My family moved out to Hemlock Bay a couple of years ago. It’s a nice enough little town I guess. It’s pretty and scenic, but I’ve never quite thought of it as home. Truth be told, if I’d had much of a say in the matter I wouldn’t have moved out to Newfoundland, but my Mom was offered a job here, the money was good and she took it.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate living here. I miss living in Toronto, but Newfoundland is beautiful and most of the small towns out here are quaint. There’s something charming about the little buildings painted in bright colors with white accents and the landscape is breathtaking. The ocean is just about everywhere you look, sprawling beneath a wide open sky. And where you can’t see the ocean, you will see the mountains and the woods, stretching on forever. It might not be home but it’s absolutely grown on me over the past couple of years.
That said, the experience of living in a small town has taken some getting used to. Granted, my experience with small towns is pretty limited, but so far the best word I could use to describe Hemlock Bay would be ‘strange’.
I guess every community has its quirks. Local legends, little taboos, stuff like that. None of it really seems that important. But Hemlock Bay seems to take theirs pretty seriously. See, it rains a lot in this part of Newfoundland. The rain can go on for days, sometimes weeks and never let up. I’ve heard some say that’s a little unusual, but honestly, we’re right on the water and in Newfoundland. Isn’t it just supposed to be rainy here normally?
That’s not the weird part though. No, the weird part is the fact that in the two years I’ve lived here, I’ve never seen anyone out in the rain.
I guess on paper, it makes sense. I mean, nobody wants to get wet, right? But I mean it when I say nobody steps foot in the rain. They don’t run from their car to the house. If people are outside, they’ll run for cover the moment they so much as think they feel a rain drop. I don’t get it. It’s just rain. Sure, I don’t exactly go and hang out in the rain either, but they didn’t just seem to be avoiding it. I always kinda got the impression they were afraid of it and I never really understood why.
When I asked my friend Maddie about it, she just shrugged and said it was just a local superstition.
“People believe all sorts of weird stuff, don’t they? I’m sure they’ve got weird local legends and stuff back in Toronto, right?”
“Not like this.” I’d said, “What are they even afraid of anyways?”
“Some old folk tale. You ever hear about Old Czar?”
“Old Czar?” I repeated, “Can’t say I have.”
“Well, supposedly back a long time before anyone in town was born, there was this guy who lived right outside town named Czar. Apparently, he mostly kept to himself and didn’t bother anybody, although a few people went to him for cures when they got sick.”
“And that’s bad why?” I asked.
“I mean, it’s technically not.” Maddie said, “But I guess people back then were a little suspicious of some stranger dishing out strange cures. People got suspicious and they started watching him more closely. Eventually, someone said they’d seen him going into the woods at night and speaking to the Devil. I’m sure you can figure out where the story goes from there. People accused Czar of being up to no good and eventually, they burned down his house and drove him out of town.”
“And now his ghost haunts the town, right?” I asked, half joking.
“Eh, yes and no.” Maddie replied, “It’s kinda hazy on just what happened with him. I’ve heard a few people say he died during the fire and the rain is haunted by his ghost or something. But most people tell it like this… Czar wasn’t even in the house when he died. The people in town didn’t kill him. They just ran him out. But he had nowhere to go after that… So, after living in the woods for a while, he walked himself down to the cliffs and threw himself off. They say you can even see this patch of dead trees jutting out of the water where he landed. They say that his blood seeped into the rain and it became part of him, or he became part of it, I guess. Supposedly that’s why it rains so much here. I dunno. It doesn’t really matter.”
“That sounds really, really stupid.” I replied.
“Honestly, I’m pretty sure it’s completely made up.” Maddie said, “I had a friend who looked into it when we were younger. There’s absolutely no record of any of it. It’s just always been rainy here. But I guess that’s not a good enough story for some people.”
“So if it’s all made up, why does everyone avoid the rain?” I asked.
Another shrug from her.
“Because they don’t like getting soaking wet? I dunno. We just kinda do. Some people are superstitious. The rest of us don’t think too much on it.”
