The Hole

The two boys sat on the creek bank with their fishing poles sticking out over the water. They were talking about school and the certain teacher that each boy disliked the most. They were hoping to catch something, but weren't really keeping their thoughts on it.
Bobby said he didn't like Mrs.Morris. She was always taking the boys hats off when they were in her room. "There will be NO hats worn in MY classroom" she'd say, shaking a boney finger at the guilty parties.
Adam's least favorite is Ol'man Shmidt. He always treats his classroom like military personnel.

Tossing their empty soda cans into the trees, their bellies full, the two boys burped aloud. They both looked at each other before breaking into laughter. They sat talking about different things for awhile, each enjoying their little camping trip for his own reasons. To them, this was the life!
"There's nothing like it!" Bobby thought, as he lay back on the bank. His fishing pole in hand. He was hoping to catch "THE BIG ONE"!
(If he had only known!)

Bobby woke from a troubled dream! His head groggy and spinning! He wasn't sure where he was or why he was there. He was laying under a stand of trees. Shrubbery spread out all around him. The sun was just rising over the tree tops, warming the still, chilly morning air. A ladybug landed on his knee and proceeded to walk up his pants leg. Bobby watched the little orange and black spotted insect, trying to focus his eyes. His head ached terribly. He looked past the tiny bug, his eyes beginning to clear, he noticed that one of his tennis shoes was missing.
"That's strange!" he half said aloud, as he sat up, causing the lady bug to fly off into the morning sky. The pain set in as his muscles resisted at first. His head began to pound. He could feel the scratches on his face and arms, as they stung him like little ants biting him unmercifully.
"Where am I?" he spoke quietly to himself, as he put his hands to his head, as if to keep it from spinning off at the shoulders. It was then, that, like a punch in the gut, it hit him. His eyes grew wide! His breathing stopped in mid-breath!
Now he remembered!

After being violently ill for several minutes, Bobby raised back up, wiping the wetness from his mouth. Strangely, he felt a bit better. Although his body was still sore, his head was clearer now.
"Adam!" he spoke. The words leaving his mouth bitter and dry. "I have to get help!" he said again, as he rose to his feet. "I've got to tell somebody! Anybody!"
Forgetting about his lost shoe, he began through the woods. He needed to find the road, but he wasn't sure where he was. In his haste to escape the THING lastnight, he had run blind, until collapsing under the trees in which he had awaken. How far he had run, and in what direction, he wasn't sure. He was completely disoriented. All he could do was walk. Until he found the road, or until he couldn't walk anymore. "Which ever comes first!" he thought to himself. He knew one thing though. He wanted out of these woods. And FAST! That thing was still out there. And it isn't very friendly!
Bobby walked faster!

As Bobby came out of the trees, after walking for nearly an hour, he came upon a small clearing. At the far end of this clearing there stood a small, but very wide hill. It was about 100 feet from where Bobby stood. He could also see an old dirt trail, that didn't seem to have been used much lately, going down to the very road that he had been searching desperately for. As Bobby passed the hill, he noticed that there was a hole about 5 foot tall and roughly 4 foot wide. There was also a big rock, about the same size as the hole, laying next to it. "I know this place!" he said aloud, as he walked up to the hole, remembering the stories he had heard.
Bobby remembered that, on top of this hill, it is said, was once held a human sacrifice, or something like that. There was supposed to have been devil worshippers, or some-such kind of people, living in these woods years ago. They say, that when the police checked out the report, all they found was small traces of blood. But no body. And without a body or any suspects, the police just didn't have a case.
Bobby knew that the hill was only a half mile or so from town. He didn't have far to go now. He needed to get to town and find some help. But something about the hole drew him to it. He would just take a quick look. To Bobby, it looked, by the marks on the ground, like the rock had been pushed AWAY from the hole. From the INSIDE! Something had moved this rock out of the way, trying to get OUT of the hole! And whatever it was, it was strong! VERY strong! The rock had to weigh a ton, easy. And the smell was very pungent. He covered his mouth and nose. The thoughts were running through his head. Bobby was starting to get nervous. He looked at the marks on the ground. That's when he first saw the prints.
They were big prints. Almost 4 times the size of his shoeless foot. There were claw marks where toes should have been. Then, still looking down, his blood ran cold. Not only did the prints come OUT of the hole. But they also went back IN the hole too. Bobby could see that the prints were filled with a dark gooey substance. When he dipped his finger into the liquid gunk, he brought it back up so he could see what it was. But he knew instantly what it was.
"Blood!" he said aloud.
"Adam's blood!"
He was running down the dirt trail toward the road before he even realized that he was doing it. He didn't stop until he reached his own house. Exhausted, he collapsed on the front porch.
He was still crying when the darkness engulfed him!

