The White Oak

"In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh founded the colony of Roanoke," Mr. Smith, a large, balding man informed the bus's occupants from where he stood. The rain was coming down in streams over the windows, causing them to fog over with condensation from the breath of the twenty-seven sixteen-year-old, two seventeen-year-olds, and three adult chaperones. Most of them consisted of jocks or kids slapped with the 'troubled teen' sticker. So, obviously, most of them weren't paying a lick of attention to his drawing lecture. They were either butting heads over seats or talking to friends.

Or like in my case, being picked on by the occupant behind me. Alec, my best friend since about middle school, was barely keeping himself from turning on the boy and getting into yet another fight. He was a muscular kid with spiky cocoa-colored hair and soft hazel eyes. Most of the time he would be smiling, but at the moment a frown was situated on his face. "If that kid doesn't stop kicking the back of our seat soon, I'm going to break his foot," Alec threatened under his breath. His hands were balled into fists.

"Don't get so worked up. We're almost there anyway," I muttered, the whole seat jerking at yet another kick to its back.

"This is so stupid. Why did we get roped into this again? You and I have perfect As in this class," Alec said, turning his gaze to me.

He was right. Both of us were aware of everything Roanoke related. Our other friend, Virgil Barnes, and we had been sharing our knowledge with each other since we met. Virgil, himself, was almost an expert on the lost colony. Sadly though, he didn't go to our school with us. He said he went to a private school outside of Person County. But we made up for the distance on the weekends and after school by playing video games or just hanging out.

We were heading to a museum in town that was dedicated solely to the lost colony. It had everything from books based on the colony to artifacts found at the sight of the settlement. In truth, I wish I could have just stayed at home, but we were going to have to write a six-page report on the trip and what we learned from it. Even then, if it wasn't worth half our semester grade, I would have just faked being sick and forgotten about it. But since it was the last semester of my sophomore year, I couldn't afford to miss it. I was already barely passing with Cs after all of the recent stress and that was awful for my college rep or my car insurance even though I hardly ever drove anywhere, to begin with.

Feeling another kick to my back, I gritted my teeth and twisted my black ring around my finger. The smooth onyx that it was made from calmed my nerves slightly. The ring had been one of the last things my dad had ever given to me before he disappeared in Iraq. That was nearly nine years ago, and he was still considered MIA. It was hard to believe he wasn't just dead, but my subconscious wanted me to hold on to hope. Sometimes late at night, I would see him in my dreams, wandering around a dark space still trying to find his way back to his platoon, back to me and mom. I really do miss him and I know I always will.

I shook the memories away before they could drag me into the little dark space in the back of my mind. My eyes fixed back onto the window, watching other cars zooming by and the stationary building pass by in flashes. Occasionally, I'd see the unlucky souls rushing to and fro on the sidewalks to get to or from work, but I could see other things as well. I could see wavering shadows drifting over people or standing where no shadow should be able to stand. I knew it was just part of my imagination, my ADHD playing tricks on me, of the remnants of nightmares that had been left behind from my lack of sleep.

"Alright! Everyone off the bus!" Mr. Smith called, excitement in his voice. Roanoke was his favorite topic after all.

Automatically, everyone started jumping up and rushing to be the first out of the bus. The stampede created the chaos that was shoving and tripping people. Alec and I waited patiently for them to get off so that we wouldn't get crushed by the flow. Once everyone was out of the way, we stood and headed out. I slipped my wireless earbuds in as we slipped into the large clump of teens. I already knew all of this stuff, no point in hearing it twice.

The tour itself was fine, I enjoyed looking at the artifacts and learning the little odd tidbits that the curators had thought to add to their plaques. But the lectures that Mr. Smith seemed to think we were listening to, were repetitive mumbo jumbo that all of us had heard once or twice in our lives. He wasn't very good at making the situation entertaining at all, but this was a school after all. It wasn't meant to be very fun. At least we got out of class for the day.

At about the fifth room we stepped into, an eerie feeling fell over me. My ears had begun to burn as if someone were talking about me, as my grandpa would have said. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on edge as I subconsciously scanned the room. I could feel someone staring at me and just the thought allow to set me on edge.

I glanced over my shoulder and scanned the exhibits along the wall by the room's entranceway and took a pause. The exhibit that stood there was a chunk of the wall that once stood as a barrier between the Roanoke settlement and the dangers of the outside world. A hooded man stood beside it, leaning on the wall by a no-smoking sign. The hood covered his face, but the longer I stared the more I felt that he was the one staring at me. The hoodie itself was odd in the way it was made, appearing to be skin tight, but somehow loose enough to cast deep shadows within the hood. He had dark-washed jeans and high ankle combat boots. He had a cane leaned against the wall beside him and a newspaper folded neatly beneath his arm.

