A Darker Reality

No Escape

Matthew stood under the old oak tree on Temple Avenue, watching the dimly lit streets for Simon. The midnight June air was hot and humid, and there was no breeze to occasionally cool him off. He tried to fan himself with his hand, but to know prevail. Then he resolved to pacing back and forth, nervously.

Where was Simon? Did something happen to him? Could he have been captured? Matthew's imagination was beginning to run away with him as he started to imagine all of the terrible things that could have been happening to his friend, when he finally spotted Simon walking down the sidewalk towards him.

"Where have you been?" Matthew demanded as soon as Simon was in earshot.

He quickly shushed Matthew. "Quiet! You know how sensitive to sound it is!" he said, trying to stress the importance of what he was saying while keeping his voice in a hushed whisper. "I was checking on the kid in the hospital."

"Is he okay?" Matthew whispered.

Simon shook his head. "He's got all the symptoms. Coughing fits, nosebleeds, insomnia, hallucinations, they're all there. The doctors have no idea what's going on, of course. I don't think he'll make it to morning."

Matthew looked at his feet and shook his head. "Poor kid. No one deserves to go like that, especially not someone that young."

Simon shook his head too. "It must have been stalking that kid for months. Who knows how long he's had the sickness? He's lucky I was there to get him out of there before that thing snatched him up." After a moment's hesitation, Simon finally said, "This has to stop. There are a lot of kids going missing and I can guarantee that that's why. No one else will do it so we have to--tonight."

************

Matthew and Simon walked through the woods together, both armed with handguns. Simon carried the only flashlight, since he claimed they didn't have time to stop somewhere and get another one for Matthew. They constantly glanced around, checking their surroundings and although nothing ever changed in the scenery, they both still felt uneasy.

Matthew clutched his gun close to his body, his index finger lingering around the trigger. His heart raced, but he tried to keep his breath even. He felt as though they were being watched, like there were a pair of eyes burning into his back. However, no matter how many times he dared a glance over his shoulder, he never saw anything, or anyone.

They approached the Kullman Mining Facility, which had been closed off due to the deaths of some miners a few years before. Three men were killed, all with little remains left to bury. The remaining survivors said that they were killed in a mine explosion, but Simon was not convinced. Then, there was the incident with the two girls that happened just last year. That somehow confirmed Simon's suspicions that the monster was staying in the mines.

They approached the entrance of the mine, which had been boarded up since last year. As they got closer, they noticed a hole in the boarded up entrance in the bottom left corner. Something had obviously created that trying to get in.

Simon crawled through the hole and Matthew began to feel even more uneasy. "I don't know about this, Simon," he said.

"We have to. Do you want other kids to end up like that boy?" he asked from the other side of the boards.

"Well, no."

"Then come on," Simon said before completely disappearing in the darkness of the mine, with nothing but his flashlight beam bouncing off of the walls to show his location. "It's in here. I know it," he continued, his voice trailing off in the distance.

Matthew crawled through the hole, stood upright, and followed Simon's footsteps. In one sweaty hand he held the gun, and with the other he groped the cold wall. His breath trembled and his limbs shook violently as if his bones had been liquefied. He hated how he was so terrified while Simon was so confident and fearless. He definitely felt like the sidekick here.