Spring Park

Beginning

Is it on? Yes? Ok... where do I start. I'll start with the history of my town. Lemme start with the fact that you've never heard of my town. It's so far off the road less traveled, even more the beaten path. Those who live there, have lived there for generations. I'm going to completely put aside everything I just said and tell you that I wasn't born here, neither were my parents or any of my relatives. We lived in the far south, near Texas, until my parents heard about the place. One year half the population of the town was completely murdered off by bears. It was called the town that got fucked by bears. All rumors died off quickly, but my parents had heard enough to want to go there. After a year of searching, my parents somehow found the location of the town. It was on no maps or records, besides some impossibly secret files in some small library in the middle of nowhere, but that's another story. I barely even knew anyone in that old neighborhood, and when I was seven, we moved out to what they called 'Spring Town'. I used to joke about how it was the most misleading title to ever exist. Spring Town was not some wonderful, sunny town, It sucked. A lot, but it was where I would live, go to school, and it's where all of my friends would live. I didn't meet anyone until the next year, because everyone in this town scared me. My neighbor across the street would constantly stare at me from across the street. Every time I walked out of my house, I would see him stop whatever he was doing and stare at me. He was my age as well, maybe a few years younger than me. The first kid I met was a homeless kid who I found walking through the woods with a cane and wearing black-lensed glasses. I asked him what he was doing in my backyard, and then he fell over my swing. I rushed over to him and helped him up. "Who are you?" He asked. I told him that I was Janus and I asked him who he was. "Oh... I'm... Aaron." He said, looking off in random directions, trying to figure out where I was. Aaron was about my age and height, had short brown hair, always wore a red flannel and jeans, and had eyes as twice as grey as his skin. He didn't wear shoes either. I asked him what he was doing out here and where he came from, and he told me that he had come from the next town over and that he was looking for someone. He described a man to me, and then told me someone had sent him to find this man. Don't know why someone told a blind kid to find someone, or where he came from because there is no 'next town over.' I invited him in, and after a few seconds of him standing still and staring in the general direction of my house. I had to go back to him and slowly guide him into my house. I introduced him to my parents, and they were obviously shocked that a blind kid had somehow navigated the woods in which at least a dozen people had disappeared in. They called the police, but they eventually found out that Aaron didn't have parents or any connection to literally anywhere. My parents offered for them to take care of him until they either found relatives of Aaron's or found an orphanage in at least a hundred mile radius. They couldn't do either of those things, and Aaron practically became my brother. The next of my friends that I met where all of them. At once. About a month after Aaron became my brother, I guided him out to a gas station so he could buy himself some candy. "Yo, look at the blind kid." Alex said rudely. From the moment I met Alex, I knew he was a dick. Aaron flinched when he said this. Down the sidewalk was Alex, his girlfriend Lizzie, and John. "Hey dude, you shouldn't  make fun him. He survived, like, a year in that forest that that pro bear hunter got killed in." John said so fast that I could barely even understand what he was saying. "How did the bear hunter die?" Lizzie asked. "Bear attack." John said. "That's strange." Aaron said. "You know what's more strange? That jacket man up at that gas station on the edge of the next town over." "Trench coat man." Aaron said. "What?" I asked. "Yeah, the trench coat man. I saw it on the internet." Alex said. "I know where that place is. I know the man who works the nightshift at the gas station." Aaron said in the soft, quiet voice. I asked them why they kept talking about this 'next town over',neither of them could give me a real answer. There was a long, silent pause. "Uh, see you later. Bye." Alex said before pulling Lizzie and John down the street. If I had to describe Alex, I'd say he was a somewhat brave and cocky asshole. He had black ruff hair, he was slightly tan and had a lot of freckles. He'd wear white tank tops to show of his arm and leg fat that he called his 'muscles' and he'd wear black sweat shorts. He was the tallest and oldest of all of us. He would work out at least three times a week, and I would see him occasionally jogging down the street. Lizzie was blond and had short, curly hair. She was pale and didn't have any freckles. She'd where short sleeved pink shirts and sky blue jeans. She was the shortest of all of us, but was the same age as John. John had brown hair on the sides and pink on the top, he kept it short and combed back. He'd wear a short sleeved yellow yellow shirt with a picture of a cat on it and khaki pants. He was extremely energetic and always wore the same clothes. No one knew where he lived, and that was for the better. He was a paperboy, but no one but my neighbor who had a rare disability that made him unable to sleep, which I forgot the name off, ever saw him deliver the papers. He was slightly taller than me and Aaron, but was slightly younger than us. Now I, looked just like I do now.  