C.D. Kester's Blog, page 2

Top 15 – Face of Horror

Wow, moving on to the next round again. I really appreciate everyone who has been voting. I did not expect to do so well and I really appreciate everyone’s support! I wanted to give a little more detail about the charity that the competition is helping to fund.
The B+ (Be Positive!) Foundation helps children with cancer and their families with hospital bills. The family who started it lost their son at 14 years old to Leukemia. He almost passed away immediately but was revived and when they found out his blood type was B+ it became their rallying cry for the next 160 days that they were luck enough to have with him and for the foundation that they have made in his honor.
I  truly appreciate any way that you can vote, free or charity votes. I just wanted to give a little insight into the charity that the competition is supporting. Thank you all so much!

Face of Horror Competition

https://faceofhorror.org/2022/chris-kester

I entered this competition thinking it was a drawing, lol. If anybody would vote for me I would appreciate it! The prizes are a stay in Buffalo Bills House, a photo shoot with Kane Hodder, 13k dollars, an article in Rue Morgue & a part in an indie horror movie. So it would definitely be epic. Thanks, if you are able to. You can cast a free vote everyday as well as charity votes that take a donation for the B+ Foundation helping families deal with pediatric cancer financially.

2069 featured on Horror Hill

My story ‘2069’ is now live in the Horror Hill podcast feed. Erik Peabody did an incredible job on the narration. Check out this tale of the corrupt government cloning program of the future wherever you listen to podcasts.

Horror Hill

The Call From The Deep

I held up my boarding pass and walked through the gate. My wife, Harper, was right ahead of me, and we both were so loaded with bags and suitcases that we could barely fit between the doorways. Our 10th anniversary was in a couple of days. We both had come into agreement that there was no better way to celebrate than to go on an all-expense-paid cruise to Hawaii.

As we made it up to the deck, we marveled at all the entertainment. There was a band playing to greet us. Pools, water slides, mini-golf, a drive-in sized screen that was displaying boarding information, bars, and restaurants, and that was just what we could see while walking in! This was definitely the right choice for our anniversary vacation. I couldn’t wait to get these bags unloaded and start to enjoy ourselves.

We went into the doors that led to the cabins. There was another beautiful bar down below us. There was a sports bar to the left showing the games on different screens and a small library to our right. Before we made it to the cabins, there was a coffee bar that served specialty coffees and desserts. If religion has it right, I hope that heaven is something like this. You couldn’t walk through a door anywhere without finding something exciting.

Once we made it to our cabin, we dropped all our bags and looked at each other with stars in our eyes. I pulled my wife close for a kiss and then kept my arms around her. I asked eagerly about how we should begin.

“Well, what should we do first? The casino? The arcade?”

She smirked before replying.

“Such a man, don’t forget about the fine dining at 6, followed by the show at the Theatre.”

I drew back and acted faux offended.

“Are you insinuating that I have no culture? I made our reservations before we even boarded, don’t worry. Dinner isn’t for a long time though, how about we go get some of those tacos and a coffee to get ourselves going.”

“Now you’re speaking my language.” She replied with a grin.

“Let’s unpack later. I am starving, and I think that coffee bar right there makes caramel macchiatos.”

Her eyes lit up yet again as I grabbed her hand, and we rushed towards the door. The coffee bar did have macchiatos, which I got with an extra shot of espresso. She ordered a frozen drink that was more sweetness than coffee, and we made our way back onto the deck where the tacos awaited.

The weather was beautiful. It was Fall time, and the sun was just warm enough to be inviting, accompanied by the blissful breeze that blew along the top of the deck. As we drew near to Tito’s Taco Shop, we heard the captain coming through the loudspeakers announcing takeoff. He reminded us about the mandatory safety meeting in a couple of hours and then wished us to have a great time aboard the ship.

It was still strange to be in large groups of people without wearing a mask. The pandemic was finally eradicated once the vaccines were distributed. The cruise and tourism industries were hit hard, as were many others. It seemed that people were at last willing to come back out again, and there was no shortage of cruise-goers ready for a trip to the islands.

I had my phone out and was looking up things to do in Honolulu for the days that we were in port. Scuba diving was a must. I had heard that sometimes you could see sharks or even hold an octopus on your hand if you got lucky enough. I wanted to do some hiking near the volcanoes if we had time. All the spam was going to be strange, but as much as they cook with it, I bet they were able to make it taste like a delicacy.

They were in the process of building a new aquarium. It looked like it was going to be a huge one. Sadly, it did not look like it would be done in time for us to check it out. The black sands beach looked incredible, though. Instead of sand, it said that the whole beach was covered in smooth black lava rocks. We would definitely have to make a stop there.

“Ethan! Do you want salsa on your tacos? Chicken or steak?”

I put my phone away and looked at the meats before responding and did so to the guy who was making them as he finished up my wife’s two glorious looking tacos.

“I’ll take one of both with some of that green salsa. Thank you!”

All the free tacos that you could eat, why couldn’t life always be like that?

“Let’s sit over there by the side, so we can watch the takeoff,” Harper said, before taking a big sip of her frozen coffee.

We took a seat and took in the last sight of land that we would see for about 4 days. Once we arrived, we would tour the different islands, stopping at each port and having a day to explore. There were some people on land waving towards the ship. We joined many others who were near the side waving back. I couldn’t help but feel bad for all of those poor people stuck on the land.

“Bon Voyage to us, I guess.”

I held up my coffee for a cheers, and Harper returned the gesture. Her face was glowing. I couldn’t remember seeing her so happy since the day of our wedding.

“This is really going to be a nice break from reality.” She said as she picked up her taco to take her first bite.

“Yeah, it will. Nothing like this in the world.”

We took our time, enjoying each bite as our view of the coastline became a thing of the past. When we were finished, we looked into each other’s eyes. I reached across the table to hold her hand. She sounded a bit anxious as she spoke.

“It is a lot to take in, isn’t it? There is so much to do that I’m afraid of missing out on something. Where should we go first?”

I squeezed her hand and spoke in a reassuring tone.

“We have plenty of time to take it all in. Let’s just make sure to relax and do whatever makes us happy. It will all work itself out.”

Once we had our fill of gazing into the ocean, we decided that we would head back to the room and get unpacked, while we waited for the safety orientation. The time flew by, and before we knew it, they were calling our section over the loudspeaker.

We arrived with all the other passengers and waited for a moment until the crew member made it so we could begin. They gave us the spiel about the life jackets. They explained how the evacuation process works in case of a problem and let us hear a sample of the siren that would be played if there was an emergency.

I was zoning out and staring out of the window. We were near the bottom of the ship, and you could see the water moving beside us. It put me in a bit of a trance, and I kind of lost myself in it for a moment. I was snapped out of it when I saw something I couldn’t quite comprehend.

It happened pretty fast, and most of the people were looking at the crew member as he spoke. I could have been mistaking, but It looked like a giant tentacle had moved by the window and curled out of sight.

I looked around to see if anyone else had seen what I thought I just saw. There was a teenaged boy who looked excited and shocked. He was tugging at his father’s sleeve and explaining something to him. He seemed to brush him off and looked frustrated at the interruption. Everyone else was paying attention to the speech and had apparently not seen a thing.

Harper noticed how shaken I was and asked me quietly if everything was alright. I shook it off and said I would tell her about it later. We sat through the rest of the orientation. Nothing else went by the window, other than the waves being made by the ship.

As we arrived back on the deck, we were grabbing a drink from the tiki-themed bar. Harper chose one of those blue drinks with the little umbrella on top. After what I had seen, I opted for a straight glass of their best scotch. I had explained my story to her, and she was busy trying to figure out what it could have been that I saw.

“So, you’re sure it was all the way up by the window? Even at that lower level, that must be pretty high up from the water. Maybe it was something that crawled up the side, and it just seemed like it was larger because of forced-perspective?”

I took a big sip of my scotch and shook my head in confusion.

“Yeah, I mean, maybe. I really don’t know.”

She looked as if a light bulb went off in her head, and she shot back a smart remark.

“You’ve been reading a bunch of that H. P. Lovecraft stuff again, haven’t you? I’m sure it wasn’t Cthulhu if that’s what you are thinking.”

I laughed and felt my tension release.

“No, it’s not that. I just thought it was weird, that’s all. Enough about that, let’s figure out what we’re going to do until the formal dinner and play tonight.”

She responded with a grin.

“I seem to remember someone mentioning the arcade and the casino.”

I must have looked like a kid on Christmas morning because she burst out laughing. We finished our drinks and made our way past the large screen that was now cycling through reminders of all the different events that you could attend. Night club, comedy club, it seemed like there was no end to the number of things you could do on this ship.

We walked through the casino that was already bustling with cruise-goers. It looked like a good time. They even had versions of those toy cranes that were set up to pick up huge wads of cash. That might be the next stop, but I had my eyes set on the zombie shooter game with two green guns. The arcade was right past the casino and was full of all kinds of games to keep us entertained.

Not as many people were eager to jump straight for the arcade apparently. Harper and I had the whole place to ourselves. I went to the coin machine to get out some tokens. There was a door that read “Staff Only” right by the machine. I heard a loud slamming noise that caught my attention, even over the music that was playing in the arcade. I leaned in a little and heard a heated conversation on the other side.

“This is so fucked up. I can’t believe that they got loose. They need to tell all of the people!”

“Can you imagine the chaos that would cause? I get where you are coming from, trust me. It’s better this way, though.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right… People would be going crazy.”

