Shadow Man (Part 5)

‘Holy shit! Why don’t you just go home and leave my brother alone?’ Jesse stared at his Uncle as the large man stood and walked over to the stairs. Certain steps creaked, as they were made of wood, so he could keep tabs on Uncle Nick’s progress toward Izzy’s room.

Normally, Jesse was rather good at bullshitting—coming up with excuses was often an easy thing for him. But at that moment, the paralyzing shock he felt was keeping him from thinking about anything.

As they say, anything that can go badly will. Jesse saw a small black object in his peripheral vision, and instinctively turned to look at it. He followed what looked like a small cat making a beeline to the kitchen, disappearing beyond the door frame. Immediately after, the hulking shadow figure that had been causing Jesse so much stress since he left the hospital took a wobbling step into the living room, moving its’ head from left to right and back again as if surveying the room. Jesse wanted to scream but was a bit more concerned that everyone else seemed so calm. ‘How do you not see that?’ Jesse yelled inside his own mind.

Minzy began to cry snapping Jesse out of his trance. ‘Babies really can see things adults can’t,’ he thought. ‘Fuck off, shadow man. I’m busy.’

“Hey, Dad? Can I talk to you about something?” Jesse asked.

“Sure, bud! What’s going on?”

Jesse did his best to appear shy. “Um…In private?”

Jesse’s parents gave each other a look as if to say “Oh, shit…”

“You boys go and discuss your ‘man’ problems, while Isabella and I catch up some more,” Jesse’s mom said, shooing father and son away.

Jesse grabbed his father’s hand and led him upstairs to the teenager’s bedroom but left the door open so any noises from Izzy’s room could be heard.

“What’s up?” Jesse’s dad asked as he sat down on his son’s bed.

“Well, it’s about Izzy. He wanted to ask you, but he was embarrassed, so he asked me. But I don’t actually know what to do in this situation, so I was planning on asking you later when everyone went home, but it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen anytime soon,” Jesse spat the words out quickly, while pacing back and forth. He had never taking acting classes, so Jesse only hoped he was coming off and awkward, or nervous.

“Now, you boys know that you can come to me with whatever problems you’re having.”

“I know…” Jesse mumbled looking at the floor. ‘Please don’t look at the desk lamp’ he thought. Honestly, his second biggest concern was getting in trouble for breaking it. ‘Focus, Jesse…’

“What if, hypothetically…”

“A hypothetical situation that you’ve already told me was about Izzy?”

Jesse’s eyes darted around the room for a second realizing what he said and thinking about what to say next. “Yeah. Okay, so there’s this guy that…kinda creeps him out. Has been for a long time. But there’s no way to get away from him. And…nobody would believe us if we told them what he used to—”

“Is it Nick?” Jesse’s father wore a stern, borderline angry face.

For the second time in less than twenty minutes Jesse was stunned into silence. He wasn’t sure if he made it obvious or not, but now that he had the chance to confess something that had been bothering him since he was in elementary school he couldn’t bring himself to say it. But, in this case, Jesse’s silence spoke volumes.

Jesse’s dad got up from the bed and stomped down the hallway. Seconds later, there was a bang when he kicked in youngest son’s door open to see Izzy in bed, wiping something from his lower lip, and Uncle Nick standing over his nephew.

“Get the fuck out of my house,” Jesse’s father spoke quietly, seething. He didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he never liked Nick, and finally had a reason to kick him out.

“What—” Nick started to speak, but the tone in which his brother-in-law spoke and the look on his face let him know he didn’t want to accidentally escalate things. After all, Nick was one of the few people to see his brother-in-law angry. He might as well be the grim reaper.

“Okay, man. Just making sure Izzy was alright,” Nick said raising his hands as a sign that he meant no harm. “I’m leaving, alright?”

Jesse’s father followed Nick to the front door, slamming in Nick’s face when he tried to say goodbye. Meanwhile, Jesse thought he should have a talk with his little brother.

“You alright?” Jesse asked.

“I’m fine.” Izzy definitely didn’t sound fine. He turned away from his brother, pulling the comforter up over his head. Jesse walked over and sat down on the bed next to his brother and put his hand on Izzy’s shoulder above the cocoon of blankets that Izzy wrapped himself with. A muffled sound came from the inside of the cocoon. “I don’t wanna talk about it. Not yet.”

“I gotcha, bro. But you know Dad’s gonna want to talk about…everything, now.”

“I know.”

“I’ll tell him you’re not up to talk about it just yet. But if you do wanna talk, I’m here for you.”

“Okay.”

Jesse walked towards the door of his brother’s room, but Izzy stopped him before he could leave. “Thanks, bro…”

“No problem, Izzy.”

