The Field Where I Found Him

     Azrael walked up the steps to the house. School had ended a while ago, and since the school was very close to home, he usually just walked. Mom was gone working like usual, opening the door he walked into his room turned on the CD player, then picked a CD and put it in the CD player, and sat on the bed. Azrael, who went by Azure for short had a tannish skin tone, with grey eyes and short hair with a muted blue color. And wore a black and grey striped jacket, with a black shirt and a dog tag chain. 

     Having just moved from Arizona to this town, Mallow Grove. He had managed to make friends with one person, Eric, 16, the same age as Azrael. It was winter, and Christmas break had just started. In Mallow Grove, there was a lot of field area, forests, and abandoned property. Azrael usually spent his time listening to music, reading, painting, playing the guitar, and making and constructing things. Sometimes playing video games but didn't find them all that interesting.

CHRISTMAS EVE

     Azrael sat in the living room. His mom was cooking food. Later, for Christmas Eve dinner, his extended family would come. But he was dreading it, he always stood out and never felt like he belonged. Looking out the window, watching the snow it made him want to go outside, but mom would probably get mad. "Azrael, come help me set this up." Mom said stopping his train of thought.

     "Oh, okay," he said turning to look at Mom.

     Mom looked at him, "Is that what you're going to wear?"

     "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" He asked confused.

     "I don't like what you choose to wear, I'd like it if you just wore something decent Infront of your family." She'd say.

     "Why would they care if I wore this? Our family already doesn't like me already." He'd glare at her.

     His mom started in an angry tone, "Why can't you just listen to me for once? You always think you can just do whatever you want!"

     Azrael sat there a bit stunned at her sudden outburst, feeling upset without thinking murmured, "If I was with Dad, he would've let me do what I want."

     "What was that?" she said fiercely and turned back at him. 

      He glared at her angrily, "Then we wouldn't have had to move here! And we could've stayed in Arizona!" He said upset.

     "It's not like I wanted to move here either Azrael! We moved here for you because I wanted you to have a better life than in that horrible town!" She yelled.

     "I never wanted this; I never wanted to move to this shitty town!" He yelled back. Storming out, before giving her a chance to respond. He just couldn't be there any longer. He ran with no direction of where to go. It felt suffocating there, every second more in that house. He'd give anything to just go back to how things were, back to Arizona, back with Dad, back when everything was okay.

     Suddenly stopping, his throat stinging, and tears wouldn't stop. Then looking up to see where he had run to, he had ended up next to a field and in the parking lot of a church. Then rubbing his eyes, gasping feeling so upset that it felt hard to breathe. He fell in the snow, his jeans starting to get wet. Just wishing everyone would disappear. Scratching at his throat, he could feel himself start to shake. he didn't want anyone to see him like this. 

      Then he started trying to calm down, but it didn't help. He tried to breathe normally but it only came out in short gasps, too consumed in thoughts. CRASH! He looked behind, in the direction of the sound, it had come from the huge field, and there was a forest at the end of it. Standing up, he felt a need to go in the field. The entire field was surrounded by a barbed fence, but there was a gate left open, he felt like it had been left open just for him. 

     Walking through the gate, he got a huge headache, right as he stepped into the field. Despite this he kept going further in the field, he had to keep going, it felt as if it was calling to him. He froze, suddenly hearing his phone go off. He then blinked and the sky was extremely dark. What the fuck? He could've sworn it was the middle of the day. 

     Picking up the phone, seeing the time on the clock it read 10 pm, holy shit. No way it had been that long. It felt like it had been less than an hour. Checking his phone, there were a lot of missed calls from mom. Suddenly the cold hit and he started to shiver.

     Looking at the phone screen he clicked the missed call from Mom, before it could even start to ring the phone turned black and the no battery symbol popped up, fuck. He gave one last glance at the forest before leaving. It was extremely cold he just wanted to back home, looking around trying to remember the way back. Then remembered how he was too upset before to look clearly were he was running to. Fuck how the hell was he going to find the way back? 

