The Figure: A Rhett and Link Horror Story

A Coincidence?

   The same day
   Stevie was speeding down the highway. She didn't care if she got a ticket. All she cared about doing was going to try to comfort the boys' families.

When it would usually take her twenty minutes to arrive at their houses, she got there in ten. She was very fortunate not to receive a speeding ticket. She opened the car door and hopped out. No movement was happening outside. She slowly walked up and knocked on the door to Link's house. She stood there for a minute, nervously twiddling her thumbs.

   The door opened. Lincoln was standing at it. Stevie waved at him, and he nodded back. About ten seconds later Christy and Lando appeared at the door right alongside Lincoln. "Hi, Stevie. You can come in and sit down if you'd like." Christy offered. "Thank you so much. We need to talk." Stevie replied. Lincoln looked concerned, and Lando appeared confused. But there was no Lily.

The boys and Christy sat on the couch together. Stevie sat in the chair facing the couch. "Daddy? Where's daddy?" Lando timidly asked. Stevie looked at him with kind eyes, not wanting to tell the truth. "He went on a trip somewhere. I can't promise, but he should be back soon, sweetie." She reassured him. Lincoln sat beside his mom, staring down at the floor and not looking up. Christy knew that it was something way different from that. She looked at her boys.

   "Hey, why don't y'all try and go play with Lily. She could use some cheering up. I'm going to talk to Ms. Stevie." "Do we have to?" Lando whined. "C'mon bud, let's go." Lincoln dragged him up the stairs.

  "What's wrong with Lily?" Stevie asked. Christy looked like she was thinking of something to say. "Um... her and her dad are pretty close to each other. She loves him to death. Her not knowing where he is makes her worry...." she finally spat out. "Do-do you happen to know where he is?" She asked, looking hopeful. Stevie found it hard to look her straight in the eye. "Uh... no ma'am. Not at the moment." Stevie replied. "I've tried texting him. Over and over." She said. Christy looked defeated. "I have too. He doesn't answer." Christy started dabbing her eyes with the top of her shirt. Stevie placed a gentle hand on Christy's back, not knowing exactly what to do.

   This was the question that Christy was dreading to ask. But she wanted to know. "W-will I e-ever see h-h-him again?" There. She'd said it. Stevie scratched the back of her own neck and looked down at the floor. Then, she looked Christy straight in the eye. Whew, this was going to be difficult. "Um... um I-I don't know, Christy. But there's a big chance he'll come back. I mean... he's only been gone two days. But I don't know. I really don't." Stevie pulled her into a big, long hug, and Christy cried into her shoulder. "Th-thank you s-so much. Please tell him that I love him so much if you see him before I do. Text m-me if anything happens. I-I've already sent a search party out to go look for them. They h-haven't found th-them e-either." She cried. Stevie gently pushed her away. "I'm really sorry, Christy, and I definitely will. I promise. See you later." She rushed out of the house and slammed the door behind her.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Lily came trudging down the stairs. It was as if she was waiting to come down when Stevie left. She had told her brothers to stay upstairs and play.

   Lily sat down beside her mom and lay her head on her shoulder. "Mom... mom do you know where dad is? Lincoln and Lando told me that Stevie stopped by." She told Christy. "Stevie came by and told me that she didn't know where dad went. I mean, he went to find Rhett, but we don't know where he went. She doesn't know when he'll come back, or..." Christy got choked up again. "Or if h-he'll come b-b-back" she started sniffling. Lily couldn't believe it. She started choking up, but she held back tears, and started thinking. "I had a dream, mom. Last night". She took her head off of her mom's shoulder. Christy looked at her curiously. "Tell me about it", she said.

"You, me, Lincoln, and Lando were standing in complete darkness. We couldn't even see each other. But I knew y'all were there. You were crying, mom. Lando was scared, and Lincoln was, too.

   "All of a sudden, little white wisps of smoke washed over us, and then they disappeared. And-and once they did, we could see dad. He was floating. He wasn't on the ground like we were." Lily started. Christy gasped when she heard the word "dad". Lily kept going.

  "Lincoln, Lando and I took off towards him. We wanted so, so badly to touch him. You started running behind us, because you wanted to touch him, too. We all started shouting at him, telling him that we loved him. He talked back to us, mom." Lily said. Christy look even more curious than before. "And what did he say?"

Lily continued. "I can't remember exactly what he said, but he was saying things like 'It's okay', 'I'm right here', and 'I love you too'. He was crying. He wanted us to touch him. He wanted to touch us. Right when we were getting ready to hug him and touch him, he disappeared, and we were surrounded in complete darkness again. What's that mean, mom?"

Christy looked terrified. "I don't know, honey". A few tears rolled down their faces, and they kept talking for a while.

   Stevie pulled into the McLaughlin's driveway. She went up to the door and knocked. A couple of seconds passed and Jessie came and opened the door. "Hey, Stevie. You look like you're in a hurry. Any news?" She asked. Jessie had sent the kids to school that day, since they had missed the last couple of days. Stevie told her the exact same thing that she told Christy. She hugged Jessie tightly, as Jessie cried on her shoulder. "If you s-see him before I do, please, please tell him that I love him so much." Jessie requested. "Sure will" Stevie assured her. And that was it. She went back to work.