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moonlightsmasquerade · 6 months ago

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Monsters in Mayweather: Blood in the Water

CW: Blood, Body Horror

Matt Hill has been plagued with nightmares, and when his friend Cyrus Diaz shows up to his house covered in blood those nightmares end up becoming a reality

Matt practically jumped out of the bed, trying to calm his heart rate after another nightmare, they had been getting worse, and this time he was seeing the town in his dreams. It was at that church, always that damned church. Horrific monsters crawling out of the doorway and running around the town. One stood out this time, a creature with large bat wings. The monster had lunged straight for Matt before he had woken up. He took a deep breath, sitting in his room with a single light on, he picked up the phone by the nightstand, hesitating a moment before Matt pressed the buttons on his phone to ring Cyrus, he really needed to hear another person, something rattled him about that dream.

“Hello?” a groggy voice asked

“Hey, it’s Matt.”

“Matt? It’s like… 3 in the morning, why are you calling?” Cyrus asked.

“I-I, I had a nightmare.” Matt said, he cringed at himself, he felt like a child, being scared over nothing.

“A nightmare? Matt-”

“I know, I know, but I had to talk to someone!” Matt said, “Cyrus it felt real…” He could hear a sigh on the other end.

“Okay, look, since it’s really late right now I’ll come over tomorrow and we can talk about it. You just have to remember it's only a dream, it should be easy to shrug off, it's not real.” Cyrus replied.

“Right…” Matt replied

“I’ll see you tomorrow, good night.”

“Night…”

The phone clicked off and Matt was alone again. He placed the phone on the receiver and laid back down on his bed, staring at the ceiling for who knows how long before getting back up, opening the drawer to the side table and pulling a notebook from the drawer, flipping through pages, pages of drawings from dreams and memories that stuck out to him.

His therapist was the one who suggested the journal, so Matt could show him what exactly his nightmares had been about. Ever since what happened last year, his father dying and seeing those horrible faces looking at him. He could still remember everything clearly even now. He flipped to a clean page and started drawing out the monster from his dream. If he was gonna lose sleep, he might as well add another drawing to the book.

He felt childish for bothering Cyrus, but he couldn’t mention the dreams to his mom. She never understood why they scared him so much. Matt hated mentioning anything about the church because it had always been chalked up to his imagination. There were no monsters, his mind just tricked him due to the trauma. He stopped mentioning it all together to his mother. Cyrus was the only other person who knew about the reason why Matt had been so afraid of the place. He finished scribbling the image of the monster, with its large bat wings and long fangs. He put the book back in his drawer before attempting to fall back asleep.

…

"So the church had monsters running out of it?" Cyrus asked when Matt had finished explaining the nightmare.

"Yeah, there’s one that keeps showing up, it has red eyes and bat wings… I had seen it a few times but this time it… attacked me in the dream last night, that’s why I was so freaked out, I’ve never had anything like that happen in a nightmare before.”

"Shit, that sounds… freaky." Cyrus made a face, their brows furrowed and mouth pursed slightly, “And you’re sure you saw Black Oak’s church, and not any other?”

"Yeah… why?" Matt asked, tone slightly worried. Cyrus changed their face to surprise and they looked away.

"It's nothing… well.” Cyrus looked back at Matt, like they were mulling over the right words to say to the other, “Okay don’t freak out, but something happened there again.”

“What? What happened?” Matt asked, Cyrus paused for a moment before they continued.

“My mom told me two police officers were in the hospital because they went to the church, and something attacked them."

"What!?" Matt’s eyes were wide.

"It was probably something normal like, I dunno, some rando that attacked them, I don't think it was the bat demon, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the faces you saw… but I just thought it was a weird coincidence." They finished speaking and looked back at their friend.

"Yeah, weird…" Matt felt anxiety rising. Cyrus could see his face twist to worry, and saw him fidget with the cross on his neck,

“You know it’s a coincidence! It has to be! I really don’t think you need to worry about it.” Cyrus said.

“I know I shouldn’t and I know it’s a dream but Cyrus, I just… feel like something bad is going to happen. I just, I just know it's coming." he said. Cyrus sighed and put their hand to Matt’s shoulder.

"Look y'know what, I think you're having weird stress dreams, and we’ve gotta get your mind off it. We’ll hang out this weekend, do something fun, it’s been too long since you’ve let yourself have fun Matt.” They smiled to Matt,

“Well… Mom is out of town this weekend, and she’s bringing Selena with her, maybe we could do something.” Matt smiled weakly back to the other.

"Yeah! We’ll arrange something fun for the weekend then.” Cyrus turned to the clock on the wall, jumping at the realization of the time, “I better head home, call you later, but not in the middle of the night again.” Cyrus said with a lighthearted tone, Matt let out a halfhearted laugh.

"Yeah, call you later"

He watched the other leave. Matt kept his hand around the cross, Cyrus was probably right, he was just stressed. Everything would work out. He clasped both hands around the necklace.

“Please let it be okay, I know it’s just a dream but please please let everything turn out okay.” He whispered quietly to himself. He hadn’t done this since he was a kid, but he’d hoped that it could give him some comfort until the weekend, even if he doubted a prayer could actually work.

…

Friday evening, Matt hadn’t called again talking about strange nightmares, instead the two had chatted excitedly about Cyrus coming over that weekend, talking about all the activities they could do. Cyrus didn’t realize how much they missed hearing Matt’s excited voice. Their house phone rang, breaking them out of their thoughts, they picked it up from the wireless receiver and spoke,

“Hello.”

“Hi Cyrus,” Their mom’s voice responded on the other end, “Sorry honey, they need all hands on deck at the hospital tonight, I won’t be home. Do you think you’ll be okay on your own?”