Once again, Bobby woke up not knowing where he was. Everything around him was white.
"Bobby?!" he heard someone say. "Bobby, can you hear me? It's Mamma, Bobby!" the voice said again. "How are you feeling? You looked terrible when I found you laying on the porch, not moving or anything." Realizing that someone was talking to him, he lookied over at his mother as she sat at his bedside. Trying to clear his head, he wondered why she had a worried look on her face.
"Your in the hospital son! You were unconscious when I found you."
Watching her son with concerned anticipation, she went on to ask, "What in God's name happened to you?"
"Hospital?" Bobby thought to himself, still puzzled. "Why am I in the hospital?" He couldn't seem to remember. His legs were stiff and his head ached. He hurt all over.
He had heard his mother ask the question, but had no immediate answer for her.
"What DID happen?" he thought. "Why am I here?"
Though throbbing strongly, his head began to clear some. It was starting to come back to him. Everything was becoming clear now.
His mother was talking to him again but he didn't hear her this time.
Yeah, everything was becoming clear to Bobby!
Too clear!
As he jerked up in the bed, his eyes as wide as quarters, he scared his mother nearly out of her chair.
Reaching for her son, feeling the fear building inside her, she saw the look of sheer terror on his face. A long bead of sweat forming on his brow.
He managed to get out just three words, before the darkness engulfed him once more.
"Adam!"
"The Hole!"

Bobby is running through the dark, densely populated woods. The creature is hot on his tail. Not seeing the root which emerges from the ground just ahead of him, growing in size as he slowly nears it, Bobby slams his foot into it. The creature is upon him as he tumbles to the ground. There is no time to feel the pain. Standing over the boy, the beast let out another ear-piercing wail. Bobby opens his mouth as the thing reaches for him.
Bobby screams!

Screaming uncontrollably, Bobby is shaken awake by his mother. "Help me!" he shouts, as he leans up in the bed, reaching for his mother. The tears streaming down both of their cheecks.
"You're safe Bobby! I'm right here! Nothing is going to happen to you while I'm here!" his mother told him reassuringly.

After calming Bobby down, which took some doing, his mother listened, speechless, as Bobby, trying hard to keep his words understandable, told her of the horrifying ordeal that claimed his best friends life. She could hardly believe what she heard.

So after hearing her sons amazing horror story, Bobby's mother had called the police. They would come by in the morning and question the boy. But for now, he needed his rest.
"Could it be true?" his mother thought. "Young boys tend to stretch the truth sometimes. But THIS!?" The words were filling her brains! The questions mounting! But there were no quick answers! "Only time will tell!" she said to herself, as she walked out of the lobby, going back to her sons room.
"Maybe the police will come up with something!" she thought, before saying aloud, "I hope!"

"What do you think?" Sgt.Samuel Baker asked, as the two policemen were leaving the hospital.
"Beats me!" his elder partner replied.
Lt.Gregory Witcome was the head investigator for this case. Even though he's been on the force for the last 28 years, he has no intentions of retiring soon. He feels every day of his fifty-eight years of age.
Cases like these were not unusual to Greg. A missing boy. Another in the hospital. ALL normal things. But, a Monster! Now, THAT, he had a hard time swallowing. He couldn't figure it out. The only case like this that he could recall was 10 years ago, when a farmer claimed to have seen Satan or something. Greg tried to imagine Satan walking the woods of this small community. "Naaahhhh!" he thought, dismissing the idea. "There's no friggin way!"
Sgt.Samual Baker is still in his prime, as most would say. In his mid thirties. He is eager to learn all that his older counter-part has to offer. "This could be good!" he thought to himself as they reached the car. Getting in, he thought, "This might not be just another hum-drum day!"
Little did he or Greg know, but from this day forward, their lives would never be the same again.
Driving out of the hospital parking lot, Greg started talking, snapping Sam out of his thoughts.
"Well, until Bobby shows us where they were that night, we'll just have to go check out this HOLE! I know the hill the boy was talking about!" "The same place that farmer supposedly saw Satan!" Greg thought to himself. Thinking a bit more, he added, "Naahh!" aloud.
"What?" Sam asked.
"Oh, nothin!" Greg replied. "Nothin!"
The two men drove toward the edge of town, and what lay beyond.

