FIVE

Martha and Madelyn were picked up by an ambulance and taken to the hospital. The boy hugged them, wishing them well. He passed the time reading National Geographic in the waiting room while Dr. Krueger saw the last patients before he could go. He told his assistant not to make any new appointments for the day.

Dr. Krueger drove a pretty sturdy Jeep. He took the seat behind the wheel, the boy sat next to him. As Krueger started the car, he asked the boy, “How do you know Martha anyway?”

“We just met. You could say I’m really interested in her work.”

“Yeah, she’s our resident celebrity I guess. Never read her work though. I get enough horror during working hours,” Krueger said, steering the car onto the road.

“Do you think Madelyn will be okay?”

“I just don’t know, kid. Never encountered those symptoms before. If it some kind of weird exotic disease our best hope is to see if there is some kind of vaccine. Hope they find out in the hospital via some blood tests. Or that whoever this girl is Madelyn encountered in the mountain knows more. It’s weird though, as this town’s only doctor I know most people living here. I never heard about anyone living in the mountains. I’ve been working here for twenty years, you would certainly think I would know about a young girl living there.”

“Yes, as Martha said she didn’t know anyone lived there either. Quite mysterious.” And mysterious was pretty much what the boy thrived on.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Well, we’ll see I guess,” Krueger said and produced a mouth mask from the dashboard cabinet. “If we find this girl, be sure to wear this.” The boy took it and put it in his jacket pocket.

There was a path that took them into the mountains, but after a while the terrain got too rugged for even Krueger’s jeep.

“We’ll have to go further on foot,” Krueger said. He got out of the car, grabbing a pair of binoculars from the dashboard cabinet. He peered into the distance.

“Anything? Or anyone?”

“No house in sight. Or person. Well, let’s get a closer look. Watch your step, it can get a bit slippery once you get higher up the mountains. There might be some loose rocks as well.”

“I’ll be careful,” the boy assured the doctor.

The first half hour the terrain was pretty steep, but they could still walk without climbing. After a while the mountain became steeper.

“We’ll really have to climb now,” Krueger said. “It’s impossible that someone lives here.”

“Yeah, true. I am willing to climb though.”

“You will have to watch out. It is a long way down,” a voice said behind them. The boy and the doctor turned around.

There she was, having appeared seemingly out of nowhere. A young girl, dressed in a white dress with black hair. Her eyes were dark as night.

“What the hell?” Krueger uttered.

“Hello little girl. What’s your name?” the boy asked.

The girl didn’t answer that and just said, “Do you want to play?”

“Maybe later. We just would like to know who you are. Do you live here?” Krueger asked. He put on his mouth mask. The boy followed his example.

She just said again, “Do you want to play?”

The boy came a bit closer to the girl. The doctor grabbed his arm.

“We don’t know how contagious whatever she might have given Madelyn is, kid. The mouth mask might not be enough. Some social distancing might be smart,” Krueger told the boy.

“Why don’t you want to play?” The girl sounded annoyed. Her eyes seemed to become even darker, like ink black pools.

The boy glanced at the doctor. Having studied fear for years now it was easy for him to see Krueger was getting quite anxious.

The girl was getting upset now and screamed “Why don’t you want to play?!”

The whole air seemed to turn dark as she moved towards the two.