CHAPTER 25 - BRYNN
“Where are we going?” I question as Sarah and I trudge down one of Hallowed Springs' back streets with the chaos of the Krampus parade disappearing into the distance.
Occasionally, there’s a flurry of screams and laughter, even the odd pyrotechnics lighting up the night sky.
The rest of the town is practically abandoned, the streets lined with empty cars due to the number of people who have made the trip specially for tonight, yet there’s not a single soul around to witness what’s going on.
No one to ask for help.
It’s just me.
And if I want to get through this and come out the other side alive, I need to be smart.
“We’re getting away from things for a little bit,” Sarah murmurs, her voice returning to a tone I recognize. “I think better when things are quiet. There’s already so much going on in my head, it’s so overwhelming.”
The voices.
If it wasn’t so fucking scary, it’d be hilarious.
If Sarah really has struggled her whole life with normality like Victoria said, in any other situation, it might have been picked up by a teacher or doctor, and she might have gotten the medical attention she needs.
But a small mountain town in the middle of nowhere, ruled by haunting stories and legends, really is the perfect place to hide something—or someone—so dark.
A sharp wind picks up, the icy breeze swirling around us and stinging at my cheeks before taking off into the trees up ahead. I recognize the path now, the one I got lost on when Jovie spent the day with Sarah making wishing jars.
It looked like a fun nature walk then.
Now it’s all shadows and strange noises.
“Keep going,” Sarah urges, nudging me forward.
The wall of pine trees looms over me, the forest stretching up the mountainside in the distance.
I shake my head.
“We’re going to get lost,” I tell her, dragging my feet and scuffing the dirt path with my boots as I walk, hoping to leave behind a trace of where I’ve been.
“I don’t know this path, and I can barely see the ground.
Maybe we could go somewhere it’s a little lighter? Somewhere we can actually talk.”
“We are going to talk…” she says slowly, as if I’m the one not getting it. “That’s why we’re going out here, silly. So me and you can have the chat we need to have without being watched or having people listen in.”
She jabs her gun into my ribs. I suck a sharp breath in through my teeth and move a little faster through the darkness.
The canopy of leaves and branches above us creaks and groans in the wind.
With every gust, the moonlight flashes through the cracks, almost as if someone is switching the lights on and off.
It’s just bright enough for me to see where I’m placing my foot with each step, but not bright enough to give me any clue how far or deep into the woods we are, and whether anyone would still hear me if I screamed.
A few hours ago, I probably would have walked into this forest willingly, not questioning her motive or thinking it was weird that she wanted to escape the chaos and noise.
I would have wanted to do anything and everything I could to help Sarah, thinking she was some poor young woman battling with a selfish, ignorant mother just like I had.
I was sure we were so alike.
That we had been forged by the same flame.
But the flames didn’t create Sarah, they consumed her.
And I’m not sure what it will take to put this fire out.
I tuck my hands into my jacket pocket, feeling them starting to ache as the temperature continues to drop the further we move into the brush.
Sarah trails behind me, her steps matching mine.
Occasionally, I hear her whisper or mumble under her breath, but I know it’s not to me, and the churning in my stomach warns me not to interrupt.
Grizz.
He’ll notice I’m gone soon.
Maybe he already has.
He’ll be rushing around, checking The Gallows, the clubhouse, the cabin.
The cabin.
I slow my pace and squint my eyes, hoping the sliver of moonlight breaking through is enough to help me make out a familiar fork in the road—a path I’d once taken by accident, but that might actually be my saving grace now.
The trail splits in two, though it’s obvious that the left is more used and well-trodden, while the other is barely visible and disguised—maybe purposefully—by large ferns that reach across, and a couple of haphazardly placed rocks.
It’s at least a few minutes of trudging and tripping through the trees before the fork in the path appears in the shadows. The lack of light gives me only a few steps to come up with something distracting so that I can veer us into the overgrowth and toward the cabin without her noticing.
