Taken by the fog

The story of the fog

"Can you tell us what you know?" TJ carefully asked.
"Of course." Vaughn took a breath before starting the story.

"The town started off as a couple of farmers who decided to stay at the same spot. All the farmers went along great and soon enough new people started to follow. The first farmers were in charge and they split up the tasks, one person for financials, one for justice, one for distribution, and one for farming. The farmers all started families and the sons of these families would take over the fathers' duties. There was one family, however, who mainly got daughters. Their tenth child was a boy. He was born almost a decade later than all the other boys. The older boys all grew up together, they knew everything about each other and respected each other a lot. They knew what the other meant by a single glance and they ruled together without any disruption. 

Because the one boy was so much younger, the others took over his duty and they split it equally. This worked great and none of them wanted to give up their part of the split to the younger boy. When the youngest boy was eighteen, he knew that it was his right to be in charge of the finances. He asked for an audience with the other leaders, to which they eventually agreed. The boy asked for his birthright, the right to be in charge of the finances. The other men laughed at him and pointed at the door. The boy kept asking for audiences until they finally gave him a chance. He showed them his family tree and had brought his father along to prove that he was the boy to rule over the finances. The other men knew they could not avoid this situation any longer. For the first time, the men had a major argument. They didn't want to give up the finances but they knew they had no choice but to make the young rule over something. That's when one of the men came up with a plan, instead of giving the boy the right to be in charge of the finances, they decided to make a new category over which he could rule. The people who were moving in and out of the village. 

They called for the boy and his father and told them the 'great' news. However, they had underestimated the boys' wit. The boy was furious that he was given such an underrated task since barely anyone moved in or out of the village. The father of the boy agreed to the terms, knowing how vile the men could be. The boy ran into the woods to clear his mind when he ran into a woman. She was like no other, a vision of white almost. She wasn't a ghost, she was a residence of the fog flowing on the lake. They spoke and she wondered why he was so upset. The woman couldn't take the injustice which had occurred to the men and excused herself. She went into the fog and returned with her father, the original resident of the fog. The boy repeated his story and the man came up with an alliance. 

The fog ruled over the nearby area, scaring off anyone who was brave enough to near the village. He would allow people to come through, increasing the popularity of the village. In exchange, he wanted people, a calling of some sorts whenever he pleased. The boy disagreed, telling him that he would be in control of who stayed and who left. The man agreed to this under the condition of a sacrifice and eventually the boy was in charge of one of the most crucial parts. One by one the other men in charge were taken by the fog, only leaving daughters and no sons. The boy took this as an opportunity to start to rule on his own, almost creating a dictatorship. The family of the boy saw him turn from a sweet, smart boy to a dictator who had sacrificed his heart and humanity. Because the boy was the only one in charge, he put a ban on exiting. 

The fog helped him with this. Everyone who lived in town was stuck. The town could expand to increase the size of it, but going out would be impossible. Do know that this only applied when you settled in the town, not if you passed through. Everyone who tried to leave would be compelled to come back, in a certain amount of time of usually six months. When they were going against it, they would slowly crumble from inside. They would go crazy and do the weirdest things. That's why people can go to college or go on holiday, but they always return and they don't leave afterward. Which only allows the town to expand more and more."

"What happened to the boy?" Drew asked.
"No one knows. Maybe he's still in charge, maybe he finally got overthrown but the curse was already too deep and couldn't be reversed. We don't know. Well, I don't know. Orson told me all of this really fast and then had to leave. After that, he wasn't the same anymore."
"Why an eagle?" I asked.
"What do you mean?" Lilith asked.
"The eagle, it must have been chosen when the fog first started. It's not chosen to scare people off, then it would be like a tiger or a crocodile or something. I have a feeling it could mean something." I explained.
"It does, the boy had nurtured the eagle ever since he found him in the woods. It became his symbol and at that time people feared the eagle. When the eagle appeared they knew they were in trouble and someone would be taken."
"So the eagle used to represent the fear of being taken, which is now represented by the fog appearing on the streets and the chains with all the jingle." TJ thought aloud.
"Why would they suddenly change it?" Ayden wondered.
"Maybe the eagle lost his strength and people weren't scared anymore." I reasoned.
"Which still leaves, why the dancing? The creeping fog through the streets, that's scary." TJ replied.

"The chains give a chilling noise, who isn't frightened by the fog will be frightened by the sound or otherwise the combination of it." Lilith figured.
"Could the routine show how unison we are?" Jackson reasoned.
"It could give a sense of, try to run but we will team up and catch you before you make it out of the square." Vaughn pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Could be." I wondered. "Wait, Sam. You and Vaughn know the routine, right?" Vaughn and Sam both nodded in reply.
"I see where you're going." TJ cheered.
"Where is that?" Ileyna countered him.
"She should say, so everyone knows." TJ tried to save himself.
"Maybe there is something hidden in the routine thing. People communicate with flags and positions, maybe it's linked." I explained.
"Worth a shot." Lilith shrugged.
"I hate this part." Sam muttered under his breath.
"Better get this over with." Vaughn agreed with him. They did the routine but I didn't see anything weird.
"Use this." Ileyna handed me a book of signals.
"You couldn't have given her that sooner?" Vaughn asked slightly annoyed.
"And miss this little performance of yours? Obviously not." Ileyna laughed.
"Both of you, can you watch with me? You know the moves." I scanned the pages with Vaughn and Sam, not seeing anything major.
"This is a pose!" Sam yelled.
"My ear." I yelled back.
"Sorry." He quickly muttered.

"What does it stand for?" Drew asked.
"Just a letter." Vaughn replied. "The letter R."
"A lot of people have the letter R in their name."
"None of us, except Drew." Jackson reasoned.
"And me." I replied dryly.
"Your name is Jen, where is the R?" He asked.
"Jen is short for Jennifer." I laughed.
"That makes so much more sense." Jackson muttered slightly embarrassed.
"So, that's a dead lead." Vaughn brought everyone back to the topic.
"Maybe not, we already had a list of suspects or whatever you want to call them. If I recall correctly, there is one who doesn't have an R in the name or surname." Lilith sounded optimistic.
"If you slowly shorten the list, you will end up with the bad guy." Ayden agreed.
"Just one thing." TJ reminded us. "No one knows the first name of the mayor and I don't think Jess will tell us."
"Only by a miracle will she tell us." I agreed with TJ.
"What did you do to her?" Drew asked.
"Why do you think we did something?" I asked offended.
"She doesn't just dislike you without a reason, right?" Drew redeemed himself.
"True." TJ answered honestly. I looked at TJ and shook my head.
"This should be interesting." Lilith replied.
"Please not the standard they were besties and had a fall out over a guy type of drama." Jackson sighed.
"No, far from." I replied. "She hates me because she can."
"Not true, she hates you because everything is a competition for Jess and Jen won all of them. Whenever Jess was in the spotlight, Jen came into it too. Without trying, prom, bake sale, everything."
"Just like Jess was a buddy but because Jen took another chain to save a friend, Jess was excused." Sam nodded.
"Among other things."
"She's just a baby who thinks I'm an enemy, but I don't think that's the reason. There is something else and we don't know what." I sighed. "I'll write everything down and take it with me when we cross. I'll leave it with Mike and the others, maybe they can figure something out."
"Let's call it a day." Lilith decided.
"Time for cocktails!" Jackson ran into the kitchen with Ayden on his heels. 

***