Chapter 3 – Chap 3

“What list?”, Allison radioed back. I explained everything that had happened; from finding the list, to the scratching, to being chased by a crazy demon bitch last night. Allison sighed deeply, as if to say, ‘here we go again’.

“This has happened before. In fact, it happens to every person who gets assigned your tower”, Allison stated, “I don’t know what to believe anymore. At first, I thought it was just people going crazy from the isolation. I mean, I’ve never seen anything! But after Harvey… and you only after, what, 4 days? I don’t know what to believe”.

“Harvey?”, I replied, “who’s Harvey?”.

“The guy before you. He lived in your tower for over a year, refused to ever go home or take a holiday”, Allison continued, “he was a tough guy, good with his hands. He always had a project going on. Sometimes, towards the end, I wouldn’t hear from him for days. I think he spent entire nights out of his tower, no idea where he went though”.

“Towards the end?”, I asked. I wasn’t letting that slide by.

“Yeah, he disappeared. Mark thinks he ran off, his tower was apparently just empty when he checked up on him. No bags, no belongings, no Harvey. But I don’t know. Why would he just quit after a year of refusing to leave the woods at all?”. Allison continued, “but in the months leading up to his disappearance, he became obsessed with a ‘smiling lady’. Claimed he would see her at night. But he never went into detail. If I questioned him he would just stop replying. Like I said he didn’t talk to me much”.

Hmm.. but him leaving didn’t explain why the job advertisement stated the job may ‘suddenly become available’, so I questioned Allison on that.

“I don’t know about that”, she replied, “I’ve been working here two years and Mark still never tells me anything.”

“And who worked here before Harvey?”, I pondered.

“Another guy, Rick”, Allison said, “he left a few days after I started. But he asked me once if I had seen a woman in the woods, a woman that smiles. I said no, thought nothing of it, thought he was weird”.

I didn’t feel content with the amount of information I was receiving, unsure if she genuinely doesn’t know much or is hiding something. So, I decided to ask about her.

“What made you take this job?”

“Well, fuck me, I guess we’re opening up to each other this morning are we?”, Allison nervously chuckled. I didn’t reply, waiting for her to answer my question.

“My sister, she went missing. In these woods”, Allison said, voice trembling, “It was right before I started. I took the job to, I don’t know. Try to find her? Or try to help others who might get lost. I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry about your sister, Allison”, I felt bad for asking, “that’s courageous of you, though”.

I’m not going to ask any more questions. Not yet. I’m not sure how much she’s actually telling me, but at the moment it feels like she’s my ally, and I want to keep it that way. I thanked her for talking to me. I trust her, I think. I feel a bit more at ease, although I’m not sure why. Harvey apparently just disappeared, and both he and Rick claim to have seen the smiling lady. Was that the lady that chased me last night?

–

The camera I had found was now charged up. It’s evening, I still haven’t slept. I’ve not really moved. I’ve just been trying to make sense of all the information Allison gave me, but I can’t. Maybe the camera will provide some answers. It flickers on. On the screen, three choices; Photo, Gallery, Settings. I choose gallery. The first few photos aren’t exciting. There’s a few pictures of a random lake, a random house, a random car. Nothing that helps me. Flicking through them at such a fast pace, I almost didn’t realise that I’d skimmed over a picture of the tower. My tower. And at the base of the tower, a family. A family of three. The father has dark hair, quite tall and looks as if he’s experienced with the outdoors. Big, sturdy guy. The mother, a blonde woman, with a beautiful smile, her arm on her husband’s shoulder. The third member is a child; a boy with short brown hair and a striking resemblance to who I guessed to be his father. I continue to look through the photos, but no longer see the family together, only the man. He was taking selfies inside my tower, taking photos of the view from my window, of the outhouse and of some of the trails. Was this Harvey? Or Rick? If it were Harvey, why would he not want to leave the woods to see his family?

