“Did y’all hear it?” – Andy asks bluntly as he and Ava reunite with their friends in the back of the school’s library. It’s lunch time and there’s no one else there. The librarian is on her desk, far away from them.
“Yeah.” – Dan answers, still looking uneasy. Lily seems to be on the verge of crying.
“It doesn’t make sense.” – Lucas states, adjusting his glasses, passing around nervously. – “It just doesn’t make sense. Why? After all these years? Why now?”
“It doesn’t matter why! What it matters is that we stop that psycho before he does something and hurts people!” – Noah snaps, taking a look at his sister, who’s been looking pale and tense since they all heard Redfield’s voice.
“And why does it have to be us?!” – Stacy scowls back at him, crossing her arms. – “It’s none of our business. We didn’t even go back there after everything that happened.”
MC bits their lower lip, remembering the strange events that happened in the sleepover, then when they went camping with the Marshall twins.
“I’m not so sure about it. ” – they affirm before turning to their best friend. – “Jane, do you have it with you?” – the redhead girl nods and pulls out something from her backpack. – “We went camping in the woods on the weekend before Dan’s party. And we found this.” – all their friends gather closer around them, staring at the small wooden object on their hand. – “It’s the whistle I gave Jane ten years ago. That went missing after we met Mr. Red.”
“This doesn’t mean anything. ” – Stacy murmurs stubbornly, but with less conviction.
“There’s another thing…” – MC’s mind drifts back to the talk they had with Mrs. García that morning. – “There’s someone missing. My neighbor, a shy little boy named Samuel. I babysit him sometimes and his mom told me that he went missing since yesterday afternoon.”
“Oh yeah, I heard about it. My dad went looking for him in the woods with a search party last night… but they found nothing.” – Ava, whose father’s the town’s sheriff, says with her usual stoic face. – “They’re there again at this moment, now that they have the sun to help them.”
MC proceeds to tell them a bit about Sam. On how the boy’s always alone especially since his parents divorce… and how he likes playing outside and that he lied to his mother about going to the woods to play with some friends.
“…And I have a guess of who’s his friend.” – they conclude with a frown.
“Mr. Red…” – Lily murmurs, her body shaking. MC nods.
“Redfield is back. And he most likely got the kid. We have to do something.” – they state with resolution, the fear gone and replaced with determination.
“Hold on.” – Lucas rises his hands in a calming gesture. – “We’re not sure about it. He might have just ran away from home. Based on what you said about Samuel, MC, this is likely to have happened.”
“Oh yeah, let’s keep being skeptical about all this, especially after that creepy-ass voice we all heard.” – Noah glares back at the Student Body President, saying through gritted teeth.
“Listen, I agree that this probably is Mr. Red’s doing… but, come on. This kid needs actual help. From like, adults. And professionals. Professional adults.” – Stacy says.
“No, it’s gotta be us.” – MC is resolute.
“And why is that, precisely?” – Lucas asks at them.
“Because we know who took him.”
“Right, an imaginary friend we had when we were, like, eight years old.” – Stacy rolls her eyes.
“You know damn well Redfield isn’t imaginary.” – Jane finally finds her voice, scowling back at the other cheerleader. Stacy avoids her gaze. – “I know nobody wants to dredge all that stuff back up. Do you think I like remembering all that happened?” – no one says a thing. Jane feels her brother’s comforting hand on her shoulder, calming her a bit. – “…We all remember him, we just heard him. And we all know what’s his capable of doing. We can’t let him do the same thing to this boy. It’s gotta be us.” – MC grins proudly at Jane.
“And no one would believe if we said that the kid got kidnapped by some shadow monster nightmare dude that lives in the woods.” – Noah concludes.
“But… it doesn’t make sense.” – Dan’s voice is just a whisper. – “I mean, why would he suddenly appears again, after 10 years? Why didn’t he come back before, if he’s still out there?”
“Because something must have happened. Maybe he was trapped again, since Jane survived, but maybe Sam found the ruins and liberated him.” – MC ponders.
“Alright.” – Andy finally speaks. – “So, what’s the plan?”
“We have to go find Samuel and figure out what he did, so we can undo it. We have to go–”
“…into the woods…” – Lily interrupts MC, her face going even paler. She backs away, shaking her head, fear in her eyes.
The group falls in silence again.
“Guys… I know this is scary… but we need everyone’s help.” – MC breaks the silence.
“Besides, we have each other. I know we’ll be alright.” – Jane takes Lily’s hand in hers and squeeze it reassuringly. – “If we pulled it out when we were kids, imagine now, that we’re practically adults?!” – she sees small smiles on her friend’s faces. – “As long as we’re together, I fear nothing.”
“Nice words, Jane.” – Noah compliments her and they all chuckle softly. MC turns to their friends:
“So, are we going in or what?”
“A creepy deep-woods ghost hunt is emphatically my brand. Of course I’m in.” – Ava smiles confidently.
“Me too.” – Dan nods. – “I won’t be able to sleep at night knowing I did nothing to help a little boy.”
Andy cracks his knuckles:
“I don’t know about this ghost crap… but I’m really looking forward to kick some monster’s ass.”
“Yeah, we’re in.” – the twins smile, braveness irradiating from them.
“I believe… there’s strength in numbers, right?”- Lily takes a deep breath. – “So I’m going too.” – Jane lets out an excited squeal and hugs her tightly.
“What about you two?” – Noah turns to Lucas and Stacy.
“When are we going? Friday?” – the Student President asks.
“What? No! We have to go tonight!” – The Beanie Boy exclaims. MC agrees:
“We can’t waste time. We don’t know what Redfield night do until then.”
“Ugh. I can’t.” – it’s Ava who responds. – “My dad’s got this really strict school night curfew and WOW does this sound lame out loud.”
