IS
7

It was a beautiful day, and it seemed as though everyone and their brother too were out and about, soaking in the sunshine of what looked to be the epitome of a perfect summer afternoon.

Corey and I were walking, with Shane and Alley on their bikes just ahead of us. She and I also had bikes of our own, but chose to walk, while transporting the picnic basket in a Radio Flyer wagon close behind. I began to get a little anxious as we approached the asphalt path that would take us to the river, and our secret spot that would hopefully still prove to be secret by the time we got there.

Once the path ended, you would go left about twenty or thirty yards to a small clearing along the river bank that was surrounded by chest-high foliage only visible from across the river, or until you were right up on it. No path led to it, and the only way we knew about it was by accident three weeks earlier, while sitting for my sister’s dog Sasha.

Sasha was a beautiful collie that had the curiosity and attention span of a two year old child. We had taken her for a walk down the path, when she broke free of our restraint in hot pursuit of a chipmunk. I chased her over and through a ton of underbrush, when I came upon a small clearing, approximately twenty by twenty feet with nothing but grass and wildflowers that butted up to the river’s edge; the perfect spot for a family picnic.

But only my family, as we all agreed to keep this a secret between the four of us. I feared that if news got out about this, its beauty and ambiance would soon begin to falter, with every Tom, Dick and Harry trampling through it. I knew it was probably only a matter of time before someone else would eventually discover it. But for now, it seemed to be all ours.

This would be our second visit to the clearing, including the day I discovered it. Only the first time, we didn’t have a wagon and two bikes to contend with. I figured we would wait until the coast was clear, then we could probably drag the bikes and wagon far enough into the underbrush to hide them before continuing on to our secret spot with only the picnic basket.

Everything went as planned when we came upon the spot, only to replace a large and very deep hole that had been dug at the very back of the clearing. No one seemed to be bothered by its presence, but my daughter Alley. Since the rest of the clearing seemed to be unscathed, we decided to continue on with our lunch and admire the beauty of the day together.

But even so, Alley could never let go of the mystery that laid in the ground maybe fifteen feet behind us. She gnawed at her sandwich, peering over my shoulder in discontent with the whole idea of even being there in the first place.

Halfway through our lunch, she stood up with tears in her eyes, and announced, “I don’t want to be here, daddy!”

“Alley, what’s wrong?” Corey asked.

“I don’t like it here. I want to go home!” She seemed to gradually get more upset with every second longer that we continued to remain there.

I tried to resolve the situation that was slowly starting to get out of hand by telling Alley that everything was fine, and that we would leave soon enough.

But that wouldn’t be soon enough for her, as she cried, “No Daddy, now! Please! I want to leave now!” as she started to cry hysterically, squeezing my wife’s left arm.

She put an essence of panic in the air that everyone seemed to pick up on, as we all pitched in to gather up our things. We were almost all picked up, when I noticed Alley staring at the hole.

“Honey!” I said. “It’s just a hole. I don’t know who made it, and I don’t know what for. But it’s just a stupid hole!” Then after a brief pause, I said, “Come on. Let’s look at it!” thinking maybe for some reason that seeing it up close would help her overcome whatever it was that made her so afraid in the first place.

“No, no, no!” she cried out, as she again latched on to Corey’s arm and turned her face away, weeping and mumbling “I want to go,” her face now buried in Corey’s chest.

“Let’s just go, Hon!” Corey ordered, with an angry tone in her voice.

“All right! All right!” I answered as we made our way through the dense foliage, towards the place where we had hid the wagon and bikes.

As we reached the asphalt path, I thought of two things. One: That our timing couldn’t have been more perfect if we had planned it, seeing as how no one else had been in sight till just after we arrived at the path. And two: I couldn’t help but mourn at the loss of our secret spot, which undoubtedly had become someone else’s secret as well.

But why the huge hole? Briefly walking by, right after we first noticed it, I would estimate it to be roughly 24 inches in diameter, and deep. Deep enough, that at a glance, I could see no apparent bottom. And it also didn’t appear to be a clean hole. Meaning, it didn’t take on the appearance of something that was made from a machine of any kind. Maybe it was a giant mole! I jokingly thought to myself as we continued down the path. But then again, with everything I had experienced over the past couple of days, nothing could possibly seem too terribly far-fetched at this point!

