In the Darkness of the Night

By Clifford C. Moody

Wade Montgomery never thought this would be a weekend he would never forget. He was going to ask Jennifer to be his wife, instead he got a weekend filled with facing off with creatures from another realm, military cover ups and facing off with a spirit controlled nemesis for the hand of his bride to be. All while trying to discover the real mystery of the disappearance of his father by the same military cover up. It would take all of his will and faith in God to survive In The Darkness of the Night.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664201705

Clifford C. Moody

Clifford C. Moody lives in Owen Sound Canada, with his wife Julie, and three children Marcy, Luke and Nic, and son in law Ben. This is the first book in a ongoing adventure That Clifford has written about the battle one man named Wade has with the forces of evil.

Book preview

One

It was an unusually warm breeze blowing through the wooded forest area in behind the Star Ville mall. The entire mall and surrounding plazas were built on an escarpment stretching down to the bay, which flowed into the Great lakes waterway, and eventually out into the Atlantic. The breeze was unusual because it was so warm for this time of year. It was mid-October; in fact, it was Thanksgiving weekend. This meant cool northerly gusts, as a reminder that winter wasn’t too far down the road. This year it was not like that at all. It seemed like a late summer wind blowing around the heat of the day.

Some of the local people just thought it was another el-Nino, while others said it was just an Indian summer that didn’t know when to quit. Some of the younger folks blamed it on global warming. Whatever the reason, the one thing they could agree on was that it was warm, room temperature warm. One of the problems was it wasn’t noon or two in the afternoon. It was ten o’clock at night. The time of night when the north wind blew in from the bay and made even the furriest nocturnal creatures back hairs stick up. This breeze was a southwest wind that would abruptly switch to the southeast in the blink of an eye, and without warning would return back to the southwest again.

It was such a warm autumn that most of the areas trees still had most of their leaves on them, and some leaves were still green. One of the tourist attractions was the beautiful scenery of the colorful trees, but that show was delayed about two weeks due to the weather. Some of the tree’s that did have some leaves fall to the ground, along with the gusty wind caused mini Tornadoes to form out in front of the mall. Most of these tiny twisters would only last a few seconds, then fade away, only to start up in another spot. Some blew across the four lane highway coming into town, so there was plenty of room for these miniature monsters to roam.

Jarret Sound was everybody’s favorite small town, even though it was the size of a small city. It had around twenty thousand people in it, with another sixteen thousand in the out lining areas. It was located nicely between the bay and the escarpment. At one point in time it was a busy port for all the lake freighters, now only two or three make port there a year. It also had a productive silver mine, but it ran dry about ten years ago. It would have been the end of the town, but a car part factory opened up two years later to keep all those who lost work with the mine, working.

There was just one mall, but several small plazas, and a couple of those department store giants the big cities have. There was a bustling downtown area, which lead right up to the harbour-front. It had its share of parks and walkway’s. It was a nice place to bring up your family, or a quiet town to retire in. Very peaceful.

The mall was fairly new; only in its seventh year in phase one. The second phase was still in the planning stages. The mall did have a big grocery store, a department store and a multiplex cinema with six screens. The cinema’s was a great place to work, with free popcorn and movies. For many young people it was a popular place to work. It was easy work, and good pay, especially if you were saving money for college, like Wade Montgomery.

Wade had been out of high school for a year now, but still wanted to work for one more year, before he went to college. The college he wanted to go to was around fifteen thousand a year, and it was out on the west coast, so Wade needed to take a couple of years to take some of the financial burden off his mother. Liz Montgomery worked as a clerk for a local law firm in town, Corbin and Emerson. It started out as volunteer work two nights a week, but with her fascination with criminal law she started coming in all the time, Corbin and Emerson began to develop a guilty conscience, so they put her on staff. Liz probably did more work than the rest of the staff there so they paid her very well.

