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“Would you like to go on a walk in the woods with me, James?” Effie asks, finishing the ties on her shoes and grabbing the walking stick that Monty had made for her when they first got together.
James nods, stumbling over to put his own shoes on, jumping up as soon as he was done.
Effie smiles and grabs the boy’s hand, “Are you ready then?” James nods and the woman leads them out into the backyard and through to the gate of the fence they have. She gently pulls the lock open and closes it behind them, taking James into the woods. “Do you remember what I told you, pyaar?”
“Always follow the trail.” James nods, walking over to the trailhead that they’ve gone down before.
“Do you remember why we always follow the trail?”
“Because it’s easy to get lost in the woods.”
Effie nods, “Shabaash! We don’t stray from the trail, not until Monty and I teach you the best ways to get back home when you’re lost.” James nods, walking along the trail with her for a long while, eventually grabbing a big stick that he can use as a mimicked walking stick alongside his mum.
…
“James, honey!” Effie calls from where she’s kneeling in front of her garden, plucking some of the flowers from their stems gently and moving to put them into her basket, “Don’t get too close to the forest while the fog is out, mera pyaar!”
“Why can’t I just go to the fence maa?” He calls back, having stopped where he was when his mum called out to him.
“It’s too close to the forest.”
“But it’s not actually at the forest. There’s space there.”
Effie levels her son with a look, “Baad ke paas mat jao, mera matalab yah hai.”
James pouts but slowly starts to come towards her, “Fine.”
“Don’t be like that, pyaar.” She shakes her head, opening her arms towards him, “Come collect flowers with me.”
“Why can we be in your garden when I can’t be at the fence?”
“Because of the creatures in the forest.” She shakes her head, “They come out in the fog and are attracted to people that get too close to the forest, like little boys like you.” She gently cups his cheek with a gloved hand, “But we’re far enough from the forest that they can’t sense us out here.”
“I don’t… get it?”
“You won’t,” She shakes her head, “Not until you're older. But you see that fog?” She gestures to the forest that their house backs, filled with a misty white that turns darker as the rest of the sky does. James nods, “You never get close to the fence when you see that, do you understand?”
James nods, “Yes maa.”
“Thank you, mera pyaar. I’m not trying to be mean and I’m not upset at you, I’m just worried.”
“I understand.”
“I knew you would.”
…
“Look at this cool rock I found!” Marlene cheers, showing off this pointy white rock that’s twice the size of her hand.
James only glances at it, too busy fighting with the underbrush that’s currently holding the big stick that he wants captive from him, “Sick!” He eventually manages to get the stick, taller than him and laden with cool knots and a cool bark pattern.
The three of them play around in the forest for a while before finally deciding that they want to head back.
“Do we know where we came from?” Pete asks, turning around in place.
“Uhm…” James says, furrowing his brows and looking around him as well.
It takes the three of them a while to eventually find Marlene’s house again, slowly piecing together the advice that their parents had collectively given them. But eventually, they get there and head inside showing off their cool things that they got to their mums and telling them about the adventures that the three had gotten up to. They also proudly tell their parents about how they had gotten lost but managed to find their way back using the advice they had told them about.
The women laugh about it, talking about how they’re proud but making the kids promise to never go so far into the woods that they can’t see the house again.
…
“Marls is the Ghost!” James laughs, pointing at the girl. Marlene sticks her tongue out at him, but tells the group to give her thirty seconds before running off the porch.
“Don’t go into the forest when the fog is out!” Marlene’s mum calls whens he opens the window, “I know that you guys are playing your scary night games, but do not get anywhere near the woods.”
“Fine mum!” Marlene calls back, immediately getting back to running when the group starts counting.
When they finish, Marlene’s mum hums, “That applies to you four as well, don’t get near the woods. If Marlene is near them, tell me immediately.” The group agrees then shouts that they’re going out to find Marlene, running off into the backyard to find the girl.
