THE HOLLOW SEASON CHAPTERS 13-15
BY C.M. CLARK
Chapter Thirteen — Nora
August 1975
Nora Miller could talk Steve into almost anything.
That was the problem.
‘Dad will kill us.’
‘Dad has to find out first.’
‘He always finds out.’
‘Because you confess.’
‘I don’t confess.’
Nora looked at him.
Steve sighed.
‘I occasionally confess.’
‘Immediately.’
‘Because you’re terrible at lying.’
‘I’m excellent at lying.’
‘You laugh.’
‘I have a nervous condition.’
Steve rolled his eyes.
Nora grinned.
She was eighteen.
Steve was sixteen.
And Steve thought his sister was the coolest person alive.
He would have died before admitting it.
Nora wore faded jeans, a white shirt tied at the waist and the denim jacket she’d stolen from their father’s closet two years earlier.
Their father had repeatedly demanded it back.
Nora repeatedly forgot.
Her blonde hair hung past her shoulders.
A cigarette rested between two fingers.
‘Stop smoking.’
‘Stop being twelve.’
‘I’m sixteen.’
‘Debatable.’
Nora blew smoke towards him.
Steve coughed dramatically.
‘Asshole.’
‘Baby.’
‘I hate you.’
‘Love you too.’
She threw an arm around him.
Steve pushed her away.
But he was smiling.
There were five of them.
Nora.
Steve.
Tommy Kessler.
Rebecca Lane.
And David Mercer.
Tommy was nineteen and had somehow acquired his father’s station wagon without technically receiving permission.
Rebecca was Nora’s best friend.
David was the reason Nora had wanted to come.
Steve knew that.
Nora denied it.
Repeatedly.
They were supposed to be spending the weekend near Georgetown.
Camping.
That was what their parents believed.
Then Tommy had heard about a bar in Idaho Springs where nobody looked too closely at identification.
That was all the convincing Nora needed.
They arrived shortly before sunset.
Steve remembered the mountains first.
He remembered them now because of the way the evening light hit them.
Gold.
Orange.
Then purple.
Idaho Springs was smaller than he’d expected.
Old buildings.
Cars along Miner Street.
People drifting between businesses.
Music spilling through open doors.
Nothing frightening.
Nothing strange.
Just another Colorado mountain town on a summer night.
Rebecca stretched when she got out of the station wagon.
‘This is it?’
Tommy looked offended.
‘What’s wrong with it?’
‘You made it sound exciting.’
‘There’s alcohol.’
‘There is alcohol everywhere.’
‘Not for us.’
Rebecca considered that.
‘Excellent point.’
Nora laughed.
Steve leaned against the car.
‘I still think this is stupid.’
David looked at him.
‘Then stay in the car.’
Nora’s expression changed immediately.
‘Don’t talk to him like that.’
David raised both hands.
‘Jesus.’
‘He’s my brother.’
Steve tried not to look pleased.
David noticed anyway.
‘Your sister going to fight everybody for you?’
Steve smiled.
‘Probably.’
Nora punched David in the shoulder.
Hard.
‘Definitely.’
They walked Main Street.
They took photographs.
Most were terrible.
Nora pretending to climb a lamppost.
Rebecca kissing Tommy’s cheek while Tommy looked horrified.
David flipping off the camera.
Steve caught mid-sneeze.
Then one of all five.
A stranger took it.
They stood together with the Buffalo behind them.
Five teenagers.
Alive.
Steve wouldn’t see that photograph again for fifty-one years.
The Buffalo was crowded.
Smoke hung beneath the ceiling.
Music played.
Glasses clinked.
Men laughed too loudly.
Nora immediately loved it.
Steve immediately wanted to leave.
‘Relax.’
‘I am relaxed.’
‘You look constipated.’
‘Thank you.’
Nora squeezed his cheek.
‘My baby brother.’
‘Touch me again and I’ll tell Dad about David.’
Her hand disappeared.
‘You wouldn’t.’
Steve smiled.
‘Try me.’
Nora narrowed her eyes.
‘You’re becoming unpleasant.’
‘I learned from you.’
They found a table.
Tommy somehow obtained beer.
Nobody asked enough questions.
Steve took one sip.
Hated it.
Pretended otherwise.
Nora drank half hers.
David leaned towards her.
‘Dance?’
Nora smiled.
‘Maybe.’
Rebecca shouted over the music:
‘That’s Nora for yes.’
Nora kicked her beneath the table.
Steve laughed.
For years afterward, he would hate himself for remembering that laugh.
Because it was the last completely ordinary sound of the night.
The woman appeared around ten.
Steve noticed her because she didn’t belong.
Not obviously.
Nothing about her was impossible.
She was perhaps twenty-five.
Maybe thirty.
Dark hair.
Pale skin.
Black dress.
She sat alone at the bar.
No drink.
No cigarette.
Nobody spoke to her.
Yet people seemed to unconsciously leave an empty space around her.
Steve watched.
Nora noticed.
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
‘You’re staring.’
‘At that woman.’
Nora followed his gaze.
The stool was empty.
Steve frowned.
‘She was right there.’
‘Who?’
‘Never mind.’
Nora laughed.
‘Beer hitting you hard?’
‘I had half of one.’
‘Lightweight.’
Steve looked again.
The woman was sitting there.
He jumped.
Nora saw her this time.
‘Oh.’
‘See?’
‘She’s pretty.’
‘That’s not what I meant.’
The woman turned.
Looked directly at them.
Smiled.
Nora smiled back.
Steve didn’t.
Later, Nora went to the bar alone.
Steve saw the woman talking to her.
He stood.
Rebecca grabbed his sleeve.
‘Where are you going?’
‘Nowhere.’
‘Then sit.’
Steve didn’t.
He crossed the room.
Nora was laughing.
The woman looked at him.
Up close, Steve liked her even less.
Her eyes seemed too dark.
Not black.
Just difficult to focus on.
‘Your brother,’ the woman said.
Nora turned.
‘Unfortunately.’
‘Nora.’
‘Steve.’
The woman smiled.
‘Steve.’
He frowned.
‘I didn’t tell you my name.’
‘Your sister did.’
Steve looked at Nora.
Nora shrugged.
‘Probably.’
The woman tilted her head.
‘You should listen to your brother.’
Nora laughed.
‘About what?’
The woman’s smile faded.
‘Going upstairs.’
Steve looked towards the staircase.
Nora followed his gaze.
‘What’s upstairs?’
The woman stood.
‘Things people leave behind.’
Steve’s stomach tightened.
Nora grinned.
‘That sounds mysterious.’
‘It’s meant to.’
The woman walked away.
Steve watched her disappear into the crowd.
‘We’re leaving.’
Nora laughed.
‘No.’
‘Nora.’
‘Steve.’
‘Something’s wrong.’
