The Town That Dreaded Sundown Page #5

---

I tracked down Mary McCreedy in 1986.

I found that scary old b*tch

on her deathbed,

and she warned me.

She said that her grandson would do

what her son didn't have the balls to do.

Make Texarkana pay for its sins.

Yeah. And no one else

has thought of this?

Not like the police, or the FBI,

or the goddamn f***ing Texas Rangers?

Do you believe his story?

Are you kidding me?

The man lives on a boat.

Wait, do you believe him?

I don't know.

Hey, I'm just saying,

if McCreedy did have a grandson,

he'd probably be in his 20s

or his 30s, at least. Nick.

Come on.

As far as we know, f***ing Charles

B. Pierce, Jr. could be the killer.

He doesn't have a reason to be.

His story was told,

his father's story was told.

- Yeah, up until the sequel.

- But they're a part of the legend.

They're in the movie.

They're there somewhere.

- All of them except for...

- McCreedy.

Now, his name wasn't even

mentioned in the papers.

He doesn't have a plaque anywhere.

He's not even in the movie that

they show every damn year. It's...

- It'd be upsetting.

- It's an injustice, Nick.

Hank McCreedy's grandson

would see it as an injustice.

Now, this is a very sad day

for us all.

It always is when you lose an officer

of the law in the line of duty.

Now, I did not work

with Deputy Tillman long,

but you all know him

a lot better than...

How many of these have you gotten?

This is the second notice of acceptance.

Grandma, I just met somebody

and I think...

I am not gonna let this mess

be the most important thing in your life.

Grandma, it already is.

I have talked to your uncle

in California

and he said that we can stay

with him as long as need be.

Pack up.

We'll leave before daybreak.

Tomorrow for sure?

I'm already packed.

You couldn't wait a day?

- I'm not gonna see you.

- I hate that.

I could come visit, though.

Yeah, of course.

Are you okay?

Yeah.

- Grandma. I'll just be a second.

- Okay.

So, I'm not sure if anyone told you,

but my grandma and I are gonna

take off for a little while.

Yeah, she mentioned that.

Can I show you something?

It could be nothing, but I just think

it should be investigated by someone.

- Who's he?

- His name's Hank McCreedy.

He was the original Phantom's last victim

but he's sort of forgotten about.

I heard a story about him,

so I did some research,

and he's got a grandson somewhere.

I've been writing an article.

I'm gonna try and finish it

when I get to California.

I'll look into it for you, I promise.

Jami. Come on, hon.

Drive safe.

Never left Texas my whole life.

Isn't that somethin'?

Do you want anything else?

Just a coffee?

A Danish. And... get some water.

Good morning.

It's New Year's Day here at KYGL,

and for you early birds,

here's a classic.

Grandma?

Grandma.

Grandma, no! No!

No! No! Don't...

Help me, please, somebody!

The Phantom, he's...

Like a dog with a bone, ain't ya?

What?

Oh, my God. Oh, God,

oh, God. Oh, no, no. No.

The f***...

Foster.

Go on, show her, boy.

- No!

- Hey, Jami.

No!

No!

No! I saw him die!

- I watched you die! I know...

- If you remember,

you actually missed most of it.

They found his body.

They found his body.

No, I found his body.

The poor runaway kid.

Cut up his face, knocked out

his teeth, left two of mine.

Are you Hank McCreedy's grandson?

One of you is Hank McCreedy's grandson.

I am.

And now,

thanks to you,

they're gonna remember my granddaddy.

Corey.

All those people died. My grandma.

Why did you do it?

Born in Texarkana,

buried in Texarkana.

Well, not me, God damn it.

But I knew we were the same, you and me.

Both of us trapped.

No. We are not the same.

Didn't this town decide who you were?

The crazy girl, with the...

the dead parents?

Oh, it was the same with me.

I was the golden boy. A football star.

I'd go to college like my dad

and I'd come back like my dad.

Well, f*** that!

I wanted to be a part

of something special.

I wanted to be remembered!

Like the Phantom.

When people talk about

what happened in Texarkana,

about how the Phantom

came back, oh, I'll know!

I'll know that I, I made that...

They're gonna keep looking for you.

- They're gonna keep looking for the...

- Jami!

Why would they?

- No!

- When I tell 'em...

that I caught the two kids who did it.

Who were so obsessed with the Phantom,

that one faked his own death.

She killed her own grandma.

- No! No, f*** you!

- And you know what?

They'll believe me. Only because...

everybody in this town just wants

to believe this whole thing is over.

It is over.

This story is about Texarkana.

A town that is really two towns.

Two sheriffs. Two mayors.

And in the end, two Phantoms.

After I came out

of the Redwater Bayous that night,

Ranger Morales and his men went back in.

They wanted to close the most

terrible chapter in our town's history.

Some people say

the swamp took Deputy Foster,

that the swamp gave him

the only burial he deserved.

Others believed I hadn't killed

the Phantom 'cause he was something

that couldn't be killed...

a demon or a spirit.

People believe

what they need to believe.

They make up whatever story

they need to keep living sanely.

...I did the Bootleggers,

and The Legend of Boggy Creek

and this is my third one, Winterhawk.

The hardest thing for my town

has been the wrestling to understand

how Clayborn Foster

and Corey found each other

and put on those masks

and did those inhuman things.

Their lives were investigated

and there was nothing linking them.

They had nothing in common

except the darkness in their souls.

And I swear, that will keep the Phantom

alive as much as anything else.

As for me,

I did what my grandma always wanted.

I left Texas.

I moved away.

To a new life,

to a place where no one knows

who I am, or what I survived.

Where I'm the only person that knows

that as quickly and as senselessly

as death came to Texarkana in 1946,

and then again late last year,

it could come back

the next time the sun goes down.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes