Chapter 8

The rest of the week passed without much incident for Elliot. He heard nothing else on what had happened to both Danny and Declan. The only thing he did know, was that whenever Mr Reed wasn’t out looking for clues, he was locked inside his room, talking with persons unknown.

Elliot hated it. Whether it was the fact that he was out of the loop due to school, helping his Mum out, or football. Or the fact that he felt like a target of whatever creepy creature was doing this, he wasn’t sure. But his mind kept going back to the thought that he, along with others on his team, were being used as bait.

This feeling, of being used as bait, wasn’t reserved for Mr Reed, and this Baldwin Institute alone though. No, it also applied to the authorities, as proved on that Wednesday at the Town Hall meeting.

Elliot hadn’t gone, not that he would have wanted too, but he got the full rundown from his angry Mum when she returned from it. Apparently, all the Police Commissioner had done was state that the disappearances of Danny and Declan were isolated, as Danny had been returned, and Declan hadn’t.

That point had been hard to swallow, as a few hours after the meeting had ended, Declan had been found, like Danny, almost completely comatose, on the side of the road. Mr Reed had gone out and interviewed Declan just as he had done with Danny. But Elliot didn’t know if he’d managed to get any more info out of their captain.

Since then, a statement had gone out that there would be a greater police presence in the community, and to cooperate with them at all times.

Thursday morning dawned rainy as Elliot groaned at the thought of playing that evening. The rain was another thing that was wrong, it had been raining, almost none stop now since Danny had been taken. It was the middle of July for god’s sake.

Slumping out of his bed, he packed his football gear into his school bag, he and Owen had agreed to just go to pitch straight from school, and headed downstairs to the hustle and bustle of their now manic hotel.

“Wait there a second Elliot.” Amanda said as she quickly exited the reception desk where she’d been apparently unsuccessfully trying to teach one of the dumb employees she managed to hire.

Elliot waited by the doors as the rain continued to lash down. As he did so, Isla rushed past, headed for the bus stop at the end of their road.

“Mum, can’t it wait till this evening. I don’t want to have to walk to school in this.” Elliot said.

“About this evening.” Amanda said curtly. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea that you’re on your own heading to football.”

Elliot rolled his eyes. This was all pointless unless his Mum was going to drop everything here and take him. Which he knew she wouldn’t.

“I’ll be fine Mum.” Elliot said. “Everyone’s on the lookout for this creep now.” He didn’t tell his Mum that it was a literal monster that was behind all of this. If he did that, he’d be cooped up here until he turned eighteen. “Anyway, I’ll be with Owen. That creep has only taken people who are alone.” He could only hope that this remained true.

“Ok. Alright then.” Amanda said as the queues began to form at the desk. The hired help was getting swamped.

Elliot grinned and nodded, before heading out after his twin.

The first sign that things were different was waiting for them all as they got off the bus. Two cops stood at the gates, and judging by the cues that were forming elsewhere, they weren’t the only police on the scene.

As the crowd slowly moved forwards towards the school, Elliot could make out a new sign zip-tied to the large fence by the entrance.

POLICE PRESENCE IN FORCE. ALL MUST SHOW EITHER STAFF OR STUDENT IDS TO ENTER. PARENTS MUST WAIT AT THE GATES. NO UNAUTHORISED ACCESS.

“They honestly think that’s going to work?” Owen said in an undertone that Elliot was sure only he could hear.

“I’m guessing they have to rule the school out.” Elliot said, his hand fumbling for his own ID.

“Either that. Or this is just for show.” Owen responded, looking at the cops.

Looking at them, Elliot had to agree. If what Mr Reed said was true about this being the work of an actual monster. These two braindead idiots would be no help whatsoever.

Nor were the cops just at the school gates, they were also patrolling the street that led to the school. Whether these ones were just for show like the ones on the gates, Elliot couldn’t get a handle on that.

Despite the cops slowing everything down at the gates, the teachers didn’t take that as an excuse for lateness. That was proven when Elliot walked into his first lesson ten minutes late. The teacher, unfortunately one of the meaner ones, did not want to hear that the toilets were completely full due to the fact that no-one in the school had been able to go until they’d cleared the security.

Elliot had been on the verge of arguing, but stopped himself just in time. He’d already got into enough trouble this year with this teacher. The last thing he wanted was to give the man an excuse to give him a week’s worth of detentions, like he had done last time he’d opened his mouth.

It didn’t end up mattering anyway, as the teacher slapped him with a lunchtime detention for ‘his tardy attitude.’

As Elliot hurried down the corridor, hoping to keep a low enough profile with the rest of the teachers in this place, he nearly collided with the one person who’d almost certainly make him late.

“Sorry, Skyla.” Elliot mumbled as he picked up his rucksack from the floor.

Skyla didn’t seem to even notice that he’d almost knocked her over in his hurry not rack to up anymore detentions. And for a moment he thought that this was going to go the usual way of his attempts at conversations with her, i.e., he’d say something to her, and she’d follow up by ignoring him.

This time was apparently different though.

“You got a minute?” Skyla asked and taking Elliot aback, a month ago, she’d probably not even spoken so much as a sentence to him. And now, here she was, actually wanting to speak to him.

“Err. Yeah, sure.” Elliot replied.

“So, I was thinking.” Skyla said as she fell into step alongside Elliot, who felt his heart begin to go double. “Both Danny and Declan both play football with you guys, right?”

“Yeah.” Owen said, clearly not having the same problems with speech as Elliot was.

“Well. I wanna come down to where you play. See if anyone is lurking around there.” Skyla said as they walked round a corner, passed the doors that led to the lunch hall.

