Episode 1
The plane banked slowly to the right, pulling me into my seat. It was a gentle reminder that we were coming in for a landing at any moment now. The passenger seat was thin and whatever was left of the cushioning had been worn away a thousand rides ago. I ran my hand through my thick black hair and fiddled with my seatbelt quietly.
“Sir? Would you like something to drink before we land?” the young brunette flight attendant asked leaning over to me. I was one of twenty passengers in this tiny two engine jet. Everything reeked of cheap plastic and recycled air.
“No, I’m fine.” I answered wondering if this seatbelt would actually save me in a real life or death situation. With a tug and a small sound of fabric tearing, I confirmed the notion that it wouldn’t. “When will be landing?”
“Any moment now we’ll be pulling into Northland Air Hub.” While she explained this, a gentle ding echoed throughout the small fuselage and the small light above me lit up the seatbelt indicator. She gave me a smiling nod and stepped away.
“Ladies and gentlemen we thank you for flying Airsol. We’ll be putting our wheels to the ground in around a half hour or so. All flight attendants please prepare for landing.” The gruff voice of the captain piped through the speakers which gave an ear splitting click when he closed the comm.
I slid over a bit, fighting the resistance my seat belt was putting up; I was determined to see what had been lying under these clouds all this time. As the silvery blade of the wing sliced deep into the clouds, the white of their bodies filled the window, the moisture building up alonh the windows edges.
When we emerged green spanned out in all directions. A massive forest sprawled across the world, soldier pines as far as I could see. At the very edge of the horizon, massive white-capped black mountains stood like gods with the sun flowing over their shoulders. Whilst we descended farther and farther I could see snaking gaps in the green sea filled with rivers of white slow churning rapids. Rivers and lakes dotted the landscape carving out their territory like some mighty deity dragged a finger here and pressed a thumb down there leaving his mark from the heavens.
The plane banked once more drawing my vision upward at the jagged gray clouds that hung lazily across the sky. I sat back in my chair and slid the visor down over the window ridding me of the pesky sunlight. I really wish that I had been excited to see this place, to see my hometown again. But no matter what, I couldn’t forget that my family had abandoned this place long ago for warmer climates. No one would be waiting for me.
It was over in a matter of minutes just as the captain had explained. In no time I was out on the grass and asphalt airfield with my bag over my shoulder and the pungent aroma of dew, plant life, dirt, and pine filling my lungs.
Yeah it was that kind of airport. Not an air tram, a passenger bus or even a small car to move us. You had to hoof it to the airport terminal from the landing strip. This isn’t exactly a populated area or a vacationing resort for bored elderly couples.
Surrounding the runway was the tree line thick with the trunks of pine trees and the wilderness just lying beyond that. The air was sweet from the taste of the sap but it dissipated the moment I stepped within the only building that the terminal had. That was when I saw the first face I’d been looking forward to seeing: my childhood friend, Jeffrey.
“Whoa… Tell me that isn’t who I think it is.” I stepped back in shock, dropping my bag to the floor. “What? What happened to my friend?”
“You’ve got some jokes don’t you? Tell them while you can.” Jeffrey took a few steps forward with a smile on his face. He was about as tall as I was maybe a few inches over six feet. His brownish-blonde hair had been sheared away leaving only about an inch of peach fuzz across his scalp. He was lean too, much skinnier and healthier than I had ever seen him.
“What happened? Where’s the rest of your fat self?” I said with a smile.
“Exactly where you lost all of your good looks. Buried and dead.” He said slapping a heavy palm on my shoulder. “Moms had me on this new diet for when I get into the military…” he said patting his arms and his chest. It seemed like he was as much surprised I was. “Where did it all go?” he asked himself.
“Military? I don’t remember you telling me about the military on the phone.” I was thrown into an even deeper part of the pool this time. A hint of caution weaved itself in my tone.
“Don’t worry Riley, I’ll catch you up once we’re on our way to the Falls.” he said wrapping his arm around my bags and throwing them over his shoulder.
“Well I’m impressed. Never thought I’d say this but your love life may actually get better for you.” I said with a chuckle.
It was a matter of moments before we were pulling out of the airport in Jeffs hand-me-down beige sedan.
“Ah this smells exactly like it did in high school: Sad and moldy.” I reminisced sitting back in the broken passenger seat. “Oh and a bit like teenage sexual frustration.”
“Right of course.” He nodded. “You would know that smell best, wouldn’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah…” I said turning my eyes to the wallpaper of forest that was soaring past the window. “So… is it the Air Force?”
