As Mia pulled onto the gravel road leading to her grandparents’ house, the crunch of gravel was like a calming melody, a relief from the constant silence of the twelve-hour drive. 

“Here we are, Lily, our new home,” Mia announced quietly, careful not to disturb her sleeping sister.  In the passenger seat, Conner, Mia’s best friend, yawned and stretched, his joints making popping noises.

“This place looks creepy,”  Conner remarked groggily, his eyes full of suspicion as he scanned the abandoned farmhouse in front of them. “Are you sure this place is even liveable? My apartment is still open if you need it.”

Mia just shook her head, although she secretly agreed with her friend. Everything about the house and the reason she was here made her want to grab her sister and run. Still, the need to know what happened to her grandmother outweighed Mia’s fear. 

“I’m sure it will be fine. How bad can it be?” Mia tried to put on a mask of confidence, but Mia wasn’t sure if she believed the words herself. Conner sighed and shook his head, his wavy blonde hair swaying with the movement, and the car finally came to a stop in front of the looming house that had once belonged to her grandparents, before Mia’s grandmother disappeared in the 1970s. This house, no matter how abandoned it looked, held all of the clues to what happened to her.

“If you say so,” Conner huffed bitterly, slipping his black headphones over his ears and pressing play on his iPod before opening the car door and stepping onto the cobbled driveway, concrete and gravel crunching under his feet. Then, Conner slammed the door shut, startling Lily awake.

What? Lily signed, her hands barely visible in the dark car. Conner?

“It’s okay, Lily. He’s just a little upset right now. Why don’t you put on your headphones while I go talk to him? I’ll be back soon, I promise,” Mia’s words comforted Lily, who nodded and started to dig through her backpack to find her headphones and iPod, pulling out sets of clothing and snacks as she dug through the bag.

With that settled, Mia took a shaky breath to calm herself and opened the car door, pulling the handle and listening for the click of the latch releasing, and feeling the cool midnight air that flooded the car when she opened the door. The ground was uneven under her feet as she stepped out of the car, and the air was much cooler outside than in the car. 

“What was up with that? You knew Lily was sleeping, why did you slam the door?” Mia fumed when she pried one side of Conner’s headphones off his ear, her voice wavering and cracking with emotion as a song by the Beatles played through Conner’s headphones.

“Why does it matter? She’s deaf,” Conner argued, rolling his eyes dismissively.

“Lily is nonverbal, not deaf, you know this, you’re the one who taught her sign language! God, what is up with you today!” Mia’s hands balled up into fists in anger, her nails pressing pink crescents into her palms as she tried, and failed, to keep her voice down.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s the fact that you dragged me out to this creepy house!”

“You didn’t have to come!”

“Whatever, I’m done with this argument,” Conner stated as he pulled a box from the trunk. Mia wanted to continue the argument, to soothe the rage that boiled beneath her skin, but she knew that arguing further could only make the problem worse. So, she took a deep, calming breath of the cool midnight air and grabbed a box labeled Clothes in her own sloppy handwriting.

To her right, Mia heard the slam that signaled a car door had closed, and she looked up to see Lily standing beside the car, the girl’s right hand pressed against the door, and Mia couldn’t help the smile that reached her face at the sight of her. Lily was the only family Mia had left after their parents had died in a car crash, and Mia was going to make sure her little sister was safe and happy.

“Lily, why don’t you go inside and pick your room?” Mia offered, gesturing to the house with a nod of her head. Lily hummed, the melodic sound cracking in her throat due to her lack of speech, then she nodded and turned to start walking along the stone path to the house, the keychains on her light blue backpack clacking against the car with the motion. Mia brought her thigh against the bottom of the box, her knee lifting it and allowing her to reposition the box in her hands, at the cost of a dent in the box and a bruise on her leg that would be purple by the morning, then she started walking to follow her sister.

As she walked, Mia’s thoughts wandered from avoiding the loose stones in the path, her body kicking into autopilot, to something she had pushed away for months since the accident that took the lives of her parents. For the first five years of her life, Lily was always loud and talkative. Even as a baby, she’d babble and laugh for hours. The only times Lily was silent were when she was asleep or when she was plotting something. However, it all changed the day after Lily’s sixth birthday, nearly seven months ago, when their parents were in a head-on collision with a drunk driver in a semi—who walked away with nothing but a DUI manslaughter charge, while her parents both died on impact. Lily hadn’t spoken since the accident.

