“How am I supposed to know? Just relax and she’ll be here soon.”
The boys were standing on the cove’s northern shore, as far away from the forest as they could possibly be. Caroline hadn’t specified where they were supposed to meet, but the full length of the shoreline was less than two miles, so it was unlikely the three teenagers would miss each other.
"What's that noise?" Bobby asked with a shaky voice.
"Bobby, you are starting to drive me crazy. Just take a deep breath and relax."
"I swear I hear somethin' splashin' around out there, Jed."
"You ever think there may be a few fish out there? Or heck, maybe your squirrel is taking a swim."
Before Bobby could retort, both boys heard a loud noise coming from the opposite direction. They spun in a synchronized panic. Caroline’s silhouette was dark against the moonlight pressing at her back. Jed and Bobby both breathed a sigh of relief as she approached. “What took you so long?” Bobby whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” Caroline shouted.
“Shhhhhh, Caroline, someone will hear us!” Bobby whispered again.
“If you whisper one more time I will scream,” she threatened.
“Both of you stop it,” Jed demanded. “My parents are going to wonder where I am pretty soon. What is this top secret information you need to tell us?”
“So, I told you the mayor wouldn’t give me any information about the urban legends, but there was someone in town that did.”
“Who?” asked Jed.
“Charlie.”
“Crazy old Charlie that sits in the library all day? You dragged us all the way out here to tell us about the ramblings of some crazy old man?” replied Jed.
“He’s not crazy,” Caroline assured the two boys. “He was one of the only people alive in this town the last time the beast and the creature appeared.”
“The creature?” asked Bobby. “Now there's a creature? Now there are two of them?”
“Here is what I know,” Caroline began. “First, you have to understand the geography of Bayberry Cove.”
“We all took geography class in school,” said Bobby. “Get on with it.”
“Listen, loser, this is important, so pay attention.” Caroline picked up a nearby stick to draw in the wet sand. She drew a semicircle that looked like a crescent moon. “This is the cove. This is all water.” She pointed to the inside of the semicircle and drew waves. “And this is the town.” She drew a big square attached to the tip of the crescent moon and wrote BC in the middle. “Now, everything to the south and west of the town is a densely wooded forest.” She drew a few dozen lines to represent trees. “And everything to the north is part of Mt. Misery.” She drew a big triangle and a few smaller triangles to represent the mountain range. “So, water to the east, woods to the south and west, and mountains to the north.”
“No kiddin’, Caroline, what’s your point?” asked Bobby.“My point is, no one ever leaves this town because no one can get out.”
The two boys looked at each other but didn’t have to say a word. Caroline knew what they were thinking.
“You know the legends. A beast roams the forest to keep people from escaping west. A creature lurks in the cove to keep people from escaping to the east.”
“And Santa Claus brings us presents every December; the Easter bunny drops off baskets of chocolate eggs; the tooth fairy gave me money every time a molar fell out of my mouth; the Loch Ness Monster is hanging out in Scotland; Big Foot has a weekly poker game with Dracula and Frankenstein…”
“Ok, I get it,” Caroline interrupted.
Jed continued, “It just doesn’t make any sense, Caroline. Ok, let’s say you are right. No one can ever leave this town. Don’t you think people would notice that we are all stuck here?” Caroline opened her mouth, but Jed kept speaking. “And if there is some magical reason we don’t notice we are all stuck here, then how are we even having this conversation? Wouldn’t that keep us from figuring out the secret?”
Caroline looked confused. Jed and Bobby stared at her and waited for an answer. After sixty seconds of silence, the two boys stood and started walking away from the shoreline. Before they could pass out of earshot, Caroline called out, “I’ll give you two the choice. We either go for a swim right now, or we sneak out later tonight and go for a hike into the forest. Either way, if I’m crazy, we’ll make it out of Bayberry Cove. If I’m not crazy, we’ll run into the beast or the creature. Or, are you two big, strong men too scared?”
Jed and Bobby looked at each other, then back to Caroline. Jed spoke first, “We’re not scared, but we’re not going swimming in the dark. Meet us at the tree house in an hour and we’ll go for that hike.”
Jed turned his back to Caroline and walked quickly through the sand. Bobby jogged to keep up. In between gasps, he said, “Jed, I don’t know if that is such a good idea.”
“It’s probably not, Bobby, but we can’t back out now. Dress in all black, bring a flashlight, and meet at my house in fifty minutes. Oh, and bring your dad’s hunting knife. I’m going to bring my BB gun.”
“Jed, if we run into the thing that snapped that elk’s neck, we’re goin’ to need more than a BB gun and a huntin’ knife.”
“Just bring the knife, Bobby. And don’t say a word about this to anybody, especially your dad.”