His head seemed to turn ever so slightly towards me and I quickly spun back around, moving forward as I realized the group had begun to move again. I could still feel the man watching me and it sent goosebumps up and down my arms. I couldn't be happier that I had worn my jacket today instead of ditching it because of the heat, Alec would've questioned me had he seen the goosebumps. It took a lot to frighten me in any way, but somehow this man-made all of my fight or flight instincts kick in.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that when Alec elbowed me hard in the ribs, I jumped nearly two feet in the air, snapping my gaze to him. I yanked my earbuds out as he motioned towards the front of our prone group at an agitated Mr. Smith. My ears flushed a deep scarlet as the others started snickering and muttering to each other.

"I'm glad you've decided to join us, Mr. White. Maybe you'd like to answer a question about our tour so far? If not, maybe you'd prefer detention when we get back," Smith threatened as he motioned me to come to stand by him. I stumbled once or twice as one of the jocks decided it would be funny to stick their foot out.

"Now, please enlighten us with your extensive knowledge. In the 1880s, what did Hamilton McMillan find out about his Indian neighbors?" Mr. Smith questioned, crossing his arms over his gargantuan stomach. I opened my mouth to reply since I was facing the said article, but he gave me a pointed look and I knew he wanted me to look towards the others. I winced as I turned around, silently trying to piece together that particular piece of information from my memory.

I subconsciously began glancing around the room only for my eyes to pause on the mysterious hooded man. He had moved in the moments of my distraction to stand close to the back of our group, leaning against the central support pillar in the middle of the room. The newspaper he had been holding was now opened, covering his face and upper body. I could feel my eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I saw the date, but then I realized it was one of the novelty copies of the newspaper behind me.

"...He discovered that his Indian neighbors in Robeson County claimed to be descendants of the Roanoke settlers," I replied, after skimming the article. I slowly cut my eyes back to Mr. Smith, a grin slowly rising to my lips as I saw his face a bit red, "Right, Mr. Smith?"

He was quick to cover up his irritation with a strained smile. "Right, congratulations, Mr. White. You have astounded us once again with your fountain of knowledge on the lost colony," he said, a hint of praise to his tone. He turned and went back to the tour, forgetting my distraction for the moment. He'd probably bring it back up once we got back to the school. I could already see my detention slip.

For the rest of the tour, I kept spotting the man. It honestly was beginning to worry me. Alec didn't seem to notice him and neither did anyone else. What if he was some type of kidnapper or something like that? But did I really want to be considered the paranoid kid if I announced my discomfort? I ended up holding my tongue the entire first half of the tour, unwilling to become that kid.

I was extremely relieved when Mr. Smith called for lunch. The plan was to go to the small pizza parlor next door and have a thirty-minute lunch before we headed back into the museum to finish the tour. A guest speaker was supposed to be waiting for us when we got back to the school, which would take up the rest of the school day, not that I was complaining about missing math or science. I was terrible at both subjects.

I was about to follow after Alec when I felt that burning in the back of my head, the one that made my hair stand on end. I glanced over my shoulder where I paused at the bottom of the museum steps. I had a good vantage point on the other side of the street from here. There was a boarded-up building, a bait shop, and what looked like an antique shop. But what made me turn fully was the hooded man. He stood there with his hood down, the upper part of his face, covered in shadows. He had a grim-looking set to his mouth as if he were conflicted about something, but he was still staring in my direction.

I felt my fear drain as agitation took its place. This guy was grating on my nerves and I wanted to know why he seemed so interested in me. I took a step towards the crosswalk and the man shifted his weight slightly, the corner of his mouth twitching now as if he were trying to keep from smiling. "Beo! Are you coming?" I nearly jumped at Alec's voice, spinning to see him standing at the front of the parlor. I glanced back at the man to see he had slipped farther into the shadows.

"In a minute, cover for me, alright?" I asked, not turning back to look at him. I heard him grumble something before the ding of the bell over the parlor door. I knew he had gone in.

I moved swiftly to the crosswalk now, eyes locked on the man. I checked left and then right before darting across the street. The man darted into the alley just before I could reach him, making me growl low in my throat. Moving into the alley, I spotted him just turning a corner. I ran to the end and twisted around the corner only for him to have already reached the next corner.

What was this guy? It felt like the faster I moved the longer the alleyways got. I turned another corner just a minute behind the man only to skid to a halt. I was at a four-way intersection. I knew the alley behind me wasn't an option anymore so I examined the other three. I couldn't tell where he had gone, all of them looked untouched. I glanced up, there weren't any fire escapes so I knew he couldn't have gone up, but then where...

