The Hallow

8

Maddy

The pastor that had caught us is laughing hysterically as we are hung up on the wall in front of him. Jasmine and I are crying, but the pastor and a clown that had soon joined us are quite amused. I don't remember if they used glue or tape on us, but whatever it is, it's sticky and uncomfortable.

"Please let us go." Jasmine begs loudly. The pastor shakes his head and nudges the clown as a friend would to another friend when they caught someone doing something embarrassing.

Something in the room makes a buzzing noise, and the pastor removes a pager from his pocket. I did not know that people still used pagers. He holds it up in front of Jasmine and I, then puts it back in his pocket.

"Jaja and I have somewhere to be right now," the pastor explains. "we'll be back in a jiffy."

The two leave after the clown puts on a small music box, and Jasmine and I are left alone. The room is dark and cold, and I can feel the goosebumps on my arms and legs. I stare down at the single candle that is working hard to dimly light the room.

"Jas, Jas, shh." I try to calm the girl next to me, but nothing helps. I wonder where Darcy is, and if she and Carson are okay. I then wonder about Leighton, if he got caught or was able to get away. Then Jace, the same.

A cringing stench soon fills the room, and that is when I notice that Jasmine and I are in the room that Alex had been killed in. I begin to sob again, and Jasmine looks over at me worriedly.

"Al-l-lex." I cry loudly.

"Maddy." Jasmine says softly. I can't take my eyes off of the bloody mess on the ground no matter how many times Jasmine tries to grab my attention away from it.

Moments later, two new people enter the room singing a slow tune in sync: a song called Come Little Children, which had originally been a poem. There is a tall woman dressed in what looks like a dirty pantsuit with some holes in the leg and arm. Her hair is a messy mop on top of her head, but somehow looks neat.

The other woman is a smaller woman, a dwarf, appearing to be a mini-me of the bigger woman. She is dressed in the exact same outfit with an identical hairdo. Jasmine and I hyperventilate at the sight of their creepy smiling faces. The single mole on their cheeks perk up when they show their teeth.

They continue singing through Jasmine and I's protests, and I grow more and more fearful as they walk closer and closer to us, and when it is finally over, they disappear right under our feet.

My heart is pounding in my chest, and I am still petrified as the singing continues; the song starting over even though the women are now gone. Jasmine is crying uncontrollably, but I, on the other hand, cannot produce tears anymore. I am in a state of shock.

Darcy

When I am finally outside, I desperately pat my pockets hoping to find my phone, but I don't. The clowns must have taken it when they abducted me from Carson.

I find myself worrying about what they could have done to Carson. I wonder where everyone else is, or even if they're still alive.

My legs are shaky as I run in a random direction. There is hardly any light to be seen, and the grass soon becomes wet and turn my feet damp the further I run. Soon I am gasping for breath, and force myself to stop for a moment.

I take in my surroundings, and grow fearsome at the sights I am seeing. There is a log cabin in the near distance with lights inside. I see shadows wandering around inside the house, and I duck behind the nearest object in hopes that no one had seen me.

There are nice looking plants at the entrance by the steps leading up to the front door, and lights along the pathway as well. I stand a little to try to get a better look of the inside, but duck once again when I see someone walking up the sidewalk. The person stops when they hear the ruffling I had made from the bush, and my heart stops.

The man yells something that I cannot quite make out. He tightens the grip on whatever it is he's holding, and my hands are shaking as I clench a thick branch to keep myself propped up.

The man eventually puts his looking around to a halt, and walks the rest of the way up to the cabin. He sets the box in his hands on the porch as he pulls out a keyring with numerous keys on it, and unlocks the door. Moments later, he disappears into the house, and the slamming of the door makes me jump.

I slowly move away from the bush, and look around for a place to run. I notice the cemetery in the far distance, and coach myself to it.

My knees pop as I stand, but I make a running start toward the graveyard, and surprisingly make it without any trouble. I duck behind the largest headstone I can find, and wait for the next plan to come to me.

The pathway to which we had all entered is close, but not close enough. My head snaps to the side when I hear a noise, and my heart stops when I notice where it is coming from. A person dressed in a clown costume, one I hadn't seen before, is dragging a shovel down the cement back toward the church. He has a wide smile plastered on that rubber mask of his, and it gives me chills. His jumpsuit is covered in dirt and blood, and the fake multicolored wig is tangled and messy.

I move around the headstone as the clown walks down the pathway toward the road hoping that he had not seen, nor heard me. I grow nervous as I wonder about what it is he had been doing with the shovel, and I decide that when he is no longer in sight, I will try to find out.

I shake my head at the sudden thought. If I waste more time, I could end up being killed like the rest. I want to find them, but trying will only get me in trouble. I figure that if I possibly escape, I can go to the police and hopefully bring them back here in time to save my cousin and her friends.

My adrenaline finally kicks in after a few more moments, and when I am sure that the clown is for sure out of sight, I make a run for it. I hear giggling from behind me, which only encourages me to run more. I quickly pass by a lengthy pile of fresh dirt, indicating a corpse has been newly buried. I stop when I notice a slab of wood at the head of the gravesite with a large "C" carved into it.

"Carson?" I whimper silently, nearly falling to my knees.

"You can save him if you work fast." a high pitched, scratchy voice mentions from behind me. I jump and scream as I spin around to see the tall clown, the one with the shovel that I had seen earlier, standing behind me. My breath catches in my throat, and my heart nearly stops. The clown tosses the shovel at my feet. I cannot take my eyes off of him, and it appears to make him angry.

"Go ahead, why don'tcha?"

My entire body begins to shake uncontrollably as fresh tears spill from my eyes.

"You better get diggin'. He's got about two minutes left." The clown begins to walk away, but turns around momentarily and adds, "Maybe."

I watch as the clown walks away, and my heart pounds heavily as his light footsteps make an innocent tapping noise on the pavement. I hesitate for a moment, then grab the shovel and begin digging as fast as the rest of my remaining strength will let me.