Don't Close Your Eyes

Chapter Three: Fear

"Ya boy. She likes ya boy, she does."

A cold, unforgivable chill ran down Nic's spine. The child's eyes were cold and empty...his smile stretched wide on his face like a scar...voice void of any sign of life.

"Nathanael? Do we have a guest?"

"Ah! Missus Graham! Yes ma'am, we do!"

The boy, Nathanael, brightened back up in an instant, leaving Nic wondering if he might've imagined what he just witnessed.

"Ah...who is it?"

She walked into the children's rooms and stopped once she saw Nic.

"Hello Mrs. Graham...my name is Nic Caine. I'm with the MBCA. I was just asking around on the missing children cases, and these kids were kind enough to tell me what they know."

The old woman smiled. "Is that so? I'm sure Nathanael just talked your ear off. He truly is a sweet boy...but he doesn't fully know how to conduct a proper conversation."

"Aw, Missus Graham! Ya can't be like that!"

The boy pouted while the old woman laughed, and ruffled his hair playfully. Nic smiled, and decided now would be a good time to leave.

"Well, I won't take up any more of your time. Have a good night, Mrs. Graham."

Nic stood up and promptly left the orphanage, closing the door behind him, before freezing in his tracks, the fear from moments before wafting back over him.

I can't be sure if what Nathanael said is true...but it's worth taking a look into it. I'll ask around some more, see if there's any other leads on the missing children.

I just hope what he said about Ciel was just a child's prank....

Nic continued around the village, asking the locals about the cases, and got the gist of things from the commonalities between each statement, as well as the information given to him in his original case files.

Roughly eight years ago, a young girl, age 6, disappeared from the orphanage during the night of Halloween's eve. Her name was Holly Reynolds. She was discovered missing in the morning as Mrs. Graham went to wake the children for breakfast. There was no signs of struggle, and no evidence of what took place, besides an opened window. None of the children were woken to witness the situation.

Each year after Holly's death, a child, or a pair of siblings, have gone missing on Halloween's eve in a similar fashion - no trace evidence of what happened, besides an open window. Given the lack of evidence, and the creepy irony of the timings, the villagers began to believe Holly had laid a curse on them for never solving her disappearance. And until someone does find out what happened to her, she can't rest, and so children will continue to be "spirited away" until the curse is lifted.

Nic sighed and scratched his head as he took a seat on a nearby bench.

"This is starting to sound like one of those chain mails. Spirits and ghosts aren't real, and neither are curses."

"You don't believe in the curse, mister?"

Nic looked over to see a small child around the age of 10, staring at him with wide eyes.

"I-" Nic started to respond, when his phone rang. "Ah...sorry kid, hang on a moment."

He picked up his phone and quickly answered. "Nic Caine speaking."

"Hey, Nic! It's John. How's the case going?"

Nic sighed. John probably still believed the village was cursed.

"It's going fine, except for the fact that the villagers are convinced it's a curse."

"Well...maybe there is one then. I mean, you haven't gotten much information, have you?"

"No...not yet, but I..." Nic glanced back over to the child, only to see they weren't there anymore. "John, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later."

He hung up and looked around. How could the child have disappeared so quickly? It was completely open. He should've been able to see the child somewhere. There's also the fact he hadn't heard the child walk away. The ground was gravel, and it was silent save for the ruffling of leaves.

It was almost like he was never really there.

Look at me. I'm losing my mind. There's no curse, there's no spirits. I must've been hallucinating when I saw that child.

His phone began ringing again, and he glanced down to see it was his wife, Anna.

"Hey honey."

"Nic? Nic, where are you? Are you busy?"

Nic sat up straight at her hysterical voice. "Anna? What's wrong?"

"Nic...come home, quickly. It's...it's Ciel!"