The World Beyond

Chapter 1-3

I looked over at my sister.

"Has it ever been this foggy before?"

Her eyes were glued to the road in front of us. I could tell she was trying to concentrate. I had completely forgotten that this was very much whiteout conditions, and we could barely see a few feet in front of our faces. I kept wanting to reach out to her shoulder to show her support. There was something different about her. This was no longer about her driving her brother to see some old buddies. She was determined.

The corner of the building came into view. The town pizzeria. You could always tell the town you were in by the house of pizza. She threw the car into the park and grunted as she reached into the back seat to grab some extra things.

"Go inside." She grunted. "Ray Jay and Bobbie should be in there already. It"s a work day."

I got out of the car and slowly walked to the front door. The only thing going through my mind is that we should have stayed home. I shouldn"t have pressured anyone to drive in this kind of weather.

"Welcome. Will we be seating one or- David!!?"

A man behind the counter started talking to me as I barely opened the door. The restaurant was slow. No one was out in this.

The man behind the counter wore a white apron stained with the sauces of many different dishes. His beard was very messy. His company hat hung low before his eyes, but you could still see his rat tail hanging out in the back.

"Hey, Bobbie!! Long time no see! Give me a second." My eyes quickly darted back toward the car. "Meghan drove me, and this fog is making moving terrible."

"Meghan"s here, too? Let me get Ray Jay." His voice trailed as I heard the kitchen door behind me open and close. At the same time, my worry for my sister"s safety was at the top of my mind. A few puzzle pieces started to click together in my head.

I saw my sister"s hand reach out to me. I grabbed it and pulled it. The fog was getting thicker and thicker by the moment. I closed the door and kept looking toward the windows. It was a pure sheet of white snow. I looked down at my hand that pulled her through and realized it was still dry. My mind trying to avoid the new topic I was about to have to address, I quickly opened the door and stuck my hand out. Dry. I pulled it back in and kept looking at it. It was still dry.

I let go of the door, letting it close and went back into the restaurant. Both Ray Jay and Bobbie exited from the kitchen. Ray Jay"s eyes went wide with excitement and quickly switched to a slight look of horror as they switched back and forth between looking at me and Meghan.

"David! Meghan!" Ray Jay said with as much excitement as he could muster. Then looking Meghan straight in the eyes. "Meghan. David?"

Without saying much more, the puzzle pieces were starting to slide together nicely. Meghan looked back at me with a nervous look as she moved alongside Ray Jay.

"Well, this wasn"t exactly how I wanted to tell you, David. I knew that you would get mad.." Meghan began

"You and Ray Jay are dating?" I said in a slight outburst of anger just as she began mouthing the words.

Suddenly the excitement drained from Bobbie"s face as he looked at Meghan.

"I thought you told him!"

"You knew?" I said, a little surprised. "We talked so many times. How did this not come up!?"

"I thought you knew!" He looked over at Meghan and Ray Jay, then back at me. "Hey! Don"t you go blaming me? This isn"t my fault. This seems like a conversation y"all need to have. I"ll be over here."

With that, he walked over to an area behind the counter, sat on a stool, and began messing with his phone. After a second, he did a very exaggerated wave to get us to commence our fight.

I looked back at Ray Jay.

"You and my sister are dating?" I said with a slight amount of anger in my voice.

Normally I have never had an issue with my sister"s boyfriends. Her life has always been her life. I would always play the act of "You mess with my sister, and we will have problems." On one occasion, one of her ex-boyfriends decided to spread pictures of her online, and this caused her significant pain at school. She was bullied and harassed until Bobbie, Ray Jay, and I ended the matter. We started by taking some ideas from one of our favorite shows and pranking him. Eventually, it all culminated in an incident with him blindfolded to a chair naked in the school gymnasium. He was never able to live that down.

We protected my sister. That was what the brothers did. It became odd to me to find one of my friends dating my sister. We were always the three musketeers.

"Now look, it was an accident, and it just happened.." He stuttered

"Dating my sister is an accident?"

I looked at him very incredulously. He kept glancing back and forth between Meghan and me, looking for help.

"David, I should have told you," Meghan said as she got closer. "It"s not Ray Jay"s fault. You were gone, and things happened."

I looked from Meghan to Ray Jay and then back.

"Does he make you happy?" I asked without looking Ray Jay in the face.

Just as I began to calm down, a sudden thud started all of us as someone ran up to the glass wall of the building.

"Help me!!" They screamed as they pounded on the wall.

