From Darkness It Comes

Searching the Campus

Unsure where else Mr. Stark may be lurking, Darrin does the only thing he can think of to do. He wanders around the campus looking in every shadowed side path and alcove he can find, hoping the dark figure will materialize out of one of them. As the sun fades down completely over the trees and the night sky slowly becomes the only color overhead, the search becomes for difficult. Every shadow seems to have a life of its own. Unseen eyes, watching from the darkness, can be felt on the skin like a cold dew. Darrin does his best not to let the growing sense of fear overtake his mind and heart, trying to show strength before Lisa, who is clutched to his side.

"Do you have any idea where he could be?" She asks in a voice she tries to keep from wavering.

"No. Usually he just shows up out nowhere and startles me when least expected. Never had to try to track him down before."

After a pause he adds, "Never really wanted to before, either."

Lisa nods, her head rubbing against his shoulder. "I can understand that. The guy gives me the screamin' jeebies."

Darrin can't help himself and cracks a smile. "Screamin' Jeebies?"

"Yeah. You know, the Heebie Jeebies? The Willies? Wiggins?"

Darrin understands but doesn't reply.

"He freaks me out." She finally says after a short pause without a reply.

"Yeah, I got that. Just never heard it called the Screamin' Jeebies before. I like that."

She smiles weakly. "Thanks."

"Definitely more descriptive that the Willies, with the whole 'Screaming' part and all."

She lets out a small snicker. Darrin smiles to himself, pleased that he managed to calm her down a little and lighten the mood slightly.

"Yeah," Lisa's voice is much lighter and calm than it has been. "I kinda thought it fit perfectly."

But the lightened mood was not to last, for as they calmed down slightly and stopped watching every corner and shadow closely they were interrupted by a deep raspy voice.

"This is no time for jokes."

The sound of Mr. Starks voice from beside them made them both jump. It seems he was coming out of the basement of the chemistry building just as they walked by.

Once he regains his breath and his heart slides back down out of his throat, Darrin turns to speak to the source of the start. "We've been looking for you."

"Have you now? Then you've decided to act?"

"We've decided nothing. We just need to know what's going on." Lisa says, reverting back to her small and distant voice.

"We saw something. It appeared before us and warned us of something." Darrin tries to maintain the strength in his voice for both their sakes. "We need to know more about the things it spoke of. These ancient creatures it spoke of, like Kal Wrath-na..."

"NEVER Speak It's Name!" Mr. Stark growls at him, interrupting his words. "You stupid child. Never speak any of their names. Don't you know that names hold power? Do you want to doom us all?"

Darrin steps back with shock. He had said the names before, when talking with Lisa about them, and nothing happened. Names are just words. He thinks to himself. They are knowledge. They can't harm anyone just by speaking them.

Lisa seems to have found her voice with his violent snap at Darrin. "How could we know anything? You never told us anything like this. You keep are you dark secrets locked up inside your head and leave us with scraps to flounder around with. If anything happens it's your fault, not ours. I don't think we should even listen to you any more. If we are going to do this on our own I'd rather find out what we can from places that won't treat us like monkeys with sticks and leading us along with vague clues and fear."

The slightest of smiles seem to crack Mr. Stark's usually stoic lips. "Fine. You want to know more? Come with me, I have something to show you, but you won't like it. I'll explain once we get there." On that he turns, a green duffle bag of some kind slung over his shoulder, and heads away from the two of them.

"I don't want to go." Lisa says adamantly. "We should try and make it to the Twilight Books for information, even if we have to wait until tomorrow to get in."

"I dunno." Darrin seems hesitant. "I may not like the man, but he might just be the only one who knows what we need to know to survive this."

"Right now I don't care what he has to say, but if you insist I will follow. I ain't leaving your side."

Darrin looks into her lovely eyes, filled with a sadness and fear but with a deep love behind them, and makes his decision. "Okay, let's..."