Going back to the corner he sits with knees pulled up again and wraps his arms around his legs. He wonders what his parents are doing right now. Are they looking for him? Are they scared too? Are they even OK? He closes his eyes and pictures their faces, smiling and happy, saying his name. Mommy is looking at him like she does when they snuggle together. Daddy is smiling like he does when he listens to the boy tell a funny story.
Thinking about Daddy now, he can almost feel him. Almost hear his voice.
Rob stopped in a small clearing and caught his breath. A half hour ago he felt the pull so strongly he had to start running to keep up with it. Now, he needed a rest. He was in fair shape but certainly no accomplished long-distance runner. His pulse tapped in his ears. He put his hands on his hips and looked around. "We're close."
Again, Juli's breathing seemed barely stressed by the running. And she hadn't even broken a sweat. "The pull is stronger?"
Rob nodded and ran his sleeve over his forehead. "I'm fighting hard to stand still here, but I need a breather for a second. Man, I could really use some water too."
"We could find a spring."
He looked at his watch. It would be sunrise in a little over an hour. "No. We have to keep moving. It can wait." Taking a deep breath, Rob listened to the woods. He kept expecting to hear a distant scream or the bark of a dog, but the forest remained noiseless and still. As always.
Breathing in deep and even, he shut his eyes and pictured Jimmy playing in the backyard. The boy loved soccer. Every chance he'd get he was dragging Rob out there to kick the ball around. But Rob didn't mind one bit. He was a soccer fanatic himself and got Jimmy interested in it as soon as he was old enough to walk and kick.
"You're thinking about him," Juli said.
"It makes the pull stronger."
"What's he doing?"
"We're playing soccer, kicking the ball around."
"Like Ronaldo?"
Rob shook his head. "No. Pele. The greatest."
"Ah, old school."
"Definitely."
Rob opened his eyes and looked at Juli. "I hear him."
If the boy is very quiet and holds his breath so he doesn't even hear the sound of his lungs, he can hear his daddy calling his name.
He jumps up and runs for the door. "Daddy! Daddy!"
He pounds his fists on the door and kicks at it. He has to get Daddy's attention. If he passes the area without seeing the cabin or hearing the boy's voice, he may never come back again. The boy feels like a man stranded on a desert island seeing a ship pass by in the distance. He has to be heard.
He hollers louder. "Daddy!" So loud his throat hurts and he goes into a coughing fit.
Then he holds his breath and listens again.
Running full speed now, hurdling trees and ducking limbs, weaving around saplings and shrubs, Rob was in total surrender to the pull. It was in control now, not him. He was just moving his legs fast enough to keep up. He no longer knew or cared if Juli was behind him. He had to keep running.
"Jimmy!" He didn't stop to listen for a reply. He didn't have to. The shack was before him, close, just out of sight.
The boy hears Daddy's voice closer now. He's coming this way. He has to be close enough to see the cabin. He hollers again, "Daddy! Here, I'm here!"
Real tears come now. He's crying real tears again, but not because he's sad or scared. Because he's so happy.
Daddy is on his way.
Rob stopped so abruptly he almost toppled forward. The pull was gone, and his body suddenly felt fifty pounds heavier. There, up ahead, was the shack. The same one he saw in his dream. His heart stuttered in his chest.
Jimmy. He was so close. He could feel his son in his arms again.
He took off, tripped on a branch, got up, and dashed madly for the shack. Nothing mattered now but reaching his son. The woods around him vanished; the sound of his steps in the leaves fell silent. Even the steady thumping of his pulse in his ears was no more.
"Jimmy, I'm here, buddy. Daddy's here." Tears choked his words and tumbled down his cheeks.
The boy can now hear the sound of Daddy running in the leaves. He can hear Daddy saying his name, over and over again. It sounds like he's crying.
"Daddy, I'm here. I'm here!"
Twenty
OB REACHED THE SHACK AND GRABBED THE DOOR handle. The metal was cold in his hand.
