Dan and Jeff were two overworked and underpaid farm hands living in West Texas. Their typical routine every Friday night was to get off work and go to their favorite watering hole downtown, The Six Shooter, which was where they let out their anger and frustration on the other patrons. They usually were kicked out at around 11:30PM every Friday night after they’ve had one too many, and this night was no different.
Dan and Jeff staggered to their truck, put the key in the ignition after struggling by way of the darkness and alcohol. They put the truck in drive and left the bar.
Dan stared ahead into the night. The road was narrow and was surrounded by forest on both sides. Jeff drifted in and out of sleep. “Why don’t you slow down?” Jeff asked with a muffled tone, “I would like to get home alive.”
Dan didn’t pay any attention and kept focus on the road. His mind started to drift when the sound of the engine was drowned out by Jeff yelling “Dan, look out! There’s a kid in the road!”
Dan looked ahead and saw a little girl standing in the middle of the road. He hit the brakes but the truck ran her completely over!
“No, no, no, no!” Dan shouted, “Is she moving?” Both men ran to the little girl and saw her lifeless body.
“She isn’t moving!” Jeff said, “We have to get help!”
Dan shook his head. “If you do that the cops will get involved and they’ll send me back to prison! I promised my mom on her death-bed that I would never go back there.”
Jeff was disgusted by his friend’s statement. “We just can’t leave her here, Dan,” Jeff said, “It ain’t right to just leave her here like this.”
Dan threw up in a nearby ditch and fell to his knees. “Let’s at least get her out of the road,” Jeff said. “She deserves some respect.”
Jeff picked the little girl up and laid her down in the ditch. “We need to get help,” he reiterated.
“Yeah, because you weren’t the one driving and you’re not as near as drunk as I was.”
Jeff shook his head. “It’s the right thing to do, Dan. What would your mom think?”
Dan froze when a thought flashed across his mind. “I know what to do,” he said.
“And that is?” Jeff replied.
“We go back to the farm and bury her!” Dan exclaimed, “There’s shovels there and i’ts so big that no one will ever find where we buried her!”
Jeff hesitated a moment. He could go to town and get help or help his friend out of a bad situation. “Alright, Dan,” Jeff said. “But you’ll owe me.”
The two drove back to the farm and snuck into the tool shed and got two shovels. They then drove deep into the forest. They found a small clearing and started digging. When the shallow grave was big enough, they got the little girl’s body and threw it in. Jeff looked down at her face as she slowly covered in dirt. She was the most precious thing he had ever seen. He looked her dead in the eye and apologized. He couldn’t talk Dan out of it no matter how hard he tried. They buried her and covered the loose earth with leaves and brush. They then drove away and went home.
Jeff didn’t sleep at all that night. Her face haunted her. He felt like he had just killed an angel.
They got to work earlier then usual the next Monday. Their boss was a little surprised when they drove up. “Did you two finally want to start being model employees?” he asked.
Dan shuttered and could barely speak. “Yes sir, we thought you showed us the error of our ways and so we thought why not start today?” Their boss had a slight smile. “Why does that sound like sarcasm?” he asked.
“Oh, it ain’t sir,” Jeff added, “You’ve reformed us.”
The two men got out of the truck and got to work. The day seemed to drag on and the work seemed harder than usual. They both praised God when the sun went down and their day ended. They started for the truck.
“I’m tired, Dan,” Jeff said, “Especially after what went down Friday night.”
Dan put his hand on Jeff’s shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said, “She’s so deep in there that no one is ever going to find her.”
Jeff shrugged and just nodded his head. He was just about to put his key in the door when something started shining of the corner of his eye. “What is that?” Jeff asked and pointed towards the woods.
Dan look where he was pointing. “I don’t know,” he said, “I’m guessing it’s Lyrnard look for some lost cattle or something.”
Jeff just stared at the mysterious light. “Maybe he found our tracks and he’s heading to where we buried her!” Dan shouted with terror in his voice. Dan bolted out running towards the light and Jeff went running after him. “Dan, even if he finds it he won’t be able to know we were the ones that buried her!” Jeff shouted but it didn’t slow Dan down.
They were about to enter the woods when Dan stopped dead in his tracks. He stopped and nearly fainted.
“I don’t think its Lyrnard,” Jeff said with a bit of fear in his voice. “It’s moving up and down, sideways, and forwards and backwards.”
Jeff grabbed Dan by the shoulder and said “Lets get the hell out of here.” Dan walked forward and didn’t say a word. Jeff called out to him but he didn’t respond. He grew increasingly more scared with each step Dan took. “What are you doing?” Jeff asked. “It would probably be a good idea to get out of here.”
Dan kept an even pace and kept his course towards the light. As they got closer, they could see that it wasn’t a ball of light like they thought but it was the figure of a little girl floating amongst the trees.
Jeff’s face turned white as snow when he looked into the eyes of the apparition. It was the little girl they had struck that one Friday night. Dan started to cry and he fell to his knees. “I’m so sorry!” he screamed at her, “I didn’t mean to do it!”
The apparition turned to look at them. It had a look of sadness and loneliness on its face. Suddenly, the apparition began to cry and with a wailing voice it said, “You killed me and treated me like you would treat a dead dog!”
Jeff was terrified at this point but he was frozen in fear. “I’m sorry!” Dan said, “I’m so very sorry!” Dan couldn’t look away. Jeff ran out of the woods as fast as he could and didn’t look back until he was back at the truck, threw it in Drive, and drove off as fast as he could and never thought once about Dan. He didn’t stop until he got home. He couldn’t sleep so he sat on his couch with all the lights in the house on.
A few hours later, he finally worked up the courage to go back to the farm and try to find Dan. When he got there, he didn’t see the light and he went into the woods to investigate. He found Dan laying motionless on the ground. He was still on his knees. Jeff was terrified and he ran to Lyrnard’s house to use his phone. He called the police and told everything that happened. He also showed them where the body was buried. They couldn’t do anything about Dan. When Jeff was asked about what had happened to him, he simple replied that his own sin had looked him Dead in the Eye.
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