{"id":6564,"date":"2014-02-11T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2014-02-11T05:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=6564"},"modified":"2014-02-11T16:04:15","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T21:04:15","slug":"front-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/front-page\/","title":{"rendered":"Front Page"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FrontPage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was deadline night.\u00a0 The newspaper was being put to bed.\u00a0 Phones rang with last minute comments, and fingers pounded along the keyboard.\u00a0 Cigar smoke rose out of the editor\u2019s office and into the small room, where the reporters hunkered down and finished writing their story.<\/p>\n

First year on the job, Kingston Linders was assigned to the police blotter.\u00a0 He was itching to tango with politics, but the senior reporter had that gig.\u00a0 He would love to do community events and issues, but that was also taken.\u00a0 And he was the rookie, so he got what he was stuck with.\u00a0 And every day, horror stories came over web and fax, and he had to dig through them.<\/p>\n

Shaking his head, he flipped through a small stack of papers.\u00a0 He left these for last to do a humorous piece on crimes done wrong.\u00a0 One fax read about a man, who smiled for a picture in a camera shop that he robbed.\u00a0 Another was about a driver, who was pulled over for driving in the HOV lane, but the reason why he was pulled over was because the police did not buy the mannequin in the passenger seat as a real person.\u00a0 Lastly, a guy walks into a fast food restaurant, orders food, finishes and robs the place.\u00a0 Stories like these made him laugh, and it kept his mind from returning to the ones that he would like to forget.<\/p>\n

“Kingston.”<\/p>\n

George was a round guy with a husky voice, and he always seemed to have a lit cigarette in-between his fingers.\u00a0 His eyes were small, bloodshot, and he had spent his last couple of nights sleeping on the couch at home.\u00a0 It still wasn\u2019t clear what started up a bitter argument between him and his wife, but it didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 He was the one forced to apologize, and until then, the couch would be his bed.<\/p>\n

His heavy footsteps walked up to Kingston, who leaned back in his leather chair.\u00a0 George waited until the seat was swiveled toward him, and then he stuck a piece of paper in the young man\u2019s face.\u00a0 Smoke from his cigarette made Kingston\u2019s eyes water, and he tried not to cough.<\/p>\n

“You know, they did pass that law to not smoke indoors.”\u00a0 He watched George walk away.\u00a0 “Might want to put that out.”<\/p>\n

“That law don\u2019t abide here.”\u00a0 He gestured toward the editor\u2019s office, where cigar smoke continued to puff out in large, white clouds.\u00a0 “You should actually think of starting.\u00a0 It eases stress.\u00a0 Trust me.”<\/p>\n

“No thanks.”\u00a0 Kingston\u2019s eyes fell down onto the paper in his hands.\u00a0 “Great.”\u00a0 Sarcasm echoed in his voice.\u00a0 “Didn\u2019t need this one.”<\/p>\n

“What came over the fax machine?”<\/p>\n

Veronica reminded him of the girl in the Archie comics.\u00a0 She even had the personality, and she was very close to the local politicians and community members.\u00a0 And she did not care for him.\u00a0 She even voiced her dislike to the editor, but his referral stood.\u00a0 Now, they shared a small room together, and around her, he still felt like he was walking on egg shells.<\/p>\n

“Just another one, Veronica.\u00a0 On that road again.”<\/p>\n

“You should go out there, King.\u00a0 Check it out.”\u00a0 He glared at her.\u00a0 “Might be something to it.”<\/p>\n

“Do you know how many people have died on that road?”<\/p>\n

“Speedsters.”\u00a0 He looked over at George.\u00a0 “They were all speeding.”<\/p>\n

“They all died at the same time in the same way.\u00a0 That\u2019s not strange to any of you?”\u00a0 He looked at them.\u00a0 “The cars just flipped into the air and crashed into the same damn tree. \u00a0How do you explain that?”<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t believe in the supernatural.”\u00a0 Veronica returned to finishing her story.\u00a0 “They were all speeding along a dark road, and they all lost control of their car.\u00a0 It\u2019s just coincidence that it was around the same curve.\u00a0 That\u2019s all.”<\/p>\n

