Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Welcome's stories all the time. Glad you are here.
Let's get into it. Their parents had been warned about
the woods, but they didn't believe stores from the past folklore.
The Caburne Club was quite the exclusive group. You had
to have inequalifications to join. First, you had to live
on Colburn Avenue in Shuffert, Michigan. Second, you had to
be in fifth grade at Shufford Elementary. Other kids at
school knew about the Kibern Club, but no one really
knew what it was. All they knew was that Freddy Sanchez,
Mark Hewett, and Spencer and Maggie Eden were in it,
and they made it sound awesome. Freddie, Mark, Spencer and
Maggie had all been hanging out since they were toddlers.
Mark had lived on Coburn Avenue since he was born,
and the other three had moved into the houses on
either side of his some time between the ages of
one and three. There had been no club at first,
just a group of neighbor kids running around outside together.
But in the third grade Freddy started getting picked on
and in some cases straight up bullet That's when the
Colburn Club started. Mark he won the lottery in the
esoteric hierarchy that determines grade skull popularity. He may have
been the most popular kid in all of Shefford Elementary,
but he had not chased the crown, nor did he
care to wear it, and he reigned with humble reluctance.
He actually despised his popularity somewhat until it became useful.
The Kilburn Club had been his idea after Freddy's bowlings
started at the hands of some kids agreed above them,
Mark enlisted Spencer and Maggie Eden to start bread and
claims that the four of them were in the secretive group.
Spencer and Maggie were paternal twins who had many friends
for that reason alone. They utilized this network to spread
word of the Kilburn Club rapidly. Soon the four started
hearing rumors they had not themselves instigated circulating. The Kilburn
Club gets to stay up until eleven every night. The
Kilburn Club watches our raid in movies every weekend. The
Kilburne Club members will ruin the lives of any bullers
in the whole school. Of course, all of these were ridiculous,
beaseless claims, but Mark, Spencer and Maggie let them spread.
In the name of protecting fred and the bullying did stop,
not only for Freddy but for all the smaller kids
who had been suffering. Any time a former bully got
too nervous to corner a kid or pushed them off
a slide, he or she would tell their friends the
Kilburn Club had threatened to burn down their house, or
kill their dog or something. The teachers and staff eventually
caught wind of the Kilburne Club rumors too, and they
allowed them to perpetuate. The club had solved problems for everyone.
To the real Kilburn Club, being a member of only men,
would it had ever meant hanging out in their neighborhood
after school. A stream ran behind their homes, so they
could often be found down there trying to catch frogs
and fish. A fairly dense woods flurish on the other
side of the stream. The kids would play over on
the opposite bank, but never ventured into the trees. Their
parents had told them all how easy it is to
get lost in the woods, but even without this warning
they probably wouldn't have gone too far. Something about those
wood spooked them sometimes, when their conversation would slow, or
they were playing a game like hide, and seco sodines.
They would notice all the bird and insects had stopped chirping.
Even the leaves rustling were fatal like a daisical hiss.
Freddy saw to the rumor that the Coburne Club had
a secret fort hidden in the woods behind their homes.
He had chosen this location for their hypothetical hide up
because he knew none of the other kids would ever
work up for enough to look for it. But the
idea of a head and four fested in four young minds.
Eventually it worked its way into their conversations. Maggie pretended
to shuder dramatica the first time someone brought it up,
but only a week or so later at the conversation
started sounding more like plans. My dad has a bunch
of old boards under the deck, Mark said one afternoon.
The kids had been riding their bikes up and down
the street for iOS and had stopped to rest in
the shade of the tree in Freddy's front yard. He
doesn't use them for anything. I bet we could take
some for walls or whatever. Our parents of some wood
in the garage too, Spencer said, big flat boards from
when we tore down our old shed. If we could
get one of those across the stream, I bet it
would be a good roof the resourceful force and brainstorm
like this until they had plans to collect all the
necessary materials, the fear of the woods diminished to a
mere whisper of a memory. They spent the following day
dragging old and in some cases mossy boards down to
the stream. There the kid passed them across assembly line style.
It took the enthusiastic bunch less than an iroy to
have everything where they needed it. They separated into pairs
to find a good place to build their exclusive fort.
Maggie and Freddy undoubtedly found the best place to build.
Mark and Spencer thought they had a good one, but
they didn't even bring it up. After seeing Maggie and
Freddy's they found a place where two trees had fallen
at a near perfect ninety degree angle, forming a corner.
