“And that’s when I called you from the pay phone.” I looked over at Trent, searching for any sign that he thought I was crazy. He seemed to be in some kind of trance, and his eyes were watery.
I’d spent the past thirty minutes or so telling my story, from the night of Immy’s disappearance and the trouble I’d had at school afterwards to my suspicions about my parents and how they were confirmed. It felt good to finally tell someone everything, but now I was anxious.
“You think I’m insane, right?”
A strange, sad yelp came from Trent as he wiped a fresh tear from his eye. “I lost Danny the same way you lost Imogen. If you’re crazy, then so am I.”
I stared at him, shocked at how similar our nightmarish realities had been.
“I wasn’t okay for a long time. I didn’t have anyone to turn to, and my parents thought I’d lost it. All I could do was try to get away. That’s why I emancipated myself when I was 16.”
I gawked at him, puzzled.
“It’s when you separate from your parents before you’re eighteen for irreconcilable differences.”
“Irreconcilable?”
Trent sighed and put a hand to his forehead. “There’s so much you don’t understand. You’ve seen some of it, but you’ve only scratched the surface. If you’re absolutely sure, I’ll tell you everything I know, but I understand if you want to bury all of this and just move on.”
I thought it over for a moment. He was right. I could move on with my life. Graduate from high school, get a job, go to college, live a happy life. But all of that was without Immy. She was innocent in all of this. How many other innocent lives had been destroyed? I’d counted at least ten in my research, but there had to be more than that, much more. How could I forget her, forget the betrayal of my parents, the darkness that hovered over my town?
“Tell me everything.”
Trent cleared his throat and lit up a cigarette, pulling the ashtray on the table closer to him . “After Danny was taken away from me everything fell apart, just like it did for you. I tried to tell the truth, but no one would listen to me. I started skipping school, having sex, and smoking, and my parents threatened to ship me off to military school if I didn’t shape up. So I faked it, just like you did.”
He took a long drag of his cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke. “Two years went by, two long, agonizing years of hiding what I was really feeling. A growing part of me resented my parents for moving on without Danny. After a while, I started having dreams of him. He and my parents would float away from me, leading me to that damn door in the basement every time.”
“At that point, I hadn’t talked to my parents in six months, so I filed for emancipation. Once I was on my own, I quit school and started working at Steve’s. I wanted to move on, but it wasn’t enough. I kept seeing Danny and my shit parents. When I couldn’t take the anger anymore, I started following my folks.”
“What did you find?” I asked.
“At first, nothing. But a few weeks before Halloween, following them led me to an abandoned warehouse just outside of town. At first I thought maybe they were lost, but they seemed to know where they were going. When we got there, there were dozens of cars parked around the building. I recognized some of the cars parked, as well as some of the people getting out of their cars and going in. They were parents, Greg. I knew them from my time at the auto shop.”
Questions raged inside my head, flowing out of my lips. “But what were they doing there? What do they have to do with the monsters?”
Trent took one last drag of his cigarette and snuffed it out in his ashtray. “They call it a Reaping. Every year the parents go to an undisclosed location and have a drawing. The winning family … they have to sacrifice one of their children to the monsters we saw.”
Trent eyed me intently.
What was he saying? That his family and mine were the unlucky winners of some demented lottery? No, it couldn’t be. I shot up, unable to contain my emotions. “That’s impossible! Why would all the parents agree to do something like that? My parents love me!”
Trent held up his hands. “Wait, I’m not saying they don’t. There’s more at play here than you understand. Please, sit down.”
Hesitantly, I sat down, crossing my arms.
“When I eavesdropped on the meeting, they explained the situation for the new parents in attendance. According to them, since the founding of our town, there has always been a large number of disappearances. At first they thought this land was cursed, but when they found out that these monsters were lurking around, they had to find a way to stop it from happening, or at least minimize the problem.”
Trent pulled out a manilla folder and handed it to me. Inside were several crumbly, decades-old newspaper clippings. I glanced them over as he continued.
“These articles are the only suggestion of the monsters I could find. I call them Reapers. Our local newspaper published the story, but as you can see, the next day they recanted, calling it a hoax. But it wasn’t. People were really disappearing. So once our town was able to lower the numbers of missing persons--”
“They could justify their actions,” I said, anger flowing through my veins. “But how did they control the number of disappearances?”
