At the beginning of the month I said I would write a few scary stories because I love Halloween. I started one that took longer then I planned I will still post some more I will just have to change the way I write them.
The Pale Faced Kid
In the early autumn before he sun was up, Aaron was loaded onto his school bus by his mother. He took the free seat just across from one of the emergence exits. It was still cold outside and Aaron rested his head against the window. The barely awake light that lined the interior of the bus drifted off to sleep and the deep rhythm of the engine pierced the still of the morning. Fog still hung low and shadows cast there long touch over ever inch of this world. The ground had faded and been replaced with this darker more fluid form, like a sea of morphing shapes and wispy silhouettes drown out the real world. It consumes everything that didn’t belong and Aaron was just a visitor. Aaron was eleven going on twelve. He would much rather be at home playing video games or laying on the couch watching Youtube than be a school. He was an only child and longed for his screen time. He liked spending time with his parents even though he wouldn’t tell any of his friends. He hated his dark trek each morning. The strange twisted flow of the world set his nerves on end. He stared at each unfamiliar shape wondering what the harm it intended. The bus headed down a old road. There was more trees then houses. The road was covered in jarring potholes. Each bump reminded Aaron that even in the veil of fog and shadows that something solid lay beneath it. That something could hurt you. Along this street, the bus stopped a few times to pick up a handful of kids. Some of the kids were alone and others had there parents or older siblings with them. After The last stop let on a group of boisterous teens. They made a bee line for the back row. That was the last stop before they headed for school. The bus started to move once more loud tones and lights faded away once more and Aaron returned to staring out the window. The bus hadn’t been on its way for very long when it started to slow down again. They were still on the old bumpy road. The sun was still hiding from the world. Shadows and fog wrapped the trees and road. The bus came to a slow stop the metallic noise of the stop sign flipping out was barely heard over the chatter of the kids. They were picking up someone new. Aaron looked out his window. All he saw was trees and darkness standing out of the dense haze. He looked over to the other side, at first he saw the same, but slowly his eyes adjusted and objects took shape. Lines of thin bars strung together formed a iron rod fence. Blocks of gray and white dotted a misty landscape. They were draped in vines and dirt and each had it on section of what looked like writing. They were grave stones, it was a cemetery. The graveyard look as though it had been abandoned long ago. The gate hung open like the gaping mouth of a dead animal. It was broken and half ready to fall to the ground. The headstones were closely packed. Most of them simple stone slabs. They were aged and worn. The brown grass hung and choked any path. Arron tried to look back to his window, but he had to see who the bus would be picking up at a graveyard. There didn’t appear to be any one walking across the road, but like the cemetery something came out of the mist. It seemed to left away as he walked. It rolled aside to clear his path. Aaron didn’t see him leave those old gates but something in the back of Aaron’s mind told him that the boy crossing the street had came from the cemetery. He was wearing a dark colored hoody. It seemed black or it was just a dirty gray. He moved very slowly. His chin was buried in his chest. His face was concealed under the hood and long dark hair. He was tall and thin looking. His hands were tucked deep into his pocket. He shuffled to the waiting bus. Then moved out of sight as he passed in front of the bus. Arron rose in his seat to get a better view but all he saw was the sick yellow glow stirring on the mist. After an uncomfortable amount of time hoovering, Aaron’s legs started to hurt. At long last the top of the hoodie was spotted coming over the seats. It was a dark gray and very dirty. The boy strolled down the aisle without a word to anyone. He didn’t have a book sack and his face was bony and pale. He looked to be around Aaron’s age but much thinner then he should have been. Aaron didn’t look at him as he move pass him. He breathed a sigh of relief once the boy didn’t take the empty space next to him. The new kid took a seat right behind him. The new kid slid into the seat. The seat had somehow remained empty even with the forty or more kids on board. The lights powered down and the bus was dark once more. Arron pressed himself against the window. He waited for a few rays of light to break through the horizon. The bus rattled along heading for the middle school. Throughout the trip Aaron couldn’t get shake that strange feeling. A thousand tiny