When the fog came…
Elle walked out of the town hall shortly after eleven in the morning with Nora by her side. They had gone to visit their mother in her office. Elle was concerned that Alex just left so suddenly without even a goodbye. His parents, the Shepherds, rudely shot down any attempt at her contact with them, which thoroughly hurt her morale.
"It's been so long since Alex, left, isn't it?" Nora said her voice and smile dimming
"Yeah, seems like forever" Elle says her gaze venturing over Toluca Lake
"C'mon Elle, he wasn't well. At least, that's what mom said" Nora said trying to cheer her sister up
"Yeah, I guess your right" Elle said as her gaze ventured to the Shepherd's home.
"I just wish, I could've, done something y'know?" Elle said holding her arms
"He was really nice, I wonder what went wrong? Well, I guess we'll never find out"
After a long pause Nora says goodbye and set off towards home.
"Where'd you go, Alex? Why would you leave without at least saying, goodbye…" Elle said tears forming in her eyes
"Elle? What, what are you doing here?" Elle was frightened by the voice that belonged to Lilian Shepherd, Alex's mother
"Huh? Oh nothing, I was just, thinking…" Elle said dismissively as her eyes ventured into the expressionless eyes of Alex's mother
"Well, can you please leave? I… just want to be left alone…" Lilian said with an almost eerie voice, before turning and walking into her house
"What the hell is wrong with her?" Elle said frustrated before leaving off down the street.
Shepherd's Glen was covered in a light mist twenty four seven, and frighteningly thick morning fog that seemed to get thicker each day. Elle noticed the fog almost instantly because it wasn't your normal everyday lakeside fog; it was thick and eerie, almost scary, as if something might jump out of the sewers and slash your ankle if you weren't careful. But something that really scared Elle was the fact that both Alex, and his brother Josh, seemingly disappeared at practically the same time.
Elle quickly left the street in front of Alex's house and starting walking towards the town again. Shortly after departing she stopped in front of the park right next to the Shepherds' house. She slowly opened the gate, and felt nostalgia overwhelm her. The small park was the place that she and Alex first met. He was playing with his army toys but she got jealous that he was able to bring his toys outside and she couldn't, so she took them. They were only three years old so they didn't know better than to start fighting. Their mothers had to break them up after Elle started crying. After that Elle tried to not be around Alex anymore, but the efforts soon dissolved after the two entered high school. They were best friends and hang out a lot after school. Neither sets of parents seemed to care about what they did, but Alex's parents never really liked him, and Elle's mother just ignored her.
Elle walked in and sat down at the nearby bench. She sat there gazing into the sand and making senseless doodles in the dirt with her shoes. Her thoughts were elsewhere. She was thinking of all the times she and Alex spent together, right there in the park. She even remembered when he threw up after going on the swing for too long, it made her laugh thinking back on it. After a short while she finally got up and left the small park.
As she was walking home she noticed that Dr. Fitch, Mayor Bartlett, Adam Shepherd, and her mother, talking in a hushed tone outside the town hall. Elle could barely make out any words, but as she approached, Dr. Fitch noticed her, and alerted the others, her mother being the most upset by her sudden appearance.
"Honey, go home" Mrs. Holloway said in a stern voice.
"Why? There's nothing to do there" Elle said in the most sarcastic voice she could muster
"I said go home!" Judge Holloway shouted
After being both frightened and infuriated, Elle left without saying a word. 'I never win fighting with her anyway' she thought to herself as she walked away defeated.
Shortly after walking across the bridge separating the town, Elle quickly took off toward the town clinic. She never really liked Dr. Fitch, and especially his daughter, Scarlet. She was known to be, "weird" in the eyes of her peers. She never voluntarily left her room, and when she did make the very rare appearance outside, she was constantly talking to her dolls as if they were talking back to her, almost obsessively. She decided to hide just outside one of the exanimation room's windows after she heard Dr. Fitch say "Ill make mine at my office, tonight" He almost said it with an indescribable sadness in his voice.
Elle was naturally very curious, and even more so, bored. After Alex left, she's been bored out of her mind with nothing to do around town. All the people her age had either left for college, or were just weird in general. After sitting under the only open window listening to absolute sadness for what seemed to be an eternity, she finally heard a door open, and the voices of Scarlet and Doctor Fitch. After being interrupted in the midst of her light nap, her ears picked up some noise and made a daring attempt at getting closer to the window.
"Daddy, where's my new dolly? You said you were gonna give me another!" Scarlet said with a bratty tone.
"It'll be ok, Scarlet, just go sit on the bench for daddy and I'll give you your new dolly" Doctor Fitch said emotionlessly
Further conversation between the two went on, mostly scarlet demanding her doll and the doctor saying nothing behind a few meager grunts. Finally Elle heard what sounded like a child's scream; she quickly looked through the window. What she saw terrified her.
The town physician, the universally trusted Doctor Fitch, was using a surgical saw to, what appeared to be, crudely removing Scarlet's breasts with a surgical saw, deaf to the screams of his own daughter.
