“That’s what I heard,” said Alma.
“I saw you talking to her. Is she mad at me? Does she think I’m a huge bitch?”
They got to the road and turned in the direction of the town. The others were ahead of them, on the side of the road.
“Let’s see,” said Alma. “Hey Aubrey!” She yelled out to the girl.
Stephen turned and angrily hushed Alma. Then Paul looked back and waved at them to hurry up across the street.
“Oh shit,” said Rachel. “There must be someone out there.”
Alma and Rachel ran across the street and down into the ditch on the other side. Rachel lost her balance and grabbed onto Alma’s wrist. They both fell and slid the last few feet to the bottom of the muddy decline.
“That figures,” said Rachel, but Alma quickly hushed her.
The others were hiding low as well and Alma heard the rumble of a vehicle’s tires on the road. The wind swished as a truck passed, headed north toward the farm.
“Do you think they found the van?” asked Rachel.
Alma hadn’t thought of the possibility of getting caught. She was so focused on going to the cabin to discover what her father had been trying to hide that she hadn’t considered the risk involved in getting there. If security found Jacker’s van, and called the police, then they could all be in serious trouble. It wouldn’t take long for the police to discover that Jacker was a wanted man.
Widowsfield
March 14th, 1996
“She’s here,” said Jeremy Tapper.
He stopped the two boys that were carrying the bowl of steaming water into the bathroom. They had oven mitts on, and had accidentally spilled some of the hot liquid in the hallway.
“Who’s here?” asked Mark as he stood in the tub, his shirt off, waiting for the children to pour the searing liquid on him.
“The Skeleton Man is going to leave us.” Jeremy’s hand faltered. He had the razor pressed to his neck, prepared to kill himself if his father didn’t do what The Skeleton Man asked, but now he felt alone again. The chattering teeth quieted and Jeremy felt lost without the noise.
“What’s going on?” asked one of the younger boys holding the water. “Where did he go?”
Jeremy set his hand on the sink to steady himself. “He needs two of them, but only one came back. She forgot, but he can make her remember.”
“Jeremy,” said Mark. “Put the razor down. Okay?”
Jeremy glanced at the other two boys, both of whom had started to cry. “We’re lost now.”
“Who’s going to protect us?” asked one of the boys.
“I’ll protect you,” said Mark. He nearly stepped out of the tub, but stopped, fearful that Jeremy would hurt himself. “I’ll stop whatever it is that you think is after you.”
“No you won’t,” said Jeremy. “The Skeleton Man protected us. This time he’s leaving. He’s going to try and find the one he lost.”
“He loves her more than us,” said one of the boys.
“No,” said Jeremy in anger. “That’s not true. Don’t say that.”
“Yes it is true.” The boys set the bowl of water on the floor and took off their oven mitts. “He’s going to abandon us now that she’s here. He’s going to let the woman have us.”
“What woman?” asked Mark. “I’m coming out of the tub, Jeremy. Put the razor down and tell me what’s going on.”
“No!” Jeremy pressed the blade against his throat. “You stay there. If he comes back, we have to pretend like everything’s the same. Daddy, you’re going to get us killed again. If the woman comes, she’ll try to grab us.”
“What woman?” asked Mark.
“The melting one. She hates the children. She wants to carry us away.
“Jeremy, nothing you’re saying makes any sense. I don’t know what’s going on, but something is messing with your head. There’s no Skeleton Man, there’s no woman that wants to kidnap you. You’ve got to believe me, son. Please.”
“Dad, you don’t know what’s in the fog,” said Jeremy. “We do.” He was crying as he held the razor to his throat. “It’s better not to see.”
Jeremy pressed the razor into his skin. Mark cried out in horror as his son sawed at his own throat. The boy fell to the floor and the other children scrambled to get the weapon, anxious to die next rather than face the coming shroud.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
3:14
March 12th, 2012
Stephen led them through Widowsfield, down side streets and alleys, through yards and a park. It was a small town, quaint but with everything a family would need to live happy. There was a grocery store, now blackened within as if it had suffered a fire; a plumber’s shop, with windows still intact but a sign that dangled from a single rusted loop; a flower store, with weeds around the foundation and vines creeping up the façade; and they saw a fire station, with a fire truck still parked in the garage as if no one was interested in salvaging any equipment at all from the town. If all humans were to disappear from the planet, Widowsfield is what the world would look like a decade later.
“This makes no sense,” said Paul as he held Alma’s hand. “Why would they just leave everything here? You can’t tell me there isn’t a fire station around here somewhere that could’ve used that truck.”
“No, this isn’t how it was when I came back the first time,” said Alma. “The buildings were boarded up then. It wasn’t like this.” They spoke in hushed tones, afraid to alert anyone to their presence.
“It’s almost like they tried to get the town going again at some point,” said Jacker. He’d been eavesdropping and snuck up behind them with Aubrey to talk about what they were seeing.
Stephen cut around the side of the fire station and motioned for them to follow. He had two bags strapped to his back, filled with equipment that he’d gathered from the van. Paul and Jacker were similarly loaded, but the girls were only asked to carry the clothes and a few light bags.
“Does he know where he’s going?” asked Alma about Stephen.
“Yeah,” said Jacker. “He’s been studying maps of Widowsfield. He talked about it in the van on the way here. I think he wants to check out Main Street first, and then head out to the elementary school that your cabin was near.”
“He’s going to get us busted,” said Aubrey.
“Do you remember it always looking like this?” asked Alma. “When you came here with your friends the last time, were all the buildings boarded up or were they like this?”
“Like this,” said Aubrey. “I think the company that bought the land did it.”
“That’s fucked up,” said Paul. “This place gives me the creeps.”
“Welcome to the club,” said Alma.
Stephen led them behind the station and then stopped and retreated a few steps as he waited for the others to catch up. “This is Main Street,” he said when they gathered around him.
“You sure this is a good idea?” asked Rachel.
“No,” said Stephen, although he had a giddy demeanor that unsettled Alma. “Jacker, can you give me the green bag? There’s a camera in there. I want to get some shots of Main Street.”
“Why?” asked Alma. “What’s so important about this spot?”
“Well, the rumor is that the emergency services in the area had a new computer system installed that recorded all of the conversations that happened in their station here. That’s the station over there.” He pointed across the street to a plain, brick building. A bank shared a parking lot with the emergency services building, and there was a digital clock on the sign near the road, but it didn’t display any numbers now.