      The only thing he could think of was to knock on someone's door and ask the way back. While sighing he walked to the neighborhood next to the field, then knocked on the door of the nearest house. No response, he tried a few more houses until someone finally answered. The door opened and a woman answered she had long curly blonde hair and pale skin. "Yeah?" She asked.

     "Uh... sorry to bother you ma'am but do you know the way to Hind Passage from here?" He asked.

     "Uhm that's about an hour's walk from here, I think it's sorta next to that water tower." She said pointing to a red water tower that looked very far away and with how dark it was it was barely visible.

     "Thanks..." He said quietly, heart dropping, an hour away? He started walking towards the water tower, as dread filled him. It was a horrible walk home, it was pitch black, freezing, and he felt extremely paranoid. He was terrified to get home; he'd definitely be in trouble.

     How would he even explain where he had gone for so long? He didn't even understand what had happened in the field, it just didn't make any sense. After what seemed like an eternity, he was finally at the Water Tower, then looked around for anything familiar. And started walking in a random direction and luckily, found the street his house was on. He'd never felt so happy, his feet hurt, he was freezing, and all he wanted to do was lay in bed. 

     His happiness was soon replaced with dread at how mad his mom would be, then at the houses doorsteps he reached the doorknob and opened it. All his family was sitting in the living room, they all stared.

     "Where the hell were you?" Mom asked touching his shoulder. "You're so cold," she said worriedly. Feeling like he couldn't speak he had no idea what to say, no way he could say what happened she'd never believe it. Looking blankly at her, she grabbed a blanket and handed it to him.

     "I'm tired, can I go to my room...?" He murmured.

     She stared for a moment before answering, "Okay." Then waling to his bedroom and sat on the bed. He plugged the phone in and looked out the window. The screen of the phone turned on and he had a couple of messages from Eric, reading, "Azrael? Your mom asked if you were at my house and that you had just left. Where are you?" He texted Eric, "I'm okay, I'll explain tomorrow but do you know anything about the field next to the church on Fletcher Road?" He typed remembering the sign in the neighborhood saying the street name.

    Immediately get a text back from Eric, it read, "Okay... also yeah that's where a boy named Varian lives, there's rumors that he killed his siblings I think." Azrael looked at the message, that's insane is it true? That freaked him out, but it didn't explain the weird experience there. Extremely tired, He laid down in the bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep

Chapter 2

Trying to Make Sense of It All

     Two days have passed since Christmas Eve.

     Azrael still didn't know what to make of what happened. But he wanted to try to figure out what happened, was it something to do with the boy who had lived there? He thought while sitting in bed looking up at the ceiling. Then got up and turned on a laptop, searching up the boy's name, "Mallow Grove, Varian." A few links came up, and then clicked on one titled, "Unknown Boy Found in Forest Next to Farm." The article read:

      "On 4/16/2008 a 9-year-old boy was found in the forest next to the Rustic Grove farm in Mallow Grove, but no one seemed to claim this child, no one recognized him. The owners of the farm decided to adopt the boy, along with their 3 other children, naming him, Varian...."

     That would make Varian about 14 by now, after a couple more searches there was nothing about him supposedly killing his siblings. Closing the laptop, he turned on his phone and asked Eric to come over the next day. Eric agreed; what he had planned was to ask more about the rumor and discuss what happened on Christmas Eve, maybe he would be able to make sense of it. There was nothing else to do but wait, looking out the window, wondering if maybe he just imagined what had happened. 

     Hearing a knock at the door Azrael got up and headed to the living room, Eric was here! The door opened, and Eric stood on the porch. He had brown eyes and short black hair with blonde highlights and wore a red and black striped shirt with blue jeans and a black tie. "Hey," Azrael spoke.