James clicks on his flashlight as he runs, making sure to go alongside the forest but not too close to it. They use it to scan the area along the forest, knowing that Marlene would actively disobey their mum to hide in the woods since she knows everyone is scared of it at night.
Out of the corner of James’ eye, there’s a dark figure, a bit shorter than James but hunched over. They turn their flashlight to the figure to make sure that it’s not one of the other seekers before he calls out. But, as soon as the light hits the figure, they disappear into the woods, practically fading from the light without really moving.
James can do nothing but stare at where the figure previously was for a long moment before they hesitantly turn away. Almost immediately after, he turns his flashlight a little to their left, the beam of light landing on Marlene. So he takes a deep breath and calls out, “Ghost in the Graveyard!” And watches as Marlene grins at him before taking off towards the other seekers who are now all running towards the porch in a cacophony of laughs and screams.
James takes only a moment to look back into the woods, standing just at the edge of how far he’s allowed to go into the yard and staring into the woods, his flashlight searching for the dark figure from before. He’s only there for a moment before he forces himself to shake it off and head to the porch with everyone else.
Marlene was able to tag Pete, who’s complaining because he doesn’t like being out alone in the dark without a light and Marlene is cackling.
James only wants to play a couple more rounds and he refuses to get close to the woods again, unable to shake the dark figure that didn’t illuminate under the beam of the flashlight and instead disappeared.
…
“So wait,” Mary asks, toying with one of the ringlets in her hair, “You guys aren’t allowed to go near the forest when it’s dark out.”
James shrugs, “Not necessarily when it’s dark out, but when it’s foggy.”
“But weren’t you saying that it gets foggy a lot a couple years ago?” Lily hums, leaning her head onto Mary’s shoulder.
Marlene nods, “Yeah, but it’s not horrible, we’re allowed to go out into the woods any other time.”
“Why aren’t you guys allowed into the woods when it’s foggy?”
“The creatures in the forest.” Pete says ominously, leaning forward to make it dramatic.
“Okay, no.” Dorcas says, putting her hand out, “We’re going to need more than that.”
James laughs at the response, throwing their head back. They compose themself and sit in a way that makes them more comfortable, leaning against Remus and resting their head against his, “We don’t know exactly what they are. But ever since we were children, our parents have been telling us not to go out into the woods because the ‘creatures’ in the woods are attracted to those that are in the forest or along the edges of it.” They shrug with one shoulder, “It’s a legend around here, at least in this part of the countryside, that the forest is haunted? Or cursed? Something that means there are lost spirits that roam the woods.”
“I’m sure it’s just not safe at night because of the animals out there,” Remus hums, wrapping his arm around James’ waist, “and your parents were just making up a scary story to keep you guys safe.”
“Maybe,” Marlene shrugs from their place between Dorcas’ legs, “But James has seen one of the creatures.”
That makes everyone whip their attention to them, Marlene and Pete excluded.
“I’m sorry?” Mary asks, her voice going high pitched, “You’ve seen one of the creatures.”
James nods, “When we were younger, after our parents explained the whole legend to us -- which if you want to know like the full story, ask my parents about it since they can tell it better -- we obviously didn’t believe them or care about it because we were young kids. Well, one year we were playing Ghosts in the Graveyard on a foggy night and Marls was always the type of person to get as close to the woods as possible when they were the ghost, so that’s naturally where I went. And you know how when it’s dark and you have a light going in a different direction, you think you can see a figure or something in the corner of your eye?”
They wait until the group gives them the affirmative before continuing, “Yeah, well- I thought I saw Marlene, because there was a person shaped black spot in the corner of my eye so I turned my flashlight onto it, expecting it to be them but…” they shake their head, thinking back on the night, “The figure didn’t light up, then they disappeared.”
“What do you mean they didn’t light up?”
