by Milo Abrams
Nolan went in ahead of James, and as the door opened, Duffy came barreling out in a fury of fur and tongue. He jumped onto James and began mauling him with love. Nobody knew what breed Duffy was, Nolan brought him home as a birthday present for James's fifth birthday, and the short-haired pile of pudge had been in love with James ever since. Although no longer a puppy, Duffy thought that he was and often jumped on everyone's lap for a little extra attention.
After a minute, Duffy was satisfied and relinquished his attack on James. As he recovered and wiped the drips of slobber from his face, Duffy ran behind him, disappearing behind the driver’s side of the truck.
“Ahh!” a scream echoed through the yard.
James followed the scream to the other side of the Red Rocket and saw Duffy lovingly smothering his neighbor and best friend, Jack Reeves.
"This is why I never come over!" Jack yelled beneath Duffy's furiously licking snout. James stood and laughed until Duffy had his fill and settled down enough to pee and eat some grass.
"Guard dog," James said pointing at Duffy who sneezed out a mouthful of grass, leaving a few blades hanging from his nostrils.
Jack wiped off his shirt as he got up. "I thought you were at your dad's for the summer?"
"I am. We're just stopping in to pick up Duffy. So, you guys still don't want to come out and check out the place? It's pretty great."
Jack raised one eyebrow at James as his fingers flew across the screen of his smartphone like hummingbird wings. "You're really that bored, huh?"
"No, I mean it. The place is all brand new and super nice. There's a ton of a space, no neighbors and an awesome hayloft in the barn."
"Yeah, Owen said it’s a total dead zone. He'll be over in minute, by the way.”
James's mom, Margaret, came outside with Nolan. "Hey, boys," she said.
"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Callum," Jack replied.
"So, James, you homesick already?"
He started to answer her but then Nolan interrupted, "No way, James is a natural born hillbilly. We just figured it would be good for Duff to get some fresh air, too. You know, run around and wear himself out." He didn't dare mention that he thought it would be a good idea because James was having fears of monsters in the woods. He didn't want to simultaneously embarrass his son and ruin his summer vacation in the country.
"That sounds like a great idea," Margaret said smiling. To James, she seemed much happier than normal. She was getting along with his dad and being very nice to him, too. It made him a little suspicious. Both his parents were being extremely nice to him as if they knew something he didn't.
"Jack," she said, "why don't you go spend a night out with James and Duffy? It would be good for you to unplug, too."
Jack hesitated but he could feel the pressure of everyone's eyes on him. He was very impressionable, and without the stronger and more rebellious Owen there to back him up, he caved. "Sure, sounds great," he said with an unsure tone.
The awkward moment was interrupted by the obnoxious dragging sound of Owen's back bike tire as he slammed down the pedals to skid across the driveway.
Owen looked up and saw everyone staring at him—he loved being the center of attention. "Hey Mrs. Callum." He looked over at Nolan and pretended to tip an invisible hat. "Doctor," he said with a smirk.
Everyone laughed. "You know, Mr. Sawyer," Margaret said, "I don't appreciate you skidding across the driveway like that. It ruins the curb appeal."
"Sorry, Mrs. C."
Owen was not only the youngest of the three boys but also the shortest. He made up for his lack of height with his attitude, which was reflected in the hot pink baseball cap which he always wore backwards.
"What's up, bros?" Owen asked as he rolled over to Jack and James.
"I got sucked into exile, that's what," Jack whispered to him. This upset James but he wanted to impress his friends.
"Seriously guys, I have to tell you something," James whispered. He knew that if he told them about the monster in the woods they would come over in a heartbeat. Especially Owen, who was obsessed with adventures and evil creatures. He didn't know how to say it so he just he pulled them to the back of his dad's truck.
"What's up?" Owen asked.
"Guys, there's something in the woods behind my dad's house."
Jack and Owen both stared at James. "Okay?" Owen asked.
