Just Another Story

Written by Kaura Grande
Artwork: “The Golem” by Isaac Ben Aharon

It didn't take much convincing from Miles for me to agree to follow him into the canyon in search of Katie. Why she went there specifically is a mystery. We knew she loved the waterfall, tall limestone walls, and of course the ghost stories, but to run away to the canyon alone after dark? That seemed unnecessary, even by her standards. 

Miles had been clear about a few things. If we were going to Black Star Canyon, we needed to be prepared for anything. The rumors and stories may have just been that, but better to come ready than not at all. We loaded up backpacks with headlamps and flashlights, extra batteries, layers of clothes, a few snacks, and portable power banks. I tucked a swiss army knife that my dad had given me into the front pocket of my jeans. 

Once on the trail I put one foot in front of the other. My feet would fall where his foot was. I kept my fear in check by counting each step and was so lost in the monotony of it I ran into Miles' back when he stopped suddenly. 

“What is it?” I ask. 

“You feel that? The temperature changed,” an involuntary shudder went down my spine, skin prickling at the new, cool breeze. 

He started again and I resumed my steady pace right behind him. Katie being my best friend and his girlfriend was enough of a reason to come out here this late. On the drive up we talked about the ghost stories we had heard. Satanic meeting rituals, KKK meet-ups, the woman in white, the voices, the drumming, the creatures that some have seen lurking in the dark. We laughed. Just a trick of the light. Just stories to keep the kids out. Just made-up nonsense because who doesn't love a good jump story? It never mattered what the story was, just who told it. A story told by the right person could make the bravest crumble. I checked my phone and saw that I no longer had service. The flashlight started to flicker and then grew hot in my hands. I dropped it in a panic and when I did it flickered off. 

It took only a moment to bend down and retrieve it, but in that instant, a dark form hurdled itself out of a nearby bush and went straight for Miles. He had just enough time to turn, opening his body to whatever was heading his way before it collided with him. He flew onto his back, hands reaching to his neck to grab whatever thing had just attacked him. Just as quickly as it came, it disappeared. He looked up at me with a question on his face. Then he slowly stood up, brushed off the dirt, and kept walking like it had never happened. But I saw it. He saw it. Whatever it was. Were we really going to keep on like nothing happened? I stood frozen.

"Let's go Molls," he called back from a little way down the trail. I trotted lightly to catch back up, glancing over my shoulder, pulling my jacket a little tighter around my neck. 

"Are you⁠—" 

"Don't. Let's keep moving," his voice was uncharacteristically harsh. It came out through clenched teeth, his eyes dark. I tried to shake out the flinch his words gave me. 

We walked in silence and I counted another 300 steps. The temperature got colder, and the flashlight began to flicker again. I hit it with my hand trying to get it to stay on. My foot caught on something and I stumbled, falling hard. My knee hit the ground first splitting my jeans, warm blood trickled down. Miles didn't stop walking. When I looked up his silhouette was fading in the dark. I jumped to my feet, ignoring the pain in my knee, and tried to run to catch up. 

All at once, the world became a nightmare. It didn't matter how fast I ran the trail stretched and stretched and he got further and further away. I screamed out his name, but as the words left my mouth, they became distorted, quiet, and loud all at the same time. I stopped running and the trail shrank back and Miles was right in front of me and I grabbed his sleeve, spinning him to face me, fear in my eyes. His reflected anger. 

"What?!" 

"I couldn't reach you. I fell. I tried yelling your name. Why didn't you wait for me?" Everything came out quickly, an edge in my voice, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. 

"Try to be less of a klutz, will you?" He glared hard at me, yanked his sleeve free, and kept walking. I followed, trying to keep the limp out of my step. The air got colder still, my breath coming out in small grey clouds⁠—an occurrence I would have laughed at under different circumstances. I wanted to pause and pull a layer from my backpack and put on my headlamp, but knew Miles wouldn’t be happy if I asked to wait. After another couple hundred steps, he stopped, "We are here." 

"How do you know?" 