"So, this is the place, huh?" Sam asked, as they stepped out of the car, taking a cautious glance out of the corners of his eyes for, "THE DEVIL" , but not trying to be too obvious about it. Greg had told him about the old tale as they drove out. It made the young man's skin crawl.
"Yep, this is the place all right. And there's the hill!" Greg said, pointing toward the grassy mound rising toward the sky. And in plain view of both men, was the rock Bobby told them about.
Walking the hundred feet or so up the trail to the hill, they noticed that instead of the rock being AWAY from the hole, like Bobby had said, it was now apparent that it was completely wedged against it. A closer look confirmed it.
"Look at these!" Sam said, as he pointed to the ground around the rock. There were tracks all around the area, spreading out to the grassy clearing.
Greg leaned down to get a better look at the prints. By the marks on the ground, Greg knew that the rock had indeed been moved. But that's not what interested Greg the most.
"This is blood!" Greg said to Sam, dipping his ink pen into the gelling substance. Putting the sample into the little baggy that he kept in his shirtpocket for just such occasions, he rose to his feet.
"Whatever left these prints and moved that rock, is strong. And big! And I think it's in this hole! And if it is, we'll find it! But that comes later! Right now we need to get this sample to the lab and gets some molds of these prints made!" Greg said, suggesting that they should go now.
Sam followed obediently.

"How's the coffee this morning?" Sam asked, as he entered the small office.
"Hot and black is all I can say for it." Greg answered his partner, handing him an empty coffee cup.
"Heard anything from the lab yet?" Sam asked Greg.
"Yeah, it was on my desk this morning." answered greg. "Here!" he said, handing the piece of paper to the younger man.
"It's the boy's blood all right. But still nothing on the molds." Stopping long enough to take another drink from his coffee cup, he went on to say, "They can't seem to identify them."
"Well they sure weren't made by anything that I've ever seen before." said Sam, putting the piece of paper back on the desk.
"There's got to be some kind of logical explanation to this. And I'm going to find it!" Greg said.
They needed to find the other boy. Or his body. But right now Bobby was the only one that knew where it might be.
Greg said, "I called the hospital earlier and they said that the doctor wanted to keep Bobby one more day for observation. If all goes well, he could be released in the morning. I'll check back with them later. But for now, we need to go by the parents' house of the Adam boy, and see how they are taking this, and to see if maybe they've heard from him or anything. Who knows?! It must be terrible for them, not knowing if their son is dead or alive."
"Yeah, I'd hate to be in there shoes! That must be awful!" Sam said.
Downing their coffees, both men placed their empty cups on the desk and walked out of the office.
"Have you eaten yet?" Greg asked Sam, putting his hand on Sam's shoulder as they walked toward the front door.
"No, not yet, how about you?" Sam answered.
Greg said, "Nope, but I know a great breakfast joint right around the corner! Ham and eggs, a dollar-ninety-nine!"
"Sounds good to me!" Sam responded hungrily. "I'm buying!"
"You're on!" Greg said, smiling. "I'll drive!"

