The Dark Somnium - I Can See Strange Paranormal Things That Others Can't

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

This scary story is by Matt Dymerski and is part of his interconnected universe of stories. make sure to check out the authors pages and show them some support!https://mattdymerski.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The House Beyond the Edge. I've received more than a few questions about how I got into writing horror, and I've realized that perhaps the best answer is also a story itself. I had quite a few run-ins with the inexplicable when I was younger. I always loved scary stories and ate up any horror show I was allowed to watch. This later translated into a subtle disappointment and feeling of betrayal as I reached my teenage years without personally ever seeing anything terrifying. That changed when we moved.

We'd always lived on the East Coast, near the Appalachian Mountains. The mountains were blue on the horizon, and the land was hilly and massively forested. I grew up completely used to wandering the woods. It was all moderately civilized landscape. That was simply the nature of cities in the foothills. The Midwest was completely the opposite. The American Midwest, at least around here, could probably be characterized best as a dichotomy. Suburbs were built in tight formation with landscape lawns and pretty streets.

Meanwhile, right outside the outer circle of houses, drawn around the area like a wagon train circled for safety, there immediately began completely unkempt forest. In our neighborhood, we called that abrupt back end, the edge. Around the age of 14, we fancied ourselves far too old to be skimped. scared of anything, but that sudden divide between trim civilization and dark forest still fascinated and terrified us. There was a house back there, too, a mile or two back, left over from some past era. It was well known in the neighborhood as haunted.

Besides a purported aura of intense fear it gave off, its primary claim to fame was a strange sound that could only be heard while inside. We resolved to enter that house and figure out. and for all the mystery of that sound. It was seventh grade, and I, having just moved, was in a new school that I hated. My only friends were other outcasts. There was Hans, the German kid who spoke English with a thick accent, Chris, who was permanently sarcastic and annoying, and our token weird girl, Caitlin, who, according to rumor,

picked her nose often and once ate it. Miss Fits was an apt term for our group. And then there was me. too smart for my own good, just cool enough to know how cool I wasn't, and more than a little angry at life in general. I was every teenager ever, now that I think about it. We crept across the edge in the middle of the afternoon. We weren't stupid enough to try it at night.

Compared to my old home, the forest itself was different, too. Instead of massive old-growth trees with plenty of space underneath and a nice carpet of leaves, this forest was more moderate in height and much more tangled. This was not something a person could just walk around in. Worse, the middle of Ohio was rife with sudden sheer canyons for some ancient geological reason. Our parents had often regaled us with tales of the kids who had fell in and died one or two a year if their exaggerations were to be believed. So we crept through the tangled underbrush with double apprehension.

Passage was annoying enough. that once we reached the house, we could have given ourselves excuses and went home, but we didn't. This was, potentially, our ticket to some measure of popularity. The house sat at an odd angle, surrounded by slightly younger trees and thick undergrowth. Four holly trees flanked the front, two on each side of the main steps. The porch looked disturbingly like a mouth, and the front door sat ajar. We looked at each other for several minutes, daring one another to be the first. first until a sudden drizzle forced our collective hand.

We sought the porch for shelter from the surprise rain. Yeah, that makes this way less scary. Chris commented, gazing up at the wall of rain sliding down from the house's roof. The pattern of rain on leaves reminded me of home, but the accompanying gloom made the house that much darker. I peered in through the dusty front windows, but saw nothing. Caitlin peered in another window, apprehensive. Boys first.

Hans just frowned and pushed the front door. Surprisingly, it swung in without resistance or sound. The interior of the house sat like two dark plains above and below a dim haze of dust. The rain outside had the whole place pattering, creaking, and breathing. I was rather eloquent back then. This sucks. Nobody argued the point. We crept in at a snail's pace, testing each placed foot as if something might leap out at us at any moment.

Once all four of us were inside, Hans let the door swing silently shut, and we froze, listening. The ebb and flow of the rain blanketed us with a current of sound. We heard a creek upstairs, then came a creek near the dust-covered sofa in the room to our left, riding adrenaline. It almost seemed like a good idea to bolt. Before we made the collective decision to leave, there it was. It's like being at the movies. and the feeder next year starts rumbling and shaking.

Her description was the best way to put it. The house vibrated slightly, and a spike in the rumbling actually shook dust from the rafters above. Shaking my hand to get the dust out of my hair, I crept forward, following the rumble. The sound brought me to a gaping black door. Of course, the basement. Unhappily, we clustered around the stairs to the basement. Deeper gloom lit the base of the stairs, filtering through some of the small basement windows we'd seen from the outside. After you?

Making a face, I stepped carefully down, testing each wooden board. The structure itself seemed solid, even if I couldn't see it. I kept calm by telling myself they could see my silhouette against the basement's dim light and would get help if they saw me fall. I froze at the base of the stairs. The rumbling was louder here, like distant. thunder. I could feel a subtle vibration in my legs whenever the rolling murmur reached a crescendo. I noticed all that subconsciously, but it was what I saw that had me locked in place. Filtering swaths of dusty light fell through countless sharp objects.

Three pitchforks over here, old harvesting equipment with a roll of curved spines across from it, a damn bear trap on the wall, rusty shovels, hung machetes, every piece of ancient farm arm equipment imaginable lay around at unpredictable angles. A hand grabbed my shoulder. How's it look? Chris asked, hunched over against the cobwebs he'd pass through. He looked around. Oh, snikey.

He jumped as Caitlin bumped into him, and Hans came up behind her. This looks dangerous. I agreed, but I hated it here. In this city, the whole place. I wasn't about to let some creepy house scare me off, especially not when the danger was completely mundane, as always. I wanted to be scared, wanted to run from a ghost, and I'd always been let down. We'll just be careful, I said, moving forward.

This sounds closer here. Nobody ever said anything about this basement, so we know we're further than they've ever been. Let's leave. Takes this discovery. It's already good for us. Hans said, concerned. I looked back at him with a glare and shook my head. before moving forward again.

Caitlin moved past crisp and held onto my shoulder as I moved. It sounds like the ocean. Yeah, it does. I replied, wondering if that was significant. I carefully slid around a jagged series of tools that had fallen from a rotting shelf. But that whole aura of fear thing the other kids talk about, there's none of that. Just this basement full of rusted crap. Working their own way through the expansive, gloomy maze of rusty danger,

Hans and Chris followed the other side of the room, and then cut through the middle. Eventually, we all made it to the end of the basement, where the sound became quite loud. Fete. Hans said, holding up a hand. He pulled a bar from something on a nearby post and poked out at the floor. It fell away suddenly, a three or four foot gap appearing in the crumbling dirt and rock. The gap had been there already, just slightly less wide and invisible in the darkness. Now, with the edge crumbling away, we could barely see rain-filtered light down below,

and little gushing rivlets of rainwater working their way down what looked like a hundred-foot spillway. It's a cut-through to the gorge. I realized aloud, running through the nearby area's layout in my head. That's the sound. We're hearing the river. You think that kid that died fell into the river from here? Chris asked, snickering. I stared down the hole from as close. as I dared. Uneven, lined with boulders and steep drops, the sheer spillway seemed horribly lethal.

Yeah, man, he might have. Maybe he died in the fall and then was washed fully out by the rain sometime later. Chris fell silent at that prospect. Katelyn grabbed my shoulder tighter. Let's go, guys. We've done it. Let's get out of here. I stood tall to say something, and a sudden rush of fear hit me. My heart began pounding faster, and I felt a call to action, as if I was immediately threatened. Caitlin's grip on my shoulder became sharp and painful. Fottisat? Hans asked, his voice shaking.