“So if I asked you to go for a walk in the rain for me next time…”
Maddie just cracked a smile.
“I’d say no,” She said, “Because I don’t want to get wet.”
Fair enough.
I met Courtney in my last year of high school. She was a tiny girl with long auburn hair, big plastic rimmed glasses, and an anxious smile… And she was probably the cutest human being I’ve ever laid eyes on.
Truth be told, I never would’ve thought that she’d be interested in me. But somehow… Somehow we hit it off and we never looked back. Having Courtney in my life made Hemlock Bay finally start to feel a little bit like home. I’d never had a girlfriend before but being with her… Well… It made me feel complete. Like I’d met my other half. For the first time in my life, I was in love and it was incredible.
Maddie was always pretty supportive. She was a good friend that way, and it was her idea for us to have a triple date. She’d been going steady with her boyfriend Darien ever since we met and had been talking about hanging out with our friend Rosa and her boyfriend Knox, down by the cliffs. It had a breathtaking view of the ocean and there was a good spot out that way for hikes and picnics. Of course, I said yes. Summer was slipping away fast and I wanted to make the most of it.
We met up with Maddie, Rosa, and their boyfriends on a clear Wednesday afternoon. Darien picked us up from Courtney’s house and drove us over to the picnic site. We’d packed ourselves some sandwiches and snacks and were looking forward to a day where we could just take it easy, hang out and enjoy the sun.
The cliffside park wasn’t too busy that afternoon. We only saw a couple of other groups there. The most interesting was Chris Yackey, one of the realtors who liked plastering his signs over every square inch of advertising space within 50 kilometers. He wasn’t a local, but I knew it was him the moment he saw his car in the parking lot which had his face obnoxiously plastered along the side. He looked sort of like a large, balding, squinting toe in it, and the real man didn’t look much different. What I assume were his wife and kids were actually enjoying the cliffs although he himself was seated at a picnic table, focusing on his laptop.
The other group consisted of an older couple, sitting with their dog and listening to the radio while they sat together contentedly. They were kinda adorable.
Darien and I carried most of our picnic supplies. Knox was supposed to help, but he didn’t really do shit. We picked a table a short distance away from the other two groups and set our bags and coolers down. Courtney was already staring off the edge of the cliff as she admired the surreal beauty of the ocean. The waves gleamed in the sunlight as they rolled to shore and there are not really any words I can use to truly do them justice.
Looking at Courtney against the horizon, I couldn’t help but smile at her and I felt my heart flutter as she smiled back at me. I walked over to her and put an arm around her before kissing her on the top of the head. That’s the best part of being the tall one in a relationship.
From where we stood, you could see the jagged rocks that the ocean had eroded over time, and in amongst them, there was a patch of dead trees, sitting in an area where the land met the sea. My mind briefly drifted back to that old folk tale Maddie had told me. Looking at the trees myself, I suppose they did look a little bit spooky. They all seemed to fold in on each other like some sort of makeshift cairn and dominated the little strip of land they occupied.
“Should we hike first, or what?” Maddie asked, briefly distracting me from my train of thought, “There’s a beach about a kilometer from here. We could swim, if you wanted to.”
“Waves might be a little too rough for swimming.” Rosa noted. She was a bit of a punk with purple streaks in her hair and I’d never once seen her without either an anime shirt, or a K-pop shirt. That day was a K-pop shirt day.
“Probably better to just hike.”
“Yeah, I’m down to hike.” Darien said. Like Maddie, he was a little bit of a hipster. He usually dressed well in button down shirts and polos so I got the impression that his family was a little better off than most. But he was never really a dick about it. If anything, I always thought he was pretty down to earth… Although that bowler hat he liked to wear was kinda dumb.
Darien looked around, hoping to get everyone elses opinion. Knox had nothing to offer, he was busy playing with his phone. I really didn’t get what Rosa saw in him…
“Hiking sounds good.” I said, glancing over at Courtney.
