Eugene and Casper
Chapter Three: X Marks the Spot
Eugene closed his eyes, panting heavily and wanting more than anything else for this to be a bad dream. His throat felt all scratchy and he had to cough, but he didn't dare make any noise, so he held it even though he could hardly breathe. The raven was gone, as was the hand, and in their place was a dread silence. No scraping. No tapping. Just the wind whistling through the empty area where Eugene's window had once resided.
A long time went by, each heartbeat like the tick-tock of an old grandfather clock. It was getting dark. He had to turn the light on, but the thought of leaving the security of his hiding place froze his bones in place. The shivers caught hold of him, first in his chest and then fluttering out to his arms and legs. His dry tears were caked and crumbly on his cheeks.
Then he heard a jangling of the lock downstairs, and then footsteps. He breathed faster. Voices. Mom's and Dad's, it sounded like. Could it really be them? The faint spark of a hope warmed him. "Eugene?" came his mother's voice from the hallway.
With a creak the doorknob to his bedroom turned, the light came on, and in walked those familiar high heels, followed closely by his father's loafers and a pair of tiny cowboy boots. "Eugene, where are you?" his father called.
"Under here," he replied, crawling out while rubbing his eyes.
"Good heavens! What have you been doing under there?" His mother knelt down and buried him in her arms. He couldn't hold back the tears any longer. He blubbered out the story of the mirror and the boy and the dark man and the raven while she softly rocked him back and forth. When he got to the part where the dark man snatched the raven from his window, his father jumped up and ran to the window.
"The window! It's gone!" He stuck his head out and looked down. "Nothing. Kids these days. Must've been a Halloween prank." Eugene's three-year-old brother Theodore, clad in cowboy attire and busy inspecting each piece of candy in the pumpkin basket he was holding, looked up when he heard the word "Halloween" and smiled.
"I'd better take him back to the school to see this mirror," his father said. "And call the police."
His mother frowned. "Can't it wait till morning?"
"It'll only take a minute. Trust me."
"Whatever you say, dear," his mother said, sounding utterly unconvinced. "Just be quick about it. He needs to get to bed." She looked at the window. "I'll have Ivan put some boards up for now."
Eugene felt sick. But his father had made up his mind, so he trailed him down through the house and out the front door to the car. Off they drove through the darkness. There was a thin forest around his neighborhood, ordinarily so commonplace it wouldn't have scared anyone, but tonight Eugene kept thinking he saw the tall, dark man running alongside them through the trees, his nightblack robes flowing behind him. Once he imagined the hood turned to face them, but there was nothing inside it, just hollow darkness.
They soon got out of the forest and drove into town. Two minutes later, they arrived at the school. The mirror was still there. Eugene's father parked the car on the street and they both walked through the school gate and into the courtyard.
"I don't see any mirror, son."
Eugene looked at his father with eyes wide open. "You don't? It's right there!" He walked up to it to put his hand on it, but his hand went right through. Nothing. It was like air. But he couldn't see his hand anymore. He pulled it back out. "Did you see that? My hand disappeared behind it."
His father frowned and walked up to the mirror. "Son, where's the window?"
"The window?"
"Eugene, this isn't funny. It's late. Your mother's worried. No more games, okay?"
Eugene's lip quivered. "You don't see it? The mirror?"
His father looked where Eugene was pointing, then shook his head slowly. "Look, hold my hand." Eugene grabbed his hand. Together they walked forward, coming up to where the mirror was, and then suddenly they were through it. And they saw the other side of the courtyard, like it had always been, just a dusty old field. No other school. Quickly looking back, Eugene saw nothing but the school, and their car on the side of the street over the hedge. No mirror.
"But...but..."
"Let's go home, son." As they walked back towards the car, Eugene looked back again. There stood the mirror, looking as old as the earth itself. It was there! Then why couldn't he feel it? And why couldn't his father see it? These questions consumed his thoughts during the ride back home -- until he fell asleep as they entered the forest, that is. His father carried him out of the car and took him upstairs to their bedroom. That night Eugene slept with his parents, something he hadn't done since he was four.
A dreamless stretch later, he sat up wide awake in the middle of the night, sandwiched in between his mother and his father. The clock on the bedstand read 11:37. With a start he remembered the note from Casper and the mirror. A tiny flame of bravery kindled itself within his heart. A moment later he also remembered the dark man, and with that memory a blanket of fear fell upon him, threatening to extinguish the flame. He knew he had to go save Casper, but at the same time he felt like there stood a yawning abyss between him and the mirror. It was sheer madness to go back alone, at midnight, with the dark man out there somewhere.
Something inside Eugene flickered, and the little flame fanned itself into a roaring fire, blown on by the danger which faced him. He was scared, but he knew what path lay before him. If you could have seen him at this moment you would have been struck by the serene and noble look which gave him the appearance of one far wiser than his years. Determination etched itself across his face. He swallowed hard and slipped out of the bed.
Tiptoeing down the stairs, he grabbed the flashlight from the closet and opened the side door, which led into the garage. There he found his father's old bicycle. Opening the garage itself would cause too much noise, so he walked the bike back through the house and out the front door, taking care to shut the door very carefully lest his parents wake up.
The ride through the forest was uneventful, though Eugene's heart raced. Several times he thought to himself how crazy this was, and that he really ought to turn around and go back home, but on he rode, pedaling faster and faster as he thought of Casper being kidnapped. All the while he never once thought how he would actually go about saving him. This would later become a problem, but for the moment he had other things to think about, namely the dark man. For just as Eugene popped out of the forest, he heard footsteps chasing him from behind, and a moment's glance revealed his worst fears. The dark man was running hard, not more than twenty or thirty yards behind him.
Eugene looked forward and pedaled even faster. He turned the corner and saw the school racing up in front of him. Then he was there, jumping off the bicycle, racing through the gate, and searching desperately for the X on the ground. The dark man was at the gate. Eugene found the X, drawn in chalk a couple of feet in front of the mirror. He patted it three times. The dark man had run in through the gate and was now six or seven feet away. Eugene ran towards the mirror, then screeched to a halt, waiting for the door to appear.
Nothing happened.
