Spring Park

(3)

How can I not learn how to turn this thing on? It's that button, right? Ok, I think I left off when I moved in with Delma and Mallory. All was normal for two more years, the next event happened on my birthday, which was also Aaron's birthday because no one knew when it was, and Delma decided that it should be his birthday since he hadn't had one before she took us into her care. It was our tenth birthday, and we invited all of our friends: John, Lizzie, and Alex. Delma also had me invite the kid who lived across the street from where we used to live. Mallory invited a few random people who I didn't know. While Delma finished baking a cake and Mallory finished wrapping and stacking presents in some pyramid shape in the living room, even though there were only, like, 5 small boxes, Aaron, I, my friends and that kid from across the street went and played outside. Across-the-street kid stood as far away from us as possible as we messed around with red rubber ball that Delma had bought me. I stopped throwing the ball to the when I got a strong whiff of smoke. I could see that everyone else could smell it, and Alex asked us if we smelled it. I nodded and surveyed the surrounding area for the source of the smell. It being the middle of the winter, I tightened the hat on my head and walked over to the source of the smell. That's when I met Lilith. She came strolling up the hill with a cigarette in her mouth, carrying a box. She wore a blue B-52 aviator hat and a tan sweater with a rainbow on it. She also wore a black leather coat and black sweatpants. She had short black hair which curled up in the front and her skin was super pale. The cigarettes light lit up the darkened evening sky. She handed me the box, and I grabbed it out of her hand. She wore fingerless gloves and pulled the cigarette out of her mouth, putting it out on the box. "Who are you?" I asked her. She laughed for a second before pulling another cigarette out of her pocket. After she lit it using a match that she pulled out of her right glove, she extended her hand for a handshake and introduced herself as Lilith. I shook her hand and introduced myself. Delma came out and yelled at her to leave us alone. Lilith said "Happy Birthday, Janus" and then walked away. I watched as the light of her cigarette slowly shrank until I could see it no longer. "Everyone inside, it's time for cake!" Delma yelled, pulling us all inside, including the kid from across the street. What was his name? I don't think I ever knew what his name was. Any ways, we ate cake, me and Aaron opened up presents, and then Mallory's friends and the kid across the street went home. Delma asked me and Aaron to walk John, Alex, and Lizzie home so we grabbed a flashlight and headed toward their house. About halfway there, John stopped and pointed into the woods. "Did you see that?" He asked. I squinted and saw a small light in the forest. "Let's go check it out!" John said excitedly. He grabbed Alex's arm and pulled him into the woods, and the rest of us followed. As we snuck toward the source of the light, I recognized the smell of smoke. John stopped and pointed into the woods as the light faded away. "Did you see that?" He whispered. We walked up to him and Alex. He pointed at a small building, an old abandoned bomb shelter, its door was wide open and a faint light shone from inside. "Let's go in." He said. I told him that that was a stupid idea and that we'd end up like the rest of the people who die in the forest. "But we need to know who just walked in." He said. "Who just walked in?" I asked. "I don't know, I think they were at the party!" He said excitedly. I sighed and we headed into the shelter. It was damp and cold, and the only sounds were a low hum, the crawling of cockroaches, the occasional drip of water from the ceiling, and the sounds of our footsteps. We turned a corner and then heard the door close behind us. We all turned and looked around the corner to see nothing. We continued down the dark hallway, the light of my flashlight guiding us. I started to hear whispering and I could tell by looking at the others that they heard it too. And then it all stopped. It was completely quiet, and we didn't want to take a step to not disturb the silence. The bang of a metal door slamming open sent us all running, and also broke the silence. We just ran and the sound of footsteps behind us rang out against the walls and sounded out louder that ours. I looked behind me and instantly regretted it. The creature was strange and twisted, stitch lines ran along its body in many places. It was sewn together, limb by limb and chunk by chunk. It had two heads, three arms and six legs and was dressed in a police uniform. I immediately looked away and tried my best to run faster. We came to another door and charged past it as Alex tried to close it. He slammed the door in the monsters face, which was followed by the creature banging on the door and making gurgling noises. "What was that thing?" Lizzie asked. "I don't know, but I hope it doesn't get through that door. Did you see its face?" John asked. One of the hinges of the doors flung off and the metal door bended inward. "It looks like the door won't hold much longer, we need to keep running." Alex said. Aaron starred in the direction of the door. Alex, Lizzie, and John ran further into the shelter and I pulled Aaron along. I had been doing so but just then realized that I had. The door flung forward and slashed my back, but I kept running. I kept running through the sounds of footsteps, through the screaming of Lizzie, and Aaron kept running as I tripped. He stopped at the realization that I had fallen, and I was surprised as well. I could feel the bone sticking out of my leg, and I reached down and touched it as well. Alex and John didn't stop when