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2:43am…

The night was warm, a little humid, and clear. The crickets chirped loudly while the fireflies flashed their tiny yellow bodies for only a brief second before fading to black once again. The moon was bright and full this beautiful night in July. Gina brushed her hair out of her face as a breeze tousled it before she glanced over at her best friend, Kasedy, and her brother, Derek. It was dark, but she could still see their faces in the moonlight.

“Ready?” she asked.

“What time is it?” Derek asked. She pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open.

“Quarter of 3.”

“Then let’s get going. I’d rather we get there with a little time to spare before 3am. I remember what happened the last time we did this…”

She didn’t really know why she was doing this again; going back down to the old and abandoned school. During her spring break only four months ago, she had ventured down there with her little sister, Kimmie, and Kasedy at midnight, and she had gone again with Derek at 3am, the well-known witching hour, only three days later. Both experiences left her more than just a bit shaken. But she had wanted to come back during the summer, when the weather was warm so her senses wouldn’t be clouded by any interfering weather. After all, spring in Upstate New York didn’t come until mid-April at the earliest. Now that she could walk outside in jeans and a t-shirt without shivering uncontrollably, she’d be able to focus on her other senses.

There were rumors about that school; that it was haunted with angry and evil spirits; that a number of people had committed suicide in the building; that people who had to go inside even during daylight came back out never wanting to go in there again, and never speaking of what happened inside. Up until her adventures over spring break, Gina used to think it was more like a small town myth that had been started up to pass the time. But those two nights, she had seen them; the shadows in the windows. And she had certainly felt it; the cold, chilling feeling – a feeling that could be best described as killer, murderous intent. And Derek had told her about the thing he had seen. The black thing that felt everything evil, that lurked from the second story window, and then tried to drag him back before they could get away.

2:55am…

As they walked down towards Main Street, they heard an owl’s call through the night. Almost immediately, Kasedy and Gina simultaneously glanced at each other, each letting out a slightly nervous chuckle.

“That sounded a bit ominous,” Gina said, “It’s like déjà vu.”

“Wasn’t it like this when we did this before? It’s just slightly creepy, seriously.” Kasedy muttered, glancing around.

“Let’s… let’s not let it get to us yet,” Gina replied with an empty grin as they crossed the street. There were walking up Main Street now, though they would soon be turning onto Liberty Street.

“Think of it this way,” Derek spoke up, “When Gina and I went, there wasn’t an owl, or much of any sound, and look at what we experienced compared to when you went with her. It might not be so bad this time around. Either way, I just hope the demon doesn’t come out, though I guess at this point it’s just wishful thinking.”

Liberty Street was a simple street; past the small parking lots, there were two churches, the Methodist and the Catholic churches, that sat across from each other before a slight bend in the road. Around the bend and across from the end of the street sat the old school. It always looked more menacing in the dark, though even in the day time there was still an eerie feel to it.

Gina began to feel the chills as they were walking passed the Catholic Church. How ironic that a holy institute didn’t feel like safety from the evil things in the dark.

“This was the church I hid at when I was being chased by the demons,” Derek was telling Kasedy, “During that incident with the Ouija board in the graveyard I told you about. Can you feel that? This church was desecrated at some point, so it feels more threatening than safe. I’m not sure when it happened, or how, but it’s no safe haven anymore. The priest actually used to live to the side of the church before…”

Gina tuned out Derek’s voice as the feeling of a vice grip around her spine intensified, and she focused only on that feeling. She hoped to remain calm this time around; the first time, she had definitely felt the chills, and attributed it to paranoia since the tales of the school were, at the time, getting to her. Considering what she had experienced the last two times she ventured out here, the chills at this point made perfect sense.

The second time she had come out, solely with Derek, it was late, and it was snowy, and it was windy, and she was in the process of trying to get sick. The morning after that particular adventure, she was sick as a dog. At the time, she had wondered if the dark thing from the school, along with the weather, had anything to do with it.

They rounded the bend not too much later. They were walking at a relatively leisure pace. In reality, the three of them wanted to take their time getting to their destination. Slowly, they advanced upon the building; its dark walls loomed over them, even as they stood across the street from it. At that moment, they didn’t dare venture any closer.

