by Ben Farthing
“I’m thinking.”
“We can offer to bring them back to Hamlin.”
“Lie to them like you did to Jackson?”
That stung. “If it works.”
“It wouldn’t. Lockler and the Maple Table already have them all mixed up on truth versus fiction.”
“Then they should believe anything we tell them.”
“No, they’ll believe whatever they want to. It’s true if they like it, false if they doesn’t.” Kate sighed. “This is why I didn’t contact them when I got here. The one phone call was enough to know they’d abandoned rationality.”
“We’ll tell them what they want to hear.” Cessy had negotiated her share of hostage situations, before the specialists arrived.
“They want to hear that Hamlin can return to the way they remember it, before they grew up and noticed problems. But if we tell them that, then they won’t leave with us.”
“What do we do?”
“I don’t know.” Kate swallowed. “But we can’t leave them.”
Cessy thought of her most recent conversations with Mom. When Cessy first arrived, she wouldn’t believe that Kate had come to Hamlin. After they called Sheriff Miller on Cessy, Mom chose to believe that the old man wouldn’t hurt Cessy, despite knowing that he’d helped the worm take plenty of “vermin.” And half an hour ago, when the town was literally collapsing around them, with shadowy evidence of something unnatural hanging in the air, Mom still chose to believe that it was people who didn’t love Hamlin enough who were destroying her home.
Kate was right. Mom would believe whatever matched what she already believed. And Dad would do the same, but get more angry about it.
“I know you’re just helping me. I get it. Even if she’s in denial about it, Mom hurt a lot of people. But she’s still my mom, you know? It’s like, every bad thing she’s done is up on the surface, but the solid foundation is still there. The surface doesn’t change what’s underneath.”
“It’ll be the same for Mom,” Cessy realized. “These lies she chooses to believe, they’re all surface. She doesn’t deny that Hamlin is dying--only whose fault it is. She didn’t deny that you were missing--only that you could be in Hamlin, because she didn’t want you to be. She didn’t deny that Sheriff Miller was capable of violence--only that he would betray their friendship to hurt me.”
“She said it was your fault he tried to kill you.”
That took the wind out of her sails a little. “You’re right. She’s more poisoned than I’m making it sound. But there’s solid truths she still believes in. Start there, and we can convince her.”
“Like what?”
“How much she loves you, for one.”
“She loves both of us.”
“I know that. But any bad thing happening to me, she’s going to blame me. I brought bad things on myself as a teenager, so she’ll default to that. But you’re the friendliest girl in Hamlin. The only reason you left home was to work for a nonprofit.”
“It was more than that.”
“You get my point. She loves you. She’ll help you.”
“With what?”
“Getting out of here. Getting to safety.”
“I don’t know. I’ll try it.” She dropped her voice to a barely audible whisper. “Once she gets close, you grab her and don’t let go. Hopefully they’re still handcuffed. I don’t think I’m strong enough to force either of them to do anything.”
“What happened to don’t touch anything?”
“It might drive you crazy. Try not to let it.”
Cessy didn’t want to drag her kicking and screaming mother overtop an eggshell-thin floor. Especially not if doing so might break her mind. But it might be the only way. “Okay. Can you get us out of here?”
“We’ll see.” Kate turned around to yell. “Mom. Dad! Help!”
66
It wasn’t until honest fear and desperation lined Kate’s voice that Mom responded.
“You all go on. Your father and I are going home.” She was closer than Cessy realized. Less than ten feet away.
Dad said, “What are you doing with your eyes shut like that? You can’t see where you’re going.”
“Keep them closed,” Kate whispered. “Dad, are your eyes open?”
“Of course.” He paused, listening to something Cessy couldn’t hear. “It’s just our girls. Won’t take but a minute.”
“What do you see?” Cessy asked, unable to help herself. She needed to stay silent to let Mom and Dad forget the animosity between them to focus on their love for Kate.
