A small quiet town...

It was such a small quiet town....But those kind of towns always have a dark secret....


Douglas Cartland continued down driving down the road, the farther away from his hometown the less dense the traffic had gotten. Eventually there didn't seem to be any traffic at all, and the surroundings around the road went from tall builds to small farms, and now, nothing but the endless density of the New England woods. He let off a sigh as the road around him darkened with the night sky looming overhead, storm clouds blocking out the crescent moon which loomed over the sky. Douglas looked up at the road briefly, then to his passenger seat, laying there was a small manilla folder, and paper-clipped onto it was a picture of a young girl, maybe 16 or so, brown hair pulled back into a pony tail, a bright smile with pearl white teeth. It was a smile of happiness, but he was sure she was frowning now. Her name was Sarah Jefferson, and it was the 6th abduction in 3 months. No trace of any kindof break in of them homes, no reasons for the abductions, no suspects. He had been on the case privately since the 3rd abduction, and finally, he thought he had a clue on this one. After making some calls, someone thought they saw her in a small town out in the middle of this forest, a small quiet town called Greenwich.

He looked back up at the road again, his beams the only light on the road, and his brown eyes scanning the dense woods, even a glance at it gave him the chills which ran down his spine like a racking of sharp cold nails. He had a bad feeling about this case, he just didn't know what it was...

[edit on 7-26-2004 by WolfofWar]

Very good,

I cant wait to read more of this, It kinda has me wanting to know more,

It was almost Midnight when Douglas finally gotten to Greenwich. He wasn't surprised to find that the town was surrounded also by that dense forest. It was a pleasant town, rows of old houses, newly paved streets, an amusement park, even a small lake. It wouldn't seem like a place you'd find some abductor or rapist or murderer, but looks always seemed decieving. Douglass continued his drive into the town, his eyes turning to glance at the forest once more, there was something about it, something that gave him an uncomfortable feeling in his gut. He shook it off though, and drove to the motel, pulling his pickup into a free parking space in the small motel, a hand swooping up the manilla folder, which he slid into his brown overcoat before shutting the door and scanning about the area.

'The Red Fox Inn', atleast thats what the sign said. Douglas gave the parking lot area a quick once over, two other cars there, parked, one most likely being the motel owner. For the most part the place looked like a normal motel, but a feel about it, like the forest, was awkward and eerie. It was as if one would be standing in the middle of a slasher film, but then again, wasn't that how all motels this old felt like? He shook it off and walked inside, a hand pushing the glass doors open, the door hitting a small bell which rang out like a tiny bird singing its morning song. The man at the desk, a portly, scruffling looking fellow, probably in his mid fifties, was sitting behind the counter, watching a baseball game on an old black and white tv which lay on the top of the counter.
"Can I help you?" The man said without ever glancing upon Douglas.

"I reserved a room for a few nights under the name Douglas Cartland..."
"Yay I know, the key's on the desk...room 105. Not many folks come around here anymore, you another tourist?" The portly man questioned, his eyes finally meeting Douglas' briefly, then back to the old television.

"Something like that, yes."

Douglas calmly walked to the counter from the door, the old wood floor letting off hollow thumps as his boots touched them. He snatched the keys calmly off of the desk and walked out, giving one quick glance over his shoulder at the man before walking outside and toward's his room number. He slid the key into the door and turned it, the door opening with a light squeal. His hand slid along the wall as it searched for a lightswitch, which flicked on as his palm pushed it up. The room was quaint, a nice queen sized bed with white bedsheets, lining of blue flower decor on it. a desk with a chair, a small Television set, an endtable with a old roterry phone on it, and a door leading to a small bathroom, and a large window next to the entrance of the room with nice curtains over it.
It didn't take him long to get set up and unpacked, closing the door and locking it shut before he slipped under the sheets to get a good night's sleep, he decided to start the full investigation in the morning. As he began to close his eyes, he could still feel something strange about the city, and even the room, a feeling of being watched when nobody is there. He didn't like being in this town, but he wouldn't let its awkwardness stop his investigation, after all, it's just a small quiet town, whats the worse that could happen...?

"I couldn't save her...."

His nightmares always had kept him up and night, and tonight was no different. The vision of the first abduction case always felt so clear in his mind. A small girl, only 9 years old, long blonde hair and that cute and innocent smile. That smile wasn't there when he found her, in these very woods that he traveled through, only three months ago. When he found her in the woods, the site was horrific. The clothing she was abducted in was gone, replaced by a long white gone which was far too big for her. She had been tied up by her small wrists to a thick oak branch by barbed wire. At the throat there was a cut which followed the bottom of the neck, from one shoulder to the other, and then, straight down the middle of the chest and stopped at the belly. And then, there was another cut which intersected the verticle cut down her chest, and formed a cross shape. The organs had been ripped out, and from the look of her horrified face, she was still alive when they cut her open and began pulling all the organs out. The blood had still been fresh, she only died a few hours ago, but he was too late...

He wouldn't let it happen to Sarah either, this time he would correct his mistake, whomever did this would be stopped. Douglas layed there in his bed for awhile before getting up around 9am. Staggering tiredly into the bathroom, his eyes half closed as he leaned over the small sink, splashing some warm water on his face and looking up at himself. Douglas' eyes widened quickly as when he looked into the mirror he saw something horrific. His heart began beating like a war drum almost instantly. In the mirror he saw something behind him, standing right behind his shoulder. It was a hideous thing, brownish green scared skin with horn-like protrusions on his shoulders and down its spiny, boney arms. it's mouth had sharp, point fangs as its jaw hung in a gawk, the teeth stained red, its yellow cat-like eyes staring evilly upon Douglas. At the top of his skull was more hornlike pretrusions, two on either side, which curved down and out like a bull, and a few more horns in the middle of his skill.

