spookytomatoetuesday

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

One – Tumbling towards catastrophe

The road ahead was winding, following a cliff´s edge. It was summer and therefore a bright day even though it was still early in the morning. It was definitely summer and the radio kept reminding its listeners of that fact. For the moment, however, the summer hits where too distracting. Becky turned the car radio off. She then returned to the conversation she had with her friend Rose who was sitting in the passenger seat. “The film wasn´t a period piece.”, Becky insisted. “It was set in a period in the past.”, Rose gave back. “No! The film is not on the nose about it, but it was set in the future. The future from when it was produced anyway.” Rose frowned at this just to reiterate: “Yes, and this means that it was still set ten years ago. That is the past. I cannot remember ten years ago, not with a living memory. It might as well be a chapter in a history book. Plus that it is a time ten years ago as imagined by people living 40 years ago. So this is like a page in a fictional history book from a freak dimension.” Becky laughed. She gave in: “Okay.” “Well, that is not my point anyway.”, Rose continued in a mockingly serious voice. “The man issue I wanted to raise was that the protagonist was absolutely alien to me. Not because he lived in a different time, mind you. I had issues with him because of how he acted.” “You mean how he dealt with a world full of isolated people and ravaged by a virus?”, Becky injected. “Yes! The illness is obviously transmitted from person to person. So you keep away from the next best person. Problem solved. The so-called protagonist, on the other hand, did it all wrong, sacrificing not only his life but also the one of his gal-pal.” “She was severely underdeveloped as a character. That was more scary then their fate actually.”, Becky observed. “True. There was just one reason the dude did dude around with her, mouthing about and ruining it all.”, Rose summarized. “Even if he made decisions for others that were not his to make, I think his motivations where understandable. You can’t be alone for all eternity.”, said Becky, while she turned on to the parking lot of Wolf´s Cove High School. “There needs to be a sense of community. If you can’t interact with the ones you actually spent time with, how do you know that you even exist and that you are not just an idea of a person that might be easily forgotten? Apart from that, loneliness hurts if it is not voluntary.” “Okay, fair. You raise some good points as well. I see a use for people in the plural there.”, Rose conceded. “Still, there is a danger to closeness that is not always only down to emotions.” She was quiet for a moment while she and Becky got out of the car, took their backpacks, and went towards the school entrance. “The thing is…”, Rose continued right before they climbed the four steps to the grand double doors. “You get only to take a limited number of breaths on this crummy planet. So you might as well be selective as to who you spent them with.” Becky smiled at her friend. “I thought I was.”

Biking to school always seemed like a good idea when the weather was clear and bright. That was until the last part of the road served as stark reminder that it was more sweaty than fun to bike upwards the serpentines leading to the cliff top where the school was located. John remembered that now. “This was not a good idea.”, John managed to say while slowing down despite putting all the more effort into cycling. His legs started to hurt. Neil nodded: “Fnaf.” “What?” “Fair enough.”, Neil pressed out. “Should it not be fen then?”, John wondered and had to slow down to do so. Neil shrugged and both continued their track up towards the high school in silence. Finally they made it to the big main parking lot and chained their bikes to a lantern there. They noticed Becky’s car as the only one parked here at this early hour. “Oh boy, if I’d known Becky would be here this early as well, I’d have asked her if she could pick us up on her way. Maybe next time. She’d surely do it.”, said Neil shaking his head. John just grunted and then decided to say defensively: “I do not think she is here that early regularly. No one but you is.” “And you, fellow friend and confidant. However, someone has to man the commissary and make sure that it is open when all the breakfast-skipping students arrive hungry from the long way up.”, said Neil. The two made their way to the side entrance of the main building. “I am not a fan of that name. When you say it, I can almost hear boots and trumpets.”, John commented. “The food stall then. After we’ve got rid of the old and truly awful name, we have no official title for it. I’ll still call it commissary on my CV. Universities and prospective employers like that kind of entrepreneurship and lexical knowledge. You should get an activity like this too. They expect this.” “I thought it is the point to stick out, to be so unique that others are interested in you. How does doing what everybody does the same, because that is what everybody has to do, help there?”, John asked while Neil unlocked the foods stand and went into the back where the wares were stored. Neil pointed at some packages of soft drinks. “Need to unpack those and put them into the fridge first.” While they both got to it, Neil added: “So we both understand the system. There is what they say and there is what they want. Still, I think my way to deal with that could pay off in the end. Maybe even more so than yours.” John nodded when Neil reached out for another soda can. They finished the work in silence. Afterwards, Neil put on his work apron and took up his place behind the counter. Above him on the wall painted in a fresh white there was the faint shadow of a mascot which had fallen out of time. In front of him, there was the tip jar while the cassette with the change was hidden under the counter. Neil seemed a little tired but content. John waved to him. “I will try to get some more sleep in on one of the lounge sofas before class. See you later.”, John said. “See you.” The most comfortable couches stood in the lounge of the Science Building that was still missing an S. So John went directly there after leaving the food stall. Once in the lounge, he noticed a movement coming from the astronomy room. Through the large windows in the double door he could see Becky and Rose working on something inside. He hesitated. Beyond the doors was the opportunity for a nice conversation with his friends. He should say hello. He was sure that would be nice. Still, he hesitated. For no reason and yet he still did not jump at this possibility. On the contrary, he had to push himself even though it was a push towards people he liked. For a moment, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again. This was a warm-up and a collecting of resources. Then he knocked on the window in the door. They noticed him and he had to go inside now. “Good morning.”, John greeted. Becky answered with a “Hello, how are you?”, while Rose waved and nodded. “What are you doing?”, John asked to avoid an awkward break. Becky was still looking at him. “We got permission to use the school´s telescope to track the asteroid tonight.”, Becky explained. “It has a projector and with this camera here, we will be able to record the passage of our little friend while it passes through the night sky. We just set it up now before class.” “Interesting.” John strolled closer to the telescope while being careful not to touch anything. “Yeah.”, Rose added, “I hope the asteroid breaks open and reveals a truth about the nature of nature that is so unexpected, belittling, and unsettling, that it drops us into sheer horror.” John looked at her decisively unsurprised. “Or maybe it is just a cool image of an asteroid. Astronomy rocks and space is great.”, Rose more pretended to emote than said. But then she paused and added sincerely: “There is beauty among the stars.” “With some luck…,”, Becky added, completely serious, while finishing up with some adjustments, “We will get another glimpse at the vastness that surrounds us. How could not look at the sky with curiosity.” “Tonight you say?”, John inquired. “Yes.”, Becky answered. “Around midnight, it should be dark enough and we should be able to see it even with the naked eye.” “Will you be here and watch it?” “No.”, Rose said, stretching the o maybe a bit more than it was called for. “They do not want us here at night. So we have to set this up and hope for a great recording.” “Well… hope it works out.” John smiled at Becky and nodded at Rose. Then he excused himself and headed for the couches. He did not want to sleep just outside the astronomy room. So he went to the relatively lumpy couches in the Art building, named after local celebrity Burton Art. Becky and Rose continued to set up the telescope until the doors closed behind John. Rose peeked over the telescope and through the windows in the doors. When she saw that John was beyond earshot, she nodded as if she was part of a secret ring of spies. “Nice nice.”, Becky uttered in lieu of anything more substantial to say and tried to look even more busy. “Yeah. Nice how nice you two still are with another.”, Rose probed. “Almost as if it did not hurt.” “Hm…”, Becky answered. “It still does hurt a little. But it just was not… Well, it does still hurt. There´s a scar now on the heart. Maybe it´s healing, sometimes it feels like that. So it won´t hurt in the future or only when the weather is about to change. In any case, I feel that it´ll stay in some form.” “Sounds at least like it was real.”, Rose concluded and duck back down behind the telescope. The day that had begun so early dragged on in the middle. Biology class was turned into self-study by the absence of the regular teacher and the lack of a qualified substitute. John flipped through the textbook with his right, while his head rested on his left. There were not going to be any more test or quizzes or projects this year. Knowing that, John did not pay much attention to the contents of the pages and let his thoughts wander. “Do you think you would notice it as different when you were a duck?”, he quietly asked Neil who sat next to him. “Up until now I thought this self-study was even less useful than sex ed last week.”, Neil moaned loudly instead of giving an answer. Nearby, sitting at a bench next to Becky, Rose snickered. Some other students laughed, most were indifferent and bored. The moment passed. “Like, if you woke up tomorrow and were a duck. Would you remember how it was to be a person? Would you want to remember?”, John continued. “All I can say to this is: I hope not – on the duck thing. My uncle hunts those. This would make for super awkward Thanksgivings.” Meanwhile Becky read the newspaper, searching out the reports on the asteroid. “You cannot pretend to do biology while actually doing some work on another science.”, Rose insisted as she noticed. “That is like cheating. A weird way of cheating, but still… You should at least cheat on biology with social studies, or history. English or a foreign language would work as well, I guess.” “What are you doing?”, Becky asked back, looked up from the paper and at her friend. Rose pointed to her sketch pad. “Take it in. These are the initial drawings of the cycle of Solomar. You see them here as first mortal before they conquer the world by storm.”, Rose exclaimed. “Looks great.”, Becky said, studying the drawings. “I like this lone heroine. Looks a bit like a barbarian, like as if she was about wrestle with a dragon.” “How do you know that she is a lone heroine?”, Rose asked. “She’s one of yours.”, Becky said. At some point, the time for self-study officially ended. The students packed their things quickly into their bags and were in the midst of storming out. Neil strolled over to Rose and Becky, braving the current of leaving classmates. “Rose, you have a minute? There is something we should talk about. Something important.”, Neil announced. “Important like art, or just like life and death?”, Rose inquired while stuffing her textbook in her backpack. “Or like love?”, Becky added with a side-glance at Rose. Neil hesitated, clearly thinking about a reply. “Super important. This is about the social studies project we did together.”, he explained. “The one we handed in and got a grade? I thought the circle was completed, the fate sealed.”, Rose answered. She then waved Becky a short goodbye as Becky was leaving for English less prepared than she could have been. “Yeah, let´s see about that. I don´t think that it should be sealed. We should talk to Ms. French about the grade. -See you Becky.- Fran agrees with me on that. Let´s meet her now and go to Ms. French.” “Ok. But afterwards it is lunch time. Actually, I think it is lunch time now – but if you insist, I will postpone my meal. I hope you will use this chunk of my life time gifted to you to a proper end.”, Rose stated and grabbed her bag. “Of course. Have I ever wasted my or anybody else’s time?”, Neil replied. Both they then left the classroom and made her way to the Art building and Ms. French´s office. The cafeteria was emptier than usual. Rose and Neil had no problems finding an empty table. “Told you that it would go well. We just had to highlight the amount of work that had gone into the project.”, Neil repeated. “Hm.”, Rose replied and then decided to dig into the pasta instead of expanding on that. “I mean, your contribution was obvious. The illustrations were both bloody and really good. They might have distracted Ms. French a bit. It was her fault, though, as she gave us this particular topic. Thanks for showing up with Fran and me anyway. Now we can be satisfied with the grades.”, Neil said, a fork with food hovering close to his mouth. Rose nodded. “It was a fun project. We should hang out more often. Like we used to in the golden days of our youth. Like, like we used to up until a few weeks ago.”, she added. “Yeah.”, he put down the fork again. “Only… weird without the other two and weird with them now. That was easier before.” “True.” She eyed a suspicious lump in the red sauce. “There is one group-thingy I like and now it is that… weird. I wonder if they thought about what they are doing to us when they… did what they did. Now we are like a family, divorce and all.” “Hah, true.”, Neil exclaimed and then finally took a bite. “Maye we can educate the others and reduce the awkwardness.” “There’s only so much time before everybody moves away for college next year.”, Neil said in a low voice, leaving it open if this was unclear if this was an argument for or against. “Oh.”, Rose grunted. “Maybe we should not have sought to improve our grades then. And we should find a way to drag the ones of the others down. Then we can repeat a year or two or more. Stupid maybe, but happy.” “Yeah… no. Not sure if this would even work.” Neil decided it was time to go over to the dessert. “So this remains an issue for future me an you. It is also for future Becky and John, of course.”, Rose suggested. She discovered that the lump was just an oddly shaped noodle and ate without concern. “Future me and future you, future us, and them too.”, Neil repeated. Both he and Rose lifted their heads, smiled, and listened in anticipation. Instead of music, Becky arrived with a food trey and sat down next to Rose. “Hi. How are you two?”, Becky asked. “We are doomed due to our feelings and the feelings of others.”, Rose declared. “Of course we are. But who are the others this time?”, Becky wondered. Rose sighed theatrically and Neil smirked before shaking his head. After lunch, Rose and Becky had some time before the next class that was not already assigned to any task or activity and went outside. Rose walked directly to one of the battered blue payphones and punched in a number. “Hello, I would like to talk to the Ericsons, please. Yes, whoever of them is available right now… I am their daughter. The other one. Yes… thank you Mr. nurse.” While Rose talked to the bodiless voice in a strange city, Becky settled in the corner made by the phone and the concrete wall of the main building. There was a pause as Rose waited for her parents. Becky imagined how now their names would be called out over PA, how one of them would move through the hallways of the hospital, looking for the next available phone. While she imagined this, Becky looked across the school parking lot and then beyond its chain-link fence at the town across the small straight. It was nestled on that small ragged island with curved bays and towering cliffs with sharp edges. It was a rugged place between the ocean and the mainland. It was as if the town was clinging to a rock among the waves. There were a lot of houses with great views as they were built close to the cliffs. Even greater must have been the view for the cedars. The trees filled still the spaces people had left for them. Some crept very close to the edges and others even hang out a bit over the ocean, just barely hanging on to the rock. And yet they did. They even managed to reach out to the sky. Some storms were strong enough to break them and take them away. But a number of them was still left. Becky had some favourites among these cedars. Old and brave ones she always sought out when she had a minute to look out over her home town. Faster than expected, Rose was connected. She exchanged individual words with one of her parents. By the sound of this, it was her mother. No, Becky decided after three more words, probably it was her dad. “Well but that is good… like, given the situation. Hugh her from me… if, if this is possible. …Yeah. Bye.” Rose hung up. “Well that was… yeah, good. At least she is fine. For the moment at least she is fine. That is a win.” Becky turned towards her friend and nodded, then laid an arm around her shoulders. “Yes it is, Rose. I´m glad she’s doing ok.” John stood, his bike and himself ready to leave, already on the parking lot, a few steps away from the main building. Neil, on the other hand, still fiddled with his padlock, aiming to free his bike, but as of yet unable to make that plan a reality. Then he stopped suddenly in mid-fiddling. “Shit… should take a look and check if Pete has locked the commissary. I guess I should.” Neil wavered a bit. “Yes, should do that.” He let the padlock be for the moment and sprinted back to the main entrance. “Maybe go ahead without me. We can meet at my place. One of my parents is probably home. They´ll let you in. And if it´s my dad, you might get some chocolate milk while you wait.”, Neil said to John over his shoulder. “No. It´s ok.”, replied John. “I´ll wait. Let´s go together.” Neil gesticulated vaguely but then nodded. When he passed the doors and went into the main building, he passed Rose, and both gave each other high fives in passing. Rose then made her way to John. She stopped beside him on the parking lot under the warm sun. “All done for the day?”, Rose inquired. “Yes, all done.”, he reported. “Not just for today even. There is nothing going on tomorrow, right? Besides getting on the bus, I mean.” “True. So you are good and settled for the whole year then. Great!” “You?” “I am done as well. Done and done. Except for the asteroid business, but this is more of an extra credit and in any case something I do more to give a hand to Becky.”, Rose replied. “Look at us. We got all taken care of. So if we were to die now, we leave nothing behind that can further bind us as wraiths to this plane of existence.” “Lucky us.”, John smiled. “Could be an interesting experience to be a wraith, though.” “Nah.” Rose shook her head. “Probably not. Besides, that is something that you can try in the far-away future after dying of old age.” She mustered him. “How is our story going?” “It is going well… I hope. Maybe a few more weeks of work and then it is ready to be rejected like the other ones.” Rose nodded gravely before cocking her head and smiling a bit mischievously. “Well if this is not something to live for.” She was about to add something, but in this moment, Becky drove towards the two. She stopped the car and let the passenger side door swing open for Rose to get in. “Have a good one.”, John said. “See you.”, Rose gave back. “And remember: Always create something that, if aliens from the future would find it as only surviving artefact of our civilization would understand us at least a bit. Picture mankind naked and write about it.” “Will do.”, John said and laughed. Then he and Becky exchanged a smile and a wave, before the girls got into the truck and drove off. John was not alone for long, though. Neil returned right afterwards. “Oh, should have asked her to give us a lift.”, Neil exclaimed. “She’d have done it.” “Of course Becky would have done it.”, John said flatly. “Her pickup even has space for bikes in the back. That would have been great.” “We are not really going in their direction.”, John replied. Neil just shrugged and then went to unlock and unchain his bike. “Could transport at least one caged dinosaur on that truck. God, how I miss that old rusty lady.”, Neil exclaimed. After a brief pause, he added: “I mean the truck. With old lady, I mean the vehicle.” He then finally was able to open his rusty lock and free his bike. He went over to John and both took to their saddles and started to bike down to town. “Think Becky is going to sell her car when she moves for college?”, Neil wondered aloud and very eager to move the conversation forward. “Ask her. But do not take it for free.” As everything failed, there was nothing left but drifting into the cold darkness. All that while the mind raced and tried to imagine the end. A whole world was about to lose itself in the eternal night. The end and the way there would be lonely. Soon it would end, but the time until then was still long. Too long not to fear madness before the darkness. But then there was a little blue spot shining in all the darkness. Maybe this one was hospitable enough, close enough to save a life.

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Two – Night Fall

Stars sparkled on the sky above the small bay with its gravel beach. The tiny lights were framed nicely by the rough cliffs on two sides of the beach. It was just dark enough to see the stars. And it was just still warm enough to enjoy the view from the beach. Out on the seas, the tiny lights of the stars reflected on the darker water. All around the bay, the high dark cliffs that were so characteristic for this place, towered. There was a smell of seaweed in the air that was maybe a bit too strong. Becky and Rose lay on their towels, waiting to dry and even more intently to see the asteroid. They had brought flashlights for the way back to the car later and an opened bag of chips sat between them. “When you close your eyes and dream… no, when you draw and dream, do you see this place? Or do you picture every place but here?”, Becky asked while she kept glancing at the stars. “This is the place my parents picked. I find it small, constricting. It is even too small to help my sister. So no, I see a wider world when I think about dreaming.”, Rose replied. She was facing the sky above as well. “Fair.”, Becky commented. “Also, the town here is full of all these people already slotted into tiny boxes. What is more, they put everybody else also in boxes. Like the way old Curtis and Mr. W. look when I walk past. They know me – and are not bothered by truth. That makes it feel even smaller, or what do you think?” Rose took a deep breath, before adding: “I have never felt so lonely like I have felt in the company of people. Certain people.” Becky scoffed in an almost conspiratorial agreement and then answered: “Yes, there are a lot of small boxes here and people limiting themselves, lock themselves – and others – in. They make you the alien and blame you for the strangeness they see in you.” She sighed. “Still, there are also good and interesting people here. They give this place a soul. So I think I can only love this place because of that.” “Well, maybe it is easier to like it here if you are not like me. You got a choice at least.”, Rose remarked. “That is probably true. Sorry.”, Becky agreed thoughtful and then stopped talking altogether. Rose tried to look at her in the dark, but could just barely see Becky´s head continuing to face the sky. After a moment, Rose cleared her throat, determined to say something again. “But maybe that is still and nevertheless your superpower. I cannot. I am just afraid the world out there provides just more space for small boxes.”, Rose said. Becky reacted relieved that the conversation went on. And she seemed willing to return Rose´s favour: “Well you can at least go there and find it out. Maybe it is better than expected.” “But what if not?”, Rose wondered. “Then you tried at least. Besides, you can be sad about that and pure this sadness into brooding comics once you saw it. No need to be beaten down about that already now.”, Becky proposed.

