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Dark forces are on the move!","writing":"I’m lying on something hard and gritty. I hear wind and water. I open my eyes to see rocks and sand. Oh no, I must have been sleepwalking! I slowly stand up, feeling groggy. I look around and it takes a moment me for to process what I’m seeing… Emma lake, near the big bolder. I’m naked, that’s just great! It seems to be very early morning; the sun is not over the hills yet. What should I do? Does Leo know? Can he track me all the way over here? I look at the lake, there’s something floating near the shore. Its someone with red fur! No! Oh no, please no! I stumble over the rocks towards the water. As I get closer, I can see it’s a maned wolf floating face down in the water! No, no, no! But I already knew when I first saw him. I hope I’m wrong, but I am at the water now and there’s no mistaking it. I feel sick, how did this happen? Leo must have been following me when I was sleepwalking and had an accident! But it doesn’t make sense. I get into the water, he’s only a few feet from shore. I pull him to the beach. He’s so heavy that I can’t get him any further. It takes some effort to flip him over. His eyes are open, but he just stares! Water trickles out of his mouth, and he just stares! I don’t know what to do! Can he be revived or is it too late? What do I do! I don’t have my phone and he doesn’t either! Nobody will be coming for hours if not days! I try shaking him! “Leo, Leo! Please come on!” He’s completely limp! I collapse over his naked body and cry. “Nooooo!” I scream! “Yes” a voice replies. I look up, standing there is the shadow. Its horrible smile is worse than ever! “You did it!” My voice is high and strained. Its voice is like a bad recording. “I told you I would! He had a merciful death, the others are burning!” “Whyyyy?!” I scream again. “Because of what happened here, what you did and how you kept it a secret!” Then it laughs, it sounds absolutely horrific! I feel grief and rage! I grab a large rock and hurl it as hard as I can! It hits the shadow in the face, and it’s just gone! The rock too!\n\nIts dark now. I feel soft damp fur, Leo. I’m back in bed laying on him. Was that a dream? But he’s actually wet! He’s not moving! I feel cold dread! I put my ear to his chest. I don’t hear anything and my eyes fill with tears. But then when I move my head lower, I hear a steady heartbeat and breathing! He’s alive! But why is he wet? Was I crying on him? He stirs and wakes. “Chase? What the hell! Chase what happened?” He seems confused about being wet, he rolls me off him, but I cling to his fur. He looks at me and his eyes widen. “Oh, jeez Chase! Another nightmare? Where you crying on me?” He sits up and pulls me into his lap. “I—I dreamed you died! It was so real! The (sob) shadow was there again…” Leo holds me close and rubs me. “I’m here Chase, it wasn’t real. Change of plans again, I getting you out of here today! No more of this!” “Leo, we can’t run. It will just follow us! We have to face it! It takes our problems and makes them worse! I—we have to fight our own demons; I don’t know what mine is. But you’re not even fighting yours!” “Chase! What am I supposed to fight? My love for you? Am I supposed to not love you? If loving you is wrong and is part of the evil, then I don’t even know! And—and whatever your demon is you don’t have to face it alone! I’ll be here!” (“You’re the source of this! You and your forgotten secret!”) “Leo, let’s try to get back to sleep. As long as you still love me, I’m sure we can figure this out.” Leo sighs and lays down. I get on top him again and we snuggle under the blanket.\n\nI wake up to morning light. Leo is still asleep, he looks cute. He smells stronger now, I hope I don’t stink too much. I gently stroke his ears, the fur on them is very soft. He doesn’t wake up! Although his ears do twitch at my touch. It’s then I notice my morning wood is pressed against his stomach. I feel something poking my rear, and realize Leo has it too! He seems to be waking up now. He yawns and stretches. His eyes open and he smiles when he sees me. “Good morning Leo.” “Good morning Chase, it’s really nice to see and feel you when I wake up. I used to be so lonely waiting for you to come back.” I grin at him and say. “What else do you feel?” He looks confused for a moment, then his face lights up! “Oh! Yeah, that! You want to?” I push myself off him, reach down and stroke his length. He shivers, and runs his big finger over mine. His touch feels so good! I position myself over his cock. “Think we can get right to it?” He looks into my eyes and there’s a hungry look in his! I’m not afraid of him, I need this too! I rub my own cock against his. We both give quiet moans. As I keep doing it, my breathing increases and I hear Leo’s too. I move forward, sliding my balls over Leo’s cock. I press my rear against his tip. He thrusts up and surprises me. I let out a little yelp. “I love the sounds you make Chula!” he says, stroking my face. I grip his waist to steady myself. “Ready Leo?” He’s panting already and drooling! He nods. With his tip already in, I let myself sink down. He goes in mostly smoothly; I need to get used to him again! His length goes in deep until I feel his knot. He gets hold of my smaller dick and wraps his other arm around me. He pulls me down as he pumps me and thrusts into me! We kiss. Our tongues touch, as usual his pushing mine out of the way and gets in my mouth! He licks around inside my mouth as his cock presses deep into me again! He’s being a bit rough, but it feels like he’s trying to pour his love into me from two different sources! We buck and bounce on the bed! I hope the others don’t hear us! Our deep kiss ends and I arch my back. I can feel his knot starting to get inside me! I grimace as he shoves it in! He tenderly holds me and guides me down. His knot is almost in! I used to be able to take it better! Then it’s in! I whine as he starts pumping me again and continues thrusting with his hips. He’s drooling all over and panting heavily! I think I’m drooling on him! Our movements are getting crazy now! I look at Leo. His eyes are intensely focused on mine! His grimacing, trying to hold back and make it last longer, he looks both scary and vulnerable! I can’t hold back, and I hope he doesn’t howl like that one time… “Leo, I’m about to!” I gasp out. I think he nods! Then it happens! He pumps his seed deep into me as mine spurts out across him up to his chest! When we stop, I lay down on him panting. He’s sticky from my seed and sweaty! We’ve put out a lot of musk and the smell of our seed is strong too! I hug him tight and he rubs along my body. “Chula, thanks.” he says. He rubs my head and strokes my ears. I feel and grope his muscles. “Next time, I’m topping you!” I say. He chuckles, “Sure.” We cuddle as we wait to unknot. We really stink this time! I guess we’re showering together again.\n\nIt’s really nice showering with Leo, having this big wolf here make me feel safe! Back in Pueblo in my last semester I felt lonely and nervous… Not to mention how bad the nights where! I look up at Leo, his fur is totally foamed with shampoo! He uses a lot more them me. “Hey I’m sorry I keep waking you up. I guess my problems are getting worse.” He looks down at me with a sympathetic smile. “Its fine. I hope it helps when I hold you. I can’t imagine how you delt with this alone!” “I—I didn’t deal with it! It was horrible, I’d cry for the rest of the night! That’s why I failed all my classes! But it really does help to have you with me.” “I’m glad.” He says, he hugs me and I hug back. It’s a bit weird that we’re both covered in soap, and the hug is lasting a while! “Um, Leo we should finish before the others brake in or something! And, you got all my must and oil off you right? And my uh that smell too?” He still doesn’t let go of me. “Yeah, let’s rinse off. I got it all off, I don’t mind having your smells on me.” He finally reluctantly let me go! Is he really that afraid of losing me? We rinse the soap out of our fur and step of the shower. We dry off and I see Leo’s mane and tail are really fluffy now! Honestly, I love how soft and fluffy he is after a shower. When we get dressed, I notice he is matching clothing with me! “Uh Leo this is kinda weird. Jenna and Flynn won’t be happy to see this!” He looks at me with a huff, “fuck them! I want to show everyone we’re together and that I love you!” His voce got louder with each word! “No, Leo stop! Don’t do this. Please not now!” I feel fear, Echo is getting to him again! “What do you want, Chase?” He sounds angry, his fur is bristling! But I’m sure he won’t hurt me. “Just change your shirt, ok? Please Leo, don’t start like how you acted that week, please!” He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and calms himself. His fur starts laying down. He takes his shirt off and I step closer to him. “Leo, I need you to promise me you won’t do that in front of them! Those two aren’t comfortable with us being together, I told them I’d be the judge of you so they’d leave us alone!” He looks deflated and sighs, “I’ll try, but this is who I am!” I take his paw in mine, “We’ll work on it together, your problems and mine!” “Thanks.” He says. He puts on a different shirt and we walk out.