the beach. Sitting there he contemplated his life and all the things he had done, the good and the bad, the people he had loved and the ones he had rejected. He decided that if he could just get back to Georgia that he would settle down, find a good woman and build a life right there in the small town he had grown up in and been so ready to leave.
After contemplating all this for some time he got up and started walking again. After a few minutes he noticed a small hut off in the distance. He started jogging towards it afraid it was only in his imagination but as he drew closer he knew it wasn’t and by the time he got there he was in an all out sprint.
As he cautiously entered the hut he heard eerie music. The hut didn’t have a door but just a colorful sort of curtain that was easily pushed aside.
Jim Elmo Langston finally saw the first human being since coming to this alien beach. The man was dark skinned, it was dry from the sun. He wore a very strange type of hat on his head, it reminded Jim of something an Indian chief would wear. He sat cross legged on rug made of some sort of animal skin but Jim couldn’t for the life of him figure out what animal it could possibly be.
The man opened his eyes once Jim had completely entered the small hut on the beach and began speaking to the man from the small town in Georgia.
“That man taught me about the doors,” Grandpa Jim had told them, “He even showed me how to create them if I really set my mind to it. I like to call that place the beach of xit-remember the E being out on the exit sign?-”
After this last memory Raven saw the light of the waning sun reflecting off of the large metal warehouse. Once again he was not surprised at all to be right back at the building that had taken him to a small western town from his childhood fantasies. Raven walked up to the door of the warehouse and entered for the second time.
14
Inside everything looked the same only this time a certain smell that hadn’t been there before. It almost smelled like that musty hotel room he had spent the night in.
The door to Gravestone was still there but Raven had no interest in it for he had finished his business there. Surely the musty smell wasn’t the only thing that had changed. That’s when he saw the door. The Gravestone door had been on the western side of the building, this door was directly on the opposite side of the building. This door looked foreign to Raven, like it was from a different part of the world than that which he was used to living. This thought made him laugh out loud to himself, “Different part of the world, heck you don’t even know what world this is Ravey ol’ boy”
“And don’t you forget it you little schmuck.” The voice of Tulley in Raven’s head quickly sobered up the laughs awfully fast.
Raven set up his little camp for the night, ate a little and instead of pulling out the old journal he reached for his flask. “Don’t know when I’ll get another chance for a swallow so I better drink up now.” He said to himself. The burn of the whiskey brought a smile to his face. He could easily have finished off what was left but decided the eerie feeling he got from this place might merit his attention at some time during the night so he refrained.
His sleep was restless and uneasy but it was sleep nonetheless. Raven didn’t dream he only saw the face of a woman, the only woman he had ever truly loved.
15
Seeing the face of Sara Callahan brought back another part of Raven’s memory. Before his appearance in the wilderness he had been in love, engaged in fact. Sara had been beautiful, she had long dark hair that flowed like a freezing brook through snowcapped mountains. Her skin was always tanned light brown from the sun and as soft as skin can be. But the thing that always stood out to him were those big green eyes. Raven had gotten lost in those gorgeous eyes many, many times.