The Settlement

CHAPTER 2

I walked in to the cottage with unhurried footsteps. My eyes went to my dad who was grabbing beers from the fridge. Black Water was a beer town if you didn't realize. The woman sat in the dimunitive living room. My father passed her a beer which she took. He then passed one to me. The glowing cerulean eyes burned in my head. I wish I never came back.

"I came here to warn you." Clare began.  "A group of campers walked into the forest and only one came out. The men had been attacked. They were killed and devoured by It. The man had survived not because of luck but because the creature allowed him to. The man told the sheriff and all he could do was tell the poor man that it was a bear. What I'm trying to tell you is that this town has changed the people don't care...for outsiders. And you are an outsider." She ended with. "They made the man think he was insane."

"What does this mean?" I asked.

"The creature is agitated. It knows that its rightful victim has returned." Were the last words she said and then she left. I knew that my Dad wasn't going to take this well. My eyes shot to my father.

"You need to leave." His tone was flat and serious.

"WHERE CAN I GO?" I demanded incredously. This was ridiculous. I had gone through this before. But, clearly something has changed. Something happened that he didn't want to tell me about.

"I TOLD you to leave!" He yelled

"No!" I yelled back. "I came back to start over and I will."

"This is my house and I will not let my son endanger himself on my watch!"

"I did not care this time I was going to fight." I wasn't going to let him run me off. I stepped closer to my father with earnesty in my strides.

"No matter what you say, no matter what you do. I am not leaving."

A knock sounded at the door.

"Are you going to answer that?" I questioned changing the subject.

"There is nothing there." He told me. I looked at him as if he was insane. I could hear the knocks  If this was one of his attempts to get me to run off, then it was pathetic. He needed to get it through his head that I wasn't going to run...again. I walked to the door throwing it open. Nothing was there.

I shut the door walking back to the living room when again the knock sounded. I stopped in my tracks deciding whether to open the door or not.

"I told you there was nothing." My Dad said walking toward me. I wondered inwardly if this was a joke or if he was lying.

"You're lying." I growled out." I can hear the knocks..."

I knew that we had grown apart in the last six years and it must of hurt to only get one phone call a year from your only child. But, I had to get away. I was almost killed and mom was killed. It was a lot for me to go through at that time. But, I'm better now. That's why I am back.

"I'm not." My father insisted. The knocking grew even more urgent.

"You check." I demanded. I expected my father to protest. He walked to the door and opened it revealing a man who was dressed like a mailman.

"Steve, I didn't know that you brought mail all the way out here." My father replied incredulously. The man who my father called Steve, didn't seem to be there. His eyes were vacant.       

"We are from the Sacred Circle. Give us you son and we will leave. For the reason that you massacred our first born we must do the same to yours. Give us your son by the next full moon or your entire town will parish."