Trent clasped his hands together and bowed his head against them. “Have you ever noticed the number of candles being burnt around here?”
The image of my mother lighting candles at Halloween every year flashed in my mind. I slowly nodded.
“The parents use special herbs built into their candles to repel the monsters.”
“Then why don’t they just keep lighting the candles? Why even have a Reaping?”
“I don’t know. My guess is that the herbs only work so well, otherwise there wouldn’t be any more disappearances. That’s why they still have the lottery, why they use the other candles.”
Shock shot down my spine in cold tingles as I remembered the strange lantern creating the awful smell in the basement. If the candles my mom normally used repelled the monsters, then the other one ... “The other candle attracts them.”
Trent frowned. “Yes. They must’ve found another set of herbs that attracted the monsters. That’s what they use in the houses for those chosen for the reaping.”
I nodded blankly, putting all of the details together in my head. The parents, the candles, the disappearances, it all made sense now. They used the candles to repel and attract the Reapers to prevent them from coming out whenever they wanted. Still, knowing this didn’t make anything better. From my research in the library, none of the missing children had ever been found, and if the past was any proof then that meant ... I put my face in my hands, tears streaming through my fingers. “Immy’s really gone, isn’t she?”
I felt Trent’s hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Greg.”
I jolted back up, glaring at him through my blurry vision. “Then what good is any of this? There’s no way to bring Danny and Imogen back.”
“We may not be able to bring them back, but there’s one way to avenge Danny and Imogen, to avenge all of them.”
“What?” I sniffled.
“We expose the whole damned thing.”
I made my way to the front driveway from Trent’s back shed, groaning as the mass of bear traps, metal chains, and a bunch of other hunting tools weighed down on me.
I hadn’t needed much convincing from Trent to help him expose the truth of this town. Though I was still reeling from my loss, I wasn’t going to let my sister’s death be in vain. On top of that, maybe even more so, I was furious. The parents of this town and the Order commanding them had to answer for what they were doing. Regardless of how they saw things, people were still being taken, people that deserved full and happy lives. No one else would die if Trent and I could get the evidence we needed to the FBI. If anyone could stop the Reapers, it was them.
I set the traps down in the bed of the truck with a sigh and looked to Trent, who was shuffling through the contents. “So how is this going to work again?”
“For starters, we’ll need one of those candles they use to attract the Reapers. Do you remember where the abandoned building your parents went is?”
I thought about it, then shook my head. “Not exactly, but I do know the general area it’s in. From there we can narrow it down. But how are we going to get to that candle? What if the doors are locked?”
Trent grimaced. “You let me worry about that. Once we’re inside, I’ll need you to lead me to where they left it, and after that we can head to your place. Did you confirm with your parents?”
“Yeah, they said they had plans in town tonight, and I told them I was staying with a friend for the night. The house should be empty, so we can use the basement to draw out the monster.” I stared down at my feet. I didn’t want to give wind to my worries, that there was a skepticism to my Dad’s voice when I talked with him on the phone twenty minutes ago.
“From there, we’ll trap the Reaper and get the evidence we need. Then we can hand the proof to the FBI.”
I scoffed to myself. Easier said than done.
“Having second thoughts?”
“No,” I muttered. “It’s just, how are we supposed to knock this thing out? I came at one with a golf club and it didn’t seem to make a dent in it. It threw me like a rag doll.”
Trent walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry so much. That’s why I’ve got all these traps and weapons. I’m not asking you to fight. That’s my job.” Trent looked up at the sky. “I’ve got to warm up the truck. It’s almost sundown and we’ll need to head out shortly after that.”
Trent started his truck and sat in the driver seat. I opened the passenger door and plopped in.
“But what if your weapons don’t work on it?”
Trent smirked, then pulled a revolver from his glove box. “There’s no going back from a bullet between the eyes, not for anyone. God knows the bastards deserve it.” He set the gun down and gripped the steering wheel tight, his knuckles going white. “Is that everything?”
“Just one more thing before we go. What about the exposure we need?”
Trent scrounged a camcorder out of a small black bag and handed it to me. “All you have to do is record on this. Once we get enough footage, we can head to the FBI after knocking it out.”
“But--”
“Enough of your concerns, Greg,” Trent snapped, lighting up a cigarette. “Either you’re in or you’re out. You choose.” He stared at me intently.
I sighed and shut the passenger door. “Let’s go.”