Shadows in the Mist

Liam and his family move to a peaceful town of Redmere. All is well until strange things begin happening. Liam decides to investigate to unveil the secret of Redmere once and for all.

In the middle of the day on a Thursday, Liam was in his bored stupor sitting at his desk in the back of the classroom. The teacher was going on and on about what to study for the next big exam that was coming up pretty soon. She was busy writing stuff on the chalkboard and it seemed like she would never shut up. He had his elbow on his desk and rested his head on his hand, eying the clock above him and saw that it was almost time to go home. As Liam was writing down what to study for his Social Studies exam, he noticed that some of the kids in the giant oversized classroom appeared just as eager to escape the teacher’s boring lecture as he was. He thought that he was going to die of boredom if he didn’t get out of there soon.

            Fortunately a few minutes later, the teacher dismissed the class and in no time the classroom was vacant. Liam took his sweet old time to gather his books and everything that he needed, before going back home and doing some more studying. He groaned at the thought of it. He already spent seven hours a day at school, he just wanted to go home, lock himself up in his room and play some video games for the rest of the afternoon.

            After school when Liam was at his locker, packing his backpack with all of the books, assignments and study materials that he needed, Austin came up to him, already having his backpack in hand, ready to go. Liam was a bit surprised how fast he was already to go home, but at the same time his teacher lets out class a few minutes early. He couldn’t help thinking how lucky he was.

            “Hey Liam, what’s up?” Austin greeted expectantly. He was wearing his usual bright blue fleeced hoodie with a pair of light blue washed out jeans. His pair of converse shoes were a dark blue, and surprisingly matched his outfit.

            “Nothing much.” Liam zipped his backpack closed and slung it over his shoulder before shutting his locker. “Man, does school suck or what?” Austin energetically wrapped his arm around his shoulder as they were walking down the hallway.

            “Awe…why are you always so negative all the time Liam? Sure school sucks, but look on the bright side. We’re in twelfth grade already and summer’s coming soon. Before you know it we’re going to be high school graduates.” Liam rolled his eyes.

            “Yeah, then it’s another four to eight years of being stuck in an Ivory Tower next.” Austin gave him a mixed expression of sadness and optimism, which was a strange combination.

            “At least they have fun parties.” Austin said quietly, fixing his gaze down. Liam just shook his head. He could honestly care less about stuff like that.

            The two of them were walking down the sidewalk of Main Street Redmere. There were quite a few vacant store buildings that were directly right next to each other. A lot of them had signs up that said: For sale or Buy from owner inside the windows. Above the structures were lofts where people lived in, but most of the people who lived up there smoked pot, which was why if Liam walked around Downtown Redmere during the middle of the night the smell of pot filled the air. A few cars passed down the street as they were talking.

            “So Liam,” Austin began. “I know that you moved here a few weeks ago and everything, but why did your parents even want to move here anyway?”

            “They said that it would be good if we lived in a place where it was peaceful, relaxing and has a low population. Not to mention that they loved the nearby forest and the Misty Mountains that are nearby.” Liam looked up at the sky as if he was daydreaming. “I was thinking about hiking there sometime.”

            “NO!” he suddenly exclaimed. Liam gave him a confused look. He had no idea what Austin was getting so worked up about. After all, people go hiking in the mountains all the time. He recollected himself and said smoothly, “I mean, I’ve heard that anybody who went up into those mountains never came back. They probably died.” Liam chuckled.

            “Yeah, like I would believe such a ridiculous superstition like that.” Austin’s tone became frustrated and serious.

            “No seriously Liam. Promise me that you will never go into the Misty Mountains.” He held up his pinky finger for them to pinky promise. Liam heaved a sigh and wrapped his pinky finger around Austin’s. Of course he only did that so that he can stop bothering him about it.

            “Fine, I promise I won’t.” Austin’s light brown eyes lit up with delight.   

“That’s good.” He didn’t bother to press his friend about why he didn’t want him to go up in those mountains, but he figured that some things were better left unknown.

            It wasn’t long before the two of them came to their own houses. Since they were neighbors they usually walked home from school together so that they could have a pleasant conversation that they wouldn’t normally have in school. Austin went to his own house doorstep and happily waved to him.

            “Bye Liam, see you tomorrow!” He raised his hand to him.

            “See ya.”

            Liam walked into the house and stopped at the doormat to take off his shoes before approaching the kitchen. His mom was just about finished making dinner and she had the miniature TV that was on the kitchen counter, blasting on the daily news. Liam set his backpack next to the kitchen table and asked what was for dinner.

            “We’re having pigs in a blanket, do you want some?”

