#[technically… just go with it pleeeaase] | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crystalninjaphoenix · 4 years

Text

And the Show Goes On

A Horror Septics Story

(I’ve been sitting on this for a while, but I finally managed to finish it. Let’s check back in on Stacy, John, and the boys, why don’t we? Surely nothing else could go wrong in their lives ;) )

—————

The road was a simple, narrow path, only two lanes. It cut through the trees of the deep forest, the branches above stretching to cover it like a canopy, the roots causing cracks in the asphalt. It was almost like the woods were trying to reclaim the narrow stretch of man-made land. The canopy caused an artificial twilight, and the car driving down the road had to turn its lights on to be able to see.

“I think we’re almost there,” Stacy said, peering through the windshield. It was hard to see far, what with the darkness caused by the trees and the weird fog hovering around the trunks. She glanced in the rear-view mirror to look at the backseat. “How’re we holding up, boys?”

Mathew made an OK sign with his hand, headphones on. Larkin was busy staring out the window, his coloring book discarded.

“Great, glad we’re doing tip-top,” Stacy commented.

John, sitting in the passenger seat beside her, chuckled. “Tip-top?” He asked.

“Yes, tip-top,” Stacy said, doubling down on the phrase. “We’re all hunky-dory.”

“God, you’re so American and cheesy,” John muttered, smiling a bit. He was leaning back against the seat, eye closed and deliberately not looking out at the trees.

“Hmm.” Stacy hummed, nodding. She fell into quiet thought for a bit. They’d come a long way from their small town in California. Two years ago, she would never have guessed that she’d end up halfway across the world, running away from some...supernatural evil. Or, well, two of them, technically.

“Oh!” Larkin pointed out the window. “Did you see that?”

“See what, Lark?” Stacy asked.

“There was a...a Cheshire cat out there,” Larkin said. “In the forest.”

John suddenly whipped around, looking over the seat. “Don’t look at it.”

“What? Why not?” Larkin asked.

“Just trust me on this one,” John said, voice lowering. “Okay?”

“What do you mean by a Cheshire cat, Lark?” Stacy asked cautiously.

“A smiling cat! Didn’t anyone else see it? Matt!” Larkin reached across and started pushing his brother. “Did you see the cat?”

“No, I didn’t see any cat,” Mathew muttered, adjusting his headphones and sinking further into the seat.

Stacy frowned, and considered saying something, but was distracted by light appearing at the end of the road. “Oh, I think that’s it!” she said, trying to sound excited.

The car passed out from the forest as if leaving a tunnel. Afternoon sunlight abruptly appeared. The road winded down a sloping hill, leading to a collection of buildings down below. The car passed a sign made of stone, reading Welcome to Foraois Hollow.

“Still the most uncreative name,” John muttered. “Foraois is literally ‘forest,’ how very original. I bet the English had something to do with it.”

“Do you speak...whatever language that is?” Mathew piped up.

“Irish, and yes,” John said. “Not fluently, but better than I used to.”

“People still speak Irish?” Mathew asked.

“Yeah, of course we do,” John said, laughing a bit. “Especially in the actual country we’re from.”

“You’re Irish?!” Stacy remarked with some surprise.

“Yeah. Can’t you tell?”

“I...can now.” She’d always sort of picked up that John had an accent, but hadn’t registered which accent it was. Until he brought it up.

John smiled sadly. “‘S okay. Not your fault.”

The rest of the drive into the small town was quiet. The buildings of Foraois Hollow wouldn’t have been out of place 200 years ago. Charming houses with peaked roofs and white walls lined the streets, until the streets eventually clustered together in what looked like the business quarter, around a paved town square. People were walking around, going about their day...though Stacy couldn’t help but notice that a lot of them stared at the car as it drove past. Perhaps that was because most people seemed to prefer walking here, but she got the feeling it was more than that.

Stacy pulled to the side of the road right next to the square. “Alright, break time,” she said. “Let’s stretch our legs while I look for a hotel. Or something.”

Larkin opened the car door and hopped out, looking around. “Cool!” He said. “Mom, can I go look around? Please?”

“Look around? Hmm…” Stacy gave the town square a once-over. There were a few booths selling food and trinkets. The people walking around seemed normal, but you could never be sure. “Alright. Just stay where I can see you, ok?”

“Okay!” And with that , Larkin ran off, running up to the nearest booth and getting on his tiptoes to inspect the wares.

Mathew climbed out of the car as well. “Huh.” He lowered his headphones. “This is, like...quaint.”

“Yes, it is,” Stacy said cheerfully. “I’ve never heard you use that word before. Did you read it somewhere?”

“Uh...yeah.” Mathew leaned against the car. “What? It fits.”

“It does. I’m not saying you’re wrong.” Stacy pulled out her phone and typed ‘hotels near me’ into her browser. She squinted. “Huh...no results? That’s odd.”

John pushed open the door and leaned out. “No hotels, huh? Yeah, I think I remember that.”

“So you’ve been here before,” Stacy clarified. She’d been suspecting that.

John nodded. “Stopped by,” he said vaguely.

Stacy dropped it there. It was clear from his tone that John didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, she turned her attention back to her search for hotels. The wifi connection was secure, so it wasn’t that the results weren’t loading, it was just that there were no hotels for miles. The closest one was appearing in the next town over, the town they’d left two hours ago. She tried changing the search to motels, but got the same results. “Why don’t they have any hotels? Isn’t that a bit of an oversight?”

“People don’t really stop by here often,” John said. “And I don’t know if they want people to stay.”

Stacy shivered a bit. “That sounds...ominous.”

“Oh it isn’t, really,” John said casually. “It’s for everyone’s good. You remember what I said on the way over here? About the forest?”

Stacy nodded. “After we finish driving through it, don’t go in there ever.”

“Exactly.” John looked away, turning his attention to watching the town square. “I think if people stay here, they might eventually be tempted to do that, so there are no hotels or anything to discourage long stays.”

“But...we’re supposed to be staying here,” Stacy said slowly. “To stay away from Jaq—that...thing.”

“Yeah, but we know better,” John said.

Stacy wasn’t so sure about that, and the sentiment didn’t make her feel better at all. “Still…” she said, slowly changing the subject. “Where are we going to stay? You’ve been here before, where did you stay?”

John blinked. “I...I live in a tent,” he reminded her.

“Ah. Right.”

“Hey Mom,” Mathew piped up. “Why don’t we just ask someone if there’s a place we can stay?”

“Ah. Yes, good idea, Mat,” Stacy said, nodding. There were a whole bunch of locals in the square, surely one of them would have an answer. She straightened, looking around to see who was most approachable. But her eyes landed on someone else. “Oh? It looks like Larkin’s already making friends.”

Larkin had moved on from the booth he was originally interested in, and was now running circles around a different booth, chasing a boy who looked about his age. The two of them stopped and switched direction a couple times, like they were reenacting one of those comedic movie scenes where people tried to duck around a central item only to find their opponent blocking them. Chuckling to herself, Stacy walked over. “Hey Lark. Having fun?”

“Hi Mom!” Larkin stopped the chase. “This is Nick!”

The other boy, shorter than Larkin and with dark curls, grinned and waved at Stacy. “Howya, Lark’s mam?”

“I’m doing very good. It’s nice to meet you, Nick,” Stacy said cheerfully.

“Nice t’meet you too!” Nick said. “How long are you gonna be passin’ through?”

“Yeah, Mom!” Larkin added.

“Oh. Well, we’re actually going to be staying for...a while,” Stacy explained. “But we don’t really have anywhere to stay.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “Oh oh oh! You should stay with me! Then me and Lark can play all the time!”

Larkin gasped. “Mom, please? Pleeeaase?”

Stacy smiled, but it contained a hint of sadness. It had been a while since Larkin had so easily hit it off with a kid his age. “Well, I think Nick will have to ask his parents—”

“I can do that!” Nick squealed. He ran over to a nearby booth, selling bundles of yarn and what looked like other sewing or knitting supplies. The booth was being manned by a woman about Stacy’s age, with the same dark curls as Nick. “Mammy! Mammy! Maaaam!” Nick yelled, jumping up and down right by the woman.

“Hmm? What is it, pancake?” The woman asked, looking down and blinking slowly.

“Mammy, this is Larkin Allen and his mam!” Nick said, pointing back at Stacy and Larkin. “They’re gonna be stayin’ for a while. Can they stay with us, Mam? Please?”

The woman looked over at Stacy, giving her a quick once-over. Stacy waved. “Why’re you stayin’ in town, can I ask?” the woman asked in a flat tone.

“Oh! Uhhh…” Stacy tried not to squirm at the awkwardness that question raised. She wasn’t sure how much to say about the weird supernatural stuff that was following them, even if there was apparently weird supernatural stuff in the nearby woods. “My friend suggested it,” she finally decided on, pointing back towards her parked van where John and Mathew were having a chat. “He said this would be a...safe...place,” she said slowly.

“Mm-hmm.” The woman rubbed her eyes. “I see. Well, I s’pose that’s subjective, but if you insist. I’m Colleen. Colleen Iontach. And you are? And your friend?”

“Um, Stacy. Stacy Allen. My friend’s name is...John,” she settled on. “He’s over there with my other son Mathew.”

