Ghost Light Road

“I know you’re there,” the man called weakly. “Please…help me. I know you can heal me… I can’t die yet,…so much to do…please!”
Darkness was quickly descending in the thick hardwood forested area of southern Missouri, or maybe it was just over the state line into Oklahoma. He wasn’t sure.
His back was against a large oak tree where he sat on the ground just a little more than a hundred yards where he’d pulled his motorcycle off the remote gravel road.
This wasn’t just any gravel road, it was ‘Ghost Light Road’, a place where unexplained phenomenon of lights had been reported since before the invention of the internal combustion engine. Even the Cherokee and Shawnee had called the place ‘sacred medicine’. The stories and theories abounded but to date , no explanations could prove the lights to be rational or logical.
The mans skin was of a pale green pallor, his face gaunt from weight loss and the constant pain in his chest that made him grimace constantly. He fought for every breath and each breath sent waves of excruciation to every extremity of his body.
His hair was long and graying with a two week stubble of beard that well matched his clothing of a weathered motorcycle jacket, black t shirt and faded jeans with black boots. Not so long ago he was a ruggedly handsome man until this debilitating disease had reduced him to a mere skeleton of what he once was.




“Please…” he continued, “I’m not like others,…I know your real,… a natural earth energy , and that you can understand me. You can heal me and,…maybe somehow, I can help you. I would be forever in your service.’ He gasped again as his body went ridged as a sudden cough sent waves of pain through out his body. He had fought this thing with every fiber of his being, refusing to give in. But even he was reaching a point of welcoming death.
He opened his eyes to see a faint glow of soft light in the distance through the tree trunks. It grew brighter and larger as it approached , seeming with a caution as it seemed to dodge from tree trunk to tree trunk . It grew softer and more diffused as it neared. It finally stopped within a few feet of where he lay. He stared into the intricate, diffused pattern of white light as if he were seeing through eternity. It was a full four feet in diameter. He smiled as it approached inch by inch. First it engulfed his feet, then legs and finally his torso and head. “Thank you.” he murmured just as he felt suddenly adrift, weightless, with a pleasant pulsing energy pulsing through his body. All pain disappeared.

Nineteen year old Deirdre awoke from a fitful sleep, having fallen off only a couple of hours earlier. Her mother, Adrienne , was on the phone with the police again, begging for assistance. “But he’s been gone since yesterday! Can’t you make an exception for someone who’s critically ill?” She listened to the voice on the other end of the phone line for a moment. “Seventy two hours,?… he could be….dead by then.” she murmured as she hung up the receiver. Her eyes were red, lids swollen and puffy. Her hand clutched the now wrinkled, tear stained note he’d left that read; “ Going to the woods to meditate. Do not worry , I’ll be back in a few hours. Love Doug.”
Adrienne looked at her daughter in hopelessness. “How could he do this to us?” Her eyes seem to plead for answers. She fought the urge to cry again. She had no more tears left.
Deirdre hugged her mother, being the strong one now in Doug’s absence. “Momma, he doesn’t mean to hurt us, you know he’s not been himself lately, being in so much pain. He knows we’re trying to put him in the cancer clinic for treatment…. He doesn’t want us to watch him suffer anymore. Please,… try to get a grip.”



Emma, the fifteen year old had gotten up also and was standing nearby, looking lost. Deirdre motioned her over and the three of them hugged together.

Later that afternoon the three of them met with a detective at the local police station and gave him a complete description. They also gave him a recent photo, the license, make and model of his motorcycle. “I’ll have the patrols keep an eye out for him” he said curtly. “But, you know officially, if we find him, there’s nothing we can do but tell him to contact you. Do you think he might be an endangerment to himself or others?” he asked.
“Heavens no!” said Adrienne. He’s in no condition to harm anyone, not that he would if he could, he’s a gentle man.”
“I find that a little hard to swallow Mrs. Rhoades. Your husband has been arrested twice for assault. Isn’t that how he got the scar on his cheek?…from a broken beer bottle in a bar room fight?”
“Sir, that was over fifteen years ago’” she said coldly. “I can assure you, he has become a dedicated family man. He’s not had the strength to lift his head from his pillow. I can’t imagine how he managed to get himself dressed and ride away on his motorcycle.”
“Is he on medication?”
“He refuses to take it. Just like he refused radiation and Kimo-therapy. He’s tried every kind of alternative treatment, accu-puncture, even reading mind over body books , herbal remedies, he’s even been seeing an Indian medicine man. “ Her mind drifted foe a moment as she murmured her thoughts aloud, “…he’s even said he’d like an Indian burial, where the put them up in the air on sticks,”
“O k then, Mrs. Rhoades” he said, trying to get back to his professional approach, “I’m going to alert the Sheriff’s departments in every county of the four corners area, the Game Wardens and Parks Departments to report anyone who matches your husbands description. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

