Page 24 of Advice from a Sunflower

The last night we shared together took something out of me that I could never really quite find a replacement for. Sure, I took her innocence, and it was the sweetest, most decadent thing I’ve ever tasted. But she carved me up from the inside out, leaving nothing but an empty shell behind.

My own personal Leatherface.

The day she left for Cornell without so much of a, “see ya later,” was the day my life took a turn downhill, and it hasn’t stopped since.

“She has a boyfriend, you know.”

Marnie elbows my side as we both watch her headlights turn onto the next side street, the shiny new rental car disappearing from sight.

Unfortunately, I do know. Although, in my defense, it's only because Ally pointed him out in a magazine one time while we were grabbing ice cream. She'd excitedly bragged that her aunt was dating the ‘Most Handsome Man in the Universe’ and promised her that she’d get to meet him one day.

His name is Brad Highwaters. B-list actor with a reputation for being a world-class asshat everywhere he went. Mouse seems so far out of his league; she might as well be in a completely different solar system from him.

“So?” I ask innocently, grabbing my keys from my hip and flipping them around my finger as I make the decision to follow her.

I flash Marnie a sarcastic smile, which she returns with a shake of her head and a knowing smirk.

Marnie is a stunning creature, even after she’s managed to pop out two kids and become run down with the weight that responsibility held. She deserves the world, but settled for a microscopic corner of it, and I don’t think she’ll ever forgive herself for that. She’s become one of my closest friends since I had to come back home to take care of Ma. With Marnie, it’s mostly because she's one of the only people who understands the weight a dysfunctional parent can put on you. She’s the one who called me back in the first place.

She'd found her wandering around the streets downtown without shoes on, mumbling something about making a homecoming dinner for when my dad arrived home. He’d been dead for almost three months by then, so when Marnie could finally make out what she was saying, she ushered her home before any of the countless creeps and meddling housewives this cesspool of a town has tried to take advantage of her.

I packed up my small studio apartment and was back home within a week. I hate The Hollow. Never understood why my parents picked this spot on the map to settle down in. Ma had always claimed she had family and roots here, but I’ve never met them. I think she was just done packing houses up every two years to follow my dad around the country, especially when he couldn’t have cared less if we were around or not, so she picked a random, lowkey town.

Either way, I begged them to move away after I graduated college. Anywhere. I knew that going someplace on my own wasn’t a viable option. They needed me, and because of that, I was tethered to the tiny speck of land they insisted on staying within.

Dad waited to retire until he was so physically weak, his doctor revoked his driver’s license and practically had him on permanent bed rest. Ma was losing more of her memory each day, often getting simple things like dates and names confused. Each phone call home from college solidified the fact that sooner rather than later, they would be calling me back to that place to care for them. It was no use packing up and moving across the country—hell, across the world—the way I always wanted to, when I’d inevitably end up back here before I was ready to admit. That, and I had my own family to care for.

Mouse wasn’t the only one itching to put The Hollow in her rearview mirror, she was just the only one to successfully do it. Seven years later, and I’m still stuck in the same spot, watching the world pass by me as I watch from the sidelines and lose the people who matter most.

Chapter 14

Lyla

It’s unusually bright in my bedroom, and I’m cowering behind my bed, hiding from whatever it is that’s attempting to bust through my childhood bedroom door. I watch as it rattles on its hinges, the soft metal and dark wood trying unsuccessfully to keep the threat out.

Eventually, the door bursts open, although I never get a good look at whatever it is that’s coming after me. I try to scream, but only soft whispers and whines make their way out of my lungs. As the threat closes in, I attempt to run away only to find that none of my limbs work. I’m stranded in the middle of the floor, unable to move or call for help.

Just as a hand reaches out to grab me, I’m awoken, cold sweat beading on my forehead and pooling at my neck. I look around to find it’s still dark outside, the air pregnant with a sleepy silence. Just then, I hear a loud noise coming from somewhere downstairs. Marnie took the girls room so that I could sleep in hers. I almost wish she would have stayed so I didn’t have to be alone in this nightmare of a house once again.

It had been nearly impossible to fall asleep with the unsettling fear that was gnawing away at my mind all night.

Fear of the noises that I’d long since forgotten about coming from the old house.

Fear that I’ll end up stuck here again, trapped against my will with no voice and no freedom.

Fear that Marnie and the girls will never make it out.

After a couple of hours of my mind running wild, I’d exhausted myself enough to pass out. That couldn’t have been more than three hours ago. What the hell could be making that horrible noise now?

I can hear Marnie mumbling something to the girls through the wall, and then her bedroom door opens just as I stand from my bed. We lock eyes and the alarm I find in hers unsettles me even more.

“I thought it was you,” she says, cautiously peeking down the steps. From my spot in the doorway, I can see that one of the lights downstairs has been turned on.

We both jump at another loud bang that makes its way up the stairs. Marnie reaches for my hand and I reluctantly grasp hers, taking each step down at the same time as she does. We round the corner and head toward the kitchen, where a sickly blonde stands against the counter with her back toward us.

“Denise?”

My mother turns to face us with a bowl of pancake batter in her arms and Marnie sighs beside me, placing both of her hands on her hips in annoyance.

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