            “Sure,” he replied as he sat down at the table. His mom put his dinner on a plate and served it to him, along with bringing him some clean forks and knives from the dishwasher. Liam ate them and even though he didn’t like watching the news, he was kind of forced to since the small TV was right there in front of him. His mom tried to get a conversation going.

            “So how was school Liam?” He finished chewing and swallowing his food before answering.

            “It was good. I’m going to have to study for a Social Studies exam tonight.” He got up and grabbed a clean glass from the cupboard and poured himself some milk. “That reminds me where’s Dad? Shouldn’t he be home by now?”

            “He’s still attending a few funeral services right now. There have been a lot of death’s recently, so he’s been busy lately.” She put her hand on her cheek. “He probably won’t be coming home now for a while. It’s so sad because so many people, from kids to adults and elderly have been disappearing lately. The police never did find the bodies.” Liam sat back down in front of his meal and finished it, along with downing his entire glass of milk. He sat there in his chair for a while, listening to the news about the recent deaths going on in Redmere. The news anchor said that a fifteen year old girl got terribly sick and a day or two later went missing. They think that somebody must’ve kidnapped her from her room during the night. Nobody has seen her since.

            “Yeah, it is sad.” Liam did his best to sound worried, but his attitude was more inconsiderate then anything. He arose from his seat and took his backpack before going up the stairs.

            “Hey Liam, one more thing,” His mom said. He stopped in the middle of the staircase and turned around to face her.

            “What is it?”

            “Make sure you lock your window before going to sleep tonight, okay?” Liam waved a hand at her casually and replied coldly,

            “Yeah, sure I will.” Having the information going over his head.

            During the evening after he was done playing video games in his room, he turned off his small outdated TV that was in front of his bed and decided to focus on his studying. After all if he doesn’t study for this big exam, he’ll regret it later on when he has to take it. He knew that’s what happened last time. Liam took out his textbooks and notebooks and spread them across his small desk that was in front of his window. He liked his desk there, so that if he wanted to he could look out the window every now and again to have his eyes rest from doing so much close up work. Liam opened up his window because he thought that the air in his room was getting stuffy, and then he opened up his textbooks and began reading. The only problem was that he accidentally fell asleep after a while and forgot to lock his window. It was left wide open; the cool spring air flowed into the room.

            The following morning Liam awakened only to find himself lying on top of his desk with loose papers spread across the floor around his feet. He remembered what happened and hastily sat up in his chair. As he lifted his head he felt an intense pain and pressure on the back of his neck, like he was incredibly sore, or at least some kind of pain resembling soreness. He slowly stood up from his desk, only to find that his arms and legs felt just as heavy as lead, which was weird because he hasn’t been exercising too hard lately. He pushed down on his arms with his fingers and pain coursed through him. Liam rolled up his long-sleeved black t-shirt to see that his arms were covered in bruises. He was alarmed by this a bit because he didn’t hurt himself or do anything that he could remember that would give him so many bruises or make his limbs feel so heavy. He recalled what his mom said to him yesterday.

            Liam, make sure you lock your window tonight before going to bed, okay?

            This has been happening to him ever since he moved to Redmere, but there was just one question, why? He would occasionally wake up in the morning and find puncture marks on his wrists and neck, or green bruises would cover his arms and legs. But this by far has to be the worst out of them all in the past few weeks of recently moving here. He decided to act like it was a normal thing, so he made the decision to wear a long-sleeved button down shirt today to hide his excessive bruising.

            When he went to his classroom in the morning he was feeling a bit fatigued and tired for some reason, or at least more than usual. He thought it was strange because he was feeling fine on the way to school. Liam sat at his desk with his head on the table because he could feel a headache coming on if he thought too intensely for too long. Austin came into the classroom and went to greet him, but saw how pale in the face Liam was looking. His friend was a bit concerned about him. Austin tapped him on the shoulder and he rose his head from the desk, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

            “Liam, are you feeling okay?” He grinned and nodded his head.

            “Yeah, I am. Why?”

            “You don’t look too good. And first period hasn’t even started yet. You sure you’ll make it through the day alright?”

            “Yeah, I will…somehow.” Austin had a serious look on his face, but then gave up and just shrugged.

            “Fine, if you say so.”

            In fact Liam barley made it through the day. Every minute of class time that passed felt like hours of suffering from a bad headache, exhaustion and felt like he was going to throw up a few times. His school day felt like hell. Especially because dealing with other students and bitchy teachers didn’t help any either.