“Nope, the Marines.” Jeff corrected running his hand along the worn down rubber of his steering wheel. The car growled hoarsely whenever Jeff laid his foot on the accelerator. “I’m shipping out to Basic in late summer.”
“Basic, huh? Sounds serious.” I replied. My best friend was going off to war. I wasn’t a fan.
“You’re not happy about this...” he said, shooting a glance over at me. Great, now he was reading minds. “After high school, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t know where to go… what colleges. What I wanted to do with my life. What I wanted to do as a career. None of it came to me magically in a stroke of revelation like our guidance counselors played it.”
“We all get pushed one way or another, look at me.” I said looking over at him. “No one knows what they want anyway. Hell some people go to college just for the parties and the sex. I know I did.”
“Well, I came across a recruiter in the mall picking up some new boots. We got to talking, and something clicked in me, sparked my curiosity. This was a path I could take. Something I can invest in.” Jeff sighed. “It was the first relief of stress I’d had in a year or two.”
“It’s more than I got from med school.” I muttered with a sharp breath. I bit back the end of the sentence only to realize I had voiced my own thought out loud.
“Listen… I know what happened. I knew it the first time I heard about it from Tara. How you’d failed out and dropped it all.” Jeff spoke evenly with measured words, it felt like he had rehearsed this a bit. “Why did you do it?”
Just say it already.
“I know you failed on purpose. Why would you do that?” Jeff said with an edge in his tone. “All of that time and effort I watched you put in. Did you do it just to flip off your parents?”
“Maybe…” There was no hiding the point or lying to him. What he said was true. I had flunked out on purpose. “I just didn’t want to do it anymore. Being a Doctor… it’s all bullshit.”
“You’re smart, Riley. Smarter than me and you know that.” Jeff sighed. “You know I could never get scores that matched yours.” He paused. “But don’t waste your time on this world just to prove a point to your parents. You’ll find what’s next I know it.”
“I don’t know.” The part I feared most was rearing its head now. “What if I don’t have a purpose? What if I don’t have that ambition…?”
“I’ve got faith in you. Always have and always will.” Jeff’s words hit me harder than any of the punches to the face I’d taken from my Dad nor the shrill scream of my disappointed Mom. I’d failed them and they’d been so angry. I touched my face lightly knowing that the bruise had thankfully had faded. Sometimes it felt like my younger sister Tara, was the only one who liked me in this family.
“I just wonder why you didn’t reach out to me? You know I would’ve been there for you in a heartbeat.” Jeff’s words lingered in almost hurt. “Got to reach out every once in a while. You don’t have to handle things on your own.”
“Perhaps I wanted it this way.” I let out under my breath. After withdrawing from school, my parents had sent me to our old house up in the northern part of the country. Things were a mess currently, Mom and Dad were living on the coast in a place meant only to house themselves. There was nowhere for me to go, they’d even refused to allow me on their couch. Who knows how long until they finally figured out what to do with their son. For now it was: ‘Live up in the old house until we send for you, get a job and feed yourself until then. Maybe it’ll teach you something about responsibility.’
My Mom’s own words, Dad had stormed out beforehand not even leaving a word for me to hang on.
“That gives us most of the spring and part of the summer to catch up.” I breathed. Maybe there was a silver lining to this after all.
“You got that right. The bars have gotten better around Tellen Falls. Maybe some college girls back for spring break to visit their families?” Jeff said raising a sinister eyebrow.
“Amber is back home, isn’t she?” I asked placing my hands on the back of my head in a nice lounging position.
“What’s that about my little sister?”Jeffs hand tightened around the wheel as he turned an eye toward me.
“Well…” I said trying to lead on the sentence.
“There is no ‘Well...’. You know my sister. Riley, she eats guys up and spits them out. You wouldn’t last a week before I found you sobbing on my porch like a few other guys I’ve found. It’s like she’s waxing the damn deck with the tears of grown men.” Jeff laughed lightly. “But you know the rules and we agreed no dabbling in each other’s houses.”
“Yeah, yeah. What a dumb rule.” I said folding my arms. It’s what it was. “So how is Tellen Falls anyway? Still going strong?”
Jeff paused for a moment. His mouth hung open as if trying to find the words to say. He closed his lips once returning to his thought. A few seconds rolled by until he finally responded with an unsure feeling drifting within his voice.
“Things have been odd to say the least,” he said sitting back in his seat, running his hand along his stubble.
