The children stared at Allen in disbelief.
Allen took a deep breath.
"I'm even more different than you."
Everyone waited for him to continue.
"I'm from the future."
Silence filled the room.
"I was born in the 2000s. I disappeared… and somehow ended up here, in 1987."
Kyler shook his head.
"That's impossible."
"I know it sounds impossible," Allen replied, "but it's true. You all disappeared from the past and were brought into the future. I disappeared from the future… and was brought into the past."
He looked toward the front windows of the station.
"So none of us are safe."
The room fell quiet.
"I know somewhere we can hide," Allen said. "There's another kid here. He saved me when I first arrived."
He suddenly turned pale.
"We have to go. Now."
The others looked toward the front of the station.
Their parents and the three sheriffs were walking back.
At first, everything looked normal.
Then they noticed the smiles.
Every one of them wore the same enormous grin.
Too wide.
Too perfect.
It looked less like happiness…
…and more like they had all been told the same terrible joke.
A cold shiver ran down Mimi's spine.
"Run," Allen whispered.
The children rushed through the back door and sprinted up the hill toward the old cabin where the other boy was hiding.
Inside the station, the smiles slowly disappeared.
The parents' expressions changed from joyful…
…to fearful.
Sheriff Steven looked toward the empty back door.
"If they find out," he said quietly, "we're all doomed."
Angie swallowed hard.
"No."
She stared into the woods.
"He can't find them."