9
October 13th – 6:58 AM
It had been raining all night` and continued to drizzle as John Blankenship parked his car on Main Street. He hopped out, and covered his head with his hooded raincoat. He jogged through the puddles on the sidewalk and up to the front door of his store.
John went to unlock the front doors, but someone had already done so. He crept through the eerily quiet building, hearing nothing except for the pitter-patter of the hard rain hitting the windows of the store.
He walked into the office behind the counter and looked directly at the security monitors. One of the monitors had been focused on the rear of the building, looking over the dumpster and beyond the fence.
Taped to the fuzzy monitor, was a sheet of paper with the words, ‘Watch Me’, written on it.
10:05 AM
The community center was open. Ashley sat at her desk in the front of the office, and Laura sat at her desk in the back corner. Kristen Keller walked into the office removing her jacket, and setting her purse on top of the filing cabinet. Laura looked at her and smiled.
“First day back from jail!” Laura said, clapping. Ashley looked up and smiled. Kristen didn’t appreciate the humor.
“Don’t even joke about it. It was bullshit, and I plan on suing that damn department.” Kristen pouted.
“What even happened? They wouldn’t tell us anything. Were you a suspect?” Ashley said, interested.
“I’m not a suspect. All I did was refuse to answer their questions.” Kristen said, sitting down at her desk.
“Which would make you…suspicious. Why didn’t you answer them?” Ashley asked again.
“Because it was insulting. How can they even think I had anything to do with the murders?”
“They questioned everyone, Kristen. Not just you. Not everything is about you.” Laura said. Kristen stared at her in disbelief.
“You’re kidding? How dare you, Laura!” Kristen shouted, leaving the office. As she left, Bruce walked in, folding up his dripping umbrella.
“Is that rain ever going to stop? We can’t continue construction if it’s going to be pouring all day.” Bruce was disgruntled. He looked around. “Where the heck is Mark?”
“He’s at home. It’s been a rough couple of days for him, Bruce. Give him some time. He said he’d be in later this afternoon.” Ashley said.
Bruce stood there with his hands on his hips. “I’m sorry, is he the boss now? Since when does he make his own hours? Call him, Ashley, and tell him to come in right now.”
Bruce left the office, slamming the door behind him. The girls looked at each other.
“What’s up his butt?” Laura asked.
Ashley had an idea, and spoke quietly in case Bruce was still outside the door. “He’s afraid they’re going to cancel the festival. There was something in the paper about it.”
“So what if it gets cancelled? That’s probably the best thing that could happen right now.” Laura said.
12:30 PM
Bethany sat at her desk in front of the office. She watched as Allan Reed stood on a stepstool in the corner, and applied fake spider webs and toy spiders to the wall.
“How’s this look?” Reed asked.
“Looking good. Just stretch the webs down a little more.” Bethany wanted to make the office look as festive as possible.
The front door chimed as it was opened. John Blankenship walked in, unzipping his jacket. Reed watched him come in with a sense of urgency. Bethany stood up, startled by his sudden entrance.
“Can I help you?”
John held up a two-gig flash drive. “Is Sheriff Carter here?”
Carter sat as his desk, staring at his computer screen. John stood behind him, watching from over his shoulder. Reed stood by with his arms crossed. They were all watching the security footage from the store.
The footage was in black and white, and the angle the camera was set at showed the dumpster sitting behind the store, in front of a fence. Behind the fence was the Hollow’s End Cemetery. John reached down and hit the spacebar on Carter’s computer, pausing the video. The date and time at the bottom of the screen read: 10/13 – 1:03:01 AM.
“Right there. See that in the top corner?” John said, putting his finger on the screen.
Carter leaned forward to try and get a better look. Reed moved in closer too.
“It’s a light.” Reed noticed it.
There appeared to be a dark mass in the middle of the cemetery, with a small, but bright light accompanying it.
“Yup. That’s where it first comes in. Now watch.” John hit the spacebar again, and the footage continued to roll.
The dark mass moved through the cemetery with the light attached to it. As it weaved its way through the gravestones and monuments, the image became clearer. Carter was stunned.
It was a black-cloaked figure with a hood covering its head. The figure walked, hunched over and at a snail's pace, through the cemetery, holding out in front of ahead of it, a yard lantern with a burning wick. The mysterious figure made its way across the screen, and eventually disappeared out of the frame.
The hair stood up on the back of Carter’s neck. He looked up at Reed, who couldn’t remove his eyes from the screen.
“That is some creepy stuff right there.” Carter said, standing up. “Does he come back into view?”
“No.” John said. “I fast forwarded to the end of the footage. That was the only time he was there.”
“Okay,” Carter tossed his jacket on. “We need to check the cemetery.”
2:45 PM
Brandon Becker sat on his front porch as the wind started to nip at his neck. He pulled the hood from his sweatshirt over his head, subconsciously hiding his shame. He was disheartened, embarrassed, and disgusted with himself. He rocked back and forth in the chair and watched the world in front of him. The dying cornfield next to the house danced in the wind. A murder of crows squawked in the sky above. Brandon watched as they flew over the cornfield and past the Simmons farm in the distance.
A silver minivan pulled up their driveway and parked in front of the house. Mr. and Mrs. Simmons climbed out of the van and held each other tightly as they walked into the house. They were still mourning the loss of their daughter. Brandon was mourning as well. The girl he secretly loved through high school was gone. The man whom he confided his feelings in and helped him look at the world and love in a different way was also gone.
Brandon focused his attention on the scarecrow in the Simmons yard. It hung there with its arms out to its sides. It was stuffed full of hay and disregarded cornstalks. It was a fake. There was nothing real about it. What was once alive in the Earth was now dead and hanging in the yard for everyone to look at and criticize. It was wrong.
The front door of the house opened and Aiden walked out onto the porch. He saw his brother sitting in the rocking chair. Aiden stood by his side.
“Brandon. Can we talk?”
Brandon did not respond.
“It’s been days since you said anything to me. Sheriff Carter told me everything. I know what you’ve been going through lately. Can’t we just talk about it?”
Brandon shook his head.
“I don’t look at you any differently, Brandon. You’re my brother. That’s what you’ll always be to me.”
Aiden stood there. The only sound in the otherwise haunting silence was the creaking of the rocking chair.
5:34 PM
The sun was on its way over the Pacific and Stewart Hollow was shutting down for the day. Dozen’s of police officers had been combing the Hollow’s End Cemetery for hours, only to come up with nothing. The spine-chilling video of the cemetery from the night before stuck with everyone who saw it. What was the purpose? Was it the so-called, media-dubbed Harvest Slasher? Whoever it was made one thing perfectly clear. He was haunting Stewart Hollow.