by Unknown
"Sadie let's play Frogs and Flies. We'll even set it up so the frogs go in the water. "
Frogs and Flies was Sadie's favorite game. As she ran to start setting up the game, I looked at the picture she had been working on and my blood froze.
Nothing could have prepared me for what she'd drawn.
It was Kenny, with fire all around him. A large red-eyed shadow creature stood beside him,
and on the other side of the Shadow Monster was Sadie!
"She's mine!" It was the same voice as before, but whispered this time. It came from the closet.
"Sadie?" I called.
"What?" she called back, from the parlor on the other side of the apartment. When I peeked in, she was on the floor, setting up for the game.
I showed her the picture. "Sadie, what's this?" I pointed to the shadow thing.
"The other ghost," she replied. "There's two."
***
It was around this time I first heard my name being called in the wee hours of the morning.
Just a whispered "Ty-ler".
I'd finally had enough.
The next day I took Sadie to the library. She picked out a Curious George book and began to read it, while I went to the microfilm, to look for copies of old newspapers. Our apartment building was only a few years old - I learned that day it was three years and four months old to be exact. I went back through the papers from the day it was finished being built to the day we moved in. There was no mention of anyone named Kenny. So I went back a few more years.
I was looking at August of 1976 when Sadie ran up and pointed to a picture.
"Kenny, you found Kenny!"
I found the story and read it. All it said was that there'd been a terrible fire that destroyed everything. The cause was still unknown. The only casualty was a young boy named Kenneth Donnel.
***
The next day I asked Mrs. McDaniels, who had lived in the apartments across the street from us for forty years, about the fire and Kenneth Donnel's death.
"Oh my!" she'd exclaimed, then nodded sadly. "Little Kenny. Yes, I remember him. He was friends with my Bobby. There was another boy too. Oh what was his name? Oh dear...oh yes! Frankie! Frankie Myler, that's it. With Dani Adams right in tow. A rather odd girl, Dani was." Mrs McDaniels rummaged through a box and came back with an old photograph of three boys and a girl, arms linked and mud spattered.
"Dani was against the séance from the beginning." Mrs McDaniels sighed wistfully. "Everyone thought, with her being the girl, that the Ouija board was her idea. But no."
"Ouija board?" I asked.
"Some sort of toy. Don't ask me dear. I don't know. But from what I heard among the neighborhood kids, Frankie and Kenny were having trouble with a bully. "
"How would a toy help with…?" I began to ask, but she waved it away.
"I don't know dear. I just know they used the Ouija board, and the bullying stopped. But those kids - especially Kenny- they weren't ever the same again. Always on edge. She still lives around here, Dani does."
I got Dani's address from Mrs McDaniels and promised to help her water her plants. Then I left.
***
Dani was really nice. It took me a while to convince her to tell me about the 'Ouija incident', but after I showed her the pictures Sadie had drawn, and told her about the voices I'd heard, she finally relented.
"We were just kids." She shrugged, and I noticed her hands shook, although I pretended I hadn't.
"It was Bobby's idea. He was thirteen at the time. I was ten, Frankie was turning twelve the following week, and Kenny was eleven. I don't think Bobby meant it to be serious, he never believed in that sort of stuff. So anyway, he got hold of a Ouija board. "
"Sorry, I don't know what that is." I interrupted.
"Hmmm lucky you." She replied dryly. "It's a wooden board that has letters and numbers on it. It also has a few symbols and some simple words: Hello, Goodbye, Yes, No; basic stuff like that. You hold onto a triangle shaped piece of wood, that has a piece of glass in its center. Someone asks a question, and it spells out the answer by moving the glass over the letters. We got someone called Bax."
"Bax?" I repeated.
Dani nodded and shuddered. "I remember the room turning freezing cold, although Kenny said it was really hot." She shook her head. "I wanted Bax gone the minute he showed up, but the boys wanted to set him on Mailer."
"Mailer? He was the guy bulling Kenny?" I asked.
