Young Writers Society

Julian threw the chicken into the burn pile on the other side of the boathouse and covered it with wood until the next day when he could dispose of it where his parents wouldn’t be disturbed by the awful stench. The burn pile was just brush from their father who had fun trimming up some trees around the yard with his chainsaw. It wasn’t that large, only rising to Julian’s knee.

“Julian, can we go back inside now?” Cassie whispered.

Suddenly, their skin began to tingle as a rush of chilling air seemed to beat their face as they stood before the burn pile. An eerie crunch thumped onto the pile. The whoosh of a grand bird flapped above them, just to disappear into the night like a faint whisper lost in the breeze.

Cassie screamed and crawled onto Julian’s back, hanging from his neck. Julian turned his back to the burn pile, trying to scope out whatever it was out of the black sky. He took a step back, stumbling from Cassie’s weight pulling him down he almost collapsed into it. He bent backwards, steadying himself on the pile, arching his back he could feel the clammy warmth of the thing. He twisted his body and faced it.

A fawn, bloody and disemboweled like the chicken, lay limply at his feet, its flesh carved to ribbons. Its one large dead black eye glittered with the scarlet orange of the moon light.

“What the-,” Julian shouted but was interrupted by another thud across the yard near the dock.

Cassie couldn’t take it any longer; she couldn’t stand the sight of the poor creatures.

“I’m going to get Petunia,” she squeaked, jumped off Julian’s back and raced to the house. She yanked the glass door open and scooped up the yelping dog in her arms. Julian took no notice of her and ran in the direction of the thud near the dock.

“Julian, wait!” Cassie yelled. She sprinted towards him, her tennis shoes padding across the yard. When she reached him, she grasped his arm while Petunia nibbled on the sleeve of Julian’s t-shirt. He glanced down at her with an eyebrow raised. Who are you and what have you done with my sister?

“I don’t like what’s going on. Let’s go back inside, please.” She pleaded. Julian said nothing. “What is it?” She shined her flickering, battery dieing flashlight about them finally crossing the third hunk of dismembered animal.

“I don’t know, but this isn’t a good sign,” Julian said sternly, the thought that he had jinxed them with the scheme he had concocted was growing into fact, accumulating with dead animals.

“Of course it isn’t a good sign!” she whispered loudly. “That thing’s real and it’s gonna eat us!”

Julian gave an exasperated sigh. “It won’t eat us plus it doesn’t even exist, like you said,” he wished he believed his own words and he thought saying them aloud may make him feel better. It really didn’t. “I bet someone’s pulling a joke on us.”

“No one would play this sick of a joke on someone,” She turned and walked back towards the boathouse, her pace quickening, when she realized it felt like the darkness was closing in on her. Julian hadn’t noticed that she had left; he was still trying to think of another explanation, but what truly was happening boggled his mind. Cassie, almost to the boathouse, stopped and waited anxiously for Julian to catch up, though he was not coming. Petunia yipped playfully but it turned to spine-chilling call of true terror.

A ferocious gale almost ripped Julian’s shirt right of his back and the heart dropping loudness made Julian’s breath halt in his throat, choking him. His mind, still frozen in fright, didn’t process it until it was too late. The form of a giant bird swooped down over Cassie; Julian saw the silhouette of its five talon fingers and its crackling and coiling tail. The wings outstretched like a horrifying shadow of death before Julian get his words out.

“Cassie! RUN!” He shouted, she turned and was going to ask what? as it descended upon her. Her eyes widened with horror and she let a mind lurching screech. It pulled her into its grasp and took her above the trees. Her screams faded into the night whispering, “Julian! Help!” over and over again until it finally vanished.

