The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and a refreshing breeze was blowing in from the calm, crystal-clear water of the lake. Sailboats and canoes trailed lazily through the water as seagulls flew overhead, and there wasn't a cloud in sight in the bright blue sky above. It was a beautiful summer day on the shores of Oakside Lake, and a family of three was relaxing in a peaceful cove that bordered the forest. A husband and wife, Charles and Diane Matheson, sat atop a grassy hill, talking with one another while preparing a picnic as their young child, Charlie, happily played in the warm sand a short distance away. "Charlie! Lunch in five!" Diane cheerily called out to her son, who was so fixated on building a sand castle that his mother's words went in one ear and out the other. Perhaps it was a good thing that Charlie had tuned out his parents, for the topic of their conversation soon shifted to matters less pleasant than the things they'd been discussing only moments prior. Gone was the sentiment of enjoying the gorgeous weather, observing the wildlife of the area, and reminiscing about the time when they'd first gotten engaged, for it had been replaced with discussions about their financial troubles, employment hardships, and even issues within their relationship. Charlie, thankfully, was oblivious to all of this, lost in thought as he put the finishing touches on his sand castle. His beloved teddy bear sat next to him in the sand, its condition pristine and the red inscription on its torso as vibrant as it had been the day his grandmother had given it to him. He and the stuffed animal were practically inseparable; Wherever he went, it went too.

"Don't get too dirty out there, Charlie. Be careful near the water!" Diane said, raising her voice just enough so that her son could hear her. Once again, Charlie gave no response, instead sitting back to admire the now-completed castle he'd worked so hard on. He surveyed all of the toys that he had lying around in the sand, unaware of the sunburn that was slowly developing on his pale skin. His shaggy black hair was still damp from when his parents had taken him swimming in the lake a short while ago, and the towel he'd used to dry himself off was now covered with sand. He smiled to himself, proud of his work, but it was at that moment that he saw a glint of light out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to look in the direction it had come from, and sure enough, he could see that something was lying in the sand near an old rowboat, an unusually bright reflection bouncing off of it. Curiously, Charlie stood up, brushing his dirty hands off on his swim trunks as he walked toward the strange object, bringing his teddy bear with him. When he finally reached it, he was surprised to see that it was a piece of the toy train that had mysteriously disappeared from his bedroom a few days prior. His parents had assumed that he'd lost it somewhere, but Charlie knew better; It had vanished without a trace, and now he'd been proven right, for it had been some time since he and his parents had visited this cove… but what was his train doing here, of all places?

Before he could think of anything else, Charlie noticed a second reflection coming from further down the beach. Once again, he approached the shining object and found it to be another piece of his missing train, and as soon as he picked it up, another glint of light caught his attention, further away still. Perhaps some unseen force was at work that day, for Charles and Diane wouldn't normally have been so oblivious to their son wandering further and further away from them, or perhaps they were simply too caught up in their bickering to notice. As Charlie made his way across the beach, the grassy hills and tall trees that bordered the cove were soon replaced with stone landforms, resulting in a small sandy trail between the rocks and the lake. He soon reached the third train segment, which was lying so close to the water that he wondered how it hadn't been swept away by waves. As he retrieved the toy, Charlie thought hard about this bizarre turn of events, trying to understand what was going on. Had someone taken his train and then lost it at the cove? Who could've done something like that? He didn't know, and his thought process was soon interrupted by the sun reflecting off of another train segment in the sand. "Charlie, lunch!" his mother called out, but he was too far away from his parents to hear her, and they were just beginning to realize that their son was missing.

"Charlie…" Diane called again, finally noticing that her child was nowhere to be found. "Do you know where he is?" she asked, turning to her husband.

"He's fine, he's down on the beach," Charles responded.

"No, he isn't… Where did he go?" Diane wondered aloud, standing up and making her way over to where Charlie had been playing.

"What? Where is he?" Charles asked, joining his wife in her search. At first, they feared that their son had gone into the lake, but they soon noticed his footprints leading further down the beach, away from his sand castle.

"Where are you? Charlie, where'd you go?" Diane called out as she and Charles began to follow their son's trail. Still out of earshot of his worried parents, Charlie continued making his way down the beach, eventually reaching a point where the path ahead became little more than mounds of stones, but to his right was a hill that led up into the forest, and half-buried in the sand at the base of it was another piece of his train. As Charlie picked up the train segment, he realized that there was only one piece left to find, and with nowhere else to look, he made his way up to the top of the hill and gazed into the forest, discovering that the other side of the hill was steep and rocky. For a moment, he hesitated; He knew that he'd have a hard time getting back up to the beach, but he didn't want to leave the last piece of his toy behind either, and he could see that it was right there, sitting on top of a large rock just inside of the forest. Carefully, he climbed down to the forest floor to retrieve it.

"Charlie?!" his father shouted, his heart pounding in fear.

"Where are you, Charlie?!" his mother yelled, frantic with worry.

Charlie could hear his parents yelling now, but their voices were muffled and hard to understand. He could feel that something was wrong, very wrong. The moment he'd entered the forest, a feeling of uneasiness had crept over him, and the environment around him had begun to change; Where there had been the feeling of warm sunshine on his skin, the sound of seagulls cawing in the distance, and the smell of a summer breeze only moments before, there was now a deafening silence and an eerie fog that rapidly engulfed the area, bringing with it an unnatural chill and the scent of mold. The forest was suddenly devoid of wildlife, and the ground felt colder than it should've against his bare feet as he nervously stepped forward. He quickly pocketed the final segment of his train and turned to leave, but it was then that he realized just how steep the hill actually was. He wouldn't be able to climb back up, and he knew it. He called out for his parents, who were now screaming his name, searching desperately for their lost child, but they couldn't hear him no matter how loudly he yelled. The strange mist was becoming thicker by the second, covering the blue sky in a smoky white sheet and making it difficult for Charlie to see more than a few feet in front of him. The air was stale and stagnant, and an indescribable, unsettling ambiance permeated the fog, accompanied by what sounded like eerily distorted chiming. He regretted entering the forest wearing only his swim trunks, as the twigs and pebbles on the ground hurt his feet, and the steadily dropping temperature was making him shiver.

Charlie hugged his teddy bear as he turned away from the hill and forced himself to walk deeper into the forest, quivering with fear as he looked for a way back to his parents. Fearful whimpers escaped his lips as he walked, the faint, ominous sound of a slowly pounding drum echoing in his ears. He quickened his pace, attempting to find his way out of the fog, dimly aware that a painful headache was forming. It was then that he heard a strange sound, like a serpent slithering through the grass, and before he had the chance to react, something so icy cold that it burned his skin latched onto his ankle. Charlie let out a scream of terror, almost falling over as a black tendril coiled around his leg, constricting him like a snake would its prey. He fought to release his leg, but it was to no avail, for the tentacle's grip was too strong. He began to cry, screaming for his parents to help him, but his terrified voice would never reach their ears. More tentacles emerged from the fog, wrapping around his other leg, his arms, his neck, and his torso; Every inch of him was being rapidly cocooned in deathly cold tendrils, even the teddy bear he carried. His head pounded, his lungs burned, and his very blood felt as if it had turned to ice. Through tearful eyes, he was barely able to see a tall, thin figure standing in the fog, more of the black tentacles that had ensnared him sprouting from its back and writhing toward him. With the screams of his parents ringing in his ears, Charlie used his final breath to let out one last strangled cry for help. Finally, agonizingly, the tendrils wrapped around his head and covered his face, sealing the boy's fate. Then, his world went dark and he knew no more.