The Mist In The Night

Chapter 3

When we reached the edge of the woods, we discovered that it wasn't a house, but a bus stop instead.

"Shit." I cursed.

"Don't worry," he said as we stepped out of the woods and onto the dirt road. "There's a town just past that hill."

I looked up in front of us. "How do you know?"

"I just know."

He moved quick, crossing the dirt road and scaling the hill with ease. Haylee shocked us both by keeping up without a struggle, matching his pace as she held his hand. I on the other hand was having trouble keeping up, falling several paces behind.

As we neared what seemed to be the top of the hill, screeching sounds, like the ones we heard by the highway, rang through the mist. Haylee and I both covered our eyes, dropping to our knees when the pain in our ears became too much to bare.

"What the hell is that?" I said through gritted teeth.

He stared at something below us. "You don't wanna know."

I couldn't make out what he was referring to. The mist was too dense but whatever it was, it had him worried.

"We have to stay quiet." He whispered.

Haylee was rolling around on the ground, still on a high but very much in pain from the screeching sounds. "Come on Haylee," I whispered as she shook her head. "Yes, come on. We have to get you help."

She managed to get up with both hands covering her ears. I held her as we made our way down the hill, watching our steps carefully. When we finally made it down, we were met by a 6 foot privacy fence.

"Now what?" I asked as I looked around at the mist cover.

"Wait here," he said. "I'm gonna check it out."

I wanted to protest, keep him with us in case those things found us but before I could speak, he flung himself over the fence, landing inside the yard. Haylee and I looked at one another in amazement.

Haylee removed her hands from her ears. "I like this guy."

"Stop it," my feet began to tremble. "We don't even know h-"

The clinging sound of a latch was heard, followed by a whistle.

"Move it." He said.

We crossed the backyard and made our way to the back porch. The outside of the house looked rough. Living and dining room furniture littered the patio. There were empty cans and bottles everywhere. It smelled terrible.

"Can we please get inside?" Haylee asked. "It smells like shit out here."

"Hold on," he said, pressing his hand up against the door. He focused on it, closing his eyes, feeling for something. "OK, we're good."

He pushed open the door, which lead us straight into the kitchen. It was dark and outdated to say the least, like a scene straight out of the 70's. There wasn't much light but we could still see the wood paneling that covered every inch of the walls. The floor also screamed 70's with its disgusting yellow sticker titles.

"Ew." Haylee was the first to acknowledge the disgustingness.

"Keep the lights off," he moved through the kitchen and into the living room. "We don't want to attract attention. There's a bathroom on the second floor. Take her up and run her under cold water."

"For how long?" I asked.

"As long as it takes for her body temperature to drop."

I listened to him, escorting Haylee up the stairs and into the bathroom. It wasn't hard finding the bathroom. There were only 3 doors to the upstairs, 2 of which were closed while the bathroom door was wide open. It must have been used last by whomever lived here.