“You wouldn’t understand,” Frank said. “It has to be this way.”
“I want to speak to this person directly!” Cole said.
“You are,” Frank answered. “Through me.”
Cole could tell that Jose was getting antsy beside him, fidgeting, ready to go for his gun. “This is bullshit,” Jose whispered. “Let’s just rush him. Make him talk.”
“What do you want?!” Cole yelled out to Frank
Frank stood motionless in the snow, impervious to the freezing weather even though he only wore pants and a flannel shirt. “He wants two human eyeballs on the front porch by sundown,” Frank told them.
Inside the cabin, Needles sat at the edge of his recliner, his elbows on his knees like he was ready to pop up onto his feet at any second. He was on edge, like he needed to get up and move, like he had something important he needed to do very soon.
And he did have something important to do.
What he’d seen last night had been no nightmare – it had been real. And he’d been given instructions. He knew what he needed to do. Maybe if he did what the devil told him to do, then the devil would let him go.
David sat on the couch, his notebook beside him. He wasn’t drawing right now; he was watching every move that Needles made.
Needles glanced at the front door. He could see that it was still slightly ajar. He thought about getting up and closing the door, and then locking it. He could lock them outside with the devil that they didn’t believe in.
Needles jumped to his feet. He only had a short time to accomplish his task, and he couldn’t waste time running for the door, it might spook the kid and he would run for the door or run to the back or scream. Instead of walking to the door, Needles walked into the kitchen. He glanced at the freezer for a second. He could imagine Tom Gordon’s body thawing inside the leaking freezer.
A thought occurred to Needles: maybe Tom Gordon wasn’t a demon, maybe he had been sent by God to give Needles a message. Maybe Needles was the only one who could see, maybe Needles was the only one who could carry out God’s plan. God had given Needles a warning through the old man in the bank, and Needles hadn’t meant to shoot the old man; he was truly sorry about that, he didn’t even remember pulling the trigger.
But now maybe Needles was getting a second chance. God was giving him a second chance to carry out this mission. Maybe the demon wasn’t out there; maybe the demon has been inside with them all along – the demon was David. And Tom Gordon had been sent to tell Needles what to do, to kill this demon.
Needles rubbed the gold crucifix that hung around his neck. He opened the kitchen drawer and rummaged around until he found the biggest kitchen knife he could find.
Needles turned and walked into the living room. He watched David who stared at him. David saw the knife in his hand, Needles was sure of that, but David didn’t try to run for the front door, or even try to scream. That had to mean David was a demon, and that was proof enough for Needles.
Thank you, God, Needles whispered in his mind. Thank you for giving me this chance to carry out your wishes.
So crafty the devil was, Needles thought, hiding inside such an innocent-looking child. Nobody would ever suspect what this child really was. But Needles could tell, Needles could see. Oh yes, he could see right through David.
Needles walked towards the couch, the knife in his hand; he didn’t even bother to try and hide it now. The light from the windows winked off the long blade of the knife. David just watched him with his large dark eyes. David knew what was coming, Needles was certain. And David knew that he couldn’t win. Evil couldn’t fight goodness – it was no match for it.
When Needles stepped onto the area rug, the Native American rug with its colorful patterns, David suddenly got to his feet; he glanced at the front door, but he didn’t run for it, he just looked back at Needles like he was frozen with fright.
Needles smiled at David. “You know what I have to do, don’t you?”
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Eyeballs?!” Jose yelled out in disgust at Frank. Jose stood on the front porch, his hand itching to draw his gun and run out into the snow and charge Frank. But for a few seconds he was too shocked to move, he could only stare at Frank. “Eyeballs?” he spat out again. “What the fuck?”
“You have to give him what he wants,” Frank said, and that plastic smile was back on his face.
Jose jumped off the porch and down into the snow; Cole didn’t even have a chance to stop him. Jose ran through the snow right at Frank as he howled a scream of fury.
Cole raised his gun, aiming it at Frank, ready to cover Jose.
But there were no shots fired at them from the trees.
And Frank wasn’t turning to run. He wasn’t pulling out his pistol. He wasn’t doing anything except waiting patiently and motionless as Jose ran right at him.
Jose reached Frank, his gun aimed right at Frank’s head. If anyone was going to start firing at him from the woods, Jose thought, then he was going to make damn sure that he blew Frank’s head off first. Frank watched Jose with no expression in his eyes, that plastic smile on his face. Jose wanted to smash his face in with the butt of his gun; he wanted to wipe that stupid smile away.
Jose stood in front of Frank, his gun aimed at his face, at that stupid grin. “You’re coming back inside, motherfucker,” Jose growled, and he moved around to the back of Frank to march him to the cabin. “You’re going to give us some fucking answers. You’re going to …”
Jose’s words died in his throat when he got around to the back of Frank. There was nothing there – no back to Frank at all. It looked like Frank’s back had been sliced off and his torso had been scooped out – muscles, bones, organs, blood, all of it gone. He was completely hollow inside. Even part of the back of Frank’s head was gone and the inside of his head was hollow. There were only the glistening red walls of flesh inside of his hollowed-out body.
Jose couldn’t understand what he was seeing. Frank couldn’t be alive. No one could be alive like this.
Cole stood at the edge of the porch, his gun still aimed at Frank. He was ready for the barrage of gunfire to begin from the woods, but nothing happened, nobody was shooting. There was no wall of snow, no sudden blizzard, nothing.
But something was wrong with Jose. He had gotten behind Frank to march him back to the cabin, but then he stopped cold, staring at the back of Frank in horror. At what? What had he seen?
Cole heard a sharp inhale from Stella. He managed a quick glance at her, and he saw her body stiffen, her eyes on Frank. Did she know what had stopped Jose? Did she know what Jose was seeing?
“Jose!” Cole shouted, trying to break his paralysis.
But Jose wasn’t listening, he wasn’t moving, he wasn’t answering. He only stared at the back of Frank.
Cole was about to jump down into the snow, but then Jose stumbled back around to the front of Frank, staring at him.
Jose moved back around to face Frank. His gun hand had dropped down to his side, and his body had weakened so much that he barely held onto his gun. He stared at Frank’s face.
Frank was still smiling. He spoke, and when he spoke Jose could now see the barest traces of light coming through his mouth from his hollowed-out head. “Go,” Frank whispered to Jose. “Go back and tell the others what you’ve seen. Tell them that they have to give him what he wants. There is no other way.”
Jose took a step back, then another. Then another. He backed up through the snow, away from Frank, but he didn’t take his eyes off of Frank.