Luke sprinted out of the house, nearly forgetting to grab the shotgun still propped against the couch (barrel pointed up, he only realized now, because he was stupid).
“Elsie?” he called. “Elsie?”
No response. The wind was picking up again.
He looked around, trying to rein his immediate panic. He knew something bad was happening right now, but he felt more annoyed than anything. Elsie was being stubborn and stupid, and he was going to be blamed for it.
Elsie definitely knew these woods better than he did, and she didn’t actually seem like a stupid kid. She just was doing dumb things at the moment, because she was working with bad information. There was a chance for self-reflection in there somewhere.
You couldn’t even keep an eye on one little girl. Luke could practically hear Alfonso’s voice from some corner of his head, a sharp smirk promising that he’d get to laughing and pointing in a minute.
Luke hefted the shotgun, feeling ridiculous with it in his arms. It was too dark out here—he doubled back inside and spent a precious thirty seconds digging around for a flashlight.
When he came back out, the wind had picked up again, sending whispers through the trees. “Elsie?” he called again, sweeping the are with the flashlight. Nothing but trees and creepy-looking shadows. There was no more screaming, only a gusting wind that suggested an oncoming storm or a landing UFO, depending on which kind of horror movie he was in.
He waited for more screaming, almost anticipating it, hoping for a chance to figure out which direction it was coming from so he could go not that way, but the seconds ticked by. Just his luck.
Would Elsie start going towards that noise? Or was she looking for something else? Did she have an idea of what exactly had taken her mother? One of the freaky creatures in the journal probably. He should’ve asked more questions.
He called her name a few more times, but there was no reply. The thought of Jared catching him doing this was nearly enough to get him to set foot in the woods now, but he couldn’t quite summon the nerve. How freaking typical would it be if he stepped in a bear trap?
But he wasn’t really worried about bear traps. He didn’t believe the things in Elsie’s journal—he didn’t—but it was easy to imagine something moving among the shadows of the trees. To think that the world was very, very different in here than it was out here.
He paused, listening. Did he hear—
Barking?
The dog, the dog. Luke turned slightly to the left, holding the flashlight high, but the barking sounded far enough away that he wouldn’t be able to see anything from here.
He forced himself in that direction.
He thought of Valerie’s expression as she had stared at the forest. Had she looked scared? Or just…haunted.
Whatever you fear most.
Luke shook himself. There was nothing in these woods like that. Anyone he was truly afraid of was in a different ZIP code.
But he still felt nervous to yell. Maybe there wasn’t nothing crazy in these woods, but that didn’t mean there was nothing in these woods. But if Elsie was out here alone…
“Elsie,” he called. Then he muttered, “Please don’t get me in even more trouble.”
He kept glancing back, trying to keep tabs on where the cabin was and how far he had gone into the forest. He didn’t feel scared, exactly. More like he was walking towards a cliff that was still a ways off. He glanced over his shoulder again—
Something moved behind him.
He froze, but there was no noise. He thought he had seen a shadow by that tree, but then he realized that was stupid. How could there be shadows in the dark?
He pressed on, going as fast as he dared with only a dim flashlight to see by. He tried running, but the ground was uneven and threatened to trip him. He forced himself to look straight, refusing to give into the paranoia that something was behind him, like he could feel the shift in the air of something getting closer—
He swung his flashlight behind him, but it didn’t hit anything, because nothing was there.
His heart was pounding in his ears. His breath sounded loud in his own ears. He couldn’t see the edge of the forest or the cabin—both of which felt like real good reasons to go back now—but he didn’t see any sign of Elsie either. Or Uncle Jared for that matter.
I don’t wanna stay here, he thought.
You can at least wait for us in the car, Alfonso had muttered. You freaking coward.
Luke stopped mid-stride, gritting his teeth. It was hard to argue with that when he was shaking in his boots over literally nothing.
A breeze swept behind him.
At least, that was what it sounded like at first. A light, low humming, like a broken flute. The notes were dissonant and eerie. But he realized that there was no sound of rustling leaves or swaying trees. He felt no actual wind.
