Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

[Case File 1]

There's something wrong with this town, and no one seems to notice. People walk around smiling but their faces are wrong. They are outnumbered by what lives in the dark, and their neighbors keep disappearing. Luckily, a group of young investigators have taken it upon themselves to document these happenings. To save as many people as they can, and uncover the secrets that hide in Deadwood.

In the basement of the Wisp's home, the washing machine is runs loudly, the unfinished concrete basement made it colder than the rest of the house. Random boxes clutter the basement for it being a place to store random belongings that belongs to the family, but its primary use was to be the hideout for the "Unwitness Protection Program". A group of mystery solving kids who uncovered the horrors of their town.

The first member of the group is known as Norah Fleetwood, she's your average school-loving nerd with thick rimmed rectangular glasses and brown hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore a long schoolgirl style skirt along with a button up. Next to her was an open flute case that propped up some sheet music. She held the long metal instrument as she practiced her music for school and filled out her practice sheet.

The second member of the group is Isaac Brooks, he stood on another side of the basement shadowboxing to himself. Similar to Norah, he also had long brown hair tied up into a ponytail, though more messy and not well cared for. He is a pretty fit young man with a sturdier stature than the others. He wore a red long sleeve over shirt with a black undershirt, along with some blue jeans.

The third member is known as William Wisp. He has black hair and a hollow expression placed on his face. He wore an oversized hoodie with the hood placed over his head and a pair of tattered jeans, He intensely gazed at his phone as he played video games.

The fourth member is Louis DuPont. Though he is not with the others in the basement as he is on a family trip. The other three feel the lack of his presence in the basement as they sit around each other.

"Fuck!" William throws down his phone as the death sound played from his game, he was playing Undertale, specifically the fight with Sans. He picked up his notebook and started writing down another strategy.

"Its pretty messed up, what you have to do to get to that point in the game" Norah pulled away from her flute playing as William vocalized his frustration.

"Yeah…This is my first run" William puts his notebook down and picks his phone back up to try again. Norahs face shifted to one of concern.

"So are we going to start the meeting yet? Or what?" Isaac spoke up from the back corner, continuing his shadow-boxing…performance.

"Oh yeah, I guess we're not waiting for Louis" William put his notepad down, standing up from his position on the floor. "Yeah we can start"

The three gather around a table in the basement and rummage through their backpacks for stuff. Though this week it seems like nothing more than homework and unimportant papers.

"Has anyone seen anything out of the ordinary this week?" William questioned the other two, not having much to present to the others.

"I went to the river and studied the fish!" Norah stated, showing her new fish book to the others. "…There's nothing paranormal about the fish… I just wanted to show you guys the new book my parents got me"

"I couldn't leave the house at all this week. I got grounded" Isaac huffed a sigh of frustration. "Apparently your not supposed to actually burn a burner phone"

William paused and he stared at Isaac, "The burner phone I got you.? Like what, in a fire?"

"No, on the stove, my gas stove." Isaac chuckled, realizing how dumb he sounded out loud.

"That's…really dangerous Isaac" Norah spoke with a half-worried, half-disappointed tone.

"So you had time to watch it like…melt and didn't think to like…stop?" William reciprocated Isaac's humorous tone, though unsure if it were actually funny that his friend might really be that stupid.

"Yeah…I got in big trouble, but like how was I supposed to know?" Isaac defended himself half-humorous, "Um, but yeah, no, I didn't see anything"

"Me either…nothing paranormal anyways. What about you William?" Norah chipped in.

"I've been smelling…kinda weird lately" William looked at the two fully serious. Isaac and Norah's faces twisted in confusion.

"You know…they make deodorant…" Norah awkwardly responded to Williams statement, Isaac held back a laugh.

"No- No no not like that like- i mean like the town! The town smells- Like- I've been smelling a weird smell around town…and its not me." William fumbled around his words as he realized what he said. Issac put his hands over his face as he laughed at William.

"Its okay if you smell Will, we won't judge you" Norah sympathetically reached her hand to William.

"No- Norah I don't smell! I mean like, you know when people get sick and they have than sick smell? That's what the whole town smells like to me." William waved away Norahs hand and calmly re-explained.

"Do you think its coming from anywhere specific?" Norah questioned.

"No, its kinda just the whole town-" Suddenly he was interrupted by an abrupt knock on the basement door.

The basement door opened and the big light in the basement turned on, the three kids winced and groaned in protest as their eyes began to adjust.

"Mom what did I say about turning on the light during our meeting, it ruins the vibe!" William protested to his mom who stood atop the stairs. A harsh, mucousy cough came from her before she responded.

"William…Honey could you please come upstairs, I don't think I can go down there right now" She took in a sharp breath before coughing once more.

Will shot a worried glance to Isaac and Norah before heading up the stairs to meet with his mother. She was leaning up against the doorway to the basement, as if she were exhausted or winded.

"Mom, are you okay?" William scanned his mom as he reached her, now seeing her in a better light, her skin was pale and her eyes glossed over.

"Oh, Honey I'm not feeling too good today, I'm gonna need y'all to run up to the corner store for me. I just need y'all to pick up some flu medicine and some ginger ale for my belly." She stated, short-winded. William reached up to touch the back of his hand to her forehead.

His mom swatted his hand away, "William don't go doing that, I'll be alright"

"Mom- just let me. I know you just wanna walk these things off but…" William drifted off as he made contact with her forehead. Though he didn't know much about medicine, he did know that his mother was unusually hot.

She stumbled back a step as William does so, he quickly reached to grab her and stabilize her. "Oh honey I…I just need to lay down…"

"I think dad should take you to the hospital" Will felt his worries start to sink in once he fully understands how unwell his mother is, not letting go of her yet.

"I…Yeah I'll…I'll think about it…" She began to trail off as William guided her to the couch.

He went to grab his mom some blankets and water as she settled onto the couch, she looked at Will with a dazed look. "Oh honey, I was also s'posed to check on Mr. Lacey…surely you three wouldn't mind stopping by and maybe bringing him some medicine as well, would ya?"

"Yeah, sure mom." Will covered her with the blanket as his dad sat with her on the other end of the couch.

After he had made sure his mother would be okay, he made his way back to the basement to notify the others.

"Hey guys, I'm so sorry- can we go to the store and grab my mom some flu medicine? And also maybe check on Mr. Lacey?" William asked as he began to grab a few things to bring with, such as his flashlight and bandages, etc.

"Yeah of course, is..is everything okay?" Norah stood up, a worried expression shown on her face.

"I'm not sure…It sounds like there some sort of sickness going around"

"Do you think it's related to that smell you were talking about earlier?" Isaac chipped in, also standing up and getting ready to go.

"I'm not sure, guess that means we're going to have to look for clues" Will smiles at the two of them, the same smile he gets any time a mystery arises.

Isaac and Norah lit up with the same excitement as they quickly packed the rest of their things and hastily and followed Will up out of the basement, through the living room, and out the door.

The streets of Deadwood weren't normally "lively", though today of all days. it looked like the town was almost abandoned, no one was walking down the streets, no cars drove by, not even old people sitting on their porch. A cold breeze rustled the leaves on the ground, a harsh reminder that winter wasn't too far away. The investigators began to make their way down to the local convenience store, talking about possibilities of what could possibly be going on.

"Do you guys smell it now" William winced at the stench of the air, holding back from putting his hoodie over his nose.

Isaac and Norah in unison take a long whiff of the air, Norah then huffed and responded. "No…I'm not smelling anything"

"Are you sure it isn't you?" Isaac playfully leaned over to smell Will, who pushed Issac away quickly.

"Yes! I don't smell!" William huffed in annoyance, "It just smells like sickness, like…. everywhere"

"Do you think it's like that wolf thing?…Like you're part bloodhound" Norah teased, a smile plastered on her face.

William smiled at her comment, "no…it's not that"

"Do you guys ever wish you were part wolf…and like run around on all fours." Norah commented once more, the same humorous tone to her voice.

William and Isaac stayed quiet for a brief moment, than Isaac broke the silence. "I wish I could say no. Why is doing that so socially unacceptable?"

"I dunno, I'm pretty sure we run faster on all fours…Like as a species." William chimed in with his fact.

"Mmm I don't think that's correct…" Norah furrowed her eyebrows in disappointment.

"We could test it right now," The idea placed itself in Isaac's mind.

"Okay- You run on on only two, I'll run on the four" William intensely joined in, smiling as he got down on the ground.

"Guys- we're basically at the store, please don't." Norah pointed to the store, trying to shoo the boys away from embarrassing her.

William stood up and brushed himself off. The three walked in silence for a moment before Will spoke up. "So like…if you wished you were a wolf does that make you a therian?"

"Hm…No, I thought about it, but no one else was into it so I kinda just…forgot about it" Norah sighed sadly.

"What? No- Norah you can always be yourself around us, and be a therian all you want." William encouraged her, She smiled gratefully at him. Even though she was kind of joking, it was still a kind gesture.

The door to the corner store chimed as they pushed it open. The heat felt comforting against their skin as they'd been walking out in chilly weather. The store was empty except for one teen girl at the register. As William and Norah split off to find medicine, Isaac goes to speak to the teen.

"Hey, whats up beautiful?" Isaac charmed his way up to the register, coolly leaning against the counter. Norah and William hear this and they wince in disgust.

This girl, they would know as Janice from school. She looks up at Isaac drowsily, as soon as she recognized who was speaking to her, her demeanor became less friendly. She sighs and puts her head down, ignoring him.

"Hah…always sleeping on the job, ey Janice?" Isaac awkwardly chuckled. Once he realized that shes either asleep or fully ignoring him, he slinks away from her and meets back up with the others.

"Hey Norah! Did you already grab some flu medicine?" William called from another isle.

A rustling of items responded to him before Norah did, she then peeps over an Isle to look at him, "Um…No- But I have a bunch of other stuff that could help your mom."

The shelf where the flu medicine should be stood empty in front of William. He frowned and thought to himself before walking up to the counter. Janice still had her head down on the counter, arms folded around her to keep the light out.

William awkwardly stood there for a moment, picking at his fingernails as he waited for Janice to notice he was there. After way too long, he finally spoke up.

"Janice"

The girl popped up, startled. She stared at William, clearly frightened by his overall appearance and vibe. "William- What the fuck man"

"Hi…" Will stood there…Janice waited uncomfortably for him to say something. "So um- i just wanted to know if a bunch of other people came in and bought all the cold medicine before us…cause you guys are out…"

"Um…yeah I've had people coming in and out all day buying flu medicine." Janice rubbed her face tiredly, almost sluggishly.