Before they had died in the crash, her parents had given Mia instructions on what to do if and/or when they died. Their instructions were: pack up the essential items you need, get the money from the safe in the basement, grab Lily, get in the car, set the house on fire, and then drive off into the night and disappear into Mexico. Mia had followed their instructions exactly until the last one, because Mia was in Florida, not Mexico.

Some people say that you should do what someone says they want you to do after their death, and Mia would agree, if her parents were any other people. It was no secret to those around the Smith family that Bailey Smith and Tom Smith were paranoid people, conspiracy theorists who were afraid the government was out to get them. Mia knew it too—she’d thought everyone else was crazy until her parents wouldn’t let her go to school or get a driver’s license—but she wanted to know why. Why were her parents so paranoid that nobody, except Conner and his parents, knew that the Smiths had two daughters?

When her mind finally came back to the present, Mia realized that she was standing behind her father’s car and holding the last box that needed to be brought into the house. The box was labeled Memories. Mia regarded the box fondly, like one would a puppy bumbling after a butterfly, even though the box was light from being mostly empty. The manila colored sides were smooth and sturdy, closer in color to Mia’s tan complexion than the orange envelopes her parents often filled with newspaper clippings, labeling them as evidence that the government was watching them.

Suddenly, a horrible feeling came over Mia, a feeling that made her blood run cold. It was the feeling of being watched, eyes carving into her with their gaze. Her head snapped up, her eyes already scanning the shadows as her head swung side to side, trying to locate the source of the feeling. Then, she saw it, standing in the shadows of the house as it stared at her with cold, dead eyes. 

It was a monster with its bleached, leather-like skin tight over its bones. It looked humanoid, vaguely female even, with long, wet, black hair hanging in clumps from a nearly bare scalp. It was hunched over with visible ribs and a smile carved into its face. However, it wasn’t any of this that caught Mia’s attention—it was the bulging, dead eyes that popped out of the socket like a frog’s eyes. She could hear its breathing, labored and heavy like someone who’d just run a race. Then she blinked, and it was gone.

“What was that?” Mia muttered to herself, blinking the image from her mind. Maybe my eyes are just playing tricks on me.

—

The next day, Mia gripped the steering wheel of her dad’s old car tightly as the car’s wheels drove over the dusty gravel, kicking up dust and rocks as she went. It was strange, driving into the town. It was once a thriving and wealthy place, but then the chemical plant shut down, and people started going missing. Some people blamed the townspeople for the disappearances, some blamed the chemical company, and some lunatics thought it was a massive gator in the swamp. No matter what caused it, the town was now a ghost town. Besides, Mia wasn’t one of those people, and she wanted answers. So, she pulled into the parking lot of the first store she found. 

Once she stepped inside, the ring of a bell announcing her entrance, Mia realized that the store looked like it had been trapped in the 80s, with bright, clean designs that caught her eye immediately. As she started to look around, the designs of the products looked like they were from the 80s as well, several of which had been discontinued in the early 90s.

“Can I help you with anything there, Sweetie?” A female voice with a thick southern accent asked from behind Mia, “My name is Mathilda.”

“Oh, yes, actually,” Mia paused to grab a photo of her grandmother, “This is my grandmother, she went missing in 1975 and her name was-”

“Sarah Smith,” The color seemed to drain from the woman’s already pale skin as she whispered the words, quiet like a secret, “We neva’ found her.” 

“Oh, what about the others who went missing?” Mia asked, going against her better judgment and pushing further. The woman’s eyes went wide as she pushed a lock of her long, blonde hair behind her ear and frantically looked out the window.

“I can’t tell ya, but Alex Reyes, the farmer up the road, might be able to—he’s the one who found most of ’em.” She said, leaning in close with her voice low, her hand covering her mouth like she was trying to hide the words, “But don’t ask how they got there, or you might not make it out alive.”

Something about this woman’s words made Mia’s blood run cold, like this wasn’t something she was supposed to know. Mia spoke one last time, her mouth dry, before leaving the store: “Thank you. And one last thing, what’s your name?”

“Mathilda, Mathilda Thompson, you can call me Mattie.” Mathilda’s face softened, then it became serious, “But don’t tell anyone that I told you.”

Mia nodded, her heart beating fast in her chest as she clutched the photo close. Something about this was wrong, but she couldn’t figure out what. So, without saying another word, Mia left the store to find the farmer the shopkeeper had told her about.

—

“Hey, are you Alex?” Mia asked as she walked up to the man, who was loading bags of feed into the back of his truck.

