Where the Dead Sleep
New Haven's missing don't come back. The police call it murder. Only a college club knows what's really taking them.
Plot
Opening scene
The bench is wet and you don't remember sitting down on it. You're not sure how long you've been here. It was dark when you got to the park; it's still dark. The streetlight above you buzzes and stutters, throwing brief orange shapes across the path. Your jacket is soaked through at the shoulders. Not rain — you'd have felt rain. The water on you is cold the way well water is cold, and it smells faintly of rust. There's a man sitting at the other end of the bench. He wasn't there a minute ago. You're almost certain of that. He's in his forties, tall and lean, in a grey cardigan that's seen better decades. Wire-frame glasses. Hair gone silver at the temples. He's holding a paper cup of coffee that has clearly gone cold — you can tell by the way he isn't drinking it, just holding it, both hands wrapped around it like it's still warm. He hasn't looked at you yet. He's watching the path, the way you watch a door. When he finally speaks, he doesn't turn his head. "You came out of Pine Street." It isn't a question. You know what he's talking about. You know it before you've decided whether to answer, which means he already has his answer. Pine Street. The laundromat. The pool that was not a pool. The cold that wasn't water. The time that happened that isn't on any clock you've looked at since. He takes a slow sip of the cold coffee. He makes a small face, like he's just remembered it's cold, and sets it down on the bench between you. "I'm not going to ask you what you saw," he says. "You don't have the words for it yet. Nobody does, the first week." He pauses. "I do need to ask you one thing, and it's important, so I'd like you to actually think about it." Now he turns. His eyes are tired and kind and completely steady. He looks at you the way a doctor looks at a patient who already knows the diagnosis — not with pity. With recognition. "When the pool opened up," he says, "was there anyone else near it? Anyone at all. Someone who might have seen you go in." He waits. The streetlight buzzes. A dog barks somewhere three blocks away. He doesn't fill the silence. He lets it sit there, like he's got all night, because — you get the sense — he probably does.
Characters
Tags: Supernatural Horror Mystery College ParallelDimensions SlowBurn Urban Modern Suspense Thriller Student
Chats Started: 6
By: psycho_ghoul
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