Douglas quickly turned to face the creature, but as he did, he saw there was nothing there. no, just the white wall. His heart was still beating and his breath felt heated when he looked back atthe mirror, what he saw in the mirror was not there anymore...no..it was never there at all. He exhaled a sigh, trying to calm himself before walking out of the bathroom and slipping his clothes on. When he put them on, he realised then that he was trembling with fear.

"Get ahold of yourself Doug..."

He muttered to himself, taking a deep breath and walking out of the motel room, turning to lock the door shut. As he turned back after locking the door, he jumped back. Standing there was the portly man that was behind the counter last night.

"Had a good sleep Mr. Cartland?" The man said, his voice calm and cold.

"Y...yes, can I help you?"

"Just wanted to see if you needed any information for your investigation."

"Who said anything about an investigation?"

"Oh....I'm sorry, I just presumed you were here about the string of abductions around the woodlands in the last few months....most of the people that come to this town are investigators. Nobody really comes here anymore as tourists after the resort incident."

"The Resort Incident?"

The strange portly man smiled once more to Douglas, a large toothy, but unsincere looking smile.

"Have a good day Mr. Cartland, I hope you find whatever your looking for."

And with that, the man slowly walked away back to the to the main building. Douglas sighed as he looked up at the sky, it was a clear sky, crystal blue, and with a beautiful cool fall breeze which hit the trees and moved them back and forth as if they were dancing in unisen. Even at day, the strange feeling he had about the woods and the town remained. He stepped in his truck and drove away from the motel slowly, knowing if he would find any leads about the abductions, it would be in this small quiet town...

[edit on 7-27-2004 by WolfofWar]

great story wolfofwar. looking forward to more. keep up the good work. i like it.

Lindsey Convenant grapsed the fist-sized hunk of green stone. It had been a gift once, from a Japanese man when she was very, very young. It gave her The Flashes... a whiff of the past for each time she used iits power. It drained her to use it, but it had helped more than once to solve...problems.

Sometimes, it was as simple as a baby crying, a whsipered conversion. Other times, it was flat out hallucinations of what had happened. No matter how the Stone chose to affect her, it left her drained afterwards, as if someone had torn away a piece of her soul.

In one hand, the sharp edges of the Stone dug into her hand as it trembled. In the other, she held a photograph of the most recently murdered child. Before using her Power, it had been jsut the little girl and her rabbit, sitting out in the sun and smiling for the camera. Before her very eyes, the Stone changed it. A flash on her field of vision, and a haze covered everything. Nothign changed...except the picture. before, the little girl in the picture had been sweet and wholesome, carefree in every way. Now, her features had been warped. Blood soaked her yellow sundress, blood seeping from ehr mouth. Before, she had a pretty if crooked smile. now, it was diabolical. Long canines erupted from her jaw, shredding ehr lower lip as blood flowed freely from mouth. Her eyes became somehow more...malevolent as she stared from the picture. The girl's hair, one bleached by a warm and gentle sun, now was limp and grey, hanging over bony, emaciated shoulders. Small, almost pudgy hands peeled away into long claws, soaked too in blood. The strips of her former innocent flesh hung from her warped wrists.

Where her pet had been, a malformed imp grinned at Lindsey with enormous eyes.

She screamed and dropped the picture.

DE

As Douglas drove through countryside, small farms and woodland- he decieded that the best thing to do was to go see the witnesses around the small town, so he pulled over and got out a sheet of paper.

On the paper were all the names of people who had known the abductees and people who rang in their local sheriffs department to complain about strange disturbances in areas of the town.

The nearest place was just two minutes away- a lady called Lindsey Convenant- her picture was perfect- long blonde hair with massive blue eyes and a welcoming face, he decided he was actualy lookinhg forward to speaking to someone who seemed normal enough- this place was really starting to make him feel strange.

He looked at the address on the paper, got out the little map he had for the town and found the place.

As he drove up to the house he started to get flash backs, the girls face, her body, then all of a sudden he looked up and someone was stood in the middle of the road...

Everything happend so quickly, he swerved, missing whatever was in the road, and veered off into woodland area.
After what seemed hours, Douglas sat up, and got back his bearings, he shook his head,and put his hand to his forehead he could feel a warm liquid trickling down his face.

He then remembered that he had got in this situation by nearly running someone or something over, why had no one come to see what had happend, all of a sudden he got a thought going through his head, 'what if i hit whatever was in the road?'.

He unbuckled his belt, luckily the truck had only rolled and just missed the cluster of trees in front of him, he made sure nothing was broken, so he moved his legs then his arms and decided it was safe to get out of the truck.

Stepping out carefuly, he went to the road to investigate, by this time it must have been late afternoon, he walked over to the spot where it had happend and to his suprise nothing was there, there as no blood, so he couldnt of hit anything.

He could have sworn that a person was standing in the middle of the road- he wasnt certain, but if it was they would have come over to see if he was alright when the crash happend.

Confused he strolled back to the truck to retrieve his things, he looked at the truck to see what damage had been done- and if it could be repaired.

While he was inspecting the it he heard footsteps behind him, he turned around, and everything went black...