Mark recalled the storm that had swept in on his way to Ellis Finley’s place. It had come out of nowhere, as if the Dark had summoned the elements. And now here he was, hearing the same thing from this simple woodsman.
“Don’t know how we did it,” Harmon said, “but me and the cops got about two miles from town. Storm just let up. Just like it done here that night. Got real calm. Cops got all up about it. Said it was all-out crazy how it just stopped like that.
“They didn’t head to the hospital. I’m thinkin’ accident, ’cause they ain’t tellin’ me shit. Strike me blind if they didn’t take me to that park. By now, I’m gettin’ all worked up. We got out, and before the tall cop could say a word, I started runnin’.
“About twenty yards in I keeled over. Like I hit a wall—or a wall hit me. And cold! Like death might feel, I imagine. Got real dizzy. Lights were flippin’ all over the place. Thought I was seein’ stars. When I come to, them cops were standin’ around me. That’s what the lights were—flashlights. They were lookin’ for my boy.
“I remember lyin’ on my back lookin’ up at the moon. Now I could tell you it was just that, but I’ll tell you somethin’ else. That thing had a face. Like somethin’ out of a freak show. Sounds crazy. But I know what I saw.”
Harmon relieved himself in the bucket and sat down again. “My boy was gone. Accident, they kept sayin’. Musta gone down that hill and didn’t make it. Said they’d have to come back at daylight, maybe drag the creek. Bullshit. They were just as scared as I was. Eyes don’t lie.”
“Then what?” Mark said.
“The tall one was real ansty. Asked me about my boy. Asked if I thought he’d do somethin’ like this. Told him to go fuck himself. My kid wasn’t stupid.
“Thought he might start somethin’, but he didn’t. He pulled me aside. Kept his light on, kept pointin’ it in all kindsa directions. Like he thought someone was sneakin’ up on him.
“He asks if I knew about the kids in town. Didn’t know what he was on about, told him so. He told me how five kids disappeared the last three days. One was his sister’s.
“I told him about the boys. How I dropped ’em off. He said they got a call from Billy Johnson’s old man, that they talked with his kid. Boy was in a bad way. They were in the park when he just up’n ran. Said he saw somethin’ comin’ outta the woods.”
“What happened to the other boy?”
“They found him standin’ at the bottom of that hill,” Harmon said. “Said he was in some kinda coma or somethin’. Just standin’ there with shit in his pants.”
“Jesus.”
“It showed itself,” Harmon said. “That boy saw the Dark. For real.”