Page 67 of Oh, Sacred Dark
“She was amazing, though. Had a way of listening that was like magic, even though that wasn’t her skill. But, fuck, was she naïve. Always thought the best of people, even after they proved her wrong. She’d get distracted at the drop of a pin, too—was always late to everything.”
Silence fell for a few miles. When she started talking again, her voice was raw.
“We were close when we were younger, but we kind of…we didn’t drift apart. But. We had different lives. Lived in different states. And she’d get into all of these dumb situations—it’d drive me crazy. She was always broke—someone always needed her money more than her. She was always willing to give whatever she had, and now she’s…”
Roman clenched his jaw. There were so many people whose lives had been cut off at the knees, stripped of potential. Families who had been left without loved ones.
“And why? That’s what I don’t understand.” Her voice rose, getting agitated. “What was the point of it all? It all ended in nothing. She died fornothing,” she shouted, slamming her hand against the steering wheel.
Roman took a deep breath. Another. “For power. That’s all. They just wanted to feel bigger than other people. Better, stronger. Nothing was enough. It was like the power they were getting was eating them up as much as it was destroying everything around them.”
The woman glanced at him from the rear-view mirror. “And you weren’t part of that,” she said sardonically, but her voice was soft.
“I was part of it. I just wasn’t the one with power.”
**********
It was sheer emotional and mental exhaustion that allowed Roman to drift off.
It was daytime as the car came to a stop. Even before he sat up, he knew exactly where they were.
He could feel it in the air.
He breathed, but the air was in knots, getting caught in his throat.
“Hey,” a voice said, and someone grabbed his arm. “It’s fine. You’re fine.”
“I don’t want to be here. Please. Please don’t make me…please don’t…” His lungs seized.
“Hey. Hey! Just—just show me where she is, and I’ll let you go, okay? Just…show me where she is.”
There stared at each other, one clear gaze against the other. Roman felt his pulse calm slightly. He took a breath. Another.
He owed it to this woman to do what she asked. What happened then…he’d just have to accept.
She got back in the car so he could guide her to the lake. There was a road that stopped right at the edge of the coven, and she parked the car there, turning it off. The silence was stifling.
The walk towards the lake was just a few minutes, but Roman had to walk slow, his muscles sore from being tied up the previous days. The woman didn’t comment, looking straight ahead.
The lake was still and dead. No buzzing of insects or cicada calls. No animals dipping into the water. The water lay flat like glass, reflecting the overcast sky.
They stopped at the muddy edge.
“Here?” she whispered.
“If they haven’t found her, then…I think so. Yeah.”
Without another word, the woman waded into the lake, halting when it lapped at her knees.
Roman could run if he wanted. She probably wouldn’t even chase him, caught in her own loss.
Instead, Roman followed after her, soaking himself to his thighs.
They stared across the water’s surface for a long time, each caught in the terrible things this place had done. In what they had lost—things that simply couldn’t be regained.
It was like a thunderbolt when it came, a clap of thunder.
“Roman!”
