Chapter 44 Let's be normal

Chapter 44 Let's be normal
David woke from the sedative around six PM, groggy and disoriented.

He sat in the corner of the living room, his head in his hands, saying nothing. The shame of his breakdown sat heavy on him, Mara could see it in the way he wouldn't meet anyone's eyes, in how his shoulders hunched inward like he was trying to make himself smaller.

"You okay?" Brooks asked quietly, sitting beside him.

David nodded without looking up. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just….I couldn't take it anymore. Them standing there, watching us, waiting for us to…." He stopped, took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. We're all on edge."

"It's not okay. I'm supposed to be professional. Supposed to keep it together." David finally looked up, and his eyes were red-rimmed. "I joined the Park Service to help people. To be someone who saves lives. But here I'm useless. Worse than useless. I'm a liability."

"You're human," Brooks said. "That's all. Just human."

They prepared for nightfall the way they'd done nine times before—checking locks, pushing furniture against doors, distributing weapons. The routine was familiar now, almost comforting in its predictability. At least this they could control.

Chen organized the watch schedule. "First shift, Rivera and myself. Second shift, Park and Rhett. Third shift—" She looked at David. "Brooks, you feel up to third shift?"

David nodded quickly, eager to redeem himself. "Yes, ma'am. I can do it. I'm steady now, I promise."

"You'll pair with Ward," Chen decided. "Both of you on watch together. No one goes anywhere alone."

Seven PM came and the temperature dropped immediately. Their breath misted in the air. The scratching started right on schedule, circling the cabin.

But tonight felt different. The scratching was rhythmic, almost like knocking. Like something was asking permission to enter.

Outside, the dead bodies had begun moving. Not approaching the cabin, but walking slow circles around it. They were still silent, still watching, but now in motion.

"They're getting closer," Marcus said, standing at the window.

"Not by much," Mara observed. "They're staying at about the same distance. Just... circling now instead of standing still."

"Why?" Chen asked. "What's the purpose?"

"I don't know. But it means something. The entity doesn't do anything random."

David volunteered for first watch even though it wasn't his shift. "I need to do something. I need to be useful. Please."

Chen studied him, then nodded. "Fine. You're with Rivera. But if you feel yourself starting to lose control…"

"I'll tell someone immediately," David promised. "I won't let it happen again."

So David took position at one window, Marcus at another. The rest tried to rest, though no one could really sleep. They just sat in the semi-darkness, listening to the sounds outside, waiting for dawn.

Around eight-thirty, David needed to use the bathroom. He told Marcus, "I'll be quick. Two minutes."

Marcus nodded, keeping his eyes on the window where the dead circled endlessly.

David crossed the living room, climbed the stairs. His footsteps were heavy, and tired. He reached the second floor, went into the bathroom, and closed the door.

He did his business quickly, wanting to get back downstairs. The isolation up here felt wrong. He washed his hands, splashed water on his face, and looked at himself in the mirror.

He looked terrible, with dark circles under his eyes, hi face was gaunt, five days of stubble making him look older than twenty-six. When had he gotten so old? When had he become this scared, broken version of himself?

He splashed more water on his face, trying to wake up, to be alert. This was his chance to prove he could handle it, that he wasn't a liability.

When he opened his eyes, there was someone standing behind him in the mirror.

His breath caught. Behind him was a young woman , wearing a sundress he recognized. That was Sera, his ex-girlfriend. She has been dead three years now in a car accident that had destroyed him, that he still hadn't fully processed.

"David," she said, her voice exactly as he remembered it. Sweet, and gentle. "I've missed you."

He spun around, but nobody was there, just the empty bathroom, shower curtain drawn, and door still closed.

His heart pounded. This must be hallucination, stress-induced hallucination. Marcus had mentioned them as a possibility of lack of sleep, and extreme stress, the mind creating what it needed to cope.

"David." Her voice came again, coming from the bathtub. "Don't you want to see me? We have so much to catch up on."

He should leave. He should run downstairs, and tell someone what was happening. But his hand reached for the shower curtain instead, pulling it back slowly.