“Oh yeah Mama, I’ll be fine.” They responded,

“You remembered to lock the doors?”

“Yes.”

“And the windows?”

“Yes.”

“And the security cameras are on?”

“Yes, you don’t have to worry about me Mama, I’ll be fine on my own for a night.” Cyrus wandered the house, phone still to their ear, double checking the windows and door locks, to make sure everything was secure. You could never be too careful.

“I know, I can’t help it sometimes.” their mom replied.

“I will be okay, I’ll give you a call again soon, I love you.”

“I love you too hon.”

They clicked the phone off, putting it back on the holder. It wasn't uncommon for their mother to need to stay at work longer, she was trying to not do that as often now, she mentioned plenty of times she hated leaving Cyrus home alone. Once Cyrus was satisfied with their check through the house he started to look through the kitchen cabinets, deciding to make dinner. They rummaged for a bit before-

Thunk

They paused, listening for another sound.

Thunk

It sounded like the sound of something hitting a window. They quietly opened the cutlery drawer, grabbing a kitchen knife, moving closer to the sound, it sounded like it was coming from the living room, before they could turn the corner of the kitchen to the living room, they heard a

SMASH

Something broke the window. Cyrus’s heart raced, beating so loud it was all that they could hear. They stayed quiet, listening, Holding the knife up and entering the living room cautiously, seeing the busted window but no one there, no sound save for wind blowing the curtains. Their eyes scanned everywhere, but it seemed as though no one was in the house. Everything was eerily still for a moment.

Until Cyrus felt hands grab their shoulders.

They screamed struggling against whatever was holding them, they dropped the knife, trying to pull away from the intruder, clawing at the hands with an iron grip on their shoulders. They continued to scream and struggle until something sharp stabbed into their neck. They froze, white hot pain rushed through their body. Cyrus' blood felt like it was boiling. Then just as suddenly the assailant let them go, and Cyrus dropped to the floor. They held onto the wound on their neck, trying to stop the bleeding and used their other hand to push themself off of the floor, they didn’t look to see if the attacker was still here, Cyrus ran, stumbling out the door of the house and running to find help.

…

Matt opened the door to Cyrus holding their neck, white shirt stained in crimson, breathing haggard and their eyes wide.

“Oh god Cyrus!” Matt quickly took them in, Cyrus stumbling slightly and Matt holding them up.

“What happened?”

“I don’t… it was behind me… I was attacked…” was all they managed, gasping and stumbling, Matt could see their eyes flutter slightly.

“I’m… tired” their voice barely cracked a whisper.

“No, no, no don’t start falling asleep stay awake ok? Um, list what's in the room, don’t fall asleep.” Matt took the other into the dining room, pulling a chair up, and running to grab the first aid kit under the kitchen sink in the adjacent room.

“Uhm… There’s the table… chairs…”

Matt rummaged through the first aid kit, pulling out what he needed. He gingerly dabbed the disinfectant soaked cotton against Cyrus’s wound, two gashes on their neck, Cyrus winced but continued listing what Matt asked,

“Photo of… Selena… Photo of you and… me…” They kept listing items in the room while the other patched them up. Matt finished cleaning the wound, putting a cotton pad and medical tape to keep it in place.

“Okay, all done, how are you?”

“Better I-I guess?” Cyrus responded, rubbing at the bandage slightly

“Do you think we need to go to the hospital?”

“No, I think… I’ll be alright” they still sounded tired.

“We can call your mom if you want.”

They gave a noncommittal ‘hm’ in response, Cyrus was barely listening to Matt speak, their head felt like it was underwater. The only thing they were aware of was Matt pressing a glass of orange juice into their hands. The smell was sour and overpowering, it made them feel sick, but their throat stung from how dry it felt, so they took a sip anyway.

It tasted rotten.

They coughed and retched, and felt Matt pat their back. Their throat still stung. Matt continued to talk to them, but Cyrus was preoccupied, they could hear the sound of… a heartbeat? Not their own, it sounded like it was further, the direction it came from seemed to be Matt. His heartbeat was so fast. The sound beat against their ears, making their head spin.

“I don’t feel very good.” Cyrus’s voice was hoarse, they stood up and started to walk to Matt.

“Do you need…” Matt stopped, eyes wide and his heart skipped a beat. What had frightened Matt was the fact the sclera of Cyrus’s eyes were a deep angry red.

“C-Cyrus?” Matt stammered, stepping backwards, his heart raced. Cyrus looked at him confused. They stepped closer, Matt stepped back.

“Why are you-” Cyrus gasped, they faltered, nearly losing their footing but caught themself against the table. Their breathing turned shaky, a snap sound echoed as they coiled into themselves, collapsing to the ground. Long clawed nails pushed through bloody fingertips and dug into the floor. The snapping continued, something was shifting under Cyrus’s shirt. All Cyrus could focus on was the pain, feeling like something was under their skin, trying to rip its way out of their back. Their teeth clenched, their mouth bled slightly from the sharp fangs that now replaced his incisor teeth. The shirt started to rip, followed by the sounds of cracking and stretching of flesh and bone, new shapes forming on Cyrus’s back. They were wings, bat wings.

Matt started to scream, snapping himself out of his frozen, frightened state, Cyrus looked at him, red eyes full of tears staring at Matt.

