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In a town full of weird and unusual things, it is hard to find something that hasn’t been discussed.
But one thing that seemed to always be on people’s lips is what is happening in the woods. More specifically, what are some of the weird noises and strange sightings that always seemed to be near the old shack.
The men that live there, an old gruffly scientist sort of person, always dismiss the allegation of a monster living in the woods as a tall tale parents tell their kids to stop them from wandering at night. He would sometimes tell the unbelievable tale of how one of his experiments managed to escape one night, electrocuting him in the process and how it most likely lurks near his home, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take his revenge.
Nobody really believed any of the stuff he was saying, but it did make for great entertainment.
Nobody except for one young Hispanic boy named Soos.
He would spend his whole week-end over there, taking the tours once even twice each day and then just hanging around the giftshop, looking at the weird specimens in jars and even stranger blurry pictures of… something.
It fascinated him.
His Abuela kept telling him to not pay too much attention to the tall tales of the old scientist, but the young boy couldn’t help it.
All this stuff was so much fun!
The men, although very grumpy at times, wouldn’t dismiss any questions he had and answer all of them truthfully. Or as truthful as the kid could understand.
It didn’t matter that much to him. The men never shooed him away, except when closing time came. Even then the young man was allowed to stay and hang around.
After a few months of hanging around, Soos managed to get a sort of job at the lab. Nothing big, his “job” mostly consisted of swiping the floor between tours and dusting the place. His Abuela said he was doing all the manual labor, but Mr Pines always paid him due and since he was underage he only worked small shifts.
Over the years, Soos got promoted to lab assistant. Helping Mr Pines with the exhibits and keeping the legend of the “monster” alive. They would go around town releasing bags of colorful feathers, his boss never revealed where he managed to get his hands on so many.
Soos was also tasked to craft necklaces with dark claws and teeth his boss would bring him, again never mentioning where he got them. He would always dismiss everything with a shrug, stating he found them lying around his home or in the woods nearby.
That was something that always eluded Soos. No matter how many facts about the “beast” his boss would spew out to the tourist, he would adamantly defend that there wasn’t any monster.
It was something mister Pines would defend to his last breath.
The reason why was a complete mystery to Soos.