Romantic Fiction by B.G. Lashbrooks

Bell’s Hollow, Indiana, was the town most sought to get out of, and many did, vowing to never return to the place where young boys disappeared with alarming regularity. But just why did young boys disappear only to reappear days later? Just what exactly lived down old Bell’s Hollow Church Road…and just what–or who was it waiting for…

The Rise was a special place but not in a good way. People fell into the Rise, and they didn’t come back out. It is said that it used to be an innocuous spot, a swimming hole of sorts, people in the early settlements of the county would hold baptisms and picnics, summer celebrations along the banks of the strange river, on top of its stone cliff rise—until a ten year old boy disappeared into its depths.

His body was found days later in a cave eight miles away. The river ran nowhere near that cave. And he hadn’t drowned.

In more recent times—or at least within the last half-century—an Amish family buggy rolled straight over the cliff and into the dark depths. None survived—not even the horses.

Every so many years, at least once every couple of decades, it continues—more mysterious disappearances, unexplained deaths, all of it. Until one summer in nineteen eighty-five when four little boys followed a stray dog deeper and deeper into the woods.

Jonah Gibbs was the oldest, always the leader, never afraid. Tall for his age, sandy hair with a touch of shaggy curls, he hid his fears behind the large black sunglasses he’d bought with his birthday money and a go-forward attitude.

His best friend Calvin O’Connor was the baby of the group; only nine, technically he shouldn’t have even been in their class. Keenly intelligent, he’d gone to kindergarten early. Jonah had been his protector ever since, protecting him from those who would tease him and knock him around—even Wesley.

Wesley was pretty—so pretty some people thought he was a girl. Hair so black against his white skin, Jonah and Cal would pretend he was their pet vampire. But only when he wasn’t around–Wesley could turn mean under the slightest provocation. When he was mean and mad, he’d take it out on Cal.

They were joined by Fletcher Gray. Fletcher was weird and they all knew it. Fletcher hummed—usually songs that only he knew. Fletcher stood nearly a head above Cal, and half a head above the other two boys. He didn’t seem to notice, or to even care when people assumed he was older and therefore should know better than to do the things that ten year old boys were wont to do. Fletcher was just happy being Fletcher.

It was Fletcher who first spotted the big brown dog sniffing through the weeds surrounding the old playground on the outskirts of town. It was Wesley who first saw the blood on the dog’s side. It was Cal who suggested they follow it. It was Jonah who took those first steps into the woods. It was the dog who first led them to the Bell’s Hollow and the Rise.