“Matt help me… help…It hurts so much, I just want it to stop.” Cyrus spoke, their voice was quiet and raspy, like it was painful for them to speak, “I’m scared, I don’t know what's happening to me, please, help.” Cyrus tried to move closer, before letting out a small cry, head in their hands, then they looked back at Matt. Their face changed, they bared their teeth at him. He sprinted away, Cyrus snapped their head in the direction he ran, letting out a hiss before chasing Matt as he ran out of the dining room to the stairs, Cyrus couldn’t focus, all they could hear was thump, thump, thump. The sound of blood beating through a heart.

They needed blood.

Matt ran up the stairs to his room and shut the door, hearing the sound of Cyrus slamming against it, banging their fists on the wood.

“Oh god, oh god please, this can’t be happening.” Matt could feel himself panicking, unsure of what to do. He sat still for a moment, looking around the room for a weapon before chastising himself for thinking of harming Cyrus. Regardless of what was happening, that was his best friend, there was no way he could hurt them, even if they’ve turned into the monster from his dreams.

Cyrus’s fist banged against the door again, Matt could see the hinges splintering away from the door frame with each hit. He needed a new plan, his fingers mindlessly twisted his father’s cross on his neck, giving him an idea. It was based entirely on the guess that Cyrus was a vampire, and vampires hate crosses right? Would that work? Maybe it could stop Matt from being attacked long enough to get help, and find a way to fix them. It was better than just standing there. He clasped his hands around the cross again, muttering a prayer before facing the door. After another bang Matt ran and grabbed the doorknob, yanking it open and letting the other fall inside. Matt sprinted around them, heading for the stairs and hearing the sound of a screech, he made the mistake of turning his head.

Cyrus had lunged forward, grabbing Matt and the two fell down the set of stairs. Matt hit the floor, trying to ignore the pain building in the back of his head and tried to get back up to run but Cyrus grabbed him and kept him down. He raised his arm over his face, but it didn’t stop Cyrus, they bit into Matt's arm. He cried out, but still tried to push against the other. He could feel himself getting dizzier and dizzier, and all he could feel in his arm was burning pain as blood ran down it. Cyrus finally let go of Matt's arm, the room was spinning, he barely had the energy to struggle. He weakly held up the necklace, he hoped that the cross would repel the other, but Cyrus didn’t budge, unafraid of it, nothing was stopping the vampire. The last thing Matt saw was their fangs still covered in blood as they bit down on his neck.

Matt screamed.

…

Cyrus couldn’t focus on anything, only the pain that constantly rushed through them, everything felt like it was on fire. The last thing they could remember clearly was Matt… who looked afraid of them before everything blurred together. Just as suddenly it was like a fog had left their mind and suddenly all of his senses were overwhelmed. The lights were bright, they had the taste of iron in their mouth, and their hands felt sticky. Cyrus tried to process what was going on in there when they looked in front of them… at Matt’s body.

Cyrus screamed, Matt was covered in blood, he didn't move, he laid there with his eyes shut, a wound on his neck. Cyrus hadn’t stopped screaming, scrambling away from the body and falling back onto the carpet. They tried to get back up, but they suddenly felt heavy, like something was weighing them down. They saw something move from the corner of their eye. They turned their head, realizing what was weighing them down, attached to their back were bat wings.

This can’t be real

“What the fuck, what the fuck.” They breathed out, voice cracking.

They pushed themself up, this time able to lift themselves and the extra weight of the wings. Cyrus shook, they thought about their attacker, the sharp pain in their neck, they’ve become a monster… they did the same to Matt, but he was…

“No… No no no no no no no.” Cyrus repeated. They wanted this to be a bad dream, they wanted to wake up. They tried to think, what the hell were they gonna do? Cyrus felt hot tears at the edge of their eyes, and they started to cry.

Matt’s eyes opened, he blinked a few times. The sharp pain in his neck throbbed and he tried to sit up, feeling dizzy as he did, he touched where the pain was, and pulled back a slightly bloody hand. Despite how fuzzy his head felt he remembered clearly what happened, Cyrus was a vampire now… and they bit Matt. He turned his head to the only sound in the room, the sound of sobbing, coming from Cyrus.

“Cy..” Matt winced at the pain in his throat, “Cy..Cyrus?” Cyrus jumped at Matt’s voice, their red eyes looked at Matt, startled and confused. Matt tried to stand, stumbling slightly as he tried to do so, his legs felt weak.

"Cyrus… Wh-” Matt flinched at the sudden pain in his jaw, he clenched his teeth, a slight trail of blood running from the corners of his mouth as he felt his teeth shifting, he put both hands to his jaw, as if holding his face would make the pain go away. His eyes shut tightly, his body shuddering. Matt curled inward himself. Cyrus hesitantly got closer, they could only hear Matt taking shaky breaths.

"Matt?"

His head snapped up, he hissed at Cyrus, baring his now sharp teeth at the other. His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and the once warm brown iris was replaced with dark red. Cyrus felt a pit in their stomach, any relief that they didn’t kill him was gone, he was turned into another bloodthirsty monster. Matt got up, but now he looked… scared.

“What- What’s happening? I can’t…” Matt felt like he was fading in and out, he couldn’t think clearly. He suddenly snarled at the other, baring his teeth again. Cyrus didn’t want Matt to do what they did, so they tried holding onto the other, attempting to wrap their arms around him. He thrashed at the attempt to hold him back. Matt pushed the other, who lost their balance and fell back, Matt sprinted for the door and ran out into the night.

“Fuck!” Cyrus cursed, they stood up, trying to regain their balance again, and ran outside after Matt, still stumbling slightly from the weight of the wings, any care that anyone would see them went out the window. They had to find Matt and get him back before-

The sound of screaming broke through, Cyrus went in the direction of the sound, fearing the worst.