John stood by the window and tried to re-orient the small telescope towards the night sky. Behind him, Neil lay on his brother´s neatly made bed, reading one of his brother´s old and not so neat magazines. “Did not know your brother had a telescope.”, John remarked. “Wonder why he did not take it with him.” “Hm.”, Neil gave back. “Maybe not enough space. He mentioned his dorm room is quite small. Or there are not enough windows to spy in nearby.” John sized up the telescope suspiciously. “Really?” “I would not know or insinuate.”, was all Neil said. He then proceeded to study the magazine. “I think I get the point of this.” He gesticulated towards the open page. “However… what is your endgame here? Like, what is this good for in the end?” “Not sure there is an endgame.”, John murmured and resumed his work with the telescope. “This would be easier with a manual.” “Haha, it sure would.”, said Neil, turning another page. “It would indeed.” He changed his mind, dropped the magazine, and looked at John. “So, will we be able to see the comet?” “Asteroid.”, corrected John. He looked through the telescope. “I thought it would show up in this part of the sky. If I understood Becky and Rose correctly that is. Hm…” Neil stood up from the bed, turned off the bedside light, and walked over to the window. There he peered through the glass, taking in the night sky. “Talking about siblings.”, John said, still one eye pressed to the eyepiece. “My sister told me to greet you.” “Oh, that´s nice. Thanks. Did you talk to her recently?” Neil wandered the room a bit. “Yesterday.”, John explained, “After I was able to take the phone out of grandma´s hands. Rhonda likes the university. She mentioned some roommates, but I have no idea if this was the first time or if I should know their names by now.” “Well, glad that she likes it. Return the greetings, will you?” “Sure. There is still nothing to see by the way. Maybe it is not yet time.” Now John withdrew his head from the telescope and looked at the sky with the naked eye. Then he went back to the eyepiece. “Did you ever fantasise about Rhonda and your brother being a couple?”, John asked into the room. Neil stopped in his tracks. “Fantasise?” “Maybe that word was not well chosen.” John looked at his friend and smiled an excuse. When he saw Neil´s unbroken consternation, he returned his attention to the telescope. “I just thought it would be… less work when they would end up together.”, John explained. “How so?” “Well… I already know your brother. There would be no need to get to know a new addition to the family.” “I see.” Neil sat now again on the edge of the bed. “But they go to schools in completely different parts of the country, right? I´m also unsure if they would be a good match.” “I did not really think that this was a realistic option.”, John defended himself. Then he froze. “There it is… I think.” Neil jumped up from the bed and hurried to the window. From the way the telescope was positioned, he attempted to figure out where he had to look. Then he saw it: a light wandering across the night sky. Then a smaller green light appeared as if broken off from the bigger one. The green one grew bigger and bigger very fast. It followed a steeper and yet very reasonable looking curve. That is, until it did not. It changed course mid-flight while it continued to get bigger – and it came for Wolf´s Cove. “Did there just…”, Neil started. “Yeah…”, answered John with a light tremble in his voice. In the dark, Becky fumbled for her watch. She realized her error and took the flashlight first. In the small circle of light that the device produced, she found the watch. The time had almost come. She informed Rose and both laid back again. Their eyes and minds focused on the sky. Then they saw it. “This should not be that green.”, Rose said and sounded clearly worried. “I mean, it also should not change course like it just did. But the color really makes me nervous.” They both pushed themselves up on their elbows as if to see closer and better what happened above their hometown. They saw the light that was the asteroid. And they forgot about it immediately when the saw the green round light descending on a clearly willed trajectory downward to Earth. There was no sound, no heat, just the eerie green glow of what soon became a green ball in the sky. “That cannot be good.”, Rose commented. “Now it seems to get slower, but still might crash into these houses over there.” By now, it became clearer that the sphere was heading for a quarter of detached houses on one high point on a cliff. “It gets slower – maybe something is landing over there.”, Becky muttered mostly to herself. “Seem still quite fast to me.”, Rose muttered back. “Maybe it will be a crash. Should we… should we really stay here?” She turned to her friend to see a reaction. Becky´s head was a dark but familiar form in front of the even darker background. But her wide open eyes were clearly visible for Rose. In these eyes, Rose saw now the reflection of the former comet becoming an asteroid and hitting a house. Quickly, Rose turned her head again toward the crash site. A green wave of light exploded from the house and looked like an expanding ball before losing itself in the night. Then the yellow lights of the house flickered and darkened. The two girls grabbed their flashlights and stood up. “We should check if somebody is hurt. It´s not far from here.”, Becky called out and ran up the little slope that led to where she had parked the car earlier. Rose was only a bit slower to follow. “Really?”, the asked. She did not get an answer but only saw the light of Becky´s flashlight tilting up and down, up and down, as she ran. With a small grunt, Rose followed. “That asteroid just hit the house over there.”, Neil exclaimed, his voice creaking. His gaze was still stuck to the two-story building in question. John stepped back from the telescope but then looked around. There was no explosion or shock wave. They had only seen a light ball. “Weird.”, John commented. “I thought we’d have burned up in a giant fire ball by now if an asteroid would hit Wolf´s Cove.” “Shit, that’s true.” Neil started now to scan the surroundings as well. Seemingly nothing had changed. All the wooden houses with their front and backyards still stood unmoved on the edges of cliffs and at the many small winding roads of the town. “Or do you think that’s yet to come?” John shook his head. “No, I think this is not how that kind of thing works. Should we go out to see if we can smell or hear something?” “You do that, I check again what I can see with the telescope.”, Neil suggested. He stepped towards the instrument, while John left the room. A moment later, Neil could see his friend standing on the front lawn. As nothing happened with John, Neil directed his attention towards the telescope and then towards the house that had been hit by the glowing asteroid. The house in question was some distance away but close enough that Neil could see it through the telescope as if it were as doll house. The lights were out and so there were just shadows to see. But then there was a movement visible through the windows. Or was there? Neil winked and then tried to focus again. Then there was a small burst of light, like from a car passing the house. And that called from a new shadow. This was clearly not part of the house. There were no edges, no straight angles. There was the round quality of flesh. And there were limbs, more than humans should have even if they stick all arms and legs up towards the ceiling. And there was the curve of a claw or talon, duplicated over and over along the limbs. Then the flash of light passed and the house was shrouded in darkness again. Neil was still transfixed by the view and dared not to wink again. But there was nothing anymore to see. Slowly, Neil backed away from the telescope. In the corner of an eye he saw John retreating from the lawn. Soon John´s steps could be heard coming up the stairs again. He re-entered the room. “It feels strange outside. Quiet and normal on the surface level – but also as if something was wrong with the air. As if something had shifted. It is hard to describe and I have no idea what it means.”, John reported. Neil just nodded, his eyes wandering unsteady through the room. “What is wrong?”, John asked concerned when he saw the sate his friend was in. Neil swallowed, waved his head from side to side and then looked directly at John. “I think I saw something.”, Neil said in a low voice as if not to disturb a graveyard. “Something strong, something violent, something powerful. I feel like the mouse that just saw its first cat.” John´s eyes widened. He quickly went to the telescope but by now there was nothing to see. Looking up, John met again the shocked gaze of his friend. “Should we call someone?”, John asked and Neil nodded. For a moment, both stared at the telephone next to the bed. Neil went towards it, but then stopped and sat on the edge of the bed. “Oh boy, oh boy.”, he just stammered. Realizing that Neil would not be much help during a phone conversation, John went to the phone. He picked up the receiver, but then paused. He drew three deep breaths, shortly closed his eyes, and then opened them again to call 911. He felt how he started to sweat and how his empty left hand opened and closed in an attempt not to shake. Shortly, John deliberated with himself if he should just hang up again. But then a voice on the other end asked about his emergency. “I think there is a situation in a house on… I think it is Camil Drive. The upper end of it.”, John blurted as fast as he could into the receiver. “Situation? What kind of situation?” Again, John hesitated. He looked to Neil, but Neil seemed as clueless about what to say as John. “Oh…”, said John in an attempt to win some time. He waved his hand at Neil, snapped his fingers. Finally, Neil got himself together again – and shrugged. “Monster?”, Neil mouthed. “Bad bad monster?” But John hesitated again. There was a very long pause, infinite it seemed, until he talked again into the receiver. “Oh… well… Nothing, luckily. This was just a prank. Hehe…”, John stammered. “Prank prank.” He smashed down the receiver. “What the fuck?”, was all Neil could say. “How could I ever convince them that there is a monster – one that I cannot describe, mind you? And even if I could or if they would just send someone to check on a disturbance – do you think that person could handle what you saw?” Neil considered that for a moment, before he shook his head. “We could have send someone into a death trap…”, Neil stated in a low voice. Becky was already in the driver´s seat when Rose caught up and jumped into the passenger seat. Before Rose could even fasten her seatbelt, Becky stepped down hard on the gas pedal and the car leaped forward. Becky steered it focused and with a steady hand through the nightly streets. She also did continue to drive very fast. Rose clung meanwhile to the console and closed her eyes repeatedly. Luckily, there was not much traffic. At this hour on a Thursday, not many people where on the road. Ahead lay one of the few straight segments of Wolf´s Cove´s roads which lead Becky to accelerate even more. Rose resolved to press her eyelids together and to hope for the best. “Oh shit!”, Becky exclaimed and must have attempted a last-minute evasive manoeuvre. The car started to sway and finally break out. Tires screeched over the asphalt and Rose was pressed against the side door. Then Beck regained control but abruptly stopped the vehicle dead cold. Only now Rose dared to open her eyes. The car stood almost in a right angle to the street and only inches away from a street lamp. Rose petrified view wondered from the lamp pole to Becky. And Rose did her best to mix the terror expressed in it with accusation. “If I’d not nearly crashed us, I’d have hit two dogs.”, Becky explained. She was also visibly still shaken. “Well, nobody died just then. So we can put that down as a success, I guess.”, Rose said consolingly and petted Becky´s shoulder. “How unlucky could we be, though, to almost run over two dogs? And where are they?” Both, Rose and Becky looked around. “Guess they were scared too and ran off.”, Becky suggested. “Oh no, I think I see them over there.”, Rose exclaimed and pointed. “No, these are different dogs. And there are three of them. Or is this a cat?” Both as it turned out. Several dogs and cats hurried from one bush to another and then continued down the street. They were followed by even more cats and dogs, as well as racoons. Then the rats came. Lots and lots of rats. They passed the car like a wave without minding it. All these animals ignored the vehicle completely for they were clearly on the run. Something had scared them to death. After the rats, there was silence. “This does not look good.”, said Rose and peered along the street in the direction where all the animals had come from. “There must be something very frightening up there.”, Becky concluded. “Green glow, thing falls from the heavens and crashes in a two-story, all animals flee…”, listed Rose. “I think we should get the hell out of here. There is some monster-stuff going on.” Becky put her hands back on the steering wheel but then hesitated. “But that means there might still be someone in danger.”, Becky said. “To be honest, I am not sure if we could help them.”, Rose replied. “We should get somebody.” Betty nodded. “Let´s drive home and see if mom is home yet. Or if we can call someone.” She looked one last time up the road, but then set the car in motion towards her home. Neil walked in tiny circles in the middle of the room. It was almost more a spinning than a walking. “So what is the next step here?”, he wondered aloud. “We can’t call the police… again. But we are sure that there is some danger up on that cliff.” “We could always go mad with the realization that we might have seen how a dangerous being came to us from the depths of space.”, John suggested and attempted a smile. Neil stopped and stared at him. “Yeah. Shelve that for now and let´s talk to my parents.”, Neil suggested. So they ran downstairs to the living room, skipping the last steps of the stairs. In the living room, they found Neil´s parents on the couch and in front of the TV. They did, however, not pay much attention to the screen. As Neil and John entered, Neil´s mom practically jumped to the side and away from her husband. “Oh, you scared us just there.”, she exclaimed, blushing. “Something wrong?”, Neil´s dad said and at the same time tried to button his shirt back up both inconspicuously and fast. Both failed. “We might have just witnessed a… dangerous thing.”, Neil explained and stepped closer to his parents, while John hung back in the doorway. “What happened?”, asked Neil´s mom who was now very serious and did not any longer try to hide her red face. Neil told her what he had seen through the telescope and which conclusions he and John had made. “We should’ve taken away the damned telescope. You shouldn’t peek into people’s houses like that.”, said Neil´s dad and finally managed to button up his shirt properly. “We only looked, because we feared that somebody could have been hurt in a crash. And then I saw that it was way worse.”, Neil defended himself. “I think the telescope’s not the point.” Neil´s mom put a hand reassuringly on her husband´s thigh. “I see how affected you both are by what you saw or think you saw. Still, this is not very easy to simply accept.” As answer, Neil started pacing up and down in the living room in front of the TV. He also once more described what he had seen. John was willing to help and stressed the weird behaviour of the thing that had broken off of or started from the asteroid. There was a mind behind the claws. But there were claws as Neil had seen. “So… should we call the police then?”, Neil´s mother asked and proceeded to get up from the couch. Neil shook his head. “John tried this. But we cannot send someone who has no clue and would not believe us in that kind of danger.” “Maybe we should then at least try to call the sheriff directly and explain. He can then take the appropriate steps.”, Neil´s mom suggested. “If he beliefs us.”, Neil added. “Maybe you can do a Polidory Test.”, Neil´s dad said and chuckled. “You mean a polygraph test.”, Neil replied, communicating a lack of patience. “I know what I said.”, his dad sulked. Neil looked at John, John looked at Neil. Both conveyed the impression of uncertainty and indecisiveness. “Well. Let´s call someone.”, Neil finally said. Becky parked the car in front of her house just as her mother pulled up as well. Rose and Becky breathed a sigh of relieve as Becky killed the engine. They slipped their shirt back on, got out of the car and ran over to Becky´s mother. She got just out of her vehicle but was immediately alarmed by the worry on the faces of the two girls. “What happened? Something at the beach?” “Yes.”, Becky answered and would have expanded on that. Her mother, however, was faster. “Hm… I didn’t like your idea to watch the asteroid from there so late at night.” “Erin, this is not an issue with the usual creeps.”, Rose interjected. “In that regard, this night was quiet.” Now it was Becky´s mom´s turn to sigh in relief. “No.”, Becky explained. “But we saw something else. Well, saw it kind of second hand…” “But there might be a monster on the loose in town Erin!”, Rose just jumped in. “What?” Erin did seem to have a hard time believing this. So the girls explained what they had experienced. “That with the animals is unsettling…”, Erin admitted. She looked around, possible on the lookout for masses of panicking rats. “Let´s just continue this insight.” “Good idea, Erin. And let us make sure the doors and windows are locked once we are inside.”, Rose meant. The three settled in the kitchen under the old round lamp and the yellow light of the one bulb in it. Becky and Rose sat at the central rectangular counter, while Erin put on some water to boil. “So you have seen a crash. And seen evidence that there is danger – at least to animals.”, Erin summarized. “Yes. So, mom, who do we call now?”, Becky asked. “The police?”, her mom suggested. “Meh.”, Rose said. “What would they do? But I am not a big fan anyway. I remember the talk quite clearly.” Erin nodded and then poured hot water into three mugs with tea bags in them. She put one each in front of Becky and Rose, before she sat down herself with the remaining mug. “So, what do we do now – after we have checked again that all doors and windows are locked?”, Erin asked. “We do whatever is best to save the people here.”, Becky insisted. She hold on to her tea is if it was a life saver. It became more and more visible that adrenaline had driven here for the last hour or so. But now, in her home, tiredness started to catch up with her. Rose did not answer right away. She used the subsequent pause in the conversation to listen intently. There was no noise of chaos and monsters tearing the town apart coming from outside for the moment. There was not even the noise of hundreds of tiny rat paws. “Who else could we call to both assess the situation and action the necessary steps to… what you said Becky?”, Rose asked finally. “Hm…” Erin took a sip from her tea, then remembered the tea back and took it out to the trash can. “Maybe we can call Tula. She lives up there where you said the crash happened. Maybe she knows more about the situation. Also, her husband is Doctor Lancer – and she sometimes drinks with the mayor at the bar. So there would be a line to the center of power if needed.”, Erin suggested. “Great idea mom!”, Becky agreed, now enthusiastic and overcoming her earlier slump. “I like that the mayor is the center of power.”, Rose commented but had nothing to say against the suggestion. Erin nodded and went over to the kitchen phone. “So calling the sheriff directly was not the best idea.”, Neil´s mom commented after hanging up the phone. “Could be bad timing.”, Neil´s dad suggested. “I heard he has a fishing trip planned this week.” “That is helpful.”, Neil commented. “However, he said he will have his officers look into if there were more reports on disturbances reported. So far, he said, there was nothing out of the ordinary reported to him. Everything is nice and calm, he said.”, explained Neil´s mother. “So… there is nothing done at the moment?”, John asked. “Not at the moment. Not from us.”, Neil´s mom said. “Hm.”, Neil grunted. “Well, you have your school trip. So you are out of the game anyway.”, Neil´s father interjected. “That’s true.”, Neil conceded but John was not convinced. John mentioned that he should get back to his home and his grandma. “Will she take you two to the bus tomorrow?”, Neil´s mom asked. “Yes.”, John replied and started towards the front door. “I´ll walk you out.” Neil followed his friend. “Thanks Elisabeth and Dan.”, John called out on his way out. “So Tula asked me to say hello and greet you.”, Erin reported after ending the call. “But she has not seen anything. Just a green light. No monsters.” “Hm. Could we be wrong?”, Rose asked. “Hopefully.”, said Becky. “But I don´t know… That’s a scary If, if it doesn’t apply.” An uneasy silence followed. All three looked into their mugs, took a sip, but did not really feel the warmth of the tea and did not care for the taste. “This feels weird. We saw something, experienced something. There might be danger.”, Becky reiterated. “So we called somebody. It is not in our hands anymore.”, Rose weighted in. “Maybe the animals were only driven off by the light.”, Erin suggested. “Yeah.”, Rose agreed. “From the relative safety of this kitchen counter, all this seems more and more like a nightmare. Hopefully it is and all the danger and the doubts will be gone by tomorrow morning.” A few hours earlier, he returned the mustard to the fridge and took the freshly prepared sandwich from the countertop. In his usual way, he slowly moved through the house towards the front porch. He whistled loudly albeit not very melodic. There was no one in the bigger and bigger seeming house anymore to hear him. So it did not matter how well he could whistle. The bench creaked under him when he sat down. As often before, he contemplated buying a new one. Likewise as so often before, he let the thought go without following up on it. Instead he started to chew on his sandwich while staring ahead onto the bay below and the dark evening around. It took him a while to realize that one of the stars in the evening sky became bigger and bigger, turning into a projectile with direct curse toward his house. It took him even longer to consider a reaction to that. Too long in fact. Before he could fully appreciate what was happening, the big bright white light came closer and closer, turned green, seemed to just miss the roof of his house, and went down in his backyard. He put his plate next to him and refused to accept the situation for a moment. Only when he heard some unfamiliar noises, he got up and went back into his house. There he made a straight line through the living room and kitchen and went to the backyard. All he found in the back, however, was a circle of burned grass. Until he heard the noises again. He heard a scratching and a wheezing, maybe a dripping. By and by, the evening transformed into night. In the house, the lights were still on but they created now more shadows than aiding his eyesight. Then there were the noises again. He hesitated but saw no other way than to investigate in the end. Maybe he could call somebody – but whom? There was no reason to bother the sheriff, he thought. Maybe there was no one in town he was on such terms with that he could ask them to hunt ghost in his backyard. Making conversation and keeping friendships alive had never been his task. However, all this was not relevant anymore. He moved slowly and consciously, trying to look into every corner while he wandered through his backyard. It seemed he came closer and closer to the source of the noises. The snarling grew louder and sounded more aggressive. Maybe something was hiding in the shadow of the small garden shed that was kept in only the most needed state of repair. In this moment, he realized that it would have been a good idea to take a flashlight with him. He turned on his heels, ready to take the few steps back to the house, to cover the small ground of his backyard as he had done so often. But then he realized that this was a fatal idea. He had just turned the back to whatever made these more and more aggressive sounding noises. Maybe there was enough time to turn around again, to correct this mistake, to get another chance. There was not. It made him prowl the streets that night. It made him prowl and stalk, run and jump; it made him dance and squeal and growl. Later, it made him even scratch and claw, bite and tear. All that it made him do while there was nothing his he could even want. His will, he realized fast and with horror, was completely powerless and waning. For it was now a part of him as a stronger part. Or he was nothing more now than a smaller part of it. There was fear, the deep fear for its own survival. He had felt the same like a lightning striking. When it rushed him, eager to find a host, their fear was a bridge. But there was more hidden in him. When it tore away at his body to put it back together how it needed, it exposed a rage. A feeling of disappointment and of loss. New bridges and more than it or he could take. He was lost in that moment. So now all he could do was jump and prowl and howl. It was the first time in his life. The night came to an end, unescapably as usual. But the nightmare did not. He was still trapped when it brought him back to his empty house at the break of dawn. All dogs in the neighbourhood were quite, as if finally gone.

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Three – Awakenings

It was early, especially after a short night. But the town had awakened. There were no screams, no tears, no desperation. People in cars were on their way to work or school or to the store. It was a light summer day. The perfect day to start the little adventure of going on a school trip. Becky and Rose sat on the curb bordering the school´s parking lot. Their bags lay next to them. A bit sunken together, they watched the other students arrive. While doing that, Becky closed her eyes and took in the early and warm sunlight. “So we get on the bus and forget everything – at least until next week.”, Rose reiterated. “I think that was the plan. If you can call it that.”, Becky replied. She yawned and re-arranged her bag as cushion behind her back. She then leaned on it and looked up into the sky. Rose pulled a notepad from his bag and started drawing. “Hello you two. Good to see you here today after this strange call last night.” Becky and Rose looked up and met the friendly gaze of Tula. “Hello Mrs. Lancer.”, Becky replied. “How are you? Is all still alright?” “Yes indeed.”, Mrs. Lancer answered. “I must admit that your mother´s call was a bit unsettling. But there were no monsters coming to our house last night and all looked quiet and good this morning.” “Good to know.”, Rose commented. “Nothing weird happened?”, Becky asked. “No.”, Mrs. Lancer answered. “No noise?” “No.” “No screams?” “No.” Mrs. Lancer chuckled. “There was just a green light and that was it. Thank you for the concern, though. I appreciate that. But there is no danger in our neighbourhood.” “Well… that is good.”, Becky replied. “So… you are about to go on the trip?” Mrs. Lancer changed the topic but was still smiling. “Yeah… that will be nice.”, Becky answered in a flat voice and as if she was thinking about something else still. “Well then have fun. And excuse me, I want to send off the band as well.” Mrs. Lancer waved a goodbye which Becky and Rose returned. “So… can we assume now safely that there is no danger at all?”, Rose asked. Becky was unsure and leaned back again on her luggage.

“There are the boys.”, Rose announced after a moment. Becky looked to the parking lot and saw how the mint green car of John´s grandma pulled up. John and Neil jumped out and pulled their bags from the trunk. Then John hugged his grandma goodbye. She waved to Becky and Rose who returned the gesture. Neil walked over to the curb while John watched his grandma getting back into her car and driving off. Then he also joined the others.

“Good morning, students, citizens of Wolf´s Cove, friends.”, Neil greeted Becky and Rose, but his heart was not in it. He dropped his back on the asphalt and sat on it across from them.

“You look tired.”, Rose commented. “You as well.”, she added as John settled down next to Neil. They all compared now the dark shadows below their eyes.

“´Tis was a freak night.”, John commented. “We thought a monster was on the loose.”

Becky and Rose exchanged a glance.

“We… had the same suspicion.”, Becky remarked. “We saw a part of the asteroid breaking off and crashing into town. And then we witnessed animals fleeing the scene. All animals.”

“I had not dared to suspect that there were so many rats here.”, Rose added.

“Shit.”, commented Neil and became even paler than before which made the shadows below his eyes stick out even more.

“This one here saw a shape of claws and fangs.”, John reported, nodding in Neil´s direction.

“What?”, Becky exclaimed and almost jumped up.

“It was more like seeing a shadow puppet. And I saw it from far away. There were no fangs. At least none I could see. But it looked like a beast with more limbs than a cockroach and long claws or talons.”, Neil said, his voice almost a whisper.

“Did you call anyone?”, Rose wondered.

“We tried to call the cops, then Elisabeth called the sheriff directly.”, John answered.

“We had my mom call Mrs. Lancer who lives around there where we thought the crash happened.”, Becky remarked.

“Did that do something?”, Neil inquired, still in a low voice.

“No.”, Becky replied, leaning back again. “At least my mom seemed to believe us.”

“Same with my mom and what we achieved.”, Neil said.

“The women understand the issue first – like the Great Law of the Peace.”, Rose interjected, maybe to change the mood.

“Is this still from the friend you made in summer camp last year?”, John asked. Rose nodded. “Yes!”

“So, as we all sit here, waiting for the bus, we did not succeed in solving this situation or even find out what it really entails?”, Neil asked.

“I think it is fair to say that nothing was achieved last night.”, Rose conceded and fought back a yawn.

“This is worrying.”, John commented while he tried not to catch the contagious yawn. Becky nodded in agreement and then yawned as the first with all her teeth on full display.

“Well, at least we did our duty. And if there is something happening in the town, we will be away for the week. Together with all our classmates.”, Neil summarized. “I think that is good. We sensed and issue and now we are here to see that some people will get out. Like, the idea to just hit the road sounds pretty great now.”

The others thought about that. Quickly, Becky and Rose got distracted by the sight of the big yellow school bus, property of the county school board, arriving. Neil and John turned around and watched the bus as well. The other students, who stood in little groups on the parking lot, took up their baggage and walked over to the bus. There was chatter and laughter and some mild jumping.

“Great. Let the fun begin.”, Rose said in a monotone voice, pulling up her eyebrows in a gesture of scepticism. Neil got up and took the handle of his bag. Rose and John got up, but hesitated a moment. They noticed that Becky did not join the overall movement of getting ready.

“This is not good.”. Becky spoke in a low voice and looked at the ground in front of her. Then her eyes flashed up, took in her friends one after the other. “I feel we should not just leave now. There might be a danger. What we experienced and what you saw last night convinces me of that. It would be wrong to just leave now.”

“But… we tried to do a thing against the scary thing.”, Neil exclaimed, wringing the handle of his bag. “We did and you did. People know about the danger. Grown-ups know. They should take care of that now. We can get on that bus to relative safety with Fran and Stephany and Bill and every one we know.”

“Good that they leave – but there is still the rest of the town. All these people are still in danger. We should stay behind and make sure that something is really done about it.”, Becky said sternly. John waved in direct of the other students now boarding the big yellow bus.

“Yeah. They are safe for now. But if there is really a monster, our families are in danger. And they might not know. There are no steps they can take, no end game, as they do not know what they are playing.”, John said.

“Hm.”, Neil grunted, looking at the other students. “That I get. I see what you did there.”

“For them and the town, we should try to do more.”, Becky insisted. She looked at Rose.

“I… don´t like these trips.”, Rose said instead of a reply. John nodded then nodded some more. Rose wiggled around. “But right now, it seems safe. Honestly, this morning, I had hope that this was just a nightmare.”, Rose expanded and this time, Neil nodded. “But I get your point. And I have some doubts that those we told so far will do something before it´s too late.”

The last students boarded the bus. The driver and Ms. French looked around one last time and noticed the group of four students with baggage who were not really making an effort to join the others.

“Are you not going to join the trip?”, Ms. French asked.

“No… no.”, Neil answered. Ms. French seemed confused.

“We have another project we need to take care of. We thought it would be done by now… but it is not.”, Neil explained.

“For which course?”, Ms. French asked.

“English.”, John jumped in.

“Ok.”, Ms. French conceded even if she was clearly not fully convinced.

 She left and walked back to the bus. Becky, John, Rose, and Neil waited until she was out of ear shot.

“So… we are not joining the school trip of the higher years and thereby miss out on underage drinking, drama and light romance. We stay here, facing monsters and slow bureaucracies.”, Neil summarized. “If we do this, let´s at least hole up at John´s grandma´s. She´ll rip the monster apart if it comes to that…”

So they took their belongings and walked over to Becky´s car. John took the seat next to Becky, while Rose and Neil took the back seats. They would have driven off directly, but had to wait a second for the bus to clear the way.

“Now that we are all enterprising around the mystery of the danger to our home town – what is the plan exactly? What are our next steps?”, Neil asked as they drove down the serpentine road towards Wolf´s Cove´s center. Becky pulled over at the next possible spot. She parked between the road and the cliff on a little pocket for emergency parking so that they all could overlook the sharp edge and the water below.

“I’ve no idea.”, Becky admitted, staring blankly ahead.

“Maybe now, by daylight, we should check out the area where the crash happened.”, John suggested. He almost uttered this as if it was a question, though.

“This is super stupid.”, Neil replied. “How does it help anyone if we get eaten first?”

He paused. “On the other hand, this is probably the logical next step.”

“Also, we are four now and it is day.”, John observed. “And maybe we see that nothing happened or that the authorities are present and can be assured that the situation is taken care of.”

“The town looks a lot less creepy than last night.”, Rose partially agreed, but she did not nod.

“Ok, let´s start there.”, Becky said and started the engine again.

“Just driving by, right? We will just drive by. Right?”, Neil asked.

They drove by Neil´s house and tried to find their way from there towards the house that was hit by a piece of the sky.

“I think it was in Whaler´s Town, at Camil Drive.”, John said. “Right, Neil?”

“Hm… yeah, sounds about right.”, Neil answered. Becky looked at him through the back mirror and he nodded towards her. John nodded as well.

“I also think that sounds like the right area.”, Rose agreed. So Becky drove them up to the oldest part of the town. She decelerated as they went onto Tusk Road, which cut right through Whaler´s Town.

“I always thought that name was weird.”, Rose commented when they passed a sign for Tusk Road. None of the others felt they had something to add here. Intently, they monitored the surroundings.

“How would a monster-infested house look like?”, Becky wondered at one point.

“All curtains drawn, scratch marks on the windows, doors, and the concrete walkway leading to the street.”, John said.

“And a big dark cloud hovering over it, ready to rain at any moment. It will also be quiet like a grave and cold like loss.”, Rose added.

“This is very specific… and I don´t see such a house here. The sky is also an early summer blue.”, Neil remarked. “The place we saw the rock strike down should be somewhere here, though.”

Becky stopped the car on the high point of the street, just across from a green two-story house with a small front yard and a porch.

“This one?” John sounded a bit disappointed. Becky pointed towards the porch. There was a half-eaten sandwich sitting on a plate next to a bench.

“Why is this not eaten by now?”, Becky wondered.

“The rats are all gone.”, Rose reminded them.

“True, but also the owner of the sandwich did leave at some point and did not return.”, Becky said.

“Could still just be forgotten.” Neil meant but was getting nervous. “Can we drive a bit further? I think the side view looks familiar. As in yesterday´s nightmare familiar.”

Becky let the car roll slowly a bit further. “This better?”, she asked.

“Yep… that´s it.”, Neil said and went pale again as his memory and this view aligned. “Like, not that I have a photographic memory, but I think this is it.”

Immediately, Becky stopped the car. The eyes of all four were glued to the house. Then Rose looked around again.

“I do not see any cops here. Or anybody with any authority for that matter.”, she remarked. That made Becky take in more of the surroundings as well. Then she stopped the pickup truck.

“Ok, let´s check it out.”, she said and jumped out of the car. John followed her, but then stopped for a moment.

“Maybe one of us should stay in the car, ready for an emergency start if the rest of us come screaming and running out of this house.”, John suggested. Rose and Neil looked at each other.

“I can drive.”, Neil said.

“So can I.”, Rose replied.

“I… oh.” Neil seemed to just remember something. “I´m also the only one who has seen the… the monster. So I should follow you inside. Unless you insist that I stay with the car.”

No one insisted.

Rose moved to the driver´s seat, one hand on the wheel, one on the key. Meanwhile, the other three went over to the house.

“You could’ve insisted.”, Neil whispered.

“Your argument was convincing.”, John answered while Becky gave Neil an encouraging and thankful smile. There was no movement around the house. For a change, there was no wind this morning. The sounds of animals were missing as well. Not even the seagulls could be heard here as they seemed to avoid this place as well. Becky walked over to the door. She knocked. The sound of that was loud and intrusive in this silence. John and Neil stood at Becky´s sides and waited with her for an answer. But there was none. The silence returned as thick as before. So Becky tried the door knob. It was open. The three stepped inside the house under the worrying glances of Rose.

Inside, the house was moderately clean and tidy. There were pictures on the walls but almost no knickknacks. And the house was empty as there was no living being apart from the three students inside. Then they saw the mirror in the hallway. It was ripped from the wall and lay broken on the floor.

“Weird.”, John commented.

They moved on. Neil checked the fridge in the kitchen.

“Nothing weird here. Luckily.”, he said relieved. “The people here are only a bit low on mustard. Well or the person living here. How many people do you think are living here?”

Becky and John did not answer. John only shrugged and so they all went on to the backdoor that lead to the backyard.

“This, on the other hand does look unusual.”, Becky stated. There were large, long scratch marks. The wood had even splintered around these. It looked like a being bigger than the doorway and with sharp claws had pushed itself inside the house. A bit further inside the house, there were additional, but smaller marks.

“Does this like what you saw yesterday?”, Becky asked.

“That does look like the creature I saw could have done this.”, Neil replied. In the backyard itself, they found a round patch of burned grass.

“Look spectacular, but a real asteroid would have burned more ground, destroyed a lot, right?”, John asked. Becky nodded. “This was something else.”

“Well, we have seen the claw marks.”, Neil added. They went back inside and followed the marks. When they went to the living room, they could still see some scratch marks. They formed imperfect, broken circles on the hardwood floor. In-between, there were rubber marks of shoe soles. The couch and some cupboards also bore scratch marks.

“Like someone danced with a clawed demon here last night.”, John commented. But that was it. In the bathroom, they found another smashed mirror.

“Let´s head upstairs.”, Becky suggested. On the second floor, they found the bedroom and a small office empty.

“That leaves one area of the house to search.”, John said on their way back downstairs.

“It is not a good idea to go to the cellar of this house.”, Neil remarked. So they waited in front of the door that lead downstairs. They watched the door, ready for a monster to jump out of the cellar at any moment. But nothing happened right there and then.

“We should at least take flashlights.”, Becky decided. “I´ll get them from the car. Be right back, scream if there is something.” With that she sprinted to the front door and out of the house.

“What happened?” Rose almost started the car when she saw Becky running towards it.

“We found some marks, but no monster. I´m here to pick up the flashlights.”, Becky explained.

“So… the guys have not been eaten and you are not the sole survivor?”

“No, not yet.” Becky opened the passenger door and grabbed the flashlights. Then she returned to the house.

“Good.”, Rose yelled at Becky´s back.

“Did something happen?”, Becky asked the others when she arrived back at the cellar door.

“No.”, John replied. “Still, we were shivering a lot in the last minutes.”

Becky handed him a flashlight, switched hers on, and opened the cellar door. She was also the first to climb down the narrow stairs. John followed her, while Neil took up the rear. As there were just two flashlights, Neil went without one. But he quickly found the light switch. The one lamp in the cellar still worked and filled the only room with a muddy yellow light and way too many shadows. Sharp dark edges connected shelves and cut the floor into pieces. There were corners and nooks where any size of creature could hide. But there was no movement. Becky and John shone their flashlights into every corner and were relieved not to find anything. All they found were several woodcarving tools as well as objects that looked like carved portraits of human heads. One old cupboard also held drawn sketches of the wooden sculptures.

“These sharp knives and stencils and weird heads would look legitimately creepy.”, John commented. “With this thick layer of dust on all of it, though, I would say this is not the creepy that we were looking for.”

