THE RITUAL ~ Chapter 7
Searching
Welcome to Chapter 7!
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What happened last:
To try to find answers to Denise’s disappearance, A.J.’s agreed to do some detective work online and the boys have agreed to search the woods.
What will they find?
Searching
Creepy, Scott thought.
The crooked branches, the shifting shadows, the mysterious sounds; recent events and the current task at hand twisted every element of their surroundings into something wholly uncomfortable.
The woods had always been a friend to the boys. They had spent endless hours playing hide and seek there throughout their younger days. And, when they got older, it had provided welcome camouflage for the treks to The Place, allowing them to enjoy cigarettes of any kind without any chance of unwanted eyes.
But now it felt different. Their friend had been taken away and been replaced by a changeling: a place of shadows where not little boys, but evil now hid itself. Evil in the shape of a kidnapper. Or a molester. Or a murderer. The haven turned horror.
Scott looked at the trees surrounding him and realized how dangerous the woods really were. And so close to town. Anyone could hide in here and watch, unnoticed, waiting. He recalled how his parents—like most of them, he imagined—warned their children about the woods. And that had kept him away for a while. But not for long. Then, the taboo, forbidden place became an exciting opportunity for acts of daring and defiance. And the boys learned after a while, at least to their eyes, the woods held nothing to fear.
Until now.
Suddenly, Scott wrestled with something he hadn’t felt in a long time: a dull, queasy sensation in his gut; the same thing he used to feel when he was little, and he thought of the woods. He felt it again for the first time in years as he looked around at this maze of shadows and shrubbery. It had all shapeshifted into something frightening and foreboding again.
Jesus, he thought. Why isn’t anyone talking? Are we all that freaked out?
“Anybody see anything?” He had to ask. Had to break the poisonous silence currently augmenting the creepiness like an insidious conspirator.
“Nope,” Randy offered.
“What exactly are we looking for, anyway?” Robert queried.
“Well,” Scott replied. “Could be anything. Signs of a struggle. Maybe something that belonged to Denise that she might have dropped. “
“Freshly broken branches or twigs, even,” said Alex.
“Good thinking,” Scott commended.
“Guys!”
They turned to find Randy crouching down, his eyes wide. He gestured for them to do the same. They all did, instantly on alert—their hearts pumping, wild with a sudden rush of fight-or-flight reaction.
“What is it?” Scott mouthed more than whispered.
Randy pointed. They all turned to look.
Far enough away, hopefully out of earshot, a figure walked through the woods. Scott and Alex looked at each other, unable to breathe. The figure stayed on its course, casually strolling through the trees.
The boys watched, hypnotized. The figure’s trajectory had brought them almost close enough to identify, but not quite. The murky forest shadows didn’t help. But, in the back of his mind, Scott thought the person seemed somehow familiar. If he could just figure out where—
WHOOOSH!
Something flew at Robert. He saw it out of the corner of his eye an instant before it came upon him. He jerked back, falling on the ground—the black whir just missing him as it arced back up to land on a low branch slightly above Randy.
The boys all gaped at the large bird that had swept by. Then they all checked each other in split seconds, making sure everyone was okay. Finally, they looked back at the stranger across the way. He had stopped.
He was looking right at them!
The Brothers held their breath, trying to identify the man and hoping they lay low enough escape his vision. The stranger took a step closer. Then another. A streak of sunshine made it through the trees and fell on his face. He squinted and stepped back. But not before Scott recognized him.
The bird above Randy let out a cry.
EEEEEEYYYYYYAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!
The boys freaked. The stranger stared right at the bushes where they hunkered, petrified.
Fucking bird, Robert thought.
The stranger remained staring. Then, he called out.
“Hello?”
The boys glanced at one another. Had he seen them? Should they run for it? Their hearts were all pounding fiercely now.
EEEYYYYAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!
The bird screamed again. Then it flew off.
The stranger saw it and turned his head as he watched it fly away. He looked back at the bushes where the boys hid. Then, he turned back to the direction he had been walking and started off.
When he was far enough away, Alex muttered “That was close!”
They all shared looks of relief and agreement. Then Robert wanted to know: “Who the fuck was that?”
“I’m not a hundred percent sure,” Scott started. “But I think it was Mr. Malbourne.”
***
A.J. sat at her father’s computer and surfed for information. She had permission to use his computer when he was at work or busy doing other things since he vigilantly kept everything related to his police job locked up in desk drawers or behind the barrier of computer password protection.
She had spent quite some time searching on “missing persons”, “kidnapping” and every related thing she could think of and came to the conclusion she needed to narrow her searches with specifics. The amount of cases went on endlessly. A.J. couldn’t believe how many people just disappeared. And she found some of the details of the events she uncovered so disturbing, she wondered if she might have served her peace of mind better by searching the woods with Scott and the boys. But she agreed that someone should be doing the task she currently undertook, so she kept at it.
She printed out anything within the realm of geographical possibility: any crime without a captured criminal close enough for the possibility the creep could find his way to Brook’s End.