“Odd? What do you mean?” I pressed. Something was stressing him out about this topic.
“There’s been a few disappearances… hikers missing. Pets gone.” Jeff said quietly. “Dad and Mom have been worried. All of the guys at the steel mill my Dad works at can’t stop coming up with ideas and convoluted theories on what’s going on.”
“Disappearances. Maybe a pack of wolves passing through? A bear or even a few of them.” I thought deeply, spouting out logical reasons. Bears and the like weren’t big news out here. Every now and then some ballsy hikers or some curious pets would go missing. It wasn’t abnormal or out of the question.
“Even the lumber workers…” Jeff thought out loud. “It’s all over the news. Well, it was.”
“What about them?”
“They sent in a clearing team to make room for housing. After the mining developments picked up along with the smelting factories going into high gear, Tellen Falls has been doing really well. So they were going to expand. Put a whole new section of town on the map.” Jeff explained motioning with his hands. “But… once nighttime fell, a few hours later they were gone.”
“What?!”
“I know… they had guards and everything. Armed with hunting rifles just in case there was a pack of wolves or a bear out there.”
“And nothing? Were there calls for help? Any phone calls or radio transmissions?”
“No… they didn’t say this on the news. But there are rumors.”
“Rumors? What kind of rumors?”
“There was a lot of blood at the scene. No shell casings and no bodies.”
I stared at him in silence taking in the facts as he laid them out. I had a fondness for the unknown and the creepy. Mysteries the supernatural, magic, fantasy: I devoured the stuff. I had two book-cases full of my collection in my dorm. On my way over here I had even read two novels on the flights.
But this was the real world. This wasn’t in the bindings of some random paperback just sitting on a shelf. The unknown had drifted into this town. What could be out there? What could have hurt those men so badly? Were they all dead?
“I wish I’d known about this before I bought the tickets.” I laughed lightly staring out into the wilderness soaring past. “Those shape shifters, they’re always hungry for more.” I said prodding Jeffs fears a bit.
Jeff sighed rubbing one of his eyes.
“Don’t bring up those things again. When we were little you’d always scare the hell out of me with those stories. ‘The shape shifters will slither up on you and reveal a mouth full of horrible needle like teeth and get you.’” Jeff mimicked in a young annoying voice. “Mom would kill you if she knew you were the one who gave me those nightmares.”
I couldn’t but laugh grasping my stomach at the memory.
“No harm no foul Jeff, they were just stories.” I said trying to catch my breath. “Shape shifters aren’t real.”
“Man, I’ve no idea how you got your parents to let you read that stuff.” Jeff smiled leaning back.
“Otherwise, wolves were even more scary back then. I remember being able to see them from your porch moving through the tree line hunting. Now THAT gave me nightmares.” I shuddered at the thought of their howls. “I wish they’d been shape shifters— at least I could deal with that.”
“Yeah, and I wish my family’s house wasn’t so far out of town. If there are wolves or something else they’ll definitely be drifting through our yard. Last thing I need is to be cleaning up after their killings out in the woods. Rotting deer meat is the worst kind of smell.” Jeff sighed. “But don’t worry about those lumber workers. No bodies mean they could still be alive. I know the police are doing searches through the surrounding area so I’m sure they’ll find something.”
“Yeah, maybe.” I replied.
“Getting off that incredibly grim topic, here we are. It feels like the drive gets longer and longer every time.” Jeff said slowing down gently. We braked just enough for me to see the deep green and white-trimmed sign that stood at the side of the road.
Tellen Falls: Population 5,321
It was still difficult to understand that small towns like this still exist these days. So far out of the way and deprived of any real constant contact. I was pretty sure my campus always had about seven thousand students on it at any given time.
The road took us deeper and deeper into the forest until there was a clearing which let you peer up into the sky without the trees looming over you. The town sprawled out across the clearing dipping into a gentle slope. Buildings which were no more than three stories tall filled the middle of town, each one spackled with a different shade of brown, red or green. Most of the buildings were older, signaling their age with chipped paint, brick, mortar or newly-renovated sections of parts that had been clearly falling apart. The only spots of truly new businesses were the larger supermarket chains that had set up shop to drive the smaller stores away.
The town was truly thriving though; roads were clean and well-maintained, sidewalks were brimming with the small-town crowd. Laughing middle school kids on their bikes rode past us throwing up the finger while they flew down the street.
“Damn it… Were we like that when we were that young Jeff? Tell me we weren’t.” I asked preparing to roll down my window and give one a nice smack to the back of the head.
