Albert Johnson knows the rules. He knows not to stare too long at the Silver Salmon River and he keeps his distance from the Verna Hall Garbage Dump when visiting Daphne Louise.
He knows that as long as he avoids certain places and doesn't go out at night, that he should be fine.
Fells Glen could be an ordinary town, the people are polite to each other and gossip travels fast. Just last week it only took the town a few hours to spread the news of the disappearance of Colin Whitcombe, the mayor's son.
As long as you follow the rules, your stay in Fells Glen will be pleasant, maybe even enjoyable.
The rules are why Albert found himself sitting outside Daphne's window as she watched her favourite episode of In The Abyss Of Love inside.
The rules are why he watched as she got up to answer the phone and miss the part of the show she had been talking about for the past week.
The rules are why he watched her break down crying.
The rules are why he was sitting outside instead of inside, comforting her.
There's a large tree sitting in a small grove on Wilkinson Farm. An abandoned farm that's on Albert's way home from work.
The owners, the Wilkinson family, broke the rules one day, but that's what they say.
The police arrived after someone driving by heard the Wilkinson's screaming. All they found were a trail of leaves leading from the tree to the house.
And their skins.
That was the night a new rule was made: "Never go into the Wilkinson's farm after seven" (the time the screaming started).
Daphne walked to the window and for a second Albert thought that maybe Daphne could see him. But then he remembered: he'd gone on the Wilkinson's farm to retrieve a stack of newspapers that had fallen off of his truck.
Now he knew what had happened to the Wilkinson family on that night so long ago. He knew that the call that Daphne had just gotten was the police, telling her that they found his skin lying at the edge of that damned farm.
Welcome to Fells Glen.
