"The Last Skeptic" - Chapter 1

Good day, friends! I hope everyone is doing well. For this month, there will be no newsletter, as I’ve been on diaper duty! There’s a new addition to the household over here, a little future horror fan! That said, I present something special. While it’s in its infancy, I’ve begun crafting “The Last Skeptic”. I’m letting readers step inside this world early, enjoy everyone <3

The Last Skeptic

Chapter 1

“It wasn’t always like this,” Allison Kraft said, putting on the most ominous voice she could muster, as she provided VoiceOver for her video. She focused the lens of her camera on the horizon, looking out towards the next town over. For a while, she had been working on her next short film, “Decline of the Society.” (It was a working title, and theme…) She often joked to her friends that it was her “long-awaited” follow-up after taking home the silver medal in a local film contest. That was when they were just starting High School. Here she was, 4 years later, with a flimsy idea and an unsteady hand on her camera. Maybe this would be another film scrapped—along with the 10 others scrapped recently.

Allison was at her Secret Spot, a small hill overlooking her hometown of Hope Junction (Or “Hope”), Alabama. It was Saturday, her day off. These days, a lot of her days off were spent at her Secret Spot, usually alongside her clunky video camera, a sketch pad, her walkman in one hand, and a joint in the other. She had graduated from high school only a few short months ago. As far as college goes, it was up in the air. She liked the idea of going to school, getting away, and making new friends. But what was next? Real life? Getting a job? Stress? She had all of that here in Hope. And the rumors are true, there is no “hope” in Hope. Anybody who had ever set foot there could tell you that. Who would even call a place Hope? And how do towns even get their names? Allison, on her second joint of the day, was beginning to ask herself these questions.

It was early September 1994. The breeze had the slightest chill to it, just enough to remind Allison that Fall was imminent. It was enough to make her smile, and these days she didn’t feel like she had much to smile about. Her 18th birthday had been back in July, and ever since, she had only felt sad, more specifically, lost. She had been up at her Secret Spot today to work on “Decline of the Society”, but she had no intention of ever releasing it, not even to her friends.

She had finished her joint, at least for the moment. And in an effort to keep her stoned ass in shape, Allison decided to pop on her headphones, get her mixtape going, and take a walk around town. Grunge wasn’t really her thing; if anything, she was happy that it was dying out. That being said, she still got the chills listening to “Rotten Apple” by Alice in Chains. Allison was meeting up with her friends Stephanie and Jeremy for coffee at the diner shortly, but she had time for a stroll around her hometown. It made her feel young to take a walk around Hope. When her friends were kids, they would have spent hours sending each other around town on elaborate scavenger hunts called “The Game”. But these days, it was just a walk down memory lane to Allison, so she set off.

Nearby to her Secret Spot, there wasn’t much to see. There was a corn field nearby, complete with a goofy sign that said “If you need to talk, there’s plenty of ears to listen!” Allison didn’t know who owned this corn field, but she never cared to ask. As the chorus to “Rotten Apple” picked up, she found herself walking by “The Moonshine Woods”. That was what the kids called it, at least. At one point, it was a bustling woods full of bright paths that kids loved to explore. These days, it was the home of many a high school party.

As she approached the town’s outskirts, she passed the supermarket and Bob’s Burger Stand. Allison always joked that this was the “Cultural Center” of Hope, mostly because these were some of the more “happening” places in town. Hope had seen better days for sure. But Bob’s Burger Stand and the local Price Chopper were also close to the town’s true center. St. Mary’s Church, the holiest of the holy. The church was a massive building, towering over most of the town in symbolic fashion, with the town’s cemetery across the street. Hope remained predominantly Methodist, while neighboring towns had more Baptists and Presbyterians. The mega churches hadn’t made their way to Hope just yet. Probably for the best, Allison doubted Hope had enough people to fill one.

