Starting with this chapter and thereafter, I am going to start out with a
short song that has to do with that chapter. If you read chapter 2, you
saw that I used Stand by Me in it, but not as an actual beginning...as you
read the chapter, see how the song relates to it. Of course I do not own
rights to any of the songs I use. I hope you like it!
Tom Petty Can't Stop The Sun The Last DJ
and you may think you control things but there'll be more just like me who won't give in who'll rise again can't stop this world from turning 'round and 'round and 'round
and you may think it's all over but there'll be more just like me who won't give in who'll rise again can't stop a man from dreaming on and on and on
"Job, I know exactly where it is." Sarah said impatiently. Job sighed. "I know you do." He answered.
Although they had left Gatlin about 15 years ago, Sarah sometimes was still plagued by flashes of things that happened there. When Vicky and Burt had rescued them, they sent both of them to a child psychiatrist who, of course, thought their tales of 'He Who Walks Behind The Rows' was crazy at best.
Sarah had continued to draw pictures until she was in middle school. Then she had painted and now her hobby was becoming a career. Sarah painted portraits of landscapes that could rival Thomas Kinkade. Job had just started college and worked as an intern at Burt's clinic.
"I wonder if anyone is even around anymore. What if He came back?" Sarah said, but to Job her voice was far away. "Huh? What?", he asked and glanced at her. Sarah, obviously annoyed, "I said, I wonder if anyone is around anymore. Maybe He came back or they rebuilt the town." Job's face hardened. "We killed Him, you know that." Sarah interrupted him by holding up a magazine with a picture of a hand-drawn cross made of corn and a transparent depiction of children in the background. The major headline read "An Unusual Walk in the Country by Brad Garrett". Job held on to the steering wheel with one hand and grabbed the magazine away from her with the other, flinging it in the backseat. "That's just a rag report....I'll bet Gatlin is as dried up as we left it, but if it's not...." Job trailed off not knowing how to finish but Sarah understood.
Sarah looked out the passenger window worriedly. It was nearing summer's end and the corn on either side of the road was already a withering yellow. 'Oh no....oh no...', her mind whispered, 'It is happening...or it's just getting started....' She looked back to Job who was trying not to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "I sense it though, Jobby....I do. Someone is there. Two people actually. I can't describe them, but it is a man and a girl about my age. I don't like the feeling I am getting about them." Sarah spoke softly and slowly, knowing her words were upsetting her brother. They came upon a road sign that read: GATLIN 3 Miles.
A shiver ran down Sarah's spine and a bad sensation crept into her stomach. "Well, I guess we will soon see about that." Job said with an obvious infliction of fear in his voice.
Christine came upon the now weather-beaten and paint peeling house. She knew this house. She had come here to play with a little boy and girl when she was a child. Then her mother had told her she couldn't play with them anymore because they weren't like them. Whatever that meant. Christine climbed the steps of the house. They creaked so bad that she thought she was going to fall through them. She approached the door and rapped softly. The man had told her that no one lived here, but she couldn't bring herself to just walk into a strange house. She waited for a moment but there was no answer. She pushed the door open. "Hello? Anyone here?", she called out. No one replied. Carefully, she entered and looked around. The interior of the house was almost in worse shape than the exterior. Someone had left very abruptly....and apparently had never been back. There was dust everywhere and she could see the dining room from where she stood. The dining room table had been prepared for a meal, but there was no food around.
She thought she remembered a bathroom on the second floor and started to climb the staircase in front of her. She did want to freshen up, if there was running water she would be lucky. She walked slowly down the short hallway and saw the bathroom in the second room to the left. She turned on the faucet and water ran smoothly out of it. Christine watched the stream curiously. 'How odd is that?...,'she thought, 'The water runs perfectly although the house has obviously not been inhabited for the longest time.' She splashed her face and neck, rubbing the excess water away with her hands. God, something was so wrong...so bad...about this place. But she still had to know. It was like getting a shot...it hurt...it was scary...but if you didn't get it over with, you might have to suffer the consequences.
She had already suffered enough and deserved the truth. She wiped her hands on her jeans and walked back to the stairway landing. The ray of sunlight had shortened on the floor below and she knew it was now or never. She started down the stairs and hesitated at the door. She watched the cornfield across the lawn. It danced and whispered. It laughed. It mocked her almost. Determined, she opened the door, and before she could change her mind, was running into the cornfield to find the red-haired man who would tell her everything she wanted to know.
