Under the Cover of Darkness

Chapter 2 - Friendship, Friendship is a Man's Greatest Ally

Jasper and Douglas Greenwood were both relaxing in the calm atmosphere of their house. Douglas was snoring in his sleep on the large couch that could fit seven people snugly. His snores could be felt vibrating through the house. It crawled up the walls into every nook and cranny of the house. Jasper on the other hand, who had learned to block out the noise of Douglas's snoring after fifteen years of marriage, was humming to herself a song her mother had taught her when times got too hard to bear. She stood in the kitchen brewing a pot of coffee and cooking scrambled eggs at the same time.

"Daybreak's first light,
Will come again.
As long as the night,
Commits the sin,
Of bringing the monsters
Out of hiding
To frighten the oldsters,
Into confiding.
But everyday,
The night will sin,
And the people will sing hurray
From the joyous hymn..."

A knock at the door sounded. Despite being louder than the knock, Douglas Greenwood was the first to here the noise that was so foreign to the two. A visitor. Jasper appeared to have heard nothing as she seemed confused as to why her husband was so suddenly woken up. "Was it a fly again, Douglas? You know how they feel about your one-of-a-kind  snoring, dear," Jasper mocked.

"No. Not this time. My mouth is bug free," he smiled as he entered the kitchen. "I could have sworn I heard a knock at the door."

Shocked he could here anything, Jasper commented, "I'm surprised you can hear at all when you sleep. You snore so loudly." She let out a little giggle that had Douglas blushing in embarrassment.

"You know I'm a light sleeper. And don't give me that giggle. You know I hate that giggle. And anyway I swear I heard a knock, it doesn't hurt to check," he answered softly. Douglas was a soft spoken man who rarely enjoyed the company of people other than his wife. He never was a man to raise his voice.

Another light knock spread throughout the house until it reached the ears of Jasper and Douglas. "Ha. I told you someone was at the door," Douglas proclaimed. "And you doubted me the whole time." He went over to the heavy dark brown oak door's four panel glass window and peered outside. "Oh goodness," he exclaimed.

"Who is it?" his wife asked.

Douglas swung the door open and flung his head in every direction looking for the person who knocked on the door, for the person at the door could not have knocked on the door. Lying in front of Douglas Greenwood was a baby sprawled in a light blue cloth in a handwoven basket.

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Fitch Greenwood and Malum raced off towards the source of the cry of help. Dust from the trail lingered in the orange sky as the sun set cautiously behind the mountains in the west. Fitch had not heard a cry for five minutes until he suddenly saw the first sign of a struggle. A crossbow bolt lay stuck in a tree a couple hundred feet away. "Heel girl!" Fitch yelled.

Malum came to a full stop, and Fitch hopped off. He moved towards the crossbow bolt and removed it from where it stood stuck in the trunk of the tree. When he removed it, a type of green ooze was visible on its tip. "What the hell is this?" He held it up to Malum as if he was looking for his opinion. Some of the ooze then dripped onto the rough gravel that made up the path. Fitch watched as it dropped onto the path then he saw it. "Look those are boot prints."

He saw them right below himself. They were faint, but visible. Fitch looked at them closely. The toe of the boot was facing into the woods that surrounded the path's edge. "Hmm... judging from the distance between each print, I'd say he was running across this path. He must have been coming across from there." He pointed opposite of where the bolt was found where another sect of the forest lay. "Well Malum, we've come this far. Might as well keep going." Malum neighed in agreement as they continued their journey.