Old Bone Dog

By Tracy Appleby

Four drunken teenagers out for a joyride crash into a metal pole. The Grim Reaper comes to collect their bodies...but he falls in love with one of the girls inside...and brings her back to life. But does she even want to live again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trellis Publishing
• Release date: Jul 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201134020

Book preview

OLD BONE DOG

TRACY APPLEBY

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OLD BONE DOG

THE DEER WOMAN

YOUNG BLOOD

PALE BLOOD

I, VAMPIRE

VAMPIREVILLE

AMY’S LAST WORDS

BLOODSUCKER

Kell sat in her room, smoking a cigarette and lighting her lighter, flick after flick, watching them flame die when she snapped the lid shut. She kept her right hand, her smoking hand, jutted out the window as far as it could go, leaning out to sneak hits.

Her doorknob opened, and she instinctively threw her cigarette out the window, fanning the air. Her father stepped in and squinted his eyes.

We talked about this, remember? It’s okay, for now, as long as it’s not that other stuff. For now. Not forever, Kelly.

I know, Dad. Muscle memory, I guess.

Years of being a filthy smoker behind my back, huh? His words sounded mean, but he was smiling, and they were certainly softer than the words he had for her a year ago.

Her father pointed to the open window.

Besides, you think that really works? Like leaning out a window will mask the sickening smell of tobacco invading my little girl’s lungs?

I know, Dad. I get it.

I told you it was okay, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. You’re great, great uncle was a smoker, too, you know. You weren’t around to know Uncle Harvey. He survived getting shot in the chest, falling out of a plane, getting hit by a car, only to smoke himself to death. Sad. Incredible musician.

Kell's recognized the serious glare of her concerned father.

About the trip tomorrow-

Dad, we made an agreement. It’s been a year.

I know, baby, and you’ve been doing good. You have. It’s just-

Come on.

That last time almost killed me, you know? I thought you were gone.

It was stupid, Dad, but I don’t do it anymore. I don’t do any of it anymore.

Her dad looked at her pack of Native Tracers.

Okay, Dad, but there’s a big difference between a cigarette and a pill.

At first, sure. But it’s easy to cross that line. You know that, Kelly.

Kell sighed.

Dad, I’m not on drugs. I haven’t been since it happened. I’m not just going to start doing them again because I go away with my friends for a weekend.

His face softened, slightly.

It’ll be okay, Dad. This is the end of my junior year. This is important to me.

Her father smiled.

Okay, fine. Just please be careful.

I will. I love you, Dad.

Love you, baby.

Her dad left the room, and Kell immediately lit another cigarette, not caring to hang out the window. She looked over at her camera, an expensive model only a few years old, and she started to pick it up and experiment, like she used to when she was younger. Zooming in on a row of dinosaur figures, switching filters, messing with different types of lighting.

She scoffed. As much as she’d loved photography, she couldn’t take it seriously anymore, not after growing up a bit.

It just seemed like child’s play.

Kell didn’t want to tell her father, but she was a little nervous about the trip. Her friends were supportive of Kell going clean, but not by much. Any time spent with them was rife with temptation.

Kell, try this.

Kell, take that.

Kell, smell this, it’s good.

Being around them, something that used to be so liberating, now felt so stifling. It felt like she was always playing defense.

That’s okay.

I’m good, thanks.

Yeah, smells like good stuff.

It felt exhausting, and lately she’d been choosing to avoid them.

That’s one of the reasons this trip was so important to her. One last bit of partying, or at least being around it, before it was completely over. After this trip, she couldn’t be associated with her friends. Not if she wanted to do something with her life.

She didn’t know what, but she knew she wanted to do something.

Kell pulled out her half bottle of Ribocordine, a staple from when she was an avid user, and twirled the bottle in her hands. The same bottle that had put her in the hospital a year ago, her father pacing back and forth in the waiting room, cursing at nurses to do something for his dying girl. Pleading and begging on the floor.

Hurting so much, because of her.

She wouldn’t use again, but, it was nice having the bottle, knowing that salvation was so close at any given point.

What was the harm in keeping it?

◈

That morning, Kell put her dyed dark teal hair into a ponytail, pulled on her yellow Rebel T-Shirt and black jeans, lit a cigarette and headed out the door. Luckily, her dad had to be at the lab early that day, so she wouldn’t receive her morning you can smoke but I don’t like it light chewing out.