“We could walk down to the beach, see if the water’s any good and if it is, we can head down after we eat.” She suggested.
“Yeah, might as well.” Maddie said before stuffing her hands into her pockets, “Welp. All for?”
“You guys go on ahead,” Knox said. He’d already parked his ass at the picnic table, “I’ll watch the food.”
“Yeah, suit yourself, bud.” Maddie said and with that, she headed in the direction of the beach. The rest of us followed her.
There was a little dirt path from the picnic area, leading into the woods. The trail down to the beach wasn’t that long. There were wooden stairs and boardwalks to make the trip easier and the view was absolutely gorgeous. By itself, that little stroll down to the beach was worth it. The lush green foliage hung over our heads. I could hear birds chirping in the distance.
Courtney’s hand rested in mine, squeezing it tight and we traded a smile as we meandered contentedly along the wooden trail. We could hear the waves crashing against the shore of the beach as we drew nearer to the end.
The beach was more rock than sand. It probably wasn’t the best place to go swimming, but it was still nice to look at. There was another picnic area nearby along with some benches where you could sit and just admire the ocean.
We could see a few ships far in the distance, although the perfectly cloudless sapphire sky now looked a lot cloudier. I could see them in the distance, coming in from over the water. I was sure they hadn’t been there before. I wasn’t the only one who saw them either.
“Come on, you’re kidding me.” Maddie sighed, “It was fine like, fifteen minutes ago!”
“Could just be clouds.” Darien suggested, “It might not necessarily rain.”
Maddie and Rosa both gave him a look.
“We live in Hemlock Bay. It’s going to rain.” Rosa said plainly, “Welp. Guess we’re eating in the car.”
She turned and headed back up the trail. Maddie, Darien, Courtney, and I just watched her for a moment, debating if we should follow her.
“We could just eat and see what happens next?” Courtney suggested, “The clouds don’t look that bad. Maybe it’ll just be a light shower. We could wait it out in the car and we’d be fine.”
Almost on cue, I saw a faint flicker of lightning deep within the cloud. Maddie just huffed in disgust.
“Maybe…” She said in a tone that made it very clear she didn’t think that was going to be the case at all, “Fuck me, man… I was just hoping for a nice day out and it had to fuckin’ rain. Gotta love Hemlock Bay.”
She jammed her hands into her pockets and followed Rosa back up the trail. The rest of us went with her.
It was hard to see through the trees, but the clouds seemed to be moving pretty quickly. They were bumpy and had an almost tattered look to them. Looking up past the foliage above us, the sky was starting to change as well. It looked a lot darker than it had before, fading into an unusual greenish tint.
By the time we made it back up to the picnic area near the top of the cliff, it had gone full green. Oh yeah… This was going to be bad.
“Can you guys hurry it up?” Rosa asked, “We’re going to get caught in the rain!”
Up ahead, we could see the same cute old couple relaxing at their picnic table, leaning against each other as they stared into the oncoming storm. As we passed them, I gave them both a nod. They smiled back at me. I noticed that the old woman had oxygen tubes hooked up to her nose, and a little tank at her feet. Her husband’s arm was wrapped around her as she rested her head on his shoulder. She looked exhausted.
The world famous Chris Yackey was still at his laptop, tapping away while his wife packed up their picnic. Their kids had wandered closer to the woods. Knox was right where we’d left him. The only thing that changed was that he now had his headphones in, and he’d opened the drinks cooler to get into the iced tea. Glad to see he was really enjoying nature.
When we started packing everything up, he finally took his headphones off.
“You guys are back already?” He asked.
“Yeah, look at the sky, numbskull.” Maddie said, “There’s a storm coming.”
Knox looked up as if the ominous green sky was news to him. I seriously don’t know what Rosa saw in him…
“Oh.” He said.
Courtney and I grabbed the coolers we’d put the food in and Darien was in the middle of cleaning up the drinks. Darien handed me his keys to put the food in the trunk, and we were halfway to the car when we felt the first raindrops starting to fall.
