The Longest Night - Part 9 They Called Him Earl

“god damnit! How many times do I gotta tell you we ain’t done nothing wrong ya pig headed bastard!” The man jumped from the chair he’d been sitting.

Might of found himself leaping over the table had it not been for the cuffs that had chained him to it. Nearly headbutting the one that had been standing on the other side, One that had been staring him dead in the eye. Without so much as a word they had given a silent stare, Awaiting the moment that look in his eye might change.

Cracking of a skull, the breaking of ones nose. To be caught by and nearly flipped within the very seat he sprang, Had it not been for those chains. How bloody had become the captives face, As the other continued to stare with a silent gaze, One soon concealed behind a smoke fueled hazed.

Sweet had been the scent of smoke that hit his face. Slow had been the exhale of the one from which it came. Glint of metal, Snapping heard of a lighter tucked away. To stare upon the cherry that had been the stogie's flame. One held firm between clenched teeth. One that had been left to dance upon every word the other would speak.

"Try to spoon feed me that pile of horseshit one more time, That little kiss I gave you will be the least of your worries."

Calm, Like the eye of a storm the voice would pass from one that sounded as if they had been smoking far too many years. Like sandpaper that rubbed him the wrong way. One that left the captive to leap once more from his very seat. To scream out in rage at the very one that left his world spinning. To yell out at this one that constantly split between one and three. To slam both fists down upon the very spot he'd been forced to stand.

"How many times do I gotta tell you it was that damn monster! Go ask- "

"Billy!"

Forced to pause in his sprint in an attempt to keep up. How a man could be so fat, and yet so fast he would always fail to understand. One that never looked to be out of breath no matter how many miles of slopes they had come to pass, to step foot into the very place few dare tread. About to yell out once more having had a chance to catch his breath.

"I'm over here Earl!"

Barely audible had been Billy's words. Far off, and distant Earl now left feeling stranded in this sea of pine. Using the butt of his shotgun to strike upon the trunk of the tree he had been leaning against. To listen as the tapping sound it made echo through the forest. To listen to one now be returned from the direction the voice once came. A sound that soon left him heated with every exchange, For it had been just as distant as the first that came.

"I told you Earl, All that drinking and fishing doesn't do nobody any good." Loud had been the voice of Billy, having stepped free from the brush beside him.

"Dagnabbit Billy!" Had it been possible, Earl might of just of jumped out of his very skin by the sudden appearance of the one he'd just heard tapping off in the distance.

"What I tell you about sneakin' up on me like that?" How quick Earl had been to whip around upon the very spot.

"What I be tellin' ya about tappin' on them trees!" Striking at Billy with the butt of his gun.

Dumbfounded had been the expression Billy now gave. To linger just as he had upon a single thought. One that left him scratching his head in far deeper thought.

"I'm confused Earl, You always said to come find you if you start tappin'?"

"If you already know all that, then why you tappin' in return!" Seemed the answer Billy gave him, only served to infuriate him more.

"I didn't Earl, I swear!, And I don't know why you're so mad Earl, You're the one running around tappin' all over the place!" Earl left striking the air, having missed Billy by a hair.

"Think I'd be dumb enough to play your little game of hide and seek?"

"I've been standin' right here the whole time you idjit!"

Snapping back the direction he once been, Shotgun now Raised. For the final tap given had been answered all the same. One that no longer sounded so far off, so distant. For distant had been the look Earl now gave as he listened to Billy Exclaim.

"Believe me now Earl! Told you I didn't do no tappin'! " How vindicated he must of felt by the look he gave.

"Not now Billy" Voice heard had been a whisper, hand raised to try and get Billy to quiet down all the same.

Quiet had been the forest now. How deep had they come to find the source of that tapping sound, For night to fall upon them during the mid of day. How tightly the branches of pine now weaved. To find ones self barely able to squeeze between the massive trunks that had made up these trees.

"Blast it all, Another dead end! You sure you doing this right!" Earl left to slump down between two trees.

"I told you we shoulda turned back Earl. . . But you didn't want to listen."

