Welcome To Dreadwood

The Call

Billy awoke in the middle of the night, thinking he was only dreaming, but he wasn't. As he lay in his bed, he heard a voice – an enchanting and haunting song unlike anything he had heard at the recording studio where he worked.

Billy lived in an enchanting beachside town that attracted tourists during the on-season. Being the on-season, Billy ignored the singing. Tourists were known to do peculiar things when visiting the town. They never stayed more than three days, so in three days' time, the tourist and their singing would be gone. Billy went back to sleep.

The following night, as expected, the song was heard again. For the third night, he heard it once more. It would be the last night he would hear it. Billy went out onto the bedroom balcony and listened to the song for the final time. He had grown to enjoy its melody and had fallen in love with the voice. Never had he heard anything as extraordinary. He gave a silent farewell to the unknown singer.

The fourth night, he went to bed as usual with the knowledge that his ears would not grace the song again. Despite having a hard time falling asleep, the tiredness from the busy day eventually embraced him, and he slept like a baby. In the middle of the night, he awoke, questioning if he was dreaming. He was listening to the song again. He pinched himself to make sure he was awake. Billy told himself that the singer must have stayed another night for whatever reason. At least he got to listen to the song one more time.

The fifth night, he was surprised to hear the song again. With curiosity gnawing at him, he got up and ventured out of his home, which was ten minutes from the seashore. Stepping outside, the sea breeze hit him, and the salt air was pleasant. Billy listened to the song and headed in that direction with only his flashlight to guide him on this moonless night. As he walked, he felt his feet step on something soft. Pointing the flashlight down, he saw sand. Sand was everywhere. He was standing on the beach.

Billy found it strange for anyone to be out on the beach on a moonless night. There was no light anywhere. Why was someone sitting in the dark on the beach, singing? Were they lonely? Were they looking for company and didn't know how to ask for it?

Billy had to know who the singer was. He needed to find out before the singer left town. He had to find out, or the song would haunt him for eternity.

Stepping through the sandy beach on the moonless night with only his flashlight to guide him, he edged closer to the voice. The voice was getting louder. 'Splash' went a sound. His shoes were wet. Moving the flashlight around on the ground, he realised he had stepped into water. He was standing on the shoreline. A horrifying thought crossed his mind. Was the singer trying to kill themselves by drowning?

Billy took his flashlight and looked across into the sea. He still heard the song. That was a good sign; the person was still alive. He began to scream out to anyone who could be in the water. He needed to save the person's life.

Billy stepped into the sea, moving his flashlight in every direction searching for the person. The flashlight quickly reflected off a large rock. He saw a glimpse of a person on the rock. Finding the rock again with his flashlight, he headed in that direction. The water was getting too deep. He needed a boat to rescue the person before they drowned. Billy paused for a moment and thought that finding a boat would take too long, and by the time he came back, the person might be dead. So Billy started to swim towards the rock with the flashlight held in his mouth.

Billy had made it to the rock, but there was no sign of the person. He scrambled onto the rock and shone his flashlight around at the sea. He could still hear the song. But where was the person? His flashlight reflected off something in the water. The object was heading towards him. Was it a shark?

The creature disappeared; Billy was relieved. Before he could get off the rock, he heard something jump out of the water. With his flashlight, he caught sight of a fishtail before he found himself submerged under the water.

With his flashlight, he got a look at the creature. It had the face of a woman and the tail of a fish. He was staring at a siren. The siren began to sing, trying to put him under a trance. Billy attempted to swim away, but the creature held him down with its hands. Realising that his feet were free, he kicked the siren in the chest. It made a screeching cry in pain and let Billy go from its grasp.

Billy swam to the beach. He was safe now. He lay on the beach, trying to catch his breath. Out of nowhere, the siren lunged at him. It was on top of him. Its clawed hand had stabbed him in the chest. Billy kicked the siren off him. The creature landed on the sand with a 'thump' sound.

Billy got up and looked around with his flashlight. He saw the siren lying on its back in the sand. It had no way of attacking him or escaping into the water. Billy was safe.

As Billy left the beach, a white van pulled up in front of the beach, and two people in hazmat suits came onto the beach. They carried the siren back to the van and drove off into the moonless night.