- Antlers hasn't always been in the town. He only started showing up a few years ago.
- Cole mentioned something about a "guy in a mask", but he wouldn't say anything else.
- A few years back, the reverend at the town's Church died. It took a few weeks to find a replacement, but they did eventually. He said something was "off" about the new preacher, and that a lot of folks stopped attending the sermons after a while. I asked him why, and he said that he wasn't reading from any holy bible he'd heard of.
- He also said that the Preacher had some kind of "sway" over people, and that folks that tried to get him excommunicated ended up skipping town or just vanishing altogether.
- Cole used to be the sheriff. Said that before they let him go, he was really going after the new Reverend, apparently named Leonard Whitewall.
- Apparently, Whitewall was either buying off or influencing the town's mayor, and probably others, and Cole was basically forced out of being sheriff. Said he kept getting bricks thrown at his windows and threatening letters. He never saw who was doing it, but he was pretty sure it was kids. I asked him how he knew, and he said that one time he caught sight of a couple of the people doing it, and they were too short to be adults.
- A good chunk of the town's initial population left, and the ones that stayed are either too old or too young, Cole said that it had something to do with Whitewall, but he wasn't sure what. Getting some serious Jim Jones vibes here.
- He thinks that Antlers was like some kind of errand boy for the Preacher, and that whenever someone skipped town, Cole always found the same kind of pictures I did nearby. He said that he'd never seen the thing himself, but his wife had once, and it'd scared her bad enough that she wanted to take the kids and leave too. Cold refused to be scared out of town. She took the kids and moved to Seattle, supposedly.
I paid for the food, and just as I was leaving, Cole grabbed by jacket sleeve. He said that I needed to watch my back around the kids in town. That something wasn't right with them. I told him that I knew, and he nodded.
Is that what I'm destined to become? An old man, drinking away the horrors he's seen?
While I was leaving, I looked back at the diner. Cole was getting in his car, this old shitbucket Chevy with a taped on side mirror. Just as he was pulling out, I saw someone in the backseat. Blonde hair. Dark eyes. Sharp teeth. I don't know if Cole didn't see her, or if he didn't care. I tried running after the car but he was already too far down the road.
God, I hope he's alright.
