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Things Slip Through The Water God of Clarke Street
THE WATER GOD OF CLARKE STREETIt was a cold winter day and Carolyn O’Neil was pissed off at her imaginary friend Bob the Water Sprite.“I hate you Bob,” she rasped, trudging through powdery snowdrifts, “I hate you! Adam Stillman thinks I’m a freak, and it’s all your fault!”“I hate you.”Her angry footsteps scraped the frozen sidewalk and her ponytail swished against the back of her neck as she recalled today’s disaster in sixth period study hall. It had been the most humiliating experience ever and she had Bob to thank for it.Adam Stillman was the most popular boy her age. Athletic and graceful, with brown hair teased into a skater cut, his bright blue eyes made her knees buckle. She tutored him in Math every sixth period but they might as well live on separate planets. He was a basketball god that all the cheerleaders worshiped. She was the kinda-chubby smart girl everyone ignored. He only tolerated her because she helped him keep his grades up so he was eligible to play ball.
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Things Slip Through 5.
5.Our waitress (whose tag reads Cassie Tillman) refills Gavin’s coffee. She offers me some, I politely decline, and as she walks away a startling realization hits me: our waitress, Cassie Tillman.JennyJenny Tillmanyou know . . . the senior who wears the purple eye shadowand the short skirts all the boys likeThe implication sends ice down my spine.If all these stories are true, or, as Gavin puts it, have Truth in them . . . how many are about folks I know?For example, Jenny Tillman. Cassie Tillman’s younger sister, a high school senior. She disappeared back in March. Got into a big blowout with her mother and stormed out of their trailer in the Commons Trailer Park on the edge of town. She was last seen hitching along Bassler Road, toward the interstate.Will I read a story about her next? Or maybe a twisted tale about how my next door neighbor—a gentle, seventy year-old retired nurse named Maude—is really a dedicated Satan-worshiper who dines on the flesh of cooked bab
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Things Slip Through The Gate and the Way
THE GATE AND THE WAYThe woods behind Bassler House stank worse than anything Jesse Kretch had ever smelled. He looked up to bitch about it to Scott, but a tree branch smacked him in the face before he could speak.“Ow! Dammit! Watch it, Scott!”Small lines burned his cheeks. Scott looked back as he pushed through brush and more branches. “Sorry. You okay?”“Yeah. Guess so. Stings like a motherfucker, though.”“Pussy.”“Ass.”“Whatever. Just keep movin. We don’t have all day. Gotta have Mrs. Wilkins’ yard mowed by dinner.”Jesse scowled but said nothing as he followed Scott through the woods behind old Bassler House. They could’ve taken the easier way along Bassler Road, but that started off the end of South Main Street and looped around town. Way too long. This shortcut—through the woods behind the Commons Trailer Park—was quicker.But smellier, way smellier. The air reeked of bad milk and old piss. Mounds of bulging white plastic bags dotted the ground, some split open like
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Things Slip Through 6.
6.“So that’s it?”I ask as we descend The Skylark’s front steps into the nearly empty parking lot so Gavin can take a smoke break. “Jesse Kretch is gone?”With a quick snap Gavin lights the cigarette in his mouth with a battered old Zippo, takes a drag and releases a gray-blue plume of smoke into the black sky. He stuffs the lighter into his front pocket, then sucks on his cigarette some more, its tip glowing a bright orange. He blows out more smoke and says, “When’s the last time you saw Jesse? Do you remember?”I close my eyes, thinking quickly. The answer comes sooner than I’d like. “New Year’s Eve. A few weeks after that 911 call. He’d been cutting up rough at The Stumble Inn. Drunk again, ranting and roaring his usual gibberish at the top of his lungs. That time, Deputy Shackleford and I brought him back to the jail so he could sleep it off. Next morning, I got him breakfast—coffee and an egg sandwich from the Quickmart down the road—gave him my usual speech about him sobering
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Things Slip Through The Sliding
THE SLIDINGI’ve been remembering things, lately. Things I don’t want to remember, terrible things that happened long ago. I don’t know why. Actually, I don’t know much about anything, anymore. My writing career is over, I’m on the fourth year of a teaching career I hate, I’ve been drinking way too much, I’m remembering things I’d rather not and I don’t. Know. Why.I’ve tried to talk with Fitzy and Father Ward about it. They were there, of course. But the conversation always fizzles to a dead end and a change of subject. All they want to remember is the day three high school kids trespassed into the old spook house on the edge of town, and no matter how cleverly I’ve brought it up over the past few years I can’t get their shuttered minds past a certain point.They think—or NEED to think—nothing happened.But something did happen. We glimpsed a dark truth: that a shadowed world exists next to ours, one defying explanation. And I’m remembering it.All of it . . .***August, 1987
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Things Slip Through 7.
