Rick looked to Autumn expectantly. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
They all headed out the door, and the cool air hit Autumn like a ton of bricks. Fall was here, and summer was long gone. The chill indicated that much. She looked up the sky. It was starless, and the moon was barely visible. The image was almost foreboding, and it sent chills down her spine.
When they reached the driveway, they saw a strange vehicle parked there. It was a large, white, nondescript van.
“Where did you get the wheels?” Autumn asked Nathaniel, inspecting the tinted windows.
“Conrad. It was his before he bought his hog,” Nathaniel said, looking proud.
“Well, at least it’s inconspicuous,” Autumn said encouragingly. “Shall we go pick up Mandy?”
“Your chariot waits,” he said, gesturing to the vehicle.
Autumn waited as Rick slid the back door open for her, and she slipped inside. He pulled the door shut and hopped into the passenger seat next Nathaniel. Autumn fastened her seatbelt as Nathaniel adjusted his seat.
“Alright guys, let’s roll out,” Nathaniel said with his usual cheerfulness. He started the engine, turned around in his seat and looked to Autumn.
She blinked at him, confused. “Is something wrong?”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather ride up front with me?” He winked at her, his eyes glimmering.
So he hasn’t given up, Autumn thought to herself.
“I’m good back here but thanks for asking,” she said, smirking.
Nathaniel sighed disappointedly and began pulling out of the driveway.
“Don’t be down man. She just didn’t want to spend the entire ride having her breasts stared at,” Rick said, nudging Nathaniel in the side playfully.
Nathaniel let out a snort as he drove towards the main road.
“There’s always the rear-view mirror buddy.”
It took them ten minutes to get to Mandy’s place. When they pulled up, they saw her waiting on the sidewalk in front of her house. She was wearing tight blue jeans, a black tank top and a brown bomber jacket. She walked over to the van and opened the sliding door.
“Hey all,” she said, smiling.
Everyone said their hellos, and they were off again. As they trucked along, there was a piercing silence in the van. All Autumn could hear was the faint sound of the radio humming and traffic passing by. She wondered if everyone in the van was feeling as anxious as she was. Were their stomachs in knots? Did they feel the incessant tugging in their brains telling them this was a mistake?
“So, Rick do you have any idea what you are going to shoot?” Mandy asked, her voice slicing through the quiet.
“Shoot? I have no guns here Mand, only daggers,” Rick replied absently.
“I meant with your camera,” Mandy said, her eyes wide. “Wait. You brought daggers with you?”
Rick looked at her like she was the crazy one. “Of course. I have a whole kit. Salt, holy water, crosses.” He looked at her indignantly.
“Holy water?” Mandy said, bewildered. “You just happened to have some around the house?”
“No. Autumn and I went to a church today and got some,” Rick said. “They were more than accommodating.”
“Well, at least you have all the clichés covered Rick,” Mandy muttered, looking to Autumn, her eyebrows raised.
For the next hour of their journey, Autumn watched out the window. They passed by huge fields with old wooden fences, rickety barns and lush farm land. Eventually, they came to a large area, on the right side of the dirt road. The parking lot near it was virtually deserted.
As they pulled into the lot, Autumn saw the blanket of darkness ahead of them. The only light was generated from the moon, which had finally come out and the streetlamps in the parking lot.
The van came to a gentle halt, and Nathaniel cut the engine. Without the humming of the motor, everything around them became more desolate and eerie. Autumn couldn’t help it. She shivered as the sensations danced over her skin.
“What does haunted caves really mean?” Mandy spoke finally, her voice almost inaudible.
The atmosphere around the van was quickly changing. It felt like a hand was pulling them, beckoning them into the depths of oblivion. Autumn felt the sudden need to run. Was this her gut instinct kicking in? Was this her body warning her it wasn’t safe here?
“The impression Eric and Arabella gave me is, whatever lurks in the caves is tangible,” Autumn replied. Mandy’s heart-shaped face was filled with uncertainty.
“Tangible?” Rick repeated.
“Physical,” Autumn replied. “Something you can actually touch.”
“Most ghosts aren’t like that,” Mandy added in. “Well, at least that’s how the legend portrays them. As transparent beings we can only see.”
“I’m not worried. We’re prepared for anything,” Nathaniel looked at Rick and the two girls. “I like tangible. Tangible things can be stabbed.”
A look of concern flashed across Rick’s face.
“What if they aren’t ghosts? What if they are zombies and they try to eat our brain’s dude?” he looked at Nathaniel, eyes wide.
Mandy snorted. “They are going to be sorely disappointed with that buffet.”
Nathaniel shot Mandy a glare. “I’ll have you know Mandy that I happen to get A’s in school.”
Mandy rolled her eyes. “In gym you mean? Or Home Ec?”
“In many of my classes,” he said haughtily. “That’s right. A’s. Like your bra size.”
Nathaniel began guffawing and held his hand out to Rick for a high-five. Rick put his hand up and looked at Autumn, who scowled at him, unimpressed.
“Don’t even bother Rick,” she scolded him, and he put his hand down, looking mildly terrified.
