40.

Terrence in his wanderings and in his decision to make an effort to leave a woodland park, has come into contact with four of the souls who had been lost to it, five if you include a German Shepard dog. A truth would be that they are not lost to but more contained by it. Having become sidetrack with attempting to leaving the place, the group have come to what essentially is a nineteenth century church built within the woodland and apparently it is still standing strong.

Such a thing can be debatable. In a place with no time, this group could be anywhere in time. For one of those gathered, two if you were to include the dog, it is 1983, for two others it is 2000, and the other two it is 2017 and 2019 so technically they are nowhere in time or they could be anywhere in time. It is possible that the church is long gone in 2017 or any other year you may want to put on this moment, and it is also possible that the church may never de-evolve into ruins. It could possibly stand for as long as the park itself does.

As the skies quickly darken and the group have taken cover, for a group of fifteen chanting monk's approach. Fourteen-year-old Jeremy Wright is sure that one of these so-called monks is town storekeeper and owner John McCoy. These monks make their way into the rather large church and once they have entered, darkness has come whole.

It has become so dark that once the monk carried fire torches have entered the church, none of those remaining outside can see anything at all. Terrence, attempting to keep his voice down, needs to rally the crew, so calling them all one by one they all slowly and cautiously leave their individual hiding places and gather in one spot. All gathering that is with the exception of one.

Kenneth notices first, for he had been closest to where Jeremy had hidden from the monks. Thing is as we know, Jeremy didn't completely hide from those monks. He had been seen by at least one of them. Where has the boy gone? This is the question.

'Oh no' Terrence speaks out loud. Something is about to happen to him that has happened once already. He can feel it, he can sense it, he knows what is coming at him ... seconds before it actually does. With the darkness being so full that he cannot see a thing, it is a sound that gives away what is coming. It is a sound that he hoped would never come his way again. Nothing all so bad, well not completely bad, came out of the last time this happened, if anything it informed him of something that is definitely a positive. It sent him a vision, a vision he can count on as being something positive.

With not knowing if what is coming is going to happen to everyone else around him or to him only, Terrence just has to go with it and accept what comes. What is it that is coming? It is a swarm of small black spider rushing towards him, coming to cover every centimeter of his body. Like before once the spider covers him completely, working together as one entity to ensure a transference of information. And in that ... he sees something.

Such an odd thing and a odd sensation coming with it, just as well there is no pre-existing phobia ... that would be the last thing one would need to deal with in a moment like this.

'What is that sound?' asks Karen.

Of course, Karen, Jason, and Kenneth, none of them can see anything, therefore they can't see the spiders, but they do hear the sounds that they make. Also, like last time round, the whole spider covering incident occurs very quickly and they soon are back on the move and away from the group and more importantly away from Terrence. Indeed, they came as one and left as one. As unusual as it is, it can only ever be thought of something belonging to this most unusual of places.

'I know where he is' Terrence speaks once those spiders indeed have left him.

'What just happened?' Karen asks.

'Err ... you don't really need to know' Terrence tells her.

It is only at this point that Terrence turns on his mobile phone. It has a light source, and he needs to find his way to the church. Steadily he and the others make their way to the entrance of the church where at which point Terrence suggests to the others that they find a place to be just in case the group of monks decide to make an exit any time soon.

Jeremy had followed the monks, the vision shown to Terrence by the spiders this time round was of Jeremy's movements and now Terrence is about to enter the church in the hopes that he can retrieve Jeremy without too much of a hitch.

Yeah, Jeremy did enter the church and what he would see was something he could not have prepared for. The church is dimly lit, a number of candles, in various parts of the church but mostly hanging from up above and along the walls providing the light which can be seen. Despite what it is he can see; Jeremy is compelled to keep moving. He moves slowly up the church center aisle.

What he does see is the fifteen monks all standing round the alter. They appear to be doing something to something on that alter. The closer he gets the more he questions 'is there someone upon the alter?' It would appear that there is.

An unknown force keeps him moving forwards. There is no fear in the fact that he may be seen, in fact a spot is made available once he does get close to the alter and with whatever force it is guiding him forwards Jeremy cannot help but see who is a top of that alter. It is a stone alter, not marble, and this moment looks somewhat ... ritualistic.

Yeah, someone is bound and gagged ... tied to the alter and the boy is sure he knows who that person on the alter is. It is his maths teacher, Miss Bradshaw, and it looks as if she were being prepped to become some sort of sacrifice.

It is only at this point that Jeremy begins to panic. He begins to back away and what it is that makes things all the worse is that Mister McCoy ... is ... among the monks, in fact he is the monks, all fifteen of them, they all look exactly the same, they all look like Mister McCoy, and they all now focus a stare upon Jeremy.