I wasn't scared of anything. There'd been no prompt, no scary sight, no scary sound, and I knew what it was. It was the aura of fear the other kid swore was real. Struggling not to run for fear of the basement's maze of rusted blades and points, I held the others back and peered through the, dim haze. You guys see something?

The fear just kept rising, sharper and sharper, nearing panic. No? Chris responded, terrified. My body kept screaming at me that something was about to get me, that something was approaching, but I still saw nothing. Underneath the flood of fear, I felt a strange moment of excitement. This was what I'd wanted. I'd wanted to be afraid.

Feeling contrary and eager, I closed my eyes, letting the fear surge at the fear surge at the same. Exponentially, I even smiled for a moment. I opened my eyes, confused. I closed my eyes again. It was there again. I opened my eyes. It was gone again. I closed my eyes. Now certain I was seeing the source of the inexplicable fear. I couldn't explain it, but I could only see it while my eyes were closed. Against the total blackness of my own eyelids, a horrible vision approached. It could only be described as a silhouette of my eyes. monochrome spectral lines, flickering gray against black. Its outline in constant motion, it seemed to flash and jump in place, clad in ethereal torn clothes, covered in gaping wounds, neck bones jutting from below a head permanently tilted against its shoulder. The corpse image took slow, shambling steps forward. I opened my eyes and I couldn't see it anymore.

By my best guess, it was halfway across the basement and moving towards us. Jesus, close your eyes, I whispered. The others looked at me questioning. Do it! They did, and I could see their strained control failing. The inexplicable fear had already been almost too much, but once they saw the thing coming for us, we have to go. I said, feeling out of my own head.

It was finally happening. I'd finally seen the supernatural, felt it, and the fear seemed to eliminate every other emotion. All I had left was a hammering heart. and logic. It's going to push us in the hole. That threat brought my friends back to clarity for a moment. Go that way! I said, ordering Chris and Hans to take the other side of the rusted maze. Tears sliding down his face, Hans nodded, and the two of them went left. I took Caitlin and went right. Moving too fast, I almost ran into the curled spines I'd seen earlier. Slowly, not daring to breathe, I stepped back, closing my eyes. I looked for the flickering entity, and it was almost

upon us, blocking our way forward. Back the other way had a dangerous pace. I tried the middle path. Caitlin, where's it going? She didn't want to close her eyes. Look, please look. As we inched forward, narrowly avoiding a series of hanging blades, she clung hard to my back and moved her head around. It's close to Kristen! I heard Hans cry out in pain, but I couldn't look. My eyes were on the bear trap hanging against the wall as we smoothly and slowly moved by it. Her head was. Her head head cleared the danger area, and she never realized what I'd moved her past. It's coming back this way! Closing my eyes for a look, I saw it reaching out from me, and I ducked, crawling forward and

dragging Caitlin behind me. Covered in dirt, I reached the stairs just in time to pull Chris forcibly by the back of his shirt and keep him from falling onto an upright pitchfork. They ran up the stairs while I paused to close my eyes and looked back. The thing leered at me from the middle of the basement. It's sideways grin mocking me, as if to say, you think. You think you've gotten away. I ran then, too.

Hans had cut his arm, but other than that, we escaped unscathed. Our discovery led to a fundraiser by the Neighborhood Association, and the house was torn down, and the hole filled in the next year. We did win a certain amount of notoriety amongst the other kids for all that, which led to later explorations and even worse locations. But those are their own stories. Although I never told my friends what I had seen in that last glance back, it was also the genesis of my interest in writing horror. There's more to this world than randomness and unfounded fears of the dark.

If I hadn't been a perverse fear-seeker in that moment and closed my eyes, I might not be here today. I think it's important we honor our Eon's old tradition of sharing scary stories, because there are kernels of truth in these stories, and the strategies within might one day help someone escape from a horrible fate. Because, as that mocking glance told me, that ghastly thing had a will, a mind, and it was intelligent. I saw the elegance of the strategy in that moment. It made people afraid on purpose. Afraid people look around. They keep their eyes wide open, and they don't close them.

Remember that. The next time you feel afraid of the dark for no reason, your instinct to look around, your instinct to stare at the darkness and fear may be exactly what something is counting on. The Gorge Prior to writing this all out, I never really suspected a possible connection with the incident at the house, but I stopped sleeping right around that time. From seventh grade until my junior year of college, I would continue to stay up late every single night and sleep horribly if I slept at all.

The culprits were many. Video games, a newfound love of soda, a rising undercurrent of hatred for school, which felt increasingly like a prison, and a strong appreciation. for the quiet void of night. I often walked my neighborhood at night, and sometimes dared to venture into the nearby woods. The area was very safe, and the neighborhood association had recently built in nice paths, steps, and boardwalks that went all the way down to the river.

So, sneaking out to walk around was more a product of boredom than any sort of fear-seeking. It was one of those nights in the early autumn of ninth grade that I saw something out in the forced. I was no fool. I immediately went home, intent on returning the next day. I actually slept well for once, excited for a Saturday trek to investigate what I'd seen. It'd been almost two years since the incident at the house, and life was starting to feel agonizingly bland again. I called to get the old band back together, but Hans had since gone back to Germany. When Chris arrived first, he seemed hesitant. He'd been a little skittish ever since our encounter at the house, he often said he wished it hadn't happened. His sarcasm had quieted in the last two years.

I'm not going inside anything. He muttered, without greeting. No houses, no caves, nothing. I nodded. That's fine. Caitlin showed up a few minutes later with a broad smile. I'd only seen her once that summer, briefly, and she seemed older than I remembered. Somehow, this was certainly not the same weird girl from middle school. What did you see? She asked, excited. He said it was blue. Chris responded, crossing his arms.

Yeah, I looked at the trail that led into the woods. A dim blue light in the distance. It's really hard to see, but definitely somewhere down in the gorge. It hurt my eyes. She immediately headed for the trail. Well, let's go then. We followed the easy trail along the left side of the gorge. The cut in the earth was deep and sheer, but there were numerous wooden rails,

and this was more park than wilderness. This was also not the main river, though a heavy creek did flow along the bottom, swelled by recent rains. The path on our side ended rather abruptly. The path on the other side of the gorge continued, accessible by bridge all the way back where we'd started. But it led away, heading toward the main river. That's it then. Can't go further. Bull. Caitlin responded, sliding through the wooden rail. Chris rushed to the trail.

What are you doing? I was a little concerned myself. Look, it's not so steep here. There's roots and dirt, not just rock. It looks like the other people go down this. She explained, working her way down. Older kids probably come here to smoke. I laughed and slid through the rail.

The steep dirt was made traversable by a few perfectly placed roots that jutted out like handleholds. It was nerve-wracking, climbing down, but I never felt in danger. At the worst, if I fell, I would slide down the dirt painfully. Come on! I yelled up to Chris. He followed only under protest, as he made abundantly clear for the entire climb down. Once down, I took stock of the surroundings.

The gorge was about 50 feet high on either side, blocking out all the immediate sounds of nature. The narrow dirt slope we'd slid down ended just below an abrupt waterfall basin. While quite beautiful, the waterfall made it impossible to travel in that direction. If the creek had been dry, we might have climbed the rock shelf. but for now, it was a loud wall of water spraying us with mist. No matter, I had seen the strange blue light in the other direction, further down the gorge. I led, and we picked our way downstream, sticking to the sides where a dry passage was possible. A few minutes in, a light pattering radiated from above and echoed from the high mossy walls.

No, not again! Chris shouted. Caitlin and I exchanged glances, both jumping to the same conclusion. The three of us rushed back. back to the dirt slope we'd come down. Trying to climb back up one at a time, but the drizzle was quickly turning the slope to muddy mush, and our attempts to escape only made it crumble further. Chris looked at me with accusation. You're stuck. I shook my head.

