Eldritch

Chapter 34

Clutching his waist to alleviate the sting in his side, Daniel keeps one hand on the steering wheel while speeding down the street. He releases a deep, frustrated sigh at the car trailing in front of him. He spins the wheel and recklessly overtakes the car, earning a honk of the horn from a car on the right side of the road.

He continues to speed, silently praying to make it to Annie's shack on time.

As her street comes into his reach, he ups the speed again, his tyres screeching against the tarmac in the road. Onlookers stare at him as he swerves onto the grassy pathway leading to her home. He abandons the car, engine still running, and dashes inside.

'Dad?' he calls. 'Annie?'

He receives no direct response, just a muffled set of voices talking to one another. Annie's and his father's. He notices that the trap door is opens, and bolts toward it. He doesn't even reach the bottom of the stepladder when Louis addresses him.

'Daniel, go home,' he tells him.

Daniel lands to his feet and rushes toward him. 'What are you doing?'

Annie stands beside Louis, who clutches a piece of chalk between his fingers and looks to the blackboard before him, on which a very clear message is written.

I sacrifice myself for the players, it reads.

His jaw line tense, Daniel pleads with him. 'Dad, please don't do this.'

Louis bites his lip. 'I'm sorry,' he says. 'I've got to. We have to stop this. The only way is if your mother or I step up. And you need her.'

Daniel shakes his head. 'I need you too,' he swallows. 'You're my Dad.'

Louis nods painfully. 'I know, but as you told your Mom, she's the one who's been there for you, the one you've relied on, the one you need most. I know I wasn't there for you when I should've been, so it's time I actually do something for you. Something that'll help.'

'Dad,' Daniel cries. 'I don't care about that anymore, okay? I don't care you weren't there then. You're here now. So, please, don't go. Don't leave me again. I need you.'

Annie leans closer to Louis. 'You need to sign off underneath,' she says.

Louis nods and pulls Daniel closer to him. 'I'm sorry, but me leaving this time is for your own good.'

Then, he strides back to the blackboard and signs off Louis Stone in a messy scrawl.

'No,' Daniel cries.

At that moment, Daniel can hear the pounding of footsteps approaching. As he looks to the stepladder, he can see Sean's sneakers poking through the doorway. Once he and Martin drop down to the basement floor, he turns back to Louis, who's already pushing against the surface of the blackboard forward. It keeps moving until it's roughly been turned at a ninety degree angle and presses against the wall. Daniel gulps at the black hole in the wall. He squints, but still can't see where it leads to, not through the darkness.

Louis turns to Annie for guidance. 'You need to climb through the hole and follow the tunnel until you reach a door. Hold your arms out until you find it, open it, go through it and just wait.'

Louis nods and places his hands to the walls of the dark pathway behind the board. Once in the tunnel, he turns around, looks to Daniel and says 'Take care of your mother. I love you, son.'

As though reading Daniel's mind, he cocks his head toward Martin and Sean. 'Hold him back,' he says, as Daniel makes an attempt to dive toward the wall. They follow his instructions promptly and restrain him in their strong grasp as Annie takes hold of the board and Louis steps backwards. 'Dad, no,' he shouts. 'Please. Annie, don't.'

Annie closes her eyes as she swings the board to conceal the hole in the wall. It looks as though it was never even there.

'No,' Daniel cries, Martin and Sean loosening their grasp.

'I'm sorry, Daniel,' Annie swallows. 'He's gone now. But, he did it to save you. All of you.'

He doesn't even take what she says on board. He continues to thrash against his friends, while descending to the floor in a heap, landing on his knees and sobbing from the pits of his stomach. Martin and Sean slowly sink to sit beside him, Sean wrapping his arm around his shoulder and pulling his best friend close, allowing him to release his devastation by knocking his clenched fists against his chest.