by Ian Dawson
He kept going with what he had decided to say. “So, I came over to get his drawing stuff so we can get the map ready before we head out tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t he come over?” asked April.
“He’s busy.”
“Doing what?”
Here we go, Kyle thought. She had sucked him in again. “Swimming.”
“Why aren’t you swimming?”
“I will be, but I have to get the drawing stuff first.”
“Can I come over and swim?”
“No.”
“Mom, can I go over to Kyle’s a swim?”
“Not tonight,” she said as she moved her blue game piece a few more spaces.
“I’m gonna go and grab that stuff.” Kyle hurried into Daniel’s room. If he wasn’t careful, he’d get stuck here all night dealing with April and her nonstop interrogation.
Unlike Kyle, Daniel kept his room neat and clean. No piles of clothes, no stacks of comics, and he had a yellow and green parakeet named Bobby. Daniel’s walls were covered in Batman posters, along with a few other superheroes like Captain America and Iron Man. On the back of Daniel’s door was a smaller poster of several bikini-clad women that Daniel and Kyle found inside the latest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
Kyle looked under the bed, in the closet, and through Daniel’s dresser looking for his art kit. He had to take it with him now or April and Daniel’s mom would get suspicious.
Finally, he found it in the corner of the room behind Daniel’s plastic bins of Hot Wheels. He turned around, art kit in hand, and saw April standing in the doorway.
“What?” he grunted in frustration.
“I beat mom at Candy Land,” she said in a singsong voice.
“Good job,” he said as he moved to the door. April refused to move.
“Is that the drawing thing?”
“Yep.”
“Can I look at it?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have to get back to my house and the pool before your brother shrivels up like a raisin. Outta my way.”
“You’re mean.”
“I sure am. Now move.” April moved out his way but kicked him in the butt as he passed by. Kyle ignored her; he still had a job to do tonight. The last thing he wanted to be was responsible for April’s brother vanishing.
“Got it,” he said to Daniel’s mom as he raised the art kit in the air for her to see.
“Okay. Can you guys at least stop by tomorrow before you head to the field?”
“Sure.”
“Can I go with you tomorrow?” April asked. She had latched onto Kyle’s free hand and was tugging on it.
“No,” Daniel’s mom and Kyle said at the same time. April looked at both of them, speechless, then let go of Kyle’s hand.
“Gotta go,” Kyle said as he made a beeline for the front door. He made it out just before April started in with her familiar line of questioning about why she couldn’t go in the field.
Kyle crossed the street, went into the side yard through the gate, propped the drawing kit next to the side of the house, grabbed his bike, and walked it down the street past a few houses before he hopped on and rode back toward the field.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Daniel could hear the faint sounds of cars and trucks driving past on Shasta View Drive. The clearing where he and James were located was only twenty feet from the road, but at this moment it felt like miles. He was sick of being held captive; he was ready to go home. He was still surprised how tight James had managed to bind his wrists with just a t-shirt.
Daniel kept his eyes on James who was turned away waiting for Austin. As he stretched and twisted his bindings he felt them give a little each time, the bark on the stump scratched his back as he moved. He’d only have one shot to make a break for it. He couldn’t afford to screw up.
When Daniel heard Austin return, James walked up the path toward him. This gave Daniel the opportunity he needed to make a break for it. He slid his wrists out from the loosened bonds of his shirt, scrambled to his feet, and took off. Austin and James were blocking the path to the street, so he decided to run toward the concrete drainage pipe.
Each step brought new sensations underneath his stocking feet. He felt a sharp pain as his feet came down on a thorny patch of weeds; the razor-sharp tentacles grasped at his ankles.
Austin came into the clearing with a black duffel bag. He saw James walking toward him.
“Why the hell aren’t you watching him?” Austin asked as he shoved the bag into James’s chest.
James took the bag. “I thought maybe you would needed some help.”
“Yeah, you were helping me watch the kid. Come on. He better still be there.” The two ran up the trail and were met by an empty clearing.
“He’s gone!” James exclaimed. Austin slugged him hard in the arm.
“It was a simple thing to do and you screwed it up!” Austin said through gritted teeth. “Find him or die. Got it?”
James nodded.
Austin handed him a flashlight and a large rock. “If you think you spot him, toss this in his direction. It’ll scare him out of hiding.” The two boys separated, each going around the open area filled with tall, dry grass and discarded junk. James passed a refrigerator door partially buried in the weeds.
Both had their flashlights off, Austin’s orders, and as James walked along he heard a loud snapping of branches nearby. He flicked on his flashlight, as did Austin, and scanned the area.
James saw Austin’s rock slam into the area where the noise had come from. The pale, shirtless boy emerged and started to run.
Daniel ran as fast as he could in his socks. The rock – or whatever it was that landed near him – shocked him into action. Adrenaline was now pumping through his veins to the point that his feet no longer hurt. Pain was the last thing on his mind. All that mattered was his escape.
That’s when a rock slammed into his bare back, which caused him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. He slammed down onto a pile of gravel. He was breathing hard; strings of saliva connected his mouth to the ground. He felt a surge of pain go through his back.
