every small town has their fair share of local Legends They Don't Really travel past the borders of the town and most certainly never end up on the Internet ironic considering I'm writing this now but the locals can tell them by heart I've heard a lot of them in my time as a truck driver but none of them actually held any truth to them except for one the story of the ghoul I heard it when I was traveling through South Dakota I had stopped driving for the night as I was just too damn tired and it
was so humid out that my windshield started to fog up I'd ended up in some Tiny Town called abage about an hour from kuster and 3 hours from where I needed to drop my shipment when I say it was Tiny I mean it there were about 15 buildings total most of them houses the remainder were a sole restaurant with a bar attached one church and a gas station I didn't exactly trust the restaurant's quality but I was starving so I figured that I'd at least sit at the bar and order some sliders if they had
them the door jingled as I walked in and a mostly empty dining room greeted me there were three total people in the building from what I saw there was the bartender a bald bearded man who immediately gave me a quizzical look the only other person at the bar was a young woman who was drinking a labeless beer and didn't even turn her head to look at me when I sat down I was clearly the outlier here I wasn't exactly welcome and I felt it still I picked up a menu and tapped the beer I wanted
when I took my first sip she finally spoke I haven't seen you before her voice was equal Parts rough and soothing I was startled but I pride myself on being polite so I turned to face her and tried to make small talk I'm not from around here I'm just passing through I figured what brings you in here the appetite of a horse that's what I've been on the road for 11 hours she giggled she wasn't badl looking but wasn't exactly my type either so I hoped she wouldn't confuse my jokes as flirting you're funny I
turned away for a moment to signal for another beer then looked back at her I have my moments at least she looked at the bartender as he passed me my second por and waited for him to take my order before she signaled to him Rico should we do it he grunted and walked into the kitchen she seemed to take that as a yes and excitedly looked at me we've got a tradition around here everyone who drinks at the bar has to tell a story it's nothing crazy but we only have 23 people living here so
we're always itching to hear something new I'm not a very interesting person all things considered you would think I had some crazy stories after traveling around the country but I really never left the road long enough to see stuff like that still I wanted to put on a good show so I decided to tell them a story about the first time I saw the ocean as I munched on my onion rings I tried to make it as Fantastical as possible and admittedly embellish the details a bit I'd never actually seen a killer whale before but
they didn't need to know that by the looks of it the woman was captivated by the story and sat there the whole time with her chin in her hand hands and her Bright Eyes trained on mine I finished spinning my tail and turned back to face the bar placing a 20 on the counter as a tip I was about to say goodbye when the woman halted me with a slight smirk on her face you got a good speaking voice thanks for telling us your story I want to tell you one too I was dead tired
but my manners prevented me from confusing so I smiled and signaled to her to continue it's the same one I tell everyone who comes through here because it's the one that sticks with you the longest I nearly jumped out of my chair when the bartender finally spoke it wasn't even directed at me but it caught me off guard the one about the ghoul again yes sir unless you got a better idea he remain silent she looked at me and began her story The Ghoul was a local ghost story about something that haunted people who passed
through the town it was a long pale figure that would only speak one word at a time it would start haunting someone once they heard its story and wouldn't stop until they were dead I sat there relatively entertained as she described the ways that the ghoul would make people go missing but I obviously wasn't buying it but you want to know how you can be sure that the ghoul is after you how's that it makes you see stuff man stuff that isn't really there it'll make you see it feel like it's real to me this
story just sounded like a bad drug trip or an excuse to get me to stay in town I was blinking In and Out Of Consciousness when she finally finished and decided I'd head back to the motel before she decided that story time would continue well I'm going to call it a night you folks have a good one she stopped smiling and just blankly stared at me I got up and walked towards the door pushing it open with my foot hey one question before you go I sighed and turned around I just wanted to go to
bed yeah what's up you can see me right I wasn't sure if I'd heard her wrong but what I'd heard was a weird question indeed who was us she and the bartender of course I could see them they were right there she was starting to creep me out uh yeah she took a sip of her drink and looked at the bartender before turning back towards me well good night my brow f and I walked out the door whatever was going on with that woman I wanted no part of it she'd been pretty nice up to