‘You’re drunk.’
‘I’m not.’
‘Then you’re weird.’
‘We need to go.’
Nora kissed his forehead.
‘Relax.’
Steve hated when she did that.
Tonight he hated it more.
At 11:43, Tommy disappeared.
Nobody noticed immediately.
Rebecca assumed he’d gone outside.
David thought bathroom.
Nora thought he was trying to scare them.
Steve knew.
He didn’t know how.
He simply knew.
They searched.
Bathroom.
Outside.
Car.
Nothing.
Then Rebecca heard knocking.
Three times.
From upstairs.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
‘Tommy?’
Steve grabbed her.
‘Don’t.’
Rebecca looked at him.
‘What?’
Another three knocks.
Rebecca laughed.
‘He’s fucking with us.’
She headed towards the staircase.
Steve blocked her.
‘Don’t go up there.’
Nora stared at him.
‘Steve.’
‘The woman said not to.’
David laughed.
‘The creepy chick?’
‘Yes.’
‘Jesus Christ.’
Rebecca pushed past Steve.
‘Tommy?’
She climbed.
Nora followed.
‘Rebecca.’
Steve grabbed his sister.
‘Don’t.’
Nora looked at him.
For the first time, she saw that he was genuinely afraid.
‘Okay.’
Then Tommy screamed upstairs.
Rebecca ran.
Nora went after her.
‘NORA!’
Steve followed.
David swore.
Then followed Steve.
The upstairs room was dark.
Rebecca stood inside.
‘Tommy?’
Something moved.
‘Tommy?’
Three knocks.
From behind them.
They turned.
Nothing.
David found a light switch.
Clicked it.
The bulb flickered.
Came on.
Tommy was sitting in a chair.
Rebecca screamed.
His head hung forward.
His hands rested on his knees.
‘Tommy?’
Nora stepped closer.
Steve grabbed her jacket.
‘Don’t.’
Tommy lifted his head.
His mouth was sewn shut.
Black thread.
Rebecca screamed again.
Tommy’s eyes opened.
He was alive.
He began thrashing.
Rebecca ran to him.
‘Oh my God!’
Blood poured from his mouth as he tried to scream through the stitches.
David rushed forward.
‘Get something!’
Nora grabbed at the thread.
Steve looked behind Tommy.
Something was standing in the corner.
Tall.
Thin.
Watching.
Steve couldn’t see its face.
‘Nora.’
Nobody heard him.
‘Nora.’
The thing moved.
‘NORA!’
She turned.
The light went out.
Tommy screamed through his sewn mouth.
Rebecca screamed.
Something hit David.
Hard.
Steve heard bone break.
Then silence.
The light returned.
David was against the wall.
His neck bent at an angle no neck should bend.
Rebecca stared.
Then began screaming.
Nora grabbed Steve.
‘RUN.’
They ran.
Rebecca followed.
Behind them, Tommy’s chair scraped across the floor.
Fast.
Too fast.
Rebecca looked back.
That was her mistake.
Something pulled her into the darkness.
Her scream stopped instantly.
Nora tried to turn around.
Steve grabbed her.
‘NO!’
‘REBECCA!’
‘SHE’S GONE!’
Nora slapped him.
‘DON’T SAY THAT!’
Then Rebecca’s voice came from the darkness.
Calm.
‘Nora?’
Nora froze.
Steve didn’t.
He pulled her towards the stairs.
‘That’s not her.’
Rebecca called again.
‘Nora, help me.’
Nora began crying.
‘Rebecca?’
Steve screamed:
‘THAT’S NOT HER!’
Something laughed.
They ran.
Downstairs, the bar was empty.
Every customer.
Every bartender.
Gone.
Music still played.
Glasses remained on tables.
Cigarettes burned in ashtrays.
A chair rocked slightly.
But nobody was there.
‘Where is everybody?’
Nora was sobbing.
Steve pulled at the front door.
Locked.
‘Help me.’
Nora grabbed the handle.
Nothing.
David’s voice came from upstairs.
‘Nora?’
She stopped.
Steve slapped his hand over her mouth.
‘Don’t answer.’
She looked at him.
Terrified.
Three knocks.
Then Tommy:
‘Guys?’
Impossible.
His voice was perfectly normal.
‘Come back.’
Nora shook her head.
Steve pulled her towards the back.
‘Kitchen.’
They ran.
Back door.
Locked.
Windows.
Wouldn’t break.
Steve grabbed a chair and slammed it into the glass.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Nora stared.
‘Steve.’
‘What?’
‘Where’s the woman?’
He stopped.
They looked at each other.
They found her sitting at the bar.
Alone.
Exactly where she’d been earlier.
Nora stared.
‘What is happening?’
The woman looked at her.
‘You stayed too long.’
Steve grabbed Nora.
‘Don’t talk to her.’
The woman smiled at him.
‘I warned you.’
‘Open the door.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Bullshit.’
‘Steve.’
Nora stepped forward.
‘Can you help us?’
The woman studied her.
‘Maybe.’
Steve shook his head.
‘No.’
Nora ignored him.
‘Our friends—’
‘They’re dead.’
Nora’s face collapsed.
‘No.’
‘Yes.’
‘Rebecca—’
‘Dead.’
Nora began crying.
‘Tommy?’
The woman said nothing.
Nora understood.
‘David?’
Silence.
Steve pulled her away.
‘We’re leaving.’
The woman looked at him.
‘You won’t.’
Steve stopped.
‘What?’
Something moved upstairs.
The woman looked towards the ceiling.
‘It knows you’re here now.’
Nora whispered:
‘What does?’
The woman smiled sadly.
‘Something that was here before this building.’
The lights flickered.
Steve remembered that sentence for the rest of his life.
Even when he forgot everything else.
The thing came down the stairs.
Not quickly.
One step.
Then another.
Steve couldn’t see it properly.
Every time he tried, his eyes seemed to slide away.
Tall.
Thin.
Wrong.
Nora backed towards the bar.
Steve stood in front of her.
‘Don’t.’
Nora grabbed his shirt.
‘Steve.’
‘Stay behind me.’
‘Steve.’
‘I’m serious.’
She almost laughed.
Even then.
‘You’re sixteen.’
‘Shut up.’
The thing reached the bottom.
Steve’s legs shook.
‘Run.’
Nora didn’t.
The thing moved.
Steve felt something strike him.
He hit the floor.
Pain exploded through his head.
Nora screamed.
Steve tried to stand.
Couldn’t.
The thing came towards him.
Nora threw herself between them.
‘STOP!’
It stopped.
Nora stared at the woman.
‘Help him.’
The woman didn’t move.
‘Please.’
Nothing.
‘PLEASE!’
The woman looked almost pitying.
‘There is a way.’
Steve tried to speak.
‘Nora… no.’
Nora looked at the woman.
‘What way?’