“Alright, Stacy. If you’re wantin’ t’stay, I’m not gonna stop you.” Colleen shrugged. “And might as well house ye for as long as that is.”

Nick and Larkin gave out a loud cheer, and immediately began buzzing with chatter.

“Oh. Thank you so much,” Stacy said. “Really. I tried to look up hotels, but—”

“There aren’t any nearby, yeah,” Colleen finished. She took a spiral notebook and pencil out of her pocket, scribbling something down and tearing off the page. “This is my address. Head down that street over there to get it. If Nick wants, you mind givin’ him a ride home?”

“Oh, no problem,” Stacy agreed, taking the paper. “Kids? Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, I’d love t’drive home with you!” Nick shouted. “I can tell you if you’re goin’ the wrong way!”

“Alright, let’s go then!” Stacy laughed.

Heading back to the car, Larkin and Nick rushed ahead, with Larkin introducing his new friend and his brother to each other. Stacy went more slowly, taking a moment to read the address.

“So I guess you found a place, then, huh?” John asked.

“Yep.” Stacy folded the paper and put it in her pocket. “We’re heading there now.”

“Great.” John watched the three kids interacting. He frowned. “I think I know...nevermind.”

“Hmm? Sorry, didn’t catch that,” Stacy said.

John shook his head. “Nevermind, just thought this kid looks familiar, but, you know, can’t be sure.”

“Huh. Well, isn’t it a possibility, if you’ve been here before?” Stacy prompted. “Maybe ask him if you’ve met.”

“Can’t,” John said shortly.

“...okay, then. Let’s, uh, go.” Stacy rounded around the car to the driver’s side, hopping inside. John just got stranger and stranger the longer she knew him. But there was a sadness that hovered around him, a sort of...grief, almost. So she wouldn’t be pushing it further or blaming him for sometimes seeming a bit odd.

* * * * * * * * * *

There was nothing extraordinary about the address Colleen had given her. It was a house just like all the others on the street, the only difference between it and them being a smudged chalk drawing on the sidewalk in front. Stacy guessed that was Nick’s work, probably done a day or two earlier.

As soon as the van pulled to a stop, Nick hopped out—a little before the car had completely stopped rolling, in fact. “C’mon, c’mon!” he shouted. “I’ll introduce you to Grandmam!” And without another word, he ran inside.

“Hey, wait up!” Larkin jumped out of the car as well and followed him.

Mathew stared out the car window. “So we’re really gonna stay with these people?” His tone was less than enthusiastic.

Stacy sighed. “Yes, Mat. For now, at least. Why? Is something wrong?”

Mathew shrugged. “No.” He climbed out of the van before Stacy could say anything else.

“...huh.” Stacy stared after him, biting her lip. He’d been pretty quiet on the drive here. Though she supposed there was a reason for that. After all, the last thing they’d seen right before leaving was a monster coming after them. That would be enough to freak anyone else. Larkin seemed fine, but maybe he was just repressing it...

“You okay?” John asked.

Stacy jumped, and tried to smile. “Yeah, I’m fine, just...thinking about the kids.”

“They’re good kids,” John said. He paused, and in a softer voice, added, “They’ll be alright.”

She didn’t respond, silently climbing out of the car and walking towards the house’s front door. After a moment, she heard the van door open and slam close as John followed her.

The inside of the house was as quaint as the outside. Wooden floors and walls papered in a design that looked fairly old. The furniture also looked old, not in that it was run down, but in that the style could’ve been taken out of the 1930’s. There was a huge fireplace, with a rocking chair nearby that Mathew had settled into, once again pulling his headphones on. A wide doorway led to a hallway, through which another arch showed the kitchen, and Nick and Larkin inside talking to someone.

“—and his mam—” Nick glanced over, catching sight of Stacy. “Oh! She’s right here!” He waved. “Hi Ms. Allen! Come meet Grandmam!”

Stacy wandered over and entered the kitchen. Nick was tugging on the skirt of a tall older woman, who had her gray hair pulled up in a bun. The old woman was standing at the kitchen counter, chopping carrots and other vegetables with a large knife. She stopped and looked up once Stacy entered the room. “Um, hello,” Stacy said, waving. “I hope you don’t mind us staying. I’m Stacy, this is Larkin—”

“Hi!” Larkin said.

“My other son, Mathew, is in the front room.” Stacy turned around to point behind her, and saw John standing in the doorway, staring at the old woman with wide eyes. “Oh. And, uh, this is my friend John.”

“Well nice t’meet ye,” the old woman said. “Don’ worry about stayin’ it’s no trouble. We often play inn to people passin’ by. The name’s Roisin Iontach. I see you’ve all met Nicolas, and must’ve met my daughter Colleen.” Roisin smiled warmly, then looked away from Stacy and over at John. She nodded. “Nice t’see ye again.”

John started, and made a strangled choking sound. “You...remember me?” His tone was shocked, but contained a strange hopeful note.

“Can’ remember your name, and I can’ recall your face,” Roisin said idly. “It took me a while to recognize the Evil Eye around ye, and then it came runnin’ back t’me.”

John stared at her, absolutely stunned. Stacy, confused, glanced in between the two of them. “Um...so you two know each other?” she asked, trying to keep up a pleasant tone.

Roisin returned to chopping vegetables. “I suppose we do. Now why don’t you all get your things set up in the guest bedroom? It shoul’ be large enough for all o’you.”

“Oh! Oh! I can show them!” Nick said, grabbing Larkin by the hand and running out. He grabbed Stacy’s hand as well as he passed. “C’mon!”

“Ah! Alright, alright, slow down!” Stacy found herself being pulled down a hallway towards a set of stairs. She glanced back behind her to see John still standing there, frozen, staring at Roisin with a strange expression that she thought might be awe.

* * * * * * * * * *

Things settled into a routine fairly quickly. Stacy and the kids stayed in the guest bedroom of the Iontach house, while John returned to his tent, which he’d set up on a small patch of grass behind the house that wasn’t big enough to be called a yard. The Iontach family seemed friendly, but Stacy was still a bit wary. Of course Larkin seemed happy to hang out with Nick. The two of them made an energetic pair, running around the house and nearby area while Nick showed Larkin everything. Colleen didn’t seem to be home often. She was either at work or running that booth in the town square, which apparently served as an additional source of income. As far as Stacy could tell, Colleen was the only parent in the house; there wasn’t a Mr. Iontach anywhere to be seen.

Roisin sometimes seemed a bit...odd. In a way that couldn’t be explained by age. Stacy couldn’t forget that small interaction the older woman had with John. She kept trying to find the time, or the nerve, to ask Roisin what that was about, what she meant by the Evil Eye. But every time, her anxiety got the better of her. She tried asking John about it, but of course, he refused to say anything.

And besides, Stacy thought there might be something else she had to devote her attention to. Mathew had been quiet ever since arriving in town a few days ago. Very quiet. All he seemed to do was mope around in the guest bedroom listening to music. True, he did that before, but not nearly as often. She was starting to get concerned.

About four days after they’d settled in to stay with the Iontachs, Stacy headed up to the guest bedroom, finding the door closed. She knocked on the solid wood gently. “Hello? Anyone there?” There was no answer, but she knew Mathew was inside, so she pushed open the door and peered inside.

Mathew was lying on the queen-sized bed he’d been sharing with Larkin recently, staring at the ceiling. He was wearing his headphones, but Stacy knew he could still hear her.

She quietly walked in, stopping next to the bed. “Mind if I sit here, Mat?” She waited for Mathew to shrug in response before sitting down on the edge of the bed. The room was quiet for a bit. “Do you want to talk about anything?” she finally asked gently.

Mathew exhaled slowly. He blinked. “Mom,” he finally said. “Are we fucked?”

Stacy made a strangled choking noise. “M-Mathew, I’ve told you, that word isn’t allowed until you’re fifteen. But, um, anyway. What do you mean by that?”

He sighed, and reached up to rub his eyes. “I mean...there was that ghost...thing...in the first house we moved to. That made us move again. Then there was that thing pretending to be your friend. That made us move here. Are we just...just going to have...things...coming after us forever?” His voice went very quiet on that last question.

“Oh, honey,” Stacy said. “No, don’t worry. We’re going to be safe here.”

“But there’s something in the woods,” Mathew whispered, finally looking over at her. “Larkin saw it on our drive here. And John knows about it. And I think everyone here knows about it.”

“Well…” Stacy hesitated. “It’ll be fine as long as we don’t go in the forest, yeah? I think it’s stuck there.”

Mathew sighed again, and looked away.

“...Look.” Stacy scooted closer. “I know, this whole thing is...scary. It’s very scary. And honestly, it still feels kind of unreal. But we’re going to be alright, okay?”

“You don’t know that,” Mathew muttered.

“You’re right, I don’t.” She inched closer still. “But I do know that we’re one smart, brave family. We’ve been through a lot so far, and we can weather through more.” She gave him a small smile. “We’re gonna be okay. And I’ll make sure you and Larkin are safe, no matter what. I promise.”

A pause. Then: “Thanks, Mom,” Mathew said quietly. He was blinking furiously, eyes welling up.

“Is there anything I can do for you now? A snack or anything?”

