For as long as I’d had it, I’d never been able to recall how I’d got it. That cryptic note on my desk simply reading, “JACKADOU”. I couldn’t tell you when it had turned up, or even what it could’ve meant. Now I’ve learned. I wish I never had.
But, before I get into how learning the meaning of this nonsense word has permanently altered my life, I’ll introduce myself. My name is Cameron, I’m 16 years old, just finished Sophomore year. I’ve never been terribly popular, but that never mattered to me. What did were the two friends I had picked up and stuck with along the way, Kathy and Allison. Kathy was my best friend since childhood, the two of us would always meet up after school and spend the rest of the day together. She was the coolest, most interesting person I had ever known, and I was lucky to have had so much in common with her. She was the class president as well, of which she was very proud, as was I. Everyone in our year had at least heard her name, but even so, like me, she wasn’t terribly popular.
Not that Allison was ever an afterthought. After all, it can be hard to neglect one out of only two relationships. Her and I would talk less about each other and more about our shared interests, separating what I had with her from what I did with Kathy.
Allison means so much to me, as did Kathy.
However, Allison was always a bit of a troublemaker. She would egg me on to do the kind of things a good Samaritan may be hesitant about. Nothing crazy, the most rebellious it really ever got was trespassing, but the thrill was still there.
One day, Allison called me in the afternoon, no prior plans to meet up. I wasn’t doing anything, so I was open to the idea of joining her, wherever she was. She insistently told me to meet her out at main street, near the old abandoned house we had once explored together. I asked what the rush was, but she wouldn’t explain. I laughed and told her I’d be right there before setting out.
I found her waiting impatiently next to her skateboard, right where she said she’d be. She had a familiar devious look in her eyes on this day, the look that when you saw it, you knew she was plotting something.
“Look.” She told me simply, sounding on the brink of laughter.
I checked where she was gesturing. The bus stop. More specifically, the figure sitting on the bench. With a dirty grey jacket and a baseball cap covering his eyes, this disheveled man was recognizable to say the least.
And he was familiar too. I live in a small city, one where you tend to see the same faces a lot. This man was known especially around the highschool for being the resident psycho. Not that he had killed anyone or anything crazy like that, as far as we knew, but everyone was pretty confident that he was crazy. He always walked around with his head hung low, shooting glances at you if you got too close, and he never said anything. Some thought he was a mute, but others refuted this, citing their experiences behind him in line at the grocery store or in similar settings. Nobody really wanted to go near him though. Guy looked to be in his late 40s, and he had a scary face. Even though he was probably the most recognized man in town, he was one of the least out and about types, clearly staying indoors a lot with his lack of appearances and pale skin. Strangely, and serving as the basis to most of the rumors about him, he would always seem to be writing things down in an unlabeled journal he carried around with him everywhere.
Anyways, lo and behold there he was, minding his own business on the bus bench.
“What, that crazy old guy?” I replied, “Well, I see him.”
“I dare you…” I already didn’t like where this was going, “To go talk to him.”
“Alright. No way.”
“Talk to him! Have a seat, friendly chat, then let him be on his way when the bus shows up!”
I laughed, “No way! He’s way too sketchy!”
“Come ooonnnn,” she nudged me playfully, incentivizing me forward with that tone of voice she always used, “It’s a dare! Plus, you came all the way out here!”
“Fine, fine, I’m thinking about it.”
Her eyes lit up. As far as she was concerned, she had already got me. It didn’t take much more convincing, as I myself was pretty curious as to what this supposed lunatic would have to say.
After a few more nudges and pleas I was ready to go. With a deep breath and a look of encouragement from my good influence of a friend Allison, I was on my way to be an annoying, idiot teenager.
I went and had a seat on the cold metal bench, a good distance between me and the man as we were the only two there. Up close I noticed that the mysterious journal he was always carrying around was there, lying next to him on the bench. It was tempting to peek inside, but he would obviously notice, so I held back. I remember jostling nervously a bit before I worked up the nerve to say anything. When I did, it wasn’t too impressive.
