- [Narrator] Friends never came naturally to me.

At least, not until the day I met her,

my friend, the monster.

(screeching sound)

My mothers wanted us to move away from the city.

They said it was about getting away from it all.

I think it had more to do with

me getting picked on at school.

I'd never been the most popular kid.

I'm what you'd call a bit of a nerd.

I'm really into outer space and planets,

and other not cool things, I guess.

Having two moms didn't help much either,

but they're both pretty great and worth the trouble.

Anyway, we pack up and move to the middle of nowhere.

I had come to realize we hadn't moved far enough.

Apparently prejudice is just as rampant

in the middle of nowhere as it is in the city.

And prejudice came with names.

Ben, and Christie.

They were a brother and sister that lived nearby.

A couple of high schoolers, a couple of years behind,

if you know what I mean. (laughter)

Ever since we moved in they had been constant trouble for us

especially after they saw I had two moms.

They left signs on our porch saying,

freaks leave, or, two moms don't make a right.

And I'm pretty sure they broke a few of our windows

throwing rocks.

Of course, we could never prove it.

Several times they caught me on the way back from school,

something I'm pretty sure they hadn't attended all year.

They would always try to get the better of me.

You take enough punches in your time,

you kind of get numb to it all.

Although some days I wish I had stood up for myself,

or at least my moms.

They deserve a son that'll stand up for them.

After a tussle, they'd always tell me,

you'd better watch out, Eric.

It's not just us that don't take a liking

to you and your moms around here.

Better hope Woe Bone doesn't decide to eat you

and your freak family up.

Who was Woe Bone?

What was Woe Bone?

I found out later listening in on the kids

talk around school that Woe Bone was the name

the town had given to a monster

that supposedly lived in the nearby swamp.

Some small town legend that they

surprisingly all seemed to believe in.

And apparently I live close to the legendary swamp.

Whatever.

I'm not scared of monsters or a Woe Bone.

I've got more important things to concern myself with,

like the moon, and the stars.

You can't see the sky in the city like you can out here.

So I made sure to take full advantage of that.

Each night I had been looking for the best area

to set my telescope up,

the place that would give me the best view

of the whole wide universe above.

I had finally found the perfect spot.

It was this great big open area next to a swamp.

I remember thinking,

this must be where the infamous swamp monster lives.

Huh.

The stories these small town folk fall for.

Anyway, I had set my scope near the edge of the water

to get the best view,

but when I went to take the lens cap off,

I dropped it into the water.

I got down on my stomach and fished my hand into the water

to see if I could feel for it.

It was so dark I could barely make out my own reflection.

Then I noticed I wasn't alone.

In the water's reflection I saw a girl

a little younger than me looking over my shoulder.

It gave me such a startle I had to laugh at myself

for being scared of a little girl.

I didn't laugh for long.

I pushed myself up and turned around,

expecting to see the same girl I saw in the water.

I had never been more wrong in my life.

What greeted me instead

was a horrifying looking swamp monster.

It had huge sharp teeth.

Broken, bloodied claws protruded

from its green, moldy fingertips.

It was made up of everything foul

found at the bottom of the swamp.

Then it hit me.

It, this thing.

This was Woe Bone.

Finally realizing what was in front of me,

I screamed in its face. (yelling)

And then it made this awful noise back at me.

(otherworldly shriek)

I can't un-hear whatever that noise was.

If you gathered every sad thought or feeling

you ever had in your whole life and made it into one sound,

that's what it sounded like.

It was awful.

I ran off as quick as my feet could take me.

I looked back and saw that the creature wasn't after me.

Instead it was just, just sitting there,

looking at me curiously.

I noticed it wore a necklace with what looked like a locket

of some sort hanging from it.

I stopped in my tracks almost pondering to go back.

Then they happened.

Ben and Christie.

Ben asked me, "what are you running from, freak?".

I told him what I had saw.

That I'd actually seen Woe Bone.

That we needed to leave.

I pointed to where the monster was,

but where my finger pointed there was nothing there.

Ben and Christie looked to each other

and broke out in laughter.

(laughter)

"Look who's afraid of the dark",

said Christie.

"Why don't you run off to your mommies?"

I did my best to contain myself and tried to walk past them.