“I think he\u2019s scared, Veronica.”\u00a0 George glanced at her.\u00a0 “I know he passes that road on the way home, but he goes the long way to avoid it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you, King?”<\/p>\n

“At least, I\u2019m not the one sleeping on the couch,” he muttered.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t need this, and he really disliked it when these two double teamed him.\u00a0 And yes, he was the rookie, but how about showing him the ropes?\u00a0 But instead they rather choke him with it.<\/p>\n

Turning his back on them, he looked down at the fax.\u00a0 The latest death happened last night around the same time and with the same tree.\u00a0 The road was always dangerous, but it became more so after a freak accident with a local high school teen, Kyle Handrier.\u00a0 Now, it claimed eight lives so far, and a chill ran down his spine.\u00a0 But why should he be afraid of this road?\u00a0 Maybe, there was a story, a story that he could ram down the throats of George and Veronica.\u00a0 Maybe then, they would show him some damn respect, but what if there was no story?\u00a0 What if he came back empty-handed, wasting nothing but time on that road?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m done,\u201d Kingston said.\u00a0 Usually, he would help proofread and edit the final pages before they were sent out, but now his mind was turning, hungry to find its groundbreaking story.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll see you guys in the morning.\u201d\u00a0 A knot formed in his stomach, and a warning flashed in the back of his mind.\u00a0 This could be the worst idea he ever had, but there was no such thing as the supernatural.\u00a0 So, why did this story bother him so much?<\/p>\n

Rising from his seat, he felt his legs grow weak, and he stumbled away from his desk.\u00a0 Moving past the other two reporters, he nearly tripped, and when he looked down at his shoe, the laces were untied.\u00a0 It was strange because he always double-knotted his laces, but maybe he didn\u2019t do it as tightly as he usually did.\u00a0 And he quickly leaned down to tie his shoes.<\/p>\n

“Where you going, King?”\u00a0 Veronica\u2019s voice was like nails against a blackboard.\u00a0 “Not staying tonight?”<\/p>\n

“Off to investigate that road?”\u00a0 George wore a Cheshire cat grin.\u00a0 “Think there is a story to find?”<\/p>\n

“I think so.”\u00a0 Kingston turned toward them.\u00a0 “I just want to run it by the editor first.”<\/p>\n

“Don\u2019t worry about him.”\u00a0 George jumped out of his seat.\u00a0 “You go, and I\u2019ll tell him for you.”\u00a0 He noticed the look on Kingston\u2019s face.\u00a0 “You can trust me, Kingston.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell him.”<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ll tell him.”\u00a0 He started to leave the room.\u00a0 “I\u2019m passing by there anyway.”\u00a0 He shot George a look.<\/p>\n

“No respect.\u00a0 I tell you.”\u00a0 George looked at Veronica.\u00a0 “Kid has guts, though.”\u00a0 He made sure Kingston was out of the room.\u00a0 “I wouldn\u2019t go near that damn road.”<\/p>\n

“What if I paid you a hundred dollars to go?”<\/p>\n

“If you want me to go there, Veronica, I\u2019ll take you with me.”\u00a0 He laughed at the sour look on her face.\u00a0 “Yeah.\u00a0 I thought so.”<\/p>\n

It only took twenty minutes from the office to reach Raloe Road.\u00a0 It was a long, dark path that wrapped around the outside of town, and there used to be stores that would gather on each side of it.\u00a0 But then the malls came, pushing business away from that area, and people took to the main roads and highways to go to wherever they were going.\u00a0 But some locals still took this road because nobody would be driving up their bumper, flashing their lights, or just plain cutting them off, and during the day, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.\u00a0 But at night, it was a very different story.<\/p>\n

Once on the road, an unsettling feeling rattled Kingston\u2019s nerves, and the knot grew tighter in his stomach.\u00a0 His hands shook as they clutched the steering wheel, and a cold sensation touched the back of his head.\u00a0 He kept his eyes focused straight ahead because he would not become another damn statistic in proving how deadly this road really was, and he would break this story.\u00a0 He would prove to those back at the office that he was worth the salt that they were paying him.\u00a0 He would have the last laugh.<\/p>\n