And then with that thought, my beautiful sunny day was over. As the horrifying images began to transcend upon me, while looking ahead to my family who were still enjoying the beauty of the afternoon, totally oblivious to what I had experienced, and what I was to experience still to come. Farther down the path, I saw Alley ride over to her mother with a frantic passion that made her jump from her bike while in motion.

“Josh, you need to go back!” Corey said, with Alley close at her side.

“What’s going on?” I replied.

“Alley thinks she left her sunglasses back at the clearing!”

“Nice going, Al!” Shane yelled from a short distance.

“Shut up, Shane!” Alley yelled back.

“So? She’s got like a half dozen pairs of sunglasses. What’s the problem?”

“Dad, those are my favorite ones!”

“And most expensive too!” Corey added.

“Okay, so I’m going back,” I said, as I turned and started to make my way back down the path towards the river.

“Do you want us to wait for you, Hon?” Corey yelled.

“No. I’ll see you guys back at the house!” I yelled back.

As I continued on, I heard Alley complaining to her mother about how she needed those glasses for the trip.

“Your dad will replace them,” Corey said in a consoling voice.

During my journey back, I could still see the terrified look on Alley’s face back at the clearing, as I questioned what could have made her so scared. After all, it was just a big deep hole in the ground. But, whatever the reason, Alley felt uncomfortable and even frightened to the point of tears. This began to make me uncomfortable as well.

I reached the river and started my trek through the monotonous underbrush towards the not so secret spot. I tried to follow the same route we had already gone, just in case she had lost them in her travels. But I found nothing, as I was now coming up on the clearing. Peeking through the last remaining obstruction into the open area, I could already see the sun’s reflection off the lens of the glasses that were alone and half-seated into the grass. I was overjoyed with the quick and semi-painless replace, as I stepped into the clearing with only a few minor scratches to show for my endeavor. And then again, some of that could have been awarded during my first adventure through here.

Who cares? I found the glasses! I proudly walked over to them, and bent to pick them up, when I heard a noise coming from somewhere in or around the clearing. As I came back up with the glasses in my hand, I nervously looked all around the area for whatever—when it stopped.

I could feel my level of anxiety begin to climb as I turned to the hole—the very thing that made my daughter cry for retreat from this place. A few seconds passed when I began to hear it again. I could have just left. After all, I had the glasses, the one and only thing I had ventured back for. But my curiosity made me move in an entirely different direction altogether, as I followed the low humming sound to the back of the clearing, and ultimately, to the hole.

Just as I came closer to it, the low hum turned to a low gurgling sound. I started to feel that maybe an animal was in the hole, and in some sort of distress, when I dropped to my knees and put my face to the opening. I was immediately overcome with the familiar stench of rotting fish and ammonia and I sprang backwards, landing on my back and severely bruising my tailbone with the fall.

Pain had once again taken a back seat to the fear, as I quickly rose to my feet, expecting to see his pale presence crawl from this opening in the earth. I slowly began to move backwards while my heart felt as though it would burst through my chest, when the gurgling sound became excessively louder, again reverting to a humming, and then progressing into one three syllable word…

”Jo-shu-a!”

I turned and hit the brush with all the speed that the dense barrier of foliage would allow. I must have looked as though I saw a ghost to the small group of people that stood still at the path. Coming closer, I could hear their alarming chatter at the sight of my disturbing behavior, as I desperately fought through the remaining few yards before reaching the asphalt. My feet touched down upon the hard flat surface, and I continued to run for home, never even acknowledging the group when they called out to me with questions of concern.

I just kept running. My lungs began to burn with the pace I had been keeping, as the fear continued to be my inspiration to strive for more distance between myself and the horror I had just encountered. A deep sense of urgency pumped through me as I still kept running, coming to terms with the fact that even in the light of day, I may still be at the beckoning of his presence.