James hums, closing their eyes and mentally going back to that night, “When you shine a light on someone, you can see their features and their clothes and colours. Well, there was no colour, clothes, or features. They just got lighter and then disappeared.” They shrug once more, opening their eyes and turning to their friends, toying with one of the sticks that’s sitting next to their hand, “It freaked me out and I still vividly remember the details. But then I actually found Marlene and just tried to ignore it.”
Dorcas hums, leaning next to her partner’s ear, “But you didn’t see it?”
Marlene shakes their head, “I didn’t even know that there was another… person? With us until James told me and Pete about it years later. I didn’t see anyone.”
“You weren’t seeing things then, James?”
James shakes their head, “I mean, there was always that possibility, but I don’t think so. Not with the way that it stuck with me and they were just… right there. I rarely come out here anymore because of how much it messed with me.”
“Sure man, stop trying to scare us before we have a literal campfire right next to the forest.” Dorcas rolls her eyes.
…
“Do you think we could see the stars if we went to the other end of the backyard away from the fire?” Lily hums, her head thrown back to look up at the cloudless sky, “Like, are we far enough away from the rest of the city.”
James shrugs, “I know that we’ve been able to see them before back here… maybe if we went all the way to the back corner we could.”
Monty gives the group a look as they’re talking about it, “Just don’t get too close to the fence.”
James nods, “I know papa, we won’t go too far.”
“Good.” With that, the group stands up and walks a bit further into the yard until they’re a fair bit away from the fire. The group settles onto the ground, staring up at the stars and letting Lily, Remus, and Dorcas tell the group about the stars that they’re able to see from here and watching as other stars start to show themselves.
It’s only when the group starts to hear a sound coming from the forest does James finally sit up. They stare out into the forest, taking out their phone and turning on the flashlight, shining the light into the woods. The group isn’t able to see anything, but James realises that they got too close to the fence and rushes everyone to leave and get back to the fire.
They all play it off when they get back to the fire, assuming that it was just an animal and James was freaking out over nothing, pretending like they just got bored when Monty and Effie ask about how long they were stargazing.
…
James and Remus show up to Marlene’s house together, hand in hand and with a bottle of firewhiskey they were able to get while they were out for the day.
Marlene opens the door with a smile, throwing it open and taking the bottle before even acknowledging either of them. Then they tell the two to come in and leads them to the living room where Dorcas is waiting. Mary, Lily, and Pete show up at the same time together and the group heads out into the backyard.
Marlene brings out their speaker and puts on the group’s collective playlist and starts handing out some of the alcohol and snacks.
The group enjoy their drinks, getting progressively more drunk as the night goes on. At some point Remus brings out their stash and the group lights up.
As they get continuously more reckless with their actions, they also get bored and start pattering around Marlene’s backyard, which is when James, who is somehow one of the most sober of them all, calls out, “Remember! Don’t get too close to the forest when the fog is out!” But their friends don’t really listen to them.
Remus laughs in their ear, chest pressed to James’ back, “It doesn’t seem like they’re keen to listening.”
James breathes, “I know, and that’s what makes me nervous.”
“Do we want to go corral them?”
“Probably for the best.” They nod. Remus nods back and the two of them finally stand up, going to collect their friends and bring them back to the main area that the group was sitting in previously.
James can’t help but notice that Remus comes back from fetching Lily looking pale, his eyes slightly wider than normal. Panicked.
They want to ask about it, but they know that this isn’t the time.
…
“I think I saw one of the creatures the other night.” Remus says quietly when they’re alone a couple days later.
Now, James knows that they shouldn’t be this close to the fence at this time of day, with the sun beginning to sink. It’s been wet today, and it’s likely that there’ll be fog.
They shouldn’t be out here.
They shouldn’t be right next to the fence, it’s getting late and the fog is going to start settling.
But, James is finally getting some alone time with Remus this summer and they can’t bring themself to care about the warnings, just wanting to be around him.
Being this close to the forest must remind Remus of the fact.
James furrows their eyebrows, taking their gaze from the forestline to look at him, “What?”
