As the chill pressed in, Nelson, leading the small party, began to grow quiet.

  “Nelson. Everything okay?”

  Up till then, Nelson had been humming, or calling out now and then. Currently, as he walked, he didn’t even glance behind to check on Charlotte.

  Tyler staggered up to him. “How far away are we from Swynton?” A hollowness streamed throughout Tyler, as well as a vicious pang of anxiety. The worst part was the small grin now sitting upon Nelson’s face.

  “I got a story for you, kiddo, a story.… Something that happened to me when I was younger.” Still grinning down at Tyler, Nelson reached out and flicked him on the stomach three times: Thwack, thwack, thwack. The flicks felt to Tyler like he had been shot three times in the stomach. The man didn’t slow, continuing through the darkness. Shadows covered his face, but Tyler could still see its gaunt, aged nature, those two long frown lines down his cheeks, and the pattering of stubble.

  “It happened when I was just a kid … five … six … something like that.”

  Tyler looked back. Charlotte walked in the shadows, cackling, cackling like an angry old woman ten times her actual age. He turned back around. Nelson peered straight ahead, but Tyler noticed his mind was somewhere else.

  “It was my birthday, and I recall.…” He reached out. A chilly breeze swept from the forest; a sheep bleated far away. “I recall I had a small truck.” The grin rose. He gazed at Tyler. Dark hair swept down his neck, dry, scruffy dark hair that may have never been washed. “I got it for me birthday, and so I took it out to the bush around the land, to play with it, you know.”

  A horrid cackling from behind. Tyler looked back, shivering when he saw it appeared like long strands of grey hair ran down Charlotte’s face. Her skin had a moldy green hue. Old wrinkles marred a once nice, tanned face. Or so it appeared in the shadows. So it appeared.

  “I ran out through the trees searchin’ for the river.” A chill ran through Tyler. A look of reminiscence etched itself upon Nelson's face. More cackles from behind. “Then something terrible happened, Tyler, something that left me.…” He stared down as he walked then diverted his gaze to Tyler. They were passing a streetlight, and Nelson’s face—weathered, sun-beaten—lit up and for a moment those two frown lines looked more like ugly old scars from a horrendous stab wound. “I saw a figure, Tyler, in the gloom.” Tyler was imagining himself as that kid, strolling through this weird, old forest, little toy truck in hand. His breaths were short and his steps shorter still. There! In the darkness, up ahead, a figure, standing, looming high, staring at the little boy. Yes, yes it was him. The one from his dreams. From his mind. It was him.

  Nelson continued, his voice low, silent almost. “His teeth were all yellow, the only part of him that I could really see that wasn’t shrouded.” Up ahead, something screeched. Nelson reached out to stop Tyler.

  “I won’t tell you what happened next, bruh, for you’ll never want to be alone in the dark again.” He stared down at the boy before smiling. Now, in this dark night, the fog having parted here, Tyler saw in its full, ugly glory the nature of this man's face, and he was not twenty-something at all but in this darkness appeared a-hundred-and-twenty-something, for he was all bones and ugly old weathered skin, and sunken eyes, and old, dangly hair. He was but a wraith strolling in the night, his leg the only new thing about him at all really. His breath stank as he spoke. "You'll never want to be alone again, little dude." And now his voice was of someone else entirely, someone not even human perhaps. 'Never again, my friend. Never. Frickin’. Again.” Wham! He slapped Tyler's ass so hard that Tyler staggered ahead of him.

  Around 10:00 p.m. that night—at least by Tyler’s estimations—they reached Charlie's Service Station at Parks.

  “I’m absolutely famished,” Charlotte said, staring back from ahead. “We’re eating here. Come on.” Although her skin had, to some degree, reverted back to its soft brown hue, her voice was still hollow and coarse, hair tattered and frizzy.

  Tyler decided to head into the cafe first. He thought it a good opportunity to impress Charlotte. Maybe she likes a guy who makes the first move. Inside, shadows spilt across the floor. A man behind the counter smiled, a knife stabbed through his forehead. His fat gut kept him from slumping over on the counter.

  Tyler’s eyes lit up.

  Frickin’ Twinkies. “’Bout dang time.”

  He stepped forward, eyes still lit up.