Bill Montgomery was a captain in the army’s Special Forces. He was stationed in the Middle East near Iraq right up until they day he went missing in action and was quickly presumed killed in action. It was a mysterious death that the armed forces quickly buried in red tape. There was no fighting in the area of his death, and nobody was returned home. He was a smart soldier and very professional, which made his death ever so unbelievable. This was a tragedy that Wade and his mother did not accept as being final, but despite their best efforts the case was closed. For the rest of the family it was anything but closed.

The Montgomery’s were not rich, but Bill made sure that they were well taken care of, if anything should happen to him overseas. Liz had been with the law firm for over five years, and her pay check covered all of the bills. There was a savings account with around twenty five thousand for emergencies, and Wade used some of his paycheck to help out. Liz still had to raise her family on her own. Wade was like a second father, who helped, but there were still two more children to rise.

Lauren, her daughter just turned sixteen and she was becoming one of the more popular girls at the high school. She was very intelligent, in fact she was on the honor roll the last two years, and she was sliding into the in crowd at school. At the high school the honor roll and in crowd was not a pleasant mix. Lauren’s taste in the finer things in life was starting show on the surface as well, with her own credit card maxed out, and her desire to own all the latest gadgets was starting to put a strain on the rest of the family. Liz thought this was her way of burying the death of her father, so she gave her some space.

Billy was only thirteen, but his life was almost set in motion, as he was an excellent hockey player, and was touted as being the next superstar in the pros. He was in a league with fourteen and fifteen year old boys and he was outplaying them. There was even some junior clubs coming out to see him play. Billy thought of nothing but hockey. He ate, slept, and worked at nothing else but the sport. In Billy’s mind he thought if he was good enough to make it to the pros, he could make enough to help support the family. Billy and his father were really close, and it was hockey, and the love of the game that made them close. He wanted to keep the memory of his dad alive by fulfilling the hockey dream. It also helped bury some of his pain of missing his dad.

Wade was a good hockey player too, even better than Billy. Wade began to shift his attention from sports to God in high school. He always enjoyed going to church and the youth group on Friday nights. It wasn’t until his father went missing that he really began to build his relationship with God. It started with daily Bible reading and praying in his room at bedtime. He even got to pray at the dinner table. It was like Wade had made some covenant with God to serve Him more intently if God would show him more about what happened to his father. Thus, leading to the sudden interest in going to a certain school out west in the next year. For it was a Christian college with a big missionary program the graduates were sent all over the world to serve God, including the region where Wade’s dad went missing. Wade told nobody his reasons for going to this particular school, not even his girlfriend Jennifer. She was far too excited about Wade following after God and going to the same school she wanted to go to that she never saw the real methods behind his decision.

Wade determination was unbreakable, his goal was to find out what happened to his father, and he was good at hiding his emotions as well. He could have trained to be a spy, or work for the CIA, or FBI. When the youth group played hide and seek game called Sardines, nobody could ever find out where Wade was hiding, but he could always find out where everybody else was hiding.

Even in school when someone who was falsely accused of something, it was Wade who was able to find out the truth to help the wrongly accused. Sometimes this would cause some friction with the real guilty parties, but Wade always knew how to slip away into a crowd and evade his attackers. Wade would often get his friends out of trouble, but none more than his friend Barry.

Barry was Wade’s best friend ever since grade two, and since grade two Wade was always helping Barry out of jams that he caused by saying the wrong thing, or not knowing when to stop saying the wrong thing. It was always Wade to the rescue. He never judged Barry for his attitude; he would just remind Barry of how to avoid such situations in the future. Both of them were in the youth group together and often talked of being missionaries overseas. Barry never knew how serious Wade was in really going to strange lands to seek adventure.

