46.

A snowstorm, a full-blown blizzard hitting in an instant, ... hasn't Terrence seen it all now? It's done, gone, passed, having responded in a way to his own dismay. A blazing fire is on the go now just a little ways off the travelled trail and it is doing its job, though at that, it is also delaying things too.

What's the rush though? In a place with no time there is no need to hurry, is there? There is a want, a need to escape this place, so why hang around when you only want to make an exit? Sure, it all but is agreed. A surrender swapped for freedom, a retreat from that blizzard but what exactly can this mean?

A log and a couple of large rocks made seats around the fire. All that are needed now are some marshmallows and this particular moment may not be such a bad one, a pleasurable moment right now would really be something nice ... just don't let the ghost stories start. First things first, make sure the group as a whole are as well as well can be.

Before, when Terrence had felt a hunger, this park provided him with an orchard of apples, with the fire easing somewhat there will be no marshmallows provided, no stories are to be swapped and any potential tragedies have been avoided.

A recovery of sorts was not instant, it would and did come for no death or harm would come to anyone in the here and now if Terrence could have his way. If he is to give up his own life to this place, then he is damn sure no one else would have to do the same.

'Thanks everyone' speaks Karen, grateful for the attention she received, grateful for the protection, grateful to still be among the living.

'There is no need for thanks' speaks Jeremy.

'We are a group' says Kenneth. 'Looking out for one another is what we do.'

'Yeah, well ... thanks anyway.'

Collie barks once, his contribution to the conversation, and this lightens the mood, making even Terrence smile. It is different in the here and now, difficult to see the boys as boys and not something more mature as it is also equally difficult to see them in any other light than the fact that they both are just fourteen years old.

'You know' Jason says allowing his mind to wander, allowing his thinking voice to speak. 'A few scary stories right now would have been good if it weren't for the fact that we are already living our own personal nightmare.'

'I would be with you on that one' says Terrence.

'Should we get going?'

'Once everyone is happy to do so' Terrence responds to Jason's question.

'Oh, I'm ready' Karen says with a determined smile.

Collies again barks once; guess he is ready too. The boys nod, they are also ready to get going. Once again as a unit the group move back out onto the trail together. The snow that had fallen not so long previously is gone and the ground appears to be dry. The air temperature has also risen as if there had been no snowfall at all and as if a spring or autumn like day has returned. Residual effects from that blizzard appear to be minimal ... that might be left to be seen.

It has been made clear to Terrence that an exit will be allowed so for one thing, there should be no more distraction in between this point and the point where that exit is reached, moving out past that exit should also not be a problem.

The journey moves on quietly and steadily while still a more than half expectation exists that something else will happen. The way forward should be clear though Terrence is not one hundred per cent sure that things will be so straight forward from here on out. He watches everything and as that exit does come clear he feels a number of things, relief that the group as a whole is getting there, confidence that a pass will come then there is sadness.

They all feel the sadness. In what would under ordinary circumstances be a short amount of time, a closeness has come for a small group of people and a dog. Is this the end of something? It feels like an end though none of them can know for sure until it happens. None of them can know what really will happen when they pass through that exit.

Will they remain a group? If they can then where in time will they emerge? Karen and Collie are from 1983, Jeremy and Kenneth are from 2000, Jason from 2019 and Terrence is from 2017. None of them need to ask for they all have question and they do not have the answers. They simply or not so simply make an exit and then see what happens.

As thought, there is one last thing to occur though it only has relevance to Terrence, still everyone else may find it to be something special. Something occurs at that entrance that causes the group to come to a halt and watch. A ball bounces through that entrance and into the park. A young boy follows.

'Todd?' Terrence asks out loud.

The group are close-by, but the boy takes no notice of them, and he will not take any notice of them for what is happening in this moment is something that is as good as an opening scene in a movie playing out in 3-D. As far as the boy knows, there is no one else near-by. Jason. Karen, Collie, Jeremy, Kenneth, and even Terrence are no more than spectators to this moment. As soon as the boy gets to his ball, he picks it up and as soon as he has done this, a young girl enters the park.

'Mary.'

The young girl moves towards the younger boy, takes him by the hand and the two of them then exit the park and vanish. So, Todd has his release? It is more than that; it is as if he has never gone missing in the first place, except for the fact that it did occur in some ... reality. So, what can this mean for Terrence when he gets to leave, if he gets to leave? In his reality he has met Mary as she is an adult in the year 2017. He has however, surrendered to this park though the agreement, as he takes it, will allow him out.