Bright lights flashed behind him, and he wondered how the driver got so close without him seeing them.\u00a0 The car was now illuminated, and the engine could be heard right behind his bumper.\u00a0 He was only doing sixty, but the guy behind him was in an obvious rush.\u00a0 He quickly began to pull off the road to let the other driver pass, but when he looked over his shoulder, there was no car behind him.<\/p>\n

“What the hell?”<\/p>\n

Getting back onto the road, he checked his rearview mirror.\u00a0 There was a driver behind him because he was blinded by his brights, so did the guy zoom past him?\u00a0 He would have seen him, and he certainly heard that engine.\u00a0 So, where did he go?<\/p>\n

“Maybe, this was a bad idea.”<\/p>\n

If he turned back now, they would laugh at him, and the double teaming would never end.\u00a0 It was hard enough trying to learn the ropes and be the best that he could be without dealing with those two, and the editor was no help.\u00a0 One day, he was Kingston\u2019s best friend, and the next day he would threaten to fire him.\u00a0 And that was how the first year went, and if he could find work elsewhere, he would have just left.\u00a0 But he was stuck, trapped like he was now driving on this road.<\/p>\n

“This isn\u2019t even worth my paycheck.”\u00a0 He gnawed on his lip.\u00a0 “However, I am here, and there is no turning back now.\u00a0 I\u2019ll break this story, and it will make front page.\u00a0 And once my name gets out there in town, maybe a larger newspaper will pick me up.\u00a0 Yeah, I\u2019ll get more money, cover politics and community, and leave the police blotter to the rookies.\u00a0 Yeah, I can do that.\u00a0 I just need a good, juicy story to break ground with.”<\/p>\n

Someone walked in front of his car.\u00a0 Kingston slammed on the brakes, praying for the car to stop, but it was too late.\u00a0 And the man was struck by his car, disappearing underneath, and the car came to a halt.\u00a0 And it took a long moment for Kingston to pull himself out of the car.\u00a0 “Holy shit,” he said.\u00a0 \u201cHoly shit.”<\/p>\n

Slowly, Kingston knelt down beside the car.\u00a0 He took a deep breath and then looked underneath it. \u00a0Nothing.\u00a0 Nobody was there.\u00a0 \u201cWhat the hell,\u201d and in response, something moved in the distance, something that caused fear to cut right through him.\u00a0 \u201cOkay.\u00a0 I had enough of this.”<\/p>\n

Kingston jumped back into his car.\u00a0 The slamming of the door sent vibrations right through him.\u00a0 The locks snapped in place, and for some reason, that bothered him.\u00a0 He sat there for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts, but his brain refused to work.\u00a0 And he felt like something was drawing closer, something was coming for him.<\/p>\n

Kingston threw his car into reverse and hit the gas, but the car refused to move backward.\u00a0 He hit the gas again, and the tires squealed against concrete.\u00a0 It was no use.\u00a0\u00a0 He had no choice but to go forward, so he slowly put his car into drive.\u00a0 He crawled ahead, doing only 20 miles, and the darkness stretched out before him with open arms.\u00a0 And then he realized.\u00a0 He was approaching the curve, the place, where all those others had died.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, something heavy pressed his foot against the gas pedal, and the car flew forward.\u00a0 He struggled to lift his foot up, but something held it down.\u00a0 He kept his hands on the wheel to prevent losing control, and he fought with the lock on the driver-side door, trying to snap it open.\u00a0 The car was approaching the curve.\u00a0 If he didn\u2019t do something now, he would be dead, but hey, at least, his death would make the front page.\u00a0 And that thought angered him so much that he found the strength to lift his foot, snap the lock back, and throw open the door.\u00a0 He released his seatbelt and hurled himself out onto the ground, and a deafening crash filled his ears.\u00a0 That could have been him.\u00a0 That was almost him, but now, he was left alone in the dark near the debris.<\/p>\n