Daniel heard them approaching fast. He clawed at the weeds and gravel around him, pushed himself up, and found the strength to keep going forward. His legs felt like rubber, but that didn’t matter at the moment. He had to make it to the concrete pipe.
It was getting harder to see. Daniel did his best to avoid anything that looked hazardous that crossed his path. Unfortunately, that didn’t include things buried under the weeds.
His left foot stepped down, he heard glass crunch, followed by a pain shooting from his foot up through his body like a bolt of lightening. He let out a strangled yelp of pain.
Daniel fell over and grabbed his foot. A large shard of brown tinted glass stuck out from his heel; the sock surrounding it growing red with his blood. He breathed through his teeth, the pain unending and raw. He knew he couldn’t run anymore. That’s when he saw flashlight beams flicker toward him.
“Thought you could get away?” Austin said as he shined the bright beam of the flashlight into Daniel’s face. “Stupid move, kid.”
“Austin? His foot.” James shined the light onto Daniel’s heel and the shard of glass. Austin squatted down to look at it.
“Beer bottle,” he said casually. “Can’t walk with that in there. Guess we better do something about that.” Austin yanked the shard of brown-tinted glass from Daniel’s heel.
White-hot pain shot through Daniel’s body as every muscle in his body tensed when the shard of glass was removed. No, not just removed, ripped out! He fell back onto the dry weeds, the impact knocking the air from his lungs. He gasped for air, coughing violently.
He felt dizzy. He could see white spots dancing in his vision. Tears fi
lled his eyes. He gritted his teeth in protest. He refused to show any sign of fear or weakness to these monsters. He felt himself being picked up and dragged back toward the clearing.
“Maybe we should let him go,” James said.
“Hey, he did this to himself. If he didn’t go running off, he would’ve been fine.” They sat Daniel on the rotting stump and backed away, their eyes never leaving him.
“What are you going to do to me?” Daniel asked, knowing for certain he had no desire to hear the answer. “Lots of things,” Austin replied.
“My foot. I need help.”
“Should have thought about that before you ran off. But I don’t want you to bleed out. I want you alive for what we have planned.” Austin knelt down, opened his duffel bag, pulled out a roll of duct tape, and tossed it to James. “Wrap his foot.”
James moved over to him, grabbed Daniel’s injured foot, and ripped off a length of duct tape. “If you kick me, I’ll break your ankle, got it?”
Despite his threat, Daniel could feel James tremble as he wrapped Daniel’s foot. Was it possible that James was as scared of Austin as Daniel was of both of them?
Daniel looked down at his socks as James worked. In the dwindling light he could see the sock on his uninjured right foot was peppered with weeds and tiny dots of blood. The other was a deep red at the toes, wrapped in duct tape to his ankle, and blood-smeared to the top with James’s bloody handprints.
James completed his task. It looked like Daniel was wearing a silver slipper on his left foot. James turned around. “Austin,” James said. “It’s getting kind of dark. Shouldn’t we take him somewhere else? You know, where we can see what we’re doing?”
Daniel could picture the rusty wheels in Austin’s head creaking to life. He looked at Daniel, then at James.
“First things first,” Austin said. He reached once more into the duffel bag and slowly pulled out a white plastic bag. Daniel could tell that something heavy was inside the bag from the way the top stretched downward. Was whatever it was moving? He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination or fear playing mind games with his head that made the contents of the bag appear to move.
He watched as Austin opened the bag, looked inside, and smiled. Daniel was certain that no matter what was concealed inside that plastic bag, he wasn’t going to like it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Kyle had never been out in the field this late in the evening, and definitely had never been out here as the moon started to rise in the sky. It was a clear night, and he watched as the stars slowly popped into view as the sun took its final bow over the mountains to the West. A cool breeze caressed his face.
He could feel his heartbeat quicken as he looked around the darkening open space. Was he afraid of the dark? Afraid of what was hiding in the dark? Or afraid he wouldn’t find Daniel? Daniel had never been gone this long and Kyle hoped that he was safe. Wherever he was.
Kyle pedaled down the trail toward the creek, doing his best to see in the dimming light. He knew he’d have to break out his yellow flashlight soon, but for now he was confident in his ability to see where he was going.
He arrived at the edge of the creek and coasted down the sloping side into the rocky bed. The sound of crickets surrounded him. As he crunched past on his bike the crickets stopped their chirping, only to start up again once he was safely away.
Kyle pushed his bike up the other side of the creek, hopped back on, and headed toward their base. As he rode, he looked around diligently, but there was no sign of Daniel anywhere.
He made it to the top of the hill and arrived at his destination. Nothing had been touched or moved since they had left earlier. Daniel’s bike wasn’t there. He climbed off his bike, leaned it against a tree and looked around.
“Daniel,” he said in a low voice. “If you’re getting me back for hiding too good, you win. Come on out.” Nothing. “Come on, Daniel,” he said louder. “Where are you?” He sighed, made one more search of the area on his own, then took the flashlight from his backpack.
