Page 11 of Their Darkest Needs

He takes a breath and looks around before turning back to me. “Don’t go there. What gets in doesn’t come back the same way.”

I open my mouth a few times, unsure of what to reply. Does he have dementia or something like that? Maybe I should just call the police, or if he has family, call them for help.

“Are you okay? Do you need me to call someone?” He frowns at me like he found my question rude. He bends down and pushes a small seed into the ground again.

“Don’t enter. What goes in doesn’t come out.” He repeats the sentence like a broken record. I pick up my phone to call Ryan again, unsure what to do, but the man grabs my hand to stop me and looks me deep in the eye. ‘You cannot go there, you can’t! They aren’t the same!” He starts to shout at me and I scream back, trying to hold back the panic as I attempt to get him to let me go. He looks behind me, his expression changing into one of pure fear, and then he lets go of me and starts to run into the forest.

“Wait!” I yell, quickly glancing behind me. There’s a grey cat standing near the fountain. Is he scared of cats? I press 911 on my phone and call for help while I go after the man. He’s old and confused and clearly needs help. I can’t just leave him alone in there, what if he falls?

“911, what’s your emergency?” I hear a soft calm voice ask. I’m sort of out of breath from the running already, but I try to talk as clearly as one who is currently running into an unknown forest can.

“Hello? There’s this old confused man a—and he ran in the forest. I—I don’t know who he is, he needs help, I think.” My breathing is hitching, and I can feel an asthma attack coming if I don’t take a break soon. Shit!

“M—ma’am, I can—” The line goes dead, and I curse myself even more now. Great, I am alone in the forest, no connection, can’t find the old man either now, and I don’t have my inhaler with me.Just great!

I try to focus my hearing hoping to hear the old man running somewhere close by, but it’s dead silent. I do some breathing exercises while I slowly walk back to the house.

Of course, I don’t know where I am, and therefore am lost, which is what I can add to the pile of ‘shit I get myself involved in’.

How hard can it be to find my way back? If Ryan finds out I’m lost in the woods, he’s going to lose his shit and probably never let me leave the house again. I mutter a few curses and walk to where I think I should go.

The further I go, the darker the forest gets, giving me an ominous feeling. The hairs on my body are starting to stand up, and the air is getting colder.

Coming here was clearly a mistake.

Something moves to my right, and I almost scream from the jump scare it just gave me. “Sorry, miss. Didn’t mean to frighten ya.” The man seems to be in his early forties and he is wearing dirty, old farmer clothes with small holes in them. He seems young, but he feels old. That’s odd, right? Maybe I am just being weird about this.

“It’s okay. I’m going back home to my husband,” I tell him, hoping the mention of Ryan will scare him away. I don’t know the man, and there's something about him that makes my skin crawl.

I take a step to continue leaving, but it seems that the conversation isn’t over yet for him.

“Ah, came to the cemetery too? Who did you lose?” he asks while smiling up at me.

“Hmm, I’m not sure what you are talking about?” I frown, he laughs, and waves his hand as a sign to make me follow him. I know I really shouldn’t, and this is usually how people die, but my curiosity is getting the better of me, and I decide to follow him, but not before picking up a piece of a branch. Because I’m not that stupid.

He brings me to an old cemetery that is hidden within the woods. The ground is almost black, and there are statues of angels that seem dark and cold, and big stone crosses that are partly scratched.This is definitely the creepiest cemetery I’ve ever seen.

“What is this place?” I ask with worry etched in my tone. He doesn’t look at me and just stares at one of the graves. I walk closer, seeing the name on it: ‘Toby Higgins’. The date is partly scratched off, making it impossible to see it properly.

“Here is where we bury those whom we can’t miss,” he says, eyes not leaving the grave.

“Why not bring them to a normal cemetery?” I ask him, taking a small step back from the scene. From him.

“Because they don’t come back like they do here.” Huh, almost the same thing the old man said. Maybe he was actually telling me something.

I clear my throat and take another step away. Nothing here feels right, and the warning of the old man rings in my head. I should’ve just continued going home instead. The man turns to me, his face seems paler than before, and his eyes seem to start to lose their colour. I swallow the scream that wants to break free.What the fuck is this?

“I know you lost, I know your pain. Bring her here and you will have her back.” His voice sounds rougher, and he opens his mouth. There’s a spider, yes, anACTUAL SPIDERcrawling out of it, climbing back up over his face into his hair.What the fuck?

“T—there’s a—a s—spider,” I rasp, unsure how to take in what is happening. He smiles and takes a step closer, making me back up one too.

“I was buried here too. Don’t you want her back?”

I can feel tears of fear sliding down my face, and my breathing is hitching, making me gasp for air.Is this a panic attack? Am I dying?He stays still and moves his head to the side like some creepy scarecrow from those Halloween maze games. His skin is turning a pale blue and his eyes are turned into a pure white now. He opens his mouth again, making more mini spiders creep out.

I scream and start to run as far away from this place, from this man, as I can. This did not just fucking happen.

“You’ll be back soon!” he yells after me.No, I won’t!

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