(22nd of May, 1999)
It was late-morning on the South side of town. Not far from where Daniel and Ricky went missing. On a neighborhood street the faint sound of Punk Rock and Pop Punk could be heard. KISS, Sum 41, Green Day, Blink-182 and more. A teenage boy and his father working on a shared passion project out of their garage. A burgundy 1969 Mustang. It was a beaut to say the least. Picked up from a junkyard a few towns over. It needed some work, but together they’d changed the engine. Given it all new tires and a spiffy paint job. Right now it was jacked up as they worked on getting a new serpentine belt on.
“Here. Don’t need this now…” The father said.
“I’ll put it up.” Said the son.
“Thank… you…” He said grunting as he was ready to put the belt on. Having handed a ¾ wrench back to his son to put up. “Oh shit.”
“Dad?”
“I’m looking at the diagram here and it appears- I may have gotten the wrong belt…”
“Damn! We’re so close!”
“Hey!” His father yelled sternly. The teenage boy fearing he might get in trouble for letting that one slip. “Not in front of your mother alright?”
The boy sighed a sigh of relief. “Gotcha.” He said before looking down at the ground rather mischievously. “But during car time?” A bold shot in the dark.
“…Don’t tell your mother.” The Father harped.
“Hell yeah!” He said. Taking advantage of this new arrangement.
The two were just about to wrap it for the day. But they figured they might as well finish sprucing up the inside. Adding a CD Tray, air fresheners and so on. A new stereo system could wait a a couple days. The son having been thirsty from spending a couple hours in their muggy garage figured it was a time for some fresh lemonade. And he knew mom had just made some so what better time. He opened the garage door then left for a minute.
The garage was dimly lit. The father decided with his son out he’d wipe up the grease and carbon, then smoke a cigarette. Merely feet above the man was round silhouette. Tangled in sinewy, slimy tentacles. Hiding in the rafters. It had watched them this entire time. It had watched their progress. Watched the flapping of their lips in endless discussion. It had watched the son leave and now… it watches the father.
It was then that this creature began slowly wrapping it’s tendrils around the joist it was perched upon. Sluggishly, little by little inching itself forward. Working on getting right above this man. As he clicked-clicked-clicked the lighter a flame appeared and lit the cigarette. The nicotine hitting sweetly in almost an instant. As he inhaled, the blobish figure began lowering itself down from the rafters. In all of its one eyed terror it was moving in. The man tilted his neck back, eyes closed as he exhaled the smoke. Unknowingly shrouding the creature in it.
And when he opened his eyes. His jaws wide open he saw it. A nightmarish creature beyond all comprehension. Pure, unadulterated terror! Weirdly familiar anatomically, yet gangly flailing features hard to discern at a tertiary glance. He started to scream until it leapt into the man’s throat.
Writhing and choking he fell to the ground as its tendrils wrapped around his head. Soaking his skin and hair with it’s juices. “Mmm! Mph… ugh.” The leftovers of words muffled by its burrowing down into his lungs. Wrapping up his insides to pull itself along further. Causing severe stomach and chest pain all the while. His throat expanding as it inched slowly further and slowly further. His neck beginning to appear swollen and inflamed from the stress as if he were choking on his food. Then suddenly… it lapsed to normalcy. Retracting to its original size. The man able to breathe yet again. But he… no it wasn’t just a man any longer.
It had been a few moments since the father’s struggle when his son finally returned from his lemonade break and a quick chat with mom. The CD had rotated in the player, but music was still blasting from the garage. Although it really wasn’t that loud. Loud enough I suppose, not to hear the struggle. He opened the garage door and entered. It wasn’t until he closed the garage door that he realized the shop light was off… It was dark in there. And his Dad appeared to be gone…
“Dad are you here?” The teen said quietly. “Dad!”
The boy’s eyes scanning the room. Not noticing the figure of a man, wielding a tire-iron just to the right of him…
9:30 AM
In the center of town, it was quite busy. Busier than years past at least. Rustic cars were bustling down the road. Newspaper stands were open for business. Payphones being utilized to call family or hail a cab. All shiny and new equipment only possible for a booming town like Small Pines. A reelection ad on park benches reading VOTE KEITH SIKES!:FOUR MORE GREAT YEARS! Officers Kimberly McKnight and Frank Houseworth sat at a local diner called Dillon’s Diner, drinking their coffee. They’d just finished mulling over the events of the night prior.
