Do Not Answer #9
The radio in the back room burst into static.
Voices filled the station from three directions.
Mercer at the door.
Anna in the pipes.
Danny on the radio.
Keller’s father somewhere in the hallway, calling him Tommy.
The ceiling lights flashed.
Mason grabbed the desk and pushed it against the front door.
Ethan helped him.
Keller stood in the center of the room, turning toward each voice.
His father called again.
“Tommy, I’m at the tower.”
Keller picked up the map.
Mason said, “Don’t.”
“I need to shut down the generator.”
“Why?”
“The lights.”
The ceiling went dark.
The generator continued running outside.
In the darkness, every voice stopped.
Mason switched on his flashlight.
The front window was empty.
Mercer no longer stood on the porch.
Ethan kept one hand on the desk.
Lena could hear him breathing.
Keller unfolded the map.
“There’s another radio at Signal Point.”
Mason stared at him.
“We have a radio.”
“The signal is stronger there.”
“The Coast Guard heard us.”
Keller pointed at the dead lights.
“The generator’s still running, but the power is gone. Something cut the line.”
“Then we wait until morning.”
“My father went to the tower.”
“Your father went there six years ago.”
Keller looked down at the map.
“He said it again.”
Mason’s voice softened.
“That does not make it true.”
“No.”
Keller folded the map.
“But the tower is where the emergency beacon was.”
“You think it still works?”
“I think he repaired it.”
“When?”
“Before he disappeared.”
Lena’s father looked at the boarded window.
“If we turn on the beacon, rescue finds us sooner.”
Mason said, “They already know the island.”
“They know we said the island. They don’t know if the radio report was accurate.”
“You heard them answer.”
“So did whatever is outside.”
Lena looked at him.
He was trying to sound practical. She could hear the other reason beneath it.
The tower was outside.
Danny was outside.
Keller put on his coat.
“It’s half a mile.”
Mason shook his head.
“We don’t split up.”
“Then come.”
“What about Ruth?”
Nobody answered.
Lena looked toward the kitchen.
The sink was still empty.
Ruth’s shoe lay beside the cabinet.
There was no body to wait beside and no way to help her.
Mason took the first-aid kit and the remaining flare.
“We go together. We stay on the path. Nobody follows a voice.”
The sentence sounded ridiculous once he said it.
Nobody laughed.
Lena changed back into Danny’s sweatshirt. It was still damp but warmer than the blanket in the night air.
Her father tied Ruth’s blanket around her shoulders over the life jacket.
“You stay beside me.”
“I know.”
He touched the whistle in his pocket.
Lena saw.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“You keep reaching for it.”
“It’s mine.”
“It was Danny’s.”
Her father looked at her.
Then he placed the whistle in her hand.
She put it in the zippered pocket of the life jacket.
They left through the rear door.
The generator ran beside the shed, shaking on its concrete pad. Its power cable had been pulled from the wall.
The copper wire inside had been stretched into thin shining strands.
Mason held it up.
“Could’ve caught on something.”
Keller looked at the cable lying straight across the ground.
“Maybe.”
They entered the trees.
* * *
Keller led with the map. Mason walked behind him. Lena and her father stayed together, with Ethan carrying the paddle.
The path climbed toward the tower.
No one spoke.
The station disappeared behind the trees.
After several minutes they heard footsteps following them.
Lena counted.
Keller.
Mason.
Her father.
Herself.
A fifth step came after hers.
Softer than the others.
She did not turn around.
Her father heard it too. She knew because his hand tightened around hers.
The fifth step continued.
Mason stopped.
Everyone stopped.
One more footfall sounded behind Lena.
Then nothing.
Mason shone the flashlight down the trail.
The path was empty.
Rainwater dripped from the branches.
“Animal,” Ethan said.
Nobody agreed.
They kept walking.
The ruined tower appeared above them.
Its lower half was built from stone. A narrow metal staircase climbed along the outside to a platform near the broken top.
A small building stood beneath it.
The door hung open.
Keller approached first.
His flashlight moved across a desk, a rusted cabinet, and a radio console.
A green light glowed on the console.
Mason stepped past him.
“Battery backup.”
He examined the controls.
“Beacon has power.”
“Can you activate it?” Ethan asked.
“Probably.”
Keller went to the base of the stairs.
Someone stood on the platform above.
Lena saw the outline through the broken metal rails.
An old man in a dark coat.
Keller raised his flashlight.
The beam reached the platform.
The man was gone.
“Dad?” Keller called.
Mason turned.
The old man appeared higher on the staircase.
He climbed without making a sound.
Keller followed.
Mason grabbed the back of his coat.
“Keller.”
“That’s him.”
“You saw what was at the door.”
“I know my father.”
“So did Ethan.”
Keller pulled free.
The old man reached the broken platform.
He looked down.
His face was narrow and gray. One eye remained closed.
“Tommy,” he said.
Keller climbed.
Mason went after him.
Ethan moved toward the stairs.
Lena caught his hand.
“Dad.”
A boy stood among the trees beyond the tower.
Danny wore the same blue sweatshirt Lena was wearing.
It fit him.
He was twelve again, thin from the growth spurt he had complained about all summer. His hair lay wet across his forehead.
Ethan turned.
The paddle dropped from his hand.
Danny smiled.
This time one corner of his mouth rose first.
Lena’s certainty slipped.
The thing had learned.
“Dad,” it said.
Ethan stepped off the path.
Lena held on to him.
Danny looked at her.
“Len, tell him.”
His voice was right.
Not generally right. Danny’s.
The slight breathlessness. The way his tongue caught against the repaired tooth.
Lena wanted to answer.
She remembered the telephone.
Ruth had said Anna’s name, then told the voice about the shoes. Afterward the thing had worn the shoes.
Ethan had said Danny was twelve. Lena had said he called her Len. She had spoken about his wave.
It had listened.
Danny held out his hand.
“You left me in the water.”
Ethan stopped.
His shoulders collapsed.
“I tried.”
Lena looked at him.
The thing took another step.
“You watched me go under.”
“I came in after you.”
“You waited.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice cracked.
“I didn’t.”
Danny’s face tightened.
“You let me drown.”
Lena felt something inside her settle.
The thing had Danny’s voice and Danny’s face.
The words belonged to her father.
She had heard him say them through the bedroom wall at night. I waited too long. I let him drown. Claire had argued with him until her voice broke.
Danny could not have known what happened after he went under.
He could not have known how long Ethan waited.
The police report said Ethan entered the reservoir immediately. A fisherman had helped pull him out when he kept diving after the search team arrived. Her mother said he had to be sedated at the hospital because he tried to return to the water.
Lena stepped in front of her father.
“You’re saying what he thinks.”
Danny looked at her.
“What?”
“You know what Dad thinks happened.”
The boy’s hand remained extended.
Lena’s voice shook, but she continued.
“You don’t know what Danny knew.”
The face changed around the eyes.
“Lena.”
“He wouldn’t say that.”