One tree had fallen over the other, which formed a
natural entryway if they were willing to crawl through the
three foot high gap. Spencer pointed out, you won't even
be able to see it from the back because of
the trees, and so the round chical fort was built
structure was just barely tall enough for most of them
to stand in. Freddy had to duck his head a
little bit, but they loved it. The Colburne Club now
had a real secret hide up. One of the rumors
had actually come true. The more time the four kids
spent out in the fort, the more adapted they became
to the woods. The apprehension they had once felt completely
evaporated by the time summer vacation came out around. During
the summer, the colburn kids stopped knocking on one another's doors.
When they were ready to play. They all went straight
to the fort. Sometimes they would bring books on magazines
with them. Freddy brought one particular book they all loved
to look at, especially when it started getting dark. It
was Colvile's Monster Menagerie. It was a fictional encyclopedia of
terrifying beasts and paranormal beings, stuff that would have given
them nightmares even just a year ago, but now fascinated
and titillated them. Eventually, the newness of the fort wore off,
and the children found themselves sitting inside it board. Freddy
suggested we could use some of the extra wood to
try building a dam in the stream. This idea didn't
receive much enthusiasm. It was Mark, in the end who
drafted the winning plan. Mark, despite his popularity, tended to
be the quietest in the group, so when he offered
an idea, of his friends usually listened. We haven't really
explored the woods yet, Mark said. We looked around for
the spot, you know, back when we built this place,
but we don't know what else there is around here.
Maybe there's some cool stuff. Each of the children felt
a lingering of apprehension, a ping of something which they
had known before. They each looked to each other for valdation,
but each child was putting on a bray face. No
one wants to beat the downer, so when they each
searched the faces of their friends, all this all was
brave indifference, and thus they decided to leave the safe
little fort and venture into their known Spencer had the
brilliant idea to mark their paths so they could find
their way back to the fort whenever they decided to
end the expedition. The thub came to him after he
looked over his shoulder into the lush, green wilderness behind
them and realized he couldn't see the fault any more,
hadn't their parents warned them about how easily they could
get lost out there. He offered up the first market,
the yellow Michigan Wolverine's baseball cap on his head. Don't
let me forget it, though, he said, it's actually my dad's. Spence.
Maggie chastised him with an exasperated sigh. Did you ask
him before you took it? Spencer, sheepish grin answered for him.
He hung his dad's hat on a branch at I level.
A few minutes later, Maggie started lingering behind. Mark noticed
and called her out. Sorry, it's just do you guys
feel word? She asked? Fridy asked, like what, I don't know.
It's like, Well, for one thing, why is it so quiet? Now?
The whole group stopped to listen, but listen to what
the wrestling leaves above the rattling bushes ahead. There were
no birds to hear, no chitterings, grows darting across the
composting leaves of yesphere. Even the wind seemed hestined to
whisper through the trees like it felt it didn't belong.
The children suddenly felt entirely out of place. Why had
they come out so far. Hadn't they been afraid of
these woods? Wants? There must have been some reason for that.
And then there was the smell futrid. A pure one
might have described it by comparison to a septic tank,
but that would be entirely wrong. The stench of a
septic tank, on the unfortunate occasion when it must be opened,
is expected normal. Justify the horrendous odor which poisoned the
natural air of the woods belonged to something which, by
its very nature did not belong, something which had rotten
indicated but could not be absorbed into the ecosystem, something
which nature itself rejected. I think it's time to go back.
Mark spoke for them all. Maggie started to say yeah,
let's but a loud crack cut her off cold. Their
four small, ghostly faces turned in the direction of the sound.
The density of the woods muted most distant sounds, which
meant the crack had come from something close, something imminent.
It came from just beyond a grove of short pine
trees elevated by a shallow hil Mark looked at Maggie,
who looked at Spencer, who looked at Freddy. No one moved.
A sizzle of cracking branches preceded the violent rattling of
one of the short pine trees, and the Cleburn club
tore off in the direction they thought they had come.
They shouted sporadically, what was that? Did you guys see it?
