Darkheart

The Past: Show & Tell

 Kevin immediately did what any sane person would do: he went to the police, and the others followed like lost puppies. It was easy enough to find the chief; he along with most everyone else in town was at the Festival watching fireworks, and the man was entirely unimpressed with the four teens' rambling account of devil worship and murder, the hints at sexual deviance that only Kevin felt confident enough to drop. First, the chief asked them to wait for the end of the show, and then he asked them to follow him somewhere away from the crowds ("There are children present, for Christ's sake!"). Their conversation--if it could be called a conversation--began as a jumble of gory details spoken over one another and devolved into tears from some and frustrated shouting from others. Only Kevin managed to maintain some sense of level-headedness, and so the police chief ordered the other three to shut up to allow the eldest of the bunch to explain what they'd seen.

Kevin left little out, encouraged by the anxious and substantiating nods and murmurs of the others, and it was his earnestness alone that eventually prevailed upon the man to grudgingly insist they stay put while he headed down into the resort to take a look around. The four watched him disappear into the trees with another officer, flashlights on.

"Oh my God we're never going to see him again," the dark-haired girl commented lifelessly, standing in a state of shock, her unblinking, glazed-doll eyes on the entrance.

The smaller boy, the pale, freckled one, was practically beside himself, unable to stand still. He paced like a wild animal, ran his fingers through his curly orange hair. "We're gonna die we're gonna die we're gonna die," he murmured over and over.

Kevin stood quietly, though everything inside of him was on fire. He was utterly confused about what he'd just seen and could only hope the police would make sense of it for them. Some intensely nagging part of him wanted to turn and run headlong into the exodus of dispersing families, the smaller crowd of those hanging around for more music and drinking and merrymaking, and just start shouting at them, to insist they all storm the resort. But reason won him over: if the police chief's reaction was indicative of the norm, nobody would take him seriously.

He felt eyes on him, turned to find that girl, Crystal, staring intently at him. Kevin knew she didn't like him.

"I liked him," the other girl whimpered.

Kevin turned away from Crystal and regarded Heather. He knew who she was, had seen her around school, in the dining hall a few times when he'd thought of an excuse to go over there. She was striking, to be sure, her eyes alone--that color. But Kevin had never thought much of her beyond her general attractiveness and the fact that they didn't run in the same circles. Her brother was rumored amongst Kevin's peers to be something of an ass, too, one of those overweening athletic types.

"Liked who?" he couldn't help but ask.

Heather turned to him, thick tears in her eyes. "Ignacio. And they just--what they did! He's probably--probably dead!"

"He's definitely dead," the orange-haired kid assured.

Heather groaned and buried her face in her hands. "He was so nice to me!"

Kevin didn't know what to say to her. The guy had certainly been in bad shape when they'd left him. He looked to the other boy. "What's your name?"

The kid turned wide eyes on him. "Jeremiah."

"Kevin," Kevin offered, but then they fell into silence, broken only by Heather's occasional sniffles and Jeremiah's exasperated grunts.

Their wait wasn't long, though it felt like eons, and within fifteen minutes, they heard the whir of an engine and the police chief's laughter coming from the darkness, saw wavering headlight beams jumping out of the forest, and suddenly a golf cart puttered out from the tree tunnel into the lot, its passengers the two officers and a couple members of the resort: a sophisticated, impeccably dressed woman and that Mr. Lawson, the one with whom Kevin had interacted when he sought out a job. All four adults were smiling and joking about something or other as they climbed off the cart and approached, and a sense of dread shivered through Kevin.