The sun had been up about an hour when Bobby and his mother walked out into the morning. He was released from the hospital today, and he was sure glad to be going home. His rear end was starting to go numb. Bobby had spent 4 days laying in that bed. The whole time, thinking about Adam!
And the Hole! "What was it?" he thought. He tried so desperately to figure it out. And the dreams! Always the thing is chasing him! Right on his heels! And just as the thing is about to kill him, most unmercifully, he would always wake screaming. Scaring near to death anyone sitting by his bed. Which in most cases was his mother. Always bringing a nurse hurriedly through the door to check on their star patient. They lavished Bobby with generosity and kindness. Bobby loved every minute of it, too!
Thinking about the nurses, Bobby thought, "Yeah, that part I'm going to miss!"
They stepped into the parking lot to the waiting brown sedan. Greg and Sam were going to take Bobby to show them the site of the death. After this, they would have no further need to bother Bobby again. Unless something came up!
Bobby had agreed to take the police to the place he and Adam had been that night. Wanting to get it done and over with. But the fear that the thing might still be out there just wouldn't go away. He really didn't want to see Adam's dead body either. But he had agreed, so he would just take them out there and be done with it. Maybe they wouldn't find anything at all. "Who knows!" he thought. But if they DON'T find anything, than they will probably think that he made the whole thing up. It was confusing to him. It made his head hurt!
As Bobby's mother got in the back seat with her son, she was thinking, "God, what have I gotten myself into here!?" She was going out with them, to support her son. And because she loved him and wouldn't have had it any other way. But the thought of seeing Adam dead just really didn't sit too well with her. But he was her son, and she would do anything for him! "Point blank!" she thought to herself, looking over at her son and giving a slight nod.
Bobby didn't notice! As they were pulling out of the parking area, he was looking out the back window at the nurses amassed at the front door of the hospital. They were all waving goodbye to him. He waved back! "Yep, I'm going to miss them!"

The brown sedan stopped in front of the old wooden bridge that ran across Willow Creek. The boys had left the road here and walked their bikes the extra hundred or so yards off into the trees, where they had set up there makeshift little camp. The tire tracks from the bikes along with the boys footprints where still visible to Sam and Greg. But neither Bobby nor his mother took any notice of them.
"This way!" Bobby said, as he stepped down the bank, putting fresh tracks over the old. Bobby's mother followed her son and the two policemen into the woods.
As they came to the small clearing, Bobby said, "Right here! This is where we were!" As they all entered the clearing, they saw them!
Large footprints were spread out throughout the small area. The camp site was a total mess. Things were scattered about. The boys small tent was torn to shreds. Their bikes, mangled pieces of twisted metal. Food and other trash was scattered around and even went off into the trees.
" That thing must have been mad because I got away! " Bobby said. Thinking about his dreams, he shuddered.
He tried to remember what direction he and Adam had run. It was dark out that night and they really didn't have time to think about what direction to run. They just ran!
Unlike the tracks before, there were no tracks here. None but the things! Everywhere!
Bobby pointed down stream, thinking it might have been that way, but he just couldn't remember. Bobby did remember stubbing his foot on a root. The very root that Adam had tripped over. He knew that it couldn't be very far away. So they all started down stream, looking for any sign, of anything. Listening for any sounds! Each person thinking their own thoughts, as they spread out, looking in different directions.
Trying, but not really wanting to, Bobby searched for any sign of Adam, or his remains. He kept trying to remember everything that happened that night, when suddenly, he stepped into something slick, causing his left foot to slip out from under him, sending him backfirst to the ground. As he lay there, half dazed from the impact of the fall, he had a clear view of the tree tops. The sky peeking through the leaves. He was sitting up as the others rushed over to help him back to his feet, when Bobby screamed. Looking up into the trees, he had seen the leg hanging from between two limbs. The end of the leg, where it should have been connected to the hip, was a pulpy, bloody mass of flesh. It appeared to have been ripped from the body. The bone stuck out about 4 inches. Flies buzzed all around the bloody stump. A slight smell of death filled the air.
Because it had been almost a week since the killing, the blood had dried to a black sticky goo. It was everywhere! Bobby had stepped into some and had taken his fall. The four people stood and stared in awe at the scene before their eyes. Different body parts lay about. Black, bloody masses. It was horrific! Bobby's mother had turned and was running back toward the car with her hands over her mouth, fighting the nausea. But it was a losing battle! The two policemen were better able to hold their lunch. They were trained to deal with things like this. But still the same, both men turned their heads, not wanting to see anymore. The scene looked like it was right out of a horror movie. But it wasn't! It was real! All TOO real!
Greg arrived at the car with Bobby at his side. Bobby's mother was sitting in the front seat. Her eyes swollen with tears. "I've never seen anything so horrible in my life!" she said, as the two approached. "Are you feeling any better now ma'am?" Greg asked, knowing she wasn't. With her hand cupping her mouth, she just nodded. Sam had been left behind to watch the scene as Greg and young Bobby made their way back to the car to call in a coroner. The proof of a murder was obvious. Just finding out exactly what had happened, and why, was still a question. It was the polices job to figure out what happened here. It was not going to be an easy task!