“What sort of question is that?” Mom asked. “We see you two standing there like you’re both ‘it’ in hide-and-seek.”
Kate spoke up. “I need you guys’ help. Help us get out of here. Out of wherever this is, and out of Hamlin.”
The humid wind left moisture on Cessy’s skin.
Finally, Mom answered. “Your father and I raised you to be more responsible than that.”
Cessy’s heart dropped. Did Hamlin’s worship of “personal responsibility” outweigh the fundamental truth of Mom’s love for her daughter?
“Please,” Kate begged. “Daddy?”
Kate’s occasional regression to acting like a little girl around their father normally annoyed Cessy, but now she silently willed it to work.
“You know you’ll always be my princess,” Dad said, “but you gotta learn to be your own queen. Your mother’s right. We need to go home. You two girls don’t need our help to make it back to D.C.”
Dad paused again, listening to something they couldn’t hear.
Cessy’s mind raced, searching for a way to dispute Lockler’s most likely arguments. But she didn’t understand the logic of his rants, so she couldn’t guess what he’d say now.
“Please,” Kate begged, “just help me this one last time. I promise I won’t ask again.” But her tone already sounded defeated.
Disapproval dripped from Mom’s tone. “You can’t depend on me the rest of your life. It’s my duty as a mother to push you out of the nest when you’re ready to fly.”
Cessy bit her tongue. Mom was clinging to platitudes about duty and responsibility to avoid compassion, even for her own daughter in need. But if Cessy accused her of that now, it’d all be over. One sign of attack, and Mom would retreat behind barriers of irrationality, with Dad leaping to her defense.
When Kate spoke again, she was farther away from Cessy, closer to where their parents’ voices was coming from. “Dad, you promised I could come to you for anything. I’m lost. Help me leave.”
Cessy reached for her, grasped empty air. Kate couldn’t try to grapple with Mom herself. Even malnourished, Kate might be able to overpower Mom. But Mom was still handcuffed to Dad. Kate couldn’t force them both to leave. Kate would too likely lose the scuffle and they’d lose their parents.
Or they’d all four fall through the thin ground.
Mom responded, angrier. “You’re a responsible young woman. You can’t rely on me and your father all the time. I thought we raised you right. Don’t make me doubt that.”
“You’ve always helped me when I needed it,” insisted Kate.
Cessy realized that Kate didn’t know how to react to Mom not being proud of her. She didn’t recognize Mom’s exasperated tone, an inch from throwing up her hands and giving up.
Cessy cut in. “She’s asking for me. I need your help.”
“What do you mean?”
Kate whispered, “What are you doing?”
“I’ve screwed up again. I thought I could come back to Hamlin and feel at home. But I burned too many bridges before.” None of that made sense. It contradicted the facts that Mom knew. Cessy was in town to look for Kate. But Mom wanted to hear Cessy confess to being a problem child, to wanting to make amends, to realizing she never could. “I just want to leave now.”
“I’m so glad you realize that,” Mom said. “We still want you to visit on holidays, but you’re right that you’ll probably n
ever feel at home in Hamlin. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“That shows a lot of maturity,” Dad said, as if Cessy weren’t a grown woman. “I’m happy to see that. You two go on home now, and we’ll talk soon.”
“We need your help to leave.”
“You too?” Dad asked. “You girls need to step up and be adults.”
“Why do you think you need our help?” Mom asked. “Just open your eyes and walk back to your car.”
Cessy didn’t need an answer that made sense, just one that appealed to their parental duty. It didn’t work for Kate, because they already saw Kate as responsible. The parental duty was to help Kate finish becoming an adult. For Cessy, who’d been a problem child that the whole town knew about, who’d fled to the city and never even got married until she was almost, and then was divorced three years later, she’d already become an adult, but not one they was proud of.
Mom felt like she’d failed in her duty to turn Cessy into a respectable woman. Dad had failed to teach her hard work and responsibility. So giving her a shot at redeeming herself was a deeper appeal to their sense of responsibility than Kate’s appeal had been.