‘Don’t.’
Steve dragged himself forward.
‘Nora.’
The woman stepped closer.
‘You can leave.’
Nora stared.
‘Both of us?’
The woman looked at Steve.
Then Nora.
‘Your brother can.’
‘And me?’
A pause.
‘You can live.’
Nora began crying.
‘What do you want?’
The woman smiled.
Not cruelly.
That made it worse.
‘Very little.’
Steve shouted:
‘NO!’
Nora looked at him.
He shook his head.
‘Don’t.’
The thing moved closer.
Nora screamed:
‘STOP!’
It stopped again.
She turned to the woman.
‘What do you want?’
The woman leaned close.
Whispered into Nora’s ear.
Steve couldn’t hear.
He saw his sister’s face change.
Confusion.
Then disbelief.
Then fear.
Nora looked at Steve.
‘That’s all?’
The woman nodded.
‘One day.’
Nora swallowed.
‘Not now?’
‘No.’
‘And he goes free?’
The woman looked at Steve.
‘Yes.’
Nora closed her eyes.
Steve crawled towards her.
‘Don’t do it.’
She looked down at him.
For one second, she was just his sister again.
The girl who stole their father’s jacket.
The girl who smoked behind the garage.
The girl who fought anybody who insulted him.
She knelt.
Held his face.
‘You have to go.’
Steve cried.
‘I’m not leaving you.’
‘Yes, you are.’
‘No.’
‘For once in your life, listen to me.’
‘Nora.’
She kissed his forehead.
‘I love you, baby brother.’
Steve grabbed her.
‘Don’t.’
Nora looked at the woman.
‘I agree.’
The lights went out.
Steve woke outside.
Morning.
Main Street.
He was lying beside the station wagon.
People walked past.
Cars moved.
The town was normal.
Steve sat up.
‘Nora?’
Nothing.
He ran to the Buffalo.
Locked.
He pounded on the door.
‘NORA!’
A man across the street stared.
Steve screamed.
‘NORA!’
Nobody answered.
Police came.
Then ambulances.
Then his father.
Four bodies were eventually found.
Tommy.
Rebecca.
David.
And a fourth person Steve didn’t recognise.
A young woman.
Dark hair.
Pale skin.
Black dress.
Police asked Steve who she was.
Steve couldn’t remember.
By afternoon, he couldn’t remember what she’d said.
By evening, he couldn’t remember seeing Nora inside the Buffalo.
Within weeks, he remembered only pieces.
Then fewer.
His father told him Nora had run away.
Steve eventually believed him.
It was easier.
But Nora hadn’t run.
She remained inside after Steve disappeared.
Alone.
The woman was gone.
So was the thing.
Nora stood in the silent bar.
‘Hello?’
Nothing.
She walked to the front door.
Unlocked.
Nora laughed.
She pushed it open.
Morning sunlight.
She stepped outside.
For one beautiful second, she thought she’d won.
Then she saw Steve.
Across the street.
Sixteen years old.
Screaming her name.
‘Steve!’
She ran towards him.
He didn’t see her.
‘STEVE!’
She grabbed his shoulders.
Her hands passed through him.
Nora stopped.
‘No.’
Steve continued screaming.
Police arrived.
Nora stood beside her brother.
Nobody looked at her.
Nobody heard her.
‘No.’
She ran back to the Buffalo.
The dark-haired woman was standing inside.
Nora stared at her.
‘You said I’d live.’
‘I said you would live.’
‘He can’t see me.’
‘No.’
‘You lied.’
‘I didn’t.’
Nora began crying.
‘What did you do to me?’
The woman smiled.
‘What you asked.’
Nora looked through the window.
At Steve.
At her father arriving.
At the life continuing without her.
‘Take it back.’
‘I can’t.’
‘TAKE IT BACK!’
The woman disappeared.
Nora screamed until she had no voice left.
Outside, Steve climbed into his father’s car.
Nora ran after it.
She made it to the edge of town.
Then stopped.
Not because she wanted to.
Because something inside her would not let her take another step.
She pushed.
Nothing.
She screamed.
Nothing.
The car carrying Steve disappeared towards the highway.
Nora collapsed beside the road.
Eighteen years old.
Alive.
Dead.
Neither.
And somewhere beneath Idaho Springs, something ancient had just learned her name.
Present Day
Jyllian stopped running outside the Buffalo.
Inside, she could hear Alex’s mother’s voice calling him upstairs.
She put one hand against the building.
Closed her eyes.
For a moment, her face looked impossibly tired.
Not seventeen.
Not eighteen.
Older than either.
‘You promised,’ she whispered.
Something knocked from inside the wall.
Three times.
Jyllian opened her eyes.
‘No.’
Another three knocks.
She looked towards the upstairs window.
‘You had your son.’
Silence.
Then a voice answered from somewhere inside the Buffalo.
Soft.
Amused.
‘A son.’
Jyllian’s face went white.
Inside, Alex called:
‘Mum?’
Jyllian grabbed the door.
And this time, whatever waited inside did not try to keep her out.
————————
THE HOLLOW SEASON
Chapter Fourteen — The First One
Colorado Territory — Before Idaho Springs
There was no Main Street.
No Buffalo.
No Beau Jo’s.
No brewery.
No hotels.
No tourists crawling west on Interstate 70.
There wasn’t even an Idaho Springs.
There was only the valley.
Mountains.
Water.
Trees.
Stone.
And a narrow stretch of earth beside the creek where, many years later, men would build something and call it permanent.
In the autumn of 1810, three men camped there.
Only two left.
Silas Bell had been travelling west for seven months.
He was thirty-one years old.
Maybe thirty-two.
Nobody was certain, including Silas.
Birthdays were luxuries for people who kept records.
Silas kept very little.
A knife.
A rifle.
A tin cup.
Two blankets.
A small Bible his mother had given him despite his repeated assurances that he didn’t believe a word of it.
And a leather pouch containing eleven dollars.
Eleven dollars was why Silas Bell died.
At least that was what the other two men believed.
They were wrong.
Jacob Vale found him first.
Silas was kneeling beside the creek.
‘Anything?’
Silas shook his head.
‘Nothing.’
Jacob spat into the water.
‘You said there’d be something here.’
‘I said there might.’
‘That’s different now?’
Silas looked at him.
‘I can’t make gold appear.’
Jacob laughed.
‘Could’ve mentioned that in St Louis.’
The third man, Thomas Reed, remained near the horses.
He was younger.
Twenty-four.
Quiet.
Thomas had been quiet for most of the journey.
Silas liked him.
Jacob didn’t.
Jacob didn’t seem to like anyone.
They’d met outside St Louis.
Three strangers travelling in roughly the same direction.
Safety in numbers.
That was the idea.
By Colorado, safety had become increasingly theoretical.
They were hungry.
