42.

A more difficult option is being taken over an apparent simple one. Leaving the town park is the goal and when one exit is close by their current position, another exit is chosen on feeling and perhaps something else is intervening despite the fact that the chosen destination is quite the distance away. The spirit within the group, as it exists, may have strengthened, or it might have weakened with that decision being made.

For Karen, explanations are needed for in a way she is more lost than any other member of the group. The exit the group are now heading to is indeed a fair distance away, so Terrence says he will fill Karen in along the way though he no more than begins to do this when Collie the German Shepard once again begins barking.

The group had only just begun walking when the dog began barking again. Something or someone has grabbed its attention. Collie doesn't ever react in such a way to anyone whether they be familiar or stranger though for some reason or other, he is reacting now to someone or something. The reason why he is doing soon becomes apparent.

'What is it boy?' Karen asks.

This is the second time the dog has reacted to something; the first time was back up by the church and this time something back in that direct has caught his attention. First time round Karen couldn't see anything that may cause a reaction, this time however she can see something or this time it is someone she sees rather than something.

'Dale?'

Terrence looks right at Karen for a moment or two. He questions himself as to if she spoke the name Dale. She doesn't mean Dale Blake, does she? The man who was her partner at the time she entered the park? Terrence looks in the direction Karen had been looking in and sees nothing but that doesn't mean there hadn't been someone there. Terrence doesn't get to ask her anything for she has begun to move off in that direction.

'Great', speaks Jason. 'We have only just begun in this direction and already something has happened. I knew it would be an effort of a journey.'

Karen did see someone, and she was sure that this someone was or is Dale Blake, only he looks to be so much older, like quite a bit older than what she knows him to be. On top of that too. he appeared to be wearing a dressing gown and slippers. There was no hanging around either for as soon as he had been spotted, he began to retreat in behind a few trees.

The dog moves with Karen as if he too is sure of who it is he had seen hence the reaction he had. Karen has also moved so quick that Terrence could not do anything to ensure she remains part of the group. If she moves out of view, will he have to begin again with her as in find her once more and start over with her?

Yeah, when Terrence had met Karen for a second time, to her it may as well have been the first time they meet. Karen has moved beyond those trees where she is sure Dale had been and gone past where she had seen Dale fade behind. When Terrence gets to this spot it would also appear that Karen and Collie have both also gone.

'No' Terrence speaks out loud.

This is the last thing he wanted, to lose one or more of this little group of the lost. Looking beyond those trees in the hopes of seeing Karen near-by, he sees something else. From the corner of his eye, he sees someone move quickly behind him. How did she move so quick to be behind him from possibly being somewhere up ahead of him?

He turns his head to see Karen running and he is surprised by the fact that she and the dog are not slowing down. They just continue on running as if they do not know anyone within the group for as she passed everyone else, they all clearly are in her line of sight and soon both runner and dog are out of view.

'The hell?' Terrence speaks out loud.

As if all this isn't crazy enough Karen and Collie emerge back out from beyond the trees that Terrence still stands almost at a loss in this moment, she is aware that she is part of a group. Had the passing Karen been a previous incarnation, a Karen yet to have become part of the group? Or some element of the loop Terrence felt she may have been in?

Confusion has just stepped up a notch or two.

There are a number of questions Terrence could ask in this moment though the one he does ask refers to what Karen may have seen. The aware Karen is still near, she had briefly been out of sight allowing another iteration of herself to pass, unaware to herself of what Terrence just witnessed.

'It wasn't your partner Dale you saw, was it?' he asks, indeed having caught up to the version of Karen who is aware of him.

'Yes, it was. Do you know him?'

'I have met him, questioned him about you actually.'

'Really?'

'You met him in here?'

'Not in here, no.'

'I didn't manage to find where he has got himself to just now, but the odd thing is that he looked so old.'

'Yeah, about that.'

Karen does need to have things fully explained to her, so as with how things are going then it is best this explanation comes straight away. The journey continues as the explanation does properly come. Maybe Jeremy and Kenneth need to hear what Terrence has to say as much as Karen needs to hear it, and maybe in a way Jason could do with it too though it is more than likely that older Terrence has told Jason a thing or two though current Terrence does not know what may or may not have been told to Jason, he could always ask if he were to feel the need to know.