The waitress poured their coffee as the two police officers took a moment to decompress. After all boys being boys turned into an unexpected missing persons case. A stressful night indeed. This diner was a bit of a comfort spot for them. Well more for Frank. Dillon’s is a relic of a bygone era. A reminder of a much quieter time for Frank. Change was coming, and he’s conflicted.
“Anything else?”
“No thank you, Dani.” Kimberly said with a smile.
Dani Gomez. An immigrant whose husband moved to Small Pines for opportunity. She was hesitant at first, but her hubby managed to change her mind on the move from El Paso. Saying things like “It’s wood! It never goes out of style!” Making her laugh first of all, but most of all making sense. Lumberjacks for lack of a better word make good money. And their family has done very well in Small Pines.
“There’s no Cholula in here is there?” Frank intersected.
“…” Dani staring in confusion.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“We’re good.” Kimberly said as Dani smiled nervously and walked off.
Kimberly gave Frank a look as Dani left.
“Don’t look at me all confused. I know how Latinos like to spice this. Spice that…” He said. Wide eyed, exaggerating his movements and hand gestures.
“Latina. With an A.” Kimberly said. Perhaps focusing on the wrong point.
“Look all I know is she gave my son a lollipop. A nice gesture, but then come to find out it was covered in chili powder.”
“Chili powder?”
“Yeah! I tried one…” Frank sips his brew. “Made me sick to my stomach.”
It’s important to note that these characters exist in the year of 1999. A year of significance. A turbulent time in American history albeit for a moment. Y2K was a point of contention. An event that Small Pines had more or less avoided the backblast of. But times were a changing for this small town.
“Really…” Kimberly said sipping hers. “Regardless. Why do you have to be such an ass?” She said sitting back in their booth.
“What? I’m an ass for being a skeptic?”
“No. You’re an ass because you’re a dickhead.”
Frank chuckling a little too hard had a bit of morning joe seep from his lips and onto his uniform. Quickly grabbing a napkin to dab at his blue dress shirt. He then wastefully crumpled the napkin and threw it off to the side.
“It’s just that… everything is weird now.”
“Weird how?”
Frank looked outside with his eyes darting in all directions. Pointing it out for Kimberly. “Just look out there.” He said. Kimberly looking out to the busy Main Street.
“It’s changing so fast. I feel like I’m watching it in real time.” Look at this. He slid a newspaper of to Kimberly as she picked it up and read the headlines. “Y2K is here. There are riots in the streets. The Clinton Dynasty is corrupt, look at the whole Monica Lewinsky thing. And now we got all sorts of people moving to what? Chop down trees?” Frank then looked out at the ad for Mayor Keith Sikes. “And that guy…”
“Mr. Mayors a good guy. What do you mean?”
“Is he though..? he throws his whole town into disarray by allowing those Mills to come in. All these people come in, thrash our quiet way of life. And he knows he’s going to win reelection because even if one hundred percent of what’s left of our town tries to kick him out. One hundred percent is only twenty five percent these days…”
It was quiet between the two for a moment as others in the diner ate their steak & eggs. Engaging in soft spoken conversation as much weighed on our peace officer’s minds. A changing town. An unchanging ballot. But most of all two missing children. A fact that was meant to go public that night. But for some reason hasn’t yet.
“I’m not really all that into politics…” Kimberly replied.
“Well you should be.” Frank polishing off the rest of his coffee. Even if only after adding a couple packages of sugar to it. “I mean look at these missing boys. It’s after nine o’clock and Sikes still hasn’t mentioned a word of it. How does that sound to you?”
Kimberly thought about it for a moment. At first it struck her as odd, but she knew that wasn’t quite it. Reluctant? No. Too busy? Not in this town. Negligent. That’s how she truly felt about it. Pure negligence.
“Sounds like he’s as bad as the kids father.”
“…” Frank seemed a little side-winded by that. “What? No… it’s political. He doesn’t want all of his new voters to know that the first big police case this town has seen in decades was under his watch. Perhaps even until there’s some good news to share about it.”
“…”
“Father… what the hell?” Frank said under his breath.
