“See you Monday, Lucy!” Abbie shouted.

Lucy waved back, turning down her cul-de-sac. School was over for the weekend; a whole two days before she had to think about her geography homework. She almost skipped down the path, still grinning from her fourteenth birthday party last weekend. She, Abbie, and Abbie’s boyfriend Jake had gone to Alton Towers for the day. She’d gone on all the big rides, even the ones Abbie and Jake hadn’t wanted to. Dad should have got the photos back by now, I can take them in on Monday and see if… who’s that? Lucy stopped, almost home, squinting down to the end of the road.

Someone stood under a tree, on the patch of grass that led to the woods. He looked pretty tall and thin, wearing a dark suit. Odd, I haven’t seen him around before. Guess he’s just moved here or something. Lucy knew most of the people in the area by sight, having lived there all her life. She watched him for a few moments, wondering why anyone would wear a suit just to stand on a patch of grass wait, he’s watching me too. She raised a hand and waved, doing the ‘friendly new neighbour’ thing. The guy didn’t move. The sun glared out from behind a cloud, making Lucy blink rapidly; she hadn’t looked away for more than a second, but the guy had gone when she looked back. She shrugged it off and went inside.

Later on, after dinner, Lucy asked her parents if they knew about anyone moving in recently. “Not that I know of. Why?” said her mother.

“Just this guy I saw earlier, standing on the green. I didn’t recognise him from around here,” Lucy said.

“Probably someone visiting. Shush now, my film’s about to start,” said Lucy’s dad.

That night, Lucy awoke in the dark, instinct telling her someone’s watching me, someone’s in my room standing over my bed, turn the light on. She pulled the quilt up over her head, reaching only an arm out to flick on her bedside lamp. As light filtered through the covers, she pushed them aside and peeked out. The room was empty; only the glossy eyes on her posters watched. She sat up, taking a good look around. Definitely empty. Guess I just had a bad dream or something. She threw the quilt aside and padded out to the bathroom. Might as well go while I’m awake. Washing her hands, she glanced in the mirror over the sink there’s a face at the window, but I’m upstairs, how did they…? They must have a ladder or something. Probably Gary and Karl mucking about.

She turned, intending to throw the window open and yell at whoever was climbing ladders outside her house in the middle of the night. If it's those two idiots from maths class… there was nothing. She opened the window to check, but all was clear. Lucy shook herself. You’re seeing things. Must have been some weird reflection, the moon or something. Go to bed, go back to sleep.

*-*-*

A few weeks later, Lucy got in from school and was immediately set upon by her mother.

“Where have you been, Lucy?”

Lucy opened her mouth to reply. That’s odd, I can’t actually remember. But I must have been at school, right? “At school. Where else would I go, mum?” she said, with a feeble attempt at humour. Where have I been? I didn’t go up to the woods again, did I? Earlier that week, she had left the house to go to school, and found herself in the middle of the woods for no apparent reason. She couldn’t even remember going, or why she’d gone up there.

“Don’t lie to me, young lady. The school phoned, said you haven’t been in at all this week. And they said you’ve been missing days for the last month, without providing notes.” Her mum paused, glancing at the newspaper. “Why now, Lucy? You know two kids have gone missing from the area; why are you doing this to me?”

Doing this to you? “I’m not doing anything to you, mum. I don’t remember where I was today, alright? I don’t remember anything I’ve been doing!” Why does she have to make everything about herself? Maybe if she paid more attention to me she’d have noticed something before; maybe I’d have been able to talk to her about this weird memory loss. Maybe I could have told her about the shadows I see everywhere, or the creepy guy that’s been following me around…

“You don’t remember. What a pathetic excuse,” said Lucy’s mum. “What is it? Are you meeting someone? A boyfriend? Drug dealer? Pimp? You’re not denying it, I notice.”

“You’re not giving me a chance!” Lucy shouted, not really understanding where her anger was coming from. “I just told you, I don’t remember! Maybe I’m going mad; send me to a doctor, why don’t you?”

“You were seen, going into the old Wilson place last week. You know, the place where Matty Barnes was last seen near?” Her mum paused. “Do you know something about it, Lucy?”

Lucy stared blankly at the wall behind her mum. She remembered being at the Wilson place; she had woken up on the kitchen floor, feeling sick to her stomach and with a massive headache. On her way out, she had noticed a small brownish stain on the wall. She had wanted to ring the police right there, but something had gone wrong with her phone; after getting home, somehow it hadn’t seemed important anymore. “I don’t know anything. And I don’t have to put up with this from you,” she said flatly, turning and walking back out of the door.

Well, I don’t have to put up with her interrogation, she thought. She mooched along the road, round the corner and into the park. It was usually empty at this time of day; the mums and toddlers had gone home, and the older kids were still getting home, doing homework and whatever. Lucy slumped down onto a swing and scuffed moodily at the ground. Always acting like she owns me, like she has the right to control my entire life…

“Luce!” came a shout from across the park. Lucy looked up; only one person had ever called her that.

“Aaron! When did you get back?” Aaron had been her best friend since playgroup, but his family had moved to America last year for his dad’s work. He had emailed her saying he’d be back for the summer, but the holidays were still two weeks away.

He grinned, brilliant white teeth in a freckled face. “Dad wangled an extra couple of weeks off; we caught an earlier flight and landed at stupid o’clock this morning. We’ve got so much to catch up on!”

Lucy jumped up from the swing, walked over and, without quite knowing why, hugged him tightly.

“Missed me, huh?” Aaron asked, slightly awkwardly. “Hey, you’re crying… what’s wrong, Luce?”

She pulled back a little, rubbing her eyes. “It’s just Mum, and… things have just been really weird lately.” Maybe I should tell him, he might believe me. “Can we go get milkshakes or something? I can tell you all the local madness you’ve missed out on,” she said.

“Sure. I’ll buy, you talk,” said Aaron, leading the way down to the Petite Café on the high street. It was a tiny place, mostly frequented by dating teenagers and old ladies. Lucy grabbed a table in the corner while Aaron ordered the drinks. I have to talk to someone about this. Aaron’s always listened to me. Maybe he can help.

“So, what’s up?” he asked, coming over with two glasses of white froth.

Lucy took a deep breath. “Aaron, I… I think I’m losing it. I keep forgetting where I’ve been; I find myself in places with no idea how I got there or what I did. The school reckons I’ve been skipping days, but I don’t remember, and when I try to it makes my head hurt. And there’s this creepy guy following me, I keep seeing him everywhere, he’s even stood looking in my window at night.” She paused, staring into her milkshake. “There’s a couple of kids missing, too. One place I woke up was the same house where one of them disappeared; you know, the Wilson place.”

“That freaky abandoned mansion? What were you doing there?”

“That’s the point, I don’t remember.” Lucy looked up at him. “You do believe me, don’t you?”

Aaron took her hand and squeezed gently. “Course I do, Luce. I know you, you don’t make up stuff like this.” He slurped at his shake, frowning slightly. “What does this guy look like? Could be he’s the one behind the missing kids; maybe he’s some sort of hypnotist, or like the Pied Piper or something.”

Lucy thought. “I’m not sure; I haven’t got a good look at his face yet. He always seems to vanish before I can see properly. But he’s really tall, and thin, doesn’t have much hair, if any… what are you doing?” Aaron had pulled out a notepad and started scribbling.

“Making a sketch. We can take it to the police, might give them a lead. Go on; tall, thin and bald. What else?”

“He’s very pale,” said Lucy, closing her eyes to picture him easier. “And always wearing a dark suit. I don’t remember much else; looking at him too long makes my eyes go funny.” She opened her eyes and stared absently out of the window while Aaron finished his sketch. The street was getting busy, kids out of school buying crisps and sweets, hanging around to show off their skateboard tricks and annoy everyone else there he is. “Aaron, look there. That’s him, at the side of the barbers’,” she said, nudging him and pointing.

Aaron looked up. “Where… oh. Jeez, you’re right; that guy is creepy.” He glanced down at his sketch, then back up again. “Hey, where’d he go?”

Lucy stared out. “That’s what happens to me, every time I try and look properly he disappears.” She glanced down at Aaron’s sketch; he was a pretty good artist, and had managed to capture most of the details. He had left the face blank, since she couldn’t describe it properly, but the rest of it looked fairly accurate. “That looks about right.”

“Ok. Come on then, let’s get to the station.” He picked up his sketch, took her hand and led her out of the café and down the road to the police station. Lucy stopped outside, feeling suddenly, extremely nervous. She didn’t know why, couldn’t explain it, she only knew I can’t go in there, I can’t tell anyone about this, I don’t want to do this…

“Aaron, wait,” she said, holding back, staring at the glass door like it might bite her.

He looked at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Tell you what, Luce. You wait out here, and I’ll go talk to someone. I can just say I’ve seen this bloke hanging around, acting weird. Then I’ll walk home with you, ok?”

She nodded, giving him a nervous half-smile. “Ok. Don’t be long.” She watched him enter the small, red-brick building, and sat down on a low wall to wait.

*-*-*

Lucy ran the tap, staring into the spotted, cracked mirror above the sink. She had actually made it to school this time, though hadn’t attended any lessons since registration. She hadn’t been able to stomach the amount of snide comments from the rest of her class, let alone the remarks from the teachers about her ‘unauthorised absences’. Once the bell had rung for first lesson, she had slipped into the nearest toilet and stayed there.

She felt unusually warm, despite having the window propped open; she splashed water over her face and neck, hoping it would help. Maybe I’m getting ill. I feel a bit weird, might be worth going to the nurse… The bell rang again, signalling break time. Lucy turned the tap off and hid in a cubicle. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, and there would be girls in here gossiping for the next twenty minutes. Locking the door, she sat down on the toilet and lifted her feet off the floor. They’ll just think it’s out of order if they can’t see me. She hugged her knees, feeling slightly queasy, and half listened to the inane chatter of the girls that wandered in and out.

“I so fancy Jonny, do you think he likes me? Should I talk to him or wait?…”

“Omigod, did you hear about Clare?…”

“So I told Anna I couldn’t make it, her stupid parties are always so boring…”

“…says she can’t remember what she’s been doing. I reckon she’s got an older boyfriend on the go, she’s such a slag.”

“What, Lucy? Nah, I think she’s got in with a gang. Probably doing drugs or something. She keeps acting so weird.”

“Well, she is weird. But I think you’re right Trish; it’s some bloke. I definitely saw her going up into the woods the other day, there was someone waiting for her in the trees…”

Eventually, the bell rang again and everyone else left. Alone again, Lucy unlocked her door and stood back in front of the sinks. So Mads saw me going to the woods? And saw someone waiting for me? Who was it, was it the guy that’s been following me? She stared into the mirror without really seeing it, too lost in her own thoughts.