that point too I have no idea where all of that suddenly came from I wasn't exactly in the mood to ponder it further so I began walking down the street towards the motel as I walked I thought about the story she told me why was that the story she told to people who passed through town some sort of scare you into staying tactic like I guessed maybe I wasn't sure I unlocked the door to my room and after brushing my teeth tucked in for the night I woke up to a knock at the door I
rubbed my eyes and groaned I didn't feel well rested at all I rolled over and grabbed my phone off the bedside table squinting as the bright light hit my eyes it was 3:00 in the morning what someone could want at this hour I had no idea but I wasn't about to entertain it I put my phone back and shut my eyes hoping that whoever was there would go away the second knock jolted out whatever grogginess I had left in my system it was much louder than the last one like someone had slapped the palm of
their hand onto the door I jumped out of the bed and laid on the floor hoping that they wouldn't try the handle I had to get to the door and lay against it whatever unsavory character was trying to open it was still pounding and I didn't have confidence that the shitty Motel door would hold I crawled on my hands and knees to the other side of the room and as my bare back pressed against the cool scratched wood the pounding suddenly stopped I was horrified that I would hear the handle turn or feel the door
G give out from behind me after a kick but none of that happened instead I hear Shuffling from behind the door which gives way to a single word breaking the silence open it was no louder than a whisper but in the deafening silence I heard it clearly my heart sank and I tried to process what I just heard it didn't sound like anyone I knew obviously but it also didn't really sound either male or female I tried my best not to move and held my breath please open every hushed word pumped a dose of adrenaline
directly into my system whoever was out there was either sincerely in need of help or trying to coax me to open the door so they could do God knows what I had to stay put if I went to grab my phone I was afraid that the door would fly open and I'd have to face whoever it was was I sat there for what felt like hours as I was starting to fall asleep again much to my dismay I heard footsteps walking away from the door I inched away from the door as they got quieter and
was almost at the bedside table when I looked up the bathroom door which was open before I went to bed was now closed I froze unsure of what to do when the pounding started from from the other side of that door I shot up grabbed my phone and keys and sprinted towards the bedroom door as I flung the door open I heard heavy footsteps not far behind me along with the familiar voice no it kept repeating it so calmly following behind me I bolted down the stairs running through the parking lot towards my truck as
I jumped into the driver's seat I felt something hit the door I didn't want to turn I didn't want to look but I did standing outside of my door was a twisted face the eyes were the size of baseballs and were peeled open fixed directly on me the mouth hung open as if the jaw couldn't close at all it didn't have a nose ears or any other features on its face we sat looking at each other for what was most likely seconds but may as well have been eons without moving its gaping mouth it spoke
see me by this point I'd pieced together what was happening and jammed the keys into the ignition I floored it onto the road and didn't breathe until the town was nothing but a faint light in the distance I was exhausted and could barely keep my eyes open I yawned and slapped myself on the the cheek in an attempt to wake myself up but I could feel myself drifting off but I was feeling something else too a sense of dread right in the pit of my stomach taking my eyes off the road I cautiously turned my
head to the left it was still there its head was directly centered in my window now smiling at me I swallowed the urge to scream and looked back at the road it could could get in and couldn't affect me if I didn't look at it but what it could do was talk in its low haunting voice punctuated with guttural growling you see me it repeated that for hours I'd almost forgotten what silence was like by the time the sun rose as the dawn broke and the light began to fill my eyes once again it went
quiet and only the sound of my tires traversing the bumpy road remained I looked to the left and saw trees through my window nothing was blocking it anymore I arrived in Dupri shortly after and didn't even help the factory workers unload the shipment I just sat in the driver's seat smoking a cigarette and thinking to myself when someone knocked on my window I nearly had a heart attack it was the factory supervisor who I'd called to sign off on the product you doing okay A couple of my guys said you didn't look so hot I
cleared my throat and put my cigarette out in the ashtray I looked over at him and managed to smile yeah I'm all right long night though barely got any sleep had to leave at 3:00 a.m. 3:00 in the morning how far away were you that you just now got here I opened the door and stepped out onto the gravel holding my clipboard it felt good to make small talk after what I'd been through I was up in a barrage odd little town for sure a barrage I've never heard of it I looked at him expecting
him to be kidding me his brow was furrowed and he looked concerned for me if anything I pulled out my phone and showed him my delivery tracking app which had marked where I'd stopped for the night it's right about here he looked away from the phone and at me with serious concern on his face now I've been hunting out there there's nothing there but Woods for miles