“I-” he shakes his head, staring out at the forestline, not bringing his eyes away from it, “The other night, when we were partying at Marlene’s and you and I went to go get everyone away from the forest… I think I saw them… it.”
“What did you see?”
“A dark figure…” Remus says, at a loss for words. James is nearly shocked by it, because Remus is never at a loss for words. But they also suppose that they understand, they were also speechless the one time that they came across one of these creatures, “I- they looked… human, a bit shorter than me and I honestly thought that it was Marlene or something. Maybe Lily, but then I noticed that Lily was with me and that you had gotten everyone else back in the main area. I didn’t see them properly, but…”
“But they were there, and you know what you saw. It was a person, but it wasn’t.” James nods, “That’s how I felt.”
“I feel like I’ve seen it in my sleep since.”
“Sometimes the creature that I saw still haunts me.” James hums, pulling Remus close to their body, “It’s okay. They can’t get us as long as we don’t get close to the forest while it’s foggy. Speaking of which, we should probably head back to the house before it gets too dark and we attract their attention.” Remus nods and the two stand up and start gathering the drinks they had settled in the grass next to them.
It’s only when they’re starting to walk back into the house do they hear the footsteps.
Against James’ better judgment, they whip around and look at where the sound was coming from. But they don’t expect what they see.
They tug at Remus’ arm, urging him to stop and turn around.
Remus freezes too when he eventually complies.
The things the footsteps belonged to weren’t creatures of the fog.
It was people.
Two people about their age, young adults. Older teens. With pale skin and black hair in the same curls and shade. Their eyes are similar, the shorter having more green eyes while the taller having more blue. The same nose and high cheekbones. The only difference being their height and their clothing. The taller wears a leather jacket and a black t-shirt and the shorter wears some sort of formal clothes. They’re standing at the fence, on the opposite side to Remus and James.
James feels their heart pang, “What are you guys doing out in the woods? Where did you come from?”
Neither of them respond to James. Instead, the shorter one turns around and seems to think about going back into the woods.
Remus is the next to speak up, “The woods aren’t safe right now, what are your names?” Now the taller one turns around.
The two head off at the same time, venturing back into the woods.
Against their better judgement once again, James takes another step forward. They once again call out to the two boys, telling them not to go back into the woods. Remus follows them, the two deciding that these two kids shouldn’t be in the woods.
But why won’t they stop?
The two of them turn on the flashlights on their phones when they get far enough into the woods. Remus keeps his light on the ground in front of them and James on the people.
James can’t help but wonder how the two are able to maneuver into the woods so gracefully.
Alarm bells begin to go off in their heads, but they’re too worried about these two to listen to them. There has to be something wrong. And they don’t look like creatures of the fog, at least not from any of the stories that James had been told.
They’re walking for a long while, perhaps twenty or thirty minutes before the two boys are leading them into a clearing.
This clearing is stunning, something that James has never seen before despite the many times they’ve been in the woods. But, of course, they’ve never been this far into the woods. Too easily lost and scared of the woods from the stories they’ve been told their entire life and also for their previous experiences of getting lost and seeing the creatures. It’s got some of the fog lingering through the clearing but not nearly as thick as the rest of the fog that’s settled through the tree of the actual forest.
They turn around and look at James and Remus. The short one steps forward, his magentising eyes meeting James’ as he takes their hand, “Why did you follow us?”
“Are you okay?” James asks, scanning over the boy, “What are you doing out here?”
The shorter shakes his head, “We’re fine.”
Remus furrows his brows, “What do you mean you’re fine, the woods are dangerous during foggy nights.”
The taller finally speaks, beckoning Remus towards him, “It’s not as dangerous as people tend to think.” He shakes his head, “We spend a lot of time in this clearing, and we’re fine aren’t we?”
The shorter one pulls James more towards the center of the clearing, sitting down and folding his legs underneath him, “I’m Regulus, what is your name?”