“Yeah. No one was in here for a while.”, Becky agreed. They left the cellar and stood in the living room, unsure what to do.

“Maybe I should go out and tell Rose that we are still alive and have not found our own or the town´s demise yet.”, Neil suggested and walked out.

“This is not good.”, Becky remarked.

“How so?”, John replied. “We did not find a monster in this house.”

“No – but we found these traces. Traces indicating something big and with large claws. It came from the backyard.”, Becky summarized.

“Yes. But we cannot find such a being in here… oh.”

“So it has left and could be moving through the town right now.”

All four of them sat in the car again, looking uneasily outside the windows and upon their town. Rose remained in the driver´s seat, Becky sat next to her, and John and Neil in the back.

“So whatever we are looking for was in that house – but now it is gone.”, Rose reiterated.

“Yes, it left. And it did so without causing a lot of scares among the neighbours.”, Becky remarked.

“So it is invisible.”, Rose suggested.

“Or it looks like a person.”, John said. Silence followed and there were more anxious glances outside.

“This is the house of a family Miller.”, Neil ended the pause. “Which… does not say much to me. I don´t think I know them.”

“At least we have the address. We can give it to the authorities.”, Becky replied.

“And see if they do something.”, John added.

“First, we might need gas, though.”, Rose interjected and gently tapped the dashboard. “This sounds like a situation that likely involves a chase or at least driving around and the tank is almost empty.”

“This whole operation is really badly prepared. Sorry… I mean I second that we get gas.”, Neil said. Rose drove them to the gas station. It was located on the town-side end of the old steel bridge that connected Wolf´s Cove with the mainland. Pipps the owner leaned on the door poste of the small building that housed the gas station´s shop. Next to him and the entrance and underneath a window with the red neon “open” sign was a foldable table and two chairs set up. A candle stood already on the table, a bit to the side towards the window. Pipps stood there in his blue work pants and white under shirt, read a magazine and only briefly looked up as the students’ truck stopped at one of the two gas pumps. Becky jumped out and filled her car´s tank. Meanwhile, Rose turned to John and Neil on the backseats.

“Here is what will happen: We need the gas. So she will fill the tank completely. Then she will say: Well here goes the camp allowance. She will only say this to herself and not tell us that, of course.”, Rose said. The boys stared at her. Rose nodded in direction of Becky and John and Neil followed her view. Sure enough, they saw how Becky murmured something to herself before heading towards Pipps. Rose looked at the boys again.

“So… we pool the money for the gas from out camp allowances as well?”, Neil suggested and Rose nodded.

“Yeah, we should.”, John agreed.

They all three got out of the car and followed Becky and Pipps inside. While on his way to the counter with the cash register on top, Pipps replaced the magazine he was just reading in the magazine rag in the popular science section. Very carefully, he then moved a chair out of his way. The chair stood behind the counter and had a fine shirt and a suit jacket that was slightly bigger than Pipps´ size draped across the back. Pipps even looked back twice to be sure that he had not disturbed the clothes too much before bringing up the balance. As Becky was about to pay him, Rose intervened and all four of the students put some money on the counter.

“Hm. Is this an effort to secure the fuel to enable you to go on a little car chase and catch up to the school trip bus?”, Pipps asked as he collected the money and put it in his register.

“No, not really.”, Becky answered.

“Oh, I thought the trip started today and you had missed the bus.”, Pipps explained and smiled.

“No… we skip the trip. To… go on a monster hunt.”, Rose said. When he heard this, Pipps looked up and mustered his customers with concern.

“Is this about some creeps?”, he inquired.

“No. Not this kind in any case.”, Becky replied.

“This is about a monster as in monstrous and not human being.”, John expended. Pipps face lighted up with a smile – then became concerned again as he saw that the students were not joking. Pipps mouth opened as if he wanted to say something. Then his eyes wandered to the side and he closed his mouth as he could not come up with something to say. Neil then tried to describe to Pipps what he had seen and what they had found and not found in the Smith house. Pipps scratched the fuzzy and patchy attempt of a beard on his chin. His eyes wandered between the four kids.

“This all is hard to believe.”, Pipps finally said. “Like, I don´t even know how to tackle that story to get a grasp on it. This all sounds like the stuff the Prof sometimes talks about.”

“Which Prof?”, Becky asked.

“One that would believe us?”, Rose added. Pipps lifted his baseball cap, scratched his head, and then replaced his hat. Then he spoke again: “I have no way to answer this. But he lives in the old house down by the water at the foot of the cliffs, where the old port was located.”

Becky looked at the others. “Maybe it´s worth a try to talk to this person. Maybe he can help us raise the right kind of alarm on this one.”

“I guess this is better than driving around town in hopes to find the monster.”, Neil replied and the others agreed. Pipps described again where he thought the Prof lived.

“Was there once I think. Oh, and I have no clue when he is at home or what he does during the day. But he seems like a proper decent person I guess.”, Pipps added then thought a bit and offered: “Do you want a snack for the way?” He waved in direction of the beef jerky rag.

“On… on the house, of course. Oh, yeah, and if there is a problem, come to me kids. I can´t leave here just like that, but… I don´t know… you can come see me here if you need something.”

“Thanks.”, Becky replied.

“We will try to make it back here.”, John said and nodded.

“That is the lonely old house next to the ocean where a weird Prof is supposed to live.”, Rose said chewing on her beef jerky and indicating an old lonely house.

“Unless he is dead or undead.”, John replied while folding the empty packaging of his jerky.

“Then he us supposed to live here or be dead or undead here.”, Rose corrected herself.

“Very inspiring talk.”, Neil interjected.

“Let´s see if he is home in any case.”, Becky ended the conversation.

Close by and close by the water, the small house with two storeys hugged the cliff. It stood in the part of the town that had been used as main port in times that were now historic. It was a pier build over a narrow strip of land between the ocean and the cliff. There, pressed against the rock and next to the crack that the road up to the town proper lead to. The house might have been an office building as it was lacking the large doors and cranes of a ware house. It had small windows on both levels, but the curtains were drawn. As old as it was, it seemed a miracle that the wooden structure still held. The mail box in front of the entrances had a patch with the hand-written words “MacShane, PhD.” on it.

“Sounds legit.”, Neil commented as Becky knocked at the door. Behind it, a rattle could be heard and steps, but nobody opened. So Becky knocked again. Still nobody opened the door even though it became even clearer that somebody was home. Once a cough was clearly audible.

“Professor MacShane? Please open, we would like to talk to you.”, Becky yelled at the closed door.

“About monsters.”, Rose added. Meanwhile, John walked a few steps back and looked at the house. He noticed a curtain moving and assumed somebody was looking through the window closest to the door. John waved when he saw the movement.

“Professor?”, Becky asked again.

“Phd”, came as answer from the other side of the door. Becky stepped back in confusion.

“I´m not a professor.”, the voice explained.

“Okay.”, Becky replied. “But this is not why we are here. Could you please open this door? This would make talking to you easier.” The students again heard steps from the other side of the closed door. Then another moment of silence followed. Becky looked at the others and turned towards the house again, resolved to knock one final time. But then the door opened and a middle-aged man stood in the opening.

“Is this about a monster coming from the sea or about one coming from the woods?”, MacShane asked.

“Neither. We saw something coming down from space and landing in our town.”, John explained.

MacShane looked down at the threshold at his feet as if he was considering something. Finally, he looked up and invited the students in. They all gathered in the living room where there was a couch and a table that were not cluttered with books and magazines. Some books were different editions of the same as if MacShane had bought them again and again. The students sat down on the couch while MacShane himself was just standing on the other side of the table. He picked up a mug that said “Misk U” on it and sipped from it. In-between sips, he asked his guest to describe what they had seen and experienced. They relayed it to him and he continued to sip and nodded now and then.

“Hm… did you go to the so-called authorities and did they not believe you?”, the scholar asked after the students hat finished their tale. Becky answered that they had not succeeded in convincing the authorities to take action against the monster or at least investigate it.

“Yeah.”, said MacShane, “That´s because your tale sounds fake.”

Becky, John, and Neil felt as if they had been whipped with a giant chain while Rose shook her head.

“It is obvious that you fabricated this story. A real beast would come from the deeps of the sea. This is a coastal town after all.”, MacShane elaborated. He even put down his mug and waved his arms while he explained, drawing shapes of monsters and gateways into forbidden dimensions into the air. “We have planned for this for years. We knew that one day an old terror would come from beneath the sea. Something so terrifying that it would rob normal people´s minds when they as much as looked at it. But I and… some friends are well prepared and therefore equipped to withstand this sight. So we hope.”

“This sound very much like madness.”, Rose comment.

“Exact!”, MacShane exclaimed. “Glad you understand. And I am glad that you did find your way to me. You know, I wanted to tell you kids about these matters earlier, but your school would not allow it.”

“So… are you going to help us?”, Becky asked. “Will you assist us in convincing the authorities to take the monster serious?”

“Your title and all would surely help.”, Neil added. MacShane hesitated a moment, then picked up his mug again.

“Well… yes… but also no. It´s an academic grade. Also, you see…”, MacShane looked at his guest individually, focused on them for several seconds each. “You see, many of the traditional authorities are not accessible for me. They would just not listen. This includes the sheriff and the mayor, as well as much of the scholarly world, I am afraid. But together we might be able to change that.”

“How?”, John asked.

“Well, fist we have to change your story. Streamline it and make it fit to what we already know about the creatures from the deep down…”

“Should it not be just the deep?”, Rose interjected. “That is already down.”

“Besides, this is not what we saw.”, John remarked. MacShane waved his hand in a defensive gesture.

“No, but when we align can we maybe improve our chances to convince somebody with the power to do something… to do something.”, he elaborated.

“This all feels as if we are losing track, though.”, Becky interrupted.

“Totally.”, Neil agreed.

“Track of what?”, MacShane asked.

“Of what we came here to do... to find help to… help the town.”, Becky explained.

“Yeah.”, Neil agreed again. “How does all this talking and making up fake stories help us with that?”

MacShane looked startled for a moment, then caught himself again and was about to say something. However, he was interrupted by Becky. He stood up and left the room. The other students were a bit surprised, but followed suit once they unfroze.

“May I point out that not only were we not offered snacks, we did not even get offered some tea or coffee.”, Rose said on the short way from the academic´s house back to the pickup.

“True that.”, Neil nodded and then yawned. They got into the car. On the backseat, John looked at Neil and knew immediately what Neil was about to say. So John decided to beat his friend to it.

“So… what´s next?”, John asked. Becky had her hands resting on the steering wheel and stared directly ahead.

“I’ve no idea.”, she said.

“We could just cruise around watching out for monstrous activity. But I guess this is not really promising.”, Rose mused after a moment. Neil nodded, then yawned again.

“This all has been a quite disappointing experience.”, John conceded. Then Becky started the engine.

“Well… maybe we need some rest and time to regroup. Let´s head home for now.”, Becky said. She dropped the boys off at John´s place and afterwards headed to her home. Independently of each other, the two groups ended up on couches and sofas, dozing off while the TV was tuned to a local news station. They woke up in the late evening to the unsettling sight of blue and red lights moving through the streets.

There was no going home again, go to where he had been a person. Neither could he go anywhere else, he felt. For it was still there. It seemed to sleep maybe. Or just let him loose for the moment. He went therefore down to the sea, contemplating the waves, seeking shelter among the rocks. Stiff steps up the stairs from the beach: A puppet with strings that are held too tight. It led him out into town again. It made him move once the dusk set on. He thought he could still run and jump again – but it did not want him to. So he was slow as before, used-up as before. Only he did not tire, as a force drove him forward. The same that made him do its biddings without hope of resistance. They moved as one through the streets of his hometown, down the winding way he had taken so often before. It made him keep a steady pace. It seemed to want to see where it was now that it was one with him. He felt irritation, the feeling of being lost. He felt hurt and scared. Only all this lay behind the anger and rage he felt since last evening. And hunger. They felt a hunger that no food in his house had been able to still.  It were those feelings which made him go, made them both go. There where people on the streets, retrieving their mail or getting in and out of their cars. He knew them the thought. Like usual, he did not great them, did not reach out to them. For what could they do for him? Then there was a store. It was the hardware store that had changed owner shortly before, he seemed to remember. The owner, now standing opposite him, was not familiar. There was no name to this one in his memory, nothing he could tell it about this man. There was no name he could call out now to ask this man. So there was silence that only grew into a snarling again. The hunger pushed itself to the foreground again. There was nothing he could do as it returned his strength but for one purpose. All the horror silenced the hunger and drove back the anger. It left the fear and shame. He tumbled down a street he did not recognize as he had only known it in a past life.

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Four – Seizing the nightly town

Becky ran to the window and stared outside, tracking the ambulance passing by with her eyes. When it turned a corner, Becky touched Rose´s shoulder to wake her and went to the telephone. She was about to lift the receiver and call John, when it rang. He was on the other end. “Yeah, something is going on… I´ve seen them too, just a moment ago.”, Becky said into the phone. She listened for a minute than made an agreeing noise. After she hung up, she nodded towards Rose who had watched her during the phone conversation. “We are heading over to John´s and pick them up.”, Becky announced while writing a note for her mom. Rose grabbed her jacked and boots as both of them left the living room. Becky pinned the note to the mirror in the hall way.

The night felt surprisingly dark and cool and John and Neil shivered a bit as they stood in front of John´s house. “So we are to become ambulance chasers now, is that the plan?”, Neil asked and John nodded. “Funny, my dad once suggested that to me as career opportunity.”, Neil went on. “I think he doesn’t like people who go to law school.” “I also cannot picture you there.”, John said. “I thought you would choose a… more enterprising path.” “We´ll see.”, Neil answered in a sombre voice. “Let´s see what terrors this night brings. If we are alive tomorrow, we can plan again.” John scoffed. “That is what my grandpa used to say. Every day.” He could not help but turn around and look at his grandma. She stood on the porch and looked worried at John and Neil. With a quick glance John made sure that he did not see Becky´s car coming down the street already. Then he went to his grandma. “So now there you are: standing all gloomy and filled with importance in our driveway.”, grandma said. “Well… it is important and not without danger – as far as we know.”, John answered. “I understand that. From what you two told me, I think I understand. I can´t say that I can see the situation as clearly as you do, but I see how it affects you.” Grandma sighed deeply. “You know I could ask you to stay. But I won’t. I let you go. I always let you all go once you can and want to. And I let you. For I can´t make you stay like for save-keeping. So I let you, even if I don´t like it.” “To be fair, you always told me to go more outside.”, John remarked and unsuccessfully attempted a smirk. His grandma did not change her worried expression. Then she looked up and down the street. She nodded and John followed her gaze, now also spotting Becky´s car. “Just one thing.”, grandma said, holding John by the shoulder as he was about to start down the steps of the porch. “Try to let me know what happens to you all before morning. I promised your sister to call her and I don´t want to have to make something up.” John nodded, hugged her and then walked to Becky´s car while Neil was already getting inside. “What direction are we heading?”, Rose asked as they turned onto Main Street. “I think the ambulance drove in direction of Idlewhile.”, Becky replied. They continued in silence for a while. Each of them stared out into the nightly streets. It was a late night leading up to a workday so it was quiet. But now and then they noticed people standing on their porches or in their drive ways looking onto the streets as if they were also following the blue and red lights of police cars of ambulances. Becky took this as proof that they were heading into the right direction. “You sure were looking super gloomy back there on the curb.”, Rose remarked after a while. “Maybe a bit too theatrically gloomy.” “Grandma said almost the same.”, John replied and could not help but smile. “Should have known it.”, Rose then exclaimed. “Great woman, sharp mind, always a step ahead.” “Maybe she should’ve taken my spot on this expedition.”, Neil commented. “We need you to visually identify the being.”, Becky retorted. Then they all fell silent as they noticed that they approached the hardware store on the corner of Hill and Serenity. It was unusual that the lights in the shop were still on - and that several police cars and an ambulance were parked around it. Becky braked and let her car roll slowly towards this scene. “Shall we jump out and yell that there is a monster on the loose and we knew it?”, asked Rose but did not make any preparations to actually do so. “Maybe we can talk to one of the deputies.”, suggested John. “That sounds more reasonable.”, commented Neil. “There is Doctor Lancer.” Becky nodded towards the ambulance where the doctor stood talking to the driver. “Maybe we talk to him first, confirm that this is not just an accident or crime.”, Becky suggested. “Not just one of those.”, Rose repeated. Becky did not reply, but turned off the engine, unfastened her seatbelt, and opened the door on her side. She had already one foot outside the car and on the street as she turned around at her friends again. “This is going to be hard I guess. But we´ll make it through this night.”, she said and looked at the others one after the other. They nodded and also got out of the car. “Nightmare time.”, Rose murmured while looking at the starry night sky. They walked over to the ambulance as a compact and closed group. That was, until Neil hesitated and stopped. “Maybe this is not the best situation to approach as four people in a compact bloc.”, he whispered. “We also don´t know if they want us here. Maybe we´ll have just a very limited amount of time. So let´s split up. Becky, you and me ask the good doctor. You, Rose and John, look around and see what you can find out through that.” The others considered it for a second and finally nodded. Rose and John started off to the side to take a closer look at the store and the crime scene inside. Becky and Neil continued meanwhile towards the ambulance. It seemed Lancer and the ambulance driver had just finished talking. Both were now leaning against the car and the driver offered the doctor a cigarette. “Good evening Mr. Lancer.”, Becky addressed the doctor. He was first surprised but then recognized her. “Hello. You are two of Tula´s students, right?”, the doctor asked. He waved his cigarette in the general direction of the hardware store and was clearly about to ask something. But then he just did not. He just put the cigarette back in his mouth. The ambulance driver went meanwhile back in direction of the store, thin smoke lines hung in the air a few moments after he was gone. Becky looked even more carefully at Lancer. “How are you Mr. Lancer?”, she asked. “What happened here seems to have affected you a great deal.” “Very much indeed.”, Lancer replied between two puffs. Unintentionally, he glanced over at the store again. “To react like this is only human in such a situation.”, Becky commented and Lancer nodded. “That was something new. Something I could have done without.”, he said and his eyes stared straight ahead for a moment. All of a sudden, he focussed back on Becky. “How come you talk like you know what happened here?” “It is not a coincidence that we are here.”, Neil explained. “Therefore, we have a pretty good idea what kind of situation has created all of this attention by the police and you. I would say you saw what sharp claws and long teeth can do to someone.” Doctor Lancer almost let the cigarette drop out of his mouth. He remembered it just in time and took it out with his hand. Once more he looked in the direction of the hardware store as if to see what vas visible from their current position. Still, though, he could only see the big windows with the signs advertising deals and the sheriff’s deputy still walking between the shelves. “What? Why do you know?”, Lancer asked. “We tried to warn your wife yesterday night that this could happen.”, Becky said. “What?”, Lancer reiterated, more and more struggling to keep a grasp on the situation. The cigarette, though, remained in his hand, still slowly burning. Becky reiterated what she and Neil had seen the night before and what they already had tried to tell to people. She also made sure to mention what they had found in the now empty house. “What does all this even mean?”, Lancer wondered loudly. “I mean, what I saw in there… was unlike anything that happened in this town in the last decades. So I decided I needed a breather, get some distance between that an me. Just as I came out here in the fresher air, you two show up and tell me some stories about things you say you saw and how these relate to the horrifying events in there. And then you complain that nobody was listening to you earlier. Sorry, but I am at a loss here if you should believe you or if this is the worst prank you high schoolers have ever pulled.” Lancer was reminded of his cigarette when it burned down to the filter and also burned his fingertips. Cursing a lot more than a burned-out cigarette deserved, he dropped it. “All we said is true and all our intentions are sincere.”, Becky insisted. She did not let him escape her focus even as he wobbled around and jumped a bit, waving his burned hand. “We did our best to try to prevent this.”, Neil added. Doctor Lancer regained his posture and patted his pockets, looking for more cigarettes. He was not successful so he clenched his fist for a moment. “So much of this just sounds mad.”, Lancer finally said. “There must be other explanations for what happened in there. For now, I am really inclined not to believe you. Nothing against you. But who are you to know these things? I feel I cannot follow your explanations. Not as doctor and not as specialist. I just need to try to preserve my sanity here.” Rose and John walked slowly towards the hardware store - slowly and in a way that would not attract any suspicion. Luckily, the adults around were busy and seemed obviously inclined to create some distance between themselves and the store. So Rose and John moved in the opposite direction of the paramedics and deputies. The store was located at a street corner. The longer side had the door placed in it, while Rose and John approached the shorter side. Therefore, anyone who was going inside would not pass the two kids. “Sure great that this window front is so huge.”, Rose whispered as they snug closer. “Hm.”, John made. Then they were by the window and peeked inside. They did so crouching on the sidewalk, ready to crouch down by the window frame and hide. First, they could not spot what they were looking for. But then they did see what they had come to see. John recoiled immediately. He then hesitated, unsure if he had really seen what he thought. As the pictures boiled up in his mind again right there, he shook his head and was horribly satisfied that he got enough of a view. A minute later Rose sat down on the sidewalk next to him and leaned against the wall of the store. Her eyes gaze straight ahead and her mouth was open as if in the middle of uttering some exclamation. After a moment, she shook herself, her whole body it seemed and snapped back. “Boy, sure glad we saw this. That looks like monster doings all right.”, Rose said flatly. “I know what I saw. And I cannot stop thinking about how this has happened.”, John agreed. “Same here.”, Rose replied. “My brain now plays one horrifying scenario after the other to explain what remains of a person I just had the displeasure to lay my eyes on.” “Just minutes before, I could not imagine how human flesh could tear and rip under the force of claws and teeth. It was a simpler time. I miss it.” Rose nodded. “Please go ahead and throw up if you feel the need to.”, she added. John stared dead ahead a second, blinked with his eyes, breathed in, and slowly breathed out. “I think I am good for now. Don´t know if I can eat any time soon, though.”, John stated. Rose nodded and patted his shoulder. Both did make no effort to get up from the ground and to continue their investigation and to find out more about the scene. So they were found instead. Neil was growing restless. The last minutes had passed while empty words had been exchanged. They were no step closer to solving this situation or even to getting Doctor Lancer to trust them. “Look doctor, if this was a prank – how could we even pull it off? How would we know that something happened here tonight?”, Neil asked. “Surely, the madness in our words also fits the madness you have seen in there.”, Becky remarked but refrained from pointing towards the shop. Doctor lancer just gave them both a cold stare. “Maybe I would have preferred that this was a prank.”, he finally murmured. He seemed set to not say anything more. But then Deputy Smith came over from the crime scene, a note pad and a walkie-talkie in her hands. “So Angus, we identified the victim. It´s the store´s owner. We found his name sign on the rest of his shirt. Raimond. It matches the entry in the yellow pages for this shop. Still can´t put a face to the name, though. We´ll need to do some research I guess to find the next of kin. Or did you know him?”, Deputy Smith asked. She turned her notepad around for Lancer to read it. He shook his head. “Doesn´t ring a bell.”, the doctor said. “How can you both not know Mr. Raimond? He runs the only hardware store in town. Yet, you just shrug it off. This seems very cold.”, Becky interjected with a certain anger in her voice. “We are at least here to help.” “Maybe this is not the moment…”, Neil suggested. The deputy turned towards them. “What are the kids doing here?”, Smith asked. She put the walkie-talkie back onto her utility belt, thereby exposing a black leather wristband with small spikes on her right arm. “Did Capsaicin have a gig tonight?”, Neil wondered. “Almost.”, Smith answered. “But this is not why we´re here, is it? So, why don´t you answer my question? You are some of Tula´s kids, right?” Becky told Deputy Smith that they were indeed high schoolers. She also tried to quickly explain that they followed the lights of police cars and ambulances assuming that at their destination they would find a monster. “We want to help you solve this an prevent that it happens again.”, Neil added. Deputy Smith looked at the two kids, then at her notepad, and finally she turned to Doctor Lancer. “They tried to tell me the same thing.”, the doctor replied. “It all sounds mad.” “Yeah? But maybe because this is what it is.”, Neil interjected impatiently. Officer Smith´s eyes wandered back over to Neil. She cleared her throat and took in a broader stand. “There is much than can be claimed.”, Smith declared. “But where is proof. Besides, to call perps monsters does nothing but to let us forget that they hide among us.” Becky and Neil exchanged a quick glance. “In this case, we talk about a being that isn’t human.”, Becky insisted. “We saw something that was not human and have all reason to believe that it’s responsible here.” “Yeah, it’s quite obvious to us.”, Neil added. “Well, it is not to us. Your truth is not ours.”, Smith retorted. She then looked behind Becky and Neil and seemed to notice something. “Do these two kids also belong to your group? Yes, Sully bring them over.”, Smith said. Rose and John crouched still just underneath the windowsill. “Maybe we should start looking around again. We need to know where the monster went from here.”, John suggested. “Sure hope it went a way for a spell at least. But yeah.”, Rose replied and got up. She avoided to turn around and to take another look into the hardware store. John did the same. Then they both jerked as they heard a knock from inside the store. Both kids stared straight ahead and hoped they were mistaken. Then the knock returned. Slowly, Rose and John turned around. On the other side of the window they now saw deputy Sullyvan stood inside the store and looked at them angrily. He gesticulated towards them to stay right where they were and prepare for some scolding. Then Sullyvan walked towards the door of the store. “Should we just run?”, John whispered. “I would prefer not to run from a cop.”, Rose replied. So they watched Sullyvan rounding the shelves in the store, stepping over something in the entrance are, walking through the front door, and then turning right to walk along the long side of the shop towards the corner where Rose and John were standing. Once he arrived, Sullyvan was clearly angered. He positioned himself in front of the high schoolers and stemmed his hands into his hips. However, he had to revise this position as the arms of his uniform jacked rode slightly up, exposing the black leather wristbands he wore. Sullyvan adjusted his cuffs and held his arms awkwardly up chest-high. “What are we doing here?”, he asked Rose and John sternly in an attempt to gain control of the situation. Both kids had to bite their lips as not to quip back. “We… are here… because… we thought that something might happen we might have information about.”, John said carefully weighing his words. “Information? What do you know about that what happened here?”, Sullyvan asked very surprised. “We saw that something crashed into our town and is now on the loose as monster. Something from outer space.”, Rose explained. “We could not be sure how great the danger really would be. After tonight, we know that there is a mortal danger in this town. Even more, a line has been crossed. Once this being starts feasting on people, it might not stop. For there is a curse coming from this kind of hunger.” “Is this again something your friend from camp told you about?”, John whispered. “The curse, yes. Waneek.” Rose nodded, first to John, then to the deputy. Sullyvan requited that with a puzzled look. “You have seen the perp?”, Sullvan asked. “Kind of.”, Rose replied. “Through a telescope.”, John added. Sullyvan scratched his head and then set his hat back straight. He blinked and yawned and finally made a decision. He fixed his eyes on the teenagers and ordered them to follow him to his partner. There, their statements would be dealt with. Rose and John were about to obey this order. But while they were getting up from the sidewalk, Rose noticed something in the corner of the store´s roof. “What did you see on the tape?”, she asked Sullyvan. He and John followed her gaze. “Sorry?”, the deputy muttered while he stared at the surveillance camera. “You must have seen who did this, right?”, John said. “Where did you find them Sully?”, Smith asked her partner. Meanwhile, Rose and John positioned themselves close to their two friends and also facing Smith and the doctor. “The young lady and the young gentleman were cowering right by the window on the shorter front of the hardware store.”, Sullyvan reported. “My guess is they tried to recover from what they saw. Because, when I´m in the store, I look around and I see them seeing through the window. Our eyes did not lock. For they focused on the body. So I go out to confront them and find them there on the ground, take them here.” “But not before I discovered something.”, Rose jumped in. Smith pulled up one eyebrow. Doctor Lancer just looked as if he was craving another cigarette. “What did you, as you put it, discover?”, deputy Smith inquired. “There are video cameras in and around the store.”, Rose explained. John nodded to that and Becky´s and Neil´s faces lit up. “So there should be proof that our explanation is right, if we are right.”, Becky said. “Which we surely are.”, Neil added. “Sadly.”, he then added to be on the save side. He deputies crossed their arms and put on a stern expression – first deputy Smith, then deputy Sullyvan. In the end, Smith asked where the tapes were and her partner suspected that they were still in the store. “We should get them and look at them.”, Smith said, her expression still stern. “The store is bound to have a TV to look at them behind the register.”, Sullyvan thought aloud. Smith nodded. “Doctor, we should go back inside and look at the tapes.”, she said. That shocked Lancer out of his trance. He violently shook his head. “I… would prefer not to go back there. Let the ambulance driver take care of it.”, Lancer suggested. “He should watch the tapes?”, Sullyvan asked. “Oh, the tapes. Sure. We bring them back to the town hall. There we should have a VCR. “ Doctor Lancer clapped his hands as if to end the discussion and to underline his decision to leave for the town hall. So Sullyvan went back to the store to get the video tapes. Smith and the doctor walked over to one of the police cruisers. All that left Becky and the others standing unsupervised by the ambulance. Becky kicked one of the tiers of the car. “This is sick.”, she exclaimed. “Unfortunately not surprising that they try to cut us out again.”, Rose commented. But Becky shook her head. “No. First they don´t know Mr. Raimond and then they can´t wait to push away as far as possible the task of collecting his remains.”, Becky said angrily. John cleared his throat. “We have seen him…” He hesitated. “Still, cannot really argue with you on that.” Together, the four watched Smith and Lancer drive off. “Maybe we should follow them… like, again.”, Neil finally suggested. “I´m not that interested in getting to know all the details about what happened to Mr. R. But I would like to see if the same fanged shadow that I saw took him.” Neil and Becky looked questioning at the other two. Rose nodded her agreement. “Just need to call my grandma from the town hall.” Once John had said that, the four went to Becky´s car and were quickly on their way into the town´s center. The streets were dark and empty. They seemed stranger than ever before. The police cruiser was parked in front of the main entrance of the town hall. The lights were switched off and it was empty. A yellow glow coming from inside a room on the ground floor of the very representative sandstone building from the 19th century indicated that the doctor and the deputy were already inside. Becky parked her car close to the entrance as well. The four kids got out of the car and slowly walked toward the steps leading up and into the town hall. Almost hesitant, they made a short break when they reached the steps. John in particular just stopped and stared up into the sky. “Everything ok?”, Becky asked. John nodded and then turned towards her. “Just wondering when this night will end.”, he said. “To wake up in bright daylight and to forget all this seems promising.” “Should we not go then?”, Rose wondered. “I think we have to.”, Neil re-iterated. John nodded after a second of hesitating. “Let us make sure we push one more time. Push it over the finish line.”, John said. So they went inside. The big wooden door was not locked. The foyer was empty but there was the light shining through one corridor and the sound of human voices in the distance. In the end, the four high schoolers ran into Lancer and Smith. The latter rattled with keys and had some papers under her arm. “There’s supposed to be a VCR in the cellar – in the crisis room.”, Smith explained while walking and right before she came around a corner and almost ran over Rose. “What are you doing here?”, Smith asked. “We are witnesses.”, John answered. “You can give your statements tomorrow.”, Smith gave back. “We also would like to witness this.”, Becky insisted. “And have input.”, Neil added. The conversation was interrupted abruptly, when they all heard another car breaking just outside the town hall. Smith made a long neck and tried to look past the teenagers and outside the door. Lancer tried to look not too concerned. A siren going off for a second startled everybody. Then there was the bang of a car door being pushed close. Steps came closer and closer. It was as if the air was drained out of everyone inside the town hall at this moment. They became tense and ready to snap, but also unable to move. Finally, Sullyvan appeared in the door opening. He was carrying three big video tapes. He hesitated as he saw the expressions on the other one´s faces. “What?”, Sullyvan wondered. “I sounded the siren to telegraph that it is me and not some monster arriving.” There was some head-shaking but then Doctor Lancer scoffed: “We should just get over with the whole thing.” As no one objected, the group walked towards the staircase leading down from the hall to the cellar. John stayed a bit behind and touched Becky´s shoulder as she was closest to him. “Got to quickly call my grandma.”, John said and pointe toward the public phone close to the entrance. Becky nodded, smiled, and then followed the others. John then turned around and walked slowly towards the phone. He patted his pockets in search for change. In the end he found enough to make a local call. It was quiet in the hall now that the group was gone. The front door still stood open, revealing a view of the nightly town. Nothing moved outside or in John´s proximity. It was so quiet that he became conscious of his own noises. So he moved slowly and carefully lifted the receiver from the payphone. Louder than ever before, the coins rattled into the slot. Grandma answered after the phone had only rung twice. She must have waited next to the phone. “Everything is ok.”, John said in a low voice in the empty entrance hall, looking outside. His grandma was relieved, asked about the others, and then wished him good luck. “See you tomorrow.”, John answered, waited a second and finally hung up. While doing so, he looked at the phone. His attention then shifted to the metal box of the phone rattling and giving him back a quarter. In this moment, he did not hear anything besides the rattling of the coin. He did however seem to see a movement in the corner of his eye. Something had moved outside. Instinctively his head jerked in the direction of the movement. Whatever it was, it was gone now. Unsure about the situation, John made small steps towards the entrance. He stood on the doorstep and peeked out into the night. The street lamps gave a bit of light: yellow circles surrounded their feet. Between the circles it was relatively dark. John knew his surroundings, had seen them by day many times. He had a pretty clear picture of how the street right in front of the town hall looked like. There was Main Street, running by the town hall, court house and church and there was Ocean Avenue, connected with Main Street in a right angle and leading away from the steps of the town hall down towards the old port. This was all familiar. New were only the two police cruisers parked a bit skewed under a lantern each and Becky´s car, parked more carefully. And then there was this shadow running, almost jumping down the street. The shadow had a human shape but it moved fast unlike anyone would when just walking through the streets at night. It ran down Ocean Avenue. John could follow it with his eyes. He only lost it in the dark spots between the street lights. Whenever it ran through the circles of light, John would see it again. He stepped across the doorstep to try to get a better look. But the shadow became smaller and smaller. Until it stopped underneath a light. John sensed how the skin at the back of his head started to prickle. He quickly turned around to the phone. He had said everything was ok. Now he hoped this had not been a premature assertion. When he looked back at the shadow, it stood still underneath a street light. But a streetlight that was way closer. There was still quite a distance separating John from the shadow but it was clearly closer now. John could see it crook its head. It was looking straight at him, John was sure about that. He stood just outside the door of the town hall. There was a lamp above his head. He stood out in this dark night. The shadow moved again. The crisis room was not so much a room as a small area of the cellar that was not covered in shelves and file cabinets. Inside this clearing, there stood a conference table surrounded by foldable chairs. Against the only wall, there stood a TV with a VCR and a radio with a transmitter. Becky, Rose, and Neil grabbed a chair each and sat down. They looked at the TV in anticipation. Lancer leaned against one of the closes shelves while the two deputies took position at opposite sides of the TV set. Smith turned the TV on and pushed the first video tape into the VCR. She pushed play and then spent a few moments looking for the right channel on the TV set. When she finally found it, it was revealed that the tape showed a different night without anything happening. The hardware store was closed and nothing moved inside it. At least it was the right camera, the one pointing at the cash register and the entrance. Smith fast-forwarded through the tape and then removed it with a grunt. With the second one, they had ambiguously more luck. According to the time code, this tape was from this day. After skipping half of it, the tape showed this very evening. The store seemed empty and Mr. Raimond was about to close up for the day. That was until he suddenly looked up. Someone must have come to the shop but remained standing in the door frame for the moment. Raimond talked to that person calmly. He stretched out his arm and pointed towards the empty store. For some time, he kept talking and doing gestures from excusing to impatient. In the end, the person in the door stepped forward and into frame. It was an ordinary man, rather on the older side, but holding himself very upright. For a moment, Deputy Smith thought that this was another useless moment in the record and was about to fast-forward again. But then it happened. The middle-aged man´s shook and waved in front of him, just to split open a second later, revealing further libs with long sharp claws. At the same time, the head of the man grew taller and taller while the man moved towards Mr. Raimond who just screamed. On the tape, theses screams produced no noise like in a nightmare, but the horror on Mr. Raimond´s face was clearly real and clearly visible. “What is that with the head?”, Sullyvan asked aghast. A second later his question was answered. “Oh, it has to accommodate this giant mouth and all these teeth.”, Rose and turned away from the TV. She was the last to do so. The tape rolled on while everybody in the room was doing their best to focus their view on something else. All waited for the other to return their gaze to the screen and tell them if it was over. Right that moment, John barged into the cellar. “It is just outside the door!”, he screamed. He looked at the others, wondered why they were looking everywhere but the TV in the middle of the room, then looked at the TV himself and understood. He made it down the stairs, found there a corner, and threw up. His friends rushed towards him and formed a circle around John. At the same time, Smith pulled her weapon. She looked back at the TV screen. “Did he just say that that thing’s at the front door?”, Smith asked. Sullyvan also turned back towards the TV, then looked at his partner. “Oh”, he said. He scrambled to also draw his weapon while he followed Smith who was already climbing up the stairs. Doctor Lancer turned off the TV and then sat down on the edge of the table. Once again he padded his pockets in the hopeless search for a cigarette. When John regained control of his stomach, he struggled to regain an erect position, and wiped his mouth with his underarm. After all that, he made a slightly disgusted face. “I saw it out there. It looked like a man, but moved superfast. I watched it, saw it stop suddenly – and how it turned around. It definitely saw me – and immediately came racing towards me. I closed the front door as soon as I understood that and came to get you all.”, John explained. “Well done.”, Becky replied and padded his shoulder again. “Yeah, the cops will deal with it.”, said Neil and after a short break added: “Is it weird that we didn´t hear anything yet? No shots, no calls?” All four became very concerned and peered up the staircase. Becky was the first to storm upstairs. “That´s not…”, started Neil, but then followed her. John and Rose were about to do the same, as John looked unsure back at the corner where he had been sick. Then he looked around the room as I in search for something. “Forget about that for now.”, Rose tapped his back. “No cleaning while there is a monster at the door.” So they ran upstairs. The oaken front door was open again, stood ajar, and the two deputies stood outside on the door steps. It was a quiet night with absolutely no sign of danger. “Seems it´s gone for now.”, Smith said when she saw the high-schoolers. “No trace of it once we came up here.” Sullyvan nodded in agreement. “Now we know what it looks like at least.”, he said. “Just like one of us.”, Smith summarized. The taste was horrific and sinful, but it was also sweet. There was the hunger of the flesh and the hunger of the mind. There was the giant emptiness that needed to be filled. The pain of the hunger was dampened, for now. So it let him run freely through his old home town. He recognized the roads and streets from memories. Before, he had walked them with her, driven down them with all of them, sat on the curb by himself. He wandered the town like he had looked at pictures. It was removed and simple and silly like ever before and like never before. It was a place of disappointment and resent, a place of danger and strangeness. This town was no longer his place. His former home had become strange to him or he had become a stranger. It noticed that, made that part of what it was now. It was frightened that he understood clearer and clearer. Both they were tumbling down a dark path away from everything while he ran through the streets, while both of them feasted on someone he did not recognise. He stopped as there was the piercing sensation of a pair of eyes directed at him. To make it stop, he turned around. There was a tiny light at the end of the street, almost hidden inside a dark castle. In his head, its voice roared in fear and hunger. He was dragged along with it. But then the light disappeared, hidden behind a door. He could crack that door, let the splinters fly, it told him. Only, he did not remember why he would. Besides, he felt the night running out and the light returning. They could not go out in the light, he thought. They would see them. So he ran and ran until he found a place by the cliffs. A place they had visited before so often. Long before, when they were young of course. For this now was another time.

