CHAPTER 1:SHADOWS WITHIN
In the first few histories during the ancient times of human civilisations, Supernatural creatures,a child's fairytale or thing of history, for over the centuries various sightings of the weird man-wolf creature, the mythical blood-sucking creatures that feed on blood and live in the dark to gain eternal life, or the famous Salem witch hunt of 1692, are all these various misconceptions through histories or are they real. Somehow, all these various entities seem to exist in one town, A town drowned in mysterious occult activities and eerie history; the townsfolk are an auspicious lot, old, weak, and tired; a majority of these individuals are farmers, traders, shamans, and a local police station situated at the center of the town.
And despite all these strange oddities surrounding this supposed town, it became an ideal site for a local church, and later a school compound that housed over 3,800 students inside its walls. ST JAMES INSTITUTE, a school built in honor of the memorable apostle James. Also, due to the influence of the Royal family, they wanted to use various churches to kill the ancient practices carried out by the native Americans. This still didn't stop any of the strange practices of the people; some people believed that the school was built by in an haunted inhabitant.
Well, everything is about to change due to this one night, a night something that can be said to carry a strange evil aura around it, a night clear of stars and void moon, a dark gloomy shadow cast upon the earth itself, this night was one of those nights, some believed such nights bring forth catastrophe and doom to its inhabitants, but the students of ST JAMES INSTITUTE begs to differ, A stubborn lot they are, many pick out this nights as the perfect time for their spooky nights out unbeknownst to the school authorities, those caught have often been severely punished and some expelled from the school, these severe punishments was a result of bear attacks on some students which the school now desires to protect them from. It's only a fool that will attempt to stop the adventurous and hormonal body of a teenager, but nevertheless as guardians of this lot, it's the school responsibility to protect it's students.
On a yearly scale of 3-4 students are reported missing many of these students are never seen again, majority of them are the night campers, there was a case of a student reported missing, she was found 3 days later but she was somehow mute, unable to speak or move,she was frozen for days till she finally died a week later, the case file of the girl was kept a secret by the school authorities and her death certificate was never disclosed to the public or media. Despite all these misfortunes teenagers, a truly stubborn lot still feel the need to go out camping in those same woods
Today, I will tell you the INTRIGUING TALE OF St. James INSTITUTE and how its mysteries helped to shape the destinies of these young teenagers, how one experience shaped their destined, so listen keenly to this wonderful tale I am about to tell you.
Another interesting aspect of this school is the truth and dare game, played by a high percentage of the students at the school compound.
Majority of the students steal this opportunity to give their friends rather dreadful dares,they will dare their friends to these games of going out to woods or abandoned buildings for fun,despite the huge percentage of missing students that go out to these strange places, they still chose to do this.
This was the fate of Kate on one of these moon nights, she was invited to a friend's dormitory for an evening party with her best friend tyler, one of the people she was playing the truth and dare game with dared her and Tyler to go and make out in the woods, at first she was reluctant to go not because she was afraid, but because her friend Christa was dating him, it will be seen as a true betrayal, but Linda her arch nemesis used the truth and dare as an opportunity destroy these friends. It's not new info that Linda and Kate have been arch nemesis since freshman year; people can still remember when they started together. They were both best friends until a terrible misunderstanding divided them.
The rift between Linda and Kate had festered for years, a slow-burning war fought with whispered rumors, sabotaged assignments, and public humiliations. Tonight, under the flickering dormitory lights and the watchful eyes of their peers, Linda saw her chance to strike the killing blow.
*"Truth or dare, Katie?"* Linda purred, twirling the empty soda bottle between her manicured fingers.
Kate stiffened. *"Dare. Always dare."*
The room held its breath as Linda's smile widened. *"I dare you and Tyler to go make out in the Blackroot Woods."*
A chorus of *"ooohs"* erupted. Tyler's soda can crumpled in his grip. The unspoken rules were clear: forfeiting meant social annihilation. Worse—Christa, Tyler's girlfriend and Kate's closest friend, would hear a *very* creative version of events by morning.
The woods loomed before them, a wall of shadows where even moonlight seemed to die. Tyler scaled the school's iron fence first, his jacket snagging on the spikes. *"This is insane,"* he muttered, wiping his palms on his jeans. *"Christa's gonna—"*
*"I know."* Kate's voice was raw. *"But if we back out now, Linda wins. She'll say we chickened out... or worse, that we* ***did*** *something and got scared to admit it."*
Tyler exhaled sharply. *"Yeah. Yeah, you're right."*
The forest swallowed them whole. Fallen branches cracked like gunshots underfoot. Something rustled in the underbrush—too large to be an animal, too quiet to be human.