\n\nWe enter the kitchen and dining room to see Carl, TJ and Jenna already having breakfast. We get some food and join them. “Good morning guys what’s up?” I greet them. “You got up earlier today.” Jenna says. “We uh yeah didn’t sleep in today.” Damn, that was dumb, she knows what we did yesterday! She just gives me a weird look and I shrug. I turn to TJ. He waves at me and then looks down. I’ve got to talk to him today! I look at Carl, he has a slightly glazed look in his eyes. “Hey Carl, are you ok?” He looks up at me, “Did you two hear the noise last night? It happens a lot, but Jenna and TJ don’t believe me!” “Yeah, we heard it right Leo?” “Yeah, I wanted to go check it out, but Chase wouldn’t let me!” Jenna gives Leo an odd look, does she think I’m manipulating Leo now? She speaks, “Carl says this house is haunted, and that sometimes at night things get moved around in the crawlspace.” “Hey, that’s right, years ago remember how I had all those sleepovers here? That’s because Carl was afraid to be home alone when his parents where away!” I say, remembering how Carl was my best friend. I should really talk alone with him too! “Did anyone go check down there?” Leo says. “Uh, I’m not going down there alone! Sometimes I’ve heard voices! When I’m home alone, I lock my bedroom door at night!” Carl shivers when he said that. “Carl you have to face it sometime! That’s what I think, if you run from what’s in Echo it will just haunt you forever! You have to face it! I’m g-going to face what it showed me, but not alone! We should all help each other fight our demons!” TJ looks like he’s putting on a brave face, but the corner of his lip is twitching and he was holding onto the table pretty hard. “Hey, TJ let’s talk when we’re done ok?” He smiles and says “sure.” I Turn to Carl, “then I need to talk to you, ok?” Carl’s looks kinda nervous and just nods. What does he think I want to talk about? I just want to make sure he’s ok and if he’s alright with what’s going on! Leo is still eating when everyone else is finished, he really eats a lot! I get up and say, “let’s go to the sitting room TJ. Oh, uh Jenna, Leo can you two please not argue or fight? If what TJ says is true, we need to stay together and not be angry at each other!” “Chase…” Jenna says, I just worry about you. If you love Leo then that’s fine, I just think you two are moving too fast!” Leo puts his food down, “We’ve known each other for almost sixteen years! It’s not like we just met the other day! We’re trying to… get over what happened! Jenna, me and him were doing great until you came up with that prank!” Jenna starts to say something, but I cut her off! I don’t think I’ve ever done that to anyone before! “No, stop! You two are already arguing! Just stop, don’t speak to each other! Leo, forget the fucking prank already! I’m not leaving you again! Jenna, he’s not going to hurt me! And I—I feel safe with him by me, ok?” Tj looks sad again, and Carl is fiddling with his phone. “Come on TJ, let’s have our talk before something happens.” I glance at Jenna when I said that. She’s honestly annoying me now! What is her problem, is she jealous? Does she really think Leo will hurt me? Me and TJ go to the same sitting room as yesterday.\n\n“So, TJ, what’s up with you? You keep acting weird around me!” He looks down and bites his lip, “sorry Chase, its um I…” When he stays silent, I speak up, “TJ, have I done something that bothers you, or said something? Is it me and Leo?” He gives me a very weird look for just a second and then looks away. “No, no! A little… Chase, promise you won’t tell anyone what I say!” I reply quickly, “I promise I won’t ever tell, not even Leo!” He looks at me again, and takes in a deep breath. “I um like otters and I—I like you!” I’m silent for a moment. “Well, I kinda suspected you did. But I’m not mad or anything TJ. You know this really might be the last time we ever meet in person, so I guess if you want to you can check out my tail.” I get up walk over to him. He gets up too. I reach out and pull him into a hug. He’s surprised and tenses up for a moment then hugs me back. “I don’t think I’ve ever hugged you before, at least it has been so long I don’t remember! And that’s a shame as it’s nice to hug you, your so fluffy and soft!” I might have overdone it now. We let go. Tj’s ears are red. “Thank you Chase… We should try to keep in contact. We all have each other’s numbers and we could make our own chatroom online or something!” He says, he looks happier now. “That’s a great idea! We don’t need to be near each other to be friends. But while we’re still here, theres something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time TJ.” “Ok, go ahead.” he says. “What do you really think about me and Leo being gay and together, and you know, doing it?” I hope I don’t offend him. He smiles., “I think you two are made for each other! Seven years ago, I was really happy that you guys got together, and then I was sad when you broke up! My family won’t ever approve of you, but I think it’s great you’re back together with Leo! He really loves you, and he needs to have someone to take care of. And uh no offence Chase, but you need someone to take care of you.” “Aww, TJ that’s really sweet! I really hope if we all stay together; we can beat what’s here once and for all! And I hope maybe you get to have someone to love someday, maybe you’ll find a nice otter!” TJ laughs! “Oh Chase, that’s really nice of you to say! I hope you and Leo stay together now; it’d be too sad if you break up again.” “I hope so too, I really want to be with him. Anyway, I wanted to talk to Carl too, so…” “Yeah, I should get him now. Oh um, can I?” He says glancing at my tail.” “Sure, go ahead.” Tj reached out and gets his paw on the base of my tail. He feels it up, and it really is weird and a bit uncomfortable. He gets to the tip and let’s go. “Well, uh you have a nice tail, good muscle! Thanks, I should go now.” Tj says. then walks out of the room a lot happier then when he came in. I feel a tightness in my pants! I hope TJ didn’t notice… I also really hope this all works out for everyone!\n\nCarl walks in, he looks nervous. I decide I need to tell him right away. “Carl, I just wanted to know if you’re really ok? I thought maybe you could talk to me if you’re not? We used to hang out all the time, and I care about you.” He sits down. He’s eyes are bloodshot; how much did he smoke today already? He doesn’t smell too strong, or maybe I’m used to it? “Chase, you were my best friend! But when you and Leo became a thing, you ignored me! You were always with him! You always had sleepovers at his house and never again here! Then we went to pueblo, but I couldn’t do it! I came back here and was alone! You Jenna and TJ stayed in collage, Leo and Flynn hooked up for a while, and nobody bothered to come see me! I started smoking weed and just played my games all day. Everyone left me, I understand why Leo is obsessed with you, loneliness hurts!” I sigh. “I’m sorry Carl, I wasn’t there when you needed a friend and I’m sorry! I should have tried to hang out with you in the spring, but I got caught in Leo’s scheme… But we have a second chance now! We’re all together again, if nothing horrible happens you and me can, you know hang out. It could be like old times, maybe we can have that picnic Leo wanted?” He smiles, although it looks strained. “Thanks, Chase. We were supposed to all have a picnic last time, but you and Leo never showed up!” He sighs. “Hey, do you think maybe tonight we can check out what goes on in my basement? I mean we don’t all have to get down there, but maybe you and Leo? I really want to try a ghost investigation, but not alone!” I think for a moment before speaking, it sounds like a bad idea but maybe we should do it, “yeah, I think we should! TJ had been talking about how we have to face our demons here, and how we should do it all together! Maybe what’s going on is yours? If I go, I’m sure Leo will too. TJ probably will, and I’ll ask Jenna and Flynn.” His smile looks better now. “You’ll really go do that for me? Hey, bring your camera when we go!” That’s an interesting idea, the camera picked up the… thing… on the mountain. Whatever is under the mansion can’t be that scary right? “Good idea Carl! Maybe we can make a documentary about whatever this is in Echo and post it online? I never got to finish my class project, and yeah…” Carl gets up, “Then let’s do it! But first TJ said something at breakfast before you came down. He uh, said we needed to go make peace where this all started for us. I um hope you know what that means?” I feel anxiety! “The lake.” Saying it makes me feel uncomfortable, but Tj is right we need to do it! I swallow, “y—yeah, that’s um as long as we all go together and watch out it should be fine.” Carl gets up, comes over and hugs me! I hug him back, he’s chubby but also has good muscle! “Chase, just stay by Leo. I heard you freeze up when… things happen! And even though you practically ditched me, I don’t want anything to happen to you!” We break off the hug, “Carl, I want to always be your friend, even if we can’t be in person again let’s all keep in touch!” Carl nods, “Yeah TJ said that to me this morning too, I think I can set up a privet chatroom for just us. So, let’s go, I think TJ is waiting for us and Flynn.” I pat him on the shoulder and we go to find the others.