Sarah sat in the tub, but wrong. Her body broken the way it had been after the accident—neck at an unnatural angle, one arm bent backward, her chest caved in from the steering wheel. But she was smiling at him. That same smile that had made him fall in love with her four years ago.

"There you are," she said. "I've been waiting. Waiting so long for you to come to me."

David tried to scream but no sound came out. His throat was frozen, and locked. Sera's hand shot out impossibly fast, and grabbed his wrist. Her grip was iron-strong, freezing cold.

"Don't fight," she whispered, pulling him toward the tub. "It doesn't hurt. I promise it doesn't hurt. Just let go. Let go and come with me."

He fought, and tried to pull back, but she was too strong. Her other hand came up, touched his face with fingers that felt like ice. Where she touched, black veins spread immediately, racing up his neck, across his jaw, into his head.

The pain was instant and total, like his blood had turned to acid, like something was rewriting every cell in his body. His vision darkened at the edges, closing in.

I'm sorry, he thought. Mom, I'm sorry. Captain Chen, I'm sorry. I tried to be brave. I tried to…

The darkness took him completely.

Downstairs, around eight forty-five, Marcus noticed David had been gone for over fifteen minutes. "Brooks? Your partner's been upstairs a while. Maybe check on him?"

Rhett, who wasn't even on watch yet, stood. "I'll go. I need to stretch my legs anyway."

He climbed the stairs, and called out softly. "Brooks? You okay up there?"

No answer.

Rhett reached the second floor, and saw the bathroom door was closed. He knocked. "Brooks? Everything alright?"

Silence.

Something cold settled in Rhett's stomach. "David? I'm coming in."

He tried the handle, but it was locked.

"Chen!" he called down. "We have a problem!"

Chen and Eli rushed upstairs with their weapons drawn. Chen pounded on the door. "Brooks! Officer Brooks, open this door!"

Nothing.

"Break it down," Chen ordered.

Eli threw his shoulder against it. The lock was flimsy, and gave on the second impact. The door swung open.

The bathroom was empty, completely empty. The shower curtain pushed aside, tub vacant, and no sign of David anywhere.

Except the window. It stood wide open, curtain billowing in the cold wind. Chen rushed to it, and looked down. Nothing but darkness and the forest twenty feet below.

"Where is he?" Chen's voice cracked. "Where the hell is he?"

They searched the entire second floor. Every room, every closet, every possible hiding place. Nothing. David Brooks was gone.

They came back downstairs, Chen barely holding it together. "One of my people is gone. Just gone. No body, no evidence, just vanished."

She looked at Mara with desperate eyes. "This is what happened to Devon, isn't it? You found him later, in the forest."

Mara nodded slowly. "We found him the next morning. But he wasn't Devon anymore."

Chen's face crumbled. She sat down heavily, and put her head in her hands. "I was supposed to protect them. That's my job. Protect and serve. And I've lost one of my people to….to something I can't even fight."

Lisa sat beside her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "This isn't on you, Captain. This place, it takes people. No matter how careful we are, no matter what we do, it finds a way."

"He was upstairs for fifteen minutes," Marcus said, his voice hollow. "Fifteen minutes. That's all it took."

Brooks was pacing with his hands in his hair. "David and I have been partners for two years. Two years. And I just…I let him go upstairs alone. I should have gone with him. I should have…"

"You couldn't have known," Eli said quietly.

"Couldn't I?" Brooks looked at him with anguished eyes. "We all know this place is wrong. We all know it takes people. And I let my partner go upstairs alone in the dark. That's on me."

They sat in the living room, and processed the loss. Another one gone. Another sacrifice to the entity's hunger.

Outside, the dead continued their slow circle.

And somewhere in the forest, David Brooks's body was being transformed, and added to the collection, another puppet for the entity to wear.

But tonight, they just sat in the quiet cabin and mourned David.

Mourned their own inevitable deaths.

And waited for dawn to come, knowing it would bring no relief.

Only confirmation of what they'd lost.