#ruby phillips

“911 what is your emergency?”

“I was passing by the old church, the uh, the one on Black Oak Hill, and I heard strange noises coming from inside of it.”

“Do you see anyone?”

“No. I only hear something, it sounds like someone talking really loudly, I’ve… also heard a noise that sounded like screaming coming from there. I think there’s something going on.”

“Alright, we’ll send someone down to go look at it.”

…

The police department building was nearly empty, most had gone home, save for a few officers, one was Detective Ruby Phillips, who was doing her usual reading and looking over emails.

“Howell, disturbance call for the church on Black Oak, go take a look.” She heard another officer speak to Theron Howell, his head shot up from the files he was reading, a stray piece of red hair fell over his face when he did.

“On it.” He replied, standing up and putting his things away before grabbing his coat 

“I’ll come too.” Ruby stood up, the other officer nodded and she followed Theron as he started walking to the front.

“It’s just a disturbance call, you don’t have to come,” he said. “I can go alone.”

“It's fine, Joanna’s with my mom. I don't mind sparing a few hours, besides it's better for you to have some kind of backup, I can drive us too.” she replied, picking up her own coat and walking with him to the car, he handed her the keys and the two headed in. Once Theron got the GPS set up, Ruby started the car and began the long drive to the abandoned church. They sat in near silence, save for the radio's low volume and occasional crackles. 

“Something’s bugging you… isn’t it?” Theron asked. Ruby cursed in her head how easy it was for him to tell.

“Do you remember last year? The incident with the man and his son who went camping?” She asked, receiving a “Mhm.” and a nod from Theron.

“It was near that church, and that's not the only case surrounding it either, there've been several missing persons, and all of them went missing in the same area.” Ruby said, “And all of the cases are cold.” Her shoulders were tense for a moment, before she relaxed again. “I just want to see if there's anything there, maybe I’ll find some type of answer.”

“Right, makes sense.” He replied, looking out at the dark stretch of road, passing by thick forest.

“It’s still a bit odd though for anyone to be there, it's been abandoned for god knows how long. Who on earth would try to go there now?”  he said, “I’m just hoping it's nothing serious, like, maybe people are just pulling a terrible prank there.” He continued, then he heard a small snicker from Ruby.

“Could just be some dumb kids performing a seance or a group of ‘ghost hunters’ screaming over a random noise.” Ruby joked, Theron gave a small laugh to her response. 

She parked the car in front of the old place, a massive stone structure atop a small hill, surrounded by a graveyard next to the main road within the dense forest. it seemed out of place in a small town like Mayweather. The two stepped towards it, a strange symbol had been painted on the front doors, it gave Ruby a slight shiver looking at it. 

There was a lock and chain on the door, they were unbelievably rusty, and snapped with ease as Theron cut it with bolt cutters. Both felt another shiver when the chain snapped and fell from the handles. He pushed against the heavy front door. It creaked loudly as he opened it. It let out a gust of cold wind, Ruby pulled her jacket tighter. She got an uneasy feeling, like they shouldn’t be there. She pushed that aside, they had a job to do, even if it was nothing they had to check for anyone there.

 The air in the place was freezing as the two entered. Running their flashlights along the huge room, they saw pews leading up to an altar, well, the remains of an altar. Now it was a rotting pile of wood. stained glass windows running along the sides, everything was covered in thick amounts of dust and it smelled like mildew and rotting wood. Theron cleared his throat and called out,

“Hello? Anyone there?” 

No sound returned except the echoes of Theron's words. The two continued to walk through only the sound of their footsteps rang through the church.

He ran his flashlight across the pews to the front, staring at the stained glass at the front just above the altar’s spot, it looked like a saint in the visage of the glass. Theron felt a deep discomfort looking at it, the eyes of the glass almost seemed to be looking right at him. The smile it had seemed a little too big. He looked away from it, no need to freak himself out over a stupid stained glass window. 

Ruby stopped Theron. 

“Do you hear that?” she whispered. She walked briskly towards the front, past the rows which formerly held a choir and up the small set of steps leading to the front. 