            Once school was over, he didn’t even bother waiting for Austin or didn’t even walk home with him, because the only thing that was on his mind the entire day was going home, heading straight to the bathroom and vomiting up his lunch. And that is exactly what he did. Liam refused to have any dinner at all because even if he did, it wouldn’t make a difference because the food wouldn’t stay down anyway. He could clearly tell that his parents were worried about him, getting sick all of a sudden.

            The following day was better than the one that he had yesterday, but it was a good thing that Liam remembered to lock his window last night. When he did that he didn’t wake up with any kinds of unexplained pains, aches, bruises or puncture marks anywhere on his body, besides the ones that he previously had. Luckily for him, Liam didn’t have to worry about school since it was a Saturday. So for most of the day he just stayed in bed, drinking some tomato soup with crackers and water.

            That afternoon Austin came to his house to visit him to see how he was doing. When he came into Liam’s room, he noticed that his friend was looking and feeling a little bit better than yesterday. Austin was in his room and he took a seat on his wooden chair by his desk. He was taken off guard to see that his friend came to visit, but at the same time he didn’t mind. Liam was lying down on his bed and feeling sensitive to light he covered his arm over his eyes.

            “Are you holding up alright Liam?” he asked warily.  

            “Yeah, I’m feeling a little better than yesterday, but not by much.” His voice was somewhat rough sounding. Austin managed to crack a smile.

            “That’s good. Its improvement at least.” Liam rested a little and regained himself before saying,

            “Hey Austin, do you think you can come with me to the public library sometime today if I feel up to it?”

            “Why do you need to go?”

            “I need to get some books on myths and legends.” Austin made a disturbing face, like he was trying to get something through his thick skull. He was thoroughly confused at Liam’s sudden change of thinking.

            “But I thought that you didn’t believe in myths, legends and superstitions?”

            “I don’t,” Liam replied coldly, coughing in the process. “But I still want to read them anyway.” Austin shrugged his shoulders. He surely wasn’t expecting him to say anything like that nor did he understand Liam’s way of thinking. He didn’t bother to argue about it, especially in his condition.

            “Alright, I’ll come if you want, but don’t push yourself too hard.” Liam coughed a few more times in his arm and smiled.

            “Okay thanks Austin.” He answered him with a grin.

            “No problem, after all, what are friends for?”

            It was around 5 o’ clock when Liam was feeling good enough to get up and walk around for long distances. He was actually feeling better walking around than just sitting around in a stuffy house all day. Both Austin and Liam were currently at the public library that was a block or two away from where they lived. Liam was busy exploring through the shelves of the history section of the library, while Austin just waited for him and went on the other side of the bookshelf, looking at the array of books and novels. Liam took out a book that he thought he would like and flipped through the pages, and when it didn’t look any good he just set it back where it was and continued searching.

            Liam only found two books in the entire history section that seemed to have pretty accurate information. Oddly enough the two hardcover books that he held in his hands had no titles on the front covers. One was a crimson red while the other one was a dark blue. Austin paced over to where he was and peeked over his shoulder at the two books in his hand,

            “Did you find anything?”

            “Yeah, I found these. They looked like they would be pretty good, so I decided that I’ll check these out.” Austin paced around uncomfortably, but didn’t argue. He stood around and waited at the exit of the library for Liam to check out his books and then they left for home. He didn’t say anything more about the subject after that.

            When Liam came to his house, he thanked Austin for visiting him, but he said that he’d be good on visitors for now. His friend appeared to be a little disappointed, but went along with it anyway. With that they said their goodbyes to each other and Austin told him to take care, then they both went into their own houses for the day.

            For the rest of the afternoon Liam sat up on his bed and turned on his lamp that was on his nightstand next to him. He began flipping through the pages and began reading them right away, one by one, word by word, until Liam found the history so interesting that he was completely sucked into the books and before he knew it, it was eight in the evening. Liam peered over at the clock on his nightstand, his eyes wide with shock.

            “Wow, three hours have passed already.” He didn’t notice how dark it was getting outside. The sun was setting and darkness was slowly swallowing the sun in the horizon. Liam focused his eyes on his window and saw that it was open; he could feel a small cool breeze coming into his room, which felt good, but he had to close it for the night or else who knows what else might happen to him. Feeling almost completely better Liam energetically walked over to his bedroom window by his desk, slammed it down and locked it tightly. He took one last gaze at the sunset before closing his window blinds as well, to make sure nothing else happened to him. He also did extra precautions like drinking four cups of instant coffee and taking a five inch knife from the garage that his dad uses whenever he goes hunting. Tomorrow was Sunday, so Liam didn’t have to worry about getting a good-nights sleep anyway, which he found calmed his nerves.