“Do you feel that?” Derek asked, his voice quiet as if he didn’t want to disturb anything. Gina glanced over at him.

“I’ve felt it ever since we began to walk past the church, Derek.”

Her brother held up a hand, and she fell silent. “No, I meant the pressure. Remember how it felt when you and I came down here back in March?” Gina nodded. “That pressure feels heavier now than it did then. I don’t really know why; at that time there was a full moon, and now it’s a full moon, and the only real difference is the weather. But it definitely feels heavier. It feels like it’s sorta sinking and pushing down on my shoulders.”

She realized that he was absolutely right. Now that she stopped to actually just feel the air, she could feel it too. It felt almost like a pair of cold hands was pressing down on her shoulders.

Gina suddenly heard a sharp intake of breath, and whirled around to glance at Kasedy, whose eyes were set on the school. “I saw something,” she said, bringing up a hand to point at a second story window on the left side of the building “Over there, see it? It’s standing in front of the window.” Derek began to search the dark windows.

“I can see a couple of shadows in the right tower. They’re flickering back and forth,” he observed. Gina blinked, realizing that she might as well start searching for the spirits as well.

One she always seemed to find upon arriving to the building was always in the highest window in the center of the building. Only once did she ever see anything more than a mere shadow; during her visit with Kasedy and Kimmie, while they were walking along the side of the building, a white translucent figure with what looked like blood on his hands had suddenly appeared in one of the windows in the tower and silently slammed against the glass, as if he was trying to break through and attack them. That night, Gina had shrieked in fright and taken off down the street, without even bothering to look back. Kimmie and Kasedy hadn’t been far behind. However, although the only things she could usually see were shadows, at the same time she could see what they looked like. It was all in the way she felt their vibe.

This shadow in particular, the one in the top window that always caught her attention first, always seemed to be looking down at them scornfully. She could almost always picture it standing to the side of the window, arms crossed over its chest, leering at them. She could almost hear it saying “What are you doing here?” in a menacing tone.

It usually somehow always made sure she was paying full attention to it, so at first she didn’t hear Derek talking to her

“Gina,” his voice suddenly reached her, and she jumped slightly, blinking and looking over at him. There was an intense gleam in his eyes. This time around, it seemed, he was taking this completely seriously. When she had brought him down there that night in March, he had been skeptical about her previous adventure with Kimmie and Kasedy, saying that they had frightened themselves with mind tricks. Of course, that was before he had seen the black thing in the window that had discreetly tried to hunt them as they, in the end, retreated back down the street.

“Check the time,” he continued. Gina nodded mutely, and, pulling out her cell phone, looked at the clock.

“It’s 5 after…” She half-mumbled as she put her phone away.

“Let’s walk the way that we all did before,” Derek suggested, already starting to walk slowly as they kept their eyes focused on the building, “Retrace our steps from that time. Just remember to stay aware.”

The two girls nodded, and they slowly headed towards the very short side street that ran alongside the school. It felt way too close for comfort, and Gina could feel the sense of being watched… more like being stalked… start up. The darkness in the windows felt like much more than just shadows caused by the street lights. The three of them stayed on the sidewalk opposite from the school, staying as far away as they could. They then turned onto Willow Street, which ran along the back of the school. There was what appear to be the school yard, and that the only thing that separated them from the school. Back here there weren’t any street lights to brighten up the street, and with the moon shining brightly, it felt more like a grave yard than anything else.

“This part of the school is too creepy,” Kasedy breathed, her ice blue eyes flicking back and forth. Most likely, she was catching glimpses of shadows out of the corners of her eyes. At least, that’s what Gina assumed; she was catching glimpses of her own. Shadows were darting to and fro, not just on the grounds, but behind them and all around them. Flashes of white, near-transparent light, flickered in the windows, almost as if they were flittering back and forth. She felt something brush behind her, and she whirled around, glancing around wildly to try and find what it was that touched her.

“What is it?” Derek asked, looking at her curiously. Gina continued to look around.