"Do you have more in the back?" Isaac walked up behind Will. Janice put her head back down on the counter, mumbling.

"I don't know."

"…Can I check?"

"Sure…why not"

"…Do I need a key?"

"Mmph…probably,"

"…Can I have it?"

"I don't have one"

William and Isaac looked at each other with a confused expression, William looked back at her.

"Janice are you feeling okay?" William asked as Norah came up and reached to touch Janice's forehead. She jumped, assuming it was William touching her, but then relaxed once she realized it was just Norah. Before she could respond, she suddenly coughed into her arm, that same mucousy cough they heard from Wills mom.

"Janice, you should go home" Norah stressed. Pulling her hand away from the coughing girl.

"I can't…Everyone else called in sick, and I need the money" Janice grumbled, now that they could get a better look at her, her eyes were glazed over and her skin was pale. William noticed this and gently pulled Norah away from Janice, they didn't want to catch whatever this was.

"Well…who else is coming to the store today? Besides wanderers of course" Norah questioned. Isaac parted from the two to investigate the locked door.

"Um…I think the doctor is supposed to be here to…um…pick up prescriptions for patients…can we please be done with questions?" Janice pulled her hoodie over her head and placed her forehead against the counter. Once again folding her arms over her in case the hoodie didn't keep out the light.

"Yeah- I hope you feel better." Norah sighed sadly as her and William followed Issac to the back door.

"Honestly I think I could pick this lock" Issac spoke as he took a bobby pin out of his hair and bent it to the shape he needed. It didn't take long for Issac to jivy the door open.

As the door creaked open, the three saw a large, dark room full of boxes, either items for restocking the store or medicines for the pharmacy. They also saw a man in a white lab-coat rummaging through medications.

"Hey are you the doctor?" Issac spoke loudly to the man, startling him.

"Oh! Um…Do you work here?" He questioned, he seemed very cautious, alert even.

"Um…yeah" Issac quickly fibbed.

"Well- You guys really have to start stocking out there- I have a couple of boxes for you guys here" the doctor pointed to a pile of boxes.

"Uh- Yeah which box has the flu medicine, Its in high demand." Issac stepped over to search the boxes, trying to find the medications.

"Should be one of them in there, though there's only one box left so you may want to order more." The doctor turned around and continued packing up specific medications.

"Sir. Do you know what it is everyone's getting sick with?" Norah softly spoke from behind Issac, the same tone she normally speaks to adults with.

"Not entirely sure right now, just seems like a stomach bug. It happens every so often." The doctor stressfully sighed, seeming incapable of focusing on his task.

William squinted at the doctor. William was known in the group as the one who could spot anything out of the ordinary. He wasn't sure what, but he could tell this doctor wasn't telling the truth. He knows something about this sickness that they don't. He stepped to the side to get a better look at the doctor, with his innate perception he immediately spotted a notepad in the pocket of his lab coat.

"Whelp, I'm gonna go stock these then." Issac picks up the box full of medicine and begins to walk out of the backroom with it. Signaling to Norah and William to follow him.

"How many bottles of medicine to we want to take with us?" Norah pushed open the door to the main part of the store. Isaac began to tear open the box.

"One for Will's mom, Mr. Lacey, and maybe one for all three of us just to be safe.?" Isaac responded as he began to stock the shelf, he knew he didn't have to but he thought he'd help out Janice.

"Okay…" Norah began to drift into thought. "Do we have $50 dollars?"

Isaac and William glanced at each other with a nervous expression. Neither of them had any money on them, Norah had 9 dollars on her.

"We could write an 'IOU'?" Isaac suggested.

"Or- I have a different plan. Unwitness huddle" William pulled the other two in close for a huddle, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"This guy clearly knows more than he's letting on…he knows something about this sickness that we don't. I want his notepad that's in his coat pocket. What if…you guys run off with the box of medicine and I run off with his notepad. Either way we at least get one of the things if not both." As William explained, Norah gasped in disgust.

"Will, we can't steal! We could get in big trouble!" Norah harshly scolded him, the temptation to hit him over the head almost overcame her.

"Than we can write them an IOU and pay them back!" William fought back.

"What if the store goes out of business cause we stole $50 dollars of medicine from them!" Norah whisper shouted at him.

"The store is gonna go out of business if all of the residents of deadwood are dead so I guess it doesn't matter!" William whisper shouted back at her.

Norah stared at him for a moment, then let out a frustrated sigh. "Okay fine, but how are we going to steal the medicine and his notepad?"

"Maybe one of use can distract him while another takes his notebook from him" Isaac added to their plan.

"Who's grabbing the notepad than? Who can run the fastest?" Will looked at them both expectantly because he knew he couldn't run for shit.

"I can run really fast" Norah contributed.

"I'm in track." Isaac also added in.

"One time, when I was in track and field, they wouldn't let me run anymore because my knees are inverted and would hyper extend sometimes- But I ran in the final race anyways and i- i mean I didn't get to finish but um…anyways I'm really fast" Once she finished her story, Norah looked at the other two expectantly. They stared at her for a moment before William spoke.

"So maybe that means we shouldn't let you run…" William laughed a little, maybe at her or just at the ridiculous story she told.

"Well that was when I was 10 so I'm better now" She smiled.

"Well…do they still do that?" William asked, mildly concerned.

"…Nooo…yes" Norah hung her head down, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Okay so maybe you shouldn't do the running" Isaac chuckled at her.

"Well, if we're stealing then we all have to run" Will added once more

"Well- she just doesn't have to run fast-" Isaac responded before he got interrupted

"Okay never mind that, how are we gonna distract him?" Norah redirected.

"Um…How about I ask him to get me a box that's really high up, than his pocket will be exposed and Will can just grab it.

"That's great, can someone write an IOU?" Will looked to Norah since she was the one who kept a notepad.

Norah scribbled down on a piece of paper the letters "I O and U". Making the "U" a smiley face. Than snuck over to the front counter to place it down in front of Janice, quietly as not to wake her. She then made her way back to the boys.

Suddenly they all hear a door slam from the backroom, they pause for a moment before bounding through the door in hopes he's not leaving.

They all glance around the back room trying to find him. Thankfully the back door opens up again and the doctor walks in with a new box, as he walks in all three duck behind a shelve away from his view.

Isaac looked at William and nodded at him before coming out from behind the shelf nonchalantly.

"Hey- sorry to bother you, there's this box that's really up high that I can't reach. Could you help me?" Isaac directed at the doctor, pointing up to a random box on the top shelf.

"Look- I'd love to sit here and help you do your job, but I've gotta worry about mine" The doctor pushed past Isaac and set his box on top of a few others.

William's heart pounded as Isaac failed to distract him, though he decided he was going to try and snatch it anyways, he would beat himself up if this mystery got away from him.

Isaac continued to chat up the doctor to get him to face towards him and away from William, as he does that, William quietly sneaks up behind him and reaches for the notepad. His hands shaky from the adrenaline, he bumps his hand against the doctors leg as he just barely grazed against the papers.

"Hey!" The doctor whipped around to meet Williams gaze, taking a few steps back from both of them. "Do you really work here??"

"No, he does…I'm just here…" William quickly fibbed as he fell backwards onto his bottom, scooting away from the doctor.

"You're not supposed to be back here!" He backed himself towards the landline and dialed 3 numbers, it wasn't hard to assume which three he pressed.

"We gotta fucking go!" William shouted to Isaac and Norah, almost instantly they both burst out of the back door and down the street towards Williams house

The three of them kept running until the store was out of sight, Once they got close enough to Williams street, they slowed down and steadied their breathing. Isaac was the only one really in shape, so he was the only one not wheezing and coughing after a 1 minute sprint.

Once they made it down the street, William and Norah crash onto a patch of grass on an intersection, wheezing and struggling to catch their breaths.

"Okay so… we know that…there's a sickness…and it's not just a stomach bug" William spoke between breaths as he laid down on the ground.

"Why aren't we sick?" Isaac asked a rather good question.

"I don't know…I feel like since we're always at my house, wouldn't all of us be sick with my mom?" William finally calmed down his heart rate as he spoke.

"Unless your mom got sick from somewhere she goes that you don't?" Norah stated, still struggling to breathe.

Before any of them could respond to her. The church bell rung through the whole city, cutting off the overall silence that loomed over Deadwood. The bell rung two times, indicating it was now 2pm. The three turned their heads towards the church to see the attendees starting to walk home, some walking home alone, some walking with groups of people. One thing that they all notice is that all of them are walking unusually…slow.

Isaac spots his mom and dad in the crowd of people, since Isaac lived across the street from William, his parents were headed straight towards them.

Isaac stepped out onto the sidewalk to go and greet them. "Hey mom, dad, how was church?"

"Really thought you'd be joining us today." Isaac's father spoke coldly, his mother stared at the ground.

Isaac stopped in his tracks, feeling his heart sink to his feet as the words almost pierce him. He waited a few moments to piece together his words.

"You know this…we do this every Sunday-" Isaac began, but was harshly interrupted.

"William? Got your driver's license yet?" Isaac's dad turned his attention to William, who was still laying in the grass.

"Not yet…but one day I will, and you'll all see how great a driver I am," William couldn't hold back the excitement of getting his drivers license.

"Hi Mrs. Brooks! How was church?" Norah stood up and dusted herself off to appear more "ladylike"

"It was…It was good, I'm just feeling a bit under the weather," Isaac's mom looked up to meet Norah's gaze, a faint, tired smile shown on her cheeks.

"Oh no, do you have that sickness going around?" Isaac took a step forward towards his mother.

"Oh, now you're worried." His dad shot him with his words once more

"Listen dad, I don't want to be in choir anymore." He felt his face grow hot with what he couldn't tell was frustration or embarrassment.

"Okay but you could be there for your mother," The silence was louder than any other noise in town at this very moment. William and Norah froze behind Isaac, not sure what to do or say in this situation.

"Now. We are going to go home and have Sunday dinner. Whether you're there or not is up to you" Just as he spoke, sirens to off in the distance.

"Um…we actually have to go-" Isaac began again.

"Yeah, I bet you do." His dad's cold stare showed a heavy disappointment as the sirens whirred in the distance. He then turned and began walking down the street to their home.

Isaac watched as his parents walked down the street away from them, a sad, heavy feeling clung onto his chest. He shook of the feeling and turned around.