Then, the photos got stranger. The next photo is of a bunker. The bunker. The one I found nearby, built into the ground holding only the sleeping bag and this camera. It looks unfinished, a work in progress. With each picture, it looked more complete. Whoever had this camera was building it. Allison said Harvey was good with his hands, didn’t she? Why would he build a bunker in the woods? And so close to the tower? The next photo, of a random tree in the darkness. In fact, the next 4 or 5 photos are of this tree. At the base of the tree, a shadow. A weird, distorted shadow. A shadow that doesn’t make sense. Was Harvey, or whoever this guy is, trying to take a photo of something? Was he trying to take a photo of the smiling lady?

–

What the fuck was that noise? What time is it? 2:13am. Something just woke me up.

I can’t hear anything now, but something definitely woke me up. I was so tired from the night before, that I wouldn’t have just woken up on my own accord. Maybe it’s a-

I hear faint crying. A woman’s cry. It doesn’t sound too close, but I sit up in bed as I listen to the long, mournful wails. I know this rule.

Rule 3. If you hear a woman crying between the hours of 1am-4am, ignore it.

Except, I can’t ignore it. It sounds so sad, so broken. Part of me wants to go and help her, the other part of me wants to investigate and get answers. No part of me wants to ignore it.

Quietly as I can, I slide on my gear, grab my flashlight and radio, and open the door to my hut. I carefully went down the stairs, shining the light at my feet to ensure I don’t trip. The crying is coming from an area of the woods off the path, so I carefully tread towards the dark cluster of trees.

The cries are of such pain, such sadness. I can only compare them to that of a mother who has lost her child, wailing in complete despair, losing a part of her soul with every agonizing sob. My flashlight is off now, as the crying is getting louder. I’m crouched down, moving bush to bush, tree to tree. The air is foggy, cold. Getting colder the closer I get. As I crouch behind a tree, I see her.

She’s sat down by a tree, her face covered, crying into her hands. She is side on to me, and has long dark hair which sprawls down her back and rests in the dirt. Although I can’t see it too clearly, she wears a gown, which seems clean and undamaged. What is damaged though are her arms. Her arms are twisted, broken. One of her elbows is bent backwards, with bone jutting out under the skin from both her forearms, although not piercing through. Her fingernails, long. Sharp. Not an ounce of meat on her, her body almost skeletal. Her pale white skin glowing in the darkness, hugging her collar bone, accentuating her bony figure.

My radio statics. Only for a second. I quickly look down to turn it off, and as I do I realise. The crying has stopped. I’m still looking down at my radio. Fuck, she heard me. I can't look up, I feel sick. I force myself, and slowly look up at her. She’s looking at me. She has hollow, dark, wide eyes. They look lifeless. The whites of her eyes providing a drastic contrast to her dark pupils. Her eyebrows are raised. She’s smiling. Her smile is unnaturally wide, spreading across her face wider than what should have been possible, bearing all her teeth. Her smile so menacing, dark. On her face, remnants of the tears she had cried. Some tears still dripping off her sharp cheekbones, and dripping down her narrow neck. Except she wasn’t crying now. She looked excited.

I’m about to run. I can’t look away from her, but I’m trying to convince myself to fucking run. I need to run. I’ve been staring at her for about half a minute, and she hasn’t moved. Her eyes still locked with mine, her smile sinister. Just as I’m about to muster the courage to turn my back on her and run, she moves. In one quick motion, her neck snaps to the side with a click, and she crawls into the darkness beyond her. The movement so fast, her broken arms cracking as she shot away. This is my chance. I turn to run.

I run hard, don’t look back. I’m dodging some trees, running into others, but not stopping. Why did she just leave me alone like that? Fuck. There’s the tower. I run up the stairs, stumbling into my hut, and slam the door. I hear nothing. From the safety of my hut, I’m looking around the base of the tower, the woods around me, I see nothing. Fuck it, I’m getting under my covers. I turn my lamp on, and jump into bed. Shaking, I try to calm myself to that I can listen to my surroundings, listening out for her over my pounding heartbeat.

But I hear nothing. There is nothing but silence. Just as I peep out from my covers, building up the courage to radio Allison, I see it. Scratch marks on the floor of my hut. Marks that weren’t there before. Marks I must have missed when I raced in. They look like something made by an animal.

Made by something crawling.

The marks are from the door of my hut, all the way across the room to my bed.

I couldn’t see her outside before because she was already inside the hut with me.

She’s under the bed.