A few minutes further down the path, I convinced myself to stop, realizing my body was at risk of possibly shutting down. Besides, I felt I had covered enough ground to consider myself at a safe distance by now to recharge and refocus. I walked off to one side of the path, bending forward with both hands coming to rest on my knees.

“Of course!” I thought out loud. He had no intention of coming out of that hole. And for the very same reason he was there to begin with! I had, by accident, found the place where he resided during the day. It was dark and cool. The perfect conditions for him to escape from the warm and bright sunlight that any normal person would relish to be in! Maybe he had more than one of these locations to go to, but I had definitely found at least one, as I once again felt overcome with excitement and fear simultaneously, forming the complete combination of altered emotion that I had become accustomed to.

As I stood up, I felt slightly light headed, refocusing towards the direction of my home, and the fact that the sunglasses had once again become lost. “I’ll buy her whatever she wants. There’s no way in Hell I’m going back to look for them now!” I thought.

Even though, understanding that I would—or rather should—still be safe during the day, there’s always the possibility that I in fact wasn’t as tuned in as I thought when it came to answers about him. And even if I was right, there’s no way I wanted anything to do with being within a hundred yards or more of him, or even where he could possibly be. And the rancid odor that he emitted was more than my stomach could take.

A chill suddenly crept through me as I thought about my family enjoying their lunch, maybe fifteen or twenty feet from his presence. Not Alley though. She sensed something evil from the very start. I wonder why? Why her and no one else? Another question I may possibly never have an answer to, I thought as I stepped off the path and towards the boulevard, which was now overrun with the hustle and bustle of cars, bikes, and people in general. All out to take in the warm sunny afternoon, unaware of the obscure company that lurked somewhere off in a not so distant area just below the Earth’s surface—close to home.

As I walked up my driveway, I was met halfway by my wife, who had a look of surprise on her face.

“That didn’t take long! What did you do--run?”

“Part of the way,” I replied.

“Where’s the glasses?” she asked.

“Still lost!” I answered, feeling proud that I hadn’t actually lied.

“Didn’t replace them?”

Damn it! Now I would have to lie. I didn’t necessarily feel comfortable lying, especially to my wife. “Nope. Never did!” I lied.

A look of disappointment came to Corey’s face as she told me just how important those glasses were to Alley.

“I feel bad,” I said.

And I was feeling even worse, once Alley approached us from the front porch with a disappointing look of her own.

“Honey, Daddy couldn’t replace them, but I’ll take you to get a brand new pair right now. How about that?”

Her frown turned to a smile, as she said, “Your bad, I’m glad!” And then ran into the house.

“What the hell was that about? I asked.

“It’s what they say when someone screws up, and you profit from it!” answered Corey.

“But I…”

“Just go with it, Hon!” Corey interrupted with a smile. “I’ll tell you what. You take her to get the glasses, and I’ll get an early dinner started, since we didn’t have much of a lunch!”

“That sounds good. What were you thinking?” I asked.

“I was thinking about cooking up that fish! Otherwise, with us being gone for a few days, it could go bad. What do you think?” she asked, with a discerning look on her face.

“I think McDonalds!” I answered, with no hesitation.

“Oh. Okay,” she replied. “But what about the…”

“I think it may already be bad!” I interrupted, wanting for more pleasant things to talk about.

“Okay. McDonalds it is!” she said. “I’ve actually got a few things to button up here. So take her, and when you two get back, we’ll go.”

“All right. Come on, Al!” I yelled.

A few minutes later, we were off and ready to join the busy commotion of the boulevard, in a time sensitive quest for the perfect pair of shades. Seeing as how it was fast approaching the latter part of the day, and that much closer to when I would have to drive my family to the airport, I was beginning to anticipate what the night would have in store for me once I got back home later that evening.

As I came to a stop, just before turning out of my sub, I took a long hard stare across the flurry of traffic, and down the long narrow surface of the bike path; the very place that had seen so much of my painful tribulations over the past couple of days. The very path that I now knew led the way to where he was biding his time at this very moment. Quiet and still. Waiting with inhuman patience for the darkness to set in and give him a free pass to travel about with whatever he chose to do. And for whatever the reason, I had no doubt that it would involve me.