Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
Bile rose up from my stomach. I stepped back, nearly stumbling over my own feet. Someone made a snowman of Isabella. And the red slashes … was that blood? My hand clasped over my mouth, holding back a scream.
“There you are,” a voice said. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
I turned to find Holly at the exact moment she noticed the snowman.
Her mouth turned down. “Ew, that’s disgusting.” She reached out, sliding a finger along one of the red wounds.
“Wait,” I said. “What are you doing?”
But before I could even finish the sentence, she raised her finger and took a sniff of the red substance. I swayed on my feet, the brightness of the day suddenly turning dark.
“Ketchup,” she said. Then with a concerned look at me, she added, “Hey, are you okay?”
“I don’t know,” I said, my voice coming out in a pitiful squeak. “I feel kind of dizzy.”
She grabbed my arm to steady me. “You are the palest white girl I’ve ever seen right now. Let’s go sit on a bench before you faint.”
I let her lead me to the nearest bench and ease me down. I took deep, slow breaths. The darkness receded and the ground stopped moving.
“I’m better,” I said. “I’m okay.” Though that wasn’t completely true.
Holly gently squeezed my hand. “You know the snowman’s not real, right? He’s not going to come to life and stab you.”
“I know.” I exhaled a little laugh, feeling kind of silly. I wasn’t in any danger, but my brain had reacted as if I were. The snowman was just so morbid. And vaguely … threatening.
“Some loser made it as a sick joke. Probably took a pic to send it to his group chat.” Holly shook her head in disgust.
“You don’t think it’s a message?” I asked.
Her eyes softened. “Kels, I’m as paranoid as they come, but no. I don’t think it was a message. I think it was some loser being gross. Have you seen some of the new people who’ve shown up in town?”
“Yeah,” I said, though I hadn’t seen anyone who’d get off on making a murdered woman snowman.
“Don’t let it get to you. That’s what the person wanted. To shock some people.”
I thought about who else could stumble upon it. Families. Children! “We can’t leave it there. If a kid picked up that knife—”
Holly calmed me with a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll have Nick come dismantle the artistic display before it scares anyone else. I promise.”
“Okay.” My shoulders sagged with relief.
“And in the meantime, I’m going to walk you back to your office, and I’m not going to leave until you drink a big glass of water and get some pink back into those cheeks.”
A thought occurred to me. In all of the chaos, I’d barely noticed that Holly had set out to find me.
I turned to her. “Wait, why were you looking for me?”
“Oh, yeah.” She snapped her fingers like she was just remembering herself. “I was wondering if you were going out of town for Thanksgiving.”
“No.” I gave a little eye roll. “I’ve been notified by the sheriff that I’m not allowed to leave town.” And I had nowhere to go, but I didn’t want to sound pathetic.
“Kris can’t be serious with that. Everyone knows you’re not a killer.” She huffed. “So do you have any family coming here?”
“No, my brother’s seven hours away and my parents are on vacation.
” I tried not to let any sadness leak into my voice.
I thought I could just stay busy and blow right by Thanksgiving without getting trapped in my feelings.
But the closer the holiday came, the more I realized how disappointed I was to be spending it alone.
Holly slapped both hands on her thighs. “So, you’re coming to my house, then. It’s settled.”
My jaw hung open. “You’re inviting me to Thanksgiving?”
“What, do you need a printed invitation on fancy stationery?” she asked, her mouth twitching with a baby smile.
“No, I’m just … happy.” I didn’t even try to be cool about it. The delight was probably written all over my face. “I’d love to come.”
“Ellison will be there.” Holly gave me a long, meaningful look.
My heart skipped a beat at the mention of his name, but I tried to play innocent. “What?”
“You know what,” she said wryly.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She wagged her eyebrows suggestively. “Maybe if you stay sober you can get that kiss this time.”
I audibly gasped and could feel the red flaring on my cheeks. “He told you that? Damn, does he tell you everything?”
“No, he tells Nick everything, asks Nick to keep it secret, and then Nick tells me.”
“Well, at least you’re honest,” I said. But I needed this embarrassing moment to end, so I quickly changed the subject. “What should I bring?”
Holly tapped on her chin as she thought. “Can you cook?”
“Not a thing.”
“Bring wine.”
I pointed at her. “Great idea.”
She stood up and stretched. “Now let’s get your sorry, scaredy-cat, bad-cooking ass back to work. Can you walk or do you need to lean on me?”
“I’m fine,” I said, standing to prove it. “The dizziness is completely gone. You don’t need to walk me back. I’ve got it.”
“Okay.” She feigned a stern look. “No fainting at my Thanksgiving dinner. Unless it’s from an amazing, secret make-out sesh in the pantry.”
“Ugh!” I yelled, groaning as we started walking. But inside, I was glowing. Ellison had told Nick about our moment. And I had somewhere to go for Thanksgiving. People to be with. And not just any people. Friends who I was really starting to love.
I cast one last look over my shoulder at the bloody snowwoman. Holly was on her phone, probably calling Nick to come and take a look. She seemed convinced it was a loser’s prank. And she was the true-crime buff, if anyone was going to over-react it would be her.
Then why did I feel like it was made not to shock people, but to scare them? Threaten them.
Warn them.
The rest of the day passed with much less drama. I didn’t tell Carol about the snowman incident because—to be honest—I was kind of embarrassed now. Holly was right. It was a joke made in poor taste. It wasn’t a threat to me personally.