     "Hi, so I have a question..." Eric started. Azrael walked him to his room as he spoke. "Well, you need to explain to me what happened on Christmas Eve and why you were suddenly asking about Rustic Grove." 

     Azrael looked at him for a moment a bit hesitant to say what happened, then quietly spoke, "Okay well it was weird I got mad at my mom and so I left the house and ended up near this field. It was extremely bright outside mid-daytime and then I got a feeling I should go into the field. And when I went into the field it somehow was 10 pm, pitch black. it was so strange, and I had been running for only a little while and somehow ended up in this field an hour from my house." When he finished Eric had this uncertain expression on his face, he doesn't believe me.

     "Oh, I'm sure you just didn't notice how far you ran because you were upset, not too sure about it somehow turning night," Eric said confused trying to find a reasonable explanation. "Maybe you just didn't notice." 

     "You think I just didn't notice it was night? You just think I'm crazy don't you!" Azrael said frustrated slightly raising his voice.

     "No, I believe you, I just think you have it all wrong," Eric responded in a reassuring voice.

     "Sure, can you just tell me about this rumor with that farm?" Azrael said dryly.

     Eric thought for a second then spoke, "I don't remember all the details exactly, but the siblings of Varian went missing, and his parents isolated themselves on the farm and stopped talking to anyone and took him out of school. People also said they heard screaming, and some people would go missing being last spotted near the farm, so people started rumors Varian killed his siblings, and people who go near the farm." 

     Azrael blinked, "Then why am I not dead?" 

     "I don't know," Eric responded. 

     He slowly spoke, "Well, I had an idea that maybe we could go to the field and see if anything happens." 

     "What, that's a horrible idea, if we get caught which we most likely will in broad daylight, then we could be charged with trespassing," Eric said very against the idea.

     "Fine then I'll go by myself." 

     "No, definitely not, that Varian guy could hurt you, and based on what you said happened last time I don't think your..." Eric hesitated, "In the right state of mind."

     'What, do you think I hallucinated it or something!" Azrael said not believing it, he's acting like I'm insane or something! 

     Eric stared for a second, "Please, promise me you won't go back in that field."

     "Right, okay I won't," Azrael lied.

     A couple of hours passed, and Eric left, it was now 5 pm. It was already dark outside since it was winter. He asked Mom if he could take a walk outside, she agreed but said to be back in an hour. Walking down the steps of the house, he started walking to the farm. After a while, he started to see the field and church. 

     The gate was locked this time, damn it, the fence was very tall and looked difficult to climb, looking around, he spotted a ledge from the church parking lot. Then climbed onto it and used it to jump the fence. Finally, can see what's in the forest! Walking toward it, he got a huge headache, and his vision started going black. It wouldn't stop him, he had to know what was there, suddenly there was a feeling on his shoulder and his heart skipped a beat. Turning around to see what it was, there stood a boy in the darkness it was difficult to see clearly what he looked like. "What are you doing here?" said the boy abit angrily.    

     "Oh... Uhm... Sorry..." Azrael said not sure what to say, who was this, was it Varian? 

     "How'd you get in here? The gates are locked," said the boy interrupting his thoughts.

     "Are you Varian?" asked Azrael ignoring his previous question.

     "Uh yeah, those rumors about me aren't true." Varian said quietly, "Its best if you go." 

     "Well, what happened to your siblings then?" Azrael asked, right after he spoke Varian's face expression changed, what had happened? SLAM! It sounded in the direction of a house and someone stepped out. Suddenly a look of fear was plastered on Varian face, and he turned back pushing Azrael in the grass and snow. 

     A person's voice yelled out, "Varian! What are you doing out here so late, come inside now." 

     "I'm sorry, I... saw a cat and I wanted to pet it," he said. 

     "Come back inside now." The voice said in an angry tone.