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Five – Stumbling towards each other  

With the morning, chaos swept over the town hall. The five clerks reported back to their desks just to find themselves drawn into a gruesome murder investigation and the panicking realization that a killer was on the run in Wolfe´s Cove. Deputy Sullyvan tried to shake his head empathically every time he told a new arrival about it all. Doctor Lancer sat in the Mayor´s office and was on the phone trying to reach the mayor. Becky and the others had gravitated towards Lancer again after growing tired of standing at the front door and watching Sullyvan deal with the situation. Also, there was a couch in the office that was big enough to accommodate all four them. “Okay, so the mayor and the sheriff are both still on their annual fishing trip. Of course, they cannot be reached at the moment says Gladis.”, Lancer summarized as he hung up the phone. “That’s bad news. So will you be the one in charge now?”, Becky asked. “Can we help?” “I think he just said this to us because we happen to be here and he needed an outlet.”, Rose whispered to her. This seemed to wake Lancer up from his thoughts. “Will you be picked up by your parents soon?”, he wondered. “Or by your guardians.”, he added while looking at John. “We can drive.”, said Rose drily. “Most of us anyway.” “So what are you then still doing here?”, Lancer wondered. “I have to try to get some more help from outside. There must be somebody I can call. Get some more police officers.” Lancer picked up the receiver again and started to look around on the desk for something. Then he remembered Gladis and thumbed the button for the internal connection. “Gladis, can you get me the headquarter of the State Police?”, Lancer said into the receiver and then waited. While doing that, he glanced back at the kids with an expression of impatience. “Oh I would like to see how this works out for you.”, said Rose and was making herself more comfortable on the couch. Neil, up until now a bit sleepy, nodded, and settle better in as well. John, seeing the reaction of his friends, leaned back and closed his eyes. He also turned his head away from the others. Becky just shook her head. As his only reaction, Lancer grunted briefly, but was connected before he could say something more. Now the kids watched him and hear how he described the situation, mentioned the word “monster” several times, and finally asked for “all the units available”. He then listened and said “yes” about half a dozen times. In the end, he explained who he was. When the hung up shortly after, laughter was audible on the other end before the receiver touched the hook. Now Neil and Rose nodded. “Sounds about right.”, Rose said. “We are alone.”, Becky remarked. “Separated from the greater world by the madness we saw.”, Rose added. Becky nodded towards her in grim agreement. “This is a very dangerous situation and not the time to be isolated.”, Becky continued. “We could get the tape out somehow – but until then, we here are the ones who believe you. We are in this together.” Doctor Lancer grimaced and drummed on the desk surface with his fingers. He lifted the receiver again, then put it down again. “You are a bunch of kids.”, Lancer finally said. “But we have a car.”, Becky remarked. “We can drive around and warn people.” “Or even get the old sheriff here to show him the video tape and make him believe and help us.”, Neil added. Lancer seemed to think about it. Finally, he nodded. “Ok, fine. If you could also drive by my place and tell Tula I´m stuck here and she should not worry.”, Lancer said. “Yes, will do!”, Becky exclaimed and jumped up from the couch. The others followed her a bit more slowly.