If he returns to his own time, to his own life, to what his own reality had been and now might be, will Mary even know who he is? Will he even get to see her again? She does live in town because of the loss of her brother. That is null and void now. Guess Terrence will just have to wait and see what might come. For right now, in this moment, he explains what it is that they all have just seen despite the possibility that they all might not remember it happening once an exit has been made. Looks are shared then Karen moves to hug each of the guys, one at a time.

'Thanks for finding me' she says to Terrence as she looks him in the eyes.

'You are very welcome.'

Facing the four guys, Collie barks once then he and Karen O'Neil make their exit and vanish. Jeremy Wright and Kenneth Torrance look at each other then at Terrence and Jason before moving to the exit and together they too disappear. After that Jason Ryan offers a salute to Terrence. 'Will be seeing ya ...' he exits and vanishes, leaving Terrence Williams to stand alone still within the park. Will it allow him to leave?

As it appears, Jason does have his return to normality despite his vehicle being out by the other park entrance. He will make a return to his vehicle and not know why e is going the long way round.

For Terrence, there should be a feeling of satisfaction at all this, but it does not come. He has accomplished what he has set out to do. Instead of feeling good he feels alone, and as alone as he has ever felt in his life. His whole life geared up to this and now it is over ... almost.

47.

It is approaching eight o'clock in the morning of the second of April 1983 and it is also almost half an hour after Karen O'Neill had entered the park like forest for a run with her German Shepard dog, a run she had done many times before, but this run felt different. Having made her exit from the park grounds, she needed to halt herself for a moment. For the life of her, she cannot remember why this run felt so different.

For some reason, this run felt as if it were so much longer than what it had actually been. She is a little dizzy, a little light-headed though other-wise perfectly fine. Collie, the dog, barks once upon passing through that park exit, then turns and gives a short whine.

Whatever it is that has her felling weirded out, obviously is felt by the dog too. What is this? No immediate answer comes, so she decides to let it go for now in the hopes it will come to her at a later time. She makes her way home where her partner Dale Blake is about to begin making his way to work. He looks just as he did prior to Karen going on her run and there is no reason as to why he shouldn't but for a moment or two, she imagines him being a fair bit older. They share a kiss and a 'see you later' then Karen readies herself and goes to her place of employment.

She feels a little more tired than what she normally would feel though she does not think much of this. The dizziness and light-headedness have long since passed. Nothing else comes back to her and it is more than a little while before she returns to that park for another run. Her runs from here on in are straight forward and she will never be lost to the park again. This is not something that is one hundred percent for sure as something has been left behind. There is something about that large wooden bridge. What that something is, is a bit of a mystery.

Every once in a while, when Karen is actually somewhere else, to the average local park goer a young lady can be seen jogging through the park with her German Shepard dog and the spot where they more than likely can be seen is indeed by the park's wooden bridge as they run right past it. Even as she ages through the coming years, her younger self still runs.

***

March thirteenth, 2000, and the school lunch break is nearing an end. Jeremy Wright and Kenneth Torrance stand on the outside of the town public park. They had planned to go on the mitch from school and they are sure that they should not yet have reached a halfway point in their lunch break, yet the time they have tells them that lunch is coming to an end.

They both feel so odd though neither quite know why. Maybe skipping school is not such a good idea, so with time running out to get back there before lunch time comes to an end, both Jeremy and Kenneth make a run for it back to school as quickly as they can and never again even consider skipping school.

Double maths, sure there are worse things in life than double maths. Yeah Miss Bradshaw, as she involves Jeremy in the days lesson, he briefly entertains the thoughts that she would or could become some sort of human sacrifice, sacrifice for what and why, he has no idea, and the thought soon leaves him.

***

October twelfth, 2019, Jason Ryan is standing facing the town parks roadside entrance with his chainsaw on the go. Feeling very odd and slightly confused, he turns his chainsaw off to prevent accidentally doing any harm to himself. How did he get here? He was somewhere else only a moment or so ago, he is sure of this, the entrance on the other side of the park perhaps? Nah, what reason would he have to be over there? Rattling his mind does nothing to aid him remember.

It will come back to him, right? Perhaps not. What was he doing prior to being here? He came out here to gather wood, hasn't he? Right, better get back to it before he is caught ... cutting up and taking home wood that belongs to the park is illegal after all. On he goes and off he goes.

***

Terrence Williams walks right up to the park entrance then he walks right through to the other side. He is out, right? Yeah, it definitely feels that way. He walks right through the car park area by the park then heads right into the town to find out that this day is September twenty six, 2017, the very day he entered the town park.

This feels real, it is real.