Page 48 of Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Nate walked past us, and I followed him with my gaze as he entered the living room.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Lily, Alice, and Harper are in the living room, high off their fucking heads.”

“Lewis and Max?”

“Around somewhere. You know what they’re like.”

My head shook. “They’re dead. Nate pushed Max off the cliff.”

Evelyn looked behind her to ensure we were alone, then lowered her voice. “You’re not still on about that, are you? No one is dead.”

“They are,” I insisted, shrugging her off when she tried to soothe me. “Nate killed them, and he’s going to kill everyone.”

Evelyn lost her temper, pulling me into the kitchen. “For fuck’s sake, Skyler! This is out of hand. No one is dead.”

Movement in the doorway stole my attention, and my gaze slid past her to Max’s bloodied, caved-in face. His clothes hung off him in tatters, and water dripped from his fingertips as he pushed off the doorframe.

Stalking deeper into the room, he pulled a kitchen knife from the wooden block on the counter, and the sound it made as it slid out caused my heart rate to spike.

“Skyler,” Evelyn sighed tiredly while Max approached her from behind. Fear clogged my throat, immobilizing every muscle in my body, the stench of rot, death, and seaweed thickening the air. “We came here to have a good time, but you…”

“Evelyn,” I whispered shakily, sweat beading on my broad as Max peered at me from behind her bony shoulder. The sharp blade gleamed in the dim light from the lamp in the window behind me.

“No, you need to listen to me. You’re ruining it for everybody with this crazy talk about people dying. It’s the drugs talki—” She choked as the knife slid slowly across her pale throat, slitting the skin wide open.

Bright red blood poured down her chest, and when she coughed, it spluttered from her mouth onto my face. I flinched, letting out a startled cry.

Max dropped her to the floor and her body twitched as I sprinted off, fleeing from the room.

I stumbled out into the hallway, colliding with the console table and sending the contents falling to the floor. Fear propelled me forward. I looked left and right, making a snap decision to run up the stairs. But Max’s bloodied hand circled my ankle before I could get halfway.

I toppled over and my cheek hit the steps with a hard smack, but the pain didn’t have time to register because Max yanked me down. I flayed, throwing my arms out.

My fingernails dragged over the peeling wallpaper, tearing it from the wall. I opened my mouth and released a guttural scream.

A hard slap stung my cheek. “What the hell, Skyler?” Evelyn growled, catching my darting gaze. I was back in the kitchen. In the same spot I had been when Max cut her throat.

Her throat…

I stared at it—the flawless pale skin. There wasn’t a mark on her. Nothing.

“What’s wrong with you? Did you take more drugs?”

“Swallow the fucking pill!”

I quickly shook my head. Of course, she saw right through me.

“I told you not to take more.” She glared at me until a bead of sweat on my temple trailed down the side of my face. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Nate forced me to,” I explained, watching her jaw turn to granite.

She pushed off the counter. “You have to stop this!”

“I’m telling you the truth.”

“STOP!” she shouted, and the seconds ticked by while we stared at each other. “You need to stop.” Her voice was softer.

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