by Sean McMahon
‘Yeah, that’s not working, shall we take him home? Can’t be that far?’ suggested Kara.
‘Yeah,’ agreed Hal. ‘To be honest, I don’t like the idea of him being outside in the dark on his own anyway. Come on Jerry!’
‘You need a hand Hal?’ shouted Alex, across the room to his brother.
‘Nah, we’ve got this, cheers though,’ said Hal, taking the lead.
As Kara and Jerry followed him up the driveway of Fir Lodge, Hal stopped suddenly, as Robert’s car made an odd creaking noise.
‘You hear that?’ he asked, directly his question to Kara.
‘Hear what? Come on let’s get going,’ said Kara, taking charge.
It was at precisely that moment that they realised they had no way of knowing which way to go.
‘Sooo…which way?’ asked Hal.
Jerry trotted ahead of them, turned left and continued along the road a bit further, stopping to sniff a decaying pile of pine needles.
‘Left is good,’ decided Kara.
CHAPTER NINE
The Cabin in the Woods
Saturday Evening, 8:56pm
Jerry continued to lead the way, stopping intermittently to take care of his business, to sniff at random intervals, and to indulge in other canine pursuits that made no sense to either of the members of his current entourage. Hal had always been amazed by how attuned a dog’s senses were to the world. He had read somewhere that they perceived the world in tunnel-vision, possessing the ability to identify smells that had dissipated weeks before, completely imperceptible to those of a more human disposition.
It suddenly occurred to Hal that they had no idea if they had even walked past Jerry’s house already and that, for all they knew, Jerry was working on the assumption that he was simply being taken for a walk.
‘Did you say his address was on his collar?’ said Hal, after a few minutes had passed.
‘Damn it, yeah!’ winced Kara, as she leant down and reached out for the silver disc that was dangling around Jerry’s neck, causing it to glisten in the moonlight. She recited what she deemed to be the most pertinent of the engraved information.
‘Number fifty-one,’ said Kara.
‘Uh-huh. Which would be super awesome if all the lodges didn’t have names instead of numbers,’ said Hal, reaching for his box of smokes.
‘Didn’t you say you were quitting?’ asked Kara.
‘That’s funny…that doesn’t sound like something I’d say…’ lamented Hal.
‘Ha. Wait, that’s forty-five there!’ said Kara.
Hal pocketed his cigarettes, craning his neck in an attempt to see the house number, which was helpfully illuminated by the interior light from the stranger’s living room.
‘Huh. Okay…I take it back,’ said Hal.
They continued on, Hal feeling somewhat irritated that he hadn’t traded his wellington boots for more conventional footwear. His boiler suit was actually protecting him from the evening breeze. He noted to himself that Kara must have been catching a chill in her Velma costume. Kara, on the other hand, not entirely sure why she had bothered bringing her detective style magnifying glass, tucked it into the waistband of her red pleated skirt. Feeling pleased with herself for developing an impromptu life-hack that negated the need for her to hold it any longer, she smiled, finally surrendering to the shiver that had been building due to the cool night air.
‘Gah, it’s getting chilly!’ said Kara.
‘Sucks to be you,’ said Hal, pulling up the zip of his khaki boiler suit for added effect, ‘I know why they call them boiler suits now, I’m proper toasty. You can have my gloves if you like?’
She turned her nose up at the offer, which was clearly a joke, given that the black rubber gloves of his costume were designed more to prevent chemical burns than for retaining heat.
‘Hard pass, but thanks for being such a gentleman.’
‘It’s my one flaw, said Hal. ‘Well, that and modesty.’
They continued on, and eventually reached what they believed to be Jerry’s home. The front door was open, despite all of the lights being off.
‘Well, that’s not creepy at all,’ noted Kara.
‘Dude, relax,’ said Hal, ‘with our powers combined we’re the greatest ghost-hunters the 80’s had to offer. And, he may not be a talking Great Dane, but we have Jerry too.’ He pointed at Jerry, who yawned and emitted a traitorous, yet undeniably cute squeak.
