The harder I stared, the more I thought I could see a person hunched over. But if it was a person, wouldn’t he say something? Why would he stay hidden behind the trees like that?
Unless ... he didn’t want to be seen.
I tripped, stumbling on the path and pulling Jessica against me, knocking myself off balance. I fell into a tree, the bark scratching my face. I bit down hard on my lip and tasted blood.
“Oooff,” Jessica said again. “Becca, what are you doing?”
“Sorry,” I repeated, using the tree to steady myself and Jessica. As soon as I was stable, I jerked my head around to see if I could locate that shadow again, but I couldn’t find it. Was it gone?
Or had it never been there at all?
Maybe I should focus on getting us both out of the woods rather than on what I thought was (or wasn’t) out there.
“I think it’s this way,” I said, getting back on the path and weaving my way through the trees. A branch slapped me across the face, making me wince as my eyes fill with tears.
Behind me, Jessica stumbled. “Becca, I’m not feeling very good.”
“Do you need to throw up?” I asked, hoping that wasn’t the case.
She started shaking her head. “No, I’m just tired. I think I need to sit down.” She let go of me and started bending over, as if to sit down on the ground.
“No,” I said, grabbing her to keep her upright. I knew I might never get her back up if she sat down. “Just a little further,” I said, hoping it was true. I tried to drag her forward, but she resisted.
“I need to sit down,” she insisted, her words slurring together. I could see her eyes starting to close.
“No,” I said. All of a sudden, I was angry. I was exhausted, frustrated, and scared, and all I wanted to do was get out of the woods and into bed. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck out here with Jessica if she passed out. I jerked her forward. She stumbled after me, her limbs flailing. “We’re getting out of here,” I hissed. “And then you can sit down.”
“No!” Somehow, she managed to plant her otherwise spaghetti-like legs firmly into the ground and yank herself away from me. It was completely unexpected, but I managed to hang on, fighting her. In a sudden burst of strength I didn’t realize she possessed, she wrenched herself away so hard, she lost her balance.
In horror, I watched her fall in slow motion, her arms pinwheeling wildly as she tumbled backwards over a log, the back of her head smacking loudly against a broken stump. The thud seemed to reverberate through the silent trees, and her body instantly collapsed like a broken doll.
“Jessica,” I yelled, rushing over to her and dropping to my knees. I was dimly aware I had scraped them on something, maybe a rock, but I was much more concerned about Jessica.
What had I done?
She was sprawled out, her arms and legs lying at unnatural angles. For a moment, I didn’t think she was breathing. Oh God, oh God. She had to be okay, she had to.
But then she moved, her eyes twitching and her hand fluttering to her head. Oh, thank God. “Ouch,” she whimpered. “That hurt.”
“I bet it did,” I said. “Don’t move. Let me look.” I tried to examine her head, but it was too dark to see much. I gently touched her hair, trying to determine if there was blood, but she winced. “Ouch.”
“Sorry.”
I should have just let her go. Why did I fight her? If I had just let her go, she never would have fallen backwards, never would have hit her head.
The darkness seemed to press in on me. Hostile. Alive.
My breath hitched in my throat.
Again, I felt it. We were no longer alone.
“Can you stand?” I asked, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. Could I get us both out of here? Could I protect us both? God, I felt so vulnerable.
“My head hurts,” she said.
“I know. We need to get you back to the house.” I hooked my hands under her shoulders and started to pull her up. Her body was strangely loose, as if she didn’t have a single bone in it.
“I want to sleep,” she said. “I don’t feel so good.”
“You can’t sleep,” I said quickly. “What if you have a concussion? You’ve got to stay awake. We need to get you out of here and to a hospital.”
Her eyes fluttered. “Sleep,” she said.
“No sleep,” I said firmly. “C’mon. We have to get you up.” I finally propped her up into a sitting position, but she was so limp and unstable, she couldn’t stay like that without my help. Could I even get her to her feet? Would she be able to walk if I did? She groaned.
“Want some help?”
I jumped, losing my grip on Jessica, who immediately began tipping backwards. I caught her and lowered her to the ground as gently as I could. “Oh my God, CB, you scared me.”
CB grinned and held a bottle of vodka out to me.
“Later,” I said. “We need to get her out of here and to a hospital.”
“She’s fine,” CB said. “She just had a little bit too much to drink.”
“No, she’s not fine,” I said. “She can’t even sit up.”
“That’s because she’s drunk.”
“It’s more than that,” I said. “She hit her head pretty hard.”
“She’s drunk,” CB said again. “Drunk people don’t usually get hurt when they fall. Their muscles are all loose. She’s fine. She just needs to sleep it off.”
“I don’t know,” I said doubtfully. That didn’t seem right to me, although her face did look relaxed, and her breathing was slow and deep. Maybe she actually was just drunk and sleeping. After all, the whole reason we had been fighting in the first place was because she wanted to sit down. Maybe I was making too big of a deal out of this. Maybe she really didn’t need a hospital. Maybe she did just need sleep.
CB squatted down next to me, holding the bottle out. “Of course I’m right. Here. You could use a little.”
