Chapter 2:

Despite the odd feeling of darkness hanging over me in that house, I was given a kind of warm welcome by a few neighbors. With all the forest surrounding my new home, I found it crazy to think someone was living nearby. Apparently, one family was, the family who welcomed me: the MacLeans.

It consisted of an older man, probably in his sixties, who introduced himself as Martin. He wore clean denim overalls over a white button-up shirt with work boots. He looked pretty fit for his age, big shoulders and a broad chest. He was balding at the top with salt-and-pepper hair. His brow was prominent, and his nose was almost a perfect triangle.

He was cordial, but when he moved aside, I saw two young women.

One was frightening to look at. I didn't know what it was, but she caught my eye first. She was a bit taller than the other, and she had wavy, fiery hair, almost an orangey-blonde color. Arched, untouched brows framed her eerie hazel eyes, and her face was gracefully ovular. Her frame was in an hourglass, dressed in a black casual dress with frills on the front of it and small buttons to accent. The black actually made her flawless skin look ghost white. She didn't smile, but just had this…I don't know, look about her.

"I'm Sarah," she said, extending her hand out slowly, but politely. I accepted the gesture and smiled, bracing myself. She genuinely creeped me out.

"Hello, Sarah," I said, "it's nice to meet you. I'm Cole."

I let go of her hand, and saw Martin usher forth the other young woman.

"And this is my other niece, Barbi," he introduced.

I was stunned – Barbi was beautiful, not to mention easier on the eyes. Like Sarah, she had red hair, except hers was darker and straighter. Barbi also had bangs, which, set her apart like a sore thumb. In a good way, though. Her eyes were such a dark brown that they looked black, but they were warm and inviting to look into. Her face was more diamond-shaped, she was shorter, but also had a prominent Roman nose. Not huge, but it was a noticeable feature. While she was thin, I couldn't help but notice her rack. She was wearing a sleeveless, light pink, button-up dress with a tie in the front and a collar. It was only buttoned up so far. Her cleavage was right there in front of me. I also noticed a pendant on her neck, it was really pretty, like a green gemstone that was speckled with black. I tried to make eye contact, but instead directed my eyes to the plate holding what looked to be a cake covered in Saran wrap.

"I-Is this a cake?" I asked, trying to make eye contact.

"Yes, it is!" she said with a smile. "It's uh," She looked down, "chocolate and caramel."

I smiled: "how'd you know that's my favorite kind of cake?"

She was shy, and blushed a little. The pink in her cheeks was so cute. "I…didn't know."

I accepted the cake from her, and welcomed them both in, letting Barbi in first, then Sarah, and then Martin, who stopped to whisper to me.

"Barbi's already the apple of your eye," he snickered.

I said nothing, but managed to hear the person in question ask about the house as she looked up at the grand spiral staircase.

"How'd you find this house? It's hidden."

I smirked; "well, I looked online for a new job, a new start, and found this place being listed."

"What do ya do?" Martin asked with a light Southern drawl.

"Lumber," I said. "I start next week."

"Cuttin' it, or-"

"Transporting it," I said, putting my hands in my pockets as soon as I placed the cake Barbi gave me on the dining room table. "But occasionally cutting it, yeah."

"This house sure didn't cost much, did it?" Sarah asked. Her voice even creeped me out. It was almost monotone even for a question.

"Well, it was auctioned," I replied. "Spent pretty much all my inheritance on it."

"Who passed?" Martin asked.

"My third cousin. Very rich man," I answered.

"Bless your heart," Barbi said cordially with a hand to her chest. I smiled at her again and nodded gratefully.

"T-Thank you," I stammered. "He was 89 in a wheelchair. He lived long"

"Where's about you come from?" the man asked me.

Our eyes met. I sighed: "I'm from South Carolina."

"What part?"

"Barnwell."

"Ah, down near Georgia."

"Sort of."

I felt like he was playing 20 Questions, all because he saw me staring at his niece. I can't help it if she's pretty. If Uncle Charlie were alive, he'd beat me over the head with his Bible, about how women were the devil and all that baloney.

My whippet, Scout, came running into the dining room, with my beagle Jack just behind him. They halted, their tails wagging slowly as their small pairs of beady eyes looked up at me. I heard Jack whine.

"Aw, bud," I said, trying to approach him and pat him. I saw Barbi come on over slowly, a bit carefully, as though she were trying to avoid me. I looked up at her, her warm, dark, almond-shaped eyes looking right into my blue ones.

"M-May I?" she asked, putting one of her hands down toward the dog.

I grinned: "sure."

I watched both Scout and Jack circle Barbi as she crouched on the floor, bending down in a ladylike sort of way. Had she been bending, I probably would've gotten a glimpse of the world down under. I'm glad I didn't though. I just watched Jack's tongue flop against her hand, as Scout's licked at her forearm and whimpered a bit.

"Aww…aren't they the sweetest?!" the beautiful, sweet, polite redhead cooed.

"Sweet, indeed," Sarah replied, actually sounding normal. A bit sarcastic, if anything.

