Page 83 of Deviant

Perhaps Aidan’s friendly charm is just a mere fabrication and utterly superficial, whereas the truly genuine soul is the one that everyone considers a freak.

Not wanting to fall down that rabbit hole just now, I walk back to my car with the precious load of Nora’s sentimental objects.

I don’t go home either, though, preferring to investigate the backpack’s contents in a safer environment. If my father saw me with Nora’s things, he might take issue with it. Best I see what’s inside without him spying over me.

Once I reach Grove Bridge, I sit cross-legged right beside our carved initials and start unpacking the bag. There are some old, worn-down anime issues that she enjoyed. Some friendship bracelets we did when we were kids, and her favorite Arctic Monkeys T-shirt. I take a whiff of it, disappointed to find that it had been washed, the only scent remaining being Elias’s. I take another inhale, breathing him in and realize that the mint and sage scent comforts me just as much as Nora’s jasmine perfume used to.

As my body relaxes at all the sentimental treats given to me, it tenses back up again when I retrieve a little black book that Nora had been carrying around the previous months before her death.

She never let me see what she wrote in it, nor did I ever ask her to.

At the time, I just assumed she had taken up journaling since having a diary at that age didn’t seem like something she would do. I know there were some things she found hard to confess to me, so I naturally thought that this little black book was her way to purge all those illicit feelings.

I caress the black cover with my fingers and take a deep breath. Something whispers in my ear that I shouldn’t open it. I’ve already taken too much from my best friend as it is. To steal her last thoughts and ideas…

The decent thing to do would be to throw this book over the bridge and make sure that whatever her last thoughts were, they remain her own and no one else’s.

But I’m not decent. I’m selfish.

I need to know what she’s written, even if only to feel closer to her again. Even if only for a moment.

“Nora, forgive me,” I whisper before cracking open the notebook and reading every line as if my life depended on it.

But what I find are not her most intimate thoughts or dreams. It’s research.

Every line is filled with detailed and precise information about all things related to the Harvest Dozen.

I had so many questions. So many unanswered questions that I was starting to lose hope of ever being chosen, and by some miracle I now hold at my fingertips the exact blueprint to do just that.

I quickly flip back to Nora’s last entry, knowing that must have been the day she discovered how to be selected. Apparently, Father O’Sullivan had been more helpful to Nora than he ever was with me. He gave her everything. There is even a map and a list of instructions on what must be done.

But most importantly of all, there is a date.

‘For one night and one night only, someone can volunteer out of their own volition to be chosen for The Scourge. Allprevious rules don’t apply when it comes to volunteers. They take precedence over all other candidates. Father O’Sullivan told me that during the Great Depression, Blackwater Falls and the Hosts came to an understanding. They would allow anyone who wanted to be sacrificed on this night, but only on this night. Should the town have a full dozen volunteers each year, the Hosts would honor their agreement even if they have their eye on more suitable candidates. However, the only night to do this is when the barley moon is up. Also called the harvest moon. Once the moon sets, should no volunteers arise, then the Hosts have their pick of the litter.’

After reading Nora’s entry, I grab my phone and search online for the next date the harvest moon takes place. Relief washes over me to know that I haven’t missed it yet. The next harvest moon will be high up in the sky tomorrow night, celebrating the beginning of the fall equinox.

Just five days shy of the Harvest Festival.

This…

This is my in.

This is how I will make things right.

I will end what she started.

I will be chosen.

With Nora’s detailed instructions, no one can stop me now.

Chapter 15

Elias

She took the bait.

Just like I knew she would.

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