GH4 18: The Marsh.
Olive and i were now running down the dirt-road through the countryside of Montana, still tailing the truck while i was on my 90s cellphone with Heather, the dispatcher. Despite the fact that i was sweating and almost out of breath, i knew i couldn't stop for anything or i'd risk losing the vehicle and i had no intention of doing that.
"Ma'am, are you still there?" I asked Heather. Olive and i were out in the sticks and it wasn't rare for people to lose contact with each other on their cellphones, especially here in the 90s, so i had to make sure i hadn't lost contact with the dispatcher.
"Yes, i am. Where are you now?" Heather said.
"We're in the countryside of Montana on a dirt-road, still chasing the truck." I said.
"Okay, where is it headed? Do you see any houses near-by?" Heather asked.
I looked up ahead and saw that the truck was driving towards an old abandoned farm-house property. "Yes, i do. I see a farm-house up ahead. It's headed there right now."
"Okay, can you describe the property for me? What does it look like?" Heather asked.
"Well...it has a farm-house...a barn...and a marsh in the background." I answered.
"Please stay online while i trace the call." Heather said.
"Don't worry, i'm not gonna hang up." I said.
Olive and i kept chasing after the truck, getting closer and closer to it. But we made sure not to get too close, as we didn't want to give ourselves away to whoever was driving the vehicle. The truck soon drove onto the abandoned farm-house property and parked.
Olive and i, meanwhile, noticed a big leafless tree and we ran over to it and his behind it. We watched from behind the tree as four pumpkin-headed costumed people got of the truck and went to the back of it where two of them opened the double-doors, revealing Justin and Max bound with white ropes and with duck-tape over their mouths and eyes.
Justin was on top of Max on his back, with his hands tied in front of him by his wrists, his feet were tied together by his ankles, and there was a white rope tied around him and Max, binding them together.
Max was lying on his stomach with his hands tied behind his back and his feet bound together by his ankles.
"Just like in my nightmare." I thought.
One of the pumpkin-heads got the boys out of the truck's trailer and held them in his arms, followed by the other two closing the doors back. The four pumpkin-heads then walked off, making their way around the house.
"Why are they taking them around the back of the house? What are they up to?" I thought.
"Charlotte?" Came the voice of Heather on the phone.
"Yes?" I asked.
"We've just traced the call and we're sending a police squad out there right now." Heather answered.
"Great. And thank you." I said before hanging up. "Come on, Olive. Let's go kick some pumpkin-heads." Before we could resume running, i started hearing static on the phone and i put it to my ear. "Hello?" At first, all i got was static. "Hello?" Then i heard the voices of Brendyn and Bobby. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but i knew it was them.
"Justin and Max are in danger. It's happening again." Said Brendyn and Bobby to where i could finally understand them.
I moved the phone away from my ear. "Come on." I said to Olive before we took off running and made our way around the house where we ran into the marsh.
Olive and i ran through the marsh until we saw the pumpkin-heads, and we stopped in our tracks and hid ourselves behind a big rock, followed by poking our heads out to view the enemy.
We watched as the pumpkin-heads walked further into the marsh with the bound boys still in the first pumpkin-head's arms. They soon stopped when they reached a gritty mud-like marsh pit and the first pumpkin-head placed Justin and Max on their feet, followed by un-tying and removing the rope that bound them together.
The second pumpkin-head turned Justin and Max and the others, then removed the duck-tape from their eyes, allowing them to see. Then he removed the duck-tape from their mouths.
"HELP! HELP! SOMBODY HELP US!" Justin and Max screamed.
"Go ahead. Scream your lungs out. No one can hear a word you're saying'." Pumpkin-head 1 said in a deep distorted voice. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed.
Justin and Max looked at their surroundings.
"Where are we?" Justin asked.
"We're out in the countryside of Montana." Pumpkin-head 2 said in a deep distorted voice.
"At an old abandoned farm-house property, to be exact." Pumpkin-head 3 added in a deep distorted voice.