\n\nWe find Leo, TJ and Jenna in Carl’s huge living room. I going to miss this place when the Hendricks move out, it’s probably the only nice house left in Echo! Even Leo’s house is run down now… My old house is still standing, but not in good shape. (“My home in Echo is long gone. Only the name remains, The smoke room!”) What!? I try to ignore that voice, but the smoke room is a real place! Apparently, some kind of gay bar that Flynn goes to all the time, and Leo went there after I left him. Should I look into this? That voice can’t be real right? It’s just my mocking sub-conscious or something… Now is not the time. Me and Leo sit down on a couch. Tj looks a bit nervous when he talks. “So, guys I was going to wait for Flynn, but I want to tell everyone that I think we should go to the lake.” Me and Carl already knew, but Jenna and Leo grimace. I speak up, “I think so too, we need to make peace with what happened as a group! That week we all thought it was the last time we’d be together, but we have a second chance now! If we don’t do this now, it’s going to haunt us for the rest of our lives!” Carl looks like he wants to say something, I nod to him. “Dudes, I don’t remember what happened that day! I think, I agree we should go! It’s time, we should wait for Flynn and do it as a group.” Jenna sighs, “alright if you all go, then I will too! No need to ask Leo, he’ll just follow Chase. Actually, Chase, TJ are you two sure you want to go there? You both have panic attacks now and seeing the place where it happened might trigger them!” Leo looks to me, “if Chase has um, a reaction being there I’ll take care of him, maybe you two can look after TJ?” I need to tell them… I sigh and say, “well I’ve had nightmares about the lake all summer! I keep seeing Sydney drowning! Sometimes I see the shadow me! I—I admit I’m scared to go to sleep at night, being with Leo really does help. And I know I’ll be afraid at the lake, even if I’ve missed swimming there all these years!” Leo gets up, walks to me and grabs me in a hug! Next to me Carl pats my back, then TJ comes over and puts his paw on my shoulder. “Um guys, why are uh…” “Chase.” Leo says, you’re a lot worse than TJ! He doesn’t have nightmares every night, and he’s told us he feels fine going to the lake. But you don’t! When you were talking to Tj and then Carl, we’ve been talking and sorry to say this, you’re the most vulnerable one of us! We’re all worried about you.” And that’s when Flynn walks in. He stops when he sees us. “Ok, so is hugging and touching Chase the big plan for today?” He says. Everyone let’s go of me. I’m a little disappointed, even if that was kinda awkward. “No, we were just showing that we care for him! His panic attacks have increased.” Leo says, “the plan is that we want to go to the lake and make peace with what happened!” Flynn’s eyes go wide. “You’re kidding! So is TJ going to tell what he really saw?” He looks to TJ. “We should do this when we’re there!” TJ says. Everyone is looking at Flynn. He puts his hand up in front of him. “Hey! I’m not going to yell at you guys this time! Alright, just—it’s just Sydney was my best friend and it’s been fucking hell for me not knowing for sure…” He trails off, he actually does look sad. After that, nobody speaks as we get ready to go. On an impulse I grab my camera. We all get into Leos van.\n\nThe drive to the lake is quiet, when we were kids, we walked there but considering what we’ve seen it feels safer to be in the van. On the way I take some video of the town, not sure why. Leo pulls into the parking lot and parks. I remember when there wasn’t a parking lot here. We get out. A wave of nostalgia washes over me, so many memories of days spent playing, swimming and hanging out with my friends here! I was here in the spring, but now after what happened its different. We walk in silence to the boulder, that was the place where we would play a lot, Carl even made a rock carving on it! When we reach it, everyone leans against it. I turn the camera back on and film, this is an important time for us! “Well, who wants to start?” Flynn says. I speak, “this… this is or was the center of my childhood! I have so many happy memories of this place with all of you guys! I remember swimming around the whole lake and taking you guys on rides and dives! I never could have imagined such a tragedy would happen here, or that it would haunt my dreams all this time!” I look down at the rocky sand. I hear Jenna. “I remember all of us in a group hug crying! I think Leo was yelling, or was it you Flynn? I don’t remember what you said!” Next to me Leo talks, “it was me; I was yelling that I should have been watching out for everyone! I promised that I would always protect you guys after that! I haven’t done that so well… I—I’m—sorry! I started focusing on Chase because maybe I can only take care of one of you! I had a crush on him since he was six years old, I—I always wanted to be with him from when I first moved here.” On my other side I hear Carl, “Dude, you made that promise in high school! Or maybe I just don’t remember? I really don’t remember that day at all! But before it happened, I have good memories of this rock and the beach.” Nobody says anything for a bit, everyone is lost in their thoughts. I look out over the lake, it looks peaceful. There’s no boats or swimmers, nobody on the beach besides us. I look towards the place where it happened panning the camera around, I can’t actually see that part of the beach from here. I really don’t remember much of what happened! (“You chose not to!”) Shut up! I tell the voice! Then I hear TJ’s voice, it is not steady, I focus the camera on him. “Alright, I’ll t—tell what I saw. But it’s hard for me…” He takes a deep breath, “Guys, when I—when I was here that day… it was here! I saw the monster! It was—was walking on the beach and went into the lake! It didn’t swim just walked until it was underwater! Then, just a couple minutes later I saw Sydney being pulled down!” Everyone is silent for a long time! Then Flynn says, “so that’s it then.” I film him now. “Why you never told us what you really saw. I get it, we wouldn’t have believed you then! But we all saw it last time! TJ, I’m sorry again for yelling at you, I understand now. But it still hurts, Sydney was my best friend! And—and that’s what happened! I don’t know if Leo killed it yesterday, but if not, I’ll kill it myself!” Jenna steps in front of Flynn and says, “normally I’d be concerned about a revenge killing! But if the… thing is still around we should kill it! Now we know it killed one of our friends! A few months ago, it attacked us and threw our car into the lake! And it was spying on Leo and Chase yesterday! Besides we can’t be accused of murder for killing a monster!” Everyone is quiet again; I think I saw Flynn wipe a tear off his face! TJ is looking down and pushing a small rock around with his foot. Leo and Flynn are looking out over the lake and for some reason Jenna is looking at me, she’s making me kinda uncomfortable. Then I hear Leo and Flynn shout curses almost in unison! I look up and go into shock! It’s walking out of the lake! All red and burned looking! Flat face with three holes! The water doesn’t seem to be touching it, and it moves like it is stop action animation! As it walked towards us it gets higher from the water, it’s at least as tall as Flynn! It has exposed muscle and bone! Its limbs seen unnaturally long and thin. TJ is frozen in place like me! Jenna and Carl grab him and start dragging him towards the van, they look terrified and horrified! Oh no, I can’t move! If Leo and Flynn can’t stop it, I’m done for! I watch in terror as Leo and Flynn train their handguns on it. Flynn gasps! “Don’t shoot, it’s me! Fucking hell, it’s me! Leo, look at it! It’s me!” I’ve never heard Flynn’s voice like that! It’s strained and sounds painful! He drops his gun. “I’m all burned and mutilated! It’s me! How? How!” Flynn falls to his knees now. In a flash the monster is on him! Then, it gone! It was like it got sucked into Flynn! But there was a after image, it didn’t look like the monster or Flynn. It was like several different species mixed together, and it went backwards into the lake fast! Then Flynn lets out an ear-piercing scream! I snap out of my paralysis and cover my ears as he keeps screaming! He screams until he runs out of breath and then falls on his face! Leo kneels down next to him; I run to him and Kneel too. Leo turns him over; he looks from Leo to me. “Flynn can you hear me?” I say. He looks at me and whispers, “I felt the fire! I saw horrible things! I’m a time traveler, I…” Leo leans down to him, “Flynn can you move? Can you get up?” He says. Jenna is here now, “Leo, give him a moment will you!” She says. She gets down by Flynn. “Flynn, are you ok? Do you know what happened?” Her voice is gentle. He replies, “I’m—I’m the m-monster! I got burned up and went back in time somehow!” “Flynn” Jenna says, “you’re not burned! We need to leave, can you stand?” Flynn reaches out to Leo, him and me help Flynn up. Flynn leans on Leo, who holds him up, I get a hold too, he’s trembling. Even with us helping him, it’s takes a while to get to the van. TJ is in the back seat being comforted by Carl. Flynn has a hard time getting into the van, once in a seat he goes limp! I buckle him in. Leo goes running back to the beach, then comes back with Flynn’s revolver. I sit next to Flynn and Jenna is up front with Leo. I turn the camera off, did it record the monster?! Should we take him to the hospital?” Leo says. “And tell them he was attacked by a monster? He’s not hurt, maybe in shock. Let’s just go to Carl’s place.” Jenna says. The drive back is quiet, but it feels different. I try to comfort Flynn by holding his hand, he doesn’t really react. He just looks at me. His jaw is slightly slack.