Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-27007772-20150421193638

Prologue
Joseph Kaufman knelled before the statue of mother Mary, grasping a rosary in his hand. He'd stayed a few minutes after Sunday service for a special prayer. In his silent prayer, he'd considered the events just over a year and a month ago. The cold winter tormented him with memories of his time in that cement prison with Natalie and Jackson. The focus of the prayer, though, was Natalie herself. She'd been scarred more so than himself. He found God and set his life back on course with his faith, meanwhile, she tried to end her own.

She'd moved out of her old house to the other side of town into an apartment after begging her parents, and visiting doctors for mental checkups. She'd constantly been on pills. Downers, uppers, doesn't matter. She'd taken them at some point. At first he assumed the light at the end of the tunnel was that Natalie and himself were not charged with the disappearance of Jackson, and were unable to be placed directly as murderers. A few years of active probation and being on a watch list seemed easier, but not for Natalie.

One part of his silent prayer was capitalized. He prayed that the damned tunnel he'd almost been burred in had been collapsed and closed forever, and that the Tormentor had been forever sealed, or dead, within it. He hated to wish death to anything with his new found faith, but having lived only 15 years of his life before the Tormentor showed up was no way to start a life.

Finishing his prayer, Joseph stood off of his knees and opened his eyes, tilting his head to the statue. He turned around and placed the rosary around his neck as a necklace, walking for the church door. As he walked passed the preacher, he nodded his head and spoke modestly.

"Thank you for the extra time, father."

The preacher nodded back and smiled, opening the door for him. The air that rushed around him gave a slight chill. Hardly being spring, the temperature had not completely escalated yet. In fact, snow was still on the ground, though it was melting in most areas.

He walked into the parking lot right outside the church while putting on his thick overcoat. He was just happy he wouldn't have to wear the damned thing much longer. The soft inside made his arms itch while he wore short sleeve shirts, such as the blue dress shirt he wore to the church.

He made his way to a silver and gray car. It wasn't anything fancy, but a pre-owned car is all he could have hoped for, recently getting his licenses. When he got in the car he moved his hands down his face, before placing them on the steering wheel. It had been nearly 2 months since he last visited Natalie in her new home.

Her condition and hostility towards to location of her old house convinced her parents to rent an apartment, whilst renting out the old house to get some more money on the side. Putting his foot on the gas, he left the church, and started driving towards the apartment complex in lower Tutelo, thankfully away from Jackson's house, and the entry path of Cook Forest. The only part of the forest the complex was near, was the tourist path. Good thing it was just as close to the town hospital as it was to the forest.

Jackson's home. At this point, Joseph started drifting off whilst driving, refocusing to stop himself from swerving off of the road. Every time he would think of that forsaken house, he would notice his mind pulling tricks on him. Maybe he was the one who needed medication, not Natalie. Forsaken? More like foreclosed. After his disappearance, Jackson's mother and father moved into Philadelphia to help cope.

After many second takes off the road to inspect the surrounding area, he finally came to a stop. Pulling in to a public parking lot with only 3 other cars, he arrived at the brick and tile apartment building.

Hell Awaits
Stepping outside of his car, he closed the door with one hand while taking a deep breath, placing his hand over the rosary necklace. All he could think about was what Natalie's condition would be once he entered. At least she was living in a complex, where multiple people were around to help her if something went south.

Red brick, black tile roofing, wooden door with a window in the center, it was a pretty basic setup. Three floors, with two apartments on each floor. Natalie was on the second floor, to the immediate left of the stairwell. Pushing on the door, the twisting stairs were right in front of him.

It wasn't very long before he reached the top of the steps, though the echo of the cement stairs through the building forced him to cringe at some old memories. One foot off of the first set of steps out of two, he spun to his left and knocked on the door. When no one opened the door, he knocked louder and harder. Eventually lightly banging on the door, he was surprised no one from the other apartments came out to yell at him.

