“Sorry, man,” said Paul. “This place just sets me on edge.”
“The cabin is affecting us. I think we all just need to calm down,” said Alma. “Maybe try to get some sleep. If you guys are going to try and sneak out of here in the middle of the night, maybe you should get some sleep first.”
“I’m not going if you’re not,” said Paul.
“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere,” said Stephen.
“Well,” said Aubrey as she came down the stairs, “sorry to bust up the party, but I’m out of here as soon as the sun sets. Fuck this place.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Jacker. “Then I can go get my van.”
“You can’t do that,” said Paul. “Even if you make it out, what if they’re watching the van? You’ll get busted.”
“That’s the point,” said Jacker. “I need to step up and face the music. I screwed up, and I can’t run from it forever. You guys don’t need to get dragged down with me. I’ll go out there, get the van, and tell the security that I was the only one here. If they call the police, then I’ll be the only one they charge with anything.”
“Wow, man,” said Stephen. “Thanks.”
“Come upstairs with me,” said Aubrey. “Let’s try to get some sleep in the spare bedroom before we head out.”
The blonde bartender went back up the stairs as Jacker followed. He looked at Paul with a wide smile and a wink. Stephen patted Jacker on the back as he passed and said, “Go get her, big guy.”
“I still owe you for this, buddy,” said Jacker to Stephen.
“Not anymore,” said Stephen. “If you’re taking the fall for us, then we’ll call it even.”
Alma watched Jacker go up the stairs to sleep with Aubrey. Inside of her, a memory of her childhood was screaming in hateful terror. How many times had she watched her father ascend those stairs, ready to cheat on Alma’s mother? How many times had he forced Alma to promise never to talk about what happened in Widowsfield?
“I’ll kill you and your brother if you ever say anything, Alma,” he used to tell her. “I swear to God, I’ll kill you both.”
“Are they seriously going to go up there and fuck?” asked Rachel. “In the middle of all this shit, they’re going to have sex up there? Are they insane?”
Alma looked at the stairs as the hallway light shined down. “It’s not their fault. This place is trying to manipulate us. It’s putting emotions in us that were here sixteen years ago. It’s trying to complete the circle.”
Widowsfield
March 14th, 1996
“What did you see?” asked The Skeleton Man. He was hiding across the street, in front of a house where a little boy had just found his mother’s body fused to the floor under his bed. The child’s screams of terror were hard to ignore as Raymond stood in the yard.
Fog swirled around the demon, and the creature hid within it, staying a blur and lurking far enough behind the veil to shroud his features. His chattering teeth never ceased.
“I saw a little girl and boy,” said Raymond. “I met them once before. Their father is one of my sister’s friends. The boy was going up the stairs.”
“No, no,” said The Skeleton Man. “You’re looking at the wrong moment. You have to look beyond.”
“I don’t understand,” said Raymond. “You asked me to look in there, and I did.”
“Go back, look again,” The Skeleton Man growled. “But this time forget what’s always been there. Look at what’s new.”
“I don’t understand,” said Raymond.
The demon’s rage was revealed by the crackling electricity in the fog around him. The green light snapped at the tree in the front yard, which caused the bark to sizzle. “Fine. Come with me then. Just keep an eye out for your sister. I can’t be near her. You have to keep her away. Do hear me? Keep her away.”
They went back to the cabin, and the fog pressed up against the window. Raymond tried to peer in, but the electricity crackled around him and he flinched in fear of it.
“She’s here,” said The Skeleton Man. “I can feel her, but I can’t find her. There’re too many others. Who did she bring?”
Raymond looked in through the window again, but all he could see was a little girl crying in the kitchen. The boy was talking to her from the stairs as he carried a pot up with him.
“He’s not here,” said The Skeleton Man.
“Who?” asked Raymond.
“The one that burned us. The one your sister is waiting for.”
Dogs ran through the fog behind them, growling and snapping their jaws as they fought with one another. Raymond was frightened of them, but knew he was safe as long as he was with The Skeleton Man. He wondered what was happening to the other children now that The Skeleton Man was fixated on the cabin. Surely they must be dead already.
He took The Skeleton Man’s hand and felt the wetness of the demon’s flesh sliding off the bone.
“I need to know them all,” said The Skeleton Man. “I need to see if she’s replaced me.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Brother’s Parting
March 12th, 2012
Jacker was in an alley, though he didn’t know how he’d arrived there. His skin was itching, as if bugs were crawling on it, and he scratched at his arms as he walked. There was a man beside a dumpster, smoking a cigarette. It was a young man, thin and fit, with shoulder length blonde hair. Jacker knew who he was.
“Kyle,” said Jacker as he approached. “Kyle Beckner?”
“That’s me,” said the kid as he flicked ash off the end of his cigarette. He was wearing an apron with the logo of the grocery store on it. “What can I do for you?”
“You’re the one that Debbie’s been fucking,” said Jacker.
The kid stiffened, fearful, and started to reach for the back door of the grocery store. Jacker slammed his hand against the door to keep it shut. “She’s my girlfriend, you asshole.”
“Look man,” said the kid as he stepped back, “I didn’t know she was with anyone.”
“Bullshit,” said Jacker. “I met you at the Christmas Party.”
“Back off, asshole. Maybe if you could please your bitch, she wouldn’t go looking for stray.” He flicked his cigarette at Jacker and it bounced off the big man’s jacket.
Kyle’s bravado was reliant on Jacker backing off. There was no question who would win this fight, but the kid assumed Jacker was too scared to fight. He was wrong.
Jacker pushed Kyle off the stoop, and the kid fell into a pile of trash in the alley. He scrambled to stand up and threw a bottle at Jacker as he did. The bottle hit Jacker in the shoulder, but didn’t faze him.
“You want to fight?” asked the kid as he started to hop around with his fists up. “I’m not scared of you.”
“Big mistake.” Jacker advanced, and Kyle threw a couple punches that connected, but delivered no sting. Jacker was too large, and too high, to feel any pain that this puny man could inflict.
Jacker grabbed the side of Kyle’s head and slammed it into the brick wall on the other side of the alley. Kyle fell, dazed, as blood broke free from the side of his head, like oil seeping from dry earth. Jacker stared down at the beaten boy, and should’ve walked away.
“How’d that feel?” asked Jacker.
Kyle couldn’t answer. He was on his knees, wavering as if drunk, and staring up as the blood gushed down his left cheek. The gash on his brow was already swelling, and it looked like a golf ball was trying to burst through the boy’s skull.
The fight was over, and Jacker knew he should’ve walked away, but then he made the worst mistake of his life: He imagined this blonde haired teenager having sex with Debbie.