*"This was a mistake,"* Kate whispered. Not just the dare, but the way Tyler's sleeve brushed her arm, the way her traitorous heart stuttered when he looked at her in the dim light.
Tyler kicked a rotting log, sending beetles scattering. *"Linda's a genius, I'll give her that. She didn't just dare us to betray Christa—she made us* ***choose*** *to do it."*
Kate hugged herself. "I should've let her call me a coward."
*"No." Tyler turned, his face half-lit by the weak moonlight. *"This isn't on you. It's on* ***me***. *I should've—"*
"Ty, I'm talking to you—"
"*Shhh!*" Tyler's hand clamped over Kate's wrist. His eyes darted through the skeletal trees, where shadows pooled like spilled ink. A twig snapped. Then another. *Too rhythmic to be the wind.*
Kate stiffened. "What—"
"Listen," Tyler breathed.
The forest held its breath. Somewhere beyond the thicket, something *crushed* foliage underfoot—a weight no deer would carry.
Kate's nails dug into Tyler's jacket sleeve. "It's just Linda's lackeys trying to film us," she hissed, but her voice wavered.
Tyler shook his head. "Linda wouldn't stalk us in *silence*."
A branch *cracked*, whip-sharp in the stillness.
Kate's pulse roared in her ears. "Tyler, I'm—"
The creature erupted from the trees.
**—The Attack—**
It moved like spilled darkness—all matted fur and elongated limbs, its eyes reflecting the moon like fractured glass. Kate barely had time to scream before it *lunged*, jaws snapping shut on her shoulder.
*Pain.* White-hot and metallic.
Tyler roared, swinging a fallen log like a battering ram. The wood *splintered* against the beast's skull. It whipped toward him, claws unsheathed.
*Thwack.*
Tyler gasped as talons punched through his chest, pinning him to the earth. Blood welled in his mouth, copper-bitter.
Kate staggered backward. *Run. Run.* But her legs betrayed her—every step sent fresh agony through her mangled shoulder. Behind her, the creature *snarled*, its breath hot on her neck—
*THUNK.
An arrow sprouted from the beast's shoulder. It howled, spinning toward the new threat.
Kate collapsed against a tree, her vision swimming. The world narrowed to vignettes:
- The creature swatting at a second arrow.
- Boots pounding the forest floor.
- A voice shouting, *"Hold the line!"*
Then—*nothing.*
.
10:03 PM – Girls' Dormitory, East Wing**
Christa's pacing had worn a phantom path into the dormitory floorboards. The clock's ticking was a hammer to her ribs. *Seven hours.* Seven hours since Tyler kissed her goodbye with a *"Don't wait up"* smirk. Seven hours since Kate had texted her a blurry photo of the party—*"Save us a snack!"*—now glaring from her locked phone screen like a cruel joke.
Rose caught Christa's wrist on her fifth lap past the bunk beds. "Breathe," she ordered, thumbs pressing into Christa's pulse point. "Tyler's broken curfew before. That idiot probably fell asleep in the—"
"*With Kate?*" Christa's voice cracked. The unspoken truth hung between them: Tyler and Kate together past lights-out was a grenade with the pin pulled.
Across the room, Anna slammed her history textbook shut. "We'll check the common room. Maybe they got held up studying."
A hollow laugh escaped Christa. "Since when does *Tyler* study?"
**—The Knock—**
Three staccato raps at the door.
The room froze.
Dana crept to the door, pressing one eye to the peephole. "Oh *shit*," she mouthed, recoiling.
Christa yanked the door open before logic could stop her.
Lucas and David stood in the hallway, their grins too wide, their uniforms suspiciously clean for boys who'd supposedly been searching the grounds. David held up a flashlight like a trophy. "Miss us?"
Rose stepped between them, arms crossed. "How'd you even get past the RA? The east stairwell's alarmed after nine."
Lucas wiggled his eyebrows. "Trade secret."
Christa's patience snapped. "*Where are they?*"
The boys' smiles died. Lucas rubbed his neck. "That's the thing. Admin just called an emergency meeting. Tyler and Kate… they're not in the dorms. Not in the infirmary. Not *anywhere*."
The words hit Christa like a shovel to the chest.
**—The Breaking Point—**
Her knees buckled. Rose caught her halfway down, but Christa barely felt it. The room telescoped—Dana's gasp, Anna's choked *"No way,"* the way Lucas's fingers twitched like he wanted to reach for her but didn't dare.
David crouched beside her, uncharacteristically solemn. "We *will* find them." He jerked his chin at Lucas. "We know places even admin doesn't. The old boiler room. The theater catwalks."
Lucas nodded, already backing toward the door. "They're probably just stuck somewhere dumb. Remember when Tyler locked himself in the equipment shed?"