Even with all his smarts and life skills, Wade still worked as a part-time projectionist for the multiplex. The cinema had a full time projectionist, Paul Birch. Wade was like an assistant to Paul until he got his licence. Paul was in his late fifties, and was hoping Wade would take over for him someday. Wade has never told him of his future plans, and how they never included the projection booth. Paul was never into long conversations, and he kept to himself most of the time, so Wade could do as he pleased. The booth was huge so they could be at either end and never see each other for hours at a time. Wade enjoyed working on the films when they came in, and he would splice them into one big reel from several smaller ones. The main reason Wade liked the booth was the solitude. He liked to spend time alone by himself, and God. It was probably something he picked up from his father, as he like to go and walk in the forest alone. Wade did the same thing, but it was in the booth. There was plenty of time to sit and think, most of the time he would end up having a conversations with God, or silently praying, but he would always think about his father, and where he was at that moment.

That moment was about to end, as the movie in cinema two was ending. Wade looked around for Paul, knowing he was nowhere to be found, went over and pushed some of the buttons on the automated control board. Then he threaded the film back to the top reel and rewound it for the next show tomorrow. He knew that there was about forty minutes until the last show would be getting out. Wade looked around the booth to see if everything was put away, or shut down until tomorrow. Out of the corner of his eye was a lone garbage bag up against the exit door. Wade called out for Paul on last time knowing that he had probably left for the evening. Paul did that allot, knowing Wade was capable of closing up the booth.

He walked over to the bag and picked it up, and walked down the stairs to one of the empty cinemas. The hallway was deserted, and peaceful, except from the faint sound of the last movie still on down at the far end of the corridor. Most of the staff had long gone, only the assistant manager, one of the ushers and Wade were left. He made his way down the aisle until he reached the hallway to the exit. This led to the back parking area of the mall, and the forest behind it.

Wade used his foot to feel around in the darkness for the brick they used to prop open the door when they took out the garbage. There was no handle on the outside of the door, so if it closed behind you, it would be a long walk around the mall to the front entrance. He pushed the brick until it wedged between the two doors. Wade then pushed the second door wide open, only to be hit with a gust of the warm wind. This knocked him back into the doorway. The garbage container was about one hundred feet from the door, under a dim street light. The light flickered on and off with the wind conducting its power with every gust. Wade started walking toward the bin, when just a few feet from it, he was hit with a foul smell that lingered from the bin. He knew that the bin was just emptied a few days earlier, but who ever heard of a fresh smelling garbage bin, and the warm weather probably helped fuel the smell. Still Wade just wanted to dump the bags and get back inside. With one hand over his nose, he lifted one of the top panels.

Whew, nasty. Wade gagged. He tried to exhale the foul taste out of his mouth. He knew that several stores in the mall used this bin, but he did not think any of them would throw out anything that could cause such a decaying stench. He hurled the bag into the bin and closed the lid quickly while trying not to breathe until he was far away.

He began to walk back to the door when something inside of him caused him to stop where he was. Wade knew that things were not as they should be. He remembered walking in the forest several years ago with his dad, and they came across the carcass of a dead skunk. The smell was so strong, and overwhelming that it caused Wade to throw up. That was something he never forgot. This smell was worse. He thought to himself for a moment about what could cause the bin to smell so bad. Several visions of some of the movies he watched while working the past four years here at the multiplex of dead bodies stuffed into garbage bags, and thrown into bins similar to this one. In those movies, it was always a young teenage girl who went to a party, and got drunk, met up with the wrong guy. Got killed and threw her in the bin. Wade shook his head back into reality. This isn’t New York. This is Jarret Sound.

Wade reasoned that it was probably a dead squirrel or cat; after all there was allot of larger animals that prey on smaller animals around the woods behind the mall.

You watch too many movies Wade. he said to himself, as he grasped the edge of the door, looking back at the bin. As he gazed a powerful gust pulled him around along with the door, until he was facing the bin. Only now the bin seemed to be closer to the exit door and Wade. Again, the wind pulled at him, ripping the door from his grasp. It swung until it smashed against the brick wall, then the wind pulled it back until Wade stopped it with his hand. Wade stepped into the doorway, and again his eyes looked over at the bin, which now seemed even closer. He rubbed his eyes to assure himself that this wasn’t a dream. The lid on the bid popped open for a second, and back down again, like whatever was in the bin was pushing it open. He knew it was the wind playing tricks with him, but under the present setting it was still creepy.

