This is the first chapter of a project I started years ago called When Shadows Watch. I came across it while looking through folders on my desktop and was surprised to discover I had several chapters written. If you like it let me know, I would be interested in picking it back up, or at the very least, posting the chapters I have.
Title: When Shadows Watch
Chapter 1 : The Fence
The rusted chain-link fence loomed over the boys as they stared up at it. Today was the day. Today, they were going to figure out what was on the other side of that fence. For too long it’s faded, “No Trespassing” signs had mocked them.
At least to the best of Gregory's estimations, the Adventurers Club had been over almost every inch of the forest. He was the club’s official cartographer. Gregory was also Jackson’s best friend. They had spent the previous night planning out the route.
“Well, guys…” Simon said. He didn’t take his eyes off the barbed wire that ran coiling along the top of the rusty fence.
“Well…” Jackson repeated.
“Maybe we should wait…until tomorrow…” Gregory gulped.
“No…” Ryan said. “We do it now.”
Ryan was the leader of the club by unanimous vote. Well, almost unanimous. Jackson had thrown his hat into the ring, but Ryan was one year older.
The plan was to use a pair of wire cutters provisioned from Ryan’s dad’s toolbox and cut the fence near the bottom and only so much to allow the boys to slip underneath. They didn’t want it to be obvious that the fence had been cut in case a game warden happened by on a patrol.
The fence was an object of fascination for the boys. None of their fathers could tell them what was on the other side and why the fence was there. All except Jackson’s dad, of course. He presented the boys with one of his outrageous conspiracies: there was a secret base hidden in the forest. Jackson’s dad was known around the town for his “theories.” It made life a little difficult for Jackson at school, as though things weren’t already hard enough for a 7th grader.
Ryan walked up to the fence with the rest of the boys following cautiously behind. Jackson had the sense that someone was going to pop out from somewhere and yell at the boys, but the truth was that there was never anyone around in this part of the forest. The only time you saw anyone was the occasional hiker back on the trails. The forest was an eerie place that gave Jackson a feeling in the pit of his stomach every time the club stepped into it. It always felt like someone was watching them despite the lack of people or animals.
Ryan produced the wire cutters from his backpack and turned around to look at each one of them. “Okay, this is it, guys. We’re not chickening out this time.”
The others nodded but said nothing. The suspense was thick in the air. Jackson’s heart was racing.
Ryan nodded, turned around, and began the work of cutting the fence. The plan was to snip enough so the boys could fold a piece of the fence back and slip through. When they left, they could fold the piece back like a door and hopefully conceal the fact that it had been cut. This would provide a means for several expeditions into the unknown lands beyond the fence.
The last of the cuts was made, and Ryan laid the cutters on the ground beside him. “Alright, help me with the fence.”
“Gloves on, guys, that thing is rusted…” Simon said. He was the type to worry about things like that.
Each boy pulled a pair of leather gloves from their backpacks. The boys stepped up to the fence, and they all worked to bend the piece back. Once they had created a hole that they could crawl through, they stepped back and stared at their work with satisfaction. The first step had been accomplished: the hole had been cut.
“Okay,” Ryan announced, stepping toward the fence. “It’s time.”
“Wait…” Simon croaked. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, guys.”
“Seriously, Simon?” Ryan was annoyed.
“Come on, man, we’ve come this far. It’s a little late to turn back now.” Jackson said even though he was feeling the same way.
“They’re right, Simon, we’ve planned for this for months,” Gregory said. His voice was shaking a little. He was the one who usually tried to hold the group back from doing something they probably shouldn’t.
“Yeah, don’t be a chicken now. Besides, you’ll go to jail for helping cut the fence if we get caught, so you might as well know what’s in there.” Ryan said. “I’m going in.”
Ryan crawled through the hole and stood up on the other side of the fence. “Come on, chickens.” Ryan was a fan of calling people chickens when they didn’t want to do something.
The other three boys looked at each other and began crawling through the hole. Simon was the last and stopped to stare at the hole for a few seconds. He eventually crawled through it for nothing but not to be called a chicken again.
The three stood on the other side of the fence, taking in their moment of triumph. The forest was thicker, but they could always see that through the fence. Jackson felt uneasy. The air felt different somehow, and he couldn’t decide if it was just his nerves or something else. The entire atmosphere felt different now in a way he couldn’t quite figure out.