“…Hey”
The man let out a sound to acknowledge me, not returning any words or lifting his head to look at me.
“…What’s your name?”
He looked up now, but not at me, opting rather to stare dully forward. I was starting to think this was a mistake, but I wasn’t gonna chicken out now.
“Aron.” He droned, not as if bored by me, but like his mind was simply elsewhere.
I may have made more boring small talk to ease into the mood, but eventually, I got down to what I really wanted to hear.
“You know,” I told him, “I don’t think you’re crazy.”
“Right.” He hadn’t shown me much interest up to this point, and that didn’t seem to be changing just yet.
“I mean it! I mean, why do they all think that anyways?”
He didn’t give me anything this time, so I continued.
“…Do you wanna tell me what that’s all about?”
“You don’t want me to tell you.”
Now I felt we were getting somewhere. “Why not?” I pressed him.
His eyes began to slightly dart around in front of him, as if he was watching something go by. I glanced in front of us briefly in case there was something there, then fixed my gaze back onto him as he spoke, “Forbidden knowledge… I’d be cursing you to tell…”
All this did was pique my curiosity, and so I pushed him even further. He seemed to have caught on to my charade by now, however, and he stopped giving me responses.
“That’s enough…” he slumped slightly to his side, no longer giving me the time of day as he closed his eyes, resolving to doze off until the bus would arrive. I was a bit frustrated with the lack of conclusion, but then my eyes fixed on the book. His strange, unlabeled journal, lying right there where I could reach it. I glanced at him to check if he could see. Nope, eyes still closed.
And so I made what would turn out to be the stupidest decision of my entire life. One which would prove to cost me everything. I quietly placed my fingers on either side of the book and lifted it off of the bench, standing up. I quickly turned away and hid the book against my chest, proceeding to slip it into my inside jacket pocket for safekeeping.
I approached Allison with a stupid, self-satisfied grin on my face. I told her we should bounce, and so we did, getting out of there fast while giggling to each other about what had just happened. She hadn’t seen me take the journal. I was going to show her, but then, something inside me told me to keep it for myself, hog the first look. I decided to let her see later, as a surprise. For now, I told her about the weird things he had said, we cracked a few jokes, then hung out until it got dark, when we parted ways.
In my room that night, just before going to bed, it was time. Time for someone to finally see through the cracks of this strange man, for someone to solve this creepy mystery…
And for that someone to be me.
I walked past my desk and glanced at the old note I’d always had, the tattered paper with the random string of letters, “JACKADOU”. I thought to myself that now I’d have yet another addition to my collection of mysterious, bizarre writings, though this time of a much more substantial caliber. I clicked on my bedside lamp and hopped onto my mattress, journal in hand.
I cracked open the pages. With warm, dim lighting I started on page one, which I found weirdly blank. I flipped through a few more which were similarly unwritten on, then I decided to skip straight to the middle, starting to get antsy, worried that there might be nothing to see here after all…
I was wrong. Opening up one of the middle pages, I was met by what I saw as irrefutable evidence that Aron was, indeed, crazy. Pen marks jumbled together to create schizophrenic images of shadowy figures, scattered all over the page–each with two big, unnaturally dilated eyes. They all stared straight ahead at the reader, freaking me out a bit as I sat on my bed alone late at night. Alongside these paranoid drawings were scrawled words, or at least, they looked like it. I wasn’t able to make out anything, as it was cursive and, more importantly, scribbled onto the paper in a way that couldn’t have come from anyone in their right mind.
I went deeper into the book and found more of the same, each page just as manic as the last, all done in black pen. I found myself disturbed at all the staring eyes, realizing that this artifact I held in my hands was really from no ordinary individual. It made me worried as to who he really was, what he did behind closed doors, what his mind was like. But, as I browsed the pages one big scrawled word stood out to me, causing me to freeze.
