Old Alton Bridge
Chapter 6: They all disappeared looking for wood.
The night was closing in, it was getting darker by the second. The worry of what might have happened to Fred had both William and Sally concerned. Both William and Sally exhibited high anxiety as they were pacing around the campfire.
William: I can’t stand this position of helplessness that we are in.
Both Sally and William continued to pace around the campfire that was getting substantially dimmer.
Sally: I can’t think of anything more we can do outside of leaving the campsite and searching for Fred, but what if he comes back while we are searching for him.
William: It will soon be getting dark, and it will be getting hard to see. The poor visibility will present a problem for us searching for Fred. The visibility will also present an issue for Fred to find the note we would leave him explaining where we were in the event he came back while we were searching for him.
Sally: I understand the point you are making, but sitting here not doing anything isn’t getting us anywhere.
Sally had enough of sitting around and doing nothing. She got one of the flashlights, sprayed herself thoroughly with mosquito repellant, and stated to William that she was going to search for Fred. Sally was set in her decision. William could only stress to her to be careful and not to get lost.
Sally: I’m going to look for Fred before it gets any darker
William: Are you sure, maybe you should rethink this.
Sally: My mind is made up. I’m not going to change my decision to search for Fred.
William: I think you are making the wrong decision. We should wait for daylight to begin searching for Fred.
Sally: I told you my mind was made up.
William: Ah … Ok, if you must. Make sure you are careful and don’t get lost yourself. Good luck.
Fred had left hours ago. It was bizarre that he hadn’t returned. Now Sally was set to leave. William could only hope that Sally’s luck was better than Fred’s.
Just then there was another bizarre bust of wind, like the previous burst of wind it sounded eerie as it passed through the trees. The faint smell of rotting flesh accompanied the eerie burst of wind. The dreadful smell gradually became more intense, eventually overtaking the natural odor of the surrounding forest,
William: There’s that bizarre sound from the wind again. I get a chill down my spine every time I hear it… Do you notice the faint stink of rotting flesh?
Sally: I also get chills down my spine when I hear that peculiar wind. I’m not sure what rotting flesh smells like, but I do notice a strange odor.
William: The odor appears to be getting stronger.
Sally went off looking for Fred, Several more hours had elapsed, it was now pitch dark, and the fire had burnt so low it was almost out. William thought what was happening was uncanny, to say the least. William was so shaken by fear so much that he started talking to himself.
William: I’m perplexed… It seems that anything that can go wrong is going wrong. The last thing I told Sally before she went on her compromising quest was not to get lost.
William started yelling for Sally.
William: Sally!… Sally!… Sally!…
Sally wasn’t answering any of William's yells and still had not returned to their campsite.
There were just a couple of hot coals left in the fire, not enough to give off any substantial light or heat, let alone keep the mosquitoes at bay. As William sat there by himself, a dreadful feeling fell over him.
Just then, William heard a faint sound off into the forest. As the time slowly progressed, the sound became louder.
Goat man: Whoosh… whoosh…whoosh…
William then noticed what appeared to be two red eyes staring at him from the distant woods. At first, he thought he spent too much time in the hot sun during the day and his mind was playing tricks on him. The smell of rotting flesh became stronger.
William: Who’s out there… Answer me…
The red eyes became more defined in the distance as the same weird sound they had heard earlier accompanied the wind once again. The smell of rotting flesh saturated the air once more.
The campfire had completely burnt out, and an intense fear came over William. William was so scared that his knees started uncontrollably shaking.
William squinted and rubbed his eyes, but the red eyes remained in the distance. As William continued gazing in the direction of the red eyes, it seemed as if the red eyes were getting closer. Behind the red eyes was a faint image of a half-man and half goat. The part of the image that was half man had a hangman's noose around its neck. William began speaking more to himself.
William: Am I hallucinating, or do I see the image of a goat-man with a noose around its neck and red eyes.
William couldn’t believe his eyes. There was no doubt he was seeing the supernatural image of the goat-man.
William: I still can't believe what I’m seeing.
The image of the goat-man with the red eyes seemed to be getting closer. Just then, the creepy burst of wind from high in the atmosphere appeared, making the same eerie sound that it had before. Like before, chills ran down William’s spine.
Chapter 5: Resting for the night.