"Will I think-" He cut himself off as he realized William was nowhere to be found. He also noticed his pockets seemed significantly lighter…did Will just pickpocket the medicine from him and run away?? What the fuck.

Norah tried her best to hide in a nearby bush while Issac tried to run across the street for a hiding spot. Though he was moments too late. The cop car slammed on the brakes just narrowly missing Isaac. He stumbled back and froze like a deer in headlights. The officer sticks his head out of the window.

"H-Hey officer Donald! How's it going…" Isaac nervously laughed as he tried to conversate his way out of this.

"…You gonna explain that?" The officer raised a brow.

"Oh- the running out into the street?"

"Yes"

"Is…that illegal?"

"It is when I'm driving toward you"

"oh…I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to- I just saw something-"

"Isaac I just got a call from the convenience store, was that about you?"

A moment passed before Isaac answered.

"No…"

"I don't believe you"

"Why!" Isaac protested garishly, "Do you know how many kids live in this town??"

"Isaac please don't get arrested!" Norah yelled out from her very poor hiding spot.

"Man- Norah-" Isaac disappointedly sighed at Norah.

"You've got the Fleetwood's kid in on it too?" The officer shook his head, upset that he was the one who had to deal with this. "C'mon both of you, get in the car."

"Do I have to? I left an IOU and I have band practice, my parents are going to be really upset that I missed it" Norah replied sadly, walking up to the car to speak to the officer better.

He thought for a moment, with Norah's charming abilities to seem like an innocent school girl, he decided to let her off with a warning.

"Fine…but I am going to have to tell your parents about this, and i'll go down to the corner store and pay for you guys" He sighed and let Norah off the hook.

"Wait- I have track later- awe I can't miss that, Coach will be so mad at-" Isaac started.

"I don't care what you have. Get in the car." He stated harshly, to which Issac accepted his defeat and got in the car.

"Do you have to tell my parents?" Norah worriedly picked at her fingernails at the thought of getting in trouble with her parents.

"Yes, I do. Would you like a ride home?" He offered

"No. Ill walk" Norah crossed her arms and huffed defiantly.

As Norah walked back to the sidewalk, the cop began driving down the street away from Norah and William. As soon as the car is out of sight, Norah walked up to the bushes and parted one of them abruptly.

"Hi Will!" She purposefully tried to startle William, and to her success, he let out a startled yelp. "The cop is gone now"

"Okay that's good" William looked up at her and sighed with relief, standing up from out of the bush, not really caring about the dirt on his clothes.

"I do think that we should maybe tell my parents before the cops do, I don't want to get grounded…" Norah picked at her fingernails with a troubled look.

William felt a pang of guilt in his chest, "I'm…I'm sorry Norah, you shouldn't have to get tied up in all this trouble with me and Isaac, I know how important your image is to you and your parents" He looked at the ground and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Norah took in a deep breath, "One stain is fine…" She sighed out the rest of her breath.

"See- you don't sound confident about tha-"

"One stain is fine!"

"Okay"

They sat quietly for a few moments before cutting the silence.

"So are we going to your house or are we going to deliver this medicine to Mr. Lacey first?" William asked her, beginning to walk in the direction of both the Lacey's home and Norah's home.

"Well, I guess Mr. Lacey's house is closest. Surely we can just stop by and give him the meds and be on our way" Norah responded, matching Williams pace.

As the two walked down the street and past Williams house, the clouds above begin to overcast the town, making it seem dark considering it was only 2pm. William and Norah made it to Mr. Lacey's house, this house, though not large, was a 2 story, old fashioned, colonial type house with a large front porch. as they stepped up onto the front porch they they noticed that the front door was left cracked open. The inside of the house was eerily dark, and even worse, it was dead quiet.

"Um…Surely the door is just…heavy and Mr. Lacey just couldn't shut it all the way…" William nervously reached for the door-handle and pushed the door open. The door creaked loudly, echoing down the halls of the house. The first thing that hit William as the door opened is the overwhelming smell from before, that sickly, almost rotten smell.

"He's dead" William's voice shook as he spoke, immediately covering his nose to prevent smelling the awful stench.

"What?" Norahs eyes widened at his statement.

"He has to be- Do you smell that?" William turned to talk to her, taking a step back from the door.

"I do… but we have to go check on him" Norah voiced her concerns to William, trying hard to not also cover her nose as the smell leaked out of the house.

"I just think we should cut our losses, our family wasn't even that close with him- I'm almost 100% percent sure he's dead." William argued, taking another step away from the door, trying to make his way to the sidewalk.

Norah gave William a frustrated look as she turned and walked right into the house with no concern.

"Norah wait- fuck man" William threw his hood over his head and continued to cover his face as he followed her into the house.

As the two creeped their way inside the house, the smell became thick enough to taste, it was almost like they could feel the air get heavier the further into the house they went. The floorboards creaked with each footstep which also loudly echoed through the house. Norah looked down at her feet to look at the floorboards, but instead what she finds is a rather large cockroach scuttling past her.

"Ew!" Norah shrieked and stumbled back into William, covering her her eyes. Norah as William and Isaac would know, had a horrible fear of bugs, but roaches in particular. The sight of the bug sent her heart racing, he breath quickened and legs trembled, she fought every urge she had to run far, far away.

"I told you, he's dead- we should go, please let's just go-" William hardly hid his panic, though was interrupted by Norah's hand in his face.

She tried to listen to her surroundings, see if there were anyone, anything in the house that could be of threat, or maybe even if Mr. Lacey was still alive. Though the sound of her blood rushing in her ears, and her heart pounding throughout her whole body made it significantly harder to hear.

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, calming herself enough to properly tune into her skill. She took a few more steps into the house, closed her eyes, and listened once more. As she listened her mind moved through each room in the house, listening for any and all sounds. All around the house was more scuttling noises, hundreds if not thousands of scuttling noises. She took another breath before continuing to listen. Something else she heard, was the sound of a bigger bug, a much, bigger bug, walking around upstairs, along with the sound of cloth dragging on the floor. The final thing she heard, was quiet, labored breathing, it wheezed harshly…no, this was a death rattle she was hearing.

"Will…he's not dead" She spoke in a low whisper, sure that the horror on her face was not hidden, William froze behind her, fighting to urge to book it out of the house.

As Norah continued listening, she began to hear something new. The labored breathing upstairs suddenly hitched as the larger bug scuttled into the master bedroom. After a few moments of silence, other than the other bugs skittering. There was a wet swallow, than another, and another, big gulps of whatever was being drank almost sounded like he was being forced to swallow whatever liquid it was he was drinking. Norah quickly covered her mouth from making noise. The swallowing turned into choking.

Frozen in fear she instinctively leaned back towards the door. A floorboard creaked loudly underneath her. Than everything stopped, the choking stopped, the cloth stopped, even the hundreds of roaches simultaneously stopped.

William watched Norah's face contort to ten different looks of fear and horror, he could feel his heart pounding in his ears. Every instinct he had told him to grab Norah and book it out of there, but one instinct told him to keep investigating. That was the one that kept him frozen in place, not running but not going further.

"What are you hearing.?" William very quietly asked her.

"I heard…roaches, big roach, cloth dragging, someone struggling to breathe, swallowing, choking, than silence." Norah whispered her response, slowly taking another step backwards towards the door.

"Okay good enough" William quickly whipped around and speedily exited the house, Norah followed behind him just as quickly and slammed the door behind them. Once they both made it out onto the sidewalk, William took his face out of the hoodie and Norah finally got to take a relieving breath of fresh air.

Norah looked up at the second floor window to see if she could get a better look at what happened, though a curtain blocked her view.

"I think it was a good idea that we didn't go any further, we 100% would have died," William followed Norah's gaze up to the second floor.

"Surely if we go around back we could maybe see something, Its like horror movie logic, if we don't go in the house, it can't get us…right?" William looked at Norah unsurely, even he wasn't confident in what he was saying.

"Sure…we could try that" Norah let out a heavy sigh, they both started to make their way back behind the house.

In the back of the cop car, Isaac sat with his hands between his knees and head hung low, he watched as the car drove away from his friends until he couldn't see them anymore. As they drove he thought of all the punishments and disappointed lectures he'll receive once he gets home.

"So Officer Donald…anything fun happen lately?" Isaac awkwardly tried to make conversation with the officer who unfortunately knows him a bit too well.

"I get enough fun from you Isaac" He disappointedly sighed from the front seat.

"What? Cmon, there's gotta be other…other troublesome kids my age." Isaac felt a lump in his throat as he spoke, biting it back.

"I will say, I don't think anyone is dumb enough to rob the convenience store they live down the street from." The officer clicks his teeth, making a turn down a different road, seeming to take Isaac the long way home.

"We didn't rob them- We wrote an IOU" Isaac insisted, feeling frustrated by the officers attitude, it almost reminded him of his father.

"Oh! You wrote an IOU" He stated sarcastically.

"Well- Williams mom needed us to bring her some medicine, but she didn't give us any money- and we didn't know what to do because they're really sick-" Isaac desperately explained his side of the story.

"Mrs. Wisp? How's she doing?" The cop shifted the subject, waiting for a response from Isaac.

Isaac stared at the cop for a few moments, dumbfounded by his lack of care in what he had to say. He angrily huffed and leaned back in his seat.

"Like I said, she's really sick" Isaac mumbled, giving up on talking to the cop.

"That's a shame" The officer finished off their conversation.

The rest of the car ride was painfully silent, Isaac felt anger rising in his chest with each moment he was along with his thoughts. He is so sick and tired of adults never listening to him, never understanding his side or what he's going through. If only he had half the mind to blow up on this officer, but he knew that it wouldn't help, it would only make his situation worse.

"Oh! There are your parents" The officer pointed out Isaac's mom and dad, still walking home from church. He pulls the car over and rolls down both his window and Isaac's in the back. "Hello Mr. Brooks, I have a delivery for you."

His mom's expression showed a mix of shock and disappointment, she wasn't surprised but she wasn't expecting it either. His father on the other hand stared at him with eyes that could kill, Isaac began to feel the fear rise in his chest.

"Hi dad…"

"Y'know what, go take him to the station for the night officer, I think he needs this time to think" He kept his semi-calm appearance and stature, but from his voice alone Isaac could tell that his father was seething with rage.

"Dad, C'mon don't be like that-"

"It's not the first time is it?" He stared daggers into Issac. He glanced over to his mother to see her staring at the ground, expressionless.