Just as Christine entered the cornfield, a car pulled up into the driveway of the house........
Tom Petty Can't Stop The Sun The Last DJ
and you may think you control things but there'll be more just like me who won't give in who'll rise again can't stop this world from turning 'round and 'round and 'round
and you may think it's all over but there'll be more just like me who won't give in who'll rise again can't stop a man from dreaming on and on and on
"Job, I know exactly where it is." Sarah said impatiently. Job sighed. "I know you do." He answered.
Although they had left Gatlin about 15 years ago, Sarah sometimes was still plagued by flashes of things that happened there. When Vicky and Burt had rescued them, they sent both of them to a child psychiatrist who, of course, thought their tales of 'He Who Walks Behind The Rows' was crazy at best.
Sarah had continued to draw pictures until she was in middle school. Then she had painted and now her hobby was becoming a career. Sarah painted portraits of landscapes that could rival Thomas Kinkade. Job had just started college and worked as an intern at Burt's clinic.
"I wonder if anyone is even around anymore. What if He came back?" Sarah said, but to Job her voice was far away. "Huh? What?", he asked and glanced at her. Sarah, obviously annoyed, "I said, I wonder if anyone is around anymore. Maybe He came back or they rebuilt the town." Job's face hardened. "We killed Him, you know that." Sarah interrupted him by holding up a magazine with a picture of a hand-drawn cross made of corn and a transparent depiction of children in the background. The major headline read "An Unusual Walk in the Country by Brad Garrett". Job held on to the steering wheel with one hand and grabbed the magazine away from her with the other, flinging it in the backseat. "That's just a rag report....I'll bet Gatlin is as dried up as we left it, but if it's not...." Job trailed off not knowing how to finish but Sarah understood.
Sarah looked out the passenger window worriedly. It was nearing summer's end and the corn on either side of the road was already a withering yellow. 'Oh no....oh no...', her mind whispered, 'It is happening...or it's just getting started....' She looked back to Job who was trying not to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "I sense it though, Jobby....I do. Someone is there. Two people actually. I can't describe them, but it is a man and a girl about my age. I don't like the feeling I am getting about them." Sarah spoke softly and slowly, knowing her words were upsetting her brother. They came upon a road sign that read: GATLIN 3 Miles.
A shiver ran down Sarah's spine and a bad sensation crept into her stomach. "Well, I guess we will soon see about that." Job said with an obvious infliction of fear in his voice.
Christine came upon the now weather-beaten and paint peeling house. She knew this house. She had come here to play with a little boy and girl when she was a child. Then her mother had told her she couldn't play with them anymore because they weren't like them. Whatever that meant. Christine climbed the steps of the house. They creaked so bad that she thought she was going to fall through them. She approached the door and rapped softly. The man had told her that no one lived here, but she couldn't bring herself to just walk into a strange house. She waited for a moment but there was no answer. She pushed the door open. "Hello? Anyone here?", she called out. No one replied. Carefully, she entered and looked around. The interior of the house was almost in worse shape than the exterior. Someone had left very abruptly....and apparently had never been back. There was dust everywhere and she could see the dining room from where she stood. The dining room table had been prepared for a meal, but there was no food around.
She thought she remembered a bathroom on the second floor and started to climb the staircase in front of her. She did want to freshen up, if there was running water she would be lucky. She walked slowly down the short hallway and saw the bathroom in the second room to the left. She turned on the faucet and water ran smoothly out of it. Christine watched the stream curiously. 'How odd is that?...,'she thought, 'The water runs perfectly although the house has obviously not been inhabited for the longest time.' She splashed her face and neck, rubbing the excess water away with her hands. God, something was so wrong...so bad...about this place. But she still had to know. It was like getting a shot...it hurt...it was scary...but if you didn't get it over with, you might have to suffer the consequences.
She had already suffered enough and deserved the truth. She wiped her hands on her jeans and walked back to the stairway landing. The ray of sunlight had shortened on the floor below and she knew it was now or never. She started down the stairs and hesitated at the door. She watched the cornfield across the lawn. It danced and whispered. It laughed. It mocked her almost. Determined, she opened the door, and before she could change her mind, was running into the cornfield to find the red-haired man who would tell her everything she wanted to know.
Just as Christine entered the cornfield, a car pulled up into the driveway of the house........