“JACKADOU”
It was the highlight of its page, etched into the very fibers of the paper with the force he must have used. I felt a painful chill go down my spine as this single word sank into me. I swallowed and stood from the bed, still holding the journal, a horrible pit in my stomach. I picked up the old note and compared it, as if for assurance that these two seemingly unrelated things really had the same nonsense written upon them. After all, I’d had this note forever, I couldn’t even remember where I got it! The handwriting was different at least, but the contents were unmistakable.
One thought dominated all others in this moment I spent with myself. What the hell is Jackadou? Or who the hell is Jackadou? Just what does this mean!?
I now realized I had broken out in a cold sweat, setting the small slip of paper back onto its place on my desk and then letting the book thump onto my bed. My heart was pounding as I rushed to my window. I wasn’t sure what I expected to see, finding nothing out there but the regular streetlights I was used to. I stared out into the darkness, breathing heavily. This went on for a while, as I just felt unsafe, uncertain. Eventually I drew the curtains and went back to my bed, from which I snatched the book, tucking it onto my desk and covering it in some loose papers left over from the previous school year. I didn’t feel like I should leave that thing out in the open, as if it were cursed or something. I really just didn’t know what to do.
And so, I laid down in my bed, thinking. After a while of lying there confronting my own thoughts, I reached the specific subject of that odd word. Jackadou. It was so weirdly familiar, probably just because that note had been with me for so long. But, it felt like there was more than that…
My mind wandered. I remembered someone I hadn’t thought about for a long time, a little girl I had played with when I was just a little kid too. We had sometimes gone walking in the shallower regions of the woods, I saw vivid images of us in nature…
Then something clicked. I saw the two of us out there amongst the trees, and in her hand was something… she was handing it to me…
A little ripped piece of paper. She had written something on it.
I stopped myself there. If this was true, why hadn’t I thought of it before? It wasn’t like this was the first time I pondered that little paper slip. Maybe seeing the word somewhere unreasonable like that journal had simply prompted me to think even harder about it? No, that didn’t quite make sense… but I had no other explanation.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t thought about that girl in a long time, either. A very long time, I didn’t remember the last time I had thought of her, even in passing. What was her name again? I strained… Jackie! That was it, and she was my best friend too! Not that it meant much at that young an age, when best friends would come and go… but I hadn’t seen her since we were so young. I guessed she had moved away…
But why did she give me that damn paper?
How did it connect to Aron? To his incoherent ramblings?
I had such a feeling of dread now, just thinking the word. Jackadou. Almost made me feel ill, and I didn’t even know what it meant.
It took a while, but I did get to sleep that night. I had no dreams, which was for the better, as they likely would have been terrible nightmares.
The next day was a school day. I found myself having trouble focusing after last night, which was still bothering me substantially. I ate lunch with Allison, and while we did I asked her if she had seen Aron at all since yesterday, clarifying for her sake that I meant the local crazy guy. She joked about me making a new friend before letting me know she hadn’t caught sight of him. Typical reclusive behavior of his, though I thought he might be on the hunt for his book.
After the whole school day was over I met up with Kathy, as I often did. We caught up about each other’s days and walked off together. Though I didn’t think I showed it, she asked me what was bothering me. I assured her that I was fine, as that wasn’t a can of worms I was too keen on opening at that time.
After walking through town–and me keeping a subtle eye out for Aron along the way–we came to an edge of the woods, along with several trail beginnings. This was a common place for us to go and start down a trail, usually stopping just far enough that society was out of sight, being one with nature and all that. Kathy was always talking about that type of thing, stuff like soul searching and being attuned to the world around you, though I thought it was a bit contradictory for her to bring along her Bluetooth speaker every time. She loved to play whatever mainstream songs were popular at the time, and though those weren’t usually my style, I wasn’t bothered. It was worth it just to see her having such a great time.
And so, like usual, we went out into the trees, merrily chatting away. I found myself feeling slightly more bitter toward this environment after my negative experience last night, but I pushed that to the back of my mind. We found ourselves two big comfortable rocks next to each other and had a seat. She put on a recently released pop tune, on low so that we wouldn’t have to talk over it. As we made conversation we each drank from her flashy water bottle which was covered in stickers she had been collecting. We always tended to end up talking about each other, just delving into our characters and our relationship. She had interesting outlooks on all types of deep subjects like this, and I mostly just liked to listen. I don’t have big ideas about stuff like this, but she’d still encourage me to participate, seeming delighted at my responses even when I found my words unimpressive at best.