Cold.
Short on supplies.
Winter was coming.
And Jacob had begun watching Silas’s leather pouch.
Silas knew.
He simply didn’t know how much that knowledge mattered yet.
That evening they made camp beneath the trees.
Thomas cooked what little meat remained.
Jacob drank.
Silas watched the mountains disappear into darkness.
Something about the valley bothered him.
Not enough to leave.
Enough to notice.
No birds.
He’d realised that shortly before sunset.
No squirrels.
No movement in the brush.
The creek made noise.
Wind moved through the trees.
But there were no animals.
‘You notice it?’
Thomas sat beside him.
Silas looked over.
‘What?’
‘Quiet.’
Silas nodded.
Jacob laughed from the fire.
‘It’s wilderness.’
Thomas looked towards the trees.
‘Wilderness isn’t quiet.’
Jacob drank again.
‘Maybe everything heard you coming.’
Silas smiled.
Thomas didn’t.
‘Found tracks earlier.’
Silas looked at him.
‘What kind?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Then how do you know they’re tracks?’
Thomas stared into the darkness.
‘Because they followed mine.’
Jacob laughed again.
‘Christ.’
Thomas ignored him.
Silas didn’t.
‘Show me tomorrow.’
Thomas nodded.
‘If they’re still there.’
Silas woke sometime after midnight.
Someone was walking around the camp.
He opened his eyes.
Fire nearly dead.
Jacob asleep.
Thomas asleep.
The horses restless.
Silas reached for his rifle.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Beyond the firelight.
Crunch.
Pause.
Crunch.
Pause.
‘Who’s there?’
The footsteps stopped.
Thomas woke.
‘What?’
Silas raised one hand.
Thomas listened.
Nothing.
Then:
Crunch.
Closer.
Jacob woke.
‘What the hell?’
Silas stood.
‘Something’s out there.’
Jacob grabbed his rifle.
‘Bear?’
‘Maybe.’
Thomas whispered:
‘No.’
Jacob looked at him.
‘You an expert now?’
Thomas pointed.
One of the horses was staring into the darkness.
Not pulling away.
Not panicking.
Simply staring.
Then it lowered its head.
Slowly.
Almost like bowing.
Silas felt the hair rise on his arms.
Something stood between the trees.
He couldn’t see it.
But he knew.
Thomas knew too.
Jacob raised his rifle.
‘Hey!’
Silas grabbed the barrel.
‘Don’t.’
‘Why?’
Silas couldn’t answer.
Jacob shoved him away.
‘HEY!’
The woods gave the word back.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey.
Then another voice answered.
Not an echo.
‘Jacob.’
All three men froze.
Jacob lowered the rifle.
‘Who said that?’
Nothing.
Thomas whispered:
‘It knows your name.’
Jacob turned on him.
‘You said it.’
‘I didn’t.’
‘Bullshit.’
The voice came again.
Farther away.
‘Jacob.’
Jacob fired.
The shot exploded through the valley.
Birds should have erupted from the trees.
Nothing did.
Silence returned.
Then laughter.
Deep in the woods.
Silas whispered:
‘We’re leaving in the morning.’
For once, Jacob didn’t argue.
Morning came grey and cold.
Thomas’s tracks were gone.
Not covered.
Gone.
The earth where he’d walked was smooth.
Silas crouched.
‘Rain?’
Thomas shook his head.
‘Didn’t rain.’
Jacob was packing.
‘I don’t care.’
Silas stood.
‘Something came near camp.’
‘Animal.’
‘Animals don’t know names.’
Jacob pulled a strap tight.
‘People do.’
Thomas looked at him.
‘What does that mean?’
Jacob stopped.
‘Means maybe we’re not alone out here.’
Silas looked around.
Trees.
Mountains.
Creek.
Nothing.
‘Then that’s more reason to leave.’
Jacob smiled.
‘Absolutely.’
Something about the smile bothered Silas.
They didn’t leave.
One horse was dead.
No wound.
No blood.
It simply lay on its side near the creek.
Its eyes were open.
Its mouth filled with black mud.
Thomas crouched beside it.
‘How?’
Nobody answered.
Silas touched the animal’s neck.
Cold.
Then he noticed something beneath its body.
A hole.
Small.
Perhaps the width of his hand.
Perfectly round.
The earth inside was black.
Silas leaned closer.
Cold air moved from it.
Not mountain cold.
Something deeper.
Wet.
Old.
Thomas stepped back.
‘Cover it.’
Jacob frowned.
‘Why?’
‘I don’t like it.’
Jacob laughed.
‘You don’t like much.’
‘Cover it.’
Silas looked into the hole.
For a moment, he thought he heard water.
Far below.
Then something else.
Whispering.
He stood quickly.
‘Thomas is right.’
They dragged stones over it.
The whispering stopped.
By afternoon, Jacob had decided Silas was hiding money.
The accusation came suddenly.
‘Give me the pouch.’
Silas looked up.
‘What?’
‘Your money.’
Thomas stopped packing.
Silas laughed.
‘No.’
Jacob raised the rifle.
Silas’s smile disappeared.
‘Jacob.’
‘We’re down a horse.’
‘So?’
‘Supplies cost money.’
‘We can divide what I have when we reach somewhere to buy them.’
‘Or I can take it now.’
Thomas stood.
‘Put the rifle down.’
Jacob looked at him.
‘Stay out of it.’
‘Put it down.’
Silas slowly stood.
‘Eleven dollars.’
Jacob’s eyes shifted back.
‘What?’
‘That’s what’s in the pouch.’
‘Bullshit.’
‘Eleven dollars.’
Jacob laughed.
‘You’ve been guarding it for seven months.’
‘Because it’s everything I own.’
‘Give it to me.’
Silas stared at him.
Then reached for the pouch.
Thomas said:
‘Don’t.’
Jacob turned his rifle slightly towards Thomas.
Silas moved.
Too quickly.
Jacob fired.
Silas Bell did not die immediately.
The ball entered beneath his ribs.
He fell beside the creek.
Thomas tackled Jacob.
They rolled through the dirt.
Jacob hit him with the rifle stock.
Once.
Twice.
Thomas stopped moving.
Jacob stood.
Breathing hard.
Silas was still alive.
He pressed both hands against his stomach.
Blood seeped between his fingers.
Jacob approached.
Silas looked up.
‘You stupid bastard.’
Jacob kicked him.
‘Where’s the rest?’
Silas laughed.
Blood touched his teeth.
‘There isn’t any.’
Jacob grabbed the pouch.
Opened it.
Counted.
Eleven dollars.
Exactly.
Jacob stared.
Silas smiled.
‘Rich now.’
Jacob kicked him again.
Silas rolled onto his back.
Sky above.
Grey.
Beautiful.
Jacob walked towards Thomas.
Silas heard him searching their belongings.
