Child with the Lantern

You ever notice how the road seems unnaturally long at night. I’m not talking about when you’re driving through town or when you run round to the local convenience store. No, I mean when you’re hauling your ass cross country. I had come to know the roads home rather well, arguably too well for my liking. I was up and down them three-sometimes-four times a week. Usually, I was home long before the sun set behind the mountains but not tonight. No, tonight I had been forced to take a diversion; there had been a serious accident on my usual route which had closed all the main roads down whilst the emergency services dealt with the situation. I was therefore travelling down a more scenic but unfamiliar set of roads all so that I could get home, sleep and then do the same monotonous journey back in the morning.

The road stretched out into nothing, miles-and-miles of nothing but fields, a feeling of unease was only enhanced by the overbearing cloak of darkness that had fallen across the area. I was never the most confident of drivers during the dark and these roads were so much worse than city driving. This stretch of road was twisting and turning its way through mountainous regions, low valleys and long unforgiven stretches of woodland areas. The lack of street lighting on this stretch makes the road so much more perilous than it would be during daylight. Thankfully there was another car a few hundred yards ahead of me and I was able to use the lights that it sent out into the void to give me some sense of how the road was behaving up ahead.

The radio DJ was rambling on about some upcoming festival and how there would be a chance to win some free tickets in the next hour. Her voice soft and seductive as it flowed from the speakers had a strange soothing effect upon me. Despite this my anxiety spiked momentarily as I watched the lights up ahead disappear, giving me a gentle warning of an upcoming bend in the road. Either side of me, along the edge of the river of tarmac was lined with trees and a dense foliage which only served to further enhance my discomfort whilst the scant bit of light that did manage to penetrate through from the almost full moon only added an extra bit of eerie spice to the restricted scenery outside my window. The cars headlights were providing adequate lighting however, I would occasionally put on my full beams and illuminate the outside world and for the briefest of moments the shroud of darkness would be lifted allowing me a momentary glimpse of the trees and their twisted branches that stretched out towards the road that separated both sides of what I presumed to be a forest of some description.

Some old song flowed out through the car’s speakers I vaguely recognised the song but having not really been paying attention I never really paid it much mind. At least not until the signal dropped and the crooners silky voice disappeared and was suddenly replaced by the unsettling sound of white noise hissing out of the speakers. The abrupt change caused me to sit upright in my seat and sent goosebumps spreading across my skin. A sensation that put me in mind of thousands of insects crawling all over my body, this in turn led to an uncomfortable shudder. Forcing myself to relax I focused my attention on the road, waiting absently for the signal to return and when it finally did the old crooner had now been replaced by a soft, almost comforting, female voice. It was only a silly little distraction, but it had forced me to sit up and pay more attention to the road. The event had highlighted to me that I had settled into a bit of a comfortable lull, acting almost on auto pilot, which I felt was not the best frame of mind when driving under such conditions.

A little further down the road I once again fired up my full beams, and for just a fleeting moment I thought that I saw someone standing just within the tree line. Hidden in the shadows. Quickly, I peered into my rear-view mirror and seeing nothing I started rubbing at my eyes ‘I’m losing my fucking mind’ I muttered as my attention once again returned to the road. Again, I pulled the lever to turn on my full beams. Just to be sure, the action giving me some momentary comfort as the radio again crackled and the signal dropped for a second time. Having travelled a few miles further down the road I had begun to put the idea that I had seen some shadowy figure lurking in the shadows of the woods behind me. The rear light of the car in front of me had returned briefly before vanishing once again into the night. I knew that once I had passed through the woods that my nerves would begin to settle as my visibility improved; for one thing the light of the moon would no longer be hindered by the tall trees that loomed heavily overhead and then there was the streetlights that would eventually return and light up the road ahead.

But for now, I had to contend with these darkened roads that became all the darker when my headlights started to flicker causing strange shadows to dance across the surface of the road. I eased my foot off the gas pedal allowing my car to drop down to forty miles per hour. My visibility was being severely hampered by a lack of consistent light and had the knock-on effect of fuelling my paranoid mind. At one point, during a flicker I was convinced that I had once again seen shadows; I was convinced that I had seen the shadows of several individuals all stood skulking within the tree line. I got the distinct impression that they were watching me almost wating for me however, within another flicker of the lights they were all gone and I was left wondering if I had seen them or if they were little more than images conjured up by my tired mind. After a moment or two my lights returned to normal just in time for me to see a sight that truly did stop my heart even if only momentarily. I had navigated a particularly steep series of bends in the road and had reduced my speed further to safely manoeuvre my car around them; having my headlights back also helped.

As I came around the last turn, I saw something up ahead. Something solid this time, no shadow figures. The first thing that had caught my attention was the warm incandescent glow floating mid-air, gently swaying from side to side its sole purpose was to clearly catch my attention. A job that it had been most successful in achieving. The light was still a fair way down the road at this point making it difficult to fully gauge who was holding what I assumed to be a torch of some description, not to mention why where they out here in the middle of the night waving a torch around. Although it wasn’t casting a beam that you would generally associated with a torch, it was more orb like in nature. My initial thought was that there had been an accident ahead and decided that the best course of action would be to once again slow down and assess the situation as I approached.

I was practically crawling by now moving no more than fifteen miles per hour. A deep unsettling trepidation was starting to take hold of me. I had begun to think about the shadows I had seen in the tree line or at least felt I had seen and I started to feel exposed moving at such a low speed. Although, I did also reason that I could simply put my foot down should some sudden danger present itself yet, it was so dark out there that I really couldn’t be confident of anything that I saw especially with my lights flickering as they had continued to do creating all manner of shadows dancing about the vicinity. I was close enough now to be able to make out a small silhouette behind the glow. Judging by the height I felt that it had to be a child. My heart was hammering in my chest as I considered my options, deciding if I should stop to see if the individual needed assistance, or if I should forgo any risk and simply put my foot down and get the hell out of there. Something about the entire situation felt off.

The torch, as it turned out was a lantern. And as I got closer the figure I could see was in fact a child, dressed in tattered rags with a flat cap on he reminded me of the stereotypical image of a Victorian child. Judging by the flickering light that came from within the glass case I presumed it to be a candle that was producing the ominous glow. The child was staring ominously in my direction an almost expectant look on his bedraggled face that further added more tension to what was quickly becoming a very alarming situation. As I approached within no more than a few meters of him the radio once again fell silent before erupting into a deafening chorus of white noise. The sound sent shivers racing up and down my spine whilst the child simply smiled at me seemingly understanding my trepidation and revelling in my discomfort, his lopsided smile had chilled me to my core. The glow of the lantern intensified as I drew level with its bearer, it was a most hypnotic glow that first drew and then held my attention, a feeling of total calmness washed over me briefly before a voice came through the crackling on the radio shattering my mind and sending panic and adrenaline coursing through my body. My initial response was twofold firstly I was about to floor the gas when a more practical frame of mind grounded me, ‘it’s just the signal picking back up’ I whispered to myself but, that illusion was soon shattered.

I was now stopped parallel to the boy his clothes again had me thinking that he looked as though he was from another time. His face seemed to hold an intelligence that was way beyond his years. His eyes deep set and circled by dark blackened rings stared back at me. The smile now gone from his face instead he held a look of what I could only describe as a total fear. ‘You came back’ a shocked voice stated over the radio. I shot the radio a quizzical look before returning my gaze to his haunting features. ‘You shouldn’t of came back. Not t’night Arlo.’ Hearing my name filtering through the static on the radio sent my anxiety levels sky high. I started hyperventilating. The seatbelt, designed purely for safety now felt as though it was squeezing the life out of me like a boa constrictor giving me a final death hug. My palms, sweaty, felt slick against the steering wheel. My eyes trapped within his gaze. I felt paralysed almost as if I was locked in a trance, unable to look away. That is until I saw it.

