{"id":2871,"date":"2015-10-28T04:00:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T04:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/?p=2871"},"modified":"2018-05-07T16:29:15","modified_gmt":"2018-05-07T16:29:15","slug":"the-scarecrow-by-grey-harlowe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/the-scarecrow-by-grey-harlowe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scarecrow by Grey Harlowe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"house\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

The Scarecrow<\/h1>\n

by Grey Harlowe<\/p>\n

When we first heard him say it, we thought he was crazy. Life in Burns, Nebraska can do that to you. Especially if you\u2019re manning the register of your father\u2019s farm supply store alone, like Troy had been, while his dad trekked back and forth to the hospice. Troy\u2019s mom about to die could have pushed him over the edge, too. It seemed like a lot to deal with for someone \u201cstill so young,\u201d they say, as if seventeen is that young anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m telling you guys, that thing is creeping up on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018That thing\u2019 was the scarecrow his father always has up in the stretch of grass behind the store. I never understood why. It\u2019s a big yard, not farmland. Troy\u2019s family gave up farming a decade ago. Why bother with a scarecrow for an empty lawn?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s closer every time I look out that window,\u201d he said, gesturing to his right. His red hair was messy and he looked generally unkempt. He also seemed completely serious.<\/p>\n

We shuffled about uncomfortably. We were his friends, supposed to be supporting him. What do you say when it seems like someone\u2019s really losing it?<\/p>\n

Personally, I thought he might be restless. We\u2019re all prone to stir craziness around these parts. So much space, so little to do. Plus all these fields. Spooky sometimes, even if you grew up with them.<\/p>\n

The next time I saw him was in front of the Circle K. I\u2019d gone out for a nine p.m. munchies run. He was smoking. I hadn\u2019t known Troy smoked.<\/p>\n

Tentatively, I asked how he was.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s getting closer. I think it walks at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked, could he take time off from the register? Visit his mom?<\/p>\n

He shook his head. \u201cShe doesn\u2019t talk anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

I offered to check in on him the next day, and did. His hair was still awry, and I saw he hadn\u2019t been shaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at that,\u201d was how he greeted me.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at it,\u201d he repeated, when I refused.<\/p>\n

\u201cTroy. It\u2019s just a…thing with old clothes on. A stupid hat. Stuffed with hay. Not a monster. You should go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slowly, he closed up, and I walked him to his car. As he left the store\u2019s lot, I glanced over my shoulder. The scarecrow was where it had always been.<\/p>\n

That was the last we saw of Troy. First, his parents\u2019 store went dark, a CLOSED sign on the door. Then he hadn\u2019t been at school for days. There was a \u2018missing kid\u2019 crisis, although only briefly. It was largely assumed he had run away.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what I believe. Mostly anyway. Although I did go by the store once, after Troy disappeared. Under \u2018that\u2019 window was the scarecrow, slumped against the store siding like a rag doll. And I don\u2019t know if this is weird or not, because I never noticed it before, but underneath its floppy farmer\u2019s hat, were several chunks of dried red hair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we first heard him say it, we thought he was crazy. Life in Burns, Nebraska can do that to you. Especially if you\u2019re manning the register of your father\u2019s farm supply<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[88,379],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horror","category-scary-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2872,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2871\/revisions\/2872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}