Page 99 of Into The Darkness

I shook off her comment because it was so fucking mean and this night had been way too odd anyway. At this point, I didn’t care how irritated I was at Ash, I needed answers to what was happening.

“Hurry up,” the guy whispered, and as I realized it was raining, he glanced back. “We have to run.”

“We can just take my car, I can go grab my—”

“No time.” He grabbed my wrist again and led me down the street in a full run. I hated exercise, everything about it, so this was exhausting, and by the time we made it to the Den, I was panting and exhausted.

I was also soaked and cold to the bone. The stranger next to me, which I now realize I probably shouldn’t have trusted as much as I did, considering the whole Ale situation, ran inside. I was now alone on the front porch and felt like I was left out of an inside joke I didn’t know the answer to.

All I knew is that I had far too much trust in all these strangers, especially so close to the bonfire tomorrow night . . . er, actually, tonight, I guess. But Ash would explain everything to me. I knew he would because none of this felt right.

I walked through the door, and the members were in the living room huddled together, but there were no words being said. My eyes went around the room, scanning everyone’s face, and they were all giving me the same sad eyes.

“Someone better fucking explain to me what is going on,” I demanded, my hands shaking. “Now.”

Pico ran over to me before calling up the stairs, “Rain. She’s here.”

Pico then gave me a hug, and when he pulled away, I knew something was wrong . . . like very, very wrong. The air rushed out of my lungs, my voice threatening to break as Pico brought me in for one more hug.

“Please, tell me.” He only shook his head.

He looked around the room and told everyone to leave. They scattered up the stairs, and I was left standing in the foyer of the house that I’d called home for the last few months. The house that shared so many memories between Ash and me.

But Ash wasn’t here . . . which could only mean . . .

No. I wasn’t going there. I’d be too broken if I thought about what could have happened.

“Ember,” a soothing voice called out, and I locked eyes with the deep-blue orbs filled with a profound loss. His eyes rimmed in red as if he had been crying. He floated down the stairs, closing the distance between us.

Something went wrong.

“Ash . . .” The tears sprang from my eyes and flowed down my face. Rain pulled me into his arms, and I cried into his shirt until a puddle had formed on it.

Rain nuzzled his chin into my hair and held the back of my head as I shook in his arms. I didn’t even need him to finish the end of that sentence to know it all went wrong. Everything went wrong.

Rain pulled his head away from mine, but I locked my arms around his waist.

“H-he went for a drive in the woods . . .” He went to his rock.

Oh my God.

He was off campus. Why was he off campus the night before the bonfire?

But Walsh . . . he promised. He swore that no harm would come to him.

“We tracked his car to a little dirt path outside of Isles.” I hiccuped after he finished his sentence because my sobs were coming in full force.

“He was at his r-rock,” I got out, and Rain caressed the back of my head.

“When we found him . . .” Rain’s voice cracked, and I knew what happened. I knew it, but my heart couldn’t believe it.

“He wasn’t there. We had flashlights, headlights, as much light as we could to find him. He . . . we . . . just looked down and . . .”

“No.” My heart was shattering in a thousand little pieces, and I couldn’t seem to pick them up to put them back in their place. I stood in the cold foyer, soaking wet, wrapped in the arms of Ash’s best friend. Surrounded by a room full of people, by someone holding me tightly. Yet I was so alone.

“He killed himself, Ember,” Rain whispered into my ear, and my knees buckled, and I dropped to the floor and screamed. My hands covered my ears, putting distance between myself and the words that couldn’t have been true.

This was a nightmare, and I would wake up tomorrow like today never happened. Kneeling on the cold, wet floor of the Den, soaked and broken, I felt like a vessel for an endless sea of pain that came crashing into me. The tears flowed freely down my cheeks, mingling with the raindrops that clung to my skin.

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