What do we do? Is it coming for us? If
it was tailing them, it was unlikely they could have
seen it. The dense trees, with their abundant low branches,
hid everything behind them. Their own pounding, crashing feet made
hearing any pursuing footsteps impossible. Freddy started to worry they
had run the wrong way, until he noticed Maggie's orange
cardigain dangling from a branch ahead. He led the group
in a slight diversion, suddenly recognizing certain landmarks from their
previous path. Maggie stopped to untie the sleeve of her
cardigan from the branch. Spencer slowed to help her, but
she freed to sleeve without his help. The two of
them now tail Mark and Freddy by at least ten yards.
Hey guys wade up. Spencer called ahead. Mark looked back
but showed no signs of slowing down. Spencer heard a
sound to his left the twisting crackle of a falling tree,
and his labor breathing was interrupted by an involuntary screen.
He and Maggie heard other trees snap as they were
wounded by their fallen brother, But the feul tree did
not fall into the children's path. It served only to
release energy reserves they had not known they possessed. Somehow,
the sprinting kid to miss Fred's lucky keychain, but stumbled
across Mark's silver cross necklace. That left just one marker
before they reached the fore, Spencer's dad's wolverine's hat. I
bet if we cut down here, we'll get to the
stream faster, Mark suggested, pointing down a steep hill. He
was undoubtedly correct, but Spencer's stomach twisted into a knot
at the thought of returning home without his dad's favorite hat.
He shouldn't have taken it in the first place. You guys,
go ahead, he said, I gotta get dad's hat. No, Spencer,
Maggie plaid. She faced him, while the other too shuffled
and slid down the steep grade. We can get the
hat later. That probably won't even notice right away. No,
I got it, then, I'm coming with you. Maggie's ette,
planting a foot for emphasis. Spencer looked into her eyes,
his eyes really, if he ignored the long hair framing them,
his father's eyes too, Only he had never seen so
much love in his father's eyes. A frustration danger he recognized. Okay,
you're right, Spencer said. He put out his hand from
Maggie to hold as she started down the grade. He
crouched at the top, assisting her until letting her continue
to hold onto his hand would have dragged him down
to That's when he let go. His sister tumbled and
fell flat on her stomach at the base of the hill.
This hurt Spencer more than it hurt her. What are
you doing, Maggie demanded. I have to, was all Spencer said,
before disappearing from the edge of the steep grade. Some
were up there. The remaining free children heard another tree
twist and crack, but this one did not fall. Maggie
continued to cry up for Spencer as Mark and Freddy
half dragged her to the stream. She only crossed it
after Mark accidentally knocked her down on her but in
the middle of the running water, she had refused to cross,
and he had given her only a gentle push, but
she hadn't been expecting yet. Where from the waistand and
from her eyelis to her chin. Maggie crawled up the
bank and waled Spencer's name into the wall of trees
on the other side. This is myles. I hate to interrupt,
but this would be a great time to hit the
like button and subscribe to my channel if you haven't already,
I promise you won't regret it now for the rest
of the story. Sitting on the bank with Freddy and
Mark on either side of her, Maggie began to feel
her hands growing numb. Her fingers became stiff, as if
ninety years had suddenly passed and left her with authritis.
She had never experienced this before, but she knew what
it was. Spencer had once told her about it. It
had happened to him when they were six. Maggie had
woken in the middle of the night with debilitating stomach pain.
Their ma'am had rushed her to the hospital, where she
had an emergency ependectomy. Spencer told Maggie when she came
home that his hands had gun numb and stiff while
she was at the hospital, likely right around the time
of her surgery. He's in trouble, Maggie said, almost without emotion.
She knew it to be as plain a fact as
her pants were wet. I think it's bad, Her voice cracked.
He'll be all right, Mark assured her, without confidence. Yea,
Max Spencer knows what he's doing. He'll be okay. Freddy
joyn in what did any of them really know what
they were doing? A rustling came from downstream. All three
children instantly bolted to their feet. Mark wanted to run.
He had the strangest feeling about whatever was coming out
of the woods, but he didn't know how to articulate
it to his friends. Maggie's numb hands tingled and blood
rushed back to them. Maybe Spencer would be okay after all.