An hour must have passed. I lost all the dread of last night in the lovely atmosphere. I always felt at my best when I was with her, it was like I got lighter.
As she now went on about some new spiritual concept of which I’d never heard, I looked over her shoulder, through the green trees and brush, loving the atmosphere. However, I thought I saw something moving. Behind a tree, like it had ducked out of view. I was curious as to whether I’d get to sight a deer or some other cool animal of the forest, so I watched.
I felt my dread return, blanketing over me, weighing me down. My whole body felt heavy and cold. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
It was unnatural. It was like a shadow. A hulking, inhuman figure of all black. Its movements as it appeared behind the trees were so uncanny. It wasn’t of this world.
My mouth gaped. What the hell was I seeing.
“Katherine… stop the music…” The words shuddered out of me. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it.
“Huh?” She sounded her confusion, but did as I asked nonetheless. Now there was nothing but the sounds of the forest, the wind on the trees. “What is it?” She looked over her shoulder.
“Do you see that…” I could barely get the words out. It was just like the illustrations, but real. Its eyes were huge, I could make them out clearly from here… but they weren’t clear. They were fuzzy, glazed, the pupils dilated to take up nearly the entire eye. They didn’t seem focused on anything, each staring into nothingness. The horror was palpable, I couldn’t believe this was real…
“…See what?” She asked innocently, rotating on the stone to face behind. She was scanning the trees.
“That…” It took all I had just to speak still, “Shadow… with the eyes… right there…” I stood up and began to back away.
“Where…” I saw her jump, leaning backwards and sitting up straight. Her voice came back, now terrified, “…I see it.” She squeaked.
She stood up and backed away, cautiously crouching to grab her things, never taking her eyes off of it. The thing was far and off the trails, roaming the forest. It didn’t seem to have taken any notice of us at all. Luckily it was in the opposite direction from where we came, so we got on the trail and began walking back. We stayed close together, both shaking violently. Once it had been out of view for a minute, we picked up the pace, speed walking, then quickly breaking to a sprint. We tore down that trail like we never had before.
Once we got out of the forest and off of the trail, we didn’t stop. We ran down the sidewalk into town and to main street, the heart of the city. Only then, at the public park, did we come to a stop, both more out of breath than we probably ever had been before.
It took us a few minutes to pull ourselves together. She looked at me with retrospective horror, but said nothing. I looked back at her. I thought frantically, what were we to do now? What the hell could we do?
Eventually, I spoke to her, trying to think of what was best…
“…We don’t understand it… don’t tell anyone… I know who does understand. I’ll find him.”
She didn’t look like she understood. She was still frightened, and now, on top of that, confused. I took a deep, shaky breath, then talked again.
“…We don’t understand.” I was snappier this time, “Do not tell anyone. We don’t know… what kind of danger we’re in.”
I bit my lip. I was trying my best to keep things under control, to do what was safest, but I had no clue what was right. I let out a sigh.
“Just please… promise me you’ll let me find out… before you tell anyone.”
She stared at me for another moment. She still didn’t understand what I was saying. Neither did I. But, still, she nodded slowly, then came forward for a hug which we both needed. She cried a bit, then I walked her to her house. I needed to talk to that book’s owner. I needed to talk to Aron.
After I dropped her off I jogged home, being paranoid of my surroundings. As soon as I got home I rushed up to my room, swiped the old papers off of the journal and took it, then ran back out of my house.
I asked every passersby if they had seen him, walked all around town, constantly checking over my shoulder, to every store and down every street.
I was losing hope. The sun was going to start setting soon, and I already felt the darkness settling in around me, even though it was as bright as the middle of the day. I came across the very bus stop at which I had stolen the book. I held out my last hope for here as I took a seat, craning my neck around in an attempt to nullify my blind spots.
