He hit me.Her thoughts were distant, and she settled her head on her knees.Derek actually hit me.
She prodded at the blood on her cheek, wincing at the delicate touch. Sobs escaped her, and she traced a small crevice she’d dug out years ago. Pulling out her knife, she wedged it into the slit to pry free a plastic bag. She pressed it against her thighs, revealing the hidden drawing she kept within. All their faces smiled back at her. Grandad, Gran, and her parents. She hadn’t drawn anything in the last year past a doodle. It was like everything had been sucked away from her—drawing, Derek, her mental stability.
Footsteps bounded below, but with the mud, she couldn’t tell whose they were. She slipped the bag into a pocket in her boot and drew her legs closer.
She wanted it to be Derek, for him to run down the path and apologize, to say he wanted to start the night over again, but she knew he wouldn’t.
A snap echoed behind her. She froze.
She felt around the branch, assessing for cracks. There was no way she was falling from this height. One drop and she’d break her neck. Swallowing her fear, she scooted back toward the trunk, or at least where the trunk should’ve been. Amaris flipped backward, but she didn’t fall to her death. She dangledwithinthe hollow of the tree.
What the hell?
Darkness consumed her, all but the single opening within the trunk she’d fallen into. The glow of the trail lights flickered through the hole. Her fingernails bled from her death grip. She tried grabbing anything with her other hand, but it gave out. Then she heard her name. Viv’s voice came from below.
“Viv!” Amaris shouted before her hand slipped, and she fell into the dark void of the tree.
Chapter 6
Amaris
Striking blue starsdanced around Amaris, blocking out the darkness as she fell. The light was blinding, absorbing everything, even her screams. She hit the ground hard, grasping the back of her head.
“Viv!” she called, but not a single sound came from down the path.
What just happened?
Amaris pushed off the ground, teetering as her vision threatened to blur around her—at least the few feet she could see. The trail lights must have been out from the storm, but not a single raindrop pelted her head. Reaching out, she waited for the water to puddle in her palm, but she was only met with a gentle summer-night breeze. She furrowed her brows at the clouds. It must have been a quick storm.
She sucked in a breath of woods but startled when she got a subtle whiff of salt.How hard did I hit my head?A frustrated groan slipped out as she dropped her head into her hands. She needed to find Viv.
The woods were pitch-black, and each branch threatened to be a hand reaching out to smack her in the face again. Guilt spread through her with each flinch. Her steps were methodical to avoid tripping and falling off thepath. She attempted to study her hand, but it was useless.
Her heart still pounded against her ribcage. She leaned against a tree, fighting the urge to cry as her hand grazed the edge of her jaw where the blood crusted. He’d never hit her before. A few times in the last year she’d stepped back, fearful he might, but he’d never actually done it.
He couldn’t have meant to,she tried to convince herself.It was an accident.She forced herself to keep moving, to prevent her mind from spinning. She couldn’t stay out here forever. She had to face reality eventually.
A few more steps carried her forward until she smacked her boot against something solid and careened forward. Pain shot up her arm in her attempt to catch herself. She dropped to her side, screaming as she sprawled in a patch of grass.
Amaris couldn’t fathom how her night could get any worse. She threw her good hand out, feeling for the edge of the path, but her hand traced along the mossy covering of a log.No. An actual tree. Her boot nudged it, but it didn’t budge. She crawled over it, spreading her arm out to feel for the path, but all she found was more grass—shit.
The woods weren’t that big. If she kept walking, she’d eventually come up on the edge of town or one of the county roads. Maybe a longer walk would help to slow her thundering heart. She’d sleep the fight off at Viv’s, and she and Derek could fix everything tomorrow after shift. He’d have time to simmer down, and she’d distract herself with other people’s problems for a while. They’d figure it out. They had to.
A horde of flies pulled Amaris from her dreaded thoughts. Their buzzing whizzed past her ear. She dodged and swatted at the annoying pests, stumbling through a dense group of bushes to outmaneuver them. But their presence only grew when she stepped from the foliage into a small clearing. Her next step carried her into a puddle, and a warm and gooey substance splashed up her leg. Her muscles stiffened. She’d stepped in a deer carcass once while hunting with Grandad as a kid.
She leaned down to confirm what was seeping into her boot, and the coppery scent of blood wrapped around her. Her stomach lurched, and she gagged, spitting up a few chunks of her burger from dinner. She pulled her foot back as the clouds shifted overhead and the moon cast its glow around her.
Her feet tangled beneath her and sent her falling into a butchered body. Blood spurted into her face and soaked her shirt. A frantic screech escaped her throat. She pushed off his severed flesh and propelled herself back, shoving her boots against anything to push herself from the pile of bones, skin, and organs.
She wiped at her shirt, her hand becoming stained in his blood. She wedged her fingers through a hole in her shirt and pinched something squishy in her bra. Another scream escaped her lips as she tossed a maggot toward the other side of the clearing.
The body wasn’t recognizable covered in slashes, and his face appeared mauled. A snap of a twig stalled her heart. She scrambled back into the bushes behind her, obscuring herself as something crept through the dense foliage on the other side of the clearing. She bit her bottom lip as it drew closer, waiting for a coyote or some other predator to come lurking.
A man stepped into the clearing. She heaved a sigh.
“For realm’s sake,” he muttered, dragging his hand through his jet-black hair.
Amaris paused.What did he say?