Just as he started to get a bit worried, the doorknob turned, and the door opened. Then, he saw her. Natalie was holding the door open for him. He walked into the apartment and hugged her.

"Joseph, I didn't think you would come today!" She said rather softly.

"I told you I'd come check up on you ever week from now. How's it all going? You doing well?" he questioned.

"Pills are a bitch, Joseph. But it's better with them than without. Downers kill your mood right away."

She pulled away from the hug, holding her right arm. When she noticed Joseph giving her an odd look, she signaled him to follow her, taking him into the living room, away from the entry that doubled as a kitchen. An old television with a cup sitting on it, new looking brown couch, white panel closet to hold cloths and other gear, she'd moved into a fairly nice place. He sat down on the couch, looking at the TV, whilst talking to Natalie.

"So you've been on track?"

"Checkups when I have to, sleep is on track. Everything's good, Joseph. Just relax."

"That's great, Natalie. I'm proud of you, you know. I'm not trying to hassle or bother you."

"I know" She said, smiling. "Just relax, Joseph. Everything is fine."

He leaned back on the couch as she sat right beside him. The glare of the sun shined on the TV and into his eyes. When he pulled his hand up to cover them, Natalie reached behind her and closed the blinds, removing the problem. He gave a little smile and lowered his hand again. The glare still made it through the blinds, but it was hardly noticeable except when looking directly at them.

Just then, there was a knock at the apartment door. Natalie looked over to Joseph.

"Did you bring anyone with you?"

"No, I promise, I didn't. Maybe it's one of your mother's friends?"

"I've been alone all day. I'll be home alone until my dad gets home tomorrow morning. I'm not expecting anyone, that's why I told you Sundays were the best for you to come over."

Joseph inched his way up as the knocking got louder. The silence was broken when a the other side of the door gave way to a voice.

"Let me in, please."

The voice was that of a grown man. It was calm, polite, and over all formal. Joseph looked back at Natalie, who shared his confusion, before turning the doorknob. Without further hesitation, he opened the door. Looking through the expanding crack as it opened, he noticed what would later be confirmed. No one was on the other side at all. Emptiness, and off lights that were on when he came into the apartment. He closed the dark outside away, and turned to Natalie.

"Must have been a prank. No one is on the other side." He said, rather distracted.

Just as Natalie was preparing to speak, he heard something from the room next to the living room. Natalie's bedroom.

"Thank you."

Natalie jumped up from the couch and backed away from the room, never taking her eyes off of it. Stepping away from the door and towards the exit, Joseph's eyes snapped unto the blinds. No source of light at all. It wasn't just that the blinds had muffled the sun's light, but the light was seemingly completely gone. Joseph began to shiver in his place, as Natalie attempted to pull him closer towards the exit.

The cup on the television crashed on the ground, furthering Joseph's panic. The thought of shattered glass, along with the noise, had always been a fear of his. Deciding the temptation of knowledge overpowered his fears, he rushed to the window. Simply grabbing the blind by the bottom and lifting them, he noticed the moon was at full position. Even stranger, all cars in the parking lot were gone, excluding his own.

Natalie spun around and tried to go for the exit, but the lights all shattered, triggering Joseph's phobia further. The door creaked open in front of Natalie. The other side wasn't empty this time, with a silhouette of another person, slightly taller than her but shorter than Joseph, was standing on the other side.

Natalie turned back around and ran for her bedroom, pulling on Joseph to follow. Entering the room, the closed the door and locked it, practically diving under the bed. With no other options that his rushed brain could this off, he stood with his back pressed against the wall, to the right of the door. He hoped that if the door was opened, he wouldn't be seen because the door would cover him.

The small lamp on her wardrobe hadn't busted, but instead flicked on. Joseph reached towards the wardrobe slowly in hopes of putting it in front of the door, but a continued scratching noise forced him to stop.

When the noise came to a stop, he tilted his head to the door, only to notice something moving at the bottom of his vision. Looking down, he saw what appeared to be 4 red strings with hooks tied to the ends of them moving as if they were worms. Natalie took a double take and slid back further from the edge of the bed.