"Jimmy." His son's name spilled out of his mouth as he yanked open the door. It swung wide and Rob rushed in. "Jimmy."
His son was standing before him. Jimmy. His little buddy. Just as he imagined him-G.I. Joe shirt and camo shorts. "Jimmy." Rob choked out the name. His throat was in a vice. Finally, he was here. He took one large step toward Jimmy and took his son's tiny body in his arms. Sobs wracked Rob's chest and exploded from his throat.
He turned around, squeezing Jimmy tighter, not wanting to let go, but having a difficult time feeling his boy in his arms. It was as if...
... he wasn't there.
Rob's arms were empty.
Spinning around saying his son's name over and over, tears streaming from his eyes, blurring everything in the shack, the reality of the moment hit Rob like a shotgun blast to the chest.
The shack was empty. Jimmy wasn't there.
Suddenly, like a rush of raging water, the truth engulfed him.
He remembered.
This place. He knows it.
It was him.
He was the boy...
He was the boy in his dreams. Not Jimmy.
He was the boy in the cabin. The shack.
Rob collapsed to the floor and let the sobs come. He didn't know how long he lay there crying, but when he sat up again, morning had dawned and the woods were dusted with a soft light.
Juli stood in the doorway of the shack, leaning against the jamb, hands clasped behind her back.
"How long have you been standing there?" Rob asked.
Juli shrugged. "Long enough to watch you accept the truth."
"You knew all along."
"Would you have believed me?"
"No way." He climbed to his feet and ran his sleeve over his eyes. "Jimmy's dead." He knew he wasn't telling her anything new, for that was what she'd known all along, but he needed to hear himself say it. The sound of the words was like a judge's gavel. So final. So irrevocable. Jimmy was dead, and there wasn't a thing to be done about it. He was gone. The thought put a knot in Rob's throat, but he had no more tears to cry. "Jimmy's dead." He said it again for no good reason.
"In one way," Juli said. A slight smile tugged at her lips. "In every other way he's more alive than you could ever imagine. Kelly too."
Rob took one last look at the inside of the shack and turned away. Memories were flooding his mind now. It would take some time-lots of time-to sort through it all. He took Juli's hand in his and walked away from the shack and his hopes.
After a while, Rob said, "Didn't it bother you to keep it from me?"
"You have no idea, but you had a road to travel," Juli said. "I wasn't going to stand in your way."
"I'm glad it's over."
Juli paused and gave his hand a little squeeze. "Oh, it's far from over."
After walking a few minutes in silence, alone with his thoughts and memories, eyes still burning from all the crying, Rob said. "So how do we get out of here? You said there was only one way out."
Juli looked at him with those emerald eyes and smiled. "You already found it."
"The dam?"
"Not unless you want to go for a swim."
"Then what?"
Juli stopped walking and pointed at Rob's chest. "It's there. It's been there all along."
"My heart. The fear was keeping us here, not letting us out." "
She started walking again. "You're pretty sharp."
I don't understand." And he didn't. Not any of this. And he suspected he wouldn't for a long time.
"You don't have to. Just accept it. It's called faith."
"I think I need
some more of that."
"Oh, don't say that."
Ahead, through the trees and underbrush and kudzu, sunlight hit the ground unhindered. The edge of the forest. Juli smiled at Rob and started running, hopping fallen branches and leaping small saplings. Rob took off after her.
Juli reached the edge first and stuck her hand into the sunlight. She laughed. "Boy, if you could bottle this stuff and sell it."
Rob arrived and did the same. "It'd be priceless. That's why it's free."
Stretching from the tree line out was an expanse of grass so green Rob thought it looked like something out of a storybook. And on the other side of the meadow sat the town of Darlington with its dilapidated homes and decaying church. But today, at this moment, bathed in brilliant morning sunlight, Darlington looked like a city of gold.
"C'mon," Juli said, taking Rob's hand.
