Welcome to Paradise: Paradise, ND

By Shawn Winchell

Who wouldn't want to spend their honeymoon in Paradise?

When their car breaks down on the way to their honeymoon, Jake and Janie Davis find themselves stranded in a small town in North Dakota.

There is no mechanic, they can't find a phone, and no one seems willing to help. So much for small-town hospitality.

Tired and alone, they soon discover that there is something else in this town. Something stranger than anything they could have imagined. Something that wants them gone.

Left with no other choice, they will risk everything to get home. Even if it costs them their lives.

Welcome to Paradise.

Check out the first book in the thrilling new paranormal suspense series today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shawn Winchell
• Release date: Jul 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215970539

Book preview

Welcome_to_Paradise_(1).jpg

Welcome to Paradise

Shawn Winchell

1

Look at that, Jake Davis said to his new wife as he pointed across the dashboard to an exit sign on her side of the road.

US 281 SOUTH

NEW ROCKFORD

PARADISE

↗

Paradise. That’s like calling an apple a Red Delicious, he continued. If you have to put it in the name, then you’re lying.

I don’t know, Janie said. I could see it. It’s quiet out here. Peaceful. She leaned over the center console and pressed the side of her face against her husband’s shoulder, looking up at him as he drove. As long as I’m with you, I think anywhere would be paradise.

Jake looked down and brushed her bangs away from her eyes. Okay, you win. Maybe the name isn’t so bad. But we passed Devil’s Lake fifteen minutes ago. Seems like someone is lying.

They are just names, honey. Let it go. Janie kissed his cheek and sat back up in her seat. You are right about the apples, though. Those are terrible.

Jake laughed as Janie checked her watch and started scrolling through the satellite radio stations on their in-dash entertainment system. It had cost a little extra to rent, but they decided to splurge. A smooth, familiar voice filled the car.

Welcome, welcome. By the end of our time together today, you will be forced to ask yourself one question. What in the world? I’m Bill Hamilton.

It was their favorite podcast. They never missed an episode, and although they liked it for different reasons, neither ever listened to it without the other. Janie always got a good laugh at how ridiculous most of the paranormal conspiracy theories sounded, but Jake ate it all up. He’d even tried to convince her to go Bigfoot hunting in Oklahoma for their honeymoon instead of renting the house on Glacier Lake that they were headed toward.

Come on, he had said. It’s perfect. We’ll get the license and go camping for a week. There’s a $25,000 prize for whoever catches him, so we might even come home with a down payment for our new house.

As Bill Hamilton’s electric voice surrounded the newlyweds, they continued west on Highway 2 without saying a word. It was getting late. Anywhere else, the sun would have dropped out of sight an hour ago—either behind some trees or mountains—but it was not quite to the horizon in North Dakota.

Just as Bill welcomed his listeners back from the first commercial break, the speakers filled with static.

You know you are really in the middle of nowhere when you can’t even get the satellite stations. Janie twisted the volume knob down and reclined her seat, putting her bare feet on the dashboard. She nuzzled into the headrest and closed her eyes.

Jake didn’t have time to say anything before the engine sputtered. The lights on the dash went dark, the A/C stopped blowing, the crackling speakers fell silent, the engine died. The only sound that remained was a hollow clicking as the car coasted to a stop.

Janie sat up. What happened?

Just wait here. I’ll figure it out. Jake opened his door. Even before he stepped out of the car, the July heat smacked him in the face. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead by the time he slid his hand under the hood and pulled the latch.

With a hand on the hood and his head leaning over the engine compartment, Jake had no idea what he was looking for. Other than how to change his own oil, he knew nothing about cars.

What is it? Janie called through the open door.

Not sure yet.

You didn’t run out of gas, did you?

No, I didn’t run out of gas. Jake grabbed the battery cables and shook. It was all he could think to do, but they were still tight on the terminals. He slammed the hood closed and pulled half of a tumbleweed from under the bumper.

I think we’re going to have to call for a tow, he said, sliding back into his seat. While Janie dug her phone out of her purse, Jake tried the ignition. The engine didn’t even attempt to turn over.

Damn it! Jake pounded the heel of his palm against the steering wheel.

Janie tapped her finger to the back of her phone and the screen lit up. Across the top were the last two words anyone wants to see—but always seem to—when they are stuck on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.

No bars, she said, tossing the phone back into her purse. How far is it to the next town?

Twenty miles. Jake pulled his own phone out, looking briefly at the screen before throwing it into the back seat.

What if we turned around?

No good. The last town we passed was probably ten miles back. By the time we could get there, everything would be closed. And as far as I could tell, it didn’t even have a gas station. I think our only option is to keep going. Jake sighed. Keep an eye on your phone while I push. Maybe we’ll get lucky.

Janie climbed over the console into the driver’s seat while Jake went around to the back of the car. He rolled his jeans up to his knees and tied his T-shirt around his head.

Can we at least roll these windows down? It’s getting hot in here.

You could try. Doubt it’ll do any good, though. You’ll probably have to keep the door open. Jake stretched his left arm across his chest and held it, then switched to the right. If you see anyone coming, lay on the horn.

The horizon shimmered in the heat ahead of them. It was strange being able to see so far. The ground was almost perfectly flat, without a single tree or building in sight. Like God forgot to decorate this part of the world.