Upon closing the bedroom door, Jesse looked down the hallway toward the top of the stairs to see the Shadow Man standing there quietly.

“I was wondering where you went.”

What Happened on Mom's Birthday (2/3)

Eva and Natasha looked behind them at the front door. The opaque window had been broken, and an arm surrounded by the sleeve of a black winter coat was swinging back and forth. It seemed to be reaching for the door knob, but the window was much too high were them to reach. Natasha screamed, and ran up the stairs to their parent’s room. Eva, now very unstable, wobbled over to the front door, and locked the deadbolt as her sister forgot to when she came home. Eva sat with her back against the door and tried to catch her breath. Things seemed to be going too fast, and her vision was unfocused.

She had a clear view to the back door, where the first person in black was standing. With the drugs and booze in her system she could see two of everything. Which made watching the person raise a rock and smash the sliding glass door to millions of pieces much more frightening. As the glass rained down on the hardwood floor, Eva screamed for Natasha to hurry up, but there was no response.

“Natasha?! They’re in the house!”

‘Wait, why am I scared?’ Eva asked herself. ‘I wanted to die. And I’ll probably be unconscious in a few minutes.’

“Natasha?” Eva tried to force herself to sound calmer. “I love you, and I’m really going to me being your sister.”

Tears began to roll down her cheeks again as she realized what she had just said. It seemed to solidify that, regardless of how it happens, she was going to die today.

“When you get the chance, get out of the house and run to the neighbor’s, okay? They’ll be able to help. And call Mom and Dad. Don’t let them walk into this mess. Not on Mom’s birthday…”

Eva looked up the stairs, slowly turning her head, and ignoring everything else around her. She didn’t even notice most of it. The person at the front door was gone, but their ring had fallen on her and bounced off. The side door in the kitchen was now open, and a shorter person was walking slowly towards her. The person at the back door was almost in front of her. And there were lights shining into the house flashing red and blue. None of that mattered.

At the top of the stairs, slowly walking down, was Natasha. Only, all her clothes were entirely black, and her face was distorted, apart from Eva’s already slightly impaired vision. In fact, Eva could only tell that it was her sister because of her distinctive hair style, similar to Rihanna, circa 2008.

The person in front of Eva stopped down, much faster than they could walk, and placed his hand under her chin. They lifted her chin up to make her face them, and Eva finally realized. It was her father. But, as soon as she reached that realization, her father had thrust is index finger into her mouth, as far back as he could, only pulling his finger out when the alcohol and remnants of the Vicodin that she took earlier forced their way back up.  Heaving several times, she realized Natasha was holding her phone and the half-empty bottle of Vicodin. Eva had forgotten to put it back in the medicine cabinet. But she did remember to read to bottle, and forcing someone to vomit was not how you’re supposed to handle an overdose.

Despite her father’s efforts, Eva fell unconscious against the door.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Don’t forget to lock the door, Tasha,” said Bernice, looking back at her daughter.

“I’m not going to forget,” Natasha sighed. “And I won’t let Benji stay up too late.”

“Okay,” Bernice smiled. “I wasn’t going to ask you to do that, but he does stay up too late some nights.”

“He’s a teenage boy, Mom. That’s kind of their thing.”

“It’s those damned videogames,” Marcus mumbled as he put his jacket on. “I wish he’d do something more productive, one of these days.”

“He works a lot on being more creative,” Natasha offered.

“Videogames can’t help with that, can they?” Marcus asked.

“I’m not sure, but he draws a lot. He’s pretty good, too. Maybe you should check them out?”

Marcus considered this silently, with a growing smirk on his face at the thought that his son might be doing something useful in secret. “Maybe. When he opens the door to his room.”

Eva laughed at that as she walked down the stairs. “Are you guys leaving, already?

“There’s my other favorite daughter!” Marcus said Kissing Eva on the forehead and giving her a bearhug.

“If we don’t go now, we probably never will. But we’ll be back in a few hours.” Bernice said.

“Where are we going, again?” Marcus asked for the third time that day, and got the same answer.

“Don’t worry about it,” Bernice giggled. “Where’s Benji?”

“He’s taking a nap,” Eva replied. “He was…up all night,”

“Videogames?” Marcus raised an eyebrow.

“No, Dad! He said he was making something. For your birthday.” The inflection at the end of Natasha’s sentence indicating that Marcus should know better.

“Oh, well, as long as he’s doing something good with his time. Maybe he’ll work for Disney, or something.”

“Probably, not,” Eva laughed. “His work is more realistic. They look more like he took pictures with a camera, and less like he drew them.”

“Is that so? Maybe I’ll have to ask to see them when we get back from our date,” Marcus made a sad attempt to wiggle his eyebrows at his wife.