“Anyone else feel weird?” Gregory asked.
“Yeah…” Jackson answered.
“Come on, guys,” Ryan announced and started to move deeper into the forest. “We didn’t do this so we could stand here.”
The other three looked at each other and followed. They moved through the thick undergrowth as dead leaves crunched under their feet. Jackson thought the feeling would go away after they had been on the other side of the fence for a while, but it grew stronger.
“Guys, look…” Simon said, trying not to be too loud. He was pointing to his arm; the hair was all standing straight up. “I think we need to get out of here.”
“You’re just scared,” Ryan said. He rolled back the sleeve of his jacket. “See, mine’s not standing…” He was cut short when his arm hair stood on end.
“That is strange,” Gregory said, looking at his arm.
Jackson quickly pulled back the sleeve of his jacket and watched the air stand up. It was true he was scared. He was terrified, but this felt like something different. It had to do with this feeling he had, the strange atmosphere that he felt as soon as he crossed through the fence line.
“Come on, guys. We didn’t come all this way and do all of this planning so we could stop now because our arm hairs are standing up.” Ryan was getting frustrated.
“This could be dangerous, dude,” Jackson said. “I mean, they have a fence up for a reason.”
“Yeah.” Simon agreed.
“You guys can leave then, but I’m going to find out what they are hiding in here,” Ryan said.
Jackson thought about all the times his dad had gone on and on about how they were hiding something in the forest. There was a big cover-up that went back years, and only a few people knew the truth. While it was true you couldn’t get anyone in town to tell you why there was a fence inside the forest and what it was protecting, Jackson’s dad always came off as a weirdo, and he was the son of the town weirdo. If he found that there was a perfectly ordinary reason for the fence, he could tell his dad to stop ranting and raving about cover-ups and government conspiracies.
“I agree,” Jackson said. “We should keep going.”
Ryan gave Jackson a nod.
It was settled; neither of the remaining boys wanted to turn around and be labeled a chicken by Ryan. They pressed through the thick woods, moving deeper into the forest. They didn’t know where they were going or what they were looking for. Gregory had suggested that they head toward the center of whatever the fence was surrounding. To the best of their knowledge, that’s what they were doing.
He could feel that the hair on his arms was still standing up even under his jacket. He had to keep moving, though. This was his chance to be able to tell his dad that there was nothing in the forest. He could stop his raving, and maybe they could be viewed as normal in town. Jackson’s thoughts drifted to his mother for a moment. She had always been so calm, so strong. His dad hadn’t gotten so crazy acting until after she died. He blamed “the powers that be” for it, whatever that meant. This would help him move on. It had to.
“Guys…” Ryan’s voice interrupted Jackson’s brief interlude from the moment. “Look.”
They had emerged out of the thickest part of the forest and into a wide clearing. Tall grass grew everywhere, turned brown by the season. There were buildings in various stages of disrepair dotting the clearing, and a huge mansion far in the distance that dominated the landscape. The whole thing looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. Further in the distance and obscured by the mansion, the point of a concrete structure could be seen.
The feeling in Jackson’s stomach grew to its most intense. All he could do was stare in disbelief. He didn’t know what he expected to find in the forest beyond the fence, but this was not it. He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed; he was hoping there was nothing of interest beyond the fence.
“What in the world is all of this?” Simon asked.
“It looks like some kind of resort,” Gregory explained.
“That makes no sense. Blacksnake Hills doesn’t have a resort, and if it did, who in the world would want to take a vacation here?” Ryan said, furrowing his brow.
“Well, it looks like no one has been here in a long time,” Gregory answered.
“Yeah, there are some tennis courts over there.” Jackson pointed out. The tennis courts were overgrown. The green surface was cracked and badly faded, but the lines were still visible.
Outdoor pools had long ceased to hold water could be seen not far from the tennis courts. The whole thing had been abandoned for a long time. The question that puzzled Jackson was why there was a fence built around this place. Was it to keep kids like them from wandering in here and getting hurt? That seemed like the logical answer, but the feeling in his the pit of his stomach was telling him something different.
“Let’s go take a closer look,” Ryan said.
“Are you crazy?” Simon exclaimed. “This place is a hazard. Why do you think they built a fence around it?”
“We still haven’t answered that question, Simon,” Ryan replied. “They closed this place down for a reason, or we would have heard about it. Why has no one ever talked about this place? Why is it a secret?”
