Night Watch - Part III [Final Part]

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

Fast forward three days, I told Lia that my dad was ill and that I would spend the weekend at his house.

Overwhelmed by the loss of our unborn child and her impending thesis deadline, she was too stressed to pay me any attention or ask me for clarifications.

So I hit the road after getting off work in the morning hours and didn’t bother to return home first.

Of all the things that happened that day, this was the one occurrence that troubled my conscience the most. I should’ve returned home and bid farewell.

As the night wore on, it seemed to stretch out endlessly, with no sign of its end in sight. The deeper I delved into the countryside, the more prominent the elongated shadows became, stretching far across the terrain.

It was as if the darkness itself was amplifying, growing more potent with every passing second, heightening my senses and filling me with a sense of foreboding.

Although my parents’ hometown was in the countryside as well, I had never ventured this deep and far into the country until now.

Having driven on the same road twice, I decided to pull over my Togg and step out in order to examine my surroundings.

According to the GPS, I was just a few hundred gardens away from my destination, but the challenging terrain, filled with rocks and uneven ground, posed a significant obstacle in terms of navigating through it.

Once I retrieved the flashlight from the trunk, I proceeded to lock my car and carefully assessed my surroundings.

On the left side of the road, there was a forest full of thick undergrowth, which created a dense and lush environment.

In contrast, the right side of the road had a more open landscape with tall grass and wildflowers that gracefully swayed in the breeze.

Wrapped in the icy embrace of the wind, I could hear its pitiful moans echoing through the air.

As I made my way across the vast expanse of acres, the fragrance of the wildflowers permeated the air and overwhelmed my senses.

The meadow that lay before me was completely barren and devoid of any signs of life.

As I walked through it, the dampness of the dew permeated through my shoes and made each step increasingly uncomfortable.

Finally, the sound I had been eagerly anticipating arrived. A steady burble.

My heart raced as I shone my flashlight around, desperately trying to make out the details of what lay in front of me.

Eventually, I was able to discern a lake with its banks raised higher than the surrounding area.

Following the path that led through the picturesque meadow, I arrived at the edge of the murky water, which seemingly materialised out of thin air.

I recoiled and lost my balance in the process. The flashlight slipped out of my grasp and created a loud clattering noise as it collided with the ground.

The world around me plunged into darkness, leaving me in complete and utter blackness.

As I searched for the flashlight, which had rolled somewhere to my right, the sound of the heaving lake grew louder and more distinct.

With trembling hands, I inched closer to the distant source of light and was able to grab the shaft.

A shiver ran down my spine as I carefully aimed the light towards the dark and ominous depths below filled with malevolence.

In a sudden burst of energy, scared witless by the merciless billows, I rose from my position and began running in the opposite direction. As I sprinted, my breathing became rapid and irregular.

I deviated from my original path and found myself at the entrance of a quaint village.

This village was distinguished by a weathered gate situated at the far end of the picturesque meadow.

Although the village had been evacuated long ago, traces of its rich history were still visible in the decaying buildings and overgrown gardens.

A heavy and oppressive feeling filled the air, and the silence was so profound that it seemed to drown out all other sounds in the area.

Starting from the heart of the village, the steady flow of the black lake gracefully divided the town into two distinct halves.

I hesitated, my feet rooted to the ground, unable to take another step forwards. I immediately wanted to flee to my car, but then Oli’s words echoed in my mind, causing me to hesitate.

As I made up my mind to follow the dark waves, the fragrance of wildflowers became more pronounced, intensifying as I continued my walk.

Right in front of me, there it was – the graveyard where my friend was put to rest.

Much to my surprise, the address was correct. Why was this place right by the lake, though? That lake, that is.

Everything seemed like a jumbled mess. Nothing made sense.

The scent of old wood permeated the graveyard, the overgrown grass and decaying fence contributed to the unnerving ambience before me.

Amid everything, there was a single gravestone that stood out from the rest, capturing my attention. Although the grave was unmarked, its small size led me to conclude that it was intended for something considerably smaller than an adult.

“Who’s there?”

With my heart pounding in my chest, I turned around. Fear engulfed me as I locked eyes with a man in his seventies.

His weathered hands firmly clutched a shotgun and his intentions were clear as day as he pointed it at me and told me to raise my arms.

“I—”

“You ain’t from around here…”

“I… I came to visit my friend, sir,” I said. “He was from this town. Maybe you know who it is. His name was Henry.”

The stranger briefly averted his gaze, muttering something under his breath before finally loosening his grip on the shotgun, letting it rest by his side.

“Henry Glasgow, is it?”

