The Mayors family hadn’t been in the same place in years. The last time had been a short lived thanksgiving at the senior Mayors house. That time they had made it a half hour before the fighting had started. By the hour mark Ryan was on his way out with a then nine year old Marty. Once again Ryan found himself on the other side of his parents. He was standing in their house on their land. Micah was by his side. Their parents, tiny Jillian and steel faced William stood in silence. They used their eyes to relay their feelings. The words would be coming soon.

“I can’t believe you guys drove in this weather. The bridge is blocked. How did you even get on the island?” Micah asked.

They stayed still. At this point they could read each other without saying a word. They were planning an attack.

“The bridge was fine when we crossed it. Must have happened after,” William said.

“Well I guess you two are stuck here until the weather settles down and they can clear the bridge.’

“Ryan. Are you leaving when the storm passes?” Jillian asked.

Micah watched his brother. They were all stuck here for now. Legally their parents could kick them all out if they wanted. They were only asking for Ryan though. They came all this way just for him. Just to torment him.

“Marty. Can you go to you room?”

“Why?” Marty asked.

Ryan’s face turned. Marty had slipped up. You were allowed to question your parents when you were older. Not when you were Twelve.

“Okay.”

Marty went to walk off.

“Wait,” Micah said.

Micah picked up a flashlight and handed it to Marty.

“Just in case the lights go out.”

Marty took the flashlight from him and proceeded down the hallway. Ryan waited until he heard the door close before turning to face his parents.

“We can’t leave yet. I’ll have a job soon and be able to get an apartment for us. But that’s still a couple of weeks away. If it’s rent you want then I can pay. I have money still saved up,” Ryan said.

“It isn’t about money. This is our house. We never invited you to stay here,” William said.

“Come on Dad. He had a panic attack. Nearly had a stroke. They needed a place to stay for a month or so. You guys never even come around here. You wouldn’t have even known that they were here if we didn’t call and tell you.”

“This is our house,” Jillian said.

William stepped in front of his wife. She was the one who really ran things but he was the grunt who had to pass down judgement.

“You have to go. Tomorrow. Or the next day. The weather will be clear by then. Go find your own home. This one is ours.”

Ryan laughed and looked at the ground. This was typical of his parents. They braved the storm just to kick him out again. They probably would have brought the police if the police weren’t busy and stuck on the other side of the bridge.

“You two are unbelievable. You can’t just give me a couple weeks. You have nothing to lose. You are just sick. Sick, petty people. You can’t give anything. Not even to your own son.”

“Come on Mom. This is crazy. We’re all family. This is all shit. You have to see that,” Micah said.

“Hey! Watch how you talk to your mother. We could kick you out also if we wanted,” William said.

Now Micah was laughing also.

“Sure Dad. You do that. Just go pay some random person to come take care of the house. You barely trust me. You won’t leave this house in someone else’s hands.”

“Don’t tell us what we will or won’t do with our house!” William said.

“Keep your voice down. Marty already knows you want us out. Try not to make him think we are about to come to blows too,” Ryan said.

Marty knew that they were going to have to leave soon. He wasn’t focused on that though. He was staring out his window instead. Out into the storm. The rain was covering everything. The wind was creating sounds that he had never heard before. Somewhere in all of that he thought he saw something else. Something moving in the storm. He thought it looked like someone was walking back and forth along the tree line. His face was pressed against the window. He stared through the glass but didn’t dare move the latch to its open position. This window was staying locked. He was sure of that.

His eyes adjusted to the storm. Soon it was like he was moving at the same speed as the pouring rain. The rain and wind lined up for him and painted a clear picture. He could see right through the storm all the way to the tree line. The trees didn’t look like they were real anymore. They looked like a painting. All of them one big green brush stroke. The figure that was pacing back and forth in front of the trees was small. Not an adult body. It looked more like a little boy. Then it stopped pacing. It was right in the center of his view. It turned its head and looked right at Marty. Marty still couldn’t make out its features. He couldn’t see its eyes. But he knew it was looking at him. It could see through the storm just like he could. Something inside him was telling him that this storm wasn’t just a storm. That it was some sort of key for whatever was in the forest. He got scared that the storm had opened the door for whatever it was that stayed in the woods. Then the thing at the tree line validated those fears. It started walking towards him, right through the storm.

