Page 24 of Sweet Silver Bells
Nothing here. No one here.
Minutes passed. Panic bled into dread, then doubt.
Hunter bent, catching his breath.
What is wrong with you?
His shoulders shook. He sobbed alone. His cries leaked out all the grief he’d bottled up, freezing on his cheeks.
You’ll get fired.
Good.
Something had to change. He couldn’t fake normal anymore. He needed to break before he broke something worse.
His cries died. The forest kept his secrets.
Get up. Get out. Grab the gift.
Might as well face everyone one last time. The students who weirdly liked him. The coworkers who pretended not to notice he was unraveling.
He stood, coughing in the cold, wiping spit and tears away. He pulled out his phone and turned toward the old mansion, toward the garden where he’d married Sarah.
“Oh, what fun,” he whispered to calm himself as he trudged back through the dark.
“It is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh?—”
He stopped. A tree cracked apart in the shadows.
“Why did you stop singing?” a woman’s voice asked.
I’m not crazy.
6
CHAPTER SIX.
“It’s you,” Hunter said, staring into the darkness, staring at the figure before him that had escaped his memory yet haunted his day, like a siren at sea, calling him back to her. “You’re real. You’re actually real and . . . I found you.”
“Hmmm.” She seemed disappointed.
“I . . . I came back. I think I came back for you,” he breathed.
“You shouldn’t have.”
Hunter was at a loss. He didn’t know what to say or do.
He hadn’t expected to find her.
But she didn't need saving.
How do I help you?
“What do you remember?” she asked him. “From meeting me.”
Maybe I'm the one who needs saving.
“You should come back with me.” Hunter ignored her question. The answer wasnothing.
