Nights of Horror

Elder Woods

It had been a long night for Namjoon. A case fell on his desk that made him hurl his insides into the waste bin beside it. How that poor girl's body was folded into a grandfather clock in the middle of Elder Woods is sickening. Luckily for him, he hadn't had much to eat that day.

"That puts a new play on the words, pressed for time." Mused his partner, Yoongi. Namjoon looked at him like he'd lost his damned mind.

"That's not fucking funny."

Yoongi shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee.

"The victim's sister said she went missing sometime during the night. They had attended a bonfire deep in the woods."

"Are their reports from anyone else who was there?"

"Jungkook..." Namjoon, turned a sheet over, skimming the contents.

"Says around 3 am the fire turned a bright red followed by a clock chiming on the hour. Scared the shit out of all of them."

"What kind of psychopath would do that to someone?" Yoongi stared at the picture. The girls body had been wrapped around the pendulum and her appendages pressed along the inside edges.

Namjoon continued to scour over all the information given. From witness statements to pictures from the crime scene. In almost all the pictures stood an old man holding a pocket watch with a sinister grin on his face as he looked at the grandfather clock with the girl inside.

"Yoongi."

"Hmm?"

"Do you see this man?" Namjoon pointed to the shadow of a man in the photo. Yoongi narrowed his eyes as he examined it.

"Because that's not creepy at all."

Both men rubbed their arms as if a cold draft blew through the room. Namjoon sighed heavily, giving his partner the look that said. We got to do something we don't really want to.

"Yoongs, pack your bags. We're going camping."

Yoongi groaned, mumbling under his breath when he left the office. "Why do people always get murdered in the fricking woods?!"

——

They set up camp close to where the clock had been. Namjoon walked around looking up and down the tree lines searching for any signs of an unwanted guest.

There was nothing, just the quiet rustle of leaves mixed with the autumn breeze.

Slowly the sun fell behind the tree line, leaving behind the dark blues and purples of night. Both men settled into their tents ready for anything.

Anything but the man with the pocket watch carving a new grandfather clock to set a new flesh pendulum in.

The chiming of a clock reaching the witching hour echoed in the night sky. Followed by a piercing cry shattering the peaceful dreams of the investigator and his partner.

They both ran out, hearts racing. In between them stood a tall oak grandfather clock. Another twisted carefully and grotesquely within. If they didn't know any better they would say it was the same girl. However, it was the first victim's sister.

Another victim to the Elder Wood's Last Hour Man.