The Bog monster

First blood

"Oh a raven" a man says as he walks through a forest trail. It's late at night which he claims is the best time for bird and animal watching. It's calm almost too calm so far he's barely seen any animals which is unusual for he commonly sees 3-10 animals on his late night walks. He tries to think of why this could be happening, maybe he put on some cologne that repels the animals, maybe some are hibernating, or maybe something else is repelling them. He hears a low growl and thinks it's a bear so with his smart thinking he grabs a branch to make himself bigger. He knew to stay calm but it's pretty hard when this "bear" is the size of a semi truck.

The next day a girl waits for her bus. Meet Rebecca or Reb for short. She's your typical teenage girl, brown hair, brown eyes, hates life. Eventually the bus comes and she gets on, of course it's full of loud annoying kids but among everyone she sees her best friend Barbara or barb for short. "Hey." Reb says tiredly as she sits next to barb. "Hey did you hear the news?" Barb asks Reb with a look of concern. "No what happened?" "Last night Mr. Wizlow was mauled by an animal, it was all over the news!" Barbara replied. Reb is shocked by the news as a sudden headache kicks in, the pain unbearable but also causing a vision. For a few seconds she's put into the pov of an animal running through the forest only to snap back to reality. She's been having these visions since the last week. Rebs mother told her a story when she was younger of how back in olden times her family was cursed, she's always thought of it as a misunderstanding since that's how most things were back then. However recently she's started to wonder if it's true.

Their bus gets to school and they get off to head to their lockers. Barb follows Reb to her locker. As Reb unpacks her stuff she notices someone, someone new. "Who's that?" Reb asks Barb pointing to a short, shy, fairly good looking girl in Rebs opinion. "She's new, I heard she moved because she got in trouble at her last school." Barb answers Rebs question. "Ain't she good for the eyes." Reb tells Barb. "Oh definitely, I wouldn't be surprised if any of the hockey boys tried to hit on her." Barb says looking at the new girl. Sure enough a group of hockey boys swarm her. It's evident on her face that she is uncomfortable. Eventually she's tired of saying no so she squeezes through them and heads to her next class. "Oh shit look at the time." Barb says showing Reb her watch. "I gotta go see you later." Barb tells Reb as she heads to her class.

Reb walks into her class and sits in her usual spot. Then just as performed countless times she checks the board for work when she notices someone talking to Ms. Krazlay her teacher, it's the new girl. She can't make out what they're saying but get the gist when the teacher points the new girl towards her. The new girl is gonna sit next to her. The new girl sits down and starts doing the work on the board Reb however just doodles in her notebook. "Nice drawings." The new girl says looking at Rebs doodles. "Thanks." Reb replies continuing to draw. The new girl seemed shy but also focused like she didn't want to do with anyone. Reb ignores the signs and decides to make small talk. "My names Reb and you?" Reb asks hoping to initiate a conversation. "Oh um I'm Briana but you can call me Bri for short." The new girl reveals her name. Reb takes in the words and the name before continuing the small talk. "So why did you decide to come here? You know since you're the new kid why did you come here instead of staying in your other town or were homeschooled?" Reb asks with unsure intent. "Oh I'm not homeschooled I moved because of an incident back at my old school so we had to move." Bri answers slightly nervously. "How come?" Reb asks intrigued. "I'd rather not say it's... personal." Bri says before the class begins with Ms. Krazlay announcing the new assignment which is a mandatory group project, while Reb strongly dislikes group projects especially when she doesn't have a friend to group with, this time she's taken an interest.
"Hey since we don't know or like anyone else in this class wanna be partners?" Reb asks Bri. "Oh um sure." Bri answers.

After school Reb is waiting for her bus when she sees Bri also waiting for a bus. "Hey." Reb says to Bri. "Oh hey." Bri replies. "I was wondering if I could get your phone number so we can keep track of how our project is going." Reb asks Bri. "Yea sure." Bri says taking her phone out. After some fiddling with phones they have each other's phone numbers. "Sweet see you tomorrow." Reb tells Bri as she gets on her bus.

The ride is boring without her friend Barb but she makes do with watching the scenery since she lives slightly out of town. Eventually she gets home and immediately goes to her room to evade her parents. Most times if she makes the smallest interaction with her parents they'll some how turn it into why she's so disrespectful so for most of her life she stays in her room listening to music. She's listening to her favourite band rare Americans when she gets a text from her best friend Barb. "Hey just got back home wanna hang at "The Spot"?" The text reads. The Spot is an old abandoned treehouse Reb and Barb found in the middle of the forest that connects their backyards when they were little. It originally had no floor and a few possums as residents but over time with the help of Barbs dad they fixed it up and made it something of their own. They called it The Spot so that if someone over heard or saw their texts they wouldn't know where it was. "Yea sure be there in a bit." Reb replies looking at the time noticing it was around two hours before dinner so if she left right now she wouldn't get yelled at for "purposefully missing out on dinner". "Gonna go for a walk." Reb tells her mom, she says this whenever she leaves the house or anywhere. It's a simple and effective excuse. "Ok honey be aware of that bear have you seen what it did to our neighbour Mr. Wizlow? Completely shredded him torn him limb from limb I thi-" Rebs mother rambles on with too much detail. While this happens Reb is already out the door.

As she walks the thought of that mauling that to her neighbour and thinks if it'll happen to her. The hairs on her neck stand up. The sun starts to set. It gets darker, colder and a bit unnerving. A rustle comes from a nearby bush. *this is how I die* Reb thinks to herself only to look and see a baby fawn before it runs back into the forest.

Reb finally arrives at The Spot and climbs onto the makeshift ladder to see Barb. "Hey." Barb says stopping what she's doing and grabbing Rebs hand to help her up. "Heyo." Reb responds. "So anything new." Barb asks starting a conversation. "Oh um I became friends with the new girl, I think." Reb says with uncertainty. "We decided to be partners for a project." Reb answers honestly. "What's her name? And why did she move here?" Barb asks eager to find out ever since she first saw her this morning. "Her name is Bri and she said it was a "personal" problem so I have no idea." Reb answers once again honestly. Over time they talk about various topics and inside jokes until it's almost ten o'clock. "Best get going don't want that thing to get us." Barb says jokingly as they both begin to pack up.

On the way home Reb remembers what Barb said once again beginning to get nervous. Her breath is getting faster along with her heartbeat. The night is colder and darker than before multiplying her unease levels. She looks around scared thinking it's always right behind her. Suddenly another splitting headache occurs causing her to fall to her knees screaming into the night. The headache causes her to black out or at least that's what she thinks.