“What? Ruby!” He quietly exclaimed, and quickly followed behind as she stopped where the altar once was. Ruby tapped her foot against the floorboards, causing a hollow creak as opposed to the solid wood they had just been walking on.

“What the hell?” Theron breathed out as Ruby yanked at the boards, they lifted into a trapdoor, revealing a passage under the church.

“Listen.” Ruby said, the two listening closely to the passage, the cold, musty air down below brushing over them. Theron’s eyes widened, he heard a quiet sound, it sounded like shuffling, a person moving, or dragging something. She moved to go down before Theron stopped her.

“Wait, I-I don’t like this,” he looked back to her, “This place is giving me the creeps, something's not right, it-it feels like…” his words faltered, before he could say It feels like a trap, the two suddenly heard something, it sounded like a person crying out.

“I have to go check, what if someones hurt? I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't try to make sure.” she responded, he furrowed his brow but nodded in agreement with her words.

“Right, You’re right. I’ll stay up here and keep an eye out then,” Theron said, “Shout if you need help ok?” Ruby held up a thumbs up before descending down the passage. She turned on her light, shining it across the room.

A crypt

Ruby’s face twisted at the overwhelming smell of mildew and rot. She stepped carefully forward, flashing the light down the many halls. She knew some churches had crypts in their basements, but she hadn’t expected one down here, much less one this big. She continued, listening for the shuffling and following the direction that it seemed to be coming from. Her flashlight shone on the concrete floor, her stomach twisted slightly, there were dark stains splattered across the floor. The shuffling sound had stopped, and she heard another, a groan.

“Hello?” she called out. The voice let out another groan. 

"Hello? It's okay, I'm a police officer, I'm here to help."

Shuffling again, the sound was coming closer, a figure turned the corner of the crypt hallway. Ruby dropped her light, gasping and turning on her heel.

The person was dead, their skin was practically gray and falling off their bones and its milky eyes had looked directly into Ruby. She sprinted towards the passage, without her flashlight it was the only light in the dark. She could hear the sound of more shuffling, more dead groans echoing. Ruby had to get out.

…

“THERON!”

SLAM

Theron jumped, turning quickly to find the door shut.

“RUBY!” He immediately grabbed at the edges and started pulling, but it wasn’t budging. He kept pulling, the jagged edge of the wood door digging into his fingers as he did. He could hear her shout and bang against it, Theron tried to muster every ounce of strength he had to get the door open.

Until Theron felt the back of his jacket being pulled, yanking him back and throwing him from the trapdoor. He fell down the short staircase, he felt dazed and tried to stumble back up. As he did he looked up, seeing the figure that grabbed him. His eyes widened when he realized it wasn’t a person. It snarled at him as he started to back away slowly. The face was stretched like a muzzle, with sharp teeth. It looked like an animal imitating a human, its yellow bloodshot eyes burned into Theron as he stepped back. It suddenly charged towards him, swinging its clawed hands. He jumped back, attempting to dodge but the monster still managed to graze him, slicing two small gashes on his cheek. He cried out from the stinging pain. He didn’t want to leave Ruby, but this thing was standing between him and the door trapping her, and it already took a swing at him. Theron took a quick glance to the church doors, they were still open, he took a running start towards it.

Only for it to immediately slam in his face

“NO!” he shook at it, pulling at the doors, but much like the door holding Ruby this wasn’t budging. He saw the monster start running towards him, so he abandoned the door idea and ran around the pews. He had one idea to get out, and he hoped it would work.

The glass of the side window shattered as Theron jumped through it, hitting the gravel outside. He tried to stand up just as fast as he fell, gravel and glass scraped his hands and knees as he ran. Fumbling for his radio, he tried to call for Ruby.

“Ruby! I’m in trouble but don’t worry, I’m-I’m gonna get help ok, I’m going to come back for you!” He let out breathlessly, he continued to run, hearing the sound of something running behind him.

