FOREST OF THE LOST

PART TWENTY THREE

40.

Terrence, in his wanderings and in his decision to make an effort to leave a woodland park, has come into contact with four of the souls who had been lost to it, five if you include a German Shepard dog. The truth would be that they are not lost to place they are in but more contained by it. Having, as a gathered group, become sidetracked with attempting to leave the place, the group have come to what essentially is a nineteenth century church built within the woodland and apparently it is still standing strong.

Such a thing can be debatable. In a place with no time, this group could be anywhere in time. For one of those gathered, two if you were to include the dog, it is the year 1983, for two others it is 2000, and the other two it is 2017 and 2019 so technically they are nowhere in time or they could be anywhere in time. It is possible that the church is long gone in 2017 or any other year you may want to put on this moment, and it is also possible that the church may never de-evolve into ruins. It could possibly stand for as long as the park itself does.

As the skies quickly darken and the group have taken cover, taken up hiding positions, for a group of fifteen chanting monk's approach. Fourteen-year-old Jeremy Wright is sure that one of these so-called monks is town storekeeper and store owner John McCoy. These monks make their way into the rather large church having come from the direction of the opposite park entrance from which Terrence had first entered, and once the monks have entered the church, darkness has come whole on the outside of that building.

It had become dark already though now it has become so dark that once the monks with their fire torches have entered the church, none of those remaining outside can see anything at all. Terrence, attempting to keep his voice down, needs to rally the crew, so calling them all one by one ... they all slowly and cautiously leave their individual hiding places and gather in one spot. All gathering that is, with the exception of one.

Kenneth notices first, for he had been closest to where Jeremy had hidden from the monks. Thing is as we know, Jeremy didn't completely hide from those monks. He possibly had been seen by at least one of them. Where has the boy gone? This is the question.

'Oh no,' Terrence speaks out loud. This is not a response to the fact that Jeremy hasn't joined them, it is a reaction, or rather a pre-action for something else. Something is about to happen to Terrence that has happened once already. He can feel it, he can sense it, he knows what is coming at him ... seconds before it actually does.

With the darkness being so full that he cannot see a thing, it is a sound that more confirms rather than give away what is coming. It is a sound that he hoped would never come his way again. Nothing all so bad, well not completely bad, came out of the last time this happened, if anything it informed him of something that is definitely a positive. It sent him a vision, a vision he can count on as being something positive.

With not knowing if what is coming is going to happen to everyone else around him or to him only, Terrence just has to go with it and accept what comes. What is it that is coming? It is a swarm of small black spiders rushing towards him, coming to cover every centimeter of his body. Like before, once the spider covers him completely, working together as one entity to ensure a transference of information. And in that ... he sees something.

Such an odd thing and an odd sensation coming with it, just as well there is no pre-existing phobia ... that would be the last thing one would need to deal with in a moment like this. It is a frightening thing to have happen, but not paralyzingly so.

'What is that sound?' asks Karen.

Of course, Karen, Jason, and Kenneth, none of them can see anything, such is the current existing darkness, therefore they can't see the spiders, but they do hear the sounds that the insects make. Also, like last time round, the whole spider covering incident occurs very quickly and they soon are back on the move and moving away from the group and more importantly away from Terrence. Indeed, they came as one and left as one. As unusual as it is, it can only ever be thought of something belonging to this most unusual of places.