He was sitting in the field on the outskirts of town waiting for a friend.
It was a hilly area - fairly steep too.
His gran used to say there was something under it, something old.
Never specified anything more, no matter how many times He asked.
The most she ever said was that it used to drag people down right under the ground.
You'd find the tops of their heads, the rest would be under.
Bored of waiting he took out his phone to pass the time and - wait, did the ground just vibrate?
He put his hands against the soil and waited a few tense moments... nothing.
His attention turned once more to his pho - there it was again.
The ground beneath him began pulsing.
He leapt up, looking around to see if anyone else was worried.
Everyone else was quite far from him, when had they moved that far?
Wait... they were still moving away... was he being shifted instead?
Walking towards them did no good, the pulsing only grew faster and they shot away.
His footing became more unsteady as he was carried further out.
The pulsing was now more like a rhythmic vibration.
He didn't know how much longer he could keep himself upright.
He couldn't for long - his feet just slipped and down he went.
Now he expected to slam into the ground but to his surprise he felt his body gently sinking into softness.
Looking down he saw that the ground looked more like a tar-ish liquid.
Calling out for help did no good - he was so far away he couldn't even see anyone.
He wasn't even sure if he was in the same field.
As his body sank further he swore he felt hands pulling him faster.
So there was something in the hill.
And it was impatient.
20150207
20150206
Day 278
It was bad enough finding a corpse while you were jogging in the woods.
It was worse to find a corpse that talked.
I mean I thought he was actually dead at first, all curled up under a tree.
Went to grab my phone when he turned his head and said "Now that won't be necessary, boyo."
When I say turned his head I mean he snapped it round like an owl.
His face was all shrivelled and warped, he barely looked human.
He wouldn't say how long he'd been there.
Wouldn't let me walk away either, said he needed me to stay put.
"Y'see boyo, there's a small problem with me as ye can probably tell.
I can't die just yet. This is where you come in, now there's a small jar buried just there."
He pointed to a spot about three feet from where he lay.
"I need you to dig it up and smash it so my poor soul can finally rest in peace."
So being naive I agreed to unearth his jar, not even knowing how far down it was buried.
Or if it was buried at all.
I was so focused on finding it I never even noticed him slowly getting up.
I certainly didn't notice the others.
Not until I was surrounded.
They all looked the same.
All the same.
It was worse to find a corpse that talked.
I mean I thought he was actually dead at first, all curled up under a tree.
Went to grab my phone when he turned his head and said "Now that won't be necessary, boyo."
When I say turned his head I mean he snapped it round like an owl.
His face was all shrivelled and warped, he barely looked human.
He wouldn't say how long he'd been there.
Wouldn't let me walk away either, said he needed me to stay put.
"Y'see boyo, there's a small problem with me as ye can probably tell.
I can't die just yet. This is where you come in, now there's a small jar buried just there."
He pointed to a spot about three feet from where he lay.
"I need you to dig it up and smash it so my poor soul can finally rest in peace."
So being naive I agreed to unearth his jar, not even knowing how far down it was buried.
Or if it was buried at all.
I was so focused on finding it I never even noticed him slowly getting up.
I certainly didn't notice the others.
Not until I was surrounded.
They all looked the same.
All the same.
20150205
Day 277
The rain screamed at him as he ran.
He wasn't supposed to be outside.
It had been so sunny just a few minutes ago.
The further he ran, the thicker the rain fell.
His house was close by, he should have been there by now.
Maybe he missed his street?
It was so hard to tell with the sky pouring so.
The radio had warned him about this.
Why didn't he listen?
He usually followed what it said to the letter.
It had steered him clear of many troubles.
Dark Sunday, the Bloomsbury Mist, Four Twenty three.
The radio had warned him each and every time.
What made this time different?
Wherever the rain was guiding him to, that would be the answer.
He passed by the streets like a ghost though they seemed more ghostly to him.
The rain made them little more than grey outlines.
Everything seemed unreal.
Unravelled.
Undone.
He began to slow down.
The rain had led him... to his home?
The front door was wide open, the lights inside so welcoming.
With great relief he walked inside.