Aaron had been strangely distant since going to the police two days ago; she thought perhaps he had decided she made everything up after all, and hadn’t been able to get him to talk to her long enough to find out. She wished he would speak to her again; she needed someone to listen to her. Whenever she was alone she felt uncomfortable, a prickling sensation running down her back; when she was at home, her mother wouldn’t stop questioning her about what she had been up to. She hadn’t been sleeping properly either, because every time she closed her eyes she could feel someone watching her.

She ran the tap again, soaking her hair, her face and neck why am I so hot? What’s happening to me? Water dripping everywhere, she wiped excess wetness from her eyes and looked back into the mirror. Oh, great, what have I done to myself… a thin trickle of blood ran from her nose. She grabbed some tissue from the nearest cubicle and held it under her nose, stemming the flow. Stupid nose, stupid body, cool down for god’s sake, it’s not that hot in here. What is wrong with me?

Tossing the red-spotted tissue in the bin, she decided to go to the school nurse. Her head was pounding, she felt as though her insides were on fire; who cared what the teachers thought, she was obviously ill. Lucy pulled at the door handle, trying to open it. Bloody thing’s stuck, isn’t it? Great, that’s all I need. She tugged harder, using her full weight to try and shift the door. It wouldn’t budge. She turned away, went back to the sinks, and doused herself in cold water again. Black spots danced in her eyes; she grabbed the edges of the basin as the room started to spin around her. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head slowly and stared into the mirror…

“Get out of here!” she yelled, whirling to face the tall man she had seen in the mirror. Nothing was there, but turning around had made her dizzier. She staggered back against the sink, clutching her head and screwing her eyes shut. Oh god what’s happening to me… Lucy sank to the floor, not knowing or caring if anyone had heard her shout, only wanting to stop feeling so sick. Please stop, please stop, please stop… everything burned, her blood boiled and her mind exploded; she lost all awareness as the floor collapsed beneath her and she fell into a dark void.

*-*-*

Lucy stirred, leaves rustling under her, I must be in the forest again. Her eyes flickered open, fixing on a spot of sunlight on a tree in front of her. She pushed herself up from the ground, wondering how long it had been this time… her hand came across something sticky. Pulling a face, she looked at what she had just stuck her hand in, something disgusting probably, slick and red oh god that’s blood. She checked herself, nothing there; something dripped onto her from above, she looked up to see a girl stuck in the tree, no, on the tree, on a branch bleeding, wait that’s Mads from school, what the hell’s going on here…

“Mads, you okay? Hang on, I’m calling an ambulance,” Lucy said, pulling her phone out and dialling 999. A crackling, screeching noise came out of it, half deafening her and making her drop the thing. It landed screen up, still screeching and static all across the screen. She looked back up at Mads, wondering if she could climb up and check her, maybe she had her phone on her too.

Lucy was at the base of the tree before she realised something wasn’t right. Mads never shut up for more than five seconds, even during class. Surely she would have made some kind of noise, unless… She looked up again, directly underneath Mads now, and saw tangled stuff spilling out of a huge gash down her front. Her eyes were wide open, almost surprised, and blood dripped from her open mouth. Lucy stumbled back, horrified. But why did they leave me alone, whoever did that to Mads just left me lying there, surely they would have killed both of us, oh god are they coming back, are they watching me, why am I just standing here run you stupid girl run and get help…

Walking backwards another few paces, paying no attention to anything except the gruesome spectacle in front of her, she found herself backed up to a tree. It jolted her back to reality; she turned to go around it, run back home and call the police, except she couldn’t. She hadn’t backed into a tree at all. He stood there, the tall man who had been following her; and he was very tall, more than twice her height, wearing a suit too dark to be simply black, and when she tilted her head back far enough to see his face, he didn’t have one, just a featureless stretch of white skin. She turned to run the other way, but there he was, in front of her again, and his voice echoed loudly in her mind, making her flinch.

*You can’t run away this time. I’ve been patient enough.*

Lucy trembled, expecting to end up like Mads as she pleaded. “Don’t hurt me, please, just let me go, I won’t say anything, I haven’t even told about you following me, please let me go I won’t tell please…” Her sentence was cut off as something tightened around her throat, enough to stop her speaking without constricting her airway.

*Quiet. If you are obedient you will not be harmed.*

Lucy stared, only able to think one thing; you killed Mads, you killed her you killed her…

*No Lucy, you killed her on my instruction. You belong to me.*

What… no, I couldn’t have; I don’t know what you mean let me go please let me go… Confused and afraid, she tried to pull away, to flee from this strange entity that had somehow got into her mind. Her legs refused to respond, however; she was frozen in place, trapped by some unknown force. What have you done to me?

She struggled against whatever was holding her, muscles straining uselessly. Let go! she thought frantically, staring up at him. He did not respond, at least not with words; instead blinding pain shot through her, blocking all awareness of anything but how much everything hurt. As it receded, she found herself kneeling on the ground, fluid trickling from her eyes and nose. She raised a quivering hand to her face; it came away shining with fresh blood. Somehow she knew that he had done this to her; Him, the being that could read her thoughts and control her body, who stood in front of her staring into her soul and twisting her mind. Who are you? she thought, her mind still reeling from His power. What are you?

*I have been called many things; all you need know is that I am your master.*

I don’t understand…

*You do not need to. Now come with me.*

Lucy hesitated briefly, torn between trying to run and obeying to avoid more pain; slowly she stood, shaking, thinking that He would probably stop her running if she tried. She closed her eyes and took a few tentative steps forwards. She didn’t know how close she was to Him, and didn’t want to find out; she wasn’t expecting the vice-like grip that closed around her wrist, pulling her forwards. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness; felt as though she was falling again, falling deeper into a black pit from which there would be no escape…

2: Discovery - Aaron's story part 1

Aaron stared out of the window, watching the tiny houses glide past underneath him. The plane was dropping steadily, coming in to land as the sun rose. He would probably crash out for a few hours in the hotel room once they got there, then head out to the old village to see Lucy. He was looking forward to seeing her again; they had been best friends since forever, but hadn’t seen each other in nearly a year. She’d be mega surprised to see him this soon; he hadn’t had a chance to email her about the earlier flight, so she’d still be expecting him next month. Seatbelt lights flickered on, the intercom pinged at everyone, and Aaron nudged his dad awake. He’d asked to be woken up before the plane landed, and this seemed as good a time as any. Ignoring the ‘we are landing’ safety announcements along with ninety percent of the other passengers, Aaron resumed staring out of the window.

A few hours later, he left his parents in the hotel restaurant – Dad fiddling about on his laptop and Mum sitting at a table with some tourists – and caught a bus out to the village. He got off on the main road, checked his watch and was pleased to see it was after school hours. Lucy would be home by now, and the quickest way to her street was through the Pinetree Estate and across the playing fields and play park area by the woods. Smiling, he crossed the road and headed up.

He was halfway across the field when he spotted a dark-haired girl on the swings, staring at the ground with her arm wrapped around one of the chains. As he approached, he realised it was Lucy, and called out to her. “Luce!”

“Aaron! When did you get back?” she called back, looking up with an oddly relieved sort of expression.

He grinned at her, pleased to see her properly for the first time in months. “Dad wangled an extra couple of weeks off; we caught an earlier flight and landed at stupid o’clock this morning. We’ve got so much to catch up on!”

Lucy jumped up, walked over and hugged him tightly. “Missed me, huh?” Aaron asked, feeling a bit awkward. Though they’d always been friends, neither of them was particularly touchy-feely, and they rarely hugged. “Hey, you’re crying… what’s wrong, Luce?”

She pulled back a little, wiping the tears away. “It’s just Mum, and… things have just been really weird lately. Can we go get milkshakes or something? I can tell you all the local madness you’ve missed out on,” she said.

“Sure. I’ll buy, you talk,” said Aaron, leading the way down to the Petite Café on the high street. It hadn’t changed much since he’d left; a quaint little place, pretty much deserted at this time of day. Lucy sat in a corner by the window, and Aaron went to order two creamy vanilla milkshakes. “So, what’s up?” he asked, taking them over to the table.

He thought she looked scared as she started talking. “Aaron, I… I think I’m losing it. I keep forgetting where I’ve been; I find myself in places with no idea how I got there or what I did. The school reckons I’ve been skipping days, but I don’t remember, and when I try to it makes my head hurt. And there’s this creepy guy following me, I keep seeing him everywhere, he’s even stood looking in my window at night.” She hesitated before continuing, like she didn’t really want to say the next sentence aloud. “There’s a couple of kids missing, too. One place I woke up was the same house where one of them disappeared; you know, the Wilson place.”

“That freaky abandoned mansion? What were you doing there?” Anyone who’d grown up in the area knew about the Wilson place; a seriously old manor house on the edge of town, once owned by a family called Wilson. The last family member had died years ago, and the place had been empty ever since. It was pretty much falling apart, but it was listed or something, so it couldn’t be pulled down.

“That’s the point, I don’t remember.” Lucy looked up at him. “You do believe me, don’t you?”

Aaron took her hand and squeezed gently. She was scared, even if she didn’t want to say so, and needed reassurance. “Course I do, Luce. I know you, you don’t make up stuff like this.” A sudden thought came to him, possibly from watching too many TV dramas, but still… “What does this guy look like? Could be he’s the one behind the missing kids; maybe he’s some sort of hypnotist, or like the Pied Piper or something.”

“I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “I haven’t got a good look at his face yet. He always seems to vanish before I can see properly. But he’s really tall, and thin, doesn’t have much hair, if any… what are you doing?”

Aaron had pulled out his notepad and started drawing what Lucy described. “Making a sketch. We can take it to the police, might give them a lead. Go on; tall, thin and bald. What else?”

“He’s very pale, and always wearing a dark suit. I don’t remember much else; looking at him too long makes my eyes go funny.” She paused, letting him catch up to her with his sketch. “Aaron, look there. That’s him, at the side of the barbers’,” she said, nudging him and pointing.

Aaron looked up. “Where… oh. Jeez, you’re right; that guy is creepy.” He glanced down at his sketch; he’d got most of the details Lucy had given him, leaving a blank oval for the man’s head, since she couldn’t tell him what his face looked like. “Hey, where’d he go?” he asked, looking back up to see the guy had vanished.

Lucy stared out. “That’s what happens to me, every time I try and look properly he disappears.” She glanced down at Aaron’s sketch. “That looks about right,” she said, nodding slightly.

“Ok. Come on then, let’s get to the station.” He picked up his sketch, took her hand and led her out of the café and down the road to the police station. “Aaron, wait,” Lucy said, stopping on the path leading to the station door.

Aaron looked back at her, his sister in all but name, and understood. She was afraid of this guy following her; if he found out she had gone to the police, what would he do to her? “Tell you what, Luce. You wait out here, and I’ll go talk to someone. I can just say I’ve seen this bloke hanging around, acting weird,” well, it’s sort of true, he thought. “Then I’ll walk home with you, ok?”