With a splash, Spencer crossed into the stream and waded
across his dad's yellow Wolverine's cap was situated firmly on
his head. Mighty run to him. He hugged her while
looking over her shoulder at Mark and Freddy. Those boys
didn't like the look they saw in Spencer's eyes. He
looked sort of wild, like y might. Suddenly squeezed Maggie's
had tight enough to snap her neck, but when she
finally pulled away from him, he let her go. Then
he smiled at Mark and Freddy, and every one assumed
he was Okay. I will not insult your intelligence by
trying to convince who Spencer was. O kay. The friend
and brother Maggie, Mark, and Freddy had gone into the
woods had not returned, Not Philly, not in the way
they knew him anyway. Freddy tripetitiously ventured out to the
fort the next day and found it empty. He had
often been the first of the group to arrive, but
never had to wait more than half an hour or
so for at least one of his friends to join.
That day, he killed two eyes looking for Miles, Monster
and Agerie. After thirty more minutes, Freddy decided yesterday's hair
raising pursuit must have scared his friends away. The thing
that had chastem had terrified him in a moment, but
it hadn't bothered him much after that. The woods were expansive,
he thought the odds of them coming across the thing again,
or vice versa, were pretty slim. The whole experience seemed
a little like a dream. Freddy left the fort and
went to Mark's house. Mark answered the door, looking embarrassed.
You want to go to the fort? Friday asked, is
anyone else there? Mark cast in return, no, I've been
alone all morning. Oh well, no, I think I'd rather
stay in to day. You want to play need for speed?
Freddy considered this for a brief moment, nodded, and stepped inside.
They did not see the Eden Twins that day. Then
came the rain. It fell and drove for five days straight,
thunder and lightning. They came off and on, but the
rain fell hard and steady, almost continuously for five days.
On day three, Mark's parents announced spontaneous trip to Cleveland
to visit his uncle's family. Mark didn't want to go,
but he didn't have a choice. He spent much of
the trick thinking about Spencer, wondering what that weird look
in his eyes had been. Often, when he was not
thinking about Spencer, he was thinking about Maggie, hoping she
was okay. Freddy's parents would not let him leave the house.
They feared he would get sick if he went out
in the rain. He spent much of the week's stirring
out back windows at the woods, hoping the Colbourn Club's
fort was holding up. He watched the stream rise from
day to day, threatening to spill over. The rain mercifully
ended before it did. On the sixth day, when the
sun started playing peekaboo with their saturated yard, Freddy and
Maggie met in the muddy bank of the furious river
that had been their quiet stream only a few days before,
where spencer. Freddy asked he didn't think Maggie looked very well.
Her face had the same sort of painus as when
she had her appendix removed a few years before. He supposed,
after the lawn very weak, he probably didn't look so
great either. He's still at home, Maggie replied. He didn't
want to come out. He hasn't really left his room
much since the woods, you know, Freddy asked why. I
don't know. I guess he's sick. He won't really talk
to me. Whenever I try to talk to him, he
gets really mad and tells me to go away from him.
I had mom and Dad say he's not eating anything,
but I hear him get up at night and get
into the fridge. He's been eating all the lunch meat.
Maybe he's just in a bad mood because of all
the rain, Freddy offered, I don't think so. I think
he has to do with what happened in the woods. Freddy,
what was that chase us? Freddy shrugged. He had pondered
this often during the five days of involuntary isolation. He
wished he hadn't read that monster book the day after
the chase. It had put all sorts of ideas into
his head. Well, I think whatever it was did something
to Spencer. He's just not himself and his room sticks.
It smells really bad even outside it like by the
door when Mark's back. Let's try talking to Spencer together,
all of us, Freddy suggested. Mardy agreed. The two of
them spent the rest of the afternoon amelessly wandering the
loose bank of the stream, checking out where it had
eroded away, leaving clay streak slopes. Mark returned the following day,
the day Spencer disappeared, the stream still raged. It didn't
come up as high as at the day before, but
the water was still far too violent to cross. Maggie
had been crying when she found Mark and Freddy observing
the stream together. She said Spencer had left before breakfast.
She wanted to know if they had seen him. Freddy
said he hadn't, and I literally just got back from
visiting my uncle, said Mark. They stood in a triangle,
looking at each other, wondering what the next right move
could be. You should probably tell your parents. We don't
know where he is, Freddy pointed out. Okay, Wick and
Maggie was interrupted by one of those twisting cracks they
had heard the day chase through the woods. Freddy, the
only one facing the woods at the time, screamed and
stumbled back. Mark and Maggie turned just in time to
see a tall tree, still vibrant with life, tip over
and crashed into the stream. Most of its leafy fingers
landed on their bank. The trunks dressed across the dangerous water,
creating a bridge. Braddy stammered, how did it? The bank
must have eroded away under the roots, Mark speculated Spencer.
