The next morning when I got to my film class, I had about ten minutes to spare before the class started, so I had spent those ten minutes doing some more research on the Radio tower in our local forest, there wasn’t much on the internet, basically what I already knew about it. Adam was obsessed with that radio tower for some reason. It was his idea to do a documentary on the killings and disappearances. But it’s changed into uncertainty lately, especially now Mr. Cull was dead and before he died, he sold the radio tower to someone else. Who was the new owner? There was nothing on the official website about the new owner taking over.
The new guy in our class walked in, he’s an editor, Adam had taken our film to him to do the last touch ups. The thing was, Adam didn’t let me see the end result of our project, and the last person who saw it was the new guy, Eddie. Although I’ve never seen them hang out of class before, it was really odd Adam told me Eddie will oversee the editing process before we handed in our project. I barely talk to him, so when he sat in his usual spot in the back, I got up and sat down next to him.
“Hi, I’m Hallie.” I introduced myself.
He stared at me, “I’m Eddie,” he said a bit unsure. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Well, the best part to start is from the beginning although I hadn’t told a soul about Mr. Cull’s body, not even Mac knew I was there. I kept it to myself, if people knew they’d want to talk to me about it, and probably spread some rumor that I was involved.
“You edited a film for Adam, right?”
“Yeah, about some weird creepy outpost in the forest, about people getting killed there, very dark and gruesome if you ask me.” he seemed a bit unsettle by this, I thought he was finished but he continued. “I just edited it for him, sounds and stuff. And some of the images that were captured, it kind of scared me. but Adam was all giddy about it, when I got done with it, I gave him the negatives, and that was it. he then disappeared; I feel a little guilty I haven’t told anyone I was the last person to see him.”
“What do you mean you were the last person to see him?”
“The day of him disappearing, he came to me and gave me back the negatives and told me to hold on to them. he looked like he was going camping, told me he was going into the forest, he said he saw something in the negatives and wanted to check it out for himself. Told me not to tell anyone he was going.”
“What was on the negatives?”
“I don’t know. all I found was something that was smudged in the distance, something that was moving too fast to be captured on film.” He took out his notebook and pencil, as the classroom started to get full. “If you want, I can show you the negatives, their back in my dorm. To be honest I don’t know what Adam saw, whatever it was, encouraged him to go out in those creepy woods, since I moved here, I’ve been hearing all sorts of creepy rumors about the forest.”
I was shocked that Eddie was offering to help me out, and that Adam was being secretive about investigating something he saw. Maybe if I saw the images to, I knew why he went out there in the first place. “That is super helpful thanks, I actually did the filming, Adam did all the narratives and was in the shot the entire time.”
“He had said someone helped him, but I didn’t know who. Your good with a camera.” He smiled.
“Thanks?” he seemed genially normal; it’s been a long time since I met someone so normal. Everyone here is either standoffish or just plain out rude. Most guys I meet are narcissistic unlike Adam. Eddie seemed so down to earth it felt weird.
Hopefully he had the evidence I need to know more about Adam and his disappearance.
Eddie and I went through the whole class time paying attention to what was being taught, Eddie took really good notes the entire time. which told me, he might actually have something that could help my investigation on finding Adam. Eddie didn’t interrupt class, nor did he raise his hand for questions, he just stayed quiet and took his notes. I notice some girls giggling as they kept looking up at us. I rolled my eyes, I knew who they were, and I wasn’t going to acknowledge them.
When class was over, Eddie gave me his phone number and told me to text or call him to set up a time to come to his dorm to look at the negatives. Eddie looked like the type of guy who could break a girl’s heart in more ways than one. and hearing the accent in his voice, sounded more a like New Yorker, he left to his next class while I stood there in the hall with his number in hand, dumbfounded. When Adam was around, he’d normally take the number a guy would give me and tear it up, told me that it wasn’t worth my time. and he’d be mad the entire day.
I headed for my next class, I was in my own head the entire day, wondering about Adam’s behaviors leading up to him disappearing. That’s when I got the idea to start looking into the those who had gone missing and generated an entire list of missing people. and the ones that were found brutally killed. There were far more disappearances than there were killings. So, either their bodies haven’t been found or something had to have happened to their bodies.
Not surprisingly during my free time where I can do some research in the library, there wasn’t any reception at the time. reception up here at the campus is spotty. The history of the campus used to be an old campground, and there was a massive massacre here, the towns mayor decided to build a college campus on the this very spot, the spot where reception at best was spotty. So, it depends on the day and time when people can use the internet or call. My phone usually went through for calls but getting to the internet was hard even earlier in film class my internet was being slow.
“Hey, Hallie.”
