Chapter 2
James shot up, smashing his head against the overhead ceiling. He moaned in pain, holding his head with one hand while checking his pulse with the other. His head would likely bruise but that was the least of his problems. "What the heck was that all about?" he thought, his head throbbing. The dream, or nightmare, was extremely realistic. He could even remember the blood on his hands, and hearing the Takers, or whatever they were, laughing. He shuddered as the ending came into play again.
"Hey," a voice broke into his thoughts, "turn off the alarm already, we're all awake." James glanced over at his best friend, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Ronnie looked like he had slept like a baby, which was surprising. "You look like you didn't sleep at all," Ronnie said, looking worried at James. "What happened, did you have a scary nightmare." The tone quickly turned from worried to joking.
"Yeah, but you have never had anything worse than this." James said. Ronnie looked around to wave at his mom. James quickly wiped some sweat off his sleeve.
"Alright passengers, we will be landing in Seattle Airport. Seattle is the big…." James stopped listening. He clipped the seatbelt onto his waist and sat back. Ronnie's mother was smothering, or as James called it, overprotective. She went with him where ever he went, which got annoying. It didn't help that she thought every other boy was the devil.
"You ready," his dad said, a smile on his face.
"What do you think?" James said, also smiling like an idiot. There were very few times like these ever since the Night. He looked out the port hole for the window, watching as the wilderness melted into a bustling downtown metropolis. Slowly the plane touched down on the tarmac, making a tremendous thump as the plane settled to a stop.
James was starting to think this would be an extremely boring trip. Three hours of being piled into a taxi took its toll on him. Especially since he was jammed in between the two jocks of troop. Chad and Danny, both brothers, were the only kids in the Scouting troop that actually played football. And they made sure to remind all the others of that. There is only so much some could take of moronic laughing and stupid jokes.
Acres and acres of pines surrounded the highway that the convoy was on. James looked at his watch. 8:42. He groaned in agony. This was too long for a city boy. Patience he told himself. Patience. He pulled out his laptop. Technically he wasn't supposed to have one, but having your friend's mom come along would help. She was staying at the lodge and would hide it for him while he was camping.
He opened it up, and looked for a moment at the screensaver. It was a pretty old picture, at least five years old. It was a picture of his mom and dad, with him in the middle. It was one of the last things to remember his mom by. He opened up the internet, and opened up Google. He wanted to know as much as he could about the surrounding area. It was kind of a tradition. He typed in Bright Falls. He began his search.
Finally the taxi pulled to a stop in front of a diner. "Alright, this is where we stop," the cab driver said. James closed the laptop, and slipped it into the manila envelope labeled "Med. Info." It was dirty, he knew, but it was the only way to get tech into a camping trip. In addition to research, a lot of the kids here would love to surf the net. He stepped out of the cab, extremely tired and stiff. He swore he could feel every bone is his body crack as he stretched. Ronnie trotted around the group of Scouts stretching. James looked around, trying to find his dad in vain. Must have hit the diner. Ronnie came over, excited.
"So, you ready?"
"Sure," James said, not understanding what the big deal was. Bright Falls seemed pretty tame, the last big thing was a moderate eruption that created the modern Cauldron Lake, and sent a mine out of business. It was one of those rare, small towns where everyone knew everyone. A place not touched by the evils of modern day cities.
"Scouts! Gather round!" The troop leader, Mr. Jacobson, yelled. The crowd of tired scouts gathered around, getting strange looks from the locals.
"Everyone into the diner!" the scout leader yelled. "Time to eat!"
That got most of the kids moving. There was nothing better than food for a lot of Boy Scouts. James looked up at the diners sign. The Oh Deer Diner. Of course, James thought with a smirk. He had read that it was a small town diner.
"Hey Ronnie," James called over to his friend, who looked like he was going to have an anxiety attack.
"Oh my god," Ronnie exclaimed, obviously excited. "Have you ever seen such a small town?"
"No. But I highly doubt that this is the last."
"What is it then?" Ronnie asked, slightly put down.
"Sit by me. I want to show you something."