The door opened, and I jumped as I was still leaning in to eavesdrop. This must have been apparent to the two kids who walked out because they looked a bit frightened and then hurried right past me. I grabbed the tokens out of the machine and walked over to the machine where my wife was waiting.

“You look like you just saw a ghost or something. Don’t tell me some fish people are walking around on board now.”

I couldn’t even fake a laugh or smile. I explained what I had just heard as I put the coins into the machine and started up the game. She did not seem concerned about the new development.

“They could have been talking about a mechanical issue or something. Try not to worry too much. We deserve to have the time of our lives on this trip. I don’t want you to start to obsess on this and lose sight of why we are here.”

I shrugged at this and answered in a resigned tone.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Worrying isn’t going to fix anything anyway. Could you please start taking out some of these zombies, though? I’m carrying the whole game over here. You have a power-up to use, hit the red button.”

She smacked me with the gun for talking trash, but the mood felt much lighter after that. Before long, we grew tired of the arcade and decided to play a few games at the casino. I have never been the best card player, and she was no better than me. This being the case, we opted for the giant money claw machine.

I swear that both of us grabbed a stack a handful of times each. The claw would never hold its grip, though. Feeling more than a little bit scammed, we decided to blow a bit of time at the slots until we had to go get ready for dinner. As soon as we sat down, the person who went on the money claw right behind us exclaimed loudly as the machine lit up and started to make a loud ringing noise. I looked over to Harper and gestured towards him.

“That seems about right, huh? We pump fifty dollars into that thing, and he walks away with a jackpot after one.”

“Such is life.” She responded as she pumped some tokens into the slot machine.

I couldn’t help but hear two guys on some machines behind us, as they were beginning to get a bit rowdy with each other.

“You tryin’ to say I don’t know what I saw man?”

His friend responded quickly.

“No, no, no, man. I’m not trying to say you’re seeing things or whatever else. I’m just saying that it’s crazy. There is no way it can be right!”

After this, the first man shot up out of his seat, knocking over his stool as he did. This caused quite the scene, and many people were starting to gaze in the direction now.

“Yeah, that’s alright. You think whatever the hell you want. I’m gonna go find someone to talk to about it right now!”

He stormed off, leaving his friend looking a bit shell-shocked and embarrassed. Harper looked toward me, and as if reading her mind, I pushed my seat back away from the machine.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here. We need to get ready for dinner.”

She raised her eyebrows in surprise at what we had just witnessed and responded.

“Sounds good to me. I haven’t won anything anyway. Let’s go.”

I looked back towards the guy’s friend, who he left standing there. After considering it for a moment, I leaned in towards my wife.

“You go ahead, I’ll catch up with you in just a second.”

She looked a bit frustrated but did not fight it.

“Hurry up, I want to make sure we get a good seat. It’s going to take us a while to get ready.”

She kissed me on the cheek and took off towards the deck, which led over towards the cabins. I walked up towards the man who was about to walk off before I caught his attention.

“Excuse me, sir? I overheard you and your friend. What was it that he thinks he saw?”

He looked at me warily. It was clear that he really didn’t want to discuss the matter.

“Look, he’s usually not like that, you know? I don’t know what’s gotten into him, honestly.”

I shook my head. He obviously didn’t understand why I was asking.

“No, I saw something strange as well. I’m not trying to say your friend is going crazy at all. I was just wondering what it is that he was saying he saw.”

This seemed to unnerve him more than help calm his nerves. He looked around to make sure nobody was listening in.

“Man, he was saying that he saw a giant fucking octopus, bro. Like, 30 feet long or so is how he was describing it. It’s ridiculous, there is no way they would allow something like that on one of these ships.”

My heart dropped all the way to my feet. I covered my mouth, and I think he could tell by my reaction that what he said had rocked me to the core. I stammered and managed a weak reply as horror rushed through my body.

“I..I… On the boat??”

He nodded and looked at me with the same type of concern he had been showing to his friend. My face must have been as white as a sheet at this point.

“Thanks.”

I took off out of the door, in a huge rush to catch up with Harper. I was looking around in a panic, my heart racing and ready to beat right out of my chest. I was about to just take off to the room when I heard Harper’s voice.

“Ethan! Over here, I grabbed some hot tea.”

I saw her over by the edge of the deck, waving me over. I ran up to her and could hardly focus.

“I thought you needed something to help you relax, and it looks like I was right. What are you freaking out about right now?”

I tried to collect my thoughts and was going to respond when she pointed behind me and cut me off.

“Hey, isn’t that the guy that was just going nuts in the casino?”

I turned around, and the man was being dragged towards a door that was marked “Employees Only”. Two larger deckhands were pulling him that way, each with a tight grip on one of his arms. He was fighting hard to try and break their hold and calling out for help. As they made it through the door with the man, I grabbed Harper by the shoulders and looked into her eyes.

“We have to go. Let’s get to the room, I don’t want to explain out here.”

She nodded, and we made our way towards the cabins. Once we were in our own cabin, she put down the hot teas on our dresser and walked right up to me with an exasperated look on her face.

“Babe, what in the heck is going on right now? This isn’t about the freaking tentacle that you saw out the window, is it?”

I looked shiftily around the room and towards our view of the ocean.

“Yes… I mean, no… Well, not really, anyway.”

“You have got to calm down. Just take a deep breath and explain.”

I did as she suggested and took a long deep breath to collect my thoughts. I told her about what the guy’s friend had said back at the casino. She made the connection between this and the man being dragged off the deck against his will. I also explained what I heard from the crew members when we were at the arcade. I could tell she was beginning to take what I was saying seriously.

I looked off into a corner as I made a connection. It seemed like a bit of a stretch to me, but it was the only thing I could think of. I know that she wouldn’t judge me at this point if it sounded a bit outlandish. After thinking it over for a moment, I decided to tell her what I was thinking.

“When I was looking for things to do in Honolulu earlier, there was an advertisement for a new aquarium that was coming soon. One of the main attractions was that they were going to have a bunch of Giant Pacific Octopi.

I didn’t think about it until now, but what if that is what is on this ship? Let me google it really quick, I had never heard of that type of octopus, so I didn’t think much of it.”

I got the search pulled up and nodded in a cold understanding before continuing.

“This is exactly what that guy was describing. I don’t know why they would use a cruise ship to deliver something like that. It’s the only thing that makes any sense right now, though.”

Harper was looking at the google search thoughtfully and responded.

“I mean, I guess that these were two of the hardest-hit economies during the pandemic, tourism, and cruise ships. It makes some kind of twisted sense that they would come together to try and help each other out. Octopi are known to be very mischievous, even when they aren’t the size of a freaking semi-trailer.”

She made a good point. Nothing had really made sense for a few years now with how crazy the world had been. This made as much sense as anything else when it was put into perspective. I just shook my head in amazement and looked towards her.

“Well, what do we do from here?”

“I know this is crazy, but I’m sure they will have a handle on those things. They would not have arranged to have them on board and not prepared for the possibility that they could escape.

I say we get ready and go to dinner as we had planned. We don’t want to spend our whole 10th-anniversary cruise holed-up in the cabin. Even if all this crazy guesswork is correct, and that is what the guy from the casino saw, I’m sure that they have everything under control.”

I pressed my fingers against my eyes and tried to wrap my mind around everything. I may have been scared out of my mind, but she was right. Our best bet was to hope that it was all under control and at least try to enjoy our time on the ship. This was not going to happen again anytime soon, if ever.

“Yeah. Let’s do that, I agree. Let’s just get dressed and try to have a good time. I’m sure if it was too bad, everyone would be on lockdown or something.”

She brightened up a bit with my saying this. We both went into our luggage and began to start the process of getting changed into our formal dining attire. Before long, I was tying the knot in my tie, and she was putting the final touches on her hair. I walked up behind her in the mirror and held her by the shoulders.

“You look incredible. Let’s go and have the time of our lives.”

She gave me a big smile, and I pulled her in for a kiss. I backed up and held out my arm towards her. As she grabbed onto it, we made our way for the door.

The formal dining room was the most luxurious area on the ship by far. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling. There were large wine racks along many of the walls, and the entire dining room was walled in by the most beautiful windows that I had ever seen. There was an ornate window on the ceiling as well. It was just beginning to get dark, and I was sure that soon we would be able to see the stars all across the sky.

The waiter walked up and asked what we would like to drink. He was dressed in a black vest with a bow tie and a white shirt. I told him that we would take a bottle of wine that he recommended. I also asked him to give me a recommendation for my meal. Once Harper heard his suggestion of parmesan encrusted lamb with asparagus, she decided that she would follow suit.

He brought out some bread with olive oil as a complimentary appetizer to go with our wine. As he poured our first glasses and set the bottle down, I grabbed my glass of wine and held it up toward my beautiful wife. She looked every bit as lovely as the day of our wedding, and I was flooded with a flurry of emotions as I said my toast.

“Here is to 10 amazing years. Every one of them has been an adventure, and I look forward to every year that I’ll be lucky enough to spend with you as we continue that adventure.”

She smiled and blushed ever so slightly as she reached her glass to clink off of mine. We both took a sip, and she responded in a relieved manner.

“That’s the spirit, it is starting to actually feel like a relaxing vacation.”

“Hey, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? It’s so nice to have a break from work, housework, and all the monotony of the day-to-day. We make a pretty good team through all of that drudgery, though. Don’t you think?”

Suddenly, I saw the smile get wiped from her face. The look that crept onto her face was one of sheer terror. Her glass of wine had been in her hand. When her face went from delight to horror, she tossed it on the ground with a crash. A scream came from deep within her, which was blood-curdling and intimated that absolute ruin was imminent.