Allison had conflicting thoughts on religion, and always had them. A lot of her thoughts, she usually summed up with “If there was a heaven, are any of us good enough? Everyone’s guilty of something”. Her thoughts ran a lot deeper than that, but that’s usually where she left it. She was also quick to point out that the town’s stunning St. Mary’s was located very close to the garbage dump. “Such is the duality of Southern living,” she would say. That’s the town’s center, a beautiful church, and a garbage dump. But then again, “town” was a generous word for Hope. The town’s Main Street was barely functioning, and it had been that way for some time. In every way, Hope was seemingly stuck in time.

Hope was your textbook, rundown Southern American town. Dusty, spacious roads and friendly townspeople. It was the kind of town where if you said “hello”, you could expect one back, and everyone helped eachother out. Most consider that to be warm, “Southern Hospitality” they call it. But Allison was often weirded out by it. While everyone was friendly, they all knew way too much about each other’s lives. And that was for whoever was left. The population in Hope was in decline; many people had moved on, taking everything with them. The Mom-and-Pop stores that kept Hope alive and well were long gone, mostly boarded up, with signs falling off. The citizens of Hope still used the grocery store, but for other wares, the town over had a mall and a Wal-Mart. Hope had seen better days, and the longer you looked at it, the worse it got.

The “suburbs”, if you want to call them that, were even stranger to Allison. What was once a sea of houses sharing backyards had become a surreal display. There would be a house falling apart, next to a vacant lot, next to an even more decrept house, with two vacant lots taking up space next to it. The duality was strong in Hope. Fences caved in on themselves, some houses were boarded up, and the houses that were still standing looked exactly the same. “Americana baby!” Allison once exclaimed, stoned out of her mind, taking this exact walk with her friends. And after dark, these dusty roads got much darker than you would think. But it was home for Allison. She wasn’t proud to call it her home, but it was sincere for her, and it was.

She walked past the school, the newer school that is. The school that she had attended for years had been an old, dusty mess. That had been shut down a few years back and was on the outskirts of town. The “New School” may not have been as nice as the neighboring towns, but it was far and away the nicest and newest building in Hope. She and her friends had joked that it was the best thing about their final two years of grade school. Next door was the fairgrounds, empty for the time being. There was also the most happenin’ place in town, the Baseball Card Depot. No matter how much of a ghost town Hope became, it was a sure bet that the Baseball Card Depot was crowded most of the time. Allison liked it; they had some cool stuff. But most of its business came from citizens of neighboring towns, novelty stores like this were almost extinct. She was much more interested in the “Video Mart” next door. It wasn’t a Blockbuster, but it was the closest thing to it in Hope.

Finally, getting away from the town’s “hub” (If you want to call it that), she walked past the hulking “Chapel of Rust”. No, it wasn’t a chapel or anything close. It was a long-shut-down clothing factory. It was a gigantic, industrial mess that had stuck out like a sore thumb in the first place. These days, it stuck out even more, with boarded-up windows and garbage all over its property. It had been really successful for years before an awful fire broke out, years before Allison was born. Ever since, it’s just sat there, rotting and decaying. “God Bless America,” Allison laughed, saluting it.

As she rounded the final turn, rounding off her little tour of Hope, she saw the Diner. She had half an hour before she was supposed to meet up with her friends, Stephanie and Jeremy. She took off her headphones, planning to go inside and freshen up a bit before meeting her friends. Bill, the owner, was a friend of Allison and her friends, and he never had any problem with her freshening up in the bathroom.

“Hey Bill,” she said, walking in, “Is my office free?” She said with a playful grin.

Bill laughed, “Yeah. I’ll forward all your messages to you while I’m at it. And next time you want to smoke a cigarette in my bathroom, think again, will ya?” He said with a playful grin of his own.

“Yikes,” Allison said through playfully gritted teeth, “Sorry about that, Bill. I’m pretty sure I had been drinking that night. Won’t happen again, bud!”

Bill playfully shooed her away, “Nahh, don’t worry about it.” Allison made her way through the diner to the restroom and started brushing her hair in the mirror. Her hair was a dark red and usually messy. She tried to keep it under control, but it was often as grungy as the rest of her look. She had a “Fugazi” T-Shirt on; it was up next in her rotation of band shirts. She had a flannel on with plenty of rips, almost as many as she had in her jeans. Looking at her watch, she noticed she still had about 20 minutes before meeting up with her friends. Jeremy and Stephanie were always late, so Allison figured she had 30 minutes, which was more than enough time for a joint before they got coffee.

