Empty Places: Weird Mystery In Azure Rocks

While I stare massive writer's block in the face with my other path on Cabin and my personal story, I'm trying this out to shake things up and get me loose. It will be immediately evident in the first chapter that this can get a tad grim at times, which is because it's, y'know, a mystery. There are, as you will also see, unnatural elements to it, but yes, I fully intend for there to be plenty of hormonal teenage drama and sex with that backdrop. Hope you enjoy!

“I don’t know why he wouldn’t just ride with us …” Daniel Ravers mumbled, half to his wife and half to himself as he guided their sleek, electric car over the mountain road. “Would have been more eco-friendly.”

“He’s an adult now, Dan,” his wife, Audrey, said. A sigh tinged her words, but she smiled genuinely nonetheless. “Just let him drive his own car. He’ll be at college next year, he needs the practice.”

“It just seems silly, that’s all I’m saying. Wouldn’t it be easier to let his dad take him to dinner than go separately?”

“Well, maybe he thinks he might’ve been interrupted,” Audrey put forward, briefly checking her make-up in a small compact. “And maybe he’s in a bad mood because he wasn’t.”

“He was in a bad mood?” Daniel asks, head snapping towards his wife, then immediately refocusing on the road with a bit of a jitter to his hands.

“Oh, not at us, but he was a little sulky,” she explained as her husband straightened out the car. “I think it’s a girl.”

“What high schooler gets that worked up about dating?” Daniel’s disbelief was earnest, making Audrey let out a short, melodic laugh. “I know, I know.”

“You were just such a little hermit in high school, weren’t you?” she playfully teased her husband, running a hand over the side of his face. Despite his attempts to look annoyed by her jab, Daniel can’t help but smile. “Logan’s had quite a few girlfriends. I’m fairly certain he was dating both the Toone girls at once last year. That, or there’s a hair dye that changes colors instantly and he thinks his mother is very gullible. Not that they seemed to mind.”

“God, it’s like someone shrunk Bob … you sure he’s mine?” he questioned, earning an offended gasp and a gentle smack on the arm.

“Daniel Ravers, I have had sex with three people in my life, and the first two only before I met you!” she chided him. “And you kept me busy enough that it was WELL over nine months before we were thinking about that leading to kids.” She whispered the last part, fingers tracing up his leg.

“That,” he told her between a jagged, eager breath, “is a great way to get me to crash.”

“What am I, some airhead valley girl?” she responded as she leaned in and gently kissed his neck. “I wasn’t going to give you road-head or anything … just suggest that when we get back to house and Logan’s doing whatever he does at night at the far end and with Izzy still with my sister … maybe you wanted to fuck me when we get home?” She lightly nipped his ear, that getting a small groan and a laugh from her husband. “And not any way that’s going to make another baby.”

“Well, we’re going to come in the front door, might as well get good use out of the back, too,” Daniel said, Audrey rolling her eyes with a broad grin and letting out an excited moan. “And you’re not just asking me to sodomize you to take my mind of how I’m old and losing my son to the inexorable march of time?”

“Well … not just?” she taunted, turning her eyes back to the road as she slides into her seat again. They got adjusted, both significantly more excited for the rest of the evening, just in time to scream as Logan’s red, sporty car careened right through the railing of the road, plummeting down the hill and into the tree-laden, though mercifully slight, slope. Before either of them could process what happened, they saw why: a figure draped in black standing in the middle of the road. Farther back, Daniel had time to step on the brakes before smashing into the stranger.

He almost forgot to slam the brake pedal down before bolting out of the car, still not managing to beat Audrey to the railing. Both of them a dripped in cold sweat, the easy flirtation of moments ago eradicated by fear for their son’s life.

“LOGAN?!” Audrey called down, reaching the broken guardrail. “Baby, can you hear me?!” No response except a pressed-down horn’s sound, distant, but not dramatically so. As Daniel ran up beside her, he noted that while the car was only a dark shape from there, he could see the headlights. Even as bad as it looks, if he had flipped on the way down, spiraled towards the plateau nearby …

“What the FUCK were you thinking?!” he yelled, spinning to confront the stranger … but saw no one. Audrey turned to see how the person responds, starting a bit when she realized the same thing as her husband. For a moment, the road seemed … still. Empty. Only the sound of Logan’s car horn, muffled by its distance down the mountainside, rang out. Being early fall, not even the sound of bugs slipped in.

