MonsterHearts:The Sinkhole

Saturday October 17th, 3:30 AM
Wildomar, Lawless Ranch House

**A deep rumbling sound wakes Tate from his sleep, less than a few seconds afterwards the entire farm house shakes for a moment, groaning as it settles. There's a quiet moment before a second thrumming shakes the house, followed by distant distressed cries from the livestock somewhere outside, and the house shakes a second time.**

**Tate**: **He sits up from bed, his hair is messily strewn around his head. He's wearing a simple black shirt and pajama bottoms. He looks over at his window as his pet ferret, Loki, scratches at it lightly and makes a quiet yelping sound.** It's just an earthquake Loki. **He sighs and gets out of bed, he has to go to the bathroom.**

**As Tate is heading back to his room from the bathroom, there's a knock on his front door. It's almost like a pounding more than a knock, and it's loud enough to ring through the whole house.**

**Tate**: **He stops and looks down the hall towards the stairs, unsure if he should go answer it.**

**Jason**: **Tate's dad walks out into the hall, pulling on a light sweater.** You hear that knock? **He looks like he's getting ready to go outside and check on what's happened.**

**Tate**: **He just nods slightly, then looks back down the hall.**

**Jude**: **Tate's mother calls out from somewhere in their room.** What was that sound? **She sounds like she's just been woken up.**

**Jason**: It's someone at the door. **He calls back into the room.** I'm going to go check on the cattle and the horses.

**The loud knock repeats, and it sounds like someone is calling out from outside, but the voice is a bit muffled. It's likely their neighbor.**

**Jason**: Get dressed Tate, I might need you to help me round up the cows. **He turns and quickly heads down the hall and down the stairs.**

**Tate**: **He lets out a tired and irritated sigh as walks back towards his room. About five minutes later he's walking out the side door, towards the fields. He's changed into a black hoodie with white stripes, as well as a pair of black work gloves and jeans.**

**It's particularly dark and cold out tonight. The moon is only hinted at in the sky by a very dim glow set behind a cover of black clouds, and a light early morning fog has settled over the farm, reducing visibility even more.**

**Tate**: **He walks down the front porch and looks around. He pulls a large flashlight from his pocket and turns it on, living on a farm means getting up before sunrise, so he keeps a personal flashlight in his room for occasions like this. As he starts to walk away from the porch Loki bolts from the deck and skitters up the back of his pant leg, climbs under the back of his hoodie, and up his back before poking his head out beside Tate's neck. Tate looks at Loki and and then out at his surroundings.** ...Dad? **He sweeps the flashlight through the misty air as he looks around, it doesn't help him see very much, and he calls out a second time, a lot louder.** *Dad*!? **He sighs, and Loki perks up, sticking his head out a little more, like he's looking around too.**

**As Tate looks around, he can see some lights in the south-west, where the Lawless' farm borders the Lightning's ranch, his neighbors. He can hear several voices coming from that direction too.**

**Tate**: **He yawns, looking at Loki for a second, who also yawns back. Tate just looks at his ferret sternly, then trudges off towards the lights and sounds of voices.**

**As Tate reaches the lights, his dad, Ahiga and Ahiga's dad, Rudy, are standing in a small group. Jason and Rudy are ahead, looking at something.**

**Rudy**: **He's bent down a little.** Well it's damn strange.

**Ahiga**: How far do you think it goes? **He's wearing a brown leather jacket that matches his dad's, he's standing a good twelve feet behind the two adults, holding a large flashlight.**

**Tate**: So what happened? **He rubs one of his eyes as he walks up near Ahiga.**

**Ahiga**: **He suddenly grabs the back of Tate's hoodie and pulls him back about half a foot.** Might want to watch your step. **He lets go of Tate afterwards. Just about four yards ahead of Tate and Ahiga is a large black pit. The other side of it can't even be seen because of the fog.**

**Tate**: **He straightens out his hoodie after Ahiga's pull.** Watch *what*? **He looks ahead and sees the large hole in the ground.** ...Did this cause that earthquake?