“Stop, Marcus. We’re already married. You don’t have to try to be funny,” laughed Bernice.

“You laughed, though. So, it worked.”

Shadow Man (Part 2)

The moment he got home, Jesse ran upstairs into his bedroom. It was great to be back. He couldn’t wait to sleep in his own bed again. But it was only a little after 10 o’clock am, and he wasn’t tired. ‘First thing’s first,’ Jesse looked at the label on the bottle of meds he was given. He made a mental note to look up information about Lortab some other time, and put it in the bottom drawer of his desk. The drawer where he put things he didn’t want his parents to know he had.

 He then picked up his cell phone off of his desk and checked the messages, inwardly thanking his mother for plugging it into its charger while he was away. Thirty-two texts, nine missed calls, and over fifty emails. All of the calls were from his parents when they heard about the accident he was involved in. Despite calling so many times, they only left three messages. No doubt because they already knew what happened and were calling to see if Jesse would even answer.

Most of the texts Jesse hat received were from his friend, Olivia. Seventeen of those messages were from her. The rest were from Jesse’s other friends, his younger brother, and s few relatives who had heard that he was in the hospitals several days after the fact. Jesse sighed.

“At least they didn’t leave messages. I’ll just send a group text to my friends, then text Olivia back. Everyone else is gonna be hear, later, anyways.”

As he typed a message into the box at the bottom of the screen for his friends to see Jesse felt a presence behind him. It felt similar to the feeling people get when they’re being watched. Except it was accompanied with a feeling that someone—or something—was reaching out to touch him. Jesse didn’t want to turn around. He wasn’t afraid, but felt that he didn’t want to see what was behind him. For the first time in his life, he felt like something dark was following him. ‘I hope a serial killer didn’t sneak into our house. I just got out of the hospital!’ Jesse thought as he forced himself to turn around.

“Why did I turn around?”

Jesse found himself staring at a tall, black shadow. It was shaped like a man, and seemed to exist entirely on its own. It wasn’t cast across the floor and walls like any other shadow. It stood in front of Jesse silently staring. It had no eyes, but Jesse could feel its gaze looking him over.

And then it was gone. The whole experience lasted no longer than four seconds. It didn’t fade out, or dissipate the way a cloud of smoke would, which is what Jesse was hoping for. It was just gone.

“Should I not have turned the hallway light on?”

Jesse looked through the door to his room, slightly to the left. His brother, Israel, stood leaning against the door frame with one of those sarcastically concerned expressions that he was known for. ‘So, that’s what happened…’ Jesse realized he’d been saved by his little brother. ‘I didn’t even notice the lights change.’

“Nah, it’s fine. Why?” Jesse asked as he sent the message on his phone.

“You looked like the light from the hallway bothered you. Did those doctors turn you into a vampire, or something?”

“I bet you wish they did.”

“Yeah, kinda. It would be cool to have a vampire for a brother. You’d be so much cooler than you are now,” chuckled Israel.

“Yup…” Jesse quickly searched for Olivia’s contact in his phone, sending her a quick message that he was home, and asking if she could come over to his house.

Israel saw the serious look on his older brother’s face, and, this time, was legitimately concerned. “You know I was just joking, right?”

“I know, Izzy. You’re never serious about anything,” Jesse said as he tossed his phone onto his bed behind him.

Izzy looked down to the floor feeling badly for annoying Jesse. “Sorry…”

Jessi sighed, again. “Come here, bud.”

Izzy walked over to his older brother, who pulled him into a long hug.

“What’s wrong, Izzy?”

“Mom and Dad made it sound like you might…not be coming back,” Izzy began to tear up. “I mean, you were kinda mean sometimes, but I didn’t want you to…” The younger boy trailed off.

“Die?” Jesse was surprised. Sure, they were bothers, but they had never been close. So, Izzy’s reaction to his return from the hospital caught him by surprise.

Izzy let out a small whine, “Yeah,” before sobbing into the crook of Jesse’s neck.

“Dude, calm down! I’m not gonna die, alright? Everything’s fine now,”

The two ended their hug, and Izzy took a couple steps back.

“Now, go clean yourself up. We’ve got people coming over in a little bit. Can’t fucking wait,” Jess added that last par under his breath.

“I’m going, I’m going.”

As Israel left the room, Jesse realized that same uncomfortable feeling he’d had earlier was back. Although, this time, it felt a bit stronger than last time. Jesse saw a dark object in his peripheral vision, and quickly turned his head to the right just in time to see the same large shadow man flash in front of him swing its arm and knock over the lamp from his desk.

A few seconds later, Izzy popped his head back into his brother’s room, still wiping away tears, asking, “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said catching the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “I’m good, bro.”