“Nah, just tell me when dinner’s ready.”

“Will do, Mr. Mattykins.”

Mathew laughed a bit. “Mom, I’m not five.”

“I know, I know,” Stacy relented, grinning. “I just had to. I’ll see you later, okay?” She stood up, and headed out, leaving the door open. Mathew didn’t ask for her to close it.

* * * * * * * * * *

The next day, Colleen approached her while she was sitting in the living room, reading a book she’d picked up from a local shop. “Hey Stacy?” she asked. “I hate t’do this, but can you watch the yarn booth today? I just got called in for a shift.”

“Hmm? Oh. Um, sure.” Stacy slid a bookmark in between the pages. “Um, where do you work, by the way?”

“Hospital,” Colleen said absentmindedly. “Simon used t’work there, too.”

“Oh. Your...husband?” Stacy asked carefully.

“Yeah. He’s not with us anymore.”

“Yeah…” Stacy looked down. “My husband isn’t, either.”

“I figured.” Colleen’s tone was very dull, as it usually was. “How’d it happen?”

Stacy squeezed her fingers into fists. “Car crash. Drowsy driving.” Even though it was almost two years ago, she felt a lump in her throat. “Um...what about Simon?”

Colleen looked her dead in the eye. “He went into the woods a month before.” She fell quiet. Stacy shifted uneasily in her seat. “He was from out o’town. Like you guys. Anyway, the booth is pretty simple. Here’re all the things ye need.” She pointed to a couple canvas bags on the ground. “Set it up. Casheirin’ should be easy. Good luck.” And she disappeared out the front door.

“Oh. Uh...okay,” Stacy said, hurriedly standing up.

The booth was pretty simple to run. If a customer stopped by, be friendly. If they asked her who she was, she explained that she was new and staying with the Iontachs. Things proceeded quickly from there, and she closed up around seven, gathering up everything unsold and replacing it in the bags to drive back to the house.

Just as she was finishing packing up, she felt a chill run along the back of her neck. Immediately, she stopped, and looked around. The town square was pretty empty. And of the few people here, none of them were looking at her. But she could see, from a distance, a view of the forest, visible due to it being up on higher ground. Squinting at the forest, she took out her phone and opened up the camera, using it to zoom in on the trees. It was still hard to see anything, so far away. But...for a moment, maybe something moved. Maybe. She couldn’t be sure.

Shivering, she quickly headed back.

* * * * * * * * * *

Seven o’clock was already quite dark at this time of year. When she arrived back at the house, parking on the street and heading in, the entire street was bathed in shadows. Stacy hurried inside.

Roisin was sitting in the rocking chair, knitting and generally being the perfect image of a kindly old grandmother. She looked up when Stacy entered, and smiled. “Ah. Welcome back, Ms. Allen. How was the booth?”

“Um, good.” Stacy set the bags down, and was about to head up to the guest bedroom to look for the kids, but she hesitated and turned back. “Hey, um, Roisin. I have a question.”

“Hmm? Ask away, then.”

“So, this morning, Colleen said her husband, Simon, was from out of town,” Stacy said slowly. “And also, I think you said she was your daughter? But I was wondering about your last name, then. You’re all Iontachs, but how’s that possible? Did Colleen go back to her maiden name after her husband...passed?”

“Oh no, Simon took our name,” Roisin said cheerfully.

Stacy blinked. “Ah. So...is that a tradition here? Taking the wife’s last name?”

“No, not exactly,” Roisin continued, pausing in her knitting and focusing on Stacy. “The Iontach name is a powerful one, Ms. Allen. It is old, great, and magnificent. We’re descended from the magicians who settled this valley long, long ago. The only ones left who’re descended from them. So we know t’carry the name on. In marryin’, not takin’ the Iontach name is a, oh, how’s it said...a dealbreaker.”

“Oh. There are...magicians,” Stacy said slowly.

Roisin looked back at her knitting, needles clacking. “Well, perhaps not how ye think. Not like the wizards in fantasy, more like the witches that still exist today. Ye heard of Wicca?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Exactly. Same sort o’practices.”

“Oh.” Stacy hovered awkwardly for a moment. “So...would being descended from witches or whatever be part of the reason why you, uh...made that comment about an Evil Eye to John on our first day here?”

“That poor young man,” Roisin said, shaking her head. “Anyone wit’ the proper gift can tell just by lookin’ at him, yes?”

“Uh...I guess?” Stacy laughed nervously. “I mean, I have no idea what you’re talking about—”

“You don’?!” Roisin dropped her knitting and stared at Stacy in utter shock. “Oh jesus, I thought you knew. Your son, the one friends with Nick—I s’pose he gets his sight from his father, then.”

“Wait, what did you say?” That phrase was somehow...familiar. Hadn’t she heard someone say that recently?

“Those of us who know the truth instinct’vely,” Roisin explained. “We can see past the lies and illusions the creatures of the world keep up. I assumed Larkin—nice, strong name, by the way—I assumed he got his sight from you. After all, you are runnin’ here to stay away from one o’them, aren’ you?” The old woman squinted, giving Stacy a once-over. “Yes, ye’ve been marked, same as your friend. Well, not exactly the same. Yours is older, smelling of dust. An’ the hold on ye is quite a bit weaker. Quite a bit.”

“I—I—uh—I mean, yeah but—not—” Stacy stammered. All this new information was a bit much. Larkin could see these things? Her instinct was to balk at the notion, but then she remembered back in the house in Bronainise. Larkin had been the first one to see the thing in there, and had apparently been friendly with it...and he realized right away what Jaqueline was...but really? He got that from his father? “I mean...my husband was really just an average guy. A bit of a dork, but funny and energetic. He couldn’t have been involved in all...this.”

Roisin had begun knitting again. “Well, it’s not like he’d have told ye he coul’ see monsters, woul’ he? Or maybe he didn’ know, himself.” She shrugged. “Anyway, it’s not like it’s of any matter in the end. You’ve been marked all the same, an’ now you’re all here t’hide.”

“Okay, so, one last question,” Stacy hurried to say. “What...what do you mean by marked? Because that...doesn’t sound good.”

Roisin didn’t answer for a long while. She simply sat there, clacking her needles away. The silence went on for so long that Stacy sighed, and turned to leave. She was in the doorway when Roisin called out, “It means one o’them is int’rested in ye. For whatever end purpose. I’m sure you already know what yours is.”

Stacy hesitated in the doorway, then quickly left.

* * * * * * * * * *

She woke up in the middle of the night, gasping for air, a cold sweat covering her. Was there a pressure on her chest? Had the last few months been a dream? Was she back in that house? Her eyes were closed tight, but she had to know. She had to be sure. Dread poured into her stomach as she cracked open her eyelids—

There was no thing there. No thing staring at her from the foot of the small bed she was sleeping in. No thing lurking in the corner of the Iontachs’ guest bedroom. She let out an audible sigh of relief.

It was fine. There were no whispers hovering in between awake and asleep. In fact, there was no sound at all. The room was very quiet. Honestly, it was a bit odd. Usually Mathew snored a bit. Stacy rolled over to look at the larger bed on the other side of the room where the boys appeared to be fast asleep. Appeared to be. They could always be pretending. In which case, she’d better let them get back to sleep.

She started to roll back over, but paused. A weird something had glinted in the corner of her vision. Her eyes darted around the room, now on high alert as her heartbeat rose. Ah, there it was. A small bit of spider thread in the corner of the window, reflecting the moonlight outside, just visible through a gap in the curtains. See? It was fine. No need to worry.

Stacy closed her eyes and firmly told herself to go back to sleep. Even if dreamland wasn’t so appealing, she needed the rest.

The curtains fluttered in a silent wind.

* * * * * * * * * *

It rained a couple days later. It drizzled all through the cold morning, keeping everyone inside. Roisin showed Stacy how to make “real hot chocolate” (in her own words) on the stove for the three boys stuck in the house. Colleen still went to work; it seemed she was absent most days, leaving the house wearing blue scrubs and returning late at night. Larkin and Nick took a few old board games out of the closet, and managed to convince Mathew to join them.

The rain slowed into occasional droplets sometime in the afternoon, and Stacy grabbed her coat and headed out to the small patch of grass out back where John had pitched his tent. She hadn’t been seeing much of him lately, and she was a bit worried.

She hit on the side of the tent like she was knocking on a door, droplets of water getting her hands wet. Inside, John cried out. Movement rustled, and the tent entrance unzipped. “Can you please, please not do that?” John asked, sticking his head out.

“Sorry,” Stacy said, taking a step back. “Just wanted to, uh, see what was up with you. With the rain and everything, maybe it got wet out here.”

John shrugged. “I’ve been in worse weather. And with worse shelter than a tent, too.”

“Are you sure?” Stacy prodded. “Because you can come in the house, you know.” She hesitated. “I mean, unless you don’t like them or something. I’m not gonna make you.”

“They’re fine,” John said, rolling his eye.

“I mean, I just—Roisin knows you, so you’ve clearly met them before, I wouldn’t want to drag up old wounds or anything.”

“Stace, if you want to ask me what the deal is between me and the old lady, just ask, you don’t have to dodge around the subject.”

“...uhhh,” Stacy felt her face grow red with embarrassment. “So...you’ve been in this town before.”