I chuckled to try and break my nervousness in front of the two young women, especially the fear Sarah's presence alone gave me. That was until I heard both of my hounds growling. I paid attention only to notice they were growling in the direction of Sarah, who also happened to be nearest the door. Martin just stared at the dogs, and then to me with this 'what's going on' look on his face.

Then I heard this really hard pelting sound on the vertical-long windows. It nearly startled me, and I looked at Martin, who began to speak. My dogs began to bark, and run toward the front door.

"Must be hailin'," he told me.

"Not uncommon where I'm from," I replied. Barnwell got hail sometimes during a thunderstorm, but I found it weird because it wasn't raining an hour before. It was actually sunny. It was the beginning of August by this point, so nice weather was still in place.

We all followed the dogs, and I opened the front door, noticing thick clumps of what looked to be hail falling from the sky. The dogs went down the steps and barked up at the clouds, but it was when I looked down, I noticed that this was not hail. Barbi, Martin, and Sarah were behind me as I crouched down to get a better look at what fell from the clouds.

My eyes widened – they were teeth. Human teeth.

"What the hell?" I asked myself.

I picked one up, feeling like puking at that moment. It looked to be rotted, discolored, cavities on the sides of it. Looking down, I saw the other teeth that rained on my porch to be no different. I had this horrified look frozen on my face as I turned back to see Martin walking toward the front door. The bout of hailing teeth didn't seem to stop, but what scared me more was…well, he didn't seem bothered by it even as teeth pelted down on him. Literally. It looked so painful. I thought at that moment, I'm sick in the head. Or something REALLY sinister was going on.

I saw him look at Sarah, who then looked at Barbi. I heard her whisper: "let's get outta here. Now."

"S-Shouldn't we wa-"

I nearly gasped as I watched Sarah yank her sister's arm violently and she began to pull her out of my new house. I saw the look of pain on Barbi's face, and when I tried to move toward the scarier redhead to get her hand off her sister, I winced back to see the most intimidating expression I've ever seen. Just her eyes alone warded me off. It's almost like they spoke to me. I felt a chill down my spine.

Weirder yet, when Barbi was dragged out by her sister, the teeth stopped falling from the sky. It was only then that the pretty redhead waved at me, with a sad, pained smile on her face.

"B-Bye!" she said, trying to be polite.

I waved back, but kept my focus on the ground. All the teeth that fell, it was enough to make me sick. Nauseous. I rushed into my house, locked the door, and rushed to the bathroom. I knelt right in front of the first-floor bathroom's toilet and let my stomach spew up what it had to. I couldn't believe what I saw. I felt like I was on a trip. I…I was seeing things. I knew this because later that night, I went out to check again, after avoiding windows all day long, only to see the ground completely empty.

You heard me. Completely empty. No teeth anywhere.

I really worried, but fortunately, nothing TOO weird happened over the next few days. I began work at the sawmill, and let me tell you, what I was told to do wasn't in the job description. I was supposed to be transporting the lumber, but…I caught myself being trained to cut it with these massive saws. It was still work, but, not my ideal situation. It was very hot and stuffy, so much that I needed to wear a mask over my nose and mouth. My boss wasn't that bad, fortunately. I was given 45-minute breaks, which wasn't bad considering I worked 9 hours a day. From 7 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon.

I remember coming home the third day at work. I saw what looked to be a lump on my porch. I got out of my truck and as I walked closer to the entrance of the house, I saw nothing more than a carcass.

I rushed up the steps to see that the carcass was that of Scout, my whippet.

I was in a panic. I took off my flannel shirt and covered him with it, but before I could, the smell of rotting flesh hit my nose and the sound of buzzing flies was enough to make me cringe. But I had burst into tears before doing so.

"Scout! SCOUT! NO!" I shouted.

I saw that my dog's throat was slit. I don't know how long he had been there. There was no blood anywhere, but I took a few minutes to cry to myself. Who on earth could've done such a thing?! Why would anyone hurt an animal I loved? My face was beet red by the time I took out my cellphone and called the police, reporting the incident. They said they'd send someone over immediately, and the minute I get off the phone, I go in the house to get a towel to cover him over with. My flannel shirt was still off me, but I had been in too much of a panic to remember taking it off.

But it was when I opened the front door and came out to see that…Scout's body was gone. My flannel was, too.

I collapsed to my knees, feeling the pain in my kneecaps as I saw a police cruiser park in front of my house. Two officers came out, and I covered my face with disbelief.

"No…no…no," I whined under my breath. I felt hands on my arms, pulling them away from my face. It was a policeman.

"What happened?" he asked me.

"M-My dog…a whippet…he...HE WAS JUST HERE!" My dry sobs turned into screeching.

"What happened to it?" he asked me.

"I found him…here," I pointed, sniffling. "H-His throat was cut…n-no blood anywhere…I don't know where he went…" I paused and continued. "I was away at work…I come here, see him dead…and now he's gone."

I looked at the two police officers, who just stared at each other as though I had three heads. Or as if I was making it all up. I wasn't. I saw it with my own eyes.

All they could say was this: "do you know the penalties for lyin' to police, bub?"

My jaw dropped, and I sprung to my feet. "I'm not making it up! I SWEAR! I saw Scout dead here! I go into the house to get a towel to cover him with and then he disappears!"