pricks covering his skin. It was like having something so lightly touch you that you couldn’t be sure they did at all. Someone was watching him. A pair of eyes boring into your soul. Aaron shifted in is place. He played with the zipper on his bag. He looked out the window but nothing took take his mind off the uneasiness crawling under his skin. He wanted to look back and see that the new kid was just sitting there like every one else. Not a sound came from the new kid. If Aaron looked back the new kid would notice. Aaron would be the weirdo on the bus. Aaron pulled his book bag onto his lap and unzipped it. Maybe he could sneak a peak without looking like a weirdo. He reached into his bag and pulled out one of his note books he lay it on the seat next to him. He flipped it open and pretended to be working on some last minute home works. The gray figure loomed from the corner of his eye. His heart started to pound. Aaron was sure the kid was watching him this time. Arron ripped a sheet of paper from he note book and pressed it against the back of the seat and pulled a pencil from his bag. He wrote a brief shaky note on it while he built the courage to look up. The bus turned onto main street. They were almost at the school. It was now or never. Aaron folded the paper that didn’t have much of anything on it. He did his best to make his movement seem normal. He quickly glance up. He peaked at the new kid seated behind him. Aaron’s quick glance was greeted by a pair of dark eyes peering into his own. They were black and cold and lock onto Aaron. The thin face glared out from behind the mess of black oily hair. He didn’t flinch or turn away from Aaron. He just continued to bare down with his still expressionless face. Aaron jammed the paper into his notebook and shoved it into bag. His heart pounded in his ears. He was on the brink of hyperventilating. He did his best to not let it be heard by the new kid. His hands trembled as he zipped his books up just as the bus pulled up to the school. Aaron was the first person on his feet and already on his way to the door. The new kid just stayed in his seat. Aaron didn’t care, he just wanted to get away from him. Others reluctantly fell behind him and a few managed to get up before he reached the front. The line of kids trickled out as the first shades of blue appeared in the sky. The group of still drowsy kids filed into the gym to wait for there first period to begin. Aaron found a group of kids from his class and set next to them. He kept a close eye on the door for the new kid. He hadn’t seen him get off the bus. As Aaron half listened to the conversation of his classmates, the new kid walk in the door. He climbed the bleachers. He didn’t seem to be watching Aaron anymore. One of the kids Aaron was near started talking about Aaron’s favorite video games. Aaron jumped in when he said that it was impossible to get pass one of the bonus level. He became absorbed in conversation. The Bell rung and the boys sauntered off their home room. Aaron was relieved to find that the new kid wasn’t in any of his classes. The rest of the morning moved on like usual. He trudged for one class to the next taking notes and talking to his friends when the teachers weren’t looking. By lunch time, Aaron had almost forgotten about the mornings ride through the fog filled streets, and the strange new kid that they had picked up from the cemetery. He was eating with his friends and finishing his homework for the next class. When he was struck with that same heart pounding feeling as before. He was being watch. Without thinking he turned to the crowd of hunger students laughing and goofing off. Among them, just a few tables away, was the thin face of the new kid. He wasn’t eating. He was staring blankly out into the young faces. His hands were folded in his lap. His mouth drooped and eye had blue-ish bags hanging on his sharp check bones. Aaron didn’t look away this time. The boy didn’t move or even seem to breath. He was like a statue. Could other people see the new kid? Was Aaron going crazy? Another kid came up to the pale new kid and started to chat with him. The new kids gave the same expressionless glare to the poor guy trying to make friends. Aaron finished his lunch and rush back to class. Aaron finish his school day. Tiny pin pricks danced on his spine as he loaded back onto his bus to go home. The roar of the engines in the warm afternoon and the herds of kids running to their buses. The day had made them restless and wild, ready to endure the toxic diesel fumes being belched out into the burnt air, just to get back to their homes. The pushed and shoved and ran to get away from the school and find the cool seat in the back row. No where in the crowd was the new kid. Was he somehow already on the bus? Was he already right behind Aaron’s seat wait for him? The new kid wasn’t in the seat. He wasn’t anywhere on the bus. The bus left the school and the boy was no where to be seen. They bus moved alone the same path as in the morn running in