Struggling to his feet, Kingston stared at what was left of his car.\u00a0 It slammed straight into that damn tree, that tree that had claimed those other lives.\u00a0 Strange.\u00a0 It was like the tree was staring right back at him, and its menacing gaze made Kingston step back.\u00a0 But it was a tree. It wasn\u2019t a monster.\u00a0 It was a tree, but why was it looking at him like that?<\/p>\n

\u201cI would run, if I were you,\u201d someone said from behind him.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not done with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0 Kingston\u2019s breath caught in his throat as he recognized the teen standing behind him.\u00a0 \u201cKyle Handrier?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one and only,\u201d and the kid took a bow.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus.\u201d\u00a0 Kingston stumbled away from him.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re\u2026\u00a0 You\u2019re dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSad but true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStop.\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Just stop.\u00a0 What the hell is going on!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want the short story, Mr. Reporter, or the long story?\u201d\u00a0 Kingston blinked at him.\u00a0 \u201cOkay.\u00a0 Short story.\u00a0 I died because I was stupid, high, and speeding.\u00a0 Unfortunately, because of me, that tree got a taste of my blood and liked it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tree, dude.\u00a0 I rammed my car into the tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u00a0 I got that.\u00a0 Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, after that, the tree wanted more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tree!\u201d\u00a0 Kingston turned to point at the menacing tree, but it was gone.\u00a0 \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you to run, and you should\u2019ve listened to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tree not a living creature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to run.\u201d\u00a0 Kyle Handrier stepped closer to him.\u00a0 \u201cRun!\u201d\u00a0 Then, he was gone.<\/p>\n

Kingston\u2019s eyes moved back and forth around the woods that surrounded him.\u00a0 There were many trees, many that seemed to stare at him.\u00a0 Something rustled from behind him.\u00a0 The ground shook a little like something large was moving closer.\u00a0 It was a damn tree not an animal that would go crazy after its first taste of blood, but did this kid really wake it up with his blood?\u00a0 And if so, what did that mean for him?<\/p>\n

A sound like thunder was heard, and Kingston\u2019s blood ran cold.\u00a0 The road beneath him shook, and the sky even seemed to grow darker.\u00a0 Something was moving toward him.\u00a0 Trees rustled nearby, and fear grew by leaps and bounds.\u00a0 And something stretched out toward him, and before it could grab him, he finally ran.\u00a0 He ran until he was sure that whatever it was could not follow, but was he really running from a tree?<\/p>\n

Out of breath, Kingston fell to his knees, and his fingers touched the ground below him.\u00a0 His heart slammed against his chest, and sweat dripped down his back.\u00a0 Tears stung his eyes, but his breathing began to slow down.\u00a0 As he continued to rest where he was, he felt better.\u00a0 Maybe, he was safe.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t like the tree could run as fast as him, but then something wrapped around his ankle.\u00a0 And he was snapped backward, slamming his head into that tree.\u00a0 As consciousness began to slip away, he felt himself dangle in the air, swinging back and forth like a toy, and his blood melted into wood.\u00a0 Just as the darkness finally claimed him, he felt himself fall, disappearing under the shadow of a massive monster.<\/p>\n

“Kingston?”\u00a0 Pain thundered through his head.\u00a0 “Kingston?”<\/p>\n

Bright light penetrated through the darkness, and a series of beeps filled an empty space.\u00a0 Soft ground was felt beneath a bruised and broken body, and eyes struggled to open.\u00a0 Finally, a hospital room came into view, and who did Kingston find sitting beside him?\u00a0 Veronica and George.<\/p>\n

“There you are.”\u00a0 Veronica looked like a guilty party.\u00a0 “You had us worried there, King.\u00a0 Kingston.”<\/p>\n

“What\u2026\u00a0 What happened?”<\/p>\n

“You lost control of your car.”\u00a0 George seemed annoyed.\u00a0 “You crashed into that damn tree, and you were thrown over a hundred feet into the air.\u00a0 I can\u2019t believe you\u2019re alive.”\u00a0 Veronica shot him a look.\u00a0 “I mean\u2026\u00a0 It\u2019s great that you made it back.”<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s not what happened.”\u00a0 Kingston touched the bandage around his head.\u00a0 “Kyle Handrier was there.\u00a0 He warned me about that tree, but I didn\u2019t listen.”<\/p>\n