The worm like threads moved up the door. When they reached the top, they placed the hooks so they would stab into the door, and dragged them back down to the bottom. After doing this once, they tried again. One reached unto the latch lock, and the rest moved over to hook on to the lock as well. Once they all found their place, they pulled together downward.

The pop noise of the lock and the flinging of the screws rung in both of their ears, as the lock fell to the ground. The door pushed open, and Natalie's view of Joseph disappeared behind the opening door. When the door stooped, Joseph had completely gone away from her view.

Someone stepped through the doorway, and the worm like threads revealed what they were- veins of some sort, maybe a tendon. They came from two slashes on each forearm of the person, right below the elbow. Yellow fat hung on them lightly and scarcely. The seemed so thin that the wind itself could most likely have moved them.

He wore torn, rotted boots that matched the destroyed clothing he was wearing. A hoodie that had the color nearly completely faded, jeans that had been browned until the point the fabric was disconnecting, and a rusted metal mask.

The mask covered the man, and when Natalie saw it, she almost screamed. She was forced to bite her bottom lip as hard as possible to not give away her location as she watched the veins and hooks retracted back into the arms of the man.

His neck had a red, terribly stitched line from ear to ear. Joseph was no less confused at this than Natalie, up until the point where the man spun completely around and smacked the door with his right hand, forcing it closed, and looking Joseph directly in the eyes. In the eye sockets of the mask were two deep eyes, each with a broken iris. They rested behind bars which mimicked prison bars, and they had found their focus on him.

The man's mask had the entire mouth covered, but hardly muffled the snapping sound coming from behind the mask. Directly following was something which reminded Joseph of tearing Velcro, as he watched the bottom jaw of the man drop even lower than the bottom of the mask. The jaw looked as if it had been broken and torn off, excluding some threads holding it on at this point. The exposed ligaments twirled and moves as if they were their own life forms.

Even with the dangling bottom jaw, he seemed to work some works out, which gave an echo, even though the room was not large or empty enough to do so. He spoke in a very calm, tired sounding voice.

"Finally, Joseph."

The lamp's light burst just as he finished his sentence, and he returned to a silhouette. Natalie could see his vague shape lift its right hand and start to stretch out each finger.

Welcome to Hell
The two black figures merged, as one fell down to the ground. It became apparent that Joseph had pushed down the man out of instinct, but this didn't end with a simple shove. When the man hit the ground, he began to lift himself up immediately, letting out a furious, rather angry yell, like a child whom had just had his favorite toy taken away.

Natalie sprung up from the bed as Joseph opened the door which now had no lock, and they both consecutively bolted out of the room and through the living room, Joseph hardly remembering the layout of the room. He smashed against a square object, knocking it over. Yet again he was met with the horrid sound of broken glass from what he assumed was the television, forcing him to shutting as he ran around it, and through the kitchen area.

The creaking sound of the door let very little light it as Natalie opened the door in front of him, only natural light from the moon coming through the window even attempted to help light up the dark hallway.

He and Natalie were close enough that they could see eachother in the darkness, as they ran down the twisting stairs. Natalie ran into the exit door and ended up smacking her face against it, before stepping back and opening it correctly. Following behind her, they ran out of the building, into the oddly warm spring night. Joseph closed the door behind him, as he speed walked to the car. Natalie wasn't as patient, and bolted ahead to it.

She paused at the car door, jittering and shaking in her place. As Joseph arrived, she put her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look her in her eyes as she spoke.

"Jackson! That was Jackson!"

"No! It's impossible! It's just another trick. A doppelganger from that creature in the trap door!" he retorted, surprisingly aggressively.

"We locked it away, Joseph. It should be dead by now down there!"

Joseph didn't wait any longer as he pulled away from her hands, looking for his car key. Strangely, only two keys were on the loop. His car key, and an unidentified glittering silver key.