Once the car was rolling, pushing it was not as difficult as Jake expected. The highway was smooth, giving little resistance, and a breeze started to blow, helping them along. But it was a hot wind. After two miles, Jake called up to Janie, asking her to hit the brake.

Water, he panted as he opened the cooler behind the seat. Sweat cascaded down his face. Jake drank half of the bottle in two large gulps, then poured the rest over his head.

Maybe we should just wait. Someone is bound to drive by eventually.

No, Jake said, still trying to catch his breath. I’m fine. I’m not going to let you spend your honeymoon sitting on the side of the road.

That would be better than you dropping dead from heat exhaustion, Janie said, but Jake already had his hands back on the bumper. She checked her phone again. Still no service, and the screen was flickering.

The blue sky turned pink and Jake continued pushing them along the unusually empty highway. The first coyote howl of the evening blew past him on the wind.

Whoa! Stop. Stop. Stop.

Janie stomped on the brake pedal. What happened? What’s wrong?

Turn here. Jake pointed to the side of the road.

The ground was raised slightly. It couldn’t even be called a dirt road, but it looked like it could be a trail. Maybe.

Are you serious?

We haven’t seen a single car going in either direction for at least an hour. And what about the phone? No service, right? It’s getting late. Who knows how far we still are from the next town? Plus, if it’s anything like the last one, there won’t be anywhere for us to stop even if we do make it that far. This could be a driveway. Or at least lead to a farm or something. Whoever lives there would have to have a working phone. It’s our best option.

Janie cranked the steering wheel to the right—no easy task without the power steering—and Jake began to push again. The pink sky darkened to a grayish purple as clouds flooded the sky. Thunder clapped as the car rolled off the shoulder of the highway. Jake stopped to check the tires, sure that one of them must have popped. Then the hail came. Jake unwrapped his T-shirt headband, spreading it out over his head as he jumped back into the car.

The storm passed as quickly as it had started.

I think we should wait here until morning, Janie said.

Hold on. Jake opened the door and climbed out. I thought I saw something before the hail started. I want to check it out.

Please don’t, Janie said. But the door swung closed behind him.

Jake stopped about twenty feet from the front of the car. He reached out like he was running his hand along something. As far as Janie could tell, there was nothing there.

Jake turned around and waved an arm, beckoning her toward him. She got out of the car, twisting her head to look in every direction as she walked over to him. Something felt off.

Just as she reached Jake, another coyote howl drifted past her. He stood in front of an old wooden sign. Her whole body shivered. She hadn’t seen it before.

The wood was sun-bleached and rotting—a combination that wouldn’t have seemed possible if they weren’t seeing it for themselves—and had a single word burned into it. Paradise. Below that was an arrow pointing up the trail, away from the highway.

That can’t be right, Jake said. We passed the turn for Paradise already.

One of the corners of the sign crumbled beneath Jake’s hand. Bits of damp, sawdusty wood fell to the ground.

That sign must be at least a hundred years old, Janie said.

There’s got to be something up there, though. I bet if we keep going, we will find a phone sooner than if we stay on the highway.

I don’t know. Janie wrapped her arms around herself and looked over her shoulder. I still think we should stay by the highway. Someone will stop to help us.

Who? There’s no traffic. Nobody can stop to help us if we are the only ones on the road.

It’s a major highway. Someone will drive by eventually. As if to prove her point, a semi rattled past the end of the trail.

I’m not letting you sleep in a broken down car on the side of the highway. There’s a town or something at the end of this road. There has to be. Maybe even a motel we can stay at tonight. If there’s no mechanic, we will call a tow.

Janie couldn’t argue with him when he was like this. Jake was stubborn and never seemed to be able to tell the difference between sticking to his guns and being hardheaded. But that hardheaded man was her husband, and she loved him—for better or worse, right?—so she went back to the car.

Janie checked her phone again. No luck. She hadn’t expected any different. The car hadn’t moved since the last time she checked. But she was disappointed all the same. As Jake began to push the car, she opened the camera on her phone. She wanted to get a picture of the sign. It was her honeymoon, after all.

The sign wasn’t there. She could see their footprints in the dirt next to where it should have been and the crumbled wood that fell off when Jake touched it. But no sign.

2

An hour and a half after passing the sign pointing toward Paradise, Jake and Janie finally saw something other than the old trail cutting through empty fields. Five miles from where they had turned off of the highway, they reached a thick band of trees.

Janie shivered in the driver’s seat of the car. The light was fading from the sky. Once they were under the trees, it was almost too dark to even see the trail, and it felt like they were no closer to finding help.

The trees were thick, but nothing grew on the trail. Tree branches intertwined above them, forming a dark tunnel. With the fading sunset and emerging moonlight, it could have been beautiful. It wasn’t.

Another coyote howl swirled around them, the sound trapped in the trees. The hairs on the back of Janie’s neck stood up, but Jake kept pushing.

As the trees thinned, the trail curved to the right. There was another sign, just as old as the first. Janie could see this one without leaving the car. There were three boards attached to a wooden post. Each board had one crimson word painted on it. Welcome to Paradise.

The road continued to curve. Jake pushed until they were able to see the town. There was a farm on their left when he let the car roll to a stop. A large building sat at an intersection maybe a mile ahead of them, and an even larger one half a mile to its right had light shining out of the windows.

Looks like we made it, Jake said, helping Janie out of the car. I’m tired of pushing. Let’s walk from here.

Jake took her hand, and they began walking along the road—it was actually a dirt road instead of just an overgrown trail now that