"He ain't here," the other cop said. "This is grounds of lyin' to police. Not sure if you're aware, but, that carries a penalty."

"I swear to God, and I'm really religious," I fibbed, putting a hand on my chest and one up in the air, "I am not lying!"

"Sir, we're givin' you a verbal warnin' this one time," the other cop said. "You call us again with nonsense, you're gonna be in big trouble."

Just like that, they drove off. I was just stuck there. I sat on my porch steps, watching them drive away from my property. I rubbed my face roughly with my hands, to see the miracle of Jack, my beagle walking up toward me and whining. I felt tears run down my cheek as he took a seat beside me and nudged my hands, jumping up to lick my face briefly as I patted his head.

Then, I heard him start to growl and bark loudly. I looked at him, patting his back and sighing.

"What, boy?" I asked.

I looked around and heard rustling in the bushes. I was unnerved, taking my dog into the house with me.

I went to bed a little earlier that night. Jack was scared. He didn't want to sleep alone. I knew he didn't. But I heard a very loud noise outside that woke my dog up first. His barking woke me up, and when I looked outside, I was shocked.

I couldn't believe it. I was REALLY seeing things now – it was a bunch of people walking toward my house. With torches, knifes, and what looked to be pitchforks. My dog kept barking, but I picked him up and brought him downstairs, getting a better view of them through the window. The minute I heard a bang at my front door, I knew I needed to get out of there.

Yet, I was surrounded. The only place to go was the cellar. The dirty, musty cellar. I walked down the steps, locking the door behind me, and let my dog go first. I hid myself as well as I could. I could see the light from the torches through the small windows of the cellar. My body was shaking; I was in a state of panic again. What the hell was all of this?

I was paralyzed as I heard glass breaking upstairs. My dog just whined at first, but didn't know much better than to bark. I couldn't even keep him quiet.

RUFF! RUFF! RUFF!

Jack wouldn't stop barking. I was so scared, I thought I was going to shit my pants. I heard a lot of noise, and not just glass breaking. It was so consuming, I couldn't deal with it. My anxiety was through the roof. My palms were sweaty, I was dizzy, I was hyperventilating. I couldn't breathe. My fear was gripping.

This was over the course of, I want to say, 45 minutes. The noise lasted that long.

When it finally stopped, I stood up. I didn't see any lights outside of the basement window. I could feel my face pulsating and tears dried to my skin. My dog was whining even louder. My heart wouldn't stop racing. I let out a few dry sobs and finally pulled myself together, standing up and taking a deep breath. I led Jack to follow me up the steps to check the damages left behind from the break-in.

Someone didn't want me there. They were determined to make me leave.

I went upstairs, where I heard the glass breaking, only to find…that…there was NOTHING there. Not a single window was broken. No curio cabinets. Nothing. Nothing was broken.

I was still creeped out enough to get into my clothes and get into my truck. If anything, I wanted to see for myself if anyone was around my house.

Looking back, this was a stupid decision.

I locked Jack in one of the downstairs bathrooms before heading off. No way in hell I would lose my other dog.

I hopped into my truck, drove off, nothing but the headlights guiding my way. I struggled to take a deep breath, hearing nothing but the static of the radio and the acceleration of my truck. My heart was racing a little bit, still, but I tried to gather myself so I wouldn't get into an accident.

When I felt calm enough, I looked to my sides, slowing down a little bit to see if anyone was within the 10 acres around my house. I couldn't see very well, it was so dark. I tried to pay attention to the road in front of me with a few glances to my windshield but that was it. It was not easy. It was so dark, still the middle of the night.

Until…I looked forward one last time.

BANG!

Bump!

I had hit someone standing in the middle of the road. I screamed and stopped my truck. My heart rate was up again, and I got out of my pickup truck to see who I had hit. From the looks of it, it was an older woman, kind of, uh, big. I saw her hair was stringy, and he clothes were weird. A long skirt, and a vague blouse I couldn't really make out.

"Hello?" I asked frantically, a bit nervous to approach her. "Are you okay?"

I took a step closer when I saw she wasn't moving. I was lucky to have my phone on me, but it was in the truck. I dialed 911 as I took it out of the middle compartment. I looked again at the woman, who was now struggling to get up, getting to her feet and walking toward the dense, dark woods.

"Whoa, whoa," I muttered. "Ma'am?!"

I looked down and saw my cellphone was out of service to make the call. How convenient.

"Ma'am?! Are you alright?" I asked.

I found myself following her.

"Hello?"

No answer still.

"I need to get you to a hospital," I said a bit louder.

When she vanished into the woods, and…I found myself at the threshold of the road and the woods. I foolishly followed her. It was like in the horror movies, but my curiosity really got the better of me. Plus, I was very concerned for the woman I had just hit.

I followed this woman straight into the forest, maybe 50 feet. I could have sworn the road was directly behind me, I swear. There's no way that she could've gotten very far, but I couldn't find any sign of her. I couldn't find my way out.

I was trapped.

A / N:

Hey everyone! Okay, I neglected to write an Author's Note on the first chapter, but here I am! I'm back!

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