reverse. The trip home was sunny and bright. It was warm enough that they could ride with the windows down. The trees still retained most of their leaves. The world was lively and green. People drove around the bus and the everything was populated and real again. The next day was the same pattern. In the morning the bus arrived long before the sun and made the same dark journey through town. The fog still hung in the air. Just as before the last stop was on the bumpy old road and let on a thin pale face boy. He walked out of the mist outside the gates of the cemetery. He was wearing the same dirty hoodie, he had no book bag and dirty jeans. Aaron was seating next to the driver and the boy sit right behind him once again. During his school day he saw the boy pass him in the hallway and in the lunch room. By the afternoon the boy was no where around. It continued like this all week. The boy would be picked up every morning. No matter where Aaron choice to sit the boy would sit behind him. Every time Aaron looked at the pale faced boy, the deep brown eyes looked right back at him. It made his stomach do back flips. What could he do? The boy had done nothing wrong. Aaron didn’t even know his name. But every time He felt the piercing gaze of the pale face boy his hard heart would pound out of his chest and bile would build in the back of his throat. He was sick. He couldn’t stop shaking even when he was at home. He knew that the next day they boy would be there. Friday afternoon Aaron was at the end of his rope. He would have to tell someone about this kid. Aaron still sick and weak for his morning experience trudged up his driveway. His knees wobbled with each step and the sense of being watched had not yet faded way. He walked into his living room surprised that his mother was already home. She was tossing clothes from a laundry hamper into a suit case on the table. Her eyes were red a puffed her make up was running down her face. His fathers voice came in and out as he raised his voice to someone who he was talking to on his phone in the kitchen. Aaron’s mother stopped what she was doing. She grabbed her son and dropped to her knees. She greeted her son with a lengthy hug. Aaron squeezed her back for a while but let his arms hang by his side as she still hugged him long pass what he was use to. Aaron’s father walked in the room. Aaron abruptly broke free of his mother only to be ushered out of the room by his father. Aaron’s dad set him down at there wood top kitchen table. A porcelain tea pot was on a tray between them in the center of the table. His dad spoke softly letting each of his words sink in to the air before starting the next. He explained that Aaron’s great uncle had passed away suddenly, that this uncle lived across the country and was once very close to Aaron’s mother, Both his mom and dad would be leaving for the funeral, and that he would be staying at the house of one of his mothers co-workers. Aaron didn’t like the idea of staying the weekend with two strangers but he didn’t want to go with his parents either. Seeing his mom with tears in her eyes, her hurting, and needing help that he had no idea how to give. In that moment his mother didn’t seem like a mother any more, she was just a woman that had lost someone she loved. It all made him uncomfortable, unsure, and long for something normal. Aaron went up stairs and crammed a few outfits in a bag along with his toothbrush and X Box. He hugged his mother a few more times and loaded into the back of his dad’s car. He was going to be dropped off at his mom’s co-workers house while his mom finished packing. He had been told that her name was Felicity Steward. She had a husband and a son, but Aaron’s dad could recall the names or ages. As they drove Aaron’s father told him the normal rules: be good and do as you are asked, don’t stay up too late, if he needed any thing call, if they asked him to do something bad to call, and so on. Aaron had heard them all. Aaron just wanted to play his video games and forget that his whole week ever existed. The car was driving down a familiar route. Aaron hadn’t pay it much attention until his father click on his turn signal. He made a left turn on to the old pothole filled road. He drove pass the spread of houses that had normal kids. He came to the dirt road. On the corner of the dirt road was a old forgotten iron rod fence. It was rusting and battered. The gate hang open falling from it’s hinges. The fence was wrapped around the equally battered cemetery. Aaron’s heart started to beat in his ears as his father slowed to pull down the dirt road. “Why are we going here!?” Aaron protested from the back seat. “Your mom’s friend lives on this road.” his dad said in a passive tone. “But that is a graveyard!” Aaron shouted. He lunged forward, until the seat belt brought him to a jerking stop. The jabbed his finger at the window to show is dad the decrepit bone yard. “I know,” his dad replied with a smile, “They don’t live in the graveyard they live in the house behind