THE TOWƎЯ (part 6)

“What did that man ask you?” Christopher questioned vexedly.

Luke was silent for a few moments, then, “He asked me if I wanted to go see his c-car collection.” He swallowed hard, realizing now how stupid this sounded. He added, quickly shaking his head “But I wasn’t going to…”

Christopher looked shaken up. ‘Yes, he’ll be safe with me. I promise-’ Christophers last words to his mother rang in his head, ‘I promise’.

He replied with a frown, “You need to be careful, it’s not your fault but that man had bad intentions… what if he wanted to hurt you?”

Luke’s body stiffened, “But I wasn’t going to go in.” He muttered in a low voice.

Christopher turned on him, “Really? Because it looked like you were already inside! If I didn’t get there sooner you would’ve…” He dug in to his upper lip. “Look, I’m not mad at you…I shouldn’t have left you there by yourself and that’s on me, but you need to be careful. What that man was trying to do isn’t normal.” Christopher shook his head.

Up ahead

in the distance, the radio tower loomed over the town, blotches of green surrounding it on all sides.

Luke gazed at the tower ahead of him, ignoring those penetrating eyes of Christopher’s… “Sorry.”

Christopher turned to face the road ahead, “It’s fine…” But was it? He asked himself. Should we continue Trick-Or-Treating or turn around and head back home? Another child has been missing for several days now, and that child was Luke’s friend. Oregon has the third highest rate of missing person cases and with this forest all around…There’s no telling who could be hiding in them. What about that man? How will mom react when I tell her? If, I tell her…

His mom’s voice, as clear as if she were standing in front of him, rang in his ear. “I knew it was a mistake to let him go out with you”.

The cause for her disappearance is unknown. A stern voice opposed in Christopher’s head. She might have just wandered off, with all this forest around, its bound to happen. It’s a small town so they’ll