Then the ground beneath Silas whispered.
He stopped breathing.
A voice.
Not Jacob.
Not Thomas.
Close to his ear.
‘Stay.’
Silas turned his head.
Nobody.
The stones they’d placed over the hole had moved.
The opening was visible again.
Black.
Silas stared at it.
‘What?’
Something whispered from beneath the earth.
‘Stay.’
Silas tried to crawl away.
His blood ran into the dirt.
Towards the hole.
Not downhill.
Silas watched.
The thin red stream changed direction.
Moved across the earth.
Reached the opening.
Disappeared.
Silas began praying.
For the first time in twenty years, he remembered the Bible in his pack.
‘Our Father—’
The voice beneath him whispered:
‘No.’
Silas stopped.
The ground moved.
Not shook.
Breathed.
Once.
Silas screamed.
Jacob turned.
‘What?’
The earth beneath Silas softened.
His fingers sank into it.
‘Help me.’
Jacob stared.
‘HELP ME!’
Silas tried to pull himself forward.
The ground held him.
Not mud.
Hands.
He could feel them now.
Fingers around his wrists.
His ankles.
His back.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Beneath the soil.
Silas screamed.
Jacob stepped backwards.
Thomas regained consciousness.
He lifted his head.
Saw Silas.
‘Jesus.’
Silas sank.
Slowly.
Not into a hole.
Into solid earth.
‘HELP ME!’
Thomas crawled towards him.
Jacob grabbed Thomas’s coat.
‘No.’
‘LET GO!’
‘LOOK AT HIM!’
Silas’s body was halfway beneath the ground.
His fingernails tore through dirt.
Thomas screamed his name.
Silas looked at him.
‘DON’T LET IT—’
The earth pulled him under.
His face disappeared last.
Then the ground closed.
Smooth.
Nothing remained.
Except blood.
The blood began moving towards the little black hole.
Thomas and Jacob watched until every drop disappeared.
Neither man spoke for several minutes.
Then Thomas punched Jacob.
Jacob fell.
Thomas climbed on top of him.
‘YOU KILLED HIM!’
Jacob covered his face.
‘I didn’t do that!’
‘YOU SHOT HIM!’
‘I DIDN’T DO THAT!’
Thomas hit him again.
‘What was that?’
Jacob screamed it.
Thomas stopped.
Neither knew.
Behind them, the stones over the hole shifted.
One fell aside.
Then another.
Jacob stared.
‘We need to go.’
Thomas looked towards the place where Silas had disappeared.
‘We can’t leave him.’
Jacob laughed hysterically.
‘He’s gone.’
‘We have to dig.’
‘Dig where?’
Thomas didn’t answer.
There was no grave.
No disturbed earth.
Nothing.
Jacob grabbed his pack.
‘I’m leaving.’
Thomas stared at him.
‘You murdered him.’
Jacob raised the rifle again.
‘Then come tell somebody.’
Thomas looked at the barrel.
Jacob smiled.
‘That’s what I thought.’
He walked towards the remaining horses.
Thomas stayed.
He shouldn’t have.
The sun disappeared behind the mountains early.
Thomas built a fire.
He had decided to leave at first light.
Jacob had taken one horse.
Thomas would take the other.
He couldn’t sleep.
Around midnight, footsteps circled camp.
Crunch.
Pause.
Crunch.
Pause.
Thomas held his rifle.
‘Silas?’
Nothing.
Then:
‘Thomas.’
His eyes filled with tears.
Silas’s voice.
‘Thomas.’
He stood.
‘Silas?’
The footsteps stopped.
Thomas remembered the night before.
It knows your name.
He raised the rifle.
‘You’re not him.’
Silence.
Then Silas laughed.
‘Help me.’
Thomas began crying.
‘You’re not him.’
‘It’s dark.’
‘Stop.’
‘I’m underneath you.’
Thomas looked down.
Something knocked beneath the ground.
Three times.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Thomas ran.
He left everything.
Horse.
Rifle.
Blankets.
Food.
He ran through darkness until his lungs burned.
Behind him, Silas called his name.
Then his mother.
Then his father.
Then voices belonging to people who had been dead since Thomas was a child.
He never turned around.
Thomas Reed reached civilisation weeks later.
He told nobody what happened.
Not for thirty-seven years.
Near the end of his life, he wrote it down.
Six pages.
He described the valley.
The creek.
Jacob.
Silas.
The hole.
The voices.
At the bottom of the final page, Thomas wrote:
I believe Bell was the first.
Then beneath it:
God forgive us if he was not.
Jacob Vale was never seen again.
His horse was eventually found.
Alive.
Standing beside the creek.
Its saddle empty.
Its mouth packed with black earth.
Years passed.
The valley changed.
People came.
Gold was discovered.
Roads appeared.
Buildings rose.
Men dug into the mountains.
Idaho Springs was born.
Nobody knew about Silas Bell.
Nobody knew where he died.
Nobody knew exactly where his blood entered the earth.
They built over it.
A street.
Then foundations.
Walls.
Businesses.
Eventually a bar.
People drank above the place where Silas disappeared.
They laughed.
Fought.
Fell in love.
Made terrible decisions.
Some died.
And when they did, something beneath the town remembered the first dying man whose blood had entered its earth.
It remembered how easy he had been to keep.
1881
Workers digging a foundation on Miner Street uncovered a hole.
Perfectly round.
No wider than a man’s hand.
One worker leaned down.
Cold air touched his face.
‘Water underneath?’
Another shrugged.
‘Probably.’
The first man listened.
Something whispered.
He stood.
‘What?’
The other worker looked at him.
‘I didn’t say anything.’
The man stared at the hole.
For some reason he couldn’t explain, he picked up a stone.
Dropped it inside.
They waited.
No sound came back.
‘Deep.’
They covered it.
Built over it.
Years later, people would drink directly above that spot.
They would call the place many things.
Eventually, the Buffalo.
And the thing beneath it would learn many more names.
Present Day
Dan stood alone behind the Buffalo after closing.
He had sent everyone home.
Steve.
Jessica.
Alex.
Even Jyllian.
Especially Jyllian.
He went downstairs.
There was no reason to.
At least none he could explain.
The basement smelled of stone, dust and damp earth.
Dan carried a flashlight.
He moved past shelves.
Boxes.
Old pipes.
Then stopped.
Three knocks came from behind the foundation wall.
Dan closed his eyes.
‘Not tonight.’
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
He turned to leave.
A voice whispered:
‘Dan.’
He stopped.
He knew better.
That was the problem.
Knowing better did not make hearing your own name easier.
‘Dan.’
He kept walking.
Then the voice changed.
A woman.
Someone Dan had not heard in many years.
His hand tightened around the flashlight.
‘Danny?’
Dan stopped.
His eyes filled.
‘No.’
The voice laughed softly.
