LONE MAN [Page 253] (Patreon)

253

"Police were involved? What happened to your friends?"

Atlas started chewing on his fingernails. He looked at you with wide eyes and answered, "They all disappeared."

"How?"

He shrugged. "At first I could still hear them playing around, playing tag in the woods. I told them to stop; they called me a scaredy-cat, so I just let them. After a few minutes, they really did stop, and the forest was once again as quiet as we first entered."

"They just disappeared?"

Atlas nodded slowly.

Lucille cleared her throat. "They were the most recent disappearance in this town, about two years ago. It was such a tragic incident; they were just little kids."

"Hey, I know you must be thinking, Atlas plays with kids? That's weird." He scooted to the edge of his seat. "I was working as a babysitter before. Their parents..." His voice wavered, "trusted me. It was a sunny afternoon and all the parents were busy working. I was taking care of multiple kids at once. It's just a crazy idea; I didn't know that the stories about that forest were true."

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