**Jason**: You stay back Tate. **He's looking down into the hole, standing beside Rudy.** Can you tell how deep it is? **He shines a floodlight down into the pit.**

**Rudy**: I can't see the bottom. **He stands up. The edge of the hole is a sheer nity degree surface, almost like the edge of a cliff. The bottom, whether because of the dark night or because it's so far down, can't be seen even with the floodlight beaming down into it. Rudy combs his fingers through his hair and takes a step back, even though he and Jason are already standing a good two yards from the edge.** It must be some kind of sinkhole.

**Jason**: That'd be my guess. **He moves his light along the edge.** How far across do you think it is? **He lifts his light and shines it over the hole in an attempt to see the other side.**

**Rudy**: Me and Ahiga circled around it on the way over here, what do you think Ahiga? **He looks back at his son.**

**Ahiga**: **He shrugs his shoulders a little.** Maybe forty feet across? **He towards the the hole uneasily.**

**Rudy**: **He nods and looks back towards the large pit.** ...Forty feet... Yeah... I'd say at *least* that far.

**Tate**: If it's a sinkhole... Should we be standing this close? What if more collapses?

**Ahiga**: **He takes a few steps back when Tate says that.**

**Rudy**: **He takes a few steps back.** I think this one already collapsed in twice, but even being this close probably isn't safe. **He turns and walks over to them, looking to Jason as he does.** I know a guy I can call. **He looks at his watch, it's a little after 3:50.** Could probably get him here in the next few hours.

**Jason**: **He follows Ahiga's dad.** We should head back inside Tate. **He looks back to Rudy.** Get your guy out here, I'll split his bill.

**Rudy**: **He nods.** Sounds good to me. C'mon Ahiga.

**Ahiga**: **He leans a little closer.** Kinda weird, this happened all of the sudden.

**Tate**: I guess so. **He yawns again.** ...The... What's-their-faces... That mexican family that lives up the street from my house, they have a well I think, so maybe an underground river caused it.

**Ahiga**: Yeah... Hope there isn't anymore though.

**Tate**: Scared? **He holds up his finger and Loki jumps out of his hood and onto his hand and nibbles on it.**

**Ahiga**: Pfft. **He smirks when he sees the little weasel jump from Tate's hoodie.**

**Rudy**: Ahiga! **His voice sounds on the verge of him being mad.** Come on, you got the light!

**Ahiga**: Lates, Tates. **He jogs off after his dad.** Coming!

**Tate**: Seeya Ahiga... **He turns and follows after his dad.**

***Later that day, around noon...***

**Odie**: **He's standing at the very edge of the pit, looking down into it, his green eyes dart back and forth as they search for anything strange. He seems really serious, but he's wearing a pair of orange tinted sunglasses and a white bucket hat that makes him look pretty goofy, he's also chewing on a long whisker of wheat-grass hanging from his mouth.** Huh.

**Ahiga**: **Even in the light of day, the sinkhole is so deep that they can't see the bottom, and it runs through the border between the two family's farms, with a large chunk of the fence that separted them having been pulled in. Ahiga is standing about ten feet back in front of Tate, watching Odie.** My dad had a contractor come by earlier, he ran a bunch tests and stuff. Said he didn't know what caused it. It's like fifty feet across, and almost a perfect circle. **He looks around along the rim of the chasm, his eyes tracing the edge.** ...Also said it was over a hundred feet deep. **He almost sounds like he's trying to impress Odie.**

**Hunter**: **Odie's younger brother is standing near Tate. He's wearing simple, almost plain clothing.** I bet a lot of cows fell in.

**Ahiga**: **He looks back at Hunter.** We keep them locked in the smaller field. **He points over to a field in the south near a large barn.** So they're ok. **He looks back over to Odie.** You probably shouldn't be standing that close to the edge though, Odie. The contractor guy said that the rim can slide in.

**Hunter**: **He crosses his arms over his chest and almost seems annoyed by what Ahiga said.** My brother's not afraid of anything.

**Ahiga**: **He looks back at Hunter again, then to Odie.** Well if he falls in we're gonna get in a shit ton of trouble... We're not even supposed to be within fifty feet of this thing.

**Tate**: **He looks at Ahiga for a second, knowing that his dad would kill him if he saw them near the sinkhole. He then looks ahead to Odie.** It's creepy as hell, isn't it?