“Do you want me to lie or tell you the truth?”
“Lie to me.”
“We were saints,” he said simply with a smile gliding through a turn onto main street.
Massive cast iron lamp posts stood like sentinels along the busy four lane street. Each pair had banners hanging across the road with news of upcoming festivals and events splashed with vibrant colors to grab the attention of walkers-by. The sidewalks were still composed of faded red and green tiles all of which meticulously arranged to make small intricate patterns. I remembered because I had gotten an up close and personal view of them after my first fight in high school. I had gotten drunk for my first time, and decided to mouth off to someone I shouldn’t have… probably. A few blackish memories later and I had been on the ground in full view of the mesh of red and green floor under me.
Jeff smiled, signaling that he also remembered the exact spot while we coasted past. It only took a few more minutes before we had made our way through the town center to the other side. The outskirts of the Falls were very much still wild and that was just where Jeff’s father had built their home.
The roads started to twist and writhe as we followed the lined pavement out of town. Soon we came upon the gravel-lined road leading to Jeff’s house which sat at the very end. The sedan bounced once and soon its weight began crunching into the small pebbles that lay just beneath.
“Dad and I are going to have to clear out these trees and what not this weekend. It just seems to be growing back so fast.” Jeff sighed rubbing his hand against his jaw. He nodded toward the thick bushes and new grown saplings that were rampant along the sides of the road. “Probably all of that rain we’ve been getting lately.”
I was about to respond when the car nudged out into a clearing. At the very center of what must’ve been several football fields worth of clear grassland was Jeff’s house. It had a light brown hue to it with an eggshell white porch to it. It stood two stories tall with a deep red roof that had probably seen more than its fair share of weather. On the porch sat a few wicker chairs and a small bench swing. Right on cue Mrs. Anderson stepped out through the front pushing open the screen door and giving a gentle wave.
“Do your parents know?” I said only have the dreaded realization drag itself up my throat.
Jeff paused for moment looking to me.
“No, I didn’t tell them. As far as they know, you’re visiting.”
“Thank you.” I said with a deep breath of relief.
Jeffs car came to a slow stop pulling up next to his father’s old blue pickup. I got a step out of the car to only see Mrs. Anderson rounding the front the front of the car with a smile across her face.
“It’s so good to see you Riley. How’ve you been?” she said grasping one of my hands in hers. Mrs. Anderson was quite the skinny woman even though her cooking was some of the best I’d ever had. Her brown hair was starting to fade now, but that didn’t stop her from showing off her hair by letting it down over her shoulders. She wore a pair of deep green slacks and a gentle cream-colored, flower-speckled blouse. Wrinkles were visible on her soft features but hardly worth noting as she brought me in for a hug.
“It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Anderson. Good to be back.” I smiled, looking around.
“Well, let’s get you fed. I know Jeff probably took forever getting you over here. Starving right?” she said, taking a back step.
“Mom, I drive pretty well. How many times do I have to tell you the garage incident was a fluke,” Jeff replied.
“Garage incident? I need to hear about this,” I laughed, lightly nudging Jeff.
“Another time.” He sighed. “Let’s get inside. I’m dying of hunger as we speak.”
The moment we stepped inside a massive feeling of nostalgia flew through me with each breath. It almost felt like I had stepped back in time at this point. The present seemed so far away now. I’d stepped into my childhood as well as most of my teenage years. I almost felt guilty about how good it felt.
Within seconds, Mrs. Anderson had me down at a table with a bowl of piping-hot steak and carrot stew steaming gently in front of me. A thick-sliced batch of homemade bread sat at my right, it’s crust a deep brown with flaked herbs baked right into it. A sweating glass of iced tea held two or three ice cubes while bits of lemon swirled in the tinted water.
“Hey Riley. How’s it going, kid?” a deep voice, its owner laying a heavy handed slap on my shoulder. I turned around only to find Mr. Anderson in my gaze. He was a stocky man with thick, bedraggled dirty blonde hair faded by the heat from working in the smelting factories. He had a round face and a thick body. His arms and legs were strong and heavy thanks to all of the work he did on the factory floors. A pair of wire glasses sat on the bridge of his nose while a short unkempt blonde and silver beard tightly clung to his chin. “Don’t eat it yet; you’ll scold the hell out of your mouth, boy,” he smiled.
“Yeah,” I said, inhaling the warmth rising gently from the bowl. “No kidding. Still calling me ‘boy’ and ‘kid’ hasn’t changed either, I can see.”
