The Last Shift at Hollow Creek

When the nineteen-year-old Mara Ellison reported for her night shift at Hollow Creek Gas & Go, she had no idea that anything out of the ordinary would happen. The station was situated on the outskirts of a declining logging town, lying among miles of pine forest and two-lane roads which wound around like veins through the darkness. At night the area was quiet, predictable, and even boring.

Hollow Creek had a habit of concealing things, and the people of the area claimed that the woods held secrets. Mara had never believed that until the night she realized just how many secrets a forest could contain.

2:17 a.m.

He went in without pulling the bell above the door. Mara didn't notice him until she realized that someone was looking at her. He positioned himself close to the coolers, his mud-stained jacket pouring water onto the tiles. His hair was stuck to his forehead, and he was holding onto his duffel bag so tightly that the knuckles of his right hand turned white.

Instead, he walked about, going down one aisle and then up the next. As he moved, he looked briefly towards the windows as though he expected somebody—or something—to show up outside.

Mara struggled to swallow. Although she had once handled drunk customers, angry truckers, and a few shoplifters, this man was none of those people. He seemed scared, in fact, terrified.

When he had at last got to the counter, she saw the scrapes on his hands. They were fresh, raw, and mixed with something darker than dirt.

“A long night?” she asked, making an effort to sound casual.

He didn’t answer. He just looked at the door.

The Alert

The old till of the store made a noise that Mara had never before heard. A red banner then appeared on the screen:

The BOLO is out regarding the man wanted in relation to the disappearance of Claire Hensley.

Mara’s stomach sank. Claire Hensley—everyone in Hollow Creek knew her—was twenty-three, worked at the diner and sang in the church choir. She had disappeared three days before. Search parties had looked through the woods and found nothing.

The man who was standing in front of her matched the description.

He saw the alert, and his breathing sped up.

Do not call anybody, he said quietly, please.

Mara's hand was close to the silent alarm button under the counter.

“She’s still alive.”

The duffel bag shifted.

The Bag

Mara's pulse was beating loudly in her ears, and she made herself speak.

“What’s in the bag?”

He violently shook his head and said, "Not here. They've been following me. I—I shouldn't have come in."

“Who followed you?”

He then looked at her properly, and she noticed the terror in his eyes. It was not guilt or anger but fear.

"He said that they lived in the woods; he had found Claire and had tried to get her out, but they wouldn't let her go."

Mara had a tightening in her throat and said, "Have you found her?"

He nodded and said, "She's injured. I tried to carry her, but they pursued us, and I lost her; I then picked up what I could and ran."

He pushed the duffel bag closer to her.

“Open it.”

Mara paused for a moment and then gradually unzipped the bag.

In there were Claire’s shoes, her phone, a piece of her jacket that was torn, and a note written in a shaking hand:

They're coming back to get me.

The Woods

He moved away from the counter. "I must go, or they'll come in if they see me here."

“Who?” Mara asked again.

He said nothing and ran out of the door, vanishing into the darkness past the gas pumps.

Mara activated the silent alarm.

The Police Arrive

Rowan's deputy was the first to react. He had known Mara ever since she was a child. As she told him everything, his face grew more serious with every detail.

The duffel bag was open on the counter, and he looked at the note.

“This handwriting... it seems to be Claire’s,” he said in a quiet voice.

Two additional deputies turned up and looked round the area near the station, but they saw no trace of the man; there were no footprints and no tyre tracks either.

It was exactly as though he had disappeared out of thin air.

The Footage

Although the security system at Gas & Go was old it still worked, Rowan then played the footage back to 2:17 a.m.

A man came onto the screen and walked in.

But something was wrong.

The door never opened.

He just... appeared. In one frame he was not there, and in the next he was.

Mara felt her skin crawl.

"Perhaps the camera failed," she said.

Rowan didn’t respond.

He pressed the fast-forward button. The man walked down the aisles, reached the counter, and spoke to Mara.

After that, he left the door.

Rowan paused the footage.

The door did not open that time either.

The Search

The deputies looked through the woods behind the station and discovered broken branches, disturbed soil, and drag marks which went further into the forest. The path terminated at an open area where the ground was torn up, just as though something heavy had been dragged around in circles.

They did not see any trace of Claire.

They could not see any trace of the man.

However, they also came across something else.

A second note, pinned to a tree with a rusted nail:

You shouldn't have taken her.

Aftermath

The Gas & Go stayed closed for the rest of that night, and Mara sat in the back office, huddled up in a blanket, shaking. Rowan stayed with her until her mother came.

The duffel bag was seized as evidence. The note was forwarded to the state lab and the footage was copied before being sealed.

Claire Hensley was never discovered.

The man was never found out who he was.

The woods situated behind Hollow Creek acquired a new reputation, a reputation which caused even the most courageous of the local people to avoid going too far after sunset.

One Month Later

Gas & Go put up a sign recruiting people for overnight staff.

No one applied.

The manager eventually removed the sign and taped a handwritten note to the door:

“No overnight shifts available.”

But everyone in Hollow Creek knew the truth.

There will never again be an employee who works overnight.

Not after what happened to Mara.

Not after what came out of the woods.