As my friends’ conversations went back and forth and everywhere, the lonely country road only went one way. Forward. It felt like I had seen the same scene a thousand times as crops and cows passed by in multitudes. Finally, after what had felt like a thousand years, there was something different. Flashing lights lay ahead at the one potential turn for miles. It was getting darker, so the lights consumed my entire view, flashing red and blue. I slowed down as we approached and I put my window down. There was a cop there that told us that we couldn’t go forward and would have to take a slight detour to the side, through True Waters, which was one of the thousands of small towns that peppered this part of the country. The detour would only add about half an hour to the trip and I figured it wasn’t worth getting upset over.
Another few minutes of passing barnes and boredom and we saw a sign that indicated we were approaching True Waters. It wasn’t foggy before, but my vision became increasingly impaired. I turned to say something to Katelyn, Jack, or Ryan, but the conversation had succumbed to the quiet night and everyone was invested in something else. The foggy night became almost opaque as it clouded my vision. The fog gave me the strangest feeling of uncertainty; not knowing what is in front of you until…
I swerved the car as fast as possible and ran headfirst into a tree. Kat shot up from her nap with a look of absolute terror and I heard a scream from one of the boys in the back. Jack was the first to ask, “What were you doing? You could’ve gotten us killed.”
“I… I saw something… I don’t know.”
Ryan joined in on the offensive, “So now we are stuck in the middle-of-nowhere because Liam was seeing things in the fog?”
Emotions were high and I decided it was better to move on with the situation. The figure was probably just the shadow of a tree or something. It couldn’t have been human with how tall it was. Regardless, now we had to figure out something to do. Our phones had no service; not too surprising in these areas. The crew agreed that going into town for help seemed to be the best option.
We saw the sign of True Waters as we grew closer to the town. “True Waters: The Town of Many Streams” It seemed… ominous. I guess all these small towns have to try to come up with something creative to entice drivers. Why anyone would be going this way is a mystery to me, but at least the sign provided much-needed guidance.
The town expanded into our view and the fog seemed to simmer down a bit as we entered. It seemed as if the town was immune to the fog. It almost seemed that the town was trapped by the fog. The streets were empty, which was to be expected at this time of night, so we looked around for any source of life. As we entered the middle of the town, there was a large church that marked the center of the town. It had beautiful artwork, but it seemed to lack images of angels or Christian indications. Rather, it was engulfed in imagery of waters gushing and life coming from the streams in the form of plants. Agriculture must be huge around these parts, but the whole place just seemed off.
We finally found a place with lights on; the bar. We entered the building, but the level of noise almost matched the silent streets of True Waters. There was one man sitting at the bar top with a dark liquid in the small glass he was taking sips from. He seemed almost animatronic with how he moved until Kat spoke up, “Um… Sir?… We got in a crash near here and we were wondering where we would go to for help. Is there a police station in this town?”
The man didn’t even flinch while completing his task of bringing the glass up to his mouth, but after a few seconds more of silence, he turned towards us with a morose look on his face. “The police station has been vacant for years. The people run this town. We don’t have to worry about getting help or safety because if you misbehave here… if you don’t act right…”
He looked to be clearly struggling and showed more emotion in that moment than this whole interaction combined. His face calmed quickly after and he continued with his apathetic tone and demeanor, “If you need help around here, you can go to the priest’s house. He is up at all hours of the day- it feels like he is up at all hours of the day I mean. He helps everyone in this town. If you’re an outsider- a visitor, he will… he will help you.”
The interaction ended a bit hesitant and it left us wanting to get out of there as soon as possible after he told us the directions. In our hastened exodus from the bar, Ryan spoke up, “Something here is off. Ever since we entered, I have had the chills.”
Jack responded calmly, “It is forty degrees out here, of course you are getting the chills. Now where is Resmond Street?”
It surprised me that someone could stay unshaken by this place; or at least act like it. Resmond Street led to Willows Lane and sure enough, the one place with lights seeping from its windows was the supposed location of the priest. The shine seemed a bit more flickery than usual lights, so I could assume that there were candles illuminating the building. We knocked and not a second later, a man with a smile that could fit the whole doorway opened the door in unusual clothing. “Hello travelers, what is the thing you seek today here at True Waters?”
His whole attitude and grin threw all of us off until even Jack stammered while stating, “Our car crashed just a few blocks outside of town and we were wondering if we could find a place to stay and contact someone to help us?”
“Oh, how very very… unfortunate. You can stay with me of course, but first,” I didn’t know the man’s smile could get any bigger, but it did, “you must attend our service here that starts in just a little while. After that, you will get your… help. You are free to look through the town as you wait.”
Service? It was 2:30 AM on a Tuesday? Ryan looked like he was going to rebut the strange proposal, but Jack stared at him and Ryan decided to comply. We all took the suggestion to check out the rest of the town. We looked around, but only found one stream that was close to the town on our map. The streams in True Waters must have dried up long ago. It seemed weird that they kept the slogan, but the sign looked nearly as old as the town itself. We wandered the streets and found nothing really of importance. There was no activity throughout the whole town.