The Pits (Part 4)

Max had never been through this particular side trail before, and wasn’t sure which way to go when he and Simon reached a fork in the path. Where had Gio gone? Max couldn’t blame him for not wanting the stop for Simon, but why would he lead them down this trail when Gio knew he was the only one of the three who had used it before. There was no time to stop and think about which way they should go. It wasn’t like Max was going to stop if he didn’t need to. For a moment he considered going one direction and letting Simon go the other. That way at least one of them would survive. But Simon probably wouldn’t make it far, even if he was going the right way.

            ‘No, we’re going together,’ Max thought. ‘But where the hell do we go?’

            Before he could come up with an answer, Max heard a loud thud behind him, and a second later, Simon screaming out in pain in a way Max had never heard come from a person before. Max stopped and turned around expecting to see Simon’s ankle had been sprained. If only that was the case. Simon was on the ground, writhing in pain in the dirt, bleeding profusely from his leg, right above his knee.

            It was another arrow.

“Holy shit!” exclaimed Max. He figured the cultists must be close if they were able to hit Simon with an arrow. There would be no way Simon could run with an arrow in his leg. However, if he took the arrow out, which he knew from watching hospital shows he probably shouldn’t do, Simon would at least have a chance. Sure he’d be bleeding everywhere, leaving a trail, but they were never trying to be stealthy.

“Hold still,” Max said as he knelt down, feeling a familiar aching twinge from when something similar happened to him.

He reached out to the arrow head and began to twist it counterclockwise. This arrow was the type that could be changed from a safety arrow to a hunting arrow by changing the head. Max unscrewed the sharp, bladed arrow head, and removed it.

“What are you doing?” Simon asked frantically through clenched teeth.

“Something you’re totally gonna hate me for,” answered Max.

“What?”

Max sighed, “You can’t run with an arrow in your leg. It’ll just make the wound worse, probably. But, if I take it out, you will be able to run. It’s gonna hurt, but not as much as it would with an arrow stuck in your leg.”

“No!” Simon began to resist. The idea of having the arrow pulled out of his leg was almost as scary as knowing he’d been shot with one.

“Look at me, Simon,” Max looked Simon in the eyes, trying to stay calm as possible. “I wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t necessary.”

“O-okay…” Simon knew he was right. If he didn’t want to die this would be his only chance.

“Take a deep breath,” Max whispered. “And try not to yell too much.”

“Why? They already know where we are.”

“I know. I just don’t wanna feel bad for this.”

Simon rolled his eyes, then immediately shut them as tight as he could when he felt the intense pain shooting up and down his leg.

“Sorry…” said Max.

“Hurry up!”

With that, Max slid the arrow all the way out of the hole it had made in Simon’s leg. He then took the folded bandana off his wrist and tied it tightly around the wound.

“You never told me why you always where that around your wrist,” Simon mentioned.

“Across for attention, down or results…” Max muttered.

“…What?”

“How about this, I’ll tell you everything I’ve been keeping from you and Gio when we get out of here. Deal?”

“Deal,” Simon said doing his best to stand up. ‘Just ignore the pain, Simon. Don’t let it bother you.’

Simon took a couple of steps to acclimate himself to the pain he’d be dealing with when the thought occurred to him. “Wait, what have you been keeping from us?”

“Not the time, Simon. Besides, it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

“Then why haven’t you told us about…whatever it is?”
            Max looked at the ground, then up and Simon, who he could barely see now that the sun was fully set. “It’s just…embarrassing.”

“What’s embarrassing?” asked an oddly familiar voice.

Simon and Max looked around. Although it was dark, and they couldn’t see much of anything, they already knew what was going on.

The cultists had caught up to them.

The Pits (part 3)

“Who said you could leave?” the man asked calmly. Though his voice thundered through the trees and startled the boys who were now looking for the fastest way out of the forest.

            Simon flinched and attempted to look away. Max and Gio stared down at the group who were likely angry that their cult’s ritual had been interrupted. It didn’t help that this pause was being dragged on by the man who acted as if he was the leader.

            Gio scanned the area, only moving his eyes. He didn’t want to make it obvious that he was trying to find an escape route. His eyes stopped suddenly on a small path that, unlike the trail he and his friends were standing on, was unpaved. It was covered by a thicker canopy of trees than the main trail had. Giovanni followed it his eyes to see where it went. Although, he was sure he already knew, and didn’t like the feeling in his stomach that came with knowing. The smaller trail seemed to have a steep decline and curved to the right behind a few larger trees. The other end wasn’t visible from his vantage point, but he knew where it led. Straight to where the cultists were standing.