He remained frozen, still facing forward, feeling sweat trickle down his collar.
“Elsie?” he said. “If you’re messing with me, I swear…”
But nothing. A few owls hooted somewhere in the distance. Crickets chirped, almost experimental in the sudden quiet. He felt seconds tick by. He couldn’t stay here forever.
Slowly, he turned around.
He kept the flashlight low, letting the ambient light reveal things slowly, hopefully without startling anything that might be there. It might be an animal—a coyote or fox or yes, even a freaking bear—but the rest of him wasn’t convinced of that.
Eyes peered at him through the dark.
He froze, not believing it, but the shapes didn’t move. He thought he could distinguish the shape from the surrounding gloom, as if it were darker than the dark, a blackness among the shadows lurking behind the trees. He couldn’t understand how he could see it.
Shakily, he raised his flashlight.
The blackness withdrew behind the tree.
Luke broke into a run.
He heard nothing but the crunch of leaves under his shoes and his own heavy breathing, leaping over roots and rocks as best he could by the dim light of his flashlight. He thought the thing was following him, even though he couldn’t hear footsteps or breathing or shuffling leaves. He could just feel that presence. He leaped over another root and chanced a look behind him.
The shadow was there, slithering along the ground, less like a snake and more like a sentient pool of—something—constantly shifting its form as it almost poured across the ground.
Luke turned around, leaning into a full sprint—
Something hard tripped him.
He had time to throw up his hands because the drop was far steeper than he’d realize. He tumbled over the other side of what was apparently a giant boulder, hitting roots and branches until a leaves-covered ground slammed into his back, knocking the wind out of him.
He huffed a breath, desperately filling his lungs again. He was in enough pain to forget his fear for a minute. Maybe if he just lay in this dirt long enough, everything would think he was dead and he could just—
“Luke?”
He looked up.
Elsie sat against the stone, huddled next to the dog, a single flashlight in her lap giving just enough light to see her. Luke tried to yell at her, but it came out as more of a wheeze.
“Luke! Are you okay?” Elsie crawled over to him. The dog immediately started sniffing him and licking his face.
Luke pushed himself upright, shoving the dog away. “You—” he panted. “You just—”
“You shouldn’t wander around here at night,” she said.
“I shouldn’t?” He pushed the dog away again, brushing leaves and crap off his shirt.
“I know this forest,” she insisted. “And I have to find my mom.”
He felt around in the mess of leaves until his hand caught the cold barrel of the shotgun. He flinched only a little as he picked it up and slung the strap across his chest. Now if he took another tumble like that, he’d likely break a rib with it, but at least he wouldn’t lose it.
He glanced at her. “Do you have a gun?”
“Dad doesn’t like me using a gun without him unless it’s an emergency.”
“Well, maybe this counts as—” He looked up, suddenly remembering that he was running from something. He fumbled for his flashlight and pointed it up.
Nothing there.
Elsie looked up, following his gaze. “What is it?”
“Nothing,” he said too quickly. “You ditched me.”
“I have to be out here!” she insisted. “I’m trying to listen.”
“For what?”
“For—something.”
Luke blinked, waiting. It hadn’t dawned on him till now that her explanation before hadn’t actually explained what she was doing.
He knelt down in front of her, trying hide without actually looking like he was hiding. “What exactly do you think happened to your mother?”
“I told you, she was taken.”
“You did not tell me,” he said firmly. “Taken by what?”
“I…I don’t know.” She hugged her backpack.
“You don’t know,” he repeated.
“I don’t know,” she whined.
“But you think it’s one of the things described in that book? Is that what you think?”
“Yes,” she muttered, but her tone was a bit less whiny. “Even though you don’t believe me.”
“Yeah, well.” Luke glanced up at the rock, but there was still no sign of…something. “Real things are scary enough.”
“I told you, they’re real! It’s all real!”
Luke shook his head. “So what do you think took your mom?”
“I—have some ideas,” she said defensively, but in a way that immediately gave away the fact she had no idea. “It could be a lot of things.”