"I-I was just trying to help Mrs. Wisp…I promise." Isaac choked out his weak excuse, looking at his mother, than the officer to see if anyone would just cut him some slack.

"Look, I got a busy night tonight, I can't take him to the station" The officer let out a tired sigh, unlocking the door for Isaac to get out.

Isaac slowly gets out of the car and stands next to his mother, he looked up at her but she refused to look at him. She gazed at the other church goers and how they stared at the situation, watching their "bad parenting" and "misfit child". Her eyes welled up in embarrassment.

The cop began to drive away, and as the commotion ended the watchers dispersed to their respective homes, Isaac looked to his dad and just merely opened his mouth.

"Do not talk to me right now."

All he could do is stare at his father in this moment. A mix of anger, sadness, rage, confusion, fear all overwhelmed him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to scream at his dad, cry to his mom, or just run away all together.

"Get. In. The house."

Isaac whipped around and stormed into the house, his arms shook and his vision closed in on him as he ran up the stairs to his room and slammed the door as hard as he could. He felt so angry he didn't even know what to do with himself.

He made his way towards the window in his room and tried to open it, only to realize that his parents recently locked his windows. He pried and pried and it refused to budge. Out of the corner of his eyes, he see's William and Norah run out of Mr. Lacey's house, visibly shaken even from this distance.

Isaac huffed and looked for another way out.

"Oh fuck Norah- what ever happened to him is going to happen to my- my mom" William tried to force his hands to stop shaking as they walked around the outside of the house, his mind raced with all the possibilities and fears. Norah can tell that he's visibly distraught.

"We need to go talk to my parents" She realized with a sudden thought.

"Right now??" William looked up at her, a mix of confusion and fright.

"Well- They're doctors! Maybe they know what to do!" Norah argued, fidgeting and picking at her fingers.

"Whatever you just described to me- I-I don't think doctors would help" William ran his fingers through his hair, stressed.

"Well I don't know what to do than!" Norah yelled at him with all of her stress and frustration.

"Okay- Sorry…I'm sorry let's just think" William took a deep breath and reached to stop her from picking.

Norah nodded and took a few box-breaths, William followed along with her until they both calmed down.

"I also need to tell my parents I'm a criminal" Norah stressed her concern.

"With all respect, that is the least important thing on our list of things to worry about right now" William took in another deep breath in.

"No…yeah you're right." Norah rubbed her arm and looked up at the house.

"So…If I stand on top of you are you…gonna hyper-extend?" William grimaced as he asked.

"Why are you standing on top of me??" Norah shook her head as if it were crazy he even suggested that.

"Well- You're honestly probably stronger than me, and I have a better eye for things, so I should be the one to look" William stood his ground.

"Just because I'm stronger doesn't mean you're not heavy…" Norah grumbled, though coming to an agreement with William.

"I'm shocked you even think I weigh anything at all" William responded to her backhanded statement. He looked around for a window that would lead to the upstairs bedroom.

Once they found the right window, William stood on Norahs shoulders. While Will's perception skills are fantastic, Norahs strength is not. The only thing he could gather from inside the house was half of Mr. Lacey's body sitting on a chair, he was stiff, almost hardened.

Before he could get a better look, his support wobbled underneath him, and he plummeted to the ground.

"Norah- are you…what the fuck?" Mid sentence, something catches his eyes around the treeline. William stood up and looked closer. Once he realized what he was looking at his stomach churned immediately.

"What? What is it?" Norah looked up at William. His hands covered his mouth as a horrified look was plastered on his face.

"Wait- Don't look." William put his hand up to stop Norah.

William was staring at a large heard of cockroaches making their way out of the house and into the woods, hundreds, if not thousands of bugs. He kept his hand over his mouth to stop him from throwing up at the sight.

"Will what do you see?" Norah questioned him, concerned for what was nearby.

"I-I don't know how to break this to you…" William tried to find the right words as to not trigger Norah's phobia.

"I can take it."

"Okay…let me just do a test on you really quick."

"Okay…"

"Cockroaches"

Norah physically shrinked back at even the word.

"Okay cool so…I saw what looked like a strange movement of suspicious entities heading into the woods…"

"What kind of suspicious entities?"

"Ohhh small ones…" He winced.

"So…Mice?"

"No…Smaller"

"I love 20 questions!" Norah pulled out her notepad to start keeping track of her guesses.

"Yeah sure, we can play…"

"hmm…was it human?"

"No its bugs- its so many bugs"

"Ew!" Norah dropped her notepad and covered her face. "How many??"

"Like- So many, like a billion" William winced as he spoke, still watching the last of the roaches trickle out of the house.

Norah audibly panicked at the idea of what William was explaining.

"I think if we want to get to the bottom of this, we're going to have to follow the bugs into the woods" William looked at Norah to see if she may agree to this plan.

"Okay- Yeah that's- that's fine" Norah reassured, though her expression remained fearful

"Are you sure?" William looked back at the woods to find that the roaches we're nearly gone. If they didn't go now than they would lose them

"Yeah- yeah its fine…What about Mr. Lacey? Did you see him?" Norah asked, slowly standing up, making sure to not look in the direction of the bugs.

William bit his lip with a worried expression, as if he were at a loss for words. "He's just in the chair…pretty stiff…"

"So…should we follow the bugs and not lose the trail? Or check on Mr. Lacey now that the bugs are gone?" Norah questioned, picking up her notepad and writing down a few things.

"Well…Mr. Lacey will always be there, but the bugs are actively leaving" William responded, his investigative urge telling him to run into the woods after the roaches.

Norah looked at William with visible discomfort at the idea of following the bugs, "But Will, what if they're just bugs."

"We're just gonna have to go find out" William began to walk backwards towards the woods. Norah stuck to the ground for a moment, not wanting to follow the one thing that terrifies her the most, but she knew William wouldn't let this mystery get away from them, and no matter what, he was going into the woods either with or without her. She had to be there for him.

She began walking with him into the woods.

Isaac watched William and Norah walk into the woods behind Mr. Lacey's house, incredibly jealous that they're having fun with the mystery and he's locked in his room. He thought about trying to bust open the window somehow, but decided against it due to his fear of falling from the second story.

Another idea struck him instead, he left his bedroom and walked across the hall to his sisters room. Pop music quietly played through the door, not loud enough to piss of their parents, even though she never makes them mad…Whatever. Isaac rubbed his face before knocking on his sisters room.

"Who is it?" She turned down her music and shouted through the door.

"Issac, can I ask you something?" He waited for a response, suddenly the door opened and she faced him with an unamused tone.

"What do you want?" Bella walked back into her room, letting Isaac in.

"I need to get out…and dad locked my window so I need to use yours." Isaac stated, walking into her room and shutting the door so their parent's wouldn't hear.

"So you want to get me in trouble? No thank you." Bella shook her head and sat on her bed, picking up her sketchbook and continuing what she was doing.

"Please- Something's going on and I really need to go." Isaac pleaded to his younger sibling, seeing this was his only other way out of the house.

"Oh something's going on? What is it? Tell me" She looked at him expectantly, almost mockingly.

"I…I can't tell you, but it's really important and I need to go…Norah and Will need me" Issac glanced at her window, seeing if maybe he should just book it and face the consequences later.

"Hm…I heard you got arrested today." She put her notebook down and crossed her arms, a smirk cockily plastered on her cheeks.

"No- I didn't get arrested, the cop just drove me home." Isaac felt frustration begin to build in his chest.

"Did you kill someone?" She seemed amused with this conversation.

"What? No why- Why would you think that I killed someone?"

"I dunno, you've just got those eyes"

He stared at Bella for a moment. "I think that's more of Williams thing."

"Yeah, him too, he's weird."

"…So you're not letting me through your window?" Isaac felt his shoulders drop is disappointment.

"What's in it for me?" She tilted her head at him, thinking of all of the different ways to blackmail him for this. Isaac felt hope from this.

"Ill…ill do your chores for a whole week? And you'll still get the allowance"

She still didn't seem convinced.

"For a month! And you can have my allowance!"

She shook her head, sucking her teeth as if she weren't satisfied.

"And- and I'll cover for you- Any time you want to go to a party or a friends house-" Isaac felt desperate to get a yes out of her.

She waited, testing to see how much he'd give.

"Or- I guess I could try breaking out of my window, maybe Ill fall and die and the guilt will haunt you for the rest of your life." Isaac bit the inside of his cheek in frustration.

Bella looked up at the ceiling, thinking about her options. She then stood up and walked toward Isaac. He felt a flicker of hope as she approached. Only for her to brush past him and open the door.

"Dad!! Isaac's trying to break out again!" She popped her head into the hallway and shouted for their parents. Isaac felt his stomach drop as she shouted down the stairs.

Isaac's dad came storming up the stairs, Isaac couldn't help but freeze as the thunder of his dad's footsteps approached, he appeared in the room, took him by the scruff of his shirt, and tossed him into his room. In his other hand he held a power-drill and a few screws. Without a word, he began to screw Isaac's window shut.

"Dad- Please just let me-"

"Don't you know when to quit?"

"I need to go help Will-"

"I need you to just be a normal god damn kid. Why can't you be a normal GOD DAMN KID Isaac?" His dad spit in fury, the window was now fully screwed shut.

Isaac held his tongue and just stared at his father resentfully. He stormed out into the hallway and slammed Isaac's door behind him, before the door shut, he saw his sister grinning at him from her doorway.

That's it.

Isaac went to his door and opened it.

"YOU GUYS ARE A BUNCH OF FUCKING FASCISTS." He slammed the door with all of his force, It made a loud cracking noise that it had never made before. Great, now his door is broken.

Isaac was fuming, feeling his breaths shorten with each inhale and exhale. He bit the inside of his lip in frustration. The taste of iron overwhelmed his mouth. His anger progressed into sadness, he sat on his bed and plopped down onto his back. Letting his emotions mix and fester. The only thing to do now was sit and wait for his parents to go to bed to sneak out.

The trees above covered the forest from the remaining light the sky had left, William shined his flashlight at the ground to find some, any clue to where the roaches went. He turned to look over his shoulder at Norah, making sure she was still behind him.

Norah's look of terror remained on her face as she intensely scanned the ground for bugs. William felt guilt well up in his chest.

"Hey- How about you close your eyes and I guide you through the forest, you have a great listening skill so you'll still know what's going on, but you won't have to look if a bug comes across us" William put his hand out for Norah, letting off a comforting smile.