She used the bathroom and gave a brotherly middle finger to Bill, who returned the favor and said, “See you in a bit!” As she walked over to her spot, she got her mixtape up and running. First up, it was Jawbreaker’s “The Boat Dreams From The Hill”. Their album had come out in February, and she had been glued to it ever since.

She was back at her spot in no time, and moments later was puffing away. She did get social anxiety sometimes, so she wanted to relax before seeing her friends. Stephanie had been her best friend ever since 2nd grade, and Jeremy was her ex-boyfriend. Yes, it’s complicated, and no, neither of them wanted to talk about it. The two got along incredibly well, and it was never awkward, so it worked for both of them.

Allison took a big hit and gazed out at the town over, Parkston. It was a much bigger town, that was much more populated and thriving more with every year. She saw the cross of the neighboring town’s mega church in the distance. All that separated a town lost in time and a bustling, hip city was a few cornfields. The fields looked like a sea of nothing to Allison, an endless frontier, “amber waves of grain,” and all of that. As she sat there, she found herself lost, looking up at the sky.

The sky had been so beautiful that day. It was a bright blue, with some of the biggest, pillowy clouds Allison had seen in some time. As she stared, though, something strange happened. Seemingly immediately after she started focusing on the clouds, their speed picked up rapidly. Usually, this wouldn’t have weirded Allison out tremendously, but there was no breeze whatsoever. It was a surreal moment that got so intense, Allison found herself having to sit down. She reached into her clunky, old Camera bag, lugged out the “big sucker,” as she called it, and began filming.

“What the fuckkkk is going on?” she said, almost laughing at how bizarre it was. She was worrying that the camera wasn’t going to do it justice, but the clouds were still moving faster than she had ever seen. Not only that, but the weed hadn’t kicked in yet, so she definitely wasn’t stoned. Looking at her watch, she realized it was about time to head over to the diner. She collected her things, putting her camera back in its annoying bag. Interestingly enough, by the time she was ready to walk over, the clouds had covertly slowed down to a very casual speed.

“I gotta cut back on smoking weed,” she laughed to herself, putting her headphones on and heading back towards the diner.

—

It was about a 7-minute walk back to the diner. Popping back on her mixtape, she had just enough time to listen to Sonic Youth’s “Mote”. She listened to a lot of music, but Sonic Youth was one of her favorites. Specifically, she absolutely adored Lee Ronaldo. She loved Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon as much as the next person, but Lee’s vocals were just so damn COOL. As she walked, she walked along the train tracks. She did it often, especially because not many trains came this way anymore. But whenever they did, she would daydream about jumping on and not looking back.

Before she knew it, she was back at the diner. Jeremy, Stephanie, and Allison would often meet up at the diner for coffee. To most, the Diner was the closest thing to the “outskirts” of town. They always joked that they loved the Diner because it was close to home, but far from Hope. Towards the end of the hazy, psychedelic breakdown of “Mote”, Allison took her headphones off. As she wrapped up her headphones to put them in her bag, she noticed something strange. There was an excited-looking man, talking a mile a minute in the payphone booth. Now, in most towns, this wouldn’t be a big deal. But in Hope, everybody knew everybody. People who came to check out the mom-and-pop stores never stayed long; they just took the bus in and hopped right back on when they finished shopping. Allison had never seen him before, and what made it worse was that it looked as if he was looking at her out of the corner of her eye. That was enough for an investigation.

Allison wasn’t one to back down or “take shit,” so to speak. She took her wallet out of her pocket and purposely fumbled it so she could covertly get closer to the telephone booth. She had to at least try to eavesdrop on the man’s conversation. As she did, though, the excited-looking-man turned away. She couldn’t make anything out through the glass, unfortunately, although she would later swear that she heard him say, “Yeah, I’m sure it’s her”. She wasn’t going to let this ruin her high or her afternoon with her friends. Allison continued on, allowing Captain Excitement to leave her consciousness so she could relax.