Together they stepped from dead brown leaves to lush green grass, leaving the darkness of the woods behind. Never did being in the light feel so right.
Rob noticed his car was still parked in the church lot, but there was another car, an old Buick, parked alongside it.
"Someone's here," Rob said.
"A friend," Juli said, keeping her eyes on the car. "And so much more."
Stride for stride they walked until they'd crossed the field and stood on the gravel lot. Radiating off the white stones, the sunlight felt even warmer. Across the street, the door to a house opened, and an old woman stepped out. Rob shielded his eyes with one hand.
Juli said, "She came."
Standing there on the stoop, hands behind her back, shoulders squared, wearing a shin-length plain brown dress was the last person Rob expected to see. Mary Jane.
When Mary Jane saw Robert and Julianne emerge from the woods and cross that field as if they were walking on a cushion of air, she felt like she was twenty again. Nothing about her felt like an old woman. Even her knees didn't hurt.
"Thank You, Abba," she said aloud, pulling away from the bay window and opening the door.
And when she stepped out into the morning light and felt the warmth of the sun against her skin, she may have even passed for a teenager. "Thank You, Abba," she said again.
Descending the steps one at a time (she may have felt years younger, but she still knew her limitations), she hurried across the front lawn and stopped on the sidewalk, hands to her mouth. Tears pooled in her eyes, and her nose started to run. Nothing a hanky couldn't take care of.
But her happiness was tempered with the reality that faced her. One, Robert would have questions-many of them. And she would do her best to answer them no matter how painful the truth was.
Two, Robert would still need much prayer. He may have beat back the fear that ruled his heart for so long, but in doing so he lost the hope that had sustained him these past three months. He would need time to grieve his son as he did his wife.
And finally, this was not the end for Robert. He'd surely face many more challenges in the days and months to come before confronting his greatest challenge of all, the reason he was given the gift.
"Wisdom, Abba. Give me Your wisdom."
Crossing the deserted asphalt that was once Darlington's Main Street, feeling a little less giddy but nonetheless confident, Mary Jane met Robert and Julianne in the tall grass and took them into her arms.
Sometimes a hug is just a hug, and sometimes a hug is much more than that. For Rob, standing in the middle of that field, grass tickling his legs, Mary Jane's was more than just a hug. She was one who had answers. And he had plenty of questions.
After a while, Mary Jane patted Rob on the back and pulled away, leaving her hand on his shoulder. "Come" -she nodded toward the church-"come sit and we'll talk."
Rob followed her to the front of the church and sat on the wooden steps. Juli sat beside him. Mary Jane stood at the foot of the stairs, back straight as usual, hands clasped in front.
Propping his elbows on his knees and holding his head in his hands, Rob said, "Jimmy's gone."
"You know that now," Mary Jane said.
Juli's hand found Rob's arm, and she squeezed.
"I know it, but I can't accept it yet."
"No one says you have to accept it right away. Give yourself time to grieve."
Rob was watching a large black ant on the ground, but now he pulled his eyes away from the ant and looked directly into Mary Jane's eyes. "I was the boy in the shack."
She looked at him, her face a question mark.
"I've been having dreams about a boy being kidnapped and taken to a shack. Every night now for the past few nights. I thought for sure it was Jimmy, that God was telling me he was still alive."
"But it was you." She said it, not like a question, but like something she'd known all along and was only now confirming.
"You know about it."
Mary Jane's mouth drooped at the corners and sadness darkened her eyes. She dipped her head a little and nodded. "Yes. I've known. And I've known sooner or later you'd be drawn back to this place."
"Drawn back? What-?"
"In 1987. You were five?"
Rob nodded. His mouth was going dry, and his palms were getting sweaty.
"The apple harvest festival in Mayfield. You came with your mother and father and visited your great-aunt Wilda."
The memories were flooding back now. He helped rake leaves that morning. He hated it, but his dad made him help. Wilda was alone and shouldn't have to do it, his dad had said.