Norah hesitantly nodded, still unsure about going into the woods, but knowing that closing her eyes would make her feel better she quickly agreed with his plan. She took his hand and shut her eyes tightly, allowing William to pull her through the winding woods.

Norah tuned into her listening skill as they made their way through the woods, though William is normally good at tracking and investigating, they had waited just a little too long to follow these bugs. William began to walk a little faster to see if he could catch up to the bugs.

As Norah listened, she could only hear the sounds of the forest and the autumn leaves crunching underneath their feet with each footstep. No sounds of skittering or crawling to her relief. Though her hearing honed onto William as they kept walking, his footsteps urgent, his breath becoming shorter and coming through his clamped jaw. He was getting frustrated.

"Will, I don't hear any bugs" Norah broke the tense silence between them.

"No- they're still around here somewhere. We will find them I promise" Though he sounded confidence, Norah could tell by his body language…or more like audio language, that he didn't quite believe himself.

They both continued walking deeper, and deeper into these woods. William continued to pull her through the woods with urgency.

William ran his hand through his hair and whispered to himself, the stress leaking out of his voice. "Fuck…God Damn it."

"Will are you pushing it?…We've been walking for a long time" Norah quietly asked him, a little nervous as to not make him more frustrated than he already is.

"…I'm sure we're not too far" Will dodged the questions, Norahs stomach churned with worry. She decided to open her eyes to take a look at their surroundings.

They were surrounded by unfamiliar pine trees that loomed over them. Norah lost the sound of cars and people from the town. The only noises they heard we're the rustling of trees and animals scurrying, with the occasional caw of a crow. One other thing she heard was...the sound of rushing water.

William abruptly stopped, the sudden halt made her run straight into Williams back. She looked around him to see what made them stop, and in front of them was a river, flowing calmly through the forest.

Norah looked up at William, his expression showed nothing but a loss for words, disappointment, frustration. She reached up to put her hand on his shoulder reassuringly, but before she made contact he whipped around and started walking down the river.

"They must've turned somewhere around here…Unless…can roaches swim? We should cross just to make sure" William frantically spit out his thoughts as he approached the river to walk in.

"William!" Norah grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back, "William we lost them. Lets just go home…please?"

William didn't fight her and took a few steps back from the river, though his gaze never parted from it. Norah waited for him to respond but it seemed like maybe that would never happen. He panted for a few heartbeats trying to think of a way to make this better, but for once he had nothing to say.

He suddenly crouched down in front of the water and let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry, Norah" Williams voiced cracked as he forced out his sentence.

"Will- It's okay, it's not your fault-" Norah started to reassure him before he loudly interjects.

"No. It is my fault. You obviously didn't wanna come into the woods to follow the roaches, you didn't ask to get lost in the woods, you didn't ask to deal with my bullshit…you just…" William forced back the lump in his throat as he spoke, though Norah couldn't see his face, she could tell he was trying not to cry.

A moment passes.

"You're too nice…and you care about me too much" He took in a deep breath and rubbed his face.

Norah looked down at him for a second or two, she then crouched down next to him and followed his gaze to the river.

"You don't get to tell me how much I can care about you." Norah broke the silence. Taking a breath. "I want to get to the bottom of this case as much as you. I don't wanna let a little fear of bugs hold me back…So us getting lost is both of our faults…and now we get to work together to get back to Deadwood."

William stayed quiet still, though his face relaxed a bit more at Norah's comment. She sat on the ground and looked up at the sky. The clouds completely covered the sun and made it appear darker than it really was. So their deception of time was completely strewn.

"Do you still have your burner phone? What time is it?" Norah asked him. Without hesitation he pulled out his phone.

"No way we've been walking for 12 hours! Oh its military time, its 3pm" William laughed a little at himself, making Norah laugh as well.

"Okay well we know that this river cuts through town, so let's just follow it back home?" Norah neatly suggested.

"Yeah…lets do that" William sighed and stood up, after helping Norah up off the ground. The two began to walk down the side of the river.

"I do really need to talk to my parents when we get back" Norah reminded him as they stepped over bushes and logs.

"We also…" He hesitated. "Need to go look and see what happened to Mr. Lacey…in the house" He rushed his statement.

Norah took in a deep breath and let out a disappointed sigh.

"Okay Will."

Isaac took this time in him room to try and be semi-helpful to the cause. He got onto his computer and began researching what this illness could possibly be. Though every search result only concluded to cancer. Every time.

"Oh fuck man- everyone's got cancer!" Isaac ran his fingers through his hair, distressed.

Isaac then got distracted and played video games.

William and Norah finally made it back to Deadwood after about an hour's worth of walking. Since they followed the winding river back to town, it did take them twice as long to make their way back. As they reached the streets again, they hear the church-bell ring throughout the town four times. Its now 4pm.

"So, just a quick stop at Mr. Lacey's, then you can go home, I promise." William reassured her as they walked down the street towards the old man's house once more.

"What about your mom? We still need to bring her the medicine" Norah concerned for his mother.

"Well…do you really think flu medicine will work? I mean the sickness we're talking about is like- a biblical plague by a thousand scarabs so…I don't think flu medicine will even help her…"

"That's…a good point," Norah gnawed on her lip as she thought.

"I'll keep an eye on my mom but…if i want to know how to make her better, I need to know what is going on. That means we have to go back to Lacey's." William stated surely, though still anxious about having to re-enter the house.

"…Are we going inside?" Her eyes widened at the thought, looking at William for answers.

He held his breath for a moment, than looked at her. "Well…all the bugs are gone so…surely there's no danger?"

"Right…and like- who's even scared of old people" Norah awkwardly laughed, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Yeah- Like…no one" William hesitantly fibbed. Knowing damn well they're both still terrified of going in the house.

They both arrived at the front porch of Mr. Lacey's home once more. William stepped up onto the door and pushed the heavy door open. The same disgusting smell hit them in the face at once, they both instinctively reach to cover their noses, almost as if they'd get sick by just smelling this. Who knows, maybe they might.

Both of them stood outside of the door, waiting for the other to go first. William side-eyes Norah for a moment, Norah glanced at him as well.

"Ladies first" He stood behind her quickly. Basically using her as a human shield.

"I went first last time so you need to go first!" Norah grabbed William by the shoulder and pushed him ahead of her.

"Okay…" William hesitated for a few heartbeats, before slowly making his way into the house, taking out his flashlight to check the floor anything that looked out of the ordinary.

As the two creeped in, the floorboards once again creaked with every step, though there were no bug noises or footsteps around the house. The only noise being made was them two carefully walking around the house.

William walked into the living room and stood outside the stairwell that lead upstairs, he slowly shown his flashlight up the stairs to check if anything were there. Norah looked around some more, noticing food rotting in different parts of the house, dirty dishes everywhere.

Of what William told her, Mr. Lacey lost his wife a few years ago, and ever since than he has been struggling to take proper care of himself, living alone in such a large house took a toll on him. Which is why Mrs. Wisp took it upon herself to make weekly visits to help him out. Though now with Williams mom and Mr. Lacey sick, no one was around to help out with dishes and trash. Which probably is contributing to the smell.

Norah continued to look around the living room, noticing multiple guns and American flags hung up on the walls, along with a couple crosses. It seemed as if Mr. Lacey was a veteran of some sorts, keeping his trophies and awards high up away from everything else.

William shined his flashlight onto one of the crosses. The than began to think about how his mom is also quite religious, so is Isaac's mom, and Janice…Plus all of the church-goers seemed sickly as they walked out of church. William looked to Norah as he pieced it all together. She looked at him with the same expression, almost as if she came to the same conclusion.

"Will, are you religious?" Norah kept her voice hushed as she asked.

"No…You?" He reciprocated the question. To which she shook her head.

"Do you know if Isaac's religious?" Norah furrowed a brow.

"I'm not sure…he used to go to church with his parents but recently he's stopped. That doesn't mean anything though regarding what he believes in" William thought hard. Norah shrugged and looked toward the stairwell.

He shown his flashlight back up at the top of the stairs, nothing seemed to be a threat, so slowly he began to make the climb. Each step creaking louder and louder with every movement, at some point Will thought the boards would break underneath him.

They both made it to the top of the steps, Will shined the flashlight down the hallway. At the end of the hall was a small bathroom, two doors on wall remained open. From what they knew about the house's layout, the master bedroom was the room to the left.

Norah looked down at the carpet and reached for Williams flashlight, pointing it down onto the floor. The carpet harbored some sort of orange-reddish liquid, staining random spots all the way to the master bedroom. There, it pooled at the bottom of the door.

William winced at it, initially thinking it was blood, but the closer he looked, he realized that…he had no idea what it was, it didn't look like vomit, if anything It didn't look like any bodily fluid. He felt his stomach lurch from the sight, but mostly the smell. His hand had a hard time deciding if he wanted to cover his nose from the smell or his mouth from vomiting.

"Maybe…it's just orange juice…" William whispered to Norah, unsure of even his own statement.

He took a few more careful steps down the hallway until he reached the door. He make sure to glance back at Norah to make sure she was still behind him. She gave him an encouraging nod.

He took a deep breath in and slowly pushed the door open.

As Will shined his flashlight into the room. The first thing their eyes lock on is Mr. Lacey. He was sat in the same chair William spotted from the window. This orange liquid covered him and pooled around him. His skin looked hardened, tight around his bones, pale and malnourished. On his face, a large hole that opened up his skull. Not that something bashed into his head, but almost like…something burst out.

William, as he stared in horror took a closer look. In this hole he would see that his insides was just more of this orange, viscous liquid. As if he were turned into some kind of soup. Most of it spilled onto the ground, but he is still half full.

William immediately stumbled back into the hallway, dropping his flashlight. He staggered a few feet away from Norah and immediately vomits from the sight.

Norah gasps and backs up against the hallway wall, covering her mouth with both hands. She looked over at William who was hunched over, leaning against a wall.

"Will- Thats…that's not gonna happen to us right?" Norah could barely hear herself speak over the ringing in her ears.

"No- We don't believe in god that can't happen" William coughed and paused for a moment. Once the realization hit him, he whipped around to face her.

"Norah, my mom"

They both looked at each other for a brief moment before darting down the stairs. William burst through the front door and ran down the street. This time, he didn't make sure that Norah was behind him.

He quickly arrived to his house, as he fumbled with the door handle, he sees that same orange liquid staining it. His heart dropped.

"No…" William froze for just a moment, before shaking his head and opening the door quickly.

