In the Dark of the Night

His hand trembling, Eric picked up the phone and began dialing, first Tad, then Kent.

His voice low, he began telling them what he’d found.

Chapter 17

ELLIS LANGSTROM DUG his toes into the sandy bottom of the lake and gazed dolefully out over the water, wondering why the liquor wasn’t making him feel any better. Between them, he and Adam Mosler had swallowed almost half of what had been left in the bottle of Jack Daniel’s that Ellis had swiped out of the cupboard where his mom put all the liquor after his dad left two years ago. And even if he took away the one swig Adam had talked Cherie into — which hadn’t been much more than a sip, if she’d actually taken any at all — it seemed he should have had enough to feel a lot drunker than he did.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he turned away from the lake and started unsteadily toward the picnic table that the three of them had been sitting at for the last hour while he and Adam passed the bottle back and forth, both of them doing their best to ignore Cherie’s disapproval. He knew that pretty soon Adam would start trying to put the make on Cherie, and Cherie would get pissed off, and then Adam would get pissed off, too, just like he always did. And that, Ellis decided, was the problem. Everybody he knew — everybody in town — always did exactly what they always did, and tonight, with half a dozen shots of whiskey in him, he decided he’d had it with the whole thing.

“Know what I’m gonna do next year?” he asked as he handed the last of the whiskey to Adam. “I’m gonna get outta this stupid town.” “Yeah?” Adam said, raising himself up just enough to drain the whiskey into his mouth. Flopping back down onto the tabletop, he screwed the top back on the bottle and hurled it toward a clump of bushes a few yards away.

“You know, this isn’t just your park,” Cherie said, glaring at Adam as the bottle dropped to the ground five feet short of the bushes.

“Wha’d I do?” Adam whined as Cherie slid off the bench and went to retrieve the bottle.

“Just don’t be throwing your trash around.”

“Someone paying you to pick it up?” Adam shot back, then shifted his attention back to Ellis before Cherie could say anything else. “So, where you going to go? That’s if you really split, which you won’t.” “I don’t care,” Ellis said, wheeling around to peer across the park at the empty streets of the little town. “Somewhere. Anywhere. Just far away from here. I hate it here. I hate school, and I hate the summer people, and I hate—” “Yeah yeah yeah,” Adam interrupted, having heard it all before and wondering how much time he had to put the make on Cherie before she would decide she had to go home. “So if you’re going to leave, why wait? Why not just go right now?” “Maybe I will,” Ellis said, his eyes fixing blearily on Adam.

“And maybe I should never have come out here with you guys,” Cherie said, dropping the empty bottle in a trash barrel, then coming back to the table but not sitting down again. In fact, she was starting to wish she’d never come to the park with them at all. “You’re both drunk.” “I’m not drunk,” Adam said, reaching for Cherie, who rolled her eyes as she sidestepped his groping hand. “An’ Ellis isn’t drunk, either — he’s just a loser.” He uttered a cackling laugh at his own words, which only elicited a glare from Cherie.

“You really think you’re smart, don’t you?” she asked, her voice edged with a sarcasm that was completely lost on Adam.

“Smarter’n Ellis,” he said. His eyes drifted back to the other boy. “He doesn’t even know when it’s time to leave a guy alone with his girl.” “I don’t want to be alone with you,” Cherie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “And I’m not your girl.” Ellis weaved slightly as he stared at Adam. “You really want me to go away right now?” “Yes, for Chrissakes,” Adam said. “Go. Just go.”

“Stop it, Adam!” Cherie said. “Just leave him alone.” She turned away from Adam and started out of the picnic area. “Come on, Ellis. I’ll walk home with you.” The alcohol he’d consumed was suddenly ignited by Adam Mosler’s stinging words. Ellis wheeled on Cherie. “Why would I want to go home?” he demanded. “Why would I want to go anywhere with you or Adam? Know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna do exactly what I said I was gonna do. I’m outta here. I’m done with all of it.” He glowered foggily at Adam. “I’m done with you, Mosler. You’re nothing but a loser! When I’m long gone, you’ll still be here in Phantom Lake, doing lawn work for Mrs. Henderson when you’re eighty.” Adam sat up, felt a wave of dizziness, and quickly lay back down again. “So go,” he muttered. “It’s not like anyone wants you around here.” “Fine!” Ellis said. “And don’t be surprised if you never see me again.” He turned and stumbled off into the darkness, heading toward a path that led into the woods.

“What are you doing?” Cherie demanded of Adam as Ellis vanished into the night. “Ellis is your best friend!” “C’mere,” Adam said. He sat up again and reached for her, but Cherie backed away.

“No, Adam. Just leave me alone, okay?” She pushed him away, but he caught hold of her arm and jerked her closer to him. A moment later his other hand was on her breast and he was pulling her face close to his.

Then, just as his lips were about to press against hers, she slapped him.

Slapped him hard.

Startled, Adam lost his grip on her, and she whirled around and headed out of the park without so much as a backward glance.

Adam’s fury rose as he watched her go. This was the night he was supposed to get lucky! He’d been sure of it when she’d agreed to come to the park with him. All he’d needed to do was get Ellis to take off and leave him with the bottle, and he’d have had Cherie’s clothes off in five minutes. But instead Ellis had drunk most of the booze himself, and then picked a fight.

And Cherie had sided with him!

With Ellis!

What the hell was going on?

Lurching to his feet, Adam felt the alcohol burning in his belly.

Ellis’s fault.

That was it. It was all Ellis’s fault.

His fury building, Adam staggered off into the darkness.

A DREAM.

It had to be a dream!

The tunnel was all around him, a tunnel so dark that nothing was visible — not even the walls of the tunnel itself. Yet he knew it was there, surrounding him, closing him in, giving him nowhere to go except straight ahead.

Ahead to what?

There was a feeling of menace in the darkness now, an undefined terror that seemed to emanate both from the walls and the air itself, making every breath a moment of fear as he struggled against the noxiousness that flooded not only his lungs, but every cell of his body.

He needed to get to the end, needed to get out, needed to escape before what little air was left had vanished and only the deadly fumes remained.

He could see his destination now. Though it seemed impossibly far away, it hung in the darkness, gleaming and glittering, shining out of the blackness. He struggled to increase his pace, and now his raspy, fear-choked breath echoed off the close walls.

His feet felt as if they were glued to the floor, and he had to consciously pull them free. Each step made a hollow sucking sound, as if his own coffin were being pulled from a grave of viscous muck.

With every step, his panic grew. His chest heaved; his heart slammed against his ribs.

The air grew still heavier, and now he felt himself dying.

Dying slowly, vanishing into the blackness of the tunnel until nothing would be left of him at all.

Nothing but the pain in his body, and the terror in his soul.

Just as the last of his strength was being leached from his body, a sliver of light glinted from