The Old Caboose

Suspense Stories | Dec 20, 2011 | 6 min read
272 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
Suspense Stories

The Old Caboose

I couldn't breathe!  Something was covering my face, and trying to suffocate me.  I tried screaming but nothing came out. I tore at whatever was on my face, and suddenly I could breathe again, but I was blinded by something bright. Duh! I was wrestling with my pillow, and now that it was off my face the sunlight hit me right in the eyes. Sheesh, I started giggling, what a doofus I was. I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs ready for the weekend and something exciting to do.

It didn't take long to eat and get dressed. I needed to think of another adventure, and of course, the best place to do that was my secret hideaway. I decided to stop by Jared's and see if he wanted to come with me, sometimes two heads were better than one.  Jumping on my bike, it was "Hi Ho Blue Awaayy!"

Rounding the corner, I saw Jared's brother Dustin outside on the front porch. I went up the driveway, slammed on the brakes and skidded into the porch. Dustin looked at me, shook his head then proceeded to go in the house shutting the door in my face.  Whatever!  I rang the doorbell and had to wait until Jared opened the door.

"Your brother can be a real donut hole."

"Yeah, you're not telling me anything I don't already know."

"Anyways, just wondering if you want to come to the hideaway with me.  We need to think of something to do today."

"Sure. I'll grab my bike and meet you out front."

Just then Dustin walked past me with two twizzlers stuck up his nose. "Hey Hailey, what's happening? " He chuckled and continued to walk out the door. Boy, he needed some serious help.

I ran out the door and grabbed Blue, Jared came up beside me, and we were off.  It was another beautiful fall day, and I loved seeing the leaves that were turning red, orange and yellow. I felt a burst of energy and sped ahead of Jared. He stood up to peddle and tried to catch me. Now it was a race to the hideaway.

I slid on the grass and struggled to stay upright as I got to the hideaway first. "Winner!"

Jumping off Blue, I did a little dance and immediately went down when my feet got tangled.

Laughing hysterically, Jared plopped down beside me. "Okay klutz, let's figure out what we're doing today."

We sat there trying to think of something different. We'd been to a coal mine, an old school house, an Indian burial ground and a haunted house. Those adventures had scared us half to death.  We didn't need anything like that again!

As we sat there, I looked around taking in the trees and stream.  I noticed the old train tracks that were partially visible through the trees.  There was at least one box car sitting on the tracks.

"I've got it. We've never checked out the train tracks over there." I jumped up and grabbed Blue.

"Sweet!" Jared grabbed his bike, and we were on our way.

Now I was getting excited. What would we find?

We got to the tracks, and there were three railroad cars on it, two box cars with their side doors slid open, and one old and very interesting caboose.

"Awesome, look at that old caboose." Jared laid his bike down and ran towards it. I did the same.

As we climbed in we could see some seats, benches and a small coal stove. Was this cool or what.

"Holy cow!" I jumped and knocked Jared into one of the seats.

Someone was sitting in the front.  When I got a better look, I realized it wasn't someone but something.  We walked towards it and could see that it was a scarecrow.

"Wow, I bet this was left here from Halloween." Jared pulled a piece of straw out from the back of its head.

Halloween had been a couple weeks ago, and we had an experience at Old Lady Grey's house that we still avoided talking about.

I walked around the scarecrow so I could see the front. He wore a cowboy hat, red shirt with bib overalls, and a blue checkered handkerchief around his neck. He didn't really have a face, just a pipe stuck where his mouth would be, but his eyes were weird. They seem to look at you no matter where you moved. I couldn't tell exactly what they were, two shiny black rocks, or two big black marbles? Whatever they were, the eyes started to creep me out.

"Hailey, come back here and sit down. "

I went back and sat on the bench across from Jared. Looking out the windows you could almost feel the train moving. I glanced towards the scarecrow again, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Its head was turned around, and the eyes were looking right at me!

"Jared.'"

"What?"

"That scarecrow is looking at us." My voice was shaking.