Like Cyrus, Matt’s mind was completely fogged over, he couldn’t focus on where he was going, just on the pain, the burning in his throat. Every sense was dulled, his body on autopilot, something else was making him run, searching for…a heartbeat. He could hear the sound of a beating heart, and followed it. He knew he moved quickly, lunging at something. There was screaming, he knew that, he could hear it. There was the taste of iron in his mouth, and relief, relief from the pain.

Matt felt himself being pulled away, the fog was disappearing, he could actually understand his surroundings. Cyrus was the one pulling him. A man with a bloody wound on his neck, a woman with him was screaming, shouting for someone to call the police. Cyrus practically lifted the other up and sprinted, when they ran up to the house they practically threw themselves and Matt inside, slamming the door and locking it. Cyrus looked out the window quickly, before shutting the curtains

“No one followed us… okay okay, it's okay.”

It had gone so fast, Matt looked at his hands, smudged with blood. Blood he drank from someone he attacked. Matt felt sick.

“Did I kill someone, oh god I think I killed someone.” he spoke frantically, his hands shaking. He repeated the words “Oh god, oh god.” while Cyrus just paced, hands to their face. Neither spoke for a while, both choosing to sit on the living room floor, Cyrus kept their eyes on the door, and Matt felt himself becoming more and more exhausted.

…

Matt opened his eyes, realizing he had fallen asleep on the living room floor. He could see Cyrus also fell asleep, lying on their stomach, seeing the wings on their back told him that it was real, not a dream. Matt moved to the curtains, hesitating for a moment before pushing them back, morning, the daylight was now on Matt’s extremely pale skin. Nothing burned, he let out a small sigh of relief. He wondered what to do now, if he should call someone, he even considered venturing outside. He peered through the curtains, using a hand to shade his eyes against the harsh light.

Police cars drove past, one parked nearby, not a good idea to go back out then. He pulled the curtain back. He had to change, the shirt was still stained in blood, and the dried blood still on his skin was starting to itch. Matt headed to the upstairs bathroom, passing by the blood stain in the carpet near the stairs. He was gonna have to deep clean that too, but that was a task for later in the day.

The sink ran with warm water, Matt wiped at his neck with a small towel, the dried blood washing away and showing two scars, he expected them to look like dots, but they looked like scrapes. He got a good look at his face in the mirror, he was paler, and that was saying something considering how pale he was before. Red irises looked back at his reflection, it was hard to think those were his eyes looking back at him. He gingerly opened his mouth to see fangs, he reached a hand to them, and realized his nails were sharp with a dark tinge. He looked away from the mirror, swapping the stained shirt for a clean one. His father’s cross had been slightly stained in blood, he rinsed it under the sink. He almost expected it to burn him, but it didn’t, like it didn’t repel Cyrus. It didn’t work. His prayer didn’t work, now both were cursed,

Matt chewed at his lip. To him this felt a confirmation of something that weighed on him for a while. It was evident when his father was killed, and it’s evident now. If God was real this cross would burn his skin, make him burst into flames, instead this was a world where God wasn’t real and monsters were. He put his cross back on, like he was still a human. He rummaged through his closet picking up a shirt and grabbed a pair of scissors.

Matt headed back down the stairs to see Cyrus now awake, reaching their hand towards the curtain, only to hiss and recoil, a small pink burn on their hand.

“Hey.” Matt said, he held out the shirt for the other to wear, who took it and muttered “Thanks”

“It's old so, I made holes for the…”

“Yeah.” Cyrus responded curtly before shuffling up the stairs to change their shirt.

…

It took a bit of work, but Cyrus managed to fit the wings through the holes. It still felt strange, as if someone was holding onto their back.

Something I’ll have to get used to I guess. They thought, they turned to the bathroom mirror. One thing that surprised Cyrus was still being able to see their reflection. They stared at their new face, their skin turned an ashy gray color and their ears stretched long and pointed. They opened their mouth, looking at the long fangs, and it seemed all of their teeth had become sharper. Of course, their eyes were bright red now, overtaking the formerly white sclera. It felt… strange, they knew it was their face in the mirror, but it didn’t feel like that was them, it was someone else, and yet… this was them. Cyrus swallowed the lump in their throat, they couldn’t go out looking like this, they were a monster. They couldn’t go home, what would their mother think if she saw them like this?

Oh god… their mom… she’d be home now, she’d come home to them missing, she was going to freak out. Cyrus’s stomach twisted in knots thinking about it, but they couldn’t… they couldn’t go back, if she saw them as a monster… the idea of their own mother fearing them, hating them. Maybe it would be better if they didn’t come back, maybe if she just thought they were missing it would be less painful. They slowly walked back down the stairs to Matt, who looked lost in thought, chewing on his bottom lip which bled slightly, and picking at the skin of his hands. He stopped when he saw Cyrus.

“There’s a lot of police patrolling, you should stay here, then we can… figure something out.” Matt said.

“Okay… what about your mom?”

“She's gone for the whole weekend, not back til Monday, we've got the house for a bit, I’ll call her, tell her I’m okay.” he said, receiving a ‘hm’ from Cyrus.

“After… um… maybe we can call your mom-”

“No! No, I don't think we should call her.” Cyrus interrupted. Matt looked at them surprised, but Cyrus just stared at the floor, eyes not meeting the others. He didn’t push them on the subject. They both stayed still in the silence, it was hitting both how awful the situation was, and neither knew what to say to the other.

What the hell were they going to do now?

#monsters in mayweather #matt hill #cyrus diaz #my ocs #original characters #original writing #horror writing #vampire #my writing #yaaaay! all done!

