One Year Later

"Sheralyne, could you hang back for a bit?"

The class rushed out and Sheralyne shoved her notebook into her bag and shouldered it. She approached Dr. Ames' desk, her Intro to Anthropology teacher. He massaged his chin with his left hand, tapped his fingers on the table with the right hand. He didn't look at her.

"You lived in Lagoe, right? You knew the Darsons?"

"I knew Mrs. Darson, she was my art and drama teacher."

"I have to ask that you keep this between us. I have to tell someone, someone who knows."

"Knows what?"

"You did three papers on missing civilizations, UFOs, and sasquatch. You're failing my class spectacularly. But you're... open minded."

"My mother says my mind is so open my brains fell out long ago."

"Mothers. Heh. Mine was something else. I have to ask you about something that happened there."

"Is it about Elizabeth Soy and that kid? I told the police, I don't know them and I don't know where they are."

"Not about them."

"But I know they blew up that roadside motel. They have a callsign they spray paint, so everyone knows."

"No, this is not about them. Sheralyne, the Lagoe Police Department brought me on to look at a body. Bodies. In a cave near the fires in Lagoe. We found a lot in those fires, little of it made sense. But the bodies."

Sheralyne gripped her bag to her chest. "Was it them? The Darsons?"

"A couple. Titanium wedding rings. Buried in dirt thousands of years old. Ice age old. Mammoths old."

"But how?"

"That's the thing, isn't it? I just don't know. There isn't an explanation that isn't crazy."

"Like I would write?" Sheralyne asked.

Dr. Ames chuckled. "F. F-minus possibly."

"That's okay, Dr. Ames. We'll all know the truth one day."

"When we're dead?"

"They sing a song about them. And the Meriwether place. What kids are left anyway."

"How's that go?" Mr. Ames asked.

Sheralyne took a breath