The Phantom of Willow Creek

The wind whistles through the streets of Willow Creek. The moon shines high above the small town and all is quiet as the residents sleep. However, not everything is as it seems. Once a peaceful, little town, Willow Creek has turned into a town plagued by terror. You see, a few weeks ago, people started getting mysteriously sick. Every few days a person would begin to show symptoms and would be admitted to the hospital. The doctors still can’t figure out what is making people sick and they have to hurry because the victims are dying quickly. Each victim claims that a mysterious stranger had bumped into them the night before they started feeling sick. So it seems that a mysterious killer is prowling the streets of our beloved town. But, the weird thing is no one else can seem to find any trace of the killer, the only evidence of their existence is the statements of the victims. So is there really a killer on the streets? Or is it simply a delusion brought on by the illness? Well, whatever the truth may be, the townsfolk are set on finding the killer. They’ve named the killer the Phantom of Willow Creek. Everyone here fears the Phantom, no one ever stays out past sunset unless they have to because they fear they will be next. The locals’ fear has made them ruthless in their hunt for the Phantom and any person they suspect is treated horribly by them. The newest object of their torment is a young boy named Clyde. Clyde never causes any trouble or gets into mischief. But, the reason everyone thinks it’s him is because of the poor boy’s birthmark, which covers part of his face. The Phantom is said to never show his face, so the townsfolk have assumed that it is because he has some sort of feature he may want to hide. Everyone avoids poor Clyde when they see him, the boy has become an outcast.

Now, let’s get back to the present. The sun is about to set and everyone still outside is hurrying to get to their desired locations. As it gets dark a young woman hurries home with a large bag of groceries. She turns down a dark street and continues on her way. Suddenly, she hears a noise, but when she turns around nothing is there. She keeps walking but quickens her pace, clearly nervous. As she hurries away she bumps into someone, a dark figure. It’s too dark to make out who it is, but the woman knows. It’s the Phantom. She stands there in shock, watching the Phantom with fear of what is going to happen to her. When the shock wears off she pulls out her phone and calls 911. “Help! I just saw the Phantom! I think I’m his newest victim!” she cries. 

“Can you tell me where you are ma'am?” asks the 911 operator.

“I’m on Corkwood Avenue, near the bakery”

“Hang tight ma'am, we are sending someone your way.” The woman hangs up and begins to cry, knowing the pain that is to come.

The next morning the town buzzed with the news that the Phantom had struck again. Worried citizens looked around in fear that the Phantom may be one of them. Clyde stood apart from the crowd, afraid that their fear may cause them to lash out at him. He had been at home, reading when the Phantom struck. But, it didn’t matter. Everyone thought it was him. He decided that it would be best for him to leave and go to the library where he wouldn’t have to worry about the Phantom or the townsfolk. 

After a long walk, he got to the library and sat down between some bookshelves. As he sat there he wondered if the other townsfolk would stop thinking he was the Phantom in time to find the actual culprit. If they didn’t start looking into other suspects soon they may not be able to stop the Phantom from getting the whole town sick. He knew that they were just scared and wanted the terror to end but he wished they would stop blaming him. Suddenly he heard screams coming from the town square. He ran out of the library and hurried to see what was happening. When he got to the town square he saw complete chaos! Everyone was running around screaming trying to get away or hide. The police were trying to calm everyone down but so far they hadn’t been successful. Clyde didn’t know why everyone was panicking so he ran over to a woman hiding behind a nearby tree and asked “What is going on? I heard screaming and ran over. Did something bad happen?” The woman looked up and upon realizing who it was screamed out 

“Everyone! Help! The Phantom is going to get me!”

“No, wait! I’m not the Phantom. I’m innocent” Clyde countered. But, it was too late. The policemen started running over and before he knew it Clyde was in handcuffs. Clyde was taken to the police station and put in an interrogation room.

“Clyde, we have reason to believe you are the one responsible for the mysterious disease that is spreading through our town,” accused Chief Smith. “Do you have an alibi for last night?”

“Yes, I was at home reading. Just ask my mother” Clyde replied.

