The Woods of Sin were usually a quiet place when the sun rose. Most people were too afraid to travel through them at all, and the few thrill seekers that did always left before morning. After all, what was the point in exploring such a cursed place, filled to the brim with the supernatural, during the daytime?

Today was different.

A collection of news reporters and cameras were piled right in front of the entrance to the Forbidden Cave, said to be the most dangerous place in all of the Woods of Sin. Everyone there was frantically reporting the newest story, one that was sure to capture a lot of attention.

Someone had been insane enough to break in.

A barricaded entrance had been built in front of the cave to deter anyone from trying to enter. Apparently it hadn’t been strong enough.

“Earlier today, a teenage girl was seen running out of the cave, crying.” A news anchor stated. “She has since been identified as Johanna Iverson, a fifteen year old from Stevenson high school. She claims that her boyfriend, sixteen year old Antonio Donner, was killed in the cave from being crushed by rocks. While she has declined a public interview, she has agreed to a private one with the Supernatural Investigation Department.”

The camera changed to show a close up shot of the entrance to the cave.

“The Supernatural Investigation Department has stated they have accepted the Donner family’s request and will explore the cave to retrieve Antonio’s remains. They have also stated they will put up higher level protection around the entrance, to prevent anyone else from going in. They reiterate that the Forbidden Cave is banned from being entered by the general public.”

The camera went back to the news anchor, but the TV playing the story turned off before she said anything.

The middle aged man at the front desk, Samuel Geisinger, turned in his chair and with a bitter groan, took out a folder full of paperwork.

“Captain?” A woman asked at his front door.

“Would you guys please stop calling me captain?” He asked, annoyed. “This isn’t a pirate ship.”

“I’m sorry… boss?”

“Oh that’s even worse.” He remarked. “Seriously Avery, just call me Geisinger. No need for all the dumb titles.”

“But I was told that… okay, Geisinger.” Avery replied. “I just wanted to tell you that Johanna has arrived. She says she wants to do the interview now.”

“Well, I can’t do it now, I’m busy.” Geisinger said back. “Someone else will have to.”

“Who?”

He thought over the question. “How about Ben? He’s good with interviews. Get him to do it.”

“Alright, will do, boss.” Avery said before quickly leaving the room.

“And stop calling me that!”

***

The Supernatural Investigation Department, or S.I.D., was housed in a fairly large building with a plethora of different rooms. The first floor was mainly for visitors, the people having problems with the Supernatural and needed special appointments or medical care. The second floor was for the employees, each one with their very own quarters. The third floor was where the head of the department, Geisinger, worked in his office. Aside from that, it had rooms which held the paperwork and information for the especially secret and top level investigations.

The building also had a basement, where combat and safety training was done. Every front line employee was required to spend a full eight hour work day there each week, to keep up their physical prowess and skill in combating beings that often gave physics and biology the middle finger.

To be able to work for the S.I.D. was considered a prestigious honor of the highest order. It was a hard place to get into, but well worth it if you did.

***

Avery walked around the halls of the second floor for about a minute before reaching the right quarters. She knocked on the door.

It opened almost instantly, revealing a young man just approaching his mid twenties named Benjamin Cross, a newer recruit who had joined a year prior.

“Johanna Iverson has arrived for her interview. Geisinger wants you to be the one leading it.”

Ben leaned his back on the doorway. “I take this is less of a ‘want’, and more of an order.”

“Basically.”

Ben sighed as he went to open one of his drawers, taking out a folder and a pen. “You know, before I got this job I didn’t think there’d be so much paperwork involved.”

“Is it really that much?”

“Well I’ve listened to what other receptionists have told me, and I think we might actually get more than you do.” Ben answered. “I mean, you think you’re gonna be some badass fighting ghosts and demons and next thing you know you’re in this room recording a bunch of shit.”

“If you had to fight demons a lot, the world would probably be a very dangerous place to live.”

Ben strapped on his backpack. “Sometimes I crave that excitement.”

Avery moved aside as Ben exited his quarters.

***

Arriving on the first floor, Ben made his way toward the room where they'd be conducting the interview. He opened the door to see Johanna, already inside.

Her face was damp.

Ben laid his backpack to the side and got out the folder and pen.

“Hello.” He said as he sat down. “You doing well?”

She didn’t answer.

“Look.” He said in a soft tone. “I’m sorry about what happened. I know you think I’m just saying that, but I do mean it.”

Johanna’s eyes began tearing up.

“Hey.” He said. “It’s okay. The supernatural has hurt a lot of people. You’re not alone.”

Johanna sniffed. “It’s just… if I’d told him no, or ran after him sooner, I could’ve saved him. Instead I was so… so stupid, and a coward. It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”

“No, it’s not. The first step to getting through this is understanding that it’s not your fault.”

Tears were falling almost freely from her eyes. “But I still feel guilty.”

“This is a process.” Ben reassured her. “These things take time, it’s not a switch that can be turned on or off. Trust me, one step at a time, you’ll get through this.”

She sniffed again. “Thank you.” She said with a quivering voice.

“Now, you said you wanted to do an interview. Do you still want to?”

Johanna nodded silently.

“Okay, why don’t you tell me what happened before he died, all that you can remember.”

