“I don’t care what Tommy Johnson says Myles, monster are not real” Said Myles Endeavour’s Mother.

“But Mum, Tommy said he saw it eat his cat and take a shit in his garden”

Betty Endeavour, a middle-aged woman of normally robust patience closed her eyes and counted to ten.

“Myles, sweetie, monsters don’t exist. I know what your Grandfather used to tell you, but he was very sick before he died and didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t”

“But Mum”

“No buts Myles, I’m tired of nonsense in this family and I won’t stand for it.

Myles despite his young years knew a loosing battle when he saw one. He used the end of that conversation as his cue to head to bed. The whole town knew about his Grandfather. A man who had commanded respected from the other townsfolk. A man who always had time to entertain his grandchildren with a story or two, built like a bear and nearly as hairy. It was almost no surprise that it had not been his body that failed him, but his mind. The senior Endeavour in his last year had been found getting into fights with things not there. The spectacle had been bad, the property damage had been worse and the chattering that resulted was a source of much humiliation to his Mother.

Myles knew his Mother protected him from the worst of it, shielding him as best she could from the gossiping vultures of Stonebridge town. But she couldn’t stop everything, Myles was seven not stupid and astute enough to grasp the situation. His mother had been shamed by her Fathers outrageous behaviour and wanted nothing more than to keep her head down until the rumour mill had ground to a halt. He was glad he hadn’t explained to his Mum about Tommy actually showing him the massive poo, it would only have upset her more. School was in the morning so asking Tommy for more details could be done first thing.

Myles locked his eyes on his young teacher waiting for the right moment. This was an important part of everyday and he couldn’t miss the mark.

“Endeavour”

“Here Miss”

With the need for rapt attention over the young Myles Endeavour slipped back into daydream, or at least he did until a discrepancy in the register caused his arm to shoot up with the urgency only a child can manage. Myles sat through the remaining alphabet of classmates, arm fully extended until the register was complete and the teacher could ignore him no longer.

“What now Myles”

“You missed Tommy Miss”

An older Myles would have recognised the look on his teachers face, it was a look that said I do not get paid enough for this.

“Tommy Johnson will not be joining us anymore Myles, there will be an announcement in assembly so please keep your question for later”

Myles stood outside his friends house, It was an old building that backed onto the woods, how many times had he played with Tommy here. He had met Tommy on the very first day in school when they had both been sent to the headteacher. Myles for drawing a cock on the blackboard and Tommy for putting plasticine in Jenny Baker’s knickers. To this day, mashing the colours together to make brown and telling everyone she had poo’d herself was the most ingenious thing Myles had heard. Tommy was dead now. His family had gone to stay with relatives and would probably move away after the loss of their son. The knickers of Stonebridge Primary School could rest easy and Myles Endeavour would miss his friend. Myles wanted to go and take one last look around, but something he could not quite put his finger on was making him uneasy. He picked up his backpack and headed home.

“You are such a little chickenshit Endeavour”

Norbert ‘Nobby’ Bulstrode threw the accusation of cowardice with all the malice only someone named Norbert shortened to Nobby could muster. Which was quite a lot. Nobby stood a head taller than Myles. Nobby called it good breeding, but Myles thought it was more likely someone forced a giant pile of beef trimmings through puberty and called it a day.

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“Nobby, I realise having grandparents who are cousins can’t be great for your mental faculties but when have I ever in the whole time have we have known each other ever taken you up on a dare”

“Exactly!” Nobby pointed at Myles in Triumph. “Thats why you’re a chickenshit and they were second cousins you beastly peasant”

“We go all the time, it’s harmless” said Jenny Baker with a sneer. The blonde girl had never liked Myles for some reason.

The woods had become something of an unofficial youth club in the last few years, it even had its own local legend ‘the Stonebridge bear’. Some brave kids had pinched a few pub tables in the dead of night and relocated them to a small clearing in the woods. Myles was not one of the enthusiastic participants preferring to stay home with his head in a book, not through any antisocial leanings but because the woods spooked Myles. He couldn’t remember why or when it happened, but for as long as he could remember the woods had set him on edge in a way he could never fully articulate. Not that he would ever admit this to Nobby.

Ignoring the jeers of his classmates Myles set about completing the assignment, the harder he worked now the easier his homework would be. Besides an invite from Nobby Bulstrode didn’t come from a place of kindness and the best way to win stupid games was not to play.

The flashing lights going blues and twos piqued Myles interest. From his bedroom window he could see them zooming past as quickly as the estate roads would allow. Two cop cars and a single ambulance drove towards the woods. Something tugged at his memories but all that broke the surface was an old uneasy feeling.