it.” Emerging from the trees was a large house. It was two or three stories. There was a nice coat of paint in light blue, a wrap around porch with a swing and a rose bush in full bloom. It had a white stone gravel drive way flanked by a perfectly mowed lawn on either side. It was a stunning house. It reminded Aaron of the ones that he had say on television, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was the ridged lot of graves, the tilted fence, and the unshakable feeling of being watch that was creeping up once again. Aaron gave more protest. His father pulled into the driveway. The stones crunched under the tires. He killed the engine. As he did two pleasant looking people appeared on the porch. Aaron’s father turned in his seat. He looked at his son shaking like a leaf. He sighed audible. “Look son,” He started, “I know it is hard to be in an uncomfortable place with strangers and that being next to a graveyard is scary, but your mom and I really need you to do this.” tears were starting to form in the corner of his sons eyes. “Ghost and zombies they aren’t real and I am sure you will be safe here, but if you are scared and really don’t want to stay here the whole weekend: our neighbor Hank will be back tomorrow afternoon all you have to do call him and he will pick you up. Do you have his number?” Aaron nodded and blinked at the build tears until they faded. “You just have to spend one night for your mom. Okay?” His father added. Aaron gave a more vigorous nod. He hated seeing his parents needing his help. He hated having to feel like an adult and think of what they might need. It was something that they had never burdened him with before this point. He didn’t want to let them down. Opened his door and flashed a fakes smile at the couple on the porch. A young woman with strawberry hair waved. Her hair was in a pony tail bobbing off the back of her head. She was thin with pretty with a black band tee and a pair of jeans. Her husband had jet black hair and a pierced ear. He was tall and heavy set but had a friendly smile. His outfit was similar to his wife’s. Aaron and his father walked up the steps. The couple traded the usual sort of conversation that Aaron always ignored, but this time he felt compelled to pay attention. It was noting special, but Aaron had a hard time imagining that his mom worked or even knew a young woman like this. She was wearing leather boots that came up to her knee and had a nose ring. Any time that Aaron had met his mom’s co-workers; they were all middle age and complained about how kids these days always had too much screen time. This people looked cool. Felicity placed a her hand on his shoulder. She lend in close. There was a strange smell wafting from her. Aaron took a deep breath. It was like a camping trip. “We are going to have good time so don’t you worry.” she said to both Aaron and his father. The adults exchanges some more information before Aaron’s father gave him one last hug. Being held in his fathers strong arms was comforting. For a second Aaron felt safe again, but once he father released him and started the trip back to the car uneasiness crept up again. Aaron watched his fathers car vanish with turmoil building a pit in his gut. The young couple waited patiently for Aaron. After a while of staring into the well groomed lawn and blue sky he decided to take the leap. Felicity and her husband Bryan lead the boy inside the house. As he walk over the threshole, he was punched in the face by the same campfire smell that Felicity had. It was so strong he was tempted to cover in nose with his shirt. The two made a big deal of showing off the house. Each room looked clean and had purple or blue furniture. They had a big new television mounted on the wall in the living room. Pictures of them at rock shows, meeting famous people, photos of their wedding, and a few of her displaying her round belly lined the walls. Some of the pictures had been torn in spots, with large chunks taken out of it. As they walked through the rooms the awful smell followed them. It was a burnt nutty, earth smell that stung his nose. He tried not to think about it, but the stronger the smell got the stronger the feeling of being watched got. The piercing brown eye of the pale face boy was stuck in his mind. After making a trip around the first floor, they stopped at the foot of the stairs. “Are you ready for the best room?” Bryan asked a hint of excitement in his voice. Bryan stepped over to a the wall under the stair case. He pushed hard on the wall papered panel. It clicked and a crack open up in the wall. It was a secret room. Bryan pulled the panel out revealing a brightly lit room. Bryan made a sweeping gesture with his arms.The invite was pretty clear. The room had a plush orange sofa parked in front of a large screen T.V. Several video game systems emerged from a tangle of cords. A large window was covered with long rust colored drapes. In the corner was a pinball machine and a mini-frig. The walls were deep blue and covered