Chapter 1

For as long Philip could remember, he had always been afraid of the dark. But his friends

obviously couldn't know that; he was the star football player and jock of Elmwood academy, fear

wasn't a word that should have been in his vocabulary. However, here he was, seated in the

back of his father's old pickup truck, struggling to stay calm whilst balancing a cigar between his

middle and forefinger as the cold November winds seeped through his jacket.

He watched, with growing unease, as his friends chanted as Jude, another one of his friends,

chugged down a bottle of tequila. He took a long drag from his cigarette, letting the heady

feeling consume and calm him before exhaling billows of smoke.

They were playing truth or dare, a game he would usually enjoy in the comfort of his living room

or the boys' locker room in school, not here in the middle of the forest, miles away from

civilization. Jude let out a loud belch when he had completely downed the bottle of alcohol,

whooping and cheering alongside the others.

“Can we head back now? This place is freezing,” Philip said before restlessly taking another

draw.

“Sure, as soon as you complete your dare.” It was Matt who spoke, the pretty boy of Elmore

academy and captain of the swim team. Philip couldn't quite remember why they were friends,

he had a mischievous glint in those emerald eyes that never sat well with him. He was a bully,

always eager to start fights, which of course he would never take part of, and he always made

other people do his dirty work.

“Fine, the sooner this is done with, the better.”

“Alright, Phil, I dare you to go into that cave we drove past on the way here.” Philip paled, at that

moment he hated Matt with the fury of a thousand suns.

“ You can't expect him to walk all the way there on his own, we're in the middle of a forest”

Cesar, the final person in their group of four, spoke up. He was the smartest in the group, level

headed and calm when he needed to be. He was a leash on the other three, ever ready to keep

them in check and pull them back when they began to get too out of control. His only flaw,

thought Philip, was that he always seemed to see the good in people, no matter how miniscule it

was. That was the only reason Matt hung out with them, the only reason he had been invited to

their guys night, the only reason they had indulged him and come out into this freezing forest.

“Fine, we'll drive down there and follow him to the cave to make sure he doesn't chicken out.”

“ Is that good with everyone?” Cesar asked. Philip wanted to shout, he wanted to tell them that

this was a stupid idea, he wanted to get in the car and floor it with no regards for traffic

regulations until he was in the safety of his garage. He wanted to flip Matt off and tell him how

much of a douchebag he was to have made them come into this forest this late at night, but he didn't. Instead, he put out his cigar and gave a small grunt of agreement before hopping off the

open back of the truck and making his way to the driver's seat. Jude gave an inebriated thumbs

up, following his lead by hopping off the back and climbing into the back seat of the car, Matt not

far behind him. When Cesar had got in the passenger's seat, they began the drive back up the

dirt track. Philip could feel his hands going numb from the lack of blood, he held on to the

steering wheel so hard his knuckles had begun to turn white.

The drive took only a few minutes, but it felt like hours to him. They had parked at the mouth of

the cave, his headlights only dispelled a bit of darkness, he shivered.

“Y'know, Phil, if you're scared we could just head back to my place,” Matt said, he could

practically hear the smirk in his voice. He hated him. He hated this. But he couldn't back out

now, Matt wouldn't let him live it down, the news would spread like wildfire across their small

town before dawn the next day. Philip took a deep breath.

“Let's get this over with.”

They piled out of the pickup truck, Jude barely able to stand on his own as Cesar supported

him. Philip's hand trembled as he pulled out another cigarette from its pack and lit it, relishing in

the brief calm it gave him. He turned on a torch he had grabbed from the car as he strolled into

the cave, still filled with the heady feeling and false bravado the smoke gave him.

The cave was larger than it appeared on the outside, Philip could hear the sound of his

footsteps bounce off the walls, he flashed the light around and found the room mostly empty.

There were broken twigs and the dried up skeletons of small animals littered across the ground,

a few broken statues lay buried underneath rocks and wedged inside cracks. Philip would have

been horrified if he wasn't so intrigued; a statue, roughly the length of his arm and the width of

his torso and the only one not broken in half, was wrapped in a strip of shredded cloth. He

nudged it with his leg, after another sharp draw if his cigar for bravery, he pulled at the cloth to

reveal a woman clad in a long robe, holding burning torches. She was triple-formed, with three

bodies standing back-to-back, probably so that she could look in all directions at once. She was

surrounded by three large hounds which seemed to be barking.

“ Philip! Everything good?!” Cesar's voice carried into the cave. “I'm going in there to check on

him.”

Philip could see the outline of their silhouettes as Cesar and Jude made their way into the cave.

Cesar flashed a torch of his own around the cave. He asked,

“What's taking you so long? You've completed your dare, let's get out of here.”

“You guys should come check this out,” Philip's whisper carried through the cave, the others

huddled around him. He could see the eager confusion on each of their faces, even Matt's,

although he seemed more disappointed that Philip hadn't made a total fool of himself.

“It's a…statue?” Came Jude's groggy statement, his hand that wasn't around Cesar's shoulder

for support was wrapped around his stomach.

“Cee, you're the history geek, I reckon you know what this is,” Matt's less than enthusiastic voice

echoed in the cave.

“ Yeah, it's a statue of Hecate— oh god, Jude!”

The sound of Jude retching filled the cave. Philip watched as vomit splashed all over his shoes,

the statue, and parts of Cesar's shirt. Jude's body slumped, he had passed out.

“Oh god gross”

“We need to get him to the car, this weather won't do him any good.”

Philip put Jude's other arm around his shoulder, and he and Cesar lifted him out of the cave and

towards the car. He couldn't help the exhausted, or was it relieved sigh that left him when his

hands were finally behind the steering wheel. He was glad to finally get out of there.