43.

Things have been explained and no matter what anyone may or may not believe, everyone is in agreement, as if they hadn't been previously, that an exit should be made. So, with it all out there, with all what needed to be said having been said, the group move on in silence. The silence makes the trip feel all the more ominous, makes it feel all the more ... epic. Every little sound, every little nuance is silently questioned.

The birds flying about and chirping away don't seem right, the fallen leaves don't seem right, the lack of seeing the ordinary passer through, lack of seeing ordinary park goers, it all does not seem right. Something appears to be aware ... something may be about to put a fight.

An eternity seems to pass as the journey continues and who knows, maybe an eternity does pass, who is to say that it doesn't. One thing which had been agreed upon is that no matter what, everyone stays together, no matter what anyone sees or hears, no one goes investigating anything without everyone else coming too.

It is the dog who brings the silence to an end as he begins barking for a third time. It is as if the German Shepard knows exactly what is going on and his bark is a kind of reaction, as if to say something is not right or something is near, a warning asking for action to be taken. It is unknown as to what may have spooked the dog back at the church. His second barking spree was detecting that Dale Blake was or at least appeared to be near, this third fit of barking has everyone looking beyond a number of near-by trees.

The dog sees something, Karen is sure of this, and the others can't help but agree. If the dog does have some sort of ability, a kind of sense that none of the others could possibly have, then maybe the group as a whole can use that sense to their advantage to some degree.

'Collie sees something, what do you think?' Karen asks Terrence. 'Should we go check it out? It may just be Dale out there again; if he has come here, he could be as lost as we are.'

Terrence looks round at the others who all nod. Everyone seems to be in agreement that if there is something out beyond those trees then maybe they should go have a look. They may not have a choice anyway for Collie looks determined to get to whatever it is that he sees. So, the dog leads the way, Karen keeps a tight grip on the leash and the other four follow in single file with no one allowing any kind of gap to open up.

A small clearing is soon arrived at. There are three large stones planted in the ground together. Is this what had the dog barking? Once in this space the dog sits and allows a brief whine to escape. Karen attends to her dog, the two boys wonder as to what is going on, Jason remains quiet and Terrence, he reacts with shock.

'What is it?' asks Jeremy noticing that Terrence has turned pale.

These stones, these rocks, they are tombstones.'

'Tombstones?' Karen asks. 'Who do they belong to?'

'You don't wanna know. Let's get back on track.'

The boys, especially Jeremy, are happy enough to do just that, get back on track, as is Jason. They all are ready to head back onto the trail, all except Karen. She stands.

'Why is my name on one of these?' she asks.

'What?' asks Kenneth moving to get a better look at the stones. 'The one on the left has the letters R.I.P and the name Karen O'Neill, this is you?'

'That is my name.'

'The one on the right is blank and the one in the middle has the name Terrence Williams'. Kenneth turns to Terrence. 'That is you, right?'

'Yeah. C'mon, let's go.'

'No' speaks Karen. 'We need to talk about this.'

'I beg to differ. I don't mean to come across as an ass here, but it doesn't matter if these here are graves for at least two of us. This is only a what if, this may happen if we remain here, maybe all of us end up here if we do not leave this park. As far as I see it, we are leaving, we are going to get out of this place so what is here is not real and never will be. It will only exist if we allow it to.'

Is there logic and truth in what Terrence says? It's anyone's guess, all that any of them can do at this point is to keep moving, get to that exit and take it from there. The two boys, once back on the trail, walk side by side and Jeremy most certainly is not happy.

'That third grave' he says. 'I bet it's mine.'

'You don't know that. It has no name on it, besides what Terrence says makes sense. We get to the exit; we leave and none of us end up buried in here.'

Still not all so happy, Jeremy accepts this. What if they never find this exit for some reason or another? What if they do come to it and for whatever reason are unable to go past it? Just have to keep going for now any find out for sure later.