"Ready to go?"
My husband asked, as he loaded the last suitcase into the car.
Dawn was just breaking and we liked getting an early start.
"I'm ready, I'm passed ready. Finally a vacation. I can't believe it. It's been three years since we even had a weekend away. I'm really excited about exploring some of those quaint, old Southern towns."
Northern Virginia could be a bit overwhelming with its large population, high prices and traffic jams. We were looking forward to a restful vacation in the sleepy, Low Country of South Carolina.
We drove for hours down the boring interstate highway. Every mile looked like the mile before it until at last we began to see palm trees and Spanish moss hanging everywhere. Even the atmosphere had changed from just hot to hotter and excessively humid. It was twilight and we finally found the bed and breakfast where we had reservations. The house looked like an antebellum plantation. I was impressed with the architectural beauty, though I was sure the original owner would roll over in his grave if he could see how unkempt the yard was and how cracked paint was peeling from the large window frames. The heavy, ornate, double doors made a creeeeek sound on their rusty hinges as we opened them and stepped inside another world. The fragrance of antiquity and gardenia wafted through the air.
A portly, old lady sat behind the check-in desk, her stringy gray hair pulled back into a tight bun. Her lips and cheeks were sunken by the obvious absence of teeth.
"Ya'll need some help Suga? Did ya'll have a reservation?"
"Yes Ma'am, my wife and I called you last week for reservations. The name's Porter, Jim and Sharlese Porter."
"Ya'll come from somewhere up North, don't you? I could tell right away you don't sound like us but that's alright Suga, we're still glad to have you here to visit with us."
"We're really from the South. Northern Virginia and yes, our drawl is barley noticeable compared to the beauty of yours."
She shuffled though the pages of the dusty book in front of her.
"Oh yes, Darlin, I have it right here and will you be spendin the entire week with us as planned? You sure are a pretty, little thang Miss Sharlese. Reminds me of some of the ladies' portraits that hang in the stairway. My name's Tiliah but most folks round here just calls me Miss Tilly and I'm real pleased to meet Ya'll. Ya'll are a precious couple, just precious. Breakfast is at eight, lunch at one and supper at six. If ya'll get hungry in the night I always leave snack food on the sideboard and tea in the ice box. Ya'll feel free just to help yourselves. Towels and wash cloths are in the cupboard in the bathroom and if you need anythin I'm most always here at the desk, just ring that bell if you don't see me. Now I'll get Lester to take your bags up to the room."
Miss Tilly swatted the desk bell as if she was killing a poisonous spider and soon Lester appeared to carry our bags. He was a tall and painfully thin, old gentleman with a bald head and three days growth of gray whiskers on his aged face. I wondered if he might be Miss Tilly's husband since there was definitely no genetic resemblance between them.
"Here, My Friend, let me help you with those heavy bags," My husband offered. I think he felt sorry for Lester having to lift and carry so much weight up the winding stairs.
The room was clean, the canopy bed so romantic. Once again I had the impression of being in another time. It was late, and it had been an exhausting ride. We fell across the bed and went to sleep. We knew nothing until a rooster in the back yard wakened us with his proud crow.
After a delicious breakfast we decided to go explore some of the historic sights and old towns. Miss Tilly was glad to advise us which places to go.
"Now, ya'll really will enjoy goin out to some of the islands and the French Quarter. Then there's little ole towns Mt. Pleasant, Boon Hall, and you'd enjoy Folly Beach. Lots a little towns round here besides the city itself, lots a history in the city. You can see bout all them towns in a week's time, cept for Harmony. Wouldn't waste time goin to Harmony, nothin good there to see. Now ya'll be careful and have fun. It's a sunny day Miss Sharlese, best take your umbrelly or a hat to shield your skin. Sun round here can be awful on a lady's skin. Storms can come up real quick so if you see clouds gatherin head for shelter cause storms here on the coast can be right powerful and dangerous."
We waved goodbye to Miss Tilly, peeled back the top on the BMW convertible and headed toward some of the islands. The weather was glorious and we spent most of the day enjoying the coast. On our way back to the bed and breakfast we saw a sign in the middle of nowhere.
"Harmony 5 Miles."
"Should we go Jim? We still have some time before dark. What do you think?"
"Darling, Miss Tilly said there's nothing to see in Harmony."
"I know but there have to be some old structures and maybe an old cemetery. You know we like historical trivia that might seem boring to most people."