    "Okay, one second," Varian said before turning back to Azrael and whispering, "You need to leave now, and don't come back." Azrael looked up at him his mind and vision spinning, the coldness of the snow stung. Varian walked away and into the house. Azrael stood there for a second wondering what to do, his jacket and pants were wet from the snow, and he started to shiver. He should go back and tell Eric what happened, No! Eric would be so mad if he knew I went back to the field.

     He got up out of the snow, fuck, how would he get out? he only got over the fence with the ledge helping him. He'd just have to try; he walked to the fence and tried to jump over it multiple times. It didn't work, and he felt a feeling of impending doom, that if he didn't find a way out of here quick, he'd be dead. Now in a panic, he tried to look around for something that could help. Then spotted a wood palate and grabbed it and put it against the fence. 

     Then successfully climbed the fence, but fell to close to a bush, it scratched his face and started bleeding. He gave one last glance back to the forest, maybe this was all a sign to listen to Eric, but it only made his curiosity stronger. The walk back home wasn't too bad, it was now 9 PM, and his mom called a couple times. He didn't answer though, he'd already be dead when he got home anyway. Then there it was his house, walking up the steps, and into the house, Mom stood there looking furious. 

     "Hi..." Azrael quietly spoke, looking up at Mom.

     "I let you get away without an explanation on Christmas Eve, but now that you've done this twice? You're grounded, what happened to your face you have scratches." Mom said angrily. 

     Azrael stood there looking at her, no explanation would help him get less in trouble anyway might as well not even try. She glared at him waiting for an answer, and then spoke, " Fine if you won't tell me, then you're grounded for two months, no hanging out with Eric or your phone." He took his phone out and gave it to her. This was torture.

     He woke up and checked the clock, it read, "9:00 AM." Then got up from bed, suddenly feeling something dripping down his face. Turning to his bed he saw his blanket and pillow covered in bright red blood. What the fuck! There's no way the small scratch he had could bleed this much, what the hell was happening? He went into the bathroom, and in the mirror, he saw his cheek have a huge gash, it made him want to vomit it looked horrible. 

     It dripped blood all over the sink, he got a towel and put it against his cheek, quickly. Suddenly hearing Mom knocking on the door, "Can you hurry up?" his heart started beating rapidly, what was he going to do? His eyes widened, and opened the door, not sure how to explain what happened. But his mom said nothing, at all. What? Then walked back to his room to see no blood on the bed, and with his hand felt his face and there was no gash only a small scratch. Was he going insane? All he knew was that he had to talk to Eric as quickly as he could.

Take It to the Grave

A little while passes, and the break is over; schools are starting, and Azrael can finally talk to Eric.

     Azrael looks out the window of the school bus, he had nervously been waiting for school to start to talk to Eric. Due to being grounded, he couldn't text Eric, they usually met up in the morning of school before it officially started. The bus stops at the front of the school; Azrael gets up and walks off the bus. Walking through the front doors and sitting down on a table inside and then waited for Eric. After a little while of waiting Eric walks through the front doors and sits next to Azrael. 

     "Hey, why haven't you been answering my texts?" Eric asks.

     "Sorry, my mom grounded me and took my phone, Eric I'm sorry but I went into the field a couple of days ago and I met Varian. He told me that I should go, but he said the rumors weren't true. He didn't kill his siblings!" Azrael whispered so no one else would hear. 

     Immediately Eric's eyes would light with anger, "I told you not to go back there! And you talked to Varian, who has been rumored to kill people!" Eric retorted. "You don't know if he was lying so you'd come back, and he could kill you." 

     Azrael looked away guiltily, "I'm sorry okay, but I believe him, I think something else happened to his siblings we just have to talk to him!"

     Eric glared at him, "To talk to him we have to go to the field I'm not doing that!" 

     "Okay fine, if you won't go with me, I'll just go alone," he said certain Eric would go.

     Eric sighed, "No I don't want you to go by yourself, fine I guess I'll go."

     The bell rang, and Azrael walked away while saying, "We'll talk about it at lunch!" 