“Foraois Hollow, yeah.” John scooted up close to the tent entrance and crossed his legs. “How do you think I knew it would be a safe place to hide from the thing in the red hood?”

“And there’s that, too,” Stacy added. “Don’t get me wrong, I am really glad we haven’t seen...that...in the week and a half we’ve been here. But why?” She glanced through the rainy skies, and pointed at the trees of the forest, up on the hills. The fog still lingered around their trunks. “Because of that? Is the forest, like, alive or something?”

“Or something,” John said casually. “Look, just understand that it’s really territorial, but it doesn’t come into town, so you’re good.”

“I—okay.” Stacy decided to drop it there for now. There was time to talk about that later. “Did you, uh, stay with these guys the first time you passed through, too? Or did you just know Roisin? Actually it’s probably that, otherwise Nick or Colleen would’ve said something—”

“No, I knew them,” John said. He was looking down at his lap, fingers picking at a hole in the knee of his jeans. “Didn’t know any of them really well, but they were nice enough to let me stay a few nights. Couldn’t stay long, cause this was before—” He suddenly stopped. “I-I wasn’t expecting any of them to recognize me. The fact that Roisin did is a miracle.”

“She said you were marked by this Evil Eye thing,” Stacy said, prodding gently. “That she remembered that. Apparently she has some sort of weird sight. Maybe the others do, too, but maybe they’re not as practiced at it?” It was a flimsy reason for why the other two Iontachs couldn’t remember John, but it was all she could come up with.

“She said that before, too,” John muttered, pulling a thread loose.

“Uh-huh.” Stacy nodded. “Um...I talked to her a few days ago, and she said that…” She hesitated to say it, but forced it out. “That I was somehow...marked...too. A-and that meant that something was...interested in me.” John didn’t say anything, still looking down. “It—it’s gotta be that thing from the house, right? Jaqueline—or that thing, whatever, it said as much. I mean, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it? Is...is that why you came here, before? To get away from whatever...it was that...?” She trailed off, realizing she was basically thinking out loud and not expecting an answer.

To be fair, John didn’t really seem that ready to give her an answer either way. He hadn’t moved, still pulling at the loose thread. Looking closer, his hands were now shaking. John took a deep breath, and looked up at Stacy. “Look...there’s not much to say about it. I was...I was on the run, came across a tiny town, and...found something in the forest. Found there were more...of them. Out there.” His voice lowered, barely audible. “And even they don’t want anything to do with me.”

Stacy was quiet. “I’m...sorry, John.”

“My name is ìŗĆºŷĻ.”

“Uh...sorry, I couldn’t catch that.”

“Nevermind.” John’s voice was heavy and tired. He backed up into the tent. “Thanks for saying I could come in. But I’ll just...just stay out here. See you later.” And he zipped the entrance back up.

“Um...see you.” Stacy turned and walked away, footsteps splashing in a puddle that marked the boundary of the grass and the paved stones that covered the rest of the house's “backyard.” She looked around at the rain pattering on the ground. Or...actually, there was no pattering to be heard. No splashing, either. Stacy blinked, and reached up to clear her ears. Soon after she did, the normal sounds of the world returned. That was...odd. Very odd. Was her hearing going? If it was, it was probably the result of stress. Or...was it something else?

She spun in a circle, looking for anything weird. But everything looked the same. Nobody was out except for her, not even driving about. Nothing was moving within eyeshot. Still, she felt uneasy as she headed back inside the house.

On the house’s roof, a loose shingle fell to the ground as if disturbed, yet it made no sound as it crashed and broke.

* * * * * * * * * *

The rain stopped by nightfall, leaving slick puddles that reflected the yellow light from the street lanterns. It was about ten o’clock. And Stacy was starting to grow a bit...concerned.

In the time she and the boys had been staying with the Iontachs, Colleen had always been home by nine thirty on the days she worked. It was possible that she’d had to stay late. Didn’t nurses often have to do that? But something didn’t sit right with that.

Larkin and Nick had gone to sleep, Mathew was hanging out in the house’s office, and Roisin was in her bedroom, getting ready to go to bed as well. Stacy was alone in the living room, playing a mindless bubble game on her phone and glancing at the front window every so often. Look back at the phone. Then at the window. At the phone. Then the window. Phone. Window. Phone. Wind—

Stacy gasped, almost dropping her phone. Colleen was staring at her through the window. She waved. Stacy waved back. And Colleen disappeared, opening the front door. “Stacy?” she asked.

“Y-yeah.” Stacy tried to laugh. “You scared me, jeez.”

“Sorry.” Colleen smiled easily. “Didn’t mean to.” She paused. “Hey, this might sound a bit strange, but I think I’ve found something you need to see.”

“Um...yeah, it does sound a bit strange,” Stacy said slowly. “What is it?”

Colleen glanced over her shoulder. “Well, I think it has to do with why you’re here. What you’re running from. But I need you to see it to make sure.”

Stacy perked up, shoving her phone in her pocket. “Okay, but what is it?”

Colleen hissed through her teeth. “Difficult to explain. And that’s saying something, considering what I’ve seen. It’s...dusty. Strange in this rain, isn’t it? Smells odd, too.”

Dust. Stacy stiffened. “Hang on a second, I need to get something.” She stood up and quickly headed upstairs, sneaking into the guest bedroom and doing her best trying not to wake up Larkin, who should be fast asleep by this time. She opened the dresser drawer and pulled out her handgun and holster, putting it on. Glancing over at Larkin, she sneaked back out and headed down.

“A gun?” Colleen was standing in the exact same place as before. “Didn’t know you had one. Isn’t that a bit unsafe, with the children and all?”

“At this point, it’s less safe to have one than to not,” Stacy muttered, pulling on her coat. “Alright. Lead the way.”

Colleen smiled, a quick movement like someone was pulling on her face to make it. “Great. We’d better be careful, though, it’s a bit...odd. These things could be dangerous, but I’m sure you know that.” She turned and walked quickly out the door, Stacy hurrying to follow her.

“It’s some ways away,” Colleen said, briskly walking down the street. “Came across it on my walk home.”

“Okay. A-anything else?” Stacy asked, panting a bit. Colleen was really walking quick. She didn’t know she was that fast. “Like...what size is it?”

“Oh, about yea big,” Colleen pantomimed a box. “The size of a human head, I’d say.”

Stacy nodded, and fell silent as the two of them turned a street corner. She didn’t exactly appreciate that comparison; it made her imagine all sort of gruesome things this surprise could be.

“Just a block or two farther.” Colleen sped up more. Stacy broke into a light jog. How was Colleen simply walking this fast?

They rounded another corner, and Stacy immediately noticed something on the sidewalk, sitting in a circle of light caused by the street lanterns. “That’s a box,” she muttered. “It was difficult to explain that it was a box?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Colleen said She’d stopped walking, and now looked reluctant to get closer.

Stacy took a deep breath, and walked up to the box. It was a cardboard cube, covered in the gray dust that had plagued the house in Bronainise. A sharp, alcoholic smell was coming from it. She reached out, and stopped. Instead she grabbed her gun and leaned forward, prodding the cardboard lid with the end of the barrel. Nothing seemed to happen, but she still didn’t touch it. Carefully, she used the gun to push the lid off the box, dust falling to the wet ground, but not sticking. She leaned forward and peered into the now open box. And frowned. “There’s...nothing inside.”

“Oh? How odd,” Colleen said from her spot at the edge of the light.

Standing up, Stacy looked around. There wasn’t anyone nearby. Or anything, really. And she couldn’t hear anything either. Which...actually, that was kind of strange. Her eyes locked on a tree in the distance, leaves blowing in the wind. And she could feel the same breeze against her face. But she couldn’t hear it. She turned her attention to Colleen, who was standing almost perfectly still. “Have you seen anything...weird around?” she asked slowly. “Besides the box.”

“Not a thing,” Colleen said, shaking her head. “Why? Anything in particular you’re concerned about?”

“Uh...not really.” She was just noticing it now, but Colleen was speaking a bit...differently. Was it just her, or had her accent faded? “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Colleen asked politely.

“I...exactly. I don’t hear anything.” Stacy paused. “Wait a second.” She tilted her head. There were faint strains of...was that music? Where was it coming from? She tightened her hold on the gun as she tried to find the source of it, turning around. She stopped turning once she realized it...was it coming from Colleen? Stacy froze.

Colleen tilted her head. “Is something wrong, Stacy?”

“Um...so, h-how’d you know that this box was related to me?” Stacy asked slowly.

“Oh, I had a feeling,” Colleen said dismissively. “Misery has this feel to it, you understand?”

Her heart skipped a beat. “What did you say?” she asked breathlessly.

“You heard me.”

Misery loves company. That was what the thing in the red hood had said. And there was something about the way it was said...and the way Colleen said it now...Stacy stepped back and squinted at Colleen. No, it was definitely her. Her appearance wasn’t fading, details turning to vague impressions of a face like Jaqueline’s had. But she wasn’t acting normal either. Standing too stiff. Stacy took another step back.

“You’re looking a bit nervous, Stacy,” Colleen took a step forward. “Maybe you should calm down. Take a break.”

