<p>Welcome back to Clifton Heights.<br />
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<p>In Kevin Lucia&rsquo;s latest installment of his growing Clifton Heights mythos, Sheriff Chris Baker and Father Ward meet for a&nbsp;Saturday&nbsp;morning&nbsp;breakfast at The Skylark Dinner to once again commiserate over the weird and terrifying secrets surrounding their town. Sheriff Baker shares with Father Ward the story of a&nbsp;journal discovered in the ruins of what was once an elaborate koi pond and flower garden, which&nbsp;regales&nbsp;a tale of regret, buried pain, and unfulfilled debt.&nbsp;Father Ward reveals the story of a tortured man from the nearby town of Tahawus,&nbsp;who visited his confessional&nbsp;seeking solace from a&nbsp;cosmic horror he can never outrun.</p>

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<p>&ldquo;Sophan&rdquo; &ndash; Jake Burns has always been a bit...off. Rude, awkward, sometimes brutish, he&#39;s tolerated by Nate Slocum and his friends because he hits a mean line drive, and because they all know but don&#39;t discuss the abuse he&nbsp;faces at the hands of his troubled father, a Vietnam veteran consumed by his demons. But Jake is suffering something far worse than&nbsp;domestic abuse, and when Nate discovers what, he faces an impossible choice: help Jake and put&nbsp;himself in the path of evil,&nbsp;or abandon him, only to damn himself in the process.</p>

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<p>&ldquo;The Man in Yellow&rdquo; &ndash; Stuart Michael Evans has suffered from cerebral palsy all his life, but he&rsquo;s made due. Sure, his preacher dad is always yammering about &ldquo;the healing grace of God&rdquo; and &ldquo;God&#39;s will,&rdquo; saying all he needs is&nbsp;faith and someday he&rsquo;ll be healed,&nbsp;but Stuart mostly ignores him. Life isn&rsquo;t perfect, but it isn&rsquo;t awful either, so Stuart figures he doesn&#39;t need God to heal him, or do anything, for that matter.&nbsp;Everything changes, however, when a renowned faith healer&nbsp;&ndash; Reverend&nbsp;Alistair McIlvian &ndash; pays a visit to Tahawus&rsquo;&nbsp;annual Summer Vacation Bible School. Revival sweeps the town&nbsp;as Reverend McIlvian&rsquo;s healing touch makes believers out of everyone. But where do these powers come from? God, or something...else?</p>