Wade felt a stirring sensation crawl up the back of his neck, only it was not the stinging darts of the wind. This felt very real. His eyes turned until they were greeted by a smaller pair of green ones in the form of a large praying mantis. Frantically he slapped at it to shoo it off, but just ended up hitting himself, as the insect flew off towards the light above the bin. Wade thought that this was enough excitement for one night, as he pulled the door closed; he still had his eyes fixed on the bin, which seemed closer than ever before. Finally, with the door sealed shut behind him, he let out a sigh of relief.

Walking up through the darkened cinema, Wade’s attention shifted to murmurs coming from the other side of the doors leading out to the hallway. This wasn’t eerie like the ones from outside, it was more like conversation. Wade pushed open the door, only to find several people walking by talking and laughing. Wade realized that the last show was just ending. How could this be?, he asked himself. He thought there was over a half an hour before it got out. Checking his watch in surprise to find it was almost eleven o’clock. He kept wondering how all that time went by, as he raced up the stairs to the booth.

Wade quickly shut down all the power, and closed up the booth. The last thing he wanted to do is stick around this place anymore tonight. He got back downstairs, and made his way down the hallway to the front doors. There were still three of four people loitering around, and the assistant manager and an usher, so there was no need for him to stay. He made his way out to the parking lot. Normally he parked out here, but every once in a blue moon he parked in the back lot. Wade reached his old Jeep CJ with its fresh new paint job, and he fumbled around with his keys for a second or two. The wind whipped around him, causing the flap on his jacket to fly down on his face. Wade adjusted his jacket, and unlocked his Jeep. He hopped in and started it up, and as he slipped on the seat belt, Wade glanced back at the mall, and the dark forest behind it. The wind was blowing the trees around in the shadows making it look like there were huge creatures back there wrestling. Wade shook off the events of the evening, as he drove the car out of the lot and on the highway.

As he drove, his attention shifted to what was about to happen, his meeting with his girlfriend Jennifer. Normally it would seem strange to be visiting so late at night, but with his job, and it being Friday night, it was not out of the ordinary. Not only was this a holiday weekend, but it was the weekend Wade was going to pop the big question. They had been dating for five years, so they pretty well knew everything that was needed to know about each other. With what happened at the garbage bin, Wade now feared asking her to marry him. He knew what to say, it was the when, and how that he was struggling with. He knew her parents would be around, and that was another unknown he had yet to encounter. Jennifer’s parents like Wade, but they have always had other arrangements for their daughter. All of these thoughts buzzed in his head as he turned off the highway and headed for Jens’s house, and all that happened tonight a distant memory fading away in his rear view mirror.

The wind was still whirling around the barren lot, as the last car faded in the distance. All of the garbage blew around in the wind, except around the garbage bin. There was a dead silence and motionless around the bin. Wade’s suspicions proved to be valid, as there was something lurking around in the vast darkness of the bin. The lid flipped up and down for several seconds, and then it stopped as if nothing had happened.

There was silence. Even the wind seemed to die off into a slight breeze. The bin jolted around for a second, then again silence. A slight tapping from inside became louder, like whatever was inside was checking for a weak spot in the walls of its temporary prison. The taps turned into bellowing smashes that began to dent outwardly the bin. Then nothing for almost a minute. The lid then blew open and smoke poured out of the bin like a small bomb went off inside. After the smoke had cleared, there was silence.

Then a very faint but deep gurgling noise lifted out of the bin, and this caused all of the nocturnal creatures of the night to be silent. More silence. The gurgling flowed into a deep muffled moan.