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moonlightsmasquerade · 8 months ago

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Monsters in Mayweather: In The Woods Somewhere

CW: Mild Body Horror, Death

An ordinary camping trip Matt Hill and his father went on turned into a waking nightmare.

Run…

Don’t let it catch you

A ringing analog alarm clock blared and Matt Hill’s eyes snapped open. He grumbled, picking up the clock and turning it off, taking in the silence for a moment. Whenever he had a nightmare he would feel clammy and his heart would beat fast, like now, unlike many times before though the memory of the dream faded. He could only remember running from something. Now wasn’t the time to worry about dreams, now he had to worry about the real nightmare: getting out of bed. Matt sat up and stretched, letting out a sigh. He still felt tired. He stood up and dug through his dresser drawers, picking up a long sleeved shirt and jeans to change into for school.

“Matt!” his mother’s voice called out.

“Coming!” he called back, changing into his clothes and grabbing a hairbrush, brushing through his red hair, picking out tangles, and let his long bangs fall over his face, completely covering one of his eyes. He walked down the stairs to the dining room, his little sister quietly eating cereal while his mother handed him some toast and his lunch bag.

“Your father’s going to pick you up from school today, so don’t go to the bus stop, oh, and tell Cyrus not to wait for you.” she said. He nodded and took a bite of his toast.

“Don’t forget they’re also doing baseball tryouts next week, put it on your calendar so you can remember to go this time, it's on Wednesday. ” his mother said, Matt cringed slightly, he hoped she had forgotten about that.

“I might be busy.” He muttered, keeping his eyes on his food to avoid his mom’s gaze.

“With what?”

“Ms Diaz asked if I could help with her lawn after school next Wednesday." He replied. This wasn’t true, she hadn’t asked, he was planning on asking her if he could, if he was doing work then his mom would stop asking him to try out for something he had no interest in.

“But an extracurricular would be good for you,” his mother started, this hadn’t been the first time she had tried to get him to sign up for something he had zero interest in. Matt had learned to tune it out and let her talk about how he could make more friends (he had plenty of those), and he should participate in a sport, lots of young men enjoyed sports (he found them boring).

“You’re not bothering him with that again are you?” His father's voice chimed in as he walked down the stairs. He smoothed his work clothes, wearing a tidy button up shirt and plain trousers, completely plain save for the gold cross necklace around his neck.

“Matt has plenty on his plate right now.” His tone was lighthearted, and he gave Matt a quick pat on the shoulder. Matt took quite a lot of his fathers traits, the most obvious was their shared red hair, though his father kept it short.

"We'll talk about it later then." his mother replied, she handed his father his lunch bag. Matt quickly finished the rest of the toast and grabbed his backpack, ready to get out of the house.

“Alright let's go,” he said, “Bye Selena.” he ruffled his little sister's hair, receiving a laugh and a “Bye bye!” He was about to leave through the front door when his mother stopped him, “Wait,” she tucked Matt’s loose bangs behind his ear,

“There we go, now we can see your face.” She smiled and Matt said a quick “Bye!” and walked out, waving to his mother and then his father, who waved back before he got into his car and drove off. Matt headed to Cyrus’ house, which luckily wasn’t a long walk as they lived two houses down from Matt’s. He stopped as soon as he got there, staying at the end of the sidewalk and watching as Cyrus and their mother stepped out. Cyrus in their usual letterman jacket was pushing some of their windswept brown hair out of their eyes. Ms. Diaz handed them their bookbag, and hugged them once they got it on.

“Have a good day honey! Stay safe! You too Matt!” She said as she waved goodbye to both. Cyrus gave an enthusiastic wave back while Matt just raised and lowered his hand.

“Thanks Mama!” “Bye Ms. Diaz!” both said at the same time. The two continued on their walk to the bus stop at the end of their street, a handful of other teens hung out by the spot. As soon as he and Cyrus arrived at their spot Matt shook his hair out, letting the bangs fall back over his eye. He let out a long sigh.

“The day’s barely started and you already look exhausted.” Cyrus teased.

“I slept like shit and had an awful dream,” Matt groaned, “I wish I was back in bed.”

“That sucks, do you remember what happened in it?”

“I… I don’t remember, I just remember it freaked me out.” Matt replied.

“My dream was lame, I literally had the ‘dream up a day at school’ one, so I wake up and realize that the day isn’t over and I have to do it all over again.” Cyrus exaggerated a sigh and threw their arms down, Matt stifled a small laugh. The bus arrived shortly after, and the two boarded, starting their school day.

…

The day felt like it was never going to end, Cyrus Diaz was thankful it was finally lunchtime. They bought their lunch and scanned the cafeteria, unable to spy Matt’s mop of red hair in the sea of teens. So they headed towards the bathrooms, the bathrooms were next to the back entrance, which after double checking no teachers were nearby, Cyrus snuck through and headed towards the football field nearby, and underneath the bleachers. They spotted Matt sitting underneath, legs crossed and bag lunch in front of him. He hadn’t seen them yet, Cyrus grinned before speaking.

“Matthais Hill, you should be in the cafeteria!” Cyrus put on a faux authoritative voice, causing a small jump from Matt who looked over and relaxed when he realized who it was.

“I ought to give you a detention for this!” Cyrus continued as they walked over and sat next to him, receiving an eye roll from Matt.

“You’re a dork.” he said

Cyrus let out a small laugh, then began eating their food, and noticed Matt only picking slightly at his. It was easy to tell when Matt was bothered by something, his whole demeanor would change. This coupled with the fact he only sat under the bleachers when he didn’t feel like socializing with the crowd, it made Cyrus wonder.

“You seemed kinda miffed, is anything wrong?” They asked, hearing him let out a sigh.