He sat on the floor and placed the big shiny knife next to him as he turned on the TV and picked up the controller to play some games. He figured that if he’s going to stay up all night, mind as well try beating some of his games while he was at it. Liam spent two years trying to beat them and wasted so many hours on the game it was ridiculous not to at least attempt to finish it. He cursed as his character in the game died, yet again by the second boss.

As he was playing he could feel sleep trying to take him over when ten o’ clock struck. Liam kept on catching himself almost falling asleep and waking up over again, until he eventually gave in and fell asleep on the floor, with his father’s hunting knife next to him.

He was in such a light sleep that night that it was around two in the morning when Liam began stirring by hearing loud rattling and knocking sounds by his bedroom window. To him it sounded like someone was trying to get the window to unlock. He gripped the knife that was beside him and clutched it in his right hand tightly. Liam dared not to turn the lights on because if he did then he would just alert the enemy that he’s awake. He doesn’t want to know what would happen if he did that. He crawled towards his window where the noises were coming from and put his back against the wall next to the window.

Liam heard a click.

He felt sweat dripping down his face and his mind racing because that meant that the window was now unlocked. Slowly and lazily the window opened and he prepared himself for anyone or anything that would try to get in. It sounded like now the person was going to climb in through the window. Liam took the strings to the blinds and then hastily pulled them down to take a look as to who it was, but there was nobody at the window.

 He continued to hold his breath because a few seconds’ later two grubby hands grabbed the edge of the windowsill, ready to leap in. Liam was startled by this and caused him to stagger a bit, but nevertheless made an attempt to stab one of the stranger’s hands, but he missed the first try. The stranger then took out a small knife of his own and swung it around in the air above himself in Liam’s direction. Of course the knife missed, but as hard as he could Liam struck the tip of his long and sharp knife in the person’s right hand. A loud shriek that sounded like a man filled his ears and the person fell from the window, following with a thud. He didn’t know who it was because for one it was dark and second because the stranger was wearing long black robes that blended into the night and covered his face. Liam looked out of the window and could briefly see the silhouette of a man heading straight towards the Misty Mountains, which wasn’t too far from where he was.

He once again shut the window and locked it, along with closing the blinds up once again. Now that he’s gotten rid of whoever it was trying to get into his room, he could now fall back to sleep, which was impossible for him to do at around this time. Liam continued to feel the adrenaline run through his entire body for the rest of the morning, until the first signs of light appeared.

            It was nine in the morning when he woke up. He stretched out his arms and legs and glanced at the clock. Since it was a weekend he didn’t have to worry about going to school today. He silently said yes to himself and pumped a fist up in the air. Liam couldn’t help, but to look over at the two books that he checked out from the library that were right next to his bed. He remembered what he read yesterday and this is what he knows about the cruel history of Redmere so far, 

            In the early 1800’s Redmere was first discovered by the leader of a Satanists group. As legends and myths say he and his followers took anyone that didn’t follow their belief and tortured, abused and sacrificed them to their gods. The victims were dragged or tricked to going into the Misty Mountains and ever since then the people that did so went missing. This is what happened when people who weren’t Satanists or witchcraft followers did. They also thought that people who were baptized and followed Jesus were a delicacy for their gods (demons). Therefore, they sacrificed these people a special way to get them to feel the most pain possible, but even someone who has a rare blood type doesn’t have to be a Christian in order for these Satanists to have their gods accept the “wine” offering.

              

To Liam this made sense. It was no wonder why these people or beings were coming after him. He felt like he was the only one in Redmere who didn’t have some kind of belief that he followed. Of course he had a few cross decorations that were hung up on his bedrooms walls, but other than that he had no specific belief that he practiced, which was odd if these pagans mainly wanted baptized Christians. He wondered if Austin was one of them. Liam didn’t think that he was that type of person to do those kinds of things to innocent people…but still. If these people wanted him, it must be something more than just him being a half-believer when it came to Christianity.

            It wasn’t long before his cell phone began ringing. Liam grabbed his phone that was on his nightstand and looked to see who was calling. He wasn’t surprised to see that it was Austin. He answered the phone and said,

            “Hello?”

            “Hey Liam, what are you up to lately?” He was a bit irritated at the question since he just saw his friend yesterday afternoon. Still, Liam tried being polite and replied,

            “Oh nothing much, the usual.”

            “How are you feeling this morning?”

            “I’m doing a lot better. I feel just about normal now. I do have a bit of a headache, but other than that, I’m alright.” Austin was happy with his answer.