Elle, overcome with disgust and fear, let out a squeak, and sprinted down the alley after the doctor made the slightest glance in her direction. As she was running she wasn't paying attention and hit her head on a pipe jutting out of the rundown fence. She was instantly knocked unconscious.
When she finally woke up, she was in what first appeared to be a forest. Under further inspection, she learned it was actually a rather large atrium.
"Where, am I" Elle said with great strain as her head was throbbing tremendously. All she could remember was seeing the doctor…
The thought was interrupted with her regurgitating the burger she got at the local burger joint she had consumed shortly before going to visit her mother. After she was done clearing her stomach, she stood back up to look at the green around her. The flowers and trees were beautiful, covered in lush and vibrant colors. She was soon interrupted by the sound of a lock being released, and quickly hid behind the nearby shrubbery. After she was completely covered with foliage, she discovered that it was Mayor Bartlett entering the atrium with a large sac he was clearly having trouble with. Instead of exposing herself and risking getting in trouble, she decided to stay hidden.
After what seemed like to be an excruciating ten minutes of the mayor struggling to move the bag to the center of the room, he finally disposed of the contents in an already dug hole in the ground. Elle barely glimpsed what was actually in the bag, but she did see a watch fall onto the ground nearby. Mayor Bartlett let out a long, emotional sigh, and picked up the watch. As he was exiting he pulled out a flask and took a good long drink of what Elle suspected to be alcohol. The mayor did have a bad reputation for enjoying a drink.
Elle cautiously wandered toward the hole in the center of the room after she was certain Mayor Bartlett wouldn't come back. As she approached the hole she slowly peeked over the edge of the grave, she discovered it was much deeper than she originally thought. Much to her horror she discovered the contents of the deep grave was actually a small adolescent boy. Elle could only imagine that the boy was actually Joey Bartlett, but she didn't want to believe his own father would kill him.
After a few moments of Elle simply staring at the small boy, she heard a cough. She was actually scared by it and looked around her, unaware that the sound came below her. Once another cough followed suit she was certain that the boy in the hole was indeed alive, much to her disgust.
"Hey, hey up here" Elle said getting on all fours near the edge, getting no response
The boy only coughed again and he turned his head just enough to look up towards Elle, but quickly closed his eyes and became motionless once again.
"It's ok, I'm gonna get you out of there, ok?" Elle said looking around her for something to use to get down the very deep hole.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?"
Elle was so shocked by the sudden shout the she quickly rose to her feet and turned towards the only door in the room, but soon lost her footing and fell into the makeshift grave; after barely noticing Mayor Bartlett standing in the doorway with a bottle of wine in one hand and a shovel in the other. The fall seemed to last forever, but soon she was swallowed in darkness.
Elle drowsily opened her eyes. She took in the vaguely familiar setting around her that could only be her room. She began to scan the walls, her eyes focusing on the drawings she had drawn depicting the memorable scenes in Alice and Wonderland, particularly the one of Alice and the Caterpillar.
After a short while her mother entered the room silently, and sat on the bed next to her. Without saying a word, her own mother placed both hands around her neck, and squeezed with a force that rendered her body limp.
"It's for the best, Nora" the town judge said before she drifted off, the image of the room fading into darkness.
Elle awoke screaming. Deputy Wheeler soon appeared by her cot in the police station, clad with a shotgun in his hand.
"Hey! Elle, are you alright?" Wheeler shouted as his eyes scanned the room around him
"Yeah, yeah… I'm fine…" Elle said rising on the bed, only to embrace herself in the fetal position. Tears filled her eyes and she positioned her head away from Wheeler so he wouldn't see her cry, she hated it when she made people feel bad.
"It was just… a bad dream…" Elle said tears rolling down her cheeks, still staring away from Wheeler.
"Hey, hey, it's ok" Wheeler said his voice becoming more compassionate. After getting the silent treatment, accompanied with pitiful sobs that were becoming louder and louder, he patted her on the back and left the room leaving her alone.
After Elle finally pulled herself together and calmed down, she got up and grabbed the stack of papers near her bed, entirely composed of Missing Persons reports. She had been accumulating all the people that had suddenly disappeared from the town, all with the same MO, no reasons, no goodbyes.
Elle grasped the last of the papers in her hands, and left her room, a prison cell. Wheeler said it would be safer inside, than outside, she wasn't sure.
"I'm going to go and put up more papers" Elle said, surprised that her voice was so pathetic and sad
"Hey, not without this, and make it fast" Wheeler said while giving her a police radio
"Don't worry, I'll be quick" Elle said, her voice more composed than before, but still pathetic nonetheless.
Elle quickly left the police station's front doors, and heard the familiar click of the locks behind her. 'He's so paranoid' Elle said to herself
She walked a meager twenty some feet away from the station, and stood on the box in front of the bulletin board. As she was beginning to staple today's load of papers onto the board, she heard footsteps venturing towards her, and she glanced over to see the familiar, yet dark, face of her long lost friend, Alex Shepherd.
End