Part III

Skinwalker, a creature that is said to harvest the bones, organs, and blood of the dead. It is said they use these to brew their potions and feast upon the flesh for nourishment. This has created many legends that speak of those that reside in the dark. Be wary, dear reader, for in all legends resides a spark of truth, and in the brightest day, darkness awaits and with it, so to the skinwalkers.

I must reiterate my warning to you all, seeing, hearing, talking, or reading about these creatures will bring them to you. They are vicious creatures that will not allow you to escape, they will hunt you till they are prepared to take you as their next meal. There is no escape. Death is the only way out.

Jill, a doctor in the local hospital, was the first to see sister Selma and young Karl as they drove up to the hospital doors. Jill sighed, she had just walked out the hospital doors, planning to head home and watch some television since she was off the next day, but knew sister Selma would insist she handle his case. Sister Selma seemed to think Jill was the only doctor in the entire town and wouldn't let any other touch the person she brought in.

As they pulled to a stop, the young boy opened the passengers door and stepped out. That was odd, any time sister Selma pulled up to the hospital, whether it was to drop someone off or not, she would always come in and visit with the sick and injured, but this time she didn't move. As soon as Karl had stepped out of her car, sister Selma sped away.

Jill stared after sister Selma, perplexed, before turning to young Karl. She was about to voice her questions but stopped as she noticed the blood that flowed freely down his left arm. Without a word, Jill rushed the boy into a medical room where she bandaged him up, it was a simple matter, just a small scratch that would heal in a few days. What was a problem was just how broken the boy's arm was.

Karl's arm was broken in seven different places, and completely shattered in at least two. Jill prodded the boy for answers as she waited for her father, J. R., to arrive. The boy only seemed to mumble something about his pa as he stared off into space.

Jill breathed a sigh of annoyance, she never did like the Milton parents, they always seemed too distant for her taste and would never speak of their past. She could understand not wanting to talk about their past, but being so distant that you restrict your own children from attending school seemed to be a bit much to her.

When J. R. arrived, she clued him in on the boy's condition and how sister Selma had dropped him off. J. R. had thought sister Selma's actions were odd as well but choked it up to stress, she had been working really hard lately. She might have just been in a bad mood because of the stress and wanted to hurry home to take a nice long bath.

Jill reluctantly agreed with J. R., she knew her pa wouldn't change his mind once it was set, and left to attend to other patients. She knew she should take this chance to leave the hospital and head home, she might not get another otherwise, but she wanted to stick close to young Karl and find out the truth of the matter. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to hear the story as she got swept away to attend to another patient.

By the time Jill had managed to make her way back to Karl's room, J. R. had left and in his place stood officer Taft. When Jill inquired as to where J. R. ran off to, she was informed that he went to the Milton's home to investigate what the boy had told him. Jill wasn't surprised, she suspected child abuse or endangerment. As Jill spoke to officer Taft, she noticed young Karls eyes following her with every step she took.

Jill met Karl's eyes and smiled her famous crooked smile that caused every man to fall head over hills over her. Karl didn't smile back, nor did he look away which caused a chill to creep up Jill's spine. Wanting to leave the room for a moment, she decided to get the boy a soft drink and quickly left.

As Jill walked the halls of the hospital towards the storage closet they kept the soft drinks that were meant for the patients, she started berating herself for even thinking that the young boy could do anything to hurt her. The thought alone was so unlike Jill and she felt disgusted to have such thoughts, after all, there wasn't a man alive that could put up a fight against her. Shaking her head, Jill turned a corner and entered the storage closet.

It wasn't a large closet, about twelve to maybe fourteen feet from floor to ceiling, six or seven feet across, and nine feet from the door to the back wall. It never felt too small or too big to Jill, instead it felt like the appropriate size. The soft drinks were stacked up on the floor against the back wall by type to make it easier to select the kind needed, but a thought occurred to Jill, she never asked Karl what kind of soft drink he would like.

As Jill started to ponder if she should return to Karl's room or just grab a random drink, the sound of a door slamming came from behind her. Jill spun around and stared at the now closed door, and let me tell you dear reader, this door… it had scratch marks running up and down the entire frame. It looked as though someone had taken out a hunting knife and tried to carve it into… something else.

Fear gripped Jill as she saw the carvings that seemed to be… unnatural? It wasn't just the carvings that caused fear to grip her, oh no. The door wasn't even attached to any hinges so someone had to lift the door off the ground in order to close it, but Jill would have noticed someone trying to lift it as she prided herself of her awareness and yet they managed to not only sneak up behind her but also lift a heavy metal door off the ground and slam it into place.

Jill stood in silence for a long moment, staring at the door as the fear started to settle in the back of her mind. Once the fear had receded she chuckled a bit at herself, she was much like her father and believed there was a reasonable explanation for everything. Jack, the hospital's janitor, had probably put the door back on its hinges and she didn't notice, which in itself unnerved Jill but again, she just assumed it was because she had been working for more than twenty hours without rest.

With that crooked smile everyone loved now on her face, Jill walked the seven feet to the door, swearing under her breath that she would get Jack and whoever else was behind this back. She began to chuckle to herself as her plans for revenge started to come to mind, she wasn't going to just pay them back for this, she was going to make sure they never pull a prank on her again. Jill reached up to turn the doorknob, her hand mere inches from it when she was stopped short. A hand had come out of nowhere, as if materializing out of thin air to stop her. It had hold of her hand, its bone-like claws dug deep into her skin as it held her hand in place.