“It would be great if we could stop somewhere on the way where I can brush my teeth.”, John said once they were back in the car as well as back on the road. “I second this motion.”, Neil said. He then looked at his friend sitting next to him and hastily added: “For me. I’d like to brush my teeth as well. And grab a bite, too.” “I second both.”, Rose agreed. Beck considered this while stopping at a red traffic light. She licked her teeth and smiled at the rear mirror. “Ok. Here is what we do: We get the old Sherriff, we drive to the gas station for snacks, we stoop by at home for fresh clothes and contact with a toothbrush, we drive to Mrs. Lancer.”, she suggested and the others agreed. At one intersection, Becky had to wait for the traffic light to turn green. She yawned and drummed on the steering wheel. Restlessly, she glanced to the left and to the right. The two streets intersecting were still empty at this time in the morning. But it was something else that let Becky grow increasingly unfocussed. “People of this car, I need to admit something.”, Becky said finally as the light switched to green. “I‘ve no idea where this old or former or both sheriff lives. Or what he is called. Does anyone of you have an idea?” Silence was the answer she got. John slept in the backseat and Rose and Neil just silently shook their heads. Unsure what to do, Becky decided to at least leave the intersection. She then took the next best opportunity to park the car at the curb. “Maybe we should drive to Pipps’ fist.”, Rose suggested. “He probably knows about this sheriff.” “Good idea.”, Becky replied and Neil nodded and grunted his approval as well. “So we drive first to the gas station for snacks and information. Then we inform the former sheriff, go quickly home, and… oh yeah, and inform Mrs. Lancer.”, Becky summarized and set the car in motion again. This time, Becky decided to park her car directly next to the little shop that was the heart of the gas station. Neil woke up John who was a bit disoriented at first. Together, the four then left the car and went into the shop. On the way, they passed the foldable table and chairs, still set up. The candle in the middle of the table had burned down at some point, which must have happened during the night and two napkins lay there, covering two paper plates. Glasses were missing, although John thought for a moment that he saw them blinking in the morning sun a bit further off towards the cliff and the big bridge that led out of town. Inside, the kids found Pipps as usual immortal at his post behind the counter. He smiled and waved a little when he greeted them, as he normally used to do. Very unusual for him was, on the other hand, was Pipps´ attire. He was still wearing the suite he had guarded so carefully the day before. All in all, the dark blue suite was still in pristine condition, only the shirt had a small lipstick stain on the left side of the collar. “How are you Pipps?”, Becky asked smiling. “Fine.”, he piped back, almost grinning. “How are you guys? You look a bit tired, even for students.” “And yet it were not the trials and follies and joys of the teenage life that kept us up last night, but monster hunting.”, Rose exclaimed. Pipps reacted with a concerned frown. “Hope this has nothing to do with poor Mr. Raimond.”, he said in a silent tone. The others were quiet for a minute. “Unfortunately, it has.”, Becky then said, the first to break the silence. She continued by explaining what had happened the last night. Pipps face started to show more and more concern as he heard all this. Afterwards, he did jump at the opportunity to give information on the on sheriff. “The old Mr. Hooper lives at the end of Salmon drive just across the bridge. He often stops by here for some small snacks or a pack of eggs.”, Pipps explained, indicating some eggs. “Has he been here today yet?”, Becky asked. “No. But he might.”, Pipps answered. Beck and the others decided to take a breakfast break and to wait and see if Hooper would show up. “If not, we can always drive to his address afterwards.”, Neil suggested. So it was decided. The four picked some hot dogs from the shop´s ever turning sausage carousel. “And I will take a bottle of mouth wash beforehand.”, John said while trying to keep his mouth closed as much as possible. He had to repeat himself twice until Pipps understood him and got the mouth wash from the toiletries shelf. John commenced to gurgle with as much of the blue fluid as he could fit into his mouth. While he did so, he wandered out of the little shop, once around the gasoline pumps, to the street, and finally spit the mouth wash into the gutter. He repeated this twice. The others had meanwhile seated themselves around the small round plastic table that made up the café corner of the shop. They looked up both times when John wandered in and back out. “His hot dog is getting cold.”, Neil observed and nodded towards the door opening where John had just disappeared again. “Take it. I´ll get another one ready for John.”, Pipps offered. Rose shot Neil a side-eye. “You want another, too?”, Pipps asked her, smiling. Rose nodded. So when John came finally back with a now only half-full bottle of mouth wash, there were two hot dogs waiting for him. Neil was already attacking his second, and Pipps was about to set one each in front of Rose and Becky. “Thanks.”, Becky smiled. She then turned to John. “How are you? Did washing your mouth with the mouth wash help?” “Dizzy.”, John replied tiredly and then added: “I think I also leave that standing as answer to your second question. Thanks Pipps.” Almost carefully, John bit into his first hot dog. “Weird taste after the magic blue?”, Neil wondered. “Actually, it is quite good. You should set it on the menu.”, John suggested and dug into his food. “What do you think is in the blue slushy?” Pipps chuckled. When the kids reacted with shock, he stopped smiling and added: “What is it with you and the blue slushy?” He shook his head and went back behind the counter. There, he found his usual corner and leaned against the wooden wall, his head right next to a big round wall clock. “But I´m sure glad that you all look better now than when you came in her earlier.”, Pipps said. “Thanks.” Becky repeated. She was then about to say something more, but hesitated as if thinking her words over again. In the end, she settled for: “It was worse for others last night.” Pipps frowned again, looked down and seemed to shift his weight from one foot to the other and back. He sighed and wavered again. Rose got up and asked for a slushy. Pipps nodded once for the question and once towards the stacked paper cups on his counter. “Sure good what you are doing.”, Pipps said after a moment of silence, only interrupted by the slushy machine. “Wish I could help you more, be part of your little team. Can´t really leave, though. I called the boss yesterday to carefully ask about it, but no chance.” He paused again for a second. “Oh, and all this is on me of course.” Rose looked at her small-sized paper cup, hesitated, and then replied: “Thanks Pipps. You are great.” “Yes, thank you so much. You are helping us a lot.”, Becky said as well and Neil and John nodded. Pipps smiled again. Then he looked at the clock. “I´m just not sure if the old sheriff will stop by this morning. Maybe it´s better if you drive to his house.”, Pipps said thoughtfully. “That’s probably a good idea.”, Neil replied with a small sigh. The others signalled their agreement. Neil then walked over the few steps to the counter and fist-bumped with Pipps. John also got up, collected all the hot dog wrappers and empty cups and threw them in the bin next to the sausage carousel. “Oh.”, Neil said and made a move to help but it was too late. John nodded and smiled to Pipps as he left the shop with Neil. Now Rose walked over to the gas station attendant. She pointed at the foldable table with the burned down candle just outside and grinned at Pipps be she said: “Bye Pipps. Take care.” “You too.”, Pipps replied, blushing slightly, not quite reaching the color of intense red on his collar. Becky hugged him across the counter. She also looked at the candle and winked. “Greetings to Gladis.”, she whispered. “Will do. …and if there is something you guys need. Just come back here… or give me a call.”, Pipps said. “Let me write down the number of the payphone outside and the address of the old sheriff again.” He took a napkin and produced a pen from one of his jacket pockets and wrote both down. “Thank you so much. You are truly one of us.”, Becky said as she received the napkin. “See you and take care.” “Same.” Outside, the others were waiting by the car. As Becky approached, they all got inside. “Floor it.”, Rose exclaimed. “Let the old lady fly across the bridge.” “Sure glad you got that blue gold.”, Neil commented. “Let us follow the course of the sun across this straight, to where hope can maybe be had.”, John said and Becky started the engine. The old sheriff lived in a detached house in New Town, the once sprawling suburb of Wolf´s Cove. Although it belonged to the town, this neighbourhood, where the school was located as well, was located on the mainland proper. “Nice.”, commented Neil as they turned into the street where the old sheriff was supposed to live. “Just lacks the thrill of loving on a rock surrounded by stormy water.”, John, who leaned against the window, mumbled. “True.” Neil nodded. He then turned his attention back to the quiet residential street, lined with fast-growing poplars. The houses were simple in that they must have been build based on a limited number of models and were painted in a limited pallet of colors. But there was the New Town Recreation Centre, a gymnasium, at the end of the street. Right before that there was a beige house which was the destination of the students. Becky parked the car parallel to the sidewalk and looked at Pipps´ note again. “Yup, that´s it.”, she said. “Great.”, Rose replied. “I was just wondering if we really need to gang up on the guy…” “You want to hang back for now?”, Becky asked and Rose nodded. “Oh, if this is an option, I would like to wait in the car as well.”, John said. Becky nodded and then she and Neil got out of the car and went to the houses front door. Rose watched them push the little button for the doorbell and then knock. When somebody opened and a conversation started, she directed her attention to John. He was still rolled up in his corner of the back seat. His eyes were open and he stared at the celling. “All good?”, Rose wondered. “Just tired.”, John said. “At the same time I am not really motivated to close my eyes. The images of the thing staring at me from a distance last night and of the poor guy getting partially devoured by it are bleeding into each other and return once I blink.” “Shit.”, Rose commented. “In the past, I did try to describe scenes like this. I thought that would be a great and impactful thing to write. So far, I was never satisfied with what I produced. Now, I am ok with that failure.”, John said in a low voice. “Did anyone of you see the end of the video?” “No, we all had turned around shortly before, I think.” “So it is just me with these pictures in my head.”, John stated. For a short moment, his eyes made contact with Rose´s, before returning to face the ceiling again. “Sorry buddy.”, Rose said with a frown. “It is ok.” John turned around, put his forehead against the window and stared outside. “We can still talk about it.”, Rose suggested and then held her breath. “No thanks. Not yet anyway.”, John replied and Rose started to breathe again. She twisted her face and looked around, without really looking for something. She just took in the street, the gym, the houses, and the trees. “Somethings you can sometimes work with alone.”, she finally stated in a flat voice. When the doorbell did not ring, Becky knocked. She waited a second and then knocked again, louder. She saw an approving and encouraging nod from Neil from the corner of her eye. Finally, there was the sound of footsteps coming from inside the house. Closer and closer the steps came. They stopped right at the other side of the door. A clicking sound and a quick darkening of the door spy indicated that someone was looking outside. Instinctively, Becky and Neil made a step back, position themselves better visible and friendlier looking on the door step. It worked. The door swung open and a tall and slender man with glasses and suspenders stood on the other side. “Yes?”, the older man asked in defensive voice. “Good day to you, sir. Are you sheriff Hooper?”, Becky asked and went on to radiate a broad smile. “Ex-sheriff.”, the man said but he also nodded. “Hello Mr. ex-sheriff Hooper.”, Neil said. “We are local high school students and we need your help.” “This some money collecting?”, Hopper inquired. He also crossed his hands in front of his chest. “No.”, Becky stressed. “This is more an issue for the police.” She then continued to explain that a murder had happened and that doctor Lancer was requesting Hooper´s help. Hopper lowered his arms – just to cross them again in front of his chest. “How and why is this something I should be involved?”, he wondered aloud. Becky opened her mouth to answer something, but Hooper went on: “I´m not part of the police force anymore. That was made very clear. It was made very clear in the past. My days as part of that team are over. I´m merely a private individual these days. So I can only advise you to go the real police chief in town.” Becky blinked and Neil sighed. “It is not possible to contact the current sheriff at this moment.”, Neil explained. “This is part of why doctor Lancer send us here.”, Becky said faster than usual. Neil noticed that and glanced from her to Hooper but the ex-sheriff did not seem to notice. However, Becky´s words seemed to stir his interest a bit. “Yes?”, he asked. Rose returned her attention to John. He remained still, rolled up as far as he could and with his eyes closed. So he did not notice that Rose was looking at him again. “Do you think we are cursed now?”, she wondered aloud. “I indeed still feel a bit cursed. But the hot dogs and the mouth wash helped with that, I think.”, John murmured without moving or opening his eyes. “No, I mean the town.”, Rose clarified. “Maybe this is a way to make sense of this strange situation. There might have been a chance that the crash was just an accident, a chance to meet another being lost. But when that being and the old fellow together started eating people, I think they became cursed. Like it says in the old stories. And with them, we all, the whole town, got cursed. A town with such a name must be prone to such a warped destiny. You just cannot eat people without causing demise for the whole community.” “Interesting.”, John commented, shortly opening his eyelids and looking up to his friend. “Is that why we all are responsible to help lifting the curse?” “This might be what drives Becky.”, Rose nodded. “She realized that that would be the right way.” “Because the man-beast is our man…beast…” “Right. Not by choice maybe. But right now, our existences are interwoven.” “Interesting.”, John repeated. “I would have thought you would not like this way of responsibility for the deeds of others.” “I do not like it at all.” Rose said sternly. “However, we live here and we are not alone.” “So the current sheriff, this Carpenter-individual, is out of town and can´t be reached?”, Hooper more gloated upon than summarized. “Yes, he is fishing with the mayor.”, Becky replied. Hooper nodded slowly as if everything he had just heard was merely another confirmation of things he knew all along. “This is no surprise.”, he said consequently and moved back into his house. He was even about to close the door again. “Wait!”, Neil pleaded. “Please just go to the town hall and look at what the doctor has to show you.” Hooper did not close the door, but he did not come back out either. “Oh come on.”, Becky finally exclaimed. “What else do you want to hear? How much on the nose do we have to be? There are people in danger and maybe you can help. But all you do is standing there as if waiting for some compliments or reaffirmation from us. We are just a bunch of high-schoolers asking you to help the town. If this is not enough, then this has no point.” She turned around on her heels and waked back down to her car. Neil was surprised at first and did not know how to react. In the end, he followed her. Both got back in the car. “So…”, Rose more asked than stated. “He´ll come around.”, Becky said while turning the key in the ignition. “And I´m tired.” “Fair enough.”, Rose replied. “Yeah.”, John seconds as Neil looks back one more time to the old man´s house. “Just one thing.”, John adds shortly before Becky can loosen the hand break. “Is it too late to ask the former sheriff to use his toilet?” “Oh no…”, Rose exclaimed. “I wish you would not have said that.” Neil made an uneasy face. “You, too?”, Becky asked in his direction and Neil nodded. “Like, this is very awkward.”, John admitted. Becky seemed conflicted. “Well then let´s ask him.”, she finally said. The others avoided to make eye contact with her and instead stared out of the windows. “Do I have to be the one…”, Becky started, but was again interrupted by the old sheriff. He came out of his house, wearing an old jacket, locked the front door, and went over to the garage. There, he opened the gate, got in his car and drove off. “God dammed.”, Neil exclaimed. “He has to screw with us every step of the way.” “Should we break in and liberate his washroom?”, Rose suggested. There was a short pause where everyone was silent in a way as if at least three quarter of the people present were considering that suggestion. Then Becky climbed back and stepped on the gas, promising to drive them quickly to a washroom. “The school is close and… oh right. Well, your home is also not far, John. I´ll drive you there as fast as possible.”, Becky promised. “Appreciate that we don´t head for the filthy school.”, Neil said. As soon as Becky slowed down in the vicinity of John´s house, the other three jumped out of the car and sprinted inside. Becky smiled and turned off the engine. She looked around. Every house here was known to her and almost every family and person living in them. She frowned and then smiled again when she let herself drift into memories of herself visiting John´s house and leaving from it. Good memories were set in summer or fall, she decided. One that left still a cold feeling in her stomach and tugged unkindly at her heart, she slotted into early spring, when the winds still blew cold in from the sea. She was alone at this moment or at least so it seemed. There might be people in the simple houses up and down the street. There were at least three of her friends very close by. Yet, all of them were invisible for the time being. Becky wondered about that, not for long, but she did. After a while, Rose returned and the two drove ahead to Becky´s home. To rest and to freshen-up. “Was there something else, we might be missing?”, Becky wondered. Rose could not tell. She stared into the sky thinking. Still, she could not tell. “Hm.”, Becky said and dropped the issue. She parked the car in the drive way of her house. Both of them went inside where they found Becky´s mother sitting on the big couch in the living room. “There you are.”, Becky´s mom said with her voice slightly pitched too high compared to her normal manner of speaking. She held up the short note Becky had written a lifetime ago. “Sorry.”, Becky said. “We had to leave very spontaneously last night. It was necessary, even more so than I thought when I wrote this note. And a lot happened since then.” “Could I get more details, maybe?”, Beck´s mother asked. Becky nodded and she and Rose exchanged a glance. “So who will stay in this moment to tell the story and who will get to take a shower and a nap first?”, Becky wondered. Rose was about to say something. Then she took another look at her friend. Becky was slightly shivering even though it was relatively warm. She blinked often and sometimes closed her eyes for too long. So Rose cleared her throat and volunteered to tell the story. She sat down on the couch besides, crossed her legs, scooted a bit closer to Becky´s mom, and put a hand reassuringly on the mother´s knee. “So let me loop you in into our winding tale. It is a tale darker and more personal than all the stories from when I was a child and an elven mage. Anyway, how much time do we have until your shift starts, Erin?”, Rose inquired. “I ask, just so that I know how to pace my tale.” Neil lay on his back on his bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to come and claim him, at least for a while. His mind was racing, repeating dreadful pictures of the last days over and over again. Often claws were reaching out and flesh was torn. Some of this was just imagination as Neil knew, for he had not seen how destruction happened, just the results. But he had seen how a normal person turned into something completely alien. This was another sequence of pictures that played before the eye of his mind. Finally, he felt his consciousness slip away rather sweetly. A second later, it seemed, he was woken up by steps racing up the stairs. Panicky steps. Neil blinked and looked around. He was still in his room. But now, his door flew open. His mother stood in the doorframe, short of breath with exhaustion and fear. “Wha?”, Neil was able to say. “They are driving through the streets warning people of the monster!”, his mom exclaimed. Neil sat up in his bed, now wide awake again, his heart pumping like it was already on the run and gaining ground on him.   Becky had slept for a while, she decided. She felt refreshed, so maybe the while had been long enough. The clock showed her that three whole hours had passed. So the must have slept. She turned to the side and tried to plan ahead. There were surely still things to do. They should go back to the town hall and talk to Doctor Lancer… Following that thought, Becky sat up, then jumped out of her bed. She had forgotten to call Mrs. Lancer. She threw on some clothes and stormed downstairs to the living room. There she grabbed the phone and called Mrs. Lancer´s home. Mrs. Lancer did not get to the phone, but Becky left a brief message on the answering machine. All was fine with Doctor Lancer, but he was busy helping the town. Becky hung up and thought a bit. Then she looked at the living room clock and decided to call the school. Surely, Mrs. Lancer would still be there. Becky got through to the administrator´s office. She then learned that Mrs. Lancer was not at the school anymore. As a matter of fact, almost no one was left there. “The school is being evacuated?”, Becky wondered aloud. “Say what?”, came from Rose who had been napping on the couch. Now she peeked over the back rest of it at her friend. “The school is being evacuated.”, Becky repeated. “Because of a monster.” Neil stared through the kitchen window. Out on the street, there was a police cruiser and through its speaker system, Deputy Sullyvan warned people of a dangerous individual, possible a beast or monster, prowling the town. There was a simple rhythm to Sullyvan´s words, which made them penetrated the mind more easily. “Stay on your house for now, a beast is on the prowl. Stay inside, until we give you a green light. Soon it will be ok – but for now stay inside.”, the deputy sang while driving slowly down the street. People stood on their porches and wondered what all that meant. More and more, they also got scared. Neil nodded and muttered to himself: “Shit, shit.” He then jumped up to his room, dressed as fast as he could and ran down again, this time to the back door. “Need to tell John about this. Then we´ll see, maybe go to the town hall to see the doc.”, Neil explained to his mom. “Is this about the thing you saw and last night?”, she asked. Neil stopped for a minute. “Yes. Sorry that I didn´t have more time to explain what is happening. Not sure when I´ll have the opportunity to do so. But now something seems to be done. That´s good news. See you later, love you.”, he rapid-fired over his shoulder and then stopped. “Maybe you and dad should meet up with John´s grandma before sundown. And make sure to lock all windows and doors.” Then he was gone through the back door. With wide strides, he traversed the perfectly kept backyard. He breathed in deeply when he reached the fence. Then he flung his right leg up to the wooden planks, strained, and pulled himself over the fence. He was now in John´s backyard. John was on the phone when he saw his friend letting himself drop from the peak of fence in the backyard. “Seems Neil is on the way already.”, John said into the receiver. “Yah, he just dropped by.” John hung up and then opened the glass back door to let Neil in. “Sullyvan is making rounds dropping bars about a beast, and warning people.”, Neil reported breathlessly. He tried to clean some dry grass from the knees of his pants. “Becky called and said the school is being evacuated.”, John said instead of a reply. “Because of the monster?”, Neil wondered. “Yes.” “Good…” Neil concluded his efforts to clean his pants. He then stood surrounded by a spot of dry grass on the floor of John´s grandma´s living room. So he tried to push the grass outside with his sneakers. John was watching him a bit absentmindedly. “Anyway,” John continued, “Becky suggested we drive back to the town hall and see what happens.” “I´d like to know what happens.”, Neil agreed. “Besides, it is still light outside. Feels save… saver.” “Well, there is just one monster and now a whole town aware of that.”, John remarked. Neil nodded quietly. They went outside to wait for the others. On the way, they hugged John´s grandma with a honesty and urgency that left her speechless for the moment it took the boys to leave. There were around three dozen cars parked around the town hall and even more people were on foot, streaming towards it. All looked worried if not angry. “Maybe they got questions.”, Rose suggested. “They surely look like it.” The friends studied the fearful and angry faces of the people closing in on the town hall. “I can´t image that this is a good idea. Like, assembling here in one spot while a monster is hunting its prey in town. This looks like an all-you-can-eat-buffet.”, Neil commented. Mainly in pairs of two, the people from the street filtered into the town hall. The doors were open and Deputy Smith stood beside them, looking uneasy. Next to her was the old sheriff, surveying the area and now and then talking to Smith. “Also not a good idea to cram people into a confined space in a situation like this.”, John added. “Yes. But to be honest, that kind of endangering and reckless behaviour is what I would have expected from any group of people large enough and afraid enough.”, Rose said. “True.”, John agreed. Becky meanwhile tried to talk to one or two people and to ask them to go back home. Her words were lost on them like they would have been to the cliffs and the surf. She was barely visible for them. The four friends waited next to the entrance until all the angry and confused people had filtered into the building. “Let´s maybe see what they want and if there are any news.”, Neil suggested and Becky agreed. “Not sure if I need that.”, Rose said wryly. “What I need is to make another call, I think.” She proceeded inside and headed for the public phone. “Fair.”, Becky called after her. “And maybe you would like to stay behind here with Rose? If you also would like to skip the masses.” Her last words were directed at John. “Hm.”, John made. “I can absolutely do without all these people.” He paused and studied Becky´s expression.   “Is this one of these situations where you need to give me a clue?”, he wondered. Becky nodded and smiled. “That´s a pretty big cue, not that I want to interfere.”, Neil commented. They left it at that and went inside. John stayed behind close to the phone and to Rose, while the others followed the citizens into the council chamber. John looked out through the open doors at the streets again. These were the same streets as last night and still a world away it seems. Here he had seen the monster stand in the yellow greasy light of the street lamps. Now everything looked like a normal warm summer day. Plus the cars parked more or less wildly outside of the town hall. Warm, almost hurtfully bright light had transformed the whole landscape. Everything from last night just seemed like a nightmare, separated from the now by the waking and knowing that there are dreams but that there is also a reality. John shivered slightly in the shadow of the entrance. He turned his attention to Rose. She had just finished her call and stepped out of the half enclosed phone booth. John set out to say something or rather ask something. The words reached the end of their usability before he could even utter them. So he stood there with a slightly opened mouth. “She is doing okay.”, Rose reported, filling the emptiness John had left in the interaction. “That is good.”, John then said as a reaction. “I am glad for her and you.” “Thank you.” There was another pause. John opened his arms and moved a bit closer, suggesting a hug. Rose looked at him, first puzzled and then understanding. “Yeah, we can hug on that.”, she said and they clumsily embraced each other. When it was over, both nodded. “Did you tell your parents about what is happening here?”, John wondered. “No.” The council camber was full and even over full with people. There was no place left to sit and not much place to stand either. People were bumping against the councillor´s tables and chairs. Again and again, someone was pushed or stumbled into one of the almost life size paintings of whalers and traders of blubber, livestock, and people, and mayors. It was clear that the round room with its dark wood panelling and low ceiling was not build for such a an interest in assemblage. The air was already bad and so was the mood. Becky and Neil had to push and elbow their way inside the doors. “Maybe we should find out why these people are here.”, Becky whispered to Neil. “Grand idea. I leave you the lead. You are clearly more effective in this communication thing.” People were talking over each other in smaller groups. Some seemed to shift between groups, talking to someone on their left and then turning to their right to say the same thing. But relatively closely to the door Becky and Neil discovered the two local librarians Agnes Smith and Angus Lancer. Becky decided to address them. “Hello Ms. Smith and Mr. Lancer. How are you? What brings you here?”, Becky inquired. “We heard the police making announcements that there was a danger. This was not a terribly helpful information. So we went here and now found out that Hendrick of all is in charge.”, Mr. Lancer answered. “As I´ve said time and again, it was a mistake to do away with the good old air raid sirens. They would have helped us in a situation like this.”, Ms. Smith added. “Indeed, they would have warned us.”, Mr. Lancer agreed. “Right? Then we would know to stay inside and not to come by here ourselves.” “We would have stayed inside in the safety of our houses.”, Mr. Lancer went on. “It is not too late to return home.”, Becky suggested. “Without a proper way to warn people, we have no other way to get any information than to come by. If only there were less people and less noise.”, Ms. Smith stated. “However…”, Becky started, but did not manage to get back into the conversation. Neil touched her elbow and shook his head. “They just want to repeat what they already think they know, like the others here.”, Neil whispered, not silently enough as he got angry glances from Smith, Lancer, and others around. “Let´s move on.”, Neil suggested. Becky agreed and they tried to push on towards the head side of the room where they assumed Doctor Lancer would be. After successfully moving a few steps, they found Mr. MacShane lecturing a small group very concerned citizens on staying away from the water. “Hi Mr. MacShane.”, Becky greeted. “Have you changed your mind and are here to help us now?” MacShane sized her up as if she had just completed an athletic feat but not with the form necessary. “There is no changing the truth. I am here because the town seems to wake up to the facts I have had all the time already. So I am here to offer my professional knowledge. If the powers that be are willing to listen to me. And do what I suggest.” “Oh… great.”, Becky said with an unsteady smile. Neil nudged her on. They passed further people who moved closer to the speaker´s podium, demanding details on the nature of the danger that had befallen the town. At some point, Becky and Neil could not go any further. A group ahead was impervious to elbow bumps. Even worse, there was a rush backwards and Becky and Neil were pushed against one of the councillor´s desks. To render the push without effect, Becky climbed on the desk. Neil followed her. Now they stood there half crouching under the ceiling. But they could see a bit more and noticed that Doctor Lancer was standing almost with his back against the wall. All that was separating him from the far end of the room were the Stars and Stripes, the bright state flag, and the dark flag of Wolf´s Cove hanging from their gilded masts. A subgroup of the crowd had the doctor cornered there, obviously pelting him with questions. “Poor guy, he seems trapped over there.”, Becky commented with a nod to Lancer. “Yeah, a bit like we are on this table.”, Neil observed, looking around. “What are they even talking about with the doctor?”, Becky wondered. Neil re-directed his attention. “I think some are wondering if the water from the tabs is still safe to drink. Others seem to ask if they can still go to the beach before the sirens call out.”, Neil then said. “No wonder that that Doctor Lancer seems to be completely lost.”, Becky commented. “We should do something.” “Like, fire a gun into the ceiling to get everyone’s attention?”, Neil asked while stemming his both hands against the wooden panelling above him. “Hm.”, Becky made. “Interesting. Deputy Smith and the old sheriff just tried to enter the room.” Outside, it had become quiet. “Seems the stream of fearful angriness has dried up for the moment.”, John observed. “Stream of angriness?”, Rose wondered. “The wave of the ones confused to the point of anger.” “Still shaky.”, Rose decided. “Also what is with all the water metaphors?” “You mean, my metaphors have no sea-legs?”, John asked and smirked. Rose just rolled her eyes. “We are close to the ocean.”, John then defended himself. Rose crooked her head, blinked, and nodded in the end. “Okay. I get it.”, she said. “But back to the point. Maybe Sullyvan did not reach everyone yet with his warnings.” They interrupted their conversation while Deputy Smith walked by. She probably had decided that her presence was not needed anymore outside. The street was empty except for the wildly parked cars, abandoned for the moment like rocks beached by a surge that was long gone. So the deputy passed Rose and John and went on to the council chamber. John looked out at the street again, his eyes wandering aimlessly at first, then searching. “Do you think it could come back even now in the daylight?”, Rose asked after observing her friend for a minute. “I hope not.”, John answered. “Do you think this will end… well, it cannot end well anymore. But do you think it can at least without more tragedy?” Now Rose also looked out on the small houses flanking the street running away from the town hall. She observed the shadows the cedars and street lights created on the pavement and the asphalt. There were all these little secretive spots hiding from the sun light. “I do not know.”, Rose finally said. “Right now it is bright and nice outside, but there is a darkness overlaying everything now. It is like something familiar got a facet previously unseen. And this new facet is scary for you do not know where it will lead but you are well aware to where it can lead. There are shadows in this world, you realize. Shadows with claws and fangs that are too eager to grab and gnaw on the ones you like.” “Yeah.”, John agreed. “All is the same and not the same. It makes me wonder how this situation would play out if someone else had spotted the asteroid. If we were different and if the town was different. It also makes me wonder how we would see this situation if it we were like the monster. If we were the monster. After all, we saw that it looks like one of us.” On their desk, Becky and Neil tried to get the attention of Deputy Smith and of Hooper. They waved as good as they could with the limited space at hand. When this did not work, Neil tried to whistle. When he failed, he looked a bit haplessly at Becky. She yelled: “Hey!” But even this did not yield the hoped for results. “Ok, I´ve got an idea. Let´s get back down into the mosh pit to get to Smith.”, Becky suggested and started to push somebody a bit away to make enough room to jump down from the desk. Neil had to follow her swiftly before the opening she created did close. He felt like jumping right into a moment when the tides where about to change. With elbows and some polite words from Becky, they made a way to the deputy. Unfortunately, somebody was faster and Smith and Hooper were already caught up in a conversation. Even closer than the crowded room demanded, Mr. W. stood next to Smith and Hooper. W. was, as usual dressed in his blue and green plastic track suite. This time, he had combined this with a camouflage vest. “Finally some authority!”, Mr. W. said in his raspy voice. Smith was staring at him puzzled. “We should take back the control of this situation and firstly make sure no more of these strange elements can filter into our bellowed city.”, Mr. W. continued. “What are you talking about?”, Smith wondered. “We told everybody already that the monster looks like one of us. There is no filtering.” Hooper nodded like somebody nods who got to see the reality second hand and was still impacted by it. Becky and Neil used meanwhile the resulting pause to reach the two police officers and to interject themselves into the conversation. “Deputy Smith, Mr. Hooper, this here is a very weird situation. But I´ve got an idea.”, Becky said. “What are you still doing here?”, Smith asked. “We got you, Mr. Hooper, to come by.”, Neil explained. “And now she has an idea.” He nodded towards his friend. “However…”, Mr. W. pushed himself back into focus, physically as well. “I would like to report suspicious strangers and demand that you take this seriously and the whole issue into your own hands. No more of these civilian town government. In a crisis, it is our time to make the decisions. I volunteer to help, of course.” “We are not looking for strangers. For me, the person on the tape looks like the old Mr. Miller to me.”, Hooper said. “We should still close the bridge. Shady individuals cross it every day.”, W. insisted. “I crossed it just hours ago!”, Hooper exclaimed. “Don´t engage him.”, Neil pleaded. “Becky, what is your idea?” Becky remarked that there were around 50, maybe 60 people in the council chamber at the moment. Way too many for such a small room. The bar where her mother worked, on the other hand, had a dancing salon attached to it that could fit around 80 people. So Becky´s suggestion was to move this meeting to the bar. And to give it more structure while doing so. This would also help to reduce the chaos and the fear and to improve the safety of everybody. Smith and Hopper looked at each other and exchanged a quick nod. “Sounds like a red idea.”, Smith said, then corrected herself. “This sounds like a promising idea.” She proceeded to call Deputy Sullyvan via radio and to tell him to go to the bar. “Nice.”, Sullyvan´s crackling voice said over radio. “I hope he gets what we are aiming to do.” Hooper commented. Rose and John saw the people leaving the council chamber and filing out through the entrance door. “This went either really well or really bad.”, John commented. Rose stared straight at him. “You think this could not have gone well?”, John wondered. “She´s right.”, Neil said as he detached himself from the crowd and came over to the public phone where the others were standing. Rose nodded. A second later, Becky joined the others. “We are heading to my mom´s bar. I´ll better call her.”, Becky said but did not see her friends nodding in agreement as she was already disappearing in the half enclosed telephone booth. “Hope there will be snacks.”, Rose stated while watching people still filing out of the town hall. From outside, angry words could be heard, exchanged between town’s people who had parked in each other´s way previously and now struggled to leave in their cars. “Snacks sound reasonable.”, Neil agreed. Now there was a honking coming from several cars clearly audible. This was then soon accompanied by the noise of engines revving. “It is getting relatively late already again.”, John remarked. There was the sound of a slight crash and metal pushing against and denting in metal. More honking followed. “I mean, it will be dark relatively soon again.”, John. Like the others, he watched the last people leave the town hall. Now only the friends were left as well as Doctor Lancer, Deputy Smith, and Hooper. Those three were just coming out of the council chamber. “You think it will return with the sundown?”, Rose inquired. Again, there were honking, screeching tires, and a bumping crash audible. Then somebody yelled. “I fear it will return soon, too soon.”, John said. “Can we do something so that these people are not killing themselves while leaving their illegal parking spots?”, Hooper wondered while walking by, clearly talking to Smith. She shrugged. “Hopefully we can get a bit more order.”, she added and then turned to Becky, Neil, and the others. “Good idea to move all of this.” Becky gave her a thumbs-up, Neil bowed slightly. “Did someone see the reverent?”, wondered Lancer who walked a bit shaky. Bu the three adults left without answering this question. Slowly the noises outside subsided afterwards. Becky finished up her call and walked up to the others. “Let´s drive to the bar.” There were already a few cars parked in front of the bar which had the simple name “Drink”. One of these cars was Sullyvan´s police cruiser. The lights were flashing but the siren and the deputy was silent for the moment. From behind the steering wheel, he watched worried citizens arriving and then directly entering the bar. Sullyvan also waved to Becky and the others when they slowly drove by to find a parking spot. As there was much interest in the bar that night – lots of the usual guest seemed to be inside already in addition to the angry citizens – Becky could only find some available space to a block away. She parked with an excusing impression on her face and afterwards, the four friends walked from there to the bar. “Not sure I know why we are even here.”, Neil said. “Because these scared people needed a place to assemble that was not a squishing hazard.”, Becky replied. “I get that. But why were they there in the first place and are now here in the… second place?”, Neil clarified. “Did you really expect something different when the police goes out to warn everybody to stay inside?”, Rose wondered. Neil considered it. “I get your point here as well,… but how does this help them in their endgame?” “There is no endgame for them.”, John suggested. “And you said that you get that several times now. Please do not say it again.” Neil grumbled but nodded. “I´m just on the edge. Soon it will be night again and I can´t see how this all helps us to keep the town save.”, he mumbled. Becky nodded and put an arm around him. “You are right in your concerns.”, she said. “However, maybe we can do some good here.” “Better than driving until dusk to search for a monster with giant claws.”, Rose added. So they went on and entered “Drink”. The four friends immediately found Becky´s mom behind the slightly worn, but still oak bar counter. Erin looked tense and was watching the entrance door as well as the door leading to the dance salon. Becky ran to her mother and gave her a hug. The other three high schoolers remained on the customer side of the bar, but smiled and waved at Erin. “Hey guys.”, Erin smiled back and her posture became already less tensed, possibly because Beck was clinging to her. “Do you want something to eat before the whole great whatever it is starts in the ball room?” “Yes please.”, Neil answered and the others nodded. “Do we also get beer?”, Neil then wondered with a smirk. “We have the police here.”, Erin replied flatly while still being hugged. Then Becky let her mother go. “Thanks for the food.”, Becky said and left the area behind the bar. Her mother smiled. “Wait with that until you see what you get. There are some sausages left over.”, Erin explained. “Can´t chug them to the assembled citizens?”, Neil wondered. “Oh, we did.”, Erin reported with a played up enthusiasm. “But there are still some left.” “If you need help with meal-related planning of stocking and selling, I can offer my help.”, Neil said. “Meanwhile we are thankful for what we get.”, Rose interjected and John nodded with effort. Erin requited that with a nod from her side. Then she wrote something on a small piece of paper, turned around, and handed the paper through a small window behind the bar into the kitchen. “Machine will take care of your snacks.”, Erin declared. “How is your family, Rose? Do you need to make a call?” “I called them already today. They are fine. My sister is still doing ok. We will know more after the operation they say. But maybe I already mentioned it as they mention it a lot.”, Rose answered. “It´s ok to mention it again.”, Becky reassured her friend and gave her a brief hug. “Sorry I missed the call today.” “Oh, John was there. So when he hugged me it was like hugging you second-hand.”, Rose remarked and smirked. John blushed. “That´s how it works – at least according to what they teach in school.”, Neil chimed in and padded John on the back. Then he returned his attention to the kitchen window. “I talked to Tula about this already.”, Erin said while preparing a drink for a customer sitting further down at the bar. “She teaches music, not dancing.”, Neil joked and chuckled a bit too long. Meanwhile Becky froze for a moment. “We were supposed to visit her or at least call her. But I forgot and then could not reach her.”, Becky said nervously. “Oh, she is here, dear.”, Erin remarked. “I saw her entering the dance salon.” “Should check on her.”, Becky insisted and went away. The other three watched her leave, but hesitated to follow for now. But then Doctor Lancer walked into the bar and with him Deputy Smith and the ex-sheriff. Erin sent them with a nod towards the dance salon. “I guess with Becky and Lancer here, we are not needed to reassure Mrs. Lancer that things are relatively ok.”, Neil suggested. “Also, they did not even bow their head in a simple gesture to greet us.” “That was rude.”, John agreed. “Barbarians.”, Rose added. “No sausages for them.”, Neil suggested. Rose put a hand on his elbow. “Wait until we have tasted them.”, she whispered. The bright sound of a bell mounted to the counter in the kitchen window sounded. “You will have the opportunity to do the tasting now indeed.”, Erin said and turned around to the window behind her. Quickly, she produced four plates with pale sausages, fries and some salad. “Not bad. Thanks.”, Neil said. “Even some leaves to keep the scurvy at bay.” “We are a seafarer town, after all.”, Erin gave back. “Could you bring Becky her plate?” Neil nodded and picked up two of the portions before heading to the dance salon. Rose picked up her plate as well and followed Neil. Then it was John´s turn. “How are you doing?”, Erin asked while handing him his food. “How is your grandma?” John pondered that for a while and tried his best to avoid looking Erin in the eyes. “Good… and good. Like, as good as it can be right now. My sister is also fine, I think. But she is at least away. That is a relief. One cannot be at two places at the same time. So she is out of the danger zone I guess. Grandma and I have to see what the night brings, though. There is stuff to do here that hopefully helps. So I cannot be at two places. Hope I chose well.”, John answered before he could make himself stop. Erin nodded and patted slightly his hand. “You four are doing great.”, Erin reassured John. She did so without proof, but with one of her friendly smiles. John looked her in the eyes again. “It´s good to see you. Always.”, Erin said finally. “Same.”, John replied and nodded three times. He even smiled. Then he took his plate and followed the others. The dance salon was not so much decorated as littered with abandoned and forgotten decoration from previous balls. These were namely some high school dances which had been maritime themed. There were paper sea horses and sea stars and some whales lining the walls and at dolphin was hanging above the small stage. There were also pumpkins and witches and spider webs. The first two were in anticipation of the fall already or hold overs from last Halloween. The latter might have been real. There were still a lot of people in the room, but John had the feeling that there were less people here than in the town hall. Still, John was glad when he discovered that Rose and Neil had found a standing table in one corner and a bit removed from the crowd to settle down and eat their food. So John kept close to the wall while he went to his friends. “How is the food?”, John asked Rose and Neil. “I like the show more.”, Neil answered, while holding a hand in front of his mouth, and nodded towards the stage. There, Fred, the owner of “Drink”, stood and tried to instil some order into his surprise guests. “So I see some people here tonight who I might or might not, but certainly have, banned for life from this establishment. As this is an extreme situation and we are all scared. So I´ll make an exception. As long as you can behave yourself tonight. Looking at you Eb in particular. Yes, you. If there is a problem, I will not wait for the cops, I and Bruce will take the matter into our own hands and rain down expulsions and additionally lifelong bans at you.”, Fred thundered from his elevated position. He did not use the sound system in the room, as the microphone was set too high for him, as if it was already set up for Doctor Lancer. “So, having said this, the bar is open and food is still served. Also, please listen what the doctor has to say. He told me he has important things to see.” Fred climbed down from the stage and mingled with the assembled crowd. After a moment of emptiness that frustrated everyone, Doctor Lancer, together with Smith and Hooper took to the stage. Lancer stressed that there was danger, but not the need for headless actions. That make John push his plate away from himself. “He should not have mentioned the head.”, Rose said and Neil also studied the reaction of his friend. “He should not have mentioned the head.”, John agreed dryly while still becoming paler. Neil´s expression, meanwhile, became more worried. He also let his food be. “Do you need to get outside for a moment? Ok, there are monsters. Do you need to visits the men´s room for a moment?”, Neil asked. “I think I am ok. Just done with my meal.”, John answered. Then he chuckled slightly at first, then a bit more and a bit more until he almost laughed. Neil looked at his friend puzzled, while Rose smiled and also started to giggle and then laugh. Neil could not help it but also smiled. “What?”, Neil wondered. “Men´s room?”, Rose said. “Men´s room.”, John nodded. “Let´s go to the men´s room and do manly things, like throwing up.” “Now I get it.”, Neil now laughed as well. At the same moment, Becky showed up. “What´s up?”, Becky asked her friends, trying to shift between a concerned and an amused look on her face. Behind her, Mrs. Lancer was leaving the hall. “The boys were just joking about manly things.”, Rose explained. “Spot on.”, Neil added, while all three were looking after Mrs. Lancer. “How is Mrs. Tula?”, John wondered and nodded towards the spot where their teacher had just been. Becky explained that she had only talked briefly to Tula. Her husband had had even less time, but told Tula to go home and lock the doors. “Now she is on her way to wait this out alone at home.”, Becky concluded. “Like a lot of people.”, Neil observed which let Becky look even more worried. “There seems to be quite a number of people that did not followed here from the town hall.”, John jumped in. “A hand full of them seem to have decided it was better to go home or somewhere else.” “Not surprising. You lose always someone when you change the location. I thought that was part of the plan.”, Neil said. “No. It is better to have people here if they did not want to stay home.”, Becky defended herself. “Well, if I may something.”, Rose set on. “The cops told people to stay home and wait out the night. Some people had question or were angry about this and they showed up at the town hall. However, as we see now, only 40 or so are really interested beyond that. That is a small number even in our small town. Most people actually are following what Lancer and the police have told them.” “True.”, Becky nodded. “And yet here we are with the louder ones. Oh, and with him.”, Rose concluded and pointed towards Mr. W., standing in the middle of the dance salon, still in his camouflage vest and tracking suit. He remained there while Doctor Lancer finally climbed on to the stage and got to the microphone. He was flanked by Smith and Hooper who studied the crowd beneath them. Lancer lifted his hands and let them hover above the people in a reassuring gesture. He then tried to find calming words. His still shaky voice did not help selling that point. The doctor reiterated that there was a danger to the people of the town and that everybody needed to follow the official advice and take responsibility to get through this. There was, in fact, a monster on the prowl that had already claimed one victim. Lancer was visibly searching for the name of the unfortunate soul taken by the monster. In the end, he repeated his warning. Some people wondered where the mayor was and Lancer answered that the mayor was unavailable. People gasped. So Hooper leaned over to the microphone and said that the mayor was on a fishing trip, together with the sheriff. People gasped again. But Lancer, taking back the microphone, told everybody not to worry. There were protocols for that in place. So it was his task to lead a task force to deal with the situation. “Now, what gives you the authority to draft measures against monsters?”, a voice in the audience asked loudly. “What gives you the authority, when there is someone here that has excellent expertise on monsters?” “Is this?”, John wondered and Neil nodded. “Who are you?”, asked Hopper, again leaning in to get to the microphone. So MacShane introduced himself and took the opportunity to warn about the water. Any water. “This is not water related.”, Doctor Lancer replied and waved his hand. Some people gasped and were not satisfied with this and demanded that MacShane be heard. He did, meanwhile repeat his issues with water as source of ancient evil. “It is true you know. This town is cursed. There is an ancient sin that has been committed here by the people of this town. Such a sin cannot go without repercussions. One day, someone has to pay. And this day seems to have come now.”, Rose said in a loud pretend whisper that was clearly aimed at some people standing close by. Becky shook her head disapprovingly. “It is the nights when we pay the price.”, John added in a low voice. “True.”, Rose conceded with a nod. Then another voice was raised and it originated relatively closely to the group of friends. “This is the moment I and others have warned you before. We should not have let anybody into our town! And now we have this crime at our hands.”, Mr. W. exclaimed. “I say, close and guard the bridge. Where there is one monster, there might come more. There are some hones men I could call to help us hold the bridge.” “Who are you? Who said that?”, Hopper asked again and shielded his eyes to peer down from the stage into the ball room. Then he recognized Mr. W. “Oh you. We don´t need your so-called friends here. Was it not part of your sentence that you break ties with these individuals? Besides, the… monster looks like one of us, a local resident. The danger is already in our midst.” “He should not even address this guy.”, Rose grumbled. Becky and the others nodded. “This is not relevant.”, Becky yelled. On stage, Hooper blinked and then nodded as well. “If we are done with real questions, let´s rather go back to the water-guy instead of listening to Mr. W.”, Hooper said and then leaned back again. Mr. W. became furious and started to walk to the stage, pushing people aside. The stopped dead in his track when Fred showed up right in W.´s way. “I warned you, Eb. If you still can´t behave yourself, we need to throw you out. You and your ever ugly soccer world cup shirt and your vest and your hideous track suit. As I said, I made an exception by letting you stay. Even though you were banned before. Even though you have dressed like this. But now you crossed a line.”, Fred warned and stared W. dead in the eye. W. tried to stare back and even lifted himself up on his toes to tower even more above the smaller Fred. But Fred did not move. “There´s two options: You leave of your own terms. Or you leave with even more embarrassment than you already caused for yourself.”, Fred stated coldly. Another moment passed. But as W. saw that no one was taking his side, he grumbled and mumbled curses, and then turned around and left. There was an eight-handed applause, but it did not catch on. There was a moon above the water. He remembered seeing the moon above the ocean. Then he found himself close to a bridge. It had steered him here. He could jump the distance, he felt. Why would he jump the distance? Here had his home been. Here he had been trapped since the night of the fall. Why would he not leave this place, maybe try another? There must be a world out there. He had seen it. It pushed him. Then he noticed a movement and the hunger returned. A shape was standing in a metal box, making sounds. Noisy noisy sounds. Was this a warning? Memories found told of the danger that these shapes posed. Memories recently made told that the shapes could be dismantled, sliced up into delicious bits. There was fear and there was hunger. There would be a meal, a small sliver of warmth to quell the previously unknown hunger. And there was the fear. What was the shape doing? What was is yelling it. It pushed him to make the other stop.

