314 Book 3 (Widowsfield Trilogy) (36 page)

In The Watcher’s Widowsfield

Jeremy Tapper was at home, in his bed, as he called out for his father. There was no response. The only noise in the house was from the tree branches outside scratching at the roof.

He looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 3:14, and he felt a sense of dread as he looked out the window. A storm darkened the sky, and he could see the tree in their front yard being whipped around by the wind. The scant new buds of growth on the limbs were being torn away as the storm raged. There was no rain, but the dark clouds blotting out the sun promised a downpour at any moment.

Jeremy got out of bed and started to walk down the hall. He glanced into the bathroom and saw the straight razor resting on the edge of the sink. Then he looked at the tub and thought he saw movement behind the drawn, opaque shower curtain. He heard what sounded like a nail scratching against the inside of the plastic.

“Dad?”

No answer.

He crept in, and thought about grabbing the razor to protect himself, but he knew that his father would be mad if he caught Jeremy with the dangerous weapon. Jeremy moved to the curtain and kept telling himself that there would be nothing behind it. There was nothing to be scared of.

The wind outside shook the windows of the house, and the tree’s limbs continued to scratch at the roof. It sounded like a creature was trying to burrow its way into the home.

Jeremy gripped the shower curtain and prepared to pull it aside. He took a breath, and finally worked up the courage. He yanked the curtain to the left and the metal rings above scratched along the rod as he did. Jeremy let go of the curtain and moved back at the same moment that he’d opened it, just in case he was wrong and something was in the tub, waiting to attack him.

Thankfully, the tub was empty. He stepped forward so that he could see in fully, but there was no sign of anything inside. He was about to leave the bathroom when he heard a hiss coming from the drain. He stared down, but didn’t dare get any closer than he already was. The hiss grew louder, and was accompanied by a gurgle of liquid. Steam began to rise from the drain, and soon after water bubbled up. The water was murky, and it seemed to be boiling as it started to rise from the drain.

Jeremy cried out, “Dad!” He backed away from the tub, but didn’t turn. He was too enthralled by the spectacle not to watch.

The boiling water spewed forth from the drain, creating a miniature geyser that sent some of the water splashing on the floor at Jeremy’s feet. When the boiling water struck his toes, Jeremy finally retreated from the bathroom. The room was filling with steam, and he could see shapes within the geyser that looked like strands of long hair, or wire, rising up and clinging to the walls. He slammed the door shut and saw water leaking out from beneath it.

He continued to scream for his father as he ran down the stairs. He saw a phone lying on the kitchen floor, and could hear the dial tone as he approached. The storm outside had gotten
worse. The wind was tearing the tree in their front lawn apart, and a felled branch struck the picture window in the living room, causing the glass to crack but not break.

Jeremy stared at the glass in shock, and saw that the cracks in the glass looked black, like someone had drawn them on. The wind gusted again, and the branch finally pushed its way through the glass, causing broken pieces to fall to the floor. The cracks that had been there before revealed themselves as black wires that shuddered in the wind that blew in through the gap. The wires pulled themselves back into the frame of the broken window, disappearing once again.

The noise from the wind blowing into the house was deafening as it whistled. Jeremy could feel the air rushing past him, but it wasn’t pushing out from the broken windows. Instead, it felt like he was being pulled outside.

He heard banging coming from upstairs, as if someone was hitting a door. At the same time, Jeremy heard the screams of a child coming from outside. He didn’t know what to do, but before he could consider an escape he heard a crack of what sounded like thunder coming from upstairs. Suddenly, boiling water began to flow down the stairs and into the living room, forcing Jeremy to flee to the kitchen. The water was steaming and bubbling, and it hissed as it collided with the couch.

“Over here,” said a woman’s voice that Jeremy didn’t recognize. He looked through the kitchen, towards the back door, and saw a red-haired woman beckoning him. “Hurry.”

“Where’s the fog?” asked Jeremy. He wanted to disappear into the fog, but all he saw outside was the raging storm.

“You can’t go to the fog,” said the woman.

Jeremy had no choice but to go to her. The boiling water was filling the living room, and he had no other escape.

“Where can I go? Where is it safe?”

“Run past the storm,” said the stranger. “Look for the sunrise. Okay? Just keep running until you see the sunrise, and then head towards it.”

Jeremy went through the kitchen and reached the back door where the woman was waiting for him. He was leery of her, and thought she might try to grab him as he came closer.

She answered his unease as if conscious of his fear. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m only trying to help.”

Jeremy got to the door and looked back at the woman. “Are you coming?”

She shook her head.
“No, not yet.”

Jeremy was beginning to remember the truth about
Widowsfield. He remembered how The Skeleton Man had been there before, and how he’d tried to protect the children from The Watcher. He knew that the fog was safe, and that The Skeleton Man only wanted to kill the daddies. But he also knew that The Skeleton Man, who’d been Jeremy’s only friend in this nightmare, was frightened of the red-haired woman.

“He’s scared of you,” said Jeremy as he looked at the woman that he’d been running from for what felt like years.

“I know,” she said as she nodded. “He doesn’t have to be afraid anymore. Now go. Look for the sunrise. It’s coming. It’ll burn away the fog.”

Jeremy left, and ran into the storm. He searched for any sign of sunlight, but there was none to be found. The black clouds above were swirling, as if he were staring down at the top of a
tornado. The crack of tree limbs being pulled from their trunks could be heard everywhere, and the frequent flashes of lightning created a dance of shadows all around him.

He went around to the fence at the side of the yard and ran out to the street. There, far in the distance, he saw a beam of sunlight breaking through the clouds. He raced towards it, but felt the ground beneath him falling away, as if he were running through gravel instead of on pavement. He looked at his feet and saw the sidewalk was cracking beneath him. As the gaps grew wider he could see what looked like worms below, interlacing with one another and struggling to keep the concrete together. The cords were snapping, and the ground was falling apart, making it nearly impossible to traverse.