I turned toward the spot that she was staring at. I understood all at once the doom that awaited all of us in the dining room. A giant octopus came crashing through the windows near the entrance where we all had arrived, knocking over the many racks of wine as it came and turning the floor as red as blood. Seemingly at the same time, another came from the side closest to the ocean and blocked the only other way out of the dining room into the kitchen.

I grabbed Harper’s arm, and we ran toward the corner as far from the beasts as we could manage. It was pandemonium as the whole dining room erupted into turmoil. I flipped a circle table up against the corner so that Harper and I could try to hide behind it for protection.

I saw one man who ran as fast as he could towards a small opening next to the octopus, who was blocking the main entrance. The creature reached a giant tentacle out for him and pulled him into his beak. There were shrieking howls of pain, unlike anything I have ever heard as blood sprayed out from underneath.

A couple of people were able to dart around as the octopus was distracted. Another unfortunate lady was grabbed by one of the spare tentacles, though. He squeezed her around the throat, and we had to watch as her face turned purple. Eventually, the life was squeezed right from her body.

I held Harper tight as she was sobbing like mad and unable to stop her body from shaking. We saw an opening. The one by the front entrance went toward a group of people on the opposite side of the room. As soon as it did, we bolted for the door. As we drew near, another octopus came crashing through the window on the ceiling, crushing a few unfortunate souls as it joined in the massacre. We kept running until we were well onto the deck.

The chaos did not stop in the dining room. People were running like mad all over the deck. I didn’t know where we would be safe, but I thought that maybe we could lock ourselves in our cabin until we could be rescued from this madness. It was a nice thought, but as we went for the doors, another one of those damn things came down to block our way.

We ran for the area in front of the drive-in style screen where Re-Animator was playing. A man was gibbering to himself in a wild manner and hiding behind a chair. As we drew near, I noticed a tear in the screen as another one came through and snatched the man up as he yelled out for help.

Our options for safety were becoming extremely limited. We ran for the bar where we jumped over the top and hid with a large group of people, peaking over to watch it all unfold. That was when we saw what I knew would be the end of us all. There was an army of them descending upon us. I held Harper tight as we waited on the inevitable.

I watched as a family of three were huddling together in the middle of the deck. They were almost surrounded, but the father pushed the mother and child toward an opening so that they could make it to safety with the rest of us. He let out a guttural cry as they ripped him to shreds. His little girl cried in a high-pitched squeal reaching for him until the mother grabbed her and ran towards us.

The mother was getting close when one of the monstrous creatures came hurtling behind her. As she noticed, she reached out with her daughter. I leaned out over the bar and grabbed onto her as the octopus reached the mother and held her tightly. I was pulling my hardest as the mother was holding on tight, and I hoped that they both might be saved.

I was punching and pulling at the tentacles and doing my best to cause him to let the mother go. She released her daughter, and the others brought her down behind the bar. I wouldn’t let go of her mother’s arms as she cried out in distress.

That was when I heard it. It was the deepest and most powerful sound that I have ever heard. It shook the ship violently. The bottles of liquor and glasses were falling all around us. It was hard to describe the immense strength and power that the sound exhibited all around us. When the sound came, though, something strange began to happen.

The octopus that held the child’s mother released her, and we pulled her behind the bar with us quickly. She fell to her daughter and clutched her tightly as they wept in each other’s arms. All of the creatures began to release the people that they were attacking. They were moving in unison towards the edges of the ship. They crawled over the side, and one by one, they made their way into the ocean.

Once all the monsters had left the ship, the people made their way slowly to the side to see what was happening. For some reason, they were all leaving. As quickly as they had descended upon us, they left us. It appeared to be almost in a synchronized manner. They all were swimming in the same direction, and we watched in disbelief. Nobody aboard this ship would ever be the same if they made it out alive, but many of us were saved by what could only be described as a call. A call that came from something massive, much larger than the creatures that had plagued us. It was a call that came from deep within the ocean and was more monstrous than anything that we could have ever imagined.

The Bunker – Available Now!

I forgot to do a post on the blog for release day on the 26th. My first novella is available now, though! I would love to hear what you think of it, so if you do get a copy please give me your honest feedback. I will put the synopsis below as well as the link to Amazon. It is available on Kindle Unlimited, Kindle Ebook ($2.99), & Paperback ($6.99).

A young girl named Madison has been trapped in an underground bunker with her 6 sisters for her entire life. She is starting to understand that things are not as peachy as their mother would have it seem.

Their mother confines them under the guise of religious fervor and zeal and would have them believe there is nothing but vile sinners in the outer world. Madison and her favorite sister Abigail will soon find that this is not quite the case and will venture together into the unknown world that awaits them outside the bunker’s surface.

Jacob and Ronald have a dog in this fight as well. The nefarious goings on in the small town of Fern Hollow, Texas have a far reach and they have grabbed them both in a vice grip.

Ronald has felt the crushing oppression of the town when something terrible happened to his young daughter. Jacob is from Fern Hollow but could not be further from the likes of any of its inhabitants.

The extent of the town’s deception runs further than many who live as close as the next town over would be able to believe. If a breath remains among those who have been affected by the tragedies, the fight will continue.

Journey on and see if you can fight through with them and discover all the secrets that are waiting for you in The Bunker.

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Halloween Night

The portrait of Bob Marley was becoming hazy behind the smoke that was filling the room. I was beginning to zone out when I felt Mario tap me on the shoulder. He held out the bong and the lighter and was blowing huge smoke rings while filling them with smaller ones. I was grabbing them from him when Tim suggested a plan for the night.

“Dudes! What do y’all think about going to the Haunted Circus tonight? I’ve been hearing some crazy shit about that place. It’s Halloween. I don’t want to spend it cooped up in this place.”

Mario responded as I took my turn in the rotation.

“Yeah, man. That sounds like a good time. Unless Steve here is gonna wuss out on us.”

Mario slapped me lightly on the back as he mentioned my name. I blew out a cloud and passed it on to Tim.

“Nah, that sounds like a blast, man. I have been hearing good things about that place as well.”

Tim took his turn on the bong and then set it down with the lighter on his coffee table. He pulled out the keys to his dad’s Lexus and dangled them like a trophy.

“Well, let’s get goin’ then.”

Mario looked a bit paler than he did before the keys came out. Tim noticed and mocked him for it.

“Ah, what’s wrong, bro? You didn’t think I had a way to get there, or what?”

We laughed for a moment before Mario joined in himself.

“Nah, it’s gonna be fun. I’ve just never been to one before, that’s all.”

I reassured him as we began to get up and head for the door.

“There’s nothing to worry about, man. I have been to a few. You just gotta remember that it’s all a show. Most of the time, they aren’t even allowed to touch you. Not sure if this one is like that or not.”

Tim laid it on thick as we made it out the front door.

“They’re not allowed to touch you. Unless they’re ripping your guts out or bashing your brains in. Otherwise, touching is totally off-limits.”

Mario punched him in the arm as he hopped in the passenger seat. I slid into the back, and Tommy took the driver’s seat and started her up. His dad loved that car, so either this Haunted Circus must be a special occasion or Tim was using it without his knowledge. I think I knew which it was.

***

We made it to the haunt and pulled into the crowded parking lot. The lines were like nothing I’d ever seen. There were lines at the ATM, lines at the ticket booth, lines to get in, lines leading to the lines. I didn’t even know if we would be able to make it through before they closed.

Tim took out a fat stack of cash and flashed it at us when we made our way to the front of the line at the ticket booth. He smirked as he asked the lady at the front for three tickets as well as three fast passes to go with them.

Mario and I slapped a high five as we heard this. The last thing we wanted was to waste our buzz on a line that took hours to get through. As we began to make our way over to the line, we were interrupted by the cackling of a man dressed as a clown with a giant set of razor-sharp teeth.

We all jumped a bit, then quickly made fun of each other for doing so. The clown waved to us menacingly as we strolled past. We made our way up to the fast pass lane, and the guy taking the tickets was really hamming it up near the entrance.

“Step right up! Come one, come all! All those who enter can abandon hope and learn to cope. The Haunted Circus is not liable for any mental anguish or physical reactions resulting from the horrors that are contained within these cursed walls.

What awaits you boys is a dark carnival. One that’s so dark and demented Bradbury himself would become faint of heart at the sight of it. Now you boys don’t really think you’re ready for something this diabolical, do ya? Why don’t ya take yourselves back to the house and watch a little bit of Sesame Street with your mommies?”

We laughed at his insult and assured him we were ready for what awaited us. He put his hands on his hips and shook his head sullenly.

“Well, if you kids insist, then I guess I got no choice. You can’t come out on that other side and try to say I didn’t warn ya.”

He paused and looked behind us in shock before continuing.

“Well, it looks like we are ready to get things started.”

He stepped out of the way, and we slowly looked up and behind us in the direction that he was looking. Three of the most sinister-looking clowns were towering over us and holding giant hammers. We went barreling through the door as the clowns followed us slowly and deliberately.

The first stop was the maze of funhouse mirrors. When we turned the first corner, we were met with our reflections, only they were stretched in all kinds of strange ways. We stopped to marvel at this for a moment. Tim was getting a kick out of it.

“Haha, look guys! I’m a string bean, and Steve is an Oompa Loompa.”

Mario laughed and pointed until we saw the clowns approaching us again from behind.

“We got company! Let’s keep going.”