After returning home, Adrienne began calling all Doug’s friends, and family members to update them in hopes some of them may have heard something.
Deirdre began busying herself in the kitchen while listening to the t v and local radio station. A newscast caught her attention about an auto accident involving a mother and her small daughter. The mother was sobbing into the camera while hugging her child, saying her child was bleeding profusely from a gash in her neck when a man walked up and placed his hand over the wound for several seconds. When he removed his hand the cut was gone, there was no blood and her child was fine. When the reporter asked her to discribe him she said he was wearing a leather motorcycle jacket, with long hair and a short beard. Deirdre dropped a glass that shattered upon impact when she heard the little girl say,” He had a moon on his face!”
She began scanning other stations and found more unusual reports; ‘An elderly farmer told of how he was pulled from certain death when he fell from his tractor, by what he reffered to as a ‘guardien Hales Angel’ In yet another report, a small boy was saved from drowning by a “…big guy in a leather jacket who didn’t even get wet.”
Deirdre paid little attention to another casters comment of “…increased paranormal activity in southern Missouri at a historical haunted road.”
Adrienne called the police detective with their findings on the news. He was skeptical at best and quick to point out,” Mame, these are unfounded coincidences . Two of these events happened forty five minutes apart and were two hundred miles from each other. I need you to be rational, no one could have traveled that distance in that short of time on a motorcycle.”
Deidre knew better, somehow she could feel it. Soon she would have no doubts what so ever.

The ball of soft white light grew larger as Deirdre sat up in her bed, eyes wide with awe and wonder. Doug stepped from the orb of light, looking younger and healthier than she could remember seeing him. He smiled sweetly, reached out and brushed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Hi Dumpling.” he said. “You can stop worrying about me now, I’m still around, although not in the same sense but here just the same. You’re the strong one, I need you to help your Mom and sis to understand…I’m not a ghost, I’m still a man who now exists in a pure form of earth energy. Maybe you’ll understand more fully someday but for now, live your life, be happy, have lots of grand children for me,… I’ll be watching.” He stepped back into the orb of light which quickly shrank into a pinpoint of light and disappeared.


She scrambled from the bed while still feeling the warm tingle of energy on her cheek. She felt elated, energized, like nothing she had ever experienced. She burst into her mothers room to find her sitting up in her bed, smiling. The room seemed to pulse with an aura of pleasant energy. “He was here.” Adrienne stated, “…your father, he spoke to me.”
“Me too!” declared Deirdre
Emma burst thought the door. “Mom! Deird! …you’ll never believe it! I saw Dad!… in my room just now!…he spoke to me!”
The three felt hyper, they sat and relayed their experiences. The talk soon turned to fond memories of their times with Doug. At least now they had some form of closure or acceptance. Now at least, they knew he was well and happy in what ever form of existence he was living.
From this time on they would notice changes within themselves. Emma had always been plagued with a host of allergies, but no more. For the first time ever, she had no symptoms and no further need for medications. Adrienne’s frequent bouts with arthritis were gone, never to appear again. Deirdre’s unexplainable feelings of anxiety and depression vanished and left her with a clarity of memory and rapid thought process. They could have gone on from here, made their lives work with the changes , but the turn of events were yet to unfold.

Deirdre’s natural high came to a sudden stop the following afternoon when she answered the phone. She was glad her mom and sis had gone shopping, leaving her alone to come to grips with the news. Police Detective Cooper was calling’ “Miss Rhoades, Just want to update you on our findings. The city police in Tulsa have your father’s bike in compound.”
“Tulsa?” she blurted. “But how,…why…”
“Miss Rhoads, we believe it was taken from where your father most likely left it. It was in the possession of some youths who have a record of theft. One of them confessed to taking it from a remote rural area near the state line. He said it appeared to have been abandoned.”
She listened with more questions mounting in her mind. She wanted to tell him there was no need to look further, but of course, that was out of the question.