            “That’s good, but are you sure that you’re alright? Nothing strange happened now did it?” Liam noticed that his tone of voice changed and became eerie at his last sentence. He found it suspicious, but thought it was best not to bring it up.

“No, nothing did.” 

“Okay, so I’ll see you tomorrow at school?”

            “You know it,” Liam said optimistically. “Have a nice weekend.”

            “You too; bye.” With that Austin hung up. He snapped his phone shut and set it on his nightstand again. He was still highly disturbed from last night. In fact that was all that he could think about. Liam still felt the terror gush through him. If a group of pagan people really were trying to come after him there was only one way to find out. Expose that the murders that have been happening were by this mysterious organization. Liam thought that he could start outside his window, hoping that the stranger left a clue last night.

            He could feel the spring breeze lightly brush against his skin when he stepped outside. He was wearing his usual black jean pants with a dark grey button down shirt that had long sleeves. He walked towards the outside of his bedroom window and examined the area. On the side of the white painted house directly below his window was a long smear of a crimson red substance, which was no doubt dried blood. There was quite a bit of it too. Liam stared at the smear of blood on the house and noticed that on the grass was a trail of more blood that seemed to go all the way up to the Misty Mountains.

            If he could follow the trail of blood and travel to the Misty Mountains then he could possibly find the evil occult people’s hideout. He thought to himself that this seemed way too easy. It was almost suspicious. This layout screamed that it was a trap. Even so, Liam had to take his chances and these mysterious disappearances and weird things have been happening to him for far too long now. He thought that it was about time to bring to light the truth of what was happening. Liam prepared himself by taking with him a flashlight, his dagger and wore a few silver cross necklaces around his neck for good luck. He tucked the necklaces underneath his grey button down shirt before telling his parents that he’s going to be going out for a walk. After that he was off.

            Liam found it strange that this trail of blood went all the way into the forest and into the Misty Mountains. He passed through the small forest that was nearby the village until he came to the mountain trail. By this time he was further away from Redmere, Liam turned around when he was on the mountain path and he stared at the village from a distance. He was quite a ways away from it, but he knew that he had to move onward, or else he would never be able to figure out who was involved in the disappearing of so many people. Liam turned his back to Redmere and pushed forward.

            It took a long time. Two hours to be exact, but he was finally in the Misty Mountains traveling on the man made path for people to walk on; at least supposedly. The path looked as if it wasn’t tended or walked over in years. Nature appeared to be taking over the trails and eventually Liam lost his way and couldn’t even tell which way were parts of the trail. Not to mention that there were no signs or maps anywhere in the vicinity. All that he could see we’re big old trees that went on for miles surrounding him. He groaned and hoped that this wasn’t going to take him till dark, even though he had the feeling that it was probably going to.

            To Liam it felt like forever. Another hour has passed since he came to the Misty Mountains trails and paths. He began getting tired and his legs felt heavy. He sat down on the nearest rock and rested.

            “Let’s see here,” he said to himself. “The blood trail is starting to fade away, so I should be close to these pagan’s secret hideout or something.” He surveyed his surroundings and stared out into the distance ahead of himself. Far ahead of him he managed to spot some kind of cave beyond the thick hedges, tall grass and trees. Feeling like he was getting somewhere Liam forgot about his fatigue and went rushing towards the cave.

            It only took a few minutes, but he arrived at his destination. There was no more blood on the ground in the area, so Liam had to assume that this was the place. It was pitch black inside of the cave so naturally he hesitated to go inside. He had no idea what was lurking in there. Liam took out his flashlight, turned it on and shined the light inside of the cave. A few bats were upset by this and began flying about. He inspected the dark places carefully, before venturing inside.

            He took his time to go deeper into the cave. He shined his flashlight through the pitch black darkness so that he makes sure that he doesn’t accidentally get himself into a dangerous situation that he wasn’t supposed to be in. Liam looked around and could smell a combination of limestone, dirt and…blood? He looked around and couldn’t see or find anything that could smell like that. His question was soon answered when he took a few steps forward. The floor collapsed on itself immediately and Liam went deeper into the pits of darkness.

            When he regained consciousness he was lying on a cold stone floor. He remembered that when he was free-falling he hit the side of his head first on a hard stone surface. Liam felt fuzzy in the head and his head throbbed with pain. He slowly sat up and touched the side of his head and could feel something warm and wet. The room was so black he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. He reached for the flashlight that he dropped, which was still on, and shined the light on his hand with the wet substance on it to see that it was his blood. Liam could just bet that he looked like a mess. His head was probably covered with blood and dirt. He shook off the thought and examined the room, while having his flashlight guiding him. When he shined his light along the walls of the room, there were piles of corpses that were all around him. It explained why death filled his nostrils. Liam suppressed the urge to vomit as he paced through the room trying to look for an exit. He couldn’t help feeling disturbed at the thought that this was where the missing people that were on the news went, along with many others. He blindly went through the darkness until he saw a light at the end of the room and that was his exit.