in various toys and merchandise from a wide assortment of games. Aaron rushed over to a tall shelf and dropped his bag at his feet. It was filled with every game he had heard of and many he hadn’t. Other games and toys were on other shelves, a long with a bunch of movies. “We thought you might like this room,” Felicity called from the door to the boy pulling the games from the shelf. “We spend most of our time in our game room these days.” She smiled warmly and tussled the boys hair. Her fingers were hot against his scalp, but he liked the attention. “I bet your son loves this room,” Aaron said looked back to the games. “Does he ever play in here?” It was the first time the missing boy had been mentioned since the tour began. “Have you ever been on twitch?” Felicity said turning on the television. Aaron plopped down on the couch next to her. He grabbed the controller that she holding out for him. He took it in one swift motion. It was shinny and new. Grit dug into his skin. The handles were covered in a black smug. Aaron looked at his hands. They were ink black. He glanced back to the games left spread on the shelf. The dark prints were on everything he had touched. Felicity’s pale freckled face was grim. She didn’t say a word only fired up her game system The two played video games for hours and Bryan brought pizza for them to eat. They had been playing for so long Aaron’s eyes had start to burn. It started to effect his nose and throat and he started to coughing. He handed the controller over to Bryan. Crawling over to the mini-frig he fished out a soda. To flush the sandpaper from his throat. The rust colored curtains waved under a gentle breeze. The night air soothed his lungs and skin. The room had grown very hot and dry. While Aaron lay under the window his host joked and laughed at the video with each other. Boom, boom boom, echoed in the house. His host jumped to their feet. Aaron try to get to his feet. They waved him back down. The strange feeling came flooding back. Some thing was behind him. Something wanted to harm him. The dark eyes of the pale faced boy flashed in his mind. Boom, Boom, Boom echoed again. It was coming from the front door some one was outside the house. The two adults left to investigate. The eleven year old stayed where he was. Being alone in the room was worse. The noisy games were silenced. Tears started to form in the corners of Aaron’s still stinging eyes. He moved to the sofa. It didn’t help. He looked all around him. Nothing was there, just the curtain blowing in the breeze. He was being watch. He wasn’t only being watch, who or what ever it was wanted to hurt him. His heart pound louder then ever. He couldn’t breath. They were going to hurt him. They were going to kill him. It was all he could think of . The whole house was quiet. Aaron called out for the young couple but they didn’t respond. Aaron bounded from the sofa over to the window. If air could get in so could a person. He throw open the curtains. They slid aside easily. Aaron froze. Just outside the window was the mocking lines of head stones. They stretched out as far as he could see. They were aged and molding. Dense vines choked them. They were lethal rocks in an sea of mist. Standing among the over growth and head stone was the pale faced kid. His dark eye fixed on Aaron. Despite the heat of the room Aaron was shaking. He shoved down on the wood of the frame. It didn’t move. He tried again it wouldn’t budge even a little. He grabbed at the lock. The lock was already latched. The window had been closed the whole time. Aaron pulled the rust drapes shut and backed away. Where did the breeze come from? “Aaron!,” the hoarse female voice shouted. Aaron lunged for the door. As he did, the light shut off the television died.The room fell dark. It was pitch black. Aaron stumbled over the tangle of cords. He crashed into the arm of the couch. It dug into his gut hard. A flash of light burst in the back of his eyes. He couldn’t breath. He gasps at the air but nothing came. He rolled over on the floor, crawling for where he thought the door was. Three sharp bang sounded on the window behind him. Aaron scrambled over the floor. There was a thick layer of dirt under his hands and all kinds objects had fallen in his way. The bangs sounded once more louder. Aaron feels his away to the door. He scurries out and pushing the door shut behind him. He propped himself against the wall. He gasp for more air. It came easier but He hadn’t fully recovered. He staggered to his feet. Only faint shades of light came from the windows. Over head foot steps moved across the floor. Was The pale faced kid somehow upstairs? Was it Felicity or Bryan? He could call for help once he was away from the house. Aaron headed in the direction he had hoped was the door. The tour was long and the house was so big. The young boy fumbling his way through the dark rooms. All the rooms were under distorting waves of darkness. He couldn’t hold his limbs still. His knees were jelly. He fondled the wall with