Lucy nodded, giving him a nervous half-smile. “Ok. Don’t be long.”

He smiled back, trying to reassure her, and went in. Luckily they weren’t busy, and he was taken straight into an interview room by a pair of policemen. One sat opposite him, the other side of the table, and started fiddling with a tape recorder, and the other stayed standing near the door. Aaron fidgeted slightly, uncomfortable on the hard plastic chair. The policeman finished setting up the tape, and turned to him.

“This is Detective Willis, interviewing a Mr Aaron Philips; Officer Horne is observing. Time is four twenty-five pm. Now, Mr Philips; you said you might have some information about the missing children?”

“Yeah, I…” he cleared his throat nervously, spoke up a little. “I don’t know if it’s anything, but I’ve seen this bloke hanging around recently. I don’t think he’s from around here, ‘cause I don’t recognise him, and he acts weird.”

“Weird?” enquired Willis.

“Yeah. He just sort of … stands and stares at people … it’s creepier than it sounds, trust me. And he’s been hanging around the school, too,” he added.

The detective pulled out a notepad. “Can you describe this man for me?”

Aaron fidgeted again. “Kind of. I haven’t got a good look at his face, but … actually, I’ve drawn a picture. Like I said, I haven’t seen his face properly, that’s why I left it blank,” he said, pulling his sketch from his pocket and passing it over.

“For the tape, Mr Philips has just given me a hand-drawn sketch of the unknown man,” said Willis, taking the paper. He looked down at it, frowned, and looked back at Aaron. “This your idea of a joke, lad?”

“What?” said Aaron, confused.

“I’ve got a teenage son who’s into this rubbish. Some paranormal Internet myth. Your mates put you up to this?”

“I … no, I’m telling the truth,” Aaron replied.

Willis leant forwards, a kindly expression on his face. “Look, son. Right now, we’ve only been in here a few minutes, so there’s been no real harm done. But if you keep this up, I’ll have to caution you for wasting police time. I don’t really want to do that; it would mean a lot of paperwork, and you don’t strike me as a troublemaker. Just tell me the truth now, and we can forget about this, ok?”

Aaron thought quickly. He knew his Luce; she had told him the truth, and he had seen how frightened she was. But there was no way he’d be able to convince the police, unless … “Detective, nobody put me up to this. I have seen a guy. I’m not saying it’s this Internet thing; I’ve never even heard of it before, but maybe this guy – whoever he is – has been dressing as whatever the myth is about,” he said.

Willis looked thoughtful. “That’s possible, I suppose. Tell you what; leave it with me, and I’ll ask around. Anything else?”

“No. Can I go?”

“Alright. Interview terminated four thirty-one pm.” Willis nodded to the officer who had stood silently in the corner throughout, who escorted Aaron back to the front desk.

Outside, Lucy still waited, perched on a low wall gazing absently at some nearby azaleas. She looked up as Aaron approached. “What did they say?”

Aaron thought. He didn’t want her any more frightened than she already was, and if she went looking into weird paranormal stuff online she was liable to get very paranoid. “They said they’d look into it; if you see him again, just ignore him. If you don’t pay any attention to him, maybe he’ll get bored and leave you alone. Come on, let’s get you home.” He would check it out himself, though. Not that he thought it might be true or anything, but finding out more could help. At least to figure out what the hell this bloke was playing at stalking teenage girls.

*-*-*

A couple of days later, Aaron sat staring at his laptop screen, rock music blasting through his headphones. He’d done a few Internet searches after taking Lucy home, and had turned up a seriously creepy urban myth. From what he’d found, there were weirdos in forums who actually believed it was real, and a bunch of kids on one site were actually trying to look for it. He’d laughed at first, almost feeling sorry for them; obviously they had no social lives and had fixated on these online stories. He’d joined the site, just for kicks, with the username 80110x, and had got talking to a couple of kids called Jase1998 and Dani3l.

From the hints they’d dropped, Dani3l lived in a children’s home somewhere in Northern England, and Jase1998 was in Australia. Both of them were orphans, Jase1998 had been adopted but Dani3l hadn’t, and both of them were convinced this fictional thing had killed their parents. Aside from their freaky obsession, they both seemed pretty normal, and Aaron had spent a lot of time chatting with them. They were talking to each other now; Dani3l was making some crazy plans to go looking for it in the woods, and he’d built a doll out of mannequin parts to use as bait.

‘dan if this things so scary why u wan 2 go lookin 4 it?’ Aaron typed. The whole thing seemed insane to him, why would anyone want to go and find some homicidal psycho, paranormal or otherwise?

Dani3l: ‘cause I need to prove it’s real. noone ever believed me about it, so I need to get a pic or something to show them’

Jase1998: ‘u r new to this, arent u?’

80110x: ‘yeh an I dont get y ur all so obsessd with it. is just a creepy ghost story, rite?’

Dani3l: ‘see this is what I get off people. this is why I need the pics’

Believr202: ‘if u don’t believe why’d u join the site?’

Aaron paused for a moment before replying. He didn’t want to give too much away, but at the same time he didn’t want to fob them off with rubbish. ‘cos I’m curious. I got a frend who reckons shes seen it around an I wan 2 find out more’

Jase1998: ‘omg some1 else has seen Him! wat site she on, I’m on most of them’

80110x: ‘shes not on any site, she don’t know the online stuff. she just keep cing a creepy guy with no face hanging around. she told me she thinks hes folowin her’

The forum exploded; Aaron couldn’t keep up with the amount of posts on screen. Odd words leapt out at him before they zoomed up the screen, words like ‘servant’, ‘proof’, ‘taken’ and ‘proxy’. He sat back, watching the cascade of words, bemused by the amount of fuss they were making over what was probably just some dressed up weirdo. Suddenly, his headphones were yanked away from his ears and his mum’s voice interrupted his confusion.

“Aaron! For god’s sake, I’ve been shouting for five minutes,” she told him. “Have you spoken to Lucy today? Her parents are on the phone, they’re saying she hasn’t come home from school yet,” she said, looking worried. “People have been talking about missing kids, as well… where are you going?”

Aaron leapt from his seat and ran downstairs to the hotel lobby, where the guest-use phones were. “Mr and Mrs Taylor? It’s Aaron,” he panted as he grabbed the phone lying on the desk. “Mum says Lucy hasn’t come home yet; I haven’t heard from her since Wednesday,” he said.

He could hear Lucy’s mum crying in the background as Mr Taylor answered. “You’re sure? You don’t know where she might have gone? Maybe she said something about running away? I know Lucy and her mum have been arguing a lot recently,” there was a loud wail from Mrs Taylor at that. “It’s all right, love; we’ll find her. Please, Aaron, anything she might have said, anything at all. We just want her back safe.”

Aaron hesitated before speaking. Lucy’s parents would probably think he was lying, just like the police had, but if the creep following Lucy had anything to do with her going missing, he had to say something. It didn’t matter what they thought of him if it helped them find her. “She didn’t talk about running away, but she said she thought there was someone following her around. Some tall guy in a suit, she never got a proper look at his face, she told me. She said she’d seen him outside your house, looking in her window and stuff,” he said quickly.

Lucy’s dad swore loudly. “Why didn’t she tell us? How long’s this been going on? Did she say?”

“I don’t know. She seemed really scared when she talked to me, though; I got the impression she’s been seeing him around for a while,” he said. “She thought he had something to do with the missing kids, so we went to the police station. I don’t know what they’re doing about what we told them.”

Another swear word, muffled this time, came down the line. “If she gets in touch with you, let us know,” said Mr Taylor before he hung up.

Aaron stared at the phone for a moment, his brain whirring like an overheating computer, disjointed thoughts flying around it. Lucy had been stalked for weeks, by a creepy guy without a face. Kids going missing, Lucy was at the house where one kid vanished. Lucy had massive blank spots in her memory. Creepy guy dressed as an Internet myth. Lucy missing. Kids online know all about the myth. If I tell them everything, they could help. They know this weirdo crap, they’ve devoted themselves to it; get all the info I can from them and pass it on to Lucy’s parents.

He didn’t realise he’d been running back to his room until he got there. His mum had left, thankfully, and the forum was still open on the screen. ‘guys i got a major problm’ he typed.

Jase1998: ‘wats up 80?’

80110x: ‘that frend I told u about is missing I jist found out an I ned 2 kno evryting u cna tell me’

Dani3l: ‘sh*t sorry 80, that’s bad, that’s real bad’

Jase1998: ‘missing? U think He took her?’

80110x: ‘dunno but she ws cing him an now shes gone, sum othr kids r missing 2, its probly just sum wirdo bt I ned 2 kno wat this things abot’

Several messages popped up on screen, explaining various powers and abilities this being was supposed to have. Aaron started reading them but quickly got lost; they were all over the place and some of them contradicted others. One said he was invisible unless he was stalking you, another said he could be seen by cameras but not people; one said he could teleport, another said the teleport thing only seemed like teleporting because he could move through the fourth spatial dimension; they couldn’t even agree on what colour tie he wore. He rummaged in his bag for his notepad so he could write some of this down, but was distracted by a private message flashing up on screen. He clicked to open it.

Dani3l: ‘80, here’s a link to a site with everything u could want to know about Him. sorry about your friend, I hope it’s nothing to do with Him. message me back if u want to know more, these guys are kinda paranoid :s I try not to get too freaky with it.’

There was a website link under the message, which Aaron clicked on. It took him to a far more sane-sounding website than the ones he’d looked at before, one that seemed to set out known ‘facts’ and speculations about this being clearly and concisely. He read each page, more intently than he had ever read anything before in his life, and took several notes as he read. Aaron wanted to get to the bottom of this, and get Lucy back.

*-*-*

Aaron took a deep breath, steeling his nerve for the derision that was likely to be heading his way shortly. He clutched his notepad tightly, the cover slightly sticky with sweat. He’d been waiting for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, to speak to Lucy’s dad. He was talking to a police officer at the moment, but had said he would only be a little while longer.

He had spent the entire week looking into this weird online myth, making notes of anything that he thought some crazy might use to frighten kids. The entire thing seemed pretty bonkers to him, but he could see how someone who wasn’t all there could start believing in it. He just hoped that what he’d been doing could help find Lucy.

Mr Taylor finally came out of the side room, looking stressed and ill. The search wasn’t going well; the only trace of Lucy had been a few strands of her hair caught on a tree. The police weren’t saying it yet, but they were acting like they were searching for a dead girl instead of a missing one. Mrs Taylor was at home, zonked out on tranquillisers. “Aaron, what did you want to talk about?” Mr Taylor said wearily.