We'll just have to walk out. This has to lead to the river eventually, right? Yeah, pass the thing. What thing? Caitlin asked. Unhappy with being covered in mud, but otherwise unperturbed. Whatever thing he found, whatever's out there all blue and glowing, we should just sit here and wait for someone to come. What if it gets dark first? They'll never hear us anyway. We had no choice.

Sticking close together, we crept forward along old mossy rock. The high wall against my hand made me feel slightly safer. Meanwhile, the rain intensified, adding wet autumn chill to the gorge's naturally chilly air and the creek spraying mist. My hands grew numb, despite my best attempt to warn them, and we all began shivering soon after. This is the worst thing that's ever happened, ever. I gave no response, too wary of the gorge ahead. Thick accumulations of leaves carpeted whatever ground the swelled creek didn't cover. Ancient trees towered right out of the gorge itself, none climbable, but all blocking the scant gray sunlight filtering through the rain clouds. dark, freezing, possibly haunted.

Yeah, Chris was right. This was the worst thing ever. And I was loving it. Chris screamed upward. I followed his eager gaze. We could see the back of a house sitting on a sharp slope near the edge of the gourd. A ramshackle wooden fence seemed scant protection against falling immediately out of the back door to one's death. We shouted for a few minutes, but there was no response.

Chris went for one last shout at the top of his lungs and froze. A faint call, a hello, perhaps, barely perceptible. It came from further down the gorge. Chris took four eager running steps forward and froze again. Right. We know how this works. I was as hesitant as he was, but Caitlin moved ahead. We have no choice. We moved with caution, trying to scout every possible hiding location,

but the tangled undergrowth, huge. trees and rushing creek made total certainty impossible. She held onto my shoulder and alternated walking with her eyes closed just in case, but she saw nothing. The rain surged and it became very difficult to see in the misty gloom. Came a distant voice, barely audible over the loud roar of the rain. Something sounded off about that voice. We came to an abrupt wall of darkness, peering at it in dismay.

We realized that the thickening trees and narrowing gorge had combined to plunge the area ahead into total blackness. Chris had an expression of regret and fear that I agreed with wholeheartedly, but there was nothing else to do but go through. Hold on and don't let go, no matter what. I said taking the lead. Thunder rumbled overhead as we moved into the darkness. I could hear the creek burbling and flowing to my left, and I could feel the mossy rock

to my right, chilly to the touch, the rain roaring above, some sometimes dripping on us in thick streams funneled by the leaves. The voice was much clearer and had a quick echo behind it, as if whoever said it was near the opposite wall of the gorge, in the darkness with us. Is it someone else? I'm gonna... I squeezed his arm painfully to keep him quiet, and Caitlin's hands squeezed painfully against my shoulder.

I looked over. At some intermittent distance in the pitch black, a little blue orb seemed to coalesce. It was an eerie blue, the kind I'd seen the night before and never elsewhere. The kind I would not see again until years later, when an innovative type of LED Christmas light would come out with new hues that seemed otherworldly to the eye. The voice came again, and the little blue orb rotated. Another orb came into view, this one purple and negative, as if it was some kind of anti-light, painful to behold. They were some sort of eyes. Dimm otherworldly blue and purple floated across the wall of the gorge as those eyes searched, ever so faintly illuminating whatever they looked at.

We ducked in unison, hiding behind a large boulder as the bizarre light passed over our spot. The voice said. The dissonance was intense. The voice sounded like an average young male, possibly female. It was hard to tell, but it sounded human. The thing began to move, searching further. From the faint light of its eyes, I guess that it was six or seven feet in height. We slowly circled the rock as it passed, and then bolted further into the black, scrambling and falling and running. The idea was implicit. The dark area had to widen soon, had to reach the river sometime.

We just had to get there. We froze together. A dozen voices sounded in the darkness ahead. We watched a rapid series of eerie blue and anti-purple eyes open up in random places. all leering about, searching for us. Their combined light was just enough to see vague outlines. Faintly opaque shadows flowed from beneath their impossible eyes, each vaguely human, ranging from three to five feet tall.

The gorge flashed with a dim menagerie of colors, the display moving closer to us by the moment. It was the first voice from behind us coming back our way, crouching in the darkness, numb, freezing, miserable and terrified, It was the perfect time to panic. The only choice was whether we should run back, trying to get past the largest one or forward into the darkness, past the dozen smaller ones. I grabbed and ran back, pulling Caitlin along, but Chris darted the other way, tearing

out of my grasp as he bolted forward. There was no time. Splashing straight up the slippery creek, stumbling and pressing forward, I received a dozen scrapes and bruises, but the voices kept calling from behind us, seemingly a little closer reach time, even as we ran at full speed. The rain had become a torrential downpour by the time we reached the mud slope and the base of the shelf waterfall. We tried to climb up, but spilling water made it impossible, and our hands were numb. The rolling thunder mocked our shouts for help. Thinking quickly, Caitlin used the water to scrape the mud away with her hand, exposing sharp rocks

and more of the roots. Able to grab them had the costs of cuts and scrapes, we worked our way up, constantly looking back for the strange eyes and the parroted human calls, but we seemed to have lost them. That climb was far more dangerous than the climb down, and I thought I might fall and break bones at any moment, but we made it. We ran along the edge, staying well away for fear the rain would sweep us over, or that a loose rock might collapse. We could have gone the other way, running for home, but Chris was still down there. We passed over the dark area. From this angle, it seemed wholly unnatural. The dim, rain-filtered light seemed to just stop somewhere in the air below.

She screamed down periodically as we ran. Chris! We left the unnatural dark area behind, following the canyon as it widened. We could see the river in the distance. Right here, guys! We heard Chris yell from halfway up the gorge wall. Caitlin ran for the sound of his voice and abruptly choked on her jacket as I pulled her hood with all my might. dangling over a sudden cliff that dropped away to sharp rocks she flailed her arms she carefully angled her feet in the slippery mud and pushed back recovering with my help stunned she backed away this was almost the same fate we'd escaped once before

the chris voice yelled again her jaw trembling she leaned over and looked i peered over too at first we saw nothing but a few moments passed and then the thing must realized the deception had failed. Blue and purple lights appeared, gazing up at us for a moment, and then a vague, shadowy, huge form moved away. Caitlin gagged. The thing was dragging a brutally bloodied mess of flesh. I shook her arm. It's a deer! I whispered, peering through the driving rain. I could just see Chris's blue jacket in the distance, stomping through the water at the mouth of the gorge and waving his arms frantically at someone. He made it. get him, I told her, make sure he's all right. Confused, she argued for a moment, but then did as I asked. I headed back down to the edge of the gorge alone, finding the inexplicable dark zone.

Lying on my stomach in the mud, I crept up and peered over the edge. Just like the ghost thing from the house, I had to look back. I had to know. Illuminated by faint, ghastly eye light, I watched the dozen smaller orbs throw pieces of the deer about, noisily fighting and consuming bits of it with glee. My gaze traveled past them as I realized that I was being watched in turn. The largest form sat by itself. Its blue and purple eyes on me. Without looking away from me, it tore leg from the deer carcass and threw it to the others.

A moment later, the darkness seemed to swirl, mixing about like a fog. The entire area of blackness cleared between blenely. And I found myself staring down at trees, leaves, and water. Natural gorge, indistinguishable from anywhere else on our path. If not for the deer bones. Lying stark white and picked clean, they were scattered about with abandon. Some shattered for their marrow. Lying in the mud, rain running down my face, struggling to comprehend everything that had just

happened, I had the strangest notion I'd just witnessed a family rest stop. The school. Halloween came soon after our incident at the gorge, and the season was a fantastic one for me. I'd been inspired. The flickering ghost at the house could have just been a once-in-a-lifetime encounter, but the strange beings passing through the gorge near our neighborhood proved that the supernatural was real.

