Chapter 5 - Part V

If you have read any parts to this you would know the warnings already so feel free to skip this paragraph, if you haven't then I advise you to go back and read the other parts. Just to be safe, here is the warning the group has asked me to make known. If you read, watch, listen, or talk about these creatures, they will come for you. They are relentless and no weapon, man made or otherwise, will harm them. Please be advised and proceed with caution, these creatures just might be real and these events… may just be a small drop in the ocean of stories that have yet to be told about them.

As Mary Anne was getting out of bed to discover her husband's body being picked apart by a strange creature, Joseph, a young teen around the age of fourteen, was just arriving home. It had been a long night for him as he had visited his girlfriend's house in the middle of the night and did… will what teenage hormonal teens do. He had returned in time to shower and get ready for school, his eyelids feeling heavy after all the… exercise he got last night.

He knew that his mother would notice him if he went through the doors so he made a wide arch towards the rear of the house, intending to climb into his window. As he cleared the side of the house a dark figure stopped him. It hadn't reached out and grabbed him nor did it move, he doubted it even knew he was there.

Fear engulfed the boy as he stared at the creature in bewilderment. The figure itself wasn't black, but it was as though the darkness of the night had yet to be sent running coated it's body, hiding it from view. Taking in a sharp breath, Joseph moved back a few steps before turning to run.

As Joseph took a step, prepared to take off as fast as he could, a scream pierced his ear. A very familiar scream. It was the voice he heard when he was in the womb, the voice that comforted him when he felt pain or sorrow, the voice that had stayed strong when his father lost his life in a freak farming accident. It was the voice of his mother.

Turning back around to face the dark figure, Joseph, this naive teenage boy let loose a savage scream and charged forward. His hands started swinging even before he reached the figures that he now could see was dragging his mother into the nearby wooded area, only for his hands to pass harmlessly through the figure… no. Figure is too vague of a word for these things. Creatures or smoke monsters best suited them as that was all they were to the boy. Monstrous creatures that were made of smoke.

This didn't stop Joseph, however, as he charged forward and clutched at the hand that held his mother, only to find himself on his back in seconds and one of these creatures pulling him along beside her. The very touch of these smoke monstrosities caused blisters to form and sent pain coursing through his body. He let out a scream of pain and he writhed in agony, fighting against these monsters' grip that held him to the ground.

He knew he could escape from these creatures, that he could fight back in some way, that he could and would save his mother and run to find J.R. and report this matter. He knew… just as he was about to finish his thought, one of the creature's smoke-like appearance began to shift and change as it took on the form of a small snake. As it began to fall it spread wings and flew to Joseph and stared into his eyes. All will he had, all thoughts of rebelling against these creatures and finding safety vanished from his mind.

Joseph now knew, there was no escaping from these things. There was no hope of surviving. Even if he managed to get free and save his mother, there was no place he could go to where these creatures wouldn't find them. It was at this moment that for the very first time in his life, Joseph truly prayed to God, begging for him to give Joseph and his mother a quick and painless death, but, just like all the other prayers that had been whispered in this small town on this day, it would go unanswered.

As Joseph and his mother were dragged into the wooded area, he noticed another creature. It's skin was pale and hung from its bones as limp flaps. It's eyes stared into an empty void, in one hand it was dragging someone, Mary Anne, the wife of officer Taft, and in the other it held what looked like an odd ball that it brought to its mouth periodically.

Mary Anne herself seemed worse for wear as she seemed to wake up as the two groups met. Joseph would have liked to comfort the now crying Mary Anne and reassure her that they would live through these events, however he knew they wouldn't and didn't want to give her false hope. He allowed his body to sag on the ground and didn't make a sound, resigned to his fate as the pain tore at his psyche and body.

There were plenty of times that he thought he would die from the pain alone only for it to lessen enough to be bearable. Pain was all he knew now. Pain, sorrow, and anger at himself for allowing such creatures to take his mother while he was out. In this moment, he hated himself for being stupid and allowing his second head to decide what he should do, hated his father for dieing on him and not being able to take care of his mother, but most importantly, hated these creatures, these monsters for causing him such pain.

Joseph wanted to break free and run away, to leave all this pain, sorrow, anger, and hatred behind. To just escape this hell that he was plunged into and forced to live. Just as he thought about possibly leaving his mother to these creatures and running, he knew he wouldn't make it far but he could at least take his own life so that he wouldn't feel such pain, the pain came to an end.

Taking in a shaky breath and blowing out a sigh of relief, Joseph turned his head to smile at his mother through the daze. Next to him lay what he could only call "the creature that once was my mother". A black liquid spewed out of her mouth and she stood up as her skin began to shift.

Hey guys, if you have made it this far, thank you, and thank you to all of you that have been following this story from the beginning, it means a lot to me. As I have said in previous parts, this is based on true, or at least the group I am talking about claims it is, events. Originally, I was more inclined to take it with a heaping grain of salt only to… experience some strange stuff myself. Tbh I am scared shitless and can't even fall asleep in the dark now. If you wish to hear about that, let me know in the comments and I will make a post all about it.

As for the story, I would like to ask y'all to leave your opinions and questions in the comment section below and I encourage y'all to try to guess what that black liquid Joseph's mom spewed out is and how it changed her. If you think you know what it is than please post it in the comment section and I will reveal the correct answer in the next chapter as we follow Mary Anne and see why these creatures we are calling skinwalkers took them into the forested area.

Again, thank you for reading.