“We’ve alerted the Sheriffs departments on both sides of the state line, they’ve coordinated a search of the area. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear something from them.”
“Sir,?” she asked, “ What was the name of the area where the bike was left?”
“It’s county road 0013,…they call it Ghost light Road.”

With trembling fingers, Deirdre typed the words onto the keyboard. In a few minutes she was printing up maps of the area and pages of stories about the history of the Ghost Light. She had heard of it but never really paid much attention, until now. But now she knew there was a pronominal connection with the light and Doug. She also printed up all the local newspaper articles about the increased paranormal activity there and more of the stories of people being saved by what they were now calling “the crescent moon biker.”

Deirdre hastily scribbled a note to her mom; “Shelly and I are going shopping then catch a late movie. Not to worry, just need to get out. Don’t wait up. Love Deirdre” She made a quick search of Doug’s dresser drawer and found his spare keys to his Toyota mini truck. She stopped and stared at the framed picture of his smiling face on the dresses. “Where are you Daddy?” she whispered and she touched the glass with her fingertips.

Two hours later it was nearing dark when she arrived at the four mile stretch of straight road that rose and fell with the hills and valleys of the dense wooded area. She was amazed at the activity along the road. There were fifteen maybe twenty vehicles parked along the road of the curious who had come to see the strange lights. Most were parked along the tops of the hills to get a better distance view. She drove past the lookers vehicles and dropped down into a small valley dip in the road , up the next hill and down the other side. She was planning to turn around, thinking she may have gone past the sighting area. At the bottom of the second draw she got a sudden feeling, as if her subconscious whispered, “here”. Off to the left she could see a small grove of saplings with what looked like a trail leading into them. A picture of Doug’s bike nestled in the grove flashed in her mind.

She parked the Toyota and walked in the quickly fading light into the grove. Just past the grove the woods opened up into a canopy of large oak trees that were beginning to take on the shapes of dark sinister sentinels of another worldly fantasy land. She had an eerie feeling she was being watched, …and she was.

From the top of the adjacent hill, three young aspiring criminals sat concealed in the low brush. From their vantage point they could see all the lookers waiting for the light show. They could also see Deirdre plainly where she parked and where she was walking up the trail. “Yep, she’s alone alright.” said Gage, the oldest at twenty and the macho monster leader of the others. “What a perfect setup.” He threw a sideways sneer to his two companions, Tate , the short, muscular Neanderthal minded follower and Squid, the youngest and least bold of the trio. “Party time boys!” Tate grunted his approval.
“But we didn’t bring out masks, she might identify us later!” whined Squid.
“She won’t be able to!” hissed Gage as he flicked open the blade of his stiletto.
“Ah man! You’re not gonna,…” he didn’t get to finish his concerns as Gage grabbed his shirt collar and held the open blade to his neck.
“Any more complaining from you and hers won’t be the only blood on this blade!” he rasped. He shoved the now pale faced youth back . “Toughen you up a bit,… you’re gonna love it. Now, lets move in , nice and slow.”

Deirdre stopped in the midst of the tall oaks just where the gentle break of the hill fell away into a gradual slope. She could see most of the wooded valley to where the gravel road made it’s way over the hill. The sound of voices from the parked vehicles carried to where she was and sounded like ghostly whispers save for an occasional metallic slam of a car door closing. She couldn’t shake the eerie feeling of being watched and glanced over her shoulder down the path she had just taken. Her attention was drawn to a soft glow of light in the distant woods accompanied by the sound of the lookers voices as they too saw the light as it began moving along the distant road way and then slowly raising and lowering as if a rubber ball bouncing in slow motion. It then began to dart from side to side quickly almost in a hypnotic motion.
“Daddy…” she heard herself say aloud. “Doug Rhoades…. I need to see you, I know you are here,

please.” As if by some form of magic her words caused the light to stop still for a split second then vanish. The hum of voices from the lookers began again at the sudden disappearance of the light. After a tense moment it reappeared and began it’s waltzing movements.

