His rattled mind was a flurry of questions and doubts even as he reached up with his good hand and slid his fingers along the pale, healed skin. The flesh was soft and sensitive to the touch, which told him it was only newly healed. That meant the wound had existed, but by some miracle had healed itself in an unbelievably short time-span.
Then he turned his attention on his surroundings, most especially to the darkness on the floor from where the creature had risen. There was no noises but for the whistling of the wind between the caulked logs and through the broken window. Tony grabbed onto the counter above him and pulled himself up to his feet. The effort was painful but necessary if he was to escape. The door still stood open and freedom lay just beyond the threshold. To this he stumbled toward and he was relieved nothing stopped his efforts.
Tony broke out of the stifling, dusty air and into the night breeze. His bag lay at the top of the path and he didn't stop moving until he'd reached that safe point. Then Tony collapsed behind the bag and turned to glance back at the cabin. All was quiet and still save for the breeze. No shadow slunk from the darkness to take him to hell, and yet he didn't feel safe. The area close at hand was still within the power of the creature, he could feel that now, and his only thought was to flee.
And flee he did, as he slung the bag over his shoulder and raced down the path as well as his shaking legs could manage. The skeletal trees passed by in a blur of gray and white colors, and above him clouds floated over the mountain. A slow storm was building in the sky, and when it erupted in a few days the heavens would open up and pelt the entire hillside with torrential rain and lightning. For now, though, there was nothing more than promises and preparations, so Tony made the trip down to his car without any weather mishaps.
However, his mind was a-whirl with panicked thoughts and terrifying images of his ordeal. By the time he reached his vehicle his breathing was erratic and his eyes imagined that every shadow was the creature come for him. Tony slammed into the passenger side of his car and jingled the keys so hard as he pulled them from his pocket that he dropped them. He scrambled to the ground and grabbed the metallic objects, then hurriedly tried to insert them into the lock. His shaking hands missed the small hole several times before he succeeded, and he threw open the door to toss his entire body inside. He shut the door and locked the knob. Then he waited.
Hr waited for his nightmare to end, for the fear to go away and his rational mind to tell him nothing of what he remembered was real. He waited for the wound in his hand to reopen and for the black rock to reappear in his seat, normal and stationary. He waited for an unmeasurable amount of minutes, what felt like an eternity, and only one thing happened.
Nothing. Nothing happened except that his heavy breathing dried out his throat and his already sore muscles screamed out against this new tension. Tony allowed himself a slip of room to relax, and then he oozed down over the chair. He was exhausted from his fear and from the treatment by his nemesis. The only thought in his mind was the urgency to return home and lay in Amanda's arms. They could share their experiences and he could now relate to the terror she had felt up there in that lonely cabin. He shuddered at the thought of how she must have felt alone and confused while he had at least been given a warning.
Unfortunately while Tony's mind demanded he run away, his heart was telling him he hadn't yet completed his mission. The purpose of his coming here to this nightmarish mountain was to find out how, or even if, they could banish this creature back to whatever darkness from which it had slithered. The no one else would be touched by its slimy body, and nobody else would mysteriously disappear from that accursed mountain. He then raised his formerly wounded hand and wondered about the ramifications for the creature's touch and healing. Would being rid of the thing cure anything consequences wrought by such an interaction, or was Amanda and he doomed to some slow death from the inside?
Those questions were very important to answer, and that reminded him he'd planned to make before he went on to his motel. The old man at the gas station was very knowledgeable of the creature and those who had disappeared. Perhaps there was some clue to find why Amanda and he had not only survived the creature's attacks, but in the process his hand was healed.
Tony shifted himself over the divide between the seats and into the driver's chair. He tossed the bag into the passenger seat and started the engine. As he backed out of the dark parking lot with the night sky all above him, he hoped the old man would be manning his station at the gas store. To his utter relief, he found the elderly gentleman the same as before, behind the counter but with a deep frown on his wizened old face. Tony glanced around and was pleased to see there wasn't anyone else in there.
"So it's you again, is it? I thought I told you not to come around here again," he spoke to Tony as the young man stepped inside the store.
"I'm afraid so," Tony good-naturedly answered. "I guess I just can't keep away from a good mystery.".
"How's the young lady that came with you?"
"She's fine, doing pretty well all things considered."
"Fine, eh?" The storekeeper acted as though he hardly believed what Tony told him. "Nothing weird about what she's doing or saying to you?"
"You act like you're expecting her to be doing something unusual," Tony pointed out. His eyes narrowed and he leaned over the counter. "Do you know something I should know?"
"Maybe I knows something and maybe I don't, but if you think she's doing fine then why are you bothering to ask me?" the old man countered. "You haven't seen no problems with her, so why are you even back here snooping around?"
"What problems would I see in her? The thing's all the way over here and my girlfriend is all the way in town. The distance should help her a little." He neglected to mention the rock since he hadn't seen any evidence of it influencing Amanda. The old man squinted his eyes and his mouth was set in a firm line.
"You sure about that? You sure that she ain't seeing things that might be affecting her?"