"It's going to be a long night!" Sam said to Greg, after dropping the boy and his mother off at their home. Bobby's mother was still very shaken over the ordeal. But Bobby seemed to be holding his own. Considering! "It's probably going to be a long night in their home, too!" Greg said. "We'll drop these samples off at the lab and get a bite to eat. what do you say?" Greg said again, before realizing that food was probably the last thing on Sam's mind. Come to think of it, he really wasn't very hungry himself. Sam didn't reply! He just looked over at Greg and smiled.
"Maybe the guys at the scene will come up with something!" Greg said again.
"Yeah, let's hope so!" Sam answered. "I sure do dread telling the other boys family about this!"
"There waiting for us down at the station!" Greg informed Sam.
"Figures!" Sam responded.

Back in the office it was now turning 8:38 P.M. and both men were mentally exhausted. But there was still plenty of paper work to do. It looked like it was going to be a very long, tiring night for the both of them. "Where going to need lots of this!" Greg said, flipping the switch to, ON, on the Mr.Coffee machine.

Bobby had little trouble getting to sleep the night before. But his dreams were not peaceful ones. His mother had calmed down considerably after they were dropped off at home by the two police officers. She had taken a hot bath and a tranquilizer, and was quick to fall asleep. She tossed and turned most of the night but was in fairly good humor this morning, considering!
"What would you like to eat this morning sweetheart?" she asked her son as he sat down at the kitchen table. Trying to wake fully, he replied, "I'm really not very hungry Mom!"
"You've got to eat something honey!" his mother said, feeling concerned for her son. "You need your strength!"
"I'll eat something later!" he said, getting up from the table and heading into the living-room.
She was so worried about him. What he had been through would have driven most people crazy. Or worse! "But what about the monster he swears he seen? What could have done that to Adam?" It was all too confusing to her. She didn't want to start thinking about it again. It was just too horrible. So many questions and so few answers.
Bobby's mother had let him stay home from school until Monday. So while he was sitting in front of the television, watching Tom the Cat chase Jerry the Mouse, the phone rang. "I got it!" he yelled. He picked it up and Adam's father was on the other end. He told Bobby what the police had told him and wanted to know if Bobby could tell them anything more. So, once again, he related the same story that he had told the others.
After telling his story to Adam's dad, he hung up the phone feeling depressed. He sat awhile, starring at the TV but not really watching it. No one seems to believe his story. Especially the part about the beast.
"Why doesn't anyone believe me? I saw it!" he whispered softly. "I saw it all!"
He wasn't feeling very good now. His head started to hurt. And his belly was beginning to churn. He decided to go back to bed for a while. And for the first time since this had all began, Bobby slept without dreaming. He slept well into the evening. It was the most peaceful rest he has had in days.
Unfortunately, the future held no pity for poor Bobby. It would be the last peaceful rest he would ever have. The horrors he has experienced have only just begun!

Sam called later that night to ask Bobby if he would like to be at the opening of the cave the next morning.
Bobby declined! He wanted nothing more to do with that hole.
But be that as it may, fate's cruel hand had other plans for young Bobby!

The winch-truck pulled around and backed up to the rock that blocked the opening to the hole. It stopped a few feet away and the driver started lowering the cable. A man behind the truck pulled the cable as the slack was fed out. He pulled until he had enough to through a loop around the huge rock. Greg and Sam stood by watching. And waiting! Sam had butterflies on his stomach.
After getting the cable tightly wrapped around the rock, the man motioned for the driver to hoist away. As the rock came sliding away from the hole, the pungent odor came flowing out. Anyone within breathing distance was immediately overcome by the smell. The man that had pulled the cable was now on his knees giving up his last meal. The aroma was ghastly! Sam and Greg had to take out their hankies and cover their mouths, but it wasn't long before everyone was down on their knees. They would have to find some gas-masks.

