From the deck chair on the porch, Doug Willoughby had slowly stopped polishing his shotgun and sucking on the piece of straw that he kept in his mouth.
Just over the fields of corn and next to the patch of forest, he watched and listened carefully as he heard the distress from the cattle.
“Hollis,” he called, “Hollis, come out here.”
A young man who was rail thin and dressed in dungarees a size too big had just stepped outside with a questionable stare as he was interrupted from eating his dinner.
“What the hell do you want? I was eating, goddammit.”
They were both farmers who worked the same land.
“Listen? You hear that?”
Hollis closed his eyes and tried his best to listen, but after an accident which left him with a dead ear, he struggled and got frustrated.
“What the hell did you call me out here for?”
Doug stood up with a gleaming shotgun in his hands.
“It’s them kids again I reckon. The ones buggin’ our cows.”
Hollis tried his best to listen again.
“Wait a second,” he said, “I think I can hear ‘em mooing.”
A cold breeze blew through the porch as Doug grunted.
“We better give ‘em scare,” he said as he loaded his gun.
“Hold on,” spoke Hollis, “I remember seein’ the other day about some young missin’ girl up in this area around here. Some kid runaway or summin’.”
“I don’t give a dog’s bollock if it’s a young girl or a one of them ladies from that Cherry Lee club. I don’t want no one disturbin’ our cows, you hear me?”
“Barely. But fine, let’s get a-moving then.”