That clearly wasn't going to happen.

Ben grabbed me hard by the arm and yanked me back.

He pushed me hard towards the water, saying,

"you don't get to leave that easy."

"Since the moment I saw you and your disgusting moms,"

"I didn't like you or any bit of your queer family."

"There's no place for your kind here."

Christie followed him up, hissing between her teeth.

"Yeah, freak."

I realized that my heels were just inches

from the water line.

Ben had ahold of me.

I begged and pleaded Ben to let me go.

That he could call me whatever he wanted,

but I had seen a monster.

"A monster?"

Ben said.

"Well good then, freak,"

"let's acquaint you back with your own kind".

And with that, he pushed me into the swamp.

But not before I took ahold of him

and brought him in with me.

We fell hard into the wet blackness of the swamp.

It was eerie.

You couldn't see a thing but felt every awful,

slimy bit beneath the surface.

Ben emerged angrier than I'd ever seen him.

Spitting water up, he yelled, "you're dead!"

He treaded after me, and I tried to swim away.

Just then I felt something swim past my leg.

"What was that?"

I yelled.

Ben looked at me with a grin as if to say nice try,

but then it swam by him,

and now I wasn't the only one afraid.

Ben switched directions towards his sister on the shore,

and whatever it was was following him under the water,

and gaining on him, too.

He made it to Christie.

Their hands touched right when from the water

leaped a giant disgusting creature

even more frightening than the one I saw moments ago.

It took hold of Ben by the shoulders

and bit into his neck with a swift action.

(yelling)

Blood spewed over Christie as she pulled her hand

away from her dying brother.

Ben fought his hardest to stay above the surface,

but it was no use, as another creature came from below

and latched onto him with its gnawing teeth.

It was like watching piranha attack a turkey leg.

(crunching)

They peeled his flesh away piece by piece,

(squelching)

his screams louder with each new part of him torn away.

(screaming)

He was alive for most of it.

It wasn't until the screaming stopped

that you knew he was finally dead.

I gathered myself and started swimming back to land.

I saw Christie get up and run away.

She didn't make it far. (footsteps)

She was tackled by another swamp monster

on land hiding in the darkness.

It broke her to the ground,

tearing her stomach open with its cracked claws

and ate her insides out as she tried to fight it off.

(snarling)

She put up a good fight but never stood a chance.

I could hear the monsters slurping her organs up

like spaghetti. (slurping)

I was the only one left,

and they had all turned their sights on me.

I swam harder than I ever had back to shore.

I could see my telescope.

I had ahold of the tripod, I was nearly there.

And then it got me. (splashing)

Its dagger claws tore into my leg as it yanked me back.

Feeling myself dragged back into the water,

I remember staring at the stars and thinking

that would be the last time I'd ever see them.

I was taken under the water when I felt something,

someone, all of a sudden take hold of my hands.

I was being pulled back to the shore, back to life.

When my head came out of the water

I looked up and saw the creature from before.

Woe Bone. (ominous sound)

The monster around my legs wasn't giving up, though,

and dug its claws deeper into me.

I screamed, feeling its nails find my bones.

But then Woe Bone emitted that awful cry I heard earlier.

(otherworldly shriek)

But it was different, somehow.

Like it had strength to it.

Like it was claiming me.

Suddenly I felt the other monster release its claws.

The next thing I knew I was being pulled onto land.

Woe Bone patted me over, as if to make sure I was okay.

I again noticed the locket around its neck.

I slowly reached for it, opened it, and discovered inside

a picture of a mother with a young girl.

(pinging)

Woe Bone was the girl in the picture, it had to be.

I told her my name was Eric.

She cocked her head at me as if she understood.

She then dug her sharpest claw into the dirt

and scrawled something in it.

It read, Lexi.

I asked her to come with me, maybe my moms could help her,

but it shook its head and placed a finger against my lips.

She didn't want me to tell anyone about her, so I agreed.

She raised her slimy clawed hand up,

made a fist, and stuck out her pinkie.

It took me a minute, but I finally figured it out.

She wanted me to make a pinkie promise,

so that's what I did.

I promised to keep her secret, to keep our secret.

Because that's what friends do.

(pulsing noise)