“He’s got a point,” Jackson said. “None of our parents have ever said anything about this place, and they’ve lived here all their lives.”
“Or our grandparents, and it seems like something they should know about. Somebody has to remember when this place was open.” Gregory said.
Simon’s expression grew more worried as he realized they were going to explore the dilapidated resort. Jackson felt sorry for him, he was always outvoted when it came to decisions like these. Simon was by far the most cautious of the group and always voted to turn back or not do the thing they were about to do. In the end, he always had to do something he didn’t want to because he didn’t want to be left out. Or endure being called a “chicken” or “wuss” by Ryan.
Jackson was inclined to agree with Simon, though. There was something wrong with this place.
The boys crept their way towards a long structure with several windows. At one time, it looked like it had been painted yellow, but the chipping paint had faded to almost white. They approached a door in the back and peeked in. The dirty glass didn’t reveal much, but they could tell there was no movement inside. Ryan grabbed the knob and turned. Simon grimaced as the door slowly opened with a groan. The boys slid through the opening, emerging into the musky air of the building.
The interior was lined with metal bunk beds, some of which still had the remains of rotting mattresses. The floor was still tiled in places. Between each set of bunk beds, there were metal cabinets. At the back of the building where the boys had entered, there was a large bathroom with showers and several toilets with the remains of stalls around them.
The whole thing looked like a bunkhouse at summer camp.
“Wow,” Ryan said as he took a few more steps into the building. “What do you guys think this was for?”
“It looks like a bunk house,” Jackson answered.
“Yeah,” Ryan replied, nodding his head.
“Pretty creepy if you ask me,” Simon said. It was evident that he thought they could be caught at any moment.
Ryan walked over to one of the lockers and opened the door. It creaked loudly from years of disuse. Inside were the remains of a uniform and the personal effects of the owner: a black comb, a toothbrush in a glass, the remnants of photographs hung on the inside of the door, and a stack of old papers. Ryan pulled out the sleeve of the white shirt. There was a bowtie hung around the collar and a nametag still pinned to the chest that read: Ricky. In smaller print across the top of the tag, the words Blacksnake Lodge were scrolled.
“Blacksnake Lodge…” Ryan said to himself more than anyone else. He turned to face the others. “You guys ever heard of that?”
The other boys joined Ryan at the locker, but Simon remained by the door, looking more nervous by the second.
“No,” Gregory said. “How could we have never heard of something like this? I mean, it seems like it was kind of a big deal with guys wearing bowties and dress shirts.”
“Jackson, your dad ever say anything about Blacksnake Lodge?” Ryan asked.
Jackson thought for a moment but couldn’t remember his dad ever mentioning that name. His dad had done a lot of research on the history of Blacksnake Hills and found some pretty crazy stuff, but never anything about this. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Guys, maybe we should get out of here,” Simon said. He was still standing by the door, ready to make his escape. “This place just doesn’t feel right.”
“You’re just being a chicken,” Ryan said, not looking up from the locker.
“Shut up, Ryan. I am not.” Simon responded.
Ryan smiled at Simon. It was one of his pastimes to mess with Simon. “Then stop trying to chicken out and get away from the door.”
Simon’s look intensified. “I… Yeah, okay…”
Simon nervously made his way over to the locker, pretending to be interested in its contents. Every few seconds, he would look around the room and back at the door.
Jackson had to wonder if there was anyone at the lodge. If they went through all the trouble they had to cover up its existence, then there had to be someone on the property to make sure people didn’t climb the fence or snoop around. There could be a guard patrolling right now, about ready to discover them. The thought made his heart beat a little harder in his chest.
“I wonder what’s in the rest of these,” Ryan said, losing interest in the locker they had opened.
He opened the next locker. Another uniform hung in it. There were slightly different personal effects, but the contents were much the same.
“John” Ryan read the name on the tag pinned to the shirt.
The other boys wanted a turn. Simon remained next to the first locker, watching them.
The room was filled with the sounds of creaking old locker doors. They called out the names they found on the tags on the uniforms.
“Hank!” Jackson said
“Thomas!” Gregory said.
Ryan turned to Simon, his face hardened as he suddenly became annoyed. He walked over to the frightened boy and crossed his arms.
“Simon, I thought you were going to stop being a chicken?” Ryan said.
“I’m not a chicken! I just think it’s time for us to go home.” Simon said.