It was my dream as a horror fan, and now a spinner of my own tales come true. My position as a high school freshman seemed to be rising. I wasn't integrated into any groups, per se, but because I was a dreamer. came more of a freelance, known for a heavy soda habit and telling intense scary stories. My reputation and subtle distance from everyone else suited me just fine. High school was just this white-walled place I went for eight hours a day. It was not just an allegory for prison. It was prison.

I was bored out of my mind most of the time, and thoroughly enjoying messing with people through horror stories. The Halloween season made them extra vulnerable to fear. I wasn't sure where things would go once the season passed and scary stories fell out of favor, but I was having fun with it until, out of nowhere, Caitlin started dating a soccer player. Chris and I were not speaking. We'd had a falling out after the incident at the gorge. He'd been depressed and morose ever since.

That left Caitlin and I, briefly, until Josh entered the picture. I hadn't even been aware she talked to anyone from the sports crowd, let alone found them interesting enough to date one. My stories took on a darker, angrier tone. I also joined the soccer team mid-season, although I literally had no idea how to play. I wasn't extremely terrible for a freshman, but my presence certainly irked Josh. I more than made my dislike clear. Our rivalry reached a breaking point in November near the end of the soccer season. The first encounter began after soccer practice ended.

Most everyone else had gone home, but I still lingered in the school's front hall. resting up for the walk home. Chris stumbled through the main doors, shoved from behind. Josh came in behind him, followed by two of his cronies, and Caitlin. I frowned to her, and she gave a concerned expression of apology. Chris here says it's you. Josh accused, doing his best to tower over me. I glared back at him, not about to back down from his attempted intimidation.

What's me? I've heard all about your little stories. Caitlin talks you up all the time. But Chris here, he says they're real. That it's you. You've convinced these two that your stories are real. Chris shoved away Josh's grip and grimaced at him. Sorry.

But what I said was, I just think sometimes you tell stories that are too real. People can get confused. Though I didn't show it, I felt a little dismayed. But if that was what Chris had to believe to feel better about the encounters, I guess I couldn't blame him. Josh interrupted. I'm just tired of everyone listening to you like you're somebody. You're just a freshman. You're nobody.

He stepped even closer. So, let's hear it. Scare us. Find us a real ghost. Or make us believe some story. I don't think you can do it. His aim was to embarrass me in front of him. Caitlin. That much was obvious, but I'd had it with his crap, and I was already full of anger and

resentment from too many other things. I stared him down. All right? Don't! Chris began to plead, but Josh shoved him aside. I took in a slow breath and closed my eyes. The story spinning craft I'd been developing had fine-tuned my awareness. Horror seemed empowered by details, by surroundings, and the environment. I was constantly aware of little sounds. or certain spaces. I pulled these things to me, collecting them, testing them against a taut string in my chest, my sense of fear, which I'd learned to adjust to mimic my audience's reactions. I opened my eyes, a little confused.

More than a few times, I'd sensed gaps in the world around me. Certain spots gave off what could only be described as nothing. They were emotionally blank. This sensation threw me off and disrupted my sharp anger. Shaking my head, I walked slowly down the hall, feeling the fear reaction in me start up again, rising as I walked. I followed it like a dowsing rod. They walked behind me as I felt myself led to the school library, uncertain what was happening.

I grabbed a book from the quiet shelves. The library felt strange without anyone inside it, lit only by dim November afternoon filtering through the windows. Following my lead, they each grabbed a book. I sat at a table in the middle of the room. They sat on either side of me, forming a long row. Josh made sure to sit next to me, a snide look on his face. I raised the book to my face, blocking most of my forward vision.

They did the same, confused. One of the guys laughed. Chris looked pained, while Caitlin, on the other side of Josh, seemed excited. What was I doing? Where was this going? With each action, the response of fear in me had grown a little stronger. Why was the dim, empty library filling me with fear? I felt around the logic of the room with my mind.

Attracted by an act of imagination. Attracted by the act of imagination. It approaches slowly. It uses an angle visually blocked by the book itself. It depends on the reader being immersed and absorbed. They quieted, suddenly aware that none of us could see forward. So far, it has been content with keeping a low profile. By restricting itself to subtly draining the victim's psyche and will, it leaves them tired

and sore after a few hours, even though they were just sitting there reading. You might recognize that feeling. The body's normal defense mechanism is a periodic look around with an inexplicable sense of something amiss. Josh frowned, his two friends exchanged glances. A rising sense of vulnerability overtook the group. I could tell they wanted to drop their books and look. That periodic, momentary awareness sends it running for a time, preventing serious mental damage.

But now, six potential victims at the same table are ignoring that impulse, keeping their books up, refusing to answer their fear. And it begins to wonder. Do these six know? It begins to feel threatened. It begins to wonder if it should use its precious energy to lash out at one, but which one? It flickers closer, approaching the back of one of the books. Caitlin tensed. Chris looked extremely unhappy.

I could feel the group's emotions rising to a sharp point as the overpowering sense of something approaching behind our books became unbearable. I thought I could even hear the barest hint of something winding up, preparing to strike. Josh slammed his book on the table, loudly disrupting the moment. Although he seemed subtly shaken, he put on a show of anger. This is crap. There's nothing here. It's the school library.

Come on. We lowered our books. I looked around, eyes narrowed. The rising note of fear had flitted away, reduced to a subtle lurking tension somewhere distant. Look, if you can't deliver. Fine. I stood, filled with anger. I slammed a hand flat on the table.

But you asked for it. Embueing the taut sense in my heart with a surge of force. fire and dark intent, I followed it out of the library and into the hall. It led us quickly to the large open gymnasium, shrouded in darkness. The windowless space arched over us, a chill flowing void lit only by a spike of light from the hallway doors. So there's two hauntings in the school. Josh asked, unimpressed.

I shook my head. The horrible floating thing in the library didn't feel like a ghost. I think they're quite numerous, but content to remain. subtle and unseen, feeding on the minds of unsuspecting readers. I think the worst thing that could happen with those is looking up without warning and accidentally seeing one, unless you frighten it and it lashes out. I drank in the sensations of the Jim's vast blackness and quiet, comparing the texture to that first encountered in that house's basement.

And this doesn't feel like a ghost either. This is something else. I didn't mention the anger I felt reflected back at me. Chris shook his head, highly unhappy, but Josh pushed him along with us. We began trekking across the gym, sinking deeper into inky darkness. Our shoes echoed weirdly against the smooth floor, squealing occasionally. Nervous laughter made a round through the group as it became harder to see one another. Our pace slowed as the darkness grew nearly complete.

I could only see them out of the corner of my eye, and we began stumbling forward, wondering when the opposite wall of the gym would suddenly bump into us. We're not supposed to be here. We'll never reach the... We came up against the opposite wall. Oh. Caitlin looked back. Does that seem really far away to you?

Indeed, the two tiny squares of light in the hallway doors seemed oddly small and distant. The others were only the barest silhouettes in the corner of my vision. It's just a dark gym. There's... A circle of darkness interrupted one of the squares of light in the distance. The silhouette of a head disappeared as quickly as a... came. While we peered at the doors, one opened and shut, spinning a wide arc of light across the floor, a brief light that somehow failed to reach us at all.

Who was that? One of the guys whispered. There's nobody else here. The janitor or something? The other guy whispered back. Why would he be walking around in here in the dark? It's not a janitor. It's something horrible.

Shut up. Slow steps echoed somewhere ahead to our right. Heavy, flat. They sounded four, five, six times, and stopped. We kept still, straining our ears. Lighter footfalls echoed from somewhere to our left, a rapid series that ended as quickly as they began. Silence fell again.