We found our way to the end of the mirror maze and were met with jump scares courtesy of two giant strong men who screamed at us then continued curling what appeared to be severed torsos while taunting us to come back for more.

The next section was one that looked like it was going to be a tight fit. There was a giant clown face with the middle teeth missing. It appeared to be the entrance, but it was low to the ground. We had to duck down to get in. We continued like this for a while and then reached an area that was tight from the sides.

“This must be the claustrophobia section.”

Mario said, looking a little bit flustered as he did. I noticed something that I found a bit unsettling as we began to waddle into the hall. A man was crawling through the section that we just went through. We continued through and eventually made it out of the tiny cramped spaces. As we did, the man came out just a little bit behind us.

He was staring at the three of us with a strange smile on his face. Not sick and demented, not like he was part of the act, just strange. We walked past some guys who were dressed up like they were part of the freak show, and I leaned in towards Mario and Tim.

“Guys, have you noticed that weird guy following behind us?”

Mario nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, he kind of looks like a creeper or something.”

Tim was dismissive.

“You guys are letting this place get to you. He probably just works here and has to make sure that people don’t get stuck in that claustrophobic part.”

I shook my head.

“Nah, man. I don’t think so. He doesn’t look like the rest of the staff people. They all have shirts with the logo.”

Tim waved me off.

“Yeah, ok. Well, maybe he just wanted to come to the haunt because he didn’t have anything better to do. I’m sure some people come to these things alone.”

2 girls dressed up as harlequins jumped out in front of the path scaring Mario back into my chest.

“Crap! Oh man, is this thing ever going to be over?”

He said in a whimper as we pushed past the high-pitched smack-talking girls. The man fell out of sight, so I began to convince myself that maybe Tim was right. I mean, they had to have someone walking with people through that part, didn’t they? How else would they make sure that everyone got through safely? I still felt a bit uneasy, but we became so engrossed in the haunt that eventually, it was the last thing on my mind.

We stepped outside to the sound of loud air cannons as a few clowns squirted us with water and taunted us as we walked by. A lion tamer was cracking a whip loudly over to the side and a squeaky old merry-go-round that was turning and playing unsettling music.

As we drew near to the exit, there was another large and imposing character. I almost couldn’t tell if he was real until at the last second, he jumped towards us, sending us fleeing around him. The exit was had curtains draped, and we couldn’t even see the final clowns who cranked up their chainsaws until they were right beside us.

This sent us running out into the parking lot while screaming and laughing with each other as we did. We were overjoyed and pumped with adrenaline. It was an incredible Halloween night and would definitely be one to remember.

We made our way over to the Lexus and hopped in. Tim cut the engine on and began to take off. The car bumped hard as it moved. Tim sighed and backed it up into the spot.

“Oh no, dude. That didn’t feel good.”

He hopped out and looked at the tires.

“Guys get out here! There’s something wrong.”

We undid our seat belts and began to get out of the doors. As we did, Tim was running around and looking at each tire. He was panicked. He grabbed his head and slammed it down onto the hood as he pulled on his hair.

I looked towards the tires to see what he was making such a fuss about. They had been slashed. It must have been a large knife because big flaps were hanging open on each of them where the hole was cut. I began to understand the gravity of the situation, and panic began to rise in my chest as well.

“What are we going to do, Tim? Your dad is going to lose his shit if he finds out we are in his car, and this happened!”

He shot up from the car and shoved me in frustration.

“You don’t think I know that?”

Mario spoke in a wavering voice, and he was pointing towards the woods that were near the parking lot.

“Guys… It’s that guy. The one that was following us in the haunt.”

My heart skipped a beat as I looked to where he was pointing. It was indeed the same man who was crawling close behind us in the claustrophobia section. He was standing there by the woods with that same strange smile. He held a large knife in his hand, but he made no motion. I made a call to action as we were all officially beginning to lose our shit.

“We gotta get help. I’m gonna call the cops, let’s head towards the front so we can try to find someone up there.”

I typed 911 into my phone and looked back to where the man had been standing.

“Guys, he’s gone.”

I shoved Tim to start running towards the front as I held up the phone to my ear. It wasn’t until we were halfway to the front that I realized that Mario wasn’t right behind me. I turned around and saw the man dragging Mario into the woods.

“911, what’s your emergency?

“No, no, no, no. Mario!!!”

“Ok, just calm down. We need to know what is happening so we can send someone to help you.”

I was crying now and trying to fight through my tears to make a coherent sentence.

“Th…The… The Haunted Circus. My friend, he just took my friend!”

The operator sighed.

“That haunted house? Are you calling me from inside of it and freaking out because you’re scared of the monsters?”

“No! My friend. A man took him into the woods. He slashed the tires on our car. We need police now!”

I was so pissed that she would imply I would call in such a state because of some actors in clown masks that I just hung up after this statement. I looked towards Tim, who was pushing to the front of the ticket line. He was frantically waving his arms around and pointing towards the woods.

I don’t know if it was the adrenaline if I was pissed from my phone call with 911, or it was just plain stupidity. Whatever it was, though, I took off running. I was running straight towards the forest. I had no way of defending myself and no idea what I was going to do when I got there.

I heard Tim calling from the ticket booth for me to come back and asking what the fuck I was doing. That didn’t stop me, though. I was barreling full speed ahead. I couldn’t let Mario die out there with that sicko. If he wanted to hurt my friend, he was going to have to take on the both of us.

I made it into the trees and had the flashlight of my phone on. I started to call out to the man angrily.

“Where are you, huh? You think you can just come and do this to us? I’m gonna find you, you freakin’ pervert. You better let Mario go, the cops are on their way, and everyone knows that you’re over here.”

I went deeper and deeper into the woods, but I couldn’t see or hear Mario anywhere. I was just about to go on another tirade when I felt a crack against the back of my head. Just as I felt it, everything went black, and I fell to the ground.

***

I woke up in a daze. There was dirt on my face. I shook it off and realized that my hands were bound in front of me, and something was tied around my mouth. I was surrounded by dirt walls, maybe 5 or 6 feet tall, with a plywood roof. I saw Mario bound up at the other end of the room and was excited for a brief moment.

I tried to let him know through my facial expressions that I was thrilled to see him. He was hardly able to keep his head up. There was only dim lighting from a gas lantern on the side of the room. As I was considering maneuvering onto my knees to shuffle over and check on Mario, the wood was moved from the top letting sunlight in.

Sunlight? How long had I been down here? As the wood was moved, leaves and sticks fell on Mario’s head. He hardly acknowledged it at all. The man who trapped us down here through a black trash bag in and made his way down before sliding the wood back over the top.

He held a bundle of aluminum foil in his hands, and he sat down cross-legged in the middle of the room. For a moment, he just sat there with that same smile that he had at the haunt. It wasn’t sinister, it wasn’t sexual in nature, it was just… off.

His gaze didn’t leave mine for what felt like an eternity. My stomach began to growl. The pangs of my hunger were beginning to manifest. I had been out for at least a day. I dare not think that it could have been longer than that.

He set the foil down and reached over to pull down whatever he had in my mouth. I thought about asking him something… or screaming… I even considered spitting in his face. I just sat there, though. I guess it was a mix of not knowing what to say or do and just plain being paralyzed with fear.

The man spoke. His voice was feeble, and there was an odd cadence to it.

“Hello, my boy. You must be hungry. You’ve been here all day, after all.”

Hearing him call me that set me off and helped me to break my silence.

“I’m not your fucken boy. What did you do to Mario? Why do you have us down here?”

He smiled and paused for just a few beats too long as he looked me in the eye.

“Eat, my boy. Eat.”

He opened the foil and presented me with what looked like some homemade barbecue. I was determined not to eat it. My resolve proved too weak as he dropped the meat covered in sticky sauce in front of me, though. I devoured it and was sucking the sauce off my fingers.

As I finished, I looked up and saw Mario looking at the empty wrapper longingly. I instantly felt terrible for not thinking of how hungry he must have been and saving him some. My thoughts were interrupted by our captor.

“Oh, don’t worry. Don’t worry my boy. I brought some for your friend here, though it is quite a bit more… fresh. Yes.”

He reached over for the trash bag that he had tossed in earlier and tore it open. Within the bag was the body of a dismembered young boy. The man grabbed the leg, which was cut off at the knee and shoved the bloody stump into Mario’s face while laughing in a disjointed and breathless manner.

“Eat, eat, eat, eat. Yum, yum, yum, yum.”

Mario was crying and turning his face away from the bloody stump. I began retching and vomiting violently as I realized what I had just eaten. I put my hands on my face as the level of danger that we were in was beginning to dawn on me.

Suddenly, we heard what sounded like a group of people approaching above. I looked up and saw the shock on the man’s face. He threw the bloody stump onto Mario’s lap and hopped up to his feet.

“Goodbye, boys… Until next time.”

He pushed the wood to the side and took off somewhere above. We could hear shouting in the distance. They were rapidly approaching our location. Within moments the whole piece of plywood was pulled back, and police officers were poking their heads over to see what was inside.

Their faces ranged from shocked and disgusted to concerned and empathetic. As I realized that we were saved, the tension left my body. I looked over to Mario, and he looked back at me with an empty stare. Blood was smeared across his mouth and cheeks, and his eyes were wet with tears.

***

At the hospital, they let Mario and me stay in the same room. Neither of us had been badly injured, so they figured there was no harm in letting us stay with each other for emotional support. We had been going over the events for hours and had finally reached a point when we had nothing left to say. Re-runs of game shows were playing on the TV in the room, and we both were just kind of zoning out for a second.

“Hey, guys.”

