Frank

Two kebabs later, followed by marshmallows and a round of Silly Love Songs everyone but Nora was willing to sing along in harmony, Frank was cheered.  McCartney was always the best for this kind of mission.  Very grounding.  He checked his watch. Things were going to be starting soon. Maybe in a couple hours, maybe less.

It had been a good dinner, soon to be followed by beer chilled in the lake. That was the best part. Next he and the others knew was the hardest part. Starting to clue Gary in, get him ready so he’d be accepting. Benny was looking over at him, nodding. Yes, this time it was his turn.

On the plus side, Gary was probably amenable enough they didn’t might not have to use the twist ties he’d brought along as a last resort.

“You’ve ever been in a place like this?” he asked, nudging the man. “I mean exactly a place like this?”

“Maybe,” Gary admitted. “This place does seem familiar. But I’m sure my dad never took me further north than Escanaba.”

“You read the articles on this place, maybe?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Gary wanted to know. “Just the brochures Flores passed around last week.”

Benny was just about to start laughing. He put a hand over his mouth. Jesus, the man had the weirdest sense of humor, not to mention bad timing.  Frank spotted him a warning glance then turned to look past the man.

“Oh, come on Nora,” he said. “Don’t tell me you didn’t make a copy for Gary.”

Nora rolled her eyes. Damn, they’d gone over this. It was the plan he’d come up with. Who cared no one else liked it.

“I thought I did,” she said finally on cue, then turned to Gary. “Remember that folder I put on your desk on Friday. You were supposed to read it.”

“Did you?” Gary asked, expression turning suspicious, annoyed then resigned. “Well, tell me now.”

Frank spotted Benny tensing, having recovered from his almost-laughing fit. There was always a chance the man would bolt. At least Benny was a yellow belt in aikido.  That should be enough if needed.

“That lake out there is called the Lake of Two Skies for a reason, Gary,” he said. “There’s been some strange stuff going on here, starting way back, hundreds of years ago. It was even recorded on the petroglyphs we passed.”

“I kind of got the idea,” Gary replied. “Ghosts and spirits and such. I looked it up. And that swirling petroglyph. Benny did say it had something to do with mysterious lights, right?”

Benny nodded.

So far so good. The guy was relaxed.  Or maybe it was the beer the he’d been guzzling. Whatever worked, Frank decided.

“There’s been kind of stuff more recently going on up here,” he offered. “People gone missing. Or worse.”

“You’re kidding, right,” Gary replied, nervousness now edging into his tone. “There was nothing like that on the website.”

“That’s because it’s not the kind of missing people like to hear about,” Frank told him. “So, here’s a story. A family that came up here, a few years ago. The folks and a couple kids. They come up here and then things go a bit wonky. First, one of the kids goes missing, then the other. Parents are real scared, are calling and searching. They find one of the kids, and learn they were playing some game of hide and seek. Something to do with hiding in the lights. But they don’t know where the other boy is. They are near crazy when he shows up, soaking wet, out of the blue. Almost catatonic. Heard that one before?”

Gary stared at him, his lips pulled back in a kind of grimace, rocked a bit on the log he was sitting on..

“I don’t think so,” he replied, sounding unsure of himself. He started shaking his head, pushing himself back from the fire.

Oh come on Gary, Frank tried to think right into the man’s skull. Don’t’ freak out yet. Let the memories come back. He glanced over at Benny. The guy just raised an eyebrow. He turned back to Gary, whose eyes had gone wide in the light of the campfire.

“Still, it did come with a kind of a happy ending,” Frank offered. “After all the parents get their kid back, he recovers after a while, seems mostly okay. And everyone forgets about it. And why shouldn’t they? Its lucky really. People go missing in the woods… sometimes you never find them. And sometimes what you find isn’t them.”

“What are you talking about?” Gary asked. “Aren’t we up here for that teambuilding exercise Flores told us we were?”

“We are,” Frank told him. “But she might not have been explicit about what kind of team we’re here to build.”