one hand and held his shaking finger out before him. All the rooms had changed. They were dirty and confusing. Each shadow held something dangerous. Bumps and bangs came from all sides. The crying seemed to be coming for a distant room. What if Bryan and Felicity were already hurt? He reached for his pocket to grab his phone. He would call for help. The cops could stop whatever was going on. Cops can do anything. He pulled his hand for is pocket it was empty. He checked the other it was empty, as well. His phone was in his bag. His bag was in the game room. What was the way back? There was a crash. Glass smashed against the floor. The lamp he was sure was on the table in the corn was gone. Aaron ran. It didn’t matter if it was the right way or not he couldn’t stay there anymore. He tripped over the hidden threats and kick others aside. He had to get away from what ever it was. They were right behind him. No matter how fast her ran or how many turns he took they were always on a fingers reach away. The foot steps pounded behind him. They were heavy and swift. They pounded on the floor. They were keeping pace with Aaron. He was just one step behind him. The stairs came into view. He wanted to find the little panel and get his phone. He wanted to get help. He wanted to get the young couple but if he slowed down the pale faced boy would get him. As he drove beyond the stairs, He rounded a corner he crashed hard into a door frame. He tumbled down crashing into the floor. On his hands and knees he hurried to the safest place he could find. Pain raged in his shoulder but he had to keep moving. Aaron hugged the wall. A stream of fluids poured from his face. He followed the walls until he couldn’t go any farther, then he stood slowly No one was around him, but the feeling of being watched was still consuming. There was a shelf lined with bottles. There was a washing machine and dryer against the wall. He was in a laundry room. Against the far wall was a door. Aaron ran to it. Pulled at the nob. It was locked. He clawed at the locks. Foot steps hurried behind him. It was the pale face kid. Aaron heart leaped into his throat.Panic rose higher. He couldn’t remember which of the locks he had turned and which he hadn’t. The pale faced kid rushed forward tossing aside a laundry basket. He closed in on Aaron. Aaron yelled out for help. No one called back. The pale face boy reached for Aaron. His bony fingers were long and dirty. Aaron ripped the door open and shoved it between himself and the deranged boy. He slammed it shut and lurched onto the back steps. The door burst opened seconds later. Aaron launched off the steps and into the waving mist of fog. He ran straight into the shifting grip of the cemetery. The pale face kid followed. He dodged headstones and roots. He plummeted head long into weeds and behind trees. The boy still followed. At every turn the ruins of the graveyard stabbed at the boy. Pain in his shoulder was joined by a burning in his legs. He couldn’t breath. No matter where he turned more gravestones blocked his path. They each mocked him. They mocked his life. Strange shapes emerged in the fog only to disappear. Aaron did his best to forge ahead. He legs could barely be place in front of him any more. The stomping of the pale face kid stayed close. Due to pain and fear Aaron’s feet came from under him. He toppled into the veil. He slammed into the ground, a stone cut at his side. The remains of the dead reached for him down here. Everywhere he looked in this mask he saw the dead coming for him. He shook the terrible images from his mind. The sound of the pale face kid was getting closer. Aaron crawled on his belly over the course grass. The wet stinging biting was at his side. There was a mass of stone ahead. Aaron shuffled behind it. He pulled his legs to his chest. The Pale face kids steps were almost there. He slapped his shaking hands over his mouth to soften his breathing and hid his tears. They fell freely from his checks. He pulled every part of his body down to the wet grass. Hugging himself and praying that he was as small as possible and the fog would keep his secret. The pale face kid drew nearer and near to Aaron. He was so close his steps sent shock waves through the grown. He was just on the other side of the tomb stone where Aaron was laying. Aaron hoped that he would keep moving. He stopped. Aaron pinched his eye tighter then ever. He wanted to wake up from this dream but couldn’t. He wanted to scream or run. His stomach churned with bitter fear making him want to vomit. He lay there as still as he could. Waiting for his death. The pale face kid started to move again, but this time it was away. The steps sounded softer and softer. Aaron stayed still until he could no longer hear the sound. “Aaron?” called a whisper. Aaron’s whole body became tense. He trembled uncontrollably. He refused to look at what ever wanted him now. “Aaron, it is me” the voice whisper from someplace close in the graveyard. It was Bryan. “Can you make it over