The two found themselves in silence yet again. If even only for a couple minutes. Frank could be seen waving down Dani for another cup of coffee. His hand rocking through the air as Kimberly caught sight of his wedding ring.
“How’s Anna?”
“Hormonal.” He managed to say just as Dani came over with the pot. And almost like clockwork. The moment Dani was gone was when he coincidentally had something nice to say. “But I love her. She always tries so hard. For me… for the kids. Even after all these years.”
Kimberly wore a soft smile on her face as she listened to Frank talk about his family. Listening as she watched him dump sugar after sugar into his cup of Joe. But soon the smile would fade.
“Still she’s batshit sometimes.”
“She’s your high school sweetheart right?”
“Yeah.”
“Did she always drive you crazy?”
Frank laughed. “Oh yeah!”
“Then why stay with her? Why not look elsewhere?” She asked. Genuine curiosity in her eyes as Frank took a sip from his cup of caffeinated diabetes.
“In this town? Circa ten to fifteen years ago? That’s a laugh.”
“But you could’ve looked or gone elsewhere. I mean why settle?”
It was then that Frank took a sober minded deep breath. He looked back out into the streets yet again. Despite how upsetting it was that his hometown was changing he still managed to eke out a smile.
“It’s not just that she’s my sweetheart it’s that her heart is sweet ya know? This is my home, she is my home. Why go looking for something that doesn’t exist? You don’t need to trade good for great. Sometimes you just need to work towards making something good something great. Being content is better than falling into contempt.”
“Sounds like settling.”
“And so what? We don’t always get the opportunity to do everything we ever wanted. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It takes more power than you think to just let it all go. To walk away from the things you’ve always wanted to do. Holding onto to these thing can ruin a man… or a woman.”
“…”
“I’ll get the check.”
4:47 PM
The officers were riding along, preparing for the end of their shift when they got the call from dispatch.
“Unit 12 come in!”
Frank looking visibly upset nearing the end of his shift picked up the radio and clicked the button. “Go for 12!” He said bombastically.
“Unit 12. We’ve got a 10-54 on South Venison Rd. I repeat a 10-54.”
Kimberly and Frank’s eyes widened as they stared at each other in disbelief.
“Copy! On our way, over!” He yelled.
“A dead body!?” Kimberly said in shock.
“Yep… Sirens on full blast this time.” He said as the squad car corrected course. “First we get the night shift. Do paperwork all night, work early and now this!”
Frank spoke very callously. But as Kimberly floored it she was occasionally looking over to gauge his reaction. Frank could be cool and cruel sometimes, but she knew he wasn’t a bad guy. Not entirely at least. And from what she could glimpse of his expression told it all. A lot of worry with a layer of fear. She decided not to comment on his callousness.
Minutes later they’d arrived. There were tons of concerned onlookers. Residents of South Venison Rd. that one rookie cop was trying desperately to stave off from seeing the scene. A woman sitting a crying on the steps of her front porch. A sight that was being all too common for Kimberly’s tastes. It was bizarre that such a tragic unfolding of events could take place under a bright blue sky.
“Keep those people back!” Frank yelled to him as he made his way down the driveway.
A fellow law officer came out of the garage. They noticed how white his face was. Like he’d seen a dead body for the first time. Which he had… shaken but holding it together.
“He’s in there. We already got a statement from the mother of the deceased.”
“Any idea who did this?”
“Not yet, Father’s missing too, but back up is on the way. We’ll set up police tape and then investigate more thoroughly afterwards.” The veteran officer said. “Feel free to have a look if you want. I’m going to go make sure the mother is holding up…” He said sadly.
“Okay…”
The father’s missing huh? Kimberly thought as they entered the garage.
“…God damn.” Frank said as soon as he laid eyes on the body.
Kimberly saw it and immediately felt as though she might throw up. Frank picked up on this. “Go outside and help that rookie with the crowd will ya?” Kimberly shook her head in agreement and headed outside.
Frank knelt down near a pool of blood and began to sweat. My god… was the only thought that could feasibly come to his mind. Because before him was the dead body of a teenage boy. And only the body. Blood pooled around the area where his head should be. But instead of his head it was merely bloody chunks and bone fragments. Likely the remnants of his skull and brains.
“This town is going to hell fast…” He whispered.
Kimberly standing outside. Helping to hold back the crowd. Her eyes wide and unblinking all the while.