Hurt: A Novel (Solitary Tales Series)

by Thrasher, Travis

  Another tug gets my attention. “Not that way.”

  I follow Brick to the back of the church.

  I cough, and my eyes are watery from both the smoke and the tears. I follow him through a dark hallway, touching his shoulder and feeling the strap of his shotgun. He’s carrying Kelsey in his arms. He kicks a door open and leads us outside to the fresh air.

  “Come on,” he tells me.

  I follow him to the edge of the woods. I can hear the crackling of wood behind us.

  “That building’s going up like a meth lab,” Brick says.

  I lean over and see Kelsey. I breathe out and for a moment I don’t know what to do.

  “Chris, come on,” he says. “We gotta get her to the hospital.”

  I’m frozen, and I stare at Kelsey and know that it can’t end like this.

  It can’t.

  God wouldn’t do that, would He?

  Would He do this to me again?

  A terrible thought fills me.

  If I rejected God, He has every right to reject me.

  121. The End

  Reach out and touch faith, Chris.

  I watch fingers of fire waving at me through the cool black night. For the moment, I’m not really here. I’m somewhere far away from this burning structure. From this cursed town. From this wretched life.

  You know what you have to do.

  But I can’t move and I can’t breathe and I can’t think. I just want to run.

  I’ve tried everything else, and I can’t do any more.

  You don’t have to.

  But I have to do something.

  I think of Jocelyn. And I think of Lily. And now …

  There’s only one thing you can do.

  A part of me thinks I should play it safe just in case. Just in case the magic doesn’t work. Or more like just in case I get it wrong and God above doesn’t come down and deliver.

  You have to go there.

  Another part of me says that it’s already over, she’s already dead, everything has built up to this outcome.

  It’s called foreshadowing, idiot, and it’s as clear as day, as clear as this fire blazing in the night.

  The flames prove that everything is going up in smoke. My faith and my fears and my future.

  Soon everything will be ashes, and I’ll be left alone.

  Move, Chris. Move now. Reach out and take a leap and put everything on the line for this thing deep down that you believe in.

  Another voice reminds me of my rejections. Of my denials. Or my failure.

  How’s God gonna help me if I just declared I don’t believe in Him?

  But I can’t lose somebody else. Not again. Not this way.

  I have to try.

  I have to believe.

  122. All the Difference

  Suddenly I know what to do.

  No voice tells me. It’s just a gut thing. Or maybe a spirit thing. I just … know.

  I dig into my pocket and pull out the trinkets I brought just in case I needed them. Not knowing how I’d use them or why.

  I take the leather band that Jocelyn gave me. The one that disappeared with the bag I tossed over the falls, only to reappear in the field where her parents were buried. I wrap it around Kelsey’s bleeding wrist and tie it as tight as I can.

  This isn’t some medical procedure that I think will work. You can toss science out of here at this point.

  Then I get the necklace that once belonged to Aunt Alice, with the picture of the child she abandoned and basically murdered. I tie this around Kelsey’s neck.

  There’s just—so—much—blood …

  She’s still conscious, but woozy. I whisper to her to try and keep her from leaving.

  Both of these items I tie on her have some kind of supernatural thing about them. Maybe … hopefully … I don’t know.

  Enough with the self-doubt: act do move now.

  “I have to get to Marsh Falls.”

  “What?” Brick looks confused. “Why?”

  “I can’t explain. You know how to get there from here.”

  “Man, Buckley, that chick needs the hospital.”

  “How do I get there from here?” I spit out, angry now that I’ve wasted a few minutes while my brain needed CPR.

  “You gotta go back out to where—well, no, actually, there’s an old road heading into the woods. Nobody uses it, and it might not really be in any sort of condition to get there. But it’s a straight shot.”

  “What? A real road?”

  “Yeah, off the main road here, right behind the church, through the woods. I used to take a three-wheeler around here. It’s rough. Real rough. Nobody’s traveled on it for a long time.”

  That word does something.

  Traveled.

  I pick up Kelsey and rush toward my bike.

  Two roads …

  In a wood …

  I took the one less traveled by.

  And that has made all the difference.

  “Come on, Kelsey, it’s going to be okay,” I tell her as I jog toward my bike.

  The flames are reaching for the heavens right next to us. Brick follows, though he doesn’t know what I’m doing.

  Has the message been clear for me for this long?

  Has this moment been predetermined, the question already answered long ago?

  Jocelyn’s locker and the picture and the poem …

  “Stay with me, come on,” I tell a fading Kelsey.

  She’s so light in my arms.

  I didn’t have a chance to carry Jocelyn to safety. Nor Lily.

  But now I have a chance.

  I believe. I have faith, Lord. I trust in You.

  “Help me,” I cry out.

  I position Kelsey on the seat, then pull one leg over the bike. She begins to fall, and I pull her up, talking to her and trying to get her to stay awake.

  “Brick—you got a belt on?”

  “Yeah.”