“No… it was just my mom,” he let out a disgruntled sigh, “I thought she was over telling me what I should be doing with my free time, but then she goes on about trying baseball again.”

“Baseball? The last time you played baseball you were 5 and you spent the whole game counting the ants on the ground.” Cyrus said before taking a bite of cafeteria pizza.

“I counted 137.” Matt replied like it was an achievement, Cyrus nearly choked on their food to stifle a laugh.

“You can remember how many ants you counted on the ground, but you can’t remember half of your algebra equations. Glad you have your priorities.” They teased. Matt giggled, and his demeanor changed again, looking relaxed. Mission accomplished, Cyrus thought to themself, they hated to see him upset. The two ate their food, trading their desserts, Cyrus giving Matt their packaged cake and Matt handing them his apple slices.

“I wish they’d stop giving us coffee cake, it's so gross.” Cyrus commented.

“Coffee cake is so good though.” Matt replied.

Cyrus made a sound mimicking an incorrect buzzer before saying “Wrong”

“Anyhoo, are you free this weekend?” Cyrus clicked open the tab of their soda and sipped it while waiting for Matt’s reply.

“Oh shoot, no, Dad’s taking me camping in the woods.” he said, “Don’t wait for me at the bus today, he’s picking me up so we can head out early tonight.” he added, Cyrus’s eyes got wide.

“Whoa!” They cried “You’re so lucky!” Cyrus said, Matt let out a small giggle at his friend's overexcitement.

“It’s just camping, we’re not going anywhere crazy amazing.” Matt replied.

“I know but I’d love to do something like that, my mom would never let me go out in the forest.” Cyrus said.

“I’m kinda nervous, I’ve never really camped in the woods, just the backyard.” Matt said, starting to pick at the skin of his hand.

“Well, the woods are like a huge backyard, with more trees, and animals… like bears!” Cyrus motioned their hands like claws. Matt laughed at Cyrus’ attempt to be scary,

“I thought you were trying to make me feel better?” he said, his tone lighthearted. The two finished their lunch in their spot before sneaking back to the cafeteria, as if they hadn’t run off, and parted ways to their next class.

To Matt the rest of the day started to fly by, his mind was focusing less on minor annoyances and was now focused towards the trip, he and his father always had similar interests, both enjoyed the outdoors quite a bit, before their trips consisted of fishing in a nearby lake or birdwatching in the park. Matt always appreciated them, enjoying the quiet of nature. He started to feel more excited as the day went, and even though the excitement mixed with the nervous knots in his stomach he wasn’t going to let that deter him.

The last bell rang. Matt walked out of the school building, waved goodbye to Cyrus, who was jogging towards the bus stop, and headed towards the front of the school where his father’s car was waiting. After exchanging “hellos” with his dad, he leaned his head against the window, feeling his eyelids get heavy. He closed them and then…

…

You have to run!

Run!

RUN!

R U N!

Matt’s eyes snapped open again, He had dozed off, and felt his heart beating fast.

“Hey sleepyhead.” his father said. The radio was on, but the volume was low, so it didn’t overpower his father’s words.

“I didn’t get to hear about your day yet since you took a little nap, how was it?” he said.

“It was alright I guess, kinda boring.” Matt replied, stretching his arms.

“Nothing interesting?”

“Nah, just a normal day.” Matt replied.

“Your mother mentioned Ms. Diaz asked you for lawn help but when I mentioned it to her this afternoon she said she hadn’t.” His dad said.

Matt swallowed a lump in his throat, he didn’t look at his dad, but he could feel the Tell me why did you lie to your mom? Look he was giving him.

“Oops, must have gotten mixed up.” he mumbled

“Now listen, I know you don’t like your mother’s suggestions, but she’ll listen if you just talk to her about it.” his dad said in a reassuring tone.

“Hm.” Matt replied. He stared out of the window watching as houses were slowly replaced by tall trees as they drove by.

“I mean she used to think it was odd I liked painting! She always said she never met a man who thought painting was a good time. She sure changed her mind when we had to paint the nursery.” his dad chuckled, “Point is, a conversation is better than white lies, she always comes around eventually.” his father said. Matt nodded, and felt relieved the conversation was over.

“So, how’s Cyrus?” his father asked.

“Oh they’re doing good… They wished they could come with us when I told them about the trip.” Matt said.

“We’ll have to invite hi- them next time.” his father said with a smile.

Matt scanned the trees they passed by as he and father continued idle conversation, with Matt occasionally looking at the paper map to double check the route. He watched as over the horizon, a tall hill, with a church sat atop came into view. The church had a name once. Matt knew that much from school, remembering the lesson on Mayweather’s history, the records for the original name were long gone and lost to history. Everyone now knew it as the Church on Black Oak Hill, named for the forest that surrounded the town, and its tallest hill. He looked at the stone structure, spying the rusted iron gates behind it that housed graves from years and years ago. It looked out of place completely surrounded by trees and so far from civilization.

“Can’t believe that old place is still up.” his father commented.

“Why don’t they tear it down, no one goes there anyway.” Matt muttered.

“Well it’s a piece of history, it’s the oldest building in town, lots of people would wanna keep it around.”

Matt wondered who would enjoy going to a dusty creepy church, it was bad enough going into a normal one… to him at least.

“Y’know when I was a youngin’, kids would dare each other to go up to the doors to try to open it. The police had to put a fence around it to stop it after a kid went missing.” Matt’s eyes widened at his father’s statement, he turned to look at his dad,

“Someone went missing?”

“Mmhm. Trevor Davidson, nice kid, but he was a bit of a pushover. His friends dared him to go up and try to open the doors, he never came back down. Half the town searched but no one could ever find him.”