Her face turned up. “Well… we were in the Forbidden Cave. He convinced me to go with him. I didn’t want to but he was so persistent. So I went along. And we traveled really far, I think it was like an hour or something. He pushed a rock off a cliff and I told him I wanted to leave. He said he wanted to explore one more room. I said okay, and then. And then…”

Her voice trailed off as she struggled to finish. It took about a minute before she was able to speak again. “He walked down this path and then I heard something breaking. I called his name but he didn’t answer. I tried walking down that path but got scared when I saw all the spiders. I stopped, and then I heard him scream my name and I ran. Then I heard a bunch of rocks breaking and falling, and when I got there… he was gone.”

She nearly lost control of herself again, only barely holding it together.

“I called his name so many times but never heard anything back. All I saw was just a mess of rocks on the ground. He was gone. I couldn’t find him anywhere. I got scared and ran out of the cave.”

Johanna suddenly buried her face in her hands, unable to suppress her sobbing.

“I’m sorry.” Ben said.

Johanna continued to sob for another minute.

“Is there anything you can think of that caused his death?” Ben asked her when she calmed down.

“I don’t know, it’s just…” She stopped for a bit, as if remembering something. “Actually, there was! I remember it now! There was this… weird light I saw for a bit.”

“Weird light?” Ben questioned.

“Yeah, I could see some kind of white light on the walls and floor. That’s when I heard him screaming. Once I got there, it was gone.”

Ben made a special note of that. “Is there anything else you can think of that may have caused his death?”

“No.” Johanna shook her head.

“Alright…” He said. “Well, is there anything else you want to say?”

“Not really. I just… I just don’t know what to do. I don’t think I can ever accept this.”

Ben leaned closer to her. “Hey, we actually have a grief counseling program available if you’re interested. I think it’d be very helpful for you. Alright?”

“O- okay.”

Ben nodded. “Well, I think that about concludes our time here. It was a pleasure meeting you. And please consider that grief program.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Ben smiled. “Thank you for your time.” He said before escorting her out of the room.

***

Ben headed to the receptionist’s desk right at the entrance to the building, dropping off two pieces of paper.

“The rest is classified, sorry.” He told Avery.

“Am I allowed to know how the interview went?” She asked him.

“I think it went well.” He answered. “The rest I have to tell the captain.”

“He said he doesn’t like being called that.”

“Really?” He said, grinning. “I didn’t know.”

Ben snickered to himself as he walked away. He took an elevator up to the third floor and quickly went over to Geisinger’s office, folder in hand.

He knocked on his door. Geisinger came to open it a couple seconds later. “Come in.”

Ben entered the room and took a seat in front of the main desk.

“So…” Geisinger started. “I assume you want to talk about the interview.”

“Yes.” Ben affirmed. “I talked to Johanna. She was real torn up about Antonio’s death. She was crying a ton. Poor girl… hell, poor guy. Anyway, I was able to get a lot of information. Some of it I think you might find interesting.”

“Explain.”

“Well, apparently right before Antonio died from being crushed, a white light was shining through the walls and floor.”

“Just a light?” Geisinger asked.

“That’s what she told me. She said that he was screaming when it appeared and that it disappeared right when she came to see him crushed under the rocks. I think it may have been what caused his death.”

Geisinger hummed. “You’re probably right. But I’d wait until we have more evidence before jumping to a conclusion.”

“Of course.” Ben replied. “But either way, I do think this is worth looking into.”

Geisinger swiveled around in his chair. “This may be something we should leave alone too. We don’t know what this thing might be. I don’t like going around looking for trouble.”

“I understand that, but we’re already going to the cave to try and retrieve Antonio’s body, or what’s left of it. This light, whatever it is, might still be in there. We could run into it.”

“Yes, we can’t avoid that.” Geisinger conceded.

“So… what are we going to do about it?”

Geisinger tapped his finger on his desk before answering. “We’re going in the cave to get Antonio’s body tomorrow. If we see this light, we’ll deal with it. If we don’t, we’ll let it slide. If we see anything unusual happening, in the cave or anywhere else, we’ll investigate.”

“That sounds too passive.” Ben argued. “This thing could be dangerous. It could leave the cave and start terrorizing and killing people.”

“I don’t deny that is a possibility. But we have no way to trace it right now.” Geisinger argued. “It sounds like this thing is bound to the cave, which we’re blocking access to anyway.”

Ben frowned, causing Geisinger to sigh.

“We have all the equipment we need in case of an attack. If we see it, we’ll deal with it. We’ll trap and examine it. We will take any potential threat seriously but I also don’t want to make the situation worse. Does that make sense?”

“I guess.”

“Good, because sometimes I get annoyed when people go out looking for trouble. Just look at what happened to Antonio.” He said. “Granted, it is my fault he got into that cave in the first place. The barrier should have been magically reinforced.”

“No, it’s not your fault, you told those guys to-”

“As the head of the S.I.D., I am responsible for all of my employee’s mistakes.” Geisinger interrupted. “I should have checked the entrance. It was completely unacceptable that I didn’t. That’s what you learn when you become a leader. It’s always your fault.”

Ben huffed. “And just after I got done telling Johanna the opposite.” He muttered

“Well, I’m just glad we seem to agree with each other.” Geisinger said with a smile. “Anyway, I have work right now that I need to get back to. I’ll see you later, goodbye.”

“Goodbye to you too, captain.” Ben said as he left the office.

Geisinger’s face fell. “Stop calling me that!”