Jeff Strand - Dweller

No.

“Okay, see, if you’re already unwilling to compromise, then this whole idea is over. You remember what happened last time. There is no way in hell I’m going to let anything happen to my son. Not one scratch. So you can work with me, or I’ll be your only company for the rest of your life. Your choice. So what about the cage? You think that might be all right?”

Owen hung his head a bit. Yes.

“It may not have to be a cage. I’m going to look at chains. Chains can be stylish. They make you look tough. But I need to make it very clear that you will be restrained, and if you’re going to fight me on that, it’s no deal. I don’t want to spend the money for a cage or chains until I’m positive that you’re all right with the idea. Are you?”

Yes.

Owen didn’t look cool in the chains. He actually looked kind of pathetic. But still, the plan was coming together.

“Tug,” Toby said.

Owen wore a thick leather strap around his neck, which was connected to a chain that was wrapped around a tree. Owen was pretty damn strong, but he didn’t have the strength to rip trees out by the roots, and according to the guy at the hardware store, this chain “could withstand a half dozen elephants pulling on it at once.” Toby doubted that this claim had been tested in the field, but it was definitely a solid chain.

Owen signed: Heavy. This was made more difficult for him because he was also chained by the wrists.

“I know it’s heavy. But you can handle it for a while, right?”

Yes.

“So tug.”

Owen yanked on the chains.

“No, really tug. I’ll know if you’re faking, so give it everything that you’ve got.”

Owen pulled against his restraints, teeth clenched together, muscles bulging. Those chains, and those trees, weren’t going anywhere.

“Good job,” said Toby. He walked over to the cooler, opened it, and took out a surprise. “If you can break free, I’ll give you this banana split. Otherwise, I’m eating it myself.” He spooned up a bite and slowly slid it into his mouth. “Mmmmmm.”

Yeah, it was a mean thing to do, but he really had to make sure that Owen couldn’t break free. And Owen strained to get the ice cream, strained so hard that he thought the monster might start popping blood vessels. But the chains and the trees held.

“Perfect. I was only kidding-of course you can have the ice cream.” Toby walked over, unlocked Owen’s right wrist, and gave him the bowl. Owen raised it to his face and licked up the banana split within seconds.

It was set. Tomorrow he’d bring Garrett.

“How good are you at keeping secrets?”

“Good.”

Toby shook his head. “That’s not enough. I need you to be the biggest secret keeper in the entire world. Even better than the president. Do you know how many secrets the president keeps?”

“No,” Garrett admitted.

“He keeps thousands of secrets. He knows things that could destroy the entire United States if he let them get out. That’s how serious I am.”

Garrett looked doubtful. “You’re going to tell me something that could destroy the entire United States?”

“No, not that extreme, but I would like to show you something that you can never tell. You can’t tell Mommy, you can’t tell Hannah, you can’t tell Mrs. Kingston, you can’t tell anybody in your class…nobody. No matter how much you want to tell, you can’t tell this secret to anybody, no matter who asks.”

“What about the president?”

Toby pointed to the ground. “If the president were standing right here, right now, I wouldn’t tell him. He might say, ‘Darn it, Toby, I demand that you tell me this secret or I’ll have the entire Secret Service punch you for hours!’ and I would say, ‘No, I refuse to tell my secret.’ But if you can keep it to yourself, I’ll tell you.”

Eyes wide, Garrett nodded. “I won’t tell.”

“Do you swear?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you blood swear?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s where we cut our hands and press them together, and swear in blood that we won’t tell.”

Garrett looked a bit tentative, but nodded.

“I won’t really make you blood swear. Mommy wouldn’t like that. But I think you’re old enough, so we’re going for a walk in the woods…”

“If you get scared, it’s okay,” Toby assured him. “I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do. Just know that you’ll be safe, I promise. I’ll take care of you. Are you scared now?”

“No.”

“Good.”

They weren’t far from the shack-maybe another two minutes of walking. What if this was a really, really, really bad idea?

It wasn’t. He’d taken almost absurd safety measures. There was no possible way Owen could escape. Even if he somehow developed supernatural strength and broke free from one of the chains, there’d be two more holding him, each fastened to a different tree so even if the tree itself ripped in half he couldn’t get loose. And if a chain broke, Garrett wouldn’t be anywhere near close enough to get hurt by a swinging claw.

It was completely safe.

Maybe not safe from weeks of nightmares, but Toby just knew that Garrett would understand. He’d be delighted.

The three of them, friends forever.

The shack came into view. “Remember your promise,” Toby said. “It’s a blood swear.”

“I know.”

“We’re almost there, then. It’s behind that little house.”

Owen looked extremely unhappy in his chains, but that changed as soon as he saw Toby and Garrett. His face lit up and he stood up straight.

Garrett stopped walking. He gasped and clenched Toby’s hand tight.

“It’s okay,” said Toby. “He can’t get loose.”

“Daddy, I want to go home.”

“He won’t-”

“Daddy, I want to go home!”

“Okay, okay, we can go.” Toby led him back through the trees, away from Owen, who let out a whine of disappointment. “I should’ve told you what we were going to see, it was my mistake, I’m sorry.”

“What is it?”

“It’s my friend.”

Garrett scowled as he tried to process that. “Is it-is it a guy in a costume?”

“No. He’s real. He won’t hurt you, I promise. He lives in the forest. I’ve known him since I was a kid.”

“You have not.”

“I have! I blood swear that I have. I wouldn’t play a joke like this on you. He’s my best friend. His name is Owen.”

“Owen?”

“Yep.”

“Is he always locked up?”

“No. I did that for you. He won’t hurt you, but I didn’t want you to be scared of him. He’d like to say hi to you.”

“He talks?”

“Not like you and I talk, but he can do hand signals. I’m going to leave it up to you. We can go home, and maybe come back some other day, or we can go over now and see him. Just remember that you promised not to tell anybody.”

“I won’t.”

“Do you want to see him?”

Garrett considered that for a long moment. “Yeah.”

They walked back around the shack. Twenty feet away, Owen’s chains rattled as he signaled: Hello.

“Say hello,” Toby urged.

“Hello, Owen.”

Hello, Owen repeated.

“Is he a Bigfoot?” Garrett asked.

“I don’t think so. He might be a Bigfoot’s cousin. I don’t know what he is, for sure. Nobody else knows about him, though. Just you and me.”

Well, nobody else alive…

“Can I go closer?”

“No.”

“Does he like the chains?”

“He hates the chains. Don’t you, Owen? You hate those things.”

Yes.

“See? He can do thumbs-up to mean yes. Ask him a question. He doesn’t always understand, but he can get it a lot of the time.”