BEGINNING OF THE END 3

Claude shined the light into the darkness, trying to see further ahead. So far it looked the same as the rest of the cave. He continued to move forward, his hands shaking as he slowly stepped through the dark. Trying to stay calm and focused, using the cave walls to guide him, but they were too hot to touch. As he moved further along, scanning his flashlight along the cave walls, he noticed more blood smeared across the wall. Not paying attention to where he was walking, he tripped, falling to the ground and his flashlight rolling a few meters ahead of him. The light was shining in his face, blinding him, he turned his head to look away, his gaze looking at the object that tripped him.

Claude couldn’t move, an ambiance of silence flooded around him. His heartbeat ringing in his ears, slow and heavy beats. Time felt as if it had stopped, Denny, his brother’s body lay before him. Denny, still in his blue flannel pyjamas now COVERED in blood. His chest cavity and stomach were completely torn open, organs were gone, just blood pooling in his body.

Terror in his eyes, his jaw and mouth were mangled, as if something wanted him to stop screaming. Claude closed his eyes, the tears falling down his cheeks, rolling off his chin and falling into the dirt. Claude stood up from the ground, fearing that whatever did this to his brother might still be around.

Claude looked over where his flashlight was lying, something was placed in front of the light, casting a shadow. He moved closer, placing one of his hands in front of him to block the light from his eyes. He crouched back down to grab what the object was. It was sharp at one end, slender, smooth, and rounded at the other end. He picked up his flashlight and shinned it over the object in his hand.

He froze as he stared at the piece of broken bone in his hand. When he gathered his thoughts, he tossed the bone further into the hole in the wall and started heading back out, he wanted to go home. He began to run, breathing heavily, and his thudding feet echoing through the dark. Something was behind him, a clicKing sound. Claude didn’t stop, to him there was no time to stop. He had to get home, he had to get to his mother and father.

The clicking was getting louder, catching up to Claude. Now, trying to run as fast as he could, pushing his legs hard off the ground, feeling something close. Then, like a wave washing over him, there was silence. He couldn’t hear his feet echoing, he couldn’t hear his breath, nor his own heart. The hair on the nape of his neck stood up. The clicking was right behind him, so close he could feel the breath of something chasing him.

Just as he reached the part of the cave where the sun shined through, something moved in front of Claude, blocking his path. Claude stopped before running into it, then there it was.

Quick pain, like from a finger prick and then it was gone. Claude’s body dropped to the ground. Gurgling and choking on the blood that was pooling in his mouth. Blood poured out of his chest, stomach, and neck. He was dying. A rush of warmth washed over him, his body tingling as blood slowly surrounded his body. Before losing consciousness, he seen it. A Beast with no eyes, clicking its forked tongue as if sniffing the air. Smelling blood, the creature inhaled long and deep. Sweeping its long knife - like fingers through the blood and sliding its tongue all over like a snake tasting its prey. Claude couldn’t move and couldn’t scream. His vision was blackening in and out as unconsciousness was becoming more and more frequent. The creature clicked its tongue over and over, now sliding its fingers over Claude’s body.

Sliding his tongue over his clothes, tasting the blood that was pouring out of his body. Everything around Claude was slowing down. Then, the creature placed both of its claw - like hands over his body, dug its fingers in, piercing his skin and ripped his ribcage open. Claude’s body went limp as the creature fed on his organs.

Susan could hear the rocking chair creek as her husband sat on the porch smoking on his tobacco pipe through the kitchen window.

‘Those boys better get home soon, it’s almost dark out,’ she said while throwing some pasta in the boiling water on the Stove. She grabbed a spoon, taste testing her sauce. Satisfied, she turned the plate down to warm. Setting the table, she hollered through the kitchen window at her husband.

‘Supper is just about ready do you wanna see if you could just holler for them?’

Susan’s husband groaned through his pipe. Slowly standing up he headed over to the screen door and yelled for the boys.

‘Denny! Claude!’ Jimmy’s voice carried over their land, echoing through the hills. Susan watched through the window, waiting to see the boys come running up the hill, knowing they were in trouble for being out later than they were supposed to. Impatiently Susan asked.

‘Maybe try ringing the bell, they may be further into the woods than your voice can travel.’

Jimmy walked over to the big iron bell that was connected to their house. He rang it hard and loud, the bell pinged along the hills, echoing further out than Jimmy’s voice. Once again, they waited, but there was no one. There was no response from the boys, and they were nowhere in sight. Letting out a breath of irritation Jimmy went towards the screen door.

‘Alright woman, I’ll go and look for them.’ Susan shook her head.

‘I told Claude this morning before he left, they were to be home BEFORE DARK.’