Christa wanted to believe him. But the dread pooling in her gut whispered darker things—*Whispers of claw marks on the perimeter fence. Of how the woods got quiet before a storm.*
Rose squeezed her hand. "Stay here. We'll help them look."
"Like hell." Christa surged to her feet, wiping her face with her sleeve. "I'm coming."
The blazing sun couldn't find a more perfect day to shine upon greatly woods, it instead chosed today of all days, Greasly Woods a big town of the north of Washington DC with over a population of 1123 inhabitants, the stony town housed the prestigious ancient ST JAMES INSTITUTE, an ancient school built by the church in the late 1600s, its site is being said to be marred with the town superstitions and lore, some even believed the school to be cursed and haunted.
Locals avoid the woods surrounding the school and warn their kids about going there, the land the school is built upon is said to be a huge sacrificial land built by a local native people and serve a pagan deity, when the Spanish and the English came they completely wiped out this evil practices and even said to have sanctified the area, they also installed a church at the location, three days after the church was built, three seminary students hung themselves up at the church chapel, nobody understood the reason or cause of their death. Their death began a long string of unexplained murders and disappearances surrounding the church before it finally became a school in 1878.
The morning sun was scorching that morning, the feeling of its heat awoke the lackluster Tyler, he jumped up unbeknownst to his wounds
"I will advise u to lay down there for now your wounds haven't healed up yet", a strange man with a long beard and tattered clothes said to the scared Tyler.
Tyler was shocked on hearing a strange voice what even surprised him the most was the fact he was in a rather unfamiliar place, he observed the room in fear and the thought of Kate immediately jumped into his mind.
"mister, he jittered, "where is Kate, is she ok," Tyler said as he gasped for air.
"Relax your body boy, u don't want to open up your wounds again do ya" The man stood bedside, sneering at his scary gin.
"your girlfriend is pretty strong, not everyone survives a werewolf bite and live to tell the tale", the strange man took a bottle of gin and poured it down his throat.
"girlfriend, no she's not…., wait a sec" Tyler mind flashed back to the statement he heard the strange man said up
"Werewolf bite".
"Calm down boy, or I will have to calm u down myself", the old man said lifting his gun in the air, the sight of the rifle struck fear into Tyler as he sank into the bed again.
"you ain't need to fear me, my name is Jeff, your friend is gonna be fine," the old man said, stretching his body into the chair beside the bed, his words were cheerful and calmed down Tyler.
"Humm, sir... About the werewolf is that just a metaphor or….." Tyler asked in anxiety.
"what do u think attacked ,u…"old man Jeff said to him as he grinned his teethed his teeth and he stood up, he scratched his somewhat hairy unkempt hair.
"I don't know, I haven't seen or heard of such a creature before"Tyler replied
downcast, at that moment I just wanted to protect her, please his she ok?, Tyler asked again.
"is she your lover? Oldman Jeff asked
"nope, she's my best friend"
"we always want to protect the people we love don't we" at that very moment both of them heard a groan coming from Katie's room, Tyler attempted to stand and walk to her side instead old man Jeff old him to relax that he would handle it.
Kate opened her eyes to a strange environment, she looked around what looked like a wooden room with candles and strange carvings on the wall, when she got to her senses she immediately screamed and groaned due to the pain she felt, she touched her shoulder her mind flashed back to last night, she remembered the creature and her mind flashed back to when the creature sent tyler flying into the forest.
"ty…. Tyle..r", Kate voiced out with a creamed out voice and enduring the pain she felt
" calm down, kate" old man Jeff immediately showed up
"how do u know my name", Kate asked the rather strange man, she was also surprised on how he knew her name.
"your friend told me, no need to panic, he is alright", old man Jeff said to Kate "I will explain everything to u guys this even,ing, for now relax, I will bring u breakfast and lunch, try to regain your strength"
his words were kinda soothing to Katie's ear, like a drop of honey into her heart, "OK sir"
Old man Jeff started to go out
"wait….. Who are u exactly" Kate said to the man looking at hiimwith widened eyes
"relax for now", he said as he walked outside.
Moonstone was an once an outpost used by old natives for hunting expenditures, the outpost itself is over 300 years old, over the years it has served various purposes to different users, some used it as a site for hunting, some for kidnapping and also other activities a person could think of, the outpost was located at the northern most of St James institute, built atop a mighty hill, and had an astounding beauty coupled in it.
Some teenagers have used this outpost for thier several indiscretions, the fact that Tyler wasn't too surprised being here, proved that he had been here before with maybe someone or by himself.
"Tyler, I need u to join us outside", old man Jeff said to Tyler.
