by Ryan Notch
BANG, went the door as a massive paw was slammed against it.
BANG BANG. The wood was starting to splinter. Spencer hunched down and pushed like he was trying to force his shoulder through the wood. It wouldn’t be long now. He had to be ready to run.
And then the rooms other door opened, electric light from the hall outside blinding Spencer with its intensity. There was a frightening looking man standing there in t-shirt and jeans. He was pointing a gun at Spencer, who cringed with the expectation of getting shot.
Then the man turned on the room light and it stopped, it all stopped. Though he still held onto the closet door, he could somehow feel that it was empty on the other side now. That the light had closed the gap between worlds.
The man at the door lowered his gun. Though the bearded face looked very much different from the clean shaven business mogul Spencer had known before, he recognized the man anyway.
“Spencer,” his father said. “Is that you?”
* * *
In the first few days after her accident, Suzie fell on her caste and hurt herself no less than five times. Bringing about the dawning realization in Spencer that she was incredibly bad at taking care of herself. She wobbled towards dangerous places like the stairs or the street as if she had a death wish. She stuffed things into her mouth as if she was trying to choke herself. If he was going to help her out at all, securing her room was only the beginning. He began to take a much more active role in keeping her safe, in watching out for her.
In the following days he realized there really was no limit to the amount of time you could spend trying to keep a toddler alive. It was tiresome but at least it was distracting, even he could only watch so much TV. His mom focused in on his increased care of Suzie, bragging about it to his father as if she had found out that the family dog had proved not to have rabies after all. The sentiment bothered him, but at least it decreased the tension in the house.
At the same time he found himself getting stronger. His joints no longer hurt and the soars on his skin had finally closed. His gums barely bled at all when he brushed and his teeth weren’t loose anymore (though his parents continually warned of an impending dentist trip that would uncover no small amount of cavities). Even his muscles were getting stronger, he found that he could climb the tree in the backyard better than ever. It was no mystery that actual food (which started to taste normal) and vitamins were responsible for setting him right. It was ironic though that just as he was feeling stronger, in another way he could tell he was getting weaker.
He no longer slept with his eyes open like he used to. At night he noticed the hardness of the floor after the comfort of the couch whereas before he hadn’t thought about it. Used to be he could go days without eating before it was a problem, now he didn’t like to skip lunch.
His body was adjusting to the real world right on schedule, even if his mind was still stuck in the dark of the forest. There was no doubt that whatever his parents told themselves about him, it was not remotely close to what he really was. There was just no frame of reference by which they could understand. He still felt absolutely no attachment to them, only playing along with their parental game because he had no choice. And barely at that.
And Suzie, far from being a constant bundle of joy, at least she accepted him for who he was. Looking out for her gave him a sort of stake in the world, a reason to be in the game. A reason to get up and move around now that every moment wasn’t a fight for survival. He began to teach himself to read again, starting with reading her baby books silently to himself. Even began to think of what it might be like to go back to school.
It was funny, having a baby sister was the only thing he hadn’t missed about the real world, because he hadn’t had one when he left it. Now she was the only thing holding him to it.
* * *
The night Smiling Jack came for Suzie went like this. It started around ten or so, when Suzie had been asleep for two hours. Spencer, who no longer went to bed just when it got dark, was watching TV on the couch. His father was uncharacteristically sitting on the other end of the couch watching TV with him, a drink in his hand as usual. The sounds of the TV were accompanied by twinkling of dishes and a hush of running water from the kitchen where his mother was washing dishes.
Suzie’s scream of fear was piercing, unmistakable from a scream of pain or frustration. Spencer’s dad moved fast, dropping his drink and running with the look of a man whose just realized his nightmares have come true.
But Spencer was faster. He didn’t need to think about running when he needed to, didn’t need to decide to move. He just ran. He was up the stairs even as his dad reached the bottom. As he rounded on Suzie’s door he pulled the knife that he’d had hidden in his pocket. A fleeting ghost of a prayer shot through his mind that it would just be Suzie waking from a nightmare. Opening the door, he saw exactly what he thought he would see. Not Suzie’s nightmare, but his. A face he had only seen once before, and remembered every dark moment since.
Smiling Jack. But not with his mask, his true face. Dead flesh and black eyes staring back at him. The mask was gone, but the hooks were there. Pulling back the corners of his mouth as the metal wires cut into its cheeks. Oh yes, Jack looked very happy.
In his arms he held Suzie, too terrified to scream any longer. An imploring desperation in her eyes as she looked at Spencer. Jack was half way into the liquid darkness of the wardrobe already, sparing Spencer only a moments triumphant glance. Spencer shot for the light switch in a flash, flooding the room with light and sealing the gateway through to Nowhere Blvd. But Jack was faster, disappearing with Suzie into the dark. The wooden wardrobes solid backing the only testament to his passing.
Spencer’s father burst in behind him only a heartbeat later. But it was far, far too late.