I looked longingly at the vodka. One drink couldn’t hurt. It’s not like I didn’t deserve it. This night had been a disaster since the get-go, and I could use a little something to take the edge off.
I reached for the bottle and took a long swig. It burned my throat, bringing tears to my eyes. The warmth hit my stomach, making me gasp.
Oh God, did I need that.
“You were a real jerk to me, you know,” I said, wiping the tears away with my arm.
He gave me a lopsided grin. “Aw, c’mon. You know I adore you. I didn’t mean anything.”
That was probably as good of an apology as I was going to get. I took another long swig. It went down easier.
Jessica groaned again. I sighed. “How are we getting her out of here? Do you think we can carry her?”
“Sleep,” Jessica muttered. “I don’t feel so well.”
“Let me stay with her,” CB said, taking my arm and gently helping me up. “In fact, why don’t you go back to the house? I’ll take care of her.”
I looked at him doubtfully. “She’s not as light as she looks. I think you may need some help.”
“No, I got it. Really. It’s the least I could do after being such an ass to you.”
I eyed him and took another swig of vodka. I was already feeling better. “You really were an ass.”
His eyes glittered. “Yeah, I wasn’t thinking straight. But I can make up for it now. Go on back to the house and take a hot shower. Clean up those cuts. You’ll feel better.”
Oh, a hot shower. My body was so sore and achy—every injury from every fall I had taken seemed to pulse and sting. Not to mention how grimy and sticky I felt, covered with dirt and sweat and bugs and who knows what else. A hot shower would take care of all of it.
I so wanted to walk away—to let CB deal with drunk Jessica. But something kept stopping me. There was something off with CB. His whole body was
jittery. He kept moving and shifting, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, fingering the silver flask he always carried. I looked down at the bottle of vodka he had handed me. “You brought your flask AND a bottle?”
“This is my ‘special blend,’” he said, shaking the flask and winking at me. There was a sheen of sweat above his lips, and his eyes glowed with a practically unnatural excitement. I was suddenly reminded of how he had looked at me earlier, his eyes like black, polished stones.
Like something dark and ugly was hiding just underneath his skin.
I shook my head to clear it. Nonsense. Being out in the woods so long was playing on my nerves.
“What do you mean ‘special blend’?” I asked skeptically.
He reached out to take the bottle of vodka from my loose fingers and took a swig before handing it back to me. He smelled strongly of sweat and … excitement. Why would he be excited? And why was he sweating so much? Sure, it was still humid, but the night had cooled down considerably from the heat of the day. “I made it specially for Jessica. You know how she likes sweeter drinks.”
I took another drink from the bottle. “I think the last thing she needs is more alcohol.”
“This won’t hurt her.”
There was something wrong. The darkness I had sensed earlier shifted and suffocated, surrounding us.
But, why?
This was CB. My cousin. I grew up with him. He wasn’t a monster. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.
So, why was my intuition screaming not to leave him alone with Jessica?
He gently pushed me. “Home is that way. Just keep walking and you’ll hit the trail.”
Home. Oh, that had such a nice ring to it. I took a step forward, a part of me wanting so badly to leave.
But ... that sheen of sweat. That strange excitement.
“How did you find us?” I asked suddenly, wanting to buy myself some time.
He rolled his eyes, suddenly morphing back into the CB I grew up with. “Who couldn’t find you? I’m surprised half the neighborhood isn’t out here you guys were so loud.”
“We don’t have neighbors,” I reminded him.
He hit his forehead with the heel of his hand. “Oh, that’s right. No wonder it’s just me.”
He was smiling, looking so normal, so much like the old CB. My imagination must be running away from me. Just like it did with the shadows in the woods.
There was nothing there. There never had been anything there. It was all in my head.
CB must have sensed my hesitation, because his smile widened as he nudged me with his shoulder. “Go on, Becs. Remember, this is part of my apology. I’ll take care of Jessica, make sure she gets home safe, and you can get that hot shower and go to bed.”
I took another swallow of vodka, the heat comforting in my belly, realizing I wanted nothing more than to just be done with this night. “If you’re sure ...” I said.
“I am,” he said, his voice firm. “I’ll be right behind you once I take care of Jessica.”
I let my breath out, feeling like the weight of the world had just shifted off my shoulders. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you,” he said, raising his hand to wave at me.
I took a few steps, picking my way through the woods in the direction CB had indicated. When I turned around one more time to look back, he was already gone.
Well, no matter. I took another swig of vodka and kept heading through the woods. I was feeling a little woozy myself, and the sooner I got out of the woods and into a hot shower, the better.
But, the more I walked, the more my mind kept straying back to how odd CB had been acting. That nervous, excited energy. The sheen of sweat on his forehead. How he stunk of sweat ...
It is summer, I reminded myself. Hot. Humid. Of course he was sweating. I was sweating myself.
But ... something about it just seemed off.
And why would he volunteer to take care of Jessica? He never volunteered to take care of anyone. Or anything. CB was the guy you called when you wanted to go party. Not to bring you chicken soup when you were sick the morning after.