Tim’s voice came as the door creaked open. He approached us with his head down and looking guilty and disheartened.

“I’m grounded for the foreseeable future, but my dad said it was alright if I came to see you guys first.”

As he neared the edge of my bed and walked over between the two of us, I could see that his lip was quivering as he fought tears back.

“I just wanted to have a good time on Halloween. I… I never in a million years would have thought… I’m so sorry.”

Mario had the remote control that was attached to the bed by a chord in his hand. He swung it around and clocked Tim right in the nuts with it. Tim doubled over in pain but soon was laughing and punched Mario in the shoulder. Mario laughed and responded.

“Looks like we’re even now.”

I chimed in at this point as well.

“There was no way that you could have known what was going to happen, bro. Neither one of us blame you one bit.”

Tim appeared to loosen up a bit as I said this and picked his head up a little higher. He recounted what he had heard about the man who almost killed us.

“They said there were multiple disappearances that they will be linking to that guy. They weren’t able to catch him when he went running. He knew those woods like the back of his hand. I just wonder how long he has been doing this.

Since they couldn’t catch him. I don’t know if he will try to do it again. Skulking around in those woods and preying on innocent kids who are out trying to have a good time. I’m just so glad that you guys are ok.”

The door swung open as he said this. It was the staff bringing our lunch to us. As the lady pushed the table up to me and took off the lid, it took everything I had not to puke on the plate…

Barbecue… No, thank you…

Prophecies

I tried to act like it didn’t bother me that nobody believed what I saw. I had been doing my best to maintain my façade of indifference. It hurts when the ones that you love are obviously concerned about your well-being, though. Especially when you know damn well what it is that you saw.

“Honey? Are you still in your garage?”

My wife opened the door and began to walk towards me timidly. My garage was the place that I could come to get away when life was getting hard. This was definitely one of those times. I paused the slasher movie that I was watching and pressed my fingers against my eyes.

“Yeah, I’m still here.”

She walked over and grabbed me by the shoulders gently.

“I’ve been talking with your mother. We are worried about you.”

I put the controller down on the table and stood up, walking away from her in frustration.

“Worried about me? What do you mean? You make me feel like I shouldn’t have even told you anything.”

She looked dejected, and I could tell this wasn’t the reaction she was looking for.

“Well, you have been working a lot lately. You don’t think that maybe all the stress has just been getting to you? I was thinking that maybe you could take some time off. We could go to that theme park and get a hotel. You could take a whole week. It has been forever since you have had some time.”

I looked at her and rubbed the back of my head. I know that she meant well, but it was hard to not hide how offended I was.

“No. That’s ok. You just tell my mom that everything’s gonna be fine. I would just like a little bit of privacy if you don’t mind.”

“I really wish you would talk to me.”

I glared at her intensely for a second before relenting and looking away.

“That hasn’t worked out very well so far. I just want some time to myself, please.”

She looked as if she thought about persisting. After a moment, her shoulders slumped, and she admitted defeat.

“Ok, if you insist. At least come out of here to grab something to eat with me in a little bit. I don’t want you to stay shut up in here all night again.”

I sighed as I grabbed the remote and sat back in my spot.

“Yeah. Fine.”

She left me to it as I turned the movie back on. The screams came out through the speakers as the camp counselors dashed madly through the woods. I stared off into the corner and wondered how things had gotten to this point. Every day on my way to work, I drive by the same places. A few months ago, I started to see something.

At first, it was sporadically. Over time it became more and more frequent. I drive by the baseball field downtown on my way to the office. It’s one of many fun landmarks that I pass. The Zoo, the museum, during Christmas time, I even get to drive by the huge tree, which is always a treat. Lately, though, the baseball stadium has really stood out to me.

You see, I’ve been seeing this… thing. It’s always flying and hovering around the baseball field or perched on the top of it. Its body was enormous, about the size of a large man. It was unlike any natural being that I have ever seen in my life. The only thing stranger than its size was its massive wingspan. They were as long as a car from front to back, at least.

I tried plenty of times to pull over and get out my phone to snap a picture. Especially after I started to ask people about if they had seen it, and everyone started to treat me like I was crazy. It never worked, though. Any time I got close to getting a good picture, it would take off at an amazing speed that you wouldn’t believe unless you saw it yourself.

I laid back in my chair and watched the movie. I was trying to keep my mind off everything but failing miserably. I was dreading my drive to work the next morning. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep. It was a restless sleep full of nightmares. My teeth were falling out, a sign of insecurity. That was a recurring one, and I had looked it up after it wouldn’t go away recently. My wife and my mother were pointing and laughing at me. I woke up in a cold sweat the next morning to the sound of my wife’s voice.

“Babe, you fell asleep in the garage again. It’s time for you to get ready for work.”

I got ready quickly. It never took me more than 10-15 minutes or so. I grabbed a pop tart on my way out and gave my wife a kiss, apologizing for not making it to dinner. I got in my car and turned on my favorite podcast. It wasn’t long before I was taking the exit towards the street downtown that had plagued me for the last few months.

It was still fairly dark but beginning to brighten up. The traffic was moderate, not quite what it would be if I waited another 30 minutes to leave. I debated with myself about not even looking. When I got close, there was no stopping myself, though. I leaned forward and looked up, and sure enough, the thing was perched right above the left-field corner.

This was my chance. I was going to end all this crazy talk once and for all. I Pulled down an alleyway near the side of the field where it was. I parked the car near the side of the stadium and quickly took off my seatbelt. I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and was preparing to run out to the street and get the best picture that I could.

As I grabbed the door handle, I was interrupted by a loud slamming thud on the hood of my car. I threw my phone in fear and looked in front of me to see what caused the commotion. Staring right back at me were two shining red eyes. This was the closest that I have ever seen the creature. I was shaking with fear, but I studied him intently.

His figure was imposing and large. I could see now that he looked almost like a giant moth in the shape of a man. He made no motions towards me, and he didn’t move from the hood of my car. He just sat there, perched, and staring directly into my soul. After a moment, he spread his wings wide.

This snapped me out of the trance that I was in, and I reached over to grab my phone. As soon as I made this motion, he thrust himself upward and took off into the sky. I punched my steering wheel, screaming and cursing as I did. I leaned forward to put my head on the wheel, and I noticed something on the hood.

I grabbed my phone and threw the door open. As I reached the front of the car, I ran my hands over the area to make sure my eyes weren’t deceiving me. There were two large indentations on the hood of my car. Physical proof! I was overjoyed, which might sound strange as my vehicle would need to be repaired. This creature had eluded me for all this time, though. I was ecstatic to have something, anything, to show my wife so that she could see that I was telling the truth.

I turned on the flash and took a few pictures of the dents. I made sure that I took it from enough different angles that you could really tell how substantial they were. Feverishly I began to type out a message to my wife and send the pictures. I finished the message and hit send, satisfied with the outcome of the encounter.

After a moment, I received a reply from my wife. She was shocked and confused. She begged that I don’t go to work and instead come straight home to go over what happened with her. I hate to miss work, but in these circumstances, I agreed and left straight from the alley to go home. It was a Saturday, so I was just going in to catch up on a few things, anyway.

When I made it back, she came out to look at the dents. She grabbed me tightly and apologized. I rubbed her back and held her close. After reassuring her that it was ok and that I forgave her, I insisted that we go inside to talk. We went into the breakfast area outside of the kitchen. I grabbed a cup of coffee out of the fresh pot and took a seat. She was looking concerned from across the table.

“So, you really have been seeing this thing? It must be huge, judging by the size of those marks on your hood. What could it be? I just don’t understand. I’m so sorry for doubting you. I just… It’s so unbelievable, isn’t it?”

I took a sip and looked at her reassuringly with a slight nod.

“It really is. I don’t blame you. I just wish I could have proved it to you earlier. I’m not sure where to go from here, though. A couple of giant dents in the hood of the car doesn’t exactly constitute enough evidence to go and get the police or any kind of authorities involved.

I supposed I could try to reach out to people online about it. If that goes badly, it could ruin my career, though. It just doesn’t seem like there is any right way to go about it. Maybe I should just start taking a different way to work?”

She shook her head slowly and held her hand towards her mouth. She was searching for an answer, but she was not having much luck finding one.

“I… I… I don’t know, sweetie. You’re right. I mean, you saw how your mother and I were reacting to your behavior. I don’t feel like posting it all over social media will do well for your public perception. Maybe there are investigators for this? Like a ghost hunter but for strange creatures?”

I got up to pour the rest of the coffee out and put the cup in the sink. I couldn’t handle any more nerves right now. Drinking caffeine was like a nervous twitch for me, but luckily, I thought better of it before I was 3 cups deep.

“Yeah, I assume that people like that might exist. I don’t know. We have the rest of the weekend to think it over. I’m going to head into the living room and try to relax. Maybe see if I can come up with any ideas. Thanks for your support.”

I walked over and kissed her on the head. Walking into the living room, I decided to sit back in my favorite recliner. Sometimes getting your mind off a problem can be the best way to come up with the right solution. I could do some research online in a little bit. For now, some TV surfing was just what the doc ordered.

After a few hours had passed, I saw that the pregame show was on for an afternoon baseball game. I always loved to watch my home team, so I flipped the channel over. It was strange seeing the stadium. They were playing a home game today. I wondered if the “Mothman” might make an appearance. Maybe he would swoop down and swipe up the power hitter for the other team. Who knows?

I felt bad for wondering this, even if in jest. Dark humor was how most people began to deal with messed up situations, though, right? The teams began to take the field, and the crowd was applauding. As the announcers were starting to introduce the players, something strange happened.

