Chapter 10

Ethan and Cassie fled through the forest with Marty, Mia, and Ricky close on their heels. They had tried to find other people in the motel. However, wherever they went, there was no one. The car they came in refused to start. The road they traveled before was too exposed. Not wanting to be found, they went into the forest.

A few minutes later, they stopped in a clearing. They scanned their surrounding. Only trees could be seen. Cassie, seeing the family of three with them, got angry. Ethan pulled her back as she tried to get physical with them.

As he tried to restrain her, a force took hold of one of his legs and threw him at a tree a few meters away. The others had no time to react. They heard a big thud followed by loud moans. In the dark night, Ethan's silhouette appeared laid on the ground.

When what happened registered in their minds, Marty took his family to run away while Cassie ran to Ethan to see how hurt he was.

Cassie took a few steps and received a heavy blow on her chest. She flew up and landed heavily on the ground.

Mia and Marty couldn't go far either. They stumbled down and couldn't get up, no matter how hard they tried. They felt panic. Ricky got up from the ground. He was the only one who could at the time.

"Ricky, baby, come to me," Mia yelled desperately. She kept looking around, searching for the enemy, but nothing appeared. "Ricky..."

The little boy turned to her, and in a deep, grating voice, he said: "Patrick is lonely. Patrick wants a friend. Do you want to be Patrick's friend?"

"Ricky..." Mia looked shocked at her son.

No words came out of Marty. They looked on as a man wearing a long hat with very long arms appeared out of Ricky's shadow and stood behind him, smiling.

"No. No. No. Patrick, no." Mia finally made the connection she refused to even entertain before. Ricky's real name was Patrick. Ricky was just a nickname they always used. Ricky/ Patrick was the one terrorizing them. What she had called a coincidence before came back to be the truth.

"Patrick, stop it, please." Mia pleaded.

A few steps away, Ethan got up with difficulty. A line of blood went from his scalp to his chin.

"Cassie! Cassie! Where are you?" He looked around for his girlfriend.

He spotted her lying on the ground. He stumbled his way to her.

"Mia! Marty! Get up and help me! Cassie fainted!" Ethan called urgently for his companions.

"We can't get up..."

"Ricky baby, let us up, please."

"Come and help! I can't move her, and she isn't waking up..."

"We can't get up! Ricky won't let us."

"Marty, it's not funny. I need help..."

"Ricky..."

"Ricky isn't here!"

"What are you talking about? He's right there!" Marty pointed at where his son was standing with the man behind him.

"For god's sake, Marty. Ricky's dead. He's been dead for weeks now. I need your help now."

"What? No, Ricky's not dead. He's right here! You've seen him. He was in the car with us when we came..."

"That was a fucking doll...He died in that abandoned park." Ethan didn't want to gloss over it anymore.

He had been taking care of their grief since the start of their trip. However, he couldn't let them go further into their delusions. They had bought a realistic doll with their son's features and had been holding it up.

Ethan regretted it. His friends had warned him about Marty and his wife, but he thought they were harmless. He thought he could save money by going with them. And now, his girlfriend was in danger because of his carelessness.

Rustling all around him made Ethan panicked. He took Cassie in his arms, looking all over for the origins of the sounds. For a moment, Ethan removes his sights from the couple. When he looked back at their situation, they stood right before them. They had a weird smile on their face. Marty had a big rock in his hands. He raised it above his head and said in a deep voice:

"Ricky is lonely. Ricky needs a friend. Do you want to be Ricky's friend?"

He dropped the rock on Ethan's head several times. Repeating over and over this litany. Blood splashed everywhere on him, on Cassie, who was still unconscious, on Mia, who was holding the Ricky doll in her arms, and on the grass, who witnessed everything.

Everyone had reached their expectation. Marty and Mia fought for the happiness of their son. Ethan and Cassie went traveling. Ricky made a friend.

Their endings might differ from what they imagined, but wasn't the beauty of life?

A few steps away, under the trees, the man with long arms watched and laughed happily as if a great joke had just been told.