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Six – Missed

Becky, Rose, and John had abandoned the dance hall and moved back to the bar and dining room. It was getting empty, as customers headed home, worried, or had joined the others in the dance salon, also worried. Erin was, however, still behind the bar counter. Her shift was not over yet. So she was just in this moment working on replacing the big barrel of salted peanuts right next to the kitchen window. Erin then proceeded to fill small bowls with peanut from the barrel and distributed two of them randomly on the bar, while giving the rest to the kids. “Sometimes, I fantasise about working in a bar. Then I would have all the access to the peanut barrel.”, Rose admitted while sizing up the peanut bowl in front of her. Erin raised an eyebrow and John giggled slightly. “Fantasise?”, Becky wondered. “Maybe that word was a tad too strong.”, Rose conceded. “What I try to convey is the appeal of the idea of having access to so many peanuts.” “Not to interrupt your lyric conveying, but you can buy them at the super market.”, Erin said with a smile while stretching her back. “Possibly – but I am a teenager without the sufficient peanut buying power. You know that, I live on your couch.”, Rose defended herself. “And we are glad to have you.”, Becky laughed. Erin nodded and polished the bar with a towel, before throwing sad towel away. Neil came by from the dance salon and also sat down at the bar. He then sighed tiredly. He rubbed his eyes and surveyed the offerings of peanuts. He put his head in his right hand and rested his elbow on the bar all while playing with a stray peanut on the counter with his left hand. “How does it look inside?”, Becky asked finally. Neil looked at her and sighed again. “It´s pretty much the same. There is still the argument about the water going on and MacShane trying to get a seat at the table. The others sighed almost simultaneously. “Also, at some point Fred put on some music in the background. Not very loud, but loud enough to get some people to do some fist-pumping.”, Neil added. The others made uncertain faces, frowned a lot and raised eyebrows. “At least people are either at home or in there. So everybody should be safe.”, Becky stated. Not in that exact moment, but also not much later, the entrance door to the bar flew open and a man stormed in. His vest, shirt, and track suite were covered in blood, his face frozen to a mask of horror. So it took a while until he was recognized as Mr. W.

He plunged down on a bar stool as Erin, the kids, and some other patrons formed a circle around Mr. W. Fast it became clear that there were no wounds. This was not W.´s blood. “What happened?”, Becky demanded in an unsteady voice. W. stretched out his hands which made the others recoil. Then W. shook his head and started to mumble about a monster stretching out claws like blades towards him and about a mouth opening and widening to reveal teeth upon teeth, glittering with saliva. “And then there was the gas station guy.”, W. said. “What?”, Becky exclaimed. “What about Pipps?”, Rose demanded. “Is he ok?” Pipps was not. It took a while of prodding, but finally, W. could utter some coherent sentences: “I was on the phone. I was on the phone telling my buddies about all this going down here. Rally them up, I though. Get them over here, I thought. The gas station guy was looking at me from his shop. I ignored him, turned away, saw somebody else. First, there was this old man. Then he popped open and I stared at all the sharpness. I tried to run, but there was the phone. I dropped it. There is no chance that I would´ve made it. But the guy from the gas station was there and then he was in-between. And then he was gone and the monster was hesitating. So I got away.” “His name is Pipps.”, Becky said in an icy voice. Her mom put a hand on her daughters shoulder. “I´ll better get the doctor and the police.”, Neil almost whispered and jumped up from his stool. “No need for a doctor. I´m fine.”, W. answered. “This is not about you.”, Rose yelled, while tears started to fill her eyes. “We lost a friend tonight, because he was the better person than you.” Mr. W. recoiled, but then was quiet. Meanwhile Becky got up and hugged Rose. John just stared at the floor, clenching his fists. After a second, Erin came over to him and gave him a hug. When Lancer and the others finally arrived, they found the group by the bar in tears. Only W. was still just muttering something to himself. There were other people in the room, who looked shook. Nobody talked. It took Lancer several tries to get a report on what had happened. Slowly, W. repeated what he had said. Still, Neil had to fill in some missing parts. He had to repeat what W. had said earlier about Pipps. Neil´s voice broke again and again. In the end, he sat down next to John and Erin. Lancer, Smith, and Hooper just stood there for a moment. Others came over from the ball room and the news spread. There was silence and there were tears. Gladis broke down sobbing. Fred walked over to her and tried to comfort her. But there was no comfort. In the middle of all that, Doctor Lancer stood. His gaze wandered around and his hands shook a bit. For one moment, he tried to control them. He padded all of his pockets for a cigarette and did not find one. Becky looked up and saw Lancer searching for a distraction. She let go of Rose and reached over the bar counter to where the packets of cigarettes were stored. Without looking at the brand, Becky grabbed a pack and threw it over to Lancer. He just caught it. “What shall we do now?”, Becky asked Lancer. Once she had uttered that question, pairs and pairs of eyes shifted their focus to the doctor. He unwrapped the packet of cigarettes, opened it, removed one, and put it between his lips. “Well…”, he said and then looked at his watch. “How much longer will the night be?” “Hours.”, Erin answered. “We might have passed the middle, but there is still enough left of the darkness.”, John added, still gazing at the floor. “We should at least go and get Pipps.”, Hooper suggested. “I mean… that is the least we can do, the only thing now. And we need to get confirmation on what happened there and if the monster is still there.” Doctor Lancer nodded. He looked again at his watch and let the cigarette dance between his lips. Fred was giving him a warning glance and Lancers nodded, took the cigarette out of his mouth. “That´s probably a job for the police. Could you and Smith go there?”, Lancer asked. Neither Smith nor Hooper jumped at this opportunity. Becky and Neil kept looking from then to Lancer. That was, until Erin whispered: “You stay here!” “Ok, let´s… let´s go. I´ll tell Sully to stay at his position here, just to be sure.”, Smith said finally and started towards the door. Hooper followed her after hesitating shortly. He then stopped in front of W. “You better come with us. We need to know what went down there and where the beast might have gone to.”, Hopper said to Mr. W. He did not react to this demand at first and just stared at Hooper. Then W.`s face twitched for a second and his eyes lit up. His mouth became a clenched line. In the end, W. got up and followed the other two outside. As the door closed and he locked it, Fred asked: “So, what now?” “We wait.”, had been Doctor Lancer´s answer. That had been several hours ago by now. John looked at Rose´s wristwatch and tried not to appear too worried. The four friends had moved to a table and sat there still at the end of the night, when light shone again through the windows. It had become quiet at the table, but it was an uneasy silence. Becky kept watching the door, Rose traced the new shadow created by the morning light on the table, and Neil drummed with his fingers on the side of his chair. He stopped after receiving multiple side-eyes from all of his friends and one adult. “There is one more thing I remember about Pipps, one more fine memory.”, John decided to say. “We, Neil, one day we biked to the gas station. There was a school project we had to prepare. It was about physics and we had no idea so far what we should do for it. So we were browsing the home improvement shelve of the shop, but clueless actually.” John took a breath and interrupted his tale. Slowly, the others turned their full attention to him and his tale, started to get involved. “However, then Pipps suggested we take two transparent plastic tubes, put a feather in one and a heavy stone in the other, close the tubes, and pump out all air. All to show that bot, the feather and the stone fall with the same speed in a vacuum.”, Neil completed the story. “Yes.” John nodded and then added: “He had just read about this in a magazine, Pipps mentioned.” “It was a great idea. Only, we could not seal the tubes air tide and pump out the air. Also the one with the stone in it was kind of heavy.”, Neil remembered. “Pipps was more disappointed than we were.”, John concluded. Smiles flashed up around the table and individual tears rolled again. Taking up the mood, Becky was about to say something, as a knock at the door startles everybody. No word was said, all remained perfectly still. Then the knock returned and startled them again. The four friends stared at the door as did all others still in the bar room. Fred snuck closed to the door as if to check if it was really locked. But then a voice was heard: “Hey, it´s me, Sully… I mean Deputy Sullyvan.” A sigh of relief was audibly coming from everyone. With a slight shacking of his head, Fred unlocked the door and let the policeman in. “Everything okay, guys?”, Sullyvan wondered while he stepped inside. “I just tried again to reach Harry… Harriet, I mean Deputy Smith. But no answer. This is worrying, no?” Doctor Lancer cleared his throat. He had spent most of the night hunched over at the bar, checking the time over and over again. “This is indeed worrying.”, Lancer agreed. Slowly, he raised himself from his seat – just to fall back on it when a loud explosion could be heard. Then, the sound of creaking, tearing metal pierced the early morning. It was followed by a thunder. Finally, the silence returned. “Not sure what that was – but it came from the direction of the gas station and the bridge. Like, from where the others are.”, Sullyvan remarked with a slight shriek in his voice. “We need to get there.”, Doctor Lancer decided and got up again. At the same moment, Becky jumped up and sprinted to Lancer. “I can drive you.”, she exclaimed. That let Lancer pause, while Neil looked at Rose and John. “Think we should go with her, with them.”, Neil whispered. He sighed. “I can´t see where this leads, but I think we can´t let her go alone. Maybe I can´t see a reason more than that. But we can´t let her go alone.” “Yes.”, Rose replied with little more than a whisper. John looked at Erin who was at the bar, then looked back at his friends, and nodded. So Rose, Neil, and John went over to Becky. Seeing them like that, Lancer looked over to Sullyvan and then back at the kids. “Ok.”, Lancer said. “But you, Deputy, come with us as well.” So they started back into the outside world. “Hey!”, came as a sharp yell from behind the group. They turned around and saw Erin, biting her lip and opening and closing her left fist. She blinked, just a bit too long to make it seem natural. Then she reached behind the bar counter and produced a baseball bat. That one she tossed over to her daughter. “Come back.”, Erin demanded. “All of you.” Becky followed the police cruiser. Lancer rode shot gun next to Becky and Rose, Neil, and John were cooped up on the back seat, the baseball bat, laying across their knees. On the short way, they saw some of the town´s citizens at their windows or on their porches. In pyjamas and dressing gowns, awakened by and wondering about the explosion so early in the morning. It remained unclear, if the sight of the one police car and Becky´s pickup truck could reduce their worries. Neil, sitting in the middle between the two, nudged Rose and John. “Nod reassuringly.”, Neil whispered. “At least try to reassure the people.” “Even if we do not know that there would be substance to this reassurance?”, Rose wondered. “Yeah… to spread a bit of hope to our people.”, Neil elaborated. Instead of a reply, Rose raised an eyebrow and stared blankly at Neil. “We are in this situation together.”, Becky agreed. “I hope that´s enough.” “I think were there.”, Doctor Lancer interjected and nodded into the direction ahead. There gas station was still there, which seemed like a wonder after the sounds that could be heard just a half hour ago. What was clearly missing was the bridge leading out of the town. Some steel beams were still visible, sticking up into the sky. But the main body of the bridge was just gone. “That explains the noise.”, Neil commented. Becky parked the car close to the gas station and next to Sullyvan´s cruiser. The deputy was already out of his car and about the scene. He pointed them to the matt green plastic sheet under which they found Pipps. “Seems the others were here first and put that over him.”, Sullyvan said and then replaced the cover over the body. He then proceeded to walk around and survey the area, a hand constantly on the holster at his hip. Becky and her friends decided meanwhile to stay with the body under the plastic. “I feel the urge to say something to you and about you.”, John remarked while gesticulating gently towards Pipps. “Even more, I would like to hear what you have to say and take in your voice and thoughts again.” Becky touched his shoulder and nodded. Rose exhaled and stuttered, tears in her eyes. Neil put his arm lightly around her shoulders. A silence followed, only interrupted by the sound of Sullyvan´s footsteps. A moment later, Lancer stepped by, went into the shop, and returned with a lighter. He then proceeded to light a cigarette and to smoke it. All that was audible, but there were no words. The next time a human voice was heard, it was a scream. Sullyvan was yelling in surprise and shock. That was, until he stopped. The friends and Doctor Lancer were rattled and started towards the sound. It came from around the corner, from where the customer wash room of the gas station was attached to the store. Sullyvan stood outside the washroom and was holding the door open. He seemed shook but also to calm down. When the others rounded the corner, he looked at them. “I found the old guy.”, Sullyvan reported. “And I´m still breathing and alive.”, a weak voice came out of the washroom. “And he… well he seems to be alive.”, Sullvan reiterated. “But he does not look good.” At hearing this, Lancer sped up. He pushed Sullyvan aside and kneeled on the door step of the wash room. Inside, Hooper was half sitting on the stained floor and half leaning against the toilet. All stains seemed to be Hoopers own blood and he was clutching his belly and chest with both hands. Between his fingers, toilet paper was visible, also red with blood. “True, I´m not looking so good right now. There wasn´t much distance between me and the monster and the claws too sharp.”, Hooper muttered and then fought with his next words: “The other´s look much worse.” “Harriet?”, Sullyvan exclaimed. Unconsciously, he moved closer. But Lancer hold a hand up and gesticulated that he needed more space. “We need to put a real bandage on that and then get you to my practise.”, Lancer said. “There should be first aid kits in the shop.”, Neil remembered and he and John ran off around the corner and into the store. Becky sprinted to her car and brought the pickup truck around, gently parking it with the rear close to the injured and the doctor. Meanwhile, Rose was more and more nervously watching the vicinity. Neil and John returned after a moment, each carrying two of the biggest first aid kits for sale in the store. Lancer opened one, surveyed the contents and then started to bandage the long narrow wounds on Hooper´s chest and stomach. “We lost two more people besides Pipps this night.”, Hooper said when he was not pressing his teeth together. “Smith is… gone.”, Hooper said. Then he sighed in pain. Hearing this, Sullyvan´s yaw dropped and his lost his posture, as if he was dropped down from a few inches, as if the lines of his parachute had just snapped. That let him look noticeably shorter than before. “The other one, W., is gone as well.”, he added. “And we even believed we had made it through the night. When we arrived, we found Pipps, already covered, but the monster was nowhere to be seen. Same as W., as we soon realized. Shortly after our arrival, he must have slipped away.” Hooper winced as Lancer applied more pressure to one of the bandages. “We spent a good part of the night looking for him. After all, he was walking around smelling of blood. We figured that this might attract the monster. However, it took us so much time to get hold of him. This is nothing that is easy for me to say, but it took us way too long to check his military memorabilia store. When we found him, he was finish up building a bomb. He must have prepared that before coming to the town hall today. Anyway, we confronted him, ready to drag him away from his bomb and out on the street. Until we heard it, that is. We heard wood and metal creaking and when we looked behind us, the damn beast was sitting on the open front door!” Hooper coughed. “It must`ve waited for us. It must`ve. Smith fired a few shots but W. used the distraction to get away again. Luckily, we heard the backdoor fall into the lock. So we followed W. through the back exit. It led into a narrow passage. Smith and I ran like mad, while this thing, looking like and old man, was jumping across roofs and balancing on narrow walls faster than we could run. But it was not after us. It was hunting W. He had a head start and yet, it caught up, right when he reached the bridge. There W. stopped and the beast stopped as well. Just as the sun started to rise. I almost thought we would make it.” Another cough, while Hooper finished up the bandaging. As soon as he was done, the white of the bandages turned red already. “The monster sized W. up as if to see if it recognised him. As if to make sure it got the right one. This gave us the chance to catch up. Smith and I split up and approached the monster from two sides, as much as this was possible on the bridge. Our weapons were drawn and aimed at the thing. Smith fired as soon as she saw a claw, a blade of bone swinging towards W. But Smith missed, as did I. The beast, however, did not miss. Three limbs were propelled forward, flung at us. I got the back hand so to speak. It sliced me up but also threw me a few feet away from the action. So I landed on the road and felt immediately a pain and the wet sensation of blood running from my wounds. The others were not so lucky. Smith and W. went down immediately, just collapsed as they lost all control over their bodies. Somehow, the bomb was also triggered. It went off and burned the beast which lunged back. But the blast must also have at least cut a beam or something, as a few seconds later, the bridge crashed, taking the two bodies with it. I saw the monster crawl away to lick its wounds. So I decided to do the same. The toilet seemed to be as good as a hideout as any. At least you can lock it I thought. But when I was there, I had barely the strength to get up and do it.” He almost laughed, but then sighed with pain. “We screwed this up completely. So much so that I almost thought it would be fitting if I bite it on the floor of a gas station toilet.” “It was me who sent you.”, Lancer remarked and frowned. “Let´s get him on the truck.”, Lancer said to the kids, before addressing Hooper again: “I can do more for you at my practice.” Together, the doctor and the kids heaved Hooper on to the open bed of the pickup. Lancer kneeled next to him while the kids got back into the cab. As they did that, they could just hear Lancer order Sullyvan to follow and Hooper say: “Oh god dammed, I can´t even get home now.” Becky drove as fast as she dared without throwing the two men from the back in curves. Finally, they reached the simple grey, flat roofed house where Doctor Lancer´s practise was located. As gently as possible, the five lifted Hooper up again and carried him inside. There Lancer gave him something against the pain before proceeding to clean the wounds and to stich them up. That left the kids standing there, looking on uneasily. A few moments later, Sullyvan joined them briefly. But he was pacing up and down so much that he in the end had to do this outside. “So, what do we do now?”, Neil wondered. “I stich up Hooper here and save at least one life.”, Lancer grunted back. “Yes. Great.”, Becky threw in. “But unfortunately, this is not all there is to do.” “Then we burry our dead.”, Lancer added. “…The one whose body we can retrieve. Has someone seen the Reverent?” Becky and Neil shook their heads and exchanged a glance, while Rose and John were still just watching what the doctor was doing. Hooper was mostly staring at the ceiling. “We should think about the next steps, though.”, Neil whispered. “People will notice that the bridge is gone and that somebody died. Probably in that order.” Becky nodded and said: “We also need to talk to Sullyvan. I can do that.” She went outside to look for the deputy. John followed her, indicating that he needed some fresh air. Sullyvan was sitting on the curb, hunched over, fumbling with his armband, and crying. Slowly, Becky moved closer and sat down next to him. She put his hand on Sullyvan´s back. John was hanging back but remained close to his friend. “We will not even be able to find her and to bury her.”, Sullyvan formulated when he could control his voice again. “How will we ever be able to end this? Like, Hooper said she fell down in pieces like a broken… It´s so strange. Just now all I can think of is that we wanted to call the band People Tetris in the beginning. Because sometimes it can feel as if someone just drops you into a game. But then we thought it was too naughty. Not that it matters. She´s gone now. She does not exist anymore, all that is left is a hole and some memories.” Becky swallowed, cleared her throat, visibly collected herself and her thoughts, she examined them, pondered about what to say, and, in the end looked really sad and tired. “There´s nothing I can say now.”, she remarked, with surprise and regret in her voice. Sullyvan shook his head. “No, me neither.”, he agreed. “We can always tell her story. And Pipps´ story.”, John suggested. He had just finished uttering this thought, when Ms. Smith the librarian drove by and stopped her car. She rolled down the window and leaned out. “What happened?” There was fire and the fearful sensation of burning. Then the pain set in. He jumped away from it, driven by instinct. It was a powerful jump. He would not have made it on his own. While he flew through the air, he saw the explosion bloom and knew that the bridge would soon be gone. He was trapped. He had been driven not by hunger, but by anger this time. This little creature that had escaped before was causing this anger. This little creature that had made him kill someone he knew, someone who he had cared for. So he had given in into the rage and had torn the pain apart. But there had been more than one shape and they had shot at him. He had immediately recognized that and the danger. He had betrayed them to it. And it had cut them down as well. He sat by the water, feeling the pain and the shame. Now, he felt, he had become a danger for the town. The fear that was there from the beginning was starting to turn upside down. There was now fear for the others as well. And fear of the others. They had tried to shoot him. They had tried to rip him apart as he had ripped them apart. It was furious about that and scared, even more scared than in the darkness beyond the sky. Until now it had been clear who was favoured by strength. Now even this reassurance was lost. This was not the saving shore he had looked for. It had been dropped into a tangle of fear and sweetness and power and so much fear again. Now the bridge was gone, a way out closed. Trapped. He was trapped. With them and apart from them. Was there still a way out?

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Seven – The Fear

When Neil walked out of the practice, he was composed: His eyes were dry, his mouth a contempt line, and despite being visibly tired, he took his steps controlled and found his footing every time. He was, however, thrown startled by finding a sizable group of people outside the doctor´s office. Sullyvan, Becky, and John stood on the curb, facing a growing crowd. “What is going on?”, Neil asked John in a whisper. “They found out that the bridge is gone and Sullyvan told librarian Smith about what happened to her sister.”, John explained. “How much panic is there going ´round yet?” “A lot I would say. And a lot pf pain as well.”, John answered. Neil then stepped to Becky and told her that there was a plan now. “What is the plan?”, Becky wondered. “Everybody stays at home. The collapsing bridge will get some attention and bring outside help. So we wait for that from the safety of our homes.”, Neil explained. “There are people here outside already and the bad news are spreading.”, Becky observed and Neil nodded. He spread his arms and asked for attention. After three repeats, he got some attention and could layout the plan. “Who are you?”, was the only reply. People were still scared and angry and talking over each other. “I´ll get the doctor.”, Neil stated and nodded and was gone.

