Chasing the Boogeyman

by Richard Chizmar

“Innocence, once lost, can never be regained. Darkness, once gazed upon, can never be lost.”

I believe that most small towns wear two faces: a public one comprised of verifiable facts involving historical timelines, demographics, matters of economy and geography; and a hidden, considerably more private face formed by a fragile spiderweb of stories, memories, rumors, and secrets passed down from generation to generation, whispered by those who know the town best.