  He takes it off while I undo mine with one hand and hand it to him. I ask him to tie them around Kelsey and me. “I don’t want her falling off while I’m driving.”

  Brick is fast, and he doesn’t give me any attitude or freaking-out mentality. I sit behind Kelsey, and a memory of the night I rode behind Lily after the party where I was drugged flashes through my mind. It seems like a million years ago.

  Brick ties us together. I lean forward and can feel Kelsey snug against me.

  It takes me a few tries to start up the motorcycle.

  “So the road just takes me straight there.”

  Brick nods. “Yeah, basically. You may have to walk a little bit, but not far.”

  “Thank you.”

  I take off without hearing a response. I get on the road behind the church, and sure enough, there’s a cleared-off dirt road heading into the woods. My headlight beams down it. The forest is thick and creepy-looking, and who knows what’s inside it.

  I turn around and look at the furious blaze behind me. It’s now heading into the surrounding woods like some wild brush fire.

  Marsh must have planned to burn this whole place down.

  But why?

  I jam on the gas to head off into the woods. A Bible verse comes to mind.

  The terrible flames will not be quenched.

  Now I know that even that wasn’t just a random verse.

  There’s nothing random around this place. Nothing whatsoever.

  I ride down the road as fast as I can.

  Still praying that Kelsey’s going to make it.

  Still praying that this is going to work.

  123. Life and Death

  The road just ends.

  There were point
s where I literally had to stop and walk the bike over ruts or around a dead tree. But I managed to drive for fifteen terrible minutes until the road just stopped.

  It’s a dead end, surrounded by trees.

  I shout out loud and for a second wonder if Brick fooled me.

  He didn’t come in and risk his life to rescue you both only to lead you into the middle of nowhere.

  I turn off the motorcycle and hear Kelsey groan.

  “I’m right here. I’m going to take you somewhere and get you some help.”

  I kiss Kelsey’s cold cheek, and then I look up at the sky. It’s still thick with clouds, leaving me in pitch black. I listen but can’t hear the sound of the falls. Then I realize something else not-so-great.

  My backpack—containing my flashlight—is somewhere back at the church.

  I undo the belt and get off the bike and then scoop Kelsey into my arms. I’ll be able to carry her for a while, but if I have to walk a long ways we won’t make it.

  I have no idea where I’m supposed to go, but I just start walking straight ahead.

  There has to be a path or something. Right.

  “Come on,” I yell out.

  Maybe at myself or maybe at God or maybe at Brick.

  Maybe all three.

  I’m sweating and tired, and I suddenly picture Mr. Page’s face looking across at me at Kelsey’s funeral.

  That’s when I have to put her down. I put her down, and then I walk a few steps away and throw up.

  Some hero you are.

  It’s just nerves, like the kind I might have on the day of a race. Or the kind I have when someone I love is about to die. I’ve been there before, so I know.

  I wipe my mouth and stare at the wall of black all around me.

  All this for nothing, you loser.

  I dry off my messy hand on my jeans and suddenly feel something in my pocket. I quickly take it out.

  The Zippo lighter my mom gave me. The one I haven’t been able to fix.

  My hand is really shaking when I try it. I know it doesn’t work, but the very first time I try it, a spark ignites, and then a flame suddenly glows.

  And suddenly everything in these woods looks … different.

  Like I’m in a fairy tale or something.

  It’s like the glow-in-the-dark stars Dad put on my ceiling when I was little. That’s how the woods look. The Zippo lights up the area around me, but it also seems to reflect pieces of silver that are embedded in the trees.

  I hold the lighter up, and the glowing around me gets brighter.

  Then I see it.

  A two-foot-wide path a stone’s throw away from me. A trail that might as well be called the yellow brick road. It has pebbles that seem to be lit up like gold, and they go as far as my eyes can see.

  I try to keep the lighter on and pick up Kelsey, but that doesn’t work. I don’t want to set her hair on fire. I prop the lighter on the ground, and it falls over and goes out.

  But the glowing lights around me don’t.

  I laugh and suddenly realize that I’m crying. Not out of fear and not out of joy, but out of pure amazement.

  Maybe heaven looks a little like this.

  I put the lighter back in my pocket, then pick up Kelsey and go over to the lit-up trail. When I step on it, I wonder if it’s going to burn. Or maybe the glittering rocks will pulse. But no. It doesn’t do anything except keep shining.

  I start to walk and then find the path heading downhill.

  Five minutes later, I see a splotchy patch of black across the path ahead of me.

  I blink a few times, but it doesn’t go away.

  Kinner might have died, but the evil around here hasn’t. I know this because of the dog that’s blocking the path in front of me. It’s all black except for awful slivers of white in its eyes. And teeth that look like fangs.

  That’s no ordinary dog.

  It looks more like a sickly and bloated leopard. It doesn’t quite have thick fur but does have something shaggy hanging off it, like dried leaves or clumps of mud. It’s snarling and growling.