He clicked it on. The strong beam lit up the quickening darkness. The trees no longer looked inviting and safe; there was something sinister and creepy about them now. He understood why they never ventured out here this late.
He shined the flashlight on his watch: 7:35. His dad would be home soon. Where the hell was Daniel? This wasn’t like him. He never did anything dangerous or crazy. Well, not without Kyle’s help. Even then, Daniel was always the rational one of the two. So there had to be a good reason why Daniel was missing. But what?
Kyle zipped up his backpack, hopped back on his bike, and headed toward the pond. As he pedaled, he thought back to the first time he and Daniel had met.
He and Daniel had met one summer when Daniel’s family first moved in across the street. Daniel was in his front yard playing with his action figures, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, when Kyle called out, “How many do you have?” Daniel looked up and saw him across the street.
Neither one was old enough to cross the street alone, so their first conversation would have looked odd to a passerby. Daniel held up each figure he had and they discussed the importance of each character.
“Do you like Legos?” Kyle yelled across the street.
“Yeah!” Daniel said back with a smile.
Both boys ran to retrieve their Lego sets from inside their homes, which was no small feat given how many each boy had.
After some time, Kyle’s mom came out to see why her son was lugging all of his toys out to the front yard. Near laughing, she took Kyle across the street so he could actually play with Daniel. The bond that had grown from across the street grew even stronger when they finally met face-to-face.
They were like brothers now. Sure, Kyle had his own older brother, but having one your own age like Daniel was even better.
But now his brother had vanished.
Fueled by the memory, Kyle gripped the flashlight and the right handlebar together as he coasted down the hillside toward the newly discovered pond. The surrounding trees made the area darker than the open field had been, and, even as bold as he was, he had to admit to himself that he was a little freaked out.
When he got to the pond, he scanned the area with the flashlight. He could hear hundreds of frogs croaking together like an amphibious chorus. The beam from his flashlight reflected off the still muddy water as he moved it across the pond. Still, no sign of Daniel.
Kyle could feel something in his gut. At first he thought it was the combination of corn dogs, chili, and Mountain Dew, but after a while he realized it was fear. He didn’t want to admit it to himself but maybe Daniel had been injured, or worse.
What if someone had taken him?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Austin reached inside the white plastic bag as he stood in the center of the clearing. James held the light on Austin as he pulled out a dead black-and-white striped kingsnake, grass stuck to its skin. He held the limp snake out toward Daniel with two fingers. “Stick this in your sock,” Austin commanded.
Daniel took the dead reptile with reluctance. This was the weirdest thing he’d ever been asked to do. Not wanting to meet the business end of Austin’s switchblade, he leaned down, and shoved the dead snake head-first into the now-ruined sock of his uninjured foot. He could feel the cold slimy texture of the snake against his warm skin; it made him shudder.
“Now, run around in circles,” Austin said with a smile.
“What?” Daniel was confused. He was having a hard enough time keeping his weight off his injured foot, and now this ridiculous idea? “You want me to run around with this dead snake in my sock?”
“Yeah, and if you don’t,” Austin began, taking out a shiny hunting knife, “you’ll never get out of here alive.”
Never get out of here? That meant that in some strange way there was a way to get home. If he just followed their strang
e commands, maybe he would get to go soon.
Daniel started to awkwardly run around in circles, doing his best to keep as much weight off his injured foot as possible with the snake’s body and tail flopping around from the top of his sock. He could feel the weight of its body moving his sock down toward his ankle.
After what seemed like an eternity, Austin stopped him. “That’s enough.”
Daniel stopped. The snake fell out of his sock and flopped onto the ground.
He stood in front of the two boys. James still had on his sunglasses. Austin’s eyes seemed to glow in the beam of the flashlight now turned up toward his face.
“Take off your shorts,” Austin said to Daniel. Daniel saw James turn and cock his head toward the boy in black.
Daniel hesitated, but only for a moment as Austin’s knife made a second appearance. “I said take ‘em off!”
Daniel started to unbuckle his belt.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
It was almost eight o’clock. Kyle had buzzed up the trail near the pond, past he and Daniel’s secret place, and was on his way toward the construction site. He hoped that there would be some clue that Daniel had been there recently. Kyle wished he had crawled out from under the bridge and given Daniel a good scare. At least then Daniel would be with him and would know he was okay.
Now he had no idea what to think. He knew how he felt. He hated being afraid. Other than scorpions, Kyle wasn’t afraid of anything. This was different. This was fear for his friend, his brother.
Kyle arrived at the construction site and passed the flashlight beam over the area. Nothing. He walked his bike toward the tractor and shined the light inside. Empty. He leaned against the large tractor tire while holding his bike upright by one handlebar.
“Where would he have gone?” Kyle wondered to himself out loud. “It isn’t like Daniel to run away, or hide, or miss dinner. Something must have happened. He’s not in any of our regular places. He wouldn’t go exploring in the dark alone. Hell, he wouldn’t even be out here if I hadn’t challenged him to that stupid game.” He kicked a rock in front of him and watched it bounce across the dirt.