Thanks to the local National Guard, who supplied them with masks, the group of men were ready to enter the hole. So, with the rock safely out of the way, and a fresh supply of air, Greg, Sam and four volunteer firemen entered the opening. With flashlights in hand, gunbelts unclipped, they entered the main corridor. There were what looked like dried spots of blood here and there, but not enough to determine any specific direction they should take. The cave stretched into endless tunnels. It would be impossible to search it completely, so the team split into pairs and entered separate tunnels. They agreed not to go too far into any one of them. "The risks of getting lost in here are very great!" Greg informed the small group.
None of them doubted that!

They had been in the hole for better than an hour and hadn't found a thing to go on. Greg decided to call the search off! "We don't dare go any deeper! It's just too dangerous!" he said. The men exited the hole, grateful for the sunshine that warmed their cold hands and bodies. The temperature in the cave had dropped as they got further in. The heat of the sun was a blessing!
"What now?" Sam asked, wanting to know for himself!
"Don't know!" Greg said, taking a deep breath of fresh, clean air. "It's a mystery to me!"

Back in the small office, the two men were finishing up their paperwork. It had been a long and uneventful day. They were both ready for home. And bed! Just to escape all this confusion! As they got ready to leave, Sam opened the filebox and dropped the papers in the folder marked U, for Unsolved! Greg shut off the lights and closed the door behind them as the headed for the front door. The case that would haunt them forever was now closed, for now! An unsolved mystery! Only Bobby knew the truth! At least his side of the story anyway. But yet, no one wants to believe that there's a monster on the loose and roaming the woods outside of town. It was just too far-fetched to be true. But still, Bobby swears to what he saw. There seemed to be no doubt in the boys mind as to what he says it was. Greg didn't want to think about it any more. Not tonight! It was time for rest!
"See you Monday morning Sam!" Greg said over his shoulder.
"Yeah, sweet dreams!" Sam laughed, as he walked toward his car.

Hanging the phone up and starring off into space, Bobby couldn't hold down the fear rising up his spine. The empty questions mounting in his head. Sam had called to let Bobby know that they hadn't found anything and were completely baffled by what or who could have killed Adam. Bobby knew though! Boy, did he ever! He had hoped that they would have found the thing and killed it. But no such luck! For the rest of the evening, Bobby walked around in a daze. Eventually he would wind up in bed. Sleeping and dreaming! Dreaming of the Beast!
And the Hole!

"So, you saw it, huh?" a voice came from behind Bobby, as he stood sipping his slushy outside the local convenience store. He and Adam used to meet here every Saturday for a slushy. Now he only done it out of habit. Or was it fate that brought him here this day? "So you really saw it?"
It was Old Joe! A man in his early fifties, but looking like he was in his late seventies. The aroma of cheap wine was all around him. He looked as if he hadn't bathed or eaten in days. Maybe weeks! His frame was such that a strong gust of wind would easily send him tumbling. Talk was, that he had gone crazy some years back. Once a respected farmer, whose life was no different from anyone else's. Than, like overnight, he changed. He started drinking heavily and talking gibberish. The bank eventually foreclosed on his farm and his pickup was repossessed. He's been living on the streets ever since. Usually in shelters or churches at night. Sometimes old cars were his home. He had his pick at the local junk yard, so that's were he stayed the most.
Bobby wasn't sure just what Old Joe was asking him, until Joe said, "The Beast! You seen the beast!" Then Bobby knew! He stood starring at the old man, not sure exactly what to say, when Joe spoke again. "I saw it too! I saw it all!"
Even if Bobby had wanted to speak, he had no chance. The old man was telling his story with his next breath. Bobby listened to the shocking story with wide-eyed interest. From this moment on his life would never be the same.

