Chapter 3 - The Village With No Light

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William stood anxiously in front of the village medical center, it was 4 a.m. and the sun just started to rise. William couldn’t get any sleep last night, he was too worried about Drew and why he passed out last night. "What did he see in the alleyway?", William thought, he suddenly hears footsteps coming towards him, and so he turned around. "Glad you're here," William said to Crystal, "Let's go inside." The two then opened the medical center's door and went inside, the two see a receptionist writing a report. "Excuse me, we’re here to visit Drew Whitlock," Crystal asked the receptionist, the receptionist looked up from her report and said, “Oh alright, please write this visitor registration”. Crystal and William write the registration before heading to “Room 108” where Drew is in, the two walk towards the room’s door and opens it.

As they enter the room, they see Drew sleeping on the far left side of the room lying on a bed covered by white blankets, the two then see a table beside the bed with several empty bottles. Crystal walked towards Drew and sat on the foot of the bed while William stand beside the bed. “What happened to him, by the way?” Crystal asked while looking at William, “I-I don’t know…”, William sighed, “one moment he suddenly ran off and once we caught up to him, he was staring at an alleyway wall before passing out.” William looked at Drew with guilt in his eyes, Crystal sighed before grabbing William’s shoulder, “Hey, don’t blame yourself”.

Suddenly, a nurse bursts into the room while carrying a book and quill, “Excuse me, the patient is in need of more treatment, so he needs more rest.” “Oh of course, we’ll leave.” William said, before he and Crystal exit the room. Now outside of the medical center, William and Crystal discuss of what’s going on. “So what now?” Crystal asked while scratching her head, “There’s a creature that is killing livestocks and now Drew for some reason passed out.” “Yeah, something doesn’t add up here…” William said while stroking his chin. Crystal looked at William’s eyes, William stops stroking his chin and notices Crystal staring at him, “What?” “You look like you didn’t slept last night” Crystal suspiciously looked at William. “I’m fine”, William insisted, “Look, it’s 4 in the morning and we’re supposed to meet Eric at 9,” Crystal said, “so why don’t you go home and get some rest?” “Fine… I’ll get some rest,” William rolls his eyes, “See you at Eric’s.” William waves and walks away, Crystal waves back.

After a few minutes of walking, William arrived at his house and unlocked the door. William then went to clean himself and unpack his equipment before laying onto his bed, he sighs and closes his eyes while he hears birds chirping outside of his house. Before he knew it, William fell asleep silently. Crystal was right, William needed to get some rest. After a few hours, William suddenly woke up and slowly stand up, he rubbed his eyes before looking at the clock on the wall. “9.15” the clock read. “WHAT THE HELL!” William shouted, realizing he is late from meeting at Eric’s, William rushes outside of his bedroom and packs up his equipment before going outside of his house and slamming the door.

Crystal knocks on the door, wondering if Eric was inside. The house always looked dull and dark, as if it was some sort of haunted house. Crystal was beginning to worry that Eric forgot about their deal, but as if on cue, the door opens to reveal Eric all dressed up and ready to go. Eric was wearing a brown jacket, cream cargo pants and a small backpack. “Where’s Will?” Eric asked blankly like always, Crystal shrugged, “Last time I saw him, he was gonna get some rest. So, he might be a bit late”. “Whatever then.” Eric frowned before walking out of the house and to his porch, Eric then grabs a book from his backpack. “What’s that book?”, Crystal asked, “It’s an encyclopedia of exotic beasts,” Eric answered “it has information of nearly every beast in the world and it might help us determine what is killing the livestocks.” “Oh, alright.” Crystal said, Eric places the book on a table and skims through it before stopping on a page. “Here”, Eric said, Crystal leans closer to the book and reads the page, “The Wendigos, mysterious carnivorous humanoids that prey on unsuspecting wanderers and herbivores of the taigas.” Crystal gazed at the illustrations of the Wendigos, she frowned “I don’t think it’s Wendigos, this thing has some sort of mandibles.” “Mandibles…” Eric ponders briefly before skimming through the book and stopping on another page, “Could this be it?”

William ran across the village, bumping into a few bystanders, he didn’t stop to apologize as his mind was focused on one thing: get to Eric’s house. William swiftly looked around whilst running, trying to determine which direction he has to go. Before realizing, William tripped and fell on the pathway, falling face first on the path. “Dammit”, William sighed as he slowly lifted himself up, brushing off a bit of dirt from his clothes. A hand suddenly reached out to William, William looked up and saw who’s hand was it. An elderly man William knew very well, a kind and wise person William helped out from time to time who goes by the name of Ben.

Ben didn’t have any close relatives or house in the village, he would be seen wandering about in the woods and sleeping in a small shed he himself made, William and other village-folks keep offering places for him to stay yet Ben humbly declines these offers, stating that he doesn’t want to burden anyone.

