After Dark | Spec Ops x Reader

2 | Not So Quiet

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   It was almost six when Bennett got home. I know I had been waiting for this moment all day, but now that it was actually time to go over, I was nervous. I'd always wanted to meet my neighbors, so I was ready to jump at the opportunity to do so, but now it felt wrong. I'd never met this dude, what if he was a psycho-murderer or something? I reread the letter he placed in my mailbox over and over again, finding more problems with it the more I read it. He mentioned the crying in the woods too, just like Gus had. What was really going on in this town? Only one way to find out.

   Three knocks. No more, no less. Bennett answered his door, realized who I was, and his look of confusion was quickly replaced with a smile. I hadn't seen him before now somehow. I guess he'd seen me, though. His hair was dark brown, almost black. He had tasteful stubble and eyes so blue I'd call them gray.

   "Please, come in! I take it you got my letter?" He stepped to the side and held the door open for me. I stepped inside, nodding as I looked around.

   "I did, and I've gotta say, you have a lot of explaining to do, Bennett."

   "Please, call me Ben. All my friends do. I never did get your name."

   "(Y/N)," I said, shaking the hand he held out to me.

   His house was clean and organized. Quaint, but in a good way. Everything was well decorated. His place made mine look naked. I needed to decorate more.

   He led me to his living room and sat at a dull green armchair. I took a seat on his couch, which was a cherry red. "So, (Y/N), I saw you met Gus. I wanna apologize for him, he can be quite the oddball."

   "You think? He came out of nowhere and scared me senseless. Going on about god knows what. You mentioned something in your letter that he warned me about, it's kind of weird. The crying in the woods? I don't get it. If there's a child out there, then why isn't—"

   Ben cut me off. "Oh, that thing isn't a child."

   That sentence shouldn't have been as ominous as it was. It sent shivers down my spine.

   "Nobody told you?"

   "Told me what?"

   "Oh hun," he frowned, "This town isn't like most. We've got a curse."

   "A curse? Really?" I didn't believe a word this man was saying. "You can't be serious right now."

   "What, would you rather me tell you we've got monsters?"

   I rolled my eyes, moving to get up. "I should have known you'd be as crazy as Gus."

   "Wait! Wait! Wait! Please, just hear me out," Ben got up, holding his hands in front of him and waving them wildly, motioning for me to sit back down with him. "Did Gus mention Hellen?"

   I sat back down. "He did."

   "That's his late wife. She went crazy because she would constantly acknowledge the creatures. She tried to ignore the crying at first, but it didn't stop. Eventually, she went out in the woods to find whatever kept crying. She never came back."

   "So she's missing?"

   "No, they found her body about a month later. Ripped clear in half."

   "Awful thing to happen, but that's just wild animals."

   "Skinwalkers," Bennett said. "They're skinwalkers. We're not supposed to talk about them. Just ignore any sounds coming from the woods, okay?"