They walked into the diner. In the middle of the room was the main bar. A tall, lanky girl was behind the corner, staring dreamily at a life size cardboard cutout of Alan Wake. A smallish man, wearing what looked like a Ranger's uniform, was downing cup after cup of black coffee. Two strange men were talking in very strange voices, often talking about being rock stars. James wondered about their sanity. They were led to one of the booths around the room.
"Hey Mr. Jacobson?" James asked the leader. "Do you mind if me and Ronnie sit over there?"
"I am afraid you must have an adult supervising you," Mr. Jacobson replied.
"I will," Ronnie's mom, Ms. Lonard, said. Man, James thought, she just always has to bust in. He hid his annoyance by heading to the booth.
"Just let me freshen up," Ms. Lonard said. She walked towards the back into the restrooms.
Ronnie sat down in the bench opposite of James.
"Alright, what is this about that we need to have our own private seats?"
"This," James whispered, pulling out his book, "Sudden Stop".
"You brought me over here for a book?"
"No," James said, losing his patience. "I brought you over here for this." He pulled out a thin, rectangular object, his touch screen phone from out of the book cover. He tapped it and opened up a web page. It showed a police page filled with the lists of unusual things that happened in Bright Falls. He had found it as part of his obsessive researching.
"Look," James said, handing Ronnie his phone.
"What is it," Ronnie said in a bored tone. He seemed to want to get food before talking about some random fact about a town he was raving over five minutes before.
"Listen," James said, taking the phone back. "In the past three months there have been sixteen disappearances, several vandalisms, and stalking reports."
That got Ronnie's attention. "So we are camping around a crime town like your book?"
"Who knows," James said, glad he told Ronnie. This would make the trip more interesting.
"This trip will be more fun," James said.
"Why is that?" Ms. Lonard. She eyed the cell phone. "No electronics allowed." She plucked it right out of James' hand.
"Hey!" he yelled, catching Ronnie's sympathetic glance. The waiter came over, stopping the argument from getting worse.
"Hello, my name is Rose. Welcome to the Oh Deer Diner, may I take your order?"
"Yes, I will have the Rose's Soup and Salad with…" Ms. Lonard was cut off, much to her annoyance and James' amusement.
"Oh my gosh! Is that an Alan Wake book? I must have read that book seventy-two times! I love that book so much! Are you are Alan Wake fan too?" Rose blabbered on, and wasn't going to stop soon.
"Excuse me, I have to go," he said, wanting to get away from Rose. She seemed nice but couldn't shut up. He walked around the bar, passing the two old men. They seemed to be talking about Norse Gods and rock. One was wearing a black bandana while the other elder had an eye patch on his right eye. Already some of the boys were using the old jukebox in the corner. Jack, one of the scouts, slapped the machine in frustration. I suddenly played the song that he wanted. As he headed to the hallway that the restrooms were in, he was stopped by an old, frail lady. She looked like she was scared out of her wits.
"Be careful boy," she said in a worried tone. "The lights back there need to be changed!"
"I think I will be safe ma'am," How many nutcases were in this town? He opened the door. He didn't really need to use the room for its purpose. He needed time to relax. He took some water and splashed it on his face. He looked in the mirror. Ever since the Night, he had become more and more tired. He had various ways of combating it. He fingered the object in his pocket. It was an old fashioned pocket watch that no longer worked. The only reason he didn't throw it away was it was the last physical thing left by his mother. He popped it open and closed. It was his way of thinking. He stared back at the mirror. That is when all heck broke loose.
His face was quickly replaced by one of an old lady. She was extremely pale, had black hair pulled into a bun. Her tight lips were pursed in anger. He could barely see through the black veil that hid her eyes and most of her face, but he could see that they were almost black, radiating with bitter cold and evil. And she was wearing funeral garb. This was the lady in my dream! James realized. "Stay away from here," she whispered, but the words roared in his head with anger and malicious tones.
Just as soon as the words were spoken, the face disappeared. The lights flickered. James jumped out of the door, the encounter scarring him. Just then, all the lights in the hall blew out, glass showering James as he dashed out. Unknowingly, he dived into the main area as a second light group shot out just behind him. He was breathing heavily, and just noticed that all the eyes in the diner were centered on him and it was deadly quiet.