  "Yo Charlotte, feel in the mood for another little—"

  His foot caught something. He stared down. A cold hard hand had latched onto his foot. He gasped, stepped backward, grunting and stomping at the thing's face. Whack! Nelson had come inside, slamming Tyler's ass, cackling out loud. Tyler staggered forward, slamming into a display of Skittles. Box after box of colored candy burst into the air, falling over the floor and over Tyler, who also fell to the floor, and over the corpses on the ground.

  Afterwards, the three sat down inside the cafe, Nelson trying to switch the air fryer on behind the counter. “Stupid bastard,” he said, pushing it over, causing Charlotte to burst into giggles. Face burning red, Nelson strolled up toward her. “Don’t you start.”

  They continued. On both sides now lay wild, dense scrub, broken now and then by untouched, unkempt farmland stretching into the white fog.

  “Do you wanna know, boy? You wanna know what I saw that night, beside the river?”

  Tyler shivered, not meeting Nelson’s eyes, but nodded.

  “So,” Nelson said. Although Tyler still wore the jumper with the torn sleeve, the damp nature of the fog only served to make him colder as the cotton seemed to soak up the moisture. “When I saw the man, I ran, ran through the night." Nelson was once more lost in his own vision, staring into the distance but appearing to be more likely staring into the past. Then Tyler noticed a red glow appearing inside Nelson's stomach area. His blood ran cold. Charlotte once more cackled. Tyler turned, rasping, “Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up.”

  But upon gazing back he noticed something else. A figure of some sort in Nelson’s stomach, the outline of some sleeping, writhing creature, wrestling and crawling about. When Nelson next smiled, Tyler thought he saw bugs and beetles and maggots crawl from his mouth, but it might just have been a trick of the light.

  What in the world is happening?

  Nelson stopped. Grasped Tyler’s shirt. “I turned, bruh, turned to see where he was, and then I noticed him, once more standing on the dirt path I’d just walked down.” Tyler’s heart whacked his ribs, his mouth starch. Shrubs bled into the darkness on both sides, the white fog swirling, gathering.

  Nelson’s voice was choked when he next spoke. In fact, Tyler could hardly hear him. “And when the figure … the figure moved out into that light of the moon…” he said in that choking voice. His muscles looked somehow weaker, less dense. “I saw it, Tyler, and—”

  —and Tyler was there in the woods himself, staring at the figure, and saw some thing standing in the shadows. Water dripped from it while reeds clung to its legs. Its shoulders and arms were bloated, bones poking through its skin—

  “—it was as though the skin had rotten right through." Now the creature within Nelson’s stomach glowed. Tyler saw the devilish thing writhing, trying to claw its way out of Nelson’s stomach. In a stark, shocked voice, Nelson added, “It stepped toward me, its arm out, that arm rotten in sections, bone from its elbow visible in the darkness. Bugs crawled around its stinkin’ green flesh. A frickin' foul smell hit me, Tyler, and … and.…”

  Nelson stopped, gazing out beyond Tyler, who’d stopped too. The man then looked behind, then down at his stomach, which had apparently returned to normal. His mower's singlet writhed over where the apparition had once been.

  “And I’ve forgotten, Tyler … forgotten what happened next.”

  Tyler hadn't either, for he ran through the forest pines, the footsteps stomping behind him. “Leave me, stop haunting me, get away from me.” But still the footsteps stomped and stomped.

  Nelson said in a weak voice, “What I saw that day … what happened to me.…” He met Tyler’s eyes. “I ain’t been the same since, bruh … ain’t been the same since.”

  He faced ahead once more and started toward Swynton, while from behind a series of cackles were carried forward on an icy breeze.

  Chapter 10

  They soon reached Freygate.

  Charlotte had been sinking further and further back.

  “Let me rest. I’m tired, idiots. I’m tired,” she growled at them. They sat down at the town park, Nelson staring into the white abyss. He still appeared, judging at least by his stooped shoulders and slack arms, to have lost motivation. He munched on a Snickers but wasn’t speaking, just picking out a nut now and then.

  Tyler noticed two girls on a set of swings by a tall pine tree. They sat, their white dresses whiter than the fog, feet scraping back and forth over the wood chips beneath. Long, brown hair draped over pale, ghostly skin. Moonlight shone on marble-white eyes. The girls budged forward on the swing, then back, the swing set croaking and groaning. Tiny white hands clung to chains. The freezing breeze swept through, causing strands from both girls’ hair to rustle about, as though, however momentarily, they had roused from their endless slumber.

