The screaming wouldn't stop. Every day and night, it would torment him, interrupting his sleep and work when he least expected. He would wake in the middle of the night as the echo resonated through the air, and during the day he would stop picking fruit halfway through to hear it coming from wherever it did. It was becoming unclear if it was from the barn or the forest, and sometimes it felt as if it was coming from both. 

Jonathan would constantly complain about those damn foxes, but that didn't stop the screaming, and it was starting to get on Branden's nerves. On Sunday, when Jonathan didn't work and went to church, Branden got some alone time and decided to investigate the barn once again. He was certain the last time he heard a scream it came from there, but he didn't  get to look very closely at it last time since Jonathon showed up. 

As he watches Jonathan drive away from the home, he puts his shoes on, going outside from the kitchen and into the backyard. The dogs run around outside, playing and roughing around with each other. He carries out with him a portable flashlight attached to his car keys, and opens the door, the musty smell of hay and manure hitting him instantly. The door closes on its own, leaving him in complete darkness except for the small circle of light from his flashlight. He flashes it up to the ceiling, where cobwebs and spiders cover nearly all of it. He wasn't particularly afraid of spiders, but such a large amount made him wonder if one would fall on him and scare him half to death. 

An old ladder leads to a second floor above the stables, but many of the rungs are broken and he would surely fall if he climbed it. Still, he attempts to get a look at the top area but sees nothing but more spiders and cobwebs. It was starting to make him uncomfortable how many there were, making his skin crawl. As he steps over one section of the floor, it creaks, as if it was unstable and about to break under his weight. He steps off of it, dusting off the hay with his foot, revealing a rusted metal handle to a hidden door. As he pulls up on it, it only budges a little before going back down. He then notices a padlock with a strange looking keyhole on it. He's certain the key would be indistinguishable. 

He considers looking for the key, but figures there isn't anything in the room considering how old the barn is. Jonathan probably hasn't even been in it before, let alone have the key in his home. 

Branden spends the last couple of hours playing with the dogs and watching TV, and as Jonathan gets back home, Branden prepares leftovers for lunch. 

The rest of the day is calm, nothing of note happening. They talk for a while, eat dinner, watch a movie and go to bed. As Branden pulls the thin quilt over himself, another scream comes from outside, causing him to stop what he's doing to peek out the window. There was still a little light outside from the sunset, but nothing that the scream could have come from was seen. 

He dismisses it once more, getting back in bed and dozing off nearly instantly. While he sleeps, he has a nightmare about the barn. He is able to open the secret door in the dream, nothing but darkness being visible. A hand suddenly sticks out, covered in dirt and spiders. He steps back, but falls immediately after, and the hand drags him down into the darkness. 

He then wakes up, gasping and looking around, but calms himself as he realizes he is back in his room, under the soft blanket. Cool wind blows in through a crack he left in the window, causing him to shiver. After using the bathroom, he checks the time. 2 AM. He was much more tired than when he woke up, but decided to look out the window anyway. 

As he opens the curtains, he sees the light from a distant flashlight going towards the barn, and as the light becomes brighter, Branden thinks he sees Jonathan, opening the barn door and disappearing inside of it. 

*****

Branden wakes up at 6 AM to the sound of dogs barking and birds chirping. As he walks downstairs, he can hear the television and the sound of heavy shoes hitting the hardwood floors in the kitchen. Jonathan sits, staring out the window with a cup of black coffee in his hand. 

"Morning," Branden says, getting himself a cup of coffee as well and sitting down with him.

"Morning," Jonathan replies, putting down his mug on a worn out coaster. "Sleep well?" 

"Yea. Heard some more screaming, though." 

"Really? Sorry about that. Those foxes don't normally do it that much."

"It's fine. They only woke me up once, anyway."

 
"Alright. Well, you get yourself ready and meet me outside. You can start with the chickens today." 

"Okay! Be out in a minute."

Work was easier today than Saturday, so Branden finished his work with an hour of free time before they ate. After he showers and washes his clothes, he goes outside to play with the dogs for a while and explore the property a bit more. There was one section of the forest that belonged to Jonathan, and Branden decided to look around in it while Jonathan prepared dinner. While looking around, nothing caught his eye until he came across one section of land that was only loose dirt, unlike the rest of the area which was covered in grass. He thought something might have been buried there, and decided to try and unearth it with a rock he found. 

After ten minutes of digging, the rock hits something hard, and he dusts away the dirt with his hand. A medium sized chest with a rusted keyhole was what he found. He took it out, hitting the lock with the rock. It eventually breaks open, and inside are old newspapers, with headlines that read "Girl Kidnapped at Sweet 16", and "New Suspect for Annie Mullins Case". As he looks closer at them, he notices a name that is brought up many times in both of them: Jonathan West. 

He glimpses through the two stories, to see if there might be a reasonable explanation for his name being mentioned so much, but finds none. Many sinister ideas slip in his mind. Why does he have these hidden in such a secretive place? Did he do something to Annie Mullins? He thinks back to all the screaming he's heard. What if it wasn't foxes? 

As he begins to put back the contents into the chest, heavy footsteps approach behind him. As he turns around, he barely gets a glimpse of the person's face before he is hit with a heavy metal object and falls to the ground, unconscious.  

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