…

Ruby could hear his voice crackle through as she ran down the crypt. She abandoned the door, standing there she could end up killed. She’d seen zombie movies, she knew regardless of what was fact or fiction literal corpses coming to life and chasing her couldn’t end well. The zombie was also fast, faster than she expected. She hid in one of the hallways, an indent in the wall was enough cover for her to stop and try to get her heart to stop racing. Ruby ran over her options, flashlight was gone, it wasn’t too dark to see but she’d be in trouble if she got lost, worst case scenario she could use her gun, and Theron was preoccupied so he couldn’t help, by how frantic he sounded on the radio something was going on up there as well. 

Ruby had to get out of there, she wasn’t going to leave her daughter without a mother.

She took a deep breath and drew her gun out, slowly walking out and keeping as quiet as she could, gun raised. The zombies seemed to be gathered at the base of the ladder, waiting for her. It was risky, but there was a possibility she could distract them. Ruby aimed her gun down the corridor, and fired. The sound echoed down, the horde shuffling towards the noise. She waited and watched as they got further and further away. Ruby sprinted towards the ladder, she reached towards it.

She didn’t know one had stayed behind.

It grabbed her, pulling her back and a sharp pain shot through her shoulder. Ruby yelled, thrashing in an attempt to get it to let go. She opted for slamming the corpse against one of the crypt walls in a desperate attempt to get it to let go. It released her, tearing at the skin of her shoulder as she made a mad dash for the ladder, scrambling up as she heard the rest of them coming back towards her. She shoved the door open, and ran, running past the pews and through the church doors, both now wide open. Running towards the car, Ruby stumbled and fell forward.

She took deep heavy breaths as the exhaustion was settling in and the adrenaline was going down. This caused the pain in her shoulder to shoot through her body more, Ruby tried to push herself back up, but her strength was sapped from her.

“Theron!” She called out, exhausted. The pain was getting more intense, in not just her arm, but her head, her chest, her legs. It was getting to be too much, her arms could barely hold up her body, Ruby collapsed, lying on the ground. Tears ran down her face, this was it, she was going to die and she would never see Joanna ever again.

“Help!” She called out, her voice cracked, “Help! Please…” Her vision became spotty and Ruby lost consciousness.

…

“10-18! An officer is down and there is an immediate threat, we need backup now!” Theron practically yelled into his radio, the thing was still chasing him, he could hear its footsteps behind him as he sprinted down the hill towards the graveyard behind the church. It lunged, catching a clawed hand against Theron’s leg, he stumbled, falling forward and rolling down the hill slightly. He tried to get up, seeing the gash in his leg and wincing. Theron grabbed at his radio again,

“Backup, We need backup, please we need help-”

Its teeth bit down into his arm, Theron screamed. The beast held firm, and he scrambled for the gun at his waist. Once it was out of the holster he fired the gun towards the monster, it let go. He fired again at the monster before pulling himself up, ignoring the screaming pain in the wounds on his arm and leg. He just needed safety, running behind a mausoleum and taking a moment to breathe. Theron could hear whimpers coming from the monster as well as his own haggard breaths. 

He looked back towards the church, the entrance was open again. Ruby might have gotten out, Theron looked towards the sound of the monster, it hadn’t moved. He sprinted back up the hill, the gash in his leg making him stumble slightly. Ignore the pain, focus on getting back there, back to Ruby, to safety. Theron ran towards the open doors, shouting Ruby’s name before freezing. Theron saw something on the ground, a figure in front of the church. He stumbled closer to see it was Ruby lying there, unmoving.

“Ruby!” he shouted, running towards his fallen friend and kneeling down to her. There was a massive wound on her shoulder, soaking her shirt in blood. He shook her, no response.

“No…” he choked, “No, no, no. Please you… you can’t…” Theron hiccuped, unable to keep himself from sobbing, first he was attacked, running for his life for god knows how long, he was exhausted and in pain, and now Ruby was…

He stopped when he heard a small groan and saw Ruby stir slightly. She lifted her head, 

“Theron?” she said weakly.

“Oh god,” he sighed with relief, tears ran down his cheeks, stinging the gashes. She was alive.

“Take my hand, I’ve got you.” Theron started to pull her up, ignoring the burning pain in his arm and leg as he hoisted her up to lean on him, her eyes fell on his wound.

“You… You’re bleeding.” she said.