“I’ll call you a man once you can start wearing a man’s size.” He said, giving a mighty slap to his gut. It was clad in his dirty and blackened plaid button-up shirt. “You and your skinny girl hips,” Mr. Anderson chuckled. “Welcome back to our home. Always glad to have you.” He sighed setting himself down into an older cherry red chair by the door way. He began slipping off his boots, heavy thumps of their heels resonating through the floor.
“Not only that. But Riley here,” Jeff said strolling up behind me. “Just turned twenty-one years of age,” Jeff smiled leaning against the table with a biscuit in his hand.
Mr. Anderson let out a slow whistle as he stood up and turned to a cabinet that sat upon the wall just above a dresser. His hand disappeared inside while the cabinet door opened. A pensive look came over his face as his hand sifted through different objects pulling and prodding. Then with a sudden look of relief, his hand reappeared with an ornate bottle of what I could tell immediately was an expensive brand of whiskey. He sat down with a deep breath and set the bottle on the table.
“It’s decided, I’ve been saving this for a special day. And since both of my sons have turned twenty one we shall be getting drunk tonight.” Mr. Anderson closed his eyes and beamed proudly, folding his thick tanned arms. Then he opened an eye and his voice dropped into a whisper. “Don’t let Amber have any though. Not only do I not want her drinking yet, but this stuff is liable to kill her, too.” He snickered, turning the label toward himself.
“Shut up, Dad.” A young voice echoed wearily while its owner slid through the door. Amber was slender with gentle curves that weren’t outrageous but still lured the eye. Light brown hair spliced with a natural blonde tint slid down her shoulders swaying with her movement. Bright brown eyes flicked from her father to me immediately. She was wearing a baggy blue T-shirt and a pair of grey flowing pajama pants. “Oh.” She let out a quiet breath.
“Hey, Amber.” I said, summoning my most courageous smile.
“Hey, Riley. Good to see you.” Amber smiled, sauntering past me.
I blinked once and immediately saw Mr. Anderson eyeing me closely. Then my gaze slipped to Jeff who couldn’t help mouthing the words, “I’m watching you,” and giving a threatening posture with his hands.
“Anyways, start eatin’ Riley! Then, the night truly begins!” Mr. Anderson laughed picking himself up and grabbed a thick slice of bread and treaded into the living room whistling a tune.
“That fool.” Mrs. Anderson said pushing Mr. Anderson’s boots out of the room. “Never waits to eat until after he changes.”
Like Mr. Anderson, said the night truly began, well if you consider Jeff as well as his Dad getting too drunk to stand a sort of beginning. Laughter and embarrassing stories of when we were young filled the room as each shot seemed to disappear from their glasses. I, however, only was able to drink one shot before I realized that both of them had gone through their third. It was around the twelfth when Mr. Anderson decided to launch into his famous story-telling mode. He regaled us with the crazy acts of his younger self or the adventures he and Mrs. Anderson had gone on. However, he would always change a minor detail to make sure we were listening. I would always catch it, though I’d never call him on them. It seemed like he was having too much fun for me to ever think of ruining it.
It wasn’t long after the final drops of the bottle were poured into a glass, Jeff and his father were drowsy to the point they could no longer stay in their chairs. Mrs. Anderson would run damage control with a beer still in her hand as she prepped each of them to spend the night in the living room.
“You hardly drank with them,” Mrs. Anderson said, lifting her husband’s feet to rest the sofa.
“Not one for a killer hangover.” Not only that but the stuff had been much too rough for me to actually drink.
“Ah, smart— Not sure they’ll be leaping to attention tomorrow morning. Well it is a Saturday thankfully” Mrs. Anderson giggled. “Well, here’s Jeff’s keys,” she said, slipping them out of his pocket. “I’m sure it’s okay for you to stay here the night. But if you want to get re-acquainted with your other home, it’s more than okay to borrow his car.” The keys jingled within her soft hand extending them to me.
“I think I might do that,” I spoke reaching for them.
“Now, I’ve been watching you. Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” she asked honestly.
“Yes.” I replied like you would to an overly worried parent. “You know I’ve only had one shot tonight. I’m probably the only one other than you and Amber who probably can drive in the first place.” I added, picking the keys from her hand.
“Point taken.” Mrs. Anderson sat down with a relaxing exhale. “Remember to swing by for breakfast tomorrow morning though, Riley,” she called out to me while I stepped through the doorway. I nodded, casting a smile back to her.