"And we're in a marsh." Pumpkin-head 4 said in a deep distorted voice.
"A marsh? Why? Why'd you kidnap us?" Justin asked.
"You know exactly why." Pumpkin-head 1 said.
"No...i don't." Max said.
"I was talking to Justin here." Pumpkin-head one said.
"What? Justin, do you know these guys?" Max asked.
"No, i don't think so." Justin said.
"Oh, he knows us alright. In fact, he's known us for quite some time. Since last year, actually." Pumpkin-head 2 said.
"I'm sorry, i...i don't known what you're talking about." Justin said.
"He's playing dumb with us." Pumpkin-head 3 said the the other three. "Don't you remember what happened last Halloween?"
"Last Halloween? What are you talking abou-" Justin stopped talking and his face changed from confusion to shocked realization. "Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh."
"Judging by that facial change, i'd say he's finally starting to connect the dots." Pumpkin-head 4 said.
"Halloween night-1993. That was the night Brendyn and that other kid, Bobby, went missing." Justin said.
"Oooh, look who's finally using his noodle." Pumpkin-head 1 said.
"You killed them. Those boys went missing because you killed them! My best friend's dead because of you!" Justin said.
"We have a winner, folks. Pumpkin-head 2, please tell the boy and his friend what they've won." Pumpkin-head 1 said.
"Cut the crock and let us go right now!" Justin demanded.
"Oh, we can't let you go just yet, we have to give you your prize." Said Pumpkin-head 2.
"But why? Why now? Why tonight? Why wait a whole year to reveal that you killed Brendyn and that other boy? Why tell us? And why bring us here to do it?" Justin asked.
"Oh, don't you know, Justin? History repeats itself." Said Pumpkin-head 3.
All four of the pumpkin-heads removed their pumpkin-head masks, revealing themselves as young men in their early 20s. Two of them were black and the other two were white.
The first black guy had short black dread-lock hair and brown eyes.
The second black guy had light skin, brown eyes, and long curly blond hair that went past his shoulders and stopped at his upper-back.
The third guy had blond hair and blue eyes.
And the fourth guy had buzzed black hair and blue eyes.
Olive and i kept watching the scene from behind the rock.
"DJ, Snoop-D, Hip-hop and R-K?" Justin said.
"Surprised?" Asked the black guy with short dreads known as DJ.
"Not really. The way you guys talked about the night Brendyn and that other kid went missing could only be known by the people who killed them." Justin said.
"Oh. So you've known we've killed them for a while, huh?" Said the light-skinned blond guy known as Snoop-D.
"I've known since November 1st of last year. I knew you killed them. I didn't need your confession to prove that. Your confession confirmed what i already knew." Justin said.
"Wait, time-out. You know these guys?" Max said.
"Unfortunately, yes. They were the creeps my friend, Brendyn, hung out with last year." Justin said.
"Brendyn? As in...Brendyn Bones? The ghost-boy Charlotte's says she's been getting phone-calls from and seeing at school?" Max asked.
"The very same." Justin said.
"That's right. Bones and the Norman geek vanished because of us. We killed them on Halloween night-1993. A year ago tonight." Hip-hop said.
"So? What do you want with us?" Max asked.
"We are going to dispose of you. The same way we disposed of Bones and Norman." R-K said.
"What are you going to do?" Max asked.
"What do you think we're going to do?" DJ asked.
"You'll never get away with this." Justin said.
"Of course we will. We got away with killing Bones and Norman." DJ said.
"Because the cops never found their bodies." Justin said.
"And that's how it's gonna stay. 'Cause when the two of you are gone, the men in blue will never find their bodies...or yours'." Said DJ.
"How do you intend of getting rid of us?" Max asked.
"Look behind you." Hip-hop said.
Justin and Max looked behind them and saw a gritty, mud-like marsh-pit, followed by Hip-hop picking up a stick and tossing it into the pit. The two boys watched as the stick was sucked down into the pit, making sick churning sounds.
