The Town at the Edge of the World - Part 4

Kieran stammered incoherently as his mind reeled.

Never here? What did he mean his mum was never here? This is our house. Of course she’s been here.

“Alright kid, I can see you don’t have a clue what’s going on here, so let me make you an offer.”

Graham got up out of his chair as he spoke, and Kieran flinched backwards towards the door.

“Hey, hey. No need for that, kid,” he said calmly, raising his open palms in front of him, “I’m not gonna hurt’cha.”

“My mum always tells me to stay away when strangers try to talk to me. I gotta,” Kieran insists, fear wavering in his throat.

“She must be a smart woman, your mother. But I promise you I’m not gonna come any closer. All I wanna do is talk. My name’s Graham. Call me Grey. Nice to meet’cha,” he introduced himself, slowly reaching up to grab his Akubra and lift it slightly in greeting, “Now about that offer, I was gonna say, if you tell me the story of how you came to be talking to me here, then I’ll try to explain what’s going on for you, and maybe even get you back to your mum. How’s that sound?”

Kieran hesitated. He didn’t wanna break the rules, but he also knew something was wrong about where he was and he needed help finding his way home.

“I-I’m Kieran,” he said, “and I guess I could do that.”

~~~~~

“Kiiieeeeeeraaaaaaaan,” Kelly called, “Honey, where are you!?”

She and Nate had been looking for nearly half an hour at this point and still had nothing — not even a trace of him. Kelly was starting to actually worry.

“Nate, keep looking, but don’t wander too far, ok? I’m gonna call around and see if anyone’ seen him,” she instructed.

“Good idea, Mrs. Young,” Nate said, “I won’t go too far. Promise.”

So she called around the town — every house she knew — to ask if anyone had seen Kieran. As she did, the heat started to drop, and the wind picked up around her. Just as she was ending the last call she could think to make, a peel of thunder rolled across the paddocks, and a spattering of rain began to mist the air.

“Thanks Vicky, I’ll let you know once he’s found, till then, keep an eye out for me won’t you? Thanks.”

She looked around at the incoming front. She knew she didn’t have a choice anymore.

“Nate, I’m gonna have to call the police to come help us ok? Just stay where I can see you until your mum gets here.”

Nate nodded dejectedly and then sat down by the toilet block under the cover of it’s eaves. He couldn’t stop wondering if Kieran was as scared as he was right now.

~~~~~

“…Aaaand now I’m here,” Kieran concluded.

“Interesting,” Grey pondered.

Someone like Kieran shouldn’t be able to reach this space without Grey’s help. He was pretty sure he wasn’t due for a replacement. Was he? He glanced down to double check that he wasn’t dead. Nope, still good.

“Well, your turn,” Kieran dragged him from thought, “You said you’d tell me what was going on and where my mum is.”

“That’s right, I did. No flies on you, kid. Now, let me see… why don’t we walk and talk on our way back to the park, hey?”

“… sure,” said Kieran, after some hesitation.

They got up and Grey waited for Kieran to leave the house, then followed and took the lead.

“This place… This empty version of Tyers… It’s sort of an … ‘in-between place’,” he started.

“In between what?” Kieran asked.

“Well, uhh, everything, I guess,” he hesitated, “It’s a place between worlds, really, but usually you can’t come here unless the gate guard from your world, in your case, yours truly, lets you in. I can tell you now, kid, I definitely did NOT let you in.”

“Then how’d I get here?”

“Well, you activated the gate yourself when you grabbed the pole, I think. Shouldn’t be possible, but you’re here so I guess we just gotta accept that fact.”

“Wait, a place between worlds???!” Kieran circled back with wonder.

“That’s it, yep.”

“Can I see some!?” He asked, excitedly.

“I’d love to kid but I gotta warn you of something,” he said seriously, kneeling down to be on eye level as they arrived back at the archway where this all began, “The other gate guards, they aren’t gonna like that you’re here without permission. I can’t take you through any of the other gates or they’ll find out you’re here.”

Kieran nodded, a look of disappointment crossing his face. Grey reached out a hand and touched a spot on the pole. The archway filled with… something. It was like the air was made out of thousands of tiny squares and they were all moving in diagonal waves down the arch. There was a buzzing like a phone vibrating as it began, but it faded quickly.

“Woah,” said Kieran, staring at it.

“Now, this one here,” Grey pointed to a spot just below a prominent knot in the wood of the arch, “is the spot to touch to open it, but I’m only telling you that so you know to avoid it.”

“What if I wanna come back and talk to you?”

“Trust me, kid, you don’t. I’m really boring, I promise, and the other problem is that you’re lucky it was me that found you. If I hadn’t found you, one of the others would’ve, and… Well, let’s just say you might not have been going home to your mum tonight if they did. You get the idea?”

“… yeah, I guess,” Kieran said dejectedly.

“I just don’t want you getting hurt, ok kid? You gotta promise me you won’t come back here, ok?”

“… I promise.”

He seemed to be truthful.

“Alright then, one last thing before you go, time moves funny in here. You won’t have been gone for weeks or anything like that, but depending on the day you could appear back almost straight after you left, or you could have been gone a few hours or at worst a day or two, so your mum could be worried about you.”

“Ok, I’ll go find her straight away,” Kieran assured him, moving towards the ‘gate’ as Grey called it.

“Oh and, Kieran?”

“Yeah?” He glanced back.

“If you meet an old guy named Boomer around town… tell him ‘Grey says hi’ for me. He’ll know what you mean.”

Kieran nodded again, before turning away. He took a deep breath before stepping through the arch.

Stepping into darkness.

~~~~~

Officer Jamie Madden squinted through the rain that filled his torch beam, trying in vain to spot a young boy reported missing a few hours ago by his mother. The sun had well and truly set by now and the torrential downpour had eased slightly but the rain and darkness were leaving less and less hope that the boy would be found tonight.

He left the park which was acting as ground zero for the search team, and headed through the kinder carpark. He intended to check around the back of the CFA shed in case the kid had gotten curious and was stuck there somehow.

As Jamie went he heard a strange noise behind him, like the buzz of a phone, followed by the crunching of rubber shoes on wet, gravely bitumen. Jamie whirled around to discover… a boy. It can’t be him.

“Kieran? Is that you? Are you hurt?” He asked.

“It’s me! I’m fine! How long was I gone? Where’s Mum?” a small voice called back to him.

“Thank god!” He exclaimed, “Come with me, quickly, I’m Officer Madden and I’m gonna get you back to your mum, ok?”

“Ok, thank you.”

Jamie grabbed Kieran’s hand and lead him back to the park.

“I found him! Everyone stop looking! I have Kieran here! Someone go fetch Mrs. Young!” He called as they approached.

Out of the darkness, a shadowy blur came rushing and tackled Kieran onto the grass.

“You’re alright!” Came Nate’s ecstatic voice.

“Nate?” Kieran asked, a little dazed.

Nate got up and offered a hand. Once he was standing, Nate playfully punched him in the shoulder.

“Don’t scare us like that again.”