Horror of Alley Creek

Chapter Four: My Sister Shows Up

After lunch, we returned to the visitor center to pick up our cars when Alan approached us. "We need to chat for a moment." He demanded.

I looked over at Robby, who looked just as confused as I was. "Which one of us?" I asked.

"Both of you," he started back into the building. Robby and I soon followed after wondering what either one of us could have done to make Alan sound so angry.

"Take a seat," he said as we walked into his office.

"If you don't mind me asking, but are we in some kind of trouble?" I inquired as Robby and I sat down.

Alan weaved his fingers together and leaned forward on the desk. "No." he began. "I wanted to talk to you about a visitor that came in with unusual animal tracks."

"Um, okay," I started. "Both Robby and I spoke to someone yesterday, but she was only asking if we knew what made them."

Alan started nodding as I spoke. "Yes, yes. I know. She came in again this morning requesting that she speak with Mitch and Robby because she might have taken photographic evidence of whatever caused it. I told her I would let you two know. She insisted that I take a picture of her photo and show it to you two." He pulled out his phone and showed it to Robby and me.

All we could see was an outline of some kind of animal, but the photo was too blurry to make out what it was. "I can't tell what it is." I looked up at Alan.

"My point exactly, but as a precaution. I want you two on patrol tomorrow in the Whiskey Bend area. Just to make sure everything is alright over there, because this woman is not the first to come in saying that they spotted something down there," Alan leaned back in his chair after he said this.

"Sure thing," Robby said, standing up. "Are we clear to leave now?" Alan gave a single nod of his head.

I ran a hand over my face as we made our way back out of the visitor's center.

"You alright over there?" Robby asked as we walked next to each other.

"Yeah, totally," I began. "My sister is coming up over the weekend, and now I'm being put on patrol for something that people keep claiming to see in the Whiskey Bend area." I looked at Robby. "So, you know. It's been a stressful week."

"Is that why you forgot your birthday yesterday?" he inquired as he walked to his car.

I shrugged. "Maybe, I don't know." I let out a breath. "I think my mind was just too wrapped up in other things to think about what day it was."

Robby nodded skeptically. "Uh-huh... well, see ya tomorrow."

I waved bye as I walked to my car.

The drive home felt longer than usual. My mind kept thinking of everything that week and how, maybe with getting older, things were truly changing in my life.

My thoughts changed when I noticed that Maddison's car was in the driveway. A glance at the time revealed it to be 3:47. She wasn't supposed to be home until 4:30. I walked up to the door and opened it. "Mads?" I asked, seeing the lights on in the kitchen and her work jacket tossed lazily onto the couch. "Mads!"

"Back here!" she called out from the master bathroom.

I walked back there and saw that she was on the floor by the toilet, still in uniform. I rushed over to her. "What happened?" I asked, kneeling by her.

She started taking in a shaky breath. "I don't know. I was feeling fine this morning, but I started feeling ill and took the rest of the day off." She scrunched her face as she started feeling sick again. "Soon as I got home, it took a turn for the worst."