  That’s the same dog that attacked me on the Staunch property that one time.

  I stop, unsure what to do. Keep walking and just ignore it? Put Kelsey down and try to fight it with … with a Zippo lighter? I’m all out of supernatural stuff in my pockets.

  Why couldn’t I have found a magical dagger or something?

  There’s a howling from behind me that sounds like a dying wolf.

  No. No, don’t let there be more.

  The demon dog starts walking toward me. Its open mouth is dripping gray spit. Its eyes are glowing, a disturbing kind of glow, not a majestic kind. I smell a rotten odor.

  I back up. One step. Two.

  I have to get to those woods.

  The dog is coming faster, and I know I have only seconds.

  Suddenly I hear the wild wolf sound again, but this time it’s ahead of me.

  Then I see something coming out of the woods, rushing toward the demon dog.

  It’s a wolf.

  No, it’s not a wolf. It’s the wolf, the one I’ve seen before. The gray wolf that I saw at the creek and also near the barn after Jocelyn died.

  I hear its teeth ripping something apart and then hear the high-pitched wailing of the dog. It’s awful and makes me close my eyes.

  Another wolf comes out of the woods and attacks from the other side. And I realize—not all animals around here are possessed or evil.

  Especially not these wolves.

  I hear gnawing and biting and growling and wailing, and then it seems like the air around us gets sucked in and the lights go out for the moment and I feel a chilling breeze

  death

  blow past Kelsey and me and then it’s done.

  The dog and the smell are gone.

  The wolves are sniffing the ground where it was standing and seem as puzzled as I am about the disappearance.

  They turn and face me, and I look at them. I want to say thanks or toss them a hamburger or something. I’m not sure what to do.

  The gray wolf bolts into the trees and is followed by the darker one. The path ahead is empty now. Empty and safe.

  I just hope that it’s not too late for Kelsey.

  Five minutes later, I hear the sound of the falls. I don’t know which direction I’m coming from, but since this trail in the woods is heading downhill, I know I’ll wind up at the base of the falls.

  Maybe thirty or forty yards from the falls, I see the sparkling water, lit up and a deep blue. Like something out of a Lord of the Rings movie. It’s like a fairy tale.

  No. Fairy tales aren’t like this.

  Staring at Kelsey in my arms, the deep wound around her throat caked with blood but no longer bleeding, I know this isn’t a fairy tale.

  I swallow and rush to the bottom of Marsh Falls, to the same place where Marsh slashed my wrist and then watched as the wounds went away.

  “Lord please help her please God.”

  I don’t know how this goes.

  I just know that there’s nothing I can do to make it happen. Marsh said it had something to do with me, but I don’t believe that. I think God makes everything and anything happen, and I have to believe He will take care of Kelsey.

  My feet go into the glimmering water. I can see the bottom as I continue out toward the deeper part. Soon I’m in water knee deep, then close to my waist.

  I look up at the falls. They seem taller tonight, and wilder. Even though I’m standing far away from where the water drops onto the pond below, I’m getting soaked from the splashing.

  I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

  I look at Kelsey. Her precious, sweet face resembles an angel. Her eyes are closed,
her hair streaked back and wet. I kiss her forehead.

  “Forgive me, God, for denying You. Please don’t deny me. Please save her. Please God, I beg You. Please, in Your Son’s name, I’m begging You.”

  I lower Kelsey into the water until she goes fully under.

  I wait a second, then I lift her back up.

  She’s not coughing or gagging or anything.

  I try again.

  And I keep praying. Begging God to hear me.

  I try again.

  Then I hear her beautiful, glorious cough. A sweet, wonderful choking sound.

  My teeth are chattering as I kiss her forehead again and then try to prop her up so she can catch her breath.

  “It’s going to be okay,” I say.

  I’m crying now and holding her and watching her cough and open her eyes and wonder what’s happening.

  “Chris?”

  “You’re okay.”

  Kelsey coughs and spits. I hold her and then examine her neck. She’s still wearing the locket, but the bloody gash is no longer there.

  “Chris?”

  I wrap my wet arms around her and hold her.

  “Where are we?” she asks.

  “It’s a miracle,” I tell her as I look into her eyes.

  “What? What’s a miracle?”

  “You. You, Kelsey.”

  And just like that, the glowing lights around us fade away, leaving us in the dark.

  But the darkness has no power here. And instead of being scared, I’m filled with love.

  124. Is Your Love Strong Enough?

  I will never leave you. Not again. Not ever.

  I tell Kelsey this as I lead her out of the big, bad woods. I was a kid when I first entered these woods, but I’m no kid anymore. I recall Iris telling me about that fire deep inside and how I was stronger than I thought.

  But I also know now what the big, bad world is capable of.

  I’ve lost track of the trail I came on and simply wander, hoping to reach a road.

  I hold Kelsey and promise I won’t let her go.

  But you’ll eventually have to let go.

  I’ll keep protecting her.

  But you can’t protect her all the time.