“Sorry dude,” he looked at Nathaniel helplessly.
Mandy grunted with anger as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Then she reached over and smacked Nathaniel sharply.
“OUCH!” he exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head while glowering at Mandy. “If you keep hitting me in the head you will knock the smarts right out of me Mandy!”
“That ship has long sailed!” Mandy barked. “Now, apologize!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry,” Nathaniel said, massaging his own head.
When Autumn stepped outside, it seemed much colder than it had been earlier. Autumn shivered and snuggled into her pea coat.
She looked at the huge open field that spanned out miles ahead of her. On the left side of the field, she could see masses of pine trees clustered together, making up the forest Nathaniel mentioned at one point.
Everyone made their way from the parking lot into the field where Rick handed them flashlights from his giant backpack.
“Alright. We’re all set,” he said, adjusting the camera attached to his baseball cap. “Remember, everyone sticks together. Got it?”
Everyone nodded their approval, and they began trekking.
The first thing Autumn noticed as they moved through the tall grass, was all the obstacles at her feet. She was constantly avoiding rocks, wayward branches and other natural debris.
Autumn thought about Eric, and she couldn’t help but feel a pinch of guilt that she was doing this behind his back. Eric had said the caves were dangerous and yet, here she was. In an attempt at clemency, she told herself that when she returned, she would be honest with Eric. He deserved that much.
They had been walking roughly fifteen minutes when Autumn felt an odd sensation. It took her a moment to realize that the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up.
She stopped dead in her tracks, so abruptly that Nathaniel nearly ran into her.
He looked around, searching for an explanation as to why she froze.
“What is it?” he asked. Mandy and Rick watched her on bated bre
ath.
“I don’t know,” she said as she shone her flashlight ahead of her, trying to find a reason for her panic.
“I just had this awful feeling come over me.”
Rick netted his brow with concern.
“Do you want to go back?”
Autumn knew how much filming here meant to Rick. Despite her doubts, she couldn’t let him down. She had to push through her fears. They were irrational anyway, probably just nerves.
“We came all this way. We might as well keep going right?” she said, forcing a weak smile.
Rick put his hands on Autumn’s shoulders, squeezing them reassuringly.
“Are you sure?”
Autumn nodded. “Let’s keep going but if we see anything peculiar, we turn around.”
Everyone began walking through the field again, with everybody on guard, looking for any strange activity.
After another ten minutes of trudging through the grass, they halted again. This time, it was Rick who stopped.
“What is it Rick?” Autumn began.
She saw the look of determination on his face and felt his arm shoot out in front of her protectively.
She followed his line of vision with her flashlight.
In the middle of the field sat the enormous, land traversing, cave.
The grey, jagged rocks that shaped it, blended into the pitch-black night, making it seem looming and endless. Around its edges were tangled vines and overgrown moss.
Autumn glanced inside the caves gaping mouth and saw pure darkness.
With her eyes, she could see the cave itself was harmless. It was just another part of nature, a benign patch of earth’s mosaic.
It was the energy that radiated from inside it that sent shivers down her back. She couldn’t ignore the feeling of doom washing over her. Alarm bells were ringing in her head, and she wanted to run but she stood there fixated, staring at the cave. She couldn’t look away, entranced by it.
Rick’s worried face was suddenly inches from hers.
“Aut? Hello?” he said, concerned. “Autumn, are you in there?”
Autumn felt her focus slowly shifting to Rick, like he was breaking a trance.
“Of course I am here. Where else would I be?”
“We were all talking to you and you just like, zoned out,” Rick said, looking relieved. “Are you alright?”
Autumn looked around. Mandy and Nathaniel were on either side of her, looking apprehensive.
“I can feel the evil coming from inside the cave. Being outside it isn’t even safe,” Autumn said.
She was aware how foolish it sounded when she said it aloud, and immediately she felt ridiculous. She sounded like a raving lunatic.
“I know Autumn. I’m getting bad juju too,” Nathaniel said, looking from her to the cave and back again.
“So it’s settled. Let’s go back,” Rick said finally.
“What about your project dude?” Nathaniel asked, as they turned around and began retreating. “You wanted to have the best one in the class remember?”
“I will figure something out,” Rick replied casually. He looked back at Autumn who shuffled along, trying her best to subside her panic.
“If Autumn says something isn’t right, we should listen.”
“Oh now we are listening to her!” Mandy said, rolling her eyes. “The poor girl has been warning us all night. Even Eric wouldn’t set foot here, and that is saying something.”
Autumn shivered as her body was racked with chills. Rick offered her his jacket.
“I’m fine, but thanks,” she whispered, and he took her hand into his, smiling warmly.
“Nothing bad is going to happen to you Aut. I’m here with you,” he reassured her. “Soon, we will be home, safe and sound.”
He didn’t let go of her hand as they all walked through the field, making their way back to the parking lot. The further they were from the caves, the more relaxed Autumn felt, like prey finally outrunning the predator. It was like freedom was on the cusp, so close she could touch it.
