I Don’t Talk to Ghosts

Owl Creek - Wyoming

Cyrus snapped up, dropping his canteen and turning towards the voice. He couldn't see anything, but he knew there was someone in the tree line. The voice sounded strange though, Cyrus couldn't quite make out anything except the words "friend," and "poison." These were enough to convey the message though, the water was toxic. Cyrus stamped his foot slightly, frustrated by the fact he knew better and almost drank from the creek anyway.

"Well... I appreciate you looking out brother man..." Cyrus yelled out into direction of the voice. He hoped his hillbilly drawl could be understood this far north.

"Most people have a much harder time sneakin up on me, I give you credit feller. Think you could come out? Talk to me face to face? I come in peace brother man, but I also don't like talking to ghosts. My mama said that's devil worship." Cyrus chuckled at his own joke, then raised his hands above his head to show he was unarmed. Of course, that didn't really mean anything, but the person in the woods didn't know that.

Both Perrine and Peekaboo, on his shoulder, turned their heads to look at one another upon hearing the man’s reply. They both shared the same facial expression in being surprised by the accent. Perrine could recall hearing something similar to it back in college from a young man in his dorm that was out of state. What was he studying? Well it didn’t matter anyways. This accent was much thicker though.

Cyrus would hear an orchestration of crow chatter somewhere in the trees above him. Their timing gave the illusion that they were laughing at his joke. In actuality though, they were talking back and forth with Perrine, verifying it was the man that they saw flying earlier.

Perrine was peeking out just enough to see Cyrus’s gesture of peace, but not enough to come out of the shadows. The sun having dipped lower was making all things harder to see even if one knew where to look. It was a new moon as well, so only the bioluminescent glows were differentiating the edges between objects and if close enough to a light source providing some semblance of detail.

“A flynn mann iz alvays armed.” Perrine cautiously replied. “Stat yoo busyness frsst.” He strategically gave away the fact that he knew he was a telekinetic. Perrine thought it best to get that fact out on the table and for delaying any further hospitality until it was deemed safe enough. He could empathetically perceive a high degree of confidence from the mystery man. Perrine’s labored voice in contrast was serious.

Meanwhile he squeaked in a whisper back at Peekaboo. She was poking him and telling him he was a scaredy-cat. Peekaboo was the more daring between the two.

Cyrus flinched when he heard the caws echoing around him. That was strange... Cyrus turned toward the voice again as it called out.

*Damn... he saw me fly* Cyrus shook his head. The jig was up.

"You got me there brother man." Cyrus said with a huff while lowering his arms. "I'm just trying to find clean water, been on the road a while. Looking for some friends out here is all."