It doesn’t move.
“Nothing’s real here. I know ... remember. This is a mind game. He’s fucking with us, like a cat with a mouse.”
“Or a rat ...” Noah offers.
“Yeah,” I throw back. “Let’s not turn up dead on someone’s mattress. Deal?”
He nods, joining me. “If there’s only a few places he could be, that means we just need to check them one by one. Because Chase has to be here, right?”
I don’t answer because I don’t know anymore. The thing none of us wants to think or even say is that maybe this is where we die too. Not where we find Chase.
“Where should we start?” Goldie aims the question at me, reaching for my hand as she walks toward me, but the sound of static fills the air.
Our heads lift as we all freeze.
It’s the kind that happens when you turn on an intercom system, like the one used to greet campers. We’re eyes up toward the sky as deep, mangled words mixed with a demonic melody begins to play.
Almost like someone’s turning a record backward slowly.
It drifts over the camp, haunting and foreboding, making goose bumps explode over my arms, before it begins to speed up and suddenly play normally.
“What the fuck?” Noah rushes out as he steps toward Goldie.
But I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience.
I remember that day during production when someone had found this song on the internet. They brought it to the director, and he literally played it over and over while shooting the opening of kids arriving at the camp.
I had to run off set that day and puke.
“It’s the Weonoke theme song,” I say, looking up at my sister’s disgusted face.
She’s already put it together. But the longer it plays, the more I start to realize the voice is different.
“That wasn’t the same person singing when I heard it,” I mutter, not really for anyone other than myself.
“That’s my mom’s voice . . .”
Goldie looks at Noah, her face ashen, and my eyes dart to him as well.Oh my god.
He’s shaking his head, his arm raised shoulder level as he points to the sky.
“Why does he have her voice?” It comes out hoarse and raw as he says it. His knees buckle, but he catches himself.
My pulse begins thrumming faster, becausehow doesRemus have Noah’s mom’s voice? She’s dead.
Goldie runs, grabbing onto him, keeping him on his feet as he wraps his arms around her. “It’s my mom, Goldie.”
She shakes her head, holding him tight. “It’s not real, Noah. Like Evie said, he’s fucking with us. That’s not your mom.” She forces him to look at her before kissing his lips. “It’s not.”
I’m watching them, trying to swallow because I can feel that familiar sense of panic right at the edges of my mind. It’s waiting, looking for the opportunity to sneak past my defenses.
But I can’t let it.
Chase is out here somewhere.
I wag my finger, turning in a circle, looking around. “No. This sick bastard is trying to break us,” I spit. “We need to look for Chase. Now.”
Nobody answers me. So I whip my face toward them.