The wind began picking up rapidly, whipping around them, howling into the belly of the night. Autumn pulled her pea coat closer to her. She looked up at the sky again. The stars were missing, like a strand of lights with all the bulbs burnt out.
She didn’t like it at all.
“You scared me. You weren’t answering at first,” Rick spoke suddenly, his voice trembling. “I thought maybe a cave ghost had possessed you.”
Autumn quivered involuntarily at the thought. “Nope. I am still me.”
The further they moved from the caves, the better it felt. The dread Autumn felt, slowly siphoned away.
It wasn’t until they were almost halfway to the car that Autumn felt a shift. The energy around her changed and she became hyper aware of everything around her.
Her stomach clenched as the familiar terror gripped her tightly in its grasp.
She stopped and let go of Rick’s hand.
“Guys,” she said warily. She desperately looked around for the source of her trepidation, but she saw nothing. It was all blackness and patches of light from her flashlight.
“Why are we stopping now?” Rick asked evenly, but his voice betrayed him. He was worried. “We are almost there.”
Autumn opened her mouth to reply, but the words wouldn’t come. Her heart raced as panic ran rampantly through her. She didn’t know why she was scared. The caves were long behind them now.
“Something isn’t right,” she said, her breath coming quickly. She felt beads of sweat trickle down her neck, despite the wind’s chill brushing against her skin.
“Autumn, relax. We are safe now,” Nathaniel said gently.
“She is sweating profusely and her face is white as a sheet,” Mandy looked her over, her mouth a fretful line. “We need to get her to the van now.”
“Autumn, breathe,” Rick said as he touched her back gently. Autumn did as she was instructed. She breathed in and out.
Again, she scanned the darkness anxiously, but saw nothing. The field was deserted except the four of them in the middle of it. The tall grass swayed, and the wind howled frantically like an alarm. She could feel a scream building up inside her throat, threatening to escape her lips.
“We are far enough away from the caves Aut. Nothing can hurt us now,” Rick started but Autumn shook her head.
“It doesn’t matter. As long as we are here, we aren’t safe. We are being hunted.”
They all stood there, terrified, uncertain and unable to move.
We are like sitting ducks, Autumn thought ominously.
“We need to keep moving!” Rick instructed.
Then Autumn heard it, piercing and loud.
Alien sounds, echoing in the dead of the night.
Guttural cries rang out, and they were close. So much so, they sounded like they came from beside them.
Autumn shone her flashlight around frantically but came up empty. All four of them looked around, but no one saw anything. It was dark and the night was a shroud, and Autumn knew what hunters would think of them.
Easy prey, she thought, and she didn’t need light to know. It wasn’t a person making the sounds. These noises were inhuman. Wild and frenzied, like a caged animal that was imprisoned and had just been set free.
10
“What was that?” Mandy asked, her eyes darting around. There was still no sign of anything in the pitch-black night.
Rick pulled Autumn closer to him as he reached into his bag of supplies.
“Nathaniel! Protect Mandy!”
“How misogynistic of you Rick,” Mandy said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Dude! What are you doing?” Nathaniel asked.
“I’m getting a weapon!” Rick said as he riffled through his backpack.
Nathani
el’s eyes widened. “What kind of weapon? The salt, the holy water, or the daggers?”
“I don’t know!” Rick said absently.
Finally, he decided on the daggers and handed one to Nathaniel.
“Where’s mine?” Mandy asked indignantly, hands on her hips. “I can probably handle whatever is coming better than you two can.”
“I didn’t know you would want one!” Nathaniel said. “Besides, that’s all my brother could get his hands on in such short notice.”
Mandy looked from Nathaniel to Rick, her face red with anger.
“What did you think? Autumn and I wanted to stand back helplessly while you guys valiantly saved us?”
“Yes!” Rick said without hesitation. “That was the idea exactly! Now be quiet!”
They stood in silence, listening for more strange noises. Autumn looked around her and despite the fear dancing wildly inside her, she couldn’t help but crack a smile at the image of Rick clutching a dagger.
It wasn’t long before the noise sounded again, this time louder and more animalistic. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.
The panic inside Autumn reached a fever pitch, and she felt like she was trapped in a nightmare.
She commanded herself to wake up, but she couldn’t.
She was stuck in a maze of horror and fear, and she couldn’t escape.
“We should go,” Autumn said through rapid breaths. “I don’t want to see what’s coming.”
Everyone seemed to agree on this course of action, so they began moving swiftly through the field, towards the parking lot. The four of them sprinted, dodging the rocks wedged in the earth and plant limbs that were scattered throughout the grass.
As Autumn ran, she heard rustling sounds nearby. Flashlight still in hand, she glanced around her and saw nothing.
Rick grabbed her hand as they ran through the field with Nathaniel and Mandy. The wind whipped in Autumn’s face, leaving her breathless and gasping for air.
She glanced up at the sky to see the clouds covering the moon menacingly. She could see the light coming from the parking lot in the distance. The white van beckoned to her, promising comfort and safety.
Then she saw something up above. It jumped over her, like she was a hurdle. It was so many feet above her that it wasn’t even close to clipping her head.
A Night without Stars Page 12