Maybe being sent back here wasn’t such a bad idea after all. I felt the frail wooden screen door slip out of my hand and snap back to the frame with a clatter.
The darkness was barely beaten back by the dim yellow of the porch light. As I descended the creaking wooden stairs the dry coolness of the dark embraced me. The bugs hummed along with the soothing breeze. The smell of dirt, trees and the fresh grass fell upon me soon after, it truly was an early Spring night. I slid Jeffs lone key into the car door; with a gentle pull, it opened with a groan.
I was slumping into the driver’s seat when I spotted a shadow in the window watching me from the second floor. At first I was spooked until the shadow leaned forward and long brown hair slipped from around Amber’s face. She gave me a smile and a light wave seeing that I had spotted her.
I returned it wondering if perhaps, just maybe I had the smallest of chances with her.
I could only laugh at my own thought when I slipped the key into the ignition with a minor click. The headlights blazed a white-beaming trail across the clearing that. In that same moment a massive figure darted into the tree line out of sight. It had been off to my slight right, must’ve been somewhere around four hundred feet away. Maybe less.
“What in the hell? Is there an elk out there?” I pondered out loud waiting for maybe another glimpse. Whatever it was it’d been big. “I don’t think it was migration season?” bringing the key full turn the beige sedan coughed to life once more, possibly half against its own will. Shifting the car into reverse, I pulled away from Jeff’s house keeping my eyes glued to Amber’s shadow as it retreated from view.
It’d been a long while since I had driven anywhere in this old town. So not surprisingly I got lost, very lost. It’d been an hour before I found some buildings that I vaguely remembered -and by then the moon had been shrouded by clouds. After a few moments I had luckily found my neighborhood and with that I could easily get to my house. But once again my luck turned on me and before I knew it I was coasting to a stop in front of a stranger’s house a block away from my home. The engine puttered once, then twice, doing its best to turn over but found no fuel to keep the aged engine running.
I threw open the door and stepped out onto the street and slammed it shut in frustration. -I shuddered and looked around to see if an angry neighbor would emerge cursing at me about the noise.
Thankfully that wasn’t the case.
After a few seconds of panic thinking I had locked the key inside the vehicle, I found it in my pocket and locked the old heap up. I slipped my cell phone out of my pocket as I started walking and found it had gotten later than I had thought. Not only that but my service was non-existent, this town might be a dead zone for my service… I should’ve known that was coming. Slipping the useless device into my pocket I turned a corner with thoughts of Amber still invading my imagination.
That was when I caught something in the corner of my vision.
When my eyes found it, I froze.
Something was standing in the middle of the street a few blocks down from me. Watching me.
This figure was large. Its shoulders were broad and its arms were long, inhumanly long. The tip of its hands or claws fell at its shins. It stood upright on two legs which looked strange too, not quite human.. Its head was hard to see but sat atop of a muscular body. All I could truly make out was the mere outline of the thing. The being itself was shrouded in a deeper black then the night around it. But what stifled my breath were its white eyes, two of them, and they were meeting every bit of my stare.
“What in the hell?” I whispered trying to steady my breathing. I had known from the very moment my eyes found the figure that this wasn’t a person. The build was too off… much too tall, at least eight feet and those eyes, they had a hazy glow of white similar to an animal’s glare in the deep of night. “H-Hello?” I called out in vain hoping to be proven wrong.
The head tilted just slightly to the sound of my voice.
My heart was racing at this point, pounding at my ribs like a lead weight trying to burst from my chest. My hands were shaking when I slipped my phone back into my pocket. Gulping down the fear that was broiling up my larynx, I summoned up my courage and started to think.
This creature was much larger than me I could feel that I had stumbled in upon something.
Without warning, the creature leapt forward straight toward me. It bounded down the road faster than I had ever seen anything move. It barely even touched the ground at one point. I knew one thing, and that was that I needed to run.
Run! RUN NOW!
My body reacted to the audible shrill of terror I let slip between my lips. I planted my foot in front of me and threw myself into a run for my life. Sweat ran down my back as the cool air tore at my face. Fear was whipping me into a frenzy while it surged into my mind. It threw everything down on the line. My lungs were ablaze within twenty steps.
Only two houses away now from our old house, I could see the door. Great heaving breaths ruptured from a cramping chest when my foot slammed into the concrete sidewalk making me stumble for only a moment. At the same moment I stole a quick glance in the direction that creature had been.
It was down the block and picking up speed.