**Odie**: **He kicks a small stone into the pit and watches it fall into the darkness.** ...Hmmm...

**The rock never seems to make a sound. If it's struck bottom, it's too far down for it to make any noise.**

**Hunter**: Let's find a cat to throw into it. **He looks around.**

**Ahiga**: **He looks at Hunter, unsure if he's joking or not.** ...What?

**Odie**: **He flips the piece of wheat around to the other side of his mouth.** Yep... **He takes a few steps back and turns around, walking over to the other three boys.** That's a hole alright. **He shrugs.**

**Ahiga**: **He looks across the hole towards his house as he hears the faint sound of the front door in the distance. His and Tate's dad are walking out onto the porch, talking with the contractor they hired.** Let's get away from it, I don't want to get ripped a new one.

**Odie**: Yeah let's just hang back. **He walks away, pating Hunter on the shoulder a little to get him to follow, then starts walking faster back towards the barn.** So it just happened last night?

**Ahiga**: This morning. **He brushes some of his hair of of his face.** Was at like three? **He looks over to Tate.**

**Tate**: Three-thirty I think. **He looks from Ahiga to Odie.**

**Odie**: Three-thirty-three? **He leans up against the barn as they reach it and raises and eyebrow.**

**Tate**: What am I an atomic clock? I don't know, it woke me up around three-thirty.

**Ahiga**: Why would that time matter? **He looks from Tate to Odie.**

**Odie**: Witching hour is from three to four, and it's *weirdest* around that time. **He shrugs.**

**Tate**: The witching hour? **He raises an eyebrow.** Why would witches have their own hour, and who the hell would put it that early in the morning?

**Ahiga**: Maybe witches like to get up *really* early when no one else is around, and dig massive holes in the ground. **He smirks and rolls his eyes, then walks over and lightly kicks an old dodge ball, it bounces off the barn wall. He moves to quickly stop it with his foot, and then kicks it again.**

**Odie**: I dunno, strange things goin on around here.

**Tate**: The sinkhole is probably just because of some underground river. The Garcias, or whatever, up the road have a well. That means there's groundwater around.

**Hunter**: What happened to your cat? **He says it like he's still looking for a cat to throw into the hole.**

**Tate**: We've *never* had a cat, why do you always ask that? **He looks over at Hunter.**

**Ahiga**: We haven't had a cat in years so... **He shakes his head, thinking that Hunter is weird, but that's apparently the norm for Odie's little brother. He kicks the dodge ball again, bouncing it off the barn wall.**

**Hunter**: Your sister had a cat. **He nods as he looks at Tate.**

**Tate**: **He seems annoyed suddenly.** No she *didn't*... **He looks away from Hunter, his mood seems to have quickly soured.** She had a horse and... A mouse or something, and both of them ran away... After she died.

**Hunter**: **He's still looking around and not really paying attention to Tate.**

**Odie**: So uhh, since a giant hole just appeared out of no where, you guys gonna go stay somewhere else?

**Tate**: My mom wanted to go stay in a motel after she found out about it, but my dad convinced her to stay.

**Ahiga**: My dad's waiting to see what the contractor guy says. **He stops the ball with his foot.** If there was a real danger he probably would've already told us to leave, ya know?

**Odie**: Yeah, you're probably right. Not sure how I'd feel living so close to something like that though...

**Ahiga**: Thought you weren't afraid of anything. **He smirks slyly as he looks over at Odie.**

**Odie**: I aint afraid of nothin. Dying before I finish high school would suck though.

**Tate**: Well it's a good thing we're all on a roll in the "not dying" part of being alive... **He sighs quietly.**

**Odie**: Anyway, we better get going. **He spits out the wheatgrass.**

**Ahiga**: What? I thought we were going out to the arcade. **He sounds really dissapointed.**

**Odie**: We'll have to go next weekend. I didn't want to rain on your guy's "big hole" parade, but I inhereted a big ass mansion. **He smiles.** So my mom's taking us up to check it out.

