“You don’t have neighbors because you live in a murder forest. Seriously, look at this place. It looks like the set ofThe Conjuring,” Cal said as we started down the long two-lane road that would inevitably lead to the land. The shadows from the trees stretched long across the hood of the car, blotting out the afternoon sun.
“Oh, yeah. Cool movie.”
“I’m saying it’s creepy, Si,” Cal said with a glare, glancing at the dark woods that seemed to go on forever.
“No, I mean literally. They filmed it like ten minutes down the road. The house is right over there past the creek,” I said honestly, pointing vaguely into the darkness of the trees to our right.
Cal slammed on the brakes, the car skidding in the dirt shoulder, dust billowing up around us. He turned and looked at me, wide eyed, like I was fucking insane.
But I wasn’t. We really did live near theConjuringhouse they filmed the movies in, and yeah, we were by that creepy ass river too. And I guess I never actually mentioned that to him now that I thought about it.
“You’re fucking joking.”
I raised a brow, fighting a smirk. “No? I thinkI Know What You Did Last Summerwas around here too. It’s good land for it. Swampy. Gothic. Good for hiding bodies.”
Calstared at me. He was legitimately kind of nervous now. My city boy didn’t know what to do coming out to my woods, and it was actually kind of adorable. He looked at the woods, then back at me, calculating the risk.
“Oh my god. You are serious. I am sleeping in the car. I am locking the doors and sleeping in the car.”
“Suit yourself. But the mosquitoes will eat you alive. And the bears. Oh, and did I mention the cryptid sighting that happened on the Black River which is basically in my backyard? Some people say it’s a giant lizard man, others say it’s just a mutated gator,” I said with an evil grin, feeding his anxious energy like the jackass I was.
“I hate you. I hate your state. Whatever I said back then about wanting to live in the woods? I take it back,” he said as he started to drive forward again, his knuckles white on the wheel. “If I see a lizard man, Silas, I am feeding you to it.”
“Fair,” I laughed.
The laughter died in my throat as the trees got thicker and the landmarks became familiar. The old broken tractor in the field. The leaning mailbox three miles out. The silence in the car shifted from playful to heavy. The reality rushed back in, displacing the air in my lungs.
As we hit the giant iron gate that surrounded the outer ring of the land, my stomach dropped. The reality sank in. This was happening, and we couldn’t turn back once that gate opened.
I put my hand on Cal’s arm as we crept towards the gate.
“Stop,” I said, my voice barely a whisper. My nerves bubbled over the surface, hot and acidic.
He did as I asked and put the car in park, noticing the shift in me almost instantly. The engine hummed in the quiet afternoon.
“Hey, baby, look at me,” he said, reaching over to grab my chin, pulling my attention away from the rusting metal gate. I couldn’t look away from it, and I hadn’t even realized it until now.
I finally managed to rip my eyes away and look to Cal. He was calm, confident, being the anchor he swore he always would be for me. His thumb brushed my cheekbone.
“We are going to be alright,” he promised. “If you don’t want to tell him today, you don’t have to—”
I cut him off. Cal clearly didn’t know how my family worked. Lucky fucking him. “We can’t wait. My dad and Scott both would show up to the house the moment they noticed a car down there. And I’d rather them not just, like, walk into that.”
Cal nodded, understanding the logic even if he hated the pressure. He squeezed my thigh, then let a small smirk tug at his lips, trying to break the tension.
“Besides,” Cal teased softly. “If we wait at your place… knowing us? Your dad would walk in on something way worse than a conversation. We can’t keep our hands to ourselves for five minutes when we’re alone.”
I let out a shaky breath that was half laugh, half sob. “Yeah. Let’s not traumatize my dad with that visual.”
We rolled forward to the gate. I told Cal the code, and it swung open slowly, screeching on its hinges like it was taunting me. Welcome back, boy. Hope you’re ready.
“Just go straight. Scott’s house is the first one on the right,” I told him, trying not to focus on the fact my vision wanted to tunnel and send me down into a spiral.
Cal turned into Scott’s driveway. The gravel crunched loudly under the tires, announcing our arrival to the world. Scott’s red truck was the only one home, signaling to me that my aunt Jayme wasn’t there, and hopefully, my cousins weren’t either.
I stared at the house longer than I needed to. I didn’t even move when I heard Cal open his door. The heat of the afternoon rushed into the car, carrying the scent of pine needles and damp earth.
“Baby?” he said softly from outside.