"Ten years ago is when it happened!" Joe said. "That poor man's screams will remain in my head for the rest of my life! I still hear them in my dreams!" Trying to fight the anxiety rising in his body, he continued, "The only way I can escape the dreams is by burying them in a bottle. It helps some, but not always!"
"I was on the creek one night back then. I was hoping to trap me a 'coon or a beaver or somethin!"
Bobby listened intently. forgetting about the slushy grasped tightly in his hand, "I was on my way back to my truck when I heard what I thought was music." Joe said. "Way off through the trees I could see flames. So I walked through the brush to try to get a better look. It wasn't music I was hearing though! It was more like chanting!" he said, watching Bobby. He wanted to make sure that the boy heard and understood everything he was saying.
Bobby was hearing it, but understanding none of it!
Joe went on!
"On top of this hill, there where poles sticking out of the ground with flames at the end of each one. By the firelight I could see a crowd of people spread out over the hill. Maybe 8 or 9 people! All of them where chanting!"
Joe stopped talking, trying to maintain his composure. Coughing, he cleared his throat and wiped his running nose on his shirt sleeve. Tears began to swell up in Bobby's eyes as the old man continued. "I was a few hundred yards from the hill. Hid in the trees. I knew that they couldn't see me but I could see them fairly well by the light cast from the torches. The crowd of people were all standing in a circle. Than they all just started backing down the hill!" His eyes widening, Joe said, "That's when I noticed that there was someone laying on the hill. The torches formed a ring around the person. The chanting became louder and louder. Than, out of the darkness came this ear-piercing scream. The hair on the back of my neck began to stand on end, when suddenly, everything got quiet! The chanting had stopped!"
Joe never noticed the wetness forming in his pants as the urine flowed down his legs, his bladder unable to control itself. Joe just kept talking!
"The man on the ground started yelling for help at the top of his lungs. Than came that awful scream again! It was than that I noticed that the crowd of people had disappeared. They were gone! That poor man was screaming for someone to help him. I didn't know what to do! I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on!"
Joe grabbed Bobby by both arms, causing him to sling his forgotten slushy to the ground. "That's when I saw it!" Joe said between sobs. The tears were streaming down his face more generously now. The fear was growing inside Bobby, as he too, never noticed the warm fluid now flowing down his own pants leg!
"It was huge! Maybe 8 feet tall! But that scream! It will stay in my head forever! The thing was rising up the hill. Slowly! One step at a time! That's when the man on the ground seen it! He let out a pitiful plea that sent my heart plunging into my stomach. But that thing had no mercy for the man! None at all!"
Old Joe's crying became more intense. He had to stop talking for a short time, unable to control his weeping.
Bobby stood, staring at old Joe. he was stunned and close to tears himself. He didn't know whether to stay and hear the rest, or run home and forget that he had heard anything at all. But he couldn't have moved from where he stood, even if he had wanted to. His legs felt as if they were full of lead! With a small puddle forming at his feet, he decided to stay and hear the rest. He had to know!
Soon, Old Joe was able to continue. His voice still shaky, he told of the slaughter that he had witnessed. "I knew that the guy must have been tied to the ground, because he never made any attempt to get up or to try to run away. The poor man was still pleading for his life when the beast ripped into him. It tore him apart! That's when I turned and ran for my truck. I seen all I wanted to see. I just wanted the hell away from there. FAST! I told the sheriff about what I seen, and they went to check it out. But they didn't find a thing! No body! No nothing! Just a little blood here and there. But not enough to make a case out of it. They laughed at me when I told them about the beast! They said I was crazy! I must have been drunk and seeing things! But I know better! And now, so do you!"

Joe sat on the curb, unable to stop the tears. At least he wasn't alone anymore! Someone else had saw it too! Bobby didn't speak! He had not uttered a single word since the old man had started speaking to him. His mouth was stiff with dryness. Swallowing became a laborious effort. As he looked down at the ground at his spilt slushy, he licked his lips and cleared his throat. The thought were running through his young mind faster than his brain could comprehend them. He was totally confused right now.
"Could I have seen the same thing that Joe seen?" Bobby thought. "Could they be one in the same? It MUST be! It HAD to be! It was the same hill that.."
"The hole!"