She pushed open the door, instantly smelling the warm aroma of diner coffee, the holy grail of coffee. Bill had the local news on, and from the looks of the weather, fall was indeed coming. It may have been 70 today, but the rest of the week it was going to be in the mid 60’s. Bill was in the back, working on a take-out order that had just come in. Another reason Allison and her friends loved going to the diner was that Bill let them put whatever they wanted on the TV. “Hey Bill! Mind if I turn on Unsolved Mysteries?” She yelled to the back.

“Go for it, kid, as long as the gentleman in the back doesn’t mind,” Bill yelled back. “By the way, Jeremy called ahead and ordered fries for you delinquents, they’ll be out in a few!”

Allison hadn’t even noticed anyone else in the diner. But looking down, she saw what looked to be a homeless man, finishing up a cup of coffee. “Excuse me, sir. Mind if I change the TV channel?”

The man looked up at Allison. He was either homeless or a drifter, she figured. The man’s eyes were full of sorrow, and he looked like he had a long life. “Nope.” He said, sighing, “About time I mozied on out of here anyway.” As he left, Jeremy and Stephanie swung the door so hard it smacked into the wall. Clearly, these two chuckleheads also enjoyed a joint or two themselves before groovin’ on in. Allison clicked on Unsolved Mysteries, and the group’s weekly meeting commenced.

—

“Ok, like, I GET it, Alli. Lee Ronaldo is cool and all, but Kim Gordon is a fuckin’ badass!!” Stephanie said, stealing another fry from their communal spud basket. In a moment of synchronicity, all three of them had been listening to Sonic Youth on their way over, and were in a spirited debate over their favorite members. “Plus, her performance on “Kool Thing” is righteous!”

Allison finished a few fries before responding. “It is! But what’s your favorite song on “Daydream Nation”? “Eric’s Trip”? Funny, that’s a Lee Ronaldo song!” She said back playfully.

It was Jeremy’s turn to chime in. “I don’t know what the fuck you two are talking about. Have you heard the guitar work on “Teenage Riot”? Thurston Moore is a GOD. I would go to church if we talked about him more!”

This seemed to be a weekly conversation among the three. They loved swapping tapes, talking about underground music, and of course, catching up on The X-Files.

“Ok. Sorry to cut this conversation short. But I don’t want to forget it before our meeting is adjourned. What the absolute hell was that pile of shit on The X-Files last night? Did you two watch? I think it was called “Ice”?

Jeremy shook his head, sipping his coffee. “Bullshit. You know they were doing so well in Season 1. But now we’re in Season 2, and all of a sudden they are ripping off movies? Come on, that wasn’t even subtle.”

“I didn’t see it yet!!” Stephanie almost screamed. “Don’t spoil the plot!! But what did they rip off?”

“It’s basically The Thing. Like, the entire plot of the thing. The Arctic, the parasite, the “not knowing who’s The Thing and who isn’t”, it’s all there. You can skip this week! Allison said. “It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t seem to be necessary either,” she continued, sounding disappointed.

“I’m telling you. One day, I’m gonna make a list of all of the “Smoking Man” episodes so people can enjoy an actual plot. I’m not invested in the “monster of the week” episodes anymore, give me the FBI conspiracy and aliens all the way, baby!” Jeremy said, lightly slamming his fist on the counter. “Anyway, ladies. How are we feeling about college this week? Yay? Nay?”

The three of them had been rolling around the idea of going to college over the last few months. They collectively liked the idea of going to college, but they were also in the “not just yet” mindset.

Jeremy worked in the town’s welding shop. He was paid decently, but he didn’t always have work. He joked to Stephanie and Allison often that he wanted to go to business school, as if he would last 5 minutes. “Hey. Weed distribution is business, right?” he would always say. What he really wanted to do was go to art school. While Allison had her video camera with her at all times, Jeremy always had his camera. He dreamed of publishing a book of his photographs one day. Stephanie worked at the local supermarket as a shift manager. She dreamed of one day going to school for marketing. Allison, however, was the most on the fence.