She reached for her backpack and pulled out something: the journal she’d shown him before.
Luke grunted in frustration. “Is this really the time for—”
She gasped and sat up. “Do you hear that?”
Luke paused, waiting. He didn’t hear much of anything at the moment, not even the birds and bugs that had been chatting a month ago.
There, not too far off—
Tsk-tsk-tsk-tshhh
A smattering of hissing and clicking bounced through the trees
“Hurry!” Elsie fumbled and turned off her light. “Turn off your flashlight!”
Luke definitely did not want to turn off his flashlight—he’d rather see whatever was about to eat him—but Elsie lunged and flicked the switch for him.
The forest was pure black. Luke blinked against the imprint of light still in his eyes, desperate to see what was there in the dark.
The tsk-tsk noise was definitely getting closer. Luke had never had a panic attack before, but he was strongly considering one at the moment.
Belatedly, he remembered that he was packing. He fumbled for the shotgun, trying to remember what Jared had taught him. He had to click the safety off, but he couldn’t freaking see it. Was this thing even loaded? He hadn’t checked.
“Don’t,” Elsie said, her hand patting blindly at his arm. “It’ll hear us!”
“What’s it?” he hissed, hoisting the weapon anyway.
Movement caught his eyes from above.
The trees were thick enough here that he could just barely see slivers of the night sky, the stars oddly bright against the deep blue.
A branch moved.
He struggled to reorient his focus, but it was gone before he could be sure. Had there been a branch there at all? He heard the faint snap and groan of trees being stressed, as if something heavy were pushing them. More branches moving, connecting to trees before leaving again a moment later.
No, not branches—
Legs.
As soon as he realized it, the full shape made sense: a monstrous, bulbous body was held suspended between the trees by too many legs. It was massive, far too big to be real. Luke’s rational mind insisted that it was just a trick of perspective. He moved his head around to get a different view, but it was definitely dozens of feet above them. Its legs were thicker than most of the branches above them, its body segmented into two oblong shapes.
A spider.
A giant spider.
A giant freaking spider.
His mind didn’t want to believe it. Currently, it was refusing to believe it. This was the part of the nightmare where he fell down an endless hole or walked into class with no pants on. He watched it pass over them, its pace largely slow and unbothered, the bending and shuffle of trees getting louder as it approached. He held the gun, too nervous to aim it in the right direction, too nervous to move in case the thing somehow heard the rustle of his clothes. Elsie was perfectly still next to him; even the dog knew to be quiet.
The spider paused, its front legs prodding at something in a tree next to it. A bird suddenly squawked before growing quiet. The spider continued on.
Luke didn’t relax until the spider was out of sight, or at least indistinguishable from the surrounding trees. Then he listened for another ten seconds, until the swaying trees were only from a light breeze.
Luke released a breath. Took another. He did not puke.
“We’re safe,” Elsie said, sounding way too calm for Luke’s tastes. “We can keep moving.”
Luke pushed himself to his feet. He did not pass out. He did not fall into a panic attack.
“Glad to hear it,” he said.
He grabbed Elsie’s arm, hoisted her up, and started dragging her.
“What are you doing?” she complained, her voice way too loud for him.
“We’re going home,” he hissed. “Right now.”
“It’s gone, we’re fine!”
“Nope. Nope. No no no.” He started feeling a growing pressure in his chest. Maybe he was going to indulge in that panic attack after all. “This is way too dangerous.”
“I can do it!” she insisted. “This is the only time when I can look for her!”
Luke stopped and turned to her, thinking of reasoning with her about how freaking insane that was, before he remembered that she’d been the one to tell him about all the crazy crap in the forest, and he had decidedly not listened.
Well, he was listening now.
“No.”
He kept going, dragging Elsie behind him. The dog grumbled its displeasure but didn’t attack Luke, instead keeping pace.
“No!” she complained, yanking hard. “This is our only chance!”
“In the middle of the night when your dad’s not around.”
“Yes!”
“When the forest is full of—of—” He was suddenly fumbling for the right word. Monsters? Monstrosities? Nightmares?