“Crap… Here it comes.” Courtney said softly, picking up the pace and running towards the car. I followed her, unlocking it so that she could get inside. She darted into the back seat while I opened the trunk to set the drinks inside.
In the time it took me to get to the car, the rain had turned from a few drops into a full on downpour, and it already felt like it was getting worse. The trunk of Darien’s SUV at least sheltered me from the rain a little bit. I looked back over towards Maddie, Rosa, Darien, and Knox to see them struggling to pack up and get out of the rain as quickly as possible.
Knox had pulled the hood of his sweater up to cover his head. Rosa, Maddie, and Darien on the other hand took a more extreme approach. As soon as he’d felt the rain coming down, Darien had grabbed Maddie and ushered her under the picnic table. He’d done the same to Rosa. Neither had put up much of a fuss and scrambled underneath it with him. Maddie was gesturing for Knox to join them But he just stared dumbly at her.
“It’s just rain!” I heard him say, “C’mon guys!”
“Exactly! Get under the goddamn table!” Darien snapped. I’d never heard him swear before.
But Knox didn’t listen. He just looked back at the car and started jogging towards it.
As he did, I glanced over at the other picnickers.
Chris Yackey was currently covering up his laptop as if his life depended on it, while his wife and children ran to their own car. His wife was carrying a cooler with her. The old couple who’d been sitting nearby was gone. I hadn’t seen them get up to move in the couple of minutes or so it had been since I’d passed them.
I closed the trunk and braved the rain for a few moments to get into the back seat with Courtney. I left the door slightly ajar so Knox could get in with us.
“Christ, that came on fast…” I murmured.
Courtney didn’t reply. She was just staring at the table where the old couple had been, her eyes wide. She was paler than I’d ever seen her before. Her body was stiff as a board.
“Courtney?” I asked.
She looked over at me, her big brown eyes wide with terror.
“What’s wrong?”
“You didn’t see it?” She asked softly.
“Didn’t see what?”
I looked out the rain streaked window, out at the picnic tables. Out there, I only saw Chris Yackey swaddling his laptop up in his jacket like a baby and swearing under his breath. He looked like he was about to make a run for the car. The rain around him somehow seemed heavier. I got the feeling that his laptop was beyond saving.
And then I saw it…
A dark shape in the rain behind him.
It seemed to come out of nowhere and towered over him, standing at almost twice his height. Yackey didn’t even seem to notice it at first, even as it loomed above him. And when it bore down upon him, he didn’t even seem to have time to react. He turned briefly, stumbling back a step. The bundled up laptop that had been so important a moment before fell from his hands as he let out a startled cry.
His final scream was suddenly cut short as whatever it was grabbed him in massive claws and seemed to fade away into nothingness. One minute he was there… The next, all that remained was the jacket wrapped laptop on the ground.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. I could only stare in disbelief at the spot where he’d been just moments ago.
My eyes shifted over to Knox next. He hadn’t reached the car yet. Yackeys final scream had made him pause and now, he was staring at the spot where he’d been just a moment ago too. It was as if he couldn’t quite process what he’d seen.
I threw the car door open and was careful not to let the rain touch me as I did.
“KNOX! RUN!”
My voice seemed to jolt him out of whatever shocked silence he’d been in. He jolted suddenly as if he’d just woken up. A look of absolute terror crossed his face as he sprinted towards the car door again, faster than I’d ever seen him move.
It wasn’t fast enough. The rain around him grew heavier. The shadow appeared behind him and Knox slipped in the mud, crashing to the ground. He frantically rolled onto his back, eyes widening as he looked up at the massive shape that was coming for him. He didn’t even have time to scream.
It seemed to sink down onto him, crushing him with its weight and enveloping him entirely. One moment he was there, the next he was gone.
I stared in stunned silence at the spot where he’d been before Courtney reached out to close the door. I looked at her in disbelief, opening my mouth to protest, but no sound came out.