Hollis drove the truck and Doug sat in the side seat with his shotgun in his lap.
A dark red sky was bleeding above and fractured clouds let little light through.
Doug grunted, “it’s starting to get dark out. You bring a bring a torch?”
Hollis reached under the seat and pulled out an old battered one which was what you’d see in those cheesy eighties’ horror movies.
“Dammit Hollis, you expect me to see with that piddly thing?”
“Shut your hole,” he barked, “at least ‘em kids will barely see us coming then.”
They pulled up closer to the field of cows and by the time they had reached it, the sky had turned from red into a cold blue.
Doug stepped out first, leading with his shotgun, while Hollis flicked on the torch which let out a dim glow.
The cows had settled now and were all huddled underneath a large oak.
“Looks like a storm must be brewin’ up,” said Doug as his old eyes pierced the darkness.
They did a lap around the field which was closest to the patch of forest.
Fog began to settle across the fields.
“It’s getting’ thick,” cried Hollis, “I can barely see a thing with this here torch.”
Doug walked in front and grunted with acknowledgement.
After several more steps through the muddy pathway, Doug came to a halt.
He knelt down and examined the barbed wire fence which led into the forest.
“Hollis, come ‘ere with that thing would you, and tell me what you see.”
The boy knelt down and looked closely at the material that was snagged on the fence.
“Looks like clothing if you ask me.”
Doug ripped it off of the wire and looked closer.
“There are flowers on here. Probably a little girls.”
Hollis looked around himself with the lamp that flickered on and off.
“This stupid thing is barely workin’,” he said as he hit it several times.
“Whoever was here must’ve taken off quick.”
“Well, whatever it is, I don’t wanna be out here no more. Summin’ don’t feel right and it’s too goddamn cold.”
“This looks like a part of a skirt or dress if I’ve ever seen one,” exclaimed Doug.
“Who in the right mind wears a blouse in the middle of Winter?”
Doug dropped the material.
“Whoever they are must be sick in the head. But I reckon they won’t be coming back anytime soon.”
“Yeah, I don’t feel like standing out here no more. I dunno how to explain it, but I just feel like-“
He never finished the sentence as Doug interrupted him.
“That little girl. The missin’ one.”
“Yeah, what about her?”
“You don’t reckon…” said Doug as he pointed at the torn dress on the floor.
Hollis felt uneasy and kept looking behind himself.
“Well maybe, but I think we should go. If we gonna look, then I say we look tomorrow.”
Doug accepted what he had to say and they both started towards the truck.
A sickly, jaundiced-looking moon had cast a sinister glow over the smoking landscape.
Together they trudged through the mud, insects chirping around them.
Doug paused and lifted his shotgun to his chest with the barrel pointing outwards.
“Hollis! Hollis!” he spat.
“What? What is it?” he said as he raised the torch to eye level.
“Can you hear that?”
Doug brought his finger to his lips and stared into the forest.
“Of course I can’t hear it-“
A wailing noise came from within the trees.
Muffled cries and drowned out groaning.
“Hold on a second,” said Hollis, “I can hear it.”
The noises ceased, yet both of them stood their ground in confusion.
Silence.
Ebbing and flowing until it grew almost palpable.
“There it is! There it is again,” whispered Doug.
The moans were uncanny and it sent a chill down Hollis’ spine.
“I don’t wanna be out here no more, Doug. This torch is barely working and those noises are freaking me the hell out.”
A cold sweat ran down his back as he aimed the torch at the forest.
Snap.
“Did you hear that?” asked Hollis, “a twig broke.”
Something was moving between the trees.
The cows in the field behind began shuffling once again.
Storm clouds gathered overhead.
A figure ran between the trees.
“What the hell was that? It moved so fast.”
“It must’ve been the little girl.”
“Little girl? More like a damn athlete at that speed.”
Doug climbed the fence and beckoned Hollis over who refused for a near minute before being convinced.
“C’mon, it’s a little girl we’re talking about. Definitely the one in the newspaper.”
As they walked further through the trees, the noises came back.
Wailing. Crying.
Sounds all around them.
Hollis heard another twig snap to his left.
He raised his torch.
It flickered.
“D-doug.”
“What is it-“
They both stopped and looked ahead.
Something faced away from them, towards the trees.
It was the girl, but something about her was wrong.
Her back was humped and her arms seemed to be retracted under her chest, just like a T-rex’s would be.
They were both nearly twenty metres away from her.
“Little girl? We’re farmers. We’re to help-“
Hollis stopped speaking.
Doug looked at him, “what’s the matter?”
No reply.
Hollis stared and mumbled something out of fear.
The light on the torch went out.
They stood in darkness.
What was he looking at, Doug thought to himself? It was just a little girl.
He snatched the torch out of Hollis’ hand and pressed the button over and over until it turned on.
The girl cocked her neck and turned around and they both stood silent.
What they had both seen had broken them.
Her legs were bird like.
Narrow and slender as if it were just bone.
The knees were bent inwards and her lower legs were coming out past her hips.
Her arms, malformed.
Her face was what scarred them the most.
Doug slowly turned to Hollis, hoping they were seeing the same thing.
Tears were in the boy’s eyes; trickling down his face.
Her neck had merged with the back of her head and connected with the rest of the skin.
A primal fear ate them.
Her face was narrow, unnaturally narrow to the point where her jaw didn’t look formed.
The mouth stood out the most.
With each movement, her jaw squirmed and shook.
She began crying. Screaming.
Her legs squatted and suddenly, she staggered towards them, wailing with a gurgled moan.
Doug pointed his gun.
“S-shoot,” mumbled Hollis, “shoot it, Doug!”
He did as he was told.
After unloading one shell into her chest, she didn’t drop.
Her cries grew louder, her legs moved faster.
A reddish, orange light had filled the scene as the last shell was fired and pellets exploded across her face.
Her legs collapsed underneath her and blood leaked out from her wounds.
Thunder crackled overhead.
Rain spilled from the clouds.
Hollis snapped out of his trance and called the police to report a missing person; his fingers jittering on every button press.
For a second, he spoke to the operator, but the next thing he knew, someone else was on the line.
Someone who knew what was already going on.

They stood in silence and heard cars driving across the fields behind them.
Both turning, they looked at the several SUV’s that pulled up beside the barbed fence.
Men dressed in black suits had stepped out and walked towards them, guided by their flashlights.
One of them had walked over to Hollis and Doug and without a single word exchanged between them, he led them to the back seats to one of the cars.
Doug and Hollis looked at each other with expressions of confusion.
Several seconds had passed and they made out the figures in the trees pouring something onto the body.
Before they knew it, a great flame had embezzled their vision and they watched the little girl’s body go up in fire.
All the men walked away from the scene as if it had never happened.
A short amount of time passed and the two of them were dropped off on the porch without any questions asked.
They shared a look.
Their eyes had seen something unspeakable.
Hollis still had tear marks streaked across his face.
Doug’s body was shaking like a jackhammer.
They both looked to the forest, heart pounding.
Not a word was spoken, but they knew nothing was forgotten.

© trane