7.Gavin has satisfiedhis nicotine-fit so we’re back inside The Skylark, enjoying the warm cups of coffee that Cassie Tillman refilled in our absence. Gavin sips from his and says, “So you see, you’re not the only one who has a hard time getting answers around here. No matter how much I hound Fitzy and Father Ward neither of them will admit anything strange happened that day. But I have a theory as to why.”“And that is?”Gavin tips his head. “I wonder if they’ve just come to accept what happened better than me. I ran away and became a moderately successful author who thought he was King Shit, getting as far as possible from my home and who I really was, and the one brush I had with writing about Truth scared me into writing for the market and for others only.”I nod slowly. “But Father Ward and Fitzy came home.”“Right. They came home and remained true to their calling, so maybe that’s why they don’t want to talk about that day. They don’t need to. They’ve faced whatever they saw
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Things Slip Through Monster
MONSTERJesse Kretch squeezed the steering wheel of his truck with a white-knuckled grip. Bile stung the back of his throat. He’d thrown up so many times today and he wanted to throw up now, but his stomach was empty and another round of dry heaves would do nothing more than leave him wrung out and aching.And the voices.They called to him.Taunting and jeering. He screwed his eyes shut and bit his tongue to keep from screaming because the voices never stopped anymore. They kept at him day and night, laughing, prodding . . .They never stopped.Ever. That’s why he had to end this, now.Jesse grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled. Pain rippled across his scalp and cut through the voices, giving him some clarity. He’d discovered—quite by accident, when he’d punched the bathroom mirror in rage the other day—that pain cleared his head, so as he twisted and pulled handfuls of hair, the voices faded. But they’d be back. They ALWAYS came back.Which meant Jesse didn’t have time to
Last Updated : 2021-09-06Things Slip Through 8.
8.I sit back and force myself to look away from Gavin’s handwriting. Dammit if that neat, looping script isn’t moving, and I just want to keep reading until . . .I shake my head slightly, trying to clear my thoughts. “So is Jesse lost in some other world . . . or did he just get the hell out of town? Which story is true? Which one happened?”Gavin scratches the back of his neck, offering me an apologetic look. “I don’t know. Both of those stories about Jesse and Scott came to me within several days, and while I wrote them they both felt right. All I know for sure is that no one’s seen nor heard from Jesse in months. Even you admitted that. Regardless of which story is true, I believe Jesse Kretch is gone and he’s never coming back.”“How did Scott die, then? Which version do you remember?”Gavin opens his mouth.Closes it, folds his hands and looks out the window, whispering, “I honestly don’t remember how he died. I just remember him being dead and no one wanting to talk about
Last Updated : 2021-09-06
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Things Slip Through 14.