School was a joke. Since it was the last day of the year, no one even remotely cared, not even the teachers. The tests were done, the assignments were either finished or useless, and every club had wrapped up their operations at least a week ago.

Finally, at the end of a complete waste of a day, the last bell rang out to a cheer of happy students. Before Kell could leave, she was stopped by Blake.

With brown wavy hair, a thin moustache and a dress style that looked like someone raided a college kid’s closet in the 70s, Blake was actually a good match for Kell, and it was obvious that he liked her. Kell was sure that she’d feel the same way, if Blake wasn’t so stupid.

Freshman year, at a bonfire party, Blake doused his hand in gasoline and punched the fire, giving himself terrible burns. When Kell yelled at him and asked him why he would do something so stupid, he responded with, I’m not afraid of fire, Kell. It’s stupid, it doesn’t even have a brain!

In 8th grade, Blake kicked a racoon and had it chase him all the way back to the principal’s office. Blake and the principal had to get checked for rabies. They both had it. When Kell asked him why, he responded with, I’m not afraid of raccoons, Kell. They’re stupid, they don’t even have a brain!

All the way back in third grade, Blake superglued his hand to the trunk of his mother’s red sedan. That was back when Blake lived down the block from Kell, and by the time she found him he was sweating and uneasy, sick from exposure to the sun. When she asked him why he did it, he responded with, I don’t know, Kell. I’m not sure what I thought would happen.

Blake cleared his throat.

Kell, you okay? You’re just staring at me.

Yeah, sorry, just thinking.

I just wanted to say I’m really excited about the trip. I know you haven’t been coming around a lot, and I get it. You can’t play games forever. But I miss you all the same.

Like many times before, Kell started to feel like there could be something between her and Blake. Problem was, he always said something to ruin it.

Well, I gotta go, Kell. I’m gonna go punch some trees before I go over to Pedro’s. I’m just excited.

And there it is, Kell thought.

Wait, I thought we were meeting at Gloria’s?

Blake’s eyes narrowed.

Oh, yeah. We are. It’s just, the three of us are meeting at Pedro’s first. We didn’t think you’d wanna be there for that.

The party before the party, Kell thought.

Blake started to walk away, but Kell couldn’t help herself. She had to ask.

Blake, why are you punching trees? It’s just going to hurt you.

Blake laughed and smiled, as if there was something Kell wasn’t seeing.

Oh, Kell, when are you going to learn? There’s no need to be afraid of things that don’t have brains. They can’t think to hurt you.

And with that, Blake slipped off.

◈

Later, Kell was at home, making sure she had enough clothes and smokes to last over the weekend. She cracked open another pack of Native Tracers from her half carton and shoved the rest into her duffel bag. She started to go down to say bye to her dad, but she stopped and went back to her desk, pulling out her half bottle of blissful prescription poison.

Okay, you can come. I’ll just have to keep my eye on you.

Dad, she called out as she flew down the stairs, I gotta go.

He was standing by the front door, blocking her exit.

Dad, I gotta-

One promise first, Kelly. Promise me that you’ll do your best out there, okay?

Kelly could almost feel the heat of the prescription bottle sitting in her purse.

Of course, dad.

Love you, Kelly.

Love you.

Kelly got in her car and drove over to Gloria’s, not surprised to find that none of them were there yet. She lit a cigarette, waiting patiently in the driveway. Kell probably could have gone inside, but Gloria’s mother was much too pious for Kell’s liking.

Around seven cigarettes later, which Kell figured was a little under an hour, Pedro pulled up with Gloria and Blake. After coming to a screeching halt, Pedro killed the radio and cracked open the door of his 96 burnt orange van, jumping out of the front seat in an exaggerated show of power. He marched to Kell as she got out of her car.

Looks like we found our last passenger, exclaimed Pedro. All aboard, one way ticket!

We aren’t coming back? Kell had always enjoyed messing with Pedro.

Well, yeah, two. Two way ticket. I do plan on coming back, Kell.

With you driving, I’m not sure that we will be coming back.

I’m sober as a cucumber, girl! His stance and eyes told a different story. For a moment, Kell thought that she could see a brief glimmer of gold in his right eye, though she figured it was the moon.

That’s not a saying, Pedro.

Look, just get in, okay? I’m fine.

He obviously wasn't fine, but he looked steady enough. Still, she had to ask the question she knew he would shoot down.

Can’t I just drive?

Nah, Kell, you don’t know what it takes to ride with so much class. It’s taxing.

