Don't Leave The Window Open

Regarding Dean

Disclaimer - this chapter contains mild swearing.

We had only one spot in mind where the Wendigo den could be, in the old coal mines that were shut down in the early 1900s. It was the only place in the woods that was dark and secluded.

We left the library walking towards the woods. The whole town was surrounded by miles of untouched land. We researched the mines and figured out they were only a few miles behind the library. It would take about an hour or so to get to the entrance.

We were silent. As silent as the woods were, I remember my parents telling me if you listened to the forest closely you could hear what it had to say. This forest was quiet, no animals, no wind, it was terrifyingly quiet.

It took longer than I had remembered. It might of been because we got lost or turned around some how but it took another hour and a half.

Dean stopped walking almost immediately when he spotted the old mine entrance. "Looks like we found it." He says pausing then moving towards the opening.

"Hold on a minute... can we just wait a little longer. I mean maybe someone else can do it, I'm not cut out for this..." I blurt out.

Dean cuts me off "you are cut out for this Mary, who else would have gone this far. We are here, we are doing this. It's okay because I've got you and you've got me. We can do this." He says more for himself than anyone. I could tell he was scared too.

We headed into the darkness arm in arm as to not get separated. Earlier we decided that the center of the tunnels what the perfect place to start the fire.

The tunnels were dark and wet, dripping of water could be heard ahead of us which explained the puddles of water on the uneven ground.

We continued for a long bit of time until we came across a large open area. It looked as if the tunnel was blown up resulting in a large cavern type opening.

"We should start the fire here and hopefully it will kill whatever is in here." Dean says putting down his backpack.

"How will we know if it works?"I ask sceptically.

"Well my plan is to light the fire and leave. Then we wait a few days and see if everything stops. If it did great, if not then we figure something else out." Dean replies confidently.

"Ok." I say taking a deep breath.

As we were talking Dean had opened his bag and pulled out a box of matches and a container of lighter fluid.

"There is some stuff over in the corner that looks like we could light it on fire. We have to make it big though. This looks like their den, the journal said it would look something like this." Dean said handing me the matches.

He moved to the pile of old wood, and a bunch of other things we couldn't make out and started pouring lighter fluid all over the are.

"You can light it up." He says stepping back.

I light the match and drop it on to the pile. It ignited instantly. The fire swept across the wood devouring the papers and clothing instantly. We stepped back even further, waiting for the fire to become larger.

"Should we leave now?" I ask.

"Not yet we need to make sure it's big enough." Dean replies.

After a few minutes the fire had grown very big, Dean still insisted it wasn't big enough.

" I'm leaving it's getting too big if we stay any longer we could get killed also." I say turning to leave.

"I'll be right behind you just give me a minute." Dean say. I humm in response.

Walking back towards the exit. I hear Dean scream for me to run. I do what he said thinking he was right behind me running out of the tunnels. His screaming was getting quieter the further I ran. That's when I realized he was not behind me. He was still in the cavern but looking behind me I saw the entrance into it was blocked by a wall of fire. It was spreading quickly.

There was nothing I could do to help him. Deep down inside I knew I had to leave so I did. I had read every horror book and knew staying would just fuck us over even more.

"What the hell!" I screamed running faster than before out of the tunnels. This wasn't supposed to happen. If we had just left earlier. This wouldn't have happened.

I finally got the the spot we entered from climbing out of the boarded up window closest to me. I walked a few feet away from the entrance and sat down. Remembering my phone was in my pocket I checked the time. It was three in the morning.

I waited hours for Dean to come out, I was just about to leave when I saw him limping out of the tunnels. Blood, dirt and ash all over him. He had deep cuts on his sides.

"Dean! I thought you were never coming out." I cried. Running up to him kissing him. He weakly kissed back.

"What happened?" I ask. still holding on to him pulling back.

"Apparently we weren't alone, there was a wendigo in there. If you had left any later we both would have been screwed." He said.

"We need to go now. it might still be alive and you need to go to a hospital." I say supporting him as we started walking back towards the town.