“W-we can’t save him, Bobbi…” She said, her voice shaking, “It’s too late… He’s gone…”
I could see her fighting back tears as she said it. And I knew she was right.
Knox was gone.
For a few moments, Courtney and I sat in silence. The rain poured down hard around us, drumming hard against the roof of the car. My breathing was heavy and when Courtney grabbed my hand for comfort, I couldn’t help but squeeze it in return. My mind was racing. With all I’d just seen, it was impossible to think straight.
I glanced at Maddie, Darien, and Rosa under their picnic table. From what I could see through the rain, they at least looked safe.
I looked over at Chris Yackeys car next. The back doors and trunk of his sedan were open and a cooler lay on the ground nearby, its contents spilled onto the ground. I didn’t see any sign of his wife or his children. My stomach churned as I realized what had happened to them.
The rain kept coming down. I watched it cascade off some of the picnic tables like a waterfall. It was next to impossible to get a good look at Maddie, Darien, and Rosa. The only reason I knew they were still there was because I could occasionally see one of them move. Occasionally, I thought I saw shimmers of movement among the downpour near the table. But it was impossible to know for sure…
“It’s not letting up…” Courtney said quietly. Her voice was still shaking a little. She glanced over at the picnic table. I could see the clear dread in her eyes. Our friends were still caught out there… We knew we couldn’t leave them.
“No it’s not…” I murmured, before starting to climb up into the driver’s seat.
Courtney didn’t argue. She didn’t try and talk me out of it. So long as we were in the car, we were safe and comfortable. Our friends weren’t exactly enjoying the same luxuries.
“Think it’ll care if we move the car?” I asked.
“I… I don’t think so.” Courtney said softly. She didn’t sound sure though. Only one way to find out.
I still had Darien’s keys. I slid them into the ignition and the car roared to life. Beside me, Courtney inched over to make sure she was behind me. I wasn’t sure if whatever was out there would respond to me moving the car, so I took it slow at first.
I pulled out of the parking lot and into the picnic area, rolling the car over the concrete barrier. It shook as we went over it. Slowly, I let it roll closer to the picnic table. I could see Maddie watching us from underneath, shaking her head violently.
I checked the side view mirror and stopped the car.
There was something standing just behind us.
Courtney saw it too and covered her mouth to hide her squeal of fear.
The shape seemed to watch us for a moment, before slowly drawing nearer and giving me a moment to get a look at it. I’ve never seen a ghost before… But I’m pretty sure that whatever the hell I saw out there wasn’t a ghost.
I don’t know what it was. From what I could see, its body was warped and almost skeletal. It seemed to be encrusted by hanging moss and broken driftwood. I suppose something about it reminded me of the patch of dead trees I’d seen down near the bottom of the cliff. It was almost as if some part of them had come to life… But nothing about it seemed remotely human. This thing… Whatever it was felt far older than humanity. It walked, dragging its knuckles like some sort of ape. Its eyes were sunken and beady, but its mouth was a gaping, animalistic maw. I swear that I could see bits of rotting animal furs among the pelt of moss and foliage that seemed to hang over it.
It watched the car for a moment, and as I stared at it, I wondered if it was staring back at me… But eventually, it just seemed to sink away, fading back into the rain.
I held still for a moment, my heart pounding against my ribs, gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles. I felt Courtney’s hand on my shoulder and flinched, before taking a deep breath and creeping the car forward a little more.
I lined the passenger side up with the picnic table and got as close as I could. Then Courtney and I threw the doors open.
“Come on, come on…” I said, almost whispering as if that would help. Maddie and Rosa both looked paralyzed with fear. Maddie didn’t even move, she just shook her head frantically.
“No way… No fucking way!” She snapped, “Did you see what it did to Knox? To that realtor?! Did you fucking see it!?”
“I saw it! Now move your ass!”
“No!”