Then another voice came through the stone.
Male.
Weak.
Very old.
‘Help me.’
Dan turned.
A thin line of black water appeared between two stones.
It ran down the wall.
Dan stared.
Something moved inside it.
For half a second, he saw a man’s face.
Then another.
Then another.
Dozens.
Gone.
Dan backed towards the stairs.
‘What the hell are you?’
The wall knocked once.
Then a voice answered.
Not Silas.
Not anyone Dan knew.
Not quite human.
‘Full.’
Dan stared.
The word came again.
‘Full.’
Then:
‘Soon.’
Dan ran upstairs.
Behind him, something began knocking from beneath the floor.
Not three times anymore.
Hundreds.
All at once.
As though an entire buried crowd had suddenly realised there was someone above them who could hear.
And beneath the Buffalo, beneath Miner Street, beneath a town that had spent more than a century explaining away the impossible, Silas Bell opened his eyes.
—————-
THE HOLLOW SEASON
Chapter Fifteen — The Things We Keep
Alex dreamed about his mother.
Not the way he usually did.
Normally she appeared as fragments.
Her hands.
Her perfume.
The sound of her opening the front door.
The ridiculous song she’d sing while making breakfast.
Sometimes Alex dreamed she had finally come home.
Those were the worst.
He would wake with several beautiful seconds before remembering.
This dream was different.
His mother stood upstairs inside the Buffalo.
Alex couldn’t see her face.
‘Mum?’
She turned.
‘Alex.’
He climbed.
She moved farther away.
‘Wait.’
Another step.
She disappeared around the corner.
Alex followed.
‘Mum?’
Her voice came from behind a closed door.
‘Baby.’
Alex reached for the handle.
Someone grabbed his wrist.
He turned.
Jyllian.
‘Don’t.’
Alex looked at her.
‘She’s in there.’
‘No.’
His mother’s voice:
‘Alex?’
He pulled away.
Jyllian grabbed him harder.
‘That’s not your mother.’
‘Let me go.’
‘Alex.’
‘LET ME GO.’
His mother’s fingers appeared beneath the door.
Alex stopped.
Something was wrong with them.
Too long.
Too many joints.
They curled around the bottom of the door.
His mother’s voice became deeper.
‘Baby?’
Jyllian screamed:
‘WAKE UP.’
Alex sat upright.
Dark bedroom.
Sweat.
Heart pounding.
‘Jesus Christ.’
He reached for his phone.
3:17 a.m.
Of course.
A message waited.
Jyllian.
Sent one minute earlier.
Are you awake?
Alex stared.
Typed:
Now I am.
Three dots.
Bad dream?
Alex stopped.
How did you know?
No response.
Jyllian?
Nothing.
Then:
Go back to sleep.
Alex typed:
Absolutely fucking not.
Downstairs, Steve was awake too.
He sat at the kitchen table with Nora’s photographs spread in front of him.
Jessica entered wearing a robe.
‘You haven’t slept.’
Steve looked up.
‘Neither have you.’
She opened the refrigerator.
‘You screamed.’
Steve frowned.
‘When?’
‘About an hour ago.’
‘I did?’
Jessica poured water.
‘Nora.’
Steve looked down.
‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t apologise.’
She sat opposite him.
For several seconds they were quiet.
Then Jessica pointed at the photographs.
‘Anything else?’
‘Pieces.’
‘Like?’
Steve rubbed his forehead.
‘She made some kind of deal.’
Jessica didn’t react immediately.
‘Deal with who?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘The woman?’
‘Maybe.’
‘What kind of deal?’
Steve shook his head.
‘I couldn’t hear it.’
‘But Nora could.’
‘Yeah.’
Steve looked towards the ceiling.
Alex’s room.
‘Then she got me out.’
Jessica watched him.
‘Steve.’
‘What?’
‘You were sixteen.’
‘I know.’
‘Whatever happened to Nora wasn’t your fault.’
Steve laughed quietly.
‘Alex would tell you I’m pretty talented at blaming myself.’
‘Alex learned it somewhere.’
Steve looked at her.
That almost became a smile.
Almost.
Jessica reached across the table.
Put her hand over his.
Steve didn’t pull away.
‘I don’t understand any of this.’
‘Neither do I.’
‘But I believe you.’
Steve stared.
‘You do?’
Jessica nodded.
‘I heard that voice.’
Steve looked down.
‘Alex’s mother.’
‘Yeah.’
Neither spoke.
Finally Jessica asked:
‘What did she sound like?’
Steve looked up.
‘Like her.’
‘Exactly?’
‘Exactly.’
Jessica swallowed.
‘That’s impossible.’
‘Apparently we’ve moved beyond impossible.’
She gave a nervous laugh.
Steve didn’t.
‘Alex would’ve followed it.’
Jessica’s expression changed.
‘I know.’
‘If we hadn’t stopped him—’
‘But you did.’
‘What happens next time?’
Jessica had no answer.
Steve looked towards the window.
Somewhere beyond the houses was Main Street.
The Buffalo.
‘I’m getting him out of here.’
‘Absolutely fucking not.’
Steve stared at Alex across the breakfast table.
‘This isn’t a negotiation.’
Alex laughed.
‘Then why are we talking?’
‘Because I’m explaining.’
‘You’re explaining that we’re moving again.’
‘Temporarily.’
‘Where?’
‘Aspen.’
Alex stared.
‘We don’t have a house in Aspen anymore.’
‘Hotel. Rental. I don’t care.’
Jessica stood near the counter.
Alex looked at her.
‘You’re coming?’
Jessica hesitated.
Steve answered.
‘We’ll figure it out.’
Alex understood immediately.
‘Oh.’
Steve frowned.
‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Alex.’
‘You’re leaving her.’
Jessica looked away.
Steve sighed.
‘This isn’t about Jessica.’
‘Everything is suddenly not about Jessica.’
‘It’s about you.’
‘Great.’
‘Something in that bar knows what your mother sounded like.’
Alex went quiet.
Steve continued.
‘It used Nora against me. Now it’s using your mum against you.’
‘So?’
Steve stared at him.
‘So?’
‘I won’t go inside.’
‘That’s not good enough.’
‘Why?’
‘Because people are disappearing.’
‘People disappear everywhere.’
‘Not like this.’
Alex pushed his chair back.
‘I’m not leaving.’
Steve’s voice hardened.
‘You are seventeen.’
‘Here we go.’
‘I am your father.’
‘Congratulations.’
‘Don’t.’
‘What about school?’
‘You’re online.’
Alex hated that Steve had an answer.
‘What about—’
He stopped.
Steve saw it.
‘Jyllian.’
Alex looked away.
‘This is about her.’
‘No.’
‘You think she’s dangerous.’
‘I think I don’t know what she is.’
‘She’s a person.’
Steve stared at him.