James breathes, “James…”
“You’re very handsome, did you know that?” He asks, a gentle smile playing on his face. Next to them, Sirius and Remus sit down not far away. Remus and James are close enough that they’re able to reach for each other in this weird experience, but just far enough that it’s about all they’re able to do.
James breathes, “I mean… I guess.”
“My name is Sirius.” The other boy says.
Remus nods and introduces himself, “Are you two…”
“Brothers.” Sirius nods, “What about you two?”
“We’re ah…” James sighs, rubbing the back of their neck with the hand that Regulus isn’t holding, “It’s complicated, I guess.” Regulus tilts his head a bit, eyes watching them closely. They feel the need to clarify from something they find in the look, “We’re… we’re friends.”
Regulus nods, “You have a lot of friends?”
James nods back, “Yeah we… we have a lot of friends.”
Sirius hums, “We have a couple. A brother, a sister, and their friend.”
“Do they come out here often?” Remus asks, glancing towards James. James returns it just as unwary.
“Not as often as us.” Regulus shakes his head, “They have their own places they like to spend time. We like it here.”
Despite their initial weariness, the two end up liking the brothers and spending a couple hours talking to them, getting to know them, bouncing icebreaker questions back and forth for a while before James realises just how late it’s gotten.
They push themself to a stand, “We should get going.” They reach out a hand for Remus to take, him doing so after a couple seconds. Then they turn to the brothers, “You two should head home as well.”
Regulus furrows his brows, “This is our home.”
Remus makes a face, “This is your home? Why would you take us to your home?”
Sirius doesn’t seem keen to answer the question, “You’ve never followed us before.”
James shakes their head, “I’ve never seen you before.”
Regulus turns his gaze onto James, meeting their eyes with an intensity that he didn’t have before. His gaze is stabbing into James, making their chest tight, “You were scared of us. You never saw us because you avoid us.”
James is so fucking confused, and they’re growing cold with the dawning realisation in the back of their mind. They shake their head and lick their lips, “I’m scared of the woods.”
His eyes soften and he tilts his head, “You’re not scared of me?”
They shake their head, “Who are you really?”
“I’m Regulus. I’ve lived in the woods for a long time.”
Remus sucks in a breath, his grip tightening in James’, “Are you two the reason people say not to go into the forest when it’s foggy?”
Sirius shrugs with one shoulder, standing up gracefully and taking a gentle step towards them, “Maybe, the fog is our home.”
“And you guys have shown yourself to us so we can follow you into the forest.”
Regulus nods, “I think you’re interesting, James.” The way their name practically melts off his tongue sends shivers up James’ spine, “Do you think I’m interesting? Is that why you followed me into the woods?”
James takes a step back for every step forward that Regulus takes towards them, “I mean… I thought you were in need of help. But I guess you’re interesting.”
“What about you, Remus?” Sirius asks, now right in front of him, “Do you think I’m interesting?”
“It’s…” Remus swallows, catching James’ eye out of the corner of his own. James shrugs, so he turns back to Sirius, “one way to put it.”
“How would you put it?” The taller brother asks, grabbing Remus’ hand from Jams and pulling him towards himself just a bit. Sirius drags Remus off to just outside the clearing, the two figures disappearing into the woods. James starts towards them, not wanting to lose their friend.
Regulus stops them with a hand on their chest, “Do you think I’m interesting.”
“Yeah…”
“You sound unsure.” He tilts his head, “What would you call me?” Another step, but this time James doesn’t even think of stepping away. Regulus is chest to chest with James.
He’s colder than James would figure, and just short enough that he has to look up at them. James breathes, “Attractive…” They look over him for a moment and lick their lips again, “Pretty.”
Regulus’ mesmerising lips stretch into a smile, “I find it odd you think those are synonyms of interesting.”
James swallows, their hands going to his waist, “I find it interesting you lured me into the forest because you thought I was interesting.”
