Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #16 July 2015 | Page 14

the car, hopefully heading to Bethany. The messing
around had been the passenger’s insistence on a
booster cushion for the front seat, so that he could see
clearly as they drove along.

“I said she’s fine. Bit of counselling... ah,
never mind that. She’s with a good crowd, who just
like playing games. They won’t hurt her, unless...
well our conversation is going nicely, so it won’t
come to that.” He rocked to himself, seemingly
enjoying this phase of the conversation.

His face pressed to the window of the car
door. His putrid breath steamed the glass, as he
turned his stumpy, gnarled hands over and over in
his lap. Taking in every view, he became excitable,
making grunting noises toward the people they
passed. Toward the children they passed.

He clicked his fingers, and then looked at
them for a while. “Hmm, it’s getting there. Starting
to feel it,” he pondered to himself.
“Feel what?”

They cruised by a playground. The strange
man became jittery, excited. Thomas looked across
at him to see drool running down his chin. The idea
of this, ‘man’, being anywhere near his daughter
filled him with a deep terror. He had read all of the
paedophile profiles, watched the disgusting videos
and seen the vile photographs. He’d worried he had
become desensitised to it all. Now though, it was his
own child, his only daughter, and he deeply wished
he’d never seen those things. He desperately wanted
to be ignorant of the cruel horror these repulsive
creatures did.

“Don’t you worry yourself about that Gareth.
You’ve been very attentive and patient. I’m going to
reward you for that. How would you like to go and
collect Bethany?”
“Now? - Really? - Of course I do. Let’s go.”
“Well, why don’t we go in your car? I’ve
always wanted to go in one of them.”
Thomas didn’t need to be asked twice.
He stopped the tape and went to the door, before
returning to the tape recorder and ejecting the tape.
He popped it into his pocket and motioned for the
man to follow him.
The station bustled as usual but no one paid
either of them any attention. Thomas turned to the
man. “Can they not see you?”

He shook his head, trying to clear the images.
All those images, they all appeared in his mind with
Bethany’s face, with her eyes looking straight at him.
He physically shuddered. His policeman’s training
worked its way forward, working out how to engage
with his passenger.

“Oh, I like the way you are thinking. We may
well be getting close to the end now Gareth.” He
snapped his fingers again and this time a small blue
spark appeared. “Not long now.”

He cleared his throat with a cough, and said,
“So, fear is the name of the game for you now then?”
He decided to keep him talking, try to get him to
reveal some more information.

Thomas rubbed his eyes and after retrieving
his car keys, headed toward the parking area. His
mind was in turmoil. The things he was seeing.
The things he’d heard said. His usually calm and
ordered mind was frantically searching for obvious
answers. The one he settled on was that this was a
man suffering from dwarfism, failed plastic surgery,
and had come from a travelling circus where he had a
magic act. He rubbed the back of his neck. Logic was
not helping here.

“Well, let’s say it is an experiment. A little bit
of a test.”
“Is my daughter, is she, is she a part of this
test?” The words got caught in his throat, as his
emotions threatened to overcome him.
“Now Gareth, I told you young Bethany was
alright and I meant it. No, I’ve put forward another
idea to the elders.”
He shuffled in his seat, distracted, as he

After a lot of mess [