After a short time the old man stopped crying and pulled out a half drank bottle of rot-gut wine and took a long drink from it. Wiping his mouth off on his sleeve, he looked over at Bobby, who was sitting beside him staring back.
"You do believe me, don't you?" the old man asked, almost apologetically. Bobby nodded his head that he did. The old man smiled and took another drink from his bottle.
Pushing his fear aside, Bobby became determined to prove to everyone that the beast was in fact, REAL. And for the first time, he spoke! "We have to find it and kill it!" This caused the Joe to drop the bottle, breaking it at his feet. He coughed hard and cleared his throat before asking, "WE?" He prayed that the boy didn't mean him. But deep down, he knew that he did!
"Yes, WE!" Bobby said. "We're the only ones that have seen it! No one else believes!" He looked Old Joe in the eyes and said, "I need you Joe! Won't you please help me?"
Knowing that he would live to regret this, he couldn't resist the boy's plea.
"Ok!" he said "When?"
"Tomorrow!" Bobby answered. "We'll go to the hole! We'll find that thing! And we'll kill it!"
"Or die trying!" he added.
Old Joe wished he hadn't said that!

It took Bobby a while but he finally found Old Joe sleeping one off in the backseat of an old car at the junkyard. " I don't know why I didn't think to check here first! " he said to himself as he peered through the broken glass at the sleeping man. Tapping on the roof of the car caused the old man's eyes to flutter open. "Oh, its you!" Joe said as he raised himself up in the seat. He had been hoping that Bobby would forget about the whole thing. Or at least forget about him anyway!
But, he had promised Bobby that he would go. And Bobby was here to see that he kept his word.
"You promised!" Bobby said.
"I know! I know! Well, let's go do it and be done with it!" Joe said, sliding out of the wreck.
They began their journey to the hole! They had to walk the long distance, which took a considerable amount of time. And after a dozen or so rest breaks for Joe, they finally made it to their destination.

"We're going in THERE?" Joe stared at Bobby with questioning eyes.
"Yeah, here, take this!" Bobby said to Joe, handing him the survival knife that he had tucked away in his belt. Than, reaching into his back pockets, Bobby first pulled out a flashlight with his left hand while the right came around bearing a small handgun. His mom's 38-Special! She only kept it in the house for protection but Bobby was going to put it to good use this day.
"Do you know how to use that thing?" the old man asked, seeing the noon day sun reflect off of the chrome barrel.
"Let's hope so!" Bobby said.
When they entered the hole, the smell was terrible. But it wasn't going to stop Bobby. He was on a mission! Tucking the gun in his pants waist, he aimed the flashlight into the darkness. They moved forward into the tunnel directly in front of them. It went back as far as they could see by the dim light that they had. So, with the old man bringing up the rear, and constantly bumping into Bobby's, they entered the darkness.
It was very quiet in the hole and every breath they took seemed to echo through the endless passages. They stopped once or twice, thinking that they were hearing more than just the two of them breathing. But every time they stopped, everything got quiet. An almost eerie silence. They were scared but neither one would admit it to the other.
They moved on!
They had been inside almost thirty minutes, when from out of the darkness came the chilling scream. It sent the two searchers bounding into one another as they scrambled to find their way back out of there.
Running down the long corridor, the flashlight throwing beams of light every which way, they rounded a bend that would have put them back into the main tunnel. Bobby came around first and was instantly slammed against the far wall as Joe soon followed. By the dim light that filtered into the hole, Joe appeared to leave the ground as Bobby watched, stunned, as the beast lifted Joe to the ceiling, holding the old man in it's vise-like grip.

Bobby stayed in the hospital for several weeks after his bizaare encounter. Old Joe was never missed!
Everyone thought that he must have finally moved on or something. For weeks, Bobby never spoke a word! Than, one night, he awoke screaming at the top of his lungs. He started talking gibberish that no one could understand. He stayed that way until his mother finally had to have him committed to a mental institution. He was having uncontrolable fits and was a threat to himself and others. They had to strap him into bed at night to keep him from getting up and wondering off somewhere.

Now, six months later, he is still in the institution where he was admitted some four months earlier. He's still got to be strapped down at night and the fits get worse by the day. His mind is destroyed! The horror will remain in his head for the rest of his life! The nightmare never ending! Living the dream day after day! Only when the reaper calls, will Bobby finally be at peace.
But only then!

"Isn't it a beautiful evening for a walk in the woods Jeff?"
"It sure is Amy! I just love the smell of the creek as it passes under this old bridge! And that sunset is breathtaking!" he said, as they walked across Willow Creek bridge.