Nov 4, 20173 min read

16 The Woods – The Buyer (2015) by LV Gaudet

Cody pulls into the parking lot of the motel and bar, his car bumping over the rough pothole-filled lot. He pulls into a parking spot and shuts the car off.

“It’s as grungy as I remember, and even worse up close than it was at a distance.”

He gets out of the car, walks across the lot, the gravel crunching under his shoes, and into the restaurant attached to the bar, grateful this place has a separate restaurant area. The last thing he feels like right now is sitting in a dingy bar.

The restaurant is everything he expected it to be. Long past due for a remodelling, paint is bubbling, cracking, and peeling in places. Water damage stains the ceiling and down the wall where the rain flowed to the lowest point from a leak in the roof. The wax that coated the large tiles of the floor into a high gloss when it was new is worn off unevenly, leaving the floor a mottled map of stained dirtier and less-dirty looking tiles. Some of the tiles are missing chunks on corners or edges. He notices one with a curved crack in it, as if hit hard with something round and heavy.

The tables and chairs are worn and as out-dated as the rest of the place.

Cody suspects that if he looks hard enough, he would probably find traces of feces from mice and cockroaches. It looks like the staff does a valiant enough job trying to keep the rundown place clean, but the pests are probably impossible to keep out.

He looks around and picks the cleanest looking table to sit at. There is no sign of anyone actually working in the restaurant.

He idly picks at the table edge with his fingernail, waiting.

Finally, a woman comes bustling in. “Sorry love, the restaurant is closing. You’ll have to go sit in the bar.”

“Alright.”

She bustles back out, grabbing a menu on the way, leading the way to the bar. Cody follows and she sets him up at a table.

“Can I get you anything to start?”

“A beer, whatever’s on tap, thanks.”

She moves away in search of more orders to fill while he looks over the menu. There isn’t much to it, just the typical bar fare. He’s sure there’s a menu with more choices when the restaurant is open.

He orders a burger and fries when she comes back and is pleasantly surprised at its size when the food comes. It also tastes better than he expected.

Cody is almost finished eating when a half drunk regular comes sauntering over from where he was sitting and drinking alone at a dark corner table.

He stands over Cody for a moment, looking down. Cody looks up at him.

“We don’t see many new faces in here,” the man says. “Are you passing through, or new to the area?” His look is guarded. The man clearly does not like strangers.

“I’m new in the area. Just bought a house at auction that was seized by the municipality for unpaid taxes.”

The man grins, suddenly friendly. “I know the place, the Bennett place. You bought that old dump? You come very far?” The half-drunk is warming up to him now that he knows he isn’t just passing through.

“Yes. A long way.”

“We’re neighbours now. Not real close neighbours. Out here, anything within two towns distance is neighbours. I bet I’ll be seeing a lot of you now. Do you have a room here while you get that old place sorted out? It’s not liveable, is it?” The man looks eager for a new friend.

“I’m staying in the house.” The house. He can’t bring himself to call it “my house”.

The man shakes his head doubtfully. “You are a braver man than I am. Do you know what happened at that house? Everyone that grew up around here grew up hearing about it.”

“I heard. A couple kids who lived there went missing a long time ago.”

“They disappeared in the woods. There’s something funny about those woods. Their mom went crazy too, probably from losing her kids. Everybody thinks that house and those woods are haunted.”

Cody is more interested now. “Do you have any idea what happened to the kids’ parents?”

The guy shrugs. “I think the dad moved away. I heard the mom was locked away in the nut farm.”

The waitress comes by and the guy waves to her for more drinks. She nods and changes course. Cody groans inwardly, not wanting the stranger’s company.

His new buddy pulls out a chair and sits down without being invited.