by Lukens, Mark
Stella got her coat on and she walked over to David who sat rigidly on the couch with his spiral notebook on his lap. She crouched down in front of him and smoothed his long hair back. She looked into his dark eyes. She could see the fear in those eyes.
“You sit right here,” she whispered to David. “Don’t come outside no matter what you hear. Okay?”
David just nodded.
“We’ll only be out there for a few minutes.”
Again David nodded.
Stella hugged him, and then she stood up and looked at Needles. She didn’t have a good feeling about leaving David in here with him, but she could be back inside in a few seconds if she needed to. At least Needles didn’t have his gun with him anymore.
Cole, Jose, and Stella gathered at the front door, bracing themselves for a moment before Cole unlocked and opened the door. Cole and Jose checked their guns again, making sure they had full clips and making sure a bullet was chambered and ready. Cole had reloaded Needles’ gun and he had it stuck into the back of the waistband of his pants. He also had Trevor’s gun in his coat pocket.
Cole glanced at Stella. She had been about to tell him a few minutes ago what Frank was going to ask for—but now he was going to find out for himself.
Cole unlocked the door. He opened it and stepped out onto the front porch. Jose and Stella followed him, and the three of them stood close to each other on the porch. Stella closed the door, but she left it open just a crack. She didn’t want to shut the door all the way, and she wanted to be close to the door.
The three of them stared out at Frank who stood in the same spot in the snow as before. He looked the same: the same blue flannel shirt, same pants, same unanimated face, his head cocked to the side at an odd angle. He looked like a puppet waiting for his strings to be pulled.
Frank came alive, and that creepy smile was on his face in an instant. “Hi, everyone!” he shouted and gave them a mechanical-like wave of his hand.
“What did you do with Trevor?” Cole shouted.
Frank’s smile drooped and his face dropped in an exaggerated frown. “Oh, that was unfortunate,” he told them.
“What did you do with his body?” Cole yelled.
“You have to give him what he wants!” Frank said with the frown still on his face. “You have to give him exactly what he wants or bad things will happen.”
“We’re not giving you anything until you tell me what you did with Trevor!”
Frank stood motionless in the snow, his head cocked to the side, almost like he was listening to something no one else could hear. “You really want to see Trevor again?” Frank asked.
“Yes, right now! Where is he?”
Frank barely nodded. “Then you will see him again real soon.”
“Who is doing this? Why doesn’t this person come out and show himself?” Cole yelled; he could feel the rage building up inside of him again, he felt like he was going to snap at any second. “I want to see him!”
“You wouldn’t understand,” Frank said. “It has to be this way.”
“I want to speak to this person directly!” Cole said.
“You are,” Frank answered. “Through me.”
Cole could tell that Jose was getting antsy beside him, fidgeting, ready to go for his gun. “This is bullshit,” Jose whispered. “Let’s just rush him. Make him talk.”
Stella’s words echoed in Cole’s mind: He wants things and you have to give them to him no matter what they are.
“What is it that you want?” Cole yelled out to Frank
Frank stood motionless in the snow, impervious to the freezing weather even though he only wore pants and a flannel shirt. “He wants two human eyeballs on the front porch by sundown,” Frank told them.
*
Inside the cabin, Needles sat at the edge of his recliner, his elbows on his knees, ready to pop up onto his feet at any second. He felt jumpy, like he needed to get up and move, like he had something important he needed to do very soon.
And he did have something important to do.
What he’d seen last night had been no nightmare—it had been real. And he’d been given instructions. He knew what he needed to do. Maybe if he did what the devil told him to do, then the devil would let him go.
David sat on the couch, his notebook beside him. He wasn’t drawing right now; he was watching every move that Needles made.
Needles glanced at the front door. He could see that it was still slightly ajar. He thought about getting up and closing the door, and then locking it. He could lock them outside with the devil that they didn’t believe in.
Needles jumped to his feet. He only had a short time to accomplish his task and he couldn’t waste time running for the door, it might spook the kid and then he would run for the door or run to the back of the cabin or just scream. Or Cole and Jose would hear the lock being engaged and blow the door handle off with their guns.
Instead of walking to the door, Needles walked into the kitchen. He glanced at the freezer for a second. He could imagine Tom Gordon’s body thawing inside the leaking freezer.
A thought occurred to Needles: Maybe Tom Gordon wasn’t a demon. Maybe he had been sent by God to give Needles a message. Maybe Needles was the only one who could see. Maybe Needles was the only one who could carry out God’s plan. God had given Needles a warning through the old man in the bank, and Needles hadn’t meant to shoot the old man; he was truly sorry about that, he didn’t even remember pulling the trigger.
But now maybe Needles was getting a second chance. God was giving him a second chance to carry out this mission. Maybe the demon wasn’t out there; maybe the demon had been inside with them all along—the demon was David. And Tom Gordon had been sent to tell Needles what to do, to kill this demon.
Needles rubbed the gold crucifix that hung around his neck. He opened the kitchen drawer and rummaged around until he found the biggest kitchen knife he could find.
Needles turned and walked into the living room. He watched David who stared at him. David saw the knife in his hand, Needles was sure of that, but David didn’t try to run for the front door, or even try to scream. That had to mean David was a demon, and that was proof enough for Needles.