Julian raced after his sister’s voice long after it was gone. “Cassie! Where are you?!” he shouted even though it was useless. No one could hear him. Panic boiled in his chest and his thoughts blurred into a haze of confusion. His head throbbed with his heart beat and his knees buckled underneath him as the vision of his sister being swept away by those billowy wings repeated before his eyes. He collapsed to the ground, completely losing it. He almost crossed that line of sheer and utter panic that was unrecoverable before he choked on his own breath. He finally collected himself and sorted his thoughts. The thing/Creature was real and took his sister!

“Oh, Cassie, you would know what to do,” Julian muttered even though he knew that he was somewhat false. She would be just as frantic as he was.

He flopped on his back and stared up at the sky that swallowed his sister. The branches above him were eerily still but they whispered a possible solution into his thoughts.

“That’s it! Thanks, Cassie.”

He jumped up from the cold ground and raced to the tree nearest him. He scaled it with agility and determination and soon enough he perched himself at the top. Nearly rising above all the other trees, he scanned the horizon in the direction where she and the Creature were swallowed by the night. To his left was a clearing where he could see the roof of the boathouse and the burn pile behind it.

Suddenly, he saw it. Soaring gracefully in the air as if it were suspended by hidden wires strung to the orange moon, the Harvest Moon Creature glided over the lake towards the boathouse. Julian’s heart stopped, strangled by fear, and the fright seeped into his skin, chilling his muscles until they froze entirely.

He crouched back behind the branches, peering out from behind the thin maple leaves. It circled the burn pile and dropped something that hadn’t a shape like an animal but a human; Cassie drifted down out of the sky, her silhouette shown against the shimmering lake. Her figure seemed to float down until she crashed into the burn pile with gruesome crunches and snaps of branches, or at least Julian hoped it was only wood splitting. The Creature disappeared into the night.

“Cassie,” Julian whispered as if she could hear him, if she ever hears anything again. He started climbing back down, not noticing where the Creature flew, bounding down from branch to branch, not caring much if he fell. Julian’s foot slipped about half way down and he was thrust downward his back snapped the limbs as his weight plowed through the brush. Finally, he slammed into a limb that was as wide around as his waist, squarely on his back. He moaned painfully, his head felt as if someone had beaten it with a bat and the dizziness began to set in. He pulled himself onto the branch and embraced the trunk as if it was his life. His breath slowed and steadied his heart beat but the terror was still fresh in his chest, a horrible sweetness lodged in him until it dimly resided but that wouldn’t happen for a while. He was still very high up, but he thought about jumping down. The tree shook a little bit and an abnormal gust of wind rustled his auburn hair, numbly he turned his head.

His heart shattered from the icy fear that squeezed it. It straddled the trunk just a branch above him. Julian could smell its hideous breath and his stomach churned, revolving maliciously, threatening to let up his dinner. Its eyes gleamed white like pure snow but glossed over like a mirror, unfocused, as if it were looking at something that had no life or purpose. The charred rings were wrinkles of scabs and scars above its gawking; raw, lipless mouth, which was stained red. Julian prayed it wasn’t his sister’s blood. He felt as if he could feel the razor-like feathers brush against his cheek just by looking at them.

Julian battled for breath against his fear and he gasped, showing a sign of life. Its eyes zeroed in on Julian, no longer having the blank stare on its unnatural face and let out an unearthly shrieking hiss and lunged at him. His heart flopped in his chest and collapsed completely, clogging his airways. He tumbled off the limb backwards colliding with enough force that he thought he was dead from impact. The air was shoved from his lungs, as well as his consciousness, slipping into the abyss he thought was death.

Cassie woke with a gasp but the shooting pain in her lungs shortened the huffs to little hiccups of breath. She ached all over and her skin felt wet and cold, stinging in the midnight air. She willed her eyes to open and she rubbed her arms, slowly testing her mobility and strength. Her hands came away wet and smelled of copper. Her own blood dripped from her finger tips. She winced and quickly wiped her hands clean on her shirt. Every movement hurt horribly. She finally, let her head fall back and she gazed up at the sky.

