Into The Woods

Chapter 20

     "This thing can, EAT MY SHORTS!" Charlie screamed.
     "Leave us alone! Please! Give us back our friends!" Serena whimpered manipulatively.
    Of course, there was no answer from this thing, as they've been calling it, because it really couldn't care less about how they felt since it was probably an evil spirit or something of the sort.
     "Why does it say one sentence and then leave?" Tatum questioned.
     "Boy, would I like to know," Malachi added anxiously.
     "I'm scared. Should we look for Irene and Uriah? What if something really bad happened?" Vanessa rushed.
     "Let's not think that way. We're not leaving this hell hole until we find them," Charlie added as he was very dedicated.
     "W-we need a plan. A good one," Vincent struggled to say while still sitting on the floor next to Charlie.
     Without warning, a loud bang occurred from the other side of the door. Another bang. Another bang. Another bang. Someone, or something, was banging aggressively on the front door. They all looked at each other in straight fear. No one wanted to volunteer to open it due to the terror that they thought would be on the other side.
     "W-who's there?" Tatum requested shakily.
     "Open up!" Added a deep voice.
     "Who are you!?" Serena demanded.
     "D-dad?" Vincent thought almost unconscious again.
     "Vincent?" The voice asked.
     "Dad? Is that you?" Vincent questioned surprisingly.
     "Vincent! Oh, Vincent open the door!" the deep voice proposed.
     "Someone open the door," Vincent exclaimed.
     "A-are you sure? What if it's not your Dad?" Malachi pondered.
     "I know his voice. It is him" Vincent stated confidently.
     "O-oh o-okay" Malachi agreed nervously.
     Malachi slowly crept up to the dark, wooden door and began to unlock the many, many, locks that were keeping it from being opened.
     "A-are you still there?" Malachi asked nicely.
    "I am. Who are you?" The voice added.
     "I'll explain everything once you're inside," Malachi mentioned in fear of this voice knowing his identity.
     Malachi's hands shook rapidly as he tried to unlock the last lock. He took a deep breath and opened the door a crack. Outside the door stood a tall man, maybe about 6 feet tall, who had a beard that was trimmed very closely to his face, and bright blue eyes just like Vincent's. He could definitely see the resemblance between the two. This man looked like he didn't want to cause any trouble.
     "I-is Vinny in there?" The man asked.
    "Vincent!" Malachi nodded back at him.
     Vincent jolted awake and peaked through the crack between the door and it's frame.
     "Dad! How did you find us?" Vincent questioned happily.
     "I saw your hat laying under some leaves. Then there were multiple footprints that looked like yours, so I decided to follow them. Did you think that no one would come looking? I've been looking for days!" The man exclaimed.
     "W-where's mom and Sarah?" Vincent asked.
     "Let me explain once I'm inside. It's chilly out here" the man said while shivering.
     Malachi hesitantly opened the door enough for the man to come inside. As soon as he was in, he politely scrapped the mud of his work boots with the mat at the entrance, and ran over to Vincent.
     "Oh, we were so worried, son" He mentioned while tightly hugging Vincent.
     "Ouch! Careful dad!" Vincent yelped.
     "What happened?" The man asked.
    "I-it's a long story" Vincent added.
     "So, sir, what's your name?" Vanessa politely asked.
     "Phil. Who might you be?" The man posed back at Vanessa.
     "I'm Vanessa. This is Serena, that's Charlie, Tatum and Malachi" Vanessa explained while pointing to each of them.
     "Nice to meet you all" Phil smiled.
     The rest of them gracefully nodded as a greeting, for they couldn't get the words to come out of their mouths.
     "Let's get you all out of this dump" Phil insisted.
     "But wait. What about our other two friends? Uriah and Irene. They're missing somewhere in the woods still" Tatum recalled.
     "Oh. We can send a search team out for them once we get back to town" Phil suggested rather suspiciously.