“Something touched me…”

Kasedy gasped, startling both of them. “What is it?” Gina glanced at her friend.

“A light just sort of flashed in front of me.”

“Calm down a little, you two,” Derek chided, “You need to keep yourself focused. This can get dangerous, so be careful.”

Discreetly rolling her eyes, Gina went back to watching the shadows darting back and forth all around them.

3:25am…

“Something’s wrong…” Derek muttered as he glanced around, “Something doesn’t feel right…”

“Why are they so active tonight?” Gina was also glancing around nervously.

“You guys…” Kasedy whispered. She looked, for once, genuinely frightened, “Let’s go back.”

Derek nodded, “We should go back to the front of the building where there’s more light. I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

Derek shook his head, “Let’s just get back to the front.”

The two girls quickly complied, following Derek as he briskly walked back down the side street, making sure to stay on the opposite sidewalk from the school. The three of them kept their gazes set completely on the school. At this point, Gina couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being hunted. There wasn’t a better way to describe it. It felt like something was hunting her. She declined to voice this thought as they crossed the street once again, standing back where they started. The building seemingly grew and darkened. It felt like there was a black cloud circling around it.

“Is it just me, or is it getting bigger?” Gina whispered, looking at each window. Shadows and transparent lights kept flickering across the windows, nearly dizzying her. And that feeling; the feeling that a gun or a knife was pointed to her back, and a murderer was watching, stalking her, preying on her, it wouldn’t go away. In fact, it felt like it was getting worse. Like if she stayed any longer, or if she took her eyes off of the school, she’d die.

“I don’t think we should be here anymore, you guys,” her voice was shaky now as her chest began to tighten.

“… Shit.”

Gina’s eyes widened and she looked at Derek. He was staring on a spot, a window, in the building, his gave unwavering, but Gina could see that there was fear in them. He stood, rooted to the spot. It forcefully reminded her of when he had seen the black thing; he did the exact same thing back then too.

“Derek?” she said hesitantly. She prayed that it wasn’t what she thought it was…

Suddenly, she heard a gasp; turning at once, she saw Kasedy. Her friend’s face was a deathly pale and her blue eyes were wide.

“K-Kas…?” she asked worriedly, “What is it?”

Kasedy was drawing a symbol on her arm with her finger repeatedly, her eyes never once leaving whatever she had seen. She was completely oblivious to everything around her, except what her eyes had found. Dreading what she was about to see, Gina slowly turned to glance at the school. Her heart was racing, pounding in her neck. It was like her lungs were in a vice grip; she couldn’t breathe. Her eyes scanned the windows hastily, not wanting to see what Kasedy had seen, but knowing that in a way, she had to. Whatever it was that Kasedy was staring at in horror, though, it wasn’t catching Gina’s eye.

Maybe it was just a comfort instinct, or a lack of judgment on her part, but Gina slowly pulled out her phone, flipping it open before pulling her eyes away from the building to check the time. 3:33am…

Past her cell phone, in her peripheral vision, a black shadow, a beast-like thing, landed on the ground in front of the school. Gina jumped in surprise, quickly pocketing her phone to check and see if she was indeed seeing things.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t. And once she could feel its stare meet hers, it felt like her blood had froze. The black thing, whatever it was, began to approach them, running on all fours like a giant tiger, though this shadow resembled no big cat. It resembled nothing she had ever seen in her like.

Ego sum iens essum vos … it roared in her head, and it gave her the incentive to scream and turn and take off.

“RUN!” she shrieked. Derek jumped upon hearing her voice, and he quickly turned and ran. Her voice had snapped him out of whatever spell he had been in, and gave his legs the strength to move. As she was tearing down the road and nearing the bend, all thoughts of Derek, and most everything else faded away. All she knew was that she had to run, get away, go as fast as she could, before that demon-thing, or whatever it was, killed her.

It was Kasedy’s voice that brought her back to the present; a long, blood-curdling scream, which had Gina nearly sliding and falling as she stopped and turned around.

Kasedy was entangled in a mass of black. That was the only way she could describe it; black shadows.