Stacy started to raise her gun, but stopped halfway through. This still was Colleen, wasn’t it? She couldn’t shoot her.

As if she knew this, Colleen smiled. “No need to be harsh. After all, doesn’t she have a kid? A gunshot would put her ability to provide for him at risk.”

Stacy took a few more steps back, chills running down her spine as she managed to point the gun. But still, she couldn’t do it.

Something glinted in the street light. Stacy’s eyes darted towards it, looking for it again. She couldn’t quite grasp it, but it was hovering above Colleen. What was it? Her mind went to some sort of thread, but that was impossible. Except that...it certainly appeared to be some sort of string, rising up into the air, heading toward the street lantern above her head.

Another set of chills ran down her skin. With trepidation, she looked up.

Her eyes widened as she tried to scream, but no sound came out.

* * * * * * * * * *

The Iontachs didn’t have much in the way of computer tech. Mathew figured John would like that; he seemed to have a thing about that. But it meant that the only place Mathew could watch YouTube was on the clunky desktop in the office. He sat in the tall desk chair and kicked his feet, headphones plugged into the speakers as he looked for a new let’s play to watch.

The door opened, and Mathew jumped and spun around. Stacy was peeking into the room. “Uh, hi Mom,” he said.

“Hey Mathew,” she said cheerfully. “Do you know where your brother is?”

“Uh...isn’t he still in bed?” Larkin wasn’t really the type to try and stay up late. Though maybe that would change when he got older.

“Ohhh.” Stacy nodded. “That would make sense.” She backed up, then reappeared in the doorway. “While I go get him, do you mind going out to the car?”

Mathew slowly unplugged his headphones. “Um. Are we going somewhere?”

“Yes,” Stacy sighed. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to. You know why, yes?” She paused meaningfully. “Anyway, get ready and go on out. I’ll be there soon with your brother.” She backed up and disappeared for good.

Mathew slung his headphones around his neck and pushed the desk chair backwards. He grabbed his phone and charger from where it was plugged into the walk, checking to see if it was full. It was, so he put it and the cord into his hoodie pocket. He swiveled around, ready to stand up. And then he didn’t. His heart had sped up, stomach starting to squirm. What happened to cause this? Were those monsters back? He physically shuddered as an image of the thing in the red hood twisting its head into place flashed in his mind. If that was the case, they’d better hurry.

He went right out to the car, climbing into the back seat of the unlocked van. Staring out the window at the rainy street, his eyes wandered over to the alley that would lead around the back of the house. Was John going to come with them? He did the last two times. But then again, he wasn’t really involved with this, was he? Well, a little bit. He did save them from the thing in the last city. But the thing hadn’t been...after him. So maybe there was no reason for him to come with. Still, Mathew thought John was kind of cool...you know, for an adult.

The door opened again, and Stacy placed a sleeping Larkin, wearing pajamas borrowed from Nick, in the other seat. “There we are. Oh, we need the buckle, don’t we?” She slid the seatbelt across him.

“You didn’t wake him up?” Mathew asked.

“No no, let’s let him sleep.” Stacy closed the door and walked around to the driver’s seat, quickly climbing in and starting the car. “And here we go.”

The van rolled down the dark streets of the city, tracing the same route it had taken on the way into town two weeks ago. Mathew stared idly out the window as they passed beyond the town limits and up into the forest. Mist curled across the ground, forming strange shapes. He shifted uneasily. This place was freaky. Wasn’t fog supposed to disappear after rain? Maybe he was getting that wrong. In any case, this just felt weird. He glanced over at Larkin, still fast asleep. Quietly, he leaned over and shook his shoulder gently.

After a bit of this, Larkin stirred. He blinked open his eyes and looked around, obvious confusion causing his face to scrunch up. “Mat,” he whispered, leaning closer. “What’s goin’ on?”

“I don’t know,” Mathew whispered back. “Mom said that we had to leave and we all got in the car and drove away.”

“Aw.” Larkin’s face fell. “What happened?”

“Dunno.” Mathew shrugged. “Ask Mom.”

Larkin leaned around the seat of the car to look at Stacy in the driver’s seat. She didn’t look back at him, eyes fixed on the road. Larkin’s eyes widened a bit, and he scooted a bit closer to Mathew. “We should get out of the car,” he whispered.

“What? Why?” Mathew asked.

“Mom’s being...weird,” Larkin said, glancing back over at her.

“You’re weird,” Mathew muttered.

“No you.”

The two of them straightened. Mathew looked out the window again. Okay, if they wanted to get out of the car, then obviously they needed it to stop first. He got an idea. Doubling over, he groaned and clutched his stomach. “Mooom, I think I’m getting carsick.”

Stacy didn’t even look at him.

“Mom?” Mathew leaned forward. “Mom, I’m gonna throw up.”

Still no response. A sudden chill ran down Mathew’s spine. He looked over at Larkin in a silent plea for help. Larkin thought about it. Then he unbuckled his seat belt, stood up, and screamed right into Stacy’s ear. Yet she didn’t even flinch.

“Shit,” Mathew said under his breath.

“Don’t say that, it’s a bad word,” Larkin said automatically, then moved on. “What d’we do?”

Mathew glanced out the window again, then turned his attention to the door itself. It wasn’t locked...and Mathew knew that their van didn’t have a child lock...if it was necessary, he could technically...

Deciding it was necessary, Mathew undid his seatbelt, pushed the car door open, and jumped out.

Luckily, the car wasn’t going too fast. But he still fell hard, skin scraping on the cracked asphalt and bruising his bones on the ground as he tumbled for a good while. Eventually he lost momentum, staring up at the branches overhead and trying to get his breath. “Owww…” he groaned. Well, he would never be doing that again.

He sat up, and looked down the road, seeing the red tail lights of the car even through the mist. Those lights were moving farther away, but then they stopped. The car started to back up, but then one of the doors opened and Larkin darted out, running farther into the forest. The car braked suddenly, and Stacy jumped out. “Get back here!” she shrieked, running after Larkin. Mathew watched this happen, feeling a bit disconnected to the situation. It was like something from a movie, or a cutscene from a game. Not quite real.

And then he saw a shadow move. His eyes naturally glanced toward it—up toward it. He let out a soft gasp as he realized the shadow was on top of the car. Had it been there the whole time?!

The shadow stopped, and he had the sudden feeling it was looking at him. Mathew scrambled to his feet and ran, heading deeper into the woods.

Dark trees passed by him, almost indistinguishable from the shadows coating the forest floor. Mathew tripped over roots and undergrowth that was invisible beneath the white mist. Branches caught on his hoodie, but he kept running, heart pounding. What was happening?! What was wrong with his mom?! What was up with that shadow?

After a while, he realized he had no idea where he was, and he slowed to a stop. Panting, he tried to look for anything distinguishable, but everything was darkness and trees and mist. His mind immediately went to wolves and bears in the woods. He’d have no idea they were coming. And then he remembered that shadow, and the things he’d heard in town about the forest, and his stomach started to sink. What was he doing out here? What was he thinking?

And then the image of Larkin running in the other direction returned to him, and he felt a sudden blast of cold fear seep into his bones. He’d left Larkin in these woods. Alone, with who knows what else here. Immediately, he turned around, pivoting on his feet to try and keep track of where he was, and headed back. Eventually he’d reach the road, right?

No, apparently not.

He’d been stumbling in the dark, trying to keep a straight line for what felt like twenty minutes, and he finally had to conclude that he was lost. Frustrated, he punched the nearest tree, then cried out. This was the worst. It was an actual nightmare. He hurt all over from jumping out of the car, he was lost in a strange forest, his mom was acting weird and scary, and Larkin was somewhere out there alone. Tears started to choke his throat. He wiped his eyes.

“Are you lost?”

Mathew cried out, flailing for a moment before pressing his back to the tree he’d punched. He looked around, eyes straining to see anything. The only thing that was really visible in the pitch-black forest was the fog...which was actually a little strange. His vision traced the patterns in the mist, watching it swirl. It seemed to be swirling around a particular spot. No...there was something there that it was spinning around.

“You look a little lost.”

Mathew jumped again. The voice was coming from the thing in the middle of the swirling mist. He looked up, trying to get his eyes to adjust to the darkness. If he had to guess, it looked like a person. It was vaguely shaped that way, at least. “Um...maybe?” he said, voice small.

“You’re just a child. What are you doing in the woods?” The person-shaped shadow walked closer, looking like it was gliding across the ground.

“Uh...I’m...my mom...” Mathew tilted his head back to look at the shadow’s face. That head wasn’t exactly person-shaped. It looked more like an animal...but it might’ve been a mask. “She, uh...drove us out here, and, uh...”

“‘Us’?” The shadow prompted.

“My brother and me,” Mathew said. Was it weird that he wasn’t freaking out? He was a bit on edge, but shouldn’t he be panicking more? “He...ran the other way, I’m—”

“You’re looking for your brother.” The shadow flashed a smile. No, it had been smiling the whole time. “I can help you find him, if you’d like.”

Mathew hesitated. Little alarm bells were going off in his head, and he could practically hear his mom and dad’s voices reminding him to never go anywhere with a stranger. “I don’t need help. But, uh, if you were to say where he is out loud, I, um...wouldn’t stop you.”