Mary Jane turned her head and looked back at the main street running through Darlington. "The crowds were always so big, so many people. Just before noon you and your mother went missing. About an hour later she showed up, beaten badly and in hysterics. Said you were taken. The festival ended early, and a search party was assembled to look for you. No one thought to look here in Darlington."
Rob didn't say anything; he was remembering it all just as Mary Jane said it. They parked in the field alongside the church. He remembered going back to the car with his mom and a man coming to tell her something was wrong with his dad. The memories were fuzzy, like an old 8mm home movie without sound, but they were there, and they were coming back in a steady stream.
"Evening came, then darkness, and we still didn't find
"I was blindfolded and taken to a woman's house."
He remembered the attic, the box, the car ride, being in Darlington, and hearing the dogs attack Asher. He remembered it all now, right down to the texture of the vinyl seats in the car. He also remembered the shack and his dad coming to rescue him.
Mary Jane nodded. Rob saw her Adam's apple rise and fall. "The woman was Wilda."
"She was in on it?"
Again, a nod.
"Why?"
"She was forced into it. He-your abductor-threatened to kill her, you, and your parents if she didn't go along with it and help him. He told her you wouldn't be hurt, but it was lies. His intentions were vile and wicked, the stuff of someone so depraved"-she put a fist to her mouth and swallowed hard-"so depraved."
"And no one pressed charges against her? My parents? The feds?"
Mary Jane shook her head. "There were no charges to press. She was as much a victim as you were. She was operating out of fear."
"And Darlington was kept quiet with fear," Rob said.
Mary Jane looked at him, again a question on her face.
"In the woods"-he nodded his head toward the forest-
"we met Asher Wiggins, and he told us all about the dark-eyed man and fear and how Darlington wound up like this."
Mary Jane's mouth curved into a slight smile. "How is Asher?"
"He's dead now," Rob said. The words tasted bitter coming out. "The ... darklings got to him. But his death wasn't in vain. Not by any stretch."
"Oh, dear." Tears formed in Mary Jane's eyes. "I always liked Asher. He was a good man."
"So did Wilda ever talk about what happened?"
"Once. She testified against your abductor at his trial. Told everything. S
he was the one who helped your dad find you that day in the woods. She knew you were being taken to Darlington and... if it wasn't for her, I don't know if your dad would have found that cabin. For her, though, it wasn't enough. She lived the rest of her life drowning in guilt and shame. Upon her death she did the only thing she could to try to make amends, and that was leaving you everything she had. It's not much, I know, but it was everything to her." Mary Jane met his eyes with hers. There was kindness there and wisdom. "Wilda was a good person. Always found the best in everyone. She died a tormented woman."
A chill raced along Rob's spine. "Why me? Why was the dark-eyed man after me?"
Rob caught the glance between Mary Jane and Juli. "So you don't remember?"
"Remember what? Things are coming back, but they're still spotty."
"You and Wilda were the key witnesses. A month after you were found, the police picked your abductor up and charged him with all kinds of things. It was your and Wilda's testimonies that sealed his fate. He was sentenced to twentytwo years in prison with no chance of parole. His cohorts were never caught, though. And they've never returned to Darlington."
"And what about the townspeople. They didn't testify?"
Mary Jane shook her head. "They were too afraid. Not a one of them came forward."
"What about my parents?"
"That's something you'll have to take up with them. It was all the lawyers could do to get them to allow you to testify."
Rob buried his head in his hands. "How could I forget all that? The kidnapping, the trial?"
Mary Jane's eyes darkened. "Your parents must have decided not to talk about it, to act as if it never happened. They moved further north and started over. But running from evil, burying it, never works. Only facing up to it, shining a light on it, changes things. Otherwise the evil grows and festers and putrefies in the darkness."
Rob grimaced. "I can't believe they let him out of jail."
She paused and kept her eyes on Rob. "They had no more reason to keep him. He'd served his time. It was a hard twenty-two years for him, but not nearly hard enough, not long enough."
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