“This is going to sound crazy, but...” Aaron held out his notebook. “When I met up with Lucy, the day I got here, she told me about this guy. I caught a glimpse of him outside the cafe in the high street, but he seemed to vanish. He looked weird, like he was too tall, and neither of us could see his face properly. We went to the police, to say there was some bloke following Lucy, and I showed them a sketch I’d done from Lucy’s description. The police officer said it looked like something from some Internet myth, and basically just dismissed me. When I got home, I figured I’d look up this myth thing, because I thought maybe this creep could be dressing up or something. It’s some freaky shit, Mr Taylor, and I’m not saying it’s real, but maybe the guy who was following Lucy thinks it is.”

Mr Taylor took the notepad and flicked through it quickly. “Great, my daughter’s missing and you want me to read some ghost stories. I don’t have time for this.”

Aaron drummed his fingers on his knee in frustration. “Mr Taylor, if whoever this weirdo is thinks that he’s the creep in the myth, maybe knowing about it would help the police catch him and find Lucy. That’s all I’m saying,” he pointed out. “You know, criminal profiling, forensic psychology and whatever. They can figure out a motive and...”

“I know you mean well, but please,” Mr Taylor dropped the notepad onto Aaron’s lap. “Stop watching CSI and forget this nonsense. I need to get home to my wife,” he said, sounding more tired than anything else.

*-*-*

Later that afternoon, back in his hotel room, Aaron stared hopelessly out of the window. Nobody had any real leads on Lucy, other than assuming that the same person was behind it as the disappearance of four other kids in the area. Another girl in Lucy’s class had vanished around the same time, so the police had their hands full. He had thought someone would at least give his theory some consideration, but apparently not.

The weather had turned suddenly, the bright sunshine of earlier hiding away behind thick, black storm clouds. Nowhere but Britain could the weather be so bloody mad, he thought as rain poured down the window pane. A flash of lightning lit the sky, and something on the street caught his eye. A girl with long brown hair was standing outside, looking up at his window. She was soaked through, but she didn’t seem to mind. Another flash lit the scene, and he recognised the girl’s face. Lucy? A tall man stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder. As Aaron watched, the man pulled her down a side street.

He bolted from the room, straight down the stairs, through the lobby and around the corner to where he had seen them. Nobody was around; the streets had even been deserted by the stray cats in this downpour. He ran down the side street, hoping to catch them, or find something, but they had gone. He cursed loudly and turned back to the hotel.

As he headed back, a glint of silver on the ground drew his attention. He bent to pick it up, knowing before he touched it that it was Lucy’s charm bracelet. He had given it to her as a birthday gift when they were only ten. Underneath it, scratched into the ground, was a circle with a cross through it. He’d seen the symbol before, on the websites he’d been looking at. Now he knew he was right, and he had evidence. He took a photo on his phone and carefully folded a sheet of paper around the bracelet. The police couldn’t ignore this now.

3: Prove It - Daniel's story part 1

Daniel waited, perched carefully in the tree, camera poised and ready. Months of preparation, tracing sightings, going through reams of paranoid forum postings, all came down to this one night. It had to work. He would prove the damned thing was real, then nobody would be laughing at him anymore. Damn, the bloody bait's fallen over.

Slightly exasperated, he climbed down to right it. He had spent days making it; a life-size model of a young child, painstakingly assembled from old mannequin parts and painted very carefully. As he repositioned the doll, he felt an odd sensation, like he was being watched. He turned, camera held up to take photos of anything that might be there. Nothing; he clicked a few anyway, thinking something might show up on the film that he couldn't see. He climbed back up his tree and settled on a reasonably comfy branch.

He had foregone hi-tech equipment like digital camcorders and automatic camera traps; the thing he intended to catch was known to cause distortion and damage to modern electronics. Instead, Daniel had an old SLR camera, with plenty of spare film, and had picked up a wind-up torch from the pound shop. He had very little else with him; if he was going to spend the night climbing trees, and possibly running if it took exception to his presence, he figured it would be best to carry as little as possible.

A fierce, cold wind blew up, howling through the trees and wobbling Daniel's branch. He held on tightly, not wanting to fall and knock himself out. As the tree settled again, he slid down to a lower branch; the clouds sliding across the sky threatened to block out the moon, and his little torch wouldn't light up much from his current high viewpoint. Climbing down, he had to move around the back of the tree; his set-up was only out of sight for a brief moment, but obviously long enough for something to happen.

When he looked back at where he had left his bait, it had moved. Not just fallen over, but moved from the centre of the clearing to the edge, straight across from his tree. What the…? Daniel stared at it, unsure what to believe. He wanted it to be the thing, the entity he had been looking for since childhood; yet he couldn't rule out the possibility that some of the other kids from the home had followed him, and were messing about. He stayed where he was, perched precariously with his feet on separate branches, but not daring to find a better position in case he missed something, again. Eyes fixed on his bait, he flung one arm semi-securely around the trunk, and raised the camera. Are you here? Was it you, did you move it? One picture, just one clear picture, that's all I want…

Daniel had been trying to find this entity for years; since the still unexplained house fire that had killed his parents, when he had first seen it. He'd only been four years old, yet the memory was clear as if it had happened yesterday. The fireman had carried him out, lifted him from his bedroom window and climbed down the big ladder; just before being put in the ambulance, he had looked back at the house. Bright yellow and orange flames danced in the windows, flashing lights from the fire engine threw weird shapes around the street; something near the house caught Daniel's attention.

It looked sort of like a person, but too tall, far too tall; the arms were longer than they should have been, stretched out somehow, and despite standing so close to the burning house, the light seemed reluctant to go near it. Confused, Daniel had pointed, asking the fireman who it was. He hadn't answered, possibly hadn't heard, but the thing near the house had turned as Daniel pointed, looked away from the flames and towards the little boy covered in soot. As it looked at him, he saw very clearly that whatever it was, it had no face, not even the suggestion of a face. He had cried, hidden himself behind the scorched teddy he had carried with him, and not looked up until hearing the ambulance doors close.

In the eight years since, Daniel had fixated on it to the exclusion of everything else. He was convinced the being he had seen had caused the fire, yet nobody had ever believed his story. The adults he had told had dismissed it as a frightened, injured and confused child's fantasy; other children had teased and taunted him, calling him mad. He knew what he had seen, though, and resolved to find it and prove himself right. He had searched online, trying to find anyone who might have seen the same thing anywhere; there had been hundreds, maybe thousands of posts in forums. It had taken him time to check through them, figure out which ones were worth following up and which could be discarded as paranoia; careful reading of several sites had revealed that this thing, this being, was fairly well known in certain internet circles.

He had planned, prepared, saved his allowance for months to buy a decent quality camera; he was not going to miss his chance to catch it tonight, even though the weather seemed to be doing all it could to thwart him. The wind whipped up again, clouds had hidden the moon, and he felt spots of rain against his face. Fumbling with his torch, his fingers growing numb in the cold air, Daniel clicked some illumination back into the clearing. Where did it go? I flaming missed it, didn't I? His carefully-constructed model had gone, vanished from the spot he had last seen it.

Frustrated at himself, he tucked his camera into an inside pocket and got ready to climb back down the tree. There was no point hanging around now; he would have to make another model and start over… "Aaah!" he shouted, clinging back onto the tree and staring wide-eyed down at the ground.

His model hadn't vanished entirely, only moved again, and was now standing at the base of his tree, its' head tilted upwards so that its' sightless, painted eyes looked right at him. How the hell did it get there? You're messing with me, someone is messing with my head, stop it now, please stop it… As he stared down at his own bait, staring up at him, he felt something brush the side of his neck. He turned, expecting a leaf or twig –

- and found himself looking straight into the blank face that plagued his nightmares. Daniel screamed, panicked, and slipped off the branch. The thought that ran through his mind in the brief moment of falling; I should have taken a photo.

{--------------------}

Consciousness returned, slow and dim. Daniel stirred groggily, vaguely aware of a loud, repetitive noise somewhere close by. He tried to lift his head, only to have something wet and furry stuck in his ear. 'Ruff ruff, rrrruff,' said the wet furry thing. He opened his eyes, saw a dog standing over him, barking its' head off.

"Rex, c'mere!" someone shouted. "Rex! Come back… oh my god, are you alright?" the someone said, emerging from the trees. She rushed over to Daniel, looking very worried. "Did you fall? You're freezing, have you been out here all night?"

He looked around, saw the dawn-grey sky, felt the icy, wet leaves on the ground; he shivered, soaked through. "I think so, I fell out of the tree last night…" He tried to push himself up, only to be rewarded with a sharp pain in his left arm. "Ow, ow ow, my arm hurts," he cried, falling back to the ground.

"Okay, okay, let me have a look… Tell me if this hurts," she said, gently examining Daniel's arm.

"Ow, yeah, yeah that hurts," he said, flinching as the woman pressed down on his forearm.

She pulled out her phone. "Right, I'm calling an ambulance… Rex, shaddup, will ya?" she told the dog, which was still barking at nothing. "Have you got a mobile? You should probably ring your parents, let them know you're… well, let them know where you are. Yes, hello; ambulance please. There's a boy here who's hurt, fell out of a tree…"

Daniel tuned out the woman's voice, looking into the trees where the dog barked. He had no mobile on him; the children's home didn't allow them, and even if he had one he wouldn't have brought it. What's wrong with that dog? It must be barking at something. Surely it's not still here, it can't have been watching me all night… right? He stared intently, watching the shadowy patch the dog barked at. After a moment, there was a flurry of movement, and a rabbit leapt out of the undergrowth, darting away into the trees. The dog chased after it, and Daniel relaxed.

"Okay, the ambulance men should be here soon… did you want me to ring your parents?" the woman asked.

Daniel looked up at her. "I haven't got… I'm from Lakeside," he told her. Everyone in the area knew Lakeside Children's Home. "Your dog ran off, by the way; he was chasing a rabbit."

"Oh, bloody Rex!" she cried, exasperated. "Never mind, he'll be fine. I'll ring Lakeside then, they'll be wondering where you are." She dialled the number and focused on her phone once more.

Daniel pushed himself up awkwardly, trying to avoid putting any weight on his injured arm. He doubted anyone would be worried about him yet; looking at the sky, he guessed it was still early, so they probably wouldn't have noticed his absence. He'd been planning to sneak back in before sunrise, up the drainpipe, across the roof and back in the same window he'd left by last night. Not much chance of that now. Stupid rain, if it hadn't been so wet I wouldn't have fallen. Miss Coates is going to flip when she finds out I snuck out again. Perfect excuse for her to confiscate half my stuff, she'll probably take my camera… oh, crap! He stuck his hand in his pocket, suddenly worried he might have fallen on his camera last night, a frantic litany of let it be ok let it be ok running circles in his mind.

It felt intact; gently he pulled it out and examined it one-handed. The lens cap had come off, and he thought the picture counter had clicked round another one might have a photo of the inside of my pocket then but everything else seemed fine. He breathed a small sigh of relief, and rummaged in his pocket for the lens cap. As he clicked it back into place, the woman turned back to him.