I posted some of the pics I’d taken on our socials, and they got great engagement. I worked well past five. Carol seemed to appreciate that as she gave me two thumbs up on her way out. It was only when I was getting ready to leave that I remembered I’d never hit up the hedge maze like I’d planned.
With a sigh, I realized my workday wasn’t quite over yet.
I needed to show all the fun things Christmasville had to offer, and that was one thing I hadn’t highlighted yet.
It was dark, but I knew the hedge maze had some dim lighting the town kept on so people could explore it in the evening.
The sun set so early here, especially in winter.
My boots scuffed on the asphalt as I headed back toward the park.
I hadn’t yet explored a lot of the east side.
Mainly because most of the events were on the west side with the gazebo and the main stage.
The skating pond was on the east side, but that wasn’t lit at night, so I’d have to hit that up another day.
Though a good number of people explored Main Street, the crowd thinned out when I reached the park. Prickles of anxiety traveled up my arms as I gazed across the empty expanse of well-trodden snow.
Just get to the maze, take some pics, and get out.
I told myself to calm down. It wasn’t the middle of the night.
It was dinnertime. The longer I stood there, all I accomplished was to make myself more nervous.
The best thing to do was get it over with.
I kept my head down and trudged as quickly as possible to the maze.
It had one opening, and I assumed one exit.
The hedges were over six feet high and well-maintained.
By the copious foot traffic I saw in the snow, it was a popular place. Just not right now.
Why didn’t I come during the day? I chided myself. Because I’d nearly fainted over a snowman, that’s why.
I took a deep, calming breath and entered the maze.
Lifting my phone, I recorded a quick video.
I walked around a bend and stopped at the first choice.
I panned the camera back and forth—left or right?
—and stopped filming. I quickly rewatched the video and was impressed by how cool it looked.
The hedge maze being empty added to the point of view and made the viewer feel like they were in the maze themselves.
I could choose the right filter to enhance the effect even more.
I didn’t want to go any farther into the maze than I had to, but I took the left choice because that angle was better. I framed the shot, ready to snap it, when I heard a noise that made me freeze in place.
The sound of a footfall crunching the snow beneath it.
“Hello?” I called out. “Anyone here?”
No one answered. I held my breath, straining my ears for any sound.
That unnerving feeling of being watched rose up in me.
I turned in a circle, as soundlessly as I could.
But every direction held nothing but hedges.
Anyone could be standing on the other side, peering through the holes between branches.
I wrapped my arms around my body as I started to shiver.
Maybe there was no one. Maybe I was still jumpy from the murder snowman, and I was psyching myself out.
Another footfall came, clearly a boot crunching snow.
A surge of adrenaline pushed through my veins.
I was not imagining it. Someone was behind me, by the entrance, close enough to have heard me call out.
And they’d decided not to answer. Which could only mean creepy, terrible things.
I couldn’t double back if that’s where they were. So I made the only choice I had.
I ran further into the maze.
My breaths came hard and fast. I wanted to gauge where the person was and if they were gaining on me, but my own footsteps were too loud. As I turned each corner, shadows stretched. Sounds seemed to be all around me—behind and in front. Had someone else come in from the exit? Were there two people?
A dead end forced me to double back, and I swore under my breath as I retraced my steps and went in the opposite direction. My heart pounded wildly. I could run into the person at any moment.
A flash of red caught my eye as it dodged around a corner. I stopped. Like flowing red hair?
“Susie?” I called out.
The only answer was a low rustling. The spotlight above me flickered, and dread filled my body. The lighting was dim enough already. If it went out completely, I’d have to use my cell’s flashlight, and it would take me forever to find my way out.
I stared at the hedge beside me. Was it an outside wall? Could I push through rather than continuing to the exit? I shoved an arm in, but it got stuck halfway and ripped my coat. That was clearly a last resort.
The only way out was through. If the person wanted to kill me, they could have already done it. I’d been standing still for long enough. So, they only wanted to scare me.
Or they liked to play with their victim before they ended them.
I pushed that thought away as I forged ahead. The last time, I’d gone right, right, left and that hadn’t worked. Right, right, right would be a circle. Damn, just start moving. I went left and hoped for the best.
A dark shadow dashed around the corner, but I couldn’t hear anyone.
Was it a trick of the light? I took a right at the next intersection and started down a long corridor of hedges.
My gut said this was the outer edge of the maze.
I started to jog. Halfway down, I could see the dark, gaping opening of the exit.
I ran toward it, relief flooding me as I left the maze.
And slammed into the solid chest of—
Sheriff Kris grabbed my shoulders and glared down at me. “What are you doing?”
“I was … taking pictures for work …” I spoke between ragged breaths. “But someone else … was in the maze.”
“That’s what people do,” he said. “They explore the maze.”
“But no one answered when I called out.”
He stroked his white beard. Deep wrinkles etched into his skin. “Maybe you scared them.”
I scared them. Right. Sure. But then I wondered if Kris had been the one in the maze, and he’d made it out right before me. Though he wasn’t wearing anything red, and I’d thought for sure I’d seen a glimpse of that color.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“My job. Patrolling. Making sure the town is safe from anyone who wants to harm it.” His words were slow and deliberate, and I couldn’t help feeling they were directed at me.
I shrugged off his hands and took two steps away. “Then I’ll let you get back to it.”
He didn’t say anything else as I walked away. But I could feel his eyes on my back the entire time. My breathing didn’t normalize until I was back on Main Street, among the crowds milling in and out of restaurants.
I didn’t know who had been in the maze. But I knew their intentions. Any normal person would have answered me, would have heard the fear in my voice. This person wanted me scared.