“Oh, yep! That’s me. Say, I haven’t seen your face around here before, are you new?” Alex talked quickly, like he was in a rush, but he seemed cheerful.

“Yes, I moved into that abandoned house down the road just yesterday, and I was wondering if-”

“You ain’t no fed, right?” Alex’s cheerful demeanor suddenly changed completely, becoming serious and cold, “Because I got a shotgun in my truck if you are. Those girls’ deaths save us.”

“What? No- I’m not working for the government!” 

“Good, then what did you need?”

“I-I wanted to know what happened to my grandmother, her name was Sarah Smith,” Mia stated, holding out a picture of her grandmother. 

“Ah, Sarah,” Alex’s voice conveyed a hint of sadness, his demeanor was solemn and no longer threatening, but Mia couldn’t forget the way he had threatened her, “We never found her, I don’t know what happened to her, but she was never the same after her little girl was born.”

“And the others?”

“I can’t tell. It was the church’s doing, not mine.”

“Who should I ask?”

Alex turned and opened the door to his truck as he spoke, “Father Simon, he’s been the priest at the church for the past forty years.” 

“Thank you, Alex,” Mia thanked the man, standing on the sidewalk as he started the red truck and drove off, kicking up dust and dirt that clogged Mia’s lungs and left her feeling unable to breathe, coughing as her lungs protested.

—

As Mia stood before the church doors, a feeling of overwhelming dread came over her, like the ground was going to swallow her whole. Despite the dread curling in her gut, Mia needed answers, and this was the only way to get them. So, she pressed her hand against the metal door and pushed it open. 

Inside the church, the first thing that caught Mia’s eye was the stained glass windows that cast the church in a splash of hundreds of different colors. The second thing that she saw was the priest, and he didn’t look like any priest she had ever seen before. Most priests Mia had met or seen were clad in black robes and standing at the front of the church. However, Father Simon was wearing dull green robes with flashes of a dull red fabric underneath them. 

“Ah, hello, my child. May I help you?”  Father Simon asked, wheeling over to Mia in a wheelchair, which she hadn’t even noticed he was sitting in. As he got closer, Mia noticed more about him. His hair was grey with small patches of brown, he had a scar on his left cheek, he had hearing aids, but most of all, she noticed his eyes. His eyes were two different colors, one a vibrant teal and the other a wise green. Father Simon’s eyes were soft and kind, welcoming in their appearance.

“Yes, it’s about Sarah Smith, the woman who went missing in the 70s. Do you know what might have happened to her?” Mia held out the picture of her grandmother for the priest to take.

“Ah, Sarah, she was rather troubled after your mother’s birth,” Father Simon ran his fingers over the photo as he spoke, his eyes trailing her face. “She just walked into the swamp one night and never came back.”

“How did you know?” Mia asked, a mix of confusion and apprehension lacing her voice.

“You have the same eyes.”

Mia paused for a moment, chewing over her words carefully, “What about the other girls?”

For a long, tense moment, Father Simon didn’t respond, only looking at the photograph with a lost look in his eyes, “Do you have someone you would do anything to protect?”

“Yes,” Mia answered, the word coming to her as easily as breathing.

“I did too. My two daughters meant the world to me, but when the chemical plant opened, everything was put in great danger.” Father Simon paused to let out a shaky breath, like he was caught in a memory, “It woke up because of that plant, and it took my daughter and several others. We thought that, if we gave it offerings and sacrifices, it would see that we meant no harm and it would leave us alone for just a bit longer.”

“It?”

“The Loving One, we called it, an act of our Lord himself.”

“Did it work?” 

“For a little bit, it did. But then it grew hungrier and violent. It trapped us here.”

“What do you mean it trapped you?”

“You’ve seen how this town is stuck in time? We’ve been trapped for twenty years.”

“You’ve been stuck in the 80s?” Mia whispered, breathless like the air had been forced from her lungs. Father Simon didn’t say anything, but he nodded in confirmation.

“Is there anything you can do to fix it?”

“I’m afraid not. Is there anything else that you need?” Father Simon handed the photo back to Mia with shaking hands, his face still kind, but his eyes were tinted blue with grief.

“There is one more thing. I saw this creature, it looked like a monster, but also like a human. Its skin was leathery, like a-”

“Bog body?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Sometimes the sacrifices crawl back to town from the swamp; they’re dangerous creatures, but I thought we got rid of them all. Follow me,” Father Simon gestured for Mia to follow him with a wave of his hand, then he started to push himself in his wheelchair towards a space behind the altar.