Six dead, three missing and multiple injuries yer newspaper said. The worst thing according to the townsfolk was that none of the kids were talking, as if they had all come to some mutual pact of silence. The Bulstrode estate lawyers had kept Nobby out of the local and national press making sure everyone but the ring later took a share of the blame.

“I’m just glad you were not there, would have just dragged your Grandfathers foolishness back up again”

“I’m glad you have your priorities right Mum”

“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“I mean Mother, that my chances of getting out of Stonebridge are greatly increased without” Myles made a show of checking the newspaper for dramatic effect “Missing limbs and probable post traumatic stress disorder”

Myles could not remember when he had soured on the town, but in a few months it wouldn’t be a problem anymore. The woods, the town and the imaginary bear could all go shit in a burning outhouse for all he cared.

“Five fish and chips, three onion rings, four sausages, mushy peas and one curry sauce” Said the proprietor of Charlie Big Potatoes, the best chip shop in town.

“Thank you” said Miles as he paid the man for the bag of paper wrapped hot greasy food.

He hated the Friday night food run, but it was his turn and in a house of five it had been a twice a semester chore at most since come exam time no one left their rooms and subsisted on pot-noodles and pro plus. It also would not be a problem much longer. It was not so much the trip that put Myles on edge, more the route the trip took, right past the bloody graveyard. Myles could swear he was the only one aware of it at times, barely able to take his eyes off it anytime he walked past. But he said nothing as that was the kind of talk his Grandfather indulged in before he got into trouble.

As the pavement rudely bumped into his face Myles took a second to process, he was on the floor and a man dressed all in black was running away with his chips. Not just running, but running right towards the graveyard. Against his better judgement Myles set off after his dinner. The thief of his Friday carbohydrates jumped few gravestones and tore left behind a mausoleum. Myles was ready to call it a bad job and go back to the chippy when there it was. His chips, still fully bagged in the middle of what he took to be an unfinished grave. A very old part of Myles disagreed with his contemporary assessment, noting the shape, the curves of the sides and the forward edges you could almost described as toes. Myles eyes looked up from the foot print he was stood in and for the first time since he came to university, noted that the graveyard backed onto woods.

Chips once more in hand Myles ran back to his student house. His housemates had questions about his disheveled appearance but he brushed them off and as the food was mostly fine the topic was dropped, almost.

“My sausage is broken! Would you like to kiss my sausage better Myles?”

“Sod off Gary”

As he lay in bed Myles found it hard to remember what exactly happened. Someone tried to nick his dinner, but then he had it back and was halfway home. The old compulsion was kicking off, not constant enough to be OCD but still too strong an urge to ignore, Myles got up and checked all the locks in the house before returning to bed.

He had moved to the town to take a position at Arkwright & Fletcher, not exciting but it didn’t need to be. It paid well. The ratty apartment Myles was renting was cheap enough it would allow him to save a decent deposit quicker than many in his situation. He had been out of Stonebridge a few years now but the need to keep his head down had never quite faded away, maybe it was this town, it did remind Myles of his old home, albeit without the feeling of being watched that he couldn’t ever quite articulate, it was putting him back in old habits.

Still, he couldn’t hide away inside all the time, not when milk was required for the morning coffee and crunchy grain derivatives. He had started adding bread and jam to that list and really going fancy when he heard crying. Not human crying, but it tugged his heartstrings nonetheless. He followed it down a side ally to a dumpster behind the shop he had been heading to. Peering in Myles saw a large bloodied and very still ginger cat. Before that poor beast were six dead rats, large buggers too. Stood between the larger cat and the rats was a very distressed looking kitten. something in Myles would not let him leave the kitten to its fate so he reached in.

By the time Myles Endeavour got home sometime the morning after, he had three stitches and a new cat.

“How do you like Charlie?” He asked the kitten.

Myles sat at his work desk and watched the clock hit 5pm. He had been at Arkwright & Fletcher nearly seven years now. It was not the most exciting work, but so long as the pay checks kept coming he was not about to kick the hornets nest. Myles had gotten to his current position by being very good at anticipating needs and getting the work done before hand, something that had endeared him to many of the managers. One of whom, John a tall handsome team leader and ‘work husband’ to at least two other middle managers was wondering over to his desk.

“The team are all off to the to the Lamb & Flag Myles. You will be joining us, this is work mandated fun and the first round is on me”

“I’m just going to get ahead on this work report then I’ll head over”

“You better, the big boys are out tonight and I want a show of team solidarity”

“Don’t worry, if push comes to shove I’ll cut through the park, it will be fine”

Myles’ desktop crashed and the printer jammed repeatedly, the night could not possibly get any worse.