Kat broke our silence, “Why did the priest say that we couldn’t get help until after the service? None of this makes sense. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”
I mumbled a sign of agreement.
Ryan continued, “What was that about a service also? I don’t know if we should even stick along for all of this. We might be able to get to the nearest town or something.”
Jack corrected him, “The next nearest town isn’t for another few miles in both directions. Unless you want to walk all night, we should just stay here for a few more hours.”
Ryan pointed out, “Do you see any cars here? I haven’t seen anything even resembling modern technology our whole time here.”
I weighed in, “We don’t have much of a choice but to trust the priest. It doesn’t make me comfortable, but just a bit longer and we can leave this whole situation behind us.”
The silence of the group told me that we were all in agreement. A hand touched my back. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I turned around. The smiling face that met my eyes was barely better than my worst fears, but I let my guard down.
“The service is almost ready. It is almost time. Come with me, travelers.”
The church bell rang and the streets fled with churchgoers. The priest dissipated into the crowd, but the people surrounding us didn’t give us much comfort either. The same strange style that the priest encompassed manifested itself throughout the locals’ attire. The whole experience was surreal. Kat came over to me and pointed out, “There aren’t any children.”
We entered the church building and what met us inside would have caused me to stop if it weren’t for the people behind me moving forward. There was a dark wood interior with intricate waterfalls extending around the center area. The waterfalls were… red. I blinked a few times to make sure it wasn’t just my eyes adjusting to the candlelit room. I didn’t even know what I was in for until I looked straight ahead. There was an altar all the same, but what lay behind the altar was something I have never seen. There were multiple streams that went down a complex system of slides and tubes that formed strange symbols and all led into a stagnant pool the size of a hot tub. The streams moved slowly and looked dark. I was so in shock by the whole experience that it took me a second to realize that it was blood. Once everyone was seated, the quiet prattle of the streams was the only sound left and it filled my heart with more fear than I could imagine.
The group and I got close together out of sheer terror. The priest came up to the altar and everyone stood up. He started speaking gibberish, but I soon realized that it was Latin. Kat was the only one of us who knew some Latin and I watched her face drop with each word. Soon, the crowd started joining in on some sort of prayer and we were brought up to the altar. At this point, I wish we had taken Ryan’s route of leaving this place. Kat quietly translated what was being said to us, “He says we need to promise our servitude to…the blood spirit”
Jack stood up straight and brazenly declared, “Let us go. We don’t want any part in your weird ritual!”
The priest’s smile grew again and the lighting made it look almost sinister. The chanting picked up again as the priest came over to me and grabbed my finger. Some people held me down when I started screaming because the priest pulled out a blade. My index finger was in this man’s hand in no time. Pain and fear mixed to almost make me faint, but the incense made sure I was awake. It was hard to watch my friends meet the same fate and soon we were all one finger short. It was difficult to watch the priest drop the fingers into the pool of blood.
The fingers were a catalyst to a whole series of events. Smoke filled the whole room as the pool started bubbling. The chanting grew until I was suffocated with it. The room was dim, but I could still see something emerge from the pool. A hand with fingers the length of a pillow erupted out of the blood. The creature that the hand belonged to pulled the rest of its gaunt body out of the pool. The chanting stopped and an eyeless, humanoid creature towered up in front of us. There was a pause as the thing sensed the room around it, then let out a scream that would last in my mind the rest of my life.
The priest kept up his smile despite the scream and watched the creature pass by him to stare straight at us, or should I say get near all of us. I saw even Jack tremble immensely. I had all but given up my life by the point that the militant menace singled me out, but then something happened. The guards were so mesmerized by their master, this demon, that Katelyn slipped out of their hold and started running towards the creature. The creature hit all of us, guards included, to the side with one swipe and it left up free to run. The creature did not fail in getting to Katelyn after she had left herself to the risk of the creature. All the people were running out the door and Ryan went for the same route, but the creature started crawling on the ceiling and dropped down in the crowd. Watching the creature put its head up and consume Ryan in two bites made my stomach turn. This gave Jack and I time to go for the window that the creature had caused when he sent us off to the side. The creature moved towards us as we left the building.
I have never run so fast before. It felt like I was floating above the ground as the creature squeezed itself through the large water based stained glass behind us. Jack and I got one last look before we both split up at a turn. The scurrying of the creature behind me disappeared. Just a minute later, the screams of Jack filled the air.
I was almost outside of town. I saw the creature take a position on the top of a building just a bit behind me and it started running on the rooftop. I made it into the forest and it followed on treetops. The creature dropped down right on my tail and I gave one last effort. There was a small pond that I leaped into. It was over. The creature was gonna bite any moment, or was it?
I brought my head out when I ran out of breath and there was nothing. I got up despite my legs feeling like they were about to fall off. I walk away from the town for a bit until I find the road. I follow it until I see some lights. I almost turn and run, but I pause to realize that it is blue and red. The cops were surrounding my car that had crashed. I approach them and they start asking questions based on my wet, bloodied form. I survived.