The forest

It didn't take more than a couple hours for the rest of the town to know what had happened to the Carrigan's family. It wasn't nothing new, but it seemed that rumours flew like trees in a storm. Richard had heard people mumbling about the disappearance of his daughter, about how it had been a terrible accident and how it was hard for them to look at their son. 

For that exact reason they forgave Peter to go outside, if he had little friends before, now he would be left with none. Ir was too risky, and his mother didn't want to even think about having to deal with a suicide because of what people talked. Instead, they put more effort in trying to keep the boy distracted, he kept asking about Michelle, and they were running out of excuses to put. 

That same night after dinner, when Mrs. Carrigan was already in bed, Richard and Eleanor talked about the situation and together got to the conclusion they needed to tell Peter what happened, where his sister left and that she wouldn't be able to come back. Eleanor was the first one to approach the boy while he was watching TV, insisting on the need to talk about an important matter with him. It took a couple minutes but when he finally turned his attention to her, Richard also approached, kneeling and placing his hand on his knee. 

The words sounded muffled, confusing, and the story about the strange creatures that took people away sounded more like a fantasy movie rather than real life. When they asked him if he understood he was only able to shake his head from side to side. Why would he understand? He was sure they were trying to apply more guilt to him by saying those things, and that infuriated him. 

Eleanor stayed there when the boy stormed out of the room, screaming that he hated them and that it wasn't his fault. Perhaps they had failed at trying to make him understand that it was true, it wasn't his fault, no one from their circle blamed him. But it seemed that it didn't matter for the boy, he had already made up his mind and accepted the accident as occurred by his own immaturity. 

While the household was trying to keep the cracked pieces from breaking them apart, Michelle was already in her own nightmare. The hit she received from the floor had knocked her out cold after a couple of seconds, perhaps it had been for the best if it hadn't been for the sight that awaited her when she opened her eyes. 

At first everything was blurry, the type of blurry that someone that wears glasses and lost them sees, and slowly she managed to focus her eyes, only to be presented with a creature that seemed taken from a scary movie. It looked human: a head, arms and legs. But the skin was black, instead of having two appendices it had four, plus the legs were way too long to look human and be comfortable to walk. Michelle was a big fan of horror movies, however, she always got scared, and at that moment she was terrified. Her heart was hitting her ribcage so hard the creatures could hear it, not that it mattered, they already had her. 

She was sitting on the ground, full of leaves, wet dirt and rocks that incrustrated on her palms and butt. The scenery was dark, enough to barely be able to see anything except the creatures and the faint silhouette of trees. Michelle pulled her knees to her chest and covered her ears, it was the only way she knew how to keep the monsters away, but this time it didn't work. The creatures talked in a language similar to rodents, high pitched. Definitely not what someone would expect such things to sound like.

Silence fell upon them, the two creatures that were present looking at the girl, while she kept humming to herself, convincing her small mind that it was just a bad dream and that her mom would come to wake her up and offer her to sleep in her bed. She didn't think about her dad, they didn't have the same relationship. Richard was always working, barely spending time at home and only coming back when night time came and he didn't have somewhere to go. 

As silence kept being present, Michelle slowly opened her eyes, they hadn't attacked her yet. In her nightmares the monsters never waited to hurt her, but these monsters weren't hurting her. None of them moved until a door creaking open echoed between the trees. Then a much deeper voice spoke using actual words and inviting Michelle to join whoever was talking. 

She hesitated a bit before she stood and looked at the creatures, who moved and pointed in the direction she had to go. It was dark and she could barely distinguish anything but she trusted them. She headed there, darkness surrounding her the more she walked, hands extended out to stop anything that would hit her face first. Her fingertips touched a rough, cold surface, and upon more investigation, she reached the handle and opened it. It came to sight a bright room, looking like a normal living room, warm and smelling like freshly baked cookies. 

Looking behind her, she didn't see the creatures, despite the short distance she had walked, and the only things there were the trees that swayed with the wind, a wind she hadn't felt yet. She turned her attention to the room and entered, the door, made of rust metal, closed with a loud bang behind her, making her jump, but after another look, it seemed made of wood. 

"Hello?" She finally called out, not seeing anyone and wondering if she was just in a stranger's house and if she had walked out of the house in her sleep. Nobody answered her, instead, a man walked out of a room on the further left side of the room. His skin was paler than what Michelle had ever seen, in her town everybody was more or less tanned, she noticed the man didn't have any hair on his head but he had a long white beard that hung. His skin was wrinkled, it reminded her of Mrs. Carrigan's skin, and his eyes were blue, like Peter's.

Michelle stepped closer, hands clutched on her chest. "Excuse me..do you know where my family is?" She asked, her voice going out as high pitch and shaky. The man stared at her before he walked to the room on Michelle's right. He stayed quiet, and Michelle wondered if he had heard her in the first place. She opened her mouth again but she closed it when the man held his hand up.  "I heard you" replied, voice softening. "But I won't answer." And that was the end, the man made a hand motion to the chair, offering Michelle a seat. It wasn't that scary, Michelle though.