Page 54 of Deviant

Damn it.

Time is running out since the Harvest Festival is just two weeks away.

It’s clear that I won’t get my answers from the old priest.

I’ve spooked him, and now he’s gone into hiding.

There has to be another way I can get my answers.

‘Please, Nora. If you can help me, then do it soon,’I whisper in my head.

If she were here, she would know what to do.

She did it before.

She got her answers.

If only I had paid better attention then.

If only…

But just as the melancholic thought arises, so too does the memory of Nora on the day she accomplished what I have been unable to achieve for days now.

Once I’ve carefully placed my apron behind the counter, I wave my boss, Rosie, goodbye and leave the diner.

Today’s shift wasn’t so bad, but I’m grateful it’s over, and I get to go home now. I need a long shower after all the fried food I had to deliver.

Every time the games approach, everyone ditches their diets for the greasiest, unhealthiest foods imaginable. It’s like every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks that if their day is coming, then why spend it eating right and taking care of their bodies? Might as well go off with a bang.

The mentality of this town really goes to shit when the games are afoot.

No one really cares about being kind to themselves. Or to others, for that matter.

They are too preoccupied with throwing the biggest Harvest Festival that Blackwater Falls has ever seen to appease whatever evil charlatan is holding the strings of this town’s purse.

But as I walk outside and button up my cardigan, I catch a glimpse of black hair blowing in the cool autumn wind.

I smile instantly when I see my best friend walking down the hill toward the abandoned church.

One of the few memories I still have of my mother was her taking Nora and me to the old church so we could play a game of hide-and-seek. Sometimes it would take her hours to find us, but we didn’t mind. Mom always made this huge hilariousproduction when she finaly found us, tickling us both until we were on the floor crying from laughing so hard. Then, as our prize for being so clever in having eluded her for so long, Mom would take us for ice cream.

It’s a simple memory, but one that I treasure.

When I see that in my reverie Nora is now further away from me, I call out her name, but the wind is blowing too hard for her to hear me from this far.

No matter.

I speed up my steps and trail behind her, losing sight of her when she enters the church. Unfortunately, when I finally reach the church and go inside, she is nowhere to be found.

Nora always knew the best places to hide.

However, after a full ten minutes of being unable to track her down, I start to get nervous.

She wasn’t an apparition

I did see her come in here.

So where the hell did she go?

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