Pt. II: Something in the tall, tall grass is moving

Another Spookymon Go story

Something in the tall, tall grass is alive. Something in the tall, tall grass is rotting. Something in the tall, tall grass is dead. Something in the tall, tall grass is moving.

The kids stood hypnotized at the edge of the field, staring into the yellow, grassy void ahead. The GPS led them to this location and a blip in the radar urged them to continue. Somewhere in the swampy field something was waiting. They hesitated.

“Well?” Maggie felt unsure.

“It’s probably just a Pidgey,” Caleb whimpered.

“Well?”

“Well what?” Caleb responded. He was irritable, afraid and trembling just a little bit.

“Are we gonna catch it or what?”

“I don’t know,” Caleb looked longingly back at the clearing in the woods from which they’d emerged, “I don’t think it’s safe. There are marshes out here, you know?” He looked back at Maggie, “It’s like quicksand, my dad says.”

Maggie rolled her eyes, “Come on, Caleb,” she felt empowered by the older boy’s fear, “we’re not kids anymore.” She put her hand on his shoulder in what was meant to be a reassuring gesture, “Don’t be a p***y, dude.” Being a detective’s kid, Maggie tended to pick up “adult” language which she liberally repeated to mixed results. While her teacher’s disapproved, swear words imparted Maggie with an heir of maturity and authority she wouldn’t have otherwise held amongst her peers.

Caleb swatted Maggie’s hand from his shoulder and sulked. He knew to a certain extent that he was being manipulated, but at this point it was pointless to resist. A p***y? Caleb was emphatic that the very suggestion must be immediately disproved. He looked back to Maggie who furrowed her brow into a look that said, “If you’re too scared, we don’t have to do this.”

No way a girl is tougher than me, Caleb thought.

“You ready?” Maggie asked.

“Let’s do it,” replied Caleb, clenching his palms into little fists.

“For team Mystic?” Maggie smiled.

“For team Mystic,” Caleb smiled back with heartfelt conviction. The pair shared a brief fist bump then, screaming at the top of their lungs, charged head first into the tall, tall grass.

“What the f**k is he doing?” Detective Ritter watched the surveillance footage with a combination of amazement and disgust, “Is he taking a picture?”

“Maybe he’s catching Pokemon,” laughed Officer Lennox from his reclined position in front of the computer screen. Ritter spun on his heels and shoved his index finger into Lennox’s face. The Officer, caught unaware, nearly fell backwards off his chair. When Ritter spoke, his tone was a low growl.

“First,” Ritter began, emphasizing with his imposing index before repeating himself, “First of all, get your goddamn shoes off the desk, you’re not a goddamn animal. Second,” he held up a second finger, “That boy who was killed is named Elias Pacer. He’s been to my home, he walks my daughter to school, they trade lunches, so your callous attitude is not only disappointing, it’s downright disturbing, and third,” another finger raised for emphasis, “What the f**k do you mean ‘catching Pokemon?’”

Lennox reeled from Ritter’s unexpected attack but composed himself long enough to hold up his phone. “Pokemon Go… I mean, clearly the kid, er, Elias, was playing, right? I mean, why else would you walk into the middle of an intersection in the middle of the night?”

“Why the f**k would you walk into the middle of an intersection at all?!”

“To catch Pokemon!” Lennox tried to hide his frustration, “I mean, I don’t know, the game does weird stuff to kids. It like, hypnotizes them or something.”

“And you play this game?”

“Well,” Lennox grew embarrassed, “I mean, yeah I play it. It’s " it’s fun. It’s a nice, fun distraction.”

“Really?” Ritter remained skeptically condescending.”

“Yes!” Lennox continued trying not to sound defensive. ”The technology is actually pretty amazing. You use your camera and you can see Pokemon. You can see them in the real world like they’re actually there!”

“Like they’re actually there, huh?” Ritter’s sarcasm dripped heavier than the sweat on Lennox’s forehead.

“Just look,” Lennox forced his cell phone into Ritter’s hand, “just see for yourself. It’s cool.”

Onscreen, a small, round, pink blob with eyes and a smile bobbed up and down on the desk where Lennox’s feet had rested only moments ago. Ritter moved the phone to double check " no pink creature, obviously.