Whatever I was seeing was huge and it had an ancient feel to it I don’t know how I knew this but somehow I did; there was an air of familiarity about it. The thing loomed just behind the child, further back into the treeline hidden in the shadows yet, showing itself just enough to announce its presence. I couldn’t make out any of the things defining features, it was far too dark for that, and it seemed almost out of focus as if it was not quite there. But it certainly was there. ‘Its hungry tonight Arlo’ the child spoke again pulling my attention back to him. Smirking uncomfortably as he started to once again swing his old lantern side to side casting sinister shadows dancing across the tarmac. A thunderous crash erupted out of nowhere causing the ground to shudder beneath me. The child seemed to wince almost in anticipation of what was about to happen. Our eyes remained locked together for what felt like an eternity, there was something familiar in them that I couldn’t quite place. The connection was finally broken by a single word growled through the radio ‘run’.

That was enough for me, in one adrenaline infused action I forced the car into first gear and pushed down hard on the gas and after some initial resistance as the wheels struggled to gain traction on the road I was thrown back into my seat as the car lurched forward throwing up loose debris and smoke as it did so. White noise continued to crackle from the radio and for a moment I thought that I could hear a deep, guttural laugh. Faint, but audible. I drove like a man possessed for the next ten, maybe fifteen minutes. Constantly checking my rear-view mirror expecting to see that ancient creature closing in on me. Although I never did the fear that thing had created deep within me never left. Before long the radio had returned like an old friend to keep me company and distract me from whatever it was that had just happened. My lights were also working properly now, and I intended to drive with my full beams on until I had cleared the woods.

After a short while I found myself back on a moonlit road with better visibility. Not being surrounded by trees whose branches reminded me of limbs reaching out to grab at me allowed my mind to start relaxing I started trying to rationalise what I had just experienced, and I had come to the only rational conclusion that I was able too, I was obviously being set up. That the child was a decoy designed to lure me from my car with the intention of being attacked by whomever was lurking in the shadows, waiting for some gullible fool such as me it was the oldest trick in the book. The voice on the radio I deduced was little more than some form of sophisticated technology that had allowed them to hack into my cars system, thereby giving them access to my radio and as for that thing I had seen well, that was an easy one it was little more than a projected image designed to frighten me. And boy was it successful. Deluded I know but I wasn’t about to sit here and ruminate on having some paranormal experience out here in the middle of nowhere during the middle of the night. My breathing had largely returned to normal, and my heart was beating at a much more normal rhythm, if not still a little faster than usual. I was also back driving at the speed limit. Feeling a little more confident with every passing mile I managed to put between me and the wannabe ambushers.

I hadn’t been out of the woods for long when the heavens suddenly opened and a ferocious torrent poured out of the sky. ‘Great, just what this night needed. Heavy rain’ I muttered to myself. Every spooky tale ever told involved adverse weather of some kind I thought before reminding myself, albeit unconvincingly, that my current situation was less super, more natural. ‘Man, this rains really coming down’ I had my wipers going at full speed by now and still I was struggling to see the road before me. Visibility became so poor that I was once again reduced to crawling along, managing barely more than twenty miles per hour now. Before I could react I realised that I was heading down a slip road, taking me off the expressway. Damn this rain. I couldn’t see a thing. I found myself on a road surrounded by fields and once again no streetlamps. Off in the distance I could make out the dark silhouette of a mountain range, not one that I could name but more importantly there was a cluster of lights visible through the heavy rain. Maybe a mile or so down the road. A small village I presumed and made a snap decision to head there. Hopeful of finding a bed and breakfast for the night. This weather was far too dangerous to travel in if I could avoid doing so.

The village itself I imagined to be quite picturesque under the right conditions, the current weather however, was not the right conditions. I had managed to navigate my car safely along the tight road that predictably led me right to the centre of the village where I found there was a quaint little pub complete with thatched roof. I pulled into one of the many available spaces in the parking area. I guess there was no need to drive when the pub was quite literally on your doorstep. I sat with the engine idling for a few minutes listening to the sound of the rain pounding on the roof of the car and gathered my thoughts. I went over what had happened during my time in the woods and once again found myself rationalising the events that had led to me speeding like a lunatic down a dark winding road in the middle of the night. I briefly contemplated speaking to the local law enforcement about what had happened but eventually dismissed the idea thinking I might be seen as little more than a crack pot.

Finally, I built up enough gusto to drag myself from the car. Facing the biblical rain that was pouring out of the sky I broke into a half-run heading towards the welcoming light of the pub; I imagined the establishment to be bustling with locals but instead was pleasantly surprised to find the place all but empty apart from a handful of patrons. Despite this it was exactly what you would expect from a village pub; there was a welcoming, roaring log fire on the one side and several tables dotted haphazardly about the centre of the room. On the far side there was three booths, nothing spectacular but they did offer the possibility of some privacy should I feel the need.

At the bar sat two elderly gentlemen dressed in jeans and flannel shirts one sported a battered old flat cap the other had scruffy unkempt grey hair. Both men were deep in conversation and didn’t appear to notice me approach the bar. A third gentleman was at a darts board that had seen better days, again my presence seemed to make no impact on the darts player. Behind the bar stood rows of glasses of varying size and shape and as you might expect a very meagre offering of spirits; all of which seemed to be house brands, nothing too fancy. As I was surveying the scene before me an elderly women returned to the bar her gaze told me she was the person I needed to speak to about getting a drink and hopefully a lead on a place that I could lay my head for the night.

As I made my way to the bar I had felt the welcoming heat from the fire beginning to warm my skin and made the decision to spend the next hour or so gazing into the orange flames that licked their way up towards the flue. ‘Hello stranger, what can I do for you?’ the ageing barmaid enquired. She looked like she might have been quite the looker back in the day, probably could have had her pick of any of the local hicks I mused to myself. ‘Large whiskey and a pint please love’ I eventually replied drawing the attention of Mr. Flat cap ‘at least for starters’, meeting his suspicious gaze momentarily I leaned down on the bar as she prepared my drinks, feeling Mr. Flat caps eyes still burning their way into me. ‘I don’t suppose there is anywhere that a weary traveller could rest for the night is there’ I asked at no one specific and waited in the uncomfortable silence. ‘Best not too’ came the reply from the village darts champion. Angling my tired frame around to see that he hadn’t even broken his stride. He was still throwing darts as if it was the only thing he knew how to do. The clinking sound of glasses being placed in front of me drew my attention back to the barmaid who seemed to be analysing my face with great concentration. Smiling I asked what I owed, paid and made my way over towards the fire.