“Help me Gina!” she wailed, and Gina then saw the black thing hovering over her best friend. She couldn’t see a face, but she could almost certainly feel that sneer of triumph.

“KASEDY!” she took off, now running back towards her friend. She could hear a sliding noise and a mumbled curse. Derek must have noticed that she was running in the other direction.

“Gina, wait!”

She couldn’t stop; not when her friend was about to get skewered by some black demon-thing. Not relenting in her speed, she roared “Get away from her!” And somehow, she didn’t know how, the shadows had disintegrated around Kasedy, who was now trying to scramble to her feet. The black demon wouldn’t have any of that, however, and raised a clawed hand.

Knowing that there wasn’t any time to lose, Gina quickly dove, knocking Kasedy to the ground, and effectively avoiding what might have been imminent death. But being safe was far from over, she realized, as she found that black thing looming over her. She could picture a large and triumphant grin, with uneven and sharp fangs. And she just knew that if she didn’t get away in that instant, the demon would most certainly rip her head off. At this point, however, she was just too scared to move.

She heard a series of curses, and the sound of approaching feet. She then felt some sort of electric charge in the air. Derek must have come back to help, she realized. The demon let out a roar so loud it sounded like thunder. An immense gust of wind picked up, nearly knocking Kasedy and Gina over as the two of them covered their heads, screaming in panic. There was another curse before the sounds of something tumbling, followed by a loud thump, and finally a groan. It wasn’t hard to figure it out. The gust of wind that was generated had knocked Derek off of his feet, and threw him into something. Gina glanced over her shoulder, only to see his motionless form on the ground. Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead…

The demon raised his claw once again, and without thinking, Gina shoved Kasedy to the side, screaming “Get out of here! Hurry!”

“You idiot; come with me!” her friend was just as stubborn, and had grabbed her hand, trying to drag her to her feet as they stumbled and fell over once again. The two of them glanced up at the demon just as it began to bring its hand down, and knowing that there wasn’t much they could do, Gina grabbed Kasedy, trying to shield her and protect her from the brunt of the blow.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Gina heard the whinnying and approaching gallop of horses. Was hallucinating part of dying?

She heard the clang of metal on pavement, and a vicious snarl, before she had gathered up the nerve to look up again.

The head of a near-transparent white pole-ax was separating her and Kasedy from the demon. To her immediate right were the equally white legs of a horse. Slowly, she looked up, and found herself staring at a cloaked figure. Whoever they were, they seemed to be staring at the demon in what felt like a warning glare. The demon let out a guttural growl, but nonetheless, began to back away slowly.

That’s when Gina realized: It was the Hunt.

Her father had told her about the Hunt once. He had summoned it to protect the family after they were being psychologically attacked by some vengeful type of person once, years ago. She didn’t remember the specific details, but what mattered was the barrier erected around their home would protect her while she was there, and when she was out, the Hunt would watch over her. Or so that’s what her father had told her. She had never really believed that it was real, but here it was, in front of her very eyes.

The figure upon the horse turned its shadowed head towards her, and she felt like a deer in headlights. What was it going to do?

Simply, it nodded. She nodded slowly in response without thinking of it, and helped up Kasedy, who was staring incredulously at their savior.

“Thank you,” Gina whispered to the figure, and she and Kasedy rushed over to Derek. Gina kneeled down at his side, using the limited lighting from the street lamp to see any damage.

“Derek…” she called, and heard a quiet moan. She could see dark liquid running down the side of his head.

“Oh no… Derek…” At the very least, it was a gash, but Gina feared it could’ve been a skull fracture. She hastily pulled off her t-shirt, thanking her lucky stars that she was wearing a sports bra this particular night, and pressed it to his head.

“Kasedy, help me get him up…” she said, “We need to get him back to the house so I can drive him up to the hospital.”

It took an extra couple of minutes, since he was heavier than the two of them, but soon enough they were heading down the road, supporting Derek carefully while making sure the t-shirt was still pressing against the wound.

The white, cloaked figure on the horse remained where he stood, watching the three of them until they had reached the main street, where the demon couldn’t reach them, before fading away into thin air. The black demon had already retreated to the school once again; witching hour was almost over.