**Ahiga**: What? You fuckin with us? **He looks at Tate with a half-smile.**

**Odie**: Nah... My uncle died, and I'm the only male relative, so I guess he left it to me. Though technically it's my mom's until I turn eighteen. **He looks at Hunter, he seems really pleased with himself.**

**Tate**: So are you moving into it then? Where is it?

**Odie**: It's in some mountain town called Cold Springs, way up in Northern part of Cali. I don't think we'll be moving all the way up there, my mom likes the "warmth of the desert" too much, said she'd never move back to Northern California.

**Ahiga**: So you really did inheret a mansion? Guess that sucks about your uncle though...

**Odie**: I never met him, so it's not really a tear-jerker, and my mom said Uncle Robertson was a little strange, so the house probably isn't even in good condition... **He shrugs a little.** Anyway, c'mon Hunter let's roll. Mom wanted to leave by two and it's an eight hour drive, so we need to find you something to eat before we leave.

**Hunter**: **He gets off the stump.** This house better be awesome.

**Odie**: Anyway, see you two later. We'll probably be back tuesday.

**Ahiga**: So you got a mansion *and* you get to miss a day of school. Sounds like you lucked out... **He kicks the ball against the side of the barn.** Anyway, see you guys later I guess.

**Hunter**: Bye Ahiga, later Tater Tot. **He hurries off after his brother, walking towards the edge of the ranch where their bikes are.**

**Ahiga**: **He watches the two of them leave.** So you really think he got a mansion?

**Tate**: I dunno. **He looks to Ahiga.** Odie's not a liar, but he likes to make the truth sound a lot cooler than it is sometimes. **He smirks a little and then looks back to the two brothers getting on their bikes and riding away towards the housing tract up the street from the farm.**

**Ahiga**: Kinda weird, that he just randomly inherets a mansion. **He kicks the ball again.**

**Tate**: Guess it's about as weird as us randomly inhereting a giant sinkhole... **He shrugs and looks back to the sinkhole.**

**As Tate looks back to the sinkhole he sees his and Ahiga's father walking over to them.**

**Rudy**: I know I didn't see you two going near that sinkhole a second ago. **He doesn't look too happy.**

**Tate**: We stayed twenty feet back. **He meekly looks to his dad.** Odie was the one that walked all the way up to it.

**Jason**: *Fifty* feet. You undestand? No closer. I'm dead serious now, and I *mean* it. You slip and fall into that hole and you're not coming back up, you understand?

**Tate**: **He quickly nods several times.**

**Ahiga**: ...So what else did the contractor guy say?

**Rudy**: Said the hole looks stable, but it's best not to go near it until there's some kind of fence around it. **He looks back at the giant pit.** He'll be back later today with a small team to runs some more tests just to be sure, but he thinks we're fine.

**Tate**: He still doesn't know what caused it?

**Rudy**: He's not 100% sure, but he thinks there was probably a cave down there that collapsed due to all the rain we've been getting this year. **He looks from the hole back to Ahiga.** I catch you goin near that thing again Ahiga and I will chain you to the porch, you understand?

**Ahiga**: Yeah... **He looks over at Tate.**

**Jason**: I'm going to head on down to Cal Oaks, pick ups some lumber. **He looks at Tate as he walks off towards his truck, parked near the house.** You remember what I said Tate.

**Tate**: **He just nods again.**

***Later that night...***

**The two of them are at Ahiga's, it's late at night, well after midnight, and Tate is staying the night since his parents don't want him walking home in the dark with the sudden appearance of the giant chasm that lies on the path between their houses. Both boys are in Ahiga's room, though they've been laying in bed for a while, neither has really fallen asleep yet.**

**Ahiga**: **He's staring up at the ceiling. There's glow in the dark starts that are glued to the ceiling from when he was a little kid, and their dim green glow is the only light in the room.** So what's up with Hunter anyway?

**Tate**: **He twists his face a little at the question, also staring up at the ceiling. He's laying on the floor in a sleeping bag.** What do you mean?

**Ahiga**: Does he have food allergies or something? Odie's always talking about getting him something to eat, or he gets worried whenever Hunter says he's hungry, kinda like when they left.

**Tate**: Yeah... Vegies make him sick, and I think he has a lot of trouble with sugar and sweets and junkfood in general.