"Ok, lets go. I'm hungry. Maybe there'll be an old Mom and Pop cafe there."
He made the left turn and in just a few minutes we passed the 35mph speed sign and the "Welcome To Harmony," sign at the town limits. It was truly more historic than I could have wished for. Many Victorian homes that looked like they hadn't seen a paintbrush in decades. We spotted a rundown little diner and decided to stop. There was plenty of room to park. Our car was the only one visible on the decaying street.
Inside the diner there were no customers and no one to serve us. Cobwebs hung from the light fixtures. The counter and table tops were covered in dust. A mouse ran across my shoe, I was ready to leave. We couldn't be far from Miss Tilly's and we could eat there.
We got back into the car and drove toward the church steeple we had spied. Just a quick look at that and the cemetery and our visit to Harmony would be over. We began to notice a few people walking down the sidewalk. They all seemed preoccupied, as though they didn't see us. They were all dressed up, the men in suits and the ladies in Sunday dresses. Some of them were carrying Bibles. It was Monday night but maybe they had something special going on in church.
Clouds were beginning to gather and a hot sunny afternoon had turned into an ever darkening twilight. There were no street lights and no lights in the houses we passed. More people seemed to be crowding the sidewalks as we neared the church.
"Pull up in front of the church James and we'll take a look at the old cemetery."
"Sharlese this is creepy, this just doesn't feel right to me. I think we should pull over, raise the top and head out of here."
When we parked the car several people walked past us. James called out "Good Evening" to them but they failed to reply or even notice us. Now I was beginning to get creeped out. Something was definitely not harmonious in Harmony.
Just as I was about to sit in the passenger seat and close the car door, one of the women on the sidewalk looked directly at me. Her eyes were glazed as though she was blind. She moved close to me and whispered,
"Welcome to Harmony. Storm comin aint it?"
I could smell her fetid breath and the scent of death that clung to her. I slammed the car door and screamed to James,
"Step on the gas, step on it, NOW."
We left Harmony doing about eighty. We were pretty sure there was no law enforcement to give us a ticket. Soon we were grateful to be back at Miss Tilly's. By then the storm was raging.
I was still shaken and I must have been pale. Miss Tilly greeted us from behind her desk.
"Well lands sakes, are you sick Miss Sharlese? You look pale as a ghost. Where ya'll been today? Did ya'll have a good time?"
"We went to the islands and stopped by Harmony on the way home." James replied. "Something just seemed strange there, it sort of freaked us out."
"Oh Lord have mercy, Jesus. I told ya'll not to go to Harmony. Aint a soul lived there in nigh on fifty years. Nobody ever goes to Harmony and them that does won't ever go back. It's a ghost town and I don't just mean deserted. There's people walkin round there but they aint live people. Years ago there was an awful fire. The church burned down and all the souls inside perished. I told you not to go to Harmony. Lord have mercy, no wonder Miss Sharlese is so pale. Now ya'll go on into the dinning room, suppers on the table and it's still hot. I'll go pour ya'll some iced tea."
There was a loud boom of thunder as the storm cut off the power, leaving only the dim light of twilight coming through the tall windows. We started toward the dinning room and I looked back to ask Miss Tilly a question. She had just moved from behind her desk. A flash of lighting revealed that she had no legs...only a head and torso. Her mouth turned up in an insidious grin as she glided like a vapor across the floor toward us.
We both screamed and headed for the car, leaving our bags behind in the room. This would be our last trip to the Low Country and we have never even spoken of Harmony SC again.
Makes one wonder about visiting the old South. Reminds me of my mother telling me one time when they were traveling in the South and stopped At a mom-and-pop restaurant. "There were roaches running over the mashed potatoes." Tilly and that bed-and-breakfast could serve as a very good location for American Horror Story, currently filming in Roanoke.
Your story also reminds me of the night my wife and I were late finding a motel in Baton Rouge. The one we found consisted of old rundown outlying cottages. We stayed about an hour before my wife got scared and we left.
I think you meant "… past ready." "… with its large population,…" "… Is barely noticeable…" "…, supper's on the table…" Although all these words get past a spellchecker. ;-)
In the end they'll all be dancin'--all them ones that didn't die.... Dance with me in the shadows amidst the lightning and the thunder, and all that nu-cu-lar debris. See the big bang from the other side, and then open that cellar door. Go down into
