"Dad I know you're hiding something from us!"
I could hear my mum's angry voice ringing through the walls of our house. She and my dad had gone into the study room with grandpa to "talk" and honestly it didn't sound like they were having a nice conversation. I just heard them yelling back and forth at eachother. Something about some secret grandpa had been hiding. I didn't hear much but it all seemed like this secret of grandpa's has something to do with the recent happenings in our town.
A month after Caleb's death, four other people including three children below 12 and a 17yr old had also been found dead in the woods and in the same condition as Caleb. It didn't make any sense to me i mean even after the new imposed curfew people still went out to the woods. The house was quiet now... they were all talking in hushed whispers and I couldn't make out any relevant information
"This isn't the first time this is happening sweetie".....I heard grandpa say faintly .
"What are you talking about?" Mum asked, confusion evident in her voice.
"What I mean is, when I was in my early twenties, same thing happened.... but it wasn't as awful as this. The things or animals causing these severe injuries didn't go after children or teens.. they only attacked the adults and a few old people. This is a first" . My grandpa said with a sigh.
I had been eavesdropping on their conversation as I was curious to know what this whole thing was about. I raced down the stairs and headed for the door. Running down the street, I was headed towards Kennedy's house... I knew Parker would be there already as I had already sent her a text before bolting for the door.
I was out of breath when I finally got to Kennedy's... and I banged on the door with all my might. Kennedy was from a well off family... her great great grandfather was the founder of Bailey Falls and their house was the oldest house in Bailey Falls as well.. since it was her great great grandfather's.
It was a family house... but only Kennedy, her parents, her grandparents and two of her cousins lived there. Other family members chose to live somewhere else.
I had been standing outside for about 3mins . Then I heard the click of the door as it was being unlocked from inside.
"I'm so sorry Destiny for not opening the door sooner" Kennedy said as she opened the door. "What took you so long Ken?" I asked exhausted from my one man race. "I was busy with something" She replied ushering me into her house. "Busy with what exactly?" I asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "It's nothing you should concern yourself with" she replied waving the whole thing off. I wasn't really down for a conversation as my throat was dry so I let it go. "Umm...Ken?" I called as Kennedy walked into the kitchen...."yeah?" She answered as she walked back with a glass of cold water..... "where's Parker?" I asked taking the water from her and emptying the glass in one big gulp.... "She's upstairs in my room" Kennedy replied taking the empty glass from me... "oh".. I said as I laid back on the couch.
"so Dee, what's up?... why were you banging on the door as if you wanted to break it?" I heard Parker ask as she descended the stairs.
"Yah about that, I just heard my grandpa saying that this isn't the first time something like this has happened before, that when he was younger, like say his early twenties, something similar happened. The only difference is, whatever it is that was causing these deaths only went after people in their late teens and other adults". I said in one breath... "wait, are you being serious right now?... then why are they now after kids and teenagers?" Ken asked with a hint of curiosity and sadness in her tone..
"Well that I really don't know yet. It doesn't make any sense if you ask me.. I mean we have people taking turns to watch this town at night so no one breaks curfew.... but people still end up being found dead in the woods"..... I said with defeat in my voice. "I think there's more to this and I believe the Elders are well aware of everything... what I don't get is why are they holding back this sort of information if they're really trying to protect us. I mean what could it really be about?." Parker said, it was evident we were all confused.
I had called my parents telling them I would be sleeping over at Kennedy's tonight and she didn't seem to mind. It felt like she was sort of relieved that I wasn't going home tonight.
2:15am
I had woken up shocked and scared at what I thought was a loud bang. At First I didn't recognise my environment.... I was in the woods, in the dead of night. It looked like a dream but the chilly breeze and creepy trees staring back at me felt too real..
I was sitting on a pile of dead leaves that crunched as I stood up. Then I heard the most disturbing screeching noise I had ever heard in my whole life. I covered my ears and fell back on the floor as the screeching sound became louder and even more violent. Everywhere was pitch black asides one part of the woods the moon had decided to shine brightly on. As I scrambled to my feet and headed towards the bright part of the woods where it felt kind of safe, trying to get as far away as possible from that screeching noise.
When I got to the bright part of the forest, I leaned against a tree. Still trying to see if it was only a dream or if it was real... I pinched my arm real hard and the pain i felt made it clear that this was no dream.... I was confused... this didn't make any sense... I was on my side of the bed in Kennedy's room just a few hours ago. I don't recall ever leaving her house. How the hell did I get here.
Still pondering on my thoughts, I heard the leaves on the trees rustle violently and looked up to see if anyone else was there. What I saw sent shivers down my spine and my eyes widened with terror. Before me was what looked human but wasn't quite right. It had a really long neck and it's skin looked like someone had ripped it's flesh off and skinned it... it's skin looked yellowish.. like a rotten dead body. It's stomach had some sort of greenish liquid dripping from it... and it's eyes were all sunken in.... it literally looked like it's eyes were absent and it had just empty eye sockets.
It smelt awful and I felt nauseated... bile rose from my throat threatening to come out at any given second... it looked disgusting... and smelt even worse.
It walked around slowly before turning towards my direction. I felt my knees turn to jelly....my whole body went numb as fear gripped my whole being.... with no warning, my legs sprung into action as I bolted for the woods trying to get away from it's nauseating presence. I ran so fast I didn't even look where I was headed.
I heard it screech one Last time before it ran after me... I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.... I had been running for what seemed like hours trying to escape whatever the fuck it was that was chasing me when I tripped on a fallen tree branch and fell face flat onto a pile of leaves. "Fuck!!" I cursed under my breath as I noticed my spongebob pyjamas had ripped at the knee part and I had ended up bruising my knee...
I stood up and continued running as tho nothing had happened..... a few minutes later and I stopped to take a rest . My lungs were on fire ... I was parched and exhausted and most of all, I was scared shitless.
... I watched as the creature approached me... i didn't have any more energy left to run... so I stood, I just stood and waited for death...
I released a blood curling scream as the creature plunged my stomach with one of its hands... it hurt a lot... I felt dizzy, the world was spinning at an abnormal pace.. I felt my body getting weaker and I felt the life drain out of me... I closed my eyes praying silently that this would all be over soon.