Whispers in the fog

Christiaan Boer

"The only fun to be had in this town was the one you created yourself" Kate thought while she was walking home.
It was way past midnight and she’d been having a great time with her friends. They had thrown an informal party and it had been a blast. But then Kate had little to compare it to. She couldn't wait to go to college and get out of "Hicksville USA" as she called it. It was actuality called Hawthorne and was located in the beautiful (but very boring) New England coast region. Kate lived with her mother just past the edge of town right where the woods began. She heard a noise and looked up from her musings, she had already missed the street she needed to take. There was mist coming in fast. Fog and mist weren’t uncommon in this part of New England but not at this time of year. Kate doubled back to the street she needed to take and started walking down it. The mist started to gather even more turning to fog and soon she couldn’t see the end of the street anymore. Light started to dim and got that weird reflective shine that comes with fog. Before she realized it she had almost missed another turn. The fog was thicker than any she had experienced before and it was getting harder to find her way due to the lack of landmarks. She managed to take the last turn down the street that led out of town into the woods past her house but that also meant that she would leave the streetlights behind. Kate wasn’t normally someone that scared easily but an anxious sensation started to creep over her. Or was it the cold from the fog? Automatically she touched the metal nametag that dangled around her neck just as she always did when nervous. She wished Jake was with here and then felt sad that he would never be with here again.
Kate kept walking through the dark growing more anxious by the minute, hoping to see the porchlight her mother always kept on when she was out. Finally she saw the light in the distance. She hurried toward it but the light flickered briefly and somehow seemed further away after the flicker.
“It might just be the fog playing with my mind” Kate told herself.
After a brief hesitation she started toward the light again. When she got close the light flickered a second time and when it stop it was further away. Kate stopped walking.
“What should I do? Am I imagining this? It must be the fog playing tricks with my mind.” She thought.
Kate started walking towards the light again but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t moving as fast as she should have. After a few minutes she was surprised that the trees tinned just in front of her. After a few more steps she saw the outlines of a house through the fog with a light on the porch. But when she stepped into the clearing her stomach fell as more details of the house became visible through the fog. This was not her house. Kate stopped walking and started to panic.
“Where am I?” she thought. “Did I walk past my house? But there are no other houses past our house!”
Kate’s thoughts were tumbling over themselves. She couldn’t make any sense of this. Suddenly she saw something moving behind one of the front windows. Totally freaking out now Kate turned to run. But then she heard something rustling and moving in the forest. She couldn’t see through the fog what is was but it sounded big and definitely not human. Kate took a step backwards towards the house but then stopped. Suddenly the fog started thinning. Gradually Kate could see through the fog. She didn’t recognize anything. This was definitely not her house! She felt the panic rising even more and started to take another step to get back to town. But then she saw something that shot terror through her body. Right in front of her on the edge of the fog there were two red eyes staring directly at her. She had seen animals at night before but none of them had red shining eyes. And none of them were big enough to have eyes at the same height as her chest. As the fog kept receding the creature’s form started to appear. It stood on four legs with a huge monstrous head hunch in front of its body. It roughly resembled a huge bear but it was clearly something very different. Besides the completely red eyes the other clue were the tentacles with sharp tips growing from its back. The tentacles waved from side to side in an agitated manner. Kate stood there totally frozen by her terror. She couldn’t think straight and couldn’t move. Slowly the creature started to move towards her and despite her terror Kate noticed that the thing didn’t have any fur at all.
Suddenly a bright flare of light came from behind her and she thought she faintly heard some yelling her name. The creature recoiled from the light. Kate felt warmth flood through her body and her limbs loosened. Without thinking she fled towards the door of the house. It was unlocked. As she fled inside she looked over her shoulder and saw the creature vanish in the fog that still lurked in the distance. Inside she locked the door behind her and fled to the farthest corner from the door.
When Kate finally calmed down she started to look around. It was dark inside the house. The only light came from outside from the lamp on the porch. As far as she could see she was in a living room with a couch, some comfortable chairs and a dining table. There was no one there. After some time when she finally dared to move she slowly went to the window. There was no sign of the creature. She looked around and there was a lamp on a dresser. She walked over and flipped the switch. It was a very bare living room with only some furniture but not much else. Through a door at the back of the room she saw what looked like a kitchen and against the right wall there were stairs leading up. She looked in the kitchen first and turned on the light. It was very basic as well. After locking the backdoor she went up the stairs. There were only two rooms upstairs and one bathroom which were all very basic as well. There was running water and before exploring further Kate used that to clean up a bit and drink something. She looked out the bathroom window to confirm the creature still hadn’t returned. There wasn’t much to find upstairs and after checking if all the windows were closed tight Kate went down stairs and sat down on the couch. She was completely drained from what had happened and the long night and she soon fell asleep on the couch.