"What's that supposed to mean? Is there something I need to know that you aren't telling me?" Tony was trying to keep his patience and panic in check, but the old man's questions were starting to spook him.
"I already warned you two before not to come around here again, but here you are making more trouble by asking these questions. You got a death wish or something, boy?"
"No, but I wish to know the truth and-"
"And nothing. The truth is that thing up there is trouble and your a fool for getting yourself involved in this stuff. Best just go back where you come from and be done with the whole mess."
"Not if this concerns Amanda. If something's happening to her I want to be able to help her. You just told me there might be things affecting her. What kind of things? How do you know it could be affecting her?"
"I ain't telling nothing to someone who won't listen to some good advice I've already given them. It'll just go in one ear and out the other."
Tony scowled at his opponent and wanted nothing more than to wring the truth from his thin neck. Instead he took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down. He was getting nowhere fast with this local, and with it being so late already he really needed to make this quick and get to his motel room.
"All right, sir, I have noticed something-"
"Allen." Tony blinked his eyes.
"Beg your pardon?"
"My name's Jeremiah Allen. If we're going to be on speaking terms we'd best know each other's names." He cordially held out his hand for Tony to shake, and he took the offered peace sign.
"Tony Cochran, but as I was saying, Mr. Allen, I have noticed something strange about the way she's acting. I don't know, it's like she's scared of something and she won't tell me what it is."
"But we both know what it is, don't we?" Allen pointed out, and he jerked his head in the direction of the mountain. "It's that thing up there preying on her mind."
"How can you be so sure? Maybe the stress is just getting to her," Tony pointed out. The old man cl
osed his eyes and shook his head.
"Nope, nobody gets out of that thing without something affecting them bad, I read it in some old book when I was a foolish kid. That mountain was mighty interesting to me then until I saw too much. Now I don't want anything to do with it, and I tell folks the same."
"You saw what exactly, and where's this book you just mentioned?"
"The book's easy, it's probably still in the library, or it was when I last went there a few years ago. I never pay a visit there without making sure that cursed thing is hidden away in the W section. What else yer asking about isn't so easy to tell, and I'm right mighty ashamed of what I did back then. It only caused trouble, it did, and that trouble hasn't stopped since." Tony made a mental note to visit the library the next day, but then he leaned over the counter and looked the old man in the eyes. He wanted to know what the man was rambling about.
"What did you do, Mr. Allen?" The old store keeper couldn't withstand that accusing stare and glanced away.
"I-it's nothing, nothing good. You don't want to go prying into other peoples' business with yer prodding questions."
"I think this might be affecting me and my girlfriend right now, so you'd better be telling me what you know." Allen looked back at Tony for a moment, then sighed and shook his head.
"If yer wanting some good details, this happened a while back and I can't give 'em. I was just a young boy then and didn't know enough to be scared of all them stories my granddad told to me. You know the ones, them were the ones I told you about the last time you and your lady friend were here."
"About all those people disappearing?"
"Yep. I thought those stories weren't warnings but dares. Well, when this one fellow comes around some fifty odd years ago asking about the cabin, I thought it was the perfect time for me to get up there. He needed some help getting stuff up to the cabin and I wanted a good excuse to go up there. He was willing to pay me, too, so my mom got my dad to agree to it."
"What we he wanting to do up there?"
"Some research or stuff like that. He jabbered a lot about his studying, but I didn't pay him no mind. I was so excited about going up there that if he hadn't laden me down like a mule I probably would've ran all the way up to that cabin." Allen paused to shudder at such an idea now that he was older and wiser. "Now I know better, and I'm glad I just hiked up in back of him. Being up there alone would've been the worst decision of my life. Well, we got to the top and saw that cabin at just a few hours before dark. We made ourselves comfortable and he set out all his fancy controls and machines. I wasn't much help there, what with me wanting to look at everything in sight of the place, but I got some of that stuff up when he threatened to cut my pay for being lazy."
"So did he tell you anything about what he was doing?"
"Something about earthquakes or volcanoes, nonsense stuff which didn't matter. What he should have been worrying about was that feeling up there. I don't know you know what I'm talking about." Tony nodded. He knew all too well that horrible creeping sensation that stuck to your mind and, at best, made you uneasy. "Well, by the time he got all his stuff up it was dark and I'd promised myself I'd stay up there all night to brag to my friends."
"And you stayed up there all night? Just the two of you?" Allen frowned at what he deemed was a foolish question.
"Well, that was the plan but you should know better than to think anything good ever goes on up there. We was going to stay in the cabin, but I was so excited I slept outside under the stars." He glanced out the two doors which led into the store. The night sky still showed that storm building over the mountain far off. "I don't think I've ever seen such dim stars as is up there. That thing blocks 'em out, probably doesn't like the light. Anyway, the man was in the cabin with the door open and I could see the fire burning in the chimney. Everything was real quiet, but I didn't slip off to sleep until well after midnight. I don't know if that feller ever got some shuteye, but next thing I knew I heard somebody screaming."
"That fellow?" Tony asked, and the old man nodded.
