There were three boys, all brothers who were the town’s bullies and everyone in the neighborhood was afraid of them. They would torment anyone who had the misfortune of crossing their path. Their names were Todd, Mark and Tony and they took great pleasure in destroying whatever they felt like at any given time. They would steal glasses from younger kids and smash them on the ground, vandalize public parks, there was nothing sacred to them. It was a typical Saturday night when they decided they were going to hang out by the old bridge that once saw many trains pass through but was now closed and a bit overgrown with shrubs and debris from many parties. They decided to drag their youngest brother along since their parents had forced them to babysit him while they went out even though Chris objected to it. They brought a backpack filled with liquor bottles, smokes and their flashlights, flopping down onto the ground near the entrance to the track that crossed over a deep ravine and popped the cork to one of the bottles, shouting obscenities into the night air while laughing at nothing in particular.
It was about midnight and they were feeling pretty full of themselves when they noticed a light flickering in the distance and they stood up, at least two of them did. Tony stayed behind with Chris to ensure that he did not run away while the other two sauntered up onto the bridge noticing that it was an older man carrying a lantern and slowly walking in their direction. A wicked grin crossed their lips as they sped up their walk and met the gentleman about the middle of the bridge and gave him a push at first. The man did not speak, he simply tried to walk past them and they did not appreciate being ignored. Todd was the first to react, using his right fist to punch the old man in the stomach while Mark kicked at his legs, knocking him to the ground. The man groaned and grasped onto the railing that stood between him and the darkness below trying to hang on but they persisted. Chris yelled for them to stop but his brother Tony just covered his mouth as the other two continued to laugh, hitting the man over and over till he could no longer get up off the ground. They then together pushed on his body till he was over the side and barely hanging on by his hands. Todd looked at Mark and they nodded at each other, before they both lifted their right feet up and brought them down on the man's hands with a bone crushing stomp, sending the man and his lantern flailing backwards into the the ravine, the body hitting the ground with a thud, the lantern shattering before its light went out. Before Tony took his hand from Chris's mouth he leaned down and whispered in his ear "you saw nothing, you know nothing and if you know what's good for you, you will say nothing."
They drag Chris to his feet and they gather their backpack and head back home, convinced that they had committed a perfect crime and no one would be able to connect them to it plus they would be too afraid to even consider it. There was one thing they did not know or even consider, the old man was not going to rest peacefully. It started off subtle at first with little things like the smell of kerosene oil floating through the air as if someone had spilled it in their rooms which they shrugged off as someone working outside in the neighborhood. That evening when the boys were gathered in Mark's bedroom because it had the best window, they were talking about the look on the old man's face and laughing, almost in tears when they caught a glimpse of something moving outside the window in the distance. It looked like a small flickering light which disappeared quickly so they went back to their conversation. The light appeared again, this time it was a little bit closer to the treeline since the back of their house rested close to the edge of a forest. They stood up and moved closer to the window and opened it up, leaning out to try and get a better look and what they saw startled them. There was a shadow figure standing there, no distinct shape to it but from what seemed to be an arm extended there hung a lantern. That to them was impossible since they knew they had pushed that nobody of an old man off the bridge and they heard him hit the ground but they also had not heard anything on the news or any talk in the neighborhood about finding a body.
There is only one way to prove to themselves that they are not crazy is to return to the bridge, check for the body without anyone else seeing them and perhaps find out who else knew what they had done and was simply trying to torment them. Ironic I know…They dragged Chris out of bed because he had been witness to what was done and they were going to use him like a human shield in case things went sideways. For being such bullies, they now had an underlying sense of fear not so sure they should have gone as far as they had but it was too late to second guess their choices. As they reached the same place they had been that night, they pull out a length of rope they kept in their backpack and forced Chris to sit down in front of a sturdy oak tree and tied him to it to ensure he could not escape and run back home to tell anyone anything. Chris struggled against the bindings but there was no getting out of it on his own and he was afraid not so much for himself but for them , for what they had done. The three of them with their flashlights in hand, strolled up to the edge of the bridge and stared out into the darkness in front of them, the air feeling heavy and thick, the wood creaking under their boots as they approached the middle of the bridge where it all happened. Stepping close to the railing, they shone their lights down, hoping to see something, anything that would prove to them that the old man had died and that they were now just imagining things. Mark slowly looks up as he hears a noise, his jaw slightly open but no sound coming out as he hits his other brothers on the arm and points them in the same direction, the other end of the bridge. There , a glow cast by the moon light, stands a shadow the same shadow as before with a lantern swinging in its right hand.
The boys want to act tough believing it is some one trying to prank them, to make them confess to what they had done but the shadow had no face. For the first time in their lives they were actually afraid as they could hear the slow steady steps of boots hitting each rail as the shadow moved closer to them inch by inch. Chris felt pressure as his eyes were forced to close and his ears suddenly heard nothing. The boys find themselves now face to face with the shadow, and it forces them against the old railing that they had pushed the old man against and for a moment no one could breathe then it was so quick, no one had time to react. The shadow set down the lantern and with a sudden push, sent all three boys flying over the edge, their screams swallowed by the night air then suddenly silenced a final punishment for all of their crimes including his death. Chris remains trembling against the tree having no idea what has happened then he feels something cold brush against him, the ropes around him untie and fall to the ground. When he opens his eyes he can also hear again and he is met with silence except for the sounds of crickets chirping and his eyes fall upon one of the flashlights that had been held by one of his brothers. The shadow has vanished and so have his brothers so he scrambles to his feet, grabs the flashlight and makes a run for the house, shaking as he swings open the front door and runs up the stairs to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He walks slowly to the window to close the curtain and for just a brief moment he sees a shadow standing at the edge of the woods, a lantern in its hand before it vanishes.
Chris is finally free from the cruelty of his brothers but he knows it came with a price.
Now he is afraid of the dark.
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