He laughed nervously, looking at the embarrassed faces of his troop, the questioning eyes of the locals. But when he looked at the frail lady beside him, she had a look of absolute horror. She whipped out the object she was carrying the entire time. It was a lamp.
"I warned them to change the lights. They should have listened," she muttered, looking from side to side as if a murderer would jump out of the window. He looked over his group. They were beginning to leave. His father was already leaving, probably going to the campsite. They all would leave early. Because of him. He caught Ronnie as he was leaving the building. He needed to get the cab that Ronnie was taking.
"What was that spaz attack about?" Ronnie demanded. It was uncharacteristic of James.
"Let me explain," James said, throwing open the door. The adult in front told the driver the location and they were off.
"Last night I had a nightmare," James began, but was cut off by Ronnie.
"Ohhh. A nightmare! That's horrible. Next you are going to say we are haunted!"
"Let me finish!" James said, annoyed. "In the nightmare a lady in funeral garb was in old apartment. I had never seen her before but she demanded I go with her. She then made it so dark. I was in a tunnel when a guy hit some people. They killed the driver and then went after me. I was saved by a light when I killed one of them. You need the light to kill them. I woke up.
"Are you high? Did you drink something bad?" Ronnie inquired.
"Listen!" James was about to blow up. "In the bathroom the lady showed up in the mirror. As if that wasn't bad enough, when I came out, the lights went hay wire and blew up!" James rubbed the spot where a shard had cut him.
Ronnie looked at him for a minute. Then a smile crept over his face. James couldn't believe it.
"Nice try," Ronnie laughed. "Man, if you spice it up, you might be able to scare a lot of kids on the camp."
"So you don't believe me?" James said, exasperated.
"Of course not!"
James was at his wits end. Something was happening. There was no way that the lady was some figure of his imagination. Maybe in his dream but not in reality. It was like the sane world was beginning to crumble. He also remembered the dream and the men. Those psycho shadow men… the Taken he remembered, and the disappearances were not a random happening. Or was it. James had gone through a lot. And the idea of Shadow men killing in the night, weak to light was pretty far out. Something in a book or a movie. Never in real life. He spent the rest of the ride down to Elderwood National Park Visitor Center in quiet, listening the Ronnie drone on and on about what he was planning to do. Finally the cab rolled to a stop in front of the center. As the kids piled out, James needed answers. And what better way than to do that than ask a local?
Everybody went inside, staring at the mammoth "Buck Toothed Charlie." James discreetly followed the parents outside. They needed the registration forms from the Ranger. As they were signing, he went over the park ranger.
"Hey. My name is James Morris. I'm with them," he said, pointing at the group of adults.
"Name's Rusty. What can I do for you son?" The man spoke in a friendly way.
"I was wondering where some awesome places would be," James said, hoping to gain any information at all.
"Well. There is the entire park," He laughed at that part. "But there is Lovers Peak, which has a fantastic view. There is Mirror Peak. Good climb. The Coal Museum is really cool. Oh and Cauldron Lake…."
"That's where the volcano erupted!" James exclaimed in a eager voice.
"Yes. I see you studied before coming here,"
"Yep. I did. Well thanks!" James yelled behind him as he ran to the group. The entire troop was splitting up into groups.
"Ok. So Chad, Danny, Ronnie, Andy, Jack and… James, you are a group," Mr. Jacobson said.
"What!" James groaned. Although he had most of his friends, they had the two idiots of the group.
"All of you will stay together in a group. Ok and the rest of you are group…"
James' group was already huddled together.
"So. Where should we go?" Andy asked. He was one of the smartest kids on the trip.
"Let's hit the town!" the two morons suggested. "Maybe we can get food and have some fun!"
"We're here to explore, not stay in the town idiots," Jake whispered under his breath.
"I have an idea," James said. All eyes were on him. "Why don't we explore Cauldron Lake?"
"I agree!" Ronnie exclaimed. Good ol' Ronnie.
"Let's go then!" Jake yelled as the six boys piled into the two cabs with the three adults. The ride up to the lake was relatively uneventful. The two taxis pulled to a stop on the dirt road that led through the undergrowth to the lake.
"You guys go ahead," two of the adults said. "We'll get the rental cars." That left the kids and Ms. Lonard.
"OK. We will all go together. Let's first start by going down the trail," she said.