Eagerly he sought out the radio and the soothing cries it gave forth.
The radio was nowhere to be found.
His whole house far different than he remembered.
The lights switched themselves off.
The front door slammed shut.
He should have listened.
He wasn't supposed to be outside.
It had been so sunny just a few minutes ago.
The further he ran, the thicker the rain fell.
His house was close by, he should have been there by now.
Maybe he missed his street?
It was so hard to tell with the sky pouring so.
The radio had warned him about this.
Why didn't he listen?
He usually followed what it said to the letter.
It had steered him clear of many troubles.
Dark Sunday, the Bloomsbury Mist, Four Twenty three.
The radio had warned him each and every time.
What made this time different?
Wherever the rain was guiding him to, that would be the answer.
He passed by the streets like a ghost though they seemed more ghostly to him.
The rain made them little more than grey outlines.
Everything seemed unreal.
Unravelled.
Undone.
He began to slow down.
The rain had led him... to his home?
The front door was wide open, the lights inside so welcoming.
With great relief he walked inside.
Eagerly he sought out the radio and the soothing cries it gave forth.
The radio was nowhere to be found.
His whole house far different than he remembered.
The lights switched themselves off.
The front door slammed shut.
He should have listened.
20150204
Day 276
They say there was a man whose words were so harsh the village cut out his tongue.
The story goes on to say they hung him in a cage in the middle of the forest nearby.
When they went back to bury his remains four months later they found the cage empty.
It looked to have been cut open, blood drying along the edges.
There was no sign of the man anywhere.
Not even footprints.
Everyone assumed he'd either been freed by a friend or mauled by the wildlife.
He became a local story and nobody thought anything of him until one year later.
The village children would dare each other to touch the rusted cage where the man had been.
So far none of them had gotten that close until, on the year anniversary of his death, a child did.
She even went so far as to stand inside and call for the dead man to come see them.
The other children called her the bravest and left it at that.
She was found the following morning.
Her tongue lay beside her on the pillow, thick bruises around her neck.
The following day the other children were found dead on the outskirts of the woods.
Most of them were lying down at the base of a tree, mouths sewn shut.
The girl who'd died just the day before was hanging from the tree.
Not hung with rope, but the tongues of the other children.
Sewn neatly together.
The story goes on to say they hung him in a cage in the middle of the forest nearby.
When they went back to bury his remains four months later they found the cage empty.
It looked to have been cut open, blood drying along the edges.
There was no sign of the man anywhere.
Not even footprints.
Everyone assumed he'd either been freed by a friend or mauled by the wildlife.
He became a local story and nobody thought anything of him until one year later.
The village children would dare each other to touch the rusted cage where the man had been.
So far none of them had gotten that close until, on the year anniversary of his death, a child did.
She even went so far as to stand inside and call for the dead man to come see them.
The other children called her the bravest and left it at that.
She was found the following morning.
Her tongue lay beside her on the pillow, thick bruises around her neck.
The following day the other children were found dead on the outskirts of the woods.
Most of them were lying down at the base of a tree, mouths sewn shut.
The girl who'd died just the day before was hanging from the tree.
Not hung with rope, but the tongues of the other children.
Sewn neatly together.
20150203
Day 275
She used to have imaginary friends, just like anyone else.
Only when she told people about them they got... worried.
Asked how her home life was, did daddy yell.
Didn't make any sense.
Her friends were fine.
She remembered them living in her wardrobe she inherited from her grandmother as a child.
Her friends would come late at night and read stories to her.
Sometimes they even helped her with her homework.
She wondered if her mother had kept that wardrobe.
A nostalgic phone call had her heading to her mother's new flat to get the keys to a storage unit.
It was one of those cheap places you always drive past but never really think about.
Her room was 023, quite close to the main entrance.
If the wardrobe was in good enough condition she decided she'd take it home.
It'd be nice to have a piece of her childhood with her again.
It looked smaller than she remembered, more worn around the edges.
Completely empty too and the drawer her friends would come out of (a tiny middle compartment)
was locked as it had been in her childhood until they opened it from the inside.
She thought it would look perfect in her new bedroom, just like it had as a child.