Deirdre felt a presence, she slowly turned startled to see her father standing not two feet behind her, smiling. “ I should have known a smart girl like you would figure this out eventually.” he said.
She threw her arms around his neck and began sobbing with the pent up emotion of seeing him and the wondrous circumstances being too much to be believed. “Here, here, lets have none of that.” he said assuring. “I had hoped my visit would have set things at ease for you.”
She looked into his face with the tears still flowing down her cheeks and shook her head in the affirmative. ”It did….but, when I heard about this place,… and the light,… I had to know for sure. I… I’m sorry I ….”
“It’s o k, I know you deserve more answers. Come, walk with me.” he said as he put his arm around her and led her slowly through the stand of oaks. “While I was doing my research of alternative treatments for the cancer, I learned about these paranormal lights. I came up with a theory, based on legend and folklore about the possible healing properties of the natural energies. So I gave it a shot as a final act of desperation. It’s like an aura, an earth aura. People have aura’s, fields of energy, that some people can detect, actually see. The color of peoples aura’s indicate their state of health and minds. This form of natural earth aura is pure white, unlike peoples, and has an energy that I cannot begin to understand. I knew it could help me ,… save me from the withering death I was facing. But I would have to form a partnership with it,…start doing purely unselfish deeds of kindness to others to balance the bad deeds I’ve done in my life. My understanding is, over a period of time, if I continue to work with this energy and purify my spirit, that I can eventually evolve , become like it. But I cannot use it’s power for any selfish act or negative act of violence or the partnership will be broken and I’ll return to the same state as when it found me.”
He stopped and looked into her face, then off into the star studded sky. “So where does this leave you , Adrienne and Emma? The three of you have to go on, live your lives as if,…as if I’ve passed on, because in a sense, …I have.”

She started to speak but he held his hand up to silence her, a serious look came over his face. “Deirdre! Listen to me! You have to run! Leave here now!” His body had began to fade out, looking like a dissipating fog.
“But…” she tried to speak, suddenly very confused.
“I’m being drawn away,…there are dark auras approaching, they mean you harm,…run…” He suddenly disappeared from sight. Deirdre stood motionless, in a state of near panic and complete confusion when she heard the shuffling of feet behind her. Before she could turn to face the sound she was grabbed from behind and roughly pulled off her feet.
Strong hands held her arms as others held her feet while she kicked and squirmed. She tried to scream but a large strong hand covered her mouth. She managed bite down on the fleshy part of the palm, she bit hard bringing a yowl of pain from the owner. There was a sudden glint of silver in the full moonlight as she felt the cold steel of the knife blade pressed to her throat. Leering close to hers was the face of a demon, a man with the look of evil etched on his face. He hissed, “One more sound b**** and I’ll cut your ****ing throat!” The smell of stale beer and cigarettes blew into her face and again the hand was placed over her mouth, this time with the salty taste of the mans blood from the bite wound mixed with grime and sweat. The switchblade knife moved down from her neck in a fast motion , slicing her blouse open.. Her attackers hands then went to unsnapping her blue jeans as she started to cry and still tried to scream in desperation.
Suddenly another sound was heard, the voice of a man crying out in the anguish of anger and rage. Her attacker suddenly turned his head from side to side as did the one holding her arms and mouth. “What tha ****!?” said the knife wielder. A sound like water searing on a hot stove hissed followed by a bright explosion of light just behind the kneeling rapist. He stood and turned fast, knife in hand to see a man in a leather jacket burst from the explosion of light. The man kicked the knife from the attackers hand and hit him just under his chin in the throat with an open hand chop. The blood fairly spurted from the attackers mouth as he fell to the side. Squid, was running, screaming unintelligible words of shock toward the roadway.
The burly attacker stood, eyes wide in disbelief as Deirdre rolled to the side and sat up, pulling her

