Michael Rowe - Enter, Night

“End of the line,” he joked. “This is where everyone gets off.”

“Billy-?”

“Mom, come on,” Morgan’s voice was urgent. She didn’t look at Billy. She opened the side door of the truck and jumped out. She grabbed at her mother’s arm and practically pulled her out. “I want to be in the church. Right now . Please.”

“Morgan, you go on inside,” Christina said, shaking off Morgan’s hand on her arm. “Wait for me. I want to talk to Billy for a minute.”

“Mom, no! Now! ” Morgan shouted. “I’m not going in without you! Don’t talk to him! We don’t have time!” Morgan stared defiantly at Billy. He looked back at her. Wordless communication passed between them. Then Billy looked away.

“She’s right, Christina,” Billy said finally. “Go inside where you’ll be safe. It’s open. Get some sleep. Then, tomorrow, take my truck and go.”

Christina pleaded. “Stay with us. Come inside and wait until sunrise. Then leave with us in the morning. There’s nothing for you here.”

“Mom, please !”

“Goodbye, Christina,” Billy said. “I have to go back.” He stepped away from the church, out of the ring of light, and walked into the shadows beyond it.

A trick of the lamplight, Christina thought. I can still see his eyes . Then Billy Lightning was swallowed wholly by the darkness.

Morgan woke to the soundof rocks falling on the stained glass windows.

The sound startled her and she sat up. Then she remembered. Oh yes, she thought. We’re in the church. They can’t get us here. That’s why we’re here. She looked at her watch. It was four o’clock in the morning. Dawn was still three hours away.

Beside her, Christina moaned softly in her sleep and turned over. She’s dreaming, Morgan realized. She reached out and gently touched Christina’s blonde hair. Her mother’s eyes were ringed with blue-black circles, and the skin on either side of her nose was dull red and raw in the dim overhead lights of the church. Christina looked exhausted. Morgan wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before. Then she realized why-Christina hadn’t wanted her to see it. Her mother had been trying to protect her in every possible way since they’d arrived in Parr’s Landing. But in sleep, the lie failed and her face told the truth.

The scattershot of stones on glass came again.

Morgan reached over and shook her mother’s arm. “Mom? Mom, wake up. There’s someone outside. I’m scared.”

But Christina slept on, oblivious. Morgan held the St. Christopher’s medal tightly in her hands. The silver was warm, and comforting somehow.

The rocks came again, this time harder and more insistent. She ran to the window and tried to see outside, but it was impossible. This time the stones bounced off the glass directly in front of her.

“Go away!” she screamed. “Leave us alone!”

The voice that answered her was as clear as water. A soft voice. A boy’s voice.

“Morgan. It’s me, Finn. Come outside.”

“Finn?” she cried joyously. “Is that you? Are you OK?”

“It’s me, Morgan,” he said. “I’m OK. Come outside.”

“I can’t, Finn,” she said. “I’m not allowed.”

Finn’s voice was impatient. “Come to the front door of the church, anyway. I’ll be on the front steps.”

Morgan looked at Christina sleeping on the pew. “Mom,” she whispered. “Mom, wake up. Can you hear me?” There was no answer. Christina slept on. “Finn’s here. I’m going to go and see him. I’ll be right back. Is it OK?” She won’t even know I was gone, Morgan rationalized. I’ll be back before she wakes up. Finn’s alive! Finn’s alive!

She walked the length of the nave and opened the church doors wide to welcome Finn back.

Finn stood on a small riseof accumulated snow on the lawn of the church.

His feet looked frail and blue in the light, and there was no disturbance in the snow leading in any direction to or from where stood. The wind whipped his dark hair about his face and the fabric of the pyjamas billowed ludicrously around his thin body.

Morgan stared. “Finn? Is that you? What are you doing there? It’s freezing ! Come in here where it’s warm.”

“Yeah, it’s me,” he said ruefully. “I’m always coming to you, aren’t I? I wish I was older so I could have been your boyfriend, then I could have taken care of you .”

“Finn, what are you talking about? You did take care of me. You saved my from my grandmother back at the house. You saved my life.”

He went on as though he hadn’t heard her. “You’re really pretty, Morgan.” He looked like he could be blushing, but in the light it was hard to tell. “Can I tell you something?” He sounded gently embarrassed, but didn’t wait for her to answer. “I… I love you, Morgan. I guess I have, from the moment I saw you outside the school that day.”

“Oh, Finn.” Morgan’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t a better friend to you. I’m so sorry.”

He paused. “You know, right? You know what happened to me?”

Morgan shook her head, but even as she did so, she realized she did know. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. The tears that had been brimming in her eyes spilled down her cheeks.

“He took me away,” Finn said darkly. “He took me to the caves up by Spirit Rock. He changed me. To punish me. You know. For, well, for what I did. You know, with the holy water.” Finn shivered. “He did awful things to me up there,” he said. “He’s terrible, Morgan. He’s so old . He’s been waiting up there for hundreds of years. Waiting for someone to wake him up. Someone did. Some crazy person. That day I found his bag with all the knives in it-that was his. For waking him up.”

Morgan glanced back towards the church doors, feeling a sudden stab of fear. She clapped her hands over her ears to block out the sound of Finn’s voice.

This isn’t Finn, dummy. It used to be, but it isn’t, now. He’s something… well, someone else. Like Grandmother Parr was.

But then, Grandmother was sort of like that even before, wasn’t she?

Finn sighed. “I’m the same person, Morgan. I’m not going to hurt you. I promise. And you were hearing me in the church even though I was outside, so don’t bother covering your ears.”

Morgan’s voice quivered. She pointed through the open doors, into the nave. “My mother is in there. She’s sleeping.”

“Your mom won’t wake up till I want her to. She’s just asleep, don’t worry.”

“You won’t hurt her, either? You promise?”

“Your mom is a nice lady,” Finn said, sounding wounded. “She was nice to me. I would never hurt her.” He smiled, showing the small pearlescent fangs of a twelve-year-old boy on the edge of manhood, a state he would never attain. “She was nice to me. Of course I won’t hurt her. I needed to see you before…”

“Before what?” she demanded.

He was silent, unmoving from his spot atop the mound of snow.

“It hurts,” Finn said. His voice was small and hollow, even where it echoed inside her head. “It hurts something awful. It’s not like I thought it would be. In my comics, the vampires forget about their lives and they stop feeling bad about it. Not me-I remember everything . And I still miss my dog. Sadie tried to protect me from this. She knew what was waiting up here.”

Morgan was trembling. She wrapped her arms around her torso and rubbed them, trying to warm herself.

“You’re cold,” Finn said. “You should go inside.”