Speak No Evil Trilogy

by Amy Richie

  As I ran, I was forced to change directions often when a tree popped up in front of me. I soon lost any sense of direction I had started with, the cabin was no longer visible and nothing looked familiar.

  Not that it ever had. What did I know about a dark woods where ghost-people were chasing me? By now, they must have figured out how to leave the cabin. Maybe they had just been surprised that I jumped.

  I stopped where I was, pressing my fingers against the cramp in my ribs. Trying to hold in my noisy gasps, I scanned the area all around me. I couldn't see anything.

  That didn't mean they weren't there- but I couldn't see them yet. It was hard to hear anything over the sounds of my own frantic breathing. The air whooshed in and out of my lungs with no regard to the importance of keeping quiet.

  I pressed my hand against my mouth, not daring to let out any noises of fear that would give me away. I couldn't explain to myself why I thought I could hide from them- but these ghost-people were different than any others I had seen.

  Trying, with very little success, to gather my courage together, I took several shaky steps forward. I had no idea which way to go and I wondered if it was smart to keep running blindly through the woods.

  How far did the trees go? What would happen to me if I got completely lost out here? No one even knew I was at the cabin except a ghost that no one could see.

  Some help he would be, he wasn't even out here to at least tell me if I was going in the right direction.

  A light suddenly flared to life directly in front of me. It was an eerie bright white light that I had seen before- but not very often. That light had never meant anything good.

  My feet stopped, refusing to move in any direction. I held my breath in my tight chest, listening for any sounds at all. There was nothing.

  Not having anything else to go on, I turned away from the light and fled in the opposite direction. Whatever the light was, I wasn't sticking around to find out. Last time I had seen it was in an old, creepy gas station bathroom.

  Running into the pitch black wasn't exactly comforting though. Would Toby hear me out here, away from the ghost-people? Did I have time to stop and call him?

  No, I screamed at myself as I ran. If I called out to Toby, they would all know where I was. I had to get out of this on my own; I needed to find other people.

  Crowds didn't scare the ghost-people away, but it did distract them. The trouble was, I didn't know which way the town was and even if I did find it- it didn't look very booming when Toby and I walked through it earlier.

  My foot suddenly found a large rot coming up from the ground and I sprawled forward. I didn't even have enough time to put my hands out so my face took the brunt of the fall.

  Fighting the impulse to just stay on the ground, I pushed myself up again, wiping blood off my chin as I stumbled forward. I had barely had clean pants on for an hour and already they were torn and covered with blood- probably plenty of dirt too from all the times I had spent on the ground.

  The thought had barely finished when I tripped again, this time over an overgrown bush that was intent on keeping me. I twisted and turned, only managing to wrap a vine of leaves and thorns around the bottom of one pant leg.

  I had to use my bare hands to pry the vines away from me- even then they didn't let go easily. Finally free, I scrambled a safe distance on my hands and knees- only rising back up to two feet when I was done hyperventilating. That was definitely going on my list of things I never wanted to do again.

  I looked around me for the bright light, trying to figure out which direction I should go. At least if I kept going straight, I would eventually be free of the woods. The light was gone though- leaving behind only complete darkness.

  My eyes couldn't adjust to the blackness, creating fuzzy outlines of things that weren't really there. Or maybe they were. The only thing I knew for sure was that I had no idea where I was.

  I wasn't sure how long I could keep running either. Now that I had stopped, my ankle was throbbing and the cut in my arm still stung. I brought my arm up closer to my face so I could study the injury but all I could make out with no light was all the blood.

  Spotting a bush nearby, probably the same one that had tried to kill me earlier, I made my way over to it. I dropped to my knees and crawled behind the wild growing branches until I reached the base of the large tree that was hidden in the mess and tangle.

  As far as hiding places went, this wasn't the best, but it was all I had. I sank gratefully against the hard wood and carefully brought my knees up until they touched my chest.

  If I could just hide out here until morning...

  I laid my head against my knees.

  Chapter Six

  My breath was coming out too ragged- and too fast. I was in real danger of passing out and making myself even more susceptible to the ghost-people.

  With a great effort, I took a deep breath and let it out as slow as possible through lips that I barely let open. “Please don't find me,” I brokenly whispered. “Please, please, don't find me.”

  I tucked my face deeper into the crook my knees made and squeezed my eyes shut tight. Maybe they wouldn't be able to find me; maybe they would give up and leave me alone. Maybe...

  Something creaked right next to me; it sounded like a twig snapping. My heart froze, then raced ahead of my breathing- leaving me light headed. I was too afraid to peek out and see who was with me, but I was even more afraid to just sit there with my eyes closed.

  Another snap and my eyes popped back open. I should have never backed myself into a tree under a bush. How was I going to be able to run away? What if it was Zac?

  Ever so slowly, I twisted my head so I could check the place beside me for any signs of the things I didn't want to see. There was no one there next to me. My lips had already went numb, but I had already gone this far.

  I lifted my head the rest of the way off my knees- and there it was. A man sat in front of me, dark hair framing his young face. His dark eyes glared out at me.

