Wiccan Act Two: The Hunt

2 | Where Dead Things Wander

II

Aiden 

The atmosphere around Aiden was almost too heavy move. 

He found himself standing in an open field at night with no moon nor stars in the sky; nothing but the deep expanse of darkness looming over him from above. He had no shoes on; his feet submerged to the ankles, sloshing around in the cold wet earth.

A loud thud sounded near him, a small shadow dropping from the sky. Trying his best to get closer and identify the object, Aiden fought his restrictions, trying his best to get close enough to examine what it was. The ground continued to bind his feet, cementing him in place and dragging him deeper and deeper into he earth the more he struggled. The soil bubbled, revealing dead leaves, maggots and black decaying fruit from underneath. He couldn't contain his gag, its putrid stench being all he could focus on. More bubbles rose the surface as a lump of fur peeked out from underneath the mud. It bobbed up and down around his waist until rolling over to reveal the hollow white eyes of a dead deer.

Aiden jumped, the mud now up to his chest. Another loud thump occurred next to him. Then another. And another. The sky rained down shadows that collided with the ground below making small ripples and splashes in the watery soil. Aiden made out the shapes this time as they landed next to him. Each shadow, covered in black feathers, with the same empty white eyes as the deer.

The rain didn't stop. Soon, hundreds of dead birds had made their way into the mud. The maggots wasted no time feasting on them. Aiden tried his best to protect himself from the onslaught of birds propelling down but it was no use. Soon, the maggots began crawling up his skin. Working their way up to his face, the sheer number of them made him want to rip his skin off right then and there. He slapped the slimy white things away but they refused to leave him alone, nibbling on his flesh to Aiden's horror.

He panicked, heart racing as he flailed around, causing him to go deeper and deeper under. With his head pointed up, struggling to breathe with the mud consuming him, all he could see was the darkness as a sudden strike of lighting purged everything in its light.

"Aiden," Christian sang waving a hand in his face. the boy jolted awake breathing heavily.

It was always being buried alive huh.

The other boy had a puzzled expression on his face. He had apparently been calling Aiden for the past few minutes only to get no response. Christian was busy trying not to panic about arriving at the basketball game late. Though after the harvest festival there were more pressing things to panic about right now. Aiden chuckled at the thought. What was he saying? The harvest festival was just a big publicity thing for the town. Even when he attended his very first one as a kid, he could tell that it was simply another one of those weird town things.

Although, he couldn't shake the thought that there was something more to it. He wasn't going to play this stupidly and get someone else hurt again.

They had five minutes left before the game started and still weren't in town yet. Suddenly a clap from Christian snapped Aiden out of his thoughts.

"You know I don't think you should be taking both your hands off the wheel," Aiden pointed out,.

"Weren't you just fast asleep?" Christian fired back. "For all you know, I never had my hands on the wheel."

"I know I can heal but I would rather not have to feed you from a straw in a hospital bed."

Christian smiled it off, visibly uncomfortable from something. "I just can't get what Michael said out of my head," he said.