I saw what appeared to be the nose of a commercial airplane nosediving straight towards home plate. Within seconds there was an explosion and the screen cut to stand by.

“Babe! Come in here!!”

She came running, already on edge from the events of the morning. I explained what I had just seen on the game and changed the TV to our local news station. The reporters were a bit rattled, and the screen was covered in news flashes such as “Breaking News” and a rolling ticker about the event. The lead anchor was explaining the situation.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my solemn duty to report on what has just become one of the worst disasters in American history. A commercial airplane has crashed into the baseball stadium right here in the downtown area.

We are being told that the death toll could be in the thousands. The plane landed right in the center of the stands and is thought to have taken most of the players on both teams as well. We will go live to the outside of the stadium as soon as our correspondents make their way into position.”

I looked at my wife in disbelief and saw the same look on her face as well. After we were able to get past the initial shock of the situation, I said the first thing that came to my mind.

“He… It’s like he was trying to warn us… It’s like he knew what was going to happen, and he came like a harbinger of doom or something.”

She looked at me, shaking. As she began crying, I wrapped my arms around her and let the weight of the moment sink in.

Later that night, I was tearing through every forum and message board that I could. I was trying to find out as much as I could about this Mothman thing. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one in my city who noticed him before this disaster.

There was another time in a place called Point Pleasant when something similar to this happened. He came and was seen by people before the collapse of a bridge. When I made it back to the current sightings, I saw something that chilled me to the bone. The Mothman had been appearing in Washington D. C. today.

They said that the first sighting was a few hours after I saw him land on top of my car. He had been spotted on top of the Pentagon, the White House, and the Supreme Court. All on the same day. Dear God. Tell me it isn’t so…

Cover Reveal & Pre Order

Alright, the time has finally come! Check out the amazing cover for The Bunker by Mr. Michael Squid. Pre order your ebook copy now for $2.99. Paperback will be available for $6.99 on release date, October 26th!

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Unkindness

Big thanks to Crow ( https://www.instagram.com/unluckycr0w/ ) for the collaborative effort on this story. We tossed a bunch of different ideas around with each other, and I was really happy with the end result. I hope that you feel the same way! Enjoy the story of Corbin, a teen who has had a rough go at life. You know how the saying goes, “Hurt people hurt people.”

I walked up to the clearing out in front of the forest. Matthew and Jacob were walking up with their backpacks and sleeping bags. I held up a middle finger for them both and then cupped my hands while shouting in their direction.

“What’s up bitches?”

They both laughed and waited to get a bit closer before replying. Matthew was the first to reply, with his imposing Linebacker figure.

“Oh, right. We’re the bitches, huh?”

He gave me a smirk and slapped me on the back. Jacob chimed in as well.

“Yeah, Corny Corby, treating us like the punks. Ha!”

“Get it right, guys. I’m Carvin’ Corbin now.”

I moved my hand around like a snake before popping Jacob on the back of the head with it.

“Ouch!” Jacob exclaimed as he began to rub the area.

“That’s what the ladies call me while I’m riding my longboard in the streets.”

Matt laughed and got to the point, as Jacob shrugged it off.

“So, where’s this cabin at anyway?”

“It’s not a cabin in the woods, we’re not in a slasher movie or something. It’s a house. An abandoned house, sure. I checked it out, though. Everything is still in good enough condition for us to crash in it for the night. There weren’t any wild animals inside, and it wasn’t too destroyed by whoever else partied there before.

It’s a pretty good hike down this trail right here, but it’s pretty cool too. I’ve seen a pack of coyotes over to the side before. I think it might have been their den because they were all just kind of hanging out right there by it.”

Jacob gave me the side-eye and seemed apprehensive.

“So, there’s a bunch of coyotes right by the house that we’re going to? Don’t they, like, gang up and tear people to shreds?”

“Nah, man. The coyotes aren’t anything to worry about. Keep your eyes peeled, though. There are dangerous things all throughout these woods. That’s for sure.”

I waved for them to follow my lead, and we began to make our way down the trail.

The trails were cleared well, and there was plenty to see on the way. We passed a stream of running water that passed under the natural bridge we were walking on. Plenty of rabbits and squirrels were running about along either side of us. At one point, we actually saw a hawk swoop down and snatch one of the squirrels.

As we passed the area where the coyotes made their den, I pointed it out and explained what it was. The guys seemed to not believe me since there was not much of a sign of them. I took the chance to ham it up a bit and set the mood for a night of fun.

“No really, they were right over there. They’re probably out hunting or something. In fact… Jacob! Watch out!”

I pretended to duck out of the way and pointed in the distance behind him. He let out a loud screech that had Matt laughing.

“Aw, come on, man. You really let him get you with that one?

Jacob pushed me on the shoulder and shrugged it off, laughing himself as he did.

“Whatever, man. Wild animals give me the creeps. Wolves, Coyotes, they’re all the same to me.”

It wasn’t much longer before we reached the house. When we arrived, I noticed that there were about 5 or 6 ravens on the roof. I pointed them out to the guys.

“Look, it’s an unkindness of ravens.”

They both busted out laughing. Matt looked at me crazy.

“What did you call them? Were the ravens mean to you, or what?”

I opened the front door and answered his question as I showed them into the living room.

“An unkindness, it’s the term for a group of ravens. You know, like a murder of crows?”

Jacob tossed his sleeping bag on the ground and spoke in a mocking tone.

“Riiiiight, like that’s just common knowledge or something.”

Matt tossed his to the ground as well and looked around the living room.

“So, this is where we’ll be staying, huh? I guess it could have been worse. You have some beer, right?”

I smirked and made my way towards the kitchen. It was connected to the living room with a bar area that probably looked much nicer in years before but now was in disrepair. I ducked behind it and came back up with two cases of light beer. This elicited some celebration from the two. That celebrating was doubled when I reached down again and came up with two bottles of rum that were so potent you could light the stuff on fire.

I poured three shots and lit them one by one with my lighter. The guys had dropped their backpacks and rushed over toward the flaming shot glasses. They were about to take them straight up, flame and all. I entertained the idea of just letting them but couldn’t bring myself to let it happen.

“Guys, guys, guys! Seriously? Come on, now.”

I busted out three glasses and filled them halfway with beer.

“On the count of three. Drop it in and chug. Let’s get this party started in style. 1… 2… 3!”

The shots went in the glasses and extinguished. We lifted them up and emptied the contents, slamming our glasses on the counter as we did. I patted each of them on the back as we finished.

“You guys go ahead and get set up. I’m gonna go upstairs to grab a few things that I left and drain the lizard.”

I turned on a few of the gas lanterns that I had set up around the living room and kitchen, as it was going to be dark soon. I grabbed one before heading into the other room and cut it on. As I made it to the stairs and got about halfway up, I stopped to make sure I wasn’t being followed. Being sure that they were nowhere behind me, I pressed on the wall that revealed a small room to the side of the stairs.

I ducked in and closed the door behind me. I had to crouch to fit in the space, but I walked my way over to the side that was closest to the living room. As I did, I set the lantern down and leaned in towards a hole that gave me a perfect view of the two jerkoffs that I invited for this night of redemption.

I saw them rummaging through their backpacks and talking to each other. Matt laughed as he pulled out a large mason jar full of brown and watery contents.

“I’ve got something special saved up for that little fucker.”

Jason pushed his shoulder as he cackled and grabbed a mason jar of his own. Jacob’s was full of an amber-like dark yellow colored liquid.

“Yeah, I got my part of it as well. Jesus, man. You need to lay off the tacos and hot sauce, huh?”

“Haha, I took some laxatives to make sure it was extra raunchy. You, on the other hand, look like you haven’t had any water in a year! What the hell, man. Is that piss brown?”

Jacob laughed again as he shoved it back into his backpack, and Matt did the same with his.

“Hey, it all works for the best. Like your saying, even better for the live stream, right?”

I smirked to myself. How stupid did these two jock assholes think that I was? I knew without a doubt that if I invited them out for a night somewhere secluded that they would plan some devious crap like this. That didn’t matter to me, though. They were playing right into my hand. Just giving me even more of a reason to follow through with what must be done.

I picked up the lantern and checked my own backpack. All of its contents were still untouched and intact. I grabbed it and my sleeping bag that was beside it. I snuck out of the secret compartment and went back down the stairs. I walked into the living room, and they looked towards me shiftily as they pushed their backpacks to the side.

“I’m back, ladies! Don’t look so excited. Anyways, I brought some party favors.”

I threw my sleeping bag to the floor and reached into the backpack. With a goofy smile on, I pulled out a baggie with three fat blunts rolled up and ready to go. Taking out the biggest one I shoved it into my mouth and sparked it up. As the cherry blazed, I puffed to ensure it stayed ablaze and tossed the lighter and the baggie over to Jacob.

“Smoke up, chumps. We got a long night of scary stories and fuckery ahead of us.”

Matt laughed while lighting his up.

“Oh yeah, you have no idea.”

I let them have their fun as they laughed at my presumably ignorant self. This amused me, but I didn’t show it as I kept my backpack on, strapped tight, and walked over to the fireplace. I held the blunt in my mouth and began throwing some logs into the fireplace.

The smoke stream started to run into my eye. I hated it when that happened. I decided to set it up on the mantle as I finished. I placed a starter log at the bottom and lit it up with the long lighter that sat by the pile of wood. As I did, the starter log caught fire, and the rest of the wood slowly began to catch on as well.