"(Gasps)!" Justin and Max gasped with horrified expressions on their faces, then they turned back to the four guys.
"Welcome to your final resting place." R-K said.
"That's right. Say your prayers, kids. You're history." DJ added.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. At least tell me what happened that Halloween night last year. Why did you do it? Why did you kill Brendyn and Bobby?" Justin said.
"It wasn't suppose to happen the way it did Truth be told, we didn't plan on killing anyone that night, much less two people. It was an accident With the Norman kid anyway. You could say it was a Halloween prank gone wrong." DJ explained.
"Just tell me what happened." Justin said.
"Fine." DJ began. "As you know, it was Halloween night-1993...and Bones and the others and i had decided to go over to Bobby Norman's house to pull a prank on him. We had been planning this since October 1st, so we figured that night would be the perfect time to do it. Especially since we knew Norman's parents weren't at home."
As Olive and i listened to DJ explain what had happened that night, my eyes glowed gold.
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Montana
October 31st, Halloween-(1993)
11-Year old Bobby Norman was sound asleep in his bed, but was soon awakened by the sounds of chittering and the feeling of something crawling all over him. He looked and saw that his entire body, minus his head, was covered with bugs all over his bed. "(Gasps)!" He gasped.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" DJ, Snoop-D, Hip-hop, R-K and Brendyn laughed as they watched the humiliating scene unfolding before their eyes, with several open jars on the floor that once contained the bugs.
"Happy Halloween, bug-boy! Hope you like the bugs we gave you!" DJ said.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Brendyn and the guys laughed as Bobby struggled to get out of bed, to no avail. The insects had him pinned to the bed.
"Ugh! Ugh!" Bobby grunted, attempting to free himself. The insects then tightened their grip and the 11-year old was now struggling to breathe. "Ugh." The kid choked out. "Ugh. Ugh." He choked out as the insects' grip on him got tighter and tighter. Bobby continued to struggle as the bugs began entering inside him through his mouth, nose and ears. And less than a few more minutes, his eyes rolled back into his head, making them milky white, and he stopped moving...and breathing.
Brendyn and the others stopped laughing when they took notice of this and they watched in horror as the insects covered Bobby's head while still entering inside him through his mouth, nose and ears.
"Guys...is he dead?" Brendyn asked as he and the others stared at the bug-covered corpse of Bobby.
"Yeah. He's dead." DJ answered.
"Oh, my gosh." Hip-hop said.
"We have to call the police." Brendyn said before proceeding to leave out of the room through the open door.
"Wait, ho-hold on a second." Said DJ, grabbing Brendyn by the right arm. "Let's think about this for a minute."
"What's there to think about? Bobby's dead." Said Brendyn.
"I know, but...let's get our story straight here." DJ said.
"Get our story straight?" Brendyn asked.
"Come on, think about this. You think we can just explain what happened here tonight and everything's gonna be fine?" DJ said.
"DJ's right. Maybe we should think this through." Hip-hop added.
"No!" Said Brendyn as he jerked his right arm out of DJ's grasp. "This-this is ridiculous! We're not just gonna tell some lie! R-K, you're with me, right?"
"I don't know, Bones. We were all involved in this prank." R-K said.
"We have to do what's best for the group. Alright? We...we can hide his body. We can dispose of his remains and everyone will think he just disappeared. Nobody will know." DJ said.
"You're a maniac." Said Brendyn. "I have to tell the cops what happened."
"Don't do that man." Said DJ as he shoved Brendyn. "Let's just keep this between us."
"You're not my boss. You can't tell me what to do. Justin was right about you. About all of you. You're nothing but bad news and street-thugs." Brendyn said before making his way past DJ and proceeding to leave out of the room.
"You..."DJ said he charged at Brendyn from behind, grabbed him, and tossed him to the floor. He then jumped on top of him and started punching him in the face.