     Azrael sat in his bed it was 6:00 PM, and they had agreed that after school they would both walk to the field, Eric lived farther away, a two hour walk from his house. Azrael's mom was gone with her friends and shouldn't be back by late at night. It was the perfect plan; he walked out of his house and started walking to the field. While walking there, a crow kept screeching at him and following him the entire time.  Annoyed by the crow he tried take a different route on the sidewalk to make it go away, turning to look back to see if he lost it, but it was gone. That was weird... but at least it's gone?

     Finally beginning to see the church, Azrael checked his phone and texted Eric if he was almost there. Eric texted back, "Yeah, I'm behind the church." He'd walk to the church and see Eric sitting down on the curb on his phone. 

     "Hey," Azrael said smiling.

     Eric got up while saying, "The cars are gone so his parents are probably gone, so we should be quick."

     "Alright."

     Eric walked to the fence and asked, "How'd you get in?" 

     "I used that ledge to get over it, and to get back I used a wood palate," He'd look to see if he could find the wood palate, but it wasn't there, hey must've moved it.

     "They might've left open the gate when they left," Eric said, "We can try to go through there when we need to leave."

     "Wouldn't it be better if we found something first so if they come back, we can quickly leave?" Azrael asked.

      "We could just help each other over the fence," Eric said while jumping on the ledge and the fence to the other side. Azrael nodded and did the same, snow still covered the whole field. Hopefully, they don't notice the footprints they'd be leaving in the snow. Azrael would start getting a huge headache, like always.

     "What's wrong?" Eric asked noticing Azrael's grimace.

     "Are you not getting a headache? I always do when I'm I step foot in the field."  He said while Eric's facial expression changed to confusion.

     "Weird..." Eric shrugged. They'd walk to the house and a window. Eric looked around and walked to the front of the house, he'd pick up a brick next to the house and threw it at the window. CRACK! The glass shattered making a loud sound.

     "Why the hell would you do that!" Azrael said shocked. 

     "What? We needed a way to get in," Eric smiled going through the window carefully to avoid getting cut by exposed glass.

     "There are much smarter ways to do that," Azrael glared at him. He'd go through the window and slip a little cutting his hand on a piece of glass. "Fuck!" he'd wince at the pain. 

     Eric stared at him, "Maybe we'll be able to find something to clean it." 

     "Whatever," Azrael muttered a little upset, why was Eric being so reckless and stupid? He'd wipe his hand on his shirt cleaning the blood off. They'd walk around the house; Azrael would look through some of the papers in what seemed to be the kitchen. Where was Varian?

     He'd hear Eric opening a door and then speak, "Holy shit, Azrael come over here" He'd walk to where Eric was standing, peering in the room he'd be shocked to see the room had black walls with a lot of crosses everywhere. 'Why is there nothing in here but a ton of crosses?" Eric questioned walking into the room. Azrael felt a little weirded out, this was strange it gave him a bad feeling.  

     "Where's Varian? Let's look for his room." Azrael said wanting to get out of the room. They'd walk to a hallway and see two bedrooms with multiple beds that looked to be for children. They were probably the rooms of Varian's siblings before they went missing.

     Eric looked around moving some things, "Maybe the parents' bedroom will have something," he said.

     "Oh yeah good idea," Azrael said looking around and finding a room with one bed, it looked to be the parents. He walked in and spotted a closet and started to look through it. Finding religious items, candles, clothes, and then a box. He grabbed it from the top shelf, dropped it on the ground, and opened it. He saw a piece of paper on the side of the box. He grabbed it and opened it; there were pages of articles about Varian's siblings going missing. There were also pictures of children, and assumed they were Varian's siblings. He closed the box and put it back; he walked to where Eric was. "We should go back; there's no sign of Varian." He said looking around. 

     "Yeah, sorry he wasn't here Azrael." Eric replied. Suddenly they heard the sound of a car driving to the house. "Fuck! we need to get out of here now" Eric said raising his voice.

