Or maybe I’ll get lost in the woods and freeze to death, and Art will have to explain to everyone why his girlfriend’s body was found in the middle of the night.
Wouldn’t that be poetic?
The sign for Verona County Park appears in my headlights, and I turn onto the gravel road. The trees press close on either side, their branches scraping against the hood of the car like fingers trying to scare me away.
I pass a few trailheads, squinting at the signs in the dark. Deer Run TRAIL. Lovers’ Alcove. Names that mean nothing to me.
Then I see it: Upside Down Rock—0.5 miles.
I pull into the gravel lot and kill the engine. The silence is immediate and suffocating. The park is technically closed, but there are no gates stopping me so I’m not really breaking the rules.
This is so stupid.
I get out anyway.
The cold bites at my cheeks and my fingers as I pull my jacket tighter and turn on my phone’s flashlight. The trailhead is just a narrow gap in the trees, barely visible, with a weathered wooden sign pointing in two directions. One way leads to Upside Down Rock—still closed off—and the other goes deeper into the park.
I don’t know if Lance’s cabin is anywhere near here. I don’t know if I’m even in the right area. But standing still isn’t an option, and walking feels better than sitting in my car waiting for answers that will never come, so I start down the trail.
The path is overgrown and uneven, choked with roots and dead leaves that crunch under my feet. My flashlight beam bounces ahead of me, catching glimpses of tree trunks and rocks and the occasional glint of animal eyes before they disappear.
There are path lights, but they’re dim.
I don’t know what I’m looking for. A house in the distance? A mailbox? A sign that says ‘Angry Bearlike Man Lives Here’?
My breath fogs in the cold air, my mind churning through that email over and over.
If the boyfriend plays his cards right.
Was any of it real? The way Art looked at me, the things he said, the future he promised—was any of it actually about me? Or was I just a box he needed to check? A piece he needed to move into position?
And what the hell would the reason be?None of this makes sense.
A tremor races down my spine, and I’m suddenly overwhelmed with the sense that I’m not alone. I freeze, killing the flashlight, and the darkness crashes over me as I hold my breath and listen.
Wind rustles through the leaves.
Something moves in the underbrush.
But beneath that is the unmistakable crunch of leaves under someone else’s feet.
Then it stops.
My heart slams against my chest. I strain to see, but there’s just shadows layered on shadows, the trees pressing in around me like walls.
It’s nothing. Just an animal. Just my imagination.
I turn the flashlight back on and keep walking, faster now.
The crunch comes again, behind me, and I spin around, sweeping the beam across the trail.
“Hello? Is someone there?”
No answer. I turn back and walk faster. The footsteps behind me speed up, too.
My jog turns into a run, my phone flashlight swings wildly, and I can’t see where I’m going, but I don’t care. I just need to get away, need to find somewhere safe.
You’re so stupid, Ginn—
