Short Story Fiction
A Walk in the Park
Scott A. Gese
He had no clue as to what possessed him to take a midnight walk in a dangerous park.
UnsplashBuford Rangle sat at his desk with his fingers on the keyboard. He was set to write another chapter of the book he was working on. An idea was rolling around in his mind that would change the direction of his storyline. He would write a word or two, then have second thoughts and delete it.
As he sat there perplexed, one of his fingers began to twitch. As hard as he tried he couldn’t make it stop. Several others started to twitch as well. Thinking it was only tension he flexed and shook them. They felt better. He went for his keyboard again and as if they had a mind of their own his fingers began to click away at the keys.
He quickly pulled his hands away. He hadn’t meant to do that. The typing was an involuntary action. What he had typed was not what he was thinking. He deleted it and tried again. Once again his fingers took over.
Buford looked at the screen in disbelief. Just as last time he had typed out one sentence. “You should go for a walk in the park.” This was not what he wanted to type. He had no intention to go for a walk in the park. It was after dark and the park at this time of night wasn’t safe.
Buford decided to try something. He typed a reply. “Why would I want to go for a walk in the park? It’s dark and unsafe.”
With his fingers still on the keys, a reply was instantaneous. This time the words were all in caps. “YOU SHOULD GO FOR A WALK IN THE PARK.” was the reply.
Buford replied back. “Rather forceful, don’t you think?” He couldn’t believe he was having a conversation with his keyboard. Again a reply was instantaneous.
His fingers were on their own. “YOU SHOULD GO FOR A WALK IN THE PARK, NOW!”
Buford stopped to think about what was happening. He didn’t believe in spirits. He figured there was something deep in his subconscious mind that was imploring him to go to the park. Against his better judgment, Buford put on his coat, grabbed his hat and headed for the door. As he walked down the street he noticed one of the neighbor kids had left a baseball bat in their front yard. His intuition told him to pick it up and take it with him. He thought it was a good idea.
When he got to the park he stopped. “Now what? Left? Right?… I’ll go left.”
He turned to the left but then had an overwhelming urge to change his mind and go right. As he walked deeper into the park his heightened senses picked up a muffled sound in the bushes along the path. Something was there. For an instant he thought he was about to be mugged but no one showed themselves. After hearing the sound again he became curious and decided to investigate. It was against his better judgement but he was compelled by some unknown force to do it.
He stepped off the path and into the brush. A man dressed in black was about to force himself on a defenseless woman he had dragged from the path. Buford didn’t bother to introduce himself. It was easy enough to seed what was happening. He swung his bat and caught the man in the head. It laid him out cold.
He stooped to see if the woman was hurt. To his surprise he was looking into the face of someone he knew. It was his next door neighbor.
© Copyright 2023 by Scott A. Gese All Rights Reserved.
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