“Hmm?” The shadow tilted its head. “I think you do need help.”

“No, I-I’m fine,” Mathew said, voice cracking. He started to edge around the tree. “I’m going to, uh, go now.” And he pushed away, quickly walking in the other direction. The hairs on the back of his neck told him the shadow was following him.

“It’s very dark out, isn’t it?” The mist was swirling faster, rising from around Mathew’s knees to around his hips.

“Uh...yeah,” Mathew said.

“And you’re going in the wrong direction. Your brother went north.”

Mathew stopped walking. “How do you know that?”

Something grabbed the back of his hoodie and started pulling. “We should head this way.”

“H-hey!” Mathew squirmed, reaching back to try and loosen the grip. But his hands felt nothing but the mist. “Let go!”

“Why?”

“I don’t—I don’t want to be pulled!”

“You want to find your brother, though.”

“Yes, but don’t—I’ll just follow you, okay? Let go!”

“Sounds perfect.” The thing let go of him, and he whirled around to see it standing very close, looking down at him and grinning. The mist was barely moving now, dropping down to hover around his knees. “Come on. This way.” The person-shaped thing turned and headed to the left, leaving the mist agitated in its wake. Mathew hesitated. He took a single step in the other direction, but the mist rose into the air, tendrils reaching out. It felt like it shoved him away. Mathew gasped gently, then hurried to follow the thing. Clearly there wasn’t much of an option here.

The forest was oddly quiet. He could hear his footsteps, rustling the undergrowth. But nothing else. And he couldn’t see anything either. “Um...is there any way there could be...light?” he asked tentatively. Maybe asking the strange forest creature questions was a bad idea, but he was tired of stumbling around.

“You tend to carry lights in your pockets now.” Luckily, the thing didn’t seem to mind.

“What? Oh.” Mathew reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out his phone, switching on the flashlight. A circle of white light lit up the forest, bouncing off the mist. He scanned the nearby surroundings, and—

“Aaak!” He jumped back, fumbling to keep hold of his phone. Once it was securely in his grasp, he pressed a hand to his chest to try and calm down. “Mom?!”

Stacy looked a bit of a mess, a few stray leaves in her hair and dirt on her coat like she’d fallen down. And there seemed to be the faint sound of...music coming from nearby. Staticky, tinny music, like it was on an old record. Instead of acknowledging her son at all, she looked at the shadow with wide eyes. “I’ve lost the smaller one.”

“Really?” Though the thing didn’t stop grinning, it sounded a bit disappointed.

“She isn’t fast!” Stacy protested. “Or at least not faster than the smaller one!”

“You should’ve dropped her and grabbed him yourself.”

“What’s done is done,” Stacy said dismissively. “Where did he go?”

“This way,” the shadow said, a bit smugly.

“What’s going on?!” Mathew asked, voice rising. He tried to point the flashlight beam at the shadow, but barely caught the edge of something—fabric or fur or more mist, he couldn’t tell—before it started off in another direction. “Mom? What’s happening? Where’s Larkin?”

Stacy didn’t answer him, following after the shadow. Mathew stared after her. Tears started to well in his eyes, and he blinked them away. This was not his mom. But he still followed after her, hoping that if they found Larkin, he’d be able to...he didn’t know exactly what. Do something.

They walked for a few minutes more. Mathew kept scanning the forest with his flashlight, lighting up the mist around them. The strange music seemed to now be coming from all around, a bit louder now. Until suddenly, the shadow stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Stacy asked.

“I was too focused on the boy,” the shadow said, its voice low. “I didn’t notice it.”

“Notice what?” Stacy said impatiently.

“Uh, it’s probably talking about me,” a familiar voice said. Mathew gasped, and spun around. His flashlight beam landed on two figures, one taller and one small. “Oh jesus, be careful with that,” John said, blinking in the sudden light. “You could blind someone.”

“John? What’re you doing here?” Mathew asked. He tilted his light down a bit, now looking at the smaller figure standing half-behind the man. “Hey, Lark.”

“Hi Mat,” Larkin said, waving a bit. He glanced at Stacy and the person-shaped shadow, and shrank back a bit.

“You shouldn’t be here,” the shadow hissed.

“Yet here I am,” John said casually. “Anyway, Mathew, I’m here because I noticed your mom leaving for some reason. Then coming back and grabbing you two, without saying anything to anyone. Not like her, y’know? Then I noticed the reason for such out-of-character behavior.” He glanced over at Stacy, then moved his attention upwards, into the branches of the trees above her. “You shouldn’t be here either. Isn’t Forest Guardian here supposed to be, like, super territorial?”

“There are exceptions to every rule,” Stacy said plainly.

“Get out,” the shadow snarled, still glaring at John.

“Fucking make me, why don’t you?!” John snapped. “Go ahead. Throw me out of here with your freaky fog.” He waved at the nearby mist, which twisted out of the way. It was like it didn’t want to touch him. No, it definitely didn’t want to touch him. There was a small circle of clear area around him, free of mist. Larkin was standing barely inside the clearing, holding onto John’s jacket like it was a lifeline. “No, you can’t. Cause you’re afraid. That’s the one fucking perk I get with this, and you can bet your ass I’m gonna use it. If you have one.” He laughed, then looked back over at Mathew. “Are you alright?” He asked, voice softer.

“Uh...yeah,” Mathew said. “Just...confused. And freaked out.”

“You jumped out of a car,” Larkin reminded him.

“I mean, yeah, but I got better—”

Stacy growled, and lunged forward, grabbing Mathew by the arm. He yelped, and tried to push her away, but her grip was iron. “We can just get the two of them, right?” she said in a suddenly raspy voice.

“It wants all three,” the shadow said.

“Can’t we grab the smaller one after dropping off these two?”

“Oh my god, this is still to do with the thing in the house, isn’t it?!” John kicked the ground. “Jesus! How far is it gonna follow her? Is it even really worth it at that point?”

“Oh, you would know, wouldn’t you?” the shadow drawled.

“Let go!” Mathew screeched, now slapping Stacy’s arm with his free hand. He tried kicking her shin, but Stacy might as well have been a statue. “Mom! What’s wrong with you?! You’re—you’re scaring me!”

Stacy blinked. Something in her eyes seemed to flicker, and her grip loosened. Just a bit, but Mathew managed to pull away, falling onto the ground. He was already running before he even got to his feet, and soon was standing next to Larkin and John. Larkin immediately switched to clinging to him.

“What was that?!” The shadow hissed, now looking into the branches above Stacy’s head.

“Some strong emotion,” Stacy said in a strangled voice. She was shaking slightly. The still-playing music was slower, a bit distorted. “I have it under control now.”

John stepped out in front of the two younger boys. “No, no, we’re not doing this. You don’t have anyone under control. You’re going to let her go and they’re going to leave here all fine and happy.”

“Or what?” The shadow asked. The mist rose, reaching Larkin’s shoulders and Mathew’s waist. It spun in hypnotizing, agitated patterns. The music distorted further, now sounding hellish.

John hesitated, and said nothing. Mathew looked between him and Stacy. There had to be something they could do about this. Why was his mom acting like this? And why was everyone talking to the tree branches? Was there something up there? Curious, Mathew raised his phone, pointing the flashlight into the branches above Stacy’s head. “Holy shit!” He gasped, nearly dropping the phone.

It looked like a person. Sort of. More like something made to look like a person. With strings dangling from limbs and spirals where eyes should be. It was crouched in the tree branches, and as the light shined on it, it scurried over to another tree, the strings tangling and untangling. Stacy walked with it, always standing beneath it.

John’s eyes widened, and he turned to the boys, pulling them close. “Okay, I got an idea,” he whispered. “But you two need to run when I say to, alright? Go straight that way, eventually you’ll hit the road. And watch out for the mist, okay?”

Larkin nodded, but Mathew just gaped. “What?”

“Just do it, okay?” John hissed, turning around to face the shadow and Stacy. “Okay, so you’re hiding in the trees like a coward. Good to know.”

“Who said I was hiding?” Stacy hissed.

“Oh yeah, also you’re using someone else’s voice. Real brave there.”

The shadow snarled. “Not all of us are capable of the same feats, ĸø¹ŭ§. And not everything is as lucky as you are.”

“Yes, I’m very lucky,” John said darkly. “Which is why—run!”

Larkin caught on immediately, grabbing Mathew, still a bit confused, by the hand and running in the direction John had pointed earlier. Behind them they heard an animalistic scream, and the music rose in volume and speed. Mathew glanced over his shoulder, catching a glimpse of John starting to climb a tree. Then he saw the shadow looking after them and he faced front again, picking up the pace.

Around them, the mist rose and thickened, covering both their heads. Breathing became difficult, like trying to breathe with your face buried in a pillow. They tripped over unseen obstacles on the forest floor, tree trunks coming out of nowhere to block their progress. Mathew gripped Larkin’s hand tight. They were still going straight, weren’t they? It was hard to tell. It felt like something was grabbing them—like there were hands in the mist, made of the mist, snatching at their clothes and yanking them off course. But the music was growing quieter, more distant. So they had to be making progress.

Suddenly, Mathew felt the forest floor beneath his feet turn to hard asphalt. The grip of the mist lessened, becoming a little less thick, though tendrils still wrapped around them to pull them back.

