Rustling Leaves

Chapter 4

The cellphone rang. Gerald turned his head and saw the ringing device, Mr. Dagger's face on the screen. He picked it up and answered. "Hello?" he said. "Gerald, thank God you've responded. Are you okay?" he asked. "Yeah, why?", Gerald was confused. "Why? You haven't sent us pictures in three weeks! I thought you starved or something happened" Mr. Dagger said, breathing quickly as he spoke. "I'm sorry you were worried, but I'm fine. Nothing's happened" Gerald said calmly. Mr. Dagger was not as calm. "Nothing's happened?! Gerald, I worry for you but at the same time, this trip was not entirely free. It wasn't much but I can't risk having a photographer in the middle of nowhere and getting nothing in return. You need to send us pictures quickly" he said loudly, obviously angered by Gerald's lack of workmanship. Gerald gulped. "I would, I will, it's just...there's something out here. It's in the woods, in fact Norman has gone to the city to get more information on it, but I saw it. It's a creature, and I know it's not safe to be around it" Gerald shouted with a nervous confidence. "Gerald, there's no creature. Send me photos or something bad could happen. Thank you and good day", Mr. Dagger hung up. All that was left besides Gerald's ear was the electronic buzz emitting from the cellphone. He slowly placed it back in his suitcase. He couldn't send pictures to the Daily Watcher. There was something much bigger happening around him, something dark and colossal waiting to pounce on him and everyone else the second he batted an eye. He couldn't let it happen. It seemed as if Gerald had been forced out of the sidelines, forced into a battle against everything that windmill stud for. That windmill. The one that looked at him, watched him, that waited every second of every day. This creature was just like it. Suddenly, an idea fizzled into life inside Gerald's head. Why was he out here? To take photographs. Photographs he would send to Mr. Dagger and photographs that would be printed out in a newspaper, or put on a website. What if?...

What if Gerald could take a picture of  the creature? Immediately, he sprang upwards from the cargo bed and snatched his camera from the inside of the truck. His mission had barely begun. Gerald sprinted out into the cornfields and then took a sharp turn into the woods, the creature would be here. It's home was that of crunched up leaves and shattered sticks, a home of chaos and disorder. A home of pure regurgitated evil. A sound snapped. Gerald fell to the floor and held his breath, making sure not to move a muscle or twitch a hair. Something boomed around him. Not towards him, but around him. His senses were maxed to a hundred, alert of every sound or movement. A bird fluttered in the sky, and Gerald prepared to run for his life. An ant crawled up a tree, Gerald got ready to smash it with a rock. But he didn't. He simply stud still. The creature got closer. Slowly, Gerald got up, not making a sound and lifted the camera. He hoisted it to eye level. There it was. The shadowy animal, this monstrous varmint. A disgusting  and brutish quadruped crawling around the woods, rustling the leaves. FLASH! He took a picture. The creature turned it's head around, and without thought, Gerald ran towards the other direction. He sprinted, snapping pictures behind him, and then rushing at full speed away from the beast. Away from the woods and into the field. He ran through the corn, and past the windmill until he arrived at the truck. Gerald looked around, fearful, observant. Where was it? Did it follow him? But there was no response except the letters n and o that were bolded into clarity. The creature had stayed where it belonged. Gerald panted and looked at the small stack of polaroid photographs he had clutched in his hand. As he stared at them, even through fear, a small smile crept into his face. The creature was there. It was visible, you could see it! Gerald could not loose this evidence. Quickly, he marched to the small box and carefully shoved them all in there before shutting the case. He sat down on the ground and sighed. The following mornings would have the same pattern, he would march out into the woods and he would find pictures. In fact, one fateful morning, it was proven that the beast knew of Gerald's existence. He slowly opened his eyes and climbed down from his metal bed and onto the ground. He yawned, drank some water and then gasped. He saw it. The resemblance. The creature stud infront of the windmill, the same color, same message: evilness. They were one. The windmill and the beast were not two distinctive beings, they were simply a shadowy reflection of another. Gerald raised his camera and took the picture, his heart thumping loudly. The creature growled, turned it's head and ran back into the woods. It was real and soon, it would be finished. Gerald placed his best capture of the gargantuan creature in the box, and closed it. When Norman returned he would take them to the Daily Watcher. His arrival would be tomorrow.