**Ahiga**: So would you say he eats a lotta *meat*? **He says it teasingly.**

**Tate**: **He just sighs.** He just has a problem digesting most foods.

**Ahiga**: **He lets out a quiet sigh and stays quiet for a few seconds before speaking again.** ...Does something seem... I don't know... *Off*... Like... Strange? About that... Sinkhole?

**Tate**: It's a big sinkhole that has no bottom, I don't think there's anything *normal* about that. **He looks towards Ahiga's direction.**

**Ahiga**: Yeah... But... I don't know... It's just...

**Tate**: Scary?

**Ahiga**: ...More like... A portent of something to come...

**Tate**: *"Portent"*? ...That's a pretty smart word for a football jock.

**Ahiga**: **He throws a small pillow from his bed at Tate.** Shut up.

**Tate**: **He laughs a little after the pillow hits him, then throws it back. After a moment he responds a little more seriously.** I dunno. It does give me the creeps though...

**As soon as Tate finishes what he's saying there's an blood curdling scream from somewhere outside in the darkness. It starts low, sounding almost like one of the cows, and then suddenly raises in pitch to such a height that it seems almost that the windows of Ahiga's room vibrate with the frequency, within seconds of it starting it's silenced.**

**Tate**: **He sits up and looks around as soon as it ends.** What the fuck what *that*? **He looks around the room.**

**Ahiga**: I have *no* fucking clue. **He sits up and looks out his window. It's pitch black outside, and only the lights of other houses can be seen in the distance.**

**Tate**: **He climbs up on Ahiga's bed and looks out the window with him.** You think it was the cows?

**Ahiga**: Ours or yours? **He looks over at Tate for a moment, then back outside.**

**Tate**: Sounded kinda close. **He moves towards the window and looks around in the direction of the barn.** Might've been yours.

**There's a loud crash from somewhere outside, and the sound happens again. The window hums with the high-pitched scream as it shakes.**

**Tate**: **He falls back as he pushes himself away from the window, and towards the edge of Ahiga's back.** Jesus fucking *christ*. What the hell is that?

**Ahiga**: **He moves away from the window as Tate does.** I don't know.

**There's a commotion out in the hall, then the sound of footsteps is heard moving towards Ahiga's bedroom. The door opens and Rudy is standing beyond it.**

**Rudy**: You two see anything out there? **He has a shotgun in one hand.**

**Tate**: **He shakes his head.**

**Ahiga**: No, but we heard it, what the hell was that?

**Rudy**: I think Winni might be having her calf, but if she is it's a month early, so something's wrong, get dressed and come help me with her.

**Ahiga**: **He looks at the gun.** Then what's the shotgun for?

**Rudy**: Just in case it's *not* Winni and something's broken into the damn barn again. C'mon, get moving Ahiga. **He turns and walks out.**

**Ahiga**: **He looks over at Tate, there's an obvious look of unease on his face.**

**Tate**: **He returns the feeling as he looks back at Ahiga.**

**About five minutes later the two of them are walking out to the barn, they can that the lights are on inside, and the front door is slid open.**

**Rudy**: **His voice comes from inside.** Ahiga, that you?

**Ahiga**: Yeah it's us. **As they walk into the barn there's a smell of blood, mixed with the typical barn smell of manure and cows. He freezes in his tracks. The floor of the barn is covered in the bodies of their cows. All of them have been gutted from utter to neck, and their intestines and other innards have rolled out onto the hay-covered floor. He quickly looks away.**

**Tate**: *What the hell*?! **He's grossed out by it, but not too bad since he's been helping his dad butcher cows lately. Regardless he covered his nose with his sleeve and looks away, moving back towards the door.**

**Rudy**: You two go wake up Manny, Tate, call your dad and tell him what's happened. **Something catches his eye and he quickly moves to the edge of the barn. There's a scratching noise coming from the direction he's moving, and he raises his shotgun and he moves towards the wall. As the two boys look they see something, paws maybe vanish underneath the wall of the barn.** God damn thing must've dug in here.

**Ahiga**: *Thing*? **He looks at Tate, then quickly back to his dad.**

**Rudy**: Looked like a mountain lion, a damn big one, but I barely saw it. **He grabs a large plank of wood leaning against the wall and tips it over, then moves one of the cow's salt licks onto it to weigh it down. He looks back at the two boys.** I'll walk you back to the house.