Screw this. Chris whispered, frantic. Good plan. One of the guys whispered before being punched in the shoulder by Josh. We worked our way slowly and quietly down the hall, unable to see anything, but remembering that a door at the end led straight outside. The painful tension only rose as the silence in the gym continued, offering no explanation for the two pairs of footsteps or the shadow that had entered the darkness before that.

If someone else was in the void with us, they were sitting still, listening, waiting. Hello? A whisper sounded near my ear about three inches away. The voice was gruff, older. I froze mid-step as warm, foul breath flowed across my ear. No one else in the group made a sound. My heart beat like a hammer, each beat dragging across the moment like a knife. I had a brief terror that it was the largest shadow creature from the gorge.

It stared back at me as I'd watched it, and now it finally found me. The lighter steps exploded to our left, and somebody slammed their way through the dark doors on that side. and heavier footfalls erupted from next to me, racing after the first set. We stayed frozen as the doors on the side of the gym slammed open a second time. What the hell was that? It occurred to us that somebody might actually be in trouble. As a group, we rushed after the footsteps, following a girl's scream, echoing through the halls in response to our commotion. Josh and his buddies sprinted ahead as we rounded a corner, grabbing and beating someone.

Lydia, a junior girl I recognized from student politics, cowered against the wall, terrified she just kept screaming. The brawl split and the man bolted down the hall. Dressed in rough sweaters and a cap, the homeless man glared back at us for a second, muttering something incoherent. He pushed through the front door, which we had left prop slightly open, so as to wait inside after soccer practice, instead of out in the cold. We were left stunned, confused, shaking, but.

All right. The next day we were subject to a series of lectures and interrogations about the incident. Nobody had been hurt, strictly speaking, but Lydia, staying after school for a project, had been scared half to death. None of us mentioned how we happened across her pursuer. Highly disturbed by what had happened, Josh and his buddies left me alone after that. The one positive from the event was that Chris began speaking to me again. He found me in study Hall, reading a book. Every time. He said quietly so that no one else would hear our conversation.

You seek these things, and there they are. A little shaken by the disturbed homeless man's attack myself, I just shrugged. Yeah, but that wasn't supernatural. No? You know Brian had to go home this morning. He had a panic attack, freaked out. I frowned. The kid was a known and annoying hypochondriac.

Poor Brian. He said he saw something, that it attacked him while he was reading, in the library. I put my book down and slid it away, regarding it with sudden horror. Chris leaned in close, his eyes grim. But you didn't tell anyone else that story. The detour. We couldn't be certain that I truly had some uncanny ability to seek and uncover the supernatural, but the next move was clear.

Forget about it. Whether or not our encounters were purely bad luck, they were certainly growing closer to home and more dangerous. If things had gone a little differently during the disturbed homeless man's attack, Lydia might have been hurt or worse, and the school library had become a permanent center of rumor and uneasiness. Brian had told people what he'd seen, and the student's weariness seemed to make the situation worse.

Panic attacks began striking random students every week or so, whether it was their own fears run wild, growing worse with each panic attack story, the hysteria feeding on itself, or whether it was the agitation of the otherwise harmless entity that roamed there. It was impossible to say. Either way, my concern for the effect my fear-seeking was having on the people around me finally exceeded my inner resentment of school and the life I felt forced to slog through. Still, sleeping poorly and staying up far too late, I let my unending weariness dull my fear-tuned senses and drain my excitement for horror.

I put it all aside and got on with life. It turned out I loved soccer. I'd joined the team just to conflict with Josh, but he and Caitlin broke up, and we became amicable teammates. The longer nothing weird happened, and the longer I refused to think about horror or tell stories, the more everything faded.

The very public stories of the house beyond the edge and the homeless man's attack became humorous memories. They lost their realness. and I became regarded as a normal teenager, for better or worse. Nothing of relevant note happened for nearly two years. I'd become wholly engaged in the constant battle for fulfillment and position that high school entailed, even if I didn't seek the same group think that everyone else seemed to. I based my reputation, as always, on being set against and apart from everything else.

Caitlin shows the opposite route. Her dating a soccer player was not a one-time thing. This often set us odds in subtle and unhappy ways. Chris slowly got over the things that had happened by pretending they hadn't. He followed a similar path to Caitlin's by pursuing leadership and band, the math class, the chess team, and student government. This led to a latent but powerful strain between the three of us. By the time the homecoming dance of 11th grade rolled around, I had my driver's license, and Chris had been dating Caitlin for a week. That bothered me for reasons I obviously couldn't vocalize.

I had a girlfriend of a month at the time, so it shouldn't have mattered, but... On the surface, we were all still the best of friends. Per the plan for the dance, I picked the two of them up. My girlfriend's house was the next stop. Clad and rented suits, Chris and I bantered back and forth, both attempting a Sean Connery accent and throwing out James Bond quotes. While extremely pretty in her dress, Caitlin stayed quiet, looking out the winter. The evening was a little nippy with mid-October chills, and Halloween season was upon us,

but I ignored it all, intent on driving safely and having a good time. Do we really have to pick up Nicole? Caitlin suddenly asked, referring to my girlfriend. We should just go to dinner by ourselves. I laughed, a small, negative undercurrent beneath my positive exterior. I'd almost expected something like this the moment she got in the car. Yeah, yeah, we do. We have to pick her up.

She's just kind of stupid, you know? I've been meaning to say, you're really smart, and she's just not. I don't think you two are a good fit. Not this again. You do this to every girl he's interested in. Not my fault if he goes after the stupid ones. I glared at her in the rearview mirror. Stop!

She went back to looking out the window. I pulled to a stop and went to Nicole's front door while they argued in the car. She looked amazing in her dress, better than Caitlin, in fact, and she knew it. She was a cheerleader and prided herself on appearance, and Caitlin was right. Although unmotivated because I hated school, I was very smart, and Nicole and I often had moments of total misunderstanding and confusion, but she was a fine person. I often told myself that she was a good person. Once back in the car, it took about three minutes before she got in a fight with Caitlin,

both girls exchanging veiled sarcastic comments, the subtle arguments and stinging comments continued through dinner at the restaurant, slowly involving Chris and I as well, despite our best efforts to calm everyone down. Dinner was a blur of unhappiness. By the time we left there, heading for the dance, night had fallen, bringing with it an uncanny darkness. The clouds covered the moon as I drove, filled with anger, annoyance, and negativity. I started noticing again. The same things I found creepy about the Midwest landscape had not changed now that I was in the car. Although new places had sprung up in the last few years, it seemed there would always be the same underlying layout, a vast sprawl of interconnected, dense pockets. They could be strip malls, suburbs, hubs, around highway exits, but there was always unkempt land in the spaces in between.

There was always random fields and forests. On one side of the road could be a massive suburb, and on the other, centuries-old wilderness. My unhappiness and anger seemed to rise to a keening note as the car filled with shouts, and Caitlin and Nicole began pushing each other around the passenger seat. I felt it coming up ahead, a particular spot on the side of the road, among the overhanging trees. We were in between pockets, driving through dark forest in a very specific location up ahead seemed a little darker than the others, filling me with the most powerful reaction I'd ever had. Abruptly, dangerously, I braked hard and pulled off the road, squealing to a sliding,

forceful stop in the rough dirt. Stop! I shouted. Nicole, Chris, and Caitlin all went silent, stunned by my uncharacteristic outburst. I stared forward, making no further move for a moment. Little dots appeared on the windshield, and I could see flickering lines of rain falling through the headlight beams. The stunned moment passing, I sensed Caitlin looking around.