"John Mailer." She nodded. "He picked on everyone. He was especially hard on Kenny. They put up with it for ages, that whole 'boys will be boys' mantra. None of them backed down or let it bug them. Until he pushed me into the mud."
"What?"
"That's why I was at the séance, I felt responsible."
"So this Bax…?"
"Bax said he'd get rid of Mailer, but we'd have to give him whatever he asked for."
"What did he ask for?" I whispered.
"He spelled out four words." Dani replied, pulling a piece of folded paper out of her purse. It was yellow and obviously fragile with age, with four words written on it:
THE BOY
THE GIRL
Dani shuddered. "After that all the candles went out, and a loud voice said, "THEY'RE MINE!" Kenny started acting weird, spending all his time in his closet. And no matter what the weather was like, he complained of being hot. That the shadows made it hot. "
Dani wouldn't say anymore, no matter how many questions I asked. So I thanked her and left.
***
I kept a close watch on Sadie, trying to ignore the noises from my closet and the cryptic message on the yellowed paper Dani had given me.
THE BOY
THE GIRL
Everything had settled down and was calm for a while. Until the night I woke up to the sound of whispering voices. Two shadows hovered at the edge of the bed.
"He'll try to stop us."
"She's ours and we will have her."
"But he will try to stop us."
"Let him try."
I just lay there frozen, unable to move or call out for help.
The conversation didn't last very long, and then everything became quiet as the shadows disappeared. I didn't sleep for the rest of the night.
***
Mom and Dad started hearing things soon after that. At first, they denied it. Then, they blamed Sadie and me. Then the 'neighborhood punks', and I couldn't convince them otherwise.
It was almost September.
I hoped the hustle and bustle of starting school would distract Sadie from whatever was in our apartment.
The second week of school, I woke in the middle of the night. It was 3.00am, and I was wrapped up in four blankets, and still freezing cold.
But that's not what had woken me…Sadie was crying.
"Go to sleep Sadie."
"I can't," she cried. "I can't, I CANT! It's too hot!"
I was loathe to pull off my blankets and climb out of bed…but I did.
Sadie was drenched in sweat. I ran to Dad and Moms' room, noticing how much warmer it was in there. "Something's wrong with Sadie!"
Dad went to check on Sadie, while Mom and I followed cautiously behind.
"Call a doctor! She's burning up!" Dad cried, lifting Sadie and carrying her to the bathroom. He filled the tub with cold water and plunged her in, nightgown and all.
"Daddy," Sadie whispered. “Daddy, the shadows make it so hot."
Once she was cool and dry, and in a fresh nightgown, Mom and Dad put her back to bed.
As soon as Mom and Dad were back in their room, I snuck Sadie down to the parlor. She slept well that week, as long as she slept on the couch.
Mom found out on Saturday. "Tyler Edward! Get your sister and go back to bed! Don't let me catch you down here watching TV all night again!"
***
It was mid-October when Sadie woke me in the middle of the night.
"Kenny says we have to go now," she said sadly. "But I wanted to say goodb
ye first."
I sat up. The shadow creature Sadie had been drawing all that summer was in my closet. The door was open, and its red eyes were focused on Sadie.
"She's MINE!!!"
I jumped out of bed, lifted Sadie right off the ground and started to run. I looked back in time to see my entire closet catch fire.
"DAD! MOM!" I called, running for the door. "FIRE!"
I dropped Sadie off at the stairs. "Get outside Sadie…NOW!"
"But Tyler!"
"It’s an emergency Sadie, you're allowed out on your own in a fire."
I ran back inside - even though I knew you weren't supposed to do that in a fire. But I did it anyway.
"Mom! Dad!" I saw my parents halfway down the hall. "Sadie's outside, go find her…I'll be right there"
"Tyler!"
I ran to my room.
"Kenny?" I couldn't let Bax get him, not again.
Invisible hands pushed me out.
"Go," Kenny said. "Go, I'll hold off Bax."
"But-"
"There's nothing you can do for me Tyler. Just take care of Sadie."