Tyler stood up and walked outside, he saw Kate and immediately rushed to hug her , they started to have a conversation about what happened the three nights before hand.
"hmmm mmmmm"old man Jeff coughed to remind them of his presence.
"Do u both mind, let me entrall you on everything", Oldman Jeff said to both of them.
Hearing this both of them wanting to know about this supposed creature.
"before I tell u, I need u to swear an oath t not to tell anyone about what happened"old man Jeff said,
He looking more serious than before, the strange look of his face became more menacing than before, with eyes wide and shocked faces, Tyler and Kate both swore never to tell anyone. The serene became calm.
Old man Jeff cracked his jaw looking forward towards the fire he had built to keep them warm.
"the beast u encountered was werewolf, me and my squadron have been chasing that foul beast for over 3 weeks now".
Old man Jeff spit out a huge chunk of saliva into the floor
Tyler and Kate sat there in awe, shocked beneath thier bones with stricken fears to their hearts,
"sir how does a mythical creature exist"Tyler asked summoning a little courage, happened what next shoke the two of them more, old man Jeff let out a loud stream laughter, he cleared his nose and put the bottle of gin on his right hand on the floor.
"werewolf, vampires, witches, fairies even Phoenix, name them all!!!!, these foul creatures have always existed" the winds change and a cold shiver ran down their spines, a cold fever itching into their skin
"creatures of days and nights, no one knows how they came into existence, but they always existed, tell me Tyler how do u think humans come up with such things in the first place"
"Maybe they just…. Thought about… It", Tyler replied him still hiding his fears. He laughed again With a roaring voice again that sounded like thunder, he changed his expression more serious, his eyes glared once more
"these bloody creatures have always existed, foul beast I call them, unnatural cursed creatures that does not deserve to exist in the first place" old man Jeff looked into the fire place menacingly,
"kids like u shouldn't be out here, both of u will need to leave tomorrow, herbs I used to treat your wounds will work like magic, I will teach you how to apply them",
"sir…, if we may ask, what if something happens again"
"I doubt it would happen again, the beast Will never return to place it has hunted before, so for, now your school is safe" old man Jeff assured the two scared teenagers
"both of you need to go inside, it is warm there".
Both of them agreed and went inside.
(back to school)
Lucas and David continued their search for their missing friends, having assured Christa that they would find them. They made their way through the tough crowd, and found an escape route in which they scale the school fence and walked directly into the woods. This venture of theirs can only be viewed as a stupid action but also one that could get you expelled, they are not the only ones searching for Tyler and Katie in the woods, the school security force is also searching for them and if both friends (lucas and David) are caught they could be expelled from the institution.
They made they way through the forest swiftly, David held an old map of the area and lucas carried a long flashlight for visual sight. Scaling the the thick woods, they made sure to observe their surroundings carefully for anything harmful and also clues,A few hours into their search lucas found a blood stain piece of cloth, he bent down and looked at it as David also looked around, they bound claw marks all around the trees, huge claw marks and also blood around the place they kept on going further, David steadily took out his phone and took a photo of the blood stain cloth and claw marks on the trees, as they moved further they noticed the bushes from the south moving, lucas signalled David to hid there.
"Hey, let's hide here", lucas insisted.
"No no, it's better we observe", David refuted him.
"we don't know what kind of animal did this, I suggest we hide and move back to campus, it's unsafe here",lucas keep in insisting that they should move back to school or hide, but David kept on arguing that they should investigate more and this led to little scuffle that made them to let down their guard.
"You should listen to your friend David, this place isn't safe", a voiced said out of the dark, both parties turned surprised at the figure due to their little scuffle they didn't notice when this person walked up behind them.
Lucas peered a little closer and saw the security officer that found them Mr Matthews, the chief security officer who also happened to be an uncle to David.
Both of them grew startled at his presence, sure security was everywhere but not him.
Their minds bubbled with anxiety and fear over what happens next.
Mr Matthews walked slowly towards them, he held his flashlight with his right hand and point into their eyes to incite fear into them,
"what kind of sick joke are both of you playing here",he said his voice slowly, his voice low and dangerous.
"I'm.. m so sorry sir, David quivered, we just wanted to search for our missing friends, we meant no.. no jokes or disrespect to the school, my apo… lo.. gies sir, please sir don't arrest us", David pleaded with the officer. His voiced cracked as he spoke, his eyes wild with fear, he glanced nervously at lucas who stood there like a stationed officer stricken with fear
"Naturally, I will arrest both of you and bring you to the school authorities, but am not that kind of man, this woods is not safe and I don't want to see you boys here again ok", officer Matthew warned the boys.
Both of them shouted in approval and made their through the woods back to campus.