* * *
The rest of that night was an endless torture, but Spencer felt none of it. He felt nothing at all as his parents desperately searched every nook and cranny. Police filled the house, questioning everyone a thousand times. His mother was hysterical, his father looked like a man who was trying to wake up but couldn’t. They wanted Spencer to talk, needed him to talk. To tell them where he had been for two years, where Suzie was now. He would have gladly told them everything if he thought it could possibly do the least bit of good. Telling them a monster took his baby sister through a hole in the wardrobe would be worse than nothing.
It was an environment of confusion and invasion and hysteria, but Spencer was only calm. What he had known would happen from day one finally had happened. Nothing else could have happened. If you weren’t strong enough to protect yourself, then Smiling Jack got you. No one could protect you from Smiling Jack.
The police scoured the house for clues, for fingerprints, but found nothing. They could see that the bars on the windows were intact, the security system undisturbed. The only clue being two pieces of a baby lock on the floor of Suzie’s room by the wardrobe, sawed in half. Not the work of a clumsy stuffed bear, but the work of clever tools and clever hands.
The way they questioned his parents made Spencer think the police didn’t believe it, any of it. If no one could have got in, than someone inside must have done it.
“A baby is a big responsibility,” they said sympathetically. “It can overwhelm someone, make them want to be free. Hundreds of children go missing every year. If there’s anything you want to tell us…”
Eventually they asked his father to come with them to ask more questions. To look at mug shots and see if anyone had been following them or watching them at the mall or grocery stores. Someone gave his mother pills to sleep and they left a patrol car outside just in case. The house was quiet again until his father got home some time after dawn. He heard it distantly, having gone to bed in his room when the light got bright enough.
As he lay in bed for a few moments before sleep he thought about Suzie for a bit. It was too bad about her, but ultimately she was just another in an endless line of children he’d seen co
me and go from Nowhere Blvd. It was just the way things went for them. They were children, and then they were meat.
Meat if they were lucky.
* * *
The morning after Smiling Jack took Suzie, Spencer woke up around noon with a moment of almost-happiness before he remembered the previous night and what had happened to Suzie. Then he went numb again, thinking of how inevitable it all was. If you were lucky you got to grow up, if you were unlucky Smiling Jack got you. That was it, nothing anyone could do about it.
Spencer got up to find his mother in her room, his father gone. He fixed himself breakfast, watched his favorite TV shows, practiced climbing the tree in the backyard. A fairly normal day with a brilliantly bright summer sun that cast a somewhat gray light on the world.
Just another day, more peaceful than most. Except…except he kept thinking about something. A phrase he’d heard on a TV movie, though he couldn’t remember which one.
Blood calls to blood.
It went through his head over and over as the hours went by. And each time it did he became less numb, and more angry. Suzie was too young. Younger than any child he’d ever seen in Nowhere Blvd. She wasn’t just another random kid, Jack took her because of him. Took her to show Spencer who was boss. To show that no one escaped from Smiling Jack.
Who the hell does Smiling Jack think he is, thought Spencer as he stood looking down at Suzie’s discarded toys in the back yard, his fists clenched. He thinks he can just come into my house and take my sister? I’m not just some kid he fooled with his parlor tricks. I’ve beat every trap he’s ever set for me. I’m Spencer Williams.
The thought struck him like a thunderbolt. He felt like he had just woke up, could finally breathe and move again. Like the kid who had been standing there a moment ago was an illusion fading in the light of day. For the first time in over two years, Spencer was no longer afraid.
Blood calls for blood.
* * *
The rest of the day was spent in planning, then in action. Given the time difference between the worlds, there was a good chance Suzie had been pulled over in Nowhere Blvd’s day cycle. He’d never once seen Jack work in his lab during the day. Of course there was every chance Jack had pulled her to pieces the second he was in his mansion, but there was also every chance he hadn’t.
If Spencer was right, Suzie wouldn’t be enough for them. Spencer was the one who escaped, the only one. They’d want him back. And that’s what he intended to give them. It was six hours until nightfall, and he intended to be ready.
First, armaments. Guns would have been perfect, and his dad had plenty in his hunting supplies. Only they were locked up tight in a metal case. Spencer had no idea where the key was, and he discovered that picking locks was nothing like in the movies. It was impossible with everything he tried, including prying at it with a screwdriver.
So his dad’s big hunting knife would have to do instead. Not the only knife he intended to take of course, but the main one. It was vastly superior to even his old short bone spear, nostalgic as he was for it.
Second, supplies. Just like camping, he’d need a flashlight (soon to be the only one in all of Nowhere Blvd.). His dad had them in all shapes and sizes, and to Spencer’s delight even had a pair of night vision goggles. No expense spared for the businessman hunter.
Food and a canteen for water of course, but only enough to keep him going for a short time. If he couldn’t save her fast, then it wouldn’t matter what happened after that. His dad had a wealth of other supplies, many that were hard to turn away. Tents and camouflage and cooking gear and binoculars (he packed instead his trusty telescope, which he had kept in his room). But he needed to travel light and fast, saving weight for the two heavy items. One being the red plastic container sitting by the lawnmower. A gallon of gasoline should be plenty for what he had in mind.
And the other being something special. Something Spencer had wanted to give back to Jack for a while now.