"Thanks Kenny!" I cried, and turned and ran.
I ran out the front door, all the way down the stairs and out to the sidewalk. That's where I found Mom and Dad holding a howling Sadie. She was crying so hard, no one could tell what she was saying.
Once she calmed down, I helped her explain everything to Mom and Dad. About Kenny, the Shadow, and the drawings. I told them about Dani and the Ouija.
Everything.
Well almost everything.
I never told anyone, not even Sadie, what the shadow creature yelled as I ran out the door.
"I'LL COME BACK!"
Wandering in the Wood
Kerry E.B. Black
The sisters shuddered. They knew the dangers of wandering the woods after dark, yet the sun drifted lazily toward the western horizon, staining the sky scarlet.
“Wait up,” Kya gasped.
“No, you hurry, Kya!” Rylie said. “Honestly, why are you even here?”
Kya huffed, placing her silver fore-arm crutches with care, then swinging her slight form to progress along the uneven terrain. “I am here,” she panted, “because you can’t be in the woods by yourself. It isn’t safe.” She paused, leaning heavily on the padded arm holds. She wiped sweat from her forehead. “You know that.”
Rylie regarded her sister through narrowed eyes. Kya leaned heavily on her crutches, her back twisted to the right. The exhaustion evident in the lean of her body and bend of her knees did nothing to soften Rylie’s stance. “Well, you need to move faster. It is nearly dark.”
Kya gulped deeply, a grimace crossing her face. She shook her head, saying, “I told you it was getting late. Why did you wait so long?”
Rylie pressed her mouth into a thin line, confining her angry retort within locked lips for but a moment. She shook her tangled head, sending the remaining sunlight dancing through the messy waves. Her breathing was shallow and her heart rate heightened, though not from exertion. “You know, Ms. Bossy Princess, you are not my mother.”
Hurt broadcast from Kya’s face. She dropped her head and muttered, “Let’s just get home before we get into trouble,” she considered the deepening shadows, “or worse.”
The pair set off for home, Rylie springing over tree roots and stones that made perilous the passage. Kya struggled along behind, glancing with growing unease over her bony shoulders.
“Please slow down, Rylie Roo.”
Rylie wheeled around, her young-teen face distorted with anger. “I have told you never to call me that! I am not Rylie Roo!” She turned and pounded towards home, ignoring her sister’s pleas.
“Rylie, I was just teasing. Please slow down. You know I can’t keep up with you.”
Tears prickled Rylie’s eyes. She shouted, “Then you shouldn’t have come! I didn’t ask you to come.”
“Mom only let you go into the woods because I came, you know,” Kya yelled.
Leaves crushed under her feet, releasing scents of rich earth and loam. Rylie enjoyed the exertion of her muscles, freed to walk at a natural pace. It was tiresome to be her sister’s keeper, to slow everything so that Kya could keep up. It isn’t fair, she thought. Why do I always have to slow down? Maybe I want to walk fast once in a while.
Darkness collected beneath the trees and gathered behind the big rocks. Rylie inhaled a deep breath of cool, twilight air, hearing the rustling of bats leaving caves to hunt buzzing insects. She looked behind her, startled by her progress.
Where is Kya? She sat on a nearby rock to wait. It felt cold, hard, and jagged beneath her bottom, and Rylie’s heart began an irregular cadence in her chest. She scrutinized the path, straining to hear the thump shuffle of her sister’s progress.
Nothing. No sign. Rylie’s stomach lurched. Why did I walk so fast? I know she can’t keep up.
She called, “Kya? Kya, where are you?”
No answer.
Rylie felt a lump lodge in the center of her throat. She stood, face drained of color, knees shaking. “Come on, Kya. Please.” Tears trickled silently over her ruddy cheeks, breath shallow.
A deep voice from the tree line behind startled her. “Well, hello. Are you lost?” She jumped
and wheeled with a startled yelp.
A young man in polished clothing stepped from the gloom of an ancient hemlock tree. His tawny hair ruffled from passing the low boughs; his wide, expressive brown eyes gleamed concern.