Regulus shrugs, a weirdly mechanical motion for how graceful he has been the entire time, and his grin widens, “And yet you and your… friend followed me, and you’re going to continue to follow me.” He grabs one of James’ hands from his waist and pulls them off and out of the clearing in a completely different direction to where Sirius pulled Remus.
James has no choice but to follow, enchanted by the boy.
They know he’s dangerous, they know that they’re likely only being pulled away because Regulus doesn’t want him leaving with Remus. But they’re weak for a pretty face.
James manages to get away from Regulus maybe an hour later -- they don’t know how much time has passed but it can’t be much later than three in the morning at this point. Regulus tries to grab at their arm, begging for them to come back, that he’s not done with them. But they don’t care.
It’s gone too far, so they find their way back into the clearing.
Remus is standing in the clearing as well, stumbling around seemingly confused. He’s got some new bruises and mussed hair, likely similar to James, and his eyes widen when he sees them, “James, oh my God.”
James rushes towards him, wrapping their arm around him, “What’s wrong?”
“I couldn’t… I got away from Sirius and couldn’t find you, then my hip started hurting like a bitch.”
“We’re good, let’s find our way back, yeah?” James breathes.
Remus levels him with a look, “I’d like you to tell me what direction we need to go. You’ve never been here before, have you?”
James shakes their head, “No, but I’ve gotten lost here before, I think I can manage it.” And with that, they take a couple minutes to look around before deciding on their direction, deciding that they need to get out of there as fast as possible before the brothers manage to regroup and find them. They know the forest and they know the fog.
There are the creatures still in the fog. Dark figures they see between trees in the distance that begin to grow faces as they continue to get close to the two. There are footsteps all around them, and James has to continuously push hands away from their arms -- likely belonging to Regulus or Sirius or anyone else that’s trying to stop them.
It’s after maybe an hour, with Remus having to limp and James having to support him with how bad his hip continues to get, that they finally are at the fence to James’ house. James pushes the gate open and pulls the two of them past it, locking it behind them, then settling on the grass a bit away from it.
James breathes, “How are you feeling?”
“Conflicted.” Remus breathes, “What the fuck just happened?”
“I think we found out why we’re not supposed to get too close to the forest when it’s foggy.” They sigh, cupping Remus’ face and pulling him into a kiss. They pull away, “I can’t- they have to have been creatures.”
Remus nods, “They were like fucking sirens. The creatures must be able to manifest as humans when you get too close.”
The two are silent for a while before James whispers, “Do you think those are the two we saw before?”
“Hm?”
“Do you think I saw Regulus when I was younger and you saw Sirius the other day? They said we were ‘interesting.’”
Remus nods, “I guess that makes sense.” He breathes, closing his eyes, “I’m fucking tired. What are we going to tell your parents?”
“We’ll just tell them that we fell asleep out here and lost track of time, but you woke up since your hip started hurting from the position we fell asleep in.” Remus nods and James helps him stand up, the two of them heading into the house as quietly as possible in case their parents are sleeping.
But they’re not.
Effie shoots up from her place on the couch as soon as they walk in, her eyes puffy. She rushes to the two of them and pulls them into a hug, “Mera pyaar, oh my Gods.”
James presses a kiss to her cheek, feeling that it’s wet. They pull away a bit, “What’s wrong maa?”
“What’s wrong?” She shouts, pulling away from the both of them, “What’s wrong?”
Monty stands up and pulls Effie to his chest, “You two have been missing for two weeks.”
Remus furrows his brows, “That can’t- that can’t be possible. We were only out there for a couple hours.”
“Out where?” Effie asks, her voice weak. Her eyes dart over the two of them over and over again, as if she’s checking them over for injuries -- and James suddenly becomes self conscious of the hickies that were left on their neck, “You two weren’t in the backyard when we went out there. We thought you had gone to your room, but…”
James swallows, “We… fucked up and maybe followed some of the creatures in the fog.”
Monty pushes out a breath at the words, “We- you two are probably tired then… We can talk about this in the morning.” James nods, thanks their parents, and helps Remus up into their room.