"I mean something weird. A creature. A monster."
Owen leaned in closer. "Monsters aren't real, James. Man, you've really lost it out there in B.F.E."
"No," James snapped, “I'm serious. I've seen it."
13
James looked back toward his house to make sure no one was watching them or within earshot. "I've seen it every day since I've been there. The backyard is nothing but a huge field and behind that are some woods. Every day I've seen it out there, staring at me."
"Are you shitting me?" Owen asked, extremely excited.
"Swear to God. That's why I'm in town, my dad's getting a game camera so I can get a picture of the thing."
"Your dad knows about it?" Jack asked.
"Well, not exactly. He doesn't believe me. I tried to tell him but he won't listen. He thinks the camera is so that I can watch deer."
"I'm coming out too then!" Owen yelled. "Hey, Dr. Callum, is it all right if I come stay the night too?"
Nolan smiled, "Of course. Slowly converting you city boys, one by one."
"Wait," Jack said, "how are we all going to get out there? There's not enough room in the truck for all of us, plus Duffy."
Margaret looked thoughtfully at Nolan. "He's right. Take my car, you boys shouldn't be driving in that thing anyway. It could fall apart at any minute!"
"The Red Rocket? Never!" Nolan slapped the hood, knocking some rust onto the driveway. "It's settled then. Get your stuff boys, we'll run up to the sporting goods store then we'll grab some wings for dinner and head out."
James ran into the house and grabbed Duffy's leash while Jack ran home to pack a bag. Owen didn't bother, he figured it was one night and anything he needed he could get the next day. It seemed everything was coming together for James. His best friends would see there was a monster in the woods, and then maybe he could catch it on camera and prove he wasn't crazy.
Everyone piled into Margaret's four-door sedan while Nolan took the bag of deer feed from his truck and put it in the trunk, then they were off. Nolan drove his wife's car with a lot more care and finesse than he did the Red Rocket. Duffy manned the passenger seat with the seatbelt strapped across his chest, sitting still and letting his tongue fly with the wind out the window. The boys didn't say much in the backseat but they all were thinking about the same thing: a monster in the woods.
As they pulled into the parking lot of the sporting goods store, James was surprised at just how many people there were around. Being exiled, as Jack called it, in the country for days with hardly any human contact really allowed him to notice the subtle details of the city. It was crowded and extremely noisy.
"I'm just going run in here really quick and grab the camera, all right? You boys stay out here and manage the Duff-Meister."
James nodded as his dad hurriedly closed the car door before Duffy could wiggle out.
"So what does it look like?" Jack asked after Nolan left.
"I don't really know," James said.
"What do you mean, man? You said you saw it!" Owen's eyebrows furled.
"Calm down, I did, I did. But it was at the back of the property, like I said. It's really hard to see something that far away. But it looks gray and kind of human."
Jack sat there thinking while Owen burst open with excitement. “That's fucking awesome!” he said hopping around in his seat.
"Wait a minute,” Jack asked, "you sure you didn't just see a person? I mean, details get fuzzy and colors can become distorted over large distances especially near the horizon. Look how light scatters at the horizon during a sunset and looks red and orange."
Owen raised one eyebr
ow at him. "C'mon Brainiac, you really think someone's been coming around to his yard every day just to stand and stare at him?"
"Actually, most of the time it's squatting down. I only noticed it looked human-like when it got up and went back into the woods.”
"My point exactly!" Owen yelled. "Who's going to stop around every day to pop a squat in someone's backyard?”
"You do have a point there," Jack said.
Nolan came back to the car and tossed a bag into the back. "Here you go, James. Guy said it was a good one."
If there's one thing those boys loved, it was a new piece of technology. They quickly pulled it from its packaging and looked it over. It was flat, camouflage colored and only a little smaller than a school textbook. James smiled, he now had the thing that would prove there was a monster in the woods without a doubt.