“Kate. Kate wake up.”
Kate started from her troubled sleep and sat bolt upright. At first she didn’t notice it through bleary eyes but a light was shining from the kitchen. She saw nothing else. She must have left the light on in the kitchen. When she started to lie down again the voice spoke once more.
“I’m in the kitchen Kate, listen to me please!”
She knew that voice but she hadn’t heard it in years. To hear it now exited hear and scared her in equal parts. Unable to control herself she leapt from the couch and ran to the kitchen. There hovering near the kitchen table was a spectral form with a face she thought she would never see again. “But…. you’re dead!” she stammered.
In front of her she saw the face of her best friend who died in a car accident years ago. She wore his metal nametag on the necklace around her neck. “Yes I am.” Jake’s spirit answered. “But I never left you because I loved you. Something I wasn’t able to tell you when alive. And you took me with you when you came here.” The spirit pointed at the metal nametag she wore on her necklace.
Tears sprang in Kate’s eyes and she step towards Jake to hug him but he floated backwards. “No time for that. I can’t stay long. You need to get out of here, it isn’t safe!”
“Where am I?” Kate asked. “No time to explain much but this is a parallel world created by an evil being to trap and consume souls. It has been doing this for centuries to try and gain the strength to get back to our world.”
“The monster that attacked me?” Kate asked again. “No that’s just a gatekeeper. The evil has no form. It’s in the mists.” “How do you know all of this?” Kate asked. “Let’s say that I have been to places and learned things after what happened to me.” The spectral form of Jason answered. “I’m so sorry for what happened. I have been so lost without you.” Kate sobbed. Jake floated a bit closer trying to comfort her. “It wasn’t your fault, it was the fault of the drunken guy driving the car.” “But I should have been looking out better…”
Suddenly an enormous bang sounded from the front of the house and the whole building shook. Kate looked to the front door and saw an enormous claw sticking through it. “It knows I’m here. We must get away, hurry out of the backdoor!” Jake yelled. Hurriedly Kate unlocked the backdoor and as she stepped through she heard the front door shattering under a hard blow. “Follow me!” Jake yelled. “I know a way out,” and his form shot of into the trees. Kate closed the door and ran after him as fast as she could. After a about half a minute of running Kate heard a shattering sound behind them. The creature had broken through the backdoor and was after them again. She ran straight through the forest, Jake always a bit ahead of her. She could hear the creature gaining on them and she looked back. That was a mistake. Kate tripped over a tree root and fell flat on her face. Dazed from the fall she didn’t notice that her necklace snagged on something and came of her neck. “Come on” Jake yelled. “We are nearly there!” But Kate was dazed and struggling to get up. Jake came back to her but the monster was closing fast. As Kate got to her feet Jake said “Go, just beyond those trees there is a circle of standing stones. In the centre you will see a globe of mist. Run into it and you will go back to your world.” “What about you? “ Kate asked. “I’ll distract it and then be right behind you. Now go!” and somehow he shoved Kate forward. She stumbled a bit but still dazed she obeyed and started running toward where Jake had told her to go. When she broke through the treeline she saw the standing stones and ran toward the centre. But before touching the mist she turned and shouted “Jake come on!” “I’m coming, go!” Jake shouted. Kate saw his dim light coming towards her through the trees and reached out to the globe. But just as her hand touched it she heard a bone chilling scream and looked back. The monster had caught Jake. It’s claw was through his chest and flickers of red lighting spread throughout his form. His face was contorted and his mouth was wide open, screaming. Kate wanted to go back but is was to late. She was being suck back to her world and the last thought she had before everything went black was that she had lost her friend again.
The next morning they found Kate curled up in a ball not fifty meters from her home. At first they could not get anything coherent from her. She was taken to the hospital for check-up and recovery. When she eventually was able to tell what had happened the doctors thought that she had succumbed to the trauma of the accident all those years ago and wanted her committed to a psychiatric ward. Her mother made sure this didn’t happen and with time she recovered on her own but was always haunted by het experience.
One day as Kate was shopping in town she again felt that same dread presence she had felt in that other place, the place of mists. She looked around expecting to see whisps of mist curling behind her, but there was nothing there. As Kate walked away, her hand automatically going to a necklace that was no longer there. She didn’t notice the red glowing eyes in the alleyway she passed. Beneath those red eyes, where a neck would have been, hung a spectral blue necklace with a nametag on it. Kate was done with the mists but the Mist wasn’t done with her yet.