“Spoken like a true chicken…” Ryan said. He folded his hands under his armpits and started to flap them like wings, “Chicken, chicken, chicken.”
“Ryan, stop!” Simon said. “I am not a chicken!”
“Then stop standing over here and prove it.” Ryan grabbed Simon and pushed him out into the room. “Go find a locker and open it. We’re just having some fun here, man. It’s not like something is going to get us. This place has been abandoned for years.”
“Decades,” Gregory said.
“See, decades,” Ryan said. “Nobody is here.”
Simon looked around the room at each of them. Jackson gave him a nod of confidence. He walked over to one of the lockers and pulled it open. The loud creaking sound made him jump. He reached in and grabbed the dress shirt.
“William,” Simon said.
“Yeah! Good job, man.” Ryan said. “See, that wasn’t so bad.”
“Nice, Simon,” Gregory said
“Yeah.” Jackson agreed.
“Alright, Adventurers, let’s open all of them!” Ryan said.
“Yeah.” The other boys said in unison.
They hurried to separate lockers, Jackson moving toward one near the center of the row. The unease in his stomach deepened. He glanced between the two sets of bunk beds and immediately noticed something was off. The beds were misaligned, pushed apart as if hastily moved. Deep scrape marks marred the tile where their heavy metal legs had dragged across the floor. A dent in the upper-right bunk’s rail caught his eye, like something had struck it with force.
His gaze settled on the locker wedged between the beds, and the feeling intensified. It wasn’t flush against the wall. The uniform that had once hung neatly inside lay scattered across the floor, yellowed fabric torn as if ripped down in haste. He lowered his eyes to the name tag pinned to the discarded dress shirt: Joseph.
But what made his breath catch was the locker itself. Thick chains coiled around it, converging at a single, massive padlock. Dents bulged outward from the metal’s surface; something inside had fought to get free.
“What the…” Ryan had come up behind Jackson while he was staring at the locker. “Why is that one locked up?”
“Wow,” Gregory said. “That’s strange.”
“We need to get out of here.” Simon was scared. “This isn’t right.”
Jackson stared at the locker, his breath shallow. The gray paint had peeled away entirely, flaking into small piles on the floor like discarded remnants of a battle. He tried to picture the moment. What could have led to this? What could drive someone to wrap a locker in chains, as if sealing away something unspeakable?
The more he studied the area, the more unsettling it became. The scrape marks on the floor, the scattered uniform, and the dented bed frame. It all pointed to a struggle. Someone, maybe Joseph, had fought here. Had wrestled with something, something that refused to stay locked away.
“Let’s open it,” Ryan said. He took a few steps closer to the locker.
“Are you crazy?” Simon was beside himself.
“It’s chained up, Ryan. How on Earth do you plan on opening it?” Gregory looked concerned as well.
“With these…” Ryan slid his backpack off and produced a pair of bolt cutters. “I decided to prepare for just such an occasion.”
“Is that a good idea?” Jackson’s heart raced. He had been apprehensive about cutting the fence and going into this building, but cutting the lock off of something that someone had struggled to lock up seemed like a bad idea.
“Oh, come on, you chickens, this thing has been locked up for as long as this place has been abandoned. Whatever is locked inside has probably been dead for years.” Ryan said, swinging his bag back over his shoulder.
“That’s probably true. There’s no way anything could survive being locked in there for decades. Who’s to say it was alive anyway?” Gregory reasoned.
“Because there was a struggle!” Jackson exclaimed, pointing to the beds pushed aside and the dent in one of them.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Ryan said, taking a few steps towards the locker.
The feeling in the pit of Jackson’s stomach was almost overwhelming now. This whole scenario felt wrong. Opening this locker was a mistake. A big one.
Jackson tried to get hold of his thoughts and his fear. Honestly, what could be in there? Gregory was right. There was no way anything could have survived in that locker all these years. His curiosity was getting the best of him despite being scared to death of what could be inside the locker.
“Ryan, don’t!” Simon was almost crying from fright.
“I’m no chicken, Simon,” Ryan said.
Ryan lifted the bolt cutters to the chain link nearest the lock and squeezed. After grunting for a few moments, he tried again, but the chain was too much for a boy to cut. He turned around, “Come on, guys, I need help with this.”