‘Great. You take him in then,’ said Kara, checkmating him with a single sentence.
‘Damn, well played,’ said Hal, sighing in defeat. ‘Fine. I’ll be right back.’
Hal grimaced, realising he’d just broken the cardinal rule of horror movie clichés and had inadvertently become an expendable side-character. Half-jokingly, but secretly completely-serious, he made a request.
‘Come with me yeah?’ said Hal, feeling glad Jasmine hadn’t been around to hear him commit the frankly unforgiveable faux pas. She was a huge horror movie fan, and would have given him a very stern eye-roll. He needn’t have worried though, as Kara channelled the spirit of Jasmine, rolling her eyes as she made her way over to him, deliberately orchestrating every step, in order to emphasise that she was not happy about this one bit.
They walked up the driveway to Jerry’s home with only the moonlight for guidance, until they reached the front door, which Hal wrapped with his knuckles.
‘Hellooo?’ cooed Hal, in a voice that was nowhere near as manly as he had intended.
He looked at Kara, who was looking down her black-rimmed glasses at him, utterly unimpressed by the presence he had just tried to project. Clearing his throat, he took another stab at it.
‘Hello? Is anyone home?’ “Better,” he thought.
‘I don’t think anyone’s here. In you go, boy!’ said Kara, as she ushered Jerry into the house then took a step back, heavily implying Hal could take over.
He looked upwards to the dark, cloudless sky, summoning a little bravado. Gingerly, he stuck his head inside through the dark portal of the doorway, noticing the empty water bowl.
‘Ah maaan, hang on,’ said Hal, stepping further into the cabin. ‘Make sure Jerry doesn’t run out will you?’
Picking up the empty water bowl from the floor, he hit the lever of the cold tap on the sink that was directly above the counter with his arm, filling the bowl to the brim. The water sloshed over his hand and over the counter. Repeating the movement in reverse, he turned off the tap, placing the bowl back on the wooden flooring.
‘Right, done and done,’ said Hal, wiping the residual water droplets from his hands and onto his boiler suit. As he made his way back out, he hit the light switch so Jerry wasn’t in the dark, noting that the radio playing in the background would provide adequate company until Kevin came home. Not bothering to look back, he closed the door behind him and pulled his cigarettes from his pocket.
‘Well that’s that,’ said Hal, ‘Back to the lodge?’
‘Back to the lodge,’ said Kara, and they began their journey back to the party.
CHAPTER TEN
Diminishing Returns
Saturday Evening, 9:04pm
The walk back was predictably uneventful, though the coolness of the night air had all but vanished entirely.
“Probably the adrenaline,” thought Hal, glad to be done with the place they had left behind.
‘Ow!’ blurted Kara.
‘What’s up?’ asked Hal, exhaling smoke into the cloudless sky.
‘Nothing…’ said Kara, ‘just got this splitting headache for a second. It’s gone now.’
‘Weird. I used to get those. “Ice-pick headaches” I called them,’ said Hal. ‘Hey, check out this fog!’
Kara looked around at the fine mist that lined the ground, barely perceptible, but definitely there.
‘Shpooky,’ she said, in her best Velma impression, both of them ignoring that it was difficult to tell if it was a good impersonation or not, given that they hadn’t watched the cartoon in well ove
r two decades.
Hal pulled out his phone, through habit more than anything else.
‘Ah crap.’
‘What is it?’ asked Kara, gently massaging her right temple, more out of the residual memory of the pain as opposed to anything existing.
‘Phone’s dead,’ said Hal in an irked tone.
‘Hate that,’ replied Kara, reaching down to her skirt, then remembering it had no pockets, realising she’d left her phone only God knew where.
“At least I still have my detective magnifying glass,” she thought to herself, sarcastically.
‘You think Jerry will be ok?’ said Kara, more to exercise a self-reassuring rhetoric, rather than searching for an actual response.
‘Totally, he’ll be fine. I’m sure…what was that guy’s name?’
‘Kevin,’ said Kara, helpfully.