14.“By the time I arrived on the scene that night you were nearly inconsolable, hysterical at Timmy’s disappearance, insisting something had taken him away. But then you called us three days later and changed your story, telling us to end our search because Timmy was ‘safe and in a better place.’”I lean forward, hands clasped before me, trying to be gentle because I can see that recounting her ordeal is hard for her, can see it in her wet and glimmering eyes. “Why did you tell us that, Mrs. Danvers? What was that . . . thing you saw? Where is this ‘better place?’ I can’t report any of this, can’t ever speak of it to anyone. But I need to know.”so the Guardian may protect the ThresholdShe nods, sniffing, and wipes both eyes with the heels of her palms. Composing herself, running a hand through her hair, she whispers, “I . . . I wasn’t in a good place after that. I’d lost Timmy, lost everything. With Timmy gone there was nothing left to live for and I almost . . . ”She sucks do
Things Slip Through Mr. Nobody
MR. NOBODY“Mommy! Noooo!”Laughter echoed through Ellen Danvers’ small kitchen as she knelt and bent her son Timmy backward over her knee. He giggled while she pretended to lose her grip.“Jeez, you’re heavy! What’ve you been eating? Hippos?”His face split into a toothy grin. “N-no! Just p-puppies!”“PUPPIES!” She shook him in mock fury. “That’s it! You’re gonna get it!”His blue eyes widened in anticipation. “No!”“Too late!”She raised clenched fingers, her fake scowl threatening to break into a grin. “Now. You. Die!”“Noooo!”With an exaggerated downward thrust, she planted her hand into his belly and tickled him. He laughed and jerked, and alarm shivered through her as her grasp slipped. Timmy was only six, but he was so big for his age. If she wasn’t careful, he could squirm free, hit the floor . . .Worry crept in, spoiling the moment and she stopped, gently grasping his shirt, tipping him up. She hugged him tight, closed her eyes, breathing deep. His speeding heart
Things Slip Through 13.
13.The Commons Trailer ParkEllen Danvers opens her trailer’s screen door and smiles sadly, as if she’s expected me this whole time and has been wondering what’s taken me so long.“Evening, Sheriff,” she whispers. “What can I do for you?”For a moment, the absurdity of my intentions strikes me speechless. We’ve gotten everything we can from Ellen. She’s got no more information to give, past her wild tale.So why am I here?In Gavin’s mind, I’m here so Ellen Danvers can tell me what really happened to her son. In mine . . . well, at this point I really can’t say. But I can’t stand here on the porch forever so I smile and lie. “Just stopping by to see how you’re doing, Ellen, let you know the State Police and my men are still searching for Timmy.”The last part is true, at least. Even though Ellen now claims there’s no need to search for Timmy, the initial report of a missing child set off a chain reaction that can’t be called back so easily. With the wheels turning on a missing
Things Slip Through 12.
12.Ambiguities. Shadowy, surreal ghosts seen out of the corner of the eye, like hallucinations dreamed during a fever, things that can neither be confirmed nor denied. These are the things I’ve been reading about.Though Webb Community College is ten miles out of town, between Clifton Heights and Old Forge, Bradley Sanders lives here in town. I’ve seen him around a few times, been introduced to him twice. And he does have an impressive train layout in his basement. Every Christmas he opens his home to the neighborhood for tours. I had night patrol this Christmas and missed it but luckily Meg convinced Grace—our sitter—to take her. She gushed for days about its meticulous detail in copying nearly every facet of Clifton Heights. I’d hated missing that and had vowed to make sure I was free next year to go see Bradley’s layout with Meg.Not so sure I’ll be doing that, now.A resigned weariness settles over my shoulders. “I suppose if I called Web Community College, asking after Ned Si
Things Slip Through On A Midnight Black Chessie
ON A MIDNIGHT BLACK CHESSIENowBradley again turns onto the strange road bathed in the moon’s phosphorescent glow. He understands this place now. Understands what it is, where it came from, and how it came to be.Ned sits on the passenger side, still drunk, forehead pressing the window as he gazes at the glowing scenery. “Wow. Am I awake or dreamin?”“Neither,” Bradley whispers. “Or maybe both.”Toward Ned he feels a resolved sadness. Bradley no longer hates him so much but rather pities him, for he’s caught up in something much larger than himself, much larger than Bradley or anything else, and is completely helpless in the face of it.As Bradley is.And as they drive down this softly glowing road, Ned continues to stare. “Geez. Don’ recognize this at all. You lost?”“No,” Bradley says as he slowly pulls up to the glowing church at the road’s end. “Not at all.“I’m home.”Three Days AgoFriday afternoonBradley Sanders had just pulled shut his office door at Webb County C
Things Slip Through 11.