     Azrael's heart pounded, they'd get in so much trouble if they were caught! He remembered back to when they were outside the house, there was an open window where there should be a basement. "Wait, where's the basement we can leave through the window there!" 

     They looked around and Eric spotted stairs down, "Over here!" He ran to the stairs, and Azrael followed. He looked around the room it looked very unfinished, the floor and walls were cement and there was dust and cobwebs everywhere. They heard the front door open and voices, he spotted the open window and climbed through it. Eric did the same and they made it out of the house, "It's too far to the fence where the church is, they will for sure notice the broken window before we reach it and see us! The forest is closer, and we'll be able to hide there." Eric whispered and they ran to the forest. 

     Azrael quickly jumped behind a tree and so did Eric, he panted out of breath. They weren't safe yet. Azrael looked around the forest, it didn't seem too different from a regular forest. He walked around and spotted a piece of chain on the ground; it looked like a necklace; it had a pendant with a pink flower painted on it. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. Suddenly he heard rustling and jumped behind a bush. He stayed dead silent scared out of his mind, where was Eric? Suddenly he had a horrible feeling, he had to find Eric and leave now something was wrong. 

     He gained the courage to look behind the bush trying to find Eric, but there was no sign of him. Eric where the hell are you? His heart sank, he called Eric's name and there was no response. He got up and walked to where Eric had last been, he wasn't there anymore. His headache got much worse, and his anxiety grew. He walked a little farther in the woods and suddenly heard a yell, it sounded like Eric's voice. He ran to where the yell came from, terrified. 

     He reached where he heard Eric's voice, and his eyes widened. He watched the horrible sight in front of him, Eric had the most horrific injuries on his stomach and blood was everywhere. He ran to Eric and dropped on his knees, and started to cry, his voice trembled, "Eric?" Eric looked at Azrael, he looked like he couldn't hear him. 

    "Azrael...?" He'd try to say while coughing up blood. 

     Azrael grabbed Eric, "Eric, what happened?" He said his hands and voice shaking. Eric's eyes would cloud, and he'd close his eyes, and go stiff. "Eric, wake up." He shook Eric over and over, he didn't move, and his eyes didn't open. "Eric, please wake up. Please I'm sorry I made you come. Please, just wake up" He pleaded his voice breaking. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't. He grabbed Eric and lifted him against a tree. 

     Eric's blood soaked his hands and clothes. "I'll get help, just... just stay here okay," he said stuttering. He ran to the fence and tried to jump over it, after a couple of tries, he then landed on the cement, scraping his legs. He ran to the nearby neighborhood and knocked on the door of a house. 

     They opened the door, their eyes widening, "Why are you covered in blood."

     "Please, help my friend, he's bleeding, he needs help." He begged. The person took out their phone to call for help. Eric was going to be okay, he just needed help, he just... needed help... His vision blurred with tears as he started to hear the sirens of an ambulance.

Blood and Sorrow

     The police arrived and Eric's body wasn't found, searching the forest finding nothing. The police did find traces of Erics blood in the forest, and Azrael was covered in his blood, the police didn't know what to make of it. Azrael saying they'd gone to explore the forest, and nothing about them going to Varian's house. The police questioned the owners of The Rustic Grove Farm since the forest was right next to it, all they mentioned was hearing a scream and nothing else. Never mentioning the broken window, or that anyone had broken in their house. 

    It was strange they hadn't mentioned it to the police; in the end the police did nothing. There were no leads to anything, saying it was most likely an attack by a wild animal and when Azrael went to get help the animal moved his body or he had moved further in the woods attempting to get help. Azrael missed a couple of days of school afterwards, his mom extremely worried about what had happened. Eric's family planned a funeral for him, deeply saddened by what happened. It was time for Azrael to go back to school; becoming very shaken up by the incident and felt guilty as he had made Eric go to the farm. 

     Azrael woke up early in the m