"What the-" he began to question, as Natalie interrupted him.

"Joseph! Hurry up!" she yelled pointing to her hotel window. Even in the night sky it was apparent that the man with the mask was looking at them through the window, pressing up against it.

He rushed the key into the car door's lock and turned it, unlocking it and pulling it open. Reaching around to the door behind the driver's seat, he pulled the locking mechanism up as well. Natalie opened it and sat in the bad, whilst he got in the driver's seat. Taking his key and putting in the ignition, the car started. He sped out of the parking lot and drove back to where he came from.

Natalie was obviously in a state of ill thought as she looked around frantically for any signs of movement in the houses they drove passed. Nothing. No lights were on, and no one was outside. She'd forgot her phone at her house, but thankfully Joseph had never taken his out of his pocket. He pulled it out with his right hand, as she climbed into the passenger's seat.

"Where are we going?" she asked between deep breaths.

"We are going to stop at my place, grab anything we can to help us, and then leave this damned town." said Joseph, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"10:36 pm. Sunday worship does not end at 10:36 at night. We really need to leave as fast as possible."

"What about our families?" she retorted.

"We will call them every once in a while until they pick up, and we can tell them about the situation."

His sour, yet stern tone put Natalie at unrest, even giving her chills. As they drove around the bend, every house had its lights off, just as dark as the outside. All except one that Natalie caught out of the side of her eye while they drove past the cooks forest entrance.

Jackson's old home was as bright as it had ever been, nearly glowing in the night. Joseph didn't even have to look before he sped up. With each tree to his right looking like it was a person from his confused vision, he could hardly stand having to look forward at the road the whole time.

After what felt like an hour of speeding, the pair had arrived at Joseph's house, which was away from the forest, in their favor. The tan and brown paint reflected brilliantly in the moonlight, with a stone and gravel walkway leading up to the front door. As expected, all windows seemed to point to the insides being dark.

He parked the car outside of the house, at the edge of the walkway. It took a second for the two to stand up and exit the car. Joseph kept his phone with him and made a phone call, entering a surprisingly short phone number while Natalie left her door open after exiting. When he closed the car door behind him, he tightened his grip on the phone. After a few seconds, he put it back in his pocket.

"Well, emergency services didn't answer. If you've got another plan than that one, please say it now." he said, placing his face in his hand and leaning over the top of the car.

It was just then that he noticed the shape carved in on his car's roof, scratched in like someone had deeply keyed the car. The same exact shape of the bronze mask he had run into in the forest, right before the Tormentor always appeared.

The Lord Cometh
Joseph immediately began to inch away, practically hopping up and down like a rabbit.

"Natalie, get in the house." he barked, seemingly in shock.

"Alone?" she questioned.

Her question was answered when Joseph jogged past her and towards the door, feet hitting the stone walkway with a loud shock wave. Nearly sprinting towards his house, Natalie saw him simply open the door. She caught up to him and ran inside, as he closed the door behind her, locking it.

"What was all that about?" she questioned, in a fatigued state, even though they had only ran a rather short distance.

"The thing on my car looked exactly like that little mask piece from the forest!" he answered, ecstatic and checking windows. He continued.

"When we checked out your apartment window we were looking down at the car. We would have noticed, even in the dark."he zoned out for a second, before snapping back with another question.

"You leave your front door unlocked every morning?"

"I didn't. I swear I didn't. When I got to it, the door just opened. I wasn't thinking straight, but I promise I locked it."

Looking out of the window beside the front door, his eyes snapped to movement crawling from his car through the door Natalie had left open, though the darkness made sure he couldn't completely see it. The headlights did shimmer on it lightly, though. Rugged looking skin and a chipped texture.He backed away from the door, whispering in shock.

"It was in the back of the car-" he let own, staring at the shape.

Natalie seemed to not even need to witness it as proof, but only took a look as reassurance. Looking back towards the house was the hatred that had tortured them in the forest, now returning. 