“God damn it, Rachel, I know that. That’s the whole damn reason we’re here. You’re not going to back out of this now. No fucking way.”
“Maybe she’s right,” said Paul. “This is more than we bargained for, man. I don’t know what it is you caught on tape, but it was staring right at us. What the fuck was that, man?”
“I’m not leaving,” said Alma. Her bravado shocked even herself, but she’d never been more certain of anything in her life. “I can’t go, Paul. I understand if you want to run, but I’m not running anymore. Something happened here that ruined my life, and I’m going to find out what it was.”
“Alma.” Paul was going to try and reason with her, but Alma stopped him before he could get started.
“No, Paul. No. I’m not leaving. Not now.”
“You two are insane,” said Rachel. “You can go by yourselves. I’m done. How stupid would I have to be to stay here overnight after seeing that.” She pointed at the camera. “Fuck that.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Jacker as he returned with Aubrey.
The young girl’s lipstick was smudged and Jacker was rubbing his lips clean.
“Stephen just caught a ghost on camera,” said Paul.
“No shit?” asked Jacker. “Let me check it out.”
“Hold on,” said Stephen. He pointed out towards the fire station that they had been near moments earlier. “I just saw the security truck headed that way.”
Alma looked back to see if she could see the truck. “I don’t see it.”
Stephen packed up his camera quickly. “I saw it headed over there, and there was more than one. This is our chance to head out to the cabin. Come on.”
Alma was certain he was lying to try and get Rachel to go to the cabin.
“I told you,” said Rachel. “I’m not going.”
“Don’t be stupid, babe,” said Stephen. “This is our chance to get to the cabin where it’s safe.”
“It’s not safe here! It’s not safe anywhere in this fucking town,” said Rachel.
“So what?” asked Stephen. “Are you just going to go walk right up to the security here?”
“I didn’t see any trucks back there.”
“Trust me,” said Stephen. “I saw them. Now let’s get to the cabin and if you’re still set on going home we can figure it out there. Let’s at least get out of the open.”
“You’re going to get us killed,” said Rachel as she let Stephen lead her away.
Widowsfield
March 14th, 1996
Nancy staggered back inside of the Widowsfield County Emergency Services building. The fog had swept in too fast to be natural, and the crackling electricity zinged across the metal handle of the door.
“What the fuck is going on?” Nancy fell against the wall as she stared out the building’s door. There were dogs barking, and the clock on the bank’s sign seemed brighter than it should’ve been. As the fog rolled into the parking lot, the time continued to blaze through it, the light penetrating even the thick white cloud.
3:14
“It’s different now,” said Claire. The old woman stood up from her chair and took off her headset. “Nancy, get away from the door.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Get away from the door!”
Claire reached out and took Nancy’s arm to pull her back. The two women stared at the entrance for a minute, but nothing happened.
“What’s the matter up there?” asked Darryl from his seat in the middle of the room.
“Shut up, Darryl,” said Claire.
Nancy smirked, satisfied to hear the sweet old woman be nasty to Darryl.
“Nancy, this is all different,” said Claire as she looked down at her seat. She rubbed her thigh and then her head.
“I think there was an explosion or something outside.”
“Would you two get back on your damn phones,” said Darryl. “The lines are lighting up. I need some help here.”
Nancy glanced at her station and saw that every line was lit up red. “Oh shit, Claire. We need to get on the phones.”
“No,” said Claire. “Don’t do it.” The portly old woman grabbed Nancy’s arm to prevent her from getting to her desk.
“Claire, what’s the matter?”
“Do you hear that?”
“The dogs barking?” Nancy could hear dogs reacting to the strange fog outside, barking from far off.
“No,” said Claire. “Not the children. Can you hear the chattering teeth?”
“You’re starting to scare me,” said Nancy.
“I think there’s someone else in my head,” said Claire. “Darling, I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true.”
“Maybe you need to sit down,” said Nancy.
“No, absolutely not.” Claire seemed suddenly frightened of her chair.
Nancy tried to get out of Claire’s grip, but the old woman held fast. “I need to get some of these calls.”
“Quiet,” said Nancy. “Don’t move. He’s here.”
“Who?” asked Nancy.
“The one the children call The Skeleton Man. If he remembers us, he’ll lead the children here. He’s right outside.”
“Claire, I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but there’s…” Nancy looked outside where she had just been, confident that there was no one there hiding in the fog. She was wrong.
Standing outside the front door, seeming to hide from someone across the street, was a tall, dark figure. The fog shrouded him, but he was pressed against the glass, affording Nancy a view of his skeletal frame. He had long arms draped in a suit coat, and blood was dripping from the bone tips of his fingers. His face was a mask of sunken skin, pulled taut against a skull to reveal chattering teeth beneath. There were strips of wet flesh slapped against his skull and one of them slid down the side of his head. He had a hole where his nose once was, and his eye sockets were wide and black. Within the sockets sat two lidless eyes, smaller than the skull they dwelled in, bobbing in the blackness as they stared across the street.
Then he looked at Nancy.
The sound of his chattering teeth seemed to explode in her mind. She cried out and clasped her ears just as every pane of glass in the building exploded. The fog rushed in as The Skeleton Man turned his focus back on his victims. The children came to punish them, running on their bloodied paws and snapping their jaws. The adults would pay for what The Skeleton Man remembered.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Way Past Sanity
March 12th, 2012
Alma had no trouble finding the cabin. Despite how hard she tried to forget this place, Widowsfield was burned into her memory, and every street looked exactly as it did the night her father and she had fled.
“This is it.” She stood on the walkway that led to the front door. She stared at the picture window where her brother and she used to sit and watch the children come home from school. They would walk down the thin road, past the cabin that was mostly shaded by the encroaching woods. Some of the children would wave at them, but most snickered and laughed at the two young faces that peered at them.
A sense of sorrow and loneliness swept through Alma.
“Let’s get inside,” said Stephen.
“Are you okay?” asked Rachel as she stood beside Alma.
“No,” Alma stated matter-of-factly. “Not at all.”
“You don’t have to do this,” said Rachel. “I want to leave too. I want to get the fuck out of this town.”
Alma broke her gaze at the cabin to look at her friend. She felt an intense sorrow for Rachel, though she didn’t know why. “You should go.” Alma didn’t want Rachel to get hurt.