\n\nFlynn is able to walk into the mansion on his own, he’s got a thousand-yard stare though! In the living room he just falls face first unto a couch! His face is pressed into the cushion. “Um, Leo I don’t think he can breathe like that!” I say. Leo turns Flynn over and he grunts. “Leave me alone!” Flynn says. Jenna shakes her head, “No, I don’t think you should be alone right now!” Tj stands by the couch at Flynn’s head. Flynn looks at each of us standing around him, “what if I turn into it? It’s not safe to—to be near me guys! I—I remember… I have its memories, I think. I—it killed Brian and Duke! I’ve—it has been wandering through time! Jenna, I remember being in your closet, you were really little! You asked if I was real and I shook my head no… I don’t remember much else, just seeing horrible things…” Jenna seems unnerved, “I remember that! I thought it was a dream! But when I was very young, I remember seeing that… thing, creeping around outside at night! It was always when I was feeling sad or angry… Flynn, you are not the monster! I don’t know what happened, but its not you, it can’t be!” Flynn looks like he’s trying not to cry, “no, Jenna I am! Or will be! I remember wandering lost, then I was in the smoke room and Sydney was there! He said he’s show me the truth, so I guess I followed him. Then I was on fire! I was totally burned! Daxton and Carl saw me, we were in the mine! I tried to talk to them, but my trout was burned…” TJ’s lip is twitching, he looks worried and scared! Carl shakes his head, “I’ve never been in the mine! That didn’t happen! I never saw you burning! And you’re not burned” I start having a weird feeling, what if its true? But how? If this happens in the future what caused it? When I think about it, the monster really doesn’t look like Flynn at all! Only the height is the same… Flynn would have to be more then burned to look like that, he’d have to lose his muzzle, tail and eyes! How horrible! If Flynn remembers that pain, no wonder he’s acting like this… Why would they be in the mine? Who’s Daxton? Wait I got it! “Flynn, listen.” I say. “Just don’t go to the smoke room or the mine! If that thing was you from the future, just avoid the place it happens to you!” Flynn looks at me, he shudders. Everyone just finds a seat. It’s quiet for a long time, I think Flynn went to sleep. Tj’s whisper breaks the silence, “he must have gone to hell and came back.” He looked sick as he spoke. “Don’t say that! He’s fine now, not burned or anything! If he stays with us, he should be fine.” Jenna says, she sounds like she’s trying to convince herself. I look down and see I still have the camera. “Hey Carl, can I use your computer? I want to check my footage.” Flynn’s eyes snap open and he looks at me with everyone else! “Puchica otter! You filed it?” Leo almost shouts. Jenna is now staring at the camera like she’s afraid of it. “That’s uh what I want to check! The um the big one appears in the video, the… small one might too! Maybe we can see if it really is Flynn or not?” I wonder if it would be best if Flynn doesn’t watch the video for now? “Uh sure you can, just like don’t let my pc get possessed or something!” Carl says. “Thanks, I’ll uh try not to!” I say. I get up and Leo, Carl and Jenna follow me. “I’m staying with Flynn!” TJ says.\n\nThe camera caught the monster! We watched the whole video, then slowed it down and zoomed in. Honestly its really hard to see how that thing could be Flynn! He’d have to be so horribly mutilated! Carl wondered off after only a couple minutes. There’s not much we can do with the video, so I just save it on Carl’s pc and we go back downstairs. Flynn is sitting up now, and drinking from a water bottle. TJ is sitting next to him. I can’t believe TJ is actually concerned about Flynn after how the lizard treated him! “So, what’s in the video?” Flynn says when he sees me. “Well, the camera picked it up. It’s the same as we saw, um I really don’t think its you Flynn. You’d have to be more then burned to look like that!” I say. Flynn sighs, “I know! I remember what happened. I get burned, then each time I go through time I lose parts of my body… Finally, I lose my eyes in the lake!” Jenna goes over to him, “Flynn it hasn’t happened yet! We could prevent it! Just stay with us and don’t go near the mine or uh the smoke room!” Leo starts to say something, but suddenly the sound of crashing makes us all jump! It happens again, and again! “What is that?” TJ asks. “It’s coming from the basement!” Jenna says. “I’ll go look.” Leo says and starts towards the basement stairs. “Not alone!” I say running after him. I look back to see the others following, maybe TJ and Flynn should stay up here?\n\nDown in the basement the crashing sounds are louder. We follow them to a door at the end of the hall. Leo opens it reveling another staircase leading into darkness! The crawlspace! I fumble with my phone and turn its light on. “Chase you are not going first!” Leo says. He gets his phone like on and goes down. I follow and see the crawlspace is a mess! It seems Leo and Flynn stashed the survival and emergency packs here. They’ve been thrown all over and there are also a bunch of plastic boxes shoved around too! I guess we know what all the nose was in the night. I see broken plaster scattered all over the tarp covering the floor. Suddenly it gets way brighter! I look up to see that Leo found a floodlamp and turned it on. The light revels a large hole smashed through the far wall! Me and Leo walk over to it. The others follow us, TJ looking pretty nervous. I shine me light into the hole, I don’t see anything. It smells pretty musty, like nobody’s been in there a very long time! I start to lean forward to look into the hole. Leo grabs me! “Chase don’t go in!” I look up at him, he looks concerned but I feel annoyed! “I’m not going all the way in; I just want to get a better look! Carl must be in—” At that moment my body seizes up and a loud buzzing fills my head! It feels like my head is splitting open! I fall and I don’t hit the floor! I seem to just keep falling…\n\n\nto be continued...","writing_bbcode_parsed":"I’m lying on something hard and gritty. I hear wind and water. I open my eyes to see rocks and sand. Oh no, I must have been sleepwalking! I slowly stand up, feeling groggy. I look around and it takes a moment me for to process what I’m seeing… Emma lake, near the big bolder. I’m naked, that’s just great! It seems to be very early morning; the sun is not over the hills yet. What should I do? Does Leo know? Can he track me all the way over here? I look at the lake, there’s something floating near the shore. Its someone with red fur! No! Oh no, please no! I stumble over the rocks towards the water. As I get closer, I can see it’s a maned wolf floating face down in the water! No, no, no! But I already knew when I first saw him. I hope I’m wrong, but I am at the water now and there’s no mistaking it. I feel sick, how did this happen? Leo must have been following me when I was sleepwalking and had an accident! But it doesn’t make sense. I get into the water, he’s only a few feet from shore. I pull him to the beach. He’s so heavy that I can’t get him any further. It takes some effort to flip him over. His eyes are open, but he just stares! Water trickles out of his mouth, and he just stares! I don’t know what to do! Can he be revived or is it too late? What do I do! I don’t have my phone and he doesn’t either! Nobody will be coming for hours if not days! I try shaking him! “Leo, Leo! Please come on!” He’s completely limp! I collapse over his naked body and cry. “Nooooo!” I scream! “Yes” a voice replies. I look up, standing there is the shadow. Its horrible smile is worse than ever! “You did it!” My voice is high and strained. Its voice is like a bad recording. “I told you I would! He had a merciful death, the others are burning!” “Whyyyy?!” I scream again. “Because of what happened here, what you did and how you kept it a secret!” Then it laughs, it sounds absolutely horrific! I feel grief and rage! I grab a large rock and hurl it as hard as I can! It hits the shadow in the face, and it’s just gone! The rock too!

