The Silver Pine Demon

It was a windy September afternoon in Silver Pine, Colorado, and an unseasonable chill rode on the turbulent breeze. Emma Ryland pulled the hood of her windbreaker down over her face as she crossed the town square to the tiny library. Apart from the usual few loiterers outside of the little curio shops, the square was deserted. Despite this foreboding environment, a special type of glee was in her heart. It was partly her own predisposition to be happy, and another part was the promise of new knowledge hidden among the many books within the building she approached. But perhaps the single most driving factor in her good spirits was the kind smile and calming presence of the young lady who stood outside of the double doors, waiting for her. It was Kirsten Milhorn, and the two had been friends since the first grade.

Emma smiled in return, and walked straight into the library. She didn't need to look back to know that Kristen had followed. She held the door open and let the other girl pass first. They walked down the shelves to get their books, and when they had finished, each took their traditional seats at the center desk, directly across from each other. Kristen looked up with amusement at the stack of books Emma had collected. All supernatural "non-fiction", as had come to be the norm. She laughed quietly and picked up her copy of the latest vampire novel. These were ghosts and goblins more her speed.

"I still don't know how you can read that junk, Kris," Emma said in a playful tone while she leafed through one of her many books.

"Like you're one to talk," Kristen shot back. "At least my junk doesn't pretend to be some weirdo documentary."

"There's nothing too weird about it," Emma replied, indicating the title with one finger.

"The Silver Pine Demon" was scrawled across the top of the cover in thin, curved letters the color of tarnished silver. "After all, they have plenty of facts about the cases. It's not like some of those other mysteries you hear about." She was concentrating more on the pages of the book then on what she was saying.

A shudder ran down Kristen's spine at the mention of the incident. "How do you read that gruesome stuff? I mean, thirteen people were killed." Kristen looked sincerely concerned now, as she always did when this subject came up. Twenty years ago, in this same quiet little town, a gruesome discovery was made. It was the body of a young woman, lying dead with her eyes open and a pentagram carved into her abdomen. The autopsy revealed a message carved into the woman's back, relaying the blood-chilling tale of how she died, and the reasons behind it. It had said that the town stood on sacred ground, where dwelt a spirit, and that for as long as the town stood, the townspeople would continue to die. Twelve more bodies were found, each with a pentagram in their stomach and a message on their back containing a clue to the next murder. The police were turning the town inside out, but the killer was never found.

What they did find was the next victim, as indicated by the clue on the last corpse's back. In scarlet text on human skin, it had been written, "A wealthy man next shall fall, unless you leave this land. A demon more than I in his heart, he casts the dreams of men upon the rocks. You should thank me for his demise." A list of all the wealthy men in Silver Pine was constructed, and for days, it was examined in detail. Just when it seemed that the killings would happen again, a man stepped foreword to ask for protective custody. His name was Dean Ardell, and he was the former president of a law firm that had been based in the town. One year previous, he had closed the firm without any warning, and many people in the town lost their jobs and homes. The police took the man in, and for two weeks, he stayed in their care. He was never killed, and the grizzly murders were at an end.

"Yeah, it's gruesome stuff alright," Emma agreed. "But I think it's kind of fascinating. I mean, it couldn't really have been a ghost, so someone had to do it. I want to know who!" There was a childish curiosity in her voice. It was always their when Emma was researching. It was her thirst for knowledge.

"Emma, I know you're always so big about finding things out," Kristen said, her voice still muted with worry. "But some things are best left unsolved. I mean, if it were really a person, they would've been caught."

Emma gave Kristen an incredulous look. "You really believe in the ghost, don't you?" She sounded as if she was surprised, and if she was, she shouldn't have been. After all, this was Kristen she was talking to, queen of vampires, witches and things that go bump in the night. "Those dumb books you read have fried your mind."

"Like you should talk," Kristen said, her voice cheerful again. She pushed the book in Emma's hands forward and into her face in a playful gesture, and Emma simply glared at her, wishing they were outside in the winter so she could throw something at her without getting into trouble. Kristen just kept smiling her sly little smile, and Emma couldn't quite manage to maintain her scowl. "Either way, even if it was a person, there were never any suspects. How could you solve a case that hasn't been solved in 20 years of investigation?"

"You won't," said a rather dreary voice from behind them. It took them by surprised because it had been so sudden, but almost immediately, it became familiar. They knew without turning to look that it had to be Robby. "It was the Demon. Case closed. Don't waste your time." Without another word, he walked away from them. Kristen turned to look after him, but Emma just scoffed and looked back to her book.

"What happened with him?" Kristen asked after a few moments. "I mean, he used to be such a nice guy."

"Well I didn't think he was so great," Emma said, nose now buried deep in her book.
"And he's wrong to boot. I swear I'm going to find out who did this, no matter what Robby Greendale may say."

Despite her words to the contrary, Emma did indeed wonder what had happened to Robby, the nice guy she and Kristen had been friends with since junior high. Looking at him now, as he sat in the far corner of the library, he seemed like a different person. Emma tried to see what books he was reading lately. Maybe his new interests could give her a clue. She had almost made out one title, but her view was soon blocked by another boy around their age. Emma cringed as the boy took a seat next to Robby, an unpleasant grin on his face.

The boy was Mike Randal, and at the moment he seemed too preoccupied gloating to Robby to engage in his favorite extra curricular activity of torturing Emma. Robby looked up from his book tiredly, and after the obligatory hi-fives, handed over a book from his pile. Emma had lost all interest in watching the idiots, and returned to her research.

After they had each had their fill of reading, the girls rose in unison to return their respective books. After all the books were shelved, the two left the library and walked together along the sidewalk leading away from the library. They chatted idly as they walked along, smiling and laughing like they always did. When they reached the end of the sidewalk, the two hugged, said their goodbyes, and went their separate ways.

The wind had died down by the time she reached the tree lined street outside of her house, and the trees stood stalk still, watching silently as she passed by. She counted off the houses on the block until she reached hers, the fourth. She went up to the door and pushed it open, for by now she knew it was never locked. There had never been much need for locks in Silver Pine. It was late enough by now that dinner was over, and her father was asleep in front of the TV. She wasn't hungry, and was too busy thinking to eat anyway. She needed to sleep, and be ready for school tomorrow.