The bin jolted forward about a foot, and slid hard into the asphalt. Silence again. Then a soft yawn built up until it was a deafening bellow. Many of the slumbering birds in the trees above, and near the parking lot were startled into flight, and quickly left the area. Again, there was nothing for a minute. All of a sudden, the bin flipped over on its side, like it was a cardboard box, blowing in the wind. Then nothing. Behind the bin were the forest started, there was movement in the black darkness, then it disappeared into the night. It had begun…

Two

Jennifer and her family lived just south of the city, up on the escarpment. Her father was a successful breeder of racehorses. He never was involved in the whole race track gambling part of it; he just enjoyed the horses, and seeing them fly around the practice track behind the barn. He had others who were involved with that part of the operation. For Coulter and his family, it was the raising of the horses. It also didn’t look very good that a God fearing family man would spend all of his time at the track. This passion was shared by the whole family, but mostly by Jennifer.

She had such a love for horses, that sometimes Wade would make comments like You would probably dump me for a horse.

Jennifer was an only child. Her mother had a difficult pregnancy and birth with Jennifer. Therefore, it was recommended that she not go through with it again. The Coulters really wanted a son, but with the medical warnings they got, they had to settle with one daughter. Jennifer acted more like a boy when she was younger, so this made her parents very happy. Still they spent many night’s on the front porch wondering what it would be like if they had a boy. They did love Jennifer very much. She was everything to them. Her parents would give it all up for her. Her father, like every father in the world, was very protective of her. Where she went, who she had as friends, and of course, whom she was dating. Many guys had crashed and burned after just one visit to the house, and a meeting with her father.

Jennifer was quite used to being an only child. She had no siblings to battle with for the bathroom. Not that was much of a problem; the house had five of them. If she got lonely, she would go out to the barn and spend time with the horses. She had a good relationship with her parents. They did many things as a family together, and they would spoil her constantly with everything her heart desired.

Getting her hands on Wade however had nothing to do with her parents, it was all her. It happened one summer day at the beach. Jennifer and her friend Susan were walking along the shore when a couple of older teen boys started following them, and making rude comments about their bodies. This set Jennifer off, and she was rebuking them away, when one of them grabbed her and threw her down on the sand. He jumped on her, trying to kiss her, when out of the water in full snorkel gear came Wade. Susan screamed, and Wade run up to them from the waist high water. The startled boys took off down the beach, and Wade with the sunlight behind him offered his hand to help up Jennifer. She looked up, saw his smile, and almost instantly fell in love.

If her parents had their way, she would be dating Jeff Johnson. Jeff was an upper class snob who only cared for fast cars, loads of money, and every now and then, Jennifer. Both sets of parents have gotten together several times to plan out Jeff and Jennifer’s future together. The Johnson’s were very wealthy and respected in the community, so it was to their advantage to get Jennifer and Jeff together. Jennifer knew of the plans they had for her and Jeff, and every now and then she would build them up with some romantic talk about her and Jeff, then she would just laugh and walk away. Not only did she dislike Jeff’s parents, but all that they believed in, and the rich circle of friends they associated with.

It was another reason she was so in love with Wade, because he was not superficial like Jeff’s family. He was genuine and caring. If there was someone in need, Wade would help out, with no questions asked. Jennifer loved that about him, and he took a real interest in her and what she believed in, and was involved in all of her causes.

She also liked the fact that Wade had such an interest in missions work, and travelling to different places all over the world. What she didn’t know is the reasoning he had for going all over the world.

She would spend hours on end, just daydreaming about her and Wade, and where they were going to live, and how many children they were going to have. It was her time to escape the shadow land of her social community and dream of how her future would be like. This was one of those times to dream, as she sat in front of her mirror, brushing her golden blonde hair, smiling at herself.

Jennifer would introduce herself as Mrs. Jennifer Montgomery. Hello, my name is Jennifer Montgomery. This is my husband Wade.. She took a deep breath and brushed some more. Oh, excuse me sir, have you met my husband Wade?. Then Jennifer would laugh out loud, and then cover her mouth, realizing how loud she was. She knew that Wade was coming over after work, and that every time they got together, it might be that magical moment of him purposing. Allot of their friends knew he was going to ask, it was the when they didn’t know. Even Wade was not as sure as she was. She liked to plan these things out. It was one of her special talents.