"What was your name again?" she asked.

"Daniel Jackson," he replied, tucking his camera back into his pocket.

She nodded and spoke into her phone. "Daniel Jackson. I've already called for an ambulance, they should be here soon." Pause. "Okay, sure." She handed Daniel the phone. "Miss Coates wants to speak with you. I'm just going to wait on the main path for the paramedics," she told him before walking back through the trees.

Daniel reluctantly put the phone to his ear, fully expecting to have his ear chewed off by the strict house mother at the children's home. "Hi, Miss Coates," he mumbled.

"Daniel, you are in so much trouble when you get back. What were you thinking, sneaking out to the woods in the middle of the night? Especially in the freezing rain. This is the fourth time this month; I don't know what you're up to out there but it stops now." she scolded. "We'll discuss your punishment properly after you get home, young man. That nice lady Gill says she'll go with you to the hospital; Mr Adams will meet you there and bring you back."

"Okay." Mr Adams, or Joe the cook as the kids knew him, was alright. He was also the least likely to give Daniel an earful about running off in the night. "Did you want to talk to Gill again?"

"No, it's fine, she already knows what's happening. I will speak to you later, Daniel; and don't think you're getting away with this." The line clicked and went dead. Daniel looked around, couldn't see Gill, so slid her phone into his pocket for safekeeping until she came back. The bushes rustled behind him, and he turned to look. Rex the dog came strutting out, a dead rabbit clamped in his jaws. He deposited it in the middle of the clearing and sat there wagging his tail, looking incredibly pleased with himself.

"Hey boy," Daniel said wearily, scratching the dog behind its' ears. Rex closed his eyes contentedly, sat still for precisely three seconds, and jumped up again, barking hello at Gill and the two paramedics. They quickly checked Daniel's arm, pronounced it was fractured, and walked him down the path and into the back of an ambulance. Gill passed the dog over to someone who had been waiting there, and climbed in with him. "Here's your phone," he said, handing it over as the ambulance started moving.

Gill took it, looking mildly surprised. "Thank you, I'd forgotten about that." She dropped it into her coat pocket and smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine. What on earth were you doing up there, anyway?"

"Oh, nothing really. I… I just like the woods at night." Daniel knew it sounded weird, but in his experience it was better than telling people the truth.

{--------------------}

Joe the cook was probably the worst driver in the entire world; that was the consensus of all the kids at the home, at least. Not that he was reckless or dangerous or anything, but he went so slowly, and had to check all the mirrors three thousand times before he even started the engine. Daniel didn't mind it, though, because it meant he had more time to himself. The journey from the hospital to the children's home should have taken about half an hour, but with Joe driving the time doubled. Daniel sat in the back of the minivan, staring out of the window and thinking.

He knew he'd seen the faceless thing again, it had been so close to him this time there was no way to mistake it, and somehow he knew it had been there for him. In a way, he was pleased; now he knew for sure he hadn't been seeing things, and if it was following him he would have more chances to get a picture and prove it was real. But knowing what it did to people it followed… There'd been a story posted online last week, by someone who'd lost a close friend and suspected it was something to do with this entity; the girl had been stalked by the thing for weeks, apparently, and one day she'd just wandered into the woods and vanished. And other stories were worse, about the ones that had been found. Daniel certainly didn't want to end up like that.

"Okay Danny boy, you wanna talk about it?" asked Joe in his friendly-yet-concerned voice. Daniel looked properly out of the window and noticed they had pulled into the children's home driveway. "There must be something up in them woods you're tracking, else you wouldn't keep sneaking off. Planning to bring me home some venison for the Sunday roast?" he joked.

Daniel turned to face Joe. "It's the thing that started the fire," he said quietly, knowing Joe wouldn't believe him. "I'm trying to find it, and prove it's real; last night it found me, but before I could take a picture I fell out of the tree. Joe, I'm scared; it killed my parents and now it's going to kill me," he admitted, unable to stop himself. About five seconds later he realised what he'd said, and tried to think of something he could say to backtrack convincingly. 'April Fool's', maybe.

But surprisingly, Joe didn't condescendingly pat him on the head, or worse give him the 'I am concerned about your mental health' look. He just nodded, a serious and thoughtful look on his face. "That weird tall bloke without a face you kept talking about when you came to us? Tell you what, why don't you lend me that camera. I can get the film developed for you, and if you tell Miss Coates you lost it in the woods, she can't confiscate it. I've got an aunt who's interested in paranormal photography, maybe she can take a look. See if she can spot anything unusual."

Daniel hesitated for a moment. His camera was his most prized possession, not only because of how much it had cost him but what it meant to him. But Miss Coates was probably going to take it off him, and if Joe could get the film developed, it would save him a little pocket money. He was short on funds anyway, because his allowance had stopped last month thanks to Nigel tattling on him when he'd planned to sneak out camping for the weekend. He handed over his camera, and watched Joe slide it into his pocket.

"Come on then. Miss Coates'll be wanting to talk to you, and the littlies will be wanting their lunch making up." Joe climbed out of the van, opened Daniel's door, and locked up as Daniel headed for the building.

{--------------------}

A week later, he and Joe sat impatiently in a stuffy, cluttered room, trying not to inhale too much cat hair as they waited for Joe's aunt Alison to finish whatever she was doing in the kitchen. She'd said she was making tea, but from the sounds echoing through the tiny bungalow she was actually doing something with a faulty hydraulics system and a legion of mice trying to sing opera. A fat white cat jumped up onto his lap and nuzzled at his splinted arm. Daniel fussed over it, stroking it from nose to tail, making it purr loudly.

The noises from the kitchen eventually stopped, and Alison came back with some china cups, a sugar bowl, a milk jug and a large teapot, all balanced on a silver tray. "Here we are, sorry it took so long. Now, you're the young man who took those photographs, aren't you?" she asked, looking at Daniel.

Daniel looked back, or as best he could over the white fluff in front of his face. "Yes, up in the woods last week. Did Joe tell you anything about what I was looking for?" he tried to say without getting a mouthful of fur. The cat had decided his face was the perfect place to rest its' tail.

"No, he just asked me to take a look at them and see what I could find… oh Casper, do leave the poor boy alone! I really don't think he needs a faceful of your fuzz," she said to the cat, which had turned around and started nooshing at Daniel's chin. She scooped him up and deposited him on the sofa next to herself. "Most of them weren't anything special, just some pictures of dark trees and things. But there were a few oddities in there that I think you might want to see." She pulled out a photo envelope and started spreading them out on the coffee table.

Daniel leant forwards, eager to see what she had found. Most, as she'd said, were just dark pictures of trees, but a few had odd-looking shadows cast across them. It could be explained many ways, of course; clouds, the moon, odd angles of trees' shadows. Alison laid them out separately, however, which Daniel assumed meant she thought it was something else. One photo stood out, though; the last one in the envelope, the one Daniel hadn't realised he'd taken, that he had thought would be of the inside of his pocket. It was, in fact, a picture of Daniel himself, sprawled out on the ground, but taken from a great height, like the photographer had been up a tree – or just incredibly tall.

Joe leant forwards and picked it up. "What on earth… I thought you were out there by yourself, Daniel," he said, making it almost a question.

"I was. I didn't take that, and there was nobody else there. Except the thing I was looking for," Daniel replied.

Alison had finished spreading out the photos, and had started pouring tea. "Exactly. That picture wasn't taken by someone messing about up a tree, Joseph. I can tell from these that something else was out there with you, Daniel," she said, gesturing at the shadow photos she had laid separately. "I'd like to know what exactly you were chasing out there, and why. Because if it's what I think it is, you may have got yourself in a lot of trouble." She passed two cups over to Daniel and Joe, and sat back with her own, watching Daniel closely.

Daniel took a deep breath. He'd told this story several times, to social workers, nurses, even a couple of psychiatrists, and they'd all assumed he'd been seeing things, confused, or just making it up for attention. Yet this strange woman seemed to be open to believing him, and might even be able to help him. "I don't really know what it is, to be honest. But the first time I saw it I was four…" he began, once again reciting the story of the house fire, the being he'd seen by the house, and his Internet research. "I've found a lot of different names for it over the years, and spoken to other people who say they've seen it too. Nobody seems to know where it comes from, or what it is, or anything. And a lot of people say it's just a bunch of stories, some guy in a forum came up with it and people make up stories, but I know it's real, because I've seen it, and last week it made me fall out of a tree and break my arm!"

There was a moment of silence, in which Casper the cat jumped onto the table and stuck his head in the milk jug. Alison was oblivious, simply staring at Daniel. "Oh dear. Oh Daniel, you have dug yourself into a very complicated mess indeed," she finally whispered.

Daniel stared at her, confused. He could tell she believed him, every word of it, and he could also see that she was frightened for him. "What do you mean, complicated?"

"This entity you're looking for… it's not real, but at the same time it sort of is." She dragged the cat out of the milk jug, put him outside, and sat back down heavily. "Have you ever heard of the Tulpa Effect?"

"Is that one of those alternative bands you're always on about?" Joe asked, somewhat ruining the moment.

Alison looked over at him. "Joseph, maybe you should wait outside. The less people that know about this, the better. Daniel's already involved; I wouldn't want to drag you into it as well."

Joe didn't look as though he liked the suggestion, but he stood and left the room. Once he'd shut the door, Daniel leant forwards in the chair. He'd spent most of his life obsessing over this thing, and it sounded to him like he was about to get some kind of explanation. "I've heard of it, but I don't really know what it is or how it works," he said quietly.

Alison slid across the sofa towards him. "It's a theory, to do with the collective consciousness. I won't go into all the details of that, it's a lot of rather dull psychology babble. But the basic principle is that something not real, if enough people believe in it sincerely enough, or think about it hard enough, can become real. Most people dismiss it as just a theory, it couldn't possibly work, makes no sense, blah blah; the thing is, the creature you've been researching began as just a story online, a bunch of urban legends, tales that caught people's imaginations. But people have been captivated by this story, and focused on it to the point of obsession. Now, there are suggestions that something is there, where once there wasn't. Look at these," she said, almost whispering, holding up some of the shadow-pictures from Daniel's camera.

Daniel looked closely. The more he looked at the weird shadows, the more they seemed like an actual substance; something there, but not fully materialised. "You think that's it? Like it's… sort of forming itself out of shadows, and people's thoughts?"

"I suppose you could put it that way," Alison mused. "It's certainly not fully realised yet. If it were, there would be a lot more evidence than some shadowy photos. But this one," she tapped the photo of Daniel, "suggests that it's getting close. I would guess from the angle of the picture that it took this photo of you itself. Why, I can't imagine."