I stopped walking, the uncomfortable buzzing at the back of my head becoming louder and more insistent.
Something wasn’t right.
Something hadn’t been right for a long time.
All around me, the woods went still and dark. Waiting. Watching.
I found myself thinking about the seance Daphne and I did a few days before. The words “Beware. It’s coming,” appearing in the mirror, all smoke and blood.
We had done that seance in the room where Mad Martha had killed Nellie and then herself.
The room CB was staying in.
I whirled around to go back, hurrying as fast as I dared in the dark, over the uneven ground.
No, no, no. Not CB. Not CB.
Branches reached out to stop me, as if they knew what I was doing and wanted to keep me away. I kept getting tangled up, all the while hearing the same word repeating itself in my head: hurry, hurry, hurry.
I tripped on something, flailing my arms, trying to keep my balance but failing. I crashed into something warm and soft that swore.
“Becs? What the ...?”
Oh thank God. It was CB. I had found him. Actually, to be more specific, I had tripped over him. He was sprawled out on the ground next to Jessica.
“I ...” Now that I was here, my earlier fears seemed foolish. Jessica still looked like she was sleeping or passed out, but now, CB looked furious. “I don’t want to leave you out here alone with Jessica,” I said. “It doesn’t feel right. Let me help you bring her back.”
“No!”
I blinked. “What?”
CB leaned closer to me. “What is so difficult about this?” He hissed. “Just go.”
I could only stare at him. His eyes were so dark and cold. Predator’s eyes. Staring into them made me feel like a rabbit being hypnotized by a snake.
Beware. It’s coming.
I tried to speak, failed, and licked my suddenly dry lips. “I don’t understand. Why are you ...?”
With a wordless cry, CB grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet. “Go. I’m giving you a gift. Why can’t you take it? All you have to do is leave!”
“Ouch, CB, that hurts,” I said, trying to protect the shoulder that was still sore from Jessica running into me. I was rubbing it, trying to get him to let go of my arm, when I noticed his shorts.
They were unbuttoned.
I felt the world lurch under my feet and for a second I couldn’t breathe. Darkness swam at the edges of my vision. How much vodka had I drank?
“What? ... Why ...?” I couldn’t even ask the question. Nor could I look at him. Instead, I jerked my arm away so I could take a few steps backward, my eyes immediately going to Jessica.
She lay flat on her back, fully dressed.
“You’re drunk,” CB said, his voice calm and reasonable. “I shouldn’t have given you that bottle of vodka. Really, you just need to go home. Sleep it off.”
Something had shifted in his tone and manner. No longer hostile, he now sounded warm and soothing. For a moment, I wanted to believe the shift, wanted to believe him. This was all just a big misunderstanding. Everything was fine, the way it always was.
I swayed gently on my feet. I could almost feel the dark pressing around me, no longer scary, but comforting. Reassuring. It’s all right now. Just go home. We’ll show you the way. No need to be frightened.
“You think?” I asked, my voice thick and slurred.
CB took a step closer. “Listen to yourself. Can’t you hear how drunk you are?” Even though his voice was still low and calming, something menacing lurked just beneath the surface.
But this is CB, I told myself. Why would he ever threaten me? Surely, this was all in my head. Afte
r all, he was right—I was slurring my words. Maybe I really was too drunk. I couldn’t keep my thoughts straight anymore.
Jessica let out a groan. It was a small noise, but it sliced through the fog in my head, letting in a tiny slit of bright, white light, almost harsh in its intensity.
There WAS something wrong here. There was a reason I came back. I struggled to keep my thoughts straight.
“But, your shorts,” I said, finally getting the words out. “Why are your shorts unbuttoned?”
“Why do you think?” He let out a laugh but it sounded forced. “I was about to take a leak.”
“But ...” I blinked, looking around bewildered. “Right here? Jessica is right here.”
“No, silly,” he said. His voice was light, but I still detected something underneath it.
Something dark. And wrong. And evil.
I could see it, hiding in his eyes. Something cold and crafty.
And ancient.
Beware. It’s coming.
I swallowed and looked at Jessica again. She was so still. Was she even breathing? “Let me help you with Jessica,” I said. “Something is really wrong with her. She should have woken up by now.”
“She’s fine.”
“No, I don’t think so. Let me help you get her to the hospital.”
I saw the shift in his eyes. The flare of anger. He stepped forward.
“I didn’t want to do this,” he said.
“CB,” I said, taking a couple of steps back. I eyed Jessica, willing her to wake up, but she didn’t move. Suddenly, it hit me that it was just me and CB.
Alone in the woods.
Very alone.
No one would hear me scream.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said, taking another step backward as CB advanced.
“Oh yes, I do,” he said. “You could have left. I told you to leave. But, no.” His arm suddenly snaked around my neck and pinned me to him. I squirmed, trying to get away, but he was forcing something down my throat. Something wet and sweet. He was pouring the liquid from the silver flask down my throat. I struggled against him, trying to spit it out, but I had to swallow to keep from choking.
Secrets of Redemption Box Set Page 63