"Yep. Hollering as if his life depended on it, and it did. It was like one of those horror movies where something's attacking the group around a campfire. Through that open door I could see that black stuff oozing up out of the floor and trying to drag him down into itself. That man was scratching and clawing at the floor boards trying to get a grip on something, anything. He saw me and hollered for me to come save him, throw him a line, anything. Being a stupid kid that I was, I jumped over to him and grabbed his waving hands. The thing was up to the guy's waist now and trying to get up higher before I started tugging on his arm. He also got a grip on some of the loose boards there were there at that time and pulled himself along. That thing tried going after me, but I wasn't that dumb. I had my flashlight on me and scared that thing mighty fast with my light. Then I was able to get that guy out of the cabin and onto safe ground a few dozen yards away." Then Allen paused to sigh and shake his head. "Poor fellow made it."
"Poor fellow? But he lived, didn't he?"
"Well, if yer meaning that he didn't get swallowed up by the thing then yer right, but what happened to his mind wasn't living. When he finally got out of that thing his legs were all torn up from that thing and I imagine those shadows wormed their way inside of him. He ached and groaned something fierce for a few hours, but he couldn't walk and I couldn't carry him. All I could do was watch him and shine my flashlight over everything. It was a mighty good thing my mom had put in a good set of batteries, or we might not have made it that night."
"But what happened to the man? You said he went nuts or something?"
"Or something would be just about the right phrase. He was certainly startled by what happened to him, but there was something else about him. He was mumbling about whatever caught him and saying stuff about hearing things in his head. Voices, you know. The kind of stuff crazy folks talk about."
"Is that it? Maybe he was just really rattled by what happened to him," Tony pointed out.
"Maybe, but the next morning I had a hell of a time getting him off that mountain. He kept switching between hating the place and wanting to stay, like something was waiting or calling to him. It wasn't natural, and when I got him down the trail he was neigh crazy with his trying to choose which way to go, to town with me or back up the path. It was a good thing I knew how to drive his truck, because I just shoved him in like I was babysitting somebody and I took him home with me. The folks were right pleased to see us, especially my dad, until I showed them what happened to the feller. Then my dad called up the authorities and they took him away."
"Took him away? Where did they take him? Was he that badly traumatized?" Tony desperately wanted to know what happened to this fellow, for the man's experience greatly mirrored his own. Mr. Allen gave him a good hard look and then he nodded down the road.
"If you want his side of the story you'd best read his own words. I've read that thing only once and never wanted to remember it again, but it's that book I told you about in the library. His journal was never claimed and the keepers at the Asylum figured the library would want some new spook tales for the kids, especially since it was about their own area."
"Asylum?" Tony repeated the word, but he hardly believed it.
"Yep, we have one a long while back and this educated man was taken there. Might be something at the Asylum about him. They closed the place up in the seventies when everyone started getting all humane and losing their senses about these crazies, but they might have left all the files in the office."
"Where can I find this place?"
"Young man, I'm not sure you want to be snooping around in these types of things, especially after you get a hold of that book in the library." He leaned over the counter, and his narrowed eyes struck Tony as not quite all there. "Take my warning about that girl of yours, too. Nothing good is gonna come from her now that the thing's got her in its sights. Sure she's fine now, but you just give it a few weeks, maybe even just a few days. She'll
start thinking she's crazy, and then the thing'll steal her sanity. She'll be nothing but a broken doll blubbering away about shadows and such."
"I have to try. I can't just let her be...be consumed by this thing," Tony argued. His voice was firm and his gaze unwavering, and the store keeper sighed.
"It's on the outskirts of town on the north side. Some of the buildings are pretty worn down, but the one with the records is a small, squat one off to the far side against the trees."
"Against the trees," Tony repeated, and Allen nodded.
"Yeah, but I still don't think you know what mess yer getting into. It's probably too late for her, ya know."
"I'm still going to try." He clasped his formerly wounded hand behind his back. If not for Amanda, than at least for himself. "Thank you for the help."
"Don't mention it." Tony made to leave, but the old man caught his arm. There was a serious, threatening expression on his face. "I meant it, too. Don't mention I gave you this information. Folks around here aren't too fond of others prying into our business, most especially that mountain. No telling what they'll do to me or you if they found out why you're here."
"I'll be careful," Tony promised.
Then the young man left the old one to acquire his motel room, and for Tony at least he mused over their conversation. For the longest time he sat at the end of his bed in his rented room with his healed hand palm facing upward in his lap. Mr. Allen's words gave him little hope, but he had to try. He didn't know how much time either Amanda or he had left, but he meant to do everything in his power to avoid whatever fate that terrible, sentient creature planned for them.
The next day waxed dark and gray, much like Tony's mood. He hardly slept a wink the entire night, but with the energy of a desperate man he ventured forth into the town. The motel was at the outskirts and abutted the busy road which traveled passed the small hamlet, so it took him some driving to find the old brick library beside a park just as ancient. He parked his car and went inside to find an elderly librarian at the front desk who narrowed her eyes when he smiled at her.