Meeting at Church

At my church, there’s an area with picnic benches set out. It’s meant as a sort of peaceful place, almost like a mini park. That’s where I headed this afternoon when I went to meet Arthur and his friend… and sure enough, they were sitting at one of the tables when I arrived.

Now that I wasn’t in danger of being killed right then and there, I was able to get a better look at them. It was… well… pitiful. Though they had changed into some new clothes from the last time I had seen them, they were still filthy and fraying around the ends. Both were unshaven, and Arthur looked like he was in constant pain (which isn’t surprising, considering he has a wound on his arm and on his chest). Both had hiking backpacks placed next to them, ready to go on a moment’s notice.

Just seeing them like that reaffirmed my fears in running. I’ve had people telling me in the comments that I need to start running, but… I don’t want to end up in Arthur’s position. He not only has these… these things after him, but he constantly has to survive the elements when on the run. And if my meeting with him was any indication, it’s a losing battle.

They saw me approaching and Arthur came up to greet me, a tired smile on his face. His friend was keeping watch, and I’m almost certain he had his revolver hidden in his jacket pocket.

“Glad you could make it.”

“You told me you’d explain everything.” (I probably sounded a bit harsher than I intended in retrospect)  “So…”

Arthur motioned for me to have a seat. “Right, of course. I’ll try my best to explain.”

We talked for about two hours. I don’t remember all of the conversation, but I’ll do my best to summarize it.

About a year ago, the things happening to me right now were occurring to Arthur. He started seeing another one of these creatures – the Rake, I believe it’s called? – and it culminated in him running from his home with the creature on his heels. Though the Rake was dealt with during the summer (Arthur refused to elaborate on the matter further despite my requests), another being appeared during the early spring – the Smiler. For some reason that even Arthur can’t explain, the Smiler started coming after him, leaving a trail of bodies as it approached his location. Arthur managed to get around it in order to get back to town, but that didn’t deter it in the slightest. That’s why the murders began again – or rather, a second spree of murders started up. Arthur says that Wallace is the first killer, and this Smiler is some sort of…  being that entered the world through him, hence why the Smiler looks so much like Wallace.

“However, the Smiler isn’t omniscient. It didn’t know exactly where I was hiding, so…”

“So it started killing kids at the high school, knowing you might be friends with some of them.”

“Yeah…”

“… And you didn’t try to stop it then?”

“We didn’t have --”

“Arthur, why did you help me?”

Arthur looked to his companion and then down at the ground. “You don’t remember at all, do you?”

The question confused me. “What?”

“The guy in Lois’ diary, Sarah. The one you thought Vincent was lying about. You said you don’t remember anything about him, but I thought… maybe appearing in person it would help…”

Everything started to fit together…  Lois’ entries, Vincent’s ‘lie’, Arthur showing up at our youth group out of the blue… I didn’t remember him. I still don’t, but it makes too much sense that I can’t ignore it.

Arthur sighed, shifting his gaze away from me. “I’m sorry--”

“It came after me because of you.”

Arthur started shaking his head, but his eyes betrayed him. “I didn’t want to get you involved at first. I thought you were safe, like my family. It… It was stupid of me, Sarah--”

I… I got a little angry here, I’ll admit. He continued to try and justify himself, but… I didn’t want to hear him. Arthur’s the reason why this has happened to me – maybe even the reason why Vincent has stuff happening to him. I… I didn’t respond. After a while, Arthur gave up. And then, another thought popped into my mind…

“You used me as bait…?”

His companion spoke for him. “In a manner of speaking. Given the situation, you’d have done the same thing in order to put a stop to it.”

“But it’s not putting a stop to it. Haven’t you all read the other blogs…?”

At this point, they seemed confused. Arthur, at least, seemed to know a little about what I was mentioning. “We didn’t get the same kind of help you did, Sarah. Martin here didn’t even know what these things were until the Smiler…” Arthur trailed off, looking at his friend. There seemed to be something understood between the two of them, but… I couldn’t tell what it was. Arthur looked back at me, his shoulders sagging. “He… lost someone close to him.”

I turned to look at Arthur’s companion, Martin; a dark look had passed across his face. I couldn’t tell if it was sadness or anger… it might have even been a mixture of the two. I decided not to press the issue further and turned back to Arthur. “So… You were using me to try to stop it.”

Arthur nodded. “I didn’t want to get you involved, but after stuff started to happen to you… Well, there was little to no choice. I’m… sorry.” His voice broke at the last line and that’s when I knew he really meant it. I let go of my anger right there and nodded in understanding.

“I… thank you both. For saving me.”

Martin barked a laugh. “Yeah, right. There’s still a lot we need to take care of, first and foremost being this Karrel guy.”

The remark took me off guard. I knew that they had knowledge of Vincent (that’s how Arthur found my own blog, I believe), but I didn’t know they knew the extent of Vincent’s recent… experiences. “What do you mean?”

“I think you know full well what we mean, Sarah,” Arthur murmured, looking down at his hands.

I looked between the two of them for an answer, and after a few moments I got one.

“Vincent Karrel needs to die.”

I sat there for a few moments in stunned silence. I didn’t like Vincent because of what he’d done to Lois, but… It’s not like I wanted to murder him. I shook my head. “No way. I’m not doing it.”

“That thing is inside of him, and it is growing stronger every day,” Martin started to say, but I interrupted him.

“How do you know that? Arthur said you didn’t even know about these things!”

Martin laughed, his arm making a broad, sweeping gesture. “Have you not seen this town? Every day, things are getting worse and worse! I may not know about these creatures, but I sure as Hell know what they can do. And that Smiling Man? It’s not the reason why everyone’s been so uptight and hostile lately.”

And… he has a point, I must admit. The anger towards Lois, Vincent getting assaulted after school… Even other things that I haven’t mentioned, like raised voices between the employees of a fast food joint and their customers, or a drunk being faced with assault charges because he had broken an officer’s arm.  And whatever is within Vincent, it seems to have some sort of role in this.

But… I am not an advocate of murder, no matter the circumstances.

“Then what are you going to do? Wait until Vincent actually gets around to killing someone?” Martin asked, his head tilted as if questioning me. I shook my head.

“No, I’m going to talk to him. He needs someone to talk to, and…”

Arthur finished my statement for me. “And you think this Vivian girl and her gang aren’t the best influence.”

I nodded. “I don’t know them personally, but Lois has told me about them before. They’re the kind of person to push Vincent in the other direction.”

“Right.”

So… yeah. We started forming a plan on what we were going to do. Arthur and Martin are going to lay low for a little while, mentioning something about keeping an eye on me (though the police have done such a good job at that, so why would I want them replaced?). As soon as I can, I’m going to try and talk to Vincent about what’s going on. He needs to know what’s happening before… before things go from bad to worse.

The rest of the time was spent talking about some of the other Fears and what we should watch out for, should more of them begin to appear in town. As soon as we approached the subject of the Archangel, things got a little quiet.

“So…” Arthur began.

“I think what Art’s trying to say is… what are we going to do about this other thing? We can’t exactly shoot it, what with it appearing as dead people and all…” Martin and Arthur’s gaze were on me, and I could tell they didn’t have a plan. I mean… I don’t know why they were looking to me for the answers. I don’t know how to deal with these beings.

“It… it seems to have taken a passive stance so far. Let’s just pray it stays that way.”

"And if it doesn't?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

That seemed to be good enough for the two of them. They started to pack up a little while after that, replying that if I ever needed them to just leave a note on the blog.

*Sigh*

Well... Time to get started. Wish me luck.