Page 18 of Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

I looked up at her, at her finger tracing the rim, round and round in a circle.

“He seems different.”

Inhaling a shaky breath, I scanned the bar, but aside from a young, bored cashier and an elderly couple near the window, we were the only ones there. “He is different.”

“What did he say to you in the kitchen last night?”

I chewed on my lip, letting the slight sting ground me. “Nothing, really.”

For reasons unbeknownst to me, I didn’t want to tell her what he said. I wanted to keep it to myself. I’d asked myself numerous times why he hadn’t threatened her yet. Why his sole attention was on me. Evelyn was there that night too, helping me carry his heavy weight. So why didn’t he follow her with his heated gaze, like he wanted to kill or fuck her? Why was he focusing his attention on me?

“Did he threaten you?”

I stiffened, flicking my gaze to hers, but before I could reply, she continued, “Isn’t it strange that he was hospitalized for months, and his father never told anyone that he was alive.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “It makes no sense?—”

A loud bang on the window startled me as a group of older kids–dressed in all black–with werewolf masks walked past, laughing. My nerves were shot.

Evelyn reached down to collect her shopping, then stood up. “We should get back. I swear this town gets creepier by the day.”

A shiver slithered down my back as I watched the boys cross the road. The wind shifted the dried orange leaves across the faded road markings on the ground while the naked trees danced to an imaginary haunted tune.

“Are you coming?” Evelyn waited for me by the door, her hand on the handle.

Standing up, I picked up my bag from the leather seat and shouldered it. The bell above the door jingled when we walked out into the cold fall air, an icy breeze moving strands of my brown hair across my face. I pulled my coat tighter around me and set off down the road with Evelyn by my side.

The main street appeared deserted. Most residents were either still at work or put off by the cold weather, but I didn’t blame them.

My teeth chattered almost violently when we approached the parking lot, where Evelyn’s blue Honda waited. Weeds grew through the cracks in the asphalt, and graffiti covered the concrete building beside the almost empty parking lot. The place looked desolate and run-down. Even more so in this gray, cold weather.

“Harper has rented a cottage at Hillside Lane this weekend for our Halloween party.”

“That’s out in the middle of nowhere,” I pointed out.

I was in no mood to party but knew I couldn’t worm my way out of this one. Not the yearly Halloween celebration they liked to make into a big thing, where we traveled away for the night, got shitfaced on alcohol and drugs, and played stupid games like spin the bottle.

“That’s the point; no parents to bother us, and no curfews. Just a bunch of teenagers having a good old time.”

We slowed to a halt at the sight of broken glass on the ground. The passenger seat window had been smashed, shattered pieces crunching underfoot.

“What the hell?” Evelyn whispered, walking up to the car with determined steps and wrenching open the door. Pale as a sheet, she stumbled back, holding her hands to her mouth.

I walked closer, wary of what I’d see.

Turning around, Evelyn threw up and the sound of her retching faded into the background as I spotted a gutted raccoon on the passenger seat. Blood smeared the gray fabric upholstery and most of the inner organs had been removed.

I stared in shock at the raccoon’s stomach—now an open cavity. The stench of death and rotting flesh was thick in the air, the odor rancid. I pressed a palm over my nose to stop myself from gagging and scanned the parking lot for any sign of him. There was no question in my mind that Nate was responsible.

“No fucking way am I getting in that car,” Evelyn said, straightening back up. One look at the raccoon and she bent down again with her hands on her knees as she proceeded to throw up.

Curious, I walked closer. There was something tucked into the raccoon’s stomach—a letter.

I looked left and right before leaning inside and carefully removing the bloodied paper, folded four times. The rich tang of iron in the air made my nose wrinkle while I slowly unfolded the letter with shaky hands, smearing it with bloodied fingerprints.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

My heart ceased to beat. I stared unblinkingly at the words until my lungs burned, and I realized I had stopped breathing, too. “You’re not naïve, Skyler, so don’t pretend like you are. I’ve watched you. I see you.”

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