Maggie said, she took a few steps forward and stopped.
Did you see him? Mark asked, I, I don't know.
Let's go tell your parents. Freddy recommended once more. No,
it was him, He's right over there. Before either Freddy
or Mark could stop her, Maggie was off. She caught
her way through the leaves of the fallen tree until
she found the solid center. She used branches to herself
up until she was over the water. Then she had
to crawl across the smooth trunk on off wars. Mark
and Freddy left with no other choice, copied her. Maggie
ran off in the direction she had seen the flash
of yellow, the same shade as her father's favorite hat.
Spencer was there. She knew it, probably thanks to whatever
neurological and had made her hands going on before she
suddenly halted. She had thought Freddy and Mark were right
behind her. Had she run too fast for them to follow?
Surely she thought she would be able to hear them soon,
but she felt so alone. The thick still air began
to poke at her nose with something hostile. She recognized
her from standing outside Spencer's room. With extreme trepidation, she
called Spencer, Sir, He look over there, and I'll keep
looking this way, Mark instructed Freddy. Freddy obeyed. He broke
away at an angle, constantly looking over his shoulder like
an owl to make sure Mark was in clear sight
at all times. Maggie, he whispered harshly. The woods were
so quiet again. He wondered where all the birds and
animals he normally heard from his yardware, Freddy found out
a little further than a tree which had been directly
in front of him, shifted left. In his vision, he
saw Maggie just beyond it. He called her name, then
turned and shouted for Mark. When his eyes fell on
Maggie again, she was looking at him. A look of
lost bewilderment blew up her eyes and made Freddy wonder
she was really seeing him at all. One of the
trees behind her moved. A shape stepped away from the
tree it had been sheltering behind, and Freddy saw it
wasn't a tree at all. Maggie, watch out, he screamed.
It was far thinner than most of the trees, but
nearly as tall. Freddy didn't know of any animal that
could grow so tall. Clusters of what he had thought
were dead branches were actually the creature's long fingers dangling
down nearest knotted knees. The deast looked like a skeleton
wrapped in a giant, wet paper bag. Freddy had been
messfully spared a good look at his face. When Maggie
turned to see what Freddy was screaming about. It took
an enormous step back and vanished into the foliage. You goat,
Is she good? Mark asked as he caught up. His
breathing slowed by an immediate fraction when he saw Maggie
looking daze but an hurt. Geez, I thought she was
going to get scorched by another tree away, He screened
at her. There was was, Maggie asked, you saw it too,
A monster? The fort? Where is the fort? Right over there?
I'm pretty sure it, Mark said, He pointed back to
where he had come from. All three of them ran.
Mark was sure what Freddy and Maggie were talking about
a monster, but he ran all the same. The mention
of the fort made him crave its familiarity, the false
sense of security. The fallen tree, which had formed their
fort's entrance, peered ahead. Mark scooped the air next to
his ready air, gesturing for Freddy and Maggie to hurry
on ahead. They passed him in each duft for the entrance.
Mark stayed up for a few seconds on his own
so he could listen for any signs of approach. Then
he crawled into the fort backwards. Freddy planted the spare
board they sometimes used to cover the entrance into the
dirt by the opening. He hoped whatever they were running
from relied on site and not say smell or heat.
Some of the monsters from the book track prey with
those senses. The one he saw had been so huge that,
despite its weak looking frame, he imagined it would make
easy work of this so called for it. So what
did you guys see, Mark asked, I don't know. I
barely saw it before it disappeared, Maggie replied. Freddy was
too busy flipping through the pages of Miles Monster and Adjury.
He uttered a victorious grunt, then spun the book of
Round to show his friends he had opened to her
page that showed a horrible looking creature that was practically
just bones and teeth the sunken yellow orbs and its
skull could barely be cold eyes, more like floating bobs
of pale light. This was an artist's rendering, of course,
but Maggie thought she recognized the skeletal legs. They looked
eerily similar to what she had seen disappearing into the
brush Windigo. Freddy stated, I think this is what's after us.
I think it's been waiting for us out there in
the woods. I thought all that stuff was fake, Maggie said. Then,
badding await hears, she asked, what would you dispense her?
She couldn't look away from the picture in the book.