Nolan pulled into a local beer and beverage drive-thru to get the wings. Inside was a tunnel of freezers and coolers full of hundreds of different types of beer, wine, soda, and juice that reminded James of the diversity and availability of city life. On the driver’s side was a break in the freezers where a wooden counter sat with a cash register on it. At the register, a boy who looked way too young to drink put down his phone and lazily walked to Nolan’s window.
"May I help you?" he asked in an uninterested tone.
"Picking up an order for Callum," Nolan replied.
"Hang on a sec," the boy said rudely, disappearing somewhere behind the counter to a hidden kitchen area.
Nolan turned around toward the backseat full of boys and smiled. "This place has the best wings around,” he said, noticing that they were checking out the camera enthusiastically "So you boys are really getting into this nature watching stuff, huh?"
They all looked at each other and smiled. Now James had his own little secret club with information his parents didn't know. He felt very disassociated with what was going on with them but having the secret about the monster in the woods unknown to them stroked James's ego enough to make him feel better. "Yeah," James said stretching out the word, "watching deer is pretty cool."
While there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice, James had honestly found joy in watching deer. He was surprised how much fun it was to just sit and soak in the beauty of the world around him. It was a different kind of fun than going to a waterpark or playing laser tag, but fun nonetheless. Jack and Owen were still country virgins, completely institutionalized by the trappings of the city, while James was beginning to break free of his shell. Like a caterpillar, his old life and persona were starting to melt, and change inside, and he was becoming a newer and more evolved version of himself.
In true preteen-fashion, Jack and Owen dozed in the back seat from the monotonous hum of the road flowing beneath them. James mirrored Duffy with his head out the window, sucking up the fresh country air as they drove on further from the city. Duffy became more excited, and yet more still as he too broke away from the confines of the city into wide open spaces he had never known. Before long, the large mass of trees that made up the woods behind Nolan’s house became visible in a tentacle arm of green that grew thicker and thicker as they drove. It stretched behind houses and farms, and James wondered if anyone else had ever seen the monster, since the woods stood like a great forest in the middle of the countryside. Surely, he couldn't be the only one. It can't be all in my head, he thought. As they pulled into the driveway, Duffy’s stillness evaporated.
"Home sweet home," Nolan said, unbuckling Duffy's seatbelt and opening the door.
James panicked, "Dad, wait! What about—
"Ah James, he'll be fine, this isn’t the city. The distances here are so great that Duff can get all the exercise he needs without the worry of running away. There is more space here than he's ever known."
James relaxed a little, watching Duffy run around like a lunatic with a jet pack through the backyard. Despite what his dad thought, he knew there was something in the woods that could jump out at any moment and go for his dog. As terrifying as the thought was, the reality was that Duffy zipped up and down the open field without incident. As everyone got out of the car and grabbed their bags, Duffy whizzed by like a fighter jet.
Owen laughed, "Man, look at him go!"
"You watch," Nolan nodded at Duffy as he circled around for another pass, "he'll be a completely different dog after he's done."
"What do you mean?" James asked.
"Well, he was always jumping all over everyone because he had all that energy with no outlet for it. You watch how calm he'll become," Nolan laughed.
Nolan took the wings inside and James led Jack and Owen toward the barn where they could see the open field behind the house, and the great wall of trees in the distance.
Jack squinted, "Oh, now I see what you mean about not being able to see detail. The distance is much greater than I thought!"
"You need four wheelers," Owen suggested.
"Boys, come get wings before they get any colder," Nolan called out. As if on cue, Duffy came ripping back through the yard and up the steps, panting like a steam engine. He bounced around excitedly as if Nolan had been talking to him, too.
Jack and Owen couldn't believe their eyes once they were inside. "Wow," Jack said, "this place is like one of those places you see on TV." Jack and Owen also lived in nice houses, but nothing had the clean sharp lines of being new. While both boys' families were middle class, most houses in Bugby were built between the ‘70s and ‘80s, and newer constructions were located along the lake. James and his friends all lived in the heart of the city.