To his surprise and his relief, his mother laid on the couch the same way he had left her. She was covered in blankets and surrounded with water, tissues, trashcans, etc.

"William!" She flinched sharply and yelped at William's sudden arrival. Clutching the blanket she was tucked under.

"I-" William was at a loss for words.

How would the orange stuff have gotten on the handle if she's not…?

Then William looked down at himself, the vile liquid was all over his hands. He's not sure how it got there, but for now he didn't care. His mom was okay, for now at least.

"William where have you been! I've been waiting on this cold medicine for…god knows how long." His mom tried to scold him, though she was far too ill to put any energy into yelling.

"Oh- yeah um…sorry, here" William dug in his pockets and took out a bottle. Placing it on the coffee table in front of her.

"And can you please…just bring me a cold towel or- or maybe an ice pack?" She wheezed and let out a harsh cough after she spoke. Norah appeared in the doorway as this happened.

"Hi Mrs. Wisp, is there any way I can help?" Norah politely stepped into the house and offered her help.

"Oh, Norah sweetheart thank you, but i've got William and his father helping me out." She leaned her head back onto her pillow, closing her eyes.

Norah placed the back of her hand on Mrs. Wisps forehead, and as soon as her hand made contact with her head, she jolted away immediately as it burned her, like touching a hot pan. Norah gazed at her for a moment before she realized that William was audibly panicking in the kitchen. She stepped away to go check on him.

"What kills bugs and not people, what kills bugs- Oh my god my mom is full of bugs what do I do-" William muttered to himself frantically as he rummaged through the medicine cabinets and even the cleaning supplies.

William pulls out his phone and shakily starts to google "What kills bugs but not people, medicine." He also says this out loud as he's typing.

"Ivermectin" Norah responded as she overheard William.

"What?" He looks up from his phone

"Its a pill that helps with parasitic infections that kills the parasite but not the person." Norah explained, knowing this through her parents and their medical knowledge.

"But…I'm not sure if it works on…cockroaches…" Norah leaned against the counter, trying to think.

"Well…what if they're not cockroaches yet- and they're larvae?" William responded quickly.

"Maybe…I can ask my parents, we don't have Ivermectin here but they may at the hospital," Norah wearily suggested.

"So…what, you want to steal from the hospital?" William raised a brow at her.

"Well- I dunno, maybe not steal, but like…borrow?" She suggested, mildly laughing at how dumb it sounded out loud.

"Is there anything else we can do to maybe- I dunno, slow down the process?" William bit his lip as he raised his phone to find answers.

"Well…bugs normally slow down in cold temperatures, so maybe we bring her ice packs and cold water?" Norah suggested.

"Yeah- yeah that makes sense" William grabbed a zip-lock baggie and stuffed it with ice while Norah made a big glass of water for her.

"Hey mom…So um, earlier we were talking with Norah's parents, that's why it took so long to come home. They're doctors and they think they know what this is. They recommend you drink lots of cold water and for better results, you should take an ice bath" William bent down in front of his mother, telling her a little white lie and hoping Norah would follow along.

"Ice bath?! William…dear lord," She exasperated, over Williams statement.

"Cmon mom, you don't want to argue with doctors now. Me and Norah can even get it all set up for you." William pushed to convince his mom, but she just wasn't having it.

"William- It's so sweet that you and your friends are worried about me but, i'll be fine. It's just a stomach bug" She reached out and brushed Williams hair weakly.

As his mom says this, they both wince.

"Yeah…yeah it's just a bug," He looked down to the floor. Images of Mr. Lacey flashed in the back of his mind, he knew that if he didn't figure something out. that would happen to his mom.

"Sweetheart…could you just turn on my show for me?" She spoke in a whisper as speaking became tiring for her.

William stared at his mom with a painfully sad expression, Norah reached for the TV remote and turned on what she knew to be his moms favorite show. She hadn't gotten over the shock of Mr. Lacey, but still tried to help William in whatever way she could.

"Well at least, drink up this water and leave these ice packs on your forehead and stomach. They should make you feel better." He placed the ice packs on her and stood up, giving her some personal space. The last thing he notices is that his mothers eyes are fully glazed over, grey and dull.

"One last thing, just make sure you guys keep it down…my head hurts just a bit," She whispers once more before turning her attention to the television.

William just stared hopelessly at her, the dread in his chest making it impossible to speak. Norah noticed this and put a hand on Williams shoulder.

"Of course, Mrs. Wisp, we'll just be downstairs." Norah politely smiled at her and began to guide William into the basement. "Its okay…we'll figure something out…

Isaac sat at his desk playing video games for most of the time. Distracting himself from his feelings about everything from earlier. Around 5pm is where his father made the tell-tale noises of him getting ready for bed.

He shot up from his chair and began packing some things for investigating, excited he could finally reunite with his friends. He slowly opened his bedroom door, trying to make it stay quiet but since it was broken, just a few cracks came from it, and a few pieces came off of it. For now he decided to ignore it and made his way down the stairs.

Sounds of the kitchen sink running and dishes clanking caught his attention, in order for him to leave the house he would have to walk past the kitchen and confront his mother.

He though for a moment longer and rejected his idea of sneaking around. He walked into the kitchen and looked to his mom.

"Mom, let me help." He stood next to her and began helping out with the dishes, knowing she was sick with whatever illness it was, he knew surely she doesn't feel like doing household chores.

She Continued to wash dishes, allowing Issac to help her out by drying them and putting them away. "So…how was your day?"

Isaac took in a sharp breath as he tried to find the right words. "Bad…my day was bad. Mom."

"Did you hang out with um William and Norah and um…Oh Louis?" She struggled to remember their names, as if her mind was dazed or foggy.

"Just William and Norah…Louis is out of town" Isaac bit his cheek, holding back his frustrations.

"Right." She stared down mindlessly at the soapy water.

"I actually was having a pretty good day till the cop decided I did something wrong and embarrass me in front of all my friends, and I just keep having a bad day cause everyone's taking it out on me" He stared down at the dish he was holding, his nose wrinkled angrily.

"Mhm"

"Look- I'm not trying to get in trouble…it just- it just happens" Isaac tried to form some sort of excuse or explanation.

"That's okay" A long pause held the tension between them. Isaac's chest began to hurt again, though this time it wasn't anger or frustration. It was guilt, shame even.

"Just…promise me that you'll always come home" She passed him another dish, not meeting his eyes.

"…You know I will" He took the dish and began to dry it. "But um…I am leaving to, to go to Williams house."

She suddenly puts down the dish she was washing, looking Isaac directly in the eyes, not necessarily with shock but instead with sadness. As Isaac looked her in the eyes, he notices that her eyes are glazed over almost fully, yet she still seemed all there…for the most part.

"Mom- Are you feeling okay.?"

"I feel like I can't even say no to you anymore…and I don't know what to do about it" She looks back down at the sink, her words were slow and heavy with emotion.

Isaac felt the lump in his throat choke him with sadness. He felt like even if he breathed wrong he would disappoint her further.

"You're staying over at Williams? And that's the full, honest truth?" She asked, continuing with the dishes.

"Yes" He kept his head down, "I'll even be home tonight…there was just some stuff we needed to finish up before…" He trailed off, knowing his mom doesn't even want to hear it.

"I trust you" She finished up the final dish and handed it to him to dry, she toweled off her hands and went to give Issac a kiss on the forehead.

His mom began to make her way up to the bedroom, Isaac stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked at her.

"Goodnight"

She stopped and let in a breath

"Goodnight, Issac"

He hesitated.

"I love you"

She hesitated.

"I…I love you too, Issac" She continued up the stairs.

After that, the house remained silent. Isaac decided to pick up a bit around the kitchen before leaving. He thought hard about everything that happened today with his parents, how it was no different than yesterday and won't be any different tomorrow. That's just the way his family was. Not like Williams, not like Norahs. Like this.

He turned off the lights and locked the door behind him, taking a deep breath of the air outside to cleanse him of his negative vibes. His excitement to see his friends slowly returned as he walked across the street and knocked on the door to William's house.

"Will! Its me, Issac!" He knocked again loudly.

William quickly opened the door, but only a crack. "Are you contaminated?"

"Um…I don't think so.? I don't think cancer is contagious." Isaac tilted his head to match Williams.

"…What?"

"yeah- i did research while I was locked in my house and all of these people have cancer."

"Um…lets maybe talk in the basement"

Isaac walked past Williams mom who was out cold on the couch, William quietly lead Issac to to basement as to not wake her up.

Norah was already waiting for the two in the basement, scribbling in her notebook.

"So…how'd you come up with cancer?" William crossed his arms and looked at Isaac, wanting to hear how he lead to that conclusion.

"Well, I was on my computer looking up the symptoms of whatever this sickness is, and all of the results said cancer; breast cancer, skin cancer, brain cancer, ball cancer- all of them!"

"Okay well…good news, we did some investigating today and it's definitely not cancer. The bad news is that its bugs" William tightened his arms to his chest in discomfort

Isaac looked at them both, dumbfounded.

"what the fuck do you mean by "bugs""

William and Norah explained to Issac what they saw by the woods and in Mr. Lacey's house, how the illness affects the people and how they die.

"I have a theory, it's the communion that's causing this. My moms religious, Isaac's mom is religious, all of the people that came out of church looked sick- Mr. Lacey was also christian!" William began to explain.

"Yeah but, there are also people who are religious who aren't sick like the police officer and Williams Dad" Norah pointed out, writing down notes in her notepad.

"Plus there are people who are sick, like Janice, who…we're not really sure if they're religious" Isaac chipped in.

"That's where I get to the second part. this is a parasitic infection for all we know, parasitic infections are transmitted through ingestion. What do people do at church? They eat the bread or the wine. I think someone's putting something in the bread or the wine to spread this disease." William finished explaining. Leaning back, semi-proud of himself for figuring it out but mostly terrified that he could be right.

William looked to Isaac and Norah, they both looked as if they agreed with him, but were also worried that if was the truth. The only paranormal things they ever did in the past was look for ghosts and hunt abnormalities in the woods. Something that could kill the whole town in just a couple of days was territory they never thought they'd step in.

"So…if we want to investigate further, we're going to have to go to church." William wearily spoke, feeling the fear from the three of them.

"We'll, we also don't know for a fact that its a religious thing, because like we said, we don't know about Janice, and my Dad goes to church but he isn't sick, William your dad is religious too isn't he?" Isaac leaned his hand against his head, propping him up on the table.