“Because I want to go home. Maybe work it out with Pat. Plant a flower garden.”
“Oh honey, I want those things for you, too.” Mom paused, again listening to the lure they couldn’t hear. “No, of course she means it. She loved him. They reminded me of when me and Rusty were young.”
Cessy couldn’t let Mom hear more of Lockler’s appeal. “Can you help me?” She took a gentle step towards Mom. The ground sank beneath her feet. Her heart leapt and she gently stepped away.
“I don’t understand what you need from me. I want to see you on the right path, I really do, but your father and I need to get home.”
Cessy decided to follow the thread that had worked. “Can we talk about Pat? He always respected you. What should I say to him so we can try again?”
“Let’s talk later, dear. You know I’m willing to talk to you, day or night. I’m never more than a phone call away.”
“That’s technology getting between us.” Cessy had heard Dad say those exact words. “Walk with me for a few minutes so I can ask your advice about Pat, and then we’ll drop you off at home.”
Cessy heard Kate suck in a breath. She’d gone too far.
“Hold on now,” Dad said.
“You wouldn’t let me out of the car before,” Mom said.
Cessy doubled down. “I’ve been so lonely without Pat. Should I call him and tell him I want him back?”
It worked.
“Oh no, honey. No man wants a desperate woman. Invite him out for coffee first. To catch up. Tell him how you’ve been working on yourself. Share responsibility for what happened.”
Cessy lunged forward. Her right hand found empty air. Her left struck Mom in the chest. Her hand sank too deep into unnatural flesh.
Mom gasped. Cessy’d misjudged where Mom was standing. Before Mom could fall onto the thin ground, Cessy hooked her arm around her back. She felt wispy in Cessy’s arms.
Cessy blindly reached down Mom’s arm to find the handcuffs. The links of the chain were stretched, but solid. Dad’s wrist was on the other end.
Mom tried to jerk away, but Cessy held her tight. Mom fought, realized that Cessy wasn’t letting go, and then realized what Cessy had intended from the start. “You lied to me.”
Cessy tried not to think of the inhuman form in her arms. “We’ll be back to normal when we get out of here?”
Kate said, “That’s how it worked in the mine.”
Something slammed into Cessy’s chest.
Dad yelled. “That’s my wife you’re assaulting.”
Cessy held tighter to Mom. She swung her fist like a hammer, caught Dad’s shoulder, then his bad arm. He groaned.
“Pat cheated on me. How could you tell me to share responsibility?”
Lockler screamed at them. “Vermin! Thieving rats! You should all drown in the river.”
Kate grabbed Cessy’s wrist and tugged her family upwind. They stumbled forward, Kate directing Cessy, Cessy dragging Mom, Dad groaning as he was tugged along.
Lockler’s voice was unimpeded by static. If Cessy opened her eyes, she’d expect to see him not ten feet behind her. “Unpatriotic, ungrateful, unrepentant, uneducated.”
Mom wailed. “I’m not! It’s not my fault.”
“He understands that,” Dad said.
“Where are we going?” Cessy asked.
“Back the way we came,” Kate said.
“You said it was a winding path the worm had taken. You said you were turned around.”
“You have any other ideas?”
The hosts of the Maple Table spoke from in front of them. “Any reasonable individual would understand you can’t let rats run wild in your home.”
“And you can’t set them free outside, either.”
“No sir. They run right back in.”
“But it’s important to be humane. No poison. No glue. Use a quick kill trap.”
“Don’t try anything,” Cessy warned.
The breeze died. It left behind thick, humid atmosphere that sat heavy on Cessy’s skin.
“No,” Kate whispered.
“Which way now?” Cessy asked. “How do we tell where we came from?”
“I don’t know,” Kate said. “We were on the road by the river, but the worm wasn’t moving in one direction when we got hooked. It was moving towards where its body left Hamlin, but also snapping back to a taught line between where it entered and exited. So what part of Hamlin was it dragging with it when we got caught?”
