I do not stay at the park when it gets dark.
We will not go to the park this evening, because it.
I paced around his room, having a full-blown panic attack if Im to be perfectly honest about it.
God & Man
Not for a million.
Caleb, I repeated, We have to go back and get our bikes.
Caleb flipped a page, clearly staring through the comic and reading absolutely nothing therein.Flip.
Flip.He licked his lips.
I noticed he always licked his lips when he was nervous about something.
There, he did it again.Lick.
I repeated, sharply.
This was his serious face.
This was his Final Word face.
He lifted a butt cheek and passed gas, which thrummed against the faux leather of the beanbag chair.
This was also a significant tell when it came to Caleb Tomlinson.
I grimaced under the neckline of my t-shirt, which I had employed as a makeshift gas mask.
I grimaced, but I stood my ground.
The standard preamble of The Final Words on the Subject.
We are not going back to the park.
We will return to the park in the morning.
I do not stay at the park when it gets dark.
We will not go to the park this evening, because it.
This is My Final Word on the Subject.
But Caleb- I began.
He silenced me with a finger, and stuffed a fistful of Cheetos into his mouth.
Caleb frequently grew violently enraged when crossed.
He was my best friend, though.
I didnt want to anger him because I wanted him to be happy.
Except it was not that simple.
I kept thinking of my bicycle, shining a bright glossy black and Day-Glo green.
It was faster than a comet, that bike.
But I was careless.
Basically in plain sight.
It was our oldest game, and our most treasured.
A sleepover at his house, obviously.
He had a much bigger room, and so many more toys then I had.
All new, too.
His parents were divorced and his mom had, in her words, made off like a bandit.
Her new husband was loaded, too.
I happen to believe him.
It seemed to work out in Calebs favor though, and by extension mine.
Caleb had an X-Box One AND a Playstation 4, and a souped-up computer to boot.
Caleb had a giant tote box in his giant closet that had nothing but Legos in it.
You could have parked a small car inside his toy box, which was full to overflowing.
Thats where I came in, and thats why he quickly agreed to the sleepover.
I was proud, but by God, I wasnt that proud.
Im getting off the point, I guess, which was our day at the park.
Before I could ask him what was what, he started sprinting in the direction of home.
Foolishly, I dashed after him without a thought to my bicycle.
I suppose that brings me back to the beginning of my story.
I could only conclude that Caleb knew something I did not.
If my bike gets stolen, my mom is going to tan my freakin hide!
Pizza and hot wings are gonna get here any minute.
Im not eating ice-cold pizza just cause you cant wait for the morning to get your stupid bike.
It says expected delivery time, fifteen minutes.
I insisted, If we hurry we can make it!
Caleb sighed dramatically, and finally, he rose to his feet.
He dusted the Cheeto crumbs off his chest and onto the floor, and then crossed to the window.
You just couldnt leave it alone.
I admit it, this isnt about rules.
This isnt even about pizza and wings.
You know I love room temperature pizza.
I eat it every other day.
Well then what is it?
I asked, skeptically.
I thought he was putting on a show for me.
He did that sometimes.
Looking at his work, he scowled and wiped it all away.
He did this, and said, It happened last weekend when you were off with your folks.
Turn on some music, will you?
I dont want Dan or Lisa to hear any of this.
This is just between us Knights of Greatwood Castle, you got it?
Inside my head, I was rolling my eyes.
Another dramatic gesture, the secret revelation.
I dont know why, but I just couldnt get to sleep that night.
Yeah, I said, settling down into his desk chair.
The pizza tracker was already at Comin Atcha!
and I could feel my heart sinking into the pit of my stomach.
He wasnt going to cave.
Still, I have to admit I was momentarily drawn into his tale.
It was about midnight-about one A.M. Darker than the devils dingus.
I rode out there real fast, so I was already kinda breakin a sweat.
I wasnt creeped by then, you know?
It was dark and abandoned, sure, but Im not no weenus.
Im not afraid of the dark and Im not afraid of being alone.
Im Big Cal, I aint afraid of nothing!
I knew differently, but on this subject I kept my own counsel.
I didnt want to drag this shaggy dog story out any further than necessary.
So I started climbing the rope ladder, and already I could tell something didnt feel right.
I didnt know what.
I didnt hear nothing, didnt see nothing, didnt smell so much as a rabbit fart.
Just, I dunno, I felt something.
It felt… hinky.
Only I ignored it because Im Big Cal and Big Cal dont scare.
Almost shook me off the monkey bars, tell you the truth.
But I kept my grip.
I sat there with my elbows on my knees, hands under my chin.
It was waiting up in the slide tower, lurking in the shadows.
I could hear the flabby flopping lurches of its bloated nasty body scraping against the timbers.
I shoulda ran, I guess, brave or not, but I didnt.
I think maybe I just had to see it with my own eyes.
I had to convince myself there really was something up there.
What did you see?
I whispered, drawn into his tale in spite of myself.
If you ask me to describe what I saw, I cant.
It was gross and grisly, that thing.
It had pale and putrid skin, great busted teeth and glimmering eyes.
It was a thing.
It was a monstrosity.
Or maybe it called to me somehow, all the way from the park to my bedroom.
I think maybe thats it, dont you?
You just dont want to go back for the bicycles, because you dont care.
Well, I do care, and Im going with or without you.
Thats all there is to it!
I didnt mean to call him a liar like that, only I was sure he was lying.
Just trying to put a scare into me.
It wouldnt have been the first time, you understand.
A couple of months ago there was a sort of incident.
I just didnt have the tools at the time to confront that feeling or him for causing it.