Its dark now. I feel soft damp fur, Leo. I’m back in bed laying on him. Was that a dream? But he’s actually wet! He’s not moving! I feel cold dread! I put my ear to his chest. I don’t hear anything and my eyes fill with tears. But then when I move my head lower, I hear a steady heartbeat and breathing! He’s alive! But why is he wet? Was I crying on him? He stirs and wakes. “Chase? What the hell! Chase what happened?” He seems confused about being wet, he rolls me off him, but I cling to his fur. He looks at me and his eyes widen. “Oh, jeez Chase! Another nightmare? Where you crying on me?” He sits up and pulls me into his lap. “I—I dreamed you died! It was so real! The (sob) shadow was there again…” Leo holds me close and rubs me. “I’m here Chase, it wasn’t real. Change of plans again, I getting you out of here today! No more of this!” “Leo, we can’t run. It will just follow us! We have to face it! It takes our problems and makes them worse! I—we have to fight our own demons; I don’t know what mine is. But you’re not even fighting yours!” “Chase! What am I supposed to fight? My love for you? Am I supposed to not love you? If loving you is wrong and is part of the evil, then I don’t even know! And—and whatever your demon is you don’t have to face it alone! I’ll be here!” (“You’re the source of this! You and your forgotten secret!”) “Leo, let’s try to get back to sleep. As long as you still love me, I’m sure we can figure this out.” Leo sighs and lays down. I get on top him again and we snuggle under the blanket.

I wake up to morning light. Leo is still asleep, he looks cute. He smells stronger now, I hope I don’t stink too much. I gently stroke his ears, the fur on them is very soft. He doesn’t wake up! Although his ears do twitch at my touch. It’s then I notice my morning wood is pressed against his stomach. I feel something poking my rear, and realize Leo has it too! He seems to be waking up now. He yawns and stretches. His eyes open and he smiles when he sees me. “Good morning Leo.” “Good morning Chase, it’s really nice to see and feel you when I wake up. I used to be so lonely waiting for you to come back.” I grin at him and say. “What else do you feel?” He looks confused for a moment, then his face lights up! “Oh! Yeah, that! You want to?” I push myself off him, reach down and stroke his length. He shivers, and runs his big finger over mine. His touch feels so good! I position myself over his cock. “Think we can get right to it?” He looks into my eyes and there’s a hungry look in his! I’m not afraid of him, I need this too! I rub my own cock against his. We both give quiet moans. As I keep doing it, my breathing increases and I hear Leo’s too. I move forward, sliding my balls over Leo’s cock. I press my rear against his tip. He thrusts up and surprises me. I let out a little yelp. “I love the sounds you make Chula!” he says, stroking my face. I grip his waist to steady myself. “Ready Leo?” He’s panting already and drooling! He nods. With his tip already in, I let myself sink down. He goes in mostly smoothly; I need to get used to him again! His length goes in deep until I feel his knot. He gets hold of my smaller dick and wraps his other arm around me. He pulls me down as he pumps me and thrusts into me! We kiss. Our tongues touch, as usual his pushing mine out of the way and gets in my mouth! He licks around inside my mouth as his cock presses deep into me again! He’s being a bit rough, but it feels like he’s trying to pour his love into me from two different sources! We buck and bounce on the bed! I hope the others don’t hear us! Our deep kiss ends and I arch my back. I can feel his knot starting to get inside me! I grimace as he shoves it in! He tenderly holds me and guides me down. His knot is almost in! I used to be able to take it better! Then it’s in! I whine as he starts pumping me again and continues thrusting with his hips. He’s drooling all over and panting heavily! I think I’m drooling on him! Our movements are getting crazy now! I look at Leo. His eyes are intensely focused on mine! His grimacing, trying to hold back and make it last longer, he looks both scary and vulnerable! I can’t hold back, and I hope he doesn’t howl like that one time… “Leo, I’m about to!” I gasp out. I think he nods! Then it happens! He pumps his seed deep into me as mine spurts out across him up to his chest! When we stop, I lay down on him panting. He’s sticky from my seed and sweaty! We’ve put out a lot of musk and the smell of our seed is strong too! I hug him tight and he rubs along my body. “Chula, thanks.” he says. He rubs my head and strokes my ears. I feel and grope his muscles. “Next time, I’m topping you!” I say. He chuckles, “Sure.” We cuddle as we wait to unknot. We really stink this time! I guess we’re showering together again.

It’s really nice showering with Leo, having this big wolf here make me feel safe! Back in Pueblo in my last semester I felt lonely and nervous… Not to mention how bad the nights where! I look up at Leo, his fur is totally foamed with shampoo! He uses a lot more them me. “Hey I’m sorry I keep waking you up. I guess my problems are getting worse.” He looks down at me with a sympathetic smile. “Its fine. I hope it helps when I hold you. I can’t imagine how you delt with this alone!” “I—I didn’t deal with it! It was horrible, I’d cry for the rest of the night! That’s why I failed all my classes! But it really does help to have you with me.” “I’m glad.” He says, he hugs me and I hug back. It’s a bit weird that we’re both covered in soap, and the hug is lasting a while! “Um, Leo we should finish before the others brake in or something! And, you got all my must and oil off you right? And my uh that smell too?” He still doesn’t let go of me. “Yeah, let’s rinse off. I got it all off, I don’t mind having your smells on me.” He finally reluctantly let me go! Is he really that afraid of losing me? We rinse the soap out of our fur and step of the shower. We dry off and I see Leo’s mane and tail are really fluffy now! Honestly, I love how soft and fluffy he is after a shower. When we get dressed, I notice he is matching clothing with me! “Uh Leo this is kinda weird. Jenna and Flynn won’t be happy to see this!” He looks at me with a huff, “fuck them! I want to show everyone we’re together and that I love you!” His voce got louder with each word! “No, Leo stop! Don’t do this. Please not now!” I feel fear, Echo is getting to him again! “What do you want, Chase?” He sounds angry, his fur is bristling! But I’m sure he won’t hurt me. “Just change your shirt, ok? Please Leo, don’t start like how you acted that week, please!” He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and calms himself. His fur starts laying down. He takes his shirt off and I step closer to him. “Leo, I need you to promise me you won’t do that in front of them! Those two aren’t comfortable with us being together, I told them I’d be the judge of you so they’d leave us alone!” He looks deflated and sighs, “I’ll try, but this is who I am!” I take his paw in mine, “We’ll work on it together, your problems and mine!” “Thanks.” He says. He puts on a different shirt and we walk out.