Freddy noticed her frozen gaze and turned the picture back
to himself for her benefit. It might have gotten him
that day we all go got chased. It might have,
you know, possessed him. It's like a demon. That was
when he started acting weird, right, Mark said, more than asked.
Maggie nodded. Guys, if it is a wendigo, this is bad,
Freddy sounded out to words. But very little is known
about how to defeat a wendigoer since it is both
a physical body and a spiritual form, simply destroying the
body will not kill the wendigo. So how do we
find it? How do we get it out of Spencer?
Maggie asked worriedly. Freddy held up a finger. Hah man,
okay here it is. They are countless rituals and customs
for peepee preventing ha lon okay here. Some allies, such
as silver are known to repel wendigo's, and in two
recorded cases, have even expelled them. From those possessed. Mark
was fingering his necklace under his shirt and pulled it
out at the mention of silver, he began to examine it,
but he had no idea what he might be looking for.
Is that made of silver? Maggie asked, now, sounding hopeful.
I'm not sure. I think so. It's a family thing.
I think my dad said it was real silver when
he gave it to me. Maybe we could wait. Sah
h Freddy crutch freel low and went still. Maggie in
mock froze. Something was outside the fort. The board above
them grown to something leaned down on it. It was
trying to find a way in or make one. The
evil sench became more powerful than ever. The children held
their breath, both out of fear and unwilliness to suck
down the taint to day, the wide flat board that
comprised their roof buckled one single triangular splinter crack and
split away. Then the pressure was relieved. Large footsteps backed
away from the fort, then fitted to nothing. Before anyone
could speak, a rapid rush of smaller foots that came
running back to the fort. They came from the same
direction as the big ones had left, but there was
no way they could have belonged to the same creature.
The footsteps started around the fort, then with a hissing slide,
something thumped against the board of blocking the entrance and
Knapto pounded twice and the board flopped over. Even before
they could recognize him, Spencer into the fort. His face
looked to me, stated beneath his dad's wolverines had and
he smelt like decades of death. Mark nervously said, hey, Spence.
Spencer lunged to him, clawing, gnashing his teeth. He knocked
Mark onto his back and snapped at him. Mark screamed.
The others moved to help as they clamored for purchase
on Spencer's clothes. He bit down on a Handmark raised
in defense. Long needle sharp teeth that did not belong
to a little boy pierce through the flesh and muscle
of Mark's palm from both sides. He howled in agony
as blood painted Spencer's face and spirts. Freddy hid him
in the back of the head with the thick monster book,
and Spencer other thing that looked like him lunged at
Freddy instead. He knocked the book out of Freddy's hand
with one casual swoop. The other hand was close behind,
grabbing Freddy's limpress. Before he could react, it brought Freddy's
hand to its math. An effel a see bit his
pinky ring finger clean off in one horrific chomp. Freddy
did not scream or cry out. He fell back and
looked down at what was left of his hand in disbelieving.
All blood shot out from his stumps like a double
Bowel's squirt gun. The creature, wearing Spencer's face opened wide
for another greedy bite. Maggie he threw herself at it.
She and Spencer were roughly the same size, so the
full weight of her body knocked to clear away from
her friends. But from there the creature had all the advantage.
Rather than push her off of itself, it hugged her tight,
squeezed her until she couldn't breathe. She felt its mouth
open against her collar bone. The wicker points of its
teeth pricked her in a dozen places. She braced for
the terrible bite, unable to fight against it. What Maggie
had not seen was that while the creature had been
occupied with Freddy, Mark had recovered some of his wit.
When Maggie knocked a creature over. Mark had slipped his
silver cross necklace over his head. He now held it
out in front of him, the chain hot. When Mark
saw Maggie couldn't get away, he dropped to the ground
beside the struggling bodies. He ripped Spencer's hat off the
thing's pronny head and got its attention. Before its teeth
could pierce Maggie's flesh, Mark shoved the necklace down and
round the thing's head. It reacted instantly, screeching and writhing.
It released Maggie and she scrambled back towards Friddy. The
thing that looked like Spencer screeched and ribbed until it
turned purple. It clutched at the silver necklace, but every
time you tried to pull it off, its bastic movements
caught the necklace on its neck or its ears. Little
tufts of smoke started rising from its skin wherever the
metal touched it. Mark grabbed its shirt and started pushing
it toward the opening. Maggie saw what he was doing
and joined Freddy just kept staring at his hand. Gave
me back my brother, Maggie screamed at the agonized creature.