The warmth the fire offered was nothing short of rejuvenating and before long I started to feel comfortable and was just starting to relax when I heard the main door being forcefully wrenched open. Turning around quickly I saw an elderly women standing in the doorway drenched from head to toe. Staring at me with a look of disbelief draped across her weathered face. ‘Why are you here? Why now?’ she almost barked at me. I sat staring back at her, confusion preventing me from responding to her questions. In truth I couldn’t even formulate a thoughtful response I quite literally sat dumbfounded at her rather abrupt line of questioning. ‘Patty’ barked the barmaid who was standing holding a short out to the newcomer who momentarily broke her gaze before hurriedly making her way to the bar. Taking the drink, she shot it down greedily before handing the glass back to be refilled. ‘You don’t know what you’ve started’ she accused me, her voice trembling with fear, before once again tossing back another shot. ‘It’s not safe for you here, you must leave… Please’ that last word sounding almost pleading. ‘W-What’s not safe?’ I started before trailing off ‘You must leave at once Arlo. Please I’m begging you, go now’ My heart just about stopped when for the second time tonight my name was spoken by someone that I had never met before in my life. I started to feel like one of those supermarket greeters who wore a name tag ‘HELLO MY NAMES ARLO, ASK ME ABOUT OUR SPECIALS’.

‘How do you know my name’ I demanded of patty as I rose to my feet. But this only had the desired effect of drawing the two farm hands to their feet as tensions had seemingly begun to rise. ‘Ok, look I don’t know who it is you think I am but if this is some kind of practical joke. If your friend from the woods is here then now is the time call it a day, the jokes not funny’. I had intended for my statement to sound authoritive, to show the locals that I was not some kind of born yesterday fool but their collective reaction was not what I had expected. The room had fallen as silent as the grave, the sounds of the fire crackling away behind me the only exception. Everyone in the room seemed to have been struck mute with fear; consumed with anger. Mr. Darts Champions face seemed to have been drained of all its colour.

‘You’ve seen it. Then it is already too late for you. But not for us.’ Patty spoke barely audible and once again, I was struck mute, I had never found myself in such a strange situation, clearly I was not going to be finding a bed for the night here I thought. Before I could find a way to articulate my situation to the clearly agitated locals Mr. Flat cap told me it was ‘Time to go son, you’re not welcome here, your problems are your own. Don’t be condemning the good people here’. I mean, what the fuck. What on earth was going on here? Clearly there was something that I was missing I had so many questions running through my mind yet, somehow I didn’t think that I was going to get any answers from this backward gang of hysterical lunatics. I finished the last of my lager, set the glass down and thanked the former beauty behind the bar before heading back out into the night. Back into the terrible rain that was still flowing from the heavens above.

Sat in my car I was dumbfounded. I watched as the lights in the little pub went out one by one until the once welcoming sight was plunged into darkness. The sound of the rain pelting my roof sounded more like hundreds of marbles bouncing off the metal rather than little drops of water. I was now terrified sat in the dark car park alone with only the light from the moon to keep me company as the words from little distraught Patty bounced around my consciousness. What had she meant when she said I had already seen it, what had I seen that had caused them to all react so irrationally surely she was not talking about that little projector display in the woods I wondered and, what the fuck did she mean that it was too late for me.

Pushing the ignition button, I fired up my Eco Sport’s engine as a cold shiver engulfed my whole body. I pushed the gear stick into reverse and pulled the car back, I had pointed the car towards the main road when the question hit me; ‘Where was I going to go at such a late hour’. I knew that I shouldn’t be driving not under such terrible weather conditions but at the same time the thought of staying put and seeing the night out in my car gave me a bad feeling. Eventually I slipped the car into first gear eased up off the clutch and headed back out into the cold dark night. I felt that any place would be better than staying put. As I made my way down what appeared to be the only street in this village I noticed that most of the houses were in total darkness and those that weren’t, seemed to be switching out any lights that were on. A sense of dark foreboding washed over me. Apparently the whole village was in on the secret; they were all aware of whatever it was that was out there waiting, and I was the only fool ignorant to the danger that these people believed that I was bringing into their peaceful existences.

it was not long before I was out of the village of the so-called newly damned and back out onto the open road the rain continued to hammer on the roof of the car relentlessly; showing no signs of letting up. It was so heavy that my visibility was yet again severely hampered and I was forced to move slowly, I was not willing to risk losing control of my car in this weather and end up stranded out here despite all of my senses urging me to put my foot down and get the hell out of here as quick as possible. After a mile or so I found myself back on a tree lined road, and eventually back in the woods which only added further to my ever-growing anxiety. Yet, despite constantly reassuring myself that I was not in the same area, I had after all, put a good twenty miles at the very least between me and the previous woods. I still could not shake the feeling that I was being watched. I saw nothing lurking in the tree line that would fuel my paranoia and even though the light from my main beam was casting some rather ominous shadow play my fears were largely unfounded. But still, there is something to be said for the power of instinct. An ancient ability that has enabled mankind to survive many dangers over the years; to be ignored it at your peril.

I felt that if the rain would let up, even if only for a few minutes then I would be able to calm my now frayed nerves which in turn would help to alleviate some of the paranoia that was infecting my conscious thoughts. A break in the clouds that would let some light from the hovering moon find its way through and give me a little more visibility than what I currently had available to me; which at present was none. I was contemplating turning the radio back on, but I was wracked by fear that the same voice I had heard earlier in the night would once again make itself known. Eventually I decided against the idea my irrational fear getting the better of me once again and so, I made the unhappy decision to continue my journey in silence. A quick glance at my watch told me it was getting on for eleven. The night it seems, just like the road ahead, was destined to stretch out long and full of the unknown. My heavy eyes a byproduct of a long day working coupled with an exhausting drive home were starting to get the better of me; the Whiskey and pint I had taken at the pub were obviously not doing me any favours either.

A growing need for sleep was rising in my mind like a tide coming in to shore seeking a place to settle, I too was in dire need of finding somewhere to settle; a place to spend the night and rest or this journey home was likely to end in disaster. The prospect of having to pull over and rest at the side of the road within these dark woods was also rapidly becoming more likely than I cared to admit. ‘Redirecting’ the female voice from my satellite navigation system randomly informed me, breaking the silence but causing my heart to almost burst out of my chest and further fuelling the tension that was hanging so oppressively in the air; shrouding me like a thick blanket. With one eye on my Navigation system and one on the road I watched and waited to see what direction I was about to be sent. An ice-cold shiver again begun crawling down my spine forcing a terrible instinctive shudder to take control of my whole body. The chill that had danced along my spine also made me aware of how chilly the inside of the car had become and so I found myself reaching over and flicking the blowers on, cranking them up to full power; the prospect of bathing in the warm air lifted my spirits considerably, at least for now.

The initial blast of air that came out was almost as cold as the air that currently filled the car I watched as my breath left my mouth and slowly dissipated. My Satellite navigation system was still struggling to find enough of a signal to show me what route it was recommending I had decided to continue along my current route though; at least until she had made her mind up. As the cold air struck the windows they begun to mist over. This tended to happen when the inside of the car suddenly started to become warmer than the outside ordinarily, I would open the windows to allow the temperatures to regulate but in all honesty I am a chicken shit and was still terrified from the nights earlier events. The mist was slowly adding to my already precarious visibility problem; I could see enough for now to keep driving but if it continued to worsen I would lose all visibility.

