Part IX

Derrick pushed through the shrubs, his rifle at the ready. It hadn't been long since his boy Tommy disappeared into the woods, no doubt following that damn stray. He couldn't count how many times he had told Tommy to stay out of the woods and even encouraged his cousin to scare Tommy to prevent him from wandering.

Derrick had been born and raised in this town and knew just how dangerous the woods could be. There have been countless disappearances and killings to happen in these woods. Animals have shown up running away from something with their bodies torn to pieces and their flesh already in the late stages of decay.

Derrick shivered, he hated these woods and had long ago resolved to move away but something kept him there, though what it was he could never figure out. Taking in a deep shuddering breath, Derrick allowed the calm silent air to wash away his thoughts… silent? That's not right. There has to be some birds chirping in the trees or small animals rustling in the grass nearby, there is no way the entire woods can be as silent as the dead, can it?

Just when Derrick started to deliberate if he had gone deaf, a noise pierced the silence. The sound and fear that followed after were only amplified by the silence that followed. Derrick's instincts screamed for him to run, get away from this area and disappear entirely, but his pride and resolve to find Tommy pushed him forward.

Derrick headed in the direction of the noise, more so for fear of the creature making its way behind him than curiosity and found, to his shock and disbelief, Mary Anne and Joseph surrounded by… things. Derrick… couldn't make out what he was looking at. It was like light was being bent around these creatures, but not all light, some seemed to catch the outline of the creatures showing several skeletal figures standing around the two as they held a bowl or cup of some kind.

Upon closer inspection he realized Mary Anne and Joseph could see these creatures if the pure look of terror on their faces was any indication. Reacting more out of habit than conscience thought, being in more than his fair share of animal attacks, Derrick aimed his gun at one of the figures and pulled the trigger. The sound of the gun fire was jarring and as if a switch in his mind had been thrown, the creatures came into full view. The one Derrick had shot barely moved for a moment, its body twitched and convulsed where it stood, as if to try and control a raging fire that racked its body, before turning it's head and glaring in Derrick's direction in annoyance.

If Derrick hadn't known the meaning of fear before this day, he sure as hell did now. All manner of horrors overlapped in his mind as the creature's body jerked again before turning back to Mary Anne and Joseph, it's eyes set upon them and Derrick was left too scared to do anything.

A few moments went by as Derrick stared at these creatures. Seconds, minutes, hours, possibly even days could have slipped by and he would have been none the wiser. Then, as if someone or something shook him mentally, Derrick fell out of the trance he had found himself in and for a brief moment, his eyes met with Tommy's. A small tinge of hope lit up his face until he realized he had no way of getting to him.

The creature from before hadn't seemed to see him, but fear held Derrick in place. What happened next, no one can clearly say. Mary Anne swears that Barky appeared and saved them, Joseph had said they left on their own, and Derrick swore up and down that the creatures just disappeared. I am more inclined to believe one story, the story that young Tommy told, but that is something that needs to be left unsaid for now.