They were covered in blood. I couldn"t tell if it was theirs. My first instinct was running to the front door and holding it closed. Ray Jay ran up behind me to lock the door near the top. The person looked at us a little flabbergastered at our actions.

"Wait!! Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me in. Let me in. Help me!!" They screamed as they tried pulling on the door.

They kept glancing behind themselves as if looking for something. The blood from their hands had streaked along the glass.

I looked over at the others to get a confirmation of what to do. They individually looked back at me with different reactions. Meghan was in shock. She couldn"t take her eyes away from the person before us. Bobbie kept mouthing to me not to let them in. Ray Jay was the first one to speak up.

It could help them. Sir, can we call the police for you?" He said, getting a little closer to the window.

"Let me in! It"s coming! I can hear it! Please! Help me. Help me, please. Help me!!"

He stood in shock and kept wiping his hands against the window. The blood started to create a red filter that shone on our faces. It painted a mask across Bobbie and Ray Jay as they stared at the individual behind me. Then just as suddenly as this person appeared, a painted shock appeared on their faces. I turned around just in time to hear the screaming and see the last darkened outline of that man being dragged away in the fog.

Meghan turned to bury her head into Ray Jay"s chest.

"What happened? Where did he go?" I asked desperately

They all looked at me in disbelief.

"How could you have not seen it!?" Meghan yelled at me as she hid her face.

Then the worst part happened. The screaming. We all turned around to look out toward the fog before us. It was loud and never-ending. The man in the distance cried out for help as a sound whooshed past, and he yelled again. The pain in his voice was undeniable. A gurgling sound followed this. It was right before us, and we couldn"t see it. He kept pleading and pleading until finally; a crunch was heard that reverberated throughout my spine.

I fell to the floor, not sure was else to say. All I could do was stare at the window. Continue staring into the blank canvas before us, now covered in bloody handprints. Behind me, all I could hear was Meghan crying. Bobbie kept mumbling something under his breath, and Ray Jay was silent. He was the first to speak up.

"We should have let him in." He announced.

"You locked the door," I responded.

"You held it shut." He retorted quickly

"Stop fighting!" Meghan cried.

"What was that?" Bobbie asked from behind the counter.

Ray Jay looked over at Bobbie and then down at Meghan in his chest.

"I think we need to leave." He finally said.

"Are you kidding me? We don"t even know what that is." Bobbie desperately pointed out, waving his hands at the window.

The lights in the restaurant began to flicker.

"What was it?" I asked again to Bobbie. Still trying to wrap my head around what was even going on.

He looked at me again. He was trying hard to put words to what he had just witnessed.

"I don"t even know. It was like the fog grabbed him, but it wasn"t the fog. I-that"s what you guys saw, right? I"m not the only one to see the fog grab him, right?" Bobbie replied, scanning his mind and doubting his memory.

Meghan just stood and nodded her head in Ray Jay"s chest. I looked over to Ray Jay, and he nodded while wrapping his arms around Meghan to provide some comfort. He was shocked by these events as well.

I kept thinking to myself, wondering what we needed to do, and then it happened again. More screaming from in front of the building. Branches were breaking in the distance. Many other screams could be heard somewhere further away from us. The look on Meghan"s face was filled with a silent scream as the bone-curdling crunches continued.

The very first thought that came to my mind was to hunker down. Don"t move. We"re in the restaurant. As long as we were here, we were safe.

"Help me lock the other doors to ensure nothing can get in."

I was heading towards the back of the building when Bobbie stopped me. His face filled immediately with regret.

"We left the back door open when taking out the trash earlier."

A rustling sound can be heard in the kitchen. I looked around. Chairs. Tables. Anything that we could put against the door. I push Bobbie off of me.

"Counter against the door. Now!" I yelled while I was getting up.

The tables were bolted to the floor, and the chairs were rushed to the tables. This was one of those older pizza places. Ray Jay, Bobbie, and I kept in action. With the three of us, we could move the counter against the wall. It at least stopped the swinging door from being able to be pushed in, but it didn"t prevent them from being pulled open.

I continued to look around. Rope. String. Something. I need something to tie the handles together. I took a look at Bobbie"s apron. That could work.

"Bobbie. Apron. Now." I said as I bounded over the counter to get as close to the handles as possible.

He quickly removed it, and I could tie it around the door handles. I slowly stepped back to assess our handiwork. Did I do everything that I could? The door seemed covered.

"Any other entrances we"re forgetting?" I said, scanning the room.

"What if it"s someone who needs help in there?" Ray Jay asked while coming to his senses.

There was a loud thud that hit the doors. I focused on my task of looking for any entrances. It was hard as the noise from the kitchen continued.