here?” Aaron didn’t move. He would be safe if he stayed here. “Aaron, come on we have to get out of here.” This time it was Felicity. Aaron peeked an eye open . Their heads could be seen peering around a head stone several feet away. In the mix and mangle of the fog and shadows. There faces looked sickly and dark. Aaron wanted more then anything to get out of the graveyard. He slowly stretched out his stiff arms and legs. He crawls over the grass and thorns. The two black figures waved him over. He got to his hands and knees and started to move a little faster. He had only travailed a short ways when the heart stopping sound of foot steps could be heard. The two behind the stone remained in place. They stopped waving. The steps were coming in Aaron’s direction. They were coming fast. The pale face boy was in a full charge. Aaron moved as fast as he could. He didn’t care about the pain in his legs or side. He just kept moving. The sound of his own heart was deafening. All his will pushed him forward. Felicity and Bryan dropped lower but their eyes stayed fixed on the little boy desperate to get to them. The foot steps pounded behind Aaron. Aaron jumped to his feet abandoning hiding and running. The pale face boy was bolting towards him. Aaron pushed as hard as his legs could manage. Bryan and Felicity called out to him. “Hurry take our hands!” They shouted from their spot. Aaron reached for them. He grabbed Bryan’s out stretched arm only to be ripped away. Aaron was tackled to the dirt. The pale face kid was on top of him. Aaron kicked and screamed. He throw blind punches at the air. The pale face kid stood over him. He grabbed at Aaron’s kicking legs holding one tight in both arms. Aaron twisted calling out for Felicity or Bryan to help. They screamed for Aaron, but they stayed where they were. Tears poured from Aaron. He was being drug away from the two. They both held there arms out to him but they didn’t move. The pale face kid pulled Aaron twisting and kicking. He was drug until the fog blocked his view of the only two that could save him. When Felicity and Bryan’s screams fell silent the pale face kick dropped Aaron’s leg. Aaron started to run but the boy leaped on to his back. He leaned in close to the boy. “Shut up and listen,” the weak voice of the kid commanded. He got off of Aaron’s back but keep a tight hold of his wrist. The silhouettes of Felicity and Bryan stood motionless peering out over the graves. “You shouldn’t have done that,” one cried out in a harsh angry voice. It was deep slow. “Aaron?” They called. The pale face kid rolled a small flashlight to Aaron and released his wrist. Aaron jumped to his feet and rushed over to greet Felicity and Bryan. He rushed to the safety. They two stood their grounds. The pale face boy didn’t follow him. He stood in the fog watching. Aaron slowed down. He legs still throbbing. He clicked the flashlight to life. He turned it back to the pale face kid. The pale face kid did speak he pointed one long finger back at the couple. Aaron faced them shinning the light to see their faces. He dropped it once he saw them. He scrambled to get it from the ocean of mist. It wasn’t only the shadows and fog mangling their faces. They were mangled. Their whole bodies were covered in red blistering burns. The skin in many places had burned away revealing the bloody flesh beneath. Aaron stopped in his tracks. “What happened?” Aaron asked. “Just come to us,” Bryan ordered. Aaron didn’t move. He held the flash light on their now cold eyes. “Please come here,” Felicity pleaded, “We want to help you.” Aaron back away. They stood watching him. Aaron shined the flashlight on the stone behind them. It was a newer one. It was large with a flowing river on it. Carved into it’s surface it read: Bryan L. Stewards December 10, 1989 Died March 23, 2016, and Felicity N. Stewards July 18, 1991 Died March 23, 2016. The pale face kid approached slowly looking away from the two. “They left their son behind.” his weak voice said, “they are still trying to find him I think.” The two boys wondered back to the house. The two figures had vanished in the darkness, but Aaron could hear his name being whispered over the breeze from time to time. Where there was a beautiful big house there was only chard boards, and ash. The lawn was dead. Aaron sifted through it until he found his bag. He and the pale faced kid sit in silence in the remains of the home. Until it was daylight. He pulled out his cell phone. It still had enough charge to make a couple of calls. He called his parents. He wasn’t sure what to tell them, so he just told them that he would be going to Hanks. He called his neighbor. As he waited for his Neighbor to show up the pale face kid had wondered off somewhere. Aaron never learned his name. His neighbors truck pulled up to the house. Aaron rode way he could still feel eyes on him and hear the whisper calling his name as he drove pass the graveyard.He walked out of the mist in the early morning. Near the Cemetery on the old pothole filled road.