“Can we discuss this at another time?”, Doctor Lancer said to Rose and his voice creaked, almost growled slightly. He then proceeded to take off his rubber gloves and to wash his hands in the small basin in his examination room. “I´d also prefer if we can put a pin into that for the moment.”, Hooper agreed and poked at his bandages. “It hurts.” “Yeah? Tell me if it gets worse. Then we can think about another dose. Also, leave the bandages alone, would you?”, Lancer replied and collapsed more than that he sat down on his chair behind the small desk. “Ok.”, Rose conceded, put away her sketch book, and the conversation ended, when Neil returned. Neil told the others about what and who he had found just outside the door. “I think, it requires someone with more authority to solve this situation, doc. Doctor.”, Neil said. Lancer sighed and seemed to remember that he had had a cigarette between his lips just hours earlier. He fumbled for it with his hands and looked around as if he just dropped it, of course in vain. He did not make any attempts to get up. “Doctor?”, Neil asked and Hopper gave Lancer a side glance. “I´d get up and to it – but I already almost died last night. Would like to avoid that.”, Hooper murmured. Lancer nodded and then let his head sink. “Give me a minute, please.” Deputy Sullyvan made some efforts to keep the crowd at bay. But he was unfocused and stuck his arms only halfway out instead of holding them up and his body tense. While he asked the people to wait for Doctor Lancer, he also tried to console librarian Smith and himself. Becky and John hung back a bit, standing closer to the entrance of the practice. They were largely ignored by the people. Becky made attempts to get them to listen, but did not have any success. She also tried to talk to Smith and Sullyvan, but they were absorbed in their hurt. “I wish I could reach them.”, Becky whispered. “There must be words that work.” “Do you want to reach all of them?”, John wondered, but immediately recognized the emptiness of his question. Becky nodded despite that. “This can´t be good.”, Becky commented. “I can´t reach these people. I even struggle with Sullyvan and he was along for most of it.” “We are what they see in us.”, John remarked. “That is why Neil is bringing the doctor back outside.” “Oh, poor guy, he looks spent.” Neil stood a few steps behind Lancer and next to his friends. The doctor explained the situation to the people who had assembled. He said the same as Neil before, but used a few different words. But the reaction was slightly more positive. “At least they listen to him still.”, Neil whispered to his friends. “Many are still unnerved and scared, though.”, Becky replied. “Yeah. So they should stay home. The monster might still be on the loose.”, Neil stated without emotion. “How do we get that message across to all who are not here right at this moment?”, she wondered. Neil smirked. “Telephone tree.” “So… they just call somebody who calls somebody who also calls somebody?”, John wondered. “…yes?”, Neil gave back. “How much information will survive between here and the moment it reaches the last one?”, John asked and Becky gasped a bit. Neil´s expression froze. “And what was that about turning the tables and turning the hunter into the hunted?”, John wondered. “Once we get help from the outside. Like the Army or something. Then they can hunt the monster.”, Neil said. “Do you think the people there got that?”, John asked. Neil´s expression was still blank. “Pretty good.”, Hooper said, looking at the ceiling. “Hm?”, Rose wondered. She had taken over Doctor Lancer´s chair and was leaning back. “Couple of hours ago, I thought I´d die by falling apart along fine cut lines at a very compromising location. I´m still alive. So far, I´m still alive. And I think the drugs are kicking in, finally.”, Hooper explained. Rose nodded and was about to close her eyes for a bit and settled down a bit more on the chair. Then her eyelids sprung open again. “You said the monster had a specific target and even hesitated?”, Rose asked the former sheriff. “Yeah.”, he replied. “For one moment, all I saw an older man ready to chase me away. He was maybe a bit too afraid. But who is not afraid?” “So there was a person?” “Never seen a person whose hands noodle off into tentacles with bone knives. Never knew how sharp these can pee.”, Hooper murmured. “Still, it hesitated. As if it was a person with very sickening powers.”, Rose insisted. “Sickening it was indeed last night. But was afraid to throw up while my tummy was cut open. Also, what would Stef say when I came home again covered in barf.” “Did the person say something?”, Rose inquired, eager to steer the conversation back to the realm of relevancy. “Growl, growl. Maybe. …No. Some people don´t talk much. When you are our age, you don´t have that much opportunity to have a chat anymore. That can have an effect, I guess. Not on me, of course. I can talk. And I always have been a talker. Stef said I was a good talker. Like…” Hooper giggled quickly and then did not say anything more. “Did you say something?”, Rose asked. “I talked a lot in my time.”, Hooper stressed. “To the monster, I mean.” “You don´t talk to monsters, mommy said.” Doctor Lancer had just spent a lot of time on questions from the people outside. By and by, they seemed to be satisfied for the moment. Some left and some hung around unsure as to what to make of the situation. So Lancer had some time to talk to librarian Smith and Deputy Sullyvan. Becky, Neil, and John sat on the steps of the doctor´s office. “At least it is day now. We are good during days, right?”, Neil said. “So far.”, Becky replied. “But this is not a vampire or something. We don´t know.” “Let´s not find out.”, Neil exclaimed. “Like, if we have the choice.” Beck stuck her arms out behind her, and leaned back. She was blinking while looking towards the perfectly blue summer morning sky. It promised to become another bright and warm early summer day. She closed her eyes and bathed in the warm and friendly sunlight for the moment. “When you look up, everything does not seem so bad at all. All our horror seems so far away just sitting here in the sun.”, Becky said in a soft voice. “Still, I´m shivering.” “We`re all tired.”, Neil observed. “We should get some rest and food and life, just to be on the safe side.” Becky smiled a thin and tired smile. “Good idea, Neil. Thank you.” She paused, before adding: “How are you, John?” “As you said, this situation feels as if it is flipping constantly on us. I would like this all to have been a nightmare. I would like to have Pipps back. It feels easy for me to go that way and to dream. But I am not sure what good such a dream would do.”, John said. “Maybe it would be worth to jump on the flip.”, Becky mused. “We know what is real, sadly. But that doesn´t mean that we can´t dream, can´t remember the ones we lost, and can´t hope for the moment we flip this for real and escape this horrible situation.” “How?”, John wondered. “Like this. Talk about it. This is one thing we can do: talk about it. Because we aren´t alone.”, Becky replied. “We aren´t alone.” “True. But what about the others?”, John wondered. “We can talk to them, but there is no way of knowing if they really listen.” “Yeah.”, Becky conceded. “On the other hand, this doesn´t change anything about the fact that we have each other. We can talk with each other.” “Hm. In the multiverse of social networks, we have our little corner to talk and to dream.” “Yes. And this is how we will get through this.”, Becky stated, now looking at her friends again. Neil chuckled and winked. “I´ve missed this.”, Neil exclaimed and opened his arms, just to then diffusely gesticulating at Becky and John. “This: You two just talking. Maybe this is wise or just as wise as every other teenager in the movies, I don´t care. I just love this.” “Maybe we should get Rose before this develops into a group hug.”, John answered somewhat muted. “I can check on her.” John stood up and went inside. Becky and Neil exchanged a glance, but opted for silence. John walked in on a disparate conversation between Rose and the former sheriff Hooper. At least Hooper was still alive. He still lay there, looking at the ceiling but talking like a waterfall, almost bubbling about everything and nothing. Rose was sitting at his side. She must have drawn the doctor´s chair towards the bed. Now, she was making brave attempts to construct or reconstruct a conversation. “A million butterflies, I told Stev. And no, I never called Stev “mother”, not even as a slip-up. Or “dad” for that matter.”, Hooper explained with an earnest expression that slipped over into a smile. “Yes, I got that.”, Rose answered. “How, though, would you describe last night to Stev?” “I´d not bother Stev with that. Not already. I always used to wait with some issues. ´Cause later is not too late. Unless it is. Which happens, right? My old man used to tell me he had stuff to tell me and then we… forgot to get to it. Just forgot it – or did not have time to talk about that before the end. Can I have a snack?” “Well… I can look around. While I do, could you try to remember if you talked to the man and the monster – or just the man?”, Rose asked. She got up and noticed John. “Do you know if there are snacks here?”, she asked John. John suggested there might be lollypops but he could help search for more. “Oh, and I heard some of the stuff you were talking about when I came in.”, John confessed while he and Rose rummaged in drawers and cupboards. “Good, then I do not need to waste some time to catch you up.”, Rose remarked. They opened a door and just found a bathroom. “Matter of fact, I just lied.”, John confessed again. “You do know where the snacks are?”, Rose wondered but John shook his head. “Oh, so you do not know what I was talking about when talking about talking to Hooper.” “I am way too tired to have followed whatever he has said.” The two opened another door and it led to a small coffee kitchen. In there, they discovered fruit and cookies, even five granola bars. “How many bars do you see?”, Rose asked while looking up from the food and at John. “Five.”, he answered. “True. We are not hungry enough yet to turn that into two and pocket the difference.”, Rose conceded. “Anyway, Hooper´s description of last night indicates that we are not facing a monster with a human face, but a… being that is partially alien and partially a person. There might be some part to talk to left in there.” “I do not see the difference. Oh, you mean that we can maybe more easily talk to one side, because it is closer to the people here.”, John thought aloud. They returned to the examination room and gave Hooper one granola bar. They also put some fruit on the side of his bed, close to his upper body. Then they both had a bar each, while leaving two. “There might be common ground and the possibility of communication. The monster might at least partially be more one of us than we thought.”, Rose commented. “People who eat people are not our kind of people.”, Neil protested and removed the wrapper from his granola bar. He and Becky had come in when they grew tired of waiting for the others to come back out. “Obviously, but it is kind of hard to ask someone to stop eating people if you do not talk to them.”, Rose gave back. “It might be an option, a possibility.”, John agreed. “There might be somebody left in there that we can made stop all this.”, Rose reiterated. “Even if this works, there would still be the issue of the crimes already committed.”, Becky weighed in. “These can´t be undone. Can we really let the beast re-join us?” All four were silent for a minute, just chewing on their granola bars. They all were dispersed over the examination room, leaning and half sitting on desk edges, or against shelves. For the moment, all four looked down at their feet. “When we held hands in the garden after dinner, that was nice.”, Hooper chimed in, his hands behind his back and his eyes closed. “Almost better than all that came after, even when the pants were down.” Neil cleared his throat and threw away the wrapper of his bar. He then proceeded to inspect some of the fruit Rose and John had found. “To talk to the beast does not mean to accept what it has done.”, John said. “But what about the person that might still in there with the monster? Should we not try to save that one?” Becky nodded and also Neil agreed. “I like the end scenario you´ve drafted, Rose.”, Neil finally said. “I do. The issue I have is that I don´t know how to get there. How do we establish communication with the… thing? How do we make it stop killing for long enough for us to ask it to stop altogether?” “Hooper said that the beast hesitated before and acted as if it was considering human lives last time.”, Rose said. Neil raised an eyebrow. “It still killed Pipps.”, he stated coldly. “And Smith. Consideration or not, the result was the same.” There was nothing any of the four could or wanted to say to that. So they left this moment blank, empty, emptied out by a loss. “I would like to hear more about what happened.”, was Johns try to restart the conversation. “The possibility sounds too good.” “Oh, what a sweet heartbreak.”, Hopper interjected. “And everything was worth it, even if it was just for the memory.” This time, Becky and John cleared their throats almost simultaneously. Then a quick glance flickered between them. All of a sudden, Hooper opened his eyes and looked around as if this was the first time he had ever seen the room. “Is there a phone here? I´d like to call someone, if I remember the number and if the number is still the same.”, Hooper said and then noticed the phone on Lancer´s desk. He gesticulated vaguely in the direction of the phone. Becky walked over to it, checked how long the line was, and then carried it over to Hooper´s bed. The former sheriff took it up with both hands and very eagerly started to dial while already humming into the receiver. The four kids decided to move their conversation to the tea kitchen. Hooper´s voice was audible through the closed door. His words could almost be guessed. He sounded happy and relaxed in any case. There were some pauses in the stream of his words, indicating that there was indeed a conversation going on and that he had reached someone with his call. “Maybe we should also make some calls when he is done.”, Becky suggested. “Can you call my folk? Or you, John? They might be at your grandma´s place.”, Neil asked. Instead of an answer, he got some disapproving glances from Rose and John. “Anyway… What happened that makes you think we could talk to this bone-blade wielding beast?”,  Neil then asked. Rose then repeated what Hooper had told her. “How… how would we even make a contact in the first place?”, Becky asked. Rose frowned and leaned against the mini fridge. “I do not know.”, she said instead of a real answer. “We were not so successful with getting ourselves heard in the first place. So I have no idea how to connect the town with the monster.” “We would need to create a situation; to create and control a situation, where we can have a nice chat with the person inside the monster or with both.”, John interjected. “Oh, that should be easy then.”, Neil gave back and scoffed. When he saw the reactions of his friends, he added: “Sorry. I wish it was easy. And I wish we would not run into walls in this town all the time.” “Yeah.”, Becky agreed and padded Rose and John on their shoulders. They were quiet for a moment and noticed that Hooper was not talking in the room next door anymore. “May I use the phone for a sec?”, Becky asked Hooper. The former sheriff nodded and leaned back on the bed again. He smiled a little smile, but his eyes were also watery. Unsure what to do with his hands, he had them at his sides and then moved them up and folded them behind his head, just to scratch his chin a second later. Becky took the phone and carried it back to the desk. She then tried to call her mom at home, but could only reach her still at the bar. They talked briefly, while Becky looked over to Hooper. After a few sentences were exchanged, Becky hung up. She then asked her friends: “Who´s next?” The others were a bit hesitant to jump the line to get on the line. Becky frowned at that. “It´s important to keep communicating with each other. And it´s especially important now.”, Becky insisted. To that, Neil mumbled something, but in the end nodded and walked over to the desk. Becky left it to him and turned her attention back to Hooper. “How are you Mr. Hooper? How was your call?”, she asked. The older man smiled first a blessed smile, before his lips formed a tight line. He clicked his tongue and wiggled his feet. The last made him wince a little. “Good, good.”, he finally said. “Nice conversation, everybody is fine. It just has been a long time, and me talking about how the sunshine feels on my soul in the morning after having just survived a monstrous encounter, did possibly not help. But it is fine.” “Well, at least the number was still correct.”, Becky said and smiled at him. Hooper nodded. “Who knew that I´d remember it after these years. And could make myself remembered.”, the old sheriff added. “That is something, I guess.” “Yes, it is.”, Becky agreed and nodded even though Hooper was not looking at her, but stare straight ahead. Meanwhile, Neil handed off the phone to John, also with a reassuring and way to serious nod, as if this was the line to the president. Then most of the friends and Hooper were silent, so silent that now, everybody in the room could clearly hear what John was talking to his grandma about. He seemed to be affected, cutting his answers shorter and shorter. When he was in danger to become monosyllabic, Becky cleared her throat and made an effort to avert her gaze and instead focus on the others. “How is everyone doing?”, she inquired and looked around. “Tired.”, Neil answered. “Tired and still a bit hungry. Also super giddy.”, Rose agreed. “Giddy, without knowing what to do with that perceived energy supply, right?”, Neil asked. “Yes!”, Rose exclaimed and she and Neil smiled in mutual recognition. “I´m alive.”, Hooper then said. “But the colors start to melt away from the world. It also used to warmer I think. Maybe I should go outside. Or crawl. I´d like to take in some sunlight in any case. Before the night falls again and we are no longer save.” “Taking in some sunlight is a great idea.”, Becky decided and supressed a yawning. “I like the sunlight, like how it brightens up the whole season, how it even reaches you through closed eyelids, and how it feels like a warm embrace on your skin.” She extended a hand to Hooper to help him up. She also looked at Rose and Neil, suggesting them to join with a smile and a nod to the side, towards the door. “I do not like the sun so much. And I have no sun lotion on me at the moment.”, Rose said. “Oh, and I am still in line.” Becky and Neil accepted that and now both got to help Hooper up from the bed. Before they could complete this task, before they could leave the room and the building and bath in sunlight, Doctor Lancer stormed in. He was carrying a mobile radio transmitter. The device looked dated, but it could be connected to a power outlet. Once this was done, Lancer switched it on, filling the room with crackling static and then the crackling voice of Deputy Sullyvan. “I have to hang up now. Hear you later.”, John said, his voice almost trailing of, and put down the receiver. “Now we can at least communicate constantly. The deputy is out in the town to see how well the people are understanding the curfew order.”, Lancer explained. “You have to push the button to talk and leave it be to hear. You just did it the wrong way around.”, Hooper remarked. Lancer did not answer but he did adapt. Then he did not find something to say immediately and so was silent for a while. The others in the room did the same. They all listened intently and stared at the radio as if this would make it emanate more than cackling noises. “So… Main Street is empty.”, Deputy Sullyvan reported after a while. His words were quitted with nods all around the doctor´s examination room. “Good.”, Lancer replied. What followed was more waiting. John took his eyes off the radio and looked through the windows and at the summer day outside. It would be noon soon. Becky noticed John´s shift in attention. She sought his gaze and nodded. It was still safe in the light. Both, Becky and John lost some of their tension. They sat down on the foot end of the bed, having literally Hooper´s feet between them. There they continued to wait and hope that nothing would happen. In time, Rose and Neil noticed the change in their friends and grew tired of staring at the radio themselves. Rose went over to the desk and Neil sat down on the office chair behind it. He led his hands glide over the desktop until his arms were extended as far as he could extend them and he took in most of the surface. “Are you taking in how it is to sit behind a desk?”, Rose whispered. “Yes, just to see how it might feel to have one of my own.”, Neil whispered back. “So?” “So… so.”, Neil decided and frowned. The two fell silent when the radio started to transmit Sullyvan´s words again. “I think there are people here. Several. I´m now close to the bridge… to where the bridge used to be.”, the deputy reported. “I´ll better stop and check this out.” “Remind them please of the curfew.”, Lancer said. “Button.” “Remind them of the curfew… please.”, Lancer repeated. He button clicked when he let go if it again. There was silence until Sullyvan radioed back in: “Yeah, the folks here are not so easily convinced to go home. They said they want to hunt the beast themselves.” “Please try again. And can you leave this channel open? I would like to hear what they say.”, Lancer said. “Ok. But they wandered off already. I´ll try my best.”, Sullyvan replied and this time his words were followed by the noise of his footsteps. “Now we can´t really talk to him anymore.”, Hooper observed. “We can´t reach him.” Through the radio´s speaker came still just steps and a few breaths of Sullyvan. In the distance, there were even some voices to be heard, but not understood. “They are not really waiting for me.”, Sullyvan complained. “Wait, there is another one. Hey mister! Good day sir, but please go home now.” “No way out of here anymore. Nowhere to go. I want to go.”, an unknown voice said. “Sorry? Yes, the bridge is gone. Please go home until we fixed this. Is everything ok?”, Sullyvan asked. “Help.” “Are you hurt, your face looks burned… Wait… is this you?” “Help… way out.” Lancer, still hunched over by the radio, clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. All others returned their attention to the radio as if them looking at it could change something. A strange sound emerged meanwhile from the radio. Like a human voice trying to find its way out of throat that was transforming, twisting, splitting apart. There were also screams. Not Sullyvan´s or of the one he was talking to. The voices of others came closer again. They yelled and some threatened, all were terrified. “Stand back folks.”, Sullyvan said in a breaking voice. A gun was drawn and cocked. Then there was a shot, coming not from close by, not from Sullyvan, but from farther away. It must have just missed the deputy. Becky and John jumped off the bed, and then stood lost in the room far away from the shot. Hooper also jerked up, then clenched his wounds and sunk back to the bed. Rose and Neil were also standing again. All eyes were glued to the radio, no one dared to speak. “Stop, get back! You as well!”, Sullyvan cried out. Something rattled, maybe the handcuffs at his belt. He must have turned around very quickly. Another shot could be heard, coming from far away again, passing by the deputy and hitting the sidewalk as it sounded. Concrete splintered, while there was also another stretching noise and the whoosh of a sharp edge cutting through the air. Then this noise was repeated again and again. People started to scream even more and to run. Sullyvan also screamed. His scream then became more high-pitched suddenly, as fabric was torn and flesh ripped. Wet noises spilled out of the radio, while Sullyvan abruptly stopped screaming. He also must have taken his fingers off the button. His line went dead and there was only static on the radio. Lancer pushed his button and opened his mouth. No words came out and so he let go of the button and the receiver and let himself glide to the floor. He stumbled through the streets not wanting to remember the last moments of his life. Fear had won again, it had clawed back again. Again, someone was lying dead on the floor. He ran away as soon as he could. Screams echoed in his mind. He remembered that these moments had been sweet before he knew them. Now he was running from it and himself as much as from the shots. If there was a place to run to. If there were places left on this strange world. All this was not what he had dreamed of when he had come here. He had not dreamed much, but had wanted to save his life. Now it made him vade in blood and, even worse, now it was the blood of people he knew.

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Eight – Where does the path lead?

There were no words left to say in this moment. So no one could speak. Rose had led herself slide down against the desk and sat on the floor now, her head resting on her crossed arms, her face turned to the floor. Neil sat in the office chair again, but aimed to push himself away from the desk. His arms were fully extended, but his chair bumped already against the window board behind him. Becky stood close to the door, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, unsure where to go and what to do. She tried to keep watch on the door and of her friends. She looked at John, who had sunken back onto the bed. There he sat, with his hands covering his ears and staring at the floor as well.