“I’m fine, don’t focus on me, just focus on staying awake ok?” He wrapped her arm around his shoulder and held onto her waist, moving slowly and carefully. Theron could hear the sounds of sirens, an ambulance and another police car driving up to where they were.

Now they show up. Theron thought, he moved towards the paramedics, 

“Help! She’s hurt!” Theron called out, letting a paramedic take Ruby from him. An officer tried to talk to him, but he felt his own vision getting spotty. Another paramedic caught him as he fell and blacked out.

…

Both were taken to the hospital, it was all a blur at that point, Ruby remembered waking up intermittently, being driven in the ambulance with an unconscious and bleeding Theron, waking up to her wounds freshly patched, her mother bringing her daughter Joanna seeing her, and her other friend Dallas Langley coming into the hospital to see her, being allowed to see Theron, and speaking to a fellow officer about what to put down for a report, they took a tape in to record and transcript everything. When it seemed like the dust settled she and Theron came back to the station, only to be asked to see the police chief individually, Theron going first.

Ruby watched through the window of Police Chief Holmwood’s office. She couldn’t hear a word, but she didn’t like seeing Theron’s eyes widened, before he looked like he was protesting, and the chief stopped him as his head hung low, nodding to something and signing his report. He exited, and just looked sadly towards Ruby. She watched him go, and she was told to go in to sign off on the report.

“So I just have to sign and go right?” she said.

“About that,” Holmwood started, “I’ve overheard the audio you and Mr. Howell gave and for the official reports we’ve had to include changes.”

“Changes? To an official report? Sir I don’t think-”

“The reports are public Ms. Phillips, and frankly the stories sound unbelievable, so for the public record, you were both attacked by a burglar-” The chief interrupted.

"What? This is ridiculous! I know what I saw! I wasn't attacked by some random burglar it was a group of the undead-"

"And we need to be taken seriously Ms. Phillips, we cannot put a fantasy in a police report, Mr. Howell has already agreed to a new version of the report for his side and if you want to keep your position as Detective I suggest the same for you." Holmwood responded.

Ruby wanted to continue protesting, but this was a battle she was going to lose, and she hated that. So she signed the paper, left the room and slammed the door. She exited the station. When she did Ruby saw Theron was also sitting outside, smoking a cigarette. He took a look at her furious expression.

“You okay?” he asked, 

“No, No! I’m not okay! They’ve put bullshit in that report and expect me to be okay with it! Lying about what was there. I know what I saw!” Ruby’s eyebrows furrowed and she crossed her arms, huffing in disdain.

“I know what I saw.” she repeated in a quieter tone, sounding slightly defeated, Theron still didn’t respond, and she looked at him, he stared straight ahead. Her eyes fell on the two scars on his face for a moment. Her face turned to an expression of concern.

“Theron?”

“I know you’re mad about the report but, god would you even believe what happened to us?” He said his voice quiet, Ruby let out a sigh. The two sat in silence for a long time, both wanted to ask the other about details, but neither really wanted to pry.

"Do you… feel okay?" Theron asked suddenly, breaking the quiet.

"I mean… I guess, as okay you can feel nearly dying, are you?”

“I dunno… I’ve got… a weird feeling. It’s probably nothing, I think the shock is still getting to me.” Theron said. 

“I guess I do to, I…” she paused, mulling over what to say, “What attacked you wasn’t human… was it.” she asked

“No… definitely not, and… you-”

“No I don’t… think it was”

More silence.

“I’m only asking because I want to make sure I’m not crazy or making up something in my head to cope or something.” Ruby said.

“Yeah, I think if you weren’t there I would have convinced myself it was something normal like a random attacker or something” Theron took his cigarette box out and offered one to Ruby, she shook her head. The two sat in uncomfortable silence yet again.

“Are you good to drive yet?” She asked, attempting to change the topic.

“No, I called Dallas to get me.” He responded

“I’ll join you two then, beats taking the bus.” 

Another beat of silence. Ruby scooted slightly closer to him.

“You know, if you need anything you can call me.” Ruby said, giving him a smile, Theron nodded, “Of course, and if you call I’ll be there too.” he replied.  

Run…

Run…

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.”