“Ok, we will have to call her to make sure what you’re saying is true,” the Chief said as he walked out of the room. Clyde waited patiently as the Chief talked to his mother. Then the Chief walked back in and announced “Ok, Clyde you alibi holds up. You’re free to go.” He uncuffed Clyde and began to walk him out of the station. Suddenly another officer ran up to them.

“Wait, Chief, we just found fingerprints on one of the victims and they match Clyde!” He declared.

“I knew he was guilty! With that many people saying it was him how could he not be guilty” the Chief announced. He then grabbed Clyde’s arm and pulled him back into the interrogation room. “How did you do it? How could you be in two places at once? Did you force your mother to lie for you?”

“NO! I didn’t do anything. I swear! I’m innocent. I would never hurt anyone. You have to believe me!” Clyde begged.

“Listen, Clyde, I want to believe you. You’re a good kid but all the signs point to you. If we have reason to believe that it wasn’t you, we’ll let you go home.” And with that, he left the room leaving Clyde all alone. As he sat there Clyde thought about everything that had happened that day. He still didn’t know why there had been a huge commotion at the town square or why his mother hadn’t shown up at the police station yet. Where was his mother? She had answered the phone when they called her earlier but Clyde had expected her to come down to the station to make sure he was ok. Did something her? Was she ok? All these questions were beginning to give Clyde a headache. He decided to call out to see if anyone would help him. He was alone in the room but maybe there was someone behind the glass that could help him. 

“Hello? Is anyone there? Could you please come in? I have a question about my mother.” Clyde yelled out. After a few minutes, the Sergeant came into the room.

“What is it?”

“Sir, I was just wondering if my mother was okay. I was expecting her to come down here to make sure I’m ok but she’s not here. Did something happen to her?”

“Wait here Clyde, I don’t quite know the answer to your question. I’ll be right back.” The Sergeant walked out of the interrogation very confused. He knew that Clyde’s mother was in the hospital because she had started showing symptoms of the Phantom’s disease. It was another reason that they thought Clyde was the Phantom. His mother had not seen the Phantom like the other victims so they thought that Clyde may have passed the disease on to her without wearing his disguise. But, the boy seemed genuinely confused and worried about the whereabouts of his mother. So was he really the Phantom or did they get it wrong? Maybe he was just pretending not to know where his mother was or maybe someone had framed him by putting his fingerprints on that victim. But before he could figure out how to approach the situation, Officer Wood came running towards him.

“Sir, we have received multiple calls from people in the town square. They said they noticed a weird powder being dispersed from the roof of one of the stores. Others have also said that they saw a person matching the Phantom’s description walking away from the square holding a weird device. What should we do?”

“We need to isolate the people that were in the square so sent units to stop people from leaving. Also, we need to find the Phantom, so interview anyone who thinks they saw him and set up a tip line so people can call in if they see anything suspicious.” After giving the orders the Chief got into his car and drove out to the town square to help manage the situation. When he got there, he saw that it was complete chaos. People were crying and screaming, some were trying to get out of the square. He got to work answering questions, explaining why they needed to stay in the square, and interviewing those who had seen the phantom. After a while, the people had calmed down and were ready to be taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure. As people were getting into cars and driving away a dark figure jumped up onto the hood of one of the cars. It was the woman who had screamed for help when she saw Clyde! She was the Phantom of Williow Creek! 

“My mission is complete!! There is nothing you can do to stop it! You’ll never find the cure to the disease I’ve created,” She cackled. She was pulled off of the car by two policemen, still laughing. They put her in a squad car and she was taken to the station to be put in a jail cell. Meanwhile, the authorities searched her house for any sort of anecdote for the disease. After a long while of searching, they found a cellar containing samples of the disease that could be used to create a vaccine and develop medication. Young Clyde was released and taken to see his mother, who was overjoyed to see that her little boy was okay. They named the disease Willow Creek Fever and all of its samples were locked away in a secure facility to make sure it was never used again. The victims began to feel better and many of them were often visited by Clyde, who made sure they weren’t lonely while in the hospital and brought them baked goods to cheer them up. The town recovered and the citizens discovered that Clyde, the boy they had blamed and tormented, was as far from a criminal as they get.