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“We’ll see about that!” Trevor yelled out to Frank.

Frank’s face fell slack again, the smile gone, his expression blank again. These seemed to be the only two expressions Frank had now. “You have four hours to give him what he wants,” Frank told them, and then he began to back away from them, backing up towards the woods. But it didn’t seem like his feet were moving in the snow. It was almost like he was gliding backwards through the snow towards the trees.

“Cole,” Needles said from behind him, his voice trembling just a bit. “What the hell’s Frank doing? How the hell is he moving through the snow like that?”

“I don’t know,” Cole said, never taking his eyes off of Frank.

“Fuck this,” Trevor grumbled and charged down the steps into the snow, his gun up and aimed at the retreating Frank. “Fuck you!!”

“No!” Cole yelled. “Trevor, wait …”

As Trevor squeezed the trigger, a wave of wind and snow kicked up instantly, a sudden blinding blizzard from nowhere. Trevor fired three quick shots into the swirling snow, but the shots were muffled by the snow and wind. Then Trevor brought his arms up to his face, shielding himself as best as he could from the snow that pelted the exposed flesh of his face like hail. Trevor turned and stumbled blindly back up the steps, nearly tripping as he stepped onto the porch, getting under the cover of the roof.

Cole grabbed his little brother and did his best to shield him from the sudden squall of a snowstorm.

The small whirlwind of snow died down as quickly as it had started – it was completely gone now; the world was calm and peaceful again.

They stared out at the field.

Frank was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Where the fuck did he go?” Trevor asked as he stared out at the empty field of snow.

“I don’t know,” Cole answered.

“I don’t see him anywhere,” Trevor went on, his voice a little shaky. He wiped at his face which was wet and a little red from where the snow had pelted him moments ago. “Do you guys see him in the trees anywhere?”

“We need to get back inside,” Needles said in a trembling voice. His eyes bulged with fear as he stared out at the field of snow. “It’s not safe out here.”

Stella and David didn’t wait for the others. Stella ushered David back inside the doorway.

Needles turned and caught the front door as it began to close. He stared inside at Stella and David. “No way. You’re not going inside by yourself and locking us out here.” Needles hurried in after them.

Cole thought that he’d better get back inside with them, Needles was becoming more and more unglued every second. “Yeah,” he told the others. “Let’s get back inside.”

They all filed back inside the cabin, Cole was the last one inside. He shut and locked the front door. His mind was whirling, spinning. Everything seemed to be happening too fast. He needed things to slow down so he could think.

Jose paced into the kitchen, his movements quick and jerky, he was edgy and upset. “Fuck, man. Frank’s been doing this shit all along. All to get the money.” He looked right at Trevor. “I told you I saw Frank out in the woods. And you guys didn’t believe me.”

Trevor didn’t answer Jose, he looked at Cole instead. “So, what are we gonna do now?”

Cole didn’t answer.

“What do you mean?” Jose nearly screamed as he rushed back into the living room. “What are we gonna do about what?”

“The money,” Trevor said slowly like he was talking to an idiot.

“I’m not giving up my share of the money,” Jose spat the words out. “I’m not putting it out there.”

“I want my share out there,” Needles said quickly.

Stella and David took their spot on the couch. David wasted no time in picking up his spiral notebook. He opened it to the middle, to a page he had left off on, and he started drawing again at a furious pace. Stella tried to peek at what David was drawing, but he shielded the page with his hand and his body. She hadn’t been able to see what he had been drawing at all. She had asked him a few times to see the drawings, but he didn’t want her to. And she didn’t push, if this was his way of dealing with their situation right now, then she had to let him have his escape.

Needles looked at Cole, Trevor, and then Jose with frightened eyes. He was scared, more scared than any of them had ever seen him. He nodded his head quickly. “I want my share of the money out there,” he repeated.

“You’re fucking nuts,” Jose said to Needles. “It’s just Frank out there. Not the boogeyman or the devil.”

“So where did that wall of snow come from when Trevor tried to shoot at Frank?” Needles asked Jose. “You saw that … that thing out there. That wasn’t Frank. That was … was something else. You saw the way he was sliding through the snow back to the trees. How was he doing that?”

“Fuck this,” Jose grumbled. “I’m not having a conversation with a lunatic.”

Cole looked at Trevor. “What about you, Trevor? What do you want to do about the money?”

“I don’t know yet,” he answered.

“Are all of you crazy?!” Jose shouted.

Cole looked at Jose. “Jose, you need to think about this. There are some strange things happening here. Things that aren’t easily explained.”

“It’s just Frank.”

“Why would Frank go through all of this trouble?” Cole asked Jose. “Like Trevor said before, why didn’t Frank just take all of the money when he went outside in the middle of the night while we were asleep? Or why didn’t he just shoot us?”

“I don’t know,” Jose snapped at Cole. “I don’t know why he’s doing this. Or how. Or who else is helping him. I just know that I’m not giving them my share of the money.”

Jose took a few steps away, and then he turned back to Cole and Trevor. “Somebody has to be making Frank do this. It’s the only thing that makes any sense. Whoever took Frank in the middle of the night sent him back to get the money.” Jose looked at Stella. “Whoever she’s running from followed her here and realized that we were the bank robbers who had stolen the money from the bank. And now they want it all.”

Stella stared at Jose as he walked towards her.

“Who’s following you?” Jose demanded from Stella.

David put his pen inside his notebook and closed it. He clutched onto Stella with his notebook in his lap and stared at Jose with wide, unblinking eyes.

“Jose,” Cole warned.

Jose turned and stared at Cole. “Why do you keep protecting them?”

“We’re not going to go over all of that again, are we?” Cole said. “None of us are involved in this. When are you going to get that through your head?”

“Okay,” Jose said, nodding his head quickly. “If that’s true, then why don’t we do a little test? None of us put our money out there. Call Frank’s bluff, or whoever’s out there with him. Call their bluff.”

The cabin was quiet for a moment.

Cole finally shrugged. “Why not?” Cole looked at Trevor. “What do you think?”

“I don’t want to give my money away,” Trevor answered. “I worked hard for this.”

Needles stood in front of the recliner, his crucifix swinging back and forth slightly from his necklace, his wild hair spiked out in different directions, his eyes bulging. “No, I want my share out there. I’m not messing with the devil.”

“It’s not the devil,” Jose said. “I’m so sick of hearing you say that.”

“I get a vote,” Needles continued. “And I want my share of the money out there on the porch.”