Jennifer slipped on her silk white blouse, and put some final touches on her lips, with the lip pencil. Then she took one final look in the mirror. Wade Montgomery, you got something good here or what! She smiled, and darted down the stairs to the front door to wait for her man.

Wade had called her earlier that night, so she knew when he was finished at work, and how long it took him to drive over, as long as he did not make a pit stop. The only person who would have caused Wade to be late was Barry. Sometimes Barry would pop in at Wade’s work, and they would go and hang out somewhere, and Wade would lose track of time. Wade never meant to be late in meeting up with Jennifer, but Barry was into spy stuff, and he would get Wade all caught up in some stake out, or new gadget he had.

Barry you had better not has dragged Wade off to some stake out of something. Jennifer whispered under her breath. She peered through the screen door and checked her watch one more time. She looked out into the darkness, down their laneway to the street. There were only a few houses on their street, and right across the road was an open field with an old barn on it.

The wind howled through the two oak trees just beyond the porch. By this time every year they would be almost barren of leaves, but with the warm weather, most of the leaves remained. The country tree’s lost their leaves before the city ones, and this year was no different. It was just a few weeks later than usual.

As Jennifer peered out into the night, something inside her clicked on. Something was not quite right. Another one of her special talents. She could sense if everything was not as it should be. There was something outside that caused her little hairs on her neck stand to attention. She knew if things were not real or if there was danger around. If she worked at a bank, she could have picked out any counterfeit bills without a second glance. This was different. She could feel the evil lurking out in the darkness. She also knew Wade was on his way.

Jennifer reached over to the hanger, and pulled off her jacket, because she didn’t want to get her new silk blouse dirty. If this was going to be a special night, so any dirt on her blouse was unacceptable. As she pushed open the screen door complete with the country creak that came with it, a faint voice came from behind her in the kitchen. Honey, where are you going? Is Wade here? Don’t forget your jacket.

Yes, mom I have it, and no he’s not here yet. replied Jennifer as she did up two of the buttons on the jacket. I’m just going to wait outside. It’s kind of a nice night out. There was a faint Okay dear, have fun, but not too late. Coming from the house, as Jennifer stepped out onto the porch, and towards the stairs. She took a deep breath to take in the fresh country air. The house was up on a hill, so she could see everything on the front lawn, and down to the street. The moon was out, so it provided some light on the endless darkness before her. After a minute, she was able to make things out better, as her eyes adjusted to the night. There was only one street light near their house, and it was down the road always. It was put there when the mine was in use, and the road from the mine lead out past the old barn to her street. In the winter snowmobile clubs crossed over from the escarpment and that intersection was the cross over point.

To the left of their house were the horse barn, and the rest of the stables, and practice track area, and then a wooded area that met up with a small inland lake, before running into the escarpment. When you stood up on the escarpment, you could see for miles. There was a spot up there where her and Wade used to go and stargaze.

Jennifer gazed out into the night, and once again that inner alarm went off, though this time it was much stronger than the first time. She tried honing in on what was wrong, and every time her eyes focused in on the old barn that alarm went off. The barn was back from the road about one hundred yards. On one side of it was a corn field, and on the other was the old mining road, and an unused field. The barn had not been used in years, and the wear and tear of time had taken a toll on the enormous structure. Many of the wall boards were missing, and it had a lean to the left, as if it was about to fall over. Mr. Coulter had meant to tear it down for some time now, but he just didn’t have time to.

Jennifer stepped off the stairs and down her walkway until she reached the gate. It was an old steel gate, with two stone pillars on either side of it. She peered over the gate and checked out both directions down the road. The street was barren, with only the fallen leaves whistling around on the road. Jennifer opened the gate and walked down to the road. There was nothing in either direction, but mostly there was no Wade. You’re late Wade. Jennifer said under her breath, as she crossed her arms in front of her jacket. In the background she could hear the horses stirring in the stable. She knew the sound of which horse was stirring. It was hers. Whinny, or as Wade called it Whinny the pooh. He called it that for another reason. Jennifer was torn to continue down the road, or see what was wrong with Whinny. Her curiosity won over, as she walked down the road towards the barn. It seemed so cold and lifeless, as she stood on the road in front of it.