William grabbed Ben’s hand and heaved himself from the ground. “Thank you Ben,” William sheepishly said, “I gotta be more careful from now on”. Ben simply nodded and smiled politely, he then pats William in the back before asking him, “Where you rushing off to, Will?” William brushed off a smudge of dirt from his chin before replying, “Uhh, I gotta go to Eric’s house”. Ben nodded, “Be careful on your way there” Ben said before walking away, “Bye” William responded. William looked around before spotting Eric’s house in the distance, with no hesitation, he ran as fast as he could. William ran and ran before stopping in front of Eric’s, he tried to catch a breath while his knees felt sore, he looked up and see Eric and Crystal waiting for him at the porch, William took a deep breath before climbing up the stairs of the porch.

“Hey Guys”, William sheepishly spoke, “I’m here”. “Took you long enough”, Eric frowned and grabbed a chair for William to sit, William settled down and sees a broad book on the table with the sketch of a giant spider, “What’s this?” William asked while gazing at Eric and Crystal. “It’s a encyclopedia full of information of creatures”, Crystal answered, “Eric says it could help use determine what type of predator is killing the livestocks”. William recalled that he heard from the other villagers that more livestocks were mysteriously killed overnight, “So any luck?” William examined the book’s contents, “No” Crystal and Eric said simultaneously. “There is no creature in the book that matches the behavior of this supposed predator”, Eric added, “frankly, it could be something nobody has ever seen or heard before.” “I have an idea,” Will beamed, “maybe we should go to the woods.” Eric and Crystal skeptically looked at Will, “You want to go to the woods?” Crystal inquired, “I guess, yeah” William replied. “Not the worst idea, I’m in” Eric stated before packing everything into his backpack, “let’s give it a shot”. “Great, let’s go.” Will stood up and wait for the two. “Actually, I think I gotta take a rain check on this one”, Crystal remarked, “not just I hate the forest but I want to check up on Drew in case he’s now healed or not”. “Oh alright,” William responded, “Eric, you with me?”. Eric finished packing and got up from his chair, “Yep”. William, Crystal and Eric climbed down the porch before splitting up, “Bye, good luck and stay safe boys!” Crystal shouted, “Bye, Crystal! Stay safe too!” Will waved at Crystal. William and Eric walked to the forest, determined to solving these ongoing mysteries.

Will and Eric traversed the dense oak forest, searching in the border of it and the village. William saw a fallen oak tree that had what seems to be claw marks on it, Will walked closer to it and examined the trunk, he ran a finger on the “claw marks” to examine the texture and severity, “These aren’t claw marks” William thought. “Hey Will”, Eric shouted, startling William, he took one last glance at the oak trunk and turned around and went to check on Eric. William brushed several leaves out of his way and spots Eric crouching and staring at the ground, “What’s wrong?” William asked. Eric simply pointed to the bare footprints on the dirt, Will crouched and looked closer and notices that the footprints are trailing off deeper into the woods, William stood up and faced Eric, he motions his hand to the trail while Eric nods, the two then go deeper into the woods to follow the trail of footprints. Will and Eric went deeper and deeper into the oak forest, the sun was setting and nighttime was approaching, Eric thankfully brought a lantern just in case. The two kept following the tracks, the darkness and plants however making it harder to see, Eric shone his lantern, which started flickering despite there being no wind, closer to the ground to ensure the tracks are still there. However, the tracks suddenly go down a steep slope covered in bushes and plants, William and Eric stopped right in front of the slope. “Uhh… What n-“, William stopped talking after he heard a small weep ahead of him, he glanced at Eric who simultaneously looked back at him with a worried expression, the lantern began flickering more aggressively.

William took a step down onto the slope, hesitating on going down there and finding out what is making noise, he mouthed to Eric to give him the lantern. Eric hands the flickering lantern to Will before stepping back, William stared down and took a deep breath, he slides down the slope and passes through the bushes. “Ben?” William couldn’t believe his eyes, he thought he wasn’t seeing right. Ben was on his knees with his hands covering his face, his usual grey ragged clothes looked far more tattered with what seems to be a dark-colored stain on his chest. Ben was sobbing? Giggling? It was hard to tell, William then got closer to Ben, “Ben? What are you doing here? Are you ok?” Will asked. Ben flinched a bit before removing his hands from his face, he was smiling. Well, that’s what William thought, there were tears rolling down Ben’s cheeks while Ben just eerily smiled. Ben looked at Will while giggling with tears, “It took her… It took her….”, Ben spoke, Will was confused, starting to feel more unease. “What took her?”, Will asked before noticing the flame in the lantern was dimming rapidly, Ben’s pupils and smile widened before he replied, “The darkness”. The lantern finally extinguished, William backed up before hearing something chittering and rustling around him. “WILL!”

Crystal enters Drew’s room to see him still asleep, she examines the room to see that nothing changed ever since she and Will were last here. She approaches Drew and examines him, suddenly Drew woke up. Startled, Crystal moved back and gasped, Drew then looks at Crystal with bewildered eyes and reaches out his hand to her. “Drew you’re awake”, Crystal said, Drew simply murmured something to her. Crystal leaned closer to hear what Drew is saying, “The shadow crawls”.

Continue to Chapter 4