“Oh…”

“That’s one of the reasons you never let peer pressure get to you Matt.” his father added at the end of his statement, and Matt felt like his unease started to rise again, he shifted in the seat and started to pick the skin of his hands.

After a car ride that felt like an eternity they arrived at Black Oak’s Campsite, parking in the lot near the areas, Matt carried the food and the sleeping bags, and looked out into the forest as his father gathered the tent. Matt could still see the top of that church even from there. He decided he would try not to think about it, he’d just have to shift anxious thoughts away and focus on hanging out with his dad.

The area was a wide circular space surrounded by trees, with a fire pit and few picnic tables, and no one else was there that weekend. They set up the tent and ate packaged sandwiches for their dinner. They settled in for the evening and slept, much to Matt's relief he didn’t experience any night terrors, and woke up feeling better about the day, which he and his father mostly spent birdwatching and walking on the nearby trails. Though as the day went on, Matt began to feel like he was being watched, though he didn’t mention this to his father, he thought he had to be overreacting, as there was no one else near them. Then evening came again.

Matt couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling, he laid awake in the tent, listening to the sound of the wind whistling through the trees. He thought about the missing kid again, his mind beginning to spiral into all the possible horrible outcomes. No, no! Stop it, nothing is going to happen. He thought to himself and attempted to reassure himself of his safety, and in pausing he took a moment to listen to the outside again.

The wind stopped. There was no sound, at all. Matt sat up, and listened intently, waiting for any sound to come back. The only thing he could hear was his own shaky breaths. Then there was a whistle, but not the whistle the wind makes when it blows through the trees.

A person was whistling

He listened to the whistling, it sounded like it was getting closer. It dawned on Matt that he could only hear the whistling, and nothing else, no leaves crunching, nothing. Matt shook slightly, but reached towards the zipper of the tent.

“Matt?” He heard his father’s groggy voice pipe up, Matt jumped slightly and turned to his dad.

“I-I think someone’s outside.” He said, his father sat up, more alert now that he heard Matt’s frightened voice, his father put his glasses back on and watched Matt motion a “sh” with his hand. The whistling hadn’t stopped.

“How strange.” His father replied,

The whistling suddenly shifted to a hum, a low voice humming a tune that came closer and closer to the tent. His father looked perturbed,

“This could be someone’s bad idea of a joke.” His dad whispered, and grabbed a flashlight, the two stepping out of the tent to look. There was a silhouette of a person, quite far away, but that was the source of the hum. His father called out to the dark shape, it was hard to see it, even with the flashlight pointed towards him. Matt squinted his eyes slightly, the shape was still getting closer,

“Hello?”

Matt didn’t look away from the shape, it was moving in a strange way. Matt could barely see it but could make out its motions, it looked almost like it was swaying.

“Hey, we don't want trouble.” his father’s voice attempted to sound brave, but there was a twinge of fear, he was nervously rubbing a thumb over his cross necklace.

It moved again, lifting up its head this time. Matt saw two shining white dots for eyes.

The hum rumbled, losing its rhythmic tone, and now was replaced with a laugh. The “person” unfurled, the white eyes moving higher as the torso elongated, gangly arms swaying at its side as its long legs took a step closer. It continued to laugh, with a grin of stark white teeth shining through the dark like its eyes. Matt felt frozen until he realized his father was speaking to him,

“Run.”

“W-What?”

“Matt, run!” His father grabbed his arm, “Run!” Both began to sprint away, the tall man following behind them, laughing.

The two ran away from the campsite, through the woods, Matt couldn’t tell where they were going, his father dropped the flashlight and they were running through the dark blindly. Branches and bushes hit his arms and legs as they ran. Matt’s father stumbled, falling forward. Matt turned to help his father up when the tall figure started to get closer. Matt cried out, his father shouted, “Run! Get help!”

“But-”

“Go!”

The monster grabbed his father's leg and began to pull him towards it. As much as Matt wanted to help, he listened to his fathers last words to him. He turned and ran. His heart beating hard against his chest. Matt didn’t dare turn back, even when he heard the screams. They got quieter and quieter as he ran further and further with tears streaming down his face and the cold burning his cheeks. He stared ahead, there was a light, a streetlight, if there was a streetlight there had to be a road.

A road meant help, he could get help.

He continued sprinting, breathing heavily, his chest burning but he was determined to find help. As he scrambled out of the wood and ran onto the road he realized it wasn’t an asphalt road, it was gravel, leading up a hill.

The church sat atop it.

He needed to hide, if he didn’t, this thing would kill him too. That seemed to be the only option in his panicked mind, he ran as fast as he could up the hill, ignoring the burning pain in his body, adrenaline was the only thing that was keeping Matt from collapsing from exhaustion.

Matt ran up to the doors, there was a lock, he yanked at it, but it didn’t budge. He decided to go through a window instead. He looked on the ground, picking up one of the larger stones and turned to face the window, prepared to throw it through the glass.

Several faces looked back at him.

He screamed.

The faces screamed, some attempting to mock his voice, some screams devolved into ghastly laughter as the faces twisted into horrible smiles and stared with eyes that were glassy, ghostly, some who had pitch black and others a deep bloody red. Their smiling mouths full of sharp teeth. Some continued tp mock his screams and some spoke the words "Open" over and over. Matt turned to run, only to face the monster chasing him, with those bright white pupils staring back at him.

“Go ahead, open the door.” the tall shadow man said in his creaky raspy voice.