“The forest is always full of those,” Elsie said, as if he were being unreasonable. “I need time to find where Mom is.”
Luke froze as he heard something behind them. Footsteps? Something running, the beats heavy and rhythmic and getting louder. The spider had heard them and was now making a charge.
Luke fumbled for the gun again, but Elsie raised her flashlight in that direction.
A shape barreled through the trees. Luke fumbled to raise the shotgun, but he hesitated a beat about letting go of Elsie. It felt too much like she wasn’t scared enough of the situation.
A horse galloped past them.
“Heather? Heather!” Elsie called, but the horse didn’t stop, the weird flashlight on its chest providing just enough lighting to keep it from running into trees. It nearly tripped but didn’t slow down.
“But—what happened to Dad?” Elsie said, her voice thin. “He wouldn’t leave Heather like that.”
Luke took a breath, but his heart was picking up speed again. This could be bad. Actually bad. Whatever was in this forest had just caught Jared by surprise.
“Luke!” Elsie pleaded. “We have to find Dad! He’s in trouble!”
Luke swallowed. “Is the horse going the right way? Towards the house.”
“Uh, yeah but—”
“Then that’s where we’re going.” Luke grabbed her arm and started walking. “Both of us. Right now.”
“No!” Elsie tried pulling out of his grip. “We need to find my dad!”
“We need to find help,” he said. “Whatever’s out here is dangerous. We’ll go into town and ask people.” It seemed way too late for the party to be going on still, but maybe someone was still in town. He didn’t know where anyone actually lived. Would they be willing to organize a search party?
“We don’t have time!” Elsie said. “Let me go!”
She yanked hard against his arm to the point that he was dragging her through the dirt. Rusty barked angrily but didn’t attack.
“Keep the dog quiet,” Luke hissed. He tried to picture the way back to town in his mind. Could he get there blind in the dark like this? He’d never driven a stick shift before. Would taking the horse actually be better?
Elsie kicked his leg.
“Ow!” he snapped, though more from surprise than pain. “Elsie, stop fighting.”
“We have to find my mom and dad.”
“And we will, but we can’t do it alone. We have to—”
A sudden noise filled his mind.
He froze, suddenly feeling disconnected from his body. It was definitely the same noise he had heard last night in the house, before going to bed, though it now felt far louder than it had before. He had started to write off the whole incident as a dream, despite the other weird stuff that had been happening all night.
But that note—a song, maybe? The same, shimmering sound that seemed to blend into a chord, harmonious but haunting. He could imagine himself plucking the notes on his guitar.
“Luke?” Elsie said. “Are you okay?”
Luke realized he had stopped walking. Worse, he had lost his grip on Elsie. The air felt thicker here, shimmering, as if he were dreaming. He stared down at the ground and thought it looked…wrong. Far away. Everything suddenly felt unreal and dreamlike.
He shook his head. “Fine,” he muttered, but his own voice sounded muted. He thought he was perfectly capable of moving, but his mind just didn’t feel like telling his body to do anything. The song echoed around him. Was it a voice?
A sharp note pierced through. He winced as—
A crack appeared in front of him.
He blinked, but it remained. It was as if an invisible window of glass was breaking in front of him. Only there was no glass, and the crack was glowing with shimmering, iridescent hues of purple and blue and green.
He stepped back, waiting for the sight to make sense. The crack grew, slowly spreading as if something were pounding on it from the other side. The song had changed, the notes progressing faster, as if in desperation. Was the song coming from this thing?
“Elsie?” Luke said, but his voice still sounded far away, as if he were wearing headphones.
“I don’t know,” she said, sounding actually scared. “I don’t know what’s happening—”
SCREECH
Luke slapped his hands over his ears as the sound rang out louder than it had before. It sounded as though it were coming form every direction, directly into his mind. It was a scream that shattered him back to reality, where he was sharply aware of his knees banging painfully on the ground as he fell.
The shriek ended, and Luke collapsed, as if he’d just been electrocuted.
Something stepped in front of him.
He looked up at a figure.
Jennifer San Filippo 