While I was distracted with this, Jacob came up from behind me and grabbed my blunt off the mantle and placed it in his mouth beside his own. He puffed them both hard and then blew out a large plume of smoke while appealing to Matt.

“Look at me, I’m Jakey Two-Blunts.”

As he cackled in delight at what he thought was a hilarious joke, we heard howling from out in the woods. His face lost its humor, and he went slightly pale at the sound.

“Oh no, Jakey. It sounds like the coyotes came and found you.”

I snatched my blunt back from him and looked him intently in the eye. There was no hint of humor in my face, or my voice, as I said to him.

‘I already told you. The coyotes aren’t what you need to be afraid of.”

A beat passed of cold silence as I stared him right in the eye, then another one. After it lasted long enough for him to become uncomfortable, I smirked and took a drag of my blunt. I inhaled deeply and blew the smoke directly in his face. He shoved me on the shoulder as I was walking away, but I disregarded him as I took a seat by my sleeping bag. I looked up towards them and gestured towards their spots.

“Well, are you gentlemen ready for some scary stories?”

They looked incredulous but sat down in their spots.

“You think you’re going to be able to scare us or what?” Matt asked.

I tapped my blunt, letting the ash fall to the floor, and responded.

“Oh, I have some ideas.”

Jacob laughed and gave Matt a glance.

“Sure, why don’t you go ahead and try to scare the crap out of us.”

They both busted out laughing at this. Again, they thought I was none the wiser, and I made sure they kept that impression.

“Great. I think I know a good one to start with.”

I paused for a moment and looked at them. They were smoking and watching me intently, so I laid mine down and took it as my cue to begin.

“A long time ago, about 16 years or so, to be exact. There was a baby boy. That baby boy was left in this very house. Abandoned, crying, and all alone. Not a friend or family member in the world, no one who cared. The last bit of grace that the mother of the boy showed him was when she called the police anonymously so that he could at least be found and turned in to the foster system.”

I could tell their attention had been piqued. They leaned in towards me and showed great interest in my words.

“The boy grew up and did as best as he could, considering the circumstances. He put up with a lot of shit from bullies and assholes. But honestly, who didn’t at some point in their life? The worst part, though, was wondering why his mom would have left him there. He would wonder if there was any family that he could eventually meet, just to have some kind of a connection and not feel so alone in this fucked up world.

When he was 13, he had a glimmer of hope. He heard about a girl who was an orphan, a girl who had been left at an abandoned train yard in the same circumstances as him. The police were called, and she grew up in the system. She probably hoped for the same things as him, to meet someone who was family. To have someone that she was connected to, to help when times would get hard.”

I looked at the two bastards who thought they had lured me into a trap. They were beginning to look very drowsy and were nodding as I made sure they understood my connection before they inevitably passed out.

“Her name was Raven. You two might know her as the girl that you drove to killing herself five years ago. I don’t know if you meatheads have caught on to this by now, but that little boy was me. Raven was my sister. I was able to get the info from the foster home, and just as I was going to approach her about it, I heard the news of what you guys had done.”

As they realized what was happening, they tried to get to their feet, but they both plopped down hard on the ground. I shook my head and prepared to drag them to the center of the room.

“Storytime is over, boys.”

By the time they woke up, they were tied together tightly in the center of the room. They had slashes across their arms. On the ground beneath them, there was a pentagram. Following the ritual, this was painted in their own blood. To the side of them by the fireplace was a picture of my sister that I was never able to meet. I slapped them both hard as I circled them to make sure that they were awake, and I had their attention.

“You guys really thought that I didn’t know what you were up to, huh?”

They let out mumbling noises as I had rags tied tightly around both of their mouths. I picked up the jars that had been in their bags and presented them.

“Really? Pretty juvenile, if you ask me.”

I poured the jar of Matthew’s shit on top of Jacob’s head and did the same to Matt with Jacob’s piss. They squirmed around and let out squeals of disgust.

“Let’s get to the real business, though. The plan that I have been perfecting for 5 years now. You see, I knew that you two had no idea about my relation to Raven. So, I thought I would get close to you guys. At least close enough to one day catch you slipping like this.

I made sure that every detail was perfect. I knew I could drink or smoke either of you fools under the table without a problem, but I wasn’t going to leave it up to chance like that. Not like your sloppy plan that you hashed together after some drunken night of conspiring. That’s where the crushed sleeping pills came in to play. It was a pretty neat shot though, wasn’t it?”

I picked up the large knife that I had used to make the gashes in their arm and held it up towards them. I grabbed the large chalice made of bronze and made my way towards Jacob. He screamed a muffled scream as I approached.

“Time’s up guys, sorry that your shitty plan didn’t work.”

I slashed Jacob’s throat and let the blood pour out into the chalice. Matt was shaking and thrusting around in fear as I walked around to his side. It made no difference. I finished the deed by slicing his jugular as well and filled the chalice with the blood that dripped from his wound. I walked over to the fireplace, which had the picture of Raven right in front of it. I uttered the words that I had practiced so many times over those years.

“Ut mihi,

Soror mea haec et porcos.

Suscipe pro commutatione sanguis miseris in sanguine ex pura.”

As I finished the chant, I splashed the blood out into the fire. It swirled with a green blast that spun like a tornado in the chimney. The logs exploded into thick black ash that obscured my vision of the area. After a moment, the ash began to fade, and I saw her.

She was coughing on the ground, right next to her picture. I ran and helped her sit up and embraced her. She was confused and looked up to me as I backed away.

“Who are you? Where am I?”

“I’m your brother, I was so close to finding you a few years ago, and these two drove you to end your own life. So, I did them a favor and righted their wrong.”

She gasped as she saw the carnage in the center of the room.

“I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you, I guess? This is so much to take in all at once. What are you going to do with their bodies?”

I paused for a moment and considered her question. A slight smile forced its way onto my face as I answered.

“There’s a pack of coyotes that I think is ready for a good meal.”

Frigid

I had always heard about how beautiful Colorado was at this time of year. I guess that would be considered a subjective opinion. To a South Texas guy like me, braving these types of temperatures was anything but beautiful.

“Mark, are you still in there by the heater? Get your butt out here and eat some breakfast with the rest of us. We have a big day ahead!”

That was my wife, Cynthia. As you can tell, she is an absolute ray of sunshine in the mornings. I called back towards the opening of the tent.

“Right away, dear. We wouldn’t want your 5-star continental breakfast to get cold.”

“What was that?!” She shot back.

“Nothing, nothing. Be right there, love.”

I pulled on yet another layer of warm clothes, almost successfully recreating the look of the kid in A Christmas Story who can’t put his arms down. I took in one last moment of that sweet heater and made my way out of the tent with the others.

The view was incredible from the side of the mountain. We weren’t far up, but today we would be making our furthest push yet. I looked up at how far we had left to go and shuddered at the thought of it.

As I sat down next to Cynthia and our friends Josh and Christina, I was handed a big plate full of scrambled eggs and potatoes with a steaming hot coffee to go with it. I chuckled the way I do when I know I am about to get myself in trouble and glanced over towards Cynthia.

“You know, honey. When I said we could be a little more adventurous, I meant that maybe we could get some handcuffs or a new toy.”

She punched me hard in the arm, causing me to spill a bit of my fresh coffee but grinned all the same as Josh and Christina bust out laughing. They were used to my unique brand of humor, and it was not out of the ordinary for them.

Josh finished his last bit of eggs and looked up towards me, pointing with his fork.

“You think you got enough layers on there, Mark?”

I smiled at him and took a sip of my coffee before replying.

“Bite me! Not all of us have lived outside of the 100° humidity of the gulf coast in our lifetime.”

He laughed a bit before getting a bit more serious.

“Ok, ok. I get it, but you really might want to make yourself a bit more mobile. We have a pretty intense day of hiking ahead of us. You might not be so cold after we get moving.”

“Yeah, ok. Thanks, Dad. I’ll keep that in mind.” I fired back at him as I lifted my coffee, visibly shaking from the cold.

Christina and Cynthia stood up together and headed towards the tents to gather our supplies. After I was sure that they were out of direct earshot, I leaned in so I could question Josh privately.

“So, you’re sure that we’ll be fine right? I’m definitely not what you would consider an experienced hiker or even an outdoorsman for that matter.”

Josh grabbed me by the shoulder reassuringly and answered in a similarly hushed tone.

“Mark! You guys have nothing to worry about, buddy. Seriously. Christina and I have run through these trails dozens of times over the years when up here visiting family. I would not have invited you two to come unless I was 100% certain that we would make it up the trail with no problems.”

I took a big swig of the hot coffee and looked at him vaguely skeptically.

“If you say so, Josh. I think it’s about time to kick this pig. I’m freezing my butt off, and getting up and going might do me some good.”

“Ask A Ninja references, really?”

“Let’s go, let’s go. Times a-wastin’ my friend.”

With this, I scarfed down the rest of my breakfast, and we all began to pack up. It was not long before we had everything ready to go. We took off up the trail one behind the other with Josh and Cynthia in the lead.

The scenery was breathtaking, like something out of a movie. Mountains were all around us, and the snow was on top of the trees. You could take a picture and send it as a postcard. There was not a thing that could match it in the world.

As we rounded the corner, we saw a campsite up ahead. The tents were ripped at the sides and looked tattered. There was a smoldering fire, so there must have been people there recently if they were not still there. I caught up to Josh to see what he thought.

“You see those tents? It looks like they were attacked by some bears or something.”

His face was grim as he responded.