It didn’t take long before I saw him. Walking down the street toward me, same grey jacket, same baseball cap. I was relieved, but as he marched quickly toward me, I suddenly grew scared. Was he to be trusted…? Too late, he was already upon me.
“You stole my book!” His voice came in a crescendo of anger. I skittishly took the journal out of my jacket and held it out to him, shrinking back as he snatched it from my hands. He slumped on the bench close to me, opening it and flipping quickly through every page before pocketing it out of sight himself.
“I’m sorry…” I stuttered, then tried to think of some way to continue, instead ending in another faded, “sorry.”
He breathed out a heavy sigh through his nose. “…Have you seen it?”
I nodded my head, remembering that terrible sight.
“Mm.” He lowered his head, his hat covering his eyes, “…Only if you know.”
I looked up at him, but he didn’t continue, so I inquired, “What-?”
“The Jackadou!” He raised his voice, I jumped both at his tone and the mention of that word, “Its name came to me in my nightmares… I’ve dreamed about them…” He licked his chapped lips and looked around, “Pretend you don’t see it… good God you’re poor, boy…”
“What are you talking about?”
“Pretend you don’t see it.” He looked me dead in the eyes for the first time, he was intimidating, “If it knows you know, you will die.”
I didn’t feel safe in his presence, but what he told me was important, and so I listened carefully, hung on every word.
“God… good God…” he slowly shook his head as he looked at me, he seemed sad now. “Don’t tell nobody, not nobody…”
My heart dropped. He stood up and left me there, disappearing down the suburban streets. I wanted him to tell me more, to explain more clearly, but I couldn’t muster up the power to ask him to come back. I sat there for a while before I could get up. I almost couldn’t process a single thing he had said, and I still struggled to wrap my head around it as I trudged home, through the front door, up into my room. I was so tired that night. So tired.
The next morning, I woke with a start. I immediately felt like an idiot for not already telling Kathy what Aron had told me. I rushed out of my room, clothes already on from bed, and left my house without saying a word to my folks, around an hour earlier than I would normally for school.
I showed up at Kathy’s house. It was early, but her family were early risers. They let me in and I went down to her room, knocking kindly on her door. She was awake, calling for me to come in.
She did not look like she was doing well. Her face made it clear that she did not sleep all night. Her hair was a mess. She was sitting on her bed, wrapped up in a blanket and watching me come in. I comforted her before I unloaded my best interpretation of Arons ramblings from the night before. She stared forward as she listened, but she nodded her head when I asked if she got all that. I stayed with her all of that morning. Her alarm buzzing startled both of us. Once it had gone off she insisted that she would be going to school still, even when I suggested that she don’t, even given her responsibility as president. She didn’t want to talk any more about that paranormal experience we had yesterday, and so I dropped it, after mentioning that she had to be careful.
That night would be the worst night of my entire life.
We went to school. Everything went as normal. Though, once again I couldn’t pay attention at all. I had bigger things in mind, horrible things that I wished I had never encountered. I couldn’t stay calm after those strange things Aron had told me, they occupied my mind all day.
I ate lunch with Kathy today. I wanted to be with her as much as possible, because I couldn’t shake a feeling of responsibility for roping her into this. Though, also for her comforting atmosphere, even in her tired, scared state. We both benefited from each other’s presence.
After school, we stayed together. We stayed right there outside the school, as she didn’t want to go walking just yet. We just sat there on the grass as I kept watch in all directions. She stared down at her water bottle, rotating it slowly against the grass. We were both silent.
Eventually, she asked me something.
“…Cameron?”
“Yeah?” I was quick to respond, she hadn’t said all that much to me all day.
“…Can you please fill up my water for me?” She held up her sticker covered water bottle, still looking down.
“Oh- yeah, of course.” I took it from her and stood up.
“Sorry.” She muttered.
“Don’t be.” I tried to be reassuring, but as I walked away I worried it might’ve sounded harsh.
We had been sitting in the grass kind of far from the school, still on the property but a ways from the building, so it was a couple minutes walk back to get to a water fountain.
