Group C

Chapter 9

It had been a few more hours after they had lunch. Tobey went to work on putting in the last bit of tile floor in a room of the homestead, while Russell tried out different jobs. None of them in which felt right, except for one. A swimmer. He knew he had to become one. He had to do something to get out of this place. He looked up to see the sky getting darker, the keeper of the track-hoes, which was James came up saying it was time to go inside for the night. He went to go look for Tobey to ask her questions on becoming a swimmer. 

After a few minutes of looking, she saw Tobey helping Devin fix the last of the damage on the dryer. 

"Thanks for your help, twig," Devin said to Tobey. Tobey nodded in response. He was surprised, Devin was actually being nice to Tobey for once! He decided he didn't want to annoy Tobey with his questions on becoming a swimmer so he went back outside and walked to the forest. It wasn't that big, it was only like a couple acres at most. Yet there were tall and sturdy trees that were packed tightly together and the canopy above thick with leaves. He looked up again at the sky to see the last remaining phases of twilight remaining. 

It was eerie but beautiful all at once. 

As he got deeper and deeper into the woods, it started to get darker and colder than it had before. A twig snapped from beneath, it scared him at first due to him thinking it was someone following him. He figured it was just his nerves getting to him. He saw this tiny bug with red glowing eyes that had the word 'WICKED' on it. It was quite a peculiar thing to encounter in such a place. Russell moved to the right and the beetle blade looked to the right making a mechanical noise. 

"Maybe it's how they watch us," Russell thought. The things soon went up the tree leaving the red-haired boy behind. Russell shrugged it off and kept walking. He stepped around a large oak and pulled up short. He had reached the graveyard. This made shivers run down his spine. It was small, possibly around thirty square feet and covered with a layer of leafy weeds growing from the ground. He saw pieces of wood that were painted white with people's names on them. Some of them looked rushed as well.

Russell stepped up, reluctantly, to the closest one and kneeled down. The light was so dull now he felt like he was looking through black mist that surrounded him. He read the name that was on the tomb in front of him. 

"Laura," He thought, feeling a pang of unexpected sorrow. "What's your story? Sammy annoy you to death?"  

He walked over to another grave. Except for this time, it looked really old. Probably the first person to be buried. The name was Henry. 

He heard footsteps not fifteen feet from him. He turned to the source of the noise startled. 

"Who's there?" Russell yelled out, feeling a bit stupid for feeling fear. 

"Who the fu-" Before he could finish, a figure jumped before him pinning him to the ground. The figured had pale skin with green veins all over his body and enormous blood-shot eyes---the haunting image of an apparition. The attacker looked like a monster he had seen in a horror movie. Russell finally had some time to figure out who his attacker was. 

It was Robert. The sick boy.