“Okay, the car has to be here somewhere, right?” Mathew panted.

“Look!” Larkin pointed to their right. Two yellowish lights were barely visible through the fog.

“Great, let’s go.” The two of them stumbled through the mist until the front of the van was visible. Mathew put his phone back in his pocket and put his hand on the car, walking around the side. “Here we are, front seat,” he muttered, pulling open the door to the passenger’s seat. “In you go.”

“Larkins first,” Larkin said cheerfully.

“It’s ‘ladies first,’ actually. I didn’t know you were a lady.”

“I could be. I’d be a very pretty lady.” Larkin hopped into the car and climbed over the seat into the back. “You wouldn’t be. You’d be too sad and weird.”

“Well you’d be too tiny and weird,” Mathew started climbing in as well. “Though I guess—” Something grabbed his ankle and he screamed. He looked behind him, but saw nothing except more mist, spinning and twisting. The thing around his ankle started pulling, and he grabbed the edge of the seat to brace himself. But it was persistent. He shook his leg and tried to pull himself in. Larkin gasped, and grabbed his arm, helping to pull him inside. They made slow progress, but he felt more things wrapping around his legs. “Let go of me!” He yelled, kicking his legs. With one final yank, he tumbled inside, and immediately turned around to slam the door shut.

“Oh my god,” Larkin whispered. “Are you okay, Mat?”

“Y-yeah, fine,” Mathew said, pressing a hand to his chest and feeling his heartbeat. He looked out the car windows, seeing nothing but fog. “Um...now what?”

“Do we wait for John or Mom?” Larkin asked.

“I...I guess so.” Mathew paused. “Oh, she left her keys in the car.”

“Mat, you can’t drive,” Larkin said, poking him.

“I can in, like, two years.”

“But we’re not in two years, we’re now.”

“Look, all I’m saying is I could probably figure it out in an emergency.”

The two of them fell silent, looking at the mist outside the car. Minutes passed. “Poor faces,” Larkin muttered.

“What are you talking about?” Mathew asked, looking at him.

“The faces in the fog. I mean, sometimes there’s hands too. But mostly faces.” Larkin pointed out the window, tapping the glass.

Mathew squinted. Then he gasped. There were vague faces in there, appearing in swirls then melting back into the fog. “Oh god. It’s like soul sand. That’s creepy.”

“No, it’s sad,” Larkin insisted. “Cause the demon with the cat face probably put them there.”

“Uh...yeah, probably.” Staring out at the mist, Mathew sat straight up. “Wait a second. There’s...there’s something there,” he whispered. Something was moving the mist around, disturbing it and causing tendrils to move about. “Hang on.” Mathew started looking through the car, pulling open the glove box. There had to be something to use as a weapon, didn’t there? Something heavy, or—

A hand pressed against the driver’s side window, another one waving away the fog. Mathew jumped. Stacy’s face slowly came into view, pressing against the glass. Her eyes widened as she saw Mathew and Larkin inside, both huddled as far away from her as possible. She raised her hands, gave a smile, and slowly opened the driver’s door and slid inside. “Um...hey, pumpkins,” she said softly.

“Mom?” Mathew asked, voice squeaking.

“Yeah, it’s me, it’s...I’m so sorry.” Stacy covered her mouth with her hand. “I didn’t mean—that wasn’t me, I would never ever do anything like—I didn’t want to scare you, I—”

Mathew stared at her. Was his mom...crying? Well, he supposed that wasn’t too odd. She cried when the news about their dad came in, and many times after that, staying up late at night with a bottle. She never wanted either of them to see it. “Mom…” he said slowly. “It’s okay.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t your fault,” Larkin said, slowly scooting closer. “It was that freaky puppet thing.”

Stacy wiped at her eyes. “Thank, boys,” she whispered. “We...we should get out of here. I think the fog is getting even thicker.” And she reached down to start the car.

“What about John?” Mathew asked.

“He can handle himself,” Stacy said patiently. She glanced out the side window. “Those things won’t bother him. But they will bother us.”

The car rolled forward. Stacy gripped the steering wheel tight, eyes wide and staring out the front. They weren’t going that fast, but for the limited visibility, it was as quick as they could go without worrying about running off the road.

It felt like forever before they finally broke out of the thick fog. As soon as they were clear, Stacy hit the gas, and the van shot forward. Mathew and Larkin glanced at each other, then quickly put their seatbelts on. “Mom,” Mathew finally said. “This is...this is because of the ghost thing from the house, right?”

Stacy didn’t answer for a bit. Then she nodded. “Yes, I think it is.” She laughed drily. “I guess they all know each other, or something.” She paused. “Don’t worry. We’re...we’re going to go farther away this time. It’ll be fine.”

“Mom,” Mathew said. “Don’t...”

The silence filled the car for a moment. “Don’t what, Mat?” Stacy asked.

Mathew let out a long breath. “Don’t...do that again.”

She smiled sadly. “I’ll be more careful next time. I promise.”

* * * * * * * * * *

Two days later, a mom and her two kids were standing on the deck of a ferry, watching the gray clouds overhead. Stacy sighed. She would’ve preferred to fly back home, back to the town they’d lived in before they knew anything about things in houses or forests. Bad memories be damned. But her savings were quickly running dry, and the flight over an entire ocean would’ve cost a lot more. “You two doing okay?” she asked.

Mathew had his headphones on, listening to music on his phone. He nodded. Larkin was in the process of sitting down and poking his head through the railings to look down at the water below, giving a quick thumbs-up. Both of them were wearing new outfits she’d bought at the last town.

“Good, good.” Stacy sighed, looking back at land. It was slowly shrinking into the distance. She folded her arms, feeling the handle of her gun hidden beneath her coat. “We’re all...good.” They all went silent and watched the shore fade away.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #tw: horror #marvin the magnificent #jameson jackson #brigid writes fanfiction #horrorseptics

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finefeatheredfriend · 5 years

Text

The Bodysnatchers!

This time on Eileen reads the EDAs we’ve got a thrilling and gorey adventure with Eight and Sam and some Zygons, brought to me by my laptop’s text to speech function cause I’m too distracted to focus on actual reading lol

I liked this book! It was a bit slow at first and it took me longer to really love the book than it did with Vampire Science, but the Victorian setting and some really brilliant lines won me over in the end haha! And we had Litefoot in this! And the Zygons (and some nice ones as well, what??), which for some reason I didn’t recognise on the cover, but I still got spoiled by myself because of my brilliant idea to use text to speech.

I was rooting for something to happen between Sam and Emmeline, but alas. There are some parts that I will interpret that way though, even though they were definitely not intended that way lol.

Still no naked Eight, so that’s a big minus.

I’m going to write down my reactions to all the EDAs in this series of reviews, and here are some of the highlights and my favourite quotes:

‘splendid, we’re where we’re supposed to be. I'm getting the hang of this.’ Doctor stop ahahsgahga

‘Leela is married, with children I believe’ I’m sorry what

what is it with me and shipping Sam with any woman she comes across hahah

(please let something happen between emmeline and sam)

'That didn't do much for your image, did it?' said a voice behind her, as though stealing her thoughts. Sam pushed herself up on to her elbows and looked round. The Doctor was just a few feet below her, leaning back against the wall with his hands behind his head, looking so relaxed she wanted to hit him. 'I missed my footing,' she said huffily. 'Several times,' said the Doctor, nodding.” Oh my god Doctor I love you ahahahahah

“Sam opened her mouth to protest, but the Doctor effectively plugged it with a jelly baby which he produced out of nowhere” that is such a Doctor thing to do ashafsgsfs

it’s so weird that the normal zygons are so soft (they have voices like songbirds????)

“bigger and nastier people than you have tried to suck my brains out before with no success whatsoever - well, not much anyway.” ... am I. am I really going to say it. am I really. ok no I won’t but seriously eileen get your mind out of the gutter ffs

I love how the doctor went ‘eeny meeny miny mo. hm. which one of these do i like the most? eeny!’ I love him

“That was a very uncool piece of headgear,' she said weakly. 'Not my style at all.' 'Oh, I don't know. I've got some rather fetching photographs. I thought we could blow them up and have them printed as T-shirts.” doCTOR (this is the kind of brother/sister dynamic that I love about these two)

Sam pretending not to know it’s a Zygon impersonating her just to say ‘who’s that gorgeous person?’ aaaah i love her

‘Is my nose really that big?’ ‘Only in certain lights’ DOCTOR NO

I was promised lots of naked eight in the EDAs and so far they have NOT delivered

AAAAAAAH SAM NOTICED EMMELINE’S BREASTS

‘Confusing emotions’ ‘jealousy’ aaaaah Sam I love you please be gay

“'That's assuming that the elastic band hasn't snapped of course.' 'Elastic band!' He grinned. 'I'm joking. It was one of those really thick ones. There's no way it would break.” I’m screaming I can’t stop laughing

‘My motto is never to get too attached to thing’ ‘does that include people’ oooooh (in clueless voice) that was way harsh Sam

‘nimble as a ballerina’ oh my god I love Eight and thank you for this hilarious image in my head omg

As usual (I’ve only done one of these before but still lol) this section is way longer than I expected haha!