The crooked smile quickly faded as Jill stared down at the hand, it's skin, if it had skin for all Jill could see was long, thick, dark hair, the claw-like bones it used as fingers was dyed yellow from obvious age. An involuntarily whimper of fear left Jills lips as her body went rigid and her eyes slowly traced the hand up and to the arm. When her eyes took in the creature, the same fear as before gripped her more firmly.

Squatting down behind Jill was a creature that was not human or animal or anything Jill had seen in the past twenty-three years of her life. Hair covered its entire body, long, dark, thick hair just like the hand or claw or whatever held her hand and kept her from opening the door. What frightened Jill the most was not the hair or the claws, but how tall this creature was. Even in a squatting position, this creature's head grazed the ceiling and even pushed the tile up. Jill could only imagine how tall this creature must be if it's head touched the ceiling while it was in a squatting position and she did not want to find out.

Jill felt the strong instinct to scream out, to plead with the creature to let her go, that she believes in the supernatural now so there is no need to keep her here, but her voice failed her. Instead, she stood in place staring at this creature, not really comprehending what she was seeing, as she whimpered in place.

Jill knew this was it. If any of those ghost stories around the fire had taught her anything about the supernatural, it was that once you see them, you are as good as dead. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, this creature will find and kill her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Jill closed her eyes and for the first time since her mama died, she prayed. She prayed to the good lord begging for this monster to just leave her alone and allow her to live, and her prayer was answered.

Let me tell you dear reader, Jill's prayer was most certainly answered that day, just not by God. The answer came in the form of a hateful laugh and a sharp pain piercing Jill's hand as the yellow claws dug into her skin. Jill's eyes shot open and what she saw astonished her and made her doubt everything she had ever been taught.

The creature's hair disappeared to reveal a pale man, or perhaps it was a woman, Jill couldn't tell as she had finally found her voice and began to scream as she tried to pull her hand free. As her screams began to ring out and fill the closet she could hear footsteps approaching the door and the doorknob rattling as she fought. Jill looked away for just a quick peek at the door and when she looked back, the creature was gone and only a pair of brown eyes that hovered in the air remained before even they blinked out of sight.

Jill couldn't take it anymore, a mix of emotions wailed up inside her as she fumbled for the doorknob crying and begging for someone to get her out of that closet. When the door was finally opened after someone had grabbed the janitor, Jill bolted out of the closet and found herself in the arms of a tall and slender man with deep brown eyes. The same eyes that had hovered in the air mere moments prior. The last thing anyone heard Jill say before she passed out was "mama, I'm coming home."

Officer Michael Taft had arrived at the hospital in the early morning… or late night? Taft didn't know what to call it, nor did he care, he hated these kinds of jobs that require him to lose sleep.

Groaning, Taft entered the hospital and found J. R. rather quickly. J. R. was talking to the young Milton boy and, for reasons unknown to taft, he felt the hairs on his body rise as he approached. Taft had heard the ending of Karl's story and felt that something was wrong, though he didn't voice his concerns.

When J. R. noticed Taft standing in the doorway listening to the boy's tales, he motioned for Taft to come closer and that was when J. R. told him of the story and, being unable to believe in such hoo do magic nonsense,made the suggestion that the boy was probably in trouble with his ma and pa or his ma and pa weren't the kind of people they thought they were. Taft didn't agree with J. R. and just stood in silence as he stared at the boy. J. R. asked Taft if he had any thoughts on the situation but Taft remained silent, deep in his thoughts.

With a shrug and a pat on Taft's shoulders, J. R. left the hospital, already heading out towards the Milton's place in the woods. This was the last anyone saw of officer Michael Taft alive, or so they believe, but we'll get more into that later.

Jill woke up an hour later and found herself in a hospital bed with one of her coworkers tending to her. At first she didn't understand what was happening, why she was in a bed that should be reserved for patients instead of her own bed, then she remembered. The brown eyes that seemed to pierce her, to know all of her secrets, the claws, and worse of all, the fear. The fear a child would feel when they are about to be the victim of bullying. The fear only those who know that there is no escape, no reprieve, no mercy.

As it all came flooding back to her mind, Jill wrapped her arms around her legs, curling up into the fetal position and began to quietly sob. She sobbed for her unaccomplished dreams, her family, her friends, but most of all, she sobbed for herself. She sobbed quietly for an hour, her head hidden under the blanket so that none would see her unsightly features and might have continued to sob if the sound of someone clearing their throat hadn't aroused her.

Jill peeked out of the cover to find Karl standing beside her bed, his left arm had a cast on it and hung in a sling. Jill wiped her eyes and sat up, giving Karl the best smile she could muster and spoke as sweetly as she could, but found that she had lost her voice, most likely due to all the screaming she did.

"Karl," Jill said in a hoarse croaking voice that reminded her of the bullfrogs she used to catch as a kid, "how can I help you?"

Karl smiled and shook his head, seeming amused by Jill's voice, and pointed behind him to a tall and slender man with dark brown eyes. He had a bit of stubble on his face and long flowing thick hair on his head. The sight of this man caused Jill's breath to catch in her throat and the man smiled. Jill knew, though she didn't know how she did, that this man and the creature she ran into in the closet were one and the same.

The man lifted a single finger to his lips, silencing Jill before she could voice her horror. As Jill choked back her screams Karl leaned forward and whispered in her ear words that have haunted her for many years afterwards. These words had such an effect on Jill's mind that eight years later, she had sadly taken her own life.

Now, I know you are wondering what this young boy could have said to drive a person to take their life. Well folks, what he said that haunted her was a few simple words. Something that we have heard many times before from friends and family.

"We will be seeing you later."

Now these words alone weren't what drove her to take her life. What did was what Karl and the man behind him did, or rather didn't do. They vanished, leaving only two sets of eyes that watched her before blinking out of existence.