1
Audrey Ashford sat in front of her vanity mirror, applying a bit of color to her cheeks as she hummed along to Coldplay’s “Speed of Sound” playing through the speakers of her stereo. Pleased with her overall look, she set the makeup brush to the side and stood, switching the music off. She walked to the window, her breath fogging the glass as she stared out at a dull, overcast sky. Grabbing her jacket out of the closet, she shut her bedroom door and headed downstairs.
She found her mother in the kitchen, chopping vegetables for the casserole she was making for a neighbor who’d just had a baby. A warm, savory fragrance of basil and garlic lingered in the air, and Audrey almost wished she wasn’t leaving.
Her mother glanced up and said, “Are you headed over to Talia’s house?”
“I am. We’re finalizing plans for our college send-off party.”
Her mother nodded, wiping her hands on a dish towel. “Are you driving or walking?”
“I’ve been cooped up in my room all day, and I think it would be good to get some fresh air, so I’ll walk. Talia will drive me home when we’re finished.”
“Are you going along the street or cutting through the woods?”
“The woods.”
“All right. Well, be careful. It gets dark fast this time of year.”
“I know. I will.”
“When do you expect you’ll be home?”
“I don’t know, ten or eleven.”
“Text me when you’re on your way.”
Audrey smiled, nodding. “Will do.”
In a month’s time, Audrey would leave for college, and she couldn’t help but wonder if her mother would still ask her to check in then.
When she stepped outside, the air was cool, settling around her like a soft blanket. She hurried through the side yard, heading toward the familiar path through the woods, a shortcut she’d taken hundreds of times. She loved taking this route, through the groves of trees, being one with nature.
Her shoe crunched down on smatterings of dry leaves, a steady rhythm that almost always soothed her. Tonight, though, the woods felt different and uneasy.
As she pulled her jacket tighter around herself, somewhere in the silence a twig snapped, and the hairs on the back of Audrey’s neck pricked up.
“Hello?” Audrey called. “Is anyone there?”
There was no answer, just the steady rustle of the breeze.
She glanced around, seeing no one, and convinced herself the noise she heard was just a deer or a raccoon, two of the forest’s frequent visitors.
Audrey had been honest with her mother when she’d said she was going to Talia’s to do some party planning, but that wasn’t the only reason she was visiting her friend. There was a secret she’d been carrying, heavy and suffocating, the weight of it pressing on her with every step. As she thought about seeing Talia, the person she trusted most, she still wasn’t sure she was ready to share it yet.
But if not now, when?
And what would happen once she did, and the truth had been revealed?
A faint crack echoed nearby, much too deliberate to be a branch snapping under the weight of an animal, and Audrey froze, her heart pounding in her chest like a warning she could not outrun. Another rustle came from deeper in the shadows, and Audrey’s eyes darted through the trees, watching and waiting.
Now she was sure she wasn’t alone.
Something or someone was in her surroundings, hidden but there, nonetheless.
Audrey moved faster, hastening her steps until she was almost at a swift jog.
One more minute, and Talia’s house would come into view, rising over the ridge.