He picked up the photo again, and shuddered. He'd been totally helpless, knocked out, unable even to run or scream for help; why had it only taken this picture? "What do I do?" he asked, realising Alison probably couldn't help him even if she wanted to.

"Stop. Stop looking for it, stop researching it, don't even think about it anymore," she said firmly. "With a little luck, it won't be too late; if this thing's fixed on you, there's nothing I can do for you."

Daniel looked up at her. "Alison, this thing set fire to my house, it killed my parents; how can I forget about it?"

She gripped his arm tightly, staring earnestly into his eyes. "Listen to me, Daniel. If you keep up this obsession, you will only make things worse. Proving it's real will make it real, and that won't help anyone. It won't bring your parents back, it won't put your mind at rest," she told him urgently. "Leave it alone, for everyone's sake."

{--------------------}

That night, once Joe had taken him back to the home, Daniel went around his room collecting all his notes, doodles, printouts, whatever he could find that was even remotely related to his search. Alison had reluctantly let him take his photos back, along with the photo disc that had come with the hard copies, but only after he promised her he'd destroy them along with the rest of his stuff. He crammed it all into an old shoebox, the photo envelope squashed in down the side as there was no more space on top.

The plan was to gather it all into one place, then take it downstairs and toss it in the recycling bin outside, or even in the pile of rubbish that the caretaker would burn once a month. But as Daniel pushed the box lid down and started taping it up, something made him pause. He'd spent so long doing all this, why should he just throw it away? All that time and effort would have been a total waste if he did. He sat on the edge of his bed, just looking at the half-sealed box for several minutes. Alison had said he needed to stop thinking about it and researching it; he didn't have to actually chuck everything away, did he? What would be the harm in just… keeping it? Tucked under the bed, out of sight and out of mind, but still there as a kind of memento, a reminder of the work he'd done to track the thing down.

He slid off the bed, knelt on the floor, and pushed the box underneath. Right into the corner, disturbing a spider that had made a home down there; he shoved a bunch of other stuff in front of it, to stop himself getting to it quickly. I can't just forget, Daniel thought. But I can try to move on. I guess that's what Alison meant, anyway. He stood, brushed the fluff and dust from his jeans, and went to get ready for bed. At the door, he stopped and stared back at the bed. He could have sworn he'd heard someone whisper his name… probably someone downstairs. Daniel shrugged and left the room.

4: First Kill - Lucy's story part 2

Lucy woke suddenly, jolting upright from her position on the floor. Where am I now? She stared around, taking in the room. Large, mostly broken windows, some boarded up, others with weak dawn light shining through. Dusty off-white floor, paint peeling from the walls; complete lack of furniture suggested another old building. She stood, brushing dust and glass from her shirt, and stuck her head out the door.
Outside was a dingy corridor, with more boarded up windows and doors hanging off their hinges. A dirty sign on the wall opposite her read ‘Cardiology dept. -->’. Must have been a hospital. I wonder why He brought me here? She wandered aimlessly along the corridor, occasionally kicking glass shards or empty cans out of the way. From the look of the place, it had played host to several illicit teenage drinking sessions since its’ abandonment.

She paused at the end, watching some birds through what was left of a window. Being totally convinced she was alone, the scraping noise that suddenly came from overhead made her jump. Probably just a fox that got in, or a stray cat… she didn’t want to think about the alternative.

A few soft thumps followed the scrape. Lucy took a deep breath and decided to ignore it. Whatever it was, it was nothing to do with her. She’d received no orders, and didn’t want to go looking for trouble. It usually found her easily enough. She kept walking, waiting for the icy voice that would eventually tell her why she was here. There was little point in trying to run, she knew; He would not permit her to leave until she had completed whatever task He set her.

She walked, deliberately ignoring the occasional quiet sounds from upstairs, until she came across a table in the centre of a room. Clean, new; almost shining in the sunlight. Approaching it slowly, she stopped when it became clear what rested on its’ surface. I’ve played this game before… eight sheets of notepaper, and one sharp pencil. Eight pages? Really?

*You know the rules, little one.*

Lucy sighed softly and took up the pencil. She knew the rules, as well as she knew what she was expected to draw. A few rough sketches of Him, some deranged scribblings along the lines of ‘nowhere to hide’ or ‘can’t escape’; then she would leave them lying around for someone to find. Probably the someone I’ve been trying to ignore upstairs. Come on Lucy, get it over with. Maybe He just wants you to leave the notes and nothing else.
She scribbled something on each of the papers, and wandered through the corridors sticking them to walls and doors. After leaving the last one, she headed for the exit, hoping she could now leave and let Him get on with it. She tried the door leading to the stairs and ground floor, but couldn’t open it.

*You’re not done yet, Lucy. Check your pocket.*

She did so, finding the rough wooden handle of a pen knife. Oh god. I can’t, please, I can’t…

*Forgotten your punishment already, have you?*

Lucy’s heart stopped for a moment. She had not forgotten, probably never would forget what He had done the only time she had disobeyed His orders. No, Master, I haven’t. I will do as you say.

She turned slowly away from the door, her blood freezing in her veins. She would have to do it this time; another disobedience would make her useless to Him, and useless servants died. Horribly. Vaguely, she wondered who this person was that He wanted her to dispose of. Was it perhaps another like her, who had come to the end of their useful life? Or simply a hapless victim, lured in and tormented for His entertainment?

She waited in a small room, watching the staircase. After what seemed like forever, she heard slow, plodding footsteps coming down. A pair of tattered jeans came into view, followed by a dirt-covered overcoat and scruffy head. The man looked around, stared down the stairwell a moment and shook his head. He pushed open the doors and walked past the door Lucy hid behind. He’ll find the first page soon, she thought. Then the chase begins.

*-*-*

Lucy watched. The ragged-looking man seemed to have run out of energy, and had been hiding in an old store cupboard for a few minutes now. She took a deep breath, and crept up to the door. It was slightly ajar, and she could hear him shifting around, maybe looking for something to help him escape. She pushed it open slowly, one hand curled loosely around the knife in her pocket. The man jumped at the squeaking of hinges, and turned to face her.

“Aah… oh, you’re just some kid.” His voice was weary-sounding, like he hadn’t slept properly in days and was on the verge of exhaustion. “I thought… well, this is gonna sound crazy, but I found some weird notes around here, about some thing that’s out to get me.”

“How many?” Lucy asked him. “How many did you find?”

The man looked at her oddly. “Five, I think. What does it matter? Listen, do you know a way out of here? All the doors I’ve tried are locked.”

“Of course they are. He won’t let you leave. He won’t let me leave until…” she paused, struggling with her own thoughts. “I don’t want to, but He’ll make me; He’ll hurt me again if I don’t, so I have to do as He says, I have to!” she cried, clenching her fist around the knife handle.

“Who’s ‘He’? What are you on about?” the man asked, looking wary.

Lucy looked at him, feeling desperately lost and very alone. “He is my Master. And He wants me to kill you,” she whispered, shaking a little as she drew the knife. Please don’t ask why. I don’t know, and I probably never will. Just let this be over quickly.

The man edged away from her, eyes darting around the room in search of another exit. “Look, you don’t have to do it. This… this master of yours, he won’t know if I just run off, right? You could, I don’t know, maybe kill a rabbit or something, so there’s blood on the knife, and then go back to him and say it’s mine…”

Lucy shook her head. I wish that would work, but He’s watching. I can’t see Him, but He’s here, making sure I do as He says, because I didn’t last time… “He’ll know, He always knows.” A little girl’s screams echoed through her mind. “And if I don’t do it, He will; at least I’d be quick.”

The man stared at her, apparently deciding he wouldn’t fit through the six-inch air vent, and the only way out was the doorway. “Oh yeah? Well you know what? I reckon you’re just some psycho bitch with a knife, and you don’t scare me, so why don’t…” He faltered mid sentence, focusing on something over her shoulder. “Oh shit, what is that thing? What the hell, what is it?”

She didn’t need to turn and look; she had felt Him appear behind her when the man had started talking. She shut her eyes, felt something running down her face; whether tears or blood she didn’t know. “That is my Master,” she said, hoping the man didn’t do anything stupid like try to run.

*Now, Lucy.*

Eyes open again, she approached the man. He had frozen against the wall, ignoring her completely as he stared at Him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before making a swift, deep cut in his neck.

He twitched a few times as he slid to the floor, blood pooling around him. Lucy watched, hating what she had done but knowing it would have been worse if she hadn’t, both for herself and the man. The red looked too bright, unnatural against the dirty white floor; she turned and ran blindly through the corridors, not trying to escape Him, just wanting to get away from the dead man. She needed space to think, to make sense of what she’d done.
She came to a stop in what looked like an old reception area; the once sleek and modern curved desk now dusty and faded with age. She crawled underneath it, curling up as tightly as she could into the small space and squeezing her eyes closed. She would have a while to herself now; He would be clearing up, doing whatever He did with the body, removing all trace of the man’s presence before returning to the non-place He called home.
I killed him, and I don’t even know his name. Why do you make me do these things? Lucy thought, not expecting an answer but badly wanting one. She had killed before, she knew; He had told her as much, she had seen the results, but this was the first time she had been fully aware of what she was doing. She had known that man would die, known exactly what she was doing when she cut his throat… what are you turning me into?

*Something useful.*

Her eyes snapped open; she hadn’t even thought He would be listening, let alone deign to answer her. Slowly, she peered out of her little hiding place at the empty room. Swirls of dust floated lazily through the air. Aside from them, nothing else moved; she crawled back out from under the desk, wondering if she had imagined His response. Master?

Silence. Rubbing her eyes, she perched on the old desk. Her head was pounding, she needed air; there were no windows in here, but a shaft of light poked through a doorway behind the desk. She went through, hoping for another broken window, or at least one she could open… Oh good, I can breathe. She leant out of the empty frame, clutching the edges to keep from falling.

*Planning to jump?*

Lucy cried out in surprise, barely stopping herself tumbling out of the window. Steadying herself, she turned to Him. “No, no I wasn’t, I just…” she stammered, feeling suddenly afraid. He stood in the doorway, blocking her exit as she had blocked the man’s; an impossibly dark shadow in the bright morning light. Oh god I got it wrong, I didn’t do it properly… She backed away from the door, almost without thinking. I tried, please, I did try, and I know he’s dead, he must be… “please, I did what you said, please…” She fell silent as the door slammed.

Lucy closed her eyes on His command, shaking as she felt Him move closer; suddenly she realised He’s going to do it again, please god please no don’t hurt me again… Pressed into the corner now, she couldn’t run, could only hope it would be over quickly. He stroked her hair, as He had before; but gently this time, almost reassuring, before continuing down to her neck. She gasped, opening her eyes despite herself; His touch was like fire against her skin. It would eventually consume her, destroy her utterly, she knew that, but somehow she no longer cared; all that mattered was that He never stopped, because she would die if he did… or maybe she would die if he didn’t…

Is this how you kill me, Master?

