We stared at each other for what felt like years, but it couldn’t have been more than a couple of minutes. Eventually he left, leaving the wagon but not Jasmine.

I was still in shock. Something in my stomach began making its way up and I vomited out the windows. The sound of the splattering vomit was disgusting, I couldn’t bear looking at it.

I wiped my mouth. My butt hit the ground and I assumed the fetal position. I fought back tears as I rocked back and forth. I was certain I had just gotten Mallory and her family killed.

When morning came Phillip and I grabbed our stuff and took them downstairs. When I walked past Mallorys door, it swung open.

"Good morning!" Mallory said loudly.

I turned my head to see her smiling. I instinctively returned one to her.

Her smile turned to a look of concern when she saw me, "my goodnesses, are you okay? You look awful!"

"I’m fine, I didn’t sleep too well."

A faint grin appeared on her face, "well, we’re about to eat breakfast you’ll get your energy up!"

We sat at the dining room table, while Philip stayed underneath it. He was too relaxed. My thoughts swirled while we ate breakfast. I should warn her right? Maybe they could run away, move somewhere else. After all he only saw me. I’m definitely dead, but if I warn her she’ll be safe.

Mallory slammed her fork onto the table. It startled me.

I came back to my body and focused my eyes onto hers.

"Are you listening to me?" She tilted her head when she sassed.

"Uh… not really, no."

She scowled, "why not?"

My eyes went to the floor. Tears filled my eyes. The wooden chair Mallory sat on produced a loud screech when she pushed away from the table. She flipped my chair, and me along with it, to face her. Genuine concern filled her eyes. She gave me an awkwardly positioned hug. 

I need to tell her. It’s only fair.

"What’s wrong?"

The well of tears overflowed, "I think you and your family are going to be taken. And it’s my fault."

"What?"

"I think I got you killed!" I cried.

Mallory pushed me away but kept her hands on my shoulders.

I took a deep breath. My lips opened and they told her about The Scarred Man. Everything my brain knew about him came out. Through my explanation the three of us moved into the living room.

"He just picked her up and took her?" Mallory asked.

"Yeah, the wagon should still be out there."

"What happened after that?"

"I threw up out the window." I felt my skin burn when I said that.

"And after that?

"Nothing really. I couldn’t sleep, but I did manage to pass out eventually."

Mallory furrowed her brow and bit her bottom lip. She got up from the couch and walked out the living room. When she came back she carried a bucket full of soapy water and some plastic gloves.

She tossed the gloves at me, "let’s clean up your puke."

I looked across the meadow. The wagon was still there, taunting me. I looked up the window, there were specks of vomit on the wall underneath it. Mallory pulled a hose out from a bush and gently sprayed the side of the house with water, careful not to splash Phillip. By the time we finished cleaning my vomit, it was already a good half hour past the start of homeroom.

"I’m sorry we’re late for school," I told her.

She looked down at the dirt for a second, "it’s okay! We can talk about what we’re gonna do."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

She took the bucket from the ground, "well, we’ve been up for a while, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And since waking up, and even being out here, have you seen anyone leave their houses?"

I looked around us before heading back inside. Cyprianus was always empty, but every once in a while you would see someone leave their home, or return to it. But for the last hour, I had not seen anyone. I shook my head no.

"Right. I think, what do you call him?"

"The Scared Man," I interjected.

"The Scarred Man is the reason we’re all fuzzy. And instead of coming to kill us, he just upped the fuzziness."

I thought back to my realization last night, "I agree, but how could he do this?"

"Dunno." She pulled a pencil from her pocket to bite it, "we should follow hith trackth, though."

"What? Why would we do that?"

She pointed the pencil at me, "to see where he goes, obviously!" She bit the pencil again, "then maybe we can thee where futhziness comes from."

"I really would much rather not."

Mallory put her pencil back into her pocket. She crouched down to talk to Phillip, "you want to see where the scary man goes don’t you Phillip!"

Phillip looked up at me. A spec of curiosity was in his eye.

"Phillip!" I sighed, "can we at least check some houses?"

Mallory looked up at me and gave a devilish grin.

We checked a few houses. What we found was odd. One woman was unconscious, feet from her door, as if she was about to leave. Another woman was by her lit stove. Every house we aggressively visited seemingly had their residents ready to go about their day, only for them to be knocked out.

Mallory and I sat on the step outside the last house we visited. Phillip sat in my lap. Her and I wore looks of unwanted certainty, while Phillip tried his best to.

"We have to find his nest now," Mallory stood up and feigned a smile. Even when it was fake it was just as contagious. "We need supplies, do you know where to get rope and stuff?"

"There’s a convenience store that we can check out."

The convenience store was never busy, nor was it ever unpopular. Today’s emptiness however, felt eerie. The fact that the town was essentially dead made my skin tingle as though hundreds of tiny spiders were crawling all over me. The doors to the store were unlocked, allowing us to walk in. The store owner was sprawled out between aisles.

Mallory and I looked at each other. Then we walked up the aisles, one of us dealt with snacks because we weren’t sure how far The Scarred Man’s nest was. The other one of us dealt with actual supplies like a rope, some blue jackets in case it got cold, and a few other things.

I noticed Phillip trying to sneak some chocolate off a shelf while I was busy filling up my bag, "no, Phillip. You can’t have chocolate anymore!"

Phillip thumped his leg and dropped the chocolate bar from his mouth.

Mallory laughed. She could smile while I was beyond petrified. So many worries floated through my head, but I couldn’t let that get in our way right then. I had a feeling Mallory would have gone off without us.

We went back to Mallory’s home before we headed out. In the kitchen Mallory burrowed through cupboards until she found what she was looking for. A glass with a lid. It wasn’t until then that I remembered what water bottles were.

Mallory placed the water bottle under the faucet and turned the knob that let water meant for cleaning flow, "I know this isn’t the best for you, cause of no minerals or whatever, but it’s all we have." She handed me the bottle for me to shove into the snack bag.

We went outside and walked the meadow. Wagon is still here, I breathed a sigh of relief. I held Phillip underneath my arm when Mallory took note of the pipe that used to hold my things and tried moving it. It never budged.

"I can never move it either."

"You’ve been here?"

"Sometimes yeah, Phillip and I usually sit on top of the hill," I pointed to the hilltop as we continued to walk.

When we reached the top I stopped just before the trees. Just behind a handful of trees were a pair of tracks. They were long and textured, similar to a snake. However these were perfectly parallel to each other, and I was certain two snakes would be more interwoven with each other.

Mallory walked up next to me, "you okay?"

I turned my head to see her wearing a worried smile. "Yeah, I’m alright," I smiled back. I felt Phillip squirm with excitement for a moment, then he stopped.

"You ready?"

I nodded.

We both looked into the forest. That damned forest. It was so bright and green, you would be forgiven if you thought animals lived in it. One could easily call it beautiful and not feel guilty for it was the truth. We all took one more breath then calmly stepped into that forest.

I regret that first step into those trees.

Next Chapter: The Nest of a Monster