I should have never left her side.
From inside that building, as I slowly filled the bottle with water, I could see her. Framed by the wide school window, out there in that vibrant field. She was sitting so peacefully…
Until it was back.
I knew I saw it before she did. The shapeless abomination, sucking in the light around it like a void given form. Last time its eyes had been unfocused, but it was far more terrifying, far more disturbing, now that its giant pupils had a target. Both were steadily trained on Kathy, unaware, looking out in front of her as she waited for me to return. The thing… the Jackadou, coming closer and closer…
Then she did see it. I watched her scramble on the grass, struggling through the shock to get to her feet. The disgusting beast must have seen her fear and taken it as an opportunity. Whilst before it had been lazily gliding across the ground, now it began to rock back and forth, picking up its pace. Coming for her.
I ran like hell. I heard the water bottle clatter against the hard floor as I burst into the exit doors, getting outside, seeing her useless attempts to outpace that thing even more clearly now…
But I’m ashamed to say that I stopped.
I was scared.
Scared that it would come for me too, scared that if I showed it I knew about it, I’d be next…
And these fears overpowered me. It was like what I was seeing wasn’t even real, I was disconnected.
But, somehow, there was someone else watching there too. Someone willing to take action.
I saw Aron sprinting across the parking lot, his hat falling off of his head and onto the pavement, but not slowing him down a bit. He shedded his jacket as well, running straight toward the creature and her… at this point it looked as if the thing was toying with her, tracing a perimeter around her as it stared into her eyes. She had curled up now, realizing that she was trapped. But, in Aron came, beginning to wave his arms wildly.
“I SEE YOU!” I could hear his shouts from here, his voice strained as he repeated, pointing at that thing. “I SEE YOU, I SEE YOU!!” He must have been within ten feet of it now, and what he was trying worked, the Jackadou’s big, disturbing eyes rolled over to meet Aron’s.
It began to follow him, and he led it away. He kept doing this strange dance, a display of his arms and legs, flailing wildly. He stayed facing his pursuer, which seemed to curiously and slowly trace his steps.
Aron led it to the treeline, where the two of them disappeared, hidden now within the forest. Aron’s shouts quickly diminished in volume until they couldn’t be heard from over here.
He was gone.
But the Jackadou was gone too.
Now I came to my senses. I ran from the school to meet Kathy, who was still on the ground, staring at the woods. I asked her in a panic if she was alright, she told me in a whisper that she was. I helped her up and we went toward the school. There, we retrieved her colorful water bottle, which now had a dent in the bottom, keeping it from standing up straight on a flat surface. She didn’t seem to care at all. She was generally unresponsive. All of this… it must’ve really gotten to her.
We started for home, both at a loss for words. In the parking lot I picked up Aron’s hat and jacket. In his jacket there was a weight which I found to be that book of his.
I didn’t know if he was dead then. Now I’m confident that he was.
I walked Kathy home again. I asked her if she wanted me to stay with her, but she didn’t respond. I told her that I would be on my way and still, she didn’t say anything, just went into her own home and gently pulled the door shut behind her. It hurt me to see her like this. She was never a loud type, but it seemed that, before now, she always had an aura of happiness around her.
The whole way home I wondered if I should turn around right there, let myself into her house and stay by her side, never leaving her again. I knew this would be hard to explain, but it seemed like it may be the right thing to do.
Just about every decision I made back then was the wrong one.
So, I went home. I ate dinner as if everything was normal, as if I hadn’t just witnessed a man sacrifice himself for my best friend, and as if she and I had sustained no psychological trauma from that same event.
But, I wasn’t willing to let him go.
After eating I set out on my bike for the police station. I needed to tell them at least that Aron had gone missing, so that they could look for him, so that maybe he could be saved.
When I described him to them, they looked at me like I was crazy. None of them could remember seeing someone like I was describing around the city. It didn’t make sense to me, it seemed like everyone knew about him, but they all insisted they didn’t. They asked when I last saw him, I said today. They asked how I knew he was missing if I didn’t have any relation to him, and had already seen him. I couldn’t come up with anything. They dismissed me and told me they would look into it, but I felt I had failed.