*No, little one. This is how I take you…*

*-*-*

She stirred, feeling inexplicably warm and content. Something covered her, a blanket or something? Where did that come from? She opened her eyes, squinting against the glaring sunlight that flooded in through the shattered window. At least that explained why she felt so warm; she sat up slowly, soft dark material sliding off her. It didn’t look like she’d been moved again; she was still in the probably-an-office next to the reception area.
Covering her face, she thought back, trying to remember what had happened. He brought me here. There was someone else here, too. I… what did I do? Lucy struggled with a reluctant memory. She definitely recalled another person being here, a man older than her. He had run around a lot, she remembered; he had called out to her once, before running away. She thought hard, trying to bring to mind anything after the man had shouted out, but nothing came forward. Stop trying, Lucy. He obviously doesn’t want you to remember. She wondered what had happened to make her feel so content after waking up, but her memory was a complete blank. She reached for the blanket, to fold it up what is that doing here?

She snatched her hand back as though something had burned her; an impossibly black suit jacket lay across her legs. But that’s His, why would He leave it here, why did He cover me with it? She pulled her knees up under her chin and stared at it, the question ‘why?’ echoing around in her head. No likely answer presented itself. Sighing inwardly, Lucy folded it and laid it over her arm before wandering out of the room. Not to look for Him, as He would find her when He was ready; she simply walked for the sake of moving.

Dazzling light shone through the windows she passed, making her think quite some time must have passed. It had been barely past dawn when she had first awoken here. She walked until she came to what must once have been a gift shop, as the counter and a few shelves remained, covered in dust. Closing her eyes, Lucy imagined a scene that could have happened here; a smiling lady behind the counter, serving a couple who bought sweets and a teddy bear for their little boy, who had… maybe fallen from a swing or something, but he would be fine in a few weeks. In fact, he was looking forward to going to school with a plaster cast on his arm, getting all his friends to sign it in brightly coloured felt tip… Lucy opened her eyes again and sneezed in the dust. Normality, that was what she missed most. The good and bad parts of life, taken together that made such a mess at times, but simple. Easy to understand, not forever asking why and dreading the next order.

She brushed a small area of the counter free of dirt and perched on it, trying to clear her thoughts. This was depressing, this ‘afterwards’; the dim, lonely old building creaked at her, and she found herself wondering when He would return. Even His company seemed preferable to wandering these boarded up rooms any longer.

After a length of time that felt like hours, she looked up to see Him in the doorway. She blinked, feeling slightly displaced; something was different about Him… of course. Wordlessly, she held out the dark jacket she carried. He took it from her, and extended a hand.

*Come, little one.*

Lucy slid off the counter, allowed Him to pull her close; she had found the best way to cope with the transition from here to There was to remain still and unresisting. As His darkness found its way around her, through her, inside her, she only had room for the simple thoughts; I am His. I have pleased Him. I am safe, if I obey. She felt that disconnection once more, and knew she was no longer in her own world.

5: Caught - Daniel's story part 2

Weeks later, after Daniel’s punishment had finally ended and his arm had healed, he sat staring at the computer screen, the mouse hovering over the forum link he’d clicked on so many times before. Alison’s dire warnings had been ringing in his ears since their meeting, and he’d tried to take notice of her. He’d crammed all his notes and drawings into a box and shoved it under his bed in an attempt to forget it all; the photos from the woods had gone in too, and he’d intended to throw the lot away, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. So under the bed it had stayed, and Daniel almost felt it calling to him as he sat trying to concentrate on his homework.

It had been easier to give up the forums for a while because Miss Coates had stopped his Internet privileges. This was the first time he’d been on for over a month, and without thinking he’d typed in his usual search and come to the forum he most often used. Part of him wanted to click back, to go elsewhere on the web and start moving on from this all-consuming mania that had devoured most of his life. But there were people in that forum who knew him, who would be worried about what could have happened to him… He’d just click in, say hi and tell them he was giving up his search, then leave.

‘hey guys. miss me?? :)’ he typed. It didn’t take long for one of his regular chat buddies to reply.

‘Daniel!! we thought He’d got u! where u been???’ said Jase1998.

Daniel smiled. ‘Ms. C banned me from the net cause I snuck out. nearly got caught though, I climbed up a tree and He crept up on me. He was literally right next to me!’

Jase1998: ‘:O no way!’

‘OMG u actully saw Him up close??? and He let u go????????’ came another reply from Believr202.

‘yep. and you wont believe one of the pics I got. hang on a sec’ Daniel ran up to his room, pulled out the box and grabbed the photo disc. The guys would freak out when they saw the last photo. As he waited for the disc to load onto the computer, he read the replies everyone had left.

Jase1998: ‘u gotta be sh*ttin me! U got pics of Him??’

truthseeker: ‘can’t have done. maybe dan’s His servant now :s’

Believr202: ‘ogodogod no way!! Dan u still there????? don’t tell Him anything bout us Dan!! Pleese!!!!!’

Jase1998: ‘shutup guys Daniel’s not one of His. we’d nkow. so wat’s this pic?’

Daniel typed quickly. ‘it’s not of Him but it’s real creepy. and I’m not one of His, truthseeker, chill. uploading pic now.’ The photo appeared on the page slowly, and the forum inhabitants fell silent for a moment to contemplate it.

Believr202: ‘dan who took that’

Dani3l: ‘I think He did. don’t know why, was hoping u guys might have an idea’

80110x: ‘u is bullsh*tting us dan if He’d been there ur camra woldn’t have workd’

Dani3l: ‘digi camera wouldn’t but I used old style tech. u know, SLR camera with actual film and no electric parts :P’

Jase1998: ‘smart. dunno wat’s goin on with that pic tho. maybe He’s messin with us, tryin 2 creep us out’

truthseeker: ‘wow lo-tech dan, where u get a camera that old? u robbed a museum? still, pretty clever since He couldnt break it with no electrics. I’ve got to remember that’

Daniel sat back, watching the screen. He didn’t have much else to add to the discussion; they’d all known his plan, Believr202 had even sent him mannequin parts for his model. They didn’t have any more idea what the picture meant than he did, and paranoid ranting wasn’t much use to him. He glanced down at the clock on screen and noticed his half hour online was almost up. ‘guys I gotta go, my net time’s up. message me if u think of anything,’ he posted, clearing his web history, grabbing the disc and closing the browser seconds before Nigel sidled into the room.

“Been on your freak forum again, Daniel?” the other boy sneered.

“Get lost, Nigel.” Daniel pushed past and went straight up to his room. Nigel had been a massive pain in the neck ever since he’d arrived last year. He’d sneak around spying on everyone, and tell Miss Coates whenever he saw someone breaking a rule. He was rather nasty about it too, forever teasing the kids who he’d got into trouble to begin with. If I was His servant, thought Daniel, I know exactly who I’d give to Him first.

Nigel was one of the reasons Daniel had got into the habit of deleting his browser history; Miss Coates didn’t like the kids going on chatrooms and forums but she didn’t know how to set up the blockers, so she relied on the ‘good children’ to keep her informed of who went where online. But with no records, even if someone saw what sites Daniel was on, they couldn’t prove it afterwards. He usually kept another tab open anyway, with some cat videos or something, to click to in case he heard anyone coming. He’d gotten pretty good at hiding what he was really up to.

He flopped onto the bed next to the shoebox, dislodging a few sheets of paper from the top. He picked them up and absently flicked through them; a couple of doodles he’d drawn years ago, and some notes he’d taken while trying to figure out where to find the thing. I did put a lot of effort into this, he thought. And I was so close… seems a shame to just quit, really. Slowly, Daniel started taking things out of the box, laying them out neatly on the bed. The fire drawing. I spent ages on that, he thought as he pulled a large piece of paper out from under a pile of notes. Not long after the fire, when he was trying to explain things to the psychologist they’d sent him to, he’d drawn a picture of exactly what he had seen when he looked back at his burning home. It was fairly simplistic, a child’s sketch, but it still affected him strongly.

Without really thinking about it, he pinned the drawing back up above his bed. It belonged there, he’d had it up there since he arrived at the home. Over the next few hours, he steadily returned all his papers to their rightful places around his room.

 

*-*-*

 

“For pity’s sake Daniel; I thought you’d finally got rid of all this rubbish,” Miss Coates exclaimed, glaring around his room. “It’s not healthy, you know. Twelve year old boys should have pictures of pop singers and footballers on their bedroom walls, not these nightmare drawings.” She shook her head, and gave him a look of mingled sympathy and condescension. “We’ll have to redecorate in here; really, it’s no wonder the other children call you names. Now come on, get up or you’ll be late for school.”

Daniel silently watched her leave; she had made that little speech hundreds of times over the last few years, and nothing had ever been done. Other, more important stuff came up, and she got distracted from putting a stop to ‘this dangerous obsession’, as she had once called it. He sat up in bed and looked around. It had taken him half the night, but everything was back in place, and he smiled to himself. This is how my room should look.

He stretched and reluctantly got out of bed. He hated school; none of the other kids hung out with him, and in art – the only lesson he actually enjoyed – he had to share a table with Nigel. He slowly got dressed, went downstairs and ate breakfast, all the while wondering if it was worth pretending to be ill. Miss Coates was never fooled by fake illness though, and before he knew it Joe was dropping everyone off at the school gates. Another miserable, boring day, he thought as he trudged into registration.

Later on, during break, Daniel went up to the school library to use their computers. He needed to do some research for a bit of English homework, but he also wanted a few minutes on the forum without having to constantly look over his shoulder for Miss Coates. He logged on, printed out some information on John Steinbeck to read later, and went into his forum.

Dani3l: ‘hey guys. stuck @ school, bored sh*tless. got 10 mins to chat.’

Jase1998: ‘hi dan skool is rubbish :( maybe u shld skive of lololol id meet u sumwere bt distance is a problem lol :)’

Dani3l: ‘yea lol Oz to UK is a bit far just to play truant’

IamEGG: ‘hey yu 2 shuldn’t b planin 2 skip scool scool is impurtnt giys’

truthseeker: ‘yeah, u learn 2 spell in school ;p’

IamEGG: ‘shutup Alex or im telling mum ur bein mean 2 me’

Daniel smiled; truthseeker and IamEGG were brother and sister, and the forum often served as a battleground for their sibling rivalry. He watched them bicker for a few moments before sending another message. ‘Any1 had a brainwave bout the pics I posted?’ he asked, trying to bring them all back to topic.

PurpleTrousers: ‘they’re freaky sh*t dan. u could have died out there, or worse’

truthseeker: ‘yeh ur lucky He didnt get u. unless He did :s :s :s’

Dani3l: ‘for f*cks sake truth I am not a proxy. stop making everyone paranoid’

truthseeker: ‘thats exactly wat ud say if u was a proxy’

“What’s a proxy then, freak boy?”