“How are they dangerous?” Mia questioned as she followed close behind him, a morbid sense of curiosity coming over her.

“They drag your loved ones into the swamp and drown them there,” he replied, pulling a jug of gasoline, matches, and salt from underneath a hidden trapdoor and handing them to Mia.

“What’s this for?”

“Getting rid of the creature.”

“How do I do that?” Mia’s voice was starting to become panicked as fear overtook her.

“Find their body in the swamp, and burn it.” Father Simon’s voice was calm and serious as he spoke, “You must hurry. There isn’t much time before-”

“Mia!” A voice called out as someone burst through the church doors. It was Conner.

“Conner? What’s wrong? Where’s Lily?” Mia asked as she raced to Conner’s side, catching him before he collapsed onto one of the pews.

“A monster took Lily!” Conner cried, clutching his side in pain.

“How? What happened?”

“It broke into the house right after you left and took her from her room. I tried to stop it, but it got me!” Conner winced as he pulled his jacket away, revealing three deep, bloody claw marks that stretched the length of his right side. They were bleeding heavily. So, Mia took Conner’s jacket and pressed it against his wound as she continued to question him.

“How did you get here?” Mia asked frantically.

“It doesn’t matter how he got here,” Father Simon interrupted, wheeling over to them. “I’ll take care of him, you go save your sister.”

Mia nodded, she didn’t have to be told twice, and ran out the door to her car, quickly jumping into the driver’s seat and jamming the key in to start the car, turning it twice until she heard the car start. Once she heard the purr of the engine, Mia slammed her foot down on the gas pedal.

“I’m coming, Lily, just be okay until I get there.”

—

Mia heard the tires squeal and smelled the burning rubber as she turned the car into the driveway, slamming her foot on the brakes and almost rolling the car in the process of stopping it. But Mia didn’t care; her sister was in danger. Mia jumped out of the car and grabbed the gasoline, matches, and salt from the passenger seat, not even bothering to close the doors as she ran in the direction of the swamp.

Mia could hear her feet pounding on the earth as she sprinted toward the swamp, raindrops starting to splash against her, storm clouds making the sky dark. Mia heard the crackling of thunder in the distance, like a warning siren screaming at her to run faster, the following flashes of lightning like the flashing lights of a building in lockdown.

Mia didn’t need to be told when she crossed the line into the swamp; she could feel it in the way her feet sank into the earth, and the air smelled like mud and decomposing plants. With each step that brought her deeper into the swamp, her feet sank deeper into the rain-soaked mud. Mia ran, even though she didn’t know where she was headed, and she shivered in a useless attempt to stay warm despite the heavy rain that beat down on her, soaking her to the bone. Water splashed as her feet disturbed puddles on the ground. 

Mia could feel the eyes of wildlife and something that felt distinctly other, like something not from this world, on her back, but she couldn’t stop. She saw flashes of life in the undergrowth, snakes and reptiles hiding from the rain, then she heard something, a scream. Her sister’s voice carried over the swamp like an alarm, and Mia focused on it, ignoring how she was covered in mud and the way she knew something, something that gave off an overwhelming feeling of a higher being, was stalking her through the swamp. Mia knew that whatever was following her wasn’t the monster that had taken her sister, it was something much worse. Maybe that was why she didn’t notice the root sticking out of the ground until it was too late, until she had already tripped over it.

Mia let out a scream as her foot caught on the root, sending her crashing to the wet, muddy ground. She coughed as mud and dirty water flooded her mouth, overloading her senses with the gritty taste of mud and peat. Mia scrambled to get up, her fingers clawing at the ground as she pulled herself through the muck, praying to happen upon a skeleton or some sort of remains.

The rain still pouring down on her, Mia used the last bit of her strength to pull herself forward until she found it, a skeleton lying half-submerged in the mud. This was her only chance to save her sister. Then, at that moment, lightning flashed, casting the shadow of a hunched-over, skeletal figure standing over her.

Mia looked up, the rain plastering her hair to her face, as she laid eyes upon the monster who had taken her sister. It was an ugly creature, horrifying to look at, but Mia recognized something in its face. As Mia stared the monster in the face, she recognized blue eyes that looked like her own, sitting in the sunken eye sockets of the creature’s face.