It made it all the more notable when they heard a rippling of fabric, spinning to try to catch what’s making it. It passed again behind them, then again, then again, Daniel and Audrey becoming increasingly panicked. Daniel grabbed his phone to call 911, both out of fear for his son and suddenly also for his wife.

“Hello? This an emergency!” he snapped in fear and frustration at the brief ringing, then dead silence. “Is anyone there?”

“Daniel Ravers,” a distorted voice whispered to him, followed by a shrill, feline yowl. Daniel dropped his phone as the hungry cry reached a savage pitch, silencing only as his phone struck the concrete. For another moment, the lonely road was silent again.

Only to be interrupted by the sounds of gasping, , struggling. Spinning around, Daniel found himself staring at the black-cloaked figure. Whoever they were, they’re tall, and while it’s challenging to gauge thanks to their layers, the fact that they had entirely lifted Audrey by her neck certainly speaks to strength. Towards the peak of their form, the cloak terminated in a hood, filled by an eerie skull. Not a human skull, mind, but the top half of a cougar or jaguar, turned vertical to completely conceal the face of the person wearing it. Though he had no proof, Daniel knew from a glance that it’s not synthetic. He also knew the person was staring directly at him, despite no apparent eyeholes in the empty sockets of the skull’s eyes.

“Daniel,” it stated, voice reverberating heavily. Whether it’s feminine or masculine wasn’t even vaguely discernible, tones melding, separating, and warping with every syllable. “I’m sure you’re very distracted right now, but I need you to pay attention. Or …” As the person spoke, they squeezed their fingers around Audrey’s throat, her blue eyes watering with fear and the impediment to her breathing.

“I’m listening!” Daniel shouted, then himself to stay calm. His wife was being menaced by a muscular psychopath, while his son could be bleeding out right that second. Time was of the essence, but not listening to this madman seemed a good way to lose even more of it. “I’m listening, what do you want?”

“Your answer,” it told him with a slight inflection. Despite the unnatural cadence, Daniel swore it was amusement. “Whose life do you value more, yours or your wife’s? It’s not hypothetical.”

“My wife’s,” Daniel answered without hesitation. Besides it being true, the guy would also need to cross distance to get to him while Audrey was already being choked. It wasn’t much, but maybe it was something. “I don’t know what kind of game this is for you, but if you’re going to hurt someone, hurt me.”

“Oh, I didn’t say who you picked was safe.” The shape did its level best to sound offended, before it made a sharp twist with its hand. If he had his bearings, Daniel would have noticed that the level of physical power necessary to break an adult human’s neck with one hand was tremendous. Unfortunately, for many reasons, all he was thinking about was how Audrey went suddenly limp midair, struggling ceasing as her eyes became unfocused. “You really should ask some questions of your own. But that’s not your family’s style, is it?”

“Au-Audrey?” Daniel called out, weakly, already knowing she’s dead, but the forefront of his mind refusing to accept it.

“We’re not going to get anything done with you distracted like this, I see that now,” the killer said with a sage nod, then cast his wife’s body down the hill as easily as discarding a napkin. Daniel’s eyes were wide, tears beginning to drip from them as he watched his wife for the last time, vanishing into the inky void of the woods. “I came for you first out of respect. Between all this cesspool’s loathsome figureheads, I found you the least repugnant. So, you will suffer the least.”

“You killed my wife and son!” he screamed, storming towards them without any concern for his own safety or the sheer improbability for a nearly-forty businessman to successfully fight this maniac. As he reached them, their right hand, the one it hadn’t used to Audrey, plunged all five fingers into his chest. Daniel stopped in his tracks, the pain overwhelming as strangely-sharp digits slid through him like gelatin, gloved hand gripping his heart.

“Yes,” they said, staring into his eyes with empty sockets as their fist closed, slowly crushing the very center of life in Daniel Ravers. “Then imagine what I have planned for the others. Rest, Daniel. I wish your household peace … nothing I extend for the rest.” Daniel held on as long as he could, trying to fight back, but darkness swiftly overtook him. The cloaked killer dropped his savaged body on the blood-streaked asphalt, then moved to stare down at the shrieking car. A moment later, no living being appeared on the hillside or stretch of road. They stood still, at least two bodies broken and lifeless with a third hanging between, static, unmoving. The roadside became silent as the horn wore out, only the idle rustle of autumn leaves passing overhead. No traffic, no good Samaritans, no screams for help.

Just another empty place.