Page 75 of Lost Soul

I’d been asleep.

I try shutting my eyes again, hoping to get her back how I want to remember her, but the deeper I look the worse it becomes because now, I see Hayley too. Her eyes still bright with color but an equal blankness in her expression.

I breathe slowly. In and out. Not wanting to open my eyes. Too petrified to keep them shut. I see his hands. Jessie’s hands, soaked, dripping with dark red blood. They reach out for me, they touch but I jump back.

“Hey… hey relax it's me, it’s just me.” I open my eyes, and he’s here, no blood. Just Jessie, his face wracked with worry as his arms wrap around my head and cradle me tight to his chest.

Just me and him. Safe.

“What’s happened? Christ, Mads, you’re shaking.” The way he rocks me reminds me of how he held Hayley when she slipped away in his arms.

“Maddy. Fucking speak to me. You okay?” He checks me over, that look of worry on his face heartbreaking to see again.

“It’s not me, I’m fine,” I tell him, feeling his body sag as his chest lets out a long breath of relief.

“It’s Carly,” I whisper. The rocking suddenly stops, his body stiffens against mine again and I hear three words spoken in a weak voice that doesn’t sound anything like his.

“Oh god, no.”

I swear my heart doesn’t make a beat from the time I cut Maddy’s call till I have her in my arms. Feeling her chest move, hearing her sobs is enough to let me know she’s okay but something’s happened. The ghostly whiteness of her skin, the fear in her eyes, all tells me that whatever it is freaked her the hell out.

She can’t speak, and when she eventually manages to tell me it isn’t her that’s hurt, for the briefest of seconds I get relief. She’s safe. My girl is safe. A little fucked up, but unharmed. Then my heart sinks again when I hear her say Carly’s name.

Having to leave Maddy in the state she’s in tears me apart. I want to comfort her, tell her whatever it is, it’s gonna be okay, but I need to help Carly.

“Baby, where is she?” I lift Maddy up from the floor and carry her to the couch.

“Home,” she whispers as I pull a blanket over her, hoping it’ll stop her from shivering.

“Stay here. I’ll be back. Okay?” Maddy doesn’t answer, just stares right through me. “Mads, I’ll be back, okay?” I tell her again, grabbing her face in my hands and holding her until she focuses.

“Okay.” She nods, her hands pressing over mine, gripping me like she doesn’t want me to leave.

“Okay.” I kiss her forehead, then rush out of my cabin having no idea what the fuck I’m gonna find when I get to Skid’s place. The sound of bikes come from the dirt track, alerting me that help’s on the way. I’d been with Grimm when I got Maddy's call and left him in charge of assembling backup. I rush across the yard to find Skid’s door wide open.

Soon as I step inside its clear there’s been a struggle. Stepping over the broken crockpot on the floor, its contents still steaming and soaking into the wood floor. There’s upturned chairs and a broken lampshade, and then there’s her… Beautiful, not an evil bone inside of her, Carly.

Her distorted body bent awkwardly across the floor. I don’t need to feel for a pulse to know I’m too late. The whiteness of her skin and the expression on her face gives that much away.

“What's going on? Grimm said there was… Oh Shit.” I look up from Carly to Nyx, who’s frozen in his tracks when he sees what I’m looking at.

“Is she?”

“Yeah,” I nod unable to take my eyes off her. Carly is a massive part of this club, and she’s gone. Hayley, now her, I can’t make any sense out of it. “Go sit with Maddy, Nyx, she’s on her own in my cabin. I need to know she’s safe.”

“But…”

“Go,” I snap back, thankfully he knows what’s good for him and doesn’t argue. I back out of the cabin and onto the porch just as Grimm, Troj, Thorne, and Tac pull up in the yard.

“What is it?” Troj dismounts his bike and races towards me with a real worried look on his face.

“Carly,” I manage hoarsely, rubbing my hand over my face. I steady myself to sit on the porch step because the world feels like it’s spinning under my feet. Troj speaks into his phone, panicked words that I can’t pay attention to. The only sound I hear is the hollow sound of Carly’s wood chimes as the wind touches them. I’ve never noticed them before. It ain’t long before the power of a flat-out shovelhead engine drowns them out.

Skid looks wild when he pulls up, and luckily Grimm is waiting to take hold of his bike, or I swear he’d let it drop. He storms towards his cabin, and I stand back onto my feet. Troj’s shoulder presses against mine, forming a two-man wall to stop him from getting inside.

“Move out of my way…” Skid barges his body into ours. “Carly… Carly,” he calls through the gap between our heads, fighting to get past us, the two of us only just manage to hold him back, at one point I think he’ll scramble over the top of us.

“Man, you don’t wanna go in there,” Troj tells him, closing his eyes like he’s seeing it all over again.

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