Cackling suddenly erupted from one of the alleyways. It caused me to jump and spin to my left. The alley seemed almost unnaturally dark. The shadows reach almost like fingers towards the center. I swallowed and took a step back from the noise, my hair standing on end again as a rush of fear coiled tightly in my stomach. I shut my eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath to calm myself. I was fine, it was probably just a small old lady or two joking while knitting on a fire escape or something. Maybe anyway.

That calmed my nerves enough for me to inch towards the middle path. I crouched and looked across the ground, seeing if I could see any disruption in the trash, but It was as if the man just disappeared. I sighed, standing, turning to leave the way I came. Could he have really been a figment of my imagination? I was having trouble sleeping lately. Wait till my therapist hears about this one. I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck.

But then every nerve in my body screamed in terror. The way I had come wasn't even there anymore. It was a blank wall. I stepped to it quickly and pressed at it with my hands, my heart began to race in my ribs as the wall didn't budge. How was that possible? This wall looked as if it had been there for years, but I had just come from that way. There were even missing people posters and ads plastered to the bricks. Bricks that were faded and chipped with age.

I felt my chest constrict with the sudden fear as the air seemed to thicken. I spun around and found that the right and middle paths had been covered up like the way I had come had been. The only alley not covered was the dark one with the angry shifting shadows. I spun back around and felt my stomach drop. The walls were slowly inching towards me.

I backed up feeling my fight or flight instincts beginning to kick in. This was unnatural, this wasn't physically possible. Arms came around my torso, locking around my arms and pinning them with inhuman strength to my sides. I was thrown into a wall boney hands coming out of the shadows and holding me off the ground before three hideously hunched figures. One clamped over each of my wrists and ankles, an arm wrapped around my torso and another around my throat, preventing me from moving any without being choked or yanked back harshly against the bricks, further scrapping my back.

They wore torn hooded robes and greying, wrinkled skin. I could see the knobbly joints and warts. There were liver spots on their faces and they had long pointed noses. Their eyes looked like gaping black holes. "Ha ha ha, the poor little whelp is trapped. Daddy dearest is nowhere in sight," the middle lady cackled, seemingly gliding swiftly to grasp my chin, turning my head from side to side. I flinched away as her foul breath hit me in the face, smelling of rot and sulfur, assaulting my senses.

My heart was deafening to my own ears as I tried to pull away only for a new hand to grasp my hair, yanking it back against the wall. The right woman shoved the other out of the way reaching up and pulling my eyelid open as I attempted to squeeze them shut, my whole body jolting at the burn her touch seemed to have. I was quivering in fear now, my instincts making my body struggle harder while I sunk farther into the animalistic side of my brain. "Yes, yes! What should we do with the whelp? Boil him? Use his eyes for a spell?" the second woman cackled. Then a dreadful thought stole my mind and made me panic more. These weren't women. They were witches.

I was dizzy and my stomach was tied into so many knots that I could hardly keep from groaning in desperate fear. The hands began to tighten then, slowly forcing me deeper into the shadows dragging me into them. "Look at him struggling, look at him weep! Surely he'll make a delicious soup!" the third hag shot forwards and caressed my face. That was it for me, I jerked against the hands and an almost animalistic scream for help tore from me. My breathing hitched as I began to beg to be let go in between yells for help.

The further I sunk into the shadows, the more they seemed to turn to fire, burning me as I was pulled deeper into them. I could feel something clawing at my back and sides from within the shadows. The hand around my throat had tightened, choking off my voice as the witches cackle at my misery. I couldn't move anymore the shadows already covering my torso and legs. I felt as if I were dying and all I could think of was my mom, Alec, and Virgil.

A bright light suddenly exploded in the alleyway, causing the witches and what seemed like the shadows to scream in agony. The hands disappeared and I fell to the floor with a groan. "You've hurt the wrong whelp it seems," a male voice said, it was oddly familiar like I had heard it from a dream or maybe when I was a lot younger, but I didn't have the energy to even attempt to look for the man. I flipped over only my back and stared up at the sky, The storm that had let up while we had been in the museum, now seemed to be boiling with renewed vigor overhead. Lightning flashed overhead in quick succession, causing thunder to explode every few seconds.

A large figure slowly seemed to form in the clouds. A monstrous creature with a deer skull mask and razor-like fangs seemed to loom closer to me, a red clawed hand reaching down before slashing across my torso too quick for my exhausted mind to follow, my body too weak to even flinch at the burning pain that ripped through me. Another flash of light cut through the sky dispersing the monster just as it seemed to open up and drop gallons of rain. It made me shut my eyes, feeling the cloudiness of unconsciousness very close to taking over. The pain was already ebbing as I drifted into darkness.