"Um…I actually don't know, we don't really talk about that kind of stuff" William looked down at his hands, "We could ask.?"

"I have an idea, how about we do a census, we go door to door and tell everyone we're doing a school project, ask them if they're religious and how often they go to church, then we'll try to subtly ask if they're feeling sick or if anyone in the house is." Norah's eyes lit up at her idea.

"Yeah! And if you do it- I mean everyone in this town loves you, they'll totally believe us!" William smiled at Norah, enjoying the plan they've come up with.

"Lets do that on the way to the church, so then we get some answers and then we investigate" Isaac looked at William and Norah, feeling his mood lift from everything else that's happened today.

"Wait- I still need to talk to my parents" Norah realized suddenly, a strike of fear goes through her as she remembers

"You haven't talked to your parents yet? Oh that police officer definitely told them by now" Isaac grimaced as he broke the news to her.

"…fuck" Norah sighed and looked down at her hands.

"Did you just swear?" Williams eyes widened. "That's how we know this shit is serious"

The three packed for their investigation, making sure their flashlights were fully charged, bringing bandages and first aid, Isaac packed…glue? I guess? As soon as they had everything they thought they'd need, they headed upstairs.

As they exited the basement and entered the kitchen, they heard a commotion going on in the living room. As they rushed to see what was happening, they saw Williams dad helping his mother up from off the couch.

"Oh- William I didn't know you three were home. I need to take your mother to the hospital, she's burning up and she ain't talkin' right" His dad was in the process of helping her up off the couch, it being quite difficult given he was a skinny man lifting a larger woman.

"Let me help" William handed off his bad to Isaac and went over to help his dad, putting himself under his mothers other arm. She was awake and able to walk, but her eyes were fully glazed over and she didn't seem to know what was fully going on.

"Let's bring her out to the car, can one of you help with the door?" Mr. Wisp looked over to Isaac and Norah, to which Norah quickly responded and opened the door for them.

"Mr. Wisp are you not sick?" Norah asked, her quiet tone almost not making it through the dad's head.

"No, just seems to be her." A worried tone comes from him, seeming to only focus on his wife in this moment.

William and his father place his mom in the passenger seat, Norah once again helping with the car door. Mrs. Wisp sunk into the seat, making herself as comfortable as she could considering her discomfort.

"Quickly before you go I just wanted to ask, Mr. Wisp do you go to church?" Norah asked, pulling out her notepad.

Williams dad stopped in confusion, looking at her.

"Well Norah, um…The thing about that…I think god is with us-" He stammered, trying to find the right words to say.

"Now you've got him going" William mumbled under his breath with a sigh.

"I- I really got to get your mom to the hospital" He avoided the topic and got in the car, leaving the window rolled down so they could still speak.

"Yeah of course, you have a good night Mr. Wisp" Norah politely bowed her head a little.

"Yeah you too kids- and um..god- God bless you" He stammered as he took the car out of park.

"Dad- what are you doing." William bit his lip from second hand embarrassment.

"I dunno-"

"No matter what- don't take those ice packs off her and whatever you do, don't do to church" William quickly said to him.

"…William is this one of your "special projects" again because I really-"

"Don't call it that…but yes it is and I just need you to keep those ice packs on her and absolutely do not go to church."

"Don't do a special project on your mom, William"

"No- I'm not- It's not about mom. Well it is- I'm not doing a special project on my mom"

"William it's going way too far-"

"Yes, we're doing a special project for school where we ask people if they go to church, we're not doing a project on his mom I promise" Norah cut in, showing her notepad with an already drawn out chart.

His dad looked at it for a moment. "Ohh, okay I see now. You guys had me worried" He laughed it off and rubbed the back of his neck.

"But also still keep the ice packs on her…and don't go to church" William quickly interjected.

Williams dad raised an eyebrow at him.

"Dad- I know that I sneak off sometimes and a I say things that sound crazy but I also know that there are things both of us don't tell each other, so-"

"what do you know?" His dads eyes slightly widen fearfully.

William gave him a questioning look.

"It was one time in college-"

"what was?"

They stare at each other.

"What were you gonna say before-"

"You said that was your hiking friend…I- Anyways I know I may sound crazy sometimes but…please trust that I know what I'm doing and don't take the ice packs off of her"

"And don't go to church…." Isaac added.

"…Is this a satanic cult thing?" His dad whispered to them, concerned of who else might hear.

"No…"

"William"

"Are you interested?" Isaac added again, to which Norah hit him in the sit to make his cut it out.

"It's got nothing to do with the devil…we don't think- But we gotta go and you gotta go, so we'll meet you up at the hospital at some point." William reassured awkwardly, stepping away from the car.

"Okay son…I trust you I think" His father wearily responded, putting the car in drive.

The three of them wave goodbye as the car sped off the the hospital. As soon as his dad leaves, they lock up the house and take off to start knocking door-to-door asking people about their affiliation with the church.

They start with the house that's next to Williams, after knocking Norah takes the front, innocently holding her notepad close to her and waiting for someone to answer. Not too long after someone opens the door.

"Hi! So sorry to bother you tonight, I'm doing a census for school and um- Here's all of my report cards so you can see…" She pulls out a stack of report cards all with A's and good GPA's. "Um- So I just have a few questions, how are you feeling today and do you go to church?"

They repeated this process and got answers from 10 houses on the way to the church.Once they were done they began to make their way to Norah's house.

Out of the 10 people they spoke to, 9 said they did go to church and 1 said they don't. Out of that 10, 6 of them said they were sick, 4 of them weren't feeling ill including the one who didn't go to church.

"I think its safe to assume that some people would lie? Say they did go to church cause they're guilty they didn't?" Isaac gave the two a puzzled look.

"I think its pretty clear that the church is the cause of this sickness…so now all we have to do is find out why…" William let out a big sigh and looked back at the church atop the hill, it had been there for as long as he's lived here, and yet today it's ominous presence was stronger than any other day.

"Isaac we meant to ask you earlier…do you go to church?" Norah looked past William at Isaac.

"No"

"Do you believe in god?" She asked again.

"Have you ever read the bible?" Isaac questioned back.

"N-no?"

"That explains a lot, that's why you're asking me that question right now."

"Which bible do you read?" William raised a brow.

"The social network" Issac smiled at him.

"Okay man" William sighed and decided to ignore him.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Norah broke it.

"Did you guys know that we're technically fish"

"What" Isaac gave her a puzzled look.

"I learned in this book that I have that taxonomically we don't have strong borders on what we do and don't consider fish" Norah smiled at her fun fact.

William tapped Isaac playfully, "Issac how do you feel about strong borders?"

Isaac wheezed, "Why are you making me look bad??"

As the three arrived at Norah's house, she stepped up to the door and knocked on it a few times. Norah held her breath subconsciously, waiting for her parents to get mad.

Norahs mother opened the door, once she saw her she immediately reached out and grabbed her head, kissing it.

"Oh- Norah sweetie are you okay?" She spoke in a gentle, worried tone.

"Yeah- why aren't you yelling at me?" Norah looked up at her, confused.

She softly smiles and lets out an amused huff of air. Then she reached into her pocket and pulls out the IOU that they had left at the convenience store.

"About this?" She gazed down at Norah, who guiltily looks at the floor.

"I'm sorry- I was gonna come straight here but then I got caught up with stuff and-"

"Norah sweetie it's okay, I'm just glad you're home safe…though we will need to punish you" She pulled her head back in thought.

"I'll be taking your fish book" She began.

"No! I just started that one" Norah whined in protest.

"And you won't be getting it back till you've finished your lizard book we got you years ago" She finished.

Norah huffed and looked at the ground again, "Fine…"

"I'm also sorry- I haven't done much flute practice today" Norah guiltily confessed.

"No flute today either?" Her mother let out a quiet sigh.

"Well- I was practicing at Will's house, but then his mom got sick and we were running around trying to get her medicine" Norah explained, while she did so she looked at her mom to check if she was showing any signs of illness. Her eyes were as clear as ever and her skin a normal tan color.

"Oh no…" She worried, crossing her arms.

"I promise I'll do extra practice later this week it's just that um…Isaac, Will, and I still have a few more things we need to go do." Norah picked at her fingers anxiously.

"You're leaving again? We thought you'd be home tonight…your father is making meatloaf." She looked at her with an expression of mixed feelings.

"Could you just…put mine in the fridge.? just for tonight?" Norah felt guilty with this statement, it almost hurt.

Her mom looked at her bewildered, she clutched her chest and let in a breath.

"I suppose…If your going to help Mrs. Wisp than, that's fine" She nodded and seemed to sort her words in her head. "If you're going back to the Wisp's than will they be feeding you? We can make you a to-go box"

"No thank you, I- I already ate and um, it'll be a little before we go back to Will's, there's something we have to do quickly" Norah shuffled her feet anxiously.

"Where else are you going?" Her mother questioned.

"Mom, do you believe in god?" Norah averted her moms question, pulling out her notepad from her pocket.

"Are you curious? If you have any doubts about anything I- I have this science book that you can read-" Her mother, flustered, starts looking around to try and remember where she placed her book.

"Oh- S…sorry mom I'm not very interested in…that." She awkwardly interrupted her mother.

"o-okay…" Her mother paused, her mouth hanging open a little.

"I want to know if you, personally believe in god." Norah redirected her question.

"Oh- No dear, I do not. But I do think we all" She hesitates "Find our way through…or, find what…Hm, let me call your father" She holds up a finger and yells for Norah's dad before she can say anything else.

Norahs father walks up to the front door, greeting Norah.

"Honey she's…she's wondering about church" Her mom whispered to him.

"Oh…" He looks at her with an unsure expression and sort of awkwardly smiles at her.

"Its for a school project…" Norah finally got out.

"Ooh! Oh Okay- So the catholic church was originally established in rome-" Her dad began to rant, Norah sighed and allowed him to continue, becoming a bit frustrated.

"Its for a census dad, I want to know how many people in town go to church…" She bit back her annoyance and smiled at him anyways.

"Oh! Terribly sorry, yeah no…I do not go to church"

"You don't?"

"No! Absolutely not" He laughed a bit at the ridiculousness of the situation, and maybe even relief knowing his daughter isn't converting.

She begins to write down in her notepad that neither of her parents are religious…or at least christian.

"How about you and your friends come inside! I'm making meatloaf." He smiles and opens the door wider.

"Oh- No I'm so sorry we need to keep working on this project before it gets too late…sorry" Norah cut down her dads offer, feeling guilty once again.