Gloria was a theater major, she worked part-time at the local gas station that was almost out of town. for some reason she really liked working at the creepy gas station that barely gets any customers, no one knows how they stay in business. but Gloria who’s always loved theatre even had her own play put on in the time square with a bunch of other theater kids. Everyone says she’s going to make it big, be an actor, but I know better. once you are born in this town, you never leave. My parents are proof of that. they died when I was eight years old, they tried to leave town and somehow their car crashed over a large root that happened to appear overnight in the road.
So, when Detective Stacy told me he was from out of town, I knew he was probably never going to leave this town. we don’t get a lot of out of towners, like Eddie too. so, it’s weird, it feels like we’re all trapped here from some unnatural force. I always support Gloria’s dream wanting to be an actor, I even help film some of her plays she writes. She was always asking me to do mini movies of her plays and she usually puts them up on the internet, so far, she’s only gotten ten followers and one of them is me. But Gloria was never the type to just pop in to see me unless she really wanted something from me, so seeing her in the library where I was, surprised me. slowly I stopped playing with the computer trying to get it to work, I had to do this old school.
I turned around in my computer chair and said, “hey.”
She nervously teetered on her feet. “So, uh, I wanted to ask you something. Have you been having nightmares about a creature in the forest?”
“Oh, what? No, have you?”
“Yeah, their terrifying.”
“I’m sorry.”
“it’s just that I keep hearing someone whisper your name, in these dreams.”
“Yeah?”
“I just wanted to know if you got the same dreams.”
“Sorry I haven’t.”
“I feel like I’m constantly being watched, you know?” she looked around. something other than her nightmares was clearly on her mind, but I felt like I would be intrusive if I asked her. after a moment, before she left, she said, “well, if you start having the same dreams let me know. I really want to know what they mean.”
“Yeah, of course.” I responded awkwardly.
She left me to go back to my researching on the Radio Tower, which was odd, I knew what she meant by feeling like someone was watching her. I felt that feeling, but I haven’t had dreams like that. my dreams have been Adam telling me to stay out of the forest. I felt like I was becoming obsessed as much Adam was with the radio tower. I couldn’t find anything that was useful in my eyes, so I decided to pop in the audio tape number two in the tape player and slide my earbuds in to listen. This is what I heard.
“Hi, my name is Julie Lee, and I had just found this weird tape. I had been working up here at the radio tower for four months now, and I accidently found this tape and played it. I was horrified, I nearly handed it over to the police, instead I told Mr. Cull about it. He told me to not to give it to the police, he said that I should just put it back where I found it, he didn’t listen to it. The man looked spooked. I’ve never seen anyone look so agitated then that man. He’s an odd guy. Has weird rules about this radio tower, one of them is to never shut the music off especially during a thunderstorm. Something about it letting a cat out of the bag…”
“I had heard about Chase, they said his body was found by some campers, said he was half eaten in this radio tower, but when the police came to pick up his body it was gone. like he just dragged himself out of the tower to never be seen again. I know this seems strange but since I had listened to that tape, I can’t stop having dreams. Or nightmares? They’re about this creature, in the forest I can hear it calling out to me, when I wake up, I find myself sleep walking in the forest. I’ve never done that before, ever.”
The recording stopped there, for a moment I thought it was over I was about to pull my earbuds out when suddenly I heard the click of letting me know that it was rolling again, that the recording was continuing. The tape was almost ending.
“I have to warn you, please, don’t go in the forest. I can’t help it, the dreams, they keep calling me out there. oh god. I keep waking up in the middle of the forest, until yesterday, I woke up beside a skeleton, its legs were missing, I think I found Chase.” Her breathing was heavy as if she was on the verge of having a panic attack. “If anyone hears this tape, know that I will not be returning, the calling is getting stronger and stronger, every day, I can’t stop it. its like this pull, and I’m afraid I’m not going to return, tell my family I love them, tell my mom and dad I love them so much. Please. I can’t resist it anymore, I don’t want to, Mr. Cull won’t answer my calls anymore, I keep getting voicemail. I just—” suddenly her voice was cut off and I can hear what sounds like skittering noises, the ones that bugs make, but this was much, much louder and bigger. Then the tape stopped, I had reached the end.
I just stared at it. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. it sounded a lot like what Gloria was saying but differently. A calling? I called Eddie’s number, but I got his voicemail, and left him a message. I got a chill down my spine.
* * * *
It was around six in the evening when I heard my cell phone buzzing on the table, I was still at the library, I was going through old newspapers, about Julie Lee and I found something. It had a picture of her, she was about my age, and she was working as a DJ in the radio tower when she had gone missing after four months. There was a search party for her for several months sort of like Adam, she’d gone missing. The police did find something that was familiar to me, some fur that belonged to a cat, but it shimmered as if had glitter in the fur. Other than that, there was nothing to report on other than her disappearance and even the local sheriff couldn’t find any leads. They simply think Julie ran away from her responsibilities because she owed a lot of people money. reaching out, without looking at the caller ID I brought my phone to my ear. “Hello? Who is this?” I said keeping my voice calm even know I was a bit freaked out what I was reading.