“Look, even if I did believe all of this… I just don’t have the time.” – Jane gives Lucas a disappointment look.
“Uh… I have training until six.” – Andy says with a frown.
“Yeah, I have football training too. But we can meet with you guys later… before we go in there.” – Dan proposes.
“And we have cheer practice today and early tomorrow morning too.” – Stacy says.
“C’mon guys, we need everyone.” – MC turns to Ava. – “What if we told your father you’re coming to study at my house?”
“Huh. That might actually do it. He always liked you all.” – she rolls her eyes. Lily giggles.
“Like you!! You love us!” – and she pulls the witch girl into a hug. Ava rolls her eyes again but pats her friend’s back.
“And Lucas, I know that you have a busy schedule… but I do believe the school won’t blow up for just one night.”
Lucas wants to tell them that there’s more, but he bites back his tongue. No one knows about his parents’ expectations. Aside from Jane.
His eyes unconsciously find her big brown eyes. And no one was able to deny her anything she gave them that pleading look.
“…Alright, I’ll go. Let’s say that Mr. Cooper has decided to give us a test tomorrow and we all will go to MC’s house to study.” – everybody nods in agreement. It’s stupid, Lucas knows it, but he feels his heart more at ease after seeing Jane gazing at him with adoring eyes.
“And Stacy, you’re the head cheerleader. You can cancel training whenever you want.” – the redhead turns to her. – “Let’s tell the girls that the cheer practice was postponed to Wednesday morning.”
“Britney won’t be happy about it.”
“To hell with Britney! Sorry, Lil.” – she quickly turns to the girl by her side. She giggles and says that ‘it’s fine’. Lily’s fully aware that her girlfriend isn’t very popular among we friends. – “C’mon, Stacy. You know the rules…”
“Everyone plays together.” – Noah murmurs in a morbid voice. He chuckles softly when MC elbows him, disapprovingly.
“…and we need everyone.”
Stacy mentally curses herself. Jane’s big brown pleasing eyes has always been her weakness.
“Okay, okay, training postponed.” – Jane cheers. – “But you‘ll be the one who’ll tell Britney.”
“Aye, captain!”
“Crap, lunch time’s almost over!” – Andy shouts as he notices the time on his phone. He just got a text from Tom: “Dude, where r u?!”
The nine teenagers stand up, ready to leave the dark and dusty library. They all agree to follow Dan’s suggestion.
MC has just come back from school and is petting Hilda for a little bit before going to do their homework when someone rings the bell of their house.
“Shh, Hilda!” – they mutter, approaching the front door with cautious steps, their heart pounding inside their chest, a cold shiver running down their spine… is it…?
They let out a relieved sigh when they open the door and see two cops, one of them Mr. Cunningham, standing there.
“Good afternoon, MC. Are your parents there?” – the sheriff asks, giving them a stiff nod.
“No, they still haven’t come back from their trip. It’s just me.” – the cops nod again.
“We’re here to ask you about Samuel García.” – MC invites them to enter the house.
“Yeah, Mrs. García told me that he went missing.”
“We do not suspect about you, but we’re asking the neighbors if someone saw him or has any idea of where he possibly went.”
MC had a good guess. But they would never believe them. Noah’s words echoed in their mind: “…no one would believe if we said that the kid got kidnapped by some shadow monster nightmare dude that lives in the woods“.
They wouldn’t.
“The last time I saw Sam was Saturday evening.” – when they were going to Dan’s party. – “He was playing by himself in the front yard of his house, as usual.”
“Did you talk to him? Did he seem different?”
MC’s mind focuses on the image of the small boy with big glasses playing with his ball.
“I just waved at him and he waved back at me before resuming kicking his ball. Even though I’ve been his babysitter for the past three years, Samuel is not much of a talker. He doesn’t talk much about his friends in school and he’s a very shy and lonely boy. And I guess it got worse after his parent’s started fighting and divorced. We could hear their arguments from my house sometimes. I guess he became even more secluded after it all started. I believe he likes playing outside so he couldn’t be right in the middle of the fights, you know?” – Sheriff Cunningham nods, his hands expertly writing everything MC says.
“So you think he might have ran away?”
MC bites their lips.
“Probably. But where to?”
MC knows where. But they can’t tell them. The lesser people know Redfield, the better.
“We had a search party into the woods last night but we found nothing. Not even footprints. We sent word to the closest town’s Police Station, Pine Springs, just across the lake, about Samuel’s missing. The chief there, Chief Kelley, says that his team will be looking around too. We believe he might not have gone too far away, even with the intermunicipal bus. Someone at some point would find strange a boy his age travelling around by himself.”
MC agrees with him. They talk a little more – the cops tell them that they had already talked to Cid that morning before he left town, to MC’s relief. They would hate if good old Cid turned into a suspect of Samuel’s disappearance – and leave the house, asking MC to call them if they knew anything about Sam’s whereabouts.
The teenager is more resolute than ever that they have to find the little boy as soon as possible. They take a quick shower before focusing on homework. Around 5pm, their phone buzzes on their desk.
Their heart skips a beat when they see that it’s a text from Noah:
Noah: “hey, want to meet up sooner? I’m going to Gunther’s Hardware store. I was thinking we should gear up before we go. I’d feel safer if we got something to defend ourselves from Mr. Red… plus who knows what else is in there.”
MC: “Do you think the hardware store will have Ghostbusters equipment stuff?”
Noah: “Very funny.”
MC grins to themself. They almost can see Noah rolling his eyes, annoyed.
MC: “Anyway… I’m in. Are we going together then?”
The next text takes longer than necessary to be answered, but it finally comes:
Noah: “Yeah.”
MC: “okay, meet you in five.“