severed blouse closed. Doug stepped forward and landed a solid kick to the stunned mans groin followed by a swooping right uppercut that lifted him from the ground, breaking his jaw as he landed on his back with a huge thud. Doug stood, fists clenched, face filled with rage while the knife wielding rapist thrashed on the ground in the throes of death.
The ball of light that had burst into tiny particles of light came back together to form it’s original size and shape, then suddenly retreated toward the far hillside in a split second. Doug fell to his knees, the color draining from his face and his body seemed to gradually deflate to the frail skeletal form as when he first came. “No!’ screamed Deirdre as she knelt by his side placing her arms around him. “No…no….”
Doug managed a weak smile followed by a pain racked cough. “Not to worry Dumpling….’ He rasped. “Guess this had to be this way,….. I would have done it a thousand times over,…. For my little girl!”
“No,…” she sobbed again, “…you could have gone…”
Doug looked at the dieing man gasping for his final breaths, then turned his head to look at the distant orb of light on the far hillside. He spoke in it’s direction. “I’m sorry,…had to save my little girl. I… don’t let me go off to judgment with this mans blood on my hands… can we, save just one more? Please…”
The light grew larger as it slowly approached, stopping just short of the kneeling Doug. He reached one hand into the light and placed the other on the mans neck. Within seconds the mans breathing returned to normal but he remained unconscious as Doug removed his hand. The light started to retreat again, Deirdre looked into it’s depths and pleaded, “No,…please, …we need him here! Please don’t let this illness take him from us, I’ll do anything, …just please…”
The glowing orb hesitated for a moment, then moved slowly to engulf her and Doug as she held him. She felt a warm flow of energy course through her and her father. The orb of light suddenly shuddered and stopped sending it’s energy at the sound of approaching voices, men with flashlights and the blubbering Squid. “No, please, they can’t hurt you! “ whispered Deirdre. But it was too late , the ball of light retreated almost instantly to a tiny pinpoint of light in the far distance, then disappearing. Deirdre was left sobbing, holding and rocking the now still form of her father as the men approached.


Conclusion;
Six weeks later;
“So Deirdre, do you feel your lives are returning to a natural order after this ordeal?” asked the psychiatrist, Dr Porter.
“Yeah, I guess so.” she replied as she reclined with her legs out straight, crossed at the ankles, her fight foot moving to the beat of a song playing in her subconscious. Her hands were folded across her stomach , she seemed relaxed and at ease.
“I understand you’ve spread your fathers ashes along this ‘Ghost Road?”
“Yeah,… that’s what he wanted.’
“Did he tell you that?”
Well, no, there’s just some things you know.”
He made another notation in his notes. Deirdre took notice of his notation. “So, Doc, what’s the verdict? Am I nuts or what?” she inquired.
“So far Deirdre, I find you to be a very bright, independent and high spirited young lady. But I think you have some deep seated issues that need to come to surface.”
She sat upright and leaned forward with renewed interest. “ What could that be doctor?”
“Do you feel that you’re trying to reproduce your fathers personality within yourself?”
She threw her head back in a lilt of flowing laughter. ”Doctor Porter, please! You must be working much too hard! You should consider a vacation!”
He made another notation. “Well, think on it. We’ll talk some more next time.”
“I didn’t think there would be a ‘next time’. Everything’s fine.”
“I think a couple more , at least, just to be sure.” he said with a smile.

Deirdre pulled on the ‘too large’ faded leather jacket as she walked from the office to the motorcycle. She stood it up from the kickstand as she climbed into the seat, put on her sunglasses and checked her reflection in the rearview mirror. Her fingertips gently touched the crescent moon shaped scar on her cheek. She smiled, then laughed aloud. “This shrink would really freak if he knew the truth!” she thought.
She had a sudden urge to stop off at a local bar on the way home for a cold beer, but quickly dismissed the thought .”I can have a cold beer at home.“ she said to herself. She was just glad that Adrienne and Emma understood and accepted the situation. She felt a sudden stirring in her loins and a gentle swelling of her breast’s and hardening of her nipples at the thought of Adrienne. Tonight she would again take her in her arms and make love to her into the wee hours of the morning. Tomorrow Deirdre would surface and be the bright little college girl who rode the motorcycle. The motor revved to life as she put it in gear and gunned it out onto the street.

The Doctor watched her pull out of the driveway as he spoke into a small tape recorder;” The subject, nineteen year old Deirdre Rhoads exhibit’s a deep seated split personality disorder bordering on manic schizophrenia. This is most evident by the sudden change in eye color from blue to brown and the sudden appearance of a facial scar when persona’s exchange place.

Hope you enjoyed it. Mysticwolf

I'm taking this in smaller segments, ill get back to you once im done