‘Yeah, I’m sure Kevin will be back soon. Plus, we left the little guy some water, and popped on a light. Way better than him roaming around out in the dark.’
They continued their stroll back to Fir Lodge, taking in their serene surroundings. As Hal looked up at the sky, he noticed the stars were out in force tonight. The clear night-sky looked unreal, displaying a level of detail he couldn’t recollect ever seeing before. As the stars themselves shimmered with intense white, amber and deep blue hues, the space between them seemed to possess a depth and texture that was unlike anything he had ever seen.
The walk had warmed Kara up a bit, and she couldn’t feel the chill of the night air at all anymore. Her mind wandered, as Hal tried the power button on his phone for the fifth time. Seeing Jerry once again made her think of her own dogs.
“They’d have loved this walk,” she thought. The fresh air was doing wonders for her; she didn’t even feel remotely tipsy from that last glass she’d downed before she had left the lodge. Usually the fresh air had the opposite effect on her, but she chalked it up to her innate superpower.
*
They followed the road back, eventually stumbling upon Fir Lodge, the ten-or-so minute walk coming to an end. They very nearly walked straight past it, and would have done just that, were it not for Daisy and Jasmine being on the balcony. They were laughing about something, the music from the living area and rear garden cutting through the otherwise tranquil forest.
Hal suddenly felt a stabbing sensation in his chest, the feeling reminiscent of heartburn.
‘Hgnn!’ he groaned, staggering slightly.
‘You ok?’ asked Kara, largely preoccupied with trying to deduce where exactly she last saw her phone.
‘Yeah, just heartburn I think.’
‘You’re getting old, man,’ she said playfully, shooting Hal a wink.
‘Made plans for your thirty-fifth birthday yet?’ retorted Hal, knowing how much she hated him reminding her that he was a whole year younger than her.
‘Nothing concrete,’ said Kara, ‘all I know for certain is that you’re not invited.’
‘Ha!’ laughed Hal, instantly regretting doing so, as his heartburn flared at the exertion.
Pressing his fingers into his chest, he and Kara walked up the drive, finally reaching the front doors of the lodge. Hal reached out for one of the handles of the now-closed front doors, but it wouldn’t budge.
‘They’ve locked us out?!’ said Hal, incredulously. ‘We’ve only been gone like, what? Half an hour tops?’
He tried the handle again. Not even a wiggle. He couldn’t help but admire the robustness of the doors. They didn’t look like much, but were clearly lined with an indestructible alloy of some kind.
Kara tapped on the window, trying to get either Will, or Peter’s attention, who were setting up a new game of pool, as Jon spectated from the side-lines, but quickly realised they were clearly being dicks and ignoring them on purpose.
‘Dammit guys, can you let us in please?’ huffed Kara.
‘I don’t think they can hear you,’ said Hal. ‘Either that or they’re choosing not to. Let’s go around the side, we can get in that way,’ he added, offering a constructive alternative.
*
They followed the path round the side leading to the hot tub, as Hal sub-consciously noted the lack of crunch beneath his feet. Rachel, Jon, Stacey, and Robert were currently occupying Robert’s second home, as Fearne and Michaela sat on the side dunking their legs.
‘I’m gonna go hunt for my phone,’ said Kara, ‘see you in a bit,’ she added, as she trotted off through the open side-door and into the lodge.
The mist emanating from the hot tub had taken over most of the rear garden, the vapour from the tub reacting with the cool night air, and giving it a life all of its own.
‘Hey guys, took Jerry back,’ said Hal, directly to his friends in the hot tub. ‘Just going to grab a beer and a smoke and I’ll be right in!’
His hot-tubbing friends cheered but, unbeknownst to Hal, it was more because of something Robert had just said. Hal smiled, having no tangible reason to suspect anything was amiss, and made his way to the nearby cool-box. The lid was ajar, and he reached into the blackness of the box, unable to gain purchase on a beer can.
“Must be running out,” he thought, grumbling under his breath.