Jimmy nodded in response, heading down the hill and into the woods. Susan went back into the house and started setting the table for supper. Listening to Jimmy’s voice echo through the trees as he called for their sons. Susan then placed the plates, forks, knives, and spoons in each spot for her family. After she set the table and placed the food on the table, the timer for the oven started beeping. The rolls were ready. Susan grabbed the oven mitts and took the hot sheet out of the oven, turning it off for the night. She quickly placed all the rolls on her cooling rack and gently waved her oven mitt over them to help cool them down. Then, she placed a towel over the rolls and grabbed the butter and rolls, heading over to the table, dinner ready. Going back into the kitchen, she grabbed four glasses out of the cupboard and placed them next to each plate. Milk for the boys and some sweet red wine for the parents. Susan then sat down in her usual spot at the table and waited.

The Grandfather clock chimed, Susan looked, and the clock face said 7pm. Getting worried, Susan went to the screen door, standing there waiting for her husband to come up the hill with the boys trailing behind him.

Jimmy was walking through the woods yelling for his sons.

‘Denny! Claude!’ A long pause between each boys’ names, waiting to hear any kind of response that would let him know the direction they might be in. There was no response, some branches were snapping in the distance, birds were flying away as Jimmy would frighten them by yelling for Denny and Claude...

‘Denny! Claude!’ Once again nothing, Jimmy moved deeper into the woods, still calling for his sons. The sun was now setting and getting darker, which meant it would be harder to see. Jimmy yelled as loud as he possibly could.

‘DENNY! CLAUDE!’ His voice carried through the trees, but there was no response. Jimmy turned around and headed back to the house, kicking stones, and snapping twigs under his feet. Trudging through the forest and up the hill, the house came into view, along with Susan. She was standing at the screen door, terror struck her face as she watched her husband sprinting towards her, neither boy in sight. A phone call was made and about twenty minutes later, a squad car pulled up to the house. A sheriff and his deputy exited their vehicle and walked up the steps to Susan and Jimmy’s house. They didn’t even get the chance to knock before both Sudan and Jimmy, hand in hand, welcomed them in. As a common courtesy, they removed their hats upon entering. Jimmy shook each of the officers’ hands and led them into the dining room. Susan walked over, grabbed some coffee for herself and husband.

‘Would you like a cup?’

She asked both officers as she set her husband’s cup in front of him. They both shook their heads while the sheriff pulled out a pen and notepad.

Susan and Jimmy gave every possible detail about Denny and Claude they could. Scars, the clothes they were wearing when they left this morning. Although Susan admitted she did not see Denny this morning.

‘When was the last time you seen Denny?’ the sheriff asked, watching Susan as she answered.

‘Last night after supper, the boys washed up and went to bed right after.’

The sheriff wrote something down in the notepad and asked a few more questions. Susan and Jimmy gave them some information that would be of use in finding their boys.

Susan stood up, walked to the living room and then back to the kitchen with two pictures in her hand.

‘These were taken a few months ago,’ she said as her hands trembled handing him pictures of Denny and Claude. The deputy took the pictures, and the sheriff looked them over, speaking into his walkie - talkie.

'Hey Lynnette?’ He waited, listening to the static on the other end. Then, ‘Go ahead Boss.’

The sheriff cleared his throat before speaking. ‘You wanna go ahead and put an Amber Alert for a missing person. Two boys,Denny Doran and Claude Doran age 14, both have dark brown hair, brown eyes. I have two pictures here as well, we will be getting that over to you shortly. Also, you wanna go ahead and send a search party crew over to the Doran’s Farm. I want to get started here first before expanding out further, over.’ He let go of the button on the walkie - talkie, waiting for her to give a response back. There was nothing for a while, so he clicked the button again.

‘Lynnette?’ he said, waiting for her to respond, there was some static and then a voice.

‘Copy that, over.’

The sheriff slid the paper he had written a note on under his arm.

‘We are going to head to the station to put the report in. I’m going to send over a unit and get a search party, do you know where they would have entered the woods from here?’ Susan nodded.

‘Always right at the bottom of the hill, easiest way to remember how to get home.’ As the sheriff excused himself through the kitchen and out the back door.

‘It might give us a better range of where they might be, rather than looking in all the wrong places.’

The sheriff and his deputy then headed to where the hill starts going down, he could see the entrance into the woods from here. He then took some notes down in his book and excused himself.

Quickly he walked over to the squad car with his deputy, both getting into the vehicle, the deputy said something.

‘I got a bad feeling boss.’

The sheriff sat back in his seat, looking over at Doran, Jimmy just closed the screen door, and they were heading into the house.

‘I do too,’ he said, putting the car in reverse, backed up enough to, then pull forward, exiting the driveway and to the police precinct they headed