The Bog Part X
They've made it to the Cabin only what they find might be scarier than the creature outside.
Catch up on the story so far -
The roar echoed throughout the bog. Henry jumped as he dropped the torch. It bounced and rolled along the porch before falling through the gap between the steps. Hearing the squelch hitting the mud, sinking, he knew that was the end of their night excursions.
He slowly backed away into the cabin, squinting as all visibility outside faded, and all he was confronted with was a slate of black, cold space that to him might as well have been empty. He still hadn’t fully comprehended what Jenny was screaming about.
He’d forgotten all about the nooks in the cabin’s bookshelves. Safely inside, he closed the door, noticing the lock was strange, engraved with a strange symbol. He ran his finger across, feeling the work and admiring the shape.
“Hey, look at this,” he said.
“There’s a strange symbol, like a circle with a relaxed Z running through it. Do you think it could mean anything?” He continued.
“You are seriously talking about symbols when we have more pressing matters?” She scoffed.
He set the lock while raising an eyebrow, unsure what was so pressing about a book nook, but turned around to humour her. As he turned, his eyebrows raised, and his jaw slacked. Eyes darted across the room as he tried to process what he was seeing.
“No, no, this can’t be right,” He stuttered.
He stood beside Jenny, gripping her shoulder as he looked around at the bookshelves, making sense of what he was seeing. He believed, he was adamant that this was not how they left the room all those hours ago. Jenny took hold of his hand, offering comfort but also looking for reassurance herself.
“This has to be a prank, right?” he asked.
“A prank by who?”
Jenny looked at Henry with a sad desperation, searching for answers he could not give her. He could see her searching, but had nothing to offer. The sight of the bookshelves scared them more than the creature outside.
“Maybe they’re all in on it,” she said with an air of hope.
Henry started to walk over to the shelves, contemplating theories in his head. He knew someone had to have done this, but who would have had the time, and how did it connect to the creature, which they knew was very real?
“But to what end? This seems very elaborate just to scare us?”
“Maybe that’s the point, this is a tradition. What if they planned this prank to make today more memorable?” uncertainty in her voice.
Henry strolled towards the walls, contemplating her theories and combining them with his own. He knew there had to be a reason for all this, but the idea of a prank seemed too small for something of this scale. He also couldn’t understand one more thing.
“If it was a prank, why us?” he asked.
She tapped her chin, stumped by his question. The question played on her mind, and the more it frustrated her. She knew he was right. Why them? Who decided it was they who’d be left to find this place?
The questions swirled around in her head as she tried to make sense of it all. She started to pace, her fingers tapping her elbows as she folded her arms. Lost in thought, she didn’t see Henry walking closer to the shelves, curious.
He crouched and slowly ran his fingers across the books, trying to make out the titles, but they were in a language he didn’t read or recognise. The one thing he did understand was the little picture, a silhouette, of a skull. Whatever they were about, they were all part of the same set.
His fingers stopped when they reached the glass book nook and tapped. He still couldn’t understand how or when they’d done it. He was sure they were empty, just a little setting, devoid of life.
“How do you think they did it?” he asked.
“Huh? What did you say?”
He tapped on the glass as he looked at Jenny, who seemed lost in her own world, a vacant stare pointing back at him.
“I said, how do you think they did it? My guess is they got Trevor to do it. He seems like the kinda guy who could pull this off.” He boldly claimed.
Jenny continued to stare, lost in her own world, unaware that Henry was talking to her. Her gaze seems fixated on one shelf and a particular book nook. Henry opened his mouth to ask again, but gave up seeing that she wasn’t present.
Waving his arms, he hoped to get her attention, but knew nothing would break her stare. He’d caught himself on occasion since they arrived, glancing over, confused and amazed by the level of detail in the tiny square book.
Strolling over, he knew she needed to have a closer look but was too afraid to do it herself. At the bookshelf, he squeezed his fingers between the book and the nook, pushing to create just enough of a gap for him to pull the nook off the shelf.
“Wait…careful,” She called out.
He smiled at her and nodded, acknowledging her concerns as he continued to wiggle his fingers into the small gap to free the nook.
“The level of detail is amazing, I still don’t know how they do it.” He said, partly to himself.
He pulled out the nook and held it in both hands, cupping it as he got a closer look. Amazed by the level of detail on display.
“Do you think they made one for us, too?” He asked.
“Careful with that, I don’t want you to drop it. Chris will be pissed if you break it.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna drop it. I’ve got two hands on it.” He reassured her.