“Y- yes, sir. That’s him.”

“You two were pals, huh? Don’t recall seeing you at the funeral.”

Oli’s words echoed in my mind, repeating over and over again.

“I heard a guy spit on his grave, sir,” I said, hesitating for a good half a second. “Allegedly, I was that guy.”

As I said these words, the man slowly lifted his gaze off the ground. His face displayed a mix of bewilderment and apprehension both at the same time.

“Spit on his grave? Who the hell told you that crap?”

 A sudden wave of nervousness washed over me, causing me to gulp audibly.

“You’re telling me I didn’t?”

“Look, kid, I’ve been here for over thirty years and if I saw you spit on one of us, I would’ve knocked you out and made sure you never came here again.”

“I don’t think—”

“You’re one of them, aren’t ya?”

“I’m sorry?”

“People from all over the country have been coming here lately. They just won’t shut up about that ghost-busting stuff or whatever the hell that is! I don’t know what’s going on, but things have been wild since that kid showed up.”

“Kid?” I said, mumbling more for myself than for the other to hear. “Oli… Rams?”

“That’s about it, I think. What did that jerk tell ya? That you see ghosts and stuff? That you need help?”

“Something along those lines.”

“Why would someone like you believe in that crap? The only ghost here is this old guy,” he said, pointing at himself with a bitter smile.

“But if this is some kind of prank,” I said. “Then what does The Woe have to do with it?”

“The Woe?”

“Henry was obsessing over it before he… you know, bit the dust, and then Oli kept on rambling about how there’s some kind of connection between me and that damn lake.”

The old man’s eyes became wide in seconds. I momentarily took my eyes off the lake and focused on the stranger, who backed up all of a sudden. His voice trembled.

“Did- did ya do it?”

“Did… did what, sir?”

He pointed at the unmarked grave, his fingers shaking out of control.

Before I had the chance to fully understand the meaning behind his actions, he proceeded to aim the shotgun at me for a second time.

Caught off guard, I moved back and instinctively raised my hands in a defensive gesture.

“Tell me straight up, did ya do it or not!?”

“Sir, I don’t know what you’re—”

“Oh, I get it now!” he blurted out, not allowing me to get a word in. “I- I see the blood on ya hands! Oh, I see it now!”

As I gazed down at my hands, desperately trying to comprehend the subject of the stranger’s odd monologue, a sudden noise in the distance captured the attention of both of us.

The mysterious sound echoed through the night, coming from the depths of the dark lake.

With this chance presenting itself, I made a bold move and snatched the shotgun away from the elderly man, who fell and frantically crawled away in a state of pure terror.

Despite my efforts to calm the man down, he continued to crawl further away from me.

In a matter of seconds, before I could even understand what was going on, the man plunged into the ominous, dark water and disappeared without a trace.

The shotgun slipped through my grasp as I reached into the water. But my efforts were in vain.

That, however, wasn’t what caused me to recoil and move backwards, as far away from the raised bank as possible.

Something inside the lake yanked the drowning man to the seafloor, taking him with it to god knows where.

Then I heard it, the steady, haunting drip, drip, drip echoing from the graveyard.

I spun around.

The unmarked grave became saturated with black, grimy water and was now covered in thick mud.

I retraced my steps back to it. The dampness of the soil clung to my feet and urged me to dig and uncover whatever hid underneath.

As the minutes ticked by, the sky underwent a breathtaking metamorphosis, with a mesmerising blend of orange and pink spreading across the heavens, marking the gradual awakening of the sun.

Then I felt it. My hand grazed against a solid and unyielding object. With my forehead drenched in beads of cold sweat, I strained to pull the coffin up and pried the nails loose with my bare hands.

Before me, there was a small and helpless infant. It looked human, it felt human. But it wasn’t. With its delicate and uncanny features, the piglet had been meticulously crafted to appear human-like.

I grimaced. The overpowering stench filled the air, wrapping itself around me and leaving an unpleasant residue on my clothes and hair.

It was puzzling, even gut-churning, to think about who could possibly be capable of committing such a brutal thing, and it was equally intriguing to consider what could have been driving them.

As my eyes wandered over the nearby tombstones, the answer suddenly became clear to me. The names Mary Blake, William Blake, and Gertrud Blake were carefully engraved on the tombs.

Even though I was born as Robert Andrews, my mother’s maiden name was Dahlia Blake. Unfortunately, she passed away during childbirth, and my knowledge of her remained restricted to that piece of information.

The prevalence of the Blake surname in these regions, however, was so widespread that it was almost akin to a symbol of prestige and honour.