Thank you, God, Needles whispered in his mind. Thank you for giving me this chance to carry out your wishes.
So crafty the devil was, Needles thought, hiding inside such an innocent-looking child. Nobody would ever suspect what this child really was. But Needles could tell, Needles could see. Oh yes, he could see right through David.
Needles walked towards the couch with the knife in his hand; he didn’t even bother to try to hide it now. The light from the windows winked off the long blade.
David just watched him with his large dark eyes. David knew what was coming, Needles was certain of that. And David must know that he couldn’t win. Evil couldn’t fight goodness—it was no match for it.
When Needles stepped onto the area rug, the Native American rug with its colorful patterns, David got to his feet. The boy glanced at the front door, but he didn’t run for it, he just looked back at Needles like he was frozen with fear.
Needles smiled at David. “You know what I have to do, don’t you?”
CHAPTER 30
“Eyeballs?” Jose yelled out in disgust at Frank. Jose stood on the front porch, his hand itching to draw his gun and run out into the snow and charge Frank. But he was too shocked to move, and for a few seconds he could only stare at Frank. “Eyeballs?” he spat out again. “What the fuck?”
“You have to give him what he wants,” Frank said, and that plastic smile was back on his face. “Take the eyeballs from someone while they are still alive. Have them on the porch before sundown or more bad things will happen.”
It was too much for Jose. He jumped off the porch and down into the snow; Cole didn’t even have a chance to stop him. Jose screamed with fury as he ran through the snow right at Frank.
Cole raised his gun, aiming it at Frank, ready to cover Jo
se.
But there were no shots fired at them from the trees.
And Frank didn’t turn to run away. He didn’t pull out his pistol. He didn’t do anything except wait patiently and motionless as Jose ran right at him.
Jose reached Frank, and he aimed his gun right at Frank’s head. If anyone was going to start firing at him from the woods, Jose thought, then he was going to make damn sure that he blew Frank’s head off first.
Frank watched Jose with no expression in his eyes and that plastic smile still on his face. Jose wanted to smash Frank’s face in with the butt of his gun; he wanted to wipe that stupid smile away forever.
“You’re coming back inside, motherfucker,” Jose growled, and he moved around to the back of Frank to march him to the cabin. “You’re going to give us some fucking answers. You’re going to …”
Jose’s words died in his throat when he got around to the back of Frank. There was nothing there—no back to Frank at all. It looked like Frank’s back had been sliced off and his torso had been scooped out: muscles, bones, organs, blood, all of it gone. He was completely hollow inside. Even part of the back of Frank’s head was gone and the inside of his head was hollow. There were only the glistening red walls of flesh inside of his hollowed-out body.
Jose couldn’t understand what he was seeing. Frank couldn’t be alive. No one could be alive like this.
*
Cole stood at the edge of the porch, his gun still aimed at Frank. He was ready for the barrage of gunfire to begin from the woods, but nothing happened, nobody was shooting. There was no wall of snow, no sudden blizzard, nothing.
But something was wrong with Jose. He had gotten behind Frank to march him back to the cabin, but then he stopped cold as he stared at Frank in horror. At what? What had he seen?
Cole heard a sharp inhale from Stella. He managed a quick glance at her and saw her body stiffen. Her eyes were on Frank. Did she know what had stopped Jose? Did she know what Jose was seeing?
Cole looked back out at Jose who still hadn’t moved a muscle.
“Jose!” Cole shouted, trying to break his paralysis.
But Jose wasn’t listening. He wasn’t answering. He wasn’t moving. He just stared at the back of Frank, his face a mask of horror.
Cole was about to jump down into the snow, but then Jose stumbled back around to the front of Frank.
*
Jose moved back around to face Frank. His gun hand had dropped down to his side, and his body had weakened so much that he barely held on to his gun. He stared at Frank’s face.
Frank was still smiling. He spoke, and when he opened his mouth Jose could now see the barest traces of light coming through his mouth from his hollowed-out head. “Go,” Frank whispered to Jose. “Go back and tell the others what you’ve seen. Tell them that they have to give him what he wants. There is no other way.”
Jose took a step back, and then another. And then another. He backed up through the snow, away from Frank, but he didn’t take his eyes off of him.
Frank just stood there in the snow, still smiling, his head still cocked to the side.
After five backwards steps through the deep snow, Jose turned and ran for the cabin. He’d never been this frightened in his life. He never knew anyone could experience terror like this. He ran in a blind panic. He ran towards the only safety left that he knew of right now—the cabin. But even in his white-hot panic, he knew that the cabin wasn’t safe anymore. Nowhere was safe anymore.
Jose stumbled up the porch steps, gibbering, not even sure what he was saying, not sure what he was thinking, everything was just a blur of white panic. It was like his brain had seen something so horrible and unimaginable that it was beginning to shut down.
Cole helped Jose up the steps. Jose’s gun slipped from his fingers and clunked down onto the floorboards of the porch. Cole picked up the gun while still holding on to Jose.
“What’s wrong, Jose?” Cole asked. He could hear the panic in his own voice. “What did you see?”