Rosa didn’t need quite as much convincing. I could see her doing the math in her head. She’d only need to be in the rain for a moment. Just a moment, and she’d be safe. She took the leap, dashing out from under the picnic table and into the rear passenger seat. Maddie cried out as she ran, but she couldn’t stop her.
Rosa crashed into Courtney and was pulled into a tight hug as she let out a horrified sob of relief, terror, and grief.
She was safe.
Maddie stared at her, her eyes wide… Then she looked at me.
“It’s safe.” I promised her, “Come on! Let’s get the hell out of here!”
She looked at Rosa, then back at me, and finally at Darien.
“It’s just for a moment…” He promised her, “It’ll be okay.”
I watched Maddie squeeze his hand and close her eyes.
“God… Fucking… Damn it…” She spat, before shaking her hand.
She took a deep breath and braced herself to run. She was off like a shot, darting out from under the picnic table and into the passenger seat beside me. She slammed the door closed behind her, hyperventilating as she did.
“Oh fuck…. Oh fuck… Oh fuck…”
“You’re okay!” I assured her, trying to put a hand on her shoulder. She slapped it away. I didn’t take it personally. Her attention was on Darien now. He was the last one left.
He was getting ready to run. I could see him bracing himself, taking a few deep breaths as he psyched himself up. Then he ran, darting out from under the picnic table.
He should’ve made it.
He would’ve.
As he tried to stand though, the mud slipped beneath him and sent him flat down onto his belly. The rain around us grew heavier and Maddie screamed.
“NO! DARIEN! MOVE”
He tried to stand but the mud slipped beneath him. I could see the shadow coming beneath him… And as he struggled to pick himself up, I could see in his eyes that he knew it was there. Maddie grabbed the door handle, but I seized her by the shoulders to stop her from running out after him.
“No!” I warned.
Rosa held the back passenger door open for him, her eyes wide.
“Come on!” She cried.
But Darien didn’t. He couldn’t even if he wanted to. I saw him take one last look at Maddie through the window, and offer a weak, trembling ghost of a smile. A last ditch effort to reassure her that he’d be okay.
Then he was gone.
The shadow collapsed onto him and when it was gone, there was nothing left but some marks in the mud where he’d been a moment before.
Maddie let out a scream of utter anguish. She slammed her hands against the window, screaming his name. Rosa stared at the spot where he’d been in disbelief. Her face had gone completely white. Then, at last, she reached out to close the door.
Four of us were still alive… That didn’t feel like much of a silver lining, after what had just happened.
My hands were shaking as I moved the car again, steering away from the cliff and back to the road. My breathing was still heavy. Maddie was still staring vacantly out the window, crying for the first time since I’d met her.
Rosa and Courtney sat quietly in the back, huddled together as they both cried. I didn’t have any tears in me at the moment… But I gripped the steering wheel so tight that it hurt, just to keep my hands from shaking.
As we slowly drove back into town, I could see a few other cars stopped on the road, trying to wait out the rain. Just in a ditch off the side of the road, I could see a transport truck, jutting out. The door hung open, but I didn’t see any sign of the driver. I tried not to stare for too long.
To this day, I still think we were lucky to make it back to town. That thunderstorm raged on for another four days, and when it finally cleared people just went on with their lives, like always.
Nobody talked about the mysterious disappearances of Knox and Darien. Nobody talked about Chris Yackey, or his family and how they’d vanished. Nobody even mentioned the truck that had mysteriously ended up in a ditch. They didn’t even talk about the rain.
It was a few months before Maddie spoke to me again. Even then, our friendship hasn’t been what it was. I know she says she doesn’t blame me for what happened to Darien… But she does.
I understand. If positions were reversed and it had been Courtney out there, I can’t promise I wouldn’t have blamed her either…
I’m still not sure what we saw that day. What it is that comes with the rain in Hemlock Bay. I don’t think I really believe that folk tale about Old Czar. I think that’s just what it says on the label… A folk tale, made up to explain something the people of this town have no explanation for. But it does not change the fact that something is out there.
And when the rain comes, as it always does, you’d better pray you’re inside.