“Oh,” Cassie cussed. She sat somewhere, deep in the burn pile with an ensnaring spider web of debris above her, trapping her in. She tried to move her legs but they were both numb and there was a piercing twinge at her hips which was unbearable.

“My legs,” she whimpered but it hurt terribly when she spoke. The panic was rising and thrummed with malice at the edges of her mind, creeping and spreading to every cell in her existence. The gouges in her arms and face tingled like someone had dipped her in saltwater. She brought a weary hand to her face and felt the wetness but it wasn’t blood, it was tears. She gasped for air. The pain in her lungs felt like an electric jolt streaming through her and fed the adrenaline to the panic in her brain. She willed herself to calm down but without deep breaths that was almost impossible.

She thought that thinking happy thoughts would calm her nerves. Her heart raced so fast that the beats all meshed together into a hum before slowing when she thought about her family. -She thought it was probably the first time she has ever thought about her family to make herself feel better.- Her mom, dad and brother eased into her vision. Julian! She burst at the thought of what might have happened to him.

“Julian!” she shouted, but wilted back and grimaced with pain. Then the tears welded up again. “Julian,” she held back the sobs but the tears had won her over.

Julian woke with a start and a terrible headache, the blood thrummed on the inside of his skull. He gathered his surroundings with the tips of fingers, running them through the grass, and then it all came back to him. That cursed Creature was real and took his sister. Great! He sat up and felt a large lump that had bubbled up on the back of his head. It seemed so large, Julian thought he was growing a second head. He sat up suddenly and black veils slicked the images away from before his eyes. A wave of nausea swept over him and forced him down like a handful of sand tossed in the ocean. He took deep breaths which somewhat settled his body and mind but with every breath he could feel himself growing weaker and lethargic, wanting to lie there on the ground until morning where his parents would find him and his sister would be okay. They would tell him that he had only wandered out into the yard in his sleep and would laugh about it later. But that wouldn’t happen.

He forced himself into an easy stand but the inevitable spots returned. He put his hand to his head and wobbled subconsciously. Julian took a few heavy steps forward, his feet clomping on the earth and his toes bumped into a large mass of warmth. He knew what it was but when he steadied himself and his vision cleared. He was astonished to see that not only did a dead animal lie before him, they littered the yard every few feet. Large and small, fat and thin, the animals created a grotesque labyrinth in which he had to find his sister.

“Oh my gosh,” Julian whispered. “How long have I been out?” he murmured and ran his fingers through his hair. His head tingled when his fingers came in contact with the second head.

Cassie’s voice rang through his skull, echoing Julian in that horrific shriek he wished he would never hear again.

“Julian,” it said again but it sounded so real yet he knew it was only his head. He wanted to yell Cassie, I’m coming! in his mind but when he did the two voices overlapped. Julian was baffled at what he heard for he had never had that happen to him before. The two voices intertwined into a jumble of communication. He was sure it was only his head injury until the voice said something different.

“Julian, please, I think it’s coming back,” it said. The tears in her voice washed the yard with bitterness.

It really was her! It was her voice calling to him the entire time. You retard, Julian!!! He thought to himself.

“Cassie!” his voice was shrill and it frightened even him. Julian’s heart soared into his throat with excitement, though fear bubbled and frothed in his airways. The spots invaded his eyes but he willed his legs to propel him toward the sound. “Where are you?!”

“Julian!” she shouted, and then moaned miserably.

“Cassie, are you okay?!” Julian hurtled towards her voice blindly. He felt his feet fumble underneath him with every once and while stepping into something soft and warm. Their bones and organs crunched and hissed under his feet. Julian could smell what he trampled but could not see.

“Julian, I think its coming back, hurry! I’m trapped!” Cassie’s voice broke into sobs of unbearable suffering as if speaking hurt bitterly, like acid was poured down her throat.

“I’m coming!”