The idea of going to art school to do more with film had always sounded great from a distance. But what came next? Looking for a job? Bills? Looking for a place to live? She had all of that and more in Hope. Hope was also the kind of town where nobody seemed to leave. They just seemed to be born there and live their lives until one day they passed on. Allison didn’t want that, but of course, there were other factors at stake. Was she good enough for college? Was life outside of Hope as cracked up and mystical as it sounded?

“Ugh,” Stephanie said. “I know I’m holding off, I feel like my window is closing, too. Maybe I should start getting my shit together so I can apply for the spring semester?”

“Yeah??” Allison said teasingly, “You haven’t had your shit together in 18 years. Why start now??”

Jeremy nodded, “She’s got a point, Steph. Plus, I don’t think Clown College has a Spring Semester. You might be stuck here a little longer.” As he spoke, he attempted to grab the last fry on the plate. He was too slow, though, and Allison playfully grabbed the last one and shot him a celebratory middle finger. He shot one back and excused himself to go to the bathroom.

“So”, Stephanie said, playfully shoving Allison, “Where do you two stand right now?” Allison and Jeremy had been High School sweethearts. For a while, it looked like they were the perfect couple. Stephanie always pointed out how compatible they were and how well they got along. The two also looked compatible, with Jeremy having a style similar to Allison’s. He often wore jeans cut up, band t-shirts, and flannels in the winter, and he had long, scruffy brown hair.

“We’re cool! We’re totally cool.” As Allison spoke, a sly smile crept across her face, “Maybe a little too ‘cool’ one night a few weeks ago. But it wasn’t awkward”.

Stephanie shoved Allison again, even more playfully this time. “I KNEW IT!! Was it that night of the party, wasn’t it? The one in the woods? Remind me again, why aren’t you two together?”

Allison shrugged. “You know, I really don’t know. But I’ve just always felt like even if Jeremy and I were together, we wouldn’t have a happy ending”. It was true. They started dating in the 10th grade. By the time senior year rolled around, they were still together, and she still cared so much about him. But she couldn’t see a future with him. Their “storybook ending” didn’t exist in her mind. “But we’re cool! Really. I’m happy with where we’re at. Now, shoosh, he’s coming back”.

The trio continued to chat for a few more minutes until it was almost time to go on with their day. As Allison was starting to put on her flannel to brave the crisp fall afternoon, she remembered she had wanted to bring up the clouds from earlier. “Hey guys, I wanna show you something quick”, she said, grabbing her video camera from her bag. “I was smoking at the spot earlier, and you should have seen the clouds. I was chillin’ there, hanging out, and I swear, the clouds started soaring at like 90 miles an hour. Check it out, I got it on camera”.

She was right about the footage. While definitely odd-looking, seeing it on a tiny screen didn’t do it justice. So much so that Stephanie did giggle slightly when first looking at it, to which Allison gave her a light punch in the arm. As the footage went on, though, it did look more surreal.

Jeremy was the first to speak. “I mean, I gotta admit, that’s pretty freakin trippy”.

Stephanie nodded, “Yeah. I mean, I don’t know what to make of it, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen the clouds move that fast. It honestly sounds like a dream.”

Allison nodded back, “Yeah. I dunno, it was really weird, and it really got me off kilter.” Her friends looked almost entranced by the final moments. “Hey. In other news, I saw TWO new people in town. One guy at the payphone, and there was a homeless man at the counter when I got here”.

Stephanie gave a fake, surprised look, complete with a gaping mouth and hands on her cheeks. “Two people? In one day? That has to be a record around here!!”

“Tell me about it, it’s gettin’ too fuckin’ crowded around here,” she joked, “Alright y’all. I gotta get goin, I got a shift in the morning.” They said their goodbyes as Allison popped on her headphones and headed home.