Time seemed to slow, and for a long moment, Mia Smith and Sarah Smith stared at each other, the rain beating down on them both, for what felt like years, even though it might’ve only been a few seconds. Then, Mia remembered what she was there for. She had no time to delay, her sister needed her. So, putting her feelings aside, Mia grabbed the salt and poured it onto the skeleton, then she grabbed the gasoline and poured it over the sun-bleached bones. Finally, Mia pulled a match from the box of matches and struck it against the side of the box, igniting it. Mia brought the match to her face, studying the flame, then she dropped the match onto the remains, watching it ignite. 

Mia jumped back as the creature standing above her exploded into flames, the flames from the skeleton scorching her skin. Mia let out a hiss of pain as she stumbled backwards into the cool mud, the creature screaming above her in both agony and resignation. She watched as it began to fade into dust, its screams starting to fade. Then, it was gone.

Just like that, the rain began to lighten up, eventually dissipating completely as the clouds cleared from the sky, revealing a sun that shone bright in the sky. It was absurd to her, how something as violent as burning the remains of her grandmother’s body had caused something so clear and calm.

“Lily!” Mia shouted, her hands, still coated in mud and Conner’s blood, cupped around her mouth as she called out to her sister, “Lily!”

Just then, Lily ran from the undergrowth, where the monster must have dropped her, muddy handprints on her shirt from where the monster had held her, and tears streamed down the girl’s face as she ran toward her older sister. Mia held out her arms for her sister, who took the invitation immediately and jumped into Mia’s arms. Mia wrapped her arms around her sister’s small frame, tears clearing streaks down her freckled face that was mottled with mud, and buried her face in her sister’s brown hair. The movement aggravated the burns on her skin, but Mia didn’t care; Mia had Lily safe in her arms, and that was all that she cared about in that moment.

—

Mia carried Lily on her hip as she walked through the doors of the church, walking with a limp from the sprained ankle she’d gotten when she tripped. The church was the same as the way she left it, but it was also different in a way that she couldn’t explain, like someone had entered and taken something, but Mia couldn’t figure out what.

“Mia, you’re back, so I assume you’re rid of the creature,” Father Simon observed when he noticed the pair.

“Yeah, I’ve got a few burns from the fire, though,” Mia admitted, putting Lily down on one of the pews. “Why was she still left?”

“First, let me see those burns. And second, we didn’t know she was out there; we thought they were all gone.” Father Simon patted the pew next to him, his hand silent against the cushioned seat. Mia limped to the pew, air hissing between her teeth from the pain. Once she had made it to the pew, Mia collapsed onto it with a sigh, despite the way it pulled on her burns. Father Simon pulled a medkit into his lap and sorted through it until he found some burn cream and gauze to wrap the burns.

“How’s Conner?” Mia hissed as the priest started to clean her wounds.

“He’s resting, his wounds had to be stitched shut, but luckily we have a young man who was training to be a doctor before we got stuck in time and lost connection with the outside world.”

“How does it all work, getting stuck in time? Do you not age?”

“No, we do not age, nor do anything that is living; it’s as if time doesn’t affect us. Nothing spoils, nothing rusts, nothing ever changes,” Father Simon explained.

“That’s fascinating,” Mia admitted in wonder, looking over to her sister, “How did no one outside the town know?”

“I assume that’s Lily, your sister? And, the outside world has no clue that this town exists; your mother is the only person to have ever left the town.” 

“Yes, did Conner tell you about her, or my parents?”

“He didn’t tell me directly, but he told Salem, the doctor,” Father Simon paused to tie off the roll of gauze that he had used to wrap Mia’s arm, and handing her the wet washcloth he had used to clean her arm, “Are you planning to stay?”

“I haven’t decided yet, but I think it might be for the best if we do,” Mia explained, the cool dampness of the washcloth felt heavenly against her skin.

“I think it might be best if you do,” a new voice added. Mia turned to see a man guiding Conner to one of the pews, “It’ll be best if his wounds have time to heal before you leave.”

“Mia, this is Salem, the doctor. Salem, this is Mia, my great-granddaughter.” Father Simon introduced them, as Salem held out a hand for Mia to shake, which she accepted.

“Good to know there’s someone taking care of his stubborn butt,” Mia joked as she shook his hand.

“I’m not stubborn!” Conner protested with a huff, his cheeks pink from embarrassment.

“Yes, yes you are,” Salem stated in a soothing tone, making Conner’s cheeks flush red from embarrassment, or something else. At that moment, Mia made a decision as she watched Lily run to Conner’s side; they were going to stay. The town of Gatorsville was going to be their new home.