Billy far too focused on leaving a mark upon the tree that had lead them to what had been the start of what looked to have been the start of a bottomless pit. One that had failed to return a sound of a rock that had been kicked. Billy having pushed Earl to his feet, to brush him aside as he took lead once more. For how serious had become his gaze.

"Nothin' about this feels right Earl, I swear on my daddy's name their ain't no one that knows these woods better then me, And yet I've never seen woods like these." Billy left to stare down at the Tracks that had lead him to this very pit.

"Let's just get out of here, And back to why we came all the way out here in the first place." Everything had started to look the same, To become a blur as Earl struggled to Rub his eyes, Only to find nothing had changed.

"Earl. . ."

"What Billy?"

"You remember which way we came?"

How so few words could leave his stomach sink, and heart to race. For those eyes half closed now shot open with great haste.

"What do you mean?!" Earl now yelled with a new found rage.

Pointing had been the finger that Billy now raised. One that pointed down towards the very print of hoofs of the Elk Earl had noticed for the first time. The same one Billy had been tracking all along. Tracks that had lead to the very spot they had become lost.

"Look over there" Earl left to watch Billy point to a near by tree. To the mark that had been left upon the bark. One that had been opposite the direction the tracks had lead.

"Earl, I swear I've only been following these tracks, Started markin' the trees as we go. . .

I didn't want to say nothin' at first, but they just kept on leading us to a dead end."

"I thought at first we might of been goin' in circles. . . But the marks are never in the same place." Billy Left looking around a moment, once more trying to find their way.

Earl starting to question many things, The first had been the very tracks he had been left staring. For every massive hoof print that had been left of that mythical 26 point beast, He started to question how it had managed to squeeze through these trees. Trees which left both of them turning to ones side. Yet what had been the one of pressing concern had been the direction they face. Looking as if they had come from the very edge of this bottomless place.

"Tell me something Billy. . . Which way do these tracks lead?" Billy left to point, In the very direction Earl would stand, before giving brief pause to point in a different direction, Towards a path that Earl did not see.

Clattering Tap tap tap would be heard. How close had the sound been to feel as if it had been in arms reach. One that had been in the direction of the tracks only earl seemed to see. Ones that would lead him towards the path that had gone unseen.

Having Tried to stop Earl at first, Only to find no matter what was said, nor how much he tried to grab his arm, Would he be met with silence, and cast aside. How quick Earl had been, Barely given him time to mark the path that would lead them back. Nearly plowing right into Earl as he followed him around a tree. Both left to now stare upon the very thing from which Earl would seek.

Within the center of this bottomless pit an island had sat, One suspended by gnarls roots so massive the very trees themselves looked as if they had been twigs in comparison. Connected only by a single earthen path. One that looked as if it might crumble under the slightest step. To feel the very breeze now wash up from the bottomless deep, To wash over the chimes of bone that would be left to tap upon one another, and left with such a frightful clatter.

Unseen had the one that sat upon this islands edge had been. To watch those that would step foot within this cage called home. To watch one shake, and yell at the other with what might of been rage, While the other now stared back to meet this grown infant's gaze. One that had been left staring down at a picture of the two the boy had made.

"Still hasn't said a thing?" Words heard from behind the plume of thicker smoke. To be greeted by a far softer, kinder tone, as a woman now spoke.

"No, It might be some time before we can get him to open up. . . To be exposed to such things since a young age, I don't think he even understands what he was forced to see."

Loud Thumping upon a glass window heard, To thump, To crack, To smash through it, Had been the Earl whom now appeared to have been stock raving mad. How playful yet cold this woman would sound.- "Looks like breaktime is over Detective." How quick those that had been present had been to come out from behind their desks.

"Looks like I won't be able to get anything more out of him, First lead we've had in years on that bastard, Skinner.

Moment taken to down what had been left of his glass. One that had been filled from a near empty bottle. To watch as those dressed in blue now forced Earl down, and into the bottom of a pile. From ghoulish laughter Earl now spat out what sounded to be gibberish slander.

"You've got until the time I'm finished with the other one to get something out of the kid. Otherwise I'll take matters into my own hands"