Oh, someone screamed behind the wall

“Clown, I know you are here!”

“…”

“That’s what I’ve thought. Listen, that guy, Branzy, hasn’t even done anything to you. Not that anyone deserves to be forever haunted by your image in their dreams or brutally murdered just because they tried to play flute too loud one time, but…”

“…”

“Clown, I would immensely appreciate if you never put your clown-claws near my throat ever again.”

“…”

“Thank you. I get it, I really do, but driving people mad is not the most adequate alternative. Especially, if they are my tenants! Do you know how much you lower my property value?!”

“…”

“Of course, it is hilarious to you, how could I’ve believed otherwise. Just… try to be nicer or at least don’t be the reason for anyone’s heart attack again.”

“…”

“Listen, I am going, leaving already, no need to try and scare me away with your whole cryptid schtick.”

“…”

  Branzy ran in the rush through the dense darkness of the forest, with the pines looming over him, completely covering the sky. In the all consuming darkness, where there were no light sources, it was impossible to differentiate between where there was and where there wasn’t a tree, so the fact that he hadn’t face planted into the ground from getting caught on a root or ran into a tree trunk, was akin to a miracle. It felt like his heart was about to tear his rib cage apart, it felt like he was going to choke on the iron smell that permeated air, it felt like his legs were going to give out at any given moment. But the constant presence of the figure behind him, following in his footsteps, kept Branzy going. Then, like in a slow motion, a shadow caught up to him, falling over him and he felt something sharp pressing against his neck, and then with a crunching sound- Branzy woke up drenched in cold sweat in the bed. The sheets were messy and the cover were knocked to the floor. Young man hastily raised his hand to the throat in a jerked motion, inspecting it for any signs of the traces of the sharp claws. His fingers stroke nothing but the smooth skin. The sensation certainly brought the wave of relief. Branzy gasped loudly, taking one deep breath after another, he vividly recalled the time Rek had a nightmare and Branzy had been the one calming him down, only there was no one here to hold his hand and calm him with the gentle words. It was hard to say how much time passed, but eventually he calmed down, his breath evened and his hands stoped violently shaking. That was all just a dream, in fact, all that happened yesterday was most likely not real as well. Yes, it was all just his mind playing tricks. Nothing that he witnessed was real. He was absolutely certain. He was so certain, that he was going to go outside and take a look at the roadside, which has mostly consisted of wet dirt and grass. And he wouldn’t find any suspicious trails there, simply footprints or maybe animal tracks. Prepared to find the evidence to prove paranoidal part of his brain wrong, he put on the black jacket, tracking boots, and opened the door, wincing from the raucous creaking sound that followed the action. Branzy stepped outside, it was surprising warm, the light fell gently on his face, making him blink a couple of times, the brightness of the outside world taking him by surprise. He stood there, sunbathing under the sunshine. He nearly jumped in a surprise, when the sound of someone’s voice cut through the sound of peaceful wind roaming through the pines and birds happily chirping. “A good day to be alive, isn’t it?” Branzy would have liked to answer, if he wasn’t gaping like a fish. His face was entirely covered by a mask, it had strikingly creepy smile going from one cheek to the other, eyes were two dark cross shaped slits with no eyes to see beneath. Well, that was outright creepy. He was taking back what he said about Parrot, apparently, he was one of the tamer by this place’s standards. “Yeah, pretty nice weather, uh, not a cloud in the sky!” replied Branzy awkwardly. “So, do you live around here?” “Yes, I believe I’m your neighbor, actually. Branzy, right? Parrot might have mentioned you…” he trailed off. He pulled closer, head tilted to the side. Branzy now could see the other man thoroughly. “Pierce,” the man introduced himself, voice unwavering and betraying no emotions, face, for obvious reasons, unreadable. “Nice to meet my neighbor then,” replied Branzy and reached out a hand. Pierce looked startled for a second, looking puzzled, at least Branzy thought that it was a look of puzzlement, at the extended hand. He slowly reached out, the hand clad in dark gloves wrapping around his own and clumsily shaking it up and down. “So how long you’ve been here?” Branzy inquired. Pierce seemed to meticulously think the answer through, before replying “For a while. All the memories I have of my life before I lived there are blurred.” Huh, he must have moved here when he was incredibly young. “Is this why you’re still here? No offense, but I doubt that there are a lot of work or education opportunities in this city.” “Something like that. I also hold disdain towards big cities, too much noise, too much people.” So he must have been the neighbor Parrot was talking about! “Can you could show me the way to the grocery store?” asked Branzy. “Sure,” replied Pierce. Their conversation continued, jumping from topic to topic. Pierce’s answers were rarely straightforward, rather short but descriptive. Still, he just couldn’t shake off the sense of danger… Something still felt peculiarly familiar about Pierce, however Branzy firmly decided to not dwell on it. He won’t let some bizarre panic, born out of what most likely was a hallucination and a bad dream, dictate the way he interacts with people and the world around