Page 77 of Girl, Undone
I remember this one time, I was on a school trip to the mountains.Everyone was excited about the cable car ride, except me.Just the thought of being suspended in the air made me feel sick.
The words of the young girl.Ella racked her brain, recalling every little thing she’d said.
I tried to tell myself it's just a ride, nothing will happen, but when we got there, and I saw the cable car, my legs just wouldn't move.I couldn't step in.I felt so embarrassed, standing there, frozen, while everyone else got on.
Each fragment of memory and the shadowy contours of the manuscript's horrors aligned in her mind's eye.They crafted a map so lucid it might as well have been tattooed on her hand.
The other day, I stood on the Helmsley Bridge, and it gave me a panic attack.It feels like I'm missing out on so much.
‘Ripley,’ Ella said.‘How long before you can get here?’
‘Two minutes.’
‘Meet me outside the building.I know where we need to go.’
This was not mere conjecture; it was as if Ella had been handed a script to the final act of a tragedy.Ella knew exactly where he was going to be
And with this knowledge, the hunter became the hunted.
Ella was ready to end this game tonight.
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
Ella traced the lines of text in Maxwell’s printouts from the passenger seat, meanwhile Ripley floored the gas pedal en route to Helmsley Bridge.
She’d brief her partner on everything – the manuscript, the woman from her therapy class with a fear of heights, the need to reach Helmsley Bridge before the night was out.
‘You know this woman’s name?’Ripley shouted over the gushing wind.The midnight hour made their journey towards the towering bridge as simple as it could be.This part of town – the deepest recess of rural Cedarburg – wasn’t afflicted by constant footfall.
‘Lily.She talked about acrophobia at our first session, but I don’t know her surname, or if Lily was even her real name.’
‘Ugh,’ Ripley said.
‘It has to be her.It fits too perfectly with Maxwell's pattern.’
‘But what if he’s not here?What if he’s already gone?’
‘He’ll be here.I’m sure of it.’
‘How?’
‘He watches all of his victims die.He observes them and documents everything.To do that, he has to be present.’
Ripley veered onto the first incline of the hill that led to Helmsley Bridge.Their car began the rapid ascent upwards to the pinnacle, nary a barrier on the edge to keep them safe.
‘Then why wasn’t he at yours?’
‘Because he knew I might have survived, and maybe he’s not dumb enough to kill a police officer.That’s why he had recorded it, so he could extract all the details without being there.’
The car's headlights brightened the winding road that snaked its way up the hill.No houses or signs of civilization up here, just the untamed wilderness and the occasional flash of eyes from a deer or moose or raccoon.Helmsley Bridge awaited at the summit, and the thought of Lily, isolated and petrified, push Ella to the edge of her seat.
‘Nearly there,’ Ripley said.‘What’s the plan?’
‘Save Lily.Stop Maxwell.In that order.’
‘If I see him running, I’m shooting.Dead or alive, he’s coming with us.’
Ella squeezed the papers of Maxwell’s manuscript.‘We’ve got all the evidence right here.If we have to take him out, so be it.’