"Can't you feel it, Molls?" I closed my eyes and tried to feel whatever it was he was feeling, but nothing happened. I just felt cold.

"No, I can't," I said plainly. He walked over to me and placed his hand coolly on my neck. It wasn't an aggressive movement, but the look in his eyes sent another involuntary shudder down my spine. 

"Are you sure? Seems like you feel it now," a crooked smile crossed his lips and the shudder turned into convulsions. His eyes locked on mine and in them it seemed his pupils danced. They grew and shrank, swirled and overcame his irises leaving dark pits in their wake. Time moved in a way I will never be able to explain, it was like feeling the whole world and nothing all at once. A voice in my head drew parallel lines to connect my thoughts, and the whole time Miles’ eyes stayed fixated on my own, his hand slowly squeezed my throat.

Somewhere a word formed: wake. Wake like the way the boat creates ripples in the lake. Wake like when you open your eyes first thing in the morning. Eyes Miles' eyes are black, but they're supposed to be brown. Brown like the soft brown of a tree glowing in the morning sun. The world shifted and spun, Miles' hand still locked on my neck, my body shaking, fingers turning numb. Words slipped in and out of my mind in this poetic rhythm trying to make sense of everything and anything until there was nothing. 

Wake. Wake. Wake. Wake. Wake. Wake. 

“Wake up! Molls wake up. Wake up! Wake up, Molls! Please, we have to move. Molls please!” The words were familiar, the voice even more so. Sweet and soft, kind. A voice I had heard for what felt like my whole life. A hint of lavender hit my nose and I was brought back to rainy days curled up on the couch with blankets and pillows watching romcoms with Katie while drinking lavender tea. Katie. Her face came back to me full force and my eyes flew open. Her hands cupped my cheek, her long brown curls tickling my face. “Oh, thank god. We have to move. Let's go before he comes to.”

“What're you talking about?” My throat felt raw and dry, it hurt to talk. 

“We don't have time, I'll explain later. Let's go!” She yanked me up with incredible strength and stabilized me. Then grabbed my hand and took off running, pulling me after her. It didn't take long for the heavy breathing to irritate my throat so bad I was coughing in fits, worsening the pain. Katie stared at me hopelessly. We moved slower, not talking, but I could feel the anxiety rippling off her. 

“Please, Katie. What's going on?”

“I never ran away from home.” 

“What?!” 

“Yes, Miles lied to lure you here.” 

“Wai⁠—”  

“Miles lied to lure you here. I never ran away. He isn't who we think he is. I don't know who he is...or what he is. But we have to move. We have to get as far away from here as possible. We don't have much time left and⁠—” A twig nearby snapped, we both jumped and moved closer, holding each other tightly. Together we crouched low, hoping the nearby shrubbery would be enough to conceal us from whatever entities lurked nearby. I let go of Katie, moving to get a view of Miles.

“Katie? Molly? What's going on? Where did you guys go? I'm scared. Don't hide from me!” Miles stood, mere feet away. He looked wrecked. In the moonlight his hair was disheveled. There was a wound on his head that dripped black liquid. His neck showed deep teeth marks from something that could’ve been human or could’ve been animalistic. His eyes were no longer black, but their color wasn't clear. He looked almost normal. I turned to look at Katie with a question in my eyes, but she was gone. 

A rock hit my head so hard I saw stars and swam back into the pool that I had worked so hard to pull myself out of. When I opened my eyes, my hands were bound back by rope. I had been stripped out of my jacket; my bag lay just out of reach. My vision was blurred but I could just make out Miles and Katie throwing wood onto a fire in the center of a pentagram, I noticed they had drawn similar markings on my bare arms. They were talking to one another calmly and hadn’t noticed me. 

“Okay, but why did you hit me so hard?” 

“You and I both know you were losing control and were going to kill her too soon.”

“I had everything under control.” And then a pause. It sounded like they were kissing. I tried not to make a disgusted sound while I assessed my current situation. My head hurt. My throat hurt. I felt like my body had been dragged through a cheese grater. 