            It was still light outside, so Liam guess that it was either a late morning or an early afternoon. Either way it didn’t matter to him, because he was now lost in the Misty Mountains with no way of knowing where he was or which way to go. The exit that he went out of took him to a different location then when he first went in at the entrance to the cave. Liam was currently on a small slope of a hill with a small woods of pine trees clustered in every direction. He used the tree trunks every now and again as leverage as he went down the steep hill, so that he doesn’t go tumbling down instead.

            As he walked through the mountainous forest he only got more lost. On top of that the hit he just took to his head from the free-fall didn’t help out either. Every now and again Liam had to lay down on the ground in order to prevent himself from blacking out. He did this until the sun began setting.

            As the day went by the light only got dimmer. He was running out of time and he couldn’t find his way back home. Now that he knew where the corpses of the missing people went, he can finally reveal it to the news cast and police at Redmere. Liam felt a little disappointed that he couldn’t find the Satanists true hideout, but at this point he didn’t care anymore. Surviving and living to tell the story is more important than knowing something you’re not supposed to and then soon die afterwards.

            He continued walking forward through the thick vegetation, shrubs and fallen trees. Liam thought to himself that if it gets completely dark then he will be at an even bigger risk for having something bad happen to him than when it’s light outside. He suddenly heard something make noises in the bushes off on the right side of him. He took out his knife and readied himself, but when he came closer to the shrubs he only saw a brown rabbit hop away from him.

            Liam lowered his guard and couldn’t believe that he was making such a fuss over a rabbit. He had a stupefied look on his face for a second and then just broke into laughter. Unfortunately for him, a man in black clothing managed to sneak up behind him and rose a baseball bat over his head. There was an ear-splitting snap before Liam blacked out and fell forward on the ground.

            Hours have passed and the moon shined brightly over the Earth. He was in an unfamiliar place and couldn’t think of anyway that he could have gotten into this dark room of, what looked like, a murky cave. Liam was half awake and was still recovering from the hits to the head he’d just taken. His head had never ached so badly before. His arms were chained to the walls of the cave he was leaning against. He lifted his head and the area he was in was gloomy and dark. The only thing that slightly lit up the room was some tall candles in a variety of colors. There were some shadows on the walls and voices echoing off the vacant walls, but couldn’t hear what they were saying, except for,

            “Give the boy some more drugs before setting him up on the pentagram.” This snapped Liam wide awake. He recalled the things that he read in the books that he got from the library. He couldn’t believe he was going to be one of these wicked people’s victims. He embraced himself as a man shrouded in black approached him. He took out a needle and syringe, the same one they use to give people vaccinations.

            “I see that you are awake.” The man’s voice was deep. “I think that you’ve caused us quite enough trouble, Liam Richardson.” He filled the syringe with a thin white fluid and took a firm grip of his left arm. Liam noticed that the man’s right hand was bandaged up. He wondered if it was the same man that he stabbed last night. Since his legs were free he stood up and kicked him in the gut, but it didn’t have any effect. He continued to resist by trying to forcefully pull his arm away from the needle. The stranger punched him in the stomach to quiet him down. Liam fell on his knees on impact and stopped thrashing about. “You know if you keep on struggling you’re only making things worse for yourself.” The man injected the needle into one of his veins. Whatever kind of medication it was, it had a burning sensation as he felt the fluid go into his arm.

            “If I’m going to die, mind as well die fighting.” He could see the man grin.

            “You’re a brave and strong boy, I’ll give you that. I’ll keep in mind to make your end quick because of that. I’m the kind of person that respects formidable enemies like you.” Liam’s voice was quiet, but stern. He closed his eyes.

            “Is that so? Then if I’m going to die, do you think you can answer one question for me?” The man in black robes stood up and was blunt.

            “And what would that be?”

            “Why are you doing this to me as well as others in the past?” He snickered.

            “I thought that was obvious. We’re Satanists. We have to do this so that we can please our gods. If we don’t then curses and bad luck will fall upon us.”

“But it’s ironic. I’m not a baptized Christian, but yet you still want to sacrifice me.” Liam managed to raise his head up and glared at the pagan. “What is it that you’re really after?”  A sinister look spread across the man’s face.