“He … he … he’s not …” Jose stammered. He couldn’t get the words out. “Insides …” he whispered.
Just then they heard a scream from inside the cabin—David’s scream.
“David!” Stella yelled and she bolted for the front door.
CHAPTER 31
Stella rushed inside to see Needles chasing David with a gigantic kitchen knife. Needles sliced the knife down through the air, stabbing at David. But David was too quick; he managed to duck out of the way of the deadly swing just in time.
Stella didn’t even think about it, she rushed right at Needles and slammed into him.
Needles was thrown off balance from both surprise and because Stella had hit him that hard.
“NOOO!!!” Stella screamed as she tackled Needles and drove him back into his recliner. They both fell over the recliner and Stella heard the satisfactory sound of the knife clattering to the floor.
Cole was inside the cabin right after Stella. He saw Needles try to stab David with the knife, but Stella had reacted a split second before Cole had, and he watched her tackle Needles over the recliner. Both of them fell to a heap on the floor on the other side of the recliner and Cole was sure at least one of them had fallen on the knife, but then he heard it drop on the floor
Jose stumbled inside the cabin and shut the door. He fumbled with the lock with his shaking hands. He knew the locks wouldn’t hold back whatever was out there, but he locked the door anyway. He stumbled over to the dining room table, oblivious to the fight in the living room between Stella and Needles. Jose plopped down in one of the dining room chairs as his mind replayed what he’d seen out there in the snow—Frank’s hollowed-out body.
On the floor beside the recliner, Needles kicked Stella off of him. He had been surprised by her strength, caught off guard for a moment, but Needles was stronger than she was and his kick sent her through the air where she landed on the Native American rug in the center of the room. Needles rolled over in a quick movement and grabbed the knife from the floor.
As Stella struggled back to her feet, Cole shot across her field of vision like a blur of movement. She watched Cole punch Needles in the jaw as he tried to stand up. In less than two seconds Cole hit Needles again and again in the face until he dropped the knife.
Cole tackled Needles, who was already woozy from the punches to his face, and then he drove him into the wall. They both slid down the wall to the floor as pictures crashed from the wall to the floor all around them. Needles fell over onto his stomach, and before Needles had a chance to turn over, Cole crawled on top of his back like an MMA fighter; he held him face-down as he wrenched one of Needles’ arms behind his back and held it there. Needles wailed out in pain.
“Get me something to tie his hands with!” Cole yelled at Jose.
But Jose wasn’t listening. He stared down at the table, his mind tuning out everything around him. He kept seeing Frank’s body in his mind’s eye, his hollow body, the red and glistening walls of flesh inside of his torso and head.
Stella jumped up from the floor. Her stomach hurt from where Needles had kicked her, but she could tell there was no serious damage. She ran to the kitchen counter and grabbed the balled-up telephone cord Cole had tossed there what seemed like so long ago. She grabbed it and ran back to Cole.
“Tie it around his wrist!” Cole screamed at Stella.
Needles tried to fight back, but he couldn’t buck Cole off of his back. Cole had a handful of Needles’ hair in his other hand and he slammed Needles’ face down onto the wood floor, nearly knocking him out, definitely dazing him for a moment.
Stella tied the cord tightly around Needles’ wrist, a double knot.
“Hold the cord,” Cole told her as he grabbed Needles’ other arm. Needles tried to struggle, but he was too dazed and Cole was too strong. Cole brought Needles’ wrists together and he didn’t even have to tell Stella what to do—she wrapped the cord around both wrists several times and tied it tight.
&nb
sp; Cole tested the bonds and after he was satisfied that they were tight, he sat back on his butt on the floor as Needles writhed beside him and worked his way up into a sitting position, his back and bound hands against the wall.
There were tears in Needles’ eyes and blood trickled from his nose down into his mouth. “You don’t understand,” he told Cole. “I had to do it. I had to.”
“Shut up,” Cole said as he exhaled a long breath.
“David,” Stella whispered. She ran over to the couch but David wasn’t there. “David!” she called out. She went to the end of the couch and found David crouched down beside the end of it, hiding from Needles. He looked up at her with his dark eyes full of fear.
She dropped down to her knees and reached out for him. “It’s okay,” she told him. “He’s tied up now. He won’t get you.”
David jumped into her arms and hugged her.
Stella cried as David held on to her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry I left you in here with him. I should’ve known.”
David pulled away from Stella and he nodded at her. “It’s okay,” he told her in a soft voice. He smiled. “I’m okay now.”
Stella let out a laugh even though she was still crying a little bit. She wiped away at her tears. She looked him over quickly even though he told her he was okay; she didn’t see any wounds of any kind on him. “You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
“No. I’m okay.”
Stella exhaled a deep breath. “Thank God.”
Cole watched Stella and David for a moment, and then he looked at Needles who was still sitting against the wall.
Needles looked at Cole with his tear-streaked and bloody face. “You don’t understand what’s going on here, Cole. That kid’s a demon. He’s doing all of this on his own. He’s not a child, he’s a monster.”
“Shut up, Needles.”
“He’s the devil. He’s the one you should be afraid of, not me.”