James groaned again, although he wasn't the only one. Sometimes he wished he could push her into a lake or something. Just to keep her quiet. They walked down the gravelly trail. The cool shade of the trees was very nice from the beating sun. Soon the trail led to an open platform overlooking the great Cauldron Lake. A thin mist still hovered over the waters. A single board with information was on the edge. James went up to and read.
"Cauldron Lake was and is a popular place for those in the Bright Falls area. However in the 1970's…" the rest was smudged off. Must be one of the vandilisms, James thought. The group followed a side trail that led around the platform and to the lake's edge. The murky waters were filled with darkness, however everyone could tell that it was extremely deep. James looked to the side, noticing a lone cabin, standing on an island.
"Hey Ronnie!" he called over to his friend, "What is that?"
"Oh cool! A cabin!" Ronnie whispered. By now they had stopped, their group heading further down the trail.
"Let's check it out," James whispered excitedly,
"But it doesn't look like it has power."
"That is why man created the flashlight," James said, pulling out a flashlight the size of a small remote. The two walked across the battered bridge that led to the cabin.
"Bird Leg Cabin? What kind of name is that?" Ronnie said, voicing James' thoughts.
"Don't know," James said, walking on the front porch. The old floorboards squeaked under his feet.
"Are we supposed to be here?" Ronnie said in a nervous voice.
"Is there anybody here?"
"No,"
"Then it is ok," James said. Messed up logic, but it worked. With that he tried opened the old door. It didn't seem to be locked. But it seemed as though something was holding the door closed.
"Ronnie give me a hand," James grunted.
Ronnie came over and pushed with all his strength. Finally, the door crashed open. A flash of light quickly subsided. Must be the sunlight, James thought. He clicked on the flashlight. The beam shot across the room, catching dust. It seemed well lived in, as the furniture was very neat. Maybe someone lives here still? James thought, worried.
"This is boring," Ronnie whined.
"Then stay here I need to check something."
James began to check the house. The kitchen was furnished, but had dust on everything. Same with the living room. Maybe I was wrong, James thought. Maybe no one lives here. He walked up the old stairs. At the top there were two doors. He chose the one on the right. He pushed open the door. Inside was a neat bedroom. The bed was neatly tucked into order. A nightstand held only two items. A book by someone called Thomas Zane, and a photograph of a man and woman kissing in wedding dress. Must be Thomas Zane and his wife. James put the picture down, but placed the book into his hoodie pocket. He exited the bedroom and headed to the other room. That must be the study. He walked in.
It was mostly empty except for a single desk with an old type writer on it. Weird, James thought. He went over and tapped a button on the old writing tool. Biggest mistake ever. He suddenly became aware of how the flashlight and the light from the window snuffed out. In the darkness, he became aware of another person. "Ronnie?" James whispered nervously, turning around. Behind him was the same lady that would not leave him alone. Before he could say a word, a sudden force threw him against the far wall. He slumped to the ground dazed, the flash light at his side. He was aware of the lady standing over him. And the increasing pressure on his body. Just as he was about to black out, a voice hollered out. "In darkness there is Light!" It was the voice in the dream. With all his strength, he reached out with his hand, gripped the flashlight, and aimed it at the lady. He squeezed the trigger as hard as he could. The light seemed feeble in the crushing darkness, but the wraith like hag began to back away. The once crushing darkness folded back. "This isn't over," the darkness screamed, before disappearing. The light from the window returned. James sat there, breathing like he had held his breath for minutes. He knew that if he didn't panic, he would be the most heartless person ever.
A few seconds later, Ronnie came through the door.
"It got dark down there," he said timidly.
James glared at him as though Ronnie had just insulted him.
"What?" Ronnie said, when eyed the type writer on the desk. "Oh cool! I have never seen a real one of these before!"
James snatched Ronnie's wrist before he could touch the evil thing. He dashed out the door and out of the cabin without letting Ronnie complain. As he sprinted off the bridge and shoved Ronnie through behind a tree, he glanced back. In the failing sunlight, he glimpsed the cabin becoming surrounded by a haze of shadows before plunging into the lake. He saw the face of the Black Lady in the window as the entire island slid into Cauldron Lake without a trace.