“It’s me,” said a familiar voice on the other end of the line. Eddie? The connection was a bit muffled, probably because the reception is barely letting him call me. I saw a librarian giving me a stink eye and I almost had to suppress a smile. she pointed at a sign that read, NO CELL PHONES ALLOWED. I gathered everything and hurried outside on the steps. the rain was started to sprinkle, leaving little wet dots on the stairs.
“I wasn’t sure if you got my message or not.” I said a bit louder now that I was outside, and it was a bit windy.
Eddie was quiet for a moment before he answered. “Sorry, about that, I was working on some editing videos. look listen I found the negatives, and I realized Adam didn’t give them all back to me, the one with the blurry image is gone.” he said. “Could you meet me at the diner?”
I squinted out at the darkened sky as rain droplets were now started to come down heavy. “It’s raining, Eddie. Are you sure want to meet at the diner and not somewhere here on campus? I’m at the library right now its going to close at eight.”
“No, it needs to be off campus, Hallie.” He replied. “I’ll meet you at the diner, okay? and I’ll give you the specifics.”
“Wait, Eddie—God dammit!” the call dropped, the reception was lost so we couldn’t hear one another anymore. I stared at the glowing screen of my phone for a few seconds before looking out at the rainstorm and sighing.
I hated driving in the rain, lots of things could happen, its not may paranoia talking. Literally bad things happen whether something like a tree root sprouts out of the ground, or birds smack in the windshield, or a dog leap in front of the headlights. Driving in this rain was dangerous, but if what Eddie had to say to me was important, I had to go. why he didn’t want to meet on campus boggles my mind, but there wasn’t much I can do on that.
So bravely I ran across the lawn towards the parking lot, the rain was coming down in heavy drops by the time I got to my car, I was drenched from head to toe. Pushing my burgundy hair out of my face as I unlocked my door and dropped into the driver seat and pulled my door closed as I struggled against the wind. I threw my backpack into the back seat; I froze as I looked down at my seat. something was wrong. My seat was adjusted, it was back further for someone with long legs, I am 5’4 clearly, I didn’t adjust my seat. I’m the only one with the key to my car. I started to look around my car, just in case if there was someone hiding in it. nope. Nothing else was messed with, interesting.
Slowly I drop down the deadpan’s hill, which was literally on a horrible deep slant to get down into town, this drop has caused so many accidents also the park was on my left. The park was silent and wet, no cops, no body. I continued to drive slowly to the diner until I got there, I was still wet, the heater of my car didn’t dry me, but it did keep me warm from the chill outside.
I ran inside the diner; I scanned the lobby until I found Eddie in a corner booth looking just as a wet as rat as I was. his bright red hair now a shade darker, his freckles seemed to be heightened, he had a bag with him, so I walked over to him and sat down opposite of him. instantly a server appeared, she asked what I would like to drink and order. I just told her a large cup of coffee would be just fine. I saw Mac serving other customers usually truckers, she kept her eye on us with a grim expression. I focused on Eddie, “okay, I made it,” I said. “Why here and not at the campus?”
“I feel like someone is watching me while I’m there, I can’t put my finger on it.” he said as he started pulling out his laptop. “So, I was looking at the still photos of the negatives that Adam gave back to me, he’d definitely kept a few of them. but I was using a software to enhance the photos thank God he didn’t keep these, now you can believe me. So, these are the shots you and him got, but never got to see them, well using my program I was able to get this. I looked up what kind of creature it could be, there isn’t one. I don’t know if this is some undiscovered creature, but Adam seemed to know what it was.” he turned his laptop towards me.
I paused to look at the screen on his computer. It was the photos I took, inside the radio tower it reminded me of a fishbowl, all the windows were ceiling to windows, so I took a few photos. It looked haunting, but these images were reversed, the negatives, and that’s when I saw something in the distance. Something like a huge shadow in the distance, with antennas I couldn’t tell where the eyes were. But that shocked me. “This is the only one you could find?” I asked. “Adam kept the other ones. I sort of already know about this thing. Sort of. Heard a description of it. hell, there had been rumors that monsters live the forest a lot. But this is surprising that I got it on film. But why did Adam keep the other ones?”
The server brought my coffee and the moment I wrapped my hands around the mug I melted at the touch of the heat. Eddie turned his computer back around. He let out a low sigh. “that’s what I kept asking myself, but I started looking online for anything for the last couple of hours and I found some articles that have only been printed here in town. but basically, their articles about dead people walking out of the forest, not just some monsters. Zombie like, but when the police show up the bodies are gone, no evidence of them ever existing. The town started suspecting that someone tampered with their water, and people were having hallucinations. Until I remember one of the photos you took. you did noticed the shadow in the distance, but you didn’t notice one of the missing people standing on the edge of the forest, I think Adam saw it too. and decided to go snooping at the radio tower again. that’s why I wanted you to come here, you and I can go into the forest and check it out as well.”