—

As she stepped outside, the crisp air felt incredible as it blew through her hair. It was getting close to sundown. She wasn’t “scared’ so to speak, of being out after dark, but these streets got VERY dark very fast. A smile crept across her face as she pressed play on her mix tape. Up next was “Good Morning, Captain” by Slint, one of her all-time favorite songs. It was another beefy, long song, but she had about a 10-minute walk home. She headed that way, with the rest of her joint from earlier perched in the corner of her mouth.

She found herself walking down the train tracks once again. If there were a train pulling into the station, she would probably consider jumping on it. She wouldn’t know where she would end up or where she would go after, but she would consider it. Next was the suburbs. Abandoned lot. House falling apart. House even in worse shape. Another abandoned lot. Over and over, it was a surreal scene every time she walked past this area. It was almost hypnotic. Over her headphones, “Good Morning, Captain” was reaching its finale. Allison heard Brian McMahan’s repeated screams of “I MISS YOU!”. That’s when Allison noticed something in a nearby field.

There was an animal lying on the ground, not moving. From a distance, it looked like a moderately sized dog. However, upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a goat. And from the looks of it, it was dead. Now, Allison had seen plenty of animals around, especially with all the farm land. But she hadn’t seen any goats. This one wasn’t moving, and Allison couldn’t see any signs of it breathing. She slowly walked over, just in case it wasn’t as dead as it seemed. As she did, she joked to herself that she should snap some video footage of it; she could turn it into some weird art piece.

As she got close enough to fully examine it, her intuition turned out to be right. The goat darted up, wide-eyed and looking scared to death. Thankfully, she didn’t get out her camera; it would have gone flying as Allison almost fell over. “Shit, buddy,” she laughed, “You scared the hell out of me.”

It came over towards Allison. Close enough for Allison to pet it, which she did. While before it didn’t look like it was breathing at all, now the goat stood at attention, breathing incredibly fast. Allison continued to give it a few more pats on the head, trying not to get too close just in case it turned violent. But moments later, it ran off down one of the suburbs’ dustier roads, kicking up dirt as it ran. “I gotta stop smoking weed,” Allison laughed as she walked to the movie theater. Home sweet home.

She had worked in the ticket booth for some time now. Donna, the manager there, had always had a soft spot for Allison. She had been friends with her mother before she passed away. Allison also lived in an apartment upstairs in the theatre behind the projector room. It wasn’t much, but she had a small balcony, a shower, and a microwave. More importantly, there was a little room in the back for her to develop film. What else did she need?

Walking up the stairs, she was disappointed to see that they were in fact still playing Ace Ventura : Pet Detective. Yuck, you couldn’t pay Allison to sit through that crap. At least they were still playing Natural Born Killers, that was much more her speed. She got to her apartment and hung up her flannel; she was gonna need it the rest of the week. After washing up and getting comfy for the night, she picked up the picture of her mom off her nightstand. “Miss ya, Mom,” she said, blowing a kiss.

Allison had been apathetic towards most of life for some time now. Her mom had passed away during her junior year of school. She had been her best friend, her rock. She had been in a car accident while driving to one of the neighboring towns. She didn’t even get to say goodbye to her. Losing her when she did took a lot out of her, and she had lived paycheck to paycheck ever since. Her father had left in the early years of her life, before she had even turned 4. She had some family in the area, but no one she felt particularly comfortable with.

Her thoughts on life in Hope were mixed. While this was “home” to her, this home always felt cold. Because she wasn’t close to much of her family, she had nowhere to go. Even if she ever “escaped”, where would she even start? Maybe she would escape one day. Until then, the town felt cold, and the fake people that inhabited it were even colder. They could keep their “hello’s” and stay out of her business.

After getting comfy, she considered going out to the courtyard to smoke before bed. A small courtyard was another small perk of living here in the movie theatre. It wasn’t much, but it was an area where she could smoke in peace. After the clouds decided to practice their best NASCAR routine earlier, she almost didn’t go out. But she talked herself into it. Thankfully, it was a beautiful night. There was no strange weather, there were no clouds, and looking around, she saw no goats either. Just peace.

Lighting her joint, Allison briefly thought once again about going to film school in the spring. “I’ll figure it out tomorrow” she laughed. It was her mom’s favorite saying.