So back home I went. Then, having nothing left to do, I went to bed. I hadn’t slept well since this had all begun only two nights before, making me completely exhausted. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Only a few hours later, I woke up to the buzzing of my phone on my bedside table. I deliriously sat up and checked the time. It was just after midnight, if I remember correctly. I checked who was calling me.
It was Kathy.
I was quick to pick up, and prepared myself maybe to come over to her house, even at this hour, to offer her comfort.
As soon as I put the phone to my ear my skin began to crawl. She was screaming and crying, shouting my name at me. I told her to calm down but she didn’t.
I asked her what was wrong.
“That thing! It’s in my house I… I’m trapped in my room Cameron, please come help me!! Help!”
She screamed between sobs, I hurriedly told her that I was on my way. I opened my window and jumped down onto my roof, hurting myself a bit as I slid down and onto my front lawn. But that was nothing. I put the phone back to my ear, running now.
“Oh God…” She cried, quieter now, “No…”
“What!? What is it!?” I practically screamed into my phone.
“It’s here…”
“Kathy, you be there when I get there!!” I didn’t know what I could change by asking that of her, but I wasn’t thinking clearly.
“Cameron, please help… I just don’t want to die… I don’t want to…” She sounded defeated. I’ll never forget her tone of voice on that call. That was the last thing she said to me before I heard her phone fall to the ground.
“KATHY!? KATHERINE, SAY SOMETHING!” I stopped there on the sidewalk. I wasn’t even halfway to her house. I cried and shouted into the phone, but all that met me on the other side was silence.
Dead air.
I cried there on the side of the road, falling to my knees and letting everything out. I felt sick. I couldn’t believe everything that had happened, and I couldn’t get a single clear thought through my head there that night. After every tear I could squeeze out was gone, I just lied on my back, shaking violently. The sky was black, covered by clouds here in the middle of the night, the moon barely glowing through. The bulb of a streetlight was burned into my eyes as I stared upwards.
I was there for at least an hour. I didn’t check the time. When I finally had the strength, I got up. I felt powerless and weak. It was at this point, making my way through the dark streets toward my own house, that I began to feel disgusted with myself. I felt a burning, passionate rage not only toward those unearthly abominations, but toward myself as well. I managed to cry again before I got home.
When I did, I knocked at the door, as it was locked for the night. I had to knock hard, and still it was a minute before I was answered as it creaked open.
My dad was the one to see me. I must have looked horrible, but I didn’t care. I didn’t think about anything at all. I didn’t listen to whatever he said, didn’t speak a word to him, just went up to my room to be alone. I didn’t sleep any more, I never tried. I just took turns staring at that damn note I had gotten from Jackie so many years ago, and flipping through Aron’s journal. The rest of that night is really a blur to me, but I do remember one discovery I made. Something that didn’t make any sense, but horrified me.
Kathy’s contact had vanished from my phone. My heart skipped a beat and I checked again, but it was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t remember what her number was.
I couldn’t think of anything to do about this. The next day I went to school early, just as the sun came up. I went to the patch of grass where we had sat the day before and stared out at the trees from there, remembering everything.
When school started, something wasn’t right. They announced that they were swearing in a new class president. I had no problem with the guy they were bringing on, but this was so wrong. I asked around about the last school president, Kathy, what about her??
“Who?”
That was the most common response. Nobody remembered her. It was like she had never existed at all. I even asked Allison…
She didn’t know what I was talking about.
This was the last straw. It blew my mind, made me realize that these things… the Jackadou, were nothing to fool around with. I had poked around with things I didn’t understand, and others had paid the price. I still don’t fully understand what it is I’ve gotten myself into, how any of this could have happened, why it happened.
Needless to say, I was not mentally well after everything.