With the rain still making the roof of my car sound like a World War I battlefield, the last thing I needed was any further restrictions to my vision I continued at a moderately slow pace luckily enough the road outside was pretty much just straight driving for now, so at least I had that in my favour. Instinctively I glanced to my right to check my wing mirror, that’s when I saw it. A sight so unbelievable that if I hadn’t seen it for myself I would never have believed it. Dead centre in the side window a handprint was forming before my eyes. A tiny handprint like that of a child. My mind had been blown to pieces as my gaze shifted back to the road then back on the window in sheer disbelief. It was so small and magnificently detailed I could see the fingerprints, almost as if the hand were still being pressed against the window. And then just for a second whilst I was staring at the hand mark in amazement, I could have sworn that I saw one of the fingers, the index one twitch. The movement was ever so slight and lasted for a fraction of a second, but it was enough to convince my whole body to become swarmed with goosebumps I told myself that what I was seeing was nothing more than a coincidence; that the mist had likely brought into view an oily handprint left on my window by a child at some point A print that had remained invisible to the naked eye until the car had misted up. The cold truth of the matter was that I was not imagining what I was seeing; the handprint was as clear as day and yet, regardless of how many rational explanations I placed on the event I could do very little to quieten the voices in my head that had been urging me to go home for those past few hours, demanding that I turn around and sleep in the store; The same voices that were now screaming at me that my life was in danger.

As the heating finally kicked in I redirected the hot air onto the windows, watching as it cleared the mist away handprint included; the windows now once again clear allowed me to stare out into the heavy rainfall at the same time the cars wipers, still on full power cleared away the falling rain and with the aid of my full beams I was able to see enough of the road to react just in time to avoid nearly hitting something walking out across the road. Not a human something the thing was little more than a dark mass; a shadow, whatever it was it seemed unnaturally tall with a long striding gait it cleared both lanes in a handful of steps. As I wrestled with the car to keep from ending up in a ditch or worse still wrapped around a tree, my eyes remained locked on the shadowy figure as it cleared the road and re-entered the woods on the opposing side, the car radio burst back to life filling the car once again with white noise; the chilling sound infiltrated the silence like some unwelcome invader.

I had let out a less then manly yelp when the crackling noise reverberated about the car and had decided against putting the hand brake on I wanted to be ready to go in case the shadow figure returned when a sudden slamming sound echoed throughout the car. I was still trying to process the fact that I had just nearly run something over. Then the radio and now I was stuck listening to some invisible force hammering the outside of my car; I had little doubt that my car was going to be covered in dents by the time the night was through. By now I was having a full-blown panic attack. My heart had never been made to work as hard as it did in them fifteen to twenty seconds. The thumping sounds did not last too long. but, I was once again seeing shadowy forms in the tree line and this time they were no longer trying to remain hidden from sight. In fact, I would say that they were doing everything they could do to be seen they flitted from tree to tree on both sides of the car some even run across my beams causing the lights to dance about the woods there was no way to even discern how many of them there was they seemed innumerable. ‘Lord, please save me’ Was about the only thought I could muster.

The shadows continued to flit about within my peripheral vision. Putting the car back into gear I glanced down alarmed to find that my milage was showing as being on the red. The deep red. Half of the problem was that with all the electrical faults that I had experienced tonight I couldn’t trust what I was seeing, not fully. But at the same time, I absolutely could not risk running out of Fuel. Not here, not now. Still more shadows seemed to be moving about just within the tree line ensuring that not only did my pulse stay sky high, but my anxiety levels were through the fucking roof. One further point for concern possibly my biggest concern was that I was fully aware of the fact the last time my car was experiencing electrical problems That child with that lantern had appeared. Only now I was less inclined to believe that I was being set up for an ambush; now, my mind was starting to sense that there really was some kind of evil in these woods. And it was stalking me.

I pressed my foot down hard on the gas, pushing the Eco Sport to its limits. Everything around me became something of a blur as the car screeching its tyres reluctantly at first against the wet tarmac before it suddenly found its purchase and lurched forward and began to reach a higher speed. I knew that driving in such a chaotic manner was dangerous especially with the visibility conditions still no better, but I had to get out of here. I had such a deep-seated feeling that something insidious was out there and that it was coming for me. It was almost a sense of knowing; you might even say Déjà vu. There was a familiarity to the whole situation and not just because of what had happened earlier in the night. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was, only that I didn’t want to be around when whatever was out there lurking in the woods finally decided to unveil itself.

The crackling sound of static still filled the car; it had become something of an afterthought in my haste to get out of the area. Now it became the only thing that I could focus on; other than the incessant banging that had returned to the outside of the car only this time it sounded as if unseen fingers were tapping away at the outside of the car. It caused my chest to further tighten as the sound continued and I found myself waiting for the inevitable voice to begin. As fresh waves of panic swept over me I reached out for the volume and turned it up. A sense of morbid curiosity forcing my hand but also it was my own little way of trying to force the issue a kind of ‘come out come out wherever you are’. And then I did the only thing that was left in my control I sat, and I listened holding my breath as I waited patiently for the voices to return. In the meantime, I had gotten the car up to eighty-five miles per hour now and the outside world had become little more than one long, dark blur. And yet, it dawned on me that no matter how fast I ran I didn’t seem to be able to outrun whoever or whatever was out there tapping away at my car, watching me; waiting for me.

The steady thrumming of the static seemed to grow in intensity and had become more of a buzz; like the sound of a thousand bees buzzing around the inside of my car. The tension remained oppressive, an insufferable sense of helplessness pervaded the air. Even more frustrating was how trapped I had become; I was literally a prisoner in my own car unable to escape whatever fate the thing seemed to have in store for me. A loud high-pitched demonic screech suddenly sounded from the radio low at first but gaining in intensity. It lasted only a few seconds and when it stopped it all ended. No more hands thrumming away on the car, the rain once unforgiven and all-consuming had also now ceased almost as sudden as it had begun and the radio fell as silent as the grave. I could not imagine ever having been so terrified in my entire life. There air felt charged as if something had been building and had finally reached its crescendo.

‘Hello Arlo, can you feel its power yet?’ That fucking child’s voice whispered through my radio sending fresh waves of chills running down my spine. My hands gripped the steering wheel tighter my knuckles now as white as chalk and I pushed even harder on the gas pushing the car past ninety now. The sound of a child’s laughter suddenly filled the car. A horrible, creepy giggling that made the hair on my arms stand practically vertical. ‘You silly boy. You still don’t understand do you. But you will soon enough’ boomed out of the speakers, followed by another chorus of unsettling laughter before silence once again filled the car. The silence felt almost as unsettling as the sound of that Childs voice.

I had been hitting just over ninety for a few minutes now and my poor car was rattling like an old junkie in a snowstorm; I was convinced it would fall apart at any moment when I was forced to brake hard and bring the speed of the vehicle pretty much back to a crawl. The sight that lay before me filled me with so much trepidation that I swear to almighty God I was convinced that my heart would quite simply call it a day and give out. My hands still wrapped tightly around the steering wheel had begun to hurt such was the intensity of the grip I held. My shoulders by now had also taken on the burden of the stresses created by the unfolding events and now, this fresh horror that awaited me less than a hundred yards down the road had me practically bellowing the lord’s prayer; something I hadn’t done since my primary school days. I stared with wild abandon at the scene before me taking in all its splendid terror, and I didn’t like what I was seeing not one little bit. I thought I could maybe try to turn the car around and head back in the other direction but the only thing that would do is to send me back in the direction of the village that I had left under such acrimonious circumstances earlier in the night and besides all of that the needle was still deep into the red meaning that fuel was potentially a serious issue.