Jennifer checked her watch again. It was eleven thirty. She knew Wade was delayed by Barry for some stupid reason. Frustration began to set in, as she paced back and forth. Her pacing was interrupted by a sudden cracking noise which came from inside the barn. It could have been alley cats chasing mice inside, or the wind shifting the whole barn. She remembered her father telling her about the increased sightings of coyotes in the area. It could have been anything. Jennifer looked up at the lone street light and the swarm of insects flying around it, and she knew it was time for a firm decision. Go back and wait on the porch, or better yet inside the house, or walk down to the barn to see what was going on. She remembered all those scary movies where the lone girl walks into the hands of the killer, instead of playing it safe and going for help. It was like a firewall alarm now inside her. She knew there was something wrong in the old barn. She stepped off the road and onto the grass. The fallen leaves crackled under her shoes, and the wind picked up again, blowing her hair across her face. The light from the street was behind her, as she noticed her shadow growing dimly ahead of her. She turned to look down the road, hoping to see some headlights coming up the road, but there was nothing. Again.

The corn stalks swayed back and forth in the wind, with some of the gusts pushing the corn towards Jennifer, like outstretched claws grasping at her. The rest of the stalks raged violently in all directions, and the sound of their dried up leaves sounded like waves crashing against the rocks, during a storm. The wind blew through the tree’s that surrounded the barn, so it sounded like they were talking to her. It almost sounded like they were saying go As if they were warning her to turn back. Without warning another cracking noise came from the barn, and this made Jennifer stop dead. This was not a loose board, or a small cat chasing a rodent, this was bigger.

Jennifer fumbled around in the jacket for a flashlight, but then realized she had on the wrong jacket. Nuts! she said under her breath. She looked back again to the road, desperately searching for a car to be coming down the road. There was nothing. She took a couple more steps toward the barn. Her heart was pounding rapidly as she was only a few steps from the eerie structure, and nothing but darkness ahead of her. Wishing she was somewhere else, Jennifer stopped at what was left of the door. It had rusted out of its metal tracks long ago, and somebody just nailed the door along the wooden wall. Several of the boards were missing, so you could slide yourself in sideways through the door. The wind howled around her and through the barn causing a symphony of deadly whispers, and moans.

Jennifer peered into the dark abyss, hoping to make out a shadow of a loose board banging against the wall, but there was nothing. She turned to look up at the street light for a second, and back down to the road. There was no one around anywhere. Before she could refocus into the blackness, she took a step through the slot between the wall boards. Suddenly stopping because an old rusted hook caught the arm of her jacket. Jennifer twisted her body around to loosen it with her left hand. It was her new jacket, and a rip would ruin it. Before the sleeve was released, she felt her body jolt backwards as something pulled her off her feet into the barn. All she could muster was a faint scream, as she disappeared into the dark vastness of the barn.

Wade played around with the knob on the radio trying to find a station with all the sports scores on. He had made a small pit stop to pick up a couple of burgers, for Jennifer and himself. Then to the video store to pick up a movie he had ordered a few weeks back. He was only a half hour late, but he knew he was in trouble with Jennifer. She was very punctual. He pulled into the Coulter’s driveway and up beside the house. Wade looked up to Jennifer’s window expecting to see her staring out at him, with a frown on the face, and arms crossed. There was just a dark window, and no girl. Wade’s attention focused on the horse barn, thinking Jennifer might have went to visit her horse, Whinny. He walked over to the stable door, and then even in the darkness he noticed the lock was on, so he knew she wasn’t in there.

Wade thought of their favorite spot up on the escarpment, but she wouldn’t venture up there without him, and at night. Wade just stood there, confused, not knowing whether to go knock on the front door, and wake up Jennifer’s father. That would not be wise, especially with what he was going to ask her. He could fight through the darkness, and look for her up the escarpment, or he could accept the fact that he was late, and she was mad at him. Not a good prelude to popping the question. Wade shook off any cowardly instincts, and began to make his way down the blackened path to the lake. It was easier to ask for forgiveness, then is a no show.