I gasp loudly, stumbling and tripping to the right and onto the old path. “What was that!” I hiss under my breath, glancing around as if I heard something in the trees around us. “Sarah, this really isn’t safe. Maybe we should—”
“Oh, Brynn, stop the poor me act,” Sarah comments, her laughter vibrating through the trees. “Poor Brynn, she’s a single mom, she needs to be coddled and treated like some kind of princess.”
The teasing in her tone fades away as she speaks, spitting the last few words out as if they’re bitter tasting.
I shove the ferns out of the way, clearing the path as I walk and considering how I can distract her so she doesn’t pick up on the change of scenery.
“You’re right, you know,” I say, breathing heavy as I fight my way through. “I am kind of a princess. I guess it was nice to have someone want to look after me.”
She scoffs, muttering under her breath before she finally speaks out loud. “Grizz deserves better than that,” she snaps, her footsteps getting harder and louder at the mention of his name. “He deserves someone who is stronger.”
“Like you?”
“Like me!” Sarah spits, and before I can brace myself, she jams the gun between my shoulder blades. I fly forward, my hands hitting the cold ground first before the rest of my body crashes down into the dirt.
Stabbing pain shoots up into my wrist. I breathe through it, inhaling and exhaling twice before I manage to cradle it to my chest and roll over.
“Sarah…” The moonlight beams down on her, outlining her silhouette as she stands over me, her body trembling as she points the gun in my face.
I swallow hard, scooting back and sitting up, needing just a few more inches between us before I start what I know is going to be the negotiation of my life.
Literally.
“I know what it’s like, you know,” I start to explain while still trying to catch my breath. “We’re very much the same. I’ve been through hard things too. I’ve had to live with a mother who only thinks of herself. Who doesn’t understand how to love us in the right way.”
She scoffs loudly, shaking her head. “Oh, really? Did yours lock you in the basement for a month after she found you dissecting the neighbor's budgie?”
Jesus Christ.
“Exactly,” she whispers, without me even having to say a word.
“My mom was a bitch, but honestly, it ended up working in my favor because when I went in to get a job at The Gallows, Grizz said I was too young. Too shy. And as I was walking out the door, he heard Mom call me useless, and immediately called me back in to start work that day.”
Sounds right.
Grizz has made it clear time after time that he is not a fan of seeing children treated like trash. He wants to uplift them, to show them the kind of support he feels like he missed out on when he lost his mother.
“He used to smile at me and laugh with me. He was always checking in and making sure things were okay,” she continues, firing each word at me like bullets.
“Being around Grizz made the world… quiet. Then you came along, like some stray dog, and suddenly, he had a new project to fix. A new girl to save. A daughter to fuss over.”
My heart pounds hard against my ribcage like it’s trying to break through.
I want to argue and scream at her that she’s wrong.
But for a brief moment, I can’t disguise the feeling of panic that surges through me as her words drive home every damn insecurity that lives within me.
Does Grizz see me as a project?
He does like to fix things—to take furniture and things that are broken and create something new with them. Then he will move on and find something else to do the same with.
Is that where things were heading?
Sarah’s mouth turns up into a triumphant smile.
“The truth hurts, doesn’t it?” she taunts, letting out a soft sigh. “I told you, I know him better than you ever could. And for a while, I was happy to just wait around until he was done with you.”
“So why didn’t you?” I whispered, my teeth chattering. The slight layer of snow across the ground is seeping into my clothing, and my body is quickly getting past the point of fighting the cold off.
That is, until she says that one word that will forever light the fire inside me.
“Jovie.”
For the first time since this nightmare started, I feel something other than fear and uncertainty rising within me.
I’m used to backing down when things get difficult, but having the strength that day to leave my mom and her toxic bullshit behind—that’s what got me here.
To a place where I’ve finally found myself, where my daughter can finally spread her wings, and where there is a person who gives a damn about me and wants to see me succeed.