            “We’re gonna have to make a run for it,” Gio whispered to Max and Simon. “There’s a trail like, ten feet ahead, that we’re gonna have to run past. Which means they don’t have far to go to catch up to us.”

            “Got it,” Max whispered back.

            “Um…guys?” Simon whimpered while taking a step back.

            “Max and Gio looked to Simon, expecting him to continue talking. When they saw the terrified look on his face they looked in the direction that Sion was facing. There were silhouettes of people just behind the tree line seemingly hiding behind almost every tree. Max couldn’t stand it anymore. He hated that a simple walk in an area that he and his friends had frequented since they were kids was suddenly becoming their worst nightmare. It was time to go.

            “Go, go, GO!” Max yelled to his friends. “Don’t look back!”

            The three friends took off running back down the main trail, towards the area they had come from not too long ago. Max decided that the people who were now chasing them could not run forever. All he had to do was outrun them. When they got closer to his car he would ready his keys, unlock the car as they were running towards it, and then lock it when they got in, so they could drive off. And preferably, never come back to the Pits again.

            “Shit!” Simon yelled.

            “What?” Gio said back, refusing to turn to look at Simon.

            “One of my contacts fell out!”

            “The other one didn’t, though. So, keep moving!” Max chimed in. There was no way he was going to get slaughtered because of a lost contact lens.

            Max suddenly had a thought. Simon was never a very fast runner. If he had been, he would have had fewer encounters with Gio back when they hated each other that resulted in Simon crying to his parents. ‘What if he can’t make it to the car? What if they catch him? Can I really live with myself if I leave him behind?’ Max thought to himself. If he was being honest, he was always closer to Simon than Gio, but Max had already escaped one horrible situation with his mom’s ex-boyfriend, and he really didn’t want to have to go through something like that again.

            “Max! Shortcut or nah?!” yelled Gio sounding frustrated. Max began to wonder how long his friend had been talking to him as he looked towards the unpaved side trail that Gio was talking about. It bypassed a lot of the main trail, but still led towards the parking lot where they had left their car. However, it was narrow, and some of the trees and bushes in that area were overgrown. The obstacles the trail provided weren’t exactly needed, especially in this situation, but it was a faster route.

            “Yeah, take the shortcut!” said Max. He didn’t really have to Gio and Simon were already headed that direction anyway, veering off the main path.

            ‘I hope I don’t regret this…” Max glanced back to see where the cultists were. He could see a small group of them leaving the pack of wolves that called themselves human, and dashing through the woods. ‘They’re trying to flank us.’

            “Don’t slow down!” he yelled to his friends. “Looks like they found their own shortcut.”

            Upon hearing this horrible news, Simon began sobbing. His other contact lens had fallen out, and without them he could barely see where he was going. Through his tears he attempted to focus on Gio’s back. The anime character on the back of Gio’s shirt was about the only thing that Simon could make out at this point. ‘If I make it out of this alive, I’ll be an even bigger fan of the show than Gio!’

            They three boys had only made it about half way back to the park when Max realized something: It was quiet. Up until this point he could hear the cultists crushing dead leaves under their feet and yelling to each other every now and then to let the others know where Gio was leading his friends. Now, the only noise was coming from Gio, Max, and Simon who was still crying. Just as Simon realized that it sounded as if the people hunting them ha left them alone he slowed to a stop. Gio didn’t stop, but Simon didn’t care. As far as he knew it was over.

            “Why did you stop?!” Max asked Simon.

            “I can’t hear them anymore,” Simon replied. “I think they’ve stopped chasing us.”

            “Or, more likely, that’s what they want us to think, and this is a trap.”

            “I don’t think so. My hearing’s a lot better then my eyesight. I can hear things from a further distance than a lot of other people.”

            “Oh, so you’re bragging now? Not the time, dude.”

            “No, I’m not bra—” Simon interrupted himself. He turned around to see the shape of an animal. “What’s that?”

            “It’s a deer. And it looks like it’s wondering why we stopped running,” Max was getting annoyed.

            The deer abruptly reared up on its hind legs as if something had spooked it. But before it’s front legs could touch the ground again it let out a suppressed squeal. Blood began to leak out of it’s left eye socket, where only seconds ago an eyeball resided. There was an arrow protruding from the newly vacated socket, and from the back of its head. The deer collapsed to the ground.

            “We shouldn’t have stopped running…” Max mumbled to himself. “Let’s go!”

            “Yeah,” Simon agreed turning to run behind Max. Simon wasn’t entirely sure what he’d just seen, but it did not look good. “I’m sorry, Max…” Simon said tearing up again.

            “It’s fine. Just keep moving!”