"Oh…Okay" Her dad looked at her mom, who both shared a concerned glance with each other.

Isaac and William stood a few feet behind Norah, a little afraid of her parents.

"Do you ever feel sad when Norah interacts with her parents? Or like, jealous?" Isaac whispered to Will.

"No…?" William whispered back, concerned.

"…ha, yeah me neither" Isaac awkwardly responded, biting the inside of his cheek.

Norah returned to the both of them, waving goodbye to her mother and father and taking in a big breath.

"Okay, lets go to the church"

The three began to walk towards the large gloomy building atop the hill of Deadwood. It took them some time to go door to door and ask people questions, as they walked up the hill, the church bell began to ring 8 times. Indicating it was now 8pm.

"So we agree we're not going inside the church right…maybe just look inside" William gazed up at the building, worry clawing at the back of his throat.

"Yeah no, just taking a peek" Isaac shared a similar look. Of all the times he's been to this church, his perspective of it has changed tremendously. He didn't think he could hate it more than he already did.

The church was a bit more isolated from the town, not being far away from the neighborhood, but also being surrounded by the woods. As the three reached the building they all hid near the treeline to try and stay hidden from whatever could be here. The sounds of animals and critters scurrying throughout the forest was the only noise they heard as everyone in the neighborhood has already gone to bed, or they had assumed at least.

"Norah, you try to listen for anything dangerous, I'll investigate around the building, and Isaac…" William whispered out instructions, looking at Isaac as he struggled to think about what he could do.

"I can jump the fence" Isaac smiled as if he didn't have much going on upstairs.

"…Sure man" William hesitantly responded.

William walked up to the church window and peered inside, already there was little light but since he was peering through stained glass, everything he saw had a red tint to it, making it much harder to see than normal. Though he could still vaguely make out what he was seeing.

Through the window, a figure shifted upwards from one of the pews that lined the inside of the church. This dark figure moved down the isle slowly, though it didn't seem to walk, it almost seems to glide across the floor.

Norah crouched down next to William and closed her eyes, tuning into her keen hearing ability. The first thing she began to hear was the sound of scuttering all throughout the building, the woods, everywhere it seemed. She felt her arms and legs tense up, every instinct telling her to run the other way and never come back, but she held her ground.

Another noise she heard was that similar sound of fabric sliding against the floor paired with footsteps. Whatever was walking seemed to be walking away from the window they stood at. Than it began to pace back and forth on the further side of the building.

After a few moments of this pacing, the footsteps began to dissipate, and the skittering of roaches slowly went away as well.

"I think its gone…" Norah whispered, looking up at William. "What did you see?"

"Just some guy, or thing walking around in there. I couldn't see what he was doing but it just seemed like he paced and left." William backed away from the window, a puzzled look on his face began to form.

"Well whoever it was didn't leave through the front, so there must be a back door somewhere." Isaac walked up to the chain-linked fence that separated the from of the church to the back. Climbing up it and jumping to the other side with ease.

Norah without hesitation followed him, climbing and leaping over the fence just the same. She looked to William as she waited for him to climb as well.

William looked at the fence and ran his hand through his hair. "Guys I'm going to be honest with you, I'm going to break all my bones if I climb that fence"

Isaac looked at Norah and crossed his arms, "Do we both go check out the back door? Or does one of us hang back with Will?"

"I think you should stay with Will, I can just sneak over and take a quick peek." Norah responded quickly, adjusting her glasses.

"Okay, I trust you" Isaac nodded to her and jumped over the fence once more, patting William on the back.

"C'mon let's go see if we can open the front door" Isaac began to walk to the front with William following behind.

Norah crouched down and began to sneak around the back of the building, scoping out the situation, trying to see if there were an open window or a back door.

The church was shaped in such a way where it was narrow in the front and flared out into a T-shape in the back. Norah began to round the wall and peek around the corner to see the back of the building.

Before she saw anything, she first heard the faint noise of the bugs crawling their way, at first quiet but growing louder. She then saw the dark figure emerge from the woods and make its way to what seemed to be a back door. Norah covered her mouth and held her breath. She tried to think of ways to warn Isaac and Will, but without making noise it seemed impossible.

William walked up to a different window, hoping to get a better view of the inside or anything that could be helpful.

"Should we wait for Norah to get back?" Isaac asked, stepping up to the large double doors that gated the church.

"Well, what's there to wait for? We're just peeking, its not like we're going in…even if we opened the front door- we just wanna take a peek, a peek wont kill us surely." William continued to peer through the window, not seeing anything different from before.

William walked up to Isaac and reached for the handle to the door. To their surprise the door was unlocked, though just from tugging it a little bit, William could tell that opening this door would be extremely loud and would alert anything that was nearby.

He let out a frustrated sigh and looked around for a different way. Immediately he spots a glass pane that was loose from the rest of the window, if they could pull it back far enough they could peek inside.

"Issac, I'm feelin' sneaky, do you have any way to create suction?" William picked at the window pane. Though it refused to come off.

"Um…What??" Isaac failed to contain a laugh.

"Like- do you have something that could like- suck?" William asked again.

"Um- man I don't swing that way…I don't think" Isaac rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Nonono- Wait what?" William finally turned around to look at Isaac.

"What are you talking about?" Isaac gave an awkward smile.

"What are you talking about?" William raised an eyebrow.

They remained silent.

"I need a way to open the window" William reciprocated his smile, finding amusement in their conversation.

"Yeah no- Um…No I don't have something that can suck" Isaac giggled at his own immaturity.

"Or we could get some sort of…sticky substance" William played along with the bit.

"Well- don't we need the suction to get the sticky substance-" Isaac could barely get out his sentence before bursting out in laugher, still remaining as quiet as he could be.

William covered his face, giggling at their stupidity. "Norah would be pissed if she were here"

Isaac took a moment to catch his breath, than looking to William

"By the way- I packed glue" Isaac pointed to the bag William carried.

William took a deep breath in. "What are you gonna do with glue?"

"Um…put it on my hands and…stick it to the window?" Isaac grinned.

William covered his face hysterically again. "Please don't"

"Okay but wait hear me out, we take some sort of stick and put the glue on the stick, than we can pull it off with that?" Isaac looked around for a small stick or twig.

"That sounds better" William rubbed his face and took a deep breath in.

Isaac grabbed a small stick and poured the glue all over one end of it. Most of the glue got on his hands anyways so he decided "eh fuck it" and placed his hands directly on the piece of glass, waiting for them to dry.

"Issac what the fuck are you doing-" William watched as Isaac did this and very quickly got a feeling of dread.

Something wasn't right.

Isaac quickly pulled on the glass pane, only the bottom half seemed lose, but the top half was very tightly welded to the rest of the window. Isaac pulled harder on the glass window.

William stumbled a couple steps back and ran to hide in the nearest bush.

As Isaac yanked on this window, suddenly it cracks, than shatters onto Isaac. The sudden release of tension causing him to stumble and land on his back.

Norah hears the sound of shattering glass echo to what seemed the whole neighborhood. Suddenly the figure inside stopped, than quickly made its way towards the front door.

Norah turned around and booked it back to the fence, before she could climb back over the front door swings open. She sees Isaac on the ground with broken glass surrounding him, some still glued to his hands.

Isaac looked up at the large figure. He made eye contact with a tall, older looking man with a grey beard. His robe draped over him ominously as he gazed down at Isaac.

"What is going on out here?" The old man speaks in a hushed tone, hoarse from old age.

"Listen I just- um…Are you the pastor?" Isaac nervously spoke, frozen with fear.

"Are you in need?" He raised a brow at the boy.

"Um…yeah- I…I just really needed someone to…confess to" He hesitantly spoke, not sure if that was the lie he wanted to tell, but how he has to just roll with it. (HAHAH GET IT I DID THE THING) (plz help me im so tired)

"Of course…let me help" The man stepped over and slowly bent down to pry the pieces of glass from his hands. The man was not very gentle and almost ripped his skin along with the glass. When he was done, he stood up and held a hand out.

"Come with me my son, come confess."

William and Norah watched from the bushes, dread filling every part of their body as Isaac spoke to this man.

The man grabbed onto the back of Isaac's shirt with strength, the little bit of safety Isaac felt was gone as he slowly pushed Issac into the church.

"Um- Nevermind actually" Isaac quickly stated as he balled his fist and swung for the old man's jaw.

Isaac's swing unfortunately didn't make it far as the man swiftly grabbed his fist and stopped the blow. Isaac felt a pang of fear course through him. The man's hand still remained gripped on his back, he couldn't run if he tried.

The man's hand that was originally on Isaac's back moves up to aggressively grip the hair on the back of his head, while his other hand clenched to Isaac's jaw. Slowly he began to pry Issac's jaw open.

He leaned over Issac and opened his mouth wide, the inside of his mouth shown hundreds of grotesque teeth and it opened wider and wider with each moment, keeping intense eye contact with Isaac he began to vomit that same orange liquid directly into Isaac's jaw.

Isaac felt as this liquid boiled his insides as it went all the way down his throat and into his stomach, he struggled to pry the man away from him but to no avail, the priest continued to pour this liquid down his throat.

William and Norah stared in horror as they watched Isaac painfully squirm and struggle against this mans grip, they both wanted to do something to help but couldn't figure out what, or how.

The flow stops for a moment as the man takes a breath in, Isaac gagged and coughed from the pain but also from just sheer disgust. He looked up to what he no longer considered a man but more as a monster. He was revving up to vomit again.

Isaac quickly forced his jaw shut and attempted to push the priest away. Isaac shut his eyes and immediately felt this boiling liquid pour down his chest and soak into his clothes. He couldn't help but yelp out in pain. The only thing he could think of is "where are my friends right now?"

"Hey Ugly! Did you- Wha- Um fuck- Whate'er you doing at the church cause- cause God definitely didn't give you that fucking face!" A shout came from the bushes a few feet away.

Isaac opened one of his eyes to look in the direction, through his own haze he saw William stood very fearfully at the edge of the tree-line holding a rock.

The priest looked up at William with surprise, just as he does Isaac shoves him away and makes a break for it. William very closely followed as they both ran down the street away from the church.

Norah watched as the two boys run off from the monster and quickly hopped the fence and sprinted toward them.

As Isaac turned to look back, he noticed that the priest doesn't follow, and instead just stands at the door of the church, watching them as they ran back towards the neighborhood. Before he turned back, he watched as his figure collapsed to the ground, and thousands of roaches crawled out from under his robe.