We enter the kitchen and dining room to see Carl, TJ and Jenna already having breakfast. We get some food and join them. “Good morning guys what’s up?” I greet them. “You got up earlier today.” Jenna says. “We uh yeah didn’t sleep in today.” Damn, that was dumb, she knows what we did yesterday! She just gives me a weird look and I shrug. I turn to TJ. He waves at me and then looks down. I’ve got to talk to him today! I look at Carl, he has a slightly glazed look in his eyes. “Hey Carl, are you ok?” He looks up at me, “Did you two hear the noise last night? It happens a lot, but Jenna and TJ don’t believe me!” “Yeah, we heard it right Leo?” “Yeah, I wanted to go check it out, but Chase wouldn’t let me!” Jenna gives Leo an odd look, does she think I’m manipulating Leo now? She speaks, “Carl says this house is haunted, and that sometimes at night things get moved around in the crawlspace.” “Hey, that’s right, years ago remember how I had all those sleepovers here? That’s because Carl was afraid to be home alone when his parents where away!” I say, remembering how Carl was my best friend. I should really talk alone with him too! “Did anyone go check down there?” Leo says. “Uh, I’m not going down there alone! Sometimes I’ve heard voices! When I’m home alone, I lock my bedroom door at night!” Carl shivers when he said that. “Carl you have to face it sometime! That’s what I think, if you run from what’s in Echo it will just haunt you forever! You have to face it! I’m g-going to face what it showed me, but not alone! We should all help each other fight our demons!” TJ looks like he’s putting on a brave face, but the corner of his lip is twitching and he was holding onto the table pretty hard. “Hey, TJ let’s talk when we’re done ok?” He smiles and says “sure.” I Turn to Carl, “then I need to talk to you, ok?” Carl’s looks kinda nervous and just nods. What does he think I want to talk about? I just want to make sure he’s ok and if he’s alright with what’s going on! Leo is still eating when everyone else is finished, he really eats a lot! I get up and say, “let’s go to the sitting room TJ. Oh, uh Jenna, Leo can you two please not argue or fight? If what TJ says is true, we need to stay together and not be angry at each other!” “Chase…” Jenna says, I just worry about you. If you love Leo then that’s fine, I just think you two are moving too fast!” Leo puts his food down, “We’ve known each other for almost sixteen years! It’s not like we just met the other day! We’re trying to… get over what happened! Jenna, me and him were doing great until you came up with that prank!” Jenna starts to say something, but I cut her off! I don’t think I’ve ever done that to anyone before! “No, stop! You two are already arguing! Just stop, don’t speak to each other! Leo, forget the fucking prank already! I’m not leaving you again! Jenna, he’s not going to hurt me! And I—I feel safe with him by me, ok?” Tj looks sad again, and Carl is fiddling with his phone. “Come on TJ, let’s have our talk before something happens.” I glance at Jenna when I said that. She’s honestly annoying me now! What is her problem, is she jealous? Does she really think Leo will hurt me? Me and TJ go to the same sitting room as yesterday.

“So, TJ, what’s up with you? You keep acting weird around me!” He looks down and bites his lip, “sorry Chase, its um I…” When he stays silent, I speak up, “TJ, have I done something that bothers you, or said something? Is it me and Leo?” He gives me a very weird look for just a second and then looks away. “No, no! A little… Chase, promise you won’t tell anyone what I say!” I reply quickly, “I promise I won’t ever tell, not even Leo!” He looks at me again, and takes in a deep breath. “I um like otters and I—I like you!” I’m silent for a moment. “Well, I kinda suspected you did. But I’m not mad or anything TJ. You know this really might be the last time we ever meet in person, so I guess if you want to you can check out my tail.” I get up walk over to him. He gets up too. I reach out and pull him into a hug. He’s surprised and tenses up for a moment then hugs me back. “I don’t think I’ve ever hugged you before, at least it has been so long I don’t remember! And that’s a shame as it’s nice to hug you, your so fluffy and soft!” I might have overdone it now. We let go. Tj’s ears are red. “Thank you Chase… We should try to keep in contact. We all have each other’s numbers and we could make our own chatroom online or something!” He says, he looks happier now. “That’s a great idea! We don’t need to be near each other to be friends. But while we’re still here, theres something I’ve wanted to ask you for a long time TJ.” “Ok, go ahead.” he says. “What do you really think about me and Leo being gay and together, and you know, doing it?” I hope I don’t offend him. He smiles., “I think you two are made for each other! Seven years ago, I was really happy that you guys got together, and then I was sad when you broke up! My family won’t ever approve of you, but I think it’s great you’re back together with Leo! He really loves you, and he needs to have someone to take care of. And uh no offence Chase, but you need someone to take care of you.” “Aww, TJ that’s really sweet! I really hope if we all stay together; we can beat what’s here once and for all! And I hope maybe you get to have someone to love someday, maybe you’ll find a nice otter!” TJ laughs! “Oh Chase, that’s really nice of you to say! I hope you and Leo stay together now; it’d be too sad if you break up again.” “I hope so too, I really want to be with him. Anyway, I wanted to talk to Carl too, so…” “Yeah, I should get him now. Oh um, can I?” He says glancing at my tail.” “Sure, go ahead.” Tj reached out and gets his paw on the base of my tail. He feels it up, and it really is weird and a bit uncomfortable. He gets to the tip and let’s go. “Well, uh you have a nice tail, good muscle! Thanks, I should go now.” Tj says. then walks out of the room a lot happier then when he came in. I feel a tightness in my pants! I hope TJ didn’t notice… I also really hope this all works out for everyone!

Carl walks in, he looks nervous. I decide I need to tell him right away. “Carl, I just wanted to know if you’re really ok? I thought maybe you could talk to me if you’re not? We used to hang out all the time, and I care about you.” He sits down. He’s eyes are bloodshot; how much did he smoke today already? He doesn’t smell too strong, or maybe I’m used to it? “Chase, you were my best friend! But when you and Leo became a thing, you ignored me! You were always with him! You always had sleepovers at his house and never again here! Then we went to pueblo, but I couldn’t do it! I came back here and was alone! You Jenna and TJ stayed in collage, Leo and Flynn hooked up for a while, and nobody bothered to come see me! I started smoking weed and just played my games all day. Everyone left me, I understand why Leo is obsessed with you, loneliness hurts!” I sigh. “I’m sorry Carl, I wasn’t there when you needed a friend and I’m sorry! I should have tried to hang out with you in the spring, but I got caught in Leo’s scheme… But we have a second chance now! We’re all together again, if nothing horrible happens you and me can, you know hang out. It could be like old times, maybe we can have that picnic Leo wanted?” He smiles, although it looks strained. “Thanks, Chase. We were supposed to all have a picnic last time, but you and Leo never showed up!” He sighs. “Hey, do you think maybe tonight we can check out what goes on in my basement? I mean we don’t all have to get down there, but maybe you and Leo? I really want to try a ghost investigation, but not alone!” I think for a moment before speaking, it sounds like a bad idea but maybe we should do it, “yeah, I think we should! TJ had been talking about how we have to face our demons here, and how we should do it all together! Maybe what’s going on is yours? If I go, I’m sure Leo will too. TJ probably will, and I’ll ask Jenna and Flynn.” His smile looks better now. “You’ll really go do that for me? Hey, bring your camera when we go!” That’s an interesting idea, the camera picked up the… thing… on the mountain. Whatever is under the mansion can’t be that scary right? “Good idea Carl! Maybe we can make a documentary about whatever this is in Echo and post it online? I never got to finish my class project, and yeah…” Carl gets up, “Then let’s do it! But first TJ said something at breakfast before you came down. He uh, said we needed to go make peace where this all started for us. I um hope you know what that means?” I feel anxiety! “The lake.” Saying it makes me feel uncomfortable, but Tj is right we need to do it! I swallow, “y—yeah, that’s um as long as we all go together and watch out it should be fine.” Carl gets up, comes over and hugs me! I hug him back, he’s chubby but also has good muscle! “Chase, just stay by Leo. I heard you freeze up when… things happen! And even though you practically ditched me, I don’t want anything to happen to you!” We break off the hug, “Carl, I want to always be your friend, even if we can’t be in person again let’s all keep in touch!” Carl nods, “Yeah TJ said that to me this morning too, I think I can set up a privet chatroom for just us. So, let’s go, I think TJ is waiting for us and Flynn.” I pat him on the shoulder and we go to find the others.