  My scream burst free of my throat, bouncing off the trees and echoing back to us.

  “What is wrong with you, Idiot?” Toby snarled out.

  “Toby,” I screamed again. “Is it really you?”

  “That's a really stupid thing to ask, you do realize that don't you?”

  Not pausing to think about anything except that he was finally here, I flung myself at him. Circling my arms around his neck, I pressed my body as close to his as I could manage.

  “You're here,” I croaked, savoring the realness of him against me. “I thought you couldn't hear me, but you came anyways.”

  “Why wouldn't I be able to hear you?” he asked gruffly, but he didn't try to pull away- not that it would have done him much good, I wasn't letting go.

  “The ghost-people said you couldn't.”

  “What ghost-people?”

  “In the bedroom.” Relief was still coursing through my veins, making my voice all whiney and breathy. Exactly like a four year old, but I didn't care.

  “I don't understand,” Toby grumbled close to my ear, “calm down and tell me what happened. Why are you out here?”

  “I didn't know where else to go.” Who knew what the ghost-people would have done if I didn't get out. A shudder ran up my spine at the thought; I clutched tighter to Toby.

  “Why didn't you come find me?”

  My head, which was still buried in his shoulder, shook back and forth violently. “They wouldn't let me out.”

  His sigh made the hair by my temples dance and then, unexpectedly, his arms came up to entwine around my waist. If I wasn't still so scared, I would have been shocked enough to push him away, as it was. I pulled him even closer until there was absolutely no space between us.

  “You're okay now,” he soothed gently. “I'm here.”

  “I called you,” I sniffed, “but you didn't come.”

  “I didn't hear you.”

  “I thought
you said you could always hear me.”

  “They must have been Zac's people.”

  I stiffened at the name, my mind automatically conjuring up the strange black form I had seen. Was it possible that Zac had already found me? I pushed myself away from Toby enough so I could see him.

  “Zac's? He found me? I thought Tristan said you would keep me hidden.”

  “I found this in the bathroom.” He spread his fingers wide and the teardrop shaped necklace that Tristan had given me dangled close to my face.

  “My necklace,” I mumbled, staring at the odd pendant.

  “You're supposed to wear this all the time.”

  “I took it off so I could shower.”

  “It can't help you stay hidden if you don't wear it.”

  I stayed still as he refastened the chain around my neck. “That's how he found me- it was my fault.”

  “It's not your fault,” he immediately corrected. “None of this is your fault.”

  “So what do we do now,” I croaked out, “do we have to leave?” Now that Zac knew where I was, we would have to go somewhere else; I wasn't sure how far I would be able to go. My ankle was throbbing and my arm stung where the glass cut it.

  “We need to get back to the cabin.”

  “The cabin?” I stared up at him with wide eyes. Was he crazy? I didn't want to go back to that cabin.

  “Yeah.” He raised up to his knees, pulling me up along with him.

  “What if he's still there?”

  “You're bleeding all over the place.” He turned my arm over in his hands, searching for the break in my skin. “How did you get cut?” His fingers grazed lightly across several places on my face.

  Maybe there were more cuts than I knew about.

  “The ghost-people did it.”

  His eyes narrowed as he drew his lips into a tight line. “They cut you?”

  “They made the gun cabinet explode.” I shuddered at the memory. “Glass went everywhere.”

  “We need to get you back and cleaned up.”

  “What if...”

  He pressed one finger against my lips. “We'll stay together, I won't let them get to you.”

  “Will you be able to keep them away?” I wondered out loud. Despite my reservation, I allowed myself to be pulled up onto two feet. Zac's ghost-people weren't like the ones I was used to seeing. And I had always thought my ghost-people were scary.

  “Come on.” He guided me back out from under the bush. Even though it was still dark, things looked different now that Toby was with me. “You came pretty far,” he commented, looking back often to be sure I was still right behind him.

  “I just...” I shook my head, trying not to remember the blind terror that had guided my steps before. “I just wanted to get away from them.”

  “You're okay now,” he soothed.

  “They couldn't get out of that room,” I recalled. “After I got out the window, they didn't follow. Why didn't they?”

  “I'm not sure. Was Zac there?”

  “There was a black shape, it pushed me away from the door when I tried to get out to you. I couldn't see his face, though.”

  “It might have been him,” he agreed with my assessment. “We're lucky he didn't come all the way through.”

  That must have been why the ghost-people couldn't come after me. They had to wait for Zac.

  “What were you doing back there anyways?” he asked suddenly.

  “Huh?”

  “In that bedroom- why did you go in there?”

  “I was...” I shrugged in the darkness behind me, not sure how to admit what I had overheard and then how his words made me momentarily break down.

  “You were supposed to be taking a shower.”

  “I did take a shower.”

  “And then what?” he looked back over his shoulder, “did you get lost on the way back out?

  “No.” I bit down on the inside of my lip. “I was just tired,” I mumbled, “and I wanted to lay down.” That was as good to say as anything else.