“Err.” Elliot stammered. The thought of Isla coming to watch them play badly football was enough to send his nerves over the edge. But that wasn’t the only thing that was troubling him.

The last time a girl was seen to be distracting any of his players, Coach Jones had barred the girl from ever coming to pitch side ever again. And he knew Skyla, she wouldn’t be bullied by that man. The last thing they all needed was for there to be an actual fight between a fully grown adult and Skyla.

“Sure, come along.” Owen said before Elliot could voice any of his doubts.

Skyla nodded and walked off in the direction of her next class.

“What did you do that for?” Elliot demanded rounding on his best friend. “The last thing we need now is that ape on our case anymore than he actually is.”

To his not so surprise, Owen was smirking.

“I know,” Owen said clearly forcing himself to keep something close to a straight face. “Coach Jones is going to bust an artery.”

The football match that night, was not going well at all by the time that halftime came and Coach Jones had seemingly nearly popped a vein in his frustration.

“Now look here you lot.” Coach Jones said giving a hate filled look to each and every one of them. “Even without Philips and Mason. You guys are worse than useless.”

Elliot rolled his eyes at this. Clearly the fact that they were now two players down was not going to be an excuse for this man. He looked across to where the opposite team was, all their faces were gleeful.

“But that doesn’t mean you guys can’t go out there and get me this win.” Elliot had now turned off. And by the looks of it, he wasn’t the only one. Every single player, even down to Jamie, who would normally bend over backwards to please this man.

Despite this, and more to keep their places on the team. Every one of them gave the least half-hearted response that they could.

Either Coach Jones was just an obliviously moronic to the lack of willingness in his team. Or he was desperate for some kind of response and realised that this was the best that he was going to get. In any case, he nodded and sent them back out onto the pitch.

The team talk had about as much effect on their morale, and playing performance as Elliot would have guessed. As the second half continued on, and the team failed to improve on the first half, conceding another two goals, the sun began its descent towards the ground.

Around the game, the floodlights kicked into life, illuminating the ground and portions of the pitch side in flickering white light.

After another almost thirty minutes of the team conceding another three goals, Elliot’s mind began to wander, most of the team, and its supporters seemed to be now running down the clock. Everyone apart from Coach Jones, who continued to shout from the touchline.

That was when Elliot saw it. Or at least he thought he saw something glint in the corner of his eye, and turning expecting to see the monster, scouting for its next victim, he instead realised that it was only Skyla’s ear piercing, which had reflected the hard floodlight. It took him by surprise, even though Skyla had told him that she was coming to watch the game, he hadn’t completely believed her.

Clearly, she was a lot more determined to find this creep than he’d given her credit for.

“Woods!” Coach Jones yelled from the sidelines. “Get back to the match!”

Elliot started, then realising that their team was on one of their rare attacks, he rushed forward.

Despite yet another loss, Elliot thought that they’d played well, especially with two of their players out. However, he was sure that Coach Jones would not see it that way as he took off his football kit, he mentally prepared for the moment when Coach Jones would come barging in here to tell them how useless they all were.

The minutes ticked by however, and there was still no sign of the man that had become all of their nightmares.

But, just as Elliot was finishing getting changed out of his football kit, he heard the sound of a massive argument coming from the pitch.

“What the hell?” Elliot said looking around at his teammates. They too had also apparently heard the sound as they were all looking in the direction of the pitch.

“That’s Coach Jones’ voice.” Jamie’s thick voice said.

Owen ran over to the window for a view of who had started the argument with their coach. The last time that had happened, was when a frustrated parent had come down to demand that their child be given game time, the net result being Coach Jones digging his heels in even more on the team selection.

“It’s Skyla.” Owen said turning around to the rest of the team.

“What?” Elliot said rushing over.

Sure, it was, looking out, he could see Skyla engaged in what looked to be an apocalyptic debate with the coach.

The whole team then rushed out. Wanting to witness the argument. All of them knew that whenever Skyla got on one, it was almost impossible for her to back down. Like the idea of withdrawing from a fight would cause her head to explode.

“Come on Mr Jones.” Skyla said as Elliot managed to get to the front of the crowd of people. It was now not only teammates, but those that worked at the clubhouse, as well as those that had come to watch the match.

“That’s Coach Jones to you, girl.” Coach Jones demanded.

“You’re not my Coach, Mr Jones.” Skyla said and eliciting a few laughs from the players. Delighted that someone was giving this man all the respect he deserved. “Anyway. About the players that have gone missing from your team recently. Is it true that one’s returned but is a vegetable? And if so, do you expect the second to return in the same state? Plus, when did you last see either of them? I heard a rumour that you argued with Declan hours before his disappearance, is it true? And if so, can you account for your whereabouts at the time?”

“That is none of your business.” Coach Jones said, and they could all see that his face was going red now. “I’d advise you to think very carefully before speaking again.”

“Oh, come on Mr Jones. It’s the press’ right to ask these questions.” Skyla said.

“And which journalistic institution do you work for, missy?” Coach Jones asked in whisper that still carried in the silence of the watchful pitch side, a look of triumph on his face at the sudden shift in Skyla’s demeanour.

“I’m asking the questions here, Mr Jones.” Skyla said, but some of her bravado was now gone.

“No, you’re not, missy.” Coach Jones replied, the words might be getting harder to hear, but his face was easy to read, it was a picture in righteous smugness. “You’re not a journalist. You’re just a bratty, little child who’s not been told ‘no’ often enough. Now get off my pitch, or I’ll have the police up here to arrest you for trespassing.” That last part had not been in an undertone either, Coach Jones had deliberately raised his voice so that everyone listening could hear.