THUD! Cassie hadn’t heard the crash but Julian sure did. He had sprinted straight into what seemed to be a wall. He tumbled to the ground and groaned with pain. After his breath slowed, his vision cleared and above him loomed the back wall of the boat house, wavering before his eyes like an image in the water. He lay where they had found the first dead animal of the night. Julian could feel the wetness of the grass and knew what it was, though he wished it were only dew.

He fought to get to his feet and was determined to keep his sight clear. He looked around the corner and there was the burn pile. He glanced around though he didn’t see Cassie. She gasped with pain. Where in the world is she?! His eyes swept across the yard back and forth, across the burn pile.

Julian rubbed his head and eyes and started toward the burn pile, slowing every time the sky, trees and his surroundings were covered with fuzzy splotches. He approached the burn pile but did not find Cassie. Her voice had ceased except for her hoarse breathing from somewhere around the pile.

“Cassie, where are you?” Julian circled the pile, looking in and out. He noticed that the pile had grown immensely, towering over him even…where Cassie was trapped!

“I’m right here,” she wept, “Julian, it hurts so badly.”

Julian could hear the tears in her voice and he couldn’t bear the sound of it. His knees buckled and he crumbled, his hand to his head. What do I do?! Someone from the back of his head who he has not heard in awhile, a long while, spoke to him and Julian knew what to do. He stood, wondering who this little voice in his head was, he sounded smart, and so why not do what he says?

“Okay, Cassie what hurts?” he asked. He froze not making a move so he could track down where she was.

“Everything,” she croaked. “Julian, it hurts to speak.”

When he heard her voice he inched towards it. He was at the back of the pile and started towards the boathouse. Once he thought he was closing in on her, her voice receded.

“I know, Cassie, but I need you to keep talking so I can find you,” Julian commanded.

“Okay,” she said.

“Tell me what you see. What’s around you?” Julian asked.

She sighed painfully. “Uhm, above me I see the trees but I’m buried, somewhere in the middle.”

“Okay, Cassie,” he wanted to tell her that that didn’t help him at all for the yard was covered with trees. He glanced around him and to his right was the boat house. The little guy spoke again and he obeyed. He ran to the door and flipped the floodlight on.

“Cassie, do you see the light?” he asked.

“Yeah,”

“Is the light to your left or right?”

“Neither, it’s at my feet,”

Julian looked ahead. “Oh no,” it was what he had suspected. She was at the dead center of the pile.

“Look all around you,” he said; racing to figure what to do next, his little buddy was silent.

She craned her neck with difficulty and sighed. “Branches, branches, branches and more branches. Julian, what else do you think is around me!?” her voice quivered with effort and frustration.

Julian pursed his lips and cussed in his head, holding down the anger that welled in his chest. Everything was leading up to it and he wished his theory wasn’t true but there was only one way to find out.

“Cassie, I need you to work with me, if I’m gonna get you out,” Julian hurtled towards the pile, jumping as high as he could with one leap. The branches shifted underneath him but he steadied himself before he took more careful but hasty steps towards the very top.

“Say something,” Julian said.

“What do you want me to say?” Cassie asked, closer now.

“I don’t know!” he shouted, his feet slid down the side as if it were an icy slope. “Anything!” Julian heaved himself over branches and logs, gouging his elbows into the pile as picks, holding him firm on the ice.

She began to speak, not knowing what else to do, but then her voice fell to a faint whimper.

“Cassie, I need you to say something!” Julian pleaded; irritation was pure in his voice.

“Julian, it hurts so badly. I don’t want to talk,”

“I need you to,” he growled out of anger more at his progress than her. It seemed as if every step he ascended, he declined two. “Sing something, hum a song.”

“I’ll try,” and she began to hum a song that was more of a noise than having an actual tune.

Julian trekked up and up until it seemed that Cassie was underneath him. His legs, shook from the strenuous climb and he was forced to crawl across, hoping not to fall onto Cassie.

“Can you see me, Cassie?” he asked, winded.