He pushed it closer to his face, squinting, believing he would be able to see more detail, still amazed that Chris and the others pulled this off without them knowing.
As he looked at the details, impressed that they managed to create a realistic miniature model of Chris inside the book nook. That, in the others were Hector and Emma, all in slightly terrified poses, which made their fairy-like settings confusing.
He felt the urge to tap the glass, which built the longer he looked, even if he knew it would achieve nothing, as this wasn’t a fishbowl. He eventually caved to the urge, tapping the glass.
Tap, tap, tap.
His index finger tapped the third time, his expression shifted from curiosity to surprise as he screamed out.
“WHAT THE—”
Jenny leaped forward, throwing herself to the ground to catch the falling book nook before it smashed on the ground. Her arms scraped across the grass, wood combination as the nook landed in her hands moments before hitting the floor.
Henry was a bumbling mess as she picked herself up and screamed at him.
“What the hell are you doing? I told you to be careful.”
Henry paced, tweaking as he tried to get himself together long enough for his words to make sense.
“Alive, the book nook, Chris moved, he’s alive.”
Jenny returned the nook to the shelf as she tried to make sense of his ramblings.
“What are you talking about? It’s a piece of art; it can’t be alive.”
“No, no, no, you have to believe me. That thing moved. The Chris figure moved.”
She rubbed her eyes as she thought about her phrasing carefully. She knew they’d both had a long night and seen things neither of them could explain, but a moving figure was beyond even her own imagination.
“Look, Henry, it’s been a long night, we’ve seen things, but—”
He cut her off as he made his feelings clear in a stern tone. He knew she thought he was crazy, but he knew what he saw.
“The figure moved...I’m not seeing things. Take a look for yourself.”
She sighed as she turned herself around to look at the glass nook and the model of Chris screaming in terror in a forest setting surrounded by flowers and autumn-colored leaves.
“Okay…I’ll look, but I’m not sure what you want me to see.”
She crouched to take a closer look, half paying attention as a way to put Henry at ease. His fear of a book nook scared her more than the creature that attacked them outside. She tucked her hair behind her when, mid-tuck, she froze.
“What the Frink!” She screamed.
She pointed and turned to Henry and screamed.
“His arm just moved...His arm just moved.”
“I told you I wasn’t going crazy.” He gloated.
She turned to him, then back at the nook as she told herself she wasn’t going crazy. Jenny repeated this twice before Henry joined her, crouching and placing his hand on her lower back.
“What the hell is happening?” he asked.
“I…I think it’s them.” She whispered.
Henry looked at her, waiting for her elaborate on her thinking. How could it be them, and what did she mean by them?
He started to ask the questions in his mind as he glanced over at the nook with Emma and Hector. He paused, contemplating whether they also moved, and decided to stroll over. He reached Emma’s, a city landscape, with her hiding in the opening to the subway.
“How can it be?” he said to himself.
He looked back at Jenny, who was now cradling the nook with Chris inside, like a protective mother. He spoke a little louder, getting her attention.
“How can it be them? It makes no sense.”
“I think it does, and this cabin’s had the answers all along.” She said back.
She turned to face him as she smiled, but there was no hope behind the smile, but sadness. She was faking her joy, a look he was familiar with, but didn’t fully understand under the circumstances.
“How can that be?” he snapped.
“This cabin isn’t natural…we stumbled into something supernatural and disturbed something we shouldn’t have.” Calmly explaining.
Henry shook his head in disbelief.
“Supernatural…where the hell are you getting all this from?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense. This all started when we left Chris, and all we found was the smashed nook. What if removing and breaking them is what triggered that thing out there?”
Henry shook his head and paced into the centre of the cabin as he waved away her theories.
“So, we just stumbled into this nightmare and could have been avoided if Chris hadn’t touched the nook. I don’t know, it seems far-fetched. How did you become an expert in the supernatural anyway?” he said in disbelief.
She stroked her elbow as she looked at the ground before telling him.
“It was Chris. I wanted to know more about what it’d be like dating someone Ace, and I fell down a rabbit hole of objects and beings connected. One of them being Dragons, which led me down a deeper rabbit hole of the supernatural.”
They stood remembering their friends when, almost through a telepathic link that looked down at Jenny’s hands, seeing her still cradling the nook with Chris inside.
“Jenny…you said that thing attacked because Chris touched the nook, right?”
To Be Continued.