What did you do? She asked, peering out the window. I heard her breathing quicken. What did you do? Chris put his forehead against his window, suddenly concerned. You don't think. My gaze traveled further up the headlights, rain flickering beams, out to the sturdy high trees ahead. The darkness out there set the sense inside me vibrating with an almost physical force.

I felt uneasy. It wasn't the trees ahead that were the problem. Turning around, I gazed through the back window with dismay. The eerie red light from my brake lights illuminated thick trees behind us, too. What? Nicole asked. He just pulled off the road because you're being a bit. Stay in the car.

Caitlin interrupted, opening her door slowly. Uh, why? Stay in the goddamn car. Chris breathed, but she didn't listen. I opened my door and stepped out as well, leaving my fancy dress jacket inside. Where are we? She asked, looking over the roof at me, I shook my head. I didn't know. Old growth trees surrounded us, but an open carpet of leaves ran under them, completely devoid of the tangled

undergrowth that should have been there. The forest was more like the ones I remembered from my previous home on the East Coast, filled with thick, ancient trees that made undergrowth impossible. Even worse, the road was nowhere to be seen. Caitlin held her hand up, feeling the light rain that filtered through a gap in the trees high above. Further out, we could hear heavier drops of accumulated water falling from leaves. The sound came from all around us, audible over the grumbling of my car's engine. I don't know. I shot back, my anger slowly turning into an uncontrollable smile as I thought about it. Despite myself, I couldn't help but laugh, but that would be pretty awesome. Her cheeks shot up around a sudden massive grin. It would be, wouldn't it?

Chris emerged from the car, glaring darkly at the two of us. What's so funny? Nicole popped her door open and completed the over-the-roof circle of conversation. What's going on? Where's the road? I peered into the darkness, able to discern a few outlines, dark against black. Looks like there's a hill over there, so we should go climb it and look for the road. Yeah.

Caitlin added, excited. Let's go off into the woods. I suppose we should split up, too? Chris groaned. Nicole glared at him. Hell no. I pulled the keys out, silencing my car, but leaving the lights on. Fighting down a constant grin born of excitement at my own fear, I led the way between the trees,

sticking to the long beam of my car's headlights. Without the rumbling sound from the engine, the forest became much louder, radiating the sound of shifting leaves, falling drops, and an occasional unexplained snap or crack from somewhere in the darkness. Each scary sound had Nicole gripping my arm. I felt quite manly for as long as the headlights lasted, but the beams faded with distance, and we were forced to let our eyes adjust before moving into pitch darkness. My only hope was that some sort of road would be visible from up the slope,

lit by the streetlights or buildings or something. Something snapped to our left. I had sudden flashbacks to the pitch black gymnasium and waiting in terrified silence as something horrible crept up near my face. I had the sudden urge to abandon the trek to the hill and run back to the car, but we'd still be stuck in the midst of unknown forest. Chris, just watch our left. I ordered, creeping forward into the darkness.

Caitlin, watch the right. Nicole, scream if you see anything weird. She squeezed my arm harder. I was planning on it. As I grew used to the darkness, I found myself barely able to make out forms and shapes, lit by the barest moonlight filtering through clouds and canopy. I had to keep moving my head from side to side,

using the corners of my vision to detect the slightest changes in dark and black. Chris backed up against me. Jesus Christ! We looked to the left as a group. I saw nothing strange at first until I noticed a distinct branch resting at an odd angle. It was noticeably bright red, even in the dark, and rather rotted. I tilted my head, curious. It moved, disappeared behind a tree.

I grabbed Nicole's mouth to muffle her scream. It had been a leg. Back to the car! Chris hissed through clenched teeth. No! I replied, making the hard call, Forward! Just run! They listened, and we ran as a group.

The flat landscape covered in wet leaves made for easy running, and even easier slipping. Several times, someone fell, and we hurriedly picked them up and continued running. The sounds of snapping nearby matched us, slowly falling behind, now including a strange hissing breathing sound. The ground's angle turned up, and we pounded up, reaching the crest of the hill. Lights! Caitlin pointed. She was right.

Off in the distance, we could see an unidentifiable building and a brightly lit gas station, and a road. The hill led back down, and we ran at full speed until I noticed gaps on the horizon to our left and right. The chilly wind tipped the rest of the group. Both. No, no, no, no! Chris shouted. A wide, flat, murmuring black plain lay between us and the distant gas station.

A dozen crackling and breathing sounds came from several places in the woods behind us. I can't swim. Nicole said, depressed. You can't? Caitlin asked, a note of panic in her voice. It'll ruin my dress. Caitlin's concern dropped to a flat, stony expression. I'll fix that.

She bent down, scooped up some mud and threw it at the squealing. girl. Problem solved. Now get in the river. Part pounding, I followed Nicole's terrified shrieks into the water, and Caitlin and Chris splashed in after me. The ice cold water brought pain and a certain irresistible terror. I never liked swimming in anything that wasn't a pool, because I'd always imagine horrible things in the deep, waiting for a chance to grab my legs. But there was no choice now. Struggling to stay as high up in the icy black as I could, I swam after Chris and Caitlin, who had passed me during my initial hesitation. A low sound, similar to a chuckle, flowed over me from behind.

Unable to resist the urge, I looked back. Silhouettes of misshapen, rotting things slid under the water from the shore, pursuing us from the woods. I couldn't be sure, but they looked like mauled corpses, moving in impossible, ungainly ways, mostly an assortment of animals, but one vaguely human. The split skull of the humanoid sank beneath the black one. plane of the water. Staring at me with a rotted, horrible grin, I had the distinct impression that it somehow knew my unreasonable fear of the water, and it was more than eager to come make it true.

I splashed after the others, truly completely terrified for the first time in my life. I fought my numbing limbs to swim as fast as I could, cursing my restrictive dress clothing. There was no way to know whether the horrible, rotting things were catching up to us in the water. ahead of the three of us, Nicole screamed. Tiring, and only halfway across, we swam up to the spot where she thrashed and struggled. My leg! I dove under the water while Chris and Caitlin tried to keep her from being pulled under. The freezing shock against my face almost had me breathe in water, but I fought against

it and fought my keening terror to swim down. I could feel rushing emptiness all around me, the dark and chill increasing below, into unknown depths, fingers. It was fingers. A bony, slimy hand had a grip on her ankle. Surging with adrenaline, I did the only thing I could think of. I gripped two fingers in each hand and pulled apart. The hand ripped in half.

I could feel the rotting flesh give way, sinew by sinew. Nicole kicked away, and I thrashed to the surface. They're in the water! I shouted, but the group was already screaming and swimming for their lives. The things under the water gripped at us and swatted for our limbs. But we were almost there. Corpse silhouettes emerged from the water ahead, waiting and watching us expectantly. We were forced to stop and tread water, a profound despair falling over us.

We can't get out. We can't escape. Chris breathed, looking over at me. I'm sorry for being a terrible friend. Totally numb. I shook my head. It's fine, man. I watched the humanoid corpse as it gazed at us.

It just stood there on the shore, grinning. No. there's one more thing. I looked at the three of them as they tread and shiver. Are you scared? Chris and Caitlin just nodded. I drew in a breath and let the cold fill me. Then let's just float down river for a little.

See what comes up. I never felt anything quite like those moments. Mortal danger was a thing in those moments, and it didn't overwhelm me anymore. Didn't frighten me. The situation seemed grim. The corpse thing shambled along the shore. trailing us. They knew the cold would get us very soon. I wondered at their origin, their motives, but it wasn't their story that mattered. I let my senses flood, the chill night breeze,

the slight pattering rain, the deadly icy water we floated in, serene and despairing, and those curious blank spots in my awareness, still there even years later, gaps in my simulated fear, emotional dead spots. Just a few, all on one side of the river near the gas station. Ignoring them, I focused my animalistic terror on deep, unknown water. I could feel it up ahead as we drifted down river, waiting for us. Crossed back the other way! I rast, breathing too hard to yell.