Matt screamed again, this time picking up the stone and throwing it at the monster's head. Sprinting away when he heard it connect and the man let out a shriek. As he ran Matt stumbled, falling forward and tumbling down the gravelly road, pebbles flying up, some cutting against his skin. He looked up briefly and saw the monster was still at the top of the hill. He staggered up and ran down the gravel road until it turned to asphalt, and kept running until he saw headlights, car headlights. He headed towards them, waved his arms over his head, screaming the words help over and over.

…

The Mayweather Police Station was on alert, a call came in, a driver had found a kid screaming, running, talking about how something chased him and his father, and now his father was dead. They sent a car out, and confirmed the worst. The young man waited inside of a plain room, he was told to wait by the officers who had gone out.

A woman with curly dark brown hair entered the room. As she entered she pushed up red framed glasses, the rest of her outfit was nothing like the other officers, instead of a uniform she wore a simple suit. She sat down across from him, she looked at the young man with pale skin and red hair falling over his eyes.

“Can you give me your name?” She asked, her voice was soft, and gentle.

“M-Matt, Matt Hill.” he replied in a scratchy voice, his throat still hurt from screaming.

“Hi Matt, I’m Detective Phillips, would you mind if I asked you some questions?”

The kid picked at the skin of his hands, nodding at her words. His eyes were still red from crying, and he shook ever so slightly.

“Alright, what were you doing out in the woods?”

“Camping, we were camping.” his voice cracked.

“Did you see who attacked you?” She asked, he paused for a while.

“Y-Yes”

“Do you recall anything about them? Did you see what they looked like?”

His eyes still didn’t look at her, he instead looked to the side. She tried to read his expression, he looked like he wanted to say something but refused.

“You can tell me, I just want to know what you saw, I want to find who did this so I can bring them to justice, okay?” She said,

“Y-You’ll believe me?” he asked, she nodded, he stayed quiet for a bit before speaking up again.

“I-It wasn’t a human.”

“What?” Her eyes widened, not expecting him to reply with that.

“It looked like a person, but it-it wasn’t I-I.” He stammered, “It was in shadow, it was like it was made of shadows. It was so tall, as tall as the trees. It smiled at me… but… I-I can’t remember its face. I just remember that awful smile.” Matt’s eyes stared ahead, wide with fright as he spoke.

“I-Is there anything else you can remember, hair color? Or what he was wearing? Do you think he was someone your dad knew?” the detective asked, unsure what to make of what he said.

Matt shook his head, “No… no…I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” he continued to mumble ‘sorry’ until he started to cry again. For a moment the woman let her professionalism slip, taking the boy’s hand,

“I’m sorry, I can’t imagine the pain you’re going through.” she said. He continued to sob for a moment until he started speaking again.

“It chased me.” he stammered again through shaky breaths, “It chased me to the church and there was- was-” He stopped speaking again, and hung his head low.

“It’s okay,” she tried to reassure him, “You answered everything I needed.” She was lying, there had been more, but seeing the teen in distress made her stop. Besides, she reasoned to herself, it would be easier to speak with him when he was in a better emotional state. She opened the door for him and took him to the front, where another officer, a man with short red hair and a police uniform waited.

“I’ll come back to talk with you again soon. Officer Howell here will take you home now okay?” she said. Matt nodded, following behind the other officer to his car.

…

Cyrus sat up in bed upon hearing the sound of their mother walking briskly from her room, they quietly got up and followed behind her as she headed for the living room, looking out of the side window. It was barely morning, and they wondered why she was up at such an hour.

“Oh no.” They heard her say with a gasp. They peered over her shoulder out the window and saw a police car parked at the driveway to Matt’s house. Cyrus couldn’t stifle their own gasp at seeing Matt exit the car. Their mother took a quick glance at them, opening her mouth and closing it, deciding against telling them to go back to bed. Cyrus stood next to their mother and watched through the window. A lump formed in their throat. They couldn’t see Mr. Hill, and they knew Matt went on the trip with his dad. They watched Matt walk to the door with an officer, seeing Ms. Hill open the door, her face then turning from frightened to absolute anguish. She wrapped her arms around her son and brought him in.

…

“Is there anything? Any news?” the shaky sorrow filled voice of Ms. Hill asked the detective.

“We’ve collected all the evidence at the scene, we’re going to do everything we can Ms. Hill, we will find out who did this.”

Detective Phillips kept her word about coming back, she spoke mainly to Matt and his mother, explaining what they had found and asking additional questions to both about anything that might give her a lead. Though Matt stayed quiet, his mother mainly spoke to the detective.

“I’m sorry, Matt hasn’t been doing well, I know you might have questions for him.”

“It’s alright, he can talk to us when he’s ready, your family has been through enough.” she replied before looking at the young man. He looked terrible, he had bloodshot eyes with dark circles like he hadn’t been sleeping.

“Matt, I mean it, if you remember anything, or need anything, you can come to the station, and I’ll help.” she said, he nodded, his mother turned to head back inside. Matt moved to follow her and shut the door when he heard the detective speak up.

“Oh Matt, one more thing.”

Detective Phillips took the boy's hand and pressed something into it. Matt looked and realized she had given him his father’s cross necklace. He looked back up at her, and she put a finger to her lips. Giving a slight side eye to the police car she came in, another officer inside. She wasn’t supposed to be giving him this. He guessed it was supposed to be in evidence, but felt quite a lot of relief that she gave it back to him. He gave a small nod and put his hand clenched tightly around it in his pocket. He watched her head to the police car in the driveway, pulled away and drove, he finally went back in and shut the door, taking the necklace out of his pocket and slipping it around his neck.

#monsters in mayweather #matt hill #cyrus diaz #ruby phillips #original story #my writing #original characters #horror #horror story #original horror story

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