“It doesn’t look good. I’ll go ahead and check it out. You guys hang back for a minute but keep me in your eyesight. I will wave you over when I know that all is well.”

I remained silent but nodded. The 3 of us walked over to a good vantage point of the camp as Josh made his way up ahead. He was approaching a tent when I noticed a body on the ground and then another. There were red stains in the snow, the camp was a massacre.

“Josh! Wait!”

I yelled out as I went sprinting towards him.

He turned back towards me. As I pointed towards the bodies on the ground, I was cut short before I could explain. The sound of gunshots in multiple succession rang out. He grabbed at his torso, looking at me in terror as he fell to the ground.

I covered my mouth to keep myself from screaming and stopped my advancing movements. Christina let out the most pitiful and heart-wrenching sound that I had ever heard. Just as I was about to start running the other direction, I heard something that I could not comprehend.

“Shit! No, no, no, no. I’m so sorry. Oh my God, what have I done.”

There was a man whose face was as pale as the snow kneeling over the top of Josh’s motionless body. He held a gun at first, but he placed it on the ground next to Josh. He was clutching his face for a moment, but then as Christina wailed, he looked up in shock.

He saw me first and then looked past me to Christina and Cynthia. I saw the panic in his eyes as he looked at us and the body. He called out towards us.

“I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to do this.”

As he finished calling out to us, he stood upright and bolted in the opposite direction. I yelled at him.

“Wait! Come back!”

He did not look back once and turned a corner without another word. We all made our way over Josh’s body. He was motionless, and the snow was stained red beneath him. Christina sobbed while holding him and Cynthia held onto her trying to give whatever consolation she could.

I decided that I should check around the camp. I picked up the gun, which was just used on my best friend, and checked the magazine. The man had emptied the gun. I tossed it aside and steeled myself for the horrors I was about to witness.

There was a man face down next to the smoldering campfire. It appeared that his throat was slashed. A woman was a bit further from the camp, and she had a large knife sticking out of her back. I walked over to the other tent cautiously, making sure to approach from the side of the opening. As I drew near, I grabbed the flap from the side and slowly pulled it open, waiting to see if there was any noise from within.

As I pulled the flap open, I heard what sounded like a small child whimpering. I poked my head in front of the opening and saw a boy holding what I assumed was his dead mother and crying almost silently. He looked up at me in fear and spoke in a wavering voice.

“Please mister, don’t hurt me. My mommy needs help. You aren’t with the bad man, are you?”

I looked at his mother that had no color in her face and had multiple stab wounds in her stomach. I spoke to the boy in a calm and reassuring tone, although I, myself, felt anything but.

“Hey, little guy. Why don’t you come with my friends and me? We will take care of you and make sure that we bring some help back for your momma and everyone else, ok?”

He looked very wary of the offer and squeezed his mother tightly.

“Only if you promise you will get help for my mommy. She got hurt by the bad man, and she won’t wake up.”

“I promise, buddy. We will do everything we can.”

His eyes welled up with tears, and he held his mother for a moment longer. He then gave her a kiss on the cheek before getting up to come with me.

“Ok, I will come with you.”

He came to the opening of the tent and came close beside me. I patted him on the back and pointed in the direction of Christina and Cynthia.

“Let’s go over to them, that is my wife Cynthia, and our good friend Christina. She has someone who was hurt and needs help as well.”

I didn’t have the heart to try and explain what death was to the child. I definitely didn’t want to let him know that nobody who was lying cold in the snow or in a tent was coming back no matter how much help we got them. He had been through enough for now.

“Christina, Cynthia, this is…”

The boy chimed in with his name on cue.

“Lokin.”

“He was in that other tent, and I told him he could come with us to go and find some help.”

Cynthia answered as Christina was still beside herself over Josh.

“That sounds like a plan to me. I think we could all use a little bit of help right now.”

Christina spoke in a wavering tone as she continued looking down at her beloved husband.

“Yeah… Let’s get out of this place.”

She stood up, and we began to walk towards where we left our supplies at the vantage point to the side of the camp. Lokin’s little voice called out as he was running back towards his tent.

“I forgot my favorite toy. I’ll be right back.”

I was wary of this at first, but we were not going far, and there was nobody near the campsite. I kept an eye on him until he made it to the tent and then turned back towards our bags as we started to grab all of our stuff.

A high-pitched scream rang through the area as Lokin was running as fast as he could back to us. He had a superhero action figure in his hand, and he looked as distraught as when I had found him by his mother. As he made his way to us, he pointed back towards the camp.

“The bad man was there. When I came out of the tent, I saw him. He ran behind that cliff over there!”

I looked towards the camp without going any closer. I noticed that the knife had been removed from the back of the murdered woman. This was all the confirmation I needed.

“We need to run, let’s go!”

I picked up Lokin, and we all took off in the opposite direction. Luckily the killer had run uphill and left us a clear path to head back down the way we had come. We ran for as long as we were able to. We even made it past the sit of our previous camping area. Eventually, the weight of our gear became too much.

I set Lokin down and tried to catch my breath, and we all dropped our gear for a rest. There had been no sign of the killer since we left the site of the bloodbath. We were all exhausted, so it was a minute or so before anyone said a word. Christina was the first one to break the silence.

“I really need to go to the restroom. I don’t feel safe though. Can somebody please go with me over to those trees.”

I looked over toward the patch of trees and responded.

“I’ll go with you in case he is hiding in there somewhere. Cynthia, you stay here with Lokin and scream to us if you see anything. Try to call for the police. Hopefully, they can meet us at the bottom of the mountain.”

“Ok, you two be careful, though, please.”

I nodded back to her grimly and then kneeled down to reassure Lokin.

“We’ll be right back. Alright, buddy? Cynthia is going to keep a good eye on you while we are gone, ok?”

Lokin looked scared, but he nodded his head and held onto Christina’s hand. I led Christina over to the wooded area and looked around in. There was nobody within eyesight, so I let her know that she was good to go while I kept watch.

Not long after she began to go, I heard a scream that sounded like Cynthia followed by a high-pitched wailing, which was definitely Lokin.

“Shit! Let’s go.”

Christina quickly finished and pulled up her pants, and we took off in a mad dash to get to them. They were in the same spot as when we left, and Cynthia was on the ground with a hand pressed against her eye. Just about when we arrived, her arm went slack. Then, her whole body went limp. As soon as we got there, Lokin was talking a million miles a minute.

“The man came running back from the trail, and he stabbed Ms. Cynthia right in the eye. We were both so scared, and then he ran off into the trees on that side, right past where you guys just were!”

Lokin pointed a shaky finger toward an area almost directly by where Christina and I had just been. This man had just killed my wife. The time for running was over.

I told Christina to wait with the boy and the body of my dearly beloved wife. I took off with fury driving me every step of the way. I was running and running, and then I realized something right before I made it to the trees.

No footsteps were heading in this direction in the snow.

My blood ran cold as I turned back and screamed.

“Christina!!!”

She looked up in fear from Cynthia’s body, where she was kneeling on the ground. That’s when a tiny arm reached around from behind her holding a large bloody knife. Before she realized what was happening, Lokin had slit her throat from one side to the other.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I stood there in shock as I watched the last member of my group tumble to the ground in a heap. I ran towards them, not even sure of what I would do if I caught the little brat. He had disappeared by the time I made it to the bodies of Christina and Cynthia, and I didn’t have the strength to chase him even if he hadn’t.

I was overtaken with grief, regret, sorrow, and so many emotions that I almost hoped that the little demon would just come back and finish me off too. I crawled over to my Cynthia, and I collapsed on top of her.

When I made it to the bottom of the mountain, the police were not yet there. Cynthia never got the chance to call them, I was sure. Once I got them on the phone, it did not take them long at all to arrive. They warmed me up and took down my story. I was waiting with them so long that they found the guy who shot Josh at the beginning of all this madness.

He apologized over and over, but after what I had seen, I reassured him that I understood and that I did not blame him for what happened. Something he said confused me as he spoke about what happened at that site.

“That little boy just came out of nowhere. I don’t know what in the world possessed him to do something like that.”

I cocked my head up from the hot tea I was given by paramedics.

“That kid told me that he was there with his mom when we found him. Y’all aren’t family of his?”

“God no! I don’t know what kind of sick Michael Meyers thing that boy has going on, but none of us even had any kids. We were here on a couple’s trip, a lot like what it sounds like you guys were doing. I just hope they find him before he puts anyone else through this kind of tragedy.”

The football game was on, and his dad and a bunch of his friends were rowdy and drunk in the living room. His mom was getting some wings ready to bring to the coffee table. He waited around the corner until she brought them in and dashed to the drawer where they kept their knives.

He had washed it clean with the water hose in the back yard, and he snuck it in with plenty of time to spare before she made her way back into the kitchen. He beamed up at her with all the innocence of a boy his age. He didn’t show a hint of emotion regarding the things he had just done.

“Hey, mom!”

She leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

“Hi sweetie, did you have a good time with your friends?”

“Yeah it was alright, they were starting to get on my nerves though, so I decided not to stay the night.”

She patted him on the shoulder and responded in a tender tone.

“Well, that is just fine baby. You can always come home if you’re not having a good time.”

He shot her another toothy grin.

“Thanks, mom, I’m going to go play in my room.”

“Alright, sweetie. You do that.”

He held his superhero action figure that had accompanied him everywhere he had gone on that day. As he made it to the stairs, he stopped and turned back.

“Hey, Mom?”

“Yes, dear?”

He paused for a moment and looked as sincere as could be.

“I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too sweetie.”