"STOP! PLEASE STOP! MOMMY, HELP ME!" Brendyn screamed hysterically as he struggled against DJ, to no avail. AAAAHH!" The 12-year old screamed as tears filled his eyes. "STOP! PLEASE! AAAAAAHH! AAAAAAHH! AAAAAAHH! AAAAAAHH! AAAAH! AAAAAAAAH!" The kid screamed as he and DJ struggled against each other. "(Crying) I promise i won't tell anyone!" He said cryingly as tears ran down his face. "MOMMY! ANDY, PLEASE, HELP ME! HELP! MOM, PLEASE!"
DJ placed his hands around Brendyn's neck and started squeezing it, cutting off his oxygen.
Brendyn struggled to breathe and attempted to resume fighting back, but his efforts were futile. His lungs desperately tried to suck air into his body, and in one last effort to free himself, he attempted to pry DJ's hands off his neck, to no avail. Then DJ tightened his grip on the 12-year old's neck, with the bones in his neck cracking, but he didn't really feel any pain. The terror and resignation had made him impervious to it. He knew he was dying, and in his last moment, he was aware of a blend of surprise and regret that the even called "Death" could be so peaceful and undramatic. He wished he could've said a proper goodbye to his Mom and older brother, Andrew. He wished he'd understood his friend, Justin, when he told him to be careful with these guys. He wished he had taken heed to Justin's warnings that they were bad news. He wondered if he'd be reborn and get a second chance to be careful and to heed someone else's warnings about hanging out with the wrong crowd. His vision started to go blurry and soon began to fade. The last thing he saw was DJ's angry face, and his eyes rolled back into his head, making them milky white...as he passed away.
DJ then picked Brendyn up bridal style and dropped him onto the bug-covered bed on top of Bobby's body, followed by the insects crawling all over him, covering his body and entering inside him through his mouth, nose and ears.
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My eyes stopped glowing gold and returned to their normal brown color.
What on Earth was that just now?
Did i just have a vision? A vision from the past concerning the murders of Brendyn and Bobby?
No.
That was crazy.
What am i thinking?
People don't have visions, much less one from the past.
I mean, what is this, 'That's So Raven'?
It made no sense and it didn't sound realistic.
Realistic?
Olive and i had been sucked into a 90s cellphone that sent us back here to the 1990s. All because of a streak of lightning. I've been getting calls from the ghosts of two dead kids and seeing their ghosts. A missing person's poster of Brendyn asked me for help on the screen of a laptop in the principal's office at school. Mud oozed out of the laptop and it flew across the room and crashed up against the wall.
I think realistic sort of gets redefined.
Realization then hit me like a ton of cinderblocks. I now knew that Olive and i being sent back here to 1994 wasn't an accident. It was so we could save Justin and Max from suffering the same fate as Bobby and Brendyn at the hands of these guys.
I then focused back on the scene with Olive that was unfolding before our eyes involving Justin, Max and the four guys.
"There. Now you know the truth." DJ said.
"Not that it's gonna do you any good." Hip-hop added.
"Why? Why did you guys pull that prank on Bobby?" Justin asked.
"Why? WHY?!" DJ said. "Ya hear that, guys, i think he wants a reason. Well, we don't need a reason, kid. I mean, Cinderella's evil stepmother didn't have a reason. Maleficent didn't have a reason. See, it's a lot scarier when there's no motivation, kid. Looking back, we did that Norman kid a favor. That boy was a wimpy geek who flashed his geekiness all around town like he was someone special or somethin'."
"Yeah, we put him out of his misery. 'Cause let's face it, kid, Norman was nothing special." Snoop-D added.
"Is that reason enough for you?" DJ asked. "No? Well, what about this? Bobby Norman...was a member of our group in 1992. He stopped hanging out with us after he nearly got arrested with us one night when we broke into a liquor store and stole seven cases of beer. He was able to get away...we weren't. He walked out on us after that."
"And you didn't want Brendyn to do the same to you, so you killed him." Justin said.
"It's not like we set out to kill anyone that night. Bobby's death was an accident." R-K said.