  Tyler shuddered, looking away.

  “How long, Nelse? My back is killing me.” Not only that, but images of his parents filled his mind.

  His mum’s horrific screech moments before the line was cut off.

  Nelson, still staring into the distance, pulled another nut from his Snickers, tossing it away. “As long as it takes, Tyler. As long as it takes,” to which Charlotte responded with a bellow of laughter.

  Soon Tyler sank to the back.

  “Hey, Charlotte, how are you feeling?”

  Charlotte responded by baring her teeth, sinking further backward herself, then hissing, “Get away from me, you filthy cunt. I’ve had it with you and the other old bastard. I ain’t need you ass lickers’ help to get me home.’ She bared her teeth, hissing once more.

  Nelson stopped and turned. “What did ya call me, slut? You call me an ass licker?’ Muscles tensed, but Charlotte just giggled, hand over her mouth, long, stringy, greyish hair falling in tattered drapes.

  Now that Tyler was closer, he examined the hair. He wanted to reach out and touch it. How did this new world have the ability to do that, to alter the physical state of Charlotte’s presence? And who was the person before him now? Was there anything left of the nice, strong girl?

  “Charlotte, Charlotte. Are you in there? Charlotte, if you are in there, can you nod, can you—”

  Charlotte reached out, gripped on to Tyler. “The girl is gone and I am who has replaced her.”

  Tyler drew back.

  Soon after, he once more walked between the two.

  Charlotte called, “Old loser. He can’t even get a permanent job. They just fire him each time he starts. Look at you, Nelson, you know nothing about the world. It’s why she cheated on you, you know, ’cause you’re so dumb? Didn’t you know that?”

  Nelson turned. Even with the mist billowing, Tyler could see the red on Nelson’s face. “What did you say, slut? What did you say about me girlfriend? Who told you that? Who you been speaking to?”

  Still glaring at him, Charlotte said, “Oh, I know about her, Nelson, I know everything that happened.… Your little affair with the woman and how she slapped you ten times afterward.”

  Nelson blinked over and over, the statement appearing to bring back some unwanted memories. He stared with eyes wide and jaw slack. “You ain’t know nothin’. You ain’t know nothin about what—”

  “Oh, but I do,” she said, continuing forward until she stood before the man. She peered up, her hair grey and black in the blinking streetlamp’s glow. Nelson peered down, that straggly hair brushing over wiry shoulders. He shoved her. “Shut it. Shut it, whore, or I’ll have to show you who’s boss round here. Shut it.” But she was giggling, constantly moving back into Nelson’s space. “She left you, she left you, the young woman left you. What you gonna do about it, Nelson? Get fired again because you’re so hopeless? It’s all you’re good at, you know, moving from one job to the next.”

  Nelson now paced in a circle. Tyler walked up to Charlotte, but when she eyed him, he saw the rich, heavy vines protruding against the skin around her eyes. “Get away from me, coward. Go hang with the pussies up on the shore while everyone else swims.” She stared back at Nelson. “The best part? She’s with someone else now, Nelson, dating someone ten times better looking than—”

  That was enough.

  Nelson stepped forward, fist balled and raised. Tyler burst forward, grasping Nelson’s hand, heaving him backward.

  “Nelson. No, no. She’s possessed, man. Leave her, leave her, please, Nelse.”

  Nelson shoved Tyler, causing him to stagger backward until he slumped down over an upturned piece of road. Charlotte still guffawed, now holding her stomach, pointing at Tyler.

  Nelson stood over her, his face reddening, muscles bulging. “You mention her one more time I’ll ensure you look exactly like all these other bastards lying ’round here. Got it, whore? Got it?” He pushed her again and again. Tyler heaved himself back up, once more getting between the giggling girl and the tense, shaking man. “Back, Nelson, back.”

  Nelson grasped Tyler’s shirt. The top button popped off. Tyler felt Nelson’s gun press against his thigh. “She says anything again to me.…” he said, cold, bloodshot eyes staring into Tyler’s. The breeze cut through Tyler like a knife. Trees shook. The cool, dark night lay dull and starless above, the fog having lifted. “I kill her, Tyler. I will bloody end her life.” He gave Tyler one more shove before turning and walking off.