I scoffed as I sipped my coffee. “Even if what you say is true, Eddie. We can’t go in the forest its raining really badly. I mean I believe there is something out there, but zombies? Really?”
Eddie leaned back in the booth, with his arms folded over his chest. “Reanimated corpses, I don’t think their actual zombies. I don’t know if you believe in intuition, Hallie. But every fiber of my being is on edge. I think there is something in that forest that could be causing something genetically wrong to be screwing with nature out there. I was thinking we can get some samples and send it to a lab to see if there is any chemical that is causing this creature’s growth, and people seeing dead bodies walking around?”
I glanced out the window it was still raining, he did have a point. I didn’t see anyone standing in that photo, but if he did. I wasn’t going to not believe him. how he knew so much got me a bit suspicious. But I wasn’t about to go into some weird forest at night while it was raining. I took another sip of my coffee and set the mug back down. “Tomorrow, we can skip classes tomorrow. Its raining and dark, that’s never a good idea. I’ll humor you on this chemical thing. But if it turns out to be just another a hoax, I will be upset. I’m trying find Adam, not prove some conspiracy.”
Eddie nodded; he closed his laptop. “Okay, tomorrow morning. And I get it,” he said. “I’m sorry I went a little overboard with the research. I used to be a hacker, so I may have gotten into some things that were sealed by the town. but I think Adam was on to something.”
“that’s obvious,” I said. “Captain Obvious. I have a spare key to the radio tower; we could go up in it to check it out.”
He nodded, he seemed unsure of that. “Okay, I just don’t think we should get that deep in,” he said.
We parted ways after I finished my coffee, I headed to my car, practically running to it so I didn’t get drenched even more. but that didn’t happen. I got into my car and shut the door, something in me told me I wasn’t alone. before I could even react, I had a gloved hand over my mouth. I had a scream lodged in my throat, I wanted to scream for help. I flicked my eyes into the review mirror that’s when I saw the white hooded man in the back seat. I still can’t see his face, its was still cloaked in the darkness.
“don’t scream,” his voice was raspy. I inched my hand closer to my phone in my own hoodie, I dialed the Detective’s number. “I just want to talk.” I nodded slowly he took his gloved hand away from my mouth.
“Who are you? Why do you keep following me? and now you’re in my car, scaring me half to death.” I said under my breath trying to breathe normally. “Are you going to kill me like you did Mr. Cull, did you kill Adam too?”
I could practically see the man in the white hoodie wrinkling his brow, but I couldn’t see passed the darkness to see his face. “Kill? I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Really? Because you started showing up, and I saw you at my car, you put that threatening note on my car. What? You happen to walk by and see a dead body lying in the distance, and why didn’t you take the tapes?”
There was a sharp intake of breath from behind me almost like a hiss. “First of all, I admit I was there when Mr. Cull died. Two, what tapes?” then his body stiffened as he leaned forward. “Are you talking about the tapes of the radio tower? You found them?”
I stared out the front windshield. Earlier when I parked, I parked towards the forest, I could see the entrance, although the windshield of my car was getting wet. Through the wetness I saw somebody moving just on the edges, not sure what I was seeing. “Adam found them, and then I found them. what do you mean you were there when Mr. Cull died? If you didn’t kill him, you know who did? why haven’t you come forward?”
“It’s watching me,” he whispered. “Trust me on this. I didn’t kill Mr. Cull, I tried to get him out of the forest, but the forest didn’t want him to leave. Look I just wanted to clear the air, I’m not trying to hurt you. I’m trying help you; you need stay out of the forest. If the forest gets you, its all over. When I get out of the car, you need to drive home and forget about Adam. And throw those tapes away.”
Suddenly the man in the white hoodie got out of my car, slammed the door. And he headed towards the forest, as he walked. if I didn’t know any better, I saw vines crawling out of the forest, when he got closer to it, it seemed to slowly tap him. as if it was detecting him, then the vines let him go inside the forest without hesitation. And slowly the vines slithered back into the forest. Something about that, caused me to stay stiff until I could hear a muffled detective’s voice from my pocket.
Slowly I pulled out my phone and put it to my ear, “did you hear that?”
“I did, I need you to come down at the station, now.” he said in his demanding voice.
I hung up and as soon as I knew I wasn’t going to deal with some vine thing, I hurried and started the engine as quickly as possible and pulled away from the diner’s parking lot. before long I was halfway to the station, but I felt like was being watched now, not by the man in the hoodie but by the forest. I felt like the tree’s overhead were watching me like some guards waiting for me to make a move. This almost felt like when my parents died, I gripped my hands on the steering wheel and kept going. Part4