Moving away Jeremy almost falls down the steps that make way to and from the alter. He steps away once step at a time moving backwards. His eyes are open wide, his heart beats quick, and beads of sweat gather upon his forehead as he almost forgets to breathe. Then something grabs him, a hand upon his right shoulder. He screams out loud and turns. Terrence had made his way to Jeremy, and he immediately places a hand over the boy's mouth to prevent his screams.

Jeremy in a panic wants to describe what he saw, or at least alert Terrence to what is occurring at the altar, but when he turns back in that direction, he sees that nothing is there. There is no Miss Bradshaw tied and gagged, there is no Mister McCoy and no monks at all. Jeremy and Terrence are alone in this building for as far as either of them can see.

What do remain are the candles and burning candles at that. If indeed there is no one else around then who lit these candles?

41.

An exit from the church is made and as it is being made, the skies above are beginning to brighten. It could be suggested that the monk presence brought the darkness with it and in their absence ... light is returning but then again can anyone know anything for sure?

Upon exiting the church, Terrence takes in a deep breath for the air smells crisp and a cool breeze aids Jeremy to calm down and it also aids to cool his face. Jeremy has no idea of what to make of what happened within the church. Did it really happen? It definitely felt real. If anything, now Jeremy is eager to leave the town park and he is eager to do this as soon as possible.

A gathered group, of whom could be called the group of the lost, have gather in front of a stone church which both exists and no longer stands, despite the fact it can be clearly seen. Standing right by the building's entrance and feeling relatively safe that no more monks are about to come their way, this wayward group are ready to move on. Kenneth for one can't wait to question his friend.

'Where did you go?' he asks as if it weren't obvious. 'What happened? Are you alright?'

'I'll tell ya when we get out of here.'

'That's if we do get out of here.'

'Of course, we will.'

Jeremy doesn't need any help with feeling fear, the thoughts that an exit may not be made as in that he or anyone else will not get to leave this place, are not thoughts he wants to have. Speaking of making an exit, Terrence would be ready to give some sort of motivational type speech at this point in regards of making an exit if it weren't for the fact that the dog is about to distract him from making such a speech.

Facing that church entrance, the German Shepard dog begins to bark. More than a little bit worried, Karen tries to calm her companion. Even the dog now agrees that things are more than a little bit ... odd.

'What is it boy?' she asks as she grips the leash a little tighter and also petting her companion.

The dog keeps barking and Terrence completely backs away from the idea of making a speech.

'I think we should get going' he strongly suggests.

No one argues and as Terrence leads the way, the others all follow. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Kenneth nudges his friend. It takes a moment or two before Jeremy nudges Kenneth back and a smile is soon shared. Terrence leads the way back towards the horse chestnut trail and turns left upon getting there. Jason questions this.

'Where are you going?'

'What do you mean where am I going?' Terrence responds.

The roadside entrance and exit is really close by and it is over this way to the right, not to the left. Out of this particular group Jason is the only one to have entered via that particular entrance. This is one thing that Terrence had yet to consider, who entered this park via which entrance? This perhaps shouldn't really matter for Terrence feels that if an exit is to be made then it should be made via the pedestrian entrance with which he had come through.

For one thing seven-year-old Todd Grogan, Mary's brother, has yet to be caught up with. He had disappeared via that pedestrian entrance, if this fact is swaying the thoughts or not of which Terrence has, is another thing.

'The exit is up this way' Jason points out indicating to the right.

'It has to be the other exit.'

'What? Why? It must be a good half hours walk to get to that exit and that's at a decent pace, with the way this place is you know as well as any of us that anything can happen within the time it will take us to get there. It is only a couple minutes this way, and my truck, if it is still around, is just outside.'

'Look I know it's odd, but something is holding us here and if it will ever allow us to leave then it will be through the other entrance. I feel this. Sure, if anyone here can trust me ... I thought it would be you, yourself and my other self ... seemed to be quite friendly.'

'Yeah, well still ...'

'I think I need to be filled in on a couple of things' says Karen.

'I apologize I haven't explained things to you' speaks Terrence, 'this place seems to affect some of us all a little differently. It has each of us lost to time and it has us lost to those we love. If we take my route, we will have time to talk through a few things.'

The boys don't really know what to make of all this either. Jeremy, given the choice would much rather leave by that near-by exit though he also thinks that sticking close to a group may just be the best thing to do. So, to the further away exit it is.

Fun and games then as it is, are more than likely to continue, for at least the time being anyhow.