We find Leo, TJ and Jenna in Carl’s huge living room. I going to miss this place when the Hendricks move out, it’s probably the only nice house left in Echo! Even Leo’s house is run down now… My old house is still standing, but not in good shape. (“My home in Echo is long gone. Only the name remains, The smoke room!”) What!? I try to ignore that voice, but the smoke room is a real place! Apparently, some kind of gay bar that Flynn goes to all the time, and Leo went there after I left him. Should I look into this? That voice can’t be real right? It’s just my mocking sub-conscious or something… Now is not the time. Me and Leo sit down on a couch. Tj looks a bit nervous when he talks. “So, guys I was going to wait for Flynn, but I want to tell everyone that I think we should go to the lake.” Me and Carl already knew, but Jenna and Leo grimace. I speak up, “I think so too, we need to make peace with what happened as a group! That week we all thought it was the last time we’d be together, but we have a second chance now! If we don’t do this now, it’s going to haunt us for the rest of our lives!” Carl looks like he wants to say something, I nod to him. “Dudes, I don’t remember what happened that day! I think, I agree we should go! It’s time, we should wait for Flynn and do it as a group.” Jenna sighs, “alright if you all go, then I will too! No need to ask Leo, he’ll just follow Chase. Actually, Chase, TJ are you two sure you want to go there? You both have panic attacks now and seeing the place where it happened might trigger them!” Leo looks to me, “if Chase has um, a reaction being there I’ll take care of him, maybe you two can look after TJ?” I need to tell them… I sigh and say, “well I’ve had nightmares about the lake all summer! I keep seeing Sydney drowning! Sometimes I see the shadow me! I—I admit I’m scared to go to sleep at night, being with Leo really does help. And I know I’ll be afraid at the lake, even if I’ve missed swimming there all these years!” Leo gets up, walks to me and grabs me in a hug! Next to me Carl pats my back, then TJ comes over and puts his paw on my shoulder. “Um guys, why are uh…” “Chase.” Leo says, you’re a lot worse than TJ! He doesn’t have nightmares every night, and he’s told us he feels fine going to the lake. But you don’t! When you were talking to Tj and then Carl, we’ve been talking and sorry to say this, you’re the most vulnerable one of us! We’re all worried about you.” And that’s when Flynn walks in. He stops when he sees us. “Ok, so is hugging and touching Chase the big plan for today?” He says. Everyone let’s go of me. I’m a little disappointed, even if that was kinda awkward. “No, we were just showing that we care for him! His panic attacks have increased.” Leo says, “the plan is that we want to go to the lake and make peace with what happened!” Flynn’s eyes go wide. “You’re kidding! So is TJ going to tell what he really saw?” He looks to TJ. “We should do this when we’re there!” TJ says. Everyone is looking at Flynn. He puts his hand up in front of him. “Hey! I’m not going to yell at you guys this time! Alright, just—it’s just Sydney was my best friend and it’s been fucking hell for me not knowing for sure…” He trails off, he actually does look sad. After that, nobody speaks as we get ready to go. On an impulse I grab my camera. We all get into Leos van.

The drive to the lake is quiet, when we were kids, we walked there but considering what we’ve seen it feels safer to be in the van. On the way I take some video of the town, not sure why. Leo pulls into the parking lot and parks. I remember when there wasn’t a parking lot here. We get out. A wave of nostalgia washes over me, so many memories of days spent playing, swimming and hanging out with my friends here! I was here in the spring, but now after what happened its different. We walk in silence to the boulder, that was the place where we would play a lot, Carl even made a rock carving on it! When we reach it, everyone leans against it. I turn the camera back on and film, this is an important time for us! “Well, who wants to start?” Flynn says. I speak, “this… this is or was the center of my childhood! I have so many happy memories of this place with all of you guys! I remember swimming around the whole lake and taking you guys on rides and dives! I never could have imagined such a tragedy would happen here, or that it would haunt my dreams all this time!” I look down at the rocky sand. I hear Jenna. “I remember all of us in a group hug crying! I think Leo was yelling, or was it you Flynn? I don’t remember what you said!” Next to me Leo talks, “it was me; I was yelling that I should have been watching out for everyone! I promised that I would always protect you guys after that! I haven’t done that so well… I—I’m—sorry! I started focusing on Chase because maybe I can only take care of one of you! I had a crush on him since he was six years old, I—I always wanted to be with him from when I first moved here.” On my other side I hear Carl, “Dude, you made that promise in high school! Or maybe I just don’t remember? I really don’t remember that day at all! But before it happened, I have good memories of this rock and the beach.” Nobody says anything for a bit, everyone is lost in their thoughts. I look out over the lake, it looks peaceful. There’s no boats or swimmers, nobody on the beach besides us. I look towards the place where it happened panning the camera around, I can’t actually see that part of the beach from here. I really don’t remember much of what happened! (“You chose not to!”) Shut up! I tell the voice! Then I hear TJ’s voice, it is not steady, I focus the camera on him. “Alright, I’ll t—tell what I saw. But it’s hard for me…” He takes a deep breath, “Guys, when I—when I was here that day… it was here! I saw the monster! It was—was walking on the beach and went into the lake! It didn’t swim just walked until it was underwater! Then, just a couple minutes later I saw Sydney being pulled down!” Everyone is silent for a long time! Then Flynn says, “so that’s it then.” I film him now. “Why you never told us what you really saw. I get it, we wouldn’t have believed you then! But we all saw it last time! TJ, I’m sorry again for yelling at you, I understand now. But it still hurts, Sydney was my best friend! And—and that’s what happened! I don’t know if Leo killed it yesterday, but if not, I’ll kill it myself!” Jenna steps in front of Flynn and says, “normally I’d be concerned about a revenge killing! But if the… thing is still around we should kill it! Now we know it killed one of our friends! A few months ago, it attacked us and threw our car into the lake! And it was spying on Leo and Chase yesterday! Besides we can’t be accused of murder for killing a monster!” Everyone is quiet again; I think I saw Flynn wipe a tear off his face! TJ is looking down and pushing a small rock around with his foot. Leo and Flynn are looking out over the lake and for some reason Jenna is looking at me, she’s making me kinda uncomfortable. Then I hear Leo and Flynn shout curses almost in unison! I look up and go into shock! It’s walking out of the lake! All red and burned looking! Flat face with three holes! The water doesn’t seem to be touching it, and it moves like it is stop action animation! As it walked towards us it gets higher from the water, it’s at least as tall as Flynn! It has exposed muscle and bone! Its limbs seen unnaturally long and thin. TJ is frozen in place like me! Jenna and Carl grab him and start dragging him towards the van, they look terrified and horrified! Oh no, I can’t move! If Leo and Flynn can’t stop it, I’m done for! I watch in terror as Leo and Flynn train their handguns on it. Flynn gasps! “Don’t shoot, it’s me! Fucking hell, it’s me! Leo, look at it! It’s me!” I’ve never heard Flynn’s voice like that! It’s strained and sounds painful! He drops his gun. “I’m all burned and mutilated! It’s me! How? How!” Flynn falls to his knees now. In a flash the monster is on him! Then, it gone! It was like it got sucked into Flynn! But there was a after image, it didn’t look like the monster or Flynn. It was like several different species mixed together, and it went backwards into the lake fast! Then Flynn lets out an ear-piercing scream! I snap out of my paralysis and cover my ears as he keeps screaming! He screams until he runs out of breath and then falls on his face! Leo kneels down next to him; I run to him and Kneel too. Leo turns him over; he looks from Leo to me. “Flynn can you hear me?” I say. He looks at me and whispers, “I felt the fire! I saw horrible things! I’m a time traveler, I…” Leo leans down to him, “Flynn can you move? Can you get up?” He says. Jenna is here now, “Leo, give him a moment will you!” She says. She gets down by Flynn. “Flynn, are you ok? Do you know what happened?” Her voice is gentle. He replies, “I’m—I’m the m-monster! I got burned up and went back in time somehow!” “Flynn” Jenna says, “you’re not burned! We need to leave, can you stand?” Flynn reaches out to Leo, him and me help Flynn up. Flynn leans on Leo, who holds him up, I get a hold too, he’s trembling. Even with us helping him, it’s takes a while to get to the van. TJ is in the back seat being comforted by Carl. Flynn has a hard time getting into the van, once in a seat he goes limp! I buckle him in. Leo goes running back to the beach, then comes back with Flynn’s revolver. I sit next to Flynn and Jenna is up front with Leo. I turn the camera off, did it record the monster?! Should we take him to the hospital?” Leo says. “And tell them he was attacked by a monster? He’s not hurt, maybe in shock. Let’s just go to Carl’s place.” Jenna says. The drive back is quiet, but it feels different. I try to comfort Flynn by holding his hand, he doesn’t really react. He just looks at me. His jaw is slightly slack.

