Page 22 of Curses and Cornstalks
She nods.
“Better than you know.” I tear my eyes away from her and look ahead again. It's euphoric, a relief so profound I didn't know it was possible. “I never thought I would be able to move again after being tied to that post for so long. It’s nearly as good as being human again.”
“Youarehuman,” she quickly argues. “Well, mostly, right?”
I force a single chuckle and shake my head. “I might look like a human to you, but beneath these clothes, beneath thismask,” I tug at the edge of the burlap covering my head, “I am less human than you think.”
Silence falls between us again, and this time it’s unsettling enough to make my skin itch. Even in the short beats of quiet, I want her to keep talking. To fill the gaps. She could talk about anything under the sun, the most boring and trivial subjects, as long as she fills the silence with noise.
Once she leaves the cornfield, there’s no telling how long it’ll be before I have company who doesn’t try to kill me again.If ever.
The thought drives me to strike up conversation again.
“You say you wanted to prove I don’t exist to your cousin.” I glance at her over my shoulder again. “What led you to doubt her?”
Her cheeks turn pink, and she avoids my eyes. “I just moved to Cold Springs this week. Where I come from, we don’t really have superstitions or paranormal activity, so I thought she was overreacting.”
“Where do you come from?”
“A big city in Ohio,” she answers. “Lots of buildings, hundreds of thousands of people. It’s very different from here.”
“Ohio. That’s several hours from here.” It’s been a long time, but I remember studying maps before I was cursed. I spent countless hours hunched over them, memorizing the tiny lines representative of roads. “It was always one of my biggest aspirations to travel, to see the world. Of course, Cold Springs will always be my home, but I wanted to see more. It’s good that you took the opportunity.”
Her lips curve with a small smile. “Yeah, this is my first time out of the state. I needed to get away for a bit and wanted a change of scenery. But this,” she gestures to the stalks of corn surrounding us, “wasn’t the kind of scenery I imagined.”
I laugh and she joins in, the sound ringing out through the field around us. Definitely not a sound I’m accustomed to hearing.
Screams and cries of terror, sure.
But not laughter.
“The cornfield isn’t the most exciting bit of scenery, I’m sure. What do you think of the rest of Cold Springs?”
Over the years, I’ve wondered how the town I grew up in might have changed in my absence, and I can’t help but consider it once more as we venture toward the edge of the cornfield. What kind of stores have been built in the last hundred years? Do townspeople still throw parties in Mr. Haggerty’s hay fieldon the weekends? Do they meet outside Winston’s Grocer after hours and listen to music until the early morning?
I’ve spent countless hours wondering what it’s like now, if it bears any semblance to the place I once knew, while trying not to dwell on the darker aspects of being gone for a century.
Like the fact that everyone I knew is now dead.
“It’s nice,” Cassie says, thankfully interrupting my train of thought. “Very different from what I’m used to. Quiet, peaceful for the most part. I don’t think I’m made for farm-life though.”
“No?” I’ve slowed down now, in slightly less of a hurry to reach the end of the field, and Cassie is walking half a step behind me. It’s much easier to watch her, to study her features, without having to crane my neck to see her.
She shakes her head. “I’m not much of a morning person, and we have to get up super early to do chores. Though, if I’m honest, I’m not a fan of the chores either.”
“Understandable.” I couldn’t blame her; I always hated farm chores too. “Do you plan on returning to your home, then? If you don’t care for life in Cold Springs?”
For a long moment, she doesn’t answer, and the unsettling feeling returns.
Finally, she sighs. “I-I can’t go home. Not yet, anyway.”
I wait for an explanation, but she doesn’t offer one.
I don’t pressure her.
“Are we lost?” she asks suddenly, changing the subject. She glances worriedly behind us, like she’s afraid something will spring out of the stalks and chase us.
Little does she know how safe she is with me.