Mom had given up fighting, and now was weeping quietly. Lockler and the Maple Table harassed them with rabid insults explained with careful reasoning.
“I don’t know,” Cessy said. “The mountains? The church? Rag Hill?”
“Do you smell anything? Hear anything?”
Only the radio hosts’ attacks. Only the earthy scent of the ground beneath them. “I’m going to open my eyes.”
“No!” Kate said. “Mom, Dad do you see the way out?”
“I see my daughter betraying me,” Mom said.
“What’s around us?”
“We’re not helping you ruin our reputations,” Dad said.
“If it’s not hurting them, why can’t we look around?” Cessy asked.
“Do they sound unhurt to you?”
“I don’t know!”
“I’ve already spent days down near it,” Kate said. “Another extra second won’t do much more damage.”
Cessy didn’t bother to argue. She opened her eyes before Kate could finish her decision.
The world repelled her gaze. Uneven, dusty ground, a color she couldn’t describe but that felt like when Pat said he wasn’t attracted to her body anymore. She couldn’t look at the sky. She tried, and in the upper periphery of her vision, something like a flickering forest fire infected with wriggling tapeworms. But her muscles refused to point her eyes upwards, choice overpowered by a persisting, primal panic.
Ahead, reality swirled. Sawdust and lumber mixed with the joists and pipes of a crawlspace, and the red plastic booths of the diner. Everywhere the worm had been, stretched out and dragged along, now tugged out of reality and towards the worm’s home.
If they headed for that blended mess, Cessy feared they’d be split apart, pieces of them crossing back over and spread across Hamlin.
She looked to her left, looking past Kate.
Kate was being pulled apart. Her hair blew in the wind, but instead of whipping around her head, it blew straight through the back of her head and out her face. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and the distance between them wavered from an inch, to a foot, to a mile.
Cessy grew nauseous. She refused to look down at herself or at her parents.
The harassment of the Maple Table continued, but they had no visible physical form.
Cessy didn’t look behind her to see if Lockler was standing there.
She didn’t want to see behind her. She suspected the only reason she hadn’t lost her mind from opening her eyes was that she was looking at pieces of Hamlin dragged outside. She didn’t want to see what “outside” was on its own.
She spotted something. She couldn’t judge distance--everything felt both impossibly far and claustrophobically close at once--but direction still existed. To her left, the only clear landmark in sight. A rock formation the size of Everest, narrow on the bottom, wide on top. Maul Rock.
Cessy closed her eyes before she could see if there was a noose hanging from it.
“Don’t open your eyes,” she ordered.
“One of us has to,” Kate said.
“I already did. This way.” She guided Kate and dragged Mom in the direction of Maul Rock. Mom must have found her footing and lost her will, because she followed much easier.
They trudged forward. River water misted over them. Coal dust puffed up from the ground, sticking to their wet clothes. Cessy had to push aside forest undergrowth and empty grocery store shelves.
The air was suddenly less humid. The ground solid under Cessy’s feet. The sound of a river gurgling by.
“Timms?” Landis’ voice.
Cessy opened her eyes. They were back on the road, fifty yards past the felled trees.
The pavement was cracked into rubble. The steep river bank was turned-up loose mud. The forest up the mountainside had more trees fallen than still standing.
Landis walked towards them up the road. His clothes were drenched and his nose was bleeding.
Down in the town, houses collapsed, and great crashes echoed up to them.
Across the valley, Black Gold Peak was missing from the ridge.
Kate cried in relief.
Cessy loosened her grip on Mom’s waist. She turned to look at her. Mom looked confused. A broken chain dangled from the cuff around her wrist.
“Where’s Dad?” Cessy asked.
Mom pursed her lips. “He went to get help. Lockler helped him loose.”
“You let him go?” Cessy lost control.