"No way." Jared turned from his window. "Drat it is looking at us. Somebody must be tricking us. I bet that's why it's here. You go and look through the other two cars, and I'll look underneath them. If anyone is here we'll find them."

We jumped out of the caboose, and I went into the other cars, while Jared crawled along the ground looking under them.

"Nothing here, did you see anything under the cars?"

"Nope, maybe the straw was settling and the head just got loose and turned on the stick."

"Sure, that has to be what happened." I tried hard to believe it.

We walked back to the caboose, but I was feeling uneasy.  We climbed back in and pretended we were traveling to our next train stop.

I looked out my window and imaged the train moving, and the trees flying past.

"I can almost feel the train moving, how about you?" Jared was smiling.

I grinned at him, "Me too."

In an instant my grin froze, the color drained from my face. I looked at Jared, and his smile was gone replace by a look of fear.  The train, it was moving! I tried to get up, we needed to get out of here, but I couldn't move from my seat.  I heard a rustling sound in front of me, and could smell grass or hay. No, it was straw, and the scarecrow was slowly rising out of his seat! I opened my mouth to scream, nothing but air came out. I wanted to run but felt paralyzed, I couldn't stop watching the thing in front of me as it continued awkwardly to try and stand.

"Hailey!" Jared didn't have a problem moving and grabbed my arm.  With more quickness then I ever thought I had, I ran and jumped out of the caboose. We grabbed our bikes and took off. I was trembling so hard that I could barely control Blue. It wasn't until we got to my house that I finally quit shaking.

We got off our bikes and sat on the porch. After a few minutes Jared said, "You know it had to be someone tricking us."

"Yeh, the more I think about it, the more I'm sure we made fools of ourselves. We never got close enough to really check that scarecrow out."

"Right. It had to be someone dressed like a scarecrow, and we fell for it totally. I bet somebody is laughing their buns off right now." Jared smacked the porch. "This is another adventure that ended up with us looking like idiots!"

I started to laugh.

"What's so funny?'

"You," I was laughing so hard I snorted. "You kept trying to step on your peddle, but you missed it about three times before you finally found it and rode off. Back there it wasn't funny but now it is."

In a couple seconds, Jared was laughing and snorting too. Another crazy day and probably not the last one.

Jared waved good bye, and I went in the house to see if I could find something to snack on. Later on, I read one of my favorite mystery books until I could no longer keep my eyes open, then went to bed.

Something during the night woke me." Wooo Wooo Wooo . . . . .  Wooo Wooo Wooo" It was a train whistle. Normally it doesn't wake me, but I had left my window opened a little.  I climbed out of my warm cozy bed to close it.  Pew, I wrinkled my nose, it smelled dusty or grassy or something in here.  My floor felt like I was walking on leaves. What the . . . .? I turned my light on, and saw some straw lying on the floor with more under my window. I tip toed over and reached out to close it. I flinched, then sucked in my breath; there, caught on my window latch, was a blue checkered handkerchief!

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Reviews

Priyanka Dec 27, 2011

nice and interesting story...

Bon Rose Dec 27, 2011

Thank you priyanka, so glad you liked it, hope you read and enjoy my new one The Old Mummy, if it ever gets published on here! (:

Chanchal Dec 27, 2011

It's Interesting and a scary tale.....

Bon Rose Dec 27, 2011

Thanks so much Chanchal, you made my day!

Gabi Dec 26, 2011

very interesting, something you dont read every day. Great job! (:

Bon Rose Dec 27, 2011

Thank you Gabi, so happy you liked it! Appreciate your comment.

Devil Dec 24, 2011

Its a different and interesting story...

Bon Rose Dec 24, 2011

Thank you for taking the time to read and leave a review!

Soniya Dec 24, 2011

Its a scary experience you have shared here... good effort..

Bon Rose Dec 25, 2011

Thank you (:

Bon Rose Dec 20, 2011

Thank you! Appreciate you taking the time to read it. (:

Geeta Dec 20, 2011

Thats very well written... :)

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