‘Is she?’
Alex stood.
‘Fuck you.’
‘Alex.’
‘No.’
He grabbed his hoodie.
Steve stepped in front of him.
‘Where are you going?’
‘Out.’
‘No.’
Alex laughed.
‘We’re doing this again?’
Steve remembered the shove.
So did Alex.
Neither mentioned it.
Steve stepped aside.
Alex looked surprised.
‘I’m not going to physically stop you.’
Alex said nothing.
‘But be home in an hour.’
‘Dad.’
‘One hour.’
Alex opened the door.
Steve added:
‘And stay away from the Buffalo.’
Alex left without answering.
Steve watched him go.
Jessica said quietly:
‘That went well.’
Steve turned.
She almost smiled.
So did he.
Then neither did.
Jyllian was waiting near the creek.
Alex approached.
‘We have a problem.’
‘Several.’
‘Dad wants to leave Idaho Springs.’
Jyllian went completely still.
‘Good.’
Alex stared.
‘What?’
‘You should.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yes.’
‘You’re the reason I don’t want to.’
Jyllian looked away.
Alex’s anger faltered.
‘What?’
‘You should go.’
‘Do you want me to?’
She didn’t answer.
‘Jyllian.’
‘It doesn’t matter what I want.’
‘It matters to me.’
She looked at him.
‘I can’t go with you.’
Alex laughed.
‘I’m not asking you to move to Aspen.’
‘I couldn’t.’
‘Okay.’
‘No. Alex.’
Something in her voice stopped him.
‘I can’t.’
‘Why?’
She looked towards the highway.
‘There are places I can’t go.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Exactly what I said.’
Alex stared.
‘Are you trapped here?’
Jyllian’s eyes filled.
There.
An answer without words.
Alex stepped closer.
‘Jesus.’
She turned away.
He caught her hand.
‘Jyllian.’
‘Don’t.’
‘How long?’
She laughed softly.
‘That’s a complicated question.’
‘Try me.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Can’t or won’t?’
‘Both.’
Alex released her.
‘I’m getting really tired of that.’
‘I know.’
‘Everybody knows everything except me.’
‘That’s not true.’
‘Dan knows.’
‘Dan knows pieces.’
‘My dad remembers pieces.’
‘Yes.’
‘You know everything.’
Jyllian looked at him.
‘No.’
Her voice broke.
‘I know enough.’
Alex’s anger disappeared.
She was crying.
He had never seen Jyllian cry like this.
Not frightened.
Not one tear quickly wiped away.
Actually crying.
‘Hey.’
He moved closer.
She stepped back.
‘Don’t.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you make this harder.’
Alex frowned.
‘Make what harder?’
Jyllian wiped her face.
‘I wasn’t supposed to like you.’
Silence.
Alex’s heart kicked.
‘What?’
She laughed through tears.
‘I definitely wasn’t supposed to love you.’
Neither moved.
Alex stared at her.
Jyllian realised what she’d said.
‘Shit.’
Alex almost smiled.
‘Yeah.’
‘I didn’t mean—’
‘Don’t.’
She looked terrified.
Not supernatural terrified.
Seventeen-year-old-girl terrified.
That made Alex smile.
‘You can’t take that back.’
‘I know.’
‘Good.’
‘Alex.’
He kissed her.
Jyllian froze.
Then kissed him back.
For a few seconds, Idaho Springs disappeared.
No Buffalo.
No missing people.
No dead aunt.
No impossible voices.
No mother who vanished.
Just Alex and Jyllian beside the creek.
Her hand against his face.
His arm around her waist.
Young.
Stupid.
Happy.
Then Jyllian pulled away.
She was crying again.
Alex laughed softly.
‘That bad?’
She hit his chest.
‘Shut up.’
He kissed her again.
She laughed against his mouth.
And for one brief moment, Jyllian forgot she had ever been anyone else.
They sat beside the creek afterward.
Closer now.
Alex’s fingers threaded through hers.
‘So.’
Jyllian groaned.
‘Don’t.’
‘You love me.’
‘I hate you.’
‘Very confusing.’
‘Regretting everything.’
Alex grinned.
Jyllian rested her head on his shoulder.
He became serious.
‘Come with us.’
She closed her eyes.
‘Alex.’
‘Try.’
‘I have.’
‘When?’
Jyllian didn’t answer.
Alex looked down at her.
‘You’ve tried to leave?’
‘Many times.’
The words sounded strange.
Many.
Not a few.
‘What happens?’
‘Depends.’
‘On?’
‘How far I get.’
Alex waited.
Jyllian sighed.
‘Sometimes I wake up back here.’
He frowned.
‘What?’
‘Sometimes I walk until I realise I’ve passed the same building six times.’
Alex thought about the 1984 story he didn’t know yet.
The streets folding.
Geography becoming wrong.
‘Sometimes I get sick.’
‘Sick how?’
‘Bad.’
‘And sometimes?’
Jyllian looked towards town.
‘Sometimes it hurts me.’
Alex stared.
‘Who?’
She didn’t answer.
‘The Buffalo?’
Jyllian’s silence was enough.
Alex squeezed her hand.
‘Then I’ll stay.’
She immediately sat up.
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because that’s what it wants.’
‘What?’
Jyllian looked terrified.
‘People who stay.’
Steve was in the garage when Alex returned.
Exactly sixty-eight minutes later.
Steve checked his watch.
‘Eight minutes.’
Alex smiled.
‘Arrest me.’
Steve noticed the smile.
‘What happened?’
‘Nothing.’
‘That’s a suspicious amount of happiness for nothing.’
Alex walked past.
Steve followed.
‘Was it Jyllian?’
‘Goodbye.’
‘Did you kiss her?’
Alex stopped.
Turned.
‘What the fuck?’
Steve laughed.
‘You did.’
‘You’re disgusting.’
‘I recognise the face.’
‘What face?’
‘That face.’
‘There is no face.’
‘There absolutely is.’
Alex tried not to smile.
Failed.
Steve laughed.
‘Oh my God.’
‘Stop.’
‘My little boy.’
‘I’ll kill you.’
Steve threw an arm around him.
Alex shoved him away, laughing.
‘Get off.’
‘Does she know you’re moving?’
Alex’s smile disappeared.
Steve regretted asking.
‘Yeah.’
‘What did she say?’
‘She thinks I should go.’
Steve was surprised.
‘Really?’
Alex nodded.
‘She can’t leave.’
Steve stared.
‘What?’
Alex looked at him.
‘She says she literally can’t leave Idaho Springs.’
Steve’s stomach tightened.
‘Alex.’
‘Don’t.’
‘That’s not normal.’
‘I know.’
‘Then what is she?’
Alex’s expression hardened.
‘I don’t know.’
‘You just kissed someone and you don’t know what she is.’
‘That’s a weird sentence.’