And also as usual, you’ll find the unabridged version of my liveblog under the cut! (It’s technically just for me to be able to go back to so I can see how I reacted to reading this for the first time, but read it if you want to!)

I bolded my favourite quotes and reactions again! Enjoy ahaha

this one’s a bit slower

I mean in the way that I don’t absolutely love it from the first page on like I did with Vampire Science

but I love the Victorian era vibe it’s giving off

I can’t wait for Eight and Sam to show up though

oh that’s so the doctor - accidentally setting a book on fire ahahah

oh no it was an original printing of Sherlock Holmes aaaaa

oh I love it when companions get to dress up for trips

name dropping the BBC ahaha

AAAAH she’s in Nyssa’s room!!! I was wondering whose room it was when they mentioned that in Vampire Science! and obviously if it was Nyssa’s room then it’s also Tegan’s old room since they shared

I love Eight and Sam so much

“’How do you want to look?' asked the Doctor. 'I dunno. Cool. Confident.' 'You definitely look cool,' said the Doctor. 'In fact, you'll be one of the coolest people around.The 1890s equivalent of a... a Spice Girl.' 'I think I'd better take that as a compliment,’ said Sam carefully. 'Otherwise I might end up giving you a slap.’” omg

‘splendid, we’re where we’re supposed to be. I'm getting the hang of this.’ Doctor stop ahahsgahga

“'No, this is Earth all right. Smell that air.' Sam did so, almost choking on the sulphurous fog. 'Only London smells like this,' said the Doctor cheerfully. 'It has a certain... ethos. A certain bouquet.’” have I mentioned how much I love Eight

when Sam falls onto the Doctor and he hits his head and he goes 'what pretty fireworks, are they yours?” oh my god doctor I love you

Aaaaaah jago and litefoot!!!!!!

oh well or just litefoot but still!!!

‘Leela is married, with children I believe’ I’m sorry what

touch telepaths. time lords are touch telepaths. how did he get that information about the constable’s wife

first a house keeper called mrs hudson and now a revolting man called mr stoker looking hungrily at emmeline i see what you’re doing here

“Sam did as instructed (put her foot in the noose of the rope), and felt herself being hauled upwards at an alarming speed. It was as if there was not just the Doctor, but a ten-man tug-of-war team heaving on the other end.” wow the Doctor is STRONG

oh no it’s emmeline’s mum sitting in that armchair but she’s gonna be dead isn’t she

but the way emmeline describes the figure sitting there it sounds more like a man somehow

oh ok I was right it’s her dead mum

please don’t die please don’t die please don’t die I like you emmeline pleeeaase don’t die

why is Sam so jealous of emmeline :(

ok good, Sam likes her now and feels bad about thinking awful things about her that makes me happy

“’Great,' said Sam sardonically. 'I've always wanted to wallow knee-deep through -' 'Shh,' said the Doctor, holding a finger to his lips.” Oh my god anahahahahha (this reminds me of all the times they did this exact same thing with Lucie lol)

what is it with me and shipping Sam with any woman she comes across hahah

(please let something happen between emmeline and sam)

“She would rather die of curiosity than betray her ignorance and inexperience in front of Emmeline and the professor.” oh I love Sam

“As the more petty concerns of life began to filter back into her consciousness, she found herself hoping that Litefoot and Emmeline had seen little of her graceless descent. 'That didn't do much for your image, did it?' said a voice behind her, as though stealing her thoughts. Sam pushed herself up on to her elbows and looked round. The Doctor was just a few feet below her, leaning back against the wall with his hands behind his head, looking so relaxed she wanted to hit him. 'I missed my footing,' she said huffily. 'Several times,' said the Doctor, nodding.” Oh my god Doctor I love you ahahahahah

“Sam opened her mouth to protest, but the Doctor effectively plugged it with a jelly baby which he produced out of nowhere” that is such a Doctor thing to do ashafsgsfs

“Even though she bent her knees to cushion her body from the impact of landing, the unexpectedly short fall jarred her legs and caused her to lose her balance. However she managed to convert her momentum into a forward roll and sprang immediately to her feet in what she hoped looked a professional and athletic manner.” god I love how Sam always wants to look like she knows what she’s doing

BRAVE HEART TEGAN oh my heart

“The Doctor: ‘This has the effect of drawing out their fierce but latent aggressiveness and, supposedly, making them more single-minded in battle.' 'Stupid, you mean,' said Sam,'like most men.” Sam I love you. and this reminds me of that scene in the 50th where Liz 1 says something similar

can you believe zygons look like that because they’re sterilised and normally look ‘’’’dainty’’’’ and white and have smooth skin instead of suckers???

also I love how the doctor just spends soooo much time explaining every single little detail about zygons while they’re sitting not even that far away from three actual zygons they’re currently hiding from

oh no Emmeline is a zygon

I’d be more shocked if I hadn’t accidentally seen this while setting up the text to speech

“A trap,' said the Doctor with almost child-like wonder” I love him. How many times can I say that before it gets boring to see this in my reactions (i don’t care cause I’m going to say it as often as i like so that’s gonna be a LOT)

it’s so weird that the normal zygons are so soft (they have voices like songbirds????)

“You have no choice, human. Either you each enter a cubicle or you die.' 'Hang on, that means we do have a choice,' said Sam with a cheeky bravado that she didn't really feel.” me

“As Litefoot blundered along, he found himself thinking about the nature of the astonishing beings whose clutches he and his friends had fallen into. (...) Were they physically attracted to one another despite being genderless?” interesting your mind took you in that direction - thinking about alien sexuality..? okay

the Doctor is wearing a wet suit I repeat the doctor is wearing a wet suit someone help me

and he’s wearing goggles and flippers I can’t (it’s actually a face mask and not goggles but I don’t care I’m just going to imagine him wearing goggles)

ugh and when it said that the doctor was stripping down... I was expecting more of this scene. although I must admit that the image of the Doctor standing there in just his long johns before he puts on the wet suit was... a nice thought. (and he ‘expertly folded each item of clothing’ as if he had all the time in the world agxjagsgsg)

what the fuuuuuuck

that guy who witnessed his friend being killed by a zygon is ‘hacking away’ at a young man’s mouth because he made a joke at his expense omg

eeew now he’s got the youth’s tongue in his hand

I love how the doctor went ‘eeny meeny miny mo. hm. which one of these do i like the most? eeny!’ I love him

gaaah an Ace mention!!

double punch!! (how)

“What time is it?' she asked, her voice faint, rusty. 'Time to go,' replied the Doctor.” an icon

“Suddenly Tuval registered the Doctor's attire, and the Zygon's borrowed features creased in puzzlement. 'You have changed, Doctor.' The Doctor looked momentarily alarmed. 'Not again, surely?’” anxhkavdbz

Sam pretending not to know it’s a Zygon impersonating her just to say ‘who’s that gorgeous person?’ aaaah i love her

‘Is my nose really that big?’ ‘Only in certain lights’ DOCTOR NO

‘Sam, who was blushing wildly but trying to appear cool’ I love you Sam

oh and also - the doctor’s only wearing his long johns and that’s already a nice image but

I was promised lots of naked eight in the EDAs and so far they have NOT delivered

“Magnificent,' the Doctor murmured, examining the readings once the straining of the TARDIS's ancient engines had faded. 'When it comes to the crunch, the old girl never lets me down.' He flicked a couple of switches.” the Doctor really does love the Tardis noise ahsgsggahdgs

Oh no

Oh no Doctor

it’s ok you didn’t mean to kill them all

but oh god

I am so sorry

“The Doctor left Emmeline and Nathaniel Seers to the end. He awoke Emmeline first, greeting her with the charming smile and silken voice that Sam had observed him employ often in the past to get them out of awkward situations. She knew, not without a slight sense of superiority, that this kind of treatment would have caused most of her mates at Coal Hill to go weak at the knees.” I’m screaming but also same

“The simple choice is this: work together under my guidance or PERISH” doctor, a little bit less of the dramatic (i’m kidding pls keep doing this)

aw I thought emmeline was going to step forward to go first but then her father did

AH HE SAID NO AND NOW IT WAS EMMELINE AFTER ALL I LOVE HER

Jack choked on shit (that’s a twisted reference)

AW SAM let it out it’s okay to cry and show feelings sometimes!!!!!!!

I love her

AAAAAAAH SAM NOTICED EMMELINE’S BREAST

‘Confusing emotions’ ‘jealousy’ aaaaah Sam I love you please be gay

“You know, I've been far more conscientious since I regenerated. I even keep my room tidy sometimes.' 'Congratulations,' said Sam drily.” AhahahHhha

HE WAS SINGING A VENUSIAN LULLABY

‘My motto is never to get too attached to thing’ ‘does that include people’ oooooh (in clueless voice) that was way harsh Sam

‘nimble as a ballerina’ oh my god I love Eight and thank you for this hilarious image in my head omg

‘That other doctor, will you meet him on your travels?’ and the Doctor shudders and says ‘I sincerely hope not, once was enough’ ahsgdga tell that to then curator from the 50th lol

#the bodysnatchers #edas #eileen reads the edas #edas reviews #not for kitty #not for abbey #not for franzi

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