This isn’t smart. We’re driving five and a half hours tonight!

I promise, Kell, I’m cool. If you like, Blake knows how to handle this beauty.

Kell quickly glanced at Blake, who was having trouble sitting up straight in the back seat.

Fine. Drive.

Kell got in the back seat, and Blake immediately perked up.

Hey there, baby. Blake’s voice was uneasy and distant, and he had a smile plastered to his face, sunglasses hiding his eyes.

It’s Kell, Blake.

Blake let out a very amused silent laugh.

You, you were always so funny.

That’s nice, Blake.

When I see you, my heart goes, like, from regular heart place, to my stomach, and back up, Blake was running his hand up and down in front of his torso, enjoying the motion. Yeah.

Why are you telling me this, Blake?

He got a serious look in his eyes.

Because I’m going to die tonight, Kell.

Kell looked up at Pedro, angry.

What’s this? Why’s he saying that?

I don’t know, he got into some of my stuff that he shouldn’t have. He wasn’t ready for it. No biggie. Let’s get on the road.

Pedro put the car in reverse and started to back up.

No, insisted Kell. Stop the car.

Pedro let out a loud sigh and put the car back into park.

Kell, he’s fine, he’s been mumbling stupid stuff for an hour. He’s just burnt out.

Why’s he that far gone?

I don’t know! I don’t know what he got into!

Gloria, please tell me that-

Kell was cut off when she saw Gloria passed out.

Yeah, some trip Pedro.

Pedro put the car into reverse and quickly darted out the driveway, turning and tearing out down the road, jumping onto the nearby highway.

Pedro, let me out.

You’re fine, okay? We’re gonna go to the cabin like we did before you turned into a narc.

I got caught because I almost died, Pedro. It was common sense to quit.

Pedro turned around to look at Kell.

Life ends one way or another, Kell. Don’t matter if you’re trying, don’t matter if you’re paying attention. Kell could see the silhouette of what looked like a hooded man on the highway up ahead, standing in the middle of the road. Luckily, Pedro turned back around.

Unfortunately, Pedro had a second thought and turned back to Kell, and before a word could be spoken the front end of the van slammed against a deer in a mechanical crunch, sending the van tumbling end over end for nearly twenty rotations, slowing down and dropping onto it’s side, bent and twisted.

Kell opened her eyes, looking out the busted front windshield. She could clearly see a hooded figure with long, white fingers walking up to the car. As the figure got closer, Kell could see that the fingers looked like bones, thin stretched out and ending in weathered, pointed tips. The streetlights caught a glimmer of a reddish brown buildup on the figure’s sharp finger tips.

Kell looked to Blake, whose neck was completely cracked in half, his limp head smiling at the approaching figure. A bright, golden glow highlighted the crack of the fatal neck break. Blake’s eyes darted to Kell’s eyes.

I was right, Blake mumbled, mopily and drugged.

Blake, and Kell, turned their gaze back to the approaching figure, who had made up nearly half the distance to the car, its fingers outstretched, its feet slowly stumbling.

Kell caught a glimpse of Pedro’s eyes, filled with tears and staring at her in the rear view mirror. A large golden ring clung to the back of his head.

I’m sorry, Kell.

Pedro’s eyes went back to the figure, who was nearly to the hood.

Kell looked up at Gloria who was still passed out, a golden glow running from her left thigh to her top right shoulder.

Kell started to unbuckle her seatbelt, but a rocking thud brought her attention to the hood of the car.

The figure stood on the car, its fingers held up proudly into the air. It removed its hood, revealing a red stained skull, and stared at Gloria, who was still blissfully asleep.

In a flash, the figure shoved his left hand into the wound on Gloria’s left thigh, digging all the way up to her right shoulder, slowly and forcefully. The glow was drawn into the figure’s eyes as he cut, adding a swirling, faint golden dot in the center of his empty eye sockets. After the cut was finished, Gloria’s blood drained out of the long cut, and she softly stopped breathing.

She never even woke up.

Kell was trying desperately to unbuckle her seatbelt, but she couldn’t seem to get her body to move.

She noticed a golden glow emanating from the center of her Rebel yellow T-shirt.

The figure stretched its arm, popping and twisting at the joints, far behind Pedro’s head. Pedro locked eyes with Kell through the rear view mirror, and she watched as the figure shoved its hand into Pedro’s skull, pulling and ripping viciously, until the golden mist had completely flowed