I dipped my head in agreement, my eyes misting over in an instant at recalling the words we’d just exchanged to one another the night before at the festival. “We’ll find a way.”
His smile was genuine, but wobbly as we finally let go of each other. As I pulled back, I witnessed the motley crew of friends I’d assembled since arriving in Phoebe, and it brought a sad smile to my face. I cared about them all, and I was having to say goodbye and toy with the idea of never seeing them again. It was all too much. Too fucking much.
Movement blurred by me as Myers grabbed my hand, the remnants of as sniffle heard as she pulled me toward the truck. “I can’t.” Those two words from my sister threatened to break me more than anything I’d heard in the past few minutes.
The last goodbye we could manage was pausing at the truck to wave at everyone. Larsky had melded into the group and was waving too, not even trying to hide the tears that were falling down his cheeks despite the smile plastered to his handsome face. Arze was doing much of the same, trying to put on a brave face for me.
Why were we leaving again? What the fuck did we have back home that we hadn’t managed to gather here? The only thing that stopped me from telling Myers that there was no way we were leaving was because our parents were back home in Virginia. There was no way we could abandon them to live in another state. Part of me screamed, and not for the first time, that my parents also belonged in Phoebe.
Myers throwing herself into the truck stopped me from voicing anything, with me following suit and parking myself inside the passenger seat with a huff and the closing of the door a little too hard. The RV had already been mounted correctly before we’d said our goodbyes, so all we had to do was pull out of the park and head back home.
But how the fuck were we supposed to do that after all we’d gained in the weeks we’d been here?
Sounds of Myers turning the truck on pried me from my heavy and toxic thoughts. If we were going to exit from thisamazing town, we needed to do it soon. The longer we were here, knowing the inevitable was coming, only made the pangs in my heart grow stronger.
Slowly, we started pulling out of the RV spot we’d been calling home since arriving all those weeks ago now. True to the image I’d been dreading in my mind, we could see all the ones we’d grown close to in our time here waving to us from the rearview mirror. As Myers slowly stepped on the gas, my eyes lingered on Arze. I could see him starting to sob as we departed, and that was the last thing I saw before Myers turned out of view of them.
As soon as they weren’t in view anymore, we both broke into synchronized blubbering. We briefly shared a glance, sharing our sniveling with one other, which only made both of us start to weep harder for what we were doing.
I turned away from my sister and stared out of the window, doubling over in pain. I was going to miss everyone. I was going to miss the town and the macabre atmosphere that was like catnip to the horror fanatics that we Lins were.
More than anything, I was going to miss Arze. The way he spoke, the way he smelled, the way he treated me like I was something of great worth. I’d never felt more myself than being with him and I was about to lose that.
What the fuck was I doing? Why were we doing this? I had Arze and Myers had Larsky. Panic settled into my lungs as my sobs stopped abruptly as my sister turned down another road that would eventually lead us out of town. We couldn’t do this. We couldn’t leave Phoebe. We couldn’t fuckingleave.
Just as I was about to decree what my thoughts were dying for me to scream, to stop us from leaving, Myers slammed her foot on the brakes, making us jut out and wobble weirdly on the road with the RV following closely behind us. Thankfully, no oneand nothing was behind or in front of us so we didn’t impede traffic.
Myers’ mascara was running, thanks to the leaded sobs she’d exchanged. She stared at me with regret reflecting in her eyes.
“What thefuckare we doing, Krueger?” She shook her head, the threat of her crying returning seeming like it was only seconds away. “Why are we leaving a place we love so much?”
Which left me to play devil’s advocate and be the voice of reason, even though I was feeling the exact same way. “Because this isn’t our home. Our parents...we can’t leave them alone, not with them getting older.”
Myers wasn’t buying it, which secretly made me so fucking happy. I hated being the voice of reason. She somersaulted her head once more. “They can visit us here, see if they love it as much as we do. But webelong here, Krueger. I know you feel it too.”
I could scream with happiness as fresh tears replaced my old ones. “Thank fucking Swift.” I said, referring to the only deity I felt comfortable praying to, Taylor Swift. Obviously. “Are you kidding? The only reason I haven’t said anything is because I keep thinking about Mom and Dad.”
“They’ll fuckingloveit here!” Myers said, slamming her palm on the steering wheel with a smile. “Mom wouldkillto live in a place that embraces Halloween like Phoebe. It’s like their cul-de-sac on steroids here.”
A frail chuckle dared to dance between my teeth, making me smile. “It really is.”
“Besides, both of us have very Orb-shaped reasons for wanting to stay and…” More emotion passed through Myers’ eyes, but they stayed in place. For now. “I could really see myself and Larsky…making something together, if given the chance.”
I nodded, reaching over and squeezing her leg for emphasis and stability. “Good because I’m really fucking falling for Arze,Myers.” My emotions slipped beyond their barriers as I thought of him again, my voice choking itself as I forced the words to come up from the grave of my throat. “And it just fuckingkilled meto see him torn up as we left.”
“I know, I know.” She assured me, freeing a hand to lay on top of mine with an equal clutch. Composing herself, staring back out on the open road before us, she stared into the mirrors and nodded confidently. “We’re going back.”
The next agonizing minutes as we turned the truck and massive RV around and headed back to the park seemed to peel back time and slow to a fucking crawl. The crowd that had been there for us had dispersed by now for the most part, except that I could see Khalice and her family with Ripp concealing more people in front of them.
Myers stopped by just shy of our lot, tapping the brakes until they were at a halt, so she could back the RV back into the spot that was rightfully ours. “Go tell them the good news. I’ll park and meet you at campground services to extend our stay.”
“Alright.” I squared a look with my beloved sister, reaching over and shaking her shoulder knowingly. “Thank you, Myers. For encouraging me to go on this trip with you, for being the best sister I could ever ask for, and for making me feel like home is just wherever you are.” I felt more sentiments and potential tears tickling the rims of eyes, but I shooed them away and gave Myers a smile. “Just thank you for everything. I love you.”
“You’re gonna make my mascara even worse,” She scoffed instead of sobbing, running the underside of her pointer finger along the already ruined line of her eyes. “I love you too, Krueger. Now go so I can park.”
Nodding, I hopped out of the truck, gave one last smile to my sister and immediately ran over to the crowd. Shock lit their faces as Khalice and the others turned to me. I didn’t see Larskyamong them, but as they parted, I saw that they were concealing a somber Arze, head in his hands with emotion.
My voice shook as I took in the sights of him again, newly reignited by my return. “Arze.”
