23.

No longer in the company of Mary's seven-year-old brother Todd, Terrence is not going to worry just yet. This is not a game he is playing, still, Terrence wants to beat this place, get some answers, find out all he can then escape its clutches with as many of those with whom he knows are missing. It's relatively simple really, or maybe not.

A change of strategy or a change of plan is on the cards whether a plan could have been strategized at all. Moving from a trail which has proved to be somewhat active onto another trail where progress can hopefully be made, is something which might really set things on a path going forwards.

Moving off and away from the Canal walk or the River trail, Terrence moves to the Horse-Chestnut trail, a walkway where it is known that a sixty-four-year-old man named Cecil Lynch was last seen, in the hopes of seeing this man and getting the ball rolling once again so to speak.

The path or ground up here is wide and tarmacked, where down on the Canal walk the ground walkway can get quite narrow in parts, and quite muddy too depending on condition. Up here has a real autumn feel. There is a slight chill in the air. The ground is littered with leaves of brown, yellow and orange and the trees either side of the walkway strangely support leaves a plenty and leaves of a strong green too.

Up here it is easy to imagine a father nearing retirement age out walking with his grown daughter. Such a peaceful walkway that if it weren't for what this place really is then one could almost lose oneself in the assumed pleasantness of the surroundings. There are many birds flying overhead and many more in the treetops singing to their hearts content.

These birds, flying over and in the trees, are they lost too to time and to whatever else belongs here? Did they hear a calling and come duly? Robin Redbreasts, Sparrows, Magpies, and the likes, indeed under different circumstances this place really could be a nice place to be. Initially, there is no sign of anyone, never mind a man of sixty-four years. With time being irrelevant there is no need to hurry. Terrence can take whatever comes his way at his own pace.

Again, under any other circumstances there would be a need to worry about the loss of a seven-year-old boy though in that, the seven-year-old boy has been missing for fifteen years and apparently just fine. Yeah, this place can really play all sorts of mind games.

The further down this trail the higher an incline on its left-hand side goes, something that Terrence can't help but notice. Nothing in particular worrying looking about this incline rather it is something that looks as peaceful as it does beautiful. If whatever force present in this place actually had a say in where it is that it would come to be then it definitely could be said that it has good taste at that.

This stretch of park is also as good a spot as any for two boys to fool around on and this is exactly what Terrence comes to see. There are two young lads close by, both calm as you like. He pays little or no attention towards the boys until it hits him. Out of all those of whom Terrence is aware are missing due to whatever this park is, sure aren't two of them boys? Fourteen-year-old friends in fact.

At any given time, there would people in this place who are not missing and who are not lost to time and Terrence is aware of this and he has considered the fact that if he himself could be considered lost then he may not be able to interact with all with whom he sees. A possibility exists that he could attempt to talk with someone with whom, from their vantage point, are incapable of seeing him. Sure, such a thing has more or less already occurred. An older Mary came to this place. She herself is not lost to it, in such lays this difficulty with communicating with her.

Coming close to these boys, yeah, they look like they are about fourteen years of age. The two of them do fool around with the fallen leaves paying little attention to the man coming their way. When the boys are close enough, Terrence has a question to ask of them.

'Excuse me. Are you boys Jeremy Wright and Kenneth Torrance.'

Neither boy particularly wants to answer that. It is not because they fear the person asking this question, but more what being truthful could mean since it is because they have skipped school that has then right here and right now. They do think it best to be honest but only after a few seconds of contemplation. They consider that there could be another reason as to why this stranger knows their names.

'Why? Are we in trouble?'

'No, nothing of the likes, can I ask you boys ... what date do you think today is?

The two boys look at one another as if to ask each other of the possibility that this guy before them is crazy or something. He possible is just that, however Kenneth answers.

'It's the thirteenth of March.'

'What year?'

Yeah, the guy has to be crazy.

'Please guys, can you tell me what the year is?'

'It's 2000, what are you, stupid?' asks Jeremy. He didn't mean it the way it sounded. It was just the way it came out.

'I came into this park less than half an hour ago. What if I were to tell you that for me it is September 2017?'

The two boys look at the man before them and then back at one another before breaking into a fit of laughter.

'Neither of you know who I am, right?' asks Terrence.

'Right' both boys say.

'Then how would I know who you both are? And why would I lie about the date?'

There are shrugs and 'I don't knows'.