After a lot of heaving and help from a friend she managed just this.
It stood in the corner perfectly, like it had always been there.
She closed her bedroom door and sat in front of it, like she used to when she wanted to see her friends.
She never expected them to come.
They certainly weren't how she remembered them.
What had once been peach coloured fur was now dark brown, matted and torn in places.
Blood poured from formerly closed smiling mouths and their eyes red-shot and bulging.
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE US ALL ALONE
WE NEARLY DIED DID YOU EVEN CARE WE THOUGHT YOU WERE OUR FRIEND
They cornered her, heads snapping from side to side and screeching at her.
The last thing she remembered was them tearing at her arms with their gaping jaws.
She looked around her,everything was normal except...
Their drawer was wide open.
Had she dreamt it all?
She began to creep towards the drawer, moving low and slow, wondering if she was losing her mind.
The closer she got, the stronger the smell of burnt hair was.
As she peered over the edge she began to cry.
There they lay, just like she'd left them as a little girl.
Eight kittens, charred and torn.
Only when she told people about them they got... worried.
Asked how her home life was, did daddy yell.
Didn't make any sense.
Her friends were fine.
She remembered them living in her wardrobe she inherited from her grandmother as a child.
Her friends would come late at night and read stories to her.
Sometimes they even helped her with her homework.
She wondered if her mother had kept that wardrobe.
A nostalgic phone call had her heading to her mother's new flat to get the keys to a storage unit.
It was one of those cheap places you always drive past but never really think about.
Her room was 023, quite close to the main entrance.
If the wardrobe was in good enough condition she decided she'd take it home.
It'd be nice to have a piece of her childhood with her again.
It looked smaller than she remembered, more worn around the edges.
Completely empty too and the drawer her friends would come out of (a tiny middle compartment)
was locked as it had been in her childhood until they opened it from the inside.
She thought it would look perfect in her new bedroom, just like it had as a child.
After a lot of heaving and help from a friend she managed just this.
It stood in the corner perfectly, like it had always been there.
She closed her bedroom door and sat in front of it, like she used to when she wanted to see her friends.
She never expected them to come.
They certainly weren't how she remembered them.
What had once been peach coloured fur was now dark brown, matted and torn in places.
Blood poured from formerly closed smiling mouths and their eyes red-shot and bulging.
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WHY DID YOU LEAVE US ALL ALONE
WE NEARLY DIED DID YOU EVEN CARE WE THOUGHT YOU WERE OUR FRIEND
They cornered her, heads snapping from side to side and screeching at her.
The last thing she remembered was them tearing at her arms with their gaping jaws.
She looked around her,everything was normal except...
Their drawer was wide open.
Had she dreamt it all?
She began to creep towards the drawer, moving low and slow, wondering if she was losing her mind.
The closer she got, the stronger the smell of burnt hair was.
As she peered over the edge she began to cry.
There they lay, just like she'd left them as a little girl.
Eight kittens, charred and torn.
20150202
Day 274
It was meant to be a short mission - only fourteen months out in The Black.
The team of three were told to report to Base every day with whatever findings they had.
Apparently plant growth in space was very important.
Too important for regular check-ins at least.
The team hadn't reported back for almost four weeks now.
Base was frantic, assuring the public that all was well while scrambling to find what was going on.
Last they'd heard the plants were growing at a truly rapid pace - 4 inches a day!
Next day the comms. were down and they haven't been working since.
Finally, after four weeks of trying to reconnect with the station's computer they got a line.
They even managed to get through to the station's camera system but the colour was off.
Everything was washed in green and wrecked, like something had gone hurtling through it all.
The plant specimen were floating through the station, each of them a small bush.
At least something was doing well there.
Switching from feed to feed Base scoured every inch of the ship, hoping to find the three crew members.
And one by one they did.
Well, what was left of them anyway and in all honesty it wasn't much.
Their bodies were in the suits, two were huddled near the air lock as if they were trying to get away.
Strangely, their suits were covered in seedlings, they even sprouted from huge tears in the fabric.
They weren't responding to anything Base did, not temperature change or light change - nothing.