The light of the harvest moon gave him partial light, and he was able to make out some features by the lake. He walked up to the old wooden dock, where the Coulter’s had a speed boat tied up at the end of it. Normally by this time of the year, the boat was already in storage, but the weather extended the season little longer. He was hoping that Jennifer was sitting in the boat waiting for him, but again she was nowhere to be found. The lake itself was about a mile long and half that distance from side to side. There was a small manmade island in the middle of the lake with a mini type house on it. The Coulter’s called it the forgiveness house, because if any of them got into an argument with one another, they would take a boat out to the island and stay in the shack until they cooled down and asked God for forgiveness. With things going so well for the family, it had not been used for several months.

Wade knew she wasn’t out there, because the boat was still at the dock. He continued down the path and up the hill to the top. The escarpment was fairly steep, except where an old worn path winded its way up to the top. There were a few places where Wade could see the whole lake and the farm. In the distance the soft glow of light from the city. He reached the top, where the path went to a clearing. At the far end by the edge was a park bench under the willow tree, overlooking the entire bay area. The view was breathing taking, night or day.

By now the light of the moon made the entire area partially visible. Wade could make out the island, with the little shack on it, the stables, house, even his car. He could even see the old barn down the road; well he could see the street light in front of it. The only thing he could not see was Jennifer; she was nowhere to be found. Wade cupped his hands over his mouth, Jennifer! He yelled. The only response was that of silence. Wade plopped down on the bench in frustration.

Where could she be? Some investigator you are Wade, you can’t even find your girlfriend at her house. he sighed and leaned back on the bench.

Suddenly Wade realized that the reply from calling out her name was silence. Everything that was making noise the whole time he was climbing up the path was now quiet. Not even the crickets were chirping. He sat up on the bench and began to study the woods around where he was sitting. Only the howling wind was causing any noise now. It was whipping through the trees to and from the grassy area around Wade. There was no other noise. Wade got up from the bench and now was very alert to the situation at hand. He peered into the tree line, but there was no motion. Wade walked slowly around, in circles at times just waiting for something to make a sound.

Finally off in the distance there was a cracking sound, like something just stepped on a pile of twigs. A few seconds went by and another cracking sound. Wade was able to make out what direction the sound was coming from, but more importantly which direction it was heading for.

It was heading in his direction. It was still deep into the woods, but it was definitely heading towards him. Wade remembered Jennifer’s father talking about a pack of wolves that had drifted into the area, from the north. They were feeding on stray sheep from some of the area herders.

That was enough for Wade. He backed slowly towards the pathway down the hill, still facing the clearing where the sound was coming from. Only his head was level with the clearing, as the noise was very close to the edge of the clearing. Wade paused just enough to see the wilted grass, and bushes pushed back and forth against the wind. Part of him wanted to run, but the curious side wanted to see what it was. The grass parted as a large shadowy figure peeked out from the darkness. The only thing Wade could make out was the fiery yellow eyes flickering in the darkness. That was enough for Wade, it was time to go. Still with his back towards the path below him he backed down until he was under the level of the clearing. Then he turned and began to run down the path, every couple of second’s looking up to see if he was being watched. With the moon in the background it was impossible to make anything out. He had reached the edge of the lake, and he stopped. The path up to the top of the hill was barren. It was difficult to listen for and sounds of anything walking down the hill, as the wind picked up again. Wade had to make a choice. He could jump in the boat, and take his chances out on the lake, which never went anywhere. He could try and make it back to the car. Wade could hear his heart pounding, as he decided on the car, and he could warn the Coulters about the wolves.

Wade was now running. He was pretty quick on his feet, but he knew he was no match for four legged animals. The wind was not helping as it pushed on him, slowing his running speed. Plus, he was up wind from the wolves, which only helped them out.