Shadow Man (part 1)

“All I remember is a flash of red, getting the wind knocked out of me, and not being able to get up…” Jesse mumbled as the doctor helped him sit up in his bed.

            “That’s completely normal,” the Dr. Ross said. “An accident like that often causes your brain to hit the inside of your skull, which results in loss of memory. In all honesty, I’m surprised you don’t have more injuries than just your broken arm.”

            “Yeah, I guess I got lucky,” said Jesse looking into his lap.

            “The man who hit you is in prison, at least for now. DUI, I think.”

            Jesse nodded his head, leaning his head back against the bed. “I’m not sure if that makes me feel better, but I guess it should.”

            “Well, it’s not as good as preventing an accident, and he didn’t apologize…” said Dr. Ross as he walked to the other side of Jesse’s bed. “...but it’s something. And, in any case, you get to go home today!” Dr. Ross smiled.

            Jesse smiled and blushed a little still looking down. He appreciated Dr. Ross doing everything he could to make him feel better, but he couldn’t bring himself to look the man in the face. Jesse liked his doctor, but Dr. Ross also reminded him of his Uncle Julian. And that was something Jesse didn’t want to think about.

            “Alright,” Dr. Ross scribbled something on a paper on his clipboard. “Everything checks out, so I’ll finish the paperwork, and you can finally get out of here.” He flashed Jesse another one of his genuine smiles.

            Jesse blushed again, “Thanks.”

            “Don’t mention it. Now, I’m also going to prescribe some Percocet for any pain you might feel. Be sure to call if you still feel pain relating to your accident or if it gets worse. Like, if your back pain comes back; something like that.”

            “I will,” Jesse nodded. Not that he’d actually take it. He’d been on Percocet before and hated the withdrawal that came with it.

            “I’ll leave you to get dressed,” said Dr. Ross.

            “Okay. Thanks again.” For the first time since he’d gotten there, Jesse looked directly at Dr. Ross, and returned the smile he received from the doctor.

            “No problem,” Dr. Ross was pleasantly surprised. Until now, he’d thought Jesse was one of those teenagers going through a rebellious phase, and worried he’d have to deal with a kid with an attitude problem. Glad this wasn’t the case, Dr. Ross left the room, and closed the door.

            Jesse got out of bed, and took off the hospital gown. He hated the feel of the paper-plastic amalgamation that reminded Jesse of a grocery store’s checkout counter. But before he could but he could put on the clothes his parents brought for him, Jesse noticed something dashing across the room from the corner of his eye. He turned around, looking for thing that caused the dark grey shadow, but didn’t see anything that wasn’t already there. ‘Well shit,’ Jesse thought. ‘Maybe I’ve been stuck in this room too long.’

 Suddenly, the door to his room opened, and in came his mother and father, excitedly talking about finally bringing Jesse home after his week in the hospital.

“What are you doing just standing in the middle of the room in your underwear?” Jesse’s dad asked.

“I was getting dressed!” Jesse replied more than a little panicked.

“Well hurry up so we can go home!” Jesse’s mother “I told everybody you were getting out of the hospital today!”

“Who is everybody?” Jesse almost yelled. He wasn’t the type to be comfortable in big crowds, and the thought of suddenly being surrounded by people made his heart beat more rapidly than it did when his parents walked in on him mostly naked.

“Oh, just grandma and grandpa…” Jesse’s mom said.

Jesse relaxed a bit. “Oh…I guess that’s not bad.”

“And your Uncle Julian, Aunt Gloria, and your cousins…” Jesse’s dad added.

Jesse’s heart sunk upon hearing his Uncle was going to be at his house, and secretly hoped that he could just hide in his room.

“Please tell me that’s it…” Jesse groaned.

“Almost. We invited your friend Olivia to come, too.” Jesse’s father wiggled his eyebrows at his son.

“It’s not like that,” Jesse said quickly, picking up on his father’s obvious insinuation.

“Sure, it isn’t,” his dad winked.

“It’s not.”

“Hurry and get dressed!” Jesse’s mother said

Jesse did, ignoring his mother every time she asked if he needed help. Even with a broken arm he felt too grown up at fifteen to ask for his mom’s help getting dressed. As soon as Jesse was dressed, and the paperwork was completed a nurse brought him a wheelchair and wheeled him out to his dad's truck that was pulled up in front at the curb near the front doors. It embarrassed him at first, but he soon forgot about the awkwardness of the situation when he noticed another shadow in his peripheral vision. Jesse thought it was a cat, but wasn't sure. He didn't get a good look at it, nor did he think there would be a cat in a hospital. 

"Is something wrong?" the nurse asked Jesse when he turned in his chair.