My whole body was throbbing slightly and my eyes felt gritty as my mind finally started to return to me. It felt like I had been asleep for a long time. I took a breath and nearly gagged, feeling what felt like a tube running down my throat. I snapped my eyes opened and tried to sit up, only to be pounced on by two men. I could hear a rapid beeping that was getting progressively faster like my heart. My throat started to constrict around the tube, forcing me to start gagging as the intense wave of fear washed over me again. The hags and their disturbing words kept flashing across my vision as my ears rang.

"Beo! Beo, listen, it's me, Alec, you have got to calm down man," Alec hissed from one of the dark forms pinning my arms to the bed. I shot my gaze down to his face and he quickly moved up, still holding my arms down till he was closer to my head. "Dude, you need to relax, okay. Your safe, I promise."

I was still confused. Even as I tried to do what he asked and my throat loosened enough that the tube wasn't making the muscles in my throat constrict. I darted my eyes around to see that I was in what looked like a hospital room. There were monitor and machine hookups on either side of the hospital bed's head and the room was sterile and smelled slightly of disinfectant and bleach. My panic started to ebb as I realized I was indeed in a hospital.

The door to the room suddenly banged open and I jerked under my friend and the stranger's hold. A doctor came rushing in with a nurse. The nurse pushed Alec and the stranger away while the doctor took upstanding to my right. "Good to see you're finally awake, Mr. White. I know you must be confused, but we'll explain everything as soon as we remove your breathing tube. I will warn you, you may feel some discomfort, but you need to remain as still as possible. Blink your eyes twice if you understand," the blue and red-haired doctor told me. He looked more like a teen than a doctor, in my opinion, standing at five foot ten, but he looked professional enough. He had pale skin and dark eyes that held strong intelligence.

I blinked twice as I was instructed. He nodded and motioned the nurse over to my opposite side, "Now, Mr. White, the nurse here is going to hold your head straight. It's just a precaution," the doctor informed me as the nurse pressed a hand to my forehead and another under my chin to keep me from moving, but that was similar to how those skeletal hands had held me in place and I instantly tried to shake my head, but that only caused me to start gagging again, my heart rate on the monitor jumping up.

The nurse was quick to let go of me before giving the doctor a look. Something indecipherable passed between them before the doctor turned his gaze to me. "Mr. White, do you think you can stay still on your own?" he asked me, making me instantly blink twice. He nodded and hummed in his throat. "Alright, I'm going to start then. Remember, you have to be still or the nurse will have to hold you down again," he warned, but I already knew that. I tensed up to keep myself from moving as the doctor grabbed the tube and began to pull it free from my windpipe. It was indeed an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

Once it was free, I coughed until my throat adjusted to not having it there. I could already feel sweat forming on my forehead, my chest throbbing from all of my movements. The doctor set the tube in the waste can before turning back to me. "What happened to me?" I croaked out, my voice scratchy and gruff from not using it and the tube that had been pressing against my vocal cords.

"Well, Mr. White, we believe you were mugged by a man and his dog. Your friend here found you moments after another man did. They found you without your wallet or phone. Do you remember anything about the attack?" he asked, pursing his lips as he asked, making me frown. A man and a dog? That wasn't right there had been three women.

"I don't remember a dog... or a man. Just three women," I croaked in reply, reaching over to twist my ring around on my finger. Thankful that it was actually there was my opposite had reached it.

"The witness didn't claim to see three women, Beo, are you sure it was women?" Alec spoke up suddenly, moving to stand beside me, he looked extremely concerned and worried for me and I was beginning to feel the same for myself.

"I'm sure of it," I protested, looking from Alec to the doctor. The doctor simply gave a nod before the other man stepped up to stand slightly behind Alec. I instantly recognized him as Alec's dad, Mace Edwards. He was my second father growing up since I spent so much time over at their house.

"How about we just calm down a bit. He's still not up to par, doc, and I rather not see him getting into a fistfight with an authority until after those nasty gashes and bruises are gone, yeah?" Mace said, looking from the doc to the others in the room before back to me, "Plus, the man who found you wanted to speak with you."

I furrowed my eyebrows at that, but before I had a chance to ask him about it, the door to the room opened yet again and the hooded man stepped into the room, only now his hood was off and his eyes were clear to my gaze and I only found concern within there depths. I don't know how I even knew it was him, maybe it was the cane or the set of his mouth. He had changed the hoodie for a longer overcoat. His eyes were a startling stormy grey.

"Can I have a moment alone with him?" he asked, his voice... it was the same one from the alleyway! He was there! I tried to sit up straighter at that staring him down with shocked eyes.

"You may. We'll be right outside if you need anything," the doctor replied, moving to leave. Mace followed him out, dragging a reluctant Alec with him. The nurse was the last to leave, shutting the door behind her with a deciding click. Leaving me alone with the stranger.