Page 4 of Hell Gate

A light tap sounds on our door, followed by two slow taps, then a final tap after a beat of silence. Marie kneels next to her bed at the signal and rummages deep beneath it. She emerges with a long box and a bag.

Dusting herself off, she glances at me. “Seriously, last chance to come with us, or we’re leaving you here.”

I swallow, playing with the edge of the floral quilt beneath me. Left behind and left out, like always. No one asks me to go anywhere with them once they think they know my story. Mrs. Talbot must not have told the girls here what’s in my file.

Thanks for the solid, Mrs. T.

This won’t last. As soon as they find out I’m a freak, they’ll want nothing to do with me. Just like everyone else.

“Fine.” I feign indifference while a bubble of anticipation expands inside me at being included.

“Wear something you don’t mind getting dirty.” She gestures at herself.

I examine my fishnets, shorts, and low-cut sweater. After mulling it over, I dig through my duffel for a zip up hoodie, throwing it on over my outfit.

Marie holds a finger to her lips once I’m ready and motions for me to follow her into the hall. It’s empty. I guess whoever knocked on the door went ahead of us. At the stairs, she points to a step before skipping over it carefully. There are four more on the way down she avoids. They must creak.

We quietly sneak through the house until we meet up with the others outside on the mulch path. Marie hands off the long, thin box and her bag to the shorter girl.

The rain let up, but it left the air dense and foggy. Cold moisture clings to my legs and cheeks. I cram my hands into the pockets of my hoodie, eyeing two other girls I haven’t met yet because I avoided leaving the room once I arrived.

“That’s Jessica and this is Violet,” Marie whispers, pointing to each of them.

Unlike Marie, Jessica has on a full face of makeup with dark winged liner like mine. A beanie slouches over her loosely braided black hair. Violet is shorter than all of us and is the only one in hiking boots and sweatpants. Both of them are around sixteen. Between the three of them and me on the brink of aging out of the system we make a nice little reject pack.

The only difference is they still have that look in their eyes, the one holding on to hope that someday they’ll find a family to take them away from this. The hope I gave up on so many years ago, I barely recall what it felt like to wish for a forever family.

“Are you warm enough?” Violet asks.

“I’m fine.”

“Seriously?” Jessica’s eyes drop to my legs. “It’s freezing.”

Shoulders tensing, I burrow my hands deeper in my pockets and shift on my feet. “I run hot. Always have. Did you drag me out of bed to break curfew just to stand in front of the house, or what?”

“You’ll see. Come on.” Marie goes to hook her arm with mine and I startle, breath gusting from my lungs harshly as I use my elbow to break away from her side. “Whoa, sorry. I didn’t know you weren’t a hugger.”

I almost laugh. Normal people aren’t huggers. I’m far from normal. It’s better if I don’t touch people. It’s not like anyone wants to touch me, anyway.

They might not know my story, but I’m doing a great job of letting them see what a head case I am. This might be a new record for me.

Without another word, I turn to go back inside, teeth clenched, crushing the bubble of anticipation that had no right to grow.

“Chickening out?” Marie cuts me off, standing in my way with her hands up and an apologetic smile.

I glance between the three of them with my guard up. She still wants me to go with them? I don’t get it.

“We’re wasting time,” Violet complains in an undertone. “I’m leaving your asses. See you there.”

For a girl so short, she’s speedy, scuttling into the woods, high ponytail bobbing and weaving. The tension ebbs from my body, leaving me unsure how to act when I’m used to keeping to myself.

Jessica rolls her eyes. “Let’s go before she trips again.”

I follow silently, keeping my eyes on the path they take so I know where to step. All three of them make their way through the moonlit woods with familiarity. Even paying attention, I stumble a few times where it’s too dark to see.

Not long after, the dense weeds and overgrowth opens up to a lumpy clearing dotted with trees. Wait, no, not a clearing. Squinting, I scan the ground until the stone shapes make sense.

Gravestones. My brows jump up. We’re in the abandoned cemetery. The place Mrs. Talbot warned me to stay away from.

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