Where He Can't Find You

by Darcy Coates

In the dark In the night He’ll pull you apart He’ll sew you up tight * * * Rule #1: Stay indoors after nightfall, or you’ll be taken.

Forgotten For Sale signs dotted the town, weathered or tipping over like loose teeth, abandoned where they stood.

“You’re right, but this is morning night.” “It’s…what?” “Haven’t you noticed how they’re different?” She squinted one eye open to see him. “Late night, and early morning? You can go jogging at four a.m. and people will think you’re just a little too healthy for your own good. But go jogging at midnight and…well. It’s weird, right? It’s just not normal.”

And it was always better to be on the approaching side of daylight, not the receding.

“I love your everything,” Riya blurted.

We want to feel that we have control over our destiny, that we wouldn’t ever make the same mistakes that cost someone else everything.

Clocks wind back Windows crack Signals fall Motors stall Long red thread Someone’s dead * * * Rule #2: Red thread means a stitcher victim is close by.

People always said sunsets were beautiful. To Connor, it looked more like a massive bruise swelling out across the horizon.

The Stitcher waits The Stitcher takes The Stitcher cuts The Stitcher shapes * * * Rule #3: Stay as far from Charles Vickers as you can.

Sometimes the worst things that happen to you come from the smallest decisions. You lean on the accelerator instead of the break. Or you shift your weight on the ladder. Or you leap into the pool headfirst without checking how deep the water is. Tiny, tiny mistakes that would have been inconsequential any other day. But for some reason, the universe’s gears get jammed at that exact second, and your tiny mistake permanently changes the remainder of your life.

In darkness that intense, you lose the ability to tell time, to judge distance, or to even know where your arms and legs are in relation to one another. It’s oppressive in a way that breaks spirits and crushes hope.

Hide, hide Stay inside Windows blocked Doors all locked Hide, hide Stay inside Footsteps near Stitcher’s here * * * Keep your house locked up tight, or the Stitcher will come for you.

It felt colder than any water she’d been in before; thicker, heavier. The kind of water that holds a person down and never lets them go.

It turned out a person could make the correct choice, and still feel strangled by regret.

“Keep talking! Let me know where you are!” “Where…” he coughed, and it sounded bad, like parts of his lungs were missing. “Where… Where he can’t find you…”

You never know how you’ll act under pressure until you’re forced to find out.