I have the same rare illness that my neighbor had, can't sleep. Ever. For some reason, there's like, a magnet that attracts people like me to Spring Town. I still had white hair, which I keep braided. I still had bags under my eyes and was pale. I used to wear pajamas everywhere because I always wanted to be as close to sleeping as possible, but I never would. I'd wear a blue sleeping top and pink shorts that had white polka dots and pink rabbit slippers. I stopped doing that at about 10 and then I started wearing a purplish pink t-shirt and black sweat shorts like Alex would and then I'd wear red tennis shoes. The madness started when I was 7. My insomniac neighbor died from taking too much sleeping medicine to make himself sleep. He had gained the illness when he was twenty and lived thirty more years before losing his mind. It turns out that if he went to sleep, it'd kill him. He was mostly quiet, except for when he'd run around our neighborhood screaming about nonsense at the top of his lungs. Sometimes Aaron would walk over to his house and they'd sit in these chairs and just sit there silently.  They were practically complete opposite. One of them could see nothing, and the other couldn't not see everything. They'd do this on Sundays while my parents took me to church since Aaron wasn't religious. The day after, John, Alex, and Lizzie came over to me and Aaron's house. It was early in the morning, but I was obviously already up. I had to take medicine that allowed me to go into the closest thing to sleep I could do, which was enough to keep me alive. I took some of my medicine, woke up Aaron, and the five of us walked with John as he led us down the street and into this large clearing. "And he told me, the day before he died, that there was a monster that lived out in this field." He said excitedly as he practically dragged us down the road. "Why would we go into a field looking for a monster?" Alex asked. "Because it's going to be awesome." John answered. "Do we have anything to protect ourselves?" Aaron asked. "Yeah, I got a slingshot." He showed off his slingshot and pulled some metal spheres out of his pocket that he would use as ammo. "The fields over here!" He said, dragging us off of the road and into the field. Lizzie pulled a flashlight out of her pocket, and clicked it on. She ran the light across the field. There was a collection of small shacks in the other corner of the field. "There! That's where the monster lives!" He excitedly led us over to the collection of small shacks. I stared at the dark starry sky. Aaron walked besides me, I had to hold his hand anywhere we went to guide him. He had  his mouth slightly open and he stared down at the ground. "This is a bad idea." He whispered. We all knew it was. John froze, and we all stopped and stared at him. "Do you guys hear that?" He said quietly. We all sat there in the dark, silently listening. There was the sound of clicking and scratching and growling. "What is that?" Lizzie asked. The sound stopped. A soft scratch rang out through the cold quiet air. Lizzie moved her flashlight to the top of the shacks. We all froze when we saw it, or them. There were two of them. They had grey skin and wore strange prison and military like outfits. The outfits were torn and burnt green. They had slim, long legs and four spindly arms. They had small glowing white eyes that stared at us. Their rows of decaying teeth reflecting the light of Lizzie's flashlight. To say that they were scary is an understatement. One of the creatures began emitting an ear piercing screech. The other one joined in before they both scurried down the side of the building. "Run!" Alex yelled. We ran through the field, I practically dragged Aaron across the area. Lizzie fell over, not being even slightly fit. Alex stopped, and then John stopped, and then we all couldn't run any more. The creatures circle us, occasionally making incomprehensible sounds. We huddled up and awaited for them to come and seal our fates. I looked to Aaron before it happened. He didn't have a face of fear or confusion, he was completely calm and silent. All sound stopped until, all of the sudden, a large explosion of red light appeared and rose into the sky. The two creatures ran off into the woods, and all of us, besides Aaron, could see the silhouette of a man on top of one of the shacks, holding what looked like a shotgun in one hand, and he made a finger gun with his other and raised it above his head. That was all we needed to know it was time to go home. We ran all the way back to me and Aaron's house, and then we screamed at my parents that there were monsters that tried to eat us. After that we were told by all of our parents that we should never go into that forest again, and for a while, it stayed that way. What did the man look like? He was tall and had an army uniform on. He had belts around his waist and one across his chest, which were covered in flares and grenades. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a bunch of guns along his waist belt. He also wore a gas mask with a tube that connected to a pack that hung from his shoulder. Later, I found out that we weren't the only ones to have seen this 'gas man'. Apparently he was a legend, an urban legend in Spring Town. People said that he was a soldier from WW2 who got lost in Spring Park, that's what they'd call the forests. Isn't actually a park. He is said to appear when people need him and he'd save them from the monsters of the forest. It was comforting when I was a child, but I'm smarter now and I know that there is nothing out there that will protect you from those things.