Nodding, too exhausted, and cold to argue, they began swimming toward the forested shore. The humanoid corpse gave another low, disgusting laugh, and the rotting thing slid back into the water. intent on beating us to the other shore and waiting for us there. The back and forth would continue until we had no strength left. A wave of pressure in the water moved up against my body, and I cringed away, terrified. Back! Back! The others followed, and we swam away from the middle, back towards the gas station. A great flailing and splashing erupted toward us, but none of us had the energy to look.

We scrambled ashore, breathing desperately and struggling to recover. Nicole and Chris stumbled for the gas station without his head. hesitation. As always, I looked back, and this time, Caitlin stopped and looked too. A barely discernible depression in the water whirled in the black with uncanny force. What is it? Caitlin asked, grabbing my wrist. I shook my head. A sinkhole under the river? Some sort of creature hiding under there, feeding on animals? I don't know. Either way, it scared the hell out of me. I've always been scared of the deep, another few feet forward, and we'd be down there too.

But how'd you know? How'd you know it was there? I had no explanation. Just like that, the danger was over. Our terrified flight in the dark had left my heart pounding and my body on edge. But we'd survived. I'd just stood there with Caitlin for a few minutes, trying to recover. Chris came running back, horrified. It's...

It's... it's worse than you can imagine! Caitlin squeezed my wrist. God, what is it? Where are we? Is it a nightmare world? I thought it might be. He gulped and widened his eyes. Worse.

We're in Western Virginia. You asshole. I pushed him, laughing. He immediately dropped the act and began cracking up. I had you. For once. I had you. Caitlin just shook her head and smiled broadly, still shivering.

Recovering control, he looked back. That building beside the gate. gas station, it's auto repair. The dude will help us to our car to the road. We're near somewhere called Blacksburg and Claytor Lake. The drive back took over five hours. Nicole was angry the entire way. She kept complaining, as if that was somehow important compared to the night's events. Chris had a big map the mechanic had given him. This river splits a few times, but it runs all the way up right here to where we live back in Ohio. I think that's important? Weird, I responded. My eyes on the road.

I don't think so, unless you're afraid of potential river monsters. It could always come up the river and... Wait, is it the river? The one the gorge runs to? And the school is near it. And the house beyond the edge was... I can't tell. Oh.

Well, I did also live in Virginia before I moved to Ohio. I recognized this kind of forest immediately. You mean you know the area? Chris stared at me through the rearview mirror. No, never been here. I mean the details, the landscape. We turned off the road in Ohio and ended up somewhere else in the world. But it was somewhere you were familiar with?

What's the chance of that? Caitlin wiped dried mud from her dress and leaned forward, grinning. Can we play with this now? I've been waiting years. It's obvious you can't ignore it now. We could have died out here. I countered, looking over at Nicole, sleeping unhappily in the passenger seat.

She'd had no idea what she was involved in, and yet she'd been just as endangered. as the rest of us. Maybe. Caitlin replied, still eager. But the mystery is still there whether you want it or not. It's time to figure out what's really going on. I shrugged, turned up the heat, and rolled down the window to run my senses across the passing

landscape. I contemplated the history at hand. All the things that happened, how they'd started, how they'd played out. Was any of this even real? Were we just sharing intense imaginings? Chris drew in a sharp breath. Um... Something squirmed in my lap, having fallen out of some tuck in my ruined dress clothes.

I thrashed around, reaching for it as I tried to keep the steering wheel stable, grabbing the disgusting thing and lifting it with a horrified stare. I hurled the moldy, red, rotting finger out the open window. The right turn. I drove while Caitlin sat in the passenger seat and Chris lounged in the back. We'd spread out the maps and drawn up a dozen theories. Was it all somehow connected to the river, or wasn't me? And was I just finding these things or somehow making them happen?

Our first task was to isolate the river variable, and so we drove, heading for the hills where people often went to hike. Far from our hometown, if anything untoward happened, we would know the river was not part of it. I'd been to the hills often when my family first moved to the area. They were uneven, forested, and full of random cliffs and geographical oddities, but well-marked paths made the popular area safe for hiking. It was Saturday as well, so we saw more than a few families with small children readying themselves for hikes. The parking lot was crowded with cars, and I wondered if this area could possibly hide anything horrible. The moment we hit the trees and the sun disappeared behind heavy canopy, I could feel it. That way. I was hoping you wouldn't say that.

What's it feel like? I took a moment to listen to the breeze overhead. The leaves moved with rhythm and dappled sunlight brought uneven warmth through the otherwise cool mid-October air. The logic and feel of the area felt different. I don't think it's dangerous, I thought aloud. I think it's strange, but not dangerous. Awesome. Chris said with a smile, looking around the tangled undergrowth. For once!

We traveled down rapidly curving and branching paths, heading for the unnerving sensation that sang to me from some indeterminate distance. We passed along the top of an abrupt, 40-foot cliff, an old waterfall basin. Two little kids waved at us from below while their parents snapped pictures of the surrounding beauty. Hi! Caitlin called, waving back.

I waved as well, a little concerned. I didn't want to be uncovering horrible things with kids out there, but, closer now, I was certain the latent phenomenon in the hills wasn't outright dangerous. The flow of the situation just didn't have the same sharp tenor. It had something else, though. something I couldn't quite identify. There were no blank spots in my awareness here either. I was confident everything would be fine.

It sat before us, looming away at confusing angles. That isn't dangerous? It was a cleft in the rock itself, veering away after a short run. The rough tangled terrain above permitted no other access. There was no good way to climb up and see what was inside. The gap radiated a curious and unwelcome sensation, but it had none of the anger, fear, or motivations of other things we'd encountered. It just existed.

I thought for a moment that I could feel something very bad somewhere in the woods around us. I looked, scanning the shadows and light, but saw nothing. I shrugged. Let's go then. Caitlin said, leading away. Between the haphazard rock walls, the sun's glare seemed brightened. There were no trees overhead, and none could be seen against the edges. Just stark gray rock devoid of moss and lichen.

The stark blue sky empty of clouds. We left the mid-October chill behind, and we began sweating profusely from the stillness and heat as we worked our way along the cleft. The odd sensation that had led me there in the first place now began to grow quite strong. My head felt a little dizzy, and we came to a split, where the gully separated into two distinctly different paths. To our left, broken rock and narrow walls promul. promised a very difficult journey. To our right, a flat creek bed offered easy passage.

Let's go, right. I decided, still wanting to get out of there. The rocky walls on either side made direct climbing impossible, so we had to follow it out by walking. A few minutes later, we emerged from the cliff's exit. Wait, Chris said, looking back. Isn't this where we went in? He went right. We'd somehow come back to the original entrance. Maybe it just looks that way. Caitlin guessed.

I saw our old footprints in the soft dirt. No, look, this is the place where we entered, but how? Did we somehow not realize we turned around? Caitlin gazed back at the strange cleft. No, I think that's what he sensed. That passage, it's wrong somehow, and we ended up exiting where we entered. I shrugged. Weird.

At least we know it's not the river now. Slinging our backpacks down. we set up for staying the night. The park typically closed around sunset, so we weren't supposed to be there. But I had a feeling that something bad was approaching, and I wanted to see what it might be. The others agreed, if something evil lurked in the park, night would be the most likely time for it. There would be no one else around but us. I awoke with a start, my back aching from the tree's rough bark.

The night air was icy and oddly silent. Something was also very wrong. An approaching sense of violence and hunger filled me with unease. Wake up! Chris uncurled, awaking first. When did we fall asleep? Voices echoed from further up the slope. Who is it?