‘It’s a weird fucking situation.’
Alex almost laughed.
Then Steve became serious.
‘I’m scared.’
That stopped him.
Steve looked at his son.
‘Not angry. Not trying to control you. I’m scared.’
Alex’s expression softened.
‘Dad.’
‘I lost Nora here.’
‘You didn’t lose her.’
‘She disappeared.’
‘That’s different.’
Steve recognised the words.
Alex had said them about his mother.
Years ago.
Missing wasn’t dead.
Steve swallowed.
‘Okay.’
Alex looked at him.
‘Jyllian isn’t trying to hurt me.’
‘How do you know?’
Alex thought about it.
‘I just do.’
Steve nodded slowly.
He didn’t agree.
But he didn’t argue.
That mattered.
Alex noticed.
‘Thanks.’
Steve shrugged.
‘Trying.’
Alex smiled.
‘You’re terrible at it.’
‘Inherited.’
For another brief moment, they were okay.
Jessica watched from the kitchen window.
Steve and Alex were laughing in the garage.
Again.
She hated the jealousy.
Hated it.
But there it was.
Steve had barely spoken to her all day.
Yet with Alex, everything seemed easy again.
She knew that wasn’t Alex’s fault.
Knowing didn’t make the feeling disappear.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from her sister.
Still coming next weekend?
Jessica stared.
They’d planned the trip months ago.
Two nights away.
Steve had forgotten.
Of course.
Jessica typed:
I don’t know. Things are bad here.
Three dots.
Then maybe you need the break.
Jessica looked towards Steve.
He laughed at something Alex said.
She typed:
Maybe.
That evening, Steve told Alex they would leave Monday.
Alex didn’t argue.
That frightened Steve more than if he had.
‘Monday?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Okay.’
Steve studied him.
‘Okay?’
Alex shrugged.
‘Jyllian says I should.’
Jessica looked up from dinner.
‘Jyllian says?’
Alex ignored her.
Steve said:
‘We’ll figure out somewhere to stay tomorrow.’
‘Okay.’
Again.
Steve didn’t trust it.
Neither did Jessica.
But dinner continued.
And something remarkable happened.
Nobody fought.
Jessica asked Alex about school.
Alex answered with more than one word.
Steve made a terrible joke.
Jessica laughed.
Alex told her it wasn’t funny.
Jessica told Alex his standards were clearly low if he was dating someone who liked him.
Alex stared at her.
Then laughed.
Steve nearly choked.
For forty-three minutes, they resembled a family.
Not a perfect one.
Not even a particularly functional one.
But a family.
After dinner, Alex carried his own plate to the dishwasher.
Then came back for the glasses.
Jessica noticed.
She said nothing.
That was important too.
At 11:12, Alex’s phone buzzed.
Jyllian.
Come outside.
Alex smiled.
Then:
Now.
Something about the second message was wrong.
He went to the window.
Jyllian stood across the street.
Barefoot.
Alex frowned.
He ran downstairs.
Steve called from the sofa:
‘Where are you going?’
‘Jyllian’s outside.’
Steve stood immediately.
Alex opened the door.
Jyllian looked terrified.
‘What’s wrong?’
She grabbed him.
‘You have to leave tonight.’
Steve reached them.
‘What happened?’
Jyllian looked at him.
‘It knows.’
‘Knows what?’
‘You’re leaving.’
Steve stared.
‘How?’
‘I don’t know.’
Jessica appeared behind him.
Jyllian looked at all three.
‘Get in the car.’
Steve didn’t argue.
‘Alex, shoes. Jacket.’
Alex ran inside.
Jessica stared.
‘We’re seriously doing this?’
Steve looked at her.
‘Yes.’
Something roared in the distance.
A motorcycle.
Jyllian flinched.
‘Hurry.’
Alex returned.
Steve grabbed his keys.
Jessica ran upstairs for a bag.
Jyllian stayed on the pavement.
Alex looked at her.
‘Come.’
‘I can’t.’
‘Try.’
‘Alex.’
‘Try.’
She stared at him.
Then nodded.
‘Okay.’
Five minutes later, Steve’s car headed towards Interstate 70.
Steve driving.
Jessica beside him.
Alex and Jyllian in back.
Nobody spoke.
Jyllian held Alex’s hand.
They passed the edge of town.
Jyllian stiffened.
Alex looked at her.
‘You okay?’
‘Keep going.’
Steve accelerated.
The sign disappeared behind them.
Jyllian gasped.
Her grip tightened.
‘Jyllian?’
Blood appeared beneath her nose.
Alex panicked.
‘Dad.’
Steve looked in the mirror.
‘What?’
‘She’s bleeding.’
‘Jyllian?’
‘KEEP GOING.’
Steve accelerated.
Jyllian screamed.
Her body folded forward.
Alex caught her.
‘STOP!’
‘NO!’ she screamed. ‘KEEP GOING!’
Jessica turned.
‘Oh my God.’
Blood ran from Jyllian’s nose.
Then her ears.
Alex held her.
‘Jyllian.’
She looked at him.
‘Don’t stop.’
The highway stretched ahead.
For one second, Alex thought they had done it.
Then Steve frowned.
‘What the hell?’
Jessica looked forward.
‘What?’
A sign appeared ahead.
Steve slowed.
Nobody spoke.
WELCOME TO IDAHO SPRINGS
Alex stared.
‘No.’
Steve looked in the mirror.
The road behind them was empty.
‘That’s impossible.’
They passed the sign.
Main Street appeared ahead.
Jessica whispered:
‘We never turned around.’
Jyllian began crying.
‘I told you.’
Steve drove faster.
‘Again.’
They hit the highway.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Mountains.
Darkness.
Then:
WELCOME TO IDAHO SPRINGS
Jessica screamed.
Steve slammed the brakes.
The car stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Outside, Idaho Springs waited.
Alex looked at Jyllian.
Her face was covered in blood.
‘It’s not just you.’
She stared at him.
Alex understood.
‘It won’t let us leave.’
Jyllian shook her head.
‘No.’
Steve whispered:
‘Why?’
Jyllian looked towards town.
‘Because it knows you’re remembering.’
A motorcycle engine started somewhere behind them.
Steve looked in the mirror.
One headlight.
Far away.
Then another sound.
Three knocks.
From the boot of the car.
Everyone froze.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Jessica turned slowly.
‘Steve.’
Another three.
Alex grabbed Jyllian.
Steve put the car into gear.
Then a woman’s voice came from inside the boot.
‘Steve?’
Steve’s face went white.
Nora.
Jyllian screamed:
‘DRIVE.’
Steve floored it.
The car tore towards Idaho Springs.
The motorcycle followed.
And for the first time since 1975, Steve Miller understood the truth.
Nora hadn’t been the one trapped in Idaho Springs.
They all were.
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