“You will learn soon enough, but there’s someone I would like you to meet first. I’m sure he’ll be very familiar to you.” Liam was skeptical of his words.

            “Oh really?”

            “Yes.” The stranger snapped his fingers and called him by his name. “Hey Austin, say your last goodbyes to your friend.” From out of the corner of the room he came forward towards Liam. He was dressed in the same black robes like the man. He had his black hood covered over his face, but he lowered it before he spoke ever so sincerely.

            “I’m sorry about this Liam, honestly, but we have to take your life. Please understand.” At first Liam was speechless and stumped as to why Austin was with these people. He quickly understood what was going on and his astonishment soon turned into writhing anger. He pulled on his chains and just wanted to strangle him so badly.

            “AUSTIN!” he shouted. “You f*****g backstabbing good for nothing snake from hell! Why are you with them? How could you let them do this to me!! HOW COULD YOU?!” Liam went into a nervous breakdown. He lowered his head towards the ground and deeply sobbed. Hot tears streamed down his face and Austin just stood there in front of him, expressionless. The man put a hand on Austin’s shoulder and told him to finish preparing for the ritual sacrifice.

            “But it’s already prepared,” he replied. “All we need to do now is to get more of Liam’s blood, get him on the pentagram and we’ll be ready to go.” The stranger headed for the door.

            “In that case I’ll leave the blood taking to you.” Austin couldn’t help, but to curl his lips into an evil smile. He put his right hand over his chest and slightly bowed.

            “It’ll be my pleasure.” The man shut the door behind him on the way out until it was just the two of them. Liam stopped crying and lifted his head to show tears staining his face. He also had terrible black circles under his eyes because of all the drugs they gave him. Austin kneeled in front of him and took out the long dagger that Liam brought with him. Terror began filling his eyes. He brushed the doubled bladed knife with his fingers playfully. He was a completely different person than Liam knew before. “You know, I always thought that you were the best friend that I’d ever had. It’s such a shame that I have to kill someone with such a rare personality and blood type such as you.”

            “You mean…you know of my blood type?” Austin brushed the tip of the dagger on his upper left arm, showing amusement in his eyes while some blood trickled down Liam’s arm.

            “Yes, its AB negative. Did you know that only one percent of Caucasians such as yourself have this blood type? It’s not easy to find them you know? Our gods consider this blood type to be the finest wine for them to drink, while baptized Christian bodies are a delicacy meal for them, but please don’t fret Liam, even if you’re not a Christian, our gods will still accept your blood, just not your impure body is all.” He frowned. “Which is why afterwards we’ll toss it in the pit along with all the other carcasses.” Austin began mocking him more. His tone was sarcastic. “Just know that your death will be for a good cause for us. Your parents will be so proud of you.” He broke out into a manic laughter and pressed the dagger deeper into his arm, drawing more blood. Liam winced at the intense pain and bit his lip. Austin pulled the knife out of him until blood flowed out of his wound like water. That was where he took a golden goblet that was next to him and had Liam’s blood go into there. He drank a little of the blood that was in there and grimaced after tasting it. “I can see why the gods consider this to be the finest wine. Your blood really does taste good. I’ll make sure to drain every last drop from you.” Austin pulled the knife out of his arm and licked the bloodstained blade. He gripped his hand on Liam’s neck and examined his throat. “I’ll start with your jugular next.”

            Liam was saved when the same man as before came into the room and stopped Austin. He didn’t look so pleased with the stranger’s words, but released his choking grip on Liam. The man said something about doing that when he was first on the pentagram. Austin gave a big huff and said,

            “Fine.” He sheathed the knife in his hand and took out a key to his chains. He turned the key in Liam’s handcuffs and the chains fell off. The man vigorously clutched his in-injured arm and pulled him forward over towards where the candles were. Liam was so tired and weak that he couldn’t think straight let along walk straight. While the man was pulling him forward, Liam lost his footing and knocked a few candles over by the red satanic pentagram. The hot wax from inside of the different colored candles fell out and it caught some of the Satanists long black cloaks on fire, including the man that was dragging Liam. Everyone was soon distracted by putting out the fire on their cloaks that he seized the opportunity to escape. If he didn’t take this rare opportunity now, then he will never be able to get out of here alive. Liam darted out of the room and saw that the exit was just ahead of him. He successfully rushed out of the cave while the Satanists behind him were trying to put the fire out.

