Small towns know how to do festivals. There was a pumpkin carving booth where kids could create holiday masterpieces, dozens of booths filled with every kind of homemade pie you could imagine. Burgers, chili, corndogs, funnel cake, popcorn, and sausages of various shapes and sizes. Carnival games were scattered throughout the town, with the ferris wheel attracting the longest lines. The whirl-a-twirl wasn’t far behind, but mostly boys waited to see who could keep their dinner down the longest after being spun in dizzying circles.
People seemed to be having a good time, either oblivious to the town’s troubles, or choosing to remain blissful in their ignorance. Sam and Bobby worked the crowd with fake grins while Larry and Max marched into Harper’s Woods.
* * * * * * * * * *
Larry and Max walked silently through town, into Harper’s Woods, and began the fifteen-minute hike to the edge of the forest.
Five minutes into the journey, Max spoke. “Sheriff, you can’t really believe all this nonsense, can you? I mean, you’re an educated man – smarter than most around these parts. Curses and monsters and saviors – it’s fairy tale bologna.”
Larry sighed deeply while he walked. “I don’t know, Max. If you would have asked me two days ago about the legend, I would have told you the same thing. But how do you explain the deer, Charlie, and that storm? And, you even said it yourself, who fired that shot last night?”
“Everything has a logical explanation, sheriff. You learn that when you spend a lifetime out here in these woods. Animals all have their habits, and they cling to them for dear life. Migration patterns, escape routes, defense mechanisms – you learn the logic behind their movements, and they don’t stand a chance.”
“Yeah, I guess people are the same way. I didn’t spend the past thirty years out here, but that jungle back there,” Larry pointed toward Bayberry Cove, “can be just as predictable.”
“How so?”
“Just like you said, Max – habits, patterns of behavior. Right now, I know Sam and Bobby are both wearing those fake smiles, sweating like caged pigs on slaughtering day.” Max chuckled. “My wife is off investigating this story. You can bet on that.”
“You told your wife about Boreas?”
“Heck no. What am I, crazy? But she’s smart. Smarter than me. She knew something was wrong, even before Charlie washed up on shore. Hell, she’s probably closer to solving this mystery than we are.”
Max laughed again.
“And the reason I didn’t feel bad about leaving Jed and Caroline alone on Mt. Misery? I knew Jed would find her. That boy’s in love, even if he doesn’t realize it yet. A prince always finds his princess. They’ll be ok until we get back to them.”
“Wow, sheriff, I am impressed.”
“Well, you learn to understand people after studying them for so long. It’s like a sixth sense,” Larry replied proudly.
The two men slowed as they reached the treeline separating them from the rest of the world. Larry turned to survey the land to his right, then back to his left. He heard Max’s voice behind him. “I’m surprised,” Max said calmly.
“About what?” asked Larry.
“With your sixth sense and all, I’m surprised you didn’t see this coming.”
An explosion of sound and light. A sharp pain filled Larry’s body as the bullet split his shoulder blades and pierced his heart. He fell to the ground and clutched his chest. Max stood over the sheriff and stared as his latest prey.
“Max,” Larry coughed, “what are you doing!”
“I’m sorry, sheriff. Really, I am. You’re sixth sense is probably kicking in right now, so you already realize I killed that deer two nights ago. And I actually did take that shot last night.”
Larry’s eyelids grew heavy. “What? Why?”
“You were right, sheriff. People and animals are a lot alike. This town is so predictable. You are so predictable. Suggestin’ we go off into the woods by ourselves? I couldn’t have planned it better myself. You know why people never leave this town, sheriff? Because they are scared to death of what is on the other side of these trees. Their precious illusion of security – this town’s most impenetrable prison.”
“I don’t understand,” Larry exhaled. It was his last breath.
Max finished him off with another shot. “You would understand,” he said to the lifeless corpse, “if you knew what I know.”
Max dragged Larry’s body out of Harper’s Woods, across the creek, and disappeared over the horizon.