Give him back, or we'll kill you. One of Spencer's
bony hands made a pass at her face. It got
caught in her hair. She uttered a terrified squeak, but
Mark easily pulled on its arm and removed the hand
from her hair. Mark and Maggie together managed to push
the stinking thing through the opening out of Therefore, it
howled and screeched, the sound echoing once it was outside.
They watched it through the opening as it scrambled to
its feet and stumbled away. Once it was out of sight,
they listened. Soon the agonized cries so painful they could
almost make you feel sorry for the creature faded to silence,
but the children didn't dare celebrate until the horrible smell
faded to Now, their attention turned to Freddy. Mak's own
hand had already stopped bleeding for the most part, he
was luck Freddy continued to lose blood and grotesque spots,
and his face had turned gray. We need to get
him to his parents, Mark said, obviously, Freddy. Freddy listen.
Maggie baked. She could get no reaction from him. She
thought about vampires, another monster from the Big Book that
might have saved their lives. She wondered if that thing,
the windgo or whatever it was, might have turned Freddy
with its bite, but she decided that couldn't be the
case because Mark had also been bitten, and she saw
nothing but grim determination on his flushed face. Mark took
his shirt off and tore off a strip he had
seen this in a movie. He tied the shirt tightly
around Freddy's bleeding hand, then tied the strip around his own.
Help me lift him, Mark said. He and Maggie worked
together to carry and drag Freddy out of the fort.
He seemed only vaguely aware of anything happening to or
around him. They led him to the stream with some difficulty,
then stopped. They gazed across a fallen tree which had
allowed them to cross, and full she entered the trap
laid for them in the woods. How are we going
to get him across, Maggie asked. Mark looked up and
down the stream. He saw, miraculously, Freddy's mom crouched d
over one of her garden beds. Missess Sanchez, missus Sanchez,
marky yelled across the stream. She didn't hear him. She
had head funds on him. As bobbing to music, Freddy
faulted and almost fell. Maggie joined Mark and yelling for
Freddy's mother. The combined voices finally got her attention. Missess
Sanchez aided Mark and Maggie and helping Freddy cross the
fallen tree, then ran him up to the house in
her arms. The Sanchez his family car was squealing out
of the driver. Before Maggie and MARKI even made it
up to the houses. Friddy would be okay without any
immediate threat, Marks adrenaline waned suddenly, his hand hurt. But
I'm hay, I hate to leave you right now, but
I kind of he saw. Maggie had clutched into a
seated position and the grass and was crying. Go was
all she said. She looked up at her own house,
wondering what she would say when she saw her parents.
What would she tell them about Spencer? Was he dead?
Maggie luck Mark suddenly shouted his voice practically turned her
head for her back the way they had come. Some
leaves were rustling getting pushed aside. Mark helped Maggie to
her feet and they prepped to run. Spencer's hat was
the first thing they saw, then the rest of him
emerged from the woods, Mark and Maggie started running. Guys wait.
Spencer's voice, clear and confused, came after them. Mark kept running,
but Maggie stopped. She turned her Twin's face didn't look
shriveled and prunish anymore. His skin looked vibrant and normal.
Around his neck dangled marks over necklace. It didn't appear
to bother him in the slightest Spencer, is that really you?
Maggie called across the stream, Mark Nes stopped and turned
back to When Spence across the fallen tree, enjoined his sister.
They embraced. Maggie smelt sweat and out and the stale
odor of days without a shower. What to her in
that moment, those smells were wonderful. They were the smells
of her brother. When Nickleburn Club returned to school entering
the sixth grade, now their reputation didn't seem to matter
any more. Something changed with the transition from ellament Tory
School to middle school. Nobody cared if they were in
an exclusive club or had a hidden fort. The only
thing anyone seemed to pay attention to regarding the former
club was Freddy's missing fingers. So the former Colbern Club
began starting rumors again, rumors about an evil monster that
lucked in the woods behind Colburne Avenue. Ironically, no one
believed them, at least not publicly. The story told by Freddy,
Mark and Maggie and backed up by Spencer, kept any
more kids from exploring back there. The fort rotted away
with no one to maintain it. The roof collapsed first,
exposing the rest of the repurpose would. All the boards
turned black and green and sagged, But in the memories
of the former Calbourne Club, the fort still stood strong.
And that is the end. Thank you for listening and
I will see you in the next one.