I had no choice; I had to face it. The fog before me was no more than a few meters ahead of me and my high beams were already proving to be so ineffectual I can’t recall a fog so thick as this one, you could literally cut through it with a knife. As I slowly entered the fog I could see five maybe six feet ahead of me this was the kind of fog that came to mind when thinking about Jack the Ripper’s London and here I was once again crawling at a snail’s pace down this God forsaken road and once again I had come to feel like a prisoner, trapped inside my own car with nowhere to go but deeper into this thick soupy mess. I hadn’t managed to get very far when my lights cut out and not just my full beams I mean my lights, literally all of them just cut out leaving me surrounded completely by the fog that hugged tight to the car like an obsessive lover refusing to yield and now my visibility was pretty much non-existent. Without any light from the moon, I was essentially travelling blind I had the car in second gear but very rarely crept above five miles an hour and I was praying that the car wouldn’t cut out next.

Travelling down the road in what now had come to feel like a coffin on wheels; the fog in this analogy being the soil that would surround me, entombing me forever. The deeper I travelled into it the more I found myself struggling to breath. I was hyperventilating; a blatant symptom of my current predicament I was trapped no two ways about it. I had also come to accept that this whole series of events was paranormal in origin; I know, I’m stating the obvious, there had been a multitude of signs to state the fact but in my own defence sometimes it is difficult to see that which is right in front of your face. Also, when you’re travelling alone through the woods surrounded by evil it isn’t something that you really want to face until you have no choice but to. And now that I had come to accept it I quickly begun to realise that something in this forest did not want me to leave and that child with his fucking lantern, he knew only too well what was behind my dire situation.

A sudden beeping pulled my attention to my dashboard where a flashing light waited patiently for me. My engine management light was flickering like crazy. ‘First my gas was showing low now my engine management light. This is all I fuckin need’. I could not break down here. Not in this fog not with whatever was out there lurking, probably watching my every move I imagined. My breathing began to deepen forcing me to fight for every breath I was panting like a woman in labour. My eyes scanning the little that I could see with all this fog, not that I could see much and all while I was doing just under ten miles per hour. ‘God please, if you’re watching. Please look over me tonight’.

I was seeking some divine intervention. But I felt certain that he was probably going to sit this one out tonight meaning that I was alone in a car that I was unable to leave and as the night deepened I knew I would eventually have to leave the vehicle even if only to escape from this feeling of suffocation. The feeling of being trapped was fuelling my nightmare and adding an extra crushing weight to my panic infused mind but the alternative of leaving the car and heading out into the night and facing whatever was concealing itself amongst the trees and the fog was something that I was happy to delay for as long as I possibly could.

With the thought of leaving the car and getting the hell out of dodge circling through my mind something hit me hard. How had I not picked up on it before now, I felt so stupid after all it had been so obvious. It had started with the little boy and then those in the pub had repeated it. But what had they meant when they asked why I had come back. I had never been here before, certainly not to that little village so how could I have returned like some unwanted prodigal son. I had this awful feeling in my stomach like I was going to vomit, hard. I was also trembling; fear has a knack of returning us all to toddlers wanting after our mothers doesn’t it. Again, those comments returned to the mass of tangled worms that was now my brain. Surely they must be confusing me with someone else, it was all some weird coincidence. I tried to reassure myself but there was that something deep in the back of my mind, a memory just out of reach and it was creating a doubt so infectious that it was beginning to take root in my mind.

I was snapped out of all conscious though when a hand, or what I perceived to be a hand slammed into the passenger side of the car’s windscreen. Such a violent blow that sent a series of cracks sliding across the screen. And forcing a series of involuntary shrieks from my mouth; man, I was losing man points tonight. Slamming on, although that might be a stretch considering my low speed. I sat terrified looking out into the smoky night hoping to catch a glimpse of what that hand had belonged to. From what little I had seen during its swift attack upon my car I will say that it was monstrous in size. The only sound I could hear was the steady idling of the Ford EcoSport and my own heartbeat thumping away like crazy in my chest and my ears. But I saw nothing, well almost nothing. Whilst it would be correct to say that I didn’t see any perpetrator what I did see had potentially far greater repercussions; I saw a cracked window and all of a sudden my last line of defence had been penetrated, a weak spot identified however, instead of letting the light in the cracks to my moving coffin was letting the darkness in.

I sat for a moment or two just trying to compose myself. I was starting to really feel the cold now despite the car heaters blowing warm air around the inside of the vehicle. My breathing had become so erratic that my chest was hurting with each laboured breath and still I sat and waited. I was sure that any moment I would find myself under siege; either that or I would pass out from a lack of oxygen. But nothing came and after another slight delay my brain finally recovered from the reset mode that I had found myself and I once again ventured forward, slowly into the unknown.

After having travelled at a snail’s pace for over an hour the fog had thinned just enough so that I had been able to get out of second gear for large spells. Other than a few rather disturbing looking shadows in the fog, likely figments of my exhausted imagination, there had been no real incidents of note. My dashboard was bemoaning a fault on the engine, and I was perilously low on fuel if my gauge was reading right; even so my trusty little car had soldiered on. Still no lights working on my car but despite these few unsettling factors I will allow that I had begun to relax slightly; my breathing had largely settled back to normal, but my heart felt like it had took up a permanent residence in my throat. I did, however, still feel a deep unwavering sense of being trapped; unable to navigate myself out of the woods and finding myself still unable to physically leave the car without the thought causing me to almost vomit, not that I had been able to muster enough courage to try.

The feeling of being watched had also never left me yet, I was starting to feel hopeful that the end was in sight and that soon I would find myself back on a road with streetlights. That feeling however, was to prove to be short lived. I was navigating a particularly tricky stretch of road this part of the road was full of twists and turns; it was almost impossible to determine which way I was heading. I had just managed to navigate a particularly sharp turn narrowly avoiding a collision with several trees when the unthinkable happened. My car stuttered for several seconds, before losing power and cutting out, I coasted down the road for several feet before coming to a soul shuddering stop that caused my blood to run cold; I was now stranded.

I sat in disbelief staring at my dashboard. Twice having tried to restart the car but to no avail it was as dead as I surely would be if I didn’t formulate a way out of this horrific situation. Now I was totally fucked, I had two options at my disposal I could either stay trapped in the car and hope that hyperthermia got to me before the thing out there found me and finished the job or I could venture out into the unknown and pray that the fog gave me enough cover; allowing me to slip away undetected. Neither option gave me any real sense of hope. I checked my mobile phone, unsurprisingly I had zero coverage; I just couldn’t catch a break. Tossing my phone back onto the passenger seat I let out an exasperated howl of frustration. I was out of options and I knew it. Whatever it was that had engineered this whole scenario had played the game well; checkmate I thought. The only real hope I had was to make a break for it and hope for the best.

Leaning forward I gently banged my head against the steering wheel a feeling of utter desolation swept over me. I was trapped in every sense of the word. Wedged tightly between a rock and a hard place and all alone to boot. ‘Why the fuck didn’t I just sleep at work’. With my chin resting on the steering wheel, I peered out into the fog and that is when I saw it coming towards me a mixture of hope and terror swept over me as I remained frozen in place watching its advance. The scales were starting to shift more towards terror when it begun to swing from side to side; slowly at first like someone was searching for something. But it was this swinging motion that was pushing me over the edge I had hoped when I first saw the singular glowing orb that it was a motorcyclist heading my way or even better a car with one good headlight, but when the orb started to move from side to side I knew it wasn’t my salvation. I knew it was him.