  “You should have just come back out and got me first. Especially since you knew that Zac was out there somewhere.”

  “I know,” I sighed. Of course I knew that now. It wasn't like I wanted to be separated from Toby again- no matter what he had told Nona.

  I spun around in a slow circle, looking for the bright light from earlier. Everything was silent now; so silent I could hear my heart thumping in my chest. As far as I could tell- we were alone out here.

  “What are you doing?” Toby asked loudly, causing me to cringe lower to the ground.

  “Shh,” I hissed. “I was looking for the ghost-people. I don't want them to find us out here.”

  “There's no one out here,” he replied, not bothering to lower his voice despite my warning.

  “I don't think they're gone,” I insisted.

  “Maybe not,” he agreed grimly, “but no one is out here right now except us.”

  My eyes narrowed but I nodded anyways and fell back into step behind him. “Are you sure it's safe though,” I whispered loudly, “going back to the cabin, I mean.”

  “If you're going to be safe anywhere, it'll be with me.”

  His words rang with truth; Toby had always been my safe place- even when I didn't realize it. “Okay,” I muttered on a heavy sigh.

  “You'll be okay,” he promised. “Just stay with me.” Toby reached across the small space that separated us and took my hand into his. Warmth immediately spread through my whole body; I clutched tighter to him.

  Chapter Seven

  It didn't take as long to get back to the cabin as I thought it would. With Toby, the fear was starting to subside and by the time we made it back, I felt almost normal again.

  Exhaustion set in, bringing with it the waves of stabbing pain in my ankle and my arm. I made a quick inspection of the inside of the cabin as Toby secured the door behind us. It was empty; the ghost-people were gone now.

  Was the necklace Tristan had given me really that powerful?

  “I'll go check the bedroom,” Toby announced, his deep voice booming across the empty room.

  I jumped into action, hurrying to stay right behind him.

  “You can just wait out here,” he pointed to the couch he had been on with Nona earlier, “I won't be long.”

  “You told me to stay next to you,” I reminded him, my face already twisting up into a full blown pout.

  He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth but made no further objections when I followed him down the short hall.

  “They did this?” he asked, running his fingers across the broken glass of the gun cabinet.

  “The ghost-people did all of it.” My eyes slid across the mess of blankets and the drawers that had been pulled out. I had been in the room and it was hard for even me to believe they had done such damage.

  “Unbelievable,” Toby murmured, walking slowly around the room.

  My eyebrows came down low on my forehead as I suddenly realized something. “Where's Nona? Did she leave?”

  “She left when you were in the shower.”

  No she didn't.

  “I don't know what you're going to change into now,” his eyes slowly traveled the length of my body.

  “This is fine,” I brushed self-consciously at the dirt and blood along the once clean jeans.

  “It'll have to be,” he scowled. “Come on, Crazy, let's get you cleaned up and laid down.”

  *****

  I sat as still as I could on the hard wooden chair that Toby had pulled away from the kitchen table. He knelt on the floor by my feet- warm wash rag in one hand.

  Although Toby had been near me my entire life, it still felt strange to be sitting in my underwear with him. He had insisted on throwing the jeans in a washer we had found- along with my dirty clothes from earlier. “When you wake up, you'll have something clean to wear,” he had said.

  Still...


  “Does this hurt?” He pushed lightly against my swollen ankle.

  My twitch gave me away. “No,” I lied.

  “I don't think it's broken,” he concluded, the shadows under his eyes becoming more pronounced, “but you need to stay off of it for a while.”

  “Okay,” I quickly agreed.

  “How's your arm feel?” I glanced down at the freshly bandaged wound. “Does it still hurt?”

  “It's fine.” That was mostly the truth.

  “You can sleep out here tonight,” he waved at the makeshift bed he had prepared while I stripped down to only my underwear and bra.

  I had already figured the bed was made for me. Sleep was probably out of the question, but I was tired enough to at least lay down.

  Keeping as much weight as possible off my ankle, I hobbled across the room and sank gratefully into the comfortable cushions. Toby pretended to be busy with the first aid kit so I could have some privacy, but then had to come help me with the top blanket after I nearly fell off the narrow space.

  “Thanks,” I gasped, scowling up at him.

  “Will you be able to sleep?”

  “I don't know.”

  “You need to try.”

  “I'm...” I cleared my throat lightly, unsure if I should tell him how scared I was. If I told him how much I wanted him to stay with me, would he laugh and then go away to find Nona while I was supposed to sleep?

  “What is it?” he demanded.

  “I'm scared,” I finally admitted.

  He dropped to his knees beside the couch, his expression strangely soft. “I know you're scared,” he said gently. “You've had to spend your entire life scared.”

  “Will you stay with me?”

  “I won't leave your side.” His eyes narrowed fiercely. “Not ever.”

  I rolled to my side so I could see him better- just to be sure. He surprised me by not pulling away.

  “These next few days are going to be hard for you,” he sighed heavily.

  “What do you mean?” Toby had already turned the lights out so it was hard to see his face clearly, but I knew that scowl by heart already.