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They finished their drinks, then walked outside to the creek that ran beside Stefan's house. When they came to the bridge that crossed over to Sanders Field, Monte asked, "Where does this trail lead?"

"Ah, just over to that field, but we aren't allowed to go in there anymore."

"How come?"

Well, here while back we found an uncapped well, and yesterday a girl got hurt really bad when she fell and hit her head on a rock."

Smiling slyly, Monte remarked, "Nobody said that I couldn't go in there." He started across the bridge, then turned and asked, "Coming, chicken?"

Stefan glanced around to see if his mother was watching, then replied, "What the heck, who wants to live forever?"

There was an irresistible pull to the place, even for Stefan. They made their way across the field, and Monte asked, "Where is this well you were talking about?"

"To be exact, there are two wells that we know of. We discovered another one the last time Tommy and I were here."

"Let's have a look, what do you say?"

They arrived at the last hole that the boys had found, and Monte knelt down by the stone. Stefan remarked that this was where they had found Cindy. He explained that the black spot on the corner was where she had struck her head. Monte impatiently replied that he knew all about blood turning black after it was exposed to air for a while, then remarked, "What I am curious about is this writing. Who wrote it?"

"No one. It's not writing; it's only some kind of markings in the stone."

"Why you're crazier than you look, my good man!"

"No, I'm not. Help me turn it over and I'll prove it to you. It goes all the way through to the other side."

When the boys finally managed to get the stone turned over; Monte got down on his knees once again, and traced the inscription with his fingers; the Roman numerals, and some form of scribbling. He then said, "I'm not certain about the rest of it, but this is nothing more than July 20, 2001 in Roman numerals. This other appears to be some kind of hieroglyphics. Egyptian, I would presume."

"That's funny."

"What's funny?" inquired Monte.

"July 20, 2001? I'll be… fourteen years old on that day."

Monte got a strange look on his face when Stefan said this, then immediately plopped down on his butt as if all the wind had been taken from his sails. Stefan asked, "What's the matter?"

Monte replied that he didn't rightly know. It was just that he had all of sudden gotten very light-headed. Stefan stared at Monte with a feeling of deja`vu. He had witnessed this same thing happening to Tommy. He hadn't cared for it then, nor did he relish it now. "Monte! Monte…Godammit, I don't want to go through this again!" he screamed, while shaking the shit out of the boy, but Monte was off in a world of his own.

* * *

(The creature sensed a presence. As it surfaced it immediately locked on the larger of the two boys. It received images of an ocean, a busted marriage and a long running kaleidoscope of other scenes. After gleaning all the useful information it could from this being; it gave him a "push", which gave the blond boy a severe migraine. From the other being it received a total blank.  It was at this time that the creature sensed the human might be the adversary. Was he the CHOSEN ONE? Only time would tell!)

* * *

Stefan decided he wasn't going to be able to bring Monte around, so he sat down to wait for whatever was to come. A feeling of euphoria washed over him to such an extent that it was almost as if he were "high." The sensation was so foreign to him as he had never been ill a day in his life, and therefore had never taken any drug whatsoever.

An undetermined amount of time elapsed before Monte's head suddenly jerked backwards as if he had been slapped with a forceful blow. Startled out of his reverie by Monte's unexpected movement, Stefan rushed to his side, and asked, "Are you all right now?"

Speaking as if he was hypnotized or in a trance, Monte answered, "HE wants you! It's you, Stefan. You are the Chosen One. The fate of the world may well rest on your shoulders."  Monte then snapped fully awake.

Taken aback, Stefan asked, "What in the HELL are you babbling about?"

As Monte became aware of his surroundings, he inquired, "What do you mean? Where am I?"

Fearing that Monte might be a "stoner," Stefan replied, "We're in Sanders Field, and you were just talking a lot of nonsense."

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes, you were!"

"Stefan, I ought to know if I was saying anything, or not." Monte then made a move to shove Stefan away, but his hand encountered an invisible "shield" of sorts. He stared at Stefan with a look of disbelief showing on his face.

Stefan, unaware of what was transpiring, could only stare back. He was at a loss; Monte was making strange gestures toward him, but was stopping short of actually touching him. He said, "Sure, Monte, no big deal."

"Stefan, this was never an old oil well."

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