"No, I just thought... It's nothing," he replied thinking he would sound crazy if he told her what he thought he saw. The last thing Jesse wanted was to be kept in the hospital for a longer period of time.

Jesse's dad helped him out of the chair and into the back seat of his truck, buckling him in as the buckle was on the side of his broken arm. He smiled to himself. 

"I haven't buckled you into your seat since you were six or seven." 

"You're loving this way too much," Jesse said rolling his eyes.

"And you're growing up too quickly."

Jesse looked his father in the face, noticing the wrinkles that weren't there before. 'You smile too much, old man. I love you, though.'

As the family drove away, Jesse's parents talked excitedly about everyone seeing their son now that he wasn't stuck in a hospital. He let them talk, while he watched the world pass by the window. Every now and again he'd see a dark grey blob out of the corner of his eye. He'd ignore it, mostly. Until he could swear he saw a shadow-like claw reach over and tap the window before disappearing. Jesse turned quickly to see what it was that he saw. 

"I'm definitely not taking those meds," he said. "I'm hallucinating enough as it is..."

"What did you say, mijo?" His mother looked slightly concerned. 

"Nothing. Just that we should visit the restaurant we passed someday."

"You'd almost think they were starving you in that hospital," she laughed.

The Pits (part 2)

The three turned to head back down the trails. They had made it to the park furthest from where they parked their car, and it would be a long walk back in the dark. The trails on which they were walking—and had walked several times before—connected three parks, and seemed more windy and complicated to navigate at night than they did during the day. Many parts of the trails went in circles, while the rest snaked their way through the dense forest, with only the main trail being paved.

            Max wasn’t very good with silence. It always made him feel awkward, but he didn’t have anything to say at the moment, and apparently neither did Gio or Simon. However, there were things that he wanted to say to both of his friends since they would be going off to start their lives in a few weeks. But Simon and Gio saw him as the strong one in the group. Maybe not physically, but emotionally and psychologically. And Max worried that they wouldn’t see him the same way if he mentioned how much they meant to him, and how much he’d miss them. Or in the very least, he didn’t want to make Simon cry.

            Lost in thought, he didn’t notice that Simon had stopped, and Max walked into Simon’s back.

            “What?” Max asked? “Why’d you stop walking?”

            “You guys are probably gonna hate me for pointing it out, but…” Simon pointed down the hill to a group of people standing in a circle, all an arm’s length apart, around a small fire. They were wearing all black: Hoodies, pants, gloves, boots, and some were even wearing ski masks. One of the people was walking clockwise around the circle of people pouring a small amount of liquid on their heads, but Simon couldn’t tell what it was as they were too far away. Another person, also clad all in black, was walking counterclockwise sprinkling everyone with what looked like salt where the other person was pouring the liquid.

            Gio looked at Max with a look of concern. And Gio’s never concerned. They weren’t sure what the should do, but Gio was the more street smart of the three. He put a finger up to his lips to signal that Max should stay quiet. Max nodded, and went to whisper in Simon’s hear not to make any noise. He looked into Max’s eye with even more fear than he’d shown when Gio was still beating him up. He looked like he was about to cry, and Max couldn’t help but feel bad for him.

            “Crap…” Gio mumbled under his breath. And nearly a second later, a large branch from a tree behind them fell onto the trail making a louder noise than he would have liked. He, Simon, and Max turned to look at the fallen branch that startled them so much they instinctively crouched a bit. When they returned their attention to the people below them they were startled a bit more when they realized they were all looking up at them. They had all completely stopped moving; frozen like mannequins.

            Simon nearly screamed out loud. When he looked back at them, he realized that the people who weren’t wearing masks didn’t seem to have faces. Well, sort of. They had faces, but they were distorted; fuzzy and slightly warped. Looking at them caused a chill to go down his spine that continued through his arms and legs. While blinking the tears away, Simon noticed their faces had suddenly returned to normal, and entertained the idea that he was just so scared that he’d hallucinated.

            The stalemate was broken by one of the men in the circle who took off his ski mask. “You don’t have to be afraid of us,” he offered.

            “We’re not,” Gio said lowering his already deep voice. His face displayed a look of indifference, but the pounding in his chest threatened to destroy his “tough guy” façade.

            The man smiled and pointed to Simon, “He sure seems afraid to me.”

            Max nudged Simon, who blushed a deep red and thanked every god he could think of that they weren’t closer to the fire where they’d see the embarrassment on his face. But that same thought confused him.

            “How can you see us? It’s dark up here, and…the fire…your eyes…” Simon stammered.

            “We see everything, my child,” the man smiled again, and this time, so did the rest of his group.

            Max had had enough, “No one calls random people they’ve never met before ‘my child.’ Let’s go, guys.” That last part, he whispered to his friends. These people were the stuff of nightmares, and Max had enough of those already. More would just be overkill. 