Time was up; I had to decide should I stay or go. To stay would mean certain death but to go well, that came with the obvious benefit of potentially escaping this nightmare. My heart was racing, my body trembling and I was once again struggling to catch my breath; I had to hold tight to the steering wheel to prevent myself from sliding down into the footwell. All the while that glowing orange orb grew closer to me; at this point tears started to creep down my face and I was battling a more personal fight with my bladder; this was one battle I was determined to be victorious in tonight. I felt that this was the end I was about to meet my maker a thought that gave me a small bit of comfort; at least this nightmare would be over. The child, I presumed, stopped a few feet from the car. Just far enough back so that he remained hidden within the fog although the light from the lantern did cast an ominous shadow outlining their shape confirming that it was indeed the young boy I had met a few hours earlier. But he wasn’t alone, I could once again see its form behind him, outlined in the fog.

Once again I was forced to go into battle with my bladder. A fight I very nearly lost this time. I braced myself ready for what was about to come next the sound of static still filled the car and my eyes remained locked on the child or what I could make out of him through the fog. He was playing with me of that I was sure and whatever fight I had was slowly leaving me and the desire to run had come to feel like a lost hope, a missed opportunity, the only thing I could do now was wait. I was trapped inside of my car as I had been all night, the creature had engineered everything that had befallen me tonight and he knew that I was a prisoner in my own car, his for the taking.

‘You escaped us once?’ the child finally stated although it had an air of a question about it forcing me to sit upright it had been so matter of fact the way in which he spoke ‘but then you returned as It knew you would’ he followed this up with a very evil sounding, if not childlike chuckle that both infuriated and terrified me ‘I – I. This is the first time I’ve ever been here’ ‘NO’ came the reply so abrupt and authoritive before I had even had time to finish my sentence, this time all pretence of childlike mannerisms had been lost. ‘Do not play games Arlo. I told you already It’s hungry tonight and It has pulled out all the stops, things I have never seen It do before. It wants you. And It will have you this time.’

This time I didn’t respond. I didn’t know how too. Instead, I pushed down on the clutch and again tried to start the car. This only drew further laughs from the child as I tried the ignition button repeatedly but to no avail, he just stood there laughing swinging that God damned lantern. Without warning the light was suddenly gone and I felt movement within the car had someone just sat down behind me I wondered. ‘Help me please mister. I am ever so cold and awfully afraid.’ A pitiful child’s voice whined, this time however, it was not through the speakers, it came from behind me. Slowly I raised my eyes towards the rearview mirror, dreading seeing anything sitting there. Once I could see the mirror I was relieved to see that there was no one sitting there, evidently the mind games would continue a little longer. A little relieved I twisted in my seat to check that no one was hiding in the footwell but was stopped in my tracks by the young boy sitting in the passenger seat, staring forward out into the fog. ‘Theres a great evil that lives in these woods.’ he whispered before turning at great speed and screaming at the top of his lungs ‘AND HE’S COMING FOR YOU ARLO’.

Despite the gut-wrenching terror that was coursing through me I couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity. At this close range I had the strangest feeling that I knew this child, that maybe we had met before. He looked at me knowingly almost expectantly as if he was waiting for the pieces of my mind to reassemble themselves. There was a fog in my brain, I felt like something was coming through just slowly. His dead eyes now flickered with hope a smile curling on the edges of his mouth. ‘I Thought by now you’d have remembered’ he whispered the smile fading from his lips. A look of disappointment beginning to take over his features which in turn made me feel guilty strange I know considering the situation, but I simply didn’t remember. ‘I remember you, and your dad’ These words hit me hard. I felt like I had smashed face first into a brick wall at warp speed.

My father had passed when I was only young. We had spent the weekend camping and fishing. It was one of our favourite things to do together, that weekend hadn’t been one of our best I don’t think we caught a single thing all weekend. We had left late that day I don’t recall why I think maybe Dad had wanted to go fishing one last time. Either way by the time we had finally headed off for home it was dark, no fog though. A deer had run in front of the car forcing my dad to swerve and hit a tree. He had died on impact; it had taken just under ten hours before someone had passed by the wreckage by then I was barely alive myself. His gaze had never left me, studying my face during my thought process. ‘you’re rememberin’ just not how it really ‘append. Take a breath, compose yourself and remember proper’. He told me. I considered him for a short while there was something almost comforting about him, after a short pause I closed my eyes and took in several deep breathes.

I sat staring into the darkness of my mind for what had felt like an eternity but still nothing. Frustrated I turned to him with the intention of giving this little creepy fucker a piece of my mind, but when I looked at him now his face had somehow changed. He was still the same child as before with the deathly white face but now his eyes had narrowed, and his lips had curled into a snarl. One look and I knew that he wasn’t happy with me. He looked so angry. ‘You’re not even trying’ he hissed at me catching me somewhat off guard. ‘This isn’t a game Arlo’ suddenly lunging at me and slamming his palm into my face. Crushing my nose under the weight of his small hand sending shocks of electricity racing through my brain, probing into the deepest recesses of my mind searching for something. Finally finding the truth. And when it revealed itself to me I knew in my heart that I was finished.

My brain I assumed had locked the truth away in a kind of defence mechanism to protect me, but I felt that all that it had accomplished was to allow the creature to lure me back into these goddamned woods. It had turned me into another victim. ‘It’s hungry’ that’s what he had said, and I was to be the main course it had seemed. My father had died in these woods all those years ago but not how I had remembered it. There was no deer causing him to swerve off the road. And as the full crushing weight of the memory returned to haunt me I glared hatefully back at the ghost child. ‘It was you! You caused my father to swerve that night. You had been the deer that had caused me so many sleepless nights.’ Watching him waiting for some emotion to show, but nothing ever did he simply stared back at me, cocking his head slightly to the side as if he was slightly confused. ‘But I kept you safe, it was you that he wanted and I was to be free that night, I couldn’t do it though and so I kept you hidden but at a soul crushing price’. He finally informed me.

Memories of that night were now forming crystal clear in my mind as if they had never left me and I knew them to be the truth; a truth long since lost to me a truth that had now sealed my fate. ’I was told I had to help him collect one ‘undred souls and he would free me, but when I failed to deliver him the first child to pass through in over a century during a period of his awakening he told me that my soul belonged to him for all eternity.. that I would never be free’. I was speechless, after all what do you say to the ghost that condemned themself to save your soul. ‘That is until you came back and It gave me a chance at redemption; a chance to finally be free. And I had to take it; you don’t understand Arlo’ His face seemed to be at odds with his words; almost searching for forgiveness despite his cold assortations. He felt guilty for what he was now condemning me to.

He looked defeated now. All anger appeared to have left his body. Staring out into the fog I could feel the tension beginning to pick back up. The air felt electrified and without warning a booming almost hate filled laughter resonated within the area. The fog only served to increase the horrifying sense of entrapment; being unable to accurately pin down what direction it had come from. ‘Every direction. He’s everywhere all the time’. He told me without me having said a single word, could he read my mind I wondered. My heart was once again back in my throat as I reevaluated my options for what had to be the millionth time and once again I circled back to the only two options that were readily available to me I could either run and take my chances in the fog, or I could stay and become a literal sitting duck. ‘Aint no escapin’ him’. The child spoke softly almost regretfully you belong to him now his face awash with despair.

I finally found my backbone and let him have it all. ‘How can I even trust you’ I yelled at the spirit sitting in my car. ‘You’re the reason for all of this. You are the one who ensnared me here in this fucking nightmare of a situation and now you have the nerve to tell me that I’m doomed. Well, fuck you and fuck that thing out there’ I yelled. The purest anger I had ever felt came bubbling right up to the surface and I’ll be damned if I didn’t feel the slightest bit better for it. But what happened next I could never have dreamt. He opened the passenger door and silently slid out onto the pavement and as he did his lantern begun to once again burn brightly against the dense fog.