He tried removing the lid but discovered it was stuck, like a freezer door kept in place by solid ice. The mist billowing from the tub was thickening around him, making it incredibly difficult to see. He swished his hand in front of him, attempted to swat it away, to no avail.
It was then that he heard the ear-splitting, blood-curdling scream.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Untouchables
Saturday Evening, 9:13pm
Hal raced into the hall, as his friends in the tub continued to laugh hysterically, an act that was becoming increasingly more unnerving. Everyone around him appeared to be completely unfazed by the fact that something bad was going down inside the lodge.
He decided not to focus on the horrifying contradiction; his friends laughing amidst the haze of debilitating fog, which had all but compromised his sense of spatial-awareness, and the scream that had shredded his nerves, but had seemingly left the rest of his friends entirely unaffected. He knew only one thing; that scream came from Kara.
Scanning the lower level, he proceeded up the central staircase three steps at a time, stopping halfway when he noticed Kara sitting in the corner of the room below him. She was sitting on the opposite side of the pool table in the large entrance area, hidden behind a small chair, in-amongst some outdoor sports equipment. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, and she was rocking back and forth, whispering to herself. Will and Peter added to the unfolding insanity, by completely ignoring her, continuing their game of pool without a care in the world.
‘Kara?!’ said Hal, ‘what the hell, are you ok?!’
He turned on the stairs, just as Jasmine and Daisy appeared before him at the top. Hal stood to one side to let them pass, as they began to descend the staircase.
‘Guys,’ said Hal, ‘what’s wrong with Ka–’ but his question was cut short by the shock of what happened next.
Jasmine’s face was slightly lower than his, despite her being a step above him. Her height became of secondary relevance, however, as she breached his personal space, ignoring him completely, casually continuing her conversation with Daisy. Before Hal could signal his presence to her, her face collided with his, passing through him entirely, followed immediately by the rest of her body. All he could see was whiteness, until the back of her head and hair had successfully cleared the space his head was occupying.
He fell to his knees on the staircase, noticing that the mist from the hot tub had now filled the entire lodge. It was thickening around him with a malignant ferocity now. All he could see was Kara, and the outline of shapes, as his friends swirled away from his line of sight. He had no idea what was happening, the only singular truth he could verify for absolute certain was that the banister to the stairs was still there, due to the fact that he was clinging onto it for dear life, in an
attempt to counteract the overwhelming sense of vertigo that was coursing through his entire body.
Blindly, he jumped back down the stairs, relying entirely on his muscle-memory of the layout of the building to prevent himself from running head-first into a wall. Turning to his right, he swung around to face Kara, who was somehow still perfectly visible, helpfully acting as a beacon of light, piercing through the gloom to light his way.
‘Kara! I think there’s a fire?!’ said Hal. ‘I…Jasmine…did you see–’ but she was still whispering to herself. Something had clearly caused her to snap, and he assumed it had something to do with the fact they’d just taken up residence in Silent Hill. All that was missing was a claxon.
Suddenly, a thunderous wind began to fill the room. Hal found it odd that he couldn’t feel the rush of air, and that he could only hear the sound, as Kara, meanwhile, continued to whisper to herself.
‘I can’t hear you Kara, you’ve gotta speak up!’ said Hal, falling to the floor beside her and attempting to put his arm around her.
He experienced an intense static-shock, witnessing a significant arc of blue light that pierced through the whiteness, like a blast of condensed lighting, repelling him away from her. It was just them and the thick, motionless fog now.
‘We need to get out of here!’ shouted Hal, but his voice was drowned out by the unabating sound of air which was cascading over them, as if they were standing just on the outskirts of the heart of a tornado.
In all of the insanity, he took a moment to clock the fact that he could still breathe with ease.
“If this was a fire,” he thought, but that thought was cut-off mid-flow, as the temporal nexus surrounding them eradicated his entire essence and existence from the timeline he was occupying.
Kara’s eyes widened, as every cell in her body was atomised, not having time to question what she had witnessed, given that a dimension could not be comprehended when it no longer existed.