The gun is suddenly leveled again at my head, and I straighten up, gritting my teeth.
She nods in approval, and for the first time since she walked into The Gallows, she flashes me a Sarah smile. “Come on! Let’s go for a walk.”
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 25 - BRYNN
“Where are we going?” I question as Sarah and I trudge down one of Hallowed Springs' back streets with the chaos of the Krampus parade disappearing into the distance.
Occasionally, there’s a flurry of screams and laughter, even the odd pyrotechnics lighting up the night sky. The rest of the town is practically abandoned, the streets lined with empty cars due to the number of people who have made the trip specially for tonight, yet there’s not a single soul around to witness what’s going on.
No one to ask for help.
It’s just me.
And if I want to get through this and come out the other side alive, I need to be smart.
“We’re getting away from things for a little bit,” Sarah murmurs, her voice returning to a tone I recognize. “I think better when things are quiet. There’s already so much going on in my head, it’s so overwhelming.”
The voices.
If it wasn’t so fucking scary, it’d be hilarious.
If Sarah really has struggled her whole life with normality like Victoria said, in any other situation, it might have been picked up by a teacher or doctor, and she might have gotten the medical attention she needs. But a small mountain town in the middle of nowhere, ruled by haunting stories and legends, really is the perfect place to hide something—or someone—so dark.
A sharp wind picks up, the icy breeze swirling around us and stinging at my cheeks before taking off into the trees up ahead. I recognize the path now, the one I got lost on when Jovie spent the day with Sarah making wishing jars.
It looked like a fun nature walk then.
Now it’s all shadows and strange noises.
“Keep going,” Sarah urges, nudging me forward.
The wall of pine trees looms over me, the forest stretching up the mountainside in the distance.
I shake my head.
“We’re going to get lost,” I tell her, dragging my feet and scuffing the dirt path with my boots as I walk, hoping to leave behind a trace of where I’ve been. “I don’t know this path, and I can barely see the ground. Maybe we could go somewhere it’s a little lighter? Somewhere we can actually talk.”
“We are going to talk…” she says slowly, as if I’m the one not getting it. “That’s why we’re going out here, silly. So me and you can have the chat we need to have without being watched or having people listen in.”
She jabs her gun into my ribs. I suck a sharp breath in through my teeth and move a little faster through the darkness. The canopy of leaves and branches above us creaks and groans in the wind. With every gust, the moonlight flashes through the cracks, almost as if someone is switching the lights on and off.
It’s just bright enough for me to see where I’m placing my foot with each step, but not bright enough to give me any cluehow far or deep into the woods we are, and whether anyone would still hear me if I screamed.
A few hours ago, I probably would have walked into this forest willingly, not questioning her motive or thinking it was weird that she wanted to escape the chaos and noise. I would have wanted to do anything and everything I could to help Sarah, thinking she was some poor young woman battling with a selfish, ignorant mother just like I had.
I was sure we were so alike.
That we had been forged by the same flame.
But the flames didn’t create Sarah, they consumed her.
And I’m not sure what it will take to put this fire out.
I tuck my hands into my jacket pocket, feeling them starting to ache as the temperature continues to drop the further we move into the brush.
Sarah trails behind me, her steps matching mine.
