Page 17 of When Death Whispers

I don’t even know how to help her with all of this. If it had only been the panic attacks? I would’ve gladly held her and helped her find her focus and breath over and over. But shadowy figures that pop out of nowhere and grab her like, like… I’m not sure how to describe the way she looks when thatthinghas its hold on her. I’m not suresheeven knows.

She doesn’t try to stop me again, only watches as I open the door and step onto the porch. The wind slaps me in the face like the universe is whispering, yeah, go ahead—run.

I mutter a shaky, “See you around,” and shut the door behind me.

But even as I walk away, every instinct in me says I’m making the wrong choice.

And I have no idea how to make it right.

* * *

I’ve gota bit of a walk ahead of me. Thankfully, the storm has finally eased. The wind is still howling, but now it’s pushing away the heavy clouds. Stars dot the inky sky, and the moon shines just bright enough to cast a silvery glow over everything.

It should feel peaceful.

It doesn’t.

The street is slick beneath my shoes. I stepped into a puddle so deep outside Parker’s place during our scramble that water soaked straight through my socks. Now every step squelches, loud and wet, like the world is mocking me.

I hustle toward the east side of town, toward the comforting familiarity of my parents’ horse ranch.

Creek Haven’s always felt like home. I know it like the back of my hand—every street corner, every shortcut, every place I used to sneak off to. In high school, this whole town was my playground. Late nights, dumb dares, hooking up with pretty girls behind barns, sneaking beers under the bleachers. I’d convinced myself that nothing truly bad could ever happen here.

But tonight, everything feels different. Tonight, I’m not the one sneaking through the dark.

I’m being hunted.

An uneasy feeling tightens my gut as I quicken my pace, constantly glancing over my shoulder. The wind whispers ominously through the rustling trees, and my heart hammers each time a branch creaks. Normally, I’d laugh at myself for this kind of paranoia—but tonight, after all the impossible things I’ve seen and felt, I can't brush this off.

Parker’s terrified expression when that voice spoke from the shadows plays on a loop in my mind. How could I have just left her alone? She saved my life twice in one night, and I repaid her by running away.

“You’re an idiot, Hudson,” I mutter bitterly, guilt gnawing at me.

I round the corner onto Ranch Road, the final stretch home, my body now humming with a primal instinct to run. Everything inside me screams danger, like something ancient and predatory is closing in, just out of sight.

Fuck it.

I break into a sprint, ignoring the mud splattering my jeans, soaking through my shoes. Adrenaline surges through me, driving me forward. The ranch gate looms ahead, bathed in moonlight. Just as relief begins to flood me, my foot catches on something solid—a fallen branch I hadn't noticed in the darkness—and I hit the ground hard, scraping my palms and tearing open both knees of my pants.

“Fuck’s sake,” I hiss through clenched teeth, pushing myself up from the muddy road.

“Do not flee, little mortal. You will not win.”

My blood freezes solid as the same eerie voice from earlier curls around me, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once like an echo on the wind. My breath hitches and my heart beats into a panicked tempo, fear like I’ve never felt before shooting adrenaline into my system faster than I can react.

I should’ve known escaping that thing wouldn’t be this easy. Obviously, he let me go so he could hunt me on his own terms.

I’ve never been scared of much and my usual reaction is to face it head on, but how do you fight off something you don’t see coming? Even Parker ran and she seems to know a hell of a lot more about all this than she lets on.

I don’t bother dusting myself off, immediately breaking into a desperate sprint toward the gate. My feet pound the ground, dodging fallen branches, splashing through puddles left by the storm. Fear coils tighter around me, squeezing the air from my lungs.

I reach the gate, vaulting over it in one fluid movement—a maneuver I’ve done a thousand times, but never with my heart pounding so violently, never fueled by terror. I stumble slightly upon landing but quickly regain my footing and sprint down the familiar tree-lined path toward the farmhouse.

“You’ve made a grave mistake, little human,”the voice whispers, the sound drifting around me like silken shadows, darkly amused and dripping with a clear threat.“You dared to touch what's mine. For that, I’ll savor every last gasp you make as I strip the life from your body.”

The trees lining the path seem to lean inward, their twisted branches reaching out like clawed fingers, scraping at my clothes, tearing the fabric of my shirt and jeans. I fight through them, gasping, my heart hammering, until I finally burst from the trees and collapse onto the porch of my parents’ house, breathless and shaking violently.

I made it. Holy shit, I actually made it.

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