'What if I were to tell you both that you have been missing for almost seventeen and a half years? ... This is why I know both your names ...'

At this point a sound begins to emanate from over that incline that had already grabbed Terrence's attention. This noise, it sounds like some sort of power tool, a chainsaw perhaps. The sound gets a little louder. It definitely is the sound of a chainsaw. Terrence and the boys look up towards the general area that sound seems to be hiding behind. Is someone cutting trees, or something else perhaps, in a place like this of all places?

Things really get a little odd and a heck of a lot frightening too, for a man with a fully functioning chainsaw comes from over that incline. He looks frustrated, enraged even. Who the heck is this guy? Wearing dungarees and with his hair fairly messed up, chainsaw operating man does not look all so friendly, in fact he looks as if he is on his way to hurt, maim and kill anyone who crosses his path.

Terrence has no idea as to who this guy is, nothing he has come across prior to entering the park has given him any indication as to who this chainsaw guy might be though right now this is the least of his concerns. Right now, his face has as much fear etched upon it as there is upon each of the boys' faces, both of whom are more than a little lost within this moment.

'We're so sorry' and 'we believe you' words spoken by the boys one after the other half in assumption that the chainsaw man has something to do with the stranger who has come their way. And as they speak these words, they, along with Terrence run off in and among the trees on the right-hand side.

'That man has nothing to do with me guys' Terrence says doing his upmost to keep up a running pace close to how quickly the boys are running. Still the chainsaw roars, he ... whomever he is ... is coming their way ...

24.

September sixteenth, 2018, Mary's parents stand outside their daughter's front door. They aren't alone either. Two police officers stand behind them at their request. It is out of concern for her well-being that this visit has come. Multiple phone calls going unanswered and unreturned, continuing on, and getting to a point where only voicemail is being reached is only just the beginning.

Mary had always been a slim lady, not overly much so but still slim, a health kind of slim. In recent months her weight has dropped, she has gone right into herself, hardly ever leaving her own home. People don't see her so much anymore, not her friends, not her family and certainly not her parents.

'Mary honey' mom calls out loud enough so she can be heard from inside. 'Please let us in, we know you are home.'

There is no reply of any sort, so dad speaks out next.

'C'mon now Mary, it's just myself and your mother here. We are worried about you. Why don't you let us in love, huh, what do you say?'

Still a response does not come. It is early afternoon, a bright and warm afternoon, weather very unlike what had come a year prior yet all the curtains within this home are pulled close, probably have been like this for more than a day or two. Seconds pass, minutes pass. Mom offers a nod to the police officers, time for them to do what it is they have come to do.

Inside and upstairs in the darkest corner of her own bedroom, Mary cowers shaking, sitting in a pool of her own urine. All around the room are fallen leaves of brown, orange and yellow. They cover the flooring and parts of the bed. How long has Mary been this exact position? A couple of days at least, three heavy thumps on her front door and access has been achieved.

Mum gets to Mary first and it takes Mary a moment or two to realize whose company she now is in. Further aid is on the way, paramedics provide the immediate attention then it is hospitalization from here on in.

***

'I see them both sometimes you know' Mary tells the doctor that looks after her case during one of their sessions together. 'It used to be Todd I would dream of, then I would see Terry and Todd but Terry more so of late.'

It is a cool mid-December day, and a light snow has begun to fall. This is the first time since Mary has been taken into a place which will look after every element of her well-being that she has been able to talk calmly and clearly, and it is also the first time she can stop herself from shaking since before that day she had been taken into care.

'Do you talk to them?' asks the doctor.

'I try to.'

'And what do you tell them?'

'I try to give them a way out.'

'It doesn't ever work, does it?'

'No. If it had, then they would be free, and I wouldn't be in here.'

'Do they ever talk to you?'

'Sometimes, I can never really hear them, sometimes I only think I do but I always feel them, I would know when they are near. I don't know what it is that they try to tell me.'

It is at this moment that Mary notices the snowfall through a near-by window. She moves towards the window and begins to stare outside. It is coming down quite heavy now. The doctor moves to stand alongside her.

'Do you like the snow?' he asks.

'I neither like it nor not like it. It makes me wonder. Do they feel the cold? Are they hungry? Will I ever properly see either of them again?'

'Do you think you will ever see them again?'

'I don't know. I hope I will ... one day.'