Part VII

Hey guys, I would like to apologize for another long absence. There are many projects in the works and haven't been able to post much recently. I have recently started up a Youtube channel talking about this story and others, first episode has yet to be released, and have been looking for time to finish a chapter to one of my fantasy stories, because of these reasons, this story has been put on the back burner for a hot minute.

Now, I know y'all hadn't come here looking for excuses as to why this is late. Y'all want to know what happened to dear Mary Anne and Joseph, but sadly, we will be leaving things where they are alone for now. Don't worry folks, we will return to them soon but there are many other stories that need to be told before we tell y'all what happened to them.

As always, I must warn you dear reader, if you proceed and read these accounts then you may bring these creatures upon you. I will tell you from my own personal experience, this is true. If you see, hear, speak, or read about these creatures, you will become one of their targets. These creatures are almost indestructible as no weapon, man made or otherwise can harm them.

Tommy, a six year old child with dark red hair and dazzling blue eyes, was outside his pa's house playing with a stray dog he had named Barky, because she barked a lot. Now Barky wasn't your typical stray. She didn't carry any of those filthy germs Tommys ma talked about and he kept himself clean, always washing herself in the river deep in the woods.

How do we know this? Will, a few weeks back, when Tommy first found Barky, he glimpsed her making her way into the forest one morning and Tommy, being a young country boy, did what any other fearless boy his age would do and followed her into the woods. He followed as quickly as his little legs would carry him deep into the woods, trying to be quiet so that the monsters, Tommy knew there were monsters, his older cousin Mark had said so, wouldn't find him.

As he followed Barky deeper into the forest they came to a lake where the Golden Retriever, Barky, gently began to wade in. Tommy watched with amusement and began to giggle as the dog rolled around in the water, washing all of those nasty germs off of her fur coat before making her way back to land. As Barky began to shake the droplets of water out of her fur, she paused and seemed to look straight at Tommy.

Tommy stared back at Barky, dumbfounded that he had been caught, but then a low growl came from her. It started low and quickly turned into a bark which startled poor Tommy who was unused to dogs, Barky being his first. Tommy wanted to turn around and run from Barky who was now barking viciously at… him?

Something inside Tommy told him that Barky would never act like this towards him. There must be something or someone behind him that is making Barky so angry. Tommy started to turn around, to look at whoever or whatever was standing behind him only to stop as Barky began to whimper.

Tommy turned around, anger bubbling forth as the thought of whatever was behind him had hurt his dog and found… well, Barky. She was alone standing by the creek staring at young Tommy. She kept lunging forward as if to run to Tommy only to just as quickly lunge back in fear.

Seeing that she couldn't move forward, Barky began to paw at the ground and jerk her head down, almost as if to tell Tommy to come here. Now Tommy may have been young, not yet old enough to ride in the passenger seat of his pa's truck, and he may not have been the smartest kid in his town, but at that moment, he knew he had better listen to Barky.

He stepped forward and for a brief moment, Tommy could have sworn someone or something had yanked on his shirt to get his attention. Instinctively, Tommy began to turn around only to stop when he heard Barky's whine. Stealing himself to keep from looking, Tommy once again began to move forward towards the creek.

As Tommy reached Barky's side, he could hear an unearthly voice speak his name before whatever or whoever was present disappeared. Tommy shivered as he knelt down and began to wipe mud out of Barky's fur.

Returning to the present day, Tommy sat under his tree staring at…. Something. He did not know what it was but it was most certainly not Barky.