I had to make a hard choice that day, and I fought back.
I did it for me.
And I did it for Jovie.
Now I have to do it again.
I need to be strong and fight back.
“Jovie is my daughter,” I hiss through clenched teeth, the fire in my stomach building.
“Jovie makes Grizz happy,” Sarah counters, shuffling on her feet. “He adores her. I could never take that away from him. That’s why I had to step in, because I couldn’t just wait for you to leave town and take her with you. She has to stay. It’s you who has to go.”
It hurts, but I try to ignore the pain shooting through my heart, and instead, I glance around quickly, desperately searching for something, for anything that I can use.
A stick.
A rock.
The light flutters through the trees just as I look down, highlighting the tiny yellow flowers growing across the forest floor.
The nettle.
My body tingles, remembering the uncomfortable stinging sensation and the itchy bumps that practically evaporated with Grizz’s magic potion.
And the gentle, nurturing application.
“Sarah, please…” I plead, turning over so my back is to her and carefully pushing onto my knees, my hand beside the poisonous bushes. “Don’t hurt Jovie like this.”
“I would never hurt Jovie!” she snaps, outraged by the accusation. “I’m not a monster!”
If I hadn’t been so focused on my next move, maybe I would have laughed, but honestly, it’s the fact that she thinks she’s not a monster, that makes her so god damn dangerous.
“If you don’t want to hurt her…” I start, holding my breath and wrapping my hand around a bunch of the flower stems. Clenching my jaw as I ignore the sting, I grab as many as I can. “…you can’t just plan to remove me from her life.”
“Oh, this isn’t about removing you,” she says with a laugh as I rise to my feet, ripping the flowers from the ground. “It’s about replacing you… with me.”
Time’s up.
I spin around, lunging forward and shoving the fistful of stinging nettle in her face and waving them around, covering her as much as I can. She screams, the banshee-like sound lighting up the night as she stumbles backward, her foot catching on a tree root, sending her backward onto the ground.
I drop the bushes, not wasting a damn second.
Then I run, fighting with the undergrowth and trees, unable to see anything but outlines. A branch whips across my face, forcing me back, tears streaming down my cheeks.
“Brynn!” Sarah’s shrieking forces me forward again, one step at a time, blind and stumbling. Toward what? I don’t know. I’m not sure what direction I’m going. If I’m moving closer to town or further away. What if I’m just going deeper into the woods?
“I’m not even sure there’s a reason,” I admit without thinking. “Whether I’m running away from that life, or running toward a new one.”
Grizz is quiet for a beat, and I’m sure I’ve lost him with my rambling.
“Maybe it doesn’t matter. As long as you’re moving.”
As long as I’m moving.
I just have to keep moving.
BANG.
My body jolts, my heart leaping up into my throat, making it even harder to breathe.
She’s shooting.
She’s going to—
Then up ahead, I see a flurry of colors peeking through the trees.
Fireworks.
BANG.
More colors in the sky.
In front of me in the distance, probably at the Krampus Parade.
I keep moving, one foot in front of the other. It doesn’t matter where I’m going, I just have to keep moving. Keep fighting. If I keep away from her for long enough, it will give time for Grizz to find me.
“Brynn!” Sarah calls, her tone different than what it was moments ago. “Brynn! Don’t make me come after you!”
My breathing is heavy, my body is frozen—I’m running on adrenaline. It’s the only thing keeping me going. Well, not the only thing.
Jovie.
Grizz.
The thought of the future I’ve already imagined with the three of us.
I can’t give up on that. It’s worth fighting for!
“Brynn!” Suddenly, the forest lights up so bright, it’s as if the sun is within the trees. “You shouldn’t have run.”
I spin around, and all I can see is this bright white light beaming at me, blinding me.
A flashlight.
“You shouldn’t have run,” she repeats, and while I can’t see her. I don’t need to, to know what’s about to happen next.
BANG.