After a few heartbeats, Becky shifted her attention to the adults in the room. Hooper was pale, almost grey. He held his belly and was not moving much. Like Becky, he tried to make eye-contact with Lancer. The doctor was still hunched over by the radio and he still held the receiver in his hand. He bit his lip and had a very tense expression on his face as if he was thinking desperately. “It happened again.”, Lancer muttered. “I told him to go and there he went and got cut down.” Again, no one said a word for a moment, letting the humming of a nearby fridge take over the room. “I´m sorry.”, Becky finally said to break the silence. “What do I do now? All the police officers are gone. The bridge is gone.”, Lancer muttered on. “We need to regroup and think about a plan. One that prevents more from getting killed. Sullyvan reported that there are still people out there hunting for the monster. We need to keep them save.”, Becky urged. “Yeah. We need a plan.”, Neil agreed. But then silence fell again. Everybody sunk back to the moments that they had just lived through and thought back to Sullyvan and the last words he had uttered. Then Doctor Lancer jerked up and dropped the radio receiver, let it clang way too loudly against a table leg. “I should call Tula. Have not talked to her in a while.”, he said and walked over to the desk. Neil and Rose stood both up and left the doctor some space. All jerked when the phone rang just as Lancer was about to lift the receiver. After he had recovered himself, he lifted it, but now to answer. “Yes?”, he wondered. The others looked at Lancer, like they had watched the radio just minutes before. Nothing was to be seen, but something happened. Hooper tried to sit up, Becky gave him a hand. “Yes, mayor. The bridge is gone. Yes, we tried to reach you. No, I can´t connect you to the deputies, sheriff.”, Lancer said. He stared still at the number buttons of the phone and avoided eye contact with the others. They were meanwhile looking at each other and gesticulating about what this new development might mean. Neil was showing thumbs up and thumbs down, always with a question on his face. Rose and John shook their shoulders. Becky was very eager to hear more. Her frown relaxed a bit. She almost smiled again when Lancer waved her over. He did so off-hand, while still nodding and saying “yes” into the receiver. When Becky reached him, Lancer put the receiver against his chest so that the mayor on the other end could not hear him. “Could you and your friends check on Tula please? I would, but I can´t move now. Things might finally be moving.”, Lancer told Becky. She, in turn, stopped in her tracks and just blinked. Her eyes twitched while she was thinking of a reply. “I missed to call her earlier and it is important to hold contact, especially now. Take your friends and stay away from the collapsed bridge. Then you should be fine. Please.”, Lancer added rapidly before lifting the receiver back to his ear and mouth. “Yes.”, he said. Becky clenched her fists and turned around, now facing John and Hooper instead of Lancer. “Ok.”, she said in a low voice and then proceeded to leave the examination room and the practice. Slowly the other three followed her. “It is very warm.”, Rose remarked while the four walked to the pickup truck. She extended her hands into the sun and turned them. “Bound to get sticky.” “Adolpho Villa says that the sun shining on us might hold some promise, but does so only in our perspective. For the sun just hangs there unfazed and utterly oblivious to our earthly emotions and dramas.”, John said while putting his hands on the warm roof of the truck. “Adolpho?”, Rose wondered while she opened the car door. “Is he a real person?” “No, John made him up to use for quotes.”, Becky said. She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. Then she got behind the steering wheel. “But this whole situation is very… frightening.”, she added. Neil passed by Rose and sat down on the front passenger seat. “It definitely is. I can´t see how this will end. Hope this ends well.”, Neil said. Rose and John settled down on the hot back seats, where the baseball bat still lay. Tensed, they surveyed their surroundings through the car windows. “Keep your eyes open.”, Becky reminded them before starting the engine.  The Lancers´ house was located almost at the end of a cul-de-sac leading to a cliff reaching out over the sea. On this day, the street was eerily quiet and no one could be seen outside. “Let´s turn around before the house. In case we need to get away fast.”, Neil suggested as Becky slowed the car down. She nodded and turned the pickup truck around, using the dead end of the street to this end. When she finally stopped the car in front of the house, towered over them but did not seem special or dangerous. It was a normal house and no strange activity was to be seen on either of the two floors. There were no shadows dancing behind the curtains, nor did said curtains move the slightest when the kids arrived and looked at the house. At least that level of inactivity was true for the front side, the only one the kids could clearly see. “Two in and two waiting in the car in case there is trouble?”, Neil suggested. “Sounds good.”, John agreed from the backseat and the others nodded. “I´ll go and pay Mrs. Lancer a visit.”, Becky decided and left the car. In the back, Rose also opened the door and exited. “I can accompany you. Keep the engine… warm? Keep the gas… combusting, I guess, and keep the foot near the gas pedal, boys.”, Rose said. Neil showed her thumbs up and scooted over to the driver´s seat. “Not sure if this is the way I had pictured and even wanted to get behind the wheel of this car.”, Neil said to John while the other two walked to the door of the Lancer´s house and knocked. “I cannot drive.”, was everything John said to that. No one answered the door. Near the door, a wind chime hung and was slowly played by the gentle breeze. Otherwise, the house was as quiet as the street. Becky and Rose looked around and peeked into the window that was located right next to the door. They could not see anything or notice any person inside. “Could she be gone?”, Rose wondered. “Hm… the car is parked in the driveway. Would she walk somewhere? Now, I mean?”, Becky pondered aloud. The two walked around the porch and looked around the corners of the house. There was not much to see apart from a fence and the car. “I do not like this.”, Rose decided. “This is too quiet.” Becky sighed and then also nodded in agreement. “I forgot to call her earlier and then left her to talk to the doctor. I´m not even sure how much time they had for talking. This feel uncomfortable, as if I let her down.”, she said. “You want to get inside and check if something is wrong.”, Rose realized. “It would be better. The doctor was right about that at least. We need to care for each other.” Rose sighed. “Shall I break a window or do we jump the fence?” “I think they are going to jump over the fence. Yup, they just jumped over the damn fence.”, Neil commented while watching what was going on at the Lancer´s front door. Now also John directed his attention in that direction, but too late. He missed them disappearing over the white fence. “This is not good. What do they do if they need to make a run for it, but no door is open?”, Neil asked. John nodded concerned. “I see what you mean. Let us hope there will be no need for running.” John said and sighed. “This is as well planned as the rest of this… whatever this mess is.” Now it was Neil´s turn to frown and nod and to survey the Lancer´s porch and the road leading to it. “Right? If even you complain about this lack of planning… of about how bad that planning is…” “We are just kids. We did what we could. For me, it is more crazy that the grown-ups did not do much either.”, John said. “True. But… is it surprising?”, Neil wondered. “Still, what should we say to people if they ask why all this went wrong?” He paused again. “Well, at least people should be safe at home. The monster can´t get to every house at the same time. So we at least had some good idea, right?”, Neil asked. Becky and Rose landed on a well-kept lawn on the other side of the fence. It even smelled of freshly mowed grass. A few trees stood in a line parallel to the longer side of the house. The two friends walked under the trees on their way to the backyard. The wind let the leaves whisper above. There were no other noises. There was no other movement. “I hope we´ll not startle Mrs. Lancer when we sneak up on her like this.”, Becky murmured. “Hopefully.”, Rose agreed. “On the other hand, I hope we just startle her while we find her sitting safe and sound in her living room, deeply enchanted by a novel.” She paused and then added: “A really great novel that it does not only distract her from all this mess her surroundings is entangled in, but also completely absorbs her. I need to ask her what book that is.” “Hopefully you…”, Becky said, just to stop midsentence. Through the windows, the two friends could see that a light was still burning in the kitchen. It burned while at the same time the sun, coming from the sea, was beaming inside. An empty cup sat lonely on the kitchen table. Everything else was clean and tidy. A door in the background of the kitchen was ajar. It presumably led to the living room. Becky and Rose decided to go inside. They tried the backdoor. It was not locked and Becky reacted almost surprised when it swung open as she turned the doorknob. Inside it was warm and the air tasted a bit stale in the kitchen. Rose went to the sink and opened the window above it. There was also a strange smell. “I´ll check the living room.”, Becky whispered and snuck through the plain doorway. Rose nodded and was about to follow her. She just turned away from the sink when she heard the scream. Rose jumped towards the doorway and only then recognized that the scream had come from her friend. Becky immediately showed up, storming away from the living room. She collided with Rose and pushed her back into the kitchen. Then Becky broke down next to the doorway. She threw herself with the back against the wall and then let herself slide down to a sitting position, her hands covering her face. Rose crouched down next to her friend. She put her hands on Becky´s arms and head. “What happened?”, Rose asked, then paused and corrected herself: “What did you see?” Becky shuddered and started to cry. She did not look up, she did not take her hands off her face. “She´s dead.”, Becky finally brought forward between sobs. “She´s just dead, there in her living room. Just dead, Rose.” All of a sudden, Becky looked up and grabbed Rose´s hands with hers. “Don´t go there.”, Becky urged. “You don´t need to see this. It´s enough that I did. We are too late, way too late. I… could have called her, should have called her yesterday. And then I just forgot.” She stared ahead and let go off Rose. As nothing but silence followed, Rose sat down beside her friend and leaned against the pale orange wall. “This…”, Rose said but then did not know how to continue. She hugged Becky and found her still shivering. “But you did care for her.”, Rose tried again. “You really did and more so than any other of us. This is your super power. You care.” Becky looked at her. “This I horrible.”, she said in a hoarse voice. “There is no super here and now power. It´s over. There are no more words to say to Tula and no more comfort to give. Because we´re too late. I feel we could have been in time and saved her.” “Maybe, but there is no going back now.”, Rose tried. “I do not know what to say.”, she then confessed. “I do not know how to take away your pain. I wish I could. That once I could be the one with the super power of not only caring but finding a way to actually care for somebody that then feels better.” Becky gently free herself from Rose´s embrace and tried to breathe in deep. Her eyes were still watery and she could not focus on her surroundings. “I don´t know how this can go on.”, Becky said, trying to keep her voice steady. “All this loss. I can´t even focus on Tula anymore, if I´m honest. The loss of her starts to bleed into the raw acknowledgement that Pipps was taken away as well. And all the others. How can this go on? How long do we have to go through this?” Rose sat back, giving her friend some space. Then she shook her head and looked Becky in the eye. “There is no answer I can give, again. I am sorry.”, Rose confessed. “I feel the same as you and I feel the urge to help you here and now. But I can´t. You would be able to, if our places were switched. But I can´t.” Rose wiped her eyes. Then she wiped her friend´s eyes. “All that is to do is to be here.”, Rose said. Becky sniffled. “The boys will be wondering why we take so long. They might get concerned.”, Becky said, changing the subject. Rose hesitated, clenched her fist, but then nodded. “If you are ok to go, we can leave. It will be good to get back to the others and not deal with this alone.”, Rose mused. Slowly, Becky stood up. She was still rubbing her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. She was also about to straighten out her hair and clothes when a disapproving glance by Rose stopped her. “Let´s go and re-join the other two.”, Becky said. “There is just one thing I need to do first. I want to cover her with a blanket or something. Can´t let her just lie like this.” “The probably have a blanket somewhere there.”, Rose suggested and was slowly moving toward the living room. Becky stopped her. “No. Let me do this. You don´t need to see this. I don´t think that this is something we should share as I said.” With measured steps, she vanished through the doorway. Rose could hear her moving about in the next room, searching. For a moment, Rose was sure she would ignore her friend´s request and follow her for her own best. But this moment passed without Rose moving. She stood there in the middle of the kitchen, wondering what best to do in this situation. She closed the window she had opened earlier, just to open it up again. She walked up and down the kitchen, sometimes coming close to the doorway. She never did go through it. “Something horrible happened.”, John exclaimed when he saw Becky and Rose climbing back over the Lancers´ fence. Neil turned his head around and then saw the two approaching as well. “Oh shit.”, Neil exclaimed. His eyes flickered as he scanned his friends. “But I see no blood, no wounds. Still, you are right…” He did notice that Becky´s face was still red and that she must have cried, he even saw her making unusually shaky steps. She was shivering a bit. John saw the same. He opened the rear car door and got out. “What happened?”, he asked Becky and Rose when they reached the pickup truck. “Tula is… dead. We are too late. I found her in her living room.”, Becky said, her gaze directed to the ground. Neil jumped up and down in his seat and waved his friends to get into the car. He also asked: “Was it the monster?” “No.”, Rose stated. “I don´t think I should drive.”, Becky said with a shaking voice and Rose looked questioning at Neil. “Sure, I can drive…”, he replied, but then shook his head. “I… I did not mean to take over the steering wheel like this. Can´t say that this feels right.” Rose sighed. ”Shall I?”, she asked. Neil nodded and vacated the driver´s seat. He went out of the car and around to the passenger seat. Rose nodded, but did not show any haste. She took Becky by the elbow and suggested her to sit down in the back. Becky agreed and got in the car. She left the door open for John to follow. He hesitated. “Hug her like you used to.”, Rose told John. Then both got in the car as well and all four drove off. “Where are we going and what are we doing?”, Neil asked. “We should drive to the bar, I think.”, Rose answered. “There are people, there is food, there is Erin. We can wait out the situation there – if it is just about waiting now as you said.” She stopped at an empty intersection, before driving on. She looked in the mirror and noticed that John was waving to her. At the same time, he had his attention still focussed on Becky. “Yes?”, Rose wondered. “Should we not… get the devastating news to Doctor Lancer? Because, how else will he even get to know?”, John asked. “Once everything is over, he might stumble home and find Tula… like Becky did.”, Rose imagined while driving the down a road underneath a roof of acorns. She stopped again at an intersection and continued: “We cannot let him walk into this horror just like this, I think. We cannot just stand by.” Becky nodded, John joined her in that, and Neil sighed. “It would be the most responsible to now drive back to the doctor, through the city, infested with a monster, just to bring him the news of his love lost forever.”, Neil said. Rose shot him a glance. “This is not a city.”, she stated drily. “Infested with one monster.”, John added with disapproval in his voice and shook his head. Becky did not say anything. She just hid her face on John´s shoulder. So the others fell silent. Rose stopped the pickup directly in front of Lancer´s practice. It was still quiet as was the whole street. The sun shone as if there was nothing to care about and no pain underneath it. Becky moved away from John, but Rose was faster. She got out of the car and then looked through the window at John and Becky on the backseat. “It is ok. I will go and talk to the doctor.”, Rose announced. When he heard this, Neil bit his lip and wobbled and wavered visibly. Rose went over to his window and looked at him questioning. “I´ll join you.”, Neil decided. “You should not have to do this alone.” Rose nodded to that and made a step backwards so that Neil could open the car door and get out. Together they walked into the practice. They walked slowly, tired and not very eager to deliver the devastating news that another live had ended. John was monitoring the street as they all had taken up as a habit. He still held Becky who was not crying anymore. “I sit here and look at the street like this is an already acquired habit. But I have no idea if this actually helps.”, John commented after a while. “I am not even looking properly. Mrs. Lancer… my thoughts return to her. Now that she is gone, I think more about her than before.” Becky shifted, leaned her back against John and also looked outside and nowhere specific at the same time. “I can stop talking.”, John offered. “No, it´s ok. Actually, it´s good to hear your voice. Please continue as long as you can.”, Becky said. “As long as I still can?”, John asked and tried a smile and a sarcastic tone. Becky did not react or look up. “Well. I will take you up on that. You know me.” “Yeah, please go ahead.”, Beck replied, with a bit less heavy sadness in her voice. “Before we lost the light-heartedness of youth to the horror of pure violence, I stumbled about something. There was this ancient book, almost falling apart because it had been read by so many generations of students before me. Many did not care as was apparent by now. However, I stumbled upon this picture of a duck. It was a normal duck, nothing special. At least I think…” “When was the last time you saw a duck?”, Becky interrupted. “I think the last time was when we saw one together when we were at this pond on a date. There were beautiful ducks shimmering in metallic green.” “There were no ducks.”, Becky reminded him. “It would have been better if there had been.”, John insisted. “True.” “So I saw the duck on a picture. And I could not help but wonder what would happen if we were all transformed into ducks. Not in a traumatic way mind you. We would just wake up one day and be water birds. So what would we do? All our clothes would not fit anymore. Do we sell them? Who would buy human cloths in a duck-world?”, John wondered. “I see a bigger problem.”, Becky interjected. “Which one?” “How would we leave the bed room? Can ducks turn a knob?” John sought out the vague reflection of Becky´s eyes in the car window she was staring through. “Ducks cannot turn a knob.”, John decided. “But you never close your bedroom door when you sleep.”, Becky remembered. “So I would still be free.”, John agreed. “Inside the house in any case. I would try to save you all.” “Of course you would.”, Becky agreed. “The one duck that got away and did not have to do a knob.” After some time, Rose and Neil returned with their heads down and in an even gloomier mood than before. They blinked in the sunlight and then got back into the pickup truck. There was just the noise of car doors being opened and shut close. No one said something for a minute. “How is he doing?”, Becky asked into the silence. “He collapsed into the floor.”, Rose said in a flat and hoarse voice. “We and Hooper had to crawl down to him. I had a serious flashback.” “I´ve never seen him cry before and didn´t think that he could ever cry like this.”, Neil added. “Can we go?” Rose nodded. “Let´s do a grown-up thing and drive to the bar after all these emotions.” Most cars from before were gone, so Rose parked the pickup directly in front of the entrance to the bar. All four went inside where Becky immediately found her mom and hugged her, this time almost desperately. “What happened?”, asked Erin. So they told her and Becky started to tear up again. Then the other three started to tear up. They all sat down in a circle on the floor next to the bar. There, they talked about Tula and how she was lost. “I´m so sorry.”, Erin tried and hugged her daughter again tightly. “But it was not your fault.” “I hope.”, Becky replied and nodded slightly but did not lift her eyes. In low voices and with many breaks between their sentences, the group turned their conversation slowly to Pipps and how he was lost. Neil tried to steer the conversation back to how glad they had been every time they had met Pipps. To talks more about how Pipps was alive. Neil succeeded with that for a while. “When we found him at the beach at his only day off.”, Rose remembered. “He was standing close to the water and then crouched down and got up again.”, Becky added. “Because this way he would see Fleck Island partially disappear behind the curve of the earth. He was so fascinated with that and happy about seeing it. He would talk to us about this for weeks to come every time we would see him at the gas station.”, John completed. “He was a wonder.”, Becky said while whipping away her latest tears. “We spoke about him in the past tense only, already.”, Rose remarked. Then they were silent again. Then Becky mentioned Smith and Sullyvan and how they were lost. “You should not sit on this floor.”, Fred said. “I love my patrons, but you should not sit on this floor like this. At least get a blanket” There was some commotion in the bar now. More people were walking around, more were talking in small groups throughout the establishment. Individual people were even leaving the bar just to return shortly after. “What is going on?”, Neil asked. “People are talking about the monster again.”, Fred explained. “It has been seen. Some want to hunt it down, ring it in, finish it off. Rid us of it.” “To avenge those who were lost?”, John asked in a more monotonous than interested voice. “Also that.” Fred nodded as if deeply convinced with the intentions of these people. The kids still frowned and Becky even shook her head. “Maybe people should just wait until someone comes and deals with this.”, Neil suggested. “Someone as in professionals who should be on the way by now.” “Don´t tell me.”, Fred shrugged. “I´m staying here no matter what. Got to keep an eye on the bar. Hey! Put that down!” Fred jumped up a bit and ran behind the bar where someone was trying to commandeer all the whiskey bottles. For Molotov Cocktails they said. An argument ensued. “I´m just so tired right now.”, Becky said and leaned back against the bar. Her mom, sitting on her right, padded her shoulder. Neil, sitting on Becky´s left, hesitated but then felt obliged to do the same. “You all deserve a rest.”, Erin said. Then her daughter looked her directly in the eyes. “But this is now how you mean it.” Becky shook her head again. Neil sighed, Rose and John crossed their arms, thinking. Erin got up and also crossed her arms, but more disapprovingly. “I can´t see how you getting involved again is a way out of this situation.”, Erin stated. Her daughter looked up to her, puzzled. “I had to say this as your mother.”, Erin defended herself. Then she took a wider stand. “And I will not apologise for that. If there is now way for me to stop you but to physically overpower you and take away your agency… I will at least join you and try my best.” The kids looked at her with big eyes and blinked in a realization neither of them was willing to vocalize yet. So they returned to the other topic at hand. “If there was a way out – for us and for it.”, Neil mused. “If we could get it to leave, you mean?”, Rose added. “It said it wanted a way out.”, Becky remembered. “They want to circle around it.”, John pointed out. Eyes widened. The five of them stood in a circle of their own, discussing what could be done. A plan was devised, the last one they would need. “Sounds like… something.”, Neil said and nodded. Rose clapped her hands and looked at Erin. “Erin, get your leather jacket and your sawn-off pump gun, we are going out.”, Rose exclaimed. Erin scoffed. “This is no weather for leather – and someone already nicked the gun.”, she said. Rose mouth became a thin line and she blinked twice in very short succession. “Still. We are going out.”, Rose repeated. Her eyes were framed in dark shadows and she had to invest some effort to keep them open. All had to do this. So Rose was doing her best in this moment to at least sound lively. “Right behind you.”, Erin said, suppressing a yawn. And so they left the bar again and walked over to the pickup. This time, Erin sat down on the driver´s seat. “This is an adult task.”, she said, while her daughter sat down beside her and the other three squeezed onto the backseats. Rose, John, and Neil looked in the mirror and sought out eye contact with Becky. Once they got their attention, they did their best to each raise an eyebrow. “I think my friends think your last sentence was a bit icky.”, Becky informed her mom. Erin scoffed while starting the engine. “Not all adult stuff is fun or funky.”, Erin stated, before flooring the gas pedal and then loosening the hand break. Despite their high speed, it was not difficult to locate the group of townsfolk attempting to hunt down the monster. There were no torches, but several rifles. There were also angry faces. “You could think they have lost someone.”, Neil commented unkindly. They stopped the car and got out. Cautiously, they approached the group of enraged people. “MacShane, Phd. is here as well.”, Rose noted. “The librarians are present, too.”, John observed and nodded in their direction. “Do you think Lancer knows about his sister in law and how his brother is doing?”, Becky wondered when she looked at the librarians. “True, these two actually lost someone.”, Neil admitted in an apologetic voice. “Should I go over to them?”, Becky asked more herself than the others. John and Erin exchanged a glance. “We wanted to follow them… join them.”, Erin said. So they moved over to the group. Becky was just about to talk to the librarians, when someone yelled that the monster had been found. The group hurried in the indicated direct. Erin and the kids followed hesitantly and in some distance. Still, they got very quickly to a second group that was standing in a half circle close two eyeless and grey storage self-storage houses. There was a street running between the houses, before ending in a dead end where there was a cliff. The group of townsfolk stood in some distance not only to the houses still, but also to a middle-aged man in very plain clothes. “This is close to the edge.”, Neil observed. “In a good or a bad way?”, Rose wondered. “Probably both.” “Is this Mr. Miller?”, Becky wondered and nodded, indicating the plain man. Meanwhile, he became less and less plain as the kids watched. He seemed to grow a few feed, but his arms extended even more than that. His face showed a strange expression of anger, fear, and utter cluelessness of the situation. All this did not face the town´s people. They continued to move in on Mr. Miller, completing the circle. “We need to get behind him, towards the cliff.”, John remarked. “These people have guns, I´m not sure how much sense it makes that we form a circle here, surrounding something.”, Neil pointed out. “I mean, when we take a second and think about where they will direct their fire when it comes to that.” “I hate this.”, Erin commented. “But we are close to the cliff and there on the left is even a narrow path down. A way out.”, Rose said. This did not convince her friends, while the other people were moving closer and closer to Miller and the monster. “This is the perfect place for our plan. If we would have gotten to pick a place, it would be this one.”, Rose insisted. Still, there were doubts, but there was nothing other to do in this situation. So they joined the group again, following the librarians, became part of the circle. In front of them were Miller and some of the town´s folk. Behind them was the dead end and beyond the cliff. Becky moved closer to the librarians. “There is something I need to tell you.”, she said to Lancer, but got no reaction. People were still looking at Miller, while there were claws extending from his fingers. “Look, there is MacShane again.”, John remarked. MacShane was standing close by, tense as everybody else, not giving any attention to the kids. “He could be of use to us.”, Rose said and started towards MacShane. John followed her, while Neil stayed with Becky and Erin, because the circle needed to be maintained at the moment. “Don´t let it come closer to you!”, somebody yelled and guns were cocked. People aimed. “Like, some of us need to dive down rather sooner than later.”, Neil said nervously and moved a bit backwards. Becky and Erin followed him, drawing the circle out. Miller and the monster were turning and turning, facing the crowd, growling. Sometimes it was almost as if he tried to say something. Often it seemed as if he was holding back, twitching instead of extending his claws. “Doctor MacShane!”, Rose yelled. MacShane jumped a bit and took his eyes for a second away from Miller and the monster to acknowledge Rose. “Kids should not be here…”, MacShane said in an unsteady voice. “I´m not sure if I should.” “There might be a way out.”, Rose suggested. “Literally.” “What?” “You told us about the monsters.”, John jumped in. “Do you think this will be enough to defeat it?” MacShane made a step backwards and his glance wandered between Rose and John, before he returned his attention to Miller. “How often have you read about such a situation solving the situation?”, Rose asked. “Never…”, MacShane admitted. “But there is the water right behind us.”, John suggested. “Just a bit in our direction and then to the left and the monster can climb down to the sea.” Rose said. “Hopefully vanishing back into it.” “This makes sense… I guess.”, MacShane admitted again. He now turned towards the kids. At the same moment, gun shots cracked. Miller jumped up like a giant insect. When he landed, he lashed out, just missing some people by inches. There were outcries of shock and people jerked back. “They hit Smith and Lancer!”, a voice exclaimed. It was Becky´s, as her friends realized after something seeming like an eternity. Rose and John hurried back to her. Becky was sitting on her knees next to librarians. Erin and Neil stood close by. “They shot them when they sighted for the monster.”, Neil whispered. “This does not make sense.”, MacShane whispered, as he too joined the group. “Let´s give it an opening then!”, Rose exclaimed. MacShane nodded. He gesticulated to some others to make room. There was now a hole in the circle. Becky grabbed MacShanes´s hands. “Doctor, put some pressure on Smith´s wounds!”, Becky demanded, dragging the scholar over to the librarian. Erin and Neil were crouching next to Lancer, trying to cover wounds with their hands. “I´m not…”, MacShane started, but did not finish. Miller and the monster were not moving. They were turning and growling, but did not seem to regard the opening. Rose waved to it. John froze. Miller´s head jerked in her direction. There were human eyes, even as the mouth grew bigger and bigger. And there was fear in these eyes. Fear and disappointment. Rose waved towards the cliff. “Just go.”, she mouthed. There was a little flash of understanding in the eyes of the monster. It set itself in motion, speeding up incredibly. It brushed by Rose and John and then was gone. It just jumped off the cliff. “It just jumped off the cliff.”, John stammered. “But there was the way down to a beach and there are surely boats…”, Rose said, still staring into the direction Miller had disappeared. John was about to say something else, but the sound of rotor blades drowned his voice. Rose and he turned around. Four helicopters were closing in on the scene of the destroyed circle of people and the monster missing. Becky stood up and waved to the one helicopter which had a red cross painted on its side. Rose and John understood what she was doing and tried to flag that one down. He was lost in the town that he though was his not too long ago. There was a memory of that down by the picture of her when they were young. They were so young but did not feel it. They did, that he had been sure of previously he thought, enjoyed being young and stupidly happy. Now this was like the memory of another man handed down to him like an old beautiful hat. Maybe it was too beautiful to be real. This could have been a dream. It hurt. It hurt to think as well. More and more He had difficulties remembering the name of the street they were chasing down. Street. That was the word. He had difficulties remembering the name of that street. Maybe that was not important, now. It did not seem to care. It just pushed him forward as before. As if that was what was left: A movement. For there was nothing else left. Just moving. Was it still there he wondered and wondered what he meant and who had thought that thought. There was a picture of her, but the face was missing. He tried to remember what it showed, the picture. There was an image of him in his backyard and a light and an old man, the only one there. He was the only hope, a lifeboat after the last lifeboat hat sunk, a broken mirror, a trap. He was lost together with all the others chasing down this road. Maybe there was a hunt but this time he was the hunted. In his memories he had heard of a man sitting on his porch eating a sandwich. As if this could even happen. Weird. He was the power among these lowly being who bore no fault but did not help him either. Mutual assured ignorance. He had to stop as there was food in the way. Food and someone he might have known. All these tiny creatures who he could not understand. Why did he end up among them? There was a voice in his head reminding them that these were scary and yet also valuable. Now they had surrounded him. He could make them leave. He could take them apart. But he hesitated. And then there was an opening. There was a blue see at the end of this road. All this could have been a nightmare. There was a cliff coming up. Now he would see if there was the promise of waking from this world.

[spookytomatoetuesday]

Project Wolf´s Cove

Nine – The lost and the found

It was too early to properly call this morning yet and enjoy the already beaming sunlight. The bright rays just stung the eyes, the eyes of most at least. It was also still a bit chilly. There was a wind blowing in from the sea. Seagulls were riding it, before diving down looking for fish. Fish that was gone or at least behaved more and more strange, even unusual. Unusual to a degree that both seagulls and humans did not have time yet to realize the change and get used to it. It were strange times even after the horrible summer was coming to an end.

Becky and the others assembled at the quickly hammered together jetty that was almost big enough to give the new and improvised ferry a proper point to dock in Wolf´s Cove, a port of call. This ferry was the replacement for the old bridge. The temporary replacement for the bridge, as it had been repeatedly stressed. So temporary that it was made of some wooden planks and relied on empty barrels for buoyancy. Most of the material had been salvaged from an abandoned construction site in the town center as well as some old houses that were in disrepair and had no owner who could interfere. Becky and her friends knew to trust the jetty despite all that. They had tried it repeatedly in the past few week, because it was their way to the main land. “How are you guys?”, Becky asked when John and Neil arrived. Rose stood already next to her. Becky was, meanwhile, the only one still enjoying the sunlight on her face. “Tired.”, John said and yawned. But then he smiled. He had clearly not planned to and struggled at first a bit to control his expression, but could not help himself, when he saw Becky and Rose. Rose snickered. “I said the same this morning at the breakfast table.” John nodded and bowed towards her a little as an act of agreement and re-affirmed solidarity. “Dreams are heavy and rest is scarce.”, John mused and this time, it was Rose who nodded. “And how are you, Neil?”, Becky wondered. “Unsure.”, Neil answered in an uncertain voice. “Both short-term and long-term, I think. Not to mention the recent past.” “I also do not like how the last few weeks tasted.”, John agreed, then was silent for a moment, pondering. He smacked his lips as if testing the taste of the air, sampling the salt in the breeze. “They were better than the monster week, but still.”, he clarified. “Yeah, haven´t seen you two much over the last days.” Becky blinked. “Did you also get interviewed about what happened?” “Yes. The sheriff had many questions about monsters.”, Neil said. “Substantially more now than he had when the figurative shit was hitting the fan.” “And now that the monster that had disappeared. Without a trace. In an ocean.”, Rose added. They all nodded and were quiet for a moment. The ferry was coming closer, tugging along the shore line before turning in to the small bay. It was an elderly ship, a former fishing boat. Still, it had proven itself a reliable connection to the outside world so far. “They did not ask about Pips or Smith or Sullyvan or Tula.”, Becky stated in a matter-of-fact manner, but a shadow crawled over ever her face. “The sheriff did not ask me about them either.”, John replied and looked to Rose and Neil. Both shook their heads. “I bet you still told him about Pips, Smith, Sullyvan, and Tula.”, John said with a smile that he shot towards Becky. She smiled back and winked. “Of course, I did. I told the sheriff about how Pips once helped us collecting drift wood for a diorama on Mob Dick. He even polished the wood and carved a whale and a ship out of two niece pieces.”, Becky remembered the remembering and reminding. “That moment in time I remember.” John nodded. “We gave whale and ship back to him afterwards. I always assumed they stood somewhere in his apartment or wherever he lived.” The ferry had now reached the jetty. “I also told the sheriff something about Pipps.”, John admitted and looked once again at Rose and Neil. Both nodded. “Guess we all did.”, Neil summarized. “Still.”, Becky said and put a lot of sadness in this one word. She looked down at her feet. Soon, these feet got into motion again as the kids boarded the ferry. As usual, they stood on deck, surveying the sea that surrounded their home town sitting on these ragged rocks. All of them looked at the scenery at this moment, but Becky. “So today is mostly orientation again? An introduction to the last year of school?”, Neil wondered, but all knew that he was aware of the answer. “Oh, there is something I need to tell you.”, Becky said, taking her eyes off the floor, to then look at John and then at Neil. “I won’t be in our school all days of the week anymore. Twice a week, I´ll take classes at Hollow Tree County High. They have school psychologist there and they said I could see her when I take a minimum of classes at their school. Music and something else, possible more astronomy. This way the school covers the expenses. Which is good when you have an issue but no insurance.” The others were silent for a minute. Rose opened her mouth as if she was going to say something but then just did not. John did almost the same. He did not find the right words either. Neil let the tip of his right shoe scratch over the deck. Then he finally nodded and said: “This makes sense. Good for you. Hopefully, it´ll be good for you.” After another short pause, he added: “And if you need a ride, just say the word. It´ll be in your old car anyway.” Neil smiled. “Oh, and after the bridge is restored I guess.” “Thanks, Neil.”, Becky replied with a warm smile of her own. “You should take him up on that.”, Rose said. A seagull flew by, accompanied the boat for a while and then broke off the pursuit when it had probably realized that there would be no fish falling off the ferry any time soon. Neil waved to the bird.   “It is so good to see you.”, John remarked and the others nodded. This was a blue planet, he remembered. And there was life here as well. Maybe he had remembered all wrong, he sometimes thought. Maybe it did not need his memories. Oh, and there was a fish. A friendly little fish. What would it bring?