by Scot McAtee
***
When we got back up, we went straight to our stuff and grabbed our phones. We called our dad, who has been trying to contact us because it is starting to get dark. We called him on our walk home and told him everything that happened.
As we walked in the door, he ran up and hugged us then said, “Pack your bags.”
“Why?” we asked him.
“I thought it over while you were walking; we are joining them,” he said with a stressed smile.
“Seriously? I mean there are a lot of things to consider…” I said before he cut me off.
“I’m sure. This is our chance to break away from everything that has happened lately,” he said completely serious.
We rushed to get our stuff, still baffled by his response to all of this. Then we hopped in the car and drove to the trails which led us to A New Life. Faith and I led him to the hole and showed him the X she carved in the tree.
“Are you ready, Dad?” Faith asked.
“I’m ready to do anything to get away from this place.”
We hugged, picked up our bags, swiped our card, and jumped down the hole once again.
“What’s wrong with him?”
Maya Garringer
Riley hid in the closet, her heart pounding, breathing heavily. Her eyes followed the dark figure in the room closely. “What am I going to do?” she thought to herself trying not to breathe too loudly. “I just have to remain still”, she acknowledged. The dark ominous figure was making his way to the door when her cell phone started to ring. She almost screamed, but she caught herself. It was her mom. “Bad timing”, she thought. She declined the call and silenced her phone. She noticed the dark figure grunted and started looking around. She knew she had to think quickly or it, whatever “it” was, would find her. Then, although risky, she made a plan. She went to the camera on her phone and turned on the flash. She turned on a video and slid it across the room. “Maybe it won’t know what it is”, Riley expected. It quickly followed the bright light. It picked it up and laughed. Its menacing laugh caused her to shiver.
“I know you’re here! Don’t try to hide,” it said. Its voice went up and down at an extreme rate making it hard for her to understand. She couldn’t tell if it is human or not, it spoke English but its voice was too strange. Maybe they are using something to change their voice, but who would go through all that trouble when breaking in to someone’s house?
“Riley, come out here!” it said.
“How does it know my name?” she wondered.
“Seriously, it’s Jack.”
“Jack? What’s my little brother doing here?” she questioned in her head. She was hesitant to come out. “Is it actually him?” She waited for him to speak again before leaving the closet. Jack is a kind-hearted 22-year-old, starting his 4th year of college. He and Riley have always been close. He was constantly there for her because it was in his nature. Jack was tan, short, and wide, as they would call him.
“Riley! I am worried about you; you didn’t answer my text earlier!”
“It must be him,” she thought remembering the text she forgot to answer, that said: Are you alright? because she was sick the week before.
“Jack I’m in here!” she said trying to get out of the mess on her closet floor. “You scared me so much! What’s wrong with your voice?”
“I think I am sick now, I’m going to the doctor’s tomorrow,” he answered pulling her out of the closet. When they stood up she noticed how strangely tall he seemed in the dark, and his hands felt huge and cold holding hers.
“Let me turn on a light real quick,” she said trying to find a light switch.
“No, that’s alright!” he said. “I am leaving right now; I just wanted to check on you. Get some sleep, alright?”
“Oh, okay. See you at church tomorrow morning?”
“I’ll try to make it if I feel better, goodnight,” he said sneaking out the door.
“Goodbye…” she answered as he rushed past her. She felt he was in a hurry, which is strange for this time of night. “Maybe he’s eager to get to bed,” she thought.