I gamely agreed to stake out the basement with nothing but a flashlight and a walkie talkie.
So you could see why I was skeptical.
I was gone before she could issue a word of protest.
He was stuffing this repast into his face as he jogged after me.
I had to chuckle.
He could be a jerk sometimes, but he always came through in the end.
I suppose I have been showing my friend, Caleb, in a bad light.
Youre being an asshat!
Caleb informed me, losing a lump of sausage in the process.
No ones gonna steal your freaking bike from the park tonight!
I decided then to accept whatever answer he had to give.
I felt bad for calling him a liar.
Even if it was true.
But there was something up there, I swear.
I heard it, and it stank, and I saw something.
I dunno, maybe it was a gaggle of crackleheads fighting over the last Bugle.
I laughed, laughed a bit too hard in the dark.
Caleb was right, before.
Something strange, like the yards and the streets didnt belong to anyone.
I was glad he came with me.
Me and Henrietta here.
He always called crackheads crackleheads, which cracked (ha ha) me up.
Henrietta was the name he gave to his weapon of choice, an aluminum baseball bat.
Which of course, I believe with all my heart.
Thanks, Big Cal, I said, and I meant it.
Lets put some boogie in our butts so we can get back to that pizza!
As I said, it wasnt much of a trip if we hurried.
A sharp chilly breeze sent dried leaves corkscrewing through the air with a constant shushing noise.
There was nothing reassuring or familiar about it, then.
It sounded like the whispers of dead children in empty rooms.
I shuddered and wondered what put such a macabre thought in my head.
I looked over at Caleb and saw that similar thoughts must be rushing through his head.
He had Henrietta drawn and was trying to look in every direction at once.
I decided I had better erase the air.
What do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino?
Caleb whispered, snapping his head suddenly to the left as if he heard a branch break.
I didnt hear anything.
What do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino?
Elephino, I said, diffidently.
Nothing, at first, and then a short sharp laugh like a hiccup bubbled from his lips.
Two more quick ones, Heh-heh, and then he said, Good one.
I picked up the pace a little more, the light jog turning into a brisk jog.
We were almost there.
Both our bikes were still right where we left them, completely unmolested.
Why are skeletons so lonely?
I asked him, smirking.
He asked, puffing a bit but in better spirits.
Cause they aint got no body!
Caleb groaned but he smiled as he did it.
Neither of us had anything to report.
Caleb immediately straddled his bike and duck-walked it around in the direction of home.
The twisty tunnel was, by far, my favorite.
I think we should go up to the tower, climb to the top and slide to the bottom.
Lets hit the road, huh?
Ah, come on, I said, You said Big Cal dont scare, right?
Well, I dont want people to think Big Bernie scares either.
Why I tried so hard to sell him on the idea, I cant say.
The final test had to be a confrontation in the tower.
That was just the sort of quest into which the Knights of Greatwood Castle always found themselves embroiled.
At any rate, I could see that Caleb was wavering.
Maybe he saw things the same way I did.
Im sure that was it.
He said, Oh fine, real quick.
Since I felt much the same way, I found his terms easily agreeable.
That was the way one ran the gauntlet.
My mother never quite understood this tradition and the toll it took on my t-shirts.
Mothers never understood such traditions.
In the end Caleb reached the monkey bars first, which granted him a huge advantage in the race.
Dont ask me how I dont know.
He must have been half mountain goat.
I saw the soles of his sneakers disappear over the top before I had reached the halfway point.
He would win the gauntlet for sure now.
Beyond the door and under the towers domed roof, an impenetrable darkness.
I sprinted after Caleb, crossing through that doorway just behind him.
Both of us were breathing hard, clutching one anothers shoulders and laughing.
I guess thats why we didnt hear it at first.
Didnt smell it over the ripe odor of Cheetos, pizza, and Buffalo wings.
There was something in the slide.
What is it?!
I asked, shamed somewhat by the fear that found its way back into my voice.
I wasnt having fun anymore.
Its skin was a greasy, tallowy pale yellow like piss-stained bed sheets.
Caleb turned to run away, only to crash into me.
I was standing, transfixed, giving no thought to the prospect of my own escape.
We bounced apart, and I landed outside the tower on the bridge.
Its underside was busy with writhing feelers and skittering grabbers.
The things clownish mouth split open at the bottom, revealing a bottomless maw of unequaled foulness.
The great beast enveloped itself over the shrieking form of my friend.
It spent a very long time indeed in taking his life.
All the while I could not seem to will my limbs into attempting any manner of escape.
Strangely, it did not strike out at me.
It only looked down upon my prone form, seeming to… smile?
Something from my night in the basement.
After a moment it sucked itself back down the tube and was gone.
For a while, I just sat there.
Just sat there and stared until my own laughter came in hiccups and breathless wheezes.
I laughed and I tugged at my hair, and I thought I would go mad.
Then I laughed harder.
It told me in a voice older than time and far more terrible, that it was a wyrm.
Perhaps, it mused, the last of its kind.
So, over the millennia, it had wasted away and grown weak.
There the wyrm could lay in ambush and consume the child at its leisure.
Together we hatched our plan and sealed our covenant.
When I got home, no one asked about Caleb or even seemed to wonder where I had been.
It was as though Caleb never existed, except that I remembered him.
Soon thereafter, I learned that the wyrm kept to the rest of its word.
It was only the beginning.
I have more wealth than any man or dragon could ever need.
Ive never once questioned the cost.
I can see it in your eyes!
You understand now why we are here, dont you?
No, dont get up, its too late now.
It has come for you.
