Page 71 of Phobia
“Yes, sir. Sitting right here.”
“Good. I’ll be right back.”
It didn’t take long to find all of the stuff I needed inside the house and the garage and return to the scene of the crime.
Loading Tim’s body into the back of the pickup wasn’t easy, especially since Larkin was limited with his arm in a makeshift sling, but we managed. Following Larkin’s SUV in the pickup, I drove through the field slowly, along the farmer’s path until the cornfield gave way to the dark, twisting forest on the edge of the mountain.
As we set fire to Tim’s salted body, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. Between Dr. Corbin’s ritual and what Larkin’s grandmother said, I knew, deep in my soul, that my would-be murderer was gone for good.
“Not the Halloween bonfire I imagined we’d have one day,” Larkin said, draping his right arm over my shoulders.
“Don’t be morbid.” I elbowed him in the ribs. Turning back to the fully-engulfed body, I frowned. “Who was he? Really?”
“I have no idea. I’m sure he’s in that scrapbook somewhere.Hekept photos. I might be able to match one of them to a missing poster or something. Plus, there’s a map of where the bodies are buried.Heliked to reminisce when he was in the area. Sick fuck.”
“What are you going to do now? Give all of that to the FBI?”
Larkin shook his head sadly. “No. They won’t do anything now that he’s dead. But I do want to give the families closure. I was hoping you could help with that?”
“How?”
“I’ve got the map and these pictures, but I don’t know which dot goes with which kid. Maybe, if we went there, you could see if their ghosts are still around? Maybe see if they have a message for their families? Then we can send them a letter or something. Anonymously. So they can give their kids a proper burial or whatever. At least know the truth of what happened. Well… mostly. There are some things parents don’t need to know.”
I leaned into him, lifting my hand to lace my fingers through his. “Absolutely. I’ll help however I can, for however long it takes.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“You’re a good man, Larkin. You deserve to be happy.”
He turned and cupped the back of my neck, kissing me gently. My heart swelled with the amount of love I had for him. From now on, I had a feeling Halloween wouldn’t be so scary anymore. The ghosts of our past were truly gone and we could move forward, hopefully giving others some peace as well.
After years of hatinghimand the curse he bestowed on me, I could finally see the bright side. Even if I never saw another ghost again, being able to relay one last message from Larkin’s grandma made it all worth it. He was always the one comforting me, so it was nice to return the favor, although I wished it was under better circumstances. Getting his grandma’s stamp of approval was the icing on the cake.
Believe in the power of Halloween.
Thanks to Dr. Corbin, I could officially say I did.
Despite the creepy costumes and horror movies, maybe Halloween wasn’t meant to be feared after all. It was a time to spend with the people you loved and there was no one I’d rather spend Halloween with than the man beside me, the one who had always been there for me, ghosts or no ghosts, and the one I would always be there for.
“Hey, Lark,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and losing myself in the depths of his dark eyes.
“Yeah?”
“Happy Halloween.”
A smile stretched across his face, dimples and all. “Happy Halloween.”
***
THE END