  ***

  Nelson walked well out front, listening to music, nodding, singlet flickering about. “Be my girl.… Be my beautiful girl, watching me in the sunshine, oh beauty, beau-ti-ful … giiirrrrlll. Wooo!” He slapped his thighs and now and then sent air punches out before him.

  Tyler walked beside Charlotte. She stared, face glum. “Tyler … Tyler, what’s happening? I don’t.…” For a moment, she appeared like her old self, her hair dark and silky, skin vibrant, eyes dark brown. Despite her skin being better, it was, to some degree, whitened by the chill. “Hold me, Tyler … hold me.… I think I’m dying, Tyler.… I think I’m dying,” she said, blinking, walking as though in a dream, or as though just roused from sleep, perhaps a sleep filled with the horrors of endless nightmares.

  “Hold me, Tyler.” And so Tyler did.

  No longer than twenty minutes later, she disappeared.

  It came as a shock to Tyler who had been walking alone. He’d been thinking of trips with his mother to the coffee shop, how they would sit there as their lattes or cappuccinos fogged up the window beside them. The smell of roasting coffee beans filling the area, the sound of baristas banging handles against knock boxes. The prattle of customers ordering coffees and staff calling to chefs.

  “Mom … Mom,” Tyler now muttered, his legs weak and back aching. He peered down the road. Beside where the three walked, a long paddock stretched off into the now clear night. Everything was black, shadowy, the moon thin as a blade. The chill air tingled against his damp jumper, his cheeks so cold he thought they might be burning. Mom, I hope you are okay, Mom.… What happened? What happened?

  He looked behind to see Charlotte once more with a green gleam to her face. “They’re dead, Tyler … dead … just like you,” she said, chuckling, a veiny old hand over parched lips.

  “Get away. Stay away from me,” Tyler called back, stopping as he spoke. He didn’t know it, but up front, Nelson gave a brief smirk, muttering, “Told you so, bruh. Told you so.”

  The chuckling continued. Tyler blocked his ears and closed his eyes, shaking his head. Make her stop. Oh God, please…. Make her stop. Make her stop. When once more he opened his eyes, there was simply no girl back there.

  “Bloody hell.” Tyler spun back around to Nelson, the man still bobbing his head as he walked.

  “Yo. Nelse. She’s gone, man. Charlotte’s gone.” Tyler’s voice was coarse, flat, like he hadn’t spoken in days or had spoken far too much over the past few days. Nelson just flicked back the bird, continuing on.

  “She’s frickin’ gone!” Tyler said, frowning, his last word causing his throat to sting. “Damn you, man, help me find her.” Nelson give Tyler the middle finger once more. Tyler sighed, turning.

  He strolled back to where he’d last seen Charlotte. Long lengths of paddocks stretched off to his right, small, shadowed shapes of animals in some. Cows grazed, and darkened silhouettes of horses stood with tails swishing about. Before Tyler stood a giant farmhouse, the third story as high as the large trees. “Surely she wouldn’t have—”

  His gaze caught something. A figure in the upper-level window, staring down. “Charlotte? That you?” he called, but the figure had disappeared, the window reflecting the dark night.

  “Idiot,” Tyler said, shuffling forward.

  He reached the garden, which had lost its foliage long ago, and upon strolling past the plants, their twigs and sharp edges scratched at his heels. Blood trickled down his legs. “Stupid girl walking off without me … dam well—” A hand on his shoulder. Tyler cried out, spinning round.

  Nelson stood there with a big grin on his face. “Got you a good one, did I, sweet-cheeks?” he said, and wham slapped Tyler’s ass so hard Tyler staggered forward into an old spiky rose bush. Giant sharp thorns stabbed into his skin.

  “Yo. Whore. Get down here before I go up there and drag you down.” Nelson then added with a mutter, “Stupid bimbo.” It was meant to sound intimidating, but his voice sounded weak. Fearful, even.

  “Charlotte?” Tyler called from his seat down in the rotten old rose bush. Another flicker behind one of the high-up windows. Then a distant scream. “Charlotte!” Tyler called, jumping to his feet.

  Tyler walked toward the house.

  “God damn, why’d she have to find the ugliest, most decrepit, stupidest house in the entire region to go hiding in? What is wrong with the woman?”

 

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