Rylie stepped back, hand to her throat. She wiped her tears with a dismissive swipe before answering. “No, I am waiting for my sister.” She indicated the path with a motion of her head.
He looked down the path, from which Kya did not appear. A fog snaked through the under plantings, obscuring the way. With brow furrowed, eyes lost in thought, he suggested, “Perhaps it would be better to go to her?”
Rylie’s mouth felt dry. She licked her lips and swallowed. “She can’t be far behind. We are fine, really. We only have a short way to our home from here.”
He regarded her. His eyebrows made a ledge over his eyes. Then, he nodded and took her seat on the rock. “I’ll wait with you, then.”
“No, really, please don’t bother. Kya will be here soon.”
He smiled, softening his angular face, and shrugged. “I can’t just leave you by yourself. What kind of a person would abandon another in the woods?”
Rylie grimaced, her heart dropping. She shifted the path’s decaying leaves with her restless toe. She sighed and began retracing her earlier route on the now fog-enshrouded path. He followed, hands clasped behind his back, humming an old tune that she recollected but could not place.
Her footfalls echoed, circling back as if they were pursued. An owl’s melancholy hoot to her right and a panicked screech of a rodent in distress ahead made her start. She jumped when something unseen brushed her back and calves.
Her nervous giggle sounded false. He leaned in and took her hand. His warm touch reassured her.
“How far back in the woods did you say you left your sister?”
“Back by the wild strawberry patch,” she answered, then stopped. “Say, I never told you that I left her!”
“Of course you did, when first we met.” He guided her along, a reassuring flash of white teeth glinting in the newly risen moonlight. His eyes glistened as he scrutinized the way.
Rylie stumbled, and he tightened his grip. His nails bit into her upper arm.
“Ouch,” she complained, and he loosened his hold.
The path felt softer, spongier, and she smelled fresh mint.
She gasped and pulled away from him.
“No, this isn’t right,” she realized. “We lost our way. We are not on the path.”
She scanned with frantic turns, searching for familiarity. Tears prickled afresh, and she shook.
His guttural chuckle sounded like a growl. He leaned on a thick-trunked tree, obscured in the unfathomable shadows.
&nbs
p; Her blood ran cold through her, settling in her knocking knees. Breath came in short gasps, and her vision began to narrow. Her legs mutinied, and she fell, skinning her knees.
“Mmmm, I can smell your blood!” he said.
Rylie struggled to find her voice. “Who are you?”
He chuckled. “Just a stranger…in the woods…after dark.”
A strange thudding reached her ears. She recalled years of her mother’s advice.
Mind the curfew. Stick to the pathways. Never talk with strangers. You and your sister, remember. Keep together and watch out for each other.
He stepped nearer. He smelled of musk and pine needles. Her legs refused to work, so she remained on her knees, sobbing.
Her voice trembled. “What do you want?”
He licked his lips, sending a thrill of terror up her spine. She shivered again, the thumping louder, her stomach lurching.
“Just doing my job. I am who you were warned about. I am the Wolf of Lore, the Boogie Man of nightmares. I feed on fears,” he scratched her chin with a long-nailed hand, forcing her face upward, “and I am very, very hungry.”
Rylie whimpered and squeezed her eyes shut tight.
A high-pitched voice screamed, “Well, if you are hungry, go eat some berries!” Rylie felt something breeze over her head. She heard a loud, hollow smack, then an oomph. “There is a patch
just a little way down the trail.” A slender silver cane clubbed him. Another clout, and another.
Rylie pushed back onto her bottom, crawling away from her would-be attacker. Sticks and wet moss clung to her scuffed palms. She blinked the stinging tears from her eyes and struggled to make sense of the scene unfolding before her.
Her rescuer approached, leaning on two long silver sticks reaching the forest floor.
Between gasps, she said, “Get up, Rylie Roo. Let’s get out of here before it comes to.”
Rylie gasped, leaping to her feet to embrace her sister, Kya.