“Wow, that is kinda cool.”

“Right?” Lennox sounded victorious.

“Yeah, that’s actually pretty incredible,” Ritter replied as he returned to the Android’s menu screen and quietly deleted Pokemon Go from Lennox’s phone. “That is really, actually, very cool.”

“I told you!” Lennox gloated, “I told you it was " it was " aw man. Seriously?!”

Ritter was already on his way out the door. “Maybe get back to work? Maybe you don’t need distractions? Maybe stop acting like a goddamn child? And keep your f*****g feet off the desk!” Ritter stepped into the hallway and closed the door hard behind him.

SLAM!

SPLASH!

Caleb screamed and struggled, convinced that he would be swallowed up and suffocated by the slippery earth into which he had fallen.

“The marsh! The marsh!” screamed the wretched boy. “Help me Maggie, I’m going to drown!”

Maggie rolled her eyes, grabbed Caleb by the scruff of his neck, and pulled him back onto his feet. She crossed her arms and stared at Caleb with an affected glare of parental disappointment.

“Really,” Maggie chided, “you’re such a baby sometimes, Caleb.”

Caleb’s pride was wounded, but he was otherwise unharmed. He brushed mud ineffectually from his blue jeans.

“I’m just being careful,” Caleb grumbled, “somebody has to be.”

Maggie threw up her arms in exasperation, “Careful of what? For Christ’s sake, Caleb, there’s no one around.”

“Careful of the marshes,” Caleb rooted around on the ground in search of his lost cell phone, “there ARE marshes out here, Maggie, my dad said so.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Maggie joined Caleb in his search, “Your dad, your dad, your dad. He really knows everything, huh?” She stood up for a moment at glanced back towards the entrance of the field. Maggie didn’t feel like the two of them had run very far at all, but somehow the beginning of the field was very VERY far away " almost in the distance. She shrugged and looked back at Caleb, who shot to his feet and proudly held up his phone.

“Got it!” he smiled.

Maggie sarcastically applauded. “Wow, you’re our very own Magellan, Caleb. A great explorer if ever there was one.” Caleb laughed and Maggie joined in, affectionately brushing dirt from her playmate’s t-shirt. Their cell phones chirped in unison, a reminder that a Pokemon was indeed nearby.

“Shall we?” Maggie asked.

“For team Mystic,” said Caleb.

“For team Mystic,” Maggie replied. They fist bumped again then continued to trek deeper and deeper into the tall, tall grass. Maggie looked again at the path behind her. Although they had barely moved, the distance between them and the field’s entrance had somehow doubled. Maggie felt anxious, but remained calm. There was no point in alarming Caleb. Plus, she had a Pokemon to catch.

As they continued, both Caleb and Maggie became aware of a powerful and unpleasant odor. The further they ventured, the stronger the smell became. Months ago, Maggie’s dad bought a big bag of potatoes, which he stored in the cupboard and promptly forgot. Subsequently, the potatoes rotted over the course of several weeks. It was the worst stench Maggie had ever experienced " sour, pungent, and foul, the smell of decay. This smell, the one in the field, reminded Maggie of those potatoes. Her anxiety grew as she envisioned a possible source.

“Are there really sinkholes out here?” Maggie hesitantly asked.

“Big time,” Caleb sounded certain.

“How does your dad know?”

“He said his brother had a friend who got sucked up into on while they were trap hunting.”

“Really?”

“Swear to god.”

“I think your dad is full of s**t.” Maggie would not allow herself to be overcome by fear, in particular fear manufactured by adults to scare children.

Something rustled nearby. Both children stopped talking and turned their attention to the grass which they determined to be the source of the sound. Another rustle, even closer this time, very close in fact. Maggie looked down at her phone and laughed with relief.

“It’s the phone, Caleb. It’s just the phone.”

“What?” Caleb was still on high alert.

“It’s the sound " the Pokemon sound " the notification,” Maggie laughed again, “we’re almost there, come on.” Both Maggie and Caleb’s phones chimed again, the sound of rustling grass, an alert that the Pokemon they sought was close at hand. “We are such babies,” she laughed once more and held her phone in front of her, “come on, 

it’s this way.” Maggie took a step further into the field.