Simon just shook his head while Gregory stepped forward to offer what help he could. The two boys squeezed together, and the handles of the cutters moved a little, cutting a notch in the thick chain link. They tried again but couldn’t move the cutters further.
“Jackson, get over here and help us,” Ryan said.
Jackson just stared at the two of them. He was still wrestling with how he felt about opening the locker. Was this such a good idea? What harm could it do? There was no way something could still be alive there, right?
“Oh, come on, Jack, don’t tell me you’ve gone chicken on us,” Ryan said.
“Jackson, they probably just shut an animal in here.” Gregory reasoned. “Let’s open it and see what in the world attacked this guy. There’s no way there’s anything alive in here.”
The combination of shame and reason made Jackson’s mind up. He took hold of the handles with Ryan and Gregory. Simon could only stare on in terror with his hands clasped together.
The three boys worked together, squeezing and grunting on the handles. The blades moved a little deeper into the chain until they were halfway through the link.
“Come on, guys, almost there…” Ryan grunted.
The boys fell into each other as the chain link snapped. The heavy chain fell to the floor in a series of clanks. The boys took a step back, expecting the door to burst open on its own. The door remained closed, however, and the boys high-fived their accomplishment.
“Yeah, good work, guys!” Ryan announced.
“That was tough,” Gregory said.
“Yeah, it was, but nothing stands in the way of the Adventurers!” Jackson yelled.
Simon stood motionless, but softened after the locker remained closed. “Good job, you guys,” he said sheepishly.
“See, we told you, Simon,” Ryan said, pointing at Simon.
“Well, you haven’t opened it yet…” Simon said.
Simon’s observation ended their celebration. They stared at the locker. It had been one thing to cut the chain off, but to open the locker seemed to be an entirely different concern. They all looked at Ryan. It seemed that being the leader meant he should be the one to open the locker.
“Go ahead, Ryan,” Gregory said. “It was your idea.”
“Yeah… I’m no chicken.” Ryan said without enthusiasm.
The gnawing in Jackson’s stomach ached. He was overwhelmed by the feeling that something wanted the locker opened, and was encouraging it.
Ryan pulled up on the latch. The door didn’t move.
“It’s stuck,” Ryan reported.
“It’s probably rusted shut,” Gregory said.
Ryan nodded, his grip tightening as he yanked harder. The locker resisted, groaning as if protesting his decision. He put all his strength into it, and with a final pull, the door exploded open.
A blast of force sent the boys sprawling to the floor, knocking the breath from their lungs. The room dimmed, shadows thickening like tar, and Jackson’s stomach twisted into a near-unbearable knot.
From the darkness, something began to emerge. Long, spindly arms stretched out first, their joints bending at unnatural angles as they gripped the edges of the locker and the nearby bunk beds. The metal groaned under the weight, the creature pulling itself forward with deliberate, jerking movements. Its legs followed, impossibly lanky and twisted, scraping against the floor as if reluctant to leave the shadows.
The figure was featureless, yet disturbingly human in shape. Its silhouette wavered, head rolling as though savoring its release from confinement. It had no eyes, no mouth, only the faint suggestion of a hollow face that seemed to notice each boy in turn. The sound of rasping breath filled the room, hissing and echoing off the walls like a warning.
The thing shrieked. The sound split the air, rattling the windows in their frames. In an instant, it streaked toward the door, wrenching it shut with a force that sucked the remaining light from the room.
Jackson’s heart was ready to beat out of his chest. All he could do was lie on the ground with the rest of the boys.
Simon was sobbing.
Ryan looked as though he was in shock.
Jackson tried to collect his thoughts. No way just happened. This had to be some kind of dream. He was still at home in his bed. He just needed to wake up. Wake. UP. The feeling in his stomach reminded him that this was all too real; they had just done something terrible and inescapable.
“What, what just happened?” Gregory choked out. “What was that thing?”
“I don’t know.” Jackson managed to say. “I don’t know.”
“A monster… a monster… monster…” Simon murmured.
Ryan said nothing. He just lay there on the floor staring at the locker. Jackson crawled over to him. His face was pale, and his eyes were wide. “Hey man, you all right?” Jackson asked. Ryan didn’t respond, he just pointed to the locker. “Yeah, I know, we all saw it.”
“Look…” Ryan whispered and lifted his hand to point at something inside the locker.
Jackson looked into the locker; a skeleton was pushed to the back. It was dressed in one of the uniforms. The name tag read: Michael.