I sat completely dumbfounded just staring at him in total disbelief. He turned back towards the car, his lantern striking the side door clumsily as he did so. And without leaning down to face me he simple stated ‘you should never have come back Arlo’. Then he gently closed the door and walked away into the swirling mists of time. There was so much to process now. As I watched the fog slowly consuming the glowing orb of his lantern all the old memories that had come flooding back were slowly starting to make sense. I just wish that they would do so a lot faster than they were currently doing.

He had all but disappeared by now just a faint glow in the distance when all hell seemed to let loose. Firstly, there was a howling noise. Not quite wolf-like but similar it seemed to ride in on the wind. The next thing I knew my car came under fire. Objects were being hurled at my car from all directions causing me to jump on more than one occasion I am not too proud to say, although I did manage to keep from shrieking out in fear. This continued for only a few seconds, the car was being pounded into pieces. the straw that finally broke the camel’s back was when the body of a bear cub landed on my windscreen with a sickening splatter that caused the windscreen itself to buckle in. The poor creatures’ guts having been ripped open leaving its internal organs to become draped over my car. The smell was sickening blood guts and bodily fluids had splattered all over the car and that was enough for me. I made my decision instinctively and in one swift movement I was out of the car and running like a man possessed. I had no way of knowing what direction I was heading. I did know that I was still on the road I could hear the pounding of my trainers hitting the ground with every desperate lunge forward I took.

The sound of a deep throaty breathing was either side of me, keeping pace with me it felt except it wasn’t breathing no, it was more like panting and the sound of heavily padded footfalls again either side of me. I wasn’t sure if I was being guided or tracked I felt so exposed now that I had left the sanctuary of my car. It’s funny how the mind works. Not five minutes ago I had considered my car to be akin to a coffin on wheels so oppressive and confined but now that I was out in the open I yearned for its security. I felt sure that the creatures either side of me were some breeds of wolf; I don’t recall there being wolves this far up North yet, the way things had panned out tonight I wouldn’t be surprised at all to find that they were some kind of demonic species of wolf; I loathe to use the word werewolf largely because I believed the creature had the ability to conjure up whatever it felt necessary to achieve its goals.

I was once again breathing hard and not just because I had been running, as unfit as I was my breathing was also a response to the fear that was crushing the life out of me. I could hear the creatures that flanked me down the road, and I felt sure as shit that so long as I wasn’t in any real danger of escaping the thing who’s bidding they were doing then they wouldn’t attack me. Not that this thought gave me any true comfort if anything it just further underlined the power dynamic that existed within these woods, evidently it had dominion over the animals.

‘Should have grabbed a flashlight’ I bemoaned to myself not fully sure how much a torch would have been able to penetrate this fog. It wasn’t a natural fog. Shit, nothing about this night had been natural. I had slowed down to a fast walk now my muscles ached and my lungs burning for oxygen, my canine escorts had eased off too matching my speed. Yet, as I made my way through a fog that you could literally cut with a knife things became much clearer about the night my dad had died as the mist that was clouding my sleep deprived mind continued to clear.

We had been travelling down these same roads I now found myself trapped on, I wasn’t sure how I knew this, but I did and the revelation hit me like a thunderbolt. And just like this night a dense fog had rolled over the area. My father had slowed the car down, but he was still moving too fast for the conditions I remember feeling even at the time. Every few hundred yards I recall seeing an ominous orange glow off to the driver’s side of the road and I remember my dad telling me about the roadside lights helping him to keep his bearings. But what I know now that I didn’t then was that the source of them lights were of a very malicious origin.

My father had pushed on through the fog for a good while before it had happened. Being only a small child I only recall seeing a very vivid amber light run in front of the car; ten maybe twenty meters ahead of us. ‘Holy shit’ my father had cried out before swerving to avoid whatever he had seen cross the road. Losing his bearings on the road and eventually the car ploughed into a thick tree absolutely writing the car off. The impact knocked me clean out but when I finally came too I awoke to a scene so horrific. My father’s broken body was slumped halfway through the window. Not wearing a seatbelt had seen him smash clean through and now he lay slumped over the bonnet. Dead. For my own part I was badly injured, but the seat belt had saved my life however, I was trapped my legs had been pinned in place by the front of the car being rearranged by the mighty ancient tree trunk that we had hit, I recall feeling that it was the worst pain of my life.

A warm orange glow largely obscured my view of what happened next. I do recall hearing voices one of them I now knew to be the young boy with the lantern. The cause of this catastrophic accident, my father’s murderer I decided. The second voice was so alien to me. It was deep and guttural. I would even say that it sounded powerful. I never saw the source of the second voice, but it sounded angry it was roaring at the child with the lantern. I remember feeling that the voice made the car shudder such was the power that it exuded. I passed out before long and when I awoke it was daylight and the voices had long since left I would remain trapped in the car for around twelve hours before someone came along and found the wreckage and after being cut free by the local fire brigade and taken to hospital I had eventually wound up in a little village before my mother who had been away on business had been able to get to me. Patty I recalled had been primarily in charge of my recuperation whilst I was there. How could I have forgotten any of this I wondered as my mind further disintegrated under the weight of the returning memories.

‘You’re starting to remember now. Hold on to those memories’ a voice whispered through the fog startling me back to reality. A reality that I would do almost anything to escape from. The fog seemed to have thinned a little allowing me to see the shapes of my escorts and they were indeed canine in form. They remained my faithful escorts, my jailors walking either side of me leaving me feeling like I was like a prisoner being escorted to the electric chair, guided to my death by these damned hell hounds. Without a change of scenery time felt endless, it was almost impossible to not feel enclosed or maybe entombed was a more accurate description. I had felt the same way when I was inside my car. My breathing had become raspy I was once again fighting for every breath or maybe I always was and had simply become accustomed to the lack of oxygen. Desperation was now starting to take hold of me, once again I was caught in an endless loop of suffering and torment; trapped like a cork in a bottle.

I was still scanning the area even though I couldn’t see my nose in front of my face a part of me was constantly on alert in case my jailers decided to jump the gun and attack I knew I had to be ready. After a further thirty or maybe even forty yards I noticed a dim orange glow far off in the distance, the child was back. It was a good way off from where I was, but it was there like a lighthouse in a storm warning the incoming ships of the dangers ahead only this was acting more like a beacon drawing me in; pulling me deeper towards my doom and I was helpless to resist it. Even though I knew what waited on the other side and with every instinct firing on high alert warning me to stay away from it. I still walked helplessly towards it; a moth to the flame.

As the light grew brighter the fog around me thinned by now I was able to see more of my escorts they were still shadowed against the fog but I could see enough to see they were huge beasts and that they were no ordinary wolves, nearly three times the size of any wolf I had ever seen. The notion of werewolves had remained an ever-present thought in the back of my mind yet, I constantly talked myself around to the idea of them being little more than illusions created by the creature, little more than another game for its amusement.

The fog had now thinned enough so that I could see the hazy shape of the moon high above me hanging freely in the sky. I could also see the trees close by, either side of me yet another impenetrable barrier keeping the good little prisoner in line. The trees were swaying in a breeze that I could neither see nor hear giving them the artistic license of a sentient being moving of its own free will. I could see him now again outlined against the fog, and if I really concentrated I could see him moving. As if sensing my thoughts he began to swing his lantern from side to side in a slow hypnotizing motion. This drew deep excited growls from my travel companions, obviously sensing Daddy. The growls that emitted from the two creatures forced my body into a violent shudder that almost stopped me in my tracks, as the sound vibrated off the trees around us.