FWUMP!

A sinkhole, when stumbled upon, makes a sound half like sucking, half like gulping, all at the same time. At least that’s the sound the sinkhole made when it swallowed Maggie whole.

FWUMP!

First she was there and then she wasn’t. Caleb dropped his phone for the second time that day then dropped to his knees in front of the puddle into which Maggie had disappeared. He screamed, reached into the puddle, felt nothing, and started to cry. His phone chimed again, this time it was a text message. The text, somehow, was from Maggie.

“Where did I go?” read the text.

Caleb, still panicked, replied, “Maggie? What happened? Where are you?”

“Catch me, Caleb. Catch me.”

“I can’t!” Caleb was in tears.

“Reach into the puddle, Caleb.”

“I did!”

“Reach into the puddle, Caleb.”

Caleb stretched out his hand. He dipped it once again into the puddle. Something brushed against him. It wasn’t Maggie. He snatched his hand back out of the puddle and whimpered again. Caleb gathered courage and tried a third time. At first, he found nothing, then, a hand! Maggie emerged and Caleb pulled her back onto solid ground. She gasped for air. She was trying to speak. Caleb tried to calm her, but she would not be calm. Maggie took a deep breath, then spoke,

“Run.”

“What,” Caleb was still reeling.

“Run,” Maggie repeated with more urgency.

“Maggie, what happened? How did you "“

“Caleb, something grabbed me!”

Caleb’s eyes widened and he scooted with urgency away from the puddle. “Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes! We have to get out of here!” Maggie had her voice back now and she was close to screaming. Something in the tall, tall grass rustled again, first on the phones, then a few feet away. The children grew silent and held up their phones.

At first Maggie missed the looming shadow as she scanned her phone back and forth across the field. It was almost as thin as a stick figure, and its gaunt frame was accentuated by its height. It must have been almost eight feet tall, with no facial features, and only a black orb for a head. Its body too, was all black, but its long, silver fingers glinted in the sunlight. She looked past the screen on her phone, the creature was gone. She looked back at her phone, it was staring at her. A hole opened where its mouth should have been, and from the hole emitted a strange sound, a sound almost like the revving of a chainsaw blade but lower in volume and shrill.

“Do you " ”

“Uh huh.”

“You see it?”

“Uh huh.”

“That’s not a Pokemon.”

“Uh uh.”

“I think we should leave.”

“I think we should leave too.” Maggie and Caleb rose, slowly, slowly to their feet. With eyes glued to phones they backed, inch by inch, away from the tall and unknown shape. Maggie glanced behind her to check for any other unexpected sinkholes. Caleb screamed. Maggie’s eyes snapped back to her phone. The creature was sprinting towards her, its sticklike body bent forward in a full charge. Then, it dropped without warning into the field and out of view. Maggie looked again past her screen and saw that the grass into which the creature dropped, parted as if struck by a microburst then swayed slowly back into place. Something was there… Something real was really there.

The children were quiet for a brief time, phones outstretched. Then, in what seemed like slow motion, a hand slipped out of the grass in front of them " a human hand. Only then did Maggie and Caleb notice again the overpowering stench of decay. They shared a look between them. Maggie crouched and made a cautious advance towards the limp, unmoving hand. She held her phone in front of her in case the thin, black figure should reappear.

“Who is it?” Caleb and Maggie loomed above the dead body.

“I don’t know,” Maggie replied, “It looks like she’s been here a while.”

“We should go.”

“Wait,” Maggie held up her phone once again and let its gaze rest on the dead woman.

“Come on, Maggie. Haven’t you had enough?”

“We came here to catch a Pokemon.”

“So?”

“I’m gonna catch that thing.”

“How?”

“It’s in her.” Maggie spoke without emotion.

“What? How do you know?”

“It told me.” Onscreen, Maggie focused on the dead woman’s mouth. The mouth opened. Slowly, the thin black 

figure birthed from the woman’s jaws. Her cheeks split apart as the creature pushed further and further back through her face and back into the field. Maggie loaded a Mega ball.