Do criminals take the bus?
A.J. mused all kinds of crazy questions she never thought she’d have. But if the guy looked normal enough and took his victims’ money, he could be able to afford at least bus fare. So maybe she shouldn’t narrow her search quite so much.
Right, she thought. Then I might as well look at every crime in the country.
A.J. stared at the computer screen for a moment, scanning her brain for something she might have missed. Some edge. Some angle that would get her on the right track.
What night did Denise disappear?
***
Scott and the boys continued to wend their way through the woods. They walked slowly and softly, watching for large leaves that might crunch too loudly. Not that they followed the stranger too closely. But who wanted to take a risk that the guy had super hearing?
The stranger carried on with his walk, and his destination gradually became clear. Scott looked back and the Brothers all shared a knowing glance. The stranger left the woods and the boys followed. But only to the edge of the shrubbery. They remained in the forested cover, watching.
The stranger walked up to the house and disappeared around the left side leading to the front.
“You were right,” Alex said. “It was Mr. Malbourne!”
“What was he doing in the woods?”
“I don’t know,” Scott said.
“Maybe he was just taking a walk.”
They all looked at Randy. He felt like they were all eyeing him as if his brain fell out. But he felt his statement made sense. “I mean, people take walks, don’t they?”
“Yeah,” Scott said. “They do.” He looked back at the house. “Of course they do.”
The others looked back at the house, too.
“He is kinda creepy looking, though, huh?” Alex said.
“Yeah,” Scott said. Mr. Malbourne was creepy looking. His skin was so pale. And there was something about his eyes. But there was something else. Something right in front of Scott’s eyes.
Then, he saw it.
“Check out the cellar door.”
The other boys looked to see what Scott saw. The lock was not the only thing the Malbournes had replaced. Now, the entire door—in fact, the whole entrance had been rebuilt, refurbished with a brand new metallic structure. Or at least it appeared like a dull metal on the outside.
“They replaced the whole thing?” Robert wondered, unbelieving. “What the hell for?”
Scott thought about it. “Well, it was in pretty bad shape, I guess. Someone probably could’ve kicked it in if they wanted to.”
“Or maybe they’ve got something to hide.”
Scott didn’t like the sound of Robert’s tone. “Like what?”
“Like Denise McFarland, asshole.”
“Wait a minute.” Scott refused to go down that road again. Robert’s impatient jumping-to-conclusions shit always meant trouble and Scott knew it. He had to nip it in the bud.
“It was one thing being suspicious of the new people in town. But Mrs. Malbourne’s been totally cool, right? And I hardly think she’s the type to harbor a mass murderer … let alone marry one.”
“Maybe she doesn’t know,” Robert said. “Maybe he’s got her fooled.”
Alex offered: “Maybe, you should stop watching reruns of The X-Files.”
Randy snickered. Even Scott got a grin. He gave Alex a look of admonishment mixed with approval. Alex was quick-witted, all right.
Robert’s face got a hint of claret as he stewed. “If he’s so normal, what was he doing in the woods?”
Scott sighed, ready to move on. “Maybe Randy was right. Maybe the guy was just taking a walk. Hell, that is what he was doing, Robert. Okay? That’s all we saw him doing: walking in the woods behind his house. Maybe he needed some air. And we’re supposed to be looking for Denise McFarland, anyway, and arguing about Mr. Malbourne isn’t gonna help us find her.”
Robert couldn’t debate that. Well, he could have. But he was suddenly at that place where he knew he was gonna lose the argument to Scott eventually. Like he always did. Sometimes he couldn’t wait for the guy to go to college, already.
“Fine,” he spat “So, let’s go look for her.”
“All right,” Scott agreed.
They all headed back into the recesses of the woods. The afternoon shadows stretched long and angular. Scott realized they’d better get a move on. He sure as shit didn’t want to be out here at night.
***
A.J. stumbled through a whole new set of searches. And what she found both fascinated and frustrated her. The fascination came from the wealth of information about the craziest stuff. And the frustration came by the very same thing. How could that many people believe this crap?
She found herself down a rabbit hole of endless articles discussing so many bizarre, related topics that she didn’t know which one to follow. She never imagined her one, serendipitous hunch would lead her down this dark and disturbing path. And it was disturbing. People clearly took the nutty stuff she continued to unearth as gospel. Of course, A.J. thought: a lot of the gospel she had been taught in church was pretty crazy, too.
And so, her mood lightened a bit at the absurdity of it all. She decided she’d try to keep an objective, detached outlook and sift through the data as best she could. She’d need to organize it into something comprehensible before she presented it to Scott and the guys; it would be useless if what she reported sounded in any way loopy or laughable.
She sighed, just about to log off, when something caught her eye. She followed another trail of links, not quite sure what she hoped to find.
And then she saw it.
Oh, my god!
***
Scott and the boys emerged from the woods just in time. Dusk, like a deceptively quiet creature, crept up upon them.
“So, what now?” Robert wanted to know.