His dad came home and caught him by surprise as he was packing a lunch in the kitchen. He looked at the hunting knife on Spencer’s belt, then at his son’s eyes. They glinted back like steal. Spencer thought he nodded slightly, but his exhausted eyes and stricken features said nothing. Spencer was worried that his parents would interfere with what he needed to do to prepare, especially with so little time until nightfall. But instead they avoided him. After a while he wondered if it might be because he reminded them of what they had now instead of their good child. And how surely they had lost her forever. Even if she ever did return, she would return like Spencer. Broken and crazy.
It was for the best that they stay out of his way, whatever the reasons. He couldn’t afford not to be ready. Because he knew he needed something besides the hunting knife for when Smiling Jack came for him. Even with a gun he wouldn’t have been really confident, not with the way Jack could move. His only hope was lethal surprise, like the Rejected Thing which had got a piece of Jack so long ago. Spencer tied to plan more cleverly than he used to, to think harder. He tried to plan like the heroes on TV, always outsmarting their foes when they couldn’t out fight them. Finally he opted for something simple. Something hard to screw up in the panic of the fight.
When night came Spencer didn’t know what he was more worried about, that Smiling Jack would fall for the bait or that he wouldn’t. Even more than that he was worried his parents would interfere with what he was planning. He had no idea how to explain it to them, even if he did try talking.
It turned out not to be a matter. His father passed out drunk before it was even dusk. His mother asleep on more pills beyond any chance of waking. Spencer was truly on his own, he couldn’t expect any help this time. He was used to it, but part of him wished it were otherwise.
All too soon the sun set and light fell from the world, it was now or never.
He went to Suzie’s room, shutting the door behind him. The room seemed as if it had somehow been empty for years. Reminded him for the first time how it had been before she was born, when his parents were just beginning to prepare it. He set his backpack in the corner, closing the doors to the wardrobe and placing his supplies on top of it then climbing up after them. From up high he used the knife to reach the light switch, flicking it off and leaving the room in pitch dark save for the sliver of light coming from under the curtains. He slipped on the night vision goggles and activated them, illuminating the room in grayish green. Crossing his legs so they wouldn’t dangle over the edge, he waited knife in hand. Not for the first time he wished both to see and not see a monster.
* * *
It was after three A.M. when it happened. Spencer had begun to doze off. All his fear and anger and anxiety about what was being done to Suzie were no match for the exhaustion he felt, especially when coupled with sitting still in a dark quite room for hours. He was expecting some sort of sensation when it happened. Was expecting to somehow sense a hollowness appear in the wardrobe beneath him when the shadow path opened. Instead his first warning was almost too late.
The wardrobe tipped a bit as the doors opened and it stepped quickly out. Spencer was so surprised that he almost blew the whole thing by standing up where he was, negating the whole advantage of the night vision goggles that let him see his enemy.
But it wasn’t Smiling Jack that came out, it was Mr. Buttons. This was hardly the best case scenario, but it was one Spencer thought might happen. It left the plan essentially the same, except for one difference. With Mr. Buttons being so much shorter than Jack, he would have to dive off the wardrobe in order to land the surprise weapon on it, leaving him exposed down on the floor, within range of a lucky strike from those claws.
Spencer moved quickly but quietly, taking only a second to grab the bucket next to him. He hesitated a second longer, looking down on Mr. Buttons as the bear looked around the dark room. The back of his mind tried to warn Spencer of the dangers of attacking the most savage creature in two worlds straight on. God but the thing was scary.
O
ne wrong move…
But he moved anyway. Diving off the wardrobe straight at Mr. Buttons. Arms extended, he landed the bucket hard over its head. A bucket Spencer had filled with the houses entire supply of shampoo and super glue, with broken beer bottles mixed in for texture.
Mr. Buttons swung a claw at Spencer fast, faster than he had expected. But Spencer was already on the ground and rolling low, the claw passing over his head and gouging tracks in the wardrobe. He rolled to his feet as far away from Mr. Buttons as he could, then before he turned to look sidestepped again to keep moving. He spun to face the beast as he whipped the hunting knife from its sheath.
Mr. Buttons swung wild again and again, frantic. Spencer didn’t see any opening to move in on, one swipe would be the end of him. But if he waited until Mr. Buttons took the bucket off he would miss his chance. The thought of it made him careless. He lunged in as Mr. Buttons completed another wild swing with his right paw, this time ripping off the top of one of Suzie’s bedposts.
He stabbed the hunting knife towards Mr. Buttons’ gut, but before he made it he got caught by the back swing of its paw. He got his arm up in time to block it, knocking him across Mr. Buttons to the other side of the room. He landed hard, smashing the night vision goggles into his face and sending him into darkness. He jerked them off his head, seeing the room now in the faintest of sodium orange streetlight coming from under the curtains. His right arm was stunned from the impact, but hadn’t dropped the hunting knife.
Spencer stood and made for the light switch, but stopped himself just in time. Though he might get it turned on and kill Mr. Buttons before it could get the bucket off, the light would close the shadow path to Nowhere Blvd. Instead he stood very quiet, and very still. Watching the direction of where he’d last seen Mr. Buttons, trying to pick out what details he could with his ruined night vision.