“Kyle Handrier?”\u00a0 Veronica looked shocked.\u00a0 “He\u2019s dead.”<\/p>\n

“I know.”<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t.”\u00a0 George moved away from the bed.\u00a0 “There are no such things as ghosts or killer trees.”<\/p>\n

“It was more than a tree.”\u00a0 Kingston struggled to sit up in bed, but then he saw his right leg was in a cast and suspended in a sling.\u00a0 “I broke my leg.”<\/p>\n

“You broke your leg, some ribs, and you had a severe concussion.”\u00a0 Veronica touched his hand.\u00a0 “But you made it back.”<\/p>\n

“You\u2019re not responsible for this, Ver.”\u00a0 He saw she didn\u2019t like the nickname.\u00a0 “At least, I don\u2019t remember if you were.”\u00a0 She looked relieved.\u00a0 “Now, somebody needs to cut down that damn tree.”<\/p>\n

“Yeah.\u00a0 Good luck with that.”\u00a0 George checked the time on his watch.\u00a0 “Oh.\u00a0 Will you look at that?\u00a0 I have to get back to the real world and take my wife out to lunch.”\u00a0 He patted Kingston on his uninjured leg.\u00a0 “See you back at the office soon.”\u00a0 He left the room.<\/p>\n

“I should go to.”\u00a0 Veronica rose from her seat.\u00a0 “I spoke to the editor for you.”\u00a0 Kingston raised his eyebrows in surprise and worry.\u00a0 “You can write about your experience, or at least, as much as you remember of it.\u00a0 It will make a good story.”\u00a0 She walked away from the bed.\u00a0 “Send it when you can.”\u00a0 She left the room.<\/p>\n

Kingston rested his head against the pillow, and again he touched the bandage wrapped around his head.\u00a0 His hands were bruised and swollen, and his right leg looked horrible.\u00a0 As he breathed, he felt sharp pain on one side, and this was all because of that tree.\u00a0 But when he does write his story, he would have to make it believable because the moment the reader finds themselves reading about the ghost and killer tree, they would stop reading, and lives would still be lost along that road.\u00a0 The tree had made a mistake letting him live.<\/p>\n

A month later, a town work crew headed out early on Raloe Road, and they approached the curve.\u00a0 Their sight settled upon the monstrous tree, and they pulled off to the side of the road.\u00a0 With their tools in hand, they began to cut down the tree, but as the saws began to slice through wood, something dripped out onto the ground.<\/p>\n

The saws were silenced, and the men approached the strange liquid.\u00a0 Eyes moved toward each other, and one hand reached out toward the sticky substance.\u00a0 It was like syrup, but much, much more red, and a finger dipped deep into it.\u00a0 It was blood.<\/p>\n

“Blood.”\u00a0 The man\u2019s eyes rose up toward the tree, and he could almost swear that it was snarling at him.\u00a0 “Help me cut this damn thing down.”<\/p>\n

As the saws roared to life, a moaning was heard, but the men had their ears covered with headphones.\u00a0 As metal sliced into wood, more blood spurted out, and the moaning grew louder.\u00a0 The tree struggled not to fall, but as it finally fell backward and toward the ground, a deafening scream was released.\u00a0 And the men dropped their saws.\u00a0 Its metal flailed against concrete, and the men reached to turn them off.\u00a0 But before they could, a tree limb wrapped around all of them, and they were all hurled backward into the air.\u00a0 And as they screamed, a haunting smile splintered across the wood of the dying tree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was deadline night. The newspaper was being put to bed. Phones rang with last minute comments, and fingers pounded along the keyboard. Cigar smoke rose out of the editor\u2019s office and into the small room, where the reporters hunkered down and finished writing their story.<\/p>\n

First year on the job, Kingston Linders was assigned to the police blotter. He was itching to tango with politics, but the senior reporter had that gig. He would love to do community events and issues, but that was also taken. And he was the rookie, so he got what he was stuck with. And every day, horror stories came over web and fax, and he had to dig through them.<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":6768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,218,200,219],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6564"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6564"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6770,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6564\/revisions\/6770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}