They'd have to send another team up there if the third wasn't alive.
Base couldn't find her anywhere, they searched every angle they could get from the cameras and that
covered practically everywhere on-board which left them with the worst alternative.
What other option was there but to send a second team up to at least retrieve their bodies.
And find the third crew member.
She found them.
The others followed her, plants spewing from the tears in their suits choking, grasping, ripping.
They came home.
The team of three were told to report to Base every day with whatever findings they had.
Apparently plant growth in space was very important.
Too important for regular check-ins at least.
The team hadn't reported back for almost four weeks now.
Base was frantic, assuring the public that all was well while scrambling to find what was going on.
Last they'd heard the plants were growing at a truly rapid pace - 4 inches a day!
Next day the comms. were down and they haven't been working since.
Finally, after four weeks of trying to reconnect with the station's computer they got a line.
They even managed to get through to the station's camera system but the colour was off.
Everything was washed in green and wrecked, like something had gone hurtling through it all.
The plant specimen were floating through the station, each of them a small bush.
At least something was doing well there.
Switching from feed to feed Base scoured every inch of the ship, hoping to find the three crew members.
And one by one they did.
Well, what was left of them anyway and in all honesty it wasn't much.
Their bodies were in the suits, two were huddled near the air lock as if they were trying to get away.
Strangely, their suits were covered in seedlings, they even sprouted from huge tears in the fabric.
They weren't responding to anything Base did, not temperature change or light change - nothing.
They'd have to send another team up there if the third wasn't alive.
Base couldn't find her anywhere, they searched every angle they could get from the cameras and that
covered practically everywhere on-board which left them with the worst alternative.
What other option was there but to send a second team up to at least retrieve their bodies.
And find the third crew member.
She found them.
The others followed her, plants spewing from the tears in their suits choking, grasping, ripping.
They came home.
20150201
Day 273
The girls at the end of the pier only want to play.
They never meant no harm.
It was only a game.
They only want to talk.
They'll even tell you how they died if you ask.
Of course they all tell a different story but they mean well.
It's such a quiet part of town, they get so lonely.
They only wanted to make friends.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
We even put up a list of rules at the end of the pier so everyone would know.
It's dead simple - big letters and everything.
First thing is you're not meant to go into the water.
That's what happened, he broke the rules.
Don't blame the girls, they'd never hurt no-one.
Its whatever's in that lake that's to blame.
We've all heard about it, its what killed those girls in the first place.
Not like they'll say so but they're still only kids.
The thing in the lake killed him, dragged him under good and proper.
Poor mite, hope he went fast is all I can say.
You'll see him with the girls soon enough if its any consolation.
I'm sure they'll like having a new friend.
Still I wonder...
Where'd the rest of his body go?
The girls turned up whole but we only found his head and arm.
Maybe he'll find his own way home though.
Maybe he'll shamble out of the lake, soaking and dragging pondweed with him.
He could even be coming back now.
Listen.
Listen for him.
Won't be long now.
You'll see.
He'll be home soon.
They never meant no harm.
It was only a game.
They only want to talk.
They'll even tell you how they died if you ask.
Of course they all tell a different story but they mean well.
It's such a quiet part of town, they get so lonely.
They only wanted to make friends.
This wasn't supposed to happen.
We even put up a list of rules at the end of the pier so everyone would know.
It's dead simple - big letters and everything.
First thing is you're not meant to go into the water.
That's what happened, he broke the rules.
Don't blame the girls, they'd never hurt no-one.
Its whatever's in that lake that's to blame.
We've all heard about it, its what killed those girls in the first place.
Not like they'll say so but they're still only kids.
The thing in the lake killed him, dragged him under good and proper.
Poor mite, hope he went fast is all I can say.
You'll see him with the girls soon enough if its any consolation.
I'm sure they'll like having a new friend.
Still I wonder...
Where'd the rest of his body go?
The girls turned up whole but we only found his head and arm.
Maybe he'll find his own way home though.
Maybe he'll shamble out of the lake, soaking and dragging pondweed with him.
He could even be coming back now.
Listen.
Listen for him.
Won't be long now.
You'll see.
He'll be home soon.
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