Marty wanted to run. He wanted to scream. Something was stopping him though. It was like he was back in the nightmare. He tried to turn away and head for the door but he couldn’t. His faced stayed glued to the window as the thing kept moving towards him with a slow, deliberate gait. With each step the thing became more defined. It wasn’t a thing anymore, now it was a boy. The boy had on khaki shorts and a blue striped t-shirt. He was over half way to the window now. Halfway to being face to face with Marty. Marty could see his face now. It was grey and veiny, like a weightlifter who had strained himself too hard and then ended up in a black and white movie. Marty pushed against the windowsill, trying to pry himself from the glass. He couldn’t. His voice had gone and hid somewhere deep in his stomach. The ghoulish boy was closing in. He was ten steps away. Steps nine and eight made Marty want to vomit. Seven and six came and his bladder was loosening. Five, four, and three. Somebody help me. He was pleading in his head. It was at two when he found that he couldn’t close his eyes. One came and with it the boy’s face was now up against the glass. The storm battered the boy. He didn’t seem to mind. Marty was stuck staring into his eyes. The boy looked like he was having a blast. He had a grin painted on his face. Then he did something that made Marty piss himself. He said his name. Marty shouldn’t have been able to hear him through the window but somehow he did.

“Hey Marty? Want to go on an adventure?”

Then Marty heard the growling. It sounded like it was coming from the boy.

---

Carol had warned everyone about the poison. No one listened. She had put as many things as she could into the window space to try and keep the poison out. It might have bought her some time. Only a little though. The ones in the woods were coming for her now. They were hiding behind the storm. The house would be surrounded soon. Carol knew she had to do something. She couldn’t let the things from the woods in. They would bring the poison in and make her sick. The poison had already started changing the others in the house. They were all blind to what was going on. There was a cloud over their eyes. Carol knew she needed to save them. She had to rid the house of the poison, and, if god forbid any of the things from the woods made it in, she would rid the house of them too. She gripped the pistol in her hand and stood up. She unlocked the bathroom door and turned the knob.

---

“So what are you going to do if we don’t leave? Call the cops and throw your grandson out in the road?” Ryan asked.

William was red in the face now. He needed to take it easy. His heart had survived surgeries but that didn’t mean it would survive another. Ryan could feel his body weaken also. Like his father, his body wasn’t in a good place to handle all this stress. Micah was frustrated but also stuck. He needed this house just as much as anyone. He also needed his brother and nephew to be okay.

“Hey. Let’s all back up for a minute. Nothing can be done about this tonight,”

Micah thought that did the trick. He saw his father take a step back towards his mother. Then he saw the look on their faces. It was fear. They never looked scared. Micah turned and saw what they saw. Carol was coming up from behind Ryan. She somehow had Micah’s gun. It was pointed directly at his parents.

“Carol.”

Ryan turned and saw her and then backed away, out of the guns aim. He could have taken a chance at getting it from her but he was afraid it might have gone off. She had a death grip on the handle. Her finger was on the trigger and the safety was off.

“Carol. Put the gun down,” Micah said.

“I can’t. Don’t you see? They came here to poison us. They came from the woods to take us back with them. They have you all tricked!”

“Carol! Those are my parents! Put the fucking gun down!”

“You will see. Once we get away from all this poison you will all see.”

Jillian pointed a finger at Carol.

“She’s crazy. Look, she’s lost her mind.”

Carol moved forward with the gun.

“Leave this house. Get out of here. This is our home! You don’t belong here!” Carol said.

Jillian and William started to back up towards the door.

“They can’t go anywhere! There’s no way off the island!” Ryan said.

“Doesn’t matter. They can go back into the storm. That’s where they belong!”

Jillian tugged on William’s coat. She was moving closer to the door as she did so.

“Let’s go. She is swinging that gun around like a crazy person,” Jillian said.

The wind picked up. The lights flickered.

“They are trying to get in!” Carol said.

The sound of the gunshot froze everyone. No one even tried to duck or dive. Everyone just locked up. The barrel flare brightened the short moment of darkness when the lights flickered. Micah and Ryan looked over at their parents. Their father was still standing. Their mother was crumbling though. Bright red covered her hands that were held over her chest.

“Jillian!” William said.

William looked down at his soon to be dead wife and then back to Carol.

“You fucking bitch! You fucking crazy whore!”

His eyes were wild. Not as wild as Carol’s though. She squeezed the trigger again. The bullet hit its mark. Blood and chunks of flesh flew from the back of William’s head. Micah started screaming. Ryan stayed frozen. He watched his father fall in slow motion. His head was racing towards the ground. The piece of skull that came from it beat him to the floor. Just as his father was about to hit the ground the power went out. Darkness took the room. Micah’s screaming filled the space that the darkness couldn’t reach