Flynn is able to walk into the mansion on his own, he’s got a thousand-yard stare though! In the living room he just falls face first unto a couch! His face is pressed into the cushion. “Um, Leo I don’t think he can breathe like that!” I say. Leo turns Flynn over and he grunts. “Leave me alone!” Flynn says. Jenna shakes her head, “No, I don’t think you should be alone right now!” Tj stands by the couch at Flynn’s head. Flynn looks at each of us standing around him, “what if I turn into it? It’s not safe to—to be near me guys! I—I remember… I have its memories, I think. I—it killed Brian and Duke! I’ve—it has been wandering through time! Jenna, I remember being in your closet, you were really little! You asked if I was real and I shook my head no… I don’t remember much else, just seeing horrible things…” Jenna seems unnerved, “I remember that! I thought it was a dream! But when I was very young, I remember seeing that… thing, creeping around outside at night! It was always when I was feeling sad or angry… Flynn, you are not the monster! I don’t know what happened, but its not you, it can’t be!” Flynn looks like he’s trying not to cry, “no, Jenna I am! Or will be! I remember wandering lost, then I was in the smoke room and Sydney was there! He said he’s show me the truth, so I guess I followed him. Then I was on fire! I was totally burned! Daxton and Carl saw me, we were in the mine! I tried to talk to them, but my trout was burned…” TJ’s lip is twitching, he looks worried and scared! Carl shakes his head, “I’ve never been in the mine! That didn’t happen! I never saw you burning! And you’re not burned” I start having a weird feeling, what if its true? But how? If this happens in the future what caused it? When I think about it, the monster really doesn’t look like Flynn at all! Only the height is the same… Flynn would have to be more then burned to look like that, he’d have to lose his muzzle, tail and eyes! How horrible! If Flynn remembers that pain, no wonder he’s acting like this… Why would they be in the mine? Who’s Daxton? Wait I got it! “Flynn, listen.” I say. “Just don’t go to the smoke room or the mine! If that thing was you from the future, just avoid the place it happens to you!” Flynn looks at me, he shudders. Everyone just finds a seat. It’s quiet for a long time, I think Flynn went to sleep. Tj’s whisper breaks the silence, “he must have gone to hell and came back.” He looked sick as he spoke. “Don’t say that! He’s fine now, not burned or anything! If he stays with us, he should be fine.” Jenna says, she sounds like she’s trying to convince herself. I look down and see I still have the camera. “Hey Carl, can I use your computer? I want to check my footage.” Flynn’s eyes snap open and he looks at me with everyone else! “Puchica otter! You filed it?” Leo almost shouts. Jenna is now staring at the camera like she’s afraid of it. “That’s uh what I want to check! The um the big one appears in the video, the… small one might too! Maybe we can see if it really is Flynn or not?” I wonder if it would be best if Flynn doesn’t watch the video for now? “Uh sure you can, just like don’t let my pc get possessed or something!” Carl says. “Thanks, I’ll uh try not to!” I say. I get up and Leo, Carl and Jenna follow me. “I’m staying with Flynn!” TJ says.

The camera caught the monster! We watched the whole video, then slowed it down and zoomed in. Honestly its really hard to see how that thing could be Flynn! He’d have to be so horribly mutilated! Carl wondered off after only a couple minutes. There’s not much we can do with the video, so I just save it on Carl’s pc and we go back downstairs. Flynn is sitting up now, and drinking from a water bottle. TJ is sitting next to him. I can’t believe TJ is actually concerned about Flynn after how the lizard treated him! “So, what’s in the video?” Flynn says when he sees me. “Well, the camera picked it up. It’s the same as we saw, um I really don’t think its you Flynn. You’d have to be more then burned to look like that!” I say. Flynn sighs, “I know! I remember what happened. I get burned, then each time I go through time I lose parts of my body… Finally, I lose my eyes in the lake!” Jenna goes over to him, “Flynn it hasn’t happened yet! We could prevent it! Just stay with us and don’t go near the mine or uh the smoke room!” Leo starts to say something, but suddenly the sound of crashing makes us all jump! It happens again, and again! “What is that?” TJ asks. “It’s coming from the basement!” Jenna says. “I’ll go look.” Leo says and starts towards the basement stairs. “Not alone!” I say running after him. I look back to see the others following, maybe TJ and Flynn should stay up here?

Down in the basement the crashing sounds are louder. We follow them to a door at the end of the hall. Leo opens it reveling another staircase leading into darkness! The crawlspace! I fumble with my phone and turn its light on. “Chase you are not going first!” Leo says. He gets his phone like on and goes down. I follow and see the crawlspace is a mess! It seems Leo and Flynn stashed the survival and emergency packs here. They’ve been thrown all over and there are also a bunch of plastic boxes shoved around too! I guess we know what all the nose was in the night. I see broken plaster scattered all over the tarp covering the floor. Suddenly it gets way brighter! I look up to see that Leo found a floodlamp and turned it on. The light revels a large hole smashed through the far wall! Me and Leo walk over to it. The others follow us, TJ looking pretty nervous. I shine me light into the hole, I don’t see anything. It smells pretty musty, like nobody’s been in there a very long time! I start to lean forward to look into the hole. Leo grabs me! “Chase don’t go in!” I look up at him, he looks concerned but I feel annoyed! “I’m not going all the way in; I just want to get a better look! Carl must be in—” At that moment my body seizes up and a loud buzzing fills my head! It feels like my head is splitting open! I fall and I don’t hit the floor! I seem to just keep falling…


to be continued...","pools_count":1,"title":"Echo resurgence Tuesday part one","deleted":"f","public":"t","mimetype":"text/rtf","pagecount":"1","rating_id":"2","rating_name":"Adult","ratings":[{"content_tag_id":"4","name":"Sexual Themes","description":"Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal","rating_id":"2"},{"content_tag_id":"5","name":"Strong Violence","description":"Strong violence, blood, serious injury or death","rating_id":"2"}],"submission_type_id":"12","type_name":"Writing - Document","guest_block":"f","friends_only":"f","comments_count":"0","views":"1","sales_description":null,"forsale":"f","digitalsales":"f","printsales":"f","digital_price":""}