            It was dark outside, but the first hour of sunlight was just starting to peak out over the mountain. It had to be really early in the morning because the thick fog was rolling in fast. Liam heard the Satanists swiftly catching up to him from behind. He scanned his eyes around the area and saw that next to the mouth of the cave were three containers full of oil that they used to burn the people’s bodies with in the cave that he was in before. He rushed towards it and picked up one of the containers of oil and dumped it all over the entrance/exit of the cave, before the pagans could get outside. By the time they did they all slipped on the oil that Liam left out on the grass and all throughout the area. It would buy him enough time to get away.

            He dashed through the fog and in about an hour or so found the trail that he traveled on before, when he first arrived. From there he saw Redmere in the distance and with what little energy he had left, he sprinted as fast as possible towards it, going straight to his house.

            When Liam finally made it to his house he collapsed on his knees right in the door way desperately. He sat down on the kitchen floor catching his breath from all of the running he had been doing. His mom came into the kitchen and saw how badly injured and dirty he was. Immediately when she laid her eyes on his terrible condition she gasped and ran up to him. She kneeled down beside him to give him a big hug. Mom started sobbing because of how worried she was when he didn’t come back home yesterday night. Liam’s parents called the police and everything so that they could try and find him. She released her son from the bear hug and asked seriously,

            “Liam, where were you? What happened to you…?” She could’ve asked him a million questions if he hadn’t stopped her by saying,

            “Mom, we need to get out of here. They’re going to kill us!” His mom was clueless as to what he was talking about.

            “Who’s going to kill us?” Liam scrambled to his feet and hurried over to the counter, where his mom’s purse was. He took the car keys from there and headed towards the door.

            “There’s no time to explain. Where’s Dad?”

            “I think he’s coming back home pretty soon.” He took his mom’s hand and opened the door.

            “Good, then we’ll have to survive in the meantime.”

            The two of them were outside on the front house patio and Liam waited impatiently for his dad to come home so that they could get the hell out of this accursed village. His mom didn’t get what was going on at all, but her son’s injuries and hostile attitude was enough for her to know that she could trust him. After all, she has never seen him this worked up before. In the meantime Liam took the time to fill her in on a brief summary of what happened to him and what he discovered. While explaining this his mom covered her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from crying. She was horrified at what he heard from him.

            After he was done explaining to her what was going on Liam grew extremely light headed, even more fatigued than he was before and felt like he was going to black out at any minute now. He forced himself to stay awake until he and his parents were out of this village. His mom supported Liam to prevent him from collapsing. She wanted to immediately take him to the nearest hospital.

            It wasn’t long before his dad’s car was in view. They waved over to him and he pulled up at the side of the road next to the house. Liam and his mom went to the car and he sat in the back seat while his mom sat in the front seat next to Dad. His dad was going to question on his son’s condition, but Mom said hastily,

            “Ask questions later. Right now just get the hell out of Redmere and drive to the nearest hospital twenty miles down here.” His dad did so and they drove out of the village.

            While passing through the exit out of Redmere Liam turned around in the car and took one last gaze at the cursed town. The more that the car went on the further behind the village looked from where he was. He did this before falling unconscious in his seat.

            Weeks have passed since the incident. Liam only had to stay for two more days and nights before he was released from the hospital. The doctors said that he was in good health now for the most part, but he had a serious concussion, brain trauma and a few small stab wounds and scratches here and there. They also told his parents that he had an overdose on various depressants and drugs in his bloodstream that the doctors already took care of. When he was in the hospital his dad made some last minute plans to move back into the same house as they lived before. They now knew that their son would be better off in the town where they were before, where he had a lot of friends and it was safe to go outside.

            On a Saturday afternoon Liam decided to hang out with two of his friends after graduating from high school. The three teenage boys were walking down the street on the way to the local park. They were having a nice pleasant light hearted conversation until one of his friends asked,

            “Liam, you moved back here not too long ago right? Why didn’t you and your parents stay at Redmere? It seems like an alright town to me.” He felt uncomfortable when he was asked that question. He decided to only give partial truth, just so that he won’t have to have them worry about him. Liam gave them a heartwarming grin.

            “Oh, that. My dad’s job there didn’t go very well and so we had to go back here again.” That was enough to satisfy his friend’s curiosity. After that nobody brought up the subject again.

            “Hey guys, have you been watching the news lately?” his other friend questioned. “In the Misty Mountains by Redmere, a handful of policemen went up there to recollect the missing bodies, but a week passed, and they never came back.” Liam felt a chill go up his spin. He went silent and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to look at the cloudy sky. He wondered why he was the only who came back alive. He could’ve just been lucky, but at the same time, nobody will ever know exactly what horrors and mystery’s lie beyond the Misty Mountains.

            Some things in this world are certainly better left unknown.