"And what's that suppose to mean?! That you're not responsible for what happened, is that what you're trying to tell me?! That you're not responsible for the fact that i lost my best friend at the hands of you?! And when Bobby and Brendyn were reported missing-and their families, the police and the town's people and i went through those first few weeks looking for them-you knew they weren't alive! And you ignored it and you kept quiet about it! And you're suppose to tell me that that's not your fault either?! You impacted my life, the lives of Brendyn and Bobby's families, and the lives of this town with wounds from which we will never recover! EVER!" Justin said.
"You're right. Unfortunately, you're not gonna get to tell anyone else...ever." Said DJ. "Remove the ropes." He said to the other three guys.
Snoop-D removed the ropes from around Justin's wrists and ankles while Hip-hop removed the ropes from Max's ankles.
R-K got behind Max and removed the rope that bound his hands behind his back, followed by rejoining the others.
"Now...where were we?" DJ asked. "Oh, yeah...we were about to dispose of you."
"Beg for your lives." Hip-hop said.
"Dude, Max and i are boys. And boys do not beg. Right, Maxie?" Justin said.
"...Please!" Max begged before getting down on his knees, clasping his hands together. "Please, please, please don't kill us!"
"Don't kill me!" Justin begged as he too got down on his knees.
"Oh, brother." I thought as i rolled my eyes in annoyance.
DJ and Hip-hop pushed Justin and Max into the gritty, mud-like marsh-pit, which turned out to be bottomless, as they were up to their arm-pits.
"Later, losers!" Said DJ before he and the others turned and ran.
Olive and i moved further behind the rock and hid as DJ and the other three guys ran off, fleeing the scene. Once we were certain they were gone, Olive and i ran out from behind the rock rushed over to the churning pit that Justin and Max were struggling in." Justin, Max!" I said.
"Charlotte! Olive! Help!" Justin said.
"Get us out of here!" Max added.
"Hang on! I'll get something!" I said before placing the 90s cellphone on the ground. Olive and i started looking around for something to pull the boys out of the pit with.
Justin and Max, meanwhile, struggled to pull themselves out of the marsh-pit as it made sick churning sounds. They turned and made their way over to a long branch where Justin grabbed ahold of it, with Max putting his arms around the 10-year old's waist.
Justin attempted to pull himself and Max out, but the branch broke, 'causing Max to lose his hold on him. The boys made their way over to something gray sticking out of the pit and Justin grabbed ahold of it and the source of it popped up in the pit, revealing itself to be the decomposing body of Brendyn, with gray skin and his eyes rolled up in his head, making them milky white, and the gray thing Justin had grabbed ahold of was Brendyn's arm.
"AHHH!" Justin and Max screamed as the 10-year old let go of the dead boy's arm.
"AH!" I screamed.
Justin and Max moved back a little and the decomposing body of Bobby popped out of the pit behind them, with gray skin and his eyes also rolled up in his head, making them milky white.
Max turned to face the rotting corpse of the second dead boy. "AAH!"
Justin turned and saw the dead body of Bobby. "AAHH!"
"AAHH!" I screamed.
The bodies of Brendyn and Bobby were then sucked back down into the bottomless marsh-pit, with it making gross gurgling sounds, followed by a swallowing sound.
Justin and Max continued to struggle to keep themselves afloat in the slurping/churning marsh-pit.
Olive soon managed to find a long stick, picked it up with her mouth, brought over to me, and i took it from her. "Here, grab this." I said, offering the end of the stick to Justin and Max.
Justin grabbed the end of the stick and Max was sucked down into the pit with it making a slurping sound, followed by Justin being sucked under, with it churning.
"No!" I said before i quickly pulled Justin and Max out with the stick, with him and Max sucking in a mouthful of air while the 11-year old's arms were wrapped around the 10-year old's waist.
"Thanks." Justin and Max said to me.
"No problem." I said.
Just then, we heard the sound of police sirens in the distance, indicating that the cops were close by.
And just like that...it was over.
The nightmare was finally over.
(Scene fades to black)
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