“Why is Lee here?” I repeated.
“Lee believes me about the Forest Man. Lee saw him too, he’s the only one that understands.”
Lee stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her away from the window. “Come on, Jenny.” He flashed a menacing smile. “Nate’s leaving.”
Fear got the best of me. I panicked, and ran from her window.
• • •
We placed our bags inside. A fine layer of dust covered everything in the room. No one had been here in years, that much was certain. I flipped a switch on the wall, but no light came on.
“Hey Jenny, do your parents still pay the electric for this place?” Lee asked.
“Jenny?” I echoed.
“We oughta look around for candles and such. Did you bring a flashlight?”
I unzipped my duffle and pulled out a pair of mag lights. We searched the kitchen, eventually producing enough matches and candles to keep the place lit after dark. After everything was arranged I sat down in the kitchen, nodding to the chair across from me. Lee sat.
“Is that the notebook?”
He grimaced and tossed it onto the table. “Yeah, it is.”
“What’s in it?”
He tilted his chin toward it. “See for yourself.”
I reached across and opened the notebook, now creased and yellowed. The first page had a rough sketch of the tree stump. It looked much as I’d remembered, the bark shaped like a face. No wonder we’d been terrified; it was creepy. Underneath the sketch were the words Forest Man, written like a label. A name.
I flipped the page. Next the song lyrics were written in red ink. At least, I hoped it was ink. I could feel the color draining from my face. I felt a paralyzing fear, like I was twelve all over again. Why had I come back here? What the Hell was I trying to prove?
I flipped another page. There was a sketch of a boy. It was little more than a stick figure with a UFO drawn on the t-shirt. The stick figure was touching…holding…a piece of the tree stump. I slammed the book shut.
“What the Hell is this, Lee?”
“It is what it is.” He flashed his usual non-committal smirk.
I felt everything go red. I wasn’t a little boy anymore. My hands shook as I reached across the table to grab his collar. “You listen to me, you fucking asshole. I’ve had it with your bullshit! You tell me what happened, or I’ll beat it out of you.”
His eyes widened. I saw my face reflected in them, and I looked furious. He pulled himself free of my grip. “Okay, okay. Calm down.”
“Talk. Now.”
He gave a sigh, heavy with years of baggage. “Forest Man is its name.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not this bullshit again.”
“Shut up and listen.”
I shook my head, but did as he demanded.
“Something happened to me and Jenny out there. I don’t know why us, and not you or Brandon. But…the thing, it came after us.”
“A person? Someone hiding in the woods?”
“No, not like that. We both started having dreams after we were in the cave. Me after the first time, and her after she went with you. He’d come to us in dreams, holding out his hand, singing that damned song. ‘Come play!’ he said. Sometimes he was alone. Sometimes, he came with Franklin, but it was wrong. Franklin was all covered in blood. He looked torn…Eaten. I don’t know.”
I jumped when Jennifer pulled out a chair to sit down. I’d been so engrossed in Lee’s story that I hadn’t noticed her come into the room.
She sighed and looked up at me. “It was the same with me, but Marcus was there too. Franklin was all rotted and gross, like a zombie movie or something. When he tried to talk, maggots fell out of his mouth. I heard words in my head. ‘Come play…’ He, he asked if I wanted to play. I said…I said no. But, then he told me that if I wouldn’t play with him he’d be lonely, and he’d take us all. So, he told me to pick. To pick someone to come and play.”
She lay her head on the table and sobbed. Lee put his arms around her, murmuring softly.
“You picked Sarah, didn’t you?” I already knew the answer.
She nodded.
I turned to Lee. “And you? You picked Marcus.”
He nodded, not meeting my eyes.
I grabbed the flashlight off the table and started toward the door. This was crazy, some sort of shared delusion between the two of them. He’d been in her room that last day at the lake when she was out of it. He’d done something to her. But, what if he hadn’t? What if it was real? There was only one way to find out.
“Where are you going?” Lee called from behind.
“I’m going to find that damned cave to prove that there is no Forest Man!”
He grabbed the spare light and followed me out.
Jennifer rose from the table. “I’m coming too.” Her voice was clear, determined.
I found the overgrown path and started down. I was angry, and that anger fueled me. Jennifer kept pace, but I could hear Lee coughing and wheezing as he struggled to keep up. All those years of chain smoking were finally catching up with him. “Slow down.”
Jennifer paused. “Do you guys remember the first time we saw it? Lee took the bracelet. He touched it. When Nate and I went back there was a keychain on it. I touched it. Do you see?”
Lee panted so loud he sounded like a dog. “See what?”
“We had to choose because we touched it!” She shouted. “Think about it. Take my hand and come with me? We took its hand!”
We arrived at a spot on the trail that seemed familiar. It