“Fuck!” I cried out breathing hard.
The eyes were soaring straight toward me at a pace I could never beat.
RUN! JUST RUN!
Just let me get over the fence!
I got to my front yard and tossed myself over the barrier with a leap that would make an Olympic athlete jealous. The moment my feet landed squarely on the wet grass of my yard I felt something pounding in the ground.
Footsteps.
Get to the door Riley!
I could feel tears running down my eyes when I full on sprinted through the yard, my eyes settled on the front door.
Get to the door!
My body was getting heavier, slowing down. It felt like someone had strapped bags of sand to each of my limbs. Every step I took and breath I heaved they were getting heavier and heavier.
The pounding was louder now!
It was inside my yard now. The loudness of it seemed to drown out everything else in my world. Even the beating of my heart and the shock of my foot falls. Was it breathing? Were that it’s heavy breaths as it chased me?
I shoved my hand into my pocket and fished out the key within an instant. Thankfully I hadn’t put it on to a key ring yet. With a swift movement, I slid the key into the lock and my hand twisted the door knob.
At that same moment I felt the cool darkness of a shadow flow right over my sweat drenched back. I half thought I was dead until the door swung open and I hurled myself inside with all the force I could muster. The heavy wooden door swung shut with a thunderous slam. A second later, my shaking, panic-stricken fingers worked the several locks in place as fast as I could. With each click of a bolt in place a jolt of joy ran up my body. Thank god my parents had only locked the bottom one.
Was I safe with just these in place?
I collapsed against it just in case hoping my own body weight could save me from whatever was now on the other side. A minute, then two passed as the cold sting of the finished hard wood from the door seared to my neck.
I was still alive… somehow.
Something that big would have easily torn this door apart not to mention the little metal dead bolts I had in place. Once my heart had calmed from drowning my hearing with its chaotic rhythm, I relaxed just a bit.
“God damm it.” I said bringing my hand to my forehead wiping away the sweat my fear had doused me with. Could I have been running from nothing? If someone had seen me running with a fear-filled panic from absolutely nothing that would be a fun thing to explain to my neighbors. Maybe the stress really had been getting to me?
BAM!
I flew forward falling to the ground. I rolled once and found myself wrapped across the bright and colorful throw rug my Mom had picked out for the foyer. My temples rang with agony while the echoing sound of the slam rebounded within my skull. My palms dug hard into the cold floor and pushed it away to deal with whatever had broken through the door.
Thankfully, the slab of oak hadn’t been destroyed. The door stood firm
A moment of silence passed only being filled by my panicked breathing laced with light groans from a passive headache. Then a light sound of something scraping along the door started to hiss through the quiet. It sounded as if something was feeling itself along the door, touching the crevices and the key holes, until the doorknob jittered a bit from contact.
My breath was sliced in half when my eyes saw the movement. The metal knob shuttered gently as what sounded like someone clumsily playing with it, a child maybe. Then it began to turn.
BAM!
“Oh God!” I screamed out in horror. The sound reverberated through the house’s dark solitude. I turned my back to the door and scrabbled up the stair case the best I could, my hands grasping and ripping through the darkness. I was tearing at the carpet and the cheaply-made wooden banister until I was staggering up each step. It was a haze-filled blur while I climbed but as soon as I found myself at the stop of the stairs I raced down the hallway.
That was when I came to Dad’s hunting room.
My fingers grabbed at the knob and twisted it hard in thanks for the blessing only, to be damned by a solid stop in the motion. It was locked.
Fuck that.
I reeled myself back and slammed myself hard against the wooden door over and over. Each time I took a glance toward the hallway down from me expecting those white eyes to peek around that corner.
“Please! OPEN!” I screamed. With the fourth body slam and fifth kick the frame splintered and I threw open the door.
Inside were a few shotguns lining the gun racks on the wall, two pistols lying in a black case which was sitting upon a work table a few feet away, and a compound bow which was mounted across the wall right above. The first thing I grabbed was a shotgun straight off the wall. I could feel the weight of it press down on my wrist but the amount of adrenaline filling my veins made the mass of wood and metal barely noticeable.
I raised it to my shoulder and spun toward the door way.
The quiet drew up once more while I placed one foot in front of another panning the barrel of the shotgun over the doorway. The sweat on my cheek stung from the ice cold wood of the stock while I tried to swallow my fear once more. My chest was heaving hard from breaking the door down and soon my vision was blurring. With a shake of my head and accessing my courage again, I stepped through the broken pieces of door frame on the floor and stepped out into the hallway.