Daniel nearly jumped out of his chair. “What the hell, Nigel? Don’t you understand the concept of privacy?” He turned to see the other boy standing right behind him, reading the screen over his shoulder.

“You know, Miss Coates wouldn’t be happy if she found out about this,” Nigel sneered. “Maybe I ought to let her know you’ve been misusing the school’s computers.”

“What do you want?” Daniel demanded. “You must have better things to do at break time than spy on me.”

“It’s not break anymore, stupid. The bell went five minutes ago; you’re supposed to be in art. Mr Dean sent me to find you.”

“Fine. Let me close this down,” Daniel replied shortly. He turned back to the screen, typed in a quick message ‘gotta go back 2 lessons :(’ and logged off. Once the computer was back on the welcome screen, he grabbed his bag and followed Nigel down to the art room. The rest of the day passed in a blur of tedium, and Daniel was grateful when Joe finally showed up outside the gates to take the kids home.

He took the seat closest to the front, as per usual, so he could avoid the noisy kids at the back; it was also a single seat, rather than a double, so he didn’t have to sit next to anyone. As the minivan bumped along the road back to the home, Daniel’s thoughts turned once again to his search. He had been thinking about that tulpa thing Alison had mentioned, and wondered if it was worth discussing with the forum guys. While everyone else is busy doing homework, he decided, I’ll get online and see what Jase and Believr think. I can tell Miss C. I need to do some research or something. He was the first one out of the van when it pulled up, and he ran straight to the computer room.

“Homework first, Daniel,” Miss Coates told him as he sat down. “You can use the computer later.”

Daniel turned around to look at her. “I need to look something up online for my homework, Miss. My English teacher wants us to find out about John Steinbeck,” he said. Might as well stick to the truth, he thought. She didn’t need to know he’d already got what he needed.

“Well, alright. But don’t let me catch you doing anything else on there,” she warned.

“I won’t,” let you catch me, he finished silently. Once the computer was booted up, Daniel called up the page he’d printed off earlier, and stuck his copy in the out tray of the printer, so if he heard someone coming he could click to it and say he’d just printed it out. In a new tab, he logged in to the forum. ‘hey again,’ he typed.

Believr202 was the first to reply. ‘hi dan :) how r u?’

Dani3l: ‘ok, supposed 2 b doin homework but f that. listen, is your sister’s shop throwing out any more dummies?’

Believr202: ‘dunno, i can ask. u gonna try an catch Him again then?’

Dani3l: ‘well yeah, I still need a pic don’t I?’

Jase1998 came online. ‘dan id say u got ur proof wiht that creepy pic frm las time’

Dani3l: ‘its too easy for ppl to explain away tho. J the C thought it was one of the others up a tree’

Circlecross: ‘You might not be able to get an actual photo of Him, you know. I read something the other day that said someone had tried it, with an old film camera like yours, and when the camera was found all the workings were burned up. The guy had vanished, and no one could recover any photos.’

Daniel paused, fingers resting on the keyboard, and considered Circlecross’ post. He hadn’t come across anything like that himself, but then he hadn’t read everything about this being. Circlecross was one of the oldest members of the site; he was actually a real paranormal investigator called Oliver Cross, who had been studying this entity for several years.

He leant forwards to type out a reply. ‘Where’d u hear that, circle?’ he asked. A web link popped up in answer, to a site Daniel had never visited before – therealtruth.biz.

Circlecross: ‘There’s some good info on there, about other stuff as well as this. The people running it have done their research properly.’

Daniel was about to click it when the monitor went blank. “Wha…?”

“Daniel Alan Jackson! What have I told you about Internet chatrooms?” Miss Coates yelled at him. “As if it wasn’t bad enough that you obsess over this fictional nonsense, now you’re deceiving me? I’ve had enough of this, young man; you are grounded, and consider all your privileges revoked until further notice. Now go to your room and clear out that rubbish all over your walls!”

Daniel knew better than to protest. He hurried up to his room, passing a sniggering Nigel on the stairs. He just about resisted the urge to kick him in the ribs. “What the hell’s your problem? Why did you have to tell her? It’s not like I’m bothering you with anything I’m doing,” he said heatedly to the other boy.

“Maybe I just don’t like freaks,” he replied with a sneer. He dodged Daniel’s swipe and practically skipped out to the garden.

Daniel growled and stomped into his room. He spent the rest of the afternoon pacing up and down, muttering horrible things to himself. He didn’t even go down for dinner when Joe called them all to eat. Bedtime came and went, he heard the other children going to their own rooms and settling down. He couldn’t keep still, he felt like a caged animal, agitated and full of pent up energy. He couldn’t shake a weird feeling of being watched, either - if he was of a more paranoid mindset, he’d have thought someone had snuck a camera into his room.

When his alarm clock read eleven pm, he’d had enough. He couldn’t stand being cooped up in this home anymore, where nobody listened to him and everyone thought he was a freak. He pulled some of his favourite drawings off the walls, tucked them into his schoolbag with his notebooks, and climbed silently out of the window. He doubted anyone would even notice he was gone. He’d sneak to the library, which was open all night, and tell the forum guys he was running away. Maybe one of them would be able to help him out.

 

*-*-*

 

Daniel shivered beneath the trees. He hadn’t managed to get hold of anyone in the forum, except for PurpleTrousers who had called him an idiot and told him to go home. He was adamant that he wouldn’t return to Lakeside, though, and had run up to the woods to camp out. I should have thought this through, he thought ruefully. He had no food, no spare clothes, no money and no plan. I’ll sleep on it, work something out in the morning.

The next thing he was aware of was a shifting darkness surrounding him. The tree he’d been leaning against had gone, and he couldn’t see anything around him. “Hello?” he called out. Nobody answered. Daniel took a few steps forward, hoping that he’d see the trees through this weird fog. The shadows didn’t clear, though, and he started to panic. Where the hell am I? He walked onwards, thinking that sooner or later he would at least bang into a tree or something. There was nothing in his way, however; it was like he’d been dropped into a huge, empty space.

After a while, he saw movement ahead, and shouted out again. “Hello? Is someone there?”

A girl appeared out of the black fog and clapped a hand over his mouth. “Shh!” She stared around frantically. “What are you playing at? You’ll attract His attention if you shout like that,” she hissed at him.

Daniel stared at her: her dark hair splayed out around her head in a wild tangle, there were scratch marks on her face and neck, and her eyes held a kind of deranged fear as her gaze darted around. He jerked away from her hand. “What are you talking about?” he whispered, certain now that he’d fallen asleep and this was nothing more than a bizarre dream.

“Him, stupid. You must know what He’s like by now,” the girl whispered back furiously. She stopped looking around, held Daniel by the shoulders, and stared into his eyes. “No. He didn’t... you’re not a... how did you get here?”

“I don’t know, one minute I was trying not to freeze in the woods, next thing I know I’m stuck in this weird black fog,” he snapped. “Who are you, anyway? What is this place?”

She shook her head. “You wouldn’t believe me. Listen, this isn’t the kind of place you can just fall into. Are you sure He didn’t bring you here?”

Something clicked into place in Daniel’s mind. “Wait, when you say ‘him’ do you mean... Him?”

“No shit, Sherlock.” She rolled her eyes at him. “When did He start stalking you?”

“He wasn’t, at least I don’t think He was,” Daniel told her. “Actually... well, I was kind of stalking Him. Might have pissed Him off a bit. Now I think about it, it probably wasn’t such a smart plan.”

The girl looked at him like he’d told her he ate puppies for breakfast. “You what?” she asked incredulously. Before Daniel could answer, she whipped her head around to look behind her. “Come on.” She seized his wrist and pulled him along as she ran off.

Daniel stumbled after her, feeling more confused by the second. Was this some crazy dream? Or was it really happening? If it was real, how did he end up here, and how would he get back? He had no clue where this girl was taking him, their surroundings didn’t seem to change at all; it seemed as if they were just running on the spot, like cartoon characters. Eventually, she stopped and released Daniel’s wrist.

“You’ve got to get out of here,” she mumbled. “I don’t know what’s going on with you, but if He didn’t bring you then there might be a chance He doesn’t realise you’re here yet.”

“How? How do I get out of here?” he asked her. “I don’t even know how I got in here in the first place, what am I supposed to do?”

She threw him a glare. “Just be quiet, I’m trying to think.” A few moments passed in silence, the girl staring vacantly into the fog and Daniel staring at her, increasingly agitated. “What were you doing before you got here? Exactly what was happening, where were you, every detail,” she whispered.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “I told you, I was in the woods. I’d huddled up against a tree because I was trying to keep warm. I had my bag under my head, and I shut my eyes for a second,” he told her. “I was feeling tired, maybe I fell asleep?” he suggested.

The girl nodded slowly. “Could be. What was in the bag?”

“Just some notes and pictures,” he muttered, embarrassed to admit his obsession. Judging by the way she looked at him, she already knew anyway. “Stuff I’d collected about... about Him.”

She nodded again. “Figures. Listen, maybe if you go to sleep again, it might get you out.” She met his dubious stare with a scathing look. “Well, can you think of a better idea, genius?”

Daniel shrugged. Since he was still mostly convinced he was dreaming this, he supposed it didn’t really matter. He curled up on the flat surface that passed for ground here, and tried to drift off. He was very conscious of the weird girl watching him, though, and opened his eyes after a few seconds. “Could you not stare at me? I’m not used to people watching me sleep.”

“Fine,” she said huffily, and turned around. “I’m not leaving you alone, though. Hell knows what could happen if something finds you.”

Choosing to ignore that remark, Daniel curled back into himself and shut his eyes again. He only realised he was back in the woods when a freezing blast of wind hit him in the face. He bolted upright, looking around at the shadowy, rainswept trees. Just a dream, he thought to himself. He stood and grabbed his bag; the rain was really pouring down, and starting to soak the patch of ground he’d been sleeping on. Probably what woke me up. I’d better find a more sheltered spot.

He trudged through the woods, looking for a hollow tree he remembered finding on one of his expeditions here. He had just spotted it when a flash of lightning lit up the path, throwing crazy shapes everywhere. Daniel jumped as the thunder rumbled across a second later, and ran over to the tree. He tossed his bag inside, and was about to climb in himself when he felt a firm pressure on his shoulder. Great, someone followed me and they’re going to drag me back to Lakeside, he thought as he turned.

Ice flooded through him when he caught sight of who exactly had grabbed him. Not Joe the Cook, or Miss Coates, or even old Bert the gardener as he had thought; the vice grip on his shoulder belonged to the entity that had haunted his nightmares for years. He wanted to run, but was frozen to the spot. All he could do was stare up at the blank, featureless face as it leant closer to him, as if to whisper in his ear.

*Got you, Daniel...*