I fell, just Lizzie. The creature was only twenty yards away from me. Aaron ran to the other side of me, standing between me and the beast. It all happened so fast that I barely even knew what happened. Lizzie screamed, the creature ran right up in front of Aaron, and then the sound of a gunshot and the creature was flung into the wall. Blood gushed out of one of its heads, but the other head began to attempt to get up. "Run you fools!" The gas man yelled before throwing their shotgun at the monster. Lizzie grabbed Aaron's arm and ran. The gas man picked me up and ran away from the beast. The creature quickly regained its composure and continued its chase. The gas man slammed one of the doors after Aaron and Lizzie ran through it, and then ran through the other. I could see the blood pouring from the large gash in my leg, the bloody bone protruding from it. I looked back to see the creature running after us. Strips of flesh hung from half of its one of its heads. Small holes were drilled into the second head where the pellets had gone through the first head and stabbed into the second. They ran, carrying me until we came to a large room. There was a large strip of barbed wire strewn in the center of the room and above it a large electrical panel. They threw me onto a table next to a power switch and shoved a large pane of glass in front it, separating the two of us. The abomination entered the room and the gas man ran to the other side of the barbed wire and pulled a magnum from their belt of guns. The creature snarled and stepped into the barbed wire which entangled it and trapped it. The entirety of the barbed wire began to be pulled from the ground as the creature attempted to pull free from the twine. The gas man began firing at it. It's chest and neck exploded and one bullet flew into the ceiling, wires dangling from the roof down to the barbed wire, adding to the entanglement. The creature smacked the gun out of their hand, and snarled at them. I looked at the switch, and pulled it. Electricity exploded from the other side of the glass as I watched. I began to close my eyes, feeling myself slip away from blood loss, but I knew that it was the end. I wouldn't slip away and wake up in the hospital later with my leg patched up, I would die because I can't lose consciousness. The gas man ran around the Christmas tree in the center of the room and picked me back up. I don't even remember what happened next, it's all a blur, but I woke up a few hours later with my leg bandaged up and in front of Delmas house with a pair of crutches. I used the crutches to limp over to the door, and hit it with the leg of crutch. Delma came to the door and swept me up in her arms. She told me how worried she was and that they had sent police to the bomb shelter and that Aaron and my friends had found a ladder and then came straight to her. She asked me what happened and I told her about my leg and about the gas man and about the barbed wire. She hugged me again and told me never to ever go back into the woods again. She got up and walked over to Mallory and started talking about building a fence and torching the woods around the house. I limped over to me and Aaron's room, sat onto my bed and looked across the room to Aaron's bed. He sat on his bed, staring off into space again. I could see the tears that stained his face. "What happened?" I asked him. He frowned and I saw another tear run down his face. "You lived. I couldn't even imagine what I would've done if you died." He silently sobbed as I looked around the room. I stared at the small box that layed on my bedside table. The small box that Lilith had given me. I grabbed it and pulled it open. It had no wrapping paper and was just a skinny cardboard box. I pulled its contents out. A shiny rainbow reflected switchblade. Beneath it sat a note that said 'protect yourself from the forest'. I sat there, rethinking the events of that night, wondering what the note meant. I didn't go back into or anywhere near the forest for as long as I lived with Delma and Mallory. The next day Mallory burned the shrubbery and trees around the house and built a fence, but that wouldn't keep the forest out for long. Every night I would look through my window late at night and see the gas man standing behind a tree, every night except one. I sat up, it was about a year after the incident and I still couldn't walk without crutches. The doctors in Spring Park said that whoever had reset the bone in my leg and the bandaged up my leg was not only an expert in doing so, but actually used their blood to keep me from bleeding out. They couldn't connect the blood to anyone, but I knew who it was. I looked out the window only to not see the gas man in the forest. I grabbed the switchblade and stuck it into my pajama pocket and then got up and limped to the kitchen to get some water. After Lilith gave it to me, I took it everywhere I went. That's when I saw it, the front door was open, and I heard the sound of dirt being moved from outside. I had heard it occasionally, usually on new moons, but I had never been brave enough to go and see who was doing it. I turned to the door and limped toward it. I looked into the yard to see Mallory digging a hole in the front yard. He was sweating and looked exhausted past humanly possible. I walked up to him and asked him what he was doing. He didn't even acknowledge me, just kept digging. His fingernails were bloody and his hands scrapped. I looked across the yard, there were many holes which were all at least three feet deep. He finished digging that hole and then started filling the holes back up. I walked back into the house, and a few minutes later I heard the door closing and locking. I never asked Mallory about the digging, because I could tell that he had been sleeping while he did it.