Shadows bathed the walls while the shotgun’s sights crept back and forth. Stepping quickly and quietly, I made my way to the head of the stairs. Each step creaked slightly while my hands began to shiver.
Now for the descent...
“You in here?” I whispered trying to ignore the aching in my forearms. Then my foot hit the floor and my eyes found the front door.
It was still intact.
I glanced around steadily shifting my eyes back and forth.
Could it have gotten in another way?
Maybe it was already in?
Maybe it was watching me right now?
Calm down… Ease back the paranoia…
I took a steady breath, letting the shotgun waiver a bit from my shoulder. Whilst turning the shotgun in my grip it dawned on me… I hadn’t even loaded it.
After slipping back up-stairs, grabbing a handful of slugs, and loading each one carefully, I patrolled around the house looking out of each and every window. I checked every room, even the cellar and the attic as much as I hadn’t wanted to do so.
After a bit of less than likely effective barricading of pieces of furniture and a few pieces of firewood from the fireplace. I crept up the stairs toward my old bedroom exhausted and leaned heavily against the wall. In my right hand the shotgun remained loaded with four shells pointing upward, the stock dragging across the sage-colored carpet.
“What in the hell could’ve that been?” I couldn’t imagine what it was. The build was so strange. In all of those books I’d read nothing came to mind.
Maybe I shouldn’t have made that shape shifter joke.
The thoughts I spoke out loud were tired and heavy as my hand fell upon the door knob to my old room. A few remnants of my teenage days were still noticeable once the door swung open. A television with my only game system held vacancy in a small entertainment center along with a computer sitting atop of a desk. My bed was neatly made and looked like a heaven to my exhausted eyes. The window that sat across from my bed had been covered by blue and white curtains deftly shielding me from the moonlight.
Instantly, I threw open the curtains much too paranoid to let something go uninvestigated. I leaned forward rotating my view scanning the back yard for any sense of movement. The yard was spacious and the tree line sat behind a tall fence to keep out any unwanted wild life.
Everything was still but even then I lifted the shotguns stock to my shoulder, as weakly as it was. Closing my eyes I could feel the exhaustion creeping up through my legs and was slowly seeping up through my body and into my eyes.
Drunkenly, I turned away from the window glancing at my bed with a strange feeling of comfort. I’d sleep well tonight… I hoped.
I took a glance back at the wind—
The eyes hung there.
I yelled stepping back fumbling with the shotgun. The entire figure’s shadow devoured every inch of my window and it’s white eyes bore into me.
I cocked the shotgun sending a perfectly good shell across the ground and raised it to my shoulder.
Click.
The safety had still been on.
With a panicked breath I turned it sideways and clicked it off.
I raised my eyes once more to find that it’d disappeared.
Then I heard the roof above me creak.
I raised the weapon once more, following its heavy yet fleeting thumps.
They were slow at first.
“Where’re you going?” I whispered whipping my vision back and forth.
The window.
Then the ceiling.
Then the window.
Then the movement stopped a few feet above me to my right. I stopped right in sync with it.
BOOM!
I jumped as it ran across heading straight back to my window. I ran with it cradling the stock between my shoulder and arm. Then it leapt.
I stared in awe as the shadowy figure leapt what must’ve been forty or fifty feet into the air. The jump was short lived as it dove into the tree line that sat only fifty yards away from my house, behind a rickety wooden fence.
Within the darkness between the trees, the eyes emerged once more.
They were just simply staring.
“What are you?” I trembled.
That was when another pair of white eyes emerged, then another. Soon more started to appear adding ten more pairs to those.
“What… no…” I said, shaking my head slowly in denial.
I lowered the shotgun slowly. Four shells? I almost laughed at myself right in that breathless moment.
The silence grew in my mind while the air in the entire world was sucked out, the sound of the world along with it.
I watched them.
And they watched me.
Then something happened, something I was never expecting.
One by one the eyes began to close, until the first pair I had seen was all that remained.
Then as if on cue the eyes tilted a bit as if the creature was cocking its head confused by me.
“Please… go away…” I pleaded to the window.
Just like that the eyes closed, and the shadows became whole again.
I fell to my knees when the moment relaxed its grasp on me, like a man’s fist releasing a puppet’s strings.
I stared out of the window, the trees swayed with a gentle unknowing breeze and the moonlight faded as a dark cloud shrouded the night sky above.
The white eyed shadows were gone.