him. Honestly, now he even felt a bit bad for his previous assumptions, Pierce was likely not a social butterfly and came off as intimidating, but he hasn't done anything to deserve Branzy's initial distrust. Completely lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed how how much of the way he and Pierce crossed. To his right stood the lines of private houses, a bunch of them even looked lived in, from one chimney rose smoke that vanished in the vast blue sky. To his left was the ever present forest, the houses located there looking all abandoned, leaky and washed out. However, as Pierce lead him ahead, he saw a small shop hidden between trees, the sandy pathway splitting off from the main road, curling and twisting all the way, led to it. As they stepped onto the path, the car drove past them at high speed, its windows lowered, the loud country music coming from the inside. Sudden spike of volume made Branzy scorn. What concerned him more, was the pained hiss made by Pierce, the man pressing his palms against the hood in the area of the ears, his expression, no doubt, pained under the mask. “Are you alright?” he was obviously in pain, screamed Branzy internally at himself, “Sorry, stupid question. Is there anything I can do to help?” Pierce straightened up, dropping his lanky hands to the side, and muttered, “No, there is nothing to be done about it. Sadly, I have forgotten, how great the toll on hearing sudden sounds take.” They continued on their marry way, the mix of sand and dirt quacked as it was being stomped under Branzy’s heavy boots, while Pierce’s footsteps were nearly inaudible. In silence they reached the wrought doors of the shop, the other man now tailing behind.  When Branzy stepped inside the store, he expected to see a barren space with soldered to the walls shelves. But he was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was quite welcoming. The paint on the walls was freshly renewed and not chipped, pleasant shade of grayish purple. It was indeed modest, but it was by no means suffocatingly small. Some Lady Gaga hit was playing from the speakers near checkout, the volume all the way down. He turned back to thank Pierce for his help, but he was nowhere to be found. He glanced outside the shop, but his guide seemingly disappeared without a trace. The unpleasant thought crawled to the surface, dozens of horrifying ‘what if’s. But no, he reasoned, the most plausible explanation wasn’t that suddenly a creature from the forest dragged him in the dark, but that he simply got too overwhelmed and went home, forgetting to bid farewell. Deciding to stick to the most logical explanation (and check on Pierce when he’ll return to the house), Branzy reverted to shopping, picking the cheapest bag of cereals, bottle of milk and loaf of bread. Holding all three in his hands at the same time was a bit… handful. Things fell on the counter, gaining attention of the clerk. He raised dark eyes from the screen of the phone that he was mindlessly scrolling through a second ago. He wore a peach black jumpsuit with colorful stripes on the side and a headband of the same color. The clerk, Spoke, said his name tag, was eyeing Branzy with boredom.  “You’re new here?” the cashier inquired. By the way things were going, Branzy thought that he was going to meet and greet every single individual, who resides in the town, before the afternoon. “Yeah, I moved here only yesterday and now am desperately trying to adjust,” Branzy ran a hand through his hair and let out a shallow sigh. “How much?” He payed, anguish filling his heart from the ridiculously high prices. Seriously, how can a loaf of bread cost that amount of money? Packed his groceries and was about to leave, when the clerk had muttered something incomprehensible to himself, then loudly called out to Branzy, making him step in the tracks. “Have you seen it?” “Seen what?” asked Branzy, confused. “The, you know, Clown.”  “The what?”  “How has no one told you that? I mean, you had to talk to someone when you got here, right?” “Can you stop being cryptic and outright tell me what ‘it’ is?” Branzy was liking this conversation less and less the more it went on. If Spoke was to be believed, then there was something everyone was on about aside from him. And it was either this or the guy was trying to pull some sort of a prank on him, in which case, it sucked. But it felt like Spoke wasn’t joking, the look on his face wasn’t one of mischief, rather one of… pity? “Funny that you mentioned being cryptic…” Spoke looked around, checking for something, but then continued, blurting out in one breath. “Alright, in the heart of the forest lives a cryptid, and usually it kills people or scares them to death.” “WHAT?!” “Uh, believe me, I didn’t want to be the one to tell that to you, but if you got killed ‘cause no one told you that, I would have felt guilty. Really, hate to be the bearer of the bad news.” Branzy couldn’t hear what Spoke was about to say next, because he stormed out of the store. Him witnessing a strange being coming from the forest and Spoke mentioning that there was a cryptid from the forest. It was too crazy to be a coincidence, but it was too crazy to be the reality as well. He ran all the way back to the house, not stopping for a moment. Once reaching it, he leaned against the wall, taking one ragged breath after another. He walked around the house, every step harder the closer to the destination he got. Stopping near the road, he squatted down. There, in the mud, were multiple trails, some older, some newer. Animals, humans and something else that he knew was going to be there. Too big to be human and too slim to be large animal, fresher than the others, the footprints that led to the depth of the forest were there.