But still the power of the lantern pulled me forward simultaneously thinning the fog whilst maintaining the veil that kept him and his master hidden from me. ‘You shouldn’t have come back’ hearing those words again only dragged memories of my father’s death to the fore front of my mind both angering and upsetting me at the same time. ‘He’s hungry tonight’ he warned and still I kept moving forward hypnotically even knowing what was coming.

‘Enough of the games. Show yourself’ I bellowed into the fog. Finally sick and tired of the games. Silence followed my demands except for the padding footfalls of the wolflike creatures that continued to follow me. ‘Enough of the chicken shit games, I am done show yourself. NOW!.’ The last word was said with so much conviction and bravado that I almost convinced myself that I had any power or control of this situation. But when the lantern stopped swinging and began to move towards me all pretences faded away and I once again became little more than a boy in front of his master about to be scolded. The orange glow eventually cut through the fog followed by an arm and eventually bringing the rest of his ghostly form into view. The lantern I now realised was affecting the fog around it, almost clearing a path. ‘What are you’ I demanded of him not sure why I asked that question of all the things I could have asked. And not even sure if I cared about his response, in truth I had one use for him now and that was for him to shield me once again from whatever was out there just beyond the fog. I could not see it, but I could feel its presence. The air felt charged with an almost expectant tension. The power that the thing was radiating was insane.

‘Me? I am nothing more than an unfortunate. A trapped spirit. One of many lost souls. One who once tried to help you when you were so small and fragile. But now it is time for you to pay the piper, now it is your turn’. And with that he stepped back further illuminating the area just behind him and now I could see its shape, still lurking just beyond the fog only this time it was so close that I could see its breath manipulating the mist causing it to swirl about just in front of its face. There are no words to describe what I was seeing. No animal on earth looked even close to the thing that stood just out of sight. It was so tall I mean I am a healthy five-eleven, but this thing dwarfed me. Even through the thin veil I could see its gargantuan chest heaving in and out.

The thing began to growl a most unnatural sound that literally made my skin vibrate and as it did tears begun to form in the corners of my eyes as the realisation that this thing had taken my father from me just like it had done to countless souls over Millenia. The things growl had forced my two jailors to drop down to their stomachs, tails tucked underneath in a truly subservient gesture, and the hopelessness of my situation finally became confirmed. I stood staring at this affront to God and I accepted my fate. I knew now that it would be pointless to resist. I understood that there was no fight to be had, only loss. And throughout this sudden epiphany I could feel the creature smiling a most insidious vile looking smile. Yet, by accepting my fate there was a beautiful release that came with it and for a small slither of time I had taken a slight measure of control away from it.

‘THEN IT IS TIME, AND YOU BELONG TO ME’ it spat out before laughing itself into a wild frenzy I could see the creature whipping its head back and forth obviously finding something quite amusing in the whole situation. And just like that the fog lifted, and I could see everything once again and the full scale of the things evil trickery was fully exposed for me to see. Once I had made the decision to leave my car I had walked anywhere between forty-five minutes to an hour, but I was no more than six feet tops away from my car. In all that time I had barely moved from the once perceived security of my vehicle. This was the final devastating blow that destroyed my soul he was right I did belong to him; I had always belonged to him.

The creature continued its evil laughter as I surveyed the rest of my surroundings. The things that flanked were indeed hideous wolves. Next my eyes fell upon the lantern bearing ghost child he in turn was watching me take it all in and if I were not mistaken I would say that there was just the faintest of smiles playing on his lips. ‘Check mate’ I whispered nodding my head in defeat. Then I looked at it for the first time in all its wonderful hideousness, and it scared the living piss out of me, and I mean that literally I had finally lost the battle with my bladder and now hot piss was tracing a path down my pants. It really was the most diabolical looking entity that hell had ever spat out. A pure fear coursed through my veins the like of which I had never even known. Tears were still streaming down my face, and my legs had turned to jelly it took a heroic effort just to stay upright in the wake of its presence even the wolflike creatures remained bowed whether through fear or reverence I never did find out. The world around me suddenly went black and I was gone, lost forever.

I opened my eyes to find that the sun was now high up in the sky and the birds were bustling about in the trees above me. I was laying on my back by the side of the road. The bright morning light burnt my eyes. Almost immediately the previous night’s events came flooding back like a dam had burst and everything was surging to the forefront of my mind. Within seconds of waking up I was laying on the floor still struggling to breath. My chest was tightening with every passing second I became further convinced that I would die right here on the side of the road if I couldn’t get my breathing back under control.

It wasn’t long however, before the beauty of the world began to fade out of view. Just as my eyes started to close I felt a fresh pressure on my chest, a new sensation; something different to what I was already experiencing; something familiar. Reopening my eyes I could see the silhouette of someone leaning over me with their hand on my chest. After a brief time, he spoke to me, his voice so familiar yet I could not for the life of me place it, but it had the strangest comforting aspect to it. ‘You’re OK. Just breath.’ The voice repeated all the while continuing to push down on my chest helping to regulate my breathing. I closed my eyes again only this time it was voluntary, and I focused my mind telling myself ‘In and out’ repeating the mantra in my head.

Slowly my breathing begun to regulate and despite the pains I was feeling I my chest I knew that I was going to be alright. I sat myself up placing my head between my knees the memories from last night still stinging freshly in my mind I breathed deeply smelling the fresh pine scent as I did so. ‘Get me out of these fuckin’ woods’ I mumbled to myself before eventually rising back to my feet. I stretched out my back, the stretch turning into a yawn almost like I wasn’t moments away from passing into the next life only a few minutes earlier. Then I saw something that broke my heart, saw something that I had longed to see for so long and now that I was staring straight at him it was more than I could take.

On the opposite side of the road stood my father dressed in the same jeans and Lynyrd Skynyrd T-Shirt he had been wearing on that dreadful night. He was smiling but it was a pained smile, something about his demeanour was not right ‘Hello Son’ a tear rolling down his face as he spoke for the first time. ‘Dad.. I’ was all that I could manage before it dawned on me that I was squeezing something tight in my right hand. My disbelieving eyes still on my father as I raised my right hand up to my face and saw for the first time the thing that I was holding onto so tightly. I saw the lantern and realised that I couldn’t put it down even if I wanted too. The lantern somehow felt connected to me almost like an extra limb.

Horrified I looked back to my now sobbing father ‘Where is he?’ I demanded angrily. Initially shaking his head before mouthing the word gone to me evidently it was too painful for him to say the word out loud. Whilst the lantern remained held outstretched in front of me I had caught sight of my own reflection in the glass and was horrified at what I saw. It had forced me to look down at myself just to confirm that my eyes had not deceived me. Somehow I was ten years old once again and was myself wearing the same clothes that I had been wearing on the night of my fathers’ murder ‘I, I don’t understand. How can this be?’ The question had been rhetorical, but I still looked to my father for answers like any scared little child would do. But he just looked at me morosely before giving me the only reply he could at that moment, I guess we would have an eternity to figure all of this out but right then in that moment his words both lightened my new burden and broke my heart, not for the first time in the last twenty-four hours. ‘I never wanted this for you my boy. I hoped that you would never return. But I do love you Arlo’.