Frank’s lifeless eyes and plastic smile focused on Trevor. “Or bad things will happen, Trevor.”

“What kind of bad things?” Trevor asked.

Frank’s smile dropped suddenly and his face went slack. Somehow this expression was even scarier than the creepy fake smile. “Things you won’t even believe.”

“Frank!” Cole yelled. “Who called you out here? Who are you working with?”

Frank didn’t answer.

“This is bullshit,” Trevor whispered to Cole through clenched teeth. “Let’s just rush out there and get him. It doesn’t look like he has his gun.”

“Wait a minute,” Cole whispered back, never taking his eyes off of Frank. “Something’s not right here.” Couldn’t Trevor see that? Couldn’t he see that this person out in the snow wasn’t the Frank that they all knew?

Cole waited for an answer from Frank, but Frank still didn’t speak; he just stood in the snow with his head cocked to the side just a bit, his face slack, his expression blank.

Cole tried a different approach. “Frank, are you hurt?”

No answer again from Frank. It was like Frank was thinking this over, his expression and eyes still blank.

“Did you hurt yourself?” Cole asked again.

“I’m hurt,” Frank finally answered. “It’s pain that you couldn’t possibly imagine.”

“Come on inside, Frank!” Cole yelled to him. “We can help you.”

“Cole,” Jose whispered to him. “There’s something fucked up about Frank.”

Cole glanced at Jose, then at Needles who stood behind Trevor. Cole looked at Stella and David; they both stood closer to the front door of the cabin like they were ready to bolt back inside if they needed to. Stella’s eyes met Cole’s, but she didn’t say anything, she didn’t offer anything. He looked back at Frank, waiting for an answer from him.

“I can’t come inside right now,” Frank answered. “He wants things and you have to give him what he wants.”

“Who wants things?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“What does he want?” Cole asked.

“He wants all of the money you took from the bank on the front porch,” Frank told them in his strange guttural voice. His speech was slower, like he was concentrating on every word.

Jose took a step forward and raised his gun up.

“Jose,” Cole growled.

“The money,” Jose hissed. “All of this is about the money.”

“You have four hours to put all of the money on the front porch,” Frank said.

“What if we don’t want to give you the money?” Cole asked Frank.

“Then bad things are going to happen.”

“What if we decide to keep the money?” Cole continued. “What if we decide to leave? Just walk out of here.”

Frank thought for a second and he cocked his head to the side even more like he was listening to a voice that none of them could hear. Then his face lit up suddenly, like all of his facial muscles were pulled up by invisible strings at once, creating that creepy smile on his face again. “You can’t!” he said. “He won’t let you leave.”

“We’ll see about that!” Trevor yelled out to Frank.

Frank’s face fell slack again, the smile gone, his expression blank again. These seemed to be the only two expressions Frank had now. “You have four hours to give him what he wants,” Frank told them, and then he began to back away from them, backing up towards the woods. But it didn’t seem like his feet were moving in the snow. It was almost like he was gliding backwards through the snow towards the trees.

“Cole,” Needles said from behind him, his voice trembling just a bit. “What the hell’s Frank doing? How the hell is he moving through the snow like that?”

“I don’t know,” Cole said, never taking his eyes off of Frank.

“Fuck this,” Trevor grumbled and charged down the steps into the snow, his gun up and aimed at the retreating Frank. “Fuck you!!”

“No!” Cole yelled. “Trevor, wait …”

As Trevor squeezed the trigger, a wave of wind and snow kicked up instantly, a sudden blinding blizzard from nowhere. Trevor fired three quick shots into the swirling snow, but the shots were muffled by the snow and wind. Then Trevor brought his arms up to his face, shielding himself as best as he could from the snow that pelted the exposed flesh of his face like hail. Trevor turned and stumbled blindly back up the steps, nearly tripping as he stepped onto the porch, getting under the cover of the roof.

Cole grabbed his little brother and did his best to shield him from the sudden squall of a snowstorm.

The small whirlwind of snow died down as quickly as it had started – it was completely gone now; the world was calm and peaceful again.

They stared out at the field.

Frank was gone.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Where the fuck did he go?” Trevor asked as he stared out at the empty field of snow.

“I don’t know,” Cole answered.

“I don’t see him anywhere,” Trevor went on, his voice a little shaky. He wiped at his face which was wet and a little red from where the snow had pelted him moments ago. “Do you guys see him in the trees anywhere?”

“We need to get back inside,” Needles said in a trembling voice. His eyes bulged with fear as he stared out at the field of snow. “It’s not safe out here.”

Stella and David didn’t wait for the others. Stella ushered David back inside the doorway.

Needles turned and caught the front door as it began to close. He stared inside at Stella and David. “No way. You’re not going inside by yourself and locking us out here.” Needles hurried in after them.

Cole thought that he’d better get back inside with them, Needles was becoming more and more unglued every second. “Yeah,” he told the others. “Let’s get back inside.”

They all filed back inside the cabin, Cole was the last one inside. He shut and locked the front door. His mind was whirling, spinning. Everything seemed to be happening too fast. He needed things to slow down so he could think.

Jose paced into the kitchen, his movements quick and jerky, he was edgy and upset. “Fuck, man. Frank’s been doing this shit all along. All to get the money.” He looked right at Trevor. “I told you I saw Frank out in the woods. And you guys didn’t believe me.”

Trevor didn’t answer Jose, he looked at Cole instead. “So, what are we gonna do now?”

Cole didn’t answer.

“What do you mean?” Jose nearly screamed as he rushed back into the living room. “What are we gonna do about what?”

“The money,” Trevor said slowly like he was talking to an idiot.

“I’m not giving up my share of the money,” Jose spat the words out. “I’m not putting it out there.”

“I want my share out there,” Needles said quickly.

Stella and David took their spot on the couch. David wasted no time in picking up his spiral notebook. He opened it to the middle, to a page he had left off on, and he started drawing again at a furious pace. Stella tried to peek at what David was drawing, but he shielded the page with his hand and his body. She hadn’t been able to see what he had been drawing at all. She had asked him a few times to see the drawings, but he didn’t want her to. And she didn’t push, if this was his way of dealing with their situation right now, then she had to let him have his escape.

Needles looked at Cole, Trevor, and then Jose with frightened eyes. He was scared, more scared than any of them had ever seen him. He nodded his head quickly. “I want my share of the money out there,” he repeated.

“You’re fucking nuts,” Jose said to Needles. “It’s just Frank out there. Not the boogeyman or the devil.”

“So where did that wall of snow come from when Trevor tried to shoot at Frank?” Needles asked Jose. “You saw that … that thing out there. That wasn’t Frank. That was … was something else. You saw the way he was sliding through the snow back to the trees. How was he doing that?”

“Fuck this,” Jose grumbled. “I’m not having a conversation with a lunatic.”

Cole looked at Trevor. “What about you, Trevor? What do you want to do about the money?”