11.Gavin is talking about researching Wendigoes and old Native American myths, something along those lines but I’m not listening too closely, not really. I can hear the words coming from his mouth, can recognize them as English but I can’t distinguish one word from the other as they flow along into a steady stream of babble . . .Because I’m too busy staring at this damn book open before me, at its script—Gavin’s flowing script—which still seems to quiver and tremble and even undulate across the page. I’m starting to wonder what will happen if I keep staring at these words, what will happen if I keep reading them, what will happen to them, to me? Will they slide off the page, down onto the dull and scuffed Formica tabletop, slither over to my hand, melt into my skin, ride my blood to my brain and burn themselves forever there?Okay.Hell.That’s enough of that.So I close my eyes, hold a hand up to pause Gavin’s talk as I try to sort things out in my head, too many things, stran
Things Slip Through Lonely Places
LONELY PLACESMusky air from the fireplace clouded the small hunting cabin. From across a wooden table, green eyes burned into Derek Barton’s soul. He didn’t want to be here, but he’d nowhere else left to go.“What’s happening to me?”A leathery voice creaked. “Somethin powerful, boy. Old Magic powerful.”Fear slithered in his guts as he stared at this . . . man. Rumors called Clive Hartley many things—brujo, shaman, zombie, the walking dead, even—but Derek had never believed them, always figuring they were bullshit stories and nothing else.Now, however? He desperately hoped the stories were true, because if not . . . he was fucked. “People say you know about this kinda shit. Ya gotta help me.”Clive Hartley leaned into hissing lantern light, bright green eyes narrowed, deep lines creasing his thick skin. “Somethin’s growin inside ya. Ken see it in yer eyes.”“Please.”A pause. Hartley folded his hands on the wooden table. “Tell me how.”Derek shuddered as pieces of himself f
Things Slip Through 10.
10.“Okay . . . that’s . . . that’s just . . . ”I straighten and cover my mouth, which tastes a little like bile. Honestly, it’s touch and go. But I swallow and manage to say without stuttering, “I hope Cassie Tillman doesn’t come back, ask if I want anything more to eat or drink. She does . . . I’m puking. Definitely.”Gavin sips from his coffee (even THAT’S enough to twist my guts a little) and says, “I imagine. I didn’t have much of an appetite for several days after that one.”I force myself to breathe evenly and say, “I’m guessing that ‘Buddy Hartley’ is no longer at Clifton Heights General? That he’s . . . ”“ . . . been ‘transferred downstate to a special burn-care facility’? You’d be guessing right. At least, that’s what they told me when I called. They didn’t say WHERE, of course. ‘Doctor/Patient Confidentiality’ and all that. I found ‘Craig’ Hartley’s number using Directory Assistance, but no one ever answers. Of course, ‘Craig’ is also now mute, so maybe he just doesn’
Things Slip Through A Brother’s Keeper
A BROTHER’S KEEPERCraig Hartley stood at the tiny hospital room window, sweating. It was summer and eighty degrees and here he was, stuck in a room with an ancient air conditioner that grinded and wheezed and grumbled but had very little effect. Nothing he could do about it, of course, but stand and sweat and hate hospitals in general, especially small town, backwoods hospitals like this one.He watched townspeople scuttle along the sidewalks outside and smirked. Look at them, running around in the shadow of the place that’ll kill them someday. Idiots. That’s why he’d left, of course. So he wouldn’t become one of them.His smirk faded. He’d carved out a good life for himself, dammit—but now it felt like he’d never left. He still felt nineteen: still defiant, reckless, insecure, still scared of his father’s bullshit, still haunted by . . .No. Didn’t believe then, won’t believe now.A dry spot on his scalp itched.He turned to inspect the room, avoiding the burnt thing lying in i