Caitlin wondered, peering through the trees. Everyone's supposed to be gone. Creeping our way through the trees and undergrowth, we approached the cleft's entrance. The voices were emanating from further inside it. We watched in confusion and amazement as three people exited the cleft under moonlight. dressed exactly like us. The more we realized that they looked and sounded exactly like us, too. I thought we'd never get out.

The other Chris said, relieved. The Chris next to me in the bushes grabbed my arm with a horrified expression. Hey, us? I remembered the odd sensation I'd felt at the split in the gully. I had the inexplicable notion that these were us that went left instead of right. I think so. I whispered back, lost in the gully all day. only now getting out.

But how? And what now? Are they going to... One our lives or something? The rising sense of violent hunger in my heart suddenly spiked. It's here. As we watched, delicate and nearly invisible fibers fell outward from the trees. What is?

They seemed to curl lazily in the air surrounding the other us. And then, suddenly, the fibers snapped back, pulling our doppelgangers toward the tangle. They began screaming and terror. before being pulled up into the leaves. Silence fell. What do we do? Chris forced through clenched teeth. His neck strained, his body's shaking.

Something's got them. That's what it does. I realized my eyes wide. I watched the trees shift as if blown by the wind and I understood. It waits for people to go in there, waits for the natural phenomenon to duplicate them, and their doubles come out at night. Once everyone's gone, and then... And then what?

Chris demanded, shaking me. I think we have to go after them. They're us. We can't just let this happen? It's moving away. I breathed, watching the shifting trees. Let's follow it. I think it doesn't know we're here.

We're not supposed to be here. We rushed along whatever cover we could find, trying to keep up with the moving leaves. The still-night air gave us very little protection, so we had to keep slowing down rather than risk giving ourselves away. I wanted to remain at a good distance, too, wary of that. thing sensing us and opting for a double dinner. It stopped suddenly. We waited, but it didn't seem to sense us. We saw a moonlit, spindly silhouette, maybe eight feet wide, moved down the tree and into

a small cave. A minute or so later, it emerged and clamored back up into the leaves above. The breeze-like shifting moved further on through the woods, the creature, possibly continuing the hunt. Come on! I led the way, sliding down into the cave. In the humid darkness, the smell was overpowering. It smelled like roadkill, but a thousand times worse.

It's safe now, I told Chris, and he turned on his flashlight. That was a mistake. Stunned, he played the light over a long tunnel that ran down into the earth, a tunnel lined with bodies in various stages of decay. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands. It was impossible to know. How could this happen without anyone knowing? Chris breathed, fighting the urge to throw up.

Caitlin held a hand to her mouth, tears running down her cheeks. It just takes the doubles at night. Once everyone's gone, nobody's missing so nobody has a clue. Something moved in the darkness. Chris shot his flashlight over. Four long white lumps moved near where we'd slid down. They looked like mummies, almost wrapped in silky strands from head to toe. We ran over and picking at the struggling silk-covered bodies the material wouldn't give. We grabbed any sharp rocks we could find and began cutting up the stuff. We unearthed the stranger first. The fourth body, he glared at us with wild eyes until we freed his mouth.

Oh, God! Oh, God! You have to get me out of here. He'll come back soon. Be quiet! I insisted, and he trembled, but stopped shouting. We hacked away at the silk, uncovering parts of his neck. I slowed and stopped my efforts, staring at him with dismay. What do we do? Caitlin asked, her face contorting with resisted tears. The stranger looked at each of us, his lips trembling.

What is it? Can you hold on a second? Just a second, friend. I asked him. He nodded, his worry growing. I looked over at Caitlin and Chris, and they went to free the other three. The three that I guessed would be our doppelgangers. Look, friend, I told him, touching his silk-wrapped torso slightly, you've got a hard decision to make here. His teeth chattered once, twice he'd probably guessed.

Your skin, I continued. Your skin is missing. You've got a leg missing too. I think it's been eating you. He gulped and then shook his head up and down in understanding. Sweat pouring from his forehead. The drops glistened darkly on the light cast from Chris's nearby flashlight. It stuck me with something, and then I thought it chewing, but it didn't hurt.

I thought maybe, maybe I'd be fine. I kept his gaze. If we leave you here, are you going to scream? His lips trembled as he fought to keep from panicking. Probably. Do you want me to? I couldn't finish the sentence. Just cut near my missing leg.

It'll be fine. It's not your fault. Also. He told me a name and an address, his daughter's name, and his family's address. Got it, memorized. Do you sure? I've got a good memory. I began slicing the strands near his missing leg, releasing the rap's pressure.

I understood his request almost immediately. Blood flowed out in a steaming wave, rolling down the cave's low-inclined toward the layered bodies. He shivered and went still. Did he just die? Caitlin asked, her voice on the verge of panic. Is he dead? Chris froze. Just hurry!

I told them, moving to the next rapt person. Something skittered near the case. cave's entrance and we froze, but nothing entered. We freed the heads of our doppelgangers, and they looked at us with no small surprise. Are you hurt? Caitlin asked, ripping and tearing the threads with her fingers. Not yet. The other Caitlin replied, get us out of here. The other me remained silent. His stony gaze locked on me. Are you guys us? The other Chris asked. Wait, it doesn't matter. There's this thing. It got us. We saw it. Our Chris replied, cutting away at the silk around his double shoulders.

Come on! The other Caitlin said, looking at me. Why aren't you helping? I know why. The other me replied, his tone flat. What's going to happen if they save us? I suspect that cleft created copies of us somehow. I could feel it happening.

I nodded slowly. Who gets our lives? He nodded slowly. Which group is the original? I continued this thought. There's no way to know. We're probably both exactly. the same. Caitlin and Chris both slowed their activities, looking to the two mees.

No! The other Chris begged. Come on, free us! We'll sort it out later! You can't do this. The other Caitlin pleaded, looking to me, and then Chris. We'll change our names. We'll hit the road. Anything! What do we do? Our Caitlin asked, looking to me. Chris watched me, horrified, waiting for my decision. We found a large boulder outside to hide behind. We had to be sure. The creature returned shortly, skittering down the tree and into the cave with what looked like a wrapped-up deer. Had the cleft duplicated the animal too? We listened. The screams began shortly.

They muffled quickly one by one, likely the creature wrapping them back up. We took off running into the woods, choking and crying the entire panic sprint back. We left all our gear back at the makeshift campsite. There was no way we were going back for it. I wanted to play with this, like it was a toy. I didn't respond, too mortified to speak. Somewhere up in the hills, another me was struggling against tight silk wrapped all around him, slowly being eaten, piece by piece, and he'd known the moment he'd seen me what choice I would make.

It's not just on you, man. Chris told me, crying and snorting back snout. We all agreed. What would our parents say if another set of... Us showed up. How would we live? How would we explain any of it? I could only nod. We were too young to handle such insanity. I had this idea that I would someday return here, someday lure that thing out and run it over with my car, smash into it, spray its internal liquids across the path, burn its corpse. But I never did go back. I did find

the address the stranger had begged me to visit. I waited near it in my car, quiet and profoundly happy. This was by far the worst thing that had ever happened to me, and I'd brought it on myself by playing with forces beyond my understanding. I saw a school bus stop by. A little girl leapt off and ran towards her house, greeted by the man I'd watched bleed out back in the corpse-filled cave. He was there, oblivious. He'd probably explored that cleft and then left with his family, none the wiser about what would happen to his double later that night. I had the profoundly disturbing fear then. that such fates could be quite common. How many naturally weird spots led to accidental duplications?

How many intelligent creatures would lurk outside such anomalies, feasting on the unwary? There could be a hundred other copies of me out there, even at that moment, suffering and dying in horrific ways. And I would never know.