The Pits (part 1)

“I’m just saying, going to college and getting a degree doesn’t mean you’ll be that much better off than someone else,” said Max stepping over a fallen tree branch.

He had been discussing the pros and cons with Simon the entire time they had been walking the trails in a place called “The Pits”, while Giovanni followed behind them, eyes glued to his phone.

“Well, yeah,” started Simon. “But it does mean that you’ll be more likely to get better jobs. And the more degrees you have, the more you get paid. Relative to other people with the same job, anyway.”

Max rolled his eyes. “More likely? That’s all?”

“Um, yes?” replied Simon.

“I don’t like putting work into something that might result in me not getting what I want,” said Max. “Besides, I don’t even know what I wanna do with my life.”

“You have, like, four years to figure that out, man,” said Giovanni finally participating in the conversation. “In the meantime, do either one of you guys wanna answer my question?”

Simon stopped walking and turned around to face Giovanni. “What question? Gio, you haven’t said anything since we picked you up!”

“You two seemed so busy freaking out about your futures that asking why they call this place the Pits seemed random.”

Max chuckled to himself, “When has being random ever bothered you? That’s pretty much your thing.”

“Questions usually require answers,” Gio said furrowing his brow. “For once, I couldn’t find the answer on Google, because apparently nobody cares about parks, and by extension the miles of trails in the woods behind them.”

“I’m guessing it has to do with all of the pits and the dried-up river bed that make walking out here dangerous if you’re not paying attention,” Simon said cynically. “Or maybe it’s because of the cave on the other side of the woods. There’s literally a bunch of pits near the entrance, so getting in is a bitch.”

Gio and Max stood staring shocked at their friend.

“What?” Simon asked. “What’re you looking at? Did I spill mustard on my shirt again?”

“First of all, learn to eat a hotdog,” Gio said.

“Second,” started Max. “Aww! Our little Simon’s all grown up, now! Seriously, who knew there were any curse words in your vocabulary.”

Both Max and Giovanni couldn’t help but laugh at that. Simon had always been the good kid; always nice to everyone, and a perfect teacher’s pet. And Gio was the polar opposite. He met Simon in fifth grade, and decided he didn’t like Simon when the teacher began asking why Gio couldn’t act like Simon. One could say they had a love hate relationship. They hated each other, but Giovanni loved to torture Simon.

 Fortunately for Simon, the bullying came to an end two years later when they were forced to do a group project about dwarf planets in the solar system with Max, who had just moved to their school. Simon got his lowest grade ever, and eighty-nine, Gio got his highest grade ever, and Max found two new friends. Which was one more than he’d had at his last school, since most people didn’t like that most of his jokes were based on sarcasm at the expense of others.

            “Don’t patronize me…” Simon mumbled. “Just because you’ve never heard me say those kinds of things doesn’t mean I can’t.”

            “True, but…” Gio began to say, before trailing off. He was staring past Simon into the trees.

            Max couldn’t see what Gio was looking at. The sun was beginning to set, and with the thick canopy of trees covering the trail—and Max’s less than perfect vision—he couldn’t see much if it was too far away. “Gio, what are you staring at?”

            “Jeogi namja-nun namudul-ae il-eo seoseo…” Gio answered in Korean, as he did when he was confused, or angry.

            “What?” Max asked looking at his friend, feeling an unusual amount of concern. He had never heard Gio say something like that in the five years they had known each other.

            “He’s speaking Korean,” Simon told Max. “It’s his native language.”

            “Okay, but what—”

            “I don’t know. I have no idea what he’s talking about.” Simon turned his attention back to Gio, “Also, don’t call me when you’re drunk anymore. I felt bad that your dog pissed on your laptop, but I didn’t know what you wanted me to do about it, so I went back to sleep.”

            Max raised an eyebrow at Simon’s statement. “But he doesn’t have a dog.”

            “So, what? He just pissed on his own laptop?” Simon asked incredulously.

            He looked at Gio, then back to Max realizing that it was entirely possible as Gio was definitely wasted the night before. “Oh, my God, he pissed on his laptop. Exactly how drunk were you last night?!”

            “Very, but in my defense, the pain meds I found in my mom’s medicine cabinet probably didn’t help.” Gio looked away from the trees.

            “You need to go to rehab…” Max mumbled.

            “I was kidding! Chill out, bro. Hey, you guys ready to head back? It’s getting kinda dark out.”

            “Yeah, the last time I was here at night, I almost got attacked by deer. I don’t think I’m about that life.” Gio laughed at Max’s comment. The thought of him getting chased by a deer was funnier than it probably should’ve been.