On their way back to civilization, Park and Oliver took a detour.

Going down through a byway in the mountain, till reaching a road that crossed over the woods, they walked all the way to Creekshaw, the all-time neighboring town to Hollow Creek.

Barely a third of Hollow Creek's size, Creekshaw was divided into two parts, Creekshaw’s Grove and Creekshaw’s Port. The neighboring town to the modern city in which Hollow Creek had become, used to be an important Port for fishing and transporting during the very establishment of New England more than four hundred years ago.

Nowadays, a shadow of its origins has turned into a vacation's destiny due to a set of four islands, none of them big enough to hold an assessment, but the very reason that attracted divers and tourism with its unique marine wildlife during six months a year, becoming Creekshaw's population lifeline with the rest of the world.

Both cities, united by history, blood, and property owners, were also the perfect settlement for a place like Ardeen’s Academy.

When both boys reached Creekshaw’s welcoming sign, guarded by twenty-four hours fully lightened McDonald’s, a red Chevy Truck that made Oliver remember his fight with Him was waiting for them.

Inside, a red-hed girl around their own age, with freckles covered face, wearing a squared t-shirt, received them with a scowl.

— I truly hope you were serious when you said you were in a hurry, for your own sake —

She said, Park answered her with a smile.

— I would never call you if that wasn’t the case America, believe me —

And we both got in the truck.

Around a mile in, from the back of the truck, feeling himself a burden in a similar way he felt when been a severed head, Oliver heard the uncomfortable silence break inside of the driver's cabin. When he spied inside through the windows, he felt America’s green eyes fixed on him.

— … Not much, I’ve been working the whole summer in my father’s business —

— Which one? —

Asked Park.

— All of them —

She said

— Huh, that sounds inconvenient —

Then, he noticed Oliver picking through the back window.

— Oh, I probably should introduce you to the other —

Giving a plane look at Oliver, he nodded his head in a friendly manner.

— Oliver, she’s America, one of our next-year freshman students, she’s like you, one of those weird cases in which an outsider becomes able to use Sympathy —

America gave him a hasty look, followed by a grunt.

— That’s not true and you know it —

Park buffed and gave her a tender look.

— America, he’s Oliver, and he just learned to use Sympathy two weeks ago, he’s got not a single drop of Faenic background in him, even though, he’s probably already at Sophomore level —

After hearing that, America turned around so fast that the truck skidded burning rubber for a second before she took control of it again.

— You must be kidding —

She argued with her eyes wide open, as Park nodded in rehearsal.

— Him? —

She asked again, giving him another look through the rearview mirror. Oliver smiled awkwardly, waving his hand from the back.

— That’s impossible —

She declared, fixing her view again on the road, as they drove by Hollow Creek’s Welcoming sign.

— Well, not impossible, it took me more or less the same time to jump from Dual-links to Hyperlinks after I understood the logic behind it, and I was fourteen —

America shook her head, like trying to shake an idea away.

— You’re a weirdo Park, there’s no comparison point —

Then she looked at the rearview mirror, only to find Oliver smelling the insides of his hoodie.

— T-thanks for the clothing by the way —

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

He said when realizing this, America rolled her eyes blank.

— How’s it that I always end up hanging out with the weirdest guys in town? —

— Turn right in the next intersection, we’re heading to Hollow Park —

Oliver turned himself to Park.

— Are we really going to do it that way? —

Park gave him a look back.

— A.M.A.T forces are locking Hollow Creek right now, if we don’t stop Him tonight, who knows what can happen —

— Wait, what? —

Said America from her seat.

— Turn left here —

— You didn’t say that when you called me —

— I’m sorry, I needed this ride desperately, I did what I had to —

— Park, am I locked in Hollow Creek tonight? —

— That’s right —

— … —

America turned her head back into the chair’s rest

— My dad’s going to kill me —

— Ok, stop, we’re already here —

They were by the end of Washington Street, number 32, the oldest part of the neighborhood, right where the houses began to look slightly crappier than the rest. They parked right at the other side of the road and looked inside through the hallroom’s windows.

— I didn’t know you had a twin —

Said America the first.

— He doesn’t —

Then she looked at Oliver, strangely more serious than before.

— Well, that’s not creepy at all —

Stated with a sarcastic tone.

— Well, what’s the plan? —

Then, Park took a piece of wrapper from the truck’s floor, and pulling out a pen from his jacket started to scribble in it. Six dots and two squares, one dot for each person involved, a square for a house, and another for the car.

— Ok, it should be pretty simple, our goal is to pull Him out of the house into the woods, more or less at the same time we manage to take Oliver’s family to a safer place —

— Who’s in the woods? —

América asked first

— Kiki is in the woods, she’s meant to support Oliver, and deliver the final blow in case he’s not able to —

— Why there are only two dots inside? —

Asked Oliver

— Your mother is about to go on a date —

— Wait, what? with whom? —

Park raised his eyebrows and nodded his head sideways.

— You guess —

Then Oliver realized.

— Specter!? —

Park nodded, while an all-make-up and dressed in black Carry came out of her house, took her car out of the parking place, and left.

— Motherf… —

— I don’t think you want to say that, but anyways, I’ll take your brother out of there into the car, where America is going to take him into a safer place, then I’ll come back with you —

Oliver then breathed out in relief.

— Listen to me, Oliver —

Said Park, suddenly coming more serious than before.

— Reviewing AMAT’s response to this incident, we believe that whatever is inside of your body, is way stronger than we thought, and may become a hazard for the whole town after leaving it —

Then, Oliver turned tense as a string again.

— As often happens, supernatural beings and their impact on this world become weaker within the constraints of a possessed body, malice, plagues, illness, chaos, or death itself, are only some of the most common symptoms of their release —

Both America and Oliver swallowed saliva.

— Weren’t you researching what it was before? —

Asked Oliver.

— That’s what I’m afraid of, I traced Him’s trespass event through the dim light —

Oliver didn’t know what to think of.

— I don’t know exactly who he is, but was able to discover its nature…—

Park thought well before opening his mouth again.

— He’s a creature of the nightmares, Oliver, a dream that went sideways, more an idea than a conscious being —

A silence then filled the insides of the truck, and sank in darkness, only interrupted by the blinking sign of the board that recommended an engine revision with a red light. Oliver gave a look then to the other two, deadly sank into the revelation, he… he didn’t quite get it yet.

— Guys I’ll be honest, I don’t understand why that’s such a mic drop… —

Said Oliver.

— You may not know this yet Oliver, but stories are the fabric of reality, and pretty much like in politics, science, or even general history, an idea powerful enough can change the world in its entirety —

— Stories convey ideas, and we are the stories that we live… —

Said America from her sit

— That’s why fighting ideas is so dangerous, the last time an idea went out of its trail, we wiped out half of the world's population… —

— Oh… —

Said Oliver feeling awkwardly dumb on his stand, then Park put the whole machinery in motion.