I didn’t know what they intended on doing, but I knew I had to fight back if I was going to get out of this canyon alive. I remembered the swiss pocket knife I had tucked into my pocket. Very carefully I moved my bound hands down to the left front pocket and was elated when I felt it was still there. Cutting through the rope was going to take too long. I calculated my options and decided that the only thing I had going for me was surprise. I waited. Patiently. Warmed by the fire that they continued to grow. I gathered my surroundings in bursts, closing my eyes whenever they looked my way. After some time had passed Katie walked over to check on me, wondering out loud if her blow with the rock had killed me. 

I listened to her steps as they came closer. When she bent down to check on my restraints I lay perfectly still, holding my breath. She leaned her head close to my lips, listening for any sounds of life. In that moment, every memory I had ever had of her came flooding to mind. Eating ice cream in the sun, skipping class to go to the beach, consoling each other after heartbreak, late movie nights, sleepovers, laughing, crying. I was about to do something that couldn’t be taken back. But, wasn’t she about to do the same? She moved her head down to my chest, listening for a heartbeat and I knew it was now or never. I thrusted the knife into her thigh. She screamed, falling over. I jumped up, grabbed my bag, and turned to run. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Miles stood blocking my way. Then slowly, with controlled movements he walked towards me, backing me closer to fire. 

“What the hell is going on? What are you doing?”

“Oh, come on, isn’t it obvious? We are here tonight to sacrifice your blood to the entities of the canyon. In doing so we unleash a world that has been kept at bay for far too long, unlocking powers of the truest. Isn’t it obvious?” A crooked smile crossed his lips. 

“You don’t actually believe that stuff?! It’s just ghost stories. Old wives' tales! Things they tell kids to get them home before dark. None of it is real!”

“Molls, you and I both know that’s not true. You felt it when we got here. You saw the small daemon who tried to feast on my blood. You know that it’s real and you know that your time here is coming to an end. Now you can sit down and we can make this as painless as possible. Or you can try and run again, but this time I will make sure to break your legs.”

I considered my options. Katie sat still on the ground, her hands covering the knife wound in her thigh. By the amount of blood dripping out, it looked like I hit an artery. She was quiet aside from her ragged breathing. Miles paid her little attention. The knife was still clutched in my hand, running would be a great option if my hands weren’t bound and if I knew how to get out of here. I slumped my shoulders, dropped the knife, clearly defeated. 

Miles walked towards me; arms outstretched as if to offer a hug, a cold breeze blew through the air causing cinders and ash to dance. When he was close enough to touch me, his hands rested on my shoulders delicately. 

“Take a seat, Molly,” he said with a sternness that left no room to argue, applying pressure to my shoulders. I began crouching but at the last moment drove my knee up into his groin. He doubled over in pain and then I pushed him as hard as I could into the fire. Miles screamed a scream that was nothing like that of a human. His body lit up so fast you would have thought he was doused in gasoline. I ran to the knife, picked it up, and quickly sawed off my restraints. When I looked over at Katie, I saw that she had gone unconscious from the blood loss, I felt a wince in my chest and told myself there would be time for tears later, but now wasn’t the time. The smell of burning hair, skin, and clothes was so strong that I threw up. When I felt stable again, I grabbed the backpack and ran. 

***

“How long were you in the canyon for?” the officer stared at me through his too-small-for-his-face glasses. 

“I don’t know. It felt like days, but it was only one night. I found the trail again and followed it out. By the time I got to my car, you were already there. You said someone had reported seeing smoke in the canyon.” I kept my voice as calm as I could. I was exhausted. Dirty. Blood covered my clothes, only some of it my own. A cup of water was placed in front of me. I took small sips and waited for the cop to ask more questions. 

When he didn’t, I asked if I could use the bathroom. A female officer appeared and walked me to a single-stalled bathroom with no lock. Inside I turned the faucets to cold and let the water turn murky with the filth coming off my hands. The light above flickered and I stared coolly into the mirror. The irises of my eyes danced. Dilating and swirling. It doesn’t matter what the story is, only who tells it.