Despite my initial reasoning that all of this could be a mere coincidence with no underlying significance, deep down I knew that wasn’t the case.

While these thoughts continued to occupy my mind, I couldn’t resist the temptation to examine the piglet anew, realising too late that the cadaver I had mistaken for a decade-old piglet was actually something else entirely.

The piglet had been placed there recently, perhaps only a few months ago.

Only one question crossed my mind at that moment. Was all of this part of a carefully orchestrated ritual?

The silence surrounding me was incredibly profound, to the extent that even the gentle rustling of leaves in the breeze was audible to my ears.

I became acutely aware of how hushed The Woe got. The entire world seemed to have come to a halt, as though time itself had frozen.

I rose to my feet and ran for the hills.

With each step I took in my frantic search for my Togg, the firm ground beneath my feet offered no stability.

It was obvious to me that I had been brought to this place with malicious intentions, and the more I delved into the mystery surrounding the motive, the more unsettled I became.

I shouldn’t have come here.

After navigating through the intricate and meandering pathway, I was taken aback to find myself face to face with the Gates of Hell.

Why was I back in the village? Continuously moving in circles without making any progress, it felt as if I had entered a time loop.

The trap was cleverly set, and I walked right into it without a second thought.

The vast expanse of acres seemed to be working together, in cahoots to prevent me from reaching the other side and fleeing this harrowing nightmare.

As the urgency of the situation hit me like a brick, I tried to contact Lia only to realise that my phone had completely run out of battery.

I retraced my steps, slowly making my way back to the lake, where the gentle current carried the scent of wildflowers still.

Standing on the edge of the bank, my eyes were fixed on the meadow that lay before me, the same meadow that I had traversed to make my way to the village.

The water, dark and undisturbed, had such stillness that it created a mirror-like reflection of the trees that surrounded it, creating an optical illusion that made it seem like an endless void.

As my screams echoed through the air, they grew in intensity, overpowering any other sound that dared to exist.

I threw in the towel. There was no escape from this place.

As I gazed into the dark lake, my eyes fixated on the delicate ripples that formed, each one unveiling a hidden aspect of my soul and inviting me to explore its depths.

It was during that exact moment that a wave of memories came rushing back, playing out like a movie in the theatre of my mind.

My legs gave out under me. I collapsed onto the crumbling ground.

A decaying infant materialised on my shoulder, its skin grotesquely bloated and mushy. It caused a wave of repulsion to wash over me.

The strain on my shoulders was palpable as I tried to calm the wretched creature.

Its shrill cries rang in my ears, and with each bellow, it sank its teeth into my neck, revealing my throbbing artery underneath the ripped skin.

The sensation of my flesh tearing apart sent waves of pain coursing through me.

Warm blood trickled out, cascading down my neck and leaving stains on the solid ground beneath my feet.

I shut my eyes and let the harrowing memories I tried to suppress take over my mind.

Lia approached me, her radiant smile melting something within me and sending a pang of regret to cripple my mind and soul.

The weight of the words ‘I’m pregnant’ hung in the air, tinged with both excitement and trepidation.

It would’ve been better if she hadn’t shared that information with me. She had no clue. She didn’t see it coming. Even as I slipped those pills into her favourite dish and ended our child’s life, I did not feel any remorse – only relief.

And now it was sucking the life out of me, feeding on my flesh and blood.

Plunging into the depths, the icy water engulfed me from all angles. Its chilling embrace pushed against my skin. The pressure in my chest intensified, making it a challenge to keep my eyes open and my lungs from reaching their limit.

Like raindrops in the height of summer, Lia’s tears streamed down her blurry face on the other side of the murky lake, creating streaks that marred the darkening surface.

I squinted, trying to make out the blurred shapes above the surface, eagerly trying to catch a last glimpse of the love of my life.

She wasn’t alone. There was another person beside her. I blinked repeatedly and frowned as she stared into the lake with a knowing stare.

Did she know all along? What I did to her and our unborn child? No, there was no way she could’ve—Oli Rams? What was he doing here? Were those two acquainted? How?

When my blood mixed with the lake, the water that was once dark transformed into a rich and intense shade of crimson.

The infant released its grip. I couldn’t distinguish between what was real and what my mind was conjuring up.

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, I ceased to exist.

In my heart, I carried the burden of my unexpressed affection for her, the weight of which was heavy, and despite all obstacles, my desire to confess to her how much she truly meant to me remained strong.

None of this, however, held any significance now. I had deprived her of the sole thing that mattered to her, and now I was condemned to face the same destiny as our unborn child.

The End.

Read part I HERE!