The beast within

Chapter 15 a bit of history

10 years ago

Hannah was having a fun time today, she made a new friend, and as it turns out, that same friend was also her neighbor. "So Jackson, how long do you plan on staying here?" Hannah asked while giggling. "Not long probably, nothing ever lasts" Jackson said while sighing and drawing in the mud with a stick.

2 years later

Hannah was sitting in class bored, and zoned out while staring at the back of Jackson's head. The teacher looked at her and just sighed and said "Hannah, please stop staring at Jackson and focus in class." Hannah then snapped out of it and blushed a little and faced forwards while Jackson turned his head around and flashed her a smile. As the teacher continued talking, Hannah couldn't help but feel embarrassed for getting called out about staring at Jackson.

Later that day

Hannah and Jackson arrived home from walking and Hannah's family invited Jackson's over for dinner, and Hannah was standing right there when they asked them. And she got so excited when they accepted it, knowing she would be sitting beside Jackson when they did. The adults were talking at the table while Jackson and Hannah where messing around in the house doing different things. Jackson was always smiling around her, then her father called him over and he instantly had a frown on "yes Mr.Dawson?" Jackson asked him. "I heard you stood up for my daughter lately, what exactly happened? And thank you of course" he asked him. Jackson's face started to turn a little pinkish reddish as Hannah's face started to feel a little hot. "W-well, a kid w-wouldn't stop picking on her, so I went up and told him to stop and he didn't, he tried punching me" Jackson started to explain. Hannah's father just nodded at this and made a motion for him to continue. "So when his arm was out all the way, I grabbed it by the elbow and I flipped him over my shoulder" Jacob finished. "Well, now that's something, now you can go back to doing what you were doing" he said. And Jackson responded with "Yes Mr.Dawson" and went back to playing with Hannah, but as they went away Hannah and Jay both stopped after they heard a sound and one of the parents saying "you know the creature is still out there, and it's getting hungr-" as one of the others cut them off. "Yes we know it's getting hungry, but what about your son? When are you going to tell him? After all, the thing is hunting him! Not any of us!" They whispered at them. As in that moment they heard a loud screeching sound from outside, and then all the adults stopped and looked at one another "it's here, get the children out of her-" Hannah's father started to say but was cut off by some glass shattering and the lights going off. At that moment, Jack and Hannah were picked up simultaneously while those two was holding on to each other, and whoever it was took them outside and next door to Jack's house, they then saw who it was, it was Hannah's Parents that did it.

Her parents then started to say something but was cut off again but another screech as a creature was standing in the doorway, with blood dripping down its chin and what appeared to be claws. And Hannah swore as long as she lived, she wouldn't forget what it is she saw, it was almost completely pale, except for the blood, with white eyes and claws that looked like they could tear through steel in seconds, and teeth so sharp, they looked like they could break bones in an instant. She stood there, mortified at what she was seeing and completely forgot what was going on. As it started to move forward, sirens could be heard in the distance, with it getting closer. Hannah then looked down and saw the thing was already stabbed with blood dripping down. It pointed at them, Hannah and Jacob, and said five words in a raspy, cold voice "soon, you both are mine" as it then dived out the window and disappeared into the forest.

Present day

Hannah started slowly coming out of the daze, now realizing she was laying back down on the sofa. "Good, your awake, if you wouldn't wake, we thought Jay would kill us for that, what happened?" Darrian asked. "S-Sorry, got lost in the past, but that's not important, please tell me you guys didn't hear that." She said. Ryleigh looked confused and just said "yeah we did, what was that?" Hannah then got up and hugged her knees and repeatedly mumbled "it's back, it's back, why now? Is it here for me? Is it fake? No it can't be, they heard it to. Got to run, have to hide!" And dashes off and hid under her bed.

She saw the feet of her friends and they asked what was going on. "Long story short, hide, that sound belongs to a creature that knows nothing but eat and kill" she said. They then managed to convince Hannah to come out from under the bed. "Now, calm down, what's happening? What is it?" Dallas asked. "I-it's back, it said it would be, but I didn't listen" Hannah said while wrapping a blanket around herself. "Okay, we got that down, now what is it?" Aaron asked. Hannah looked them each dead in the eyes and said "it's a windego". The rest were confused at this and looked at one another. "Aren't those fake? Like a myth?" Marshall asked. Tyler just looked at him and said "we live in a town that's full of murder, has a thing called the demon-cat, and your saying that a windego is a myth? There hardly is a thing called a myth now apparently". "You have a point, so, what do we do against it?" Darrian asked while looking at Tyler. "Don't ask me, ask Hannah, from the passing out and her reaction, I'm guessing she has either searched it up, or met one in person" Tyler said, directing his focus at Hannah like the rest. "It's both actually, I saw it when I was 8, it- it was getting hungry, it's something else, and we can't beat it, only run and hide, and not even that." Hannah said. "Well, it's got to have a weakness right? Almost everything does" Dallas said. "You don't get it, a windego is something that used to be human, it was a human who was abandoned or lost in an area and ate other humans to live, and eventually, they turn into those, windegos, they're fast, they're strong, some are immortal, and they are master hunters during the day, they only eat humans as well" Hannah explained. They all frowned at this, but one spoke up and said "you said master hunters during the day, so maybe they aren't masters at night?" Hannah looked them in the eyes and said "they aren't master hunters in the night, they are the impossible, can't be seen, can't be heard, and can kill you in half a second- wait, where's Jay?" She asked in a little panic.

"He's still outside, doing who knows what" Ryleigh said. And at the moment Hannah forgot all about her fear and that, and went to go find Jay. Someone grabbed her wrist and she turned to see who it was. "Like I said, your not going out, Jay's orders" Marshall said. "Why? He's out there! He's out there alone with that, that thing!" She screamed at him. "Because Jay told us, when he's not around to, to protect you, and if you even get a single scratch, then we're all dead, our lives are in your hands, with yours in ours" Marshall explained. "Here's a hint, if you don't let me go out and find him, then neither Jay nor the windego will get you, I will" she said with a murderous look in her eyes. And in that moment Marshall let Go and she started heading for the door and heard them behind her. "Why are you guys following me?" She asked them. "Well, lets see, if we let you go alone and something happens and Jay comes back, we die, if we try and hold you back from going out, we die. So we might as well risk it with the windego if we are going to die" Marshall said with a smile. And with that, they all headed out in search of Jay