Owen sat down at the shiny wooden table and took off his hat. "You know, I thought this place was going to be like some old farm house or something creepy like you'd find in a horror movie. Especially when you said there was a big old barn but holy sh—
"Well thanks, Owen," Nolan said cutting him off and grabbing plates from the cupboard, "see, you never know what you'll find out here!" Owen put his hat back on, embarrassed at almost swearing in front of the good doctor.
The words sent a shiver down James's back. The recognition of unlimited possibilities made James think about the monster in the woods even more. What was it? Where did it come from? How long had it been there? What was it planning to do?
As they ate, the phone rang.
"Hello?" Nolan answered. "Yes. Oh, you did? I must've forgotten to grab it. Yes, I'll be there shortly." He hung up and sat back down at the table.
"Back to work?" James asked in a low tone.
"Yeah, apparently, they tried to page me but I forgot my pager." He made quotation marks around the word forgot. "I had a day planned and while I knew they were going to call I didn't want to be interrupted. They can handle things for a bit without me, they're going to learn to have to."
Nolan finished eating then got up to get ready. The boys cleaned up then headed out into the field toward the deer feeder.
"This place is huge," Owen said pushing ahead of the other two, "it's even bigger than it looks. You could have like a whole baseball diamond out here."
They reached the deer feeder and to James's surprise, it was completely empty.
"Whoa," he said. "I just filled this thing yesterday."
"Definitely have some visitors, which is good. That means the camera will be put to good use." Jack looked over the deer feeder carefully, "I don't see any place for the camera to hang."
"No? Well where should we put it? I was really hoping to attach it to the deer feeder."
"Let me see," Owen said, "I'm good at rigging shit." He took the mount and straps and tried to reach around the blue barrel bottom of the feeder. He stood up and handed it back to James. "Hmm, I don't know, bro. What about putting it on a tree facing this way?"
James quivered at the thought. He didn't want to go anywhere near the trees, but he also didn't want his friends to think he was a wuss. Luckily, Jack chimed in.
"That won't work, Owen, it's too great a distance from the trees to the feeder for anything to set
off the camera. The only way anything would set it off would be for it to pass directly in front of it on its way to the feeder."
"There's got to be a way to attach it," James said.
"We could move the feeder closer to the woods?" Owen suggested.
James hadn't thought of that. He could see his plan was falling apart and this new suggestion was forcing him to face his fear and get closer to the woods. “That might not be a bad idea. Now that I think about it, I've never seen it come over to the deer feeder. It's always just stayed back at the trees. Except..."
"Except what?" Owen asked.
"Except for yesterday. I was up at the top of the barn," James pointed toward the hay door, "and I fell asleep until, I was woken up by it going throw my dad's tools in the barn underneath me."
Jack’s eyes widened. Owen jutted his jaw forward, "No fucking way!"
"I’m serious," James replied, "and I don't know if it knew I was up there but when I got up it knocked the toolbox over and was gone by the time I came down."
"Obviously, it has no problem leaving the shade of the woods so it's not a vampire," Jack reasoned.
"Vampire?" Owen threw his hands up, "Give me a break. Vampires aren't real!"
"You just don't want them to be because blood freaks you out," James retorted.
Owen raised an eyebrow at James, knowing he was right. "Listen," he said, "we have to get this thing moved then and get the hell out of the field. Okay, it's not afraid of daylight—vampire or not. That means it could come out here after us at any time!"
The three boys looked at each other as his words started to sink in. Owen was right. James had never even thought about all the time that he had spent out in the field setting up the deer feeder or checking on it, and how he could have been watched the whole time. Stalked. Hunted. He was playing Russian roulette with the paranormal every time he came outside. Then there was the blood in the grass. How could he be so blind to ignore the fact that the creature wasn't docile? It had killed something or at the very least injured it.