“Well,” Scott said. “I gotta check in with A.J. and see what she came up with. Hopefully she had more luck than we did.”
Alex turned to Robert. “Why don’t you check with your dad and see if the Malbournes came to him for their cellar reconstruction?”
Of course, thought Scott, looking at Alex and thinking: Damn, he’s smart. Robert’s dad owned and operated the town’s hardware store. It was more than likely any project would have been run by him…if not done by him.
“Sure,” Robert said.
“Okay. Cool,” Scott said. “So…we’ll meet up tomorrow? Same time? Same place?”
Alex let out an odd sigh. “I gotta get some studying in or I’m not gonna pass my exams next week.”
Scott remembered it was finals next week. Since he was already accepted to several colleges, now, he hadn’t really paid much attention to this quarter’s grades. Although he could get A’s without trying. But he knew Alex couldn’t. Neither could the other guys, but they never seemed to care as much.
“Right,” he said, feeling like an idiot. “We all should. We’ll start up again next Saturday.”
They all agreed and Robert and Randy took off toward their homes. They both lived to the west of where they came out of the woods and Alex and Scott lived toward the east.
“I’m kinda relieved, in a way, that we didn’t find anything. You know?”
Scott looked at Alex. “Yeah. Me, too. Not finding a body means Denise could still be alive. So, I guess, in a way, we could consider it a success.”
“You think Robert was just being a jerk? Or do you think there’s something to Mr. Malbourne being in the woods and the new cellar door?”
“I don’t know if there’s anything to it or not. But I know I want Robert to think there’s nothing to it. I think he gave up arguing, but I don’t think he gave up his opinion. So, I figure it’s best to let him research it till he’s sick of it. Or till he sees it’s just a new cellar door and nothing else. I mean, Mr. Malbourne may be a little weird, but that’s no reason to turn him into the town monster.”
“You’re right. Okay, I’ll see ya tomorrow.”
“See ya.”
Alex started off and Scott went his own way. He thought about stopping off at A.J.’s place, but the late hour suggested his parents might get worried if he didn’t make an appearance soon. He figured he could wait to talk to A.J. tomorrow.
One day wouldn’t kill him.
***
Alex passed by the school on his way home, his new shoelaces in his pocket. There was a guy stretching on the grass by the track. The guy looked up and saw Alex. He smiled.
“Hey, there,” he said.
Alex smiled back, a little surprised. It was the swimmer he had met a few weeks ago. He had been praying he’d run into him again and hadn’t.
“Hi.”
“Alex, right?”
“Yeah.” He remembered my name! Alex feared he was blushing.
John stood up. “I’m John.”
“I remember,” Alex said. Boy, did he. But he’d forgotten how blue the guy’s eyes were.
“I was just getting ready to run.”
“You run?!” Alex felt so overcome by the coincidence of it all, he just let the words come out of his mouth, reflexively. Then he heard what he’d said and immediately thought: No, duh. Didn’t he just say that?!
John just kept smiling. “Yeah. I like to cross train. I usually run a couple of times a week at sunset.”
“Me, too!”
“You don’t look dressed for running.”
“I run in the mornings on Saturdays.”
“Oh.” John looked amused. Alex felt like an idiot. He should say something. His mind raced. But John saved him by adding “We could run together, sometime, if you like.”
Alex looked John in the eye, suddenly—desperately searching. He couldn’t help himself. Did John really just invite him to run together? It was almost like asking him out on a date. Sort of. Almost. Afraid to hope for too much, Alex searched John’s eyes for what was only a moment but felt like way, too long.
He looked away and nodded his head, trying to act casual.
“Uh, sure. I suppose.”
“Great,” John said.
Alex dared to look back into those hypnotic azure eyes; he had to know at least one thing. “You wouldn’t mind?”
John smiled wider. “Of course, not, goofball. I asked you, didn’t I?”
He had. He had asked. Alex couldn’t help but smile again.
“Okay.”
“Okay. I’m here every other day. You come whenever you want.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. It’s a date.”
Alex’s head reeled: He did not just use that word!
“Okay,” he managed.
“Cool. Well, I better get started. I’ll catch you later.” And he headed off. Alex watched him go. The guy ran like a gazelle, lithe and graceful. Alex stood taking in the sight until the running path started to turn and John would start to see him again. Alex turned and continued home.
Alex’s mind continued as well, trying to keep his feet on the ground: He’s new in town, he doesn’t know anybody and he’s just being friendly. It’s nothing more. Don’t fool yourself. He’s not like you. You do anything wrong and he’ll probably beat you to a pulp.
But another voice inside him kept saying something different, over and over, until all the other words died out and only those three remained. And he stopped at the porch of his house and stood staring into the middle distance as the sky glowed with the last of the sunset’s warm, soft colors. But Alex didn’t see anything except John’s smiling face as his mind replayed his words, loud and clear:
It’s a date.
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I wonder what AJ found 👀.
The pacing is great!
I think this is a really strong chapter. It flows well and I really like the way it begins. I'm also glad we had a Mr Malbourne sighting.