Jeremy knew he couldn’t reach the light before the world fell apart beneath him, but ahead he saw that the sunrise was blooming faster, and the crepuscular rays were breaking through the black clouds above. Finally, just as the sidewalk was giving way beneath Jeremy and promising to swallow him into the grinding wires below, a ray of light caught him.

The second the warmth graced his skin, Jeremy knew his nightmare had ended. He watched as the world collapsed beneath him, but he no longer cared. The wires were driven back by the light, and he felt solace at last.

Sparks of light emerged from his skin, and he felt himself evaporating and being pulled upward. Ahead, merely a silhouette in the bloom of heaven, he saw his father waiting for him.

Inside
Cada E.I.B.’s facility

March 13
th
, 2012

Alma and Paul led the way as Stephen and Rachel followed. They were eager to get out of the building, but they all knew their time in Widowsfield wasn’t over yet. Alma explained to Rachel and Stephen why they had to go to the cabin and wait until the following day. Rachel was hesitant, but agreed that now wasn’t the best time to argue about it. They could discuss their plans at the cabin, but they had to get out of the Cada E.I.B. facility first.

Stephen was shook up about what he’d been forced to do, and was quieter than usual. Rachel was similarly stunned, and she asked Paul to take the gun from Stephen. He did, and Stephen didn’t offer any resistance. He was happy to be rid of the weapon for the time being. Paul put the gun back in Rosemary’s satchel where it clinked against the glass candles within.

Power had returned to the facility after they turned off Oliver’s machine, and as they climbed the stairs to the main level they could hear an alarm ringing. They opened the door to the first floor and the shrill alarm struck them as they exited the stairwell.

“What the hell is that?” asked Paul.

No one had a chance to respond before they heard a familiar voice screaming their names. Alma looked at Paul and said, “It’s Jacker.”

They followed the sound of their friend’s voice and found him near the front of the building. His head was bleeding from a gash above his left eye, and he’d taken his glasses off. He squinted as they approached from down the hall, and then waved to them, “Guys, come on!”

“What the hell happened?” asked Paul as they rejoined Jacker.

“I’m here to rescue you.”

“From what?” asked Paul.

Jacker
was flustered and looked at each of them before saying, “I don’t know, from the fucking devil-thing in the walls. I could see it.”

“You saw it?” asked Rachel.

Jacker nodded. “Yeah, I was in the parking lot and the walls started shifting and shit. Ben told me The Watcher was coming, and that we should try and get the fuck out of town, but I told him to shut up because I wasn’t leaving my friends behind.”

“Thanks,” said Paul, “but why the hell are you bleeding?”

“I drove the van through the entrance of the building.”

“You what?” asked Alma in astonishment.

“I figured it would trip an alarm, and it did, and now I found you guys, so it worked. Sort of.”

“Is the van still drivable?” asked Rachel.

“I don’t know,” said Jacker with a shrug.

“Are my dad and Ben still in the van?”

Jacker nodded and pointed back the way he’d come. “They’re in there. Let’s stop talking and get the fuck out of here.”

“Amen to that,” said Stephen. It was the first thing he’d said since leaving Oliver’s lab.

The group agreed and followed Jacker to the entrance where he’d plowed the van through the glass doorway. The van had broken all of the glass, and bent the frame of the entrance inward so that it contoured to the shape of the van’s hood. The radiator was cracked, and fluid was dripping out onto the floor. One of the headlights was shattered, and the driver’s side door was open. Ben and Michael were still in the van, and Jacker told the others to wait as he tried to back the van out.

They watched as he got in, adjusted his seat, and then managed to back the van out of the hole he’d made in the entrance. Chunks of glass and metal fell away from the frame as he moved. The security van’s front tires ground the glass beneath them as he went, and it was clear that one of the tires was quickly losing air. None-the-less,
Jacker managed to get the van out, and he leaned out the window as he waved them in. “Come on, let’s go.”

“This thing’s going to overheat,” said Paul as he looked at the steaming radiator.

“It doesn’t have to get us far,” said Alma.

“We should dump it somewhere away from the cabin,” said Rachel. “There’s a good chance they’re going to send someone out looking for us.”

“Good point,” said Alma. The group lingered near the shattered entrance to Cada E.I.B. for a moment before Alma said, “Are we ready?”

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” said Paul. “Let’s finish this.”

In The Watcher’s
Widowsfield

Widowsfield was falling apart. Desmond had watched buildings coming apart to reveal the wires behind the walls. He saw how the raging storm tore the world asunder, cracking edifices and uprooting trees. He witnessed the way the blooming glow of heaven began to wash away the lies that had been erected here. The storm was receding. He ran as the clouds shrank, and he followed their shade, always staying out of the rays of the sun.

Every time he tried to traverse the town, he eventually fell back into the maelstrom of wires churning below, and they devoured him. The grinding cords tore him apart, but he had to suffer the torture to remain in The Watcher’s web. He couldn’t allow himself the safety of heaven. Not until he found his son.

At first, Desmond continued to wake up inside of the Salt and Pepper Diner, and from there he would make his journey out to the street and north from there, towards where the storm seemed to be centered. However, each time he reappeared, the diner seemed a bit more disheveled. At first, it seemed that the food was rotting, and he recalled seeing a dilapidated cake on the counter. But each time he awoke again, he noticed other parts of the building had fallen away as well. The bathroom had been boarded up, and one of the tables was missing. Next, a crack in the wall was present that had never been there before. Eventually, the building was a shell of what it had been. The recreation of the scene was flawed, and each time it became worse. The Watcher was losing track of his lies, and his world was falling to pieces.