I started to keep to myself, hold my head low and trudge through life. Allison was my only friend now, and as far as she was concerned it had always been that way. It was hard to act like nothing was wrong, to assure others that I was fine as I could see one of those things out of the corner of my eye, looming, watching. There are at least two, I’ve seen them at the same time. They roam mindlessly around the city, through the woods, they go everywhere. People walk right through them. Once Allison did, she told me she felt a little chill. I told her that was weird–I couldn’t say anything more.
I thought this might be it, that I would lead the rest of my life like normal, just seeing those freaks all around, ignoring them.
But, months later, just the other day, Allison had a strange question for me.
We were hanging out like we would any other day. She learned not to ask me about my change in demeanor, she had simply accepted it. Sitting there, at the park, she asked me…
“Cameron… whatever happened to Kathy?”
I froze when she asked me that, and I looked at her, bewildered.
“You can remember!?”
She was confused, “Well, you seem to know, tell me! C’mon!”
It was too good to be true, and I knew that. My mind wandered for an explanation of how it had come back to her, then my joy very quickly faded away.
“…You found it, didn’t you.”
“Found what?”
“My book. The one with the pen drawings, you saw it.”
“What, that? Hey, sorry for snooping, I was just curious! Only gave it a little peek.”
I got chills. It was like it was happening all over again. I needed to explain everything to her, and so I did. I was clear this time. I told her every detail that I had learned, as much as it pained me to do so. She listened, but she seemed skeptical. She didn’t believe me.
Then, she got mad that I tied Kathy’s disappearance to this crazy story of mine. I asked her why she’d forgotten Kathy then, but she quickly wrote it off, saying that the two of them were never that close. I was getting desperate, and I even pleaded her to believe me, but she was already leaving on her skateboard, going away faster than I could run, upset with me. I didn’t stop my pursuit though, this was not happening. Not again.
It didn’t take long for me to find her, stopped in her tracks, just around the bend. Down the street there it was again, the Jackadou, wandering. I was used to paying them no attention these days, but this time was different, Allison was seeing it too.
“Allison… don’t freak out…”
“They’re real…” she stared, extending a pointed finger, “You see it too… don’t you?”
“Don’t do that!” I hit her arm without thinking.
“Ow!” She slapped me reflexively in retaliation, catching herself after, “Oh- sorry.”
I wiped my face and looked back at her, “It’s fine… listen, I told you, it can’t know that you can see it…” Suddenly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. She did too, she was staring at it.
The Jackadou. It had approached, and now we were looking right at it, fear in our eyes.
“…Go.” I told her, “I’ll catch up.”
She wasted no time, getting a running start and skateboarding quickly away. I ran in the opposite direction. The Jackadou followed me, but it didn’t come quickly. It was out of sight the first corner I turned, and I didn’t see it again. I circled my way around to Allison’s house, where it looked like she was going. I saw that she was peeking out her window and I waved at her to let me in.
We sat in her room, her quietly comprehending everything. Eventually she ran to the bathroom connected to her room. I heard her throwing up, and felt as if I’d be next, but I got myself together. When she finally emerged, we comforted each other, we both needed it. Then, I had a frightening realization.
“Allison… these things don’t go away once they know… they come to you, hunt you down…”
Her eyes betrayed her fear. “Just like…” she didn’t need to finish her sentence, we both knew who she meant.
We both came to the conclusion that we had to leave. We couldn’t tell anyone, our hands were tied. She packed her essentials in her backpack. There was a heavy, solemn atmosphere as we walked to my house for me to pack as well, keeping an eye out. We figured we had to leave all this behind to survive. It was a little easier than it would’ve been for most, since we only had each other, but we still had families. I said hello to my parents in the hall for the final time.
We didn’t want to be caught and brought back here, so there were no goodbye notes. She brought her skateboard, as it was easily portable, but my bike would have to stay.
We hitched a ride on a non-passenger train, sneaking into one of the cars just as it began to move. The very train I’m writing this on.
As it pulled away from the station, we stood up to see again. Just as we did, out in the field, there it was. A Jackadou. It locked eyes with us as we went away, riding the rails into the unknown.
I’m not sure what we’ll do next, but at least we have each other.