Chapter 3
Who knew that time could move so quickly?
It’s just shy of midnight, last song of the reception. Some guests have already started to clear out, catch the shuttles back to the hotel. Not us. We’re not done yet. We’re going to ride it ’til the end.
“I get knocked down, but I get up again, you’re never gonna keep me down!
” We shout. We jump. I spin Cassie. Luke comes between us, takes our hands and spins us both.
Wyatt is doing a Peanuts-esque shoulder thing.
Evan mimics him, drunk enough to be game.
Steph and Jace are pressed up against each other, sweaty and making out in the middle of the dance floor like it’s the night they met.
“Aw! I don’t want it to end,” Steph says, coming up for air when the music fades. “Can’t the party last forever?”
Jace picks her up. “After-party at our cabin!”
He carries her out of the reception hall to much fanfare.
“I’m gonna go get changed,” Cass says, which Luke takes as his cue to pick her up and carry her out like Jace did with Steph. She sighs but allows it. I catch her cracking a smile, too giddy to pretend like she isn’t.
Evan looks at Wyatt. “Don’t get any ideas.”
“Me? I’ve never had an idea in my life.” He offers Evan his hand, and the two of them walk out together.
“You coming, Wills?” Evan calls over his shoulder.
“Yeah! Just a minute.” I take a last look around the reception hall, and all I see is tonight. Sloppy dancing and Steph’s sparkle and empty wineglasses and dinner plates licked clean. A good time.
It’s a little cool outside, which is welcome after hours of sweating it out on the dance floor. I head down the steps, passing the crowd of blissfully drunk and tired guests. Ravi and Tanya are queued up for the shuttle. She doesn’t see me, but he does.
He gives me a closed-lip half smile, a slight nod of acknowledgment. It all went by so fast; I didn’t get another chance to talk to him. I did see him dancing with Tanya. They seem good together, and I’m happy for them. Happy for him.
Maybe someday we’ll catch up over coffee. Maybe he’ll show me pictures of his kids. Maybe someday we won’t be strangers, or maybe we will, but that’s okay, too.
I smile back at him, and then he follows Tanya onto the shuttle that will take them away from this place, this very strange place.
A place that harbored a secret in the trees, that could bend the rules of the universe, of time itself.
A place that forced me to face my fears over and over.
Monsters and murders and, even scarier, everything else.
I take a breath and cut across the lawn toward the lake.
When I get to the water, I dig my cigarettes and my Bic out of my bag. I light up, take a drag, and watch the moonlight dance across the surface of the lake. The stars shimmer just as brilliantly in their reflection.
I change my mind about smoking and pinch the end of my cigarette, stuff it back into the pack that I’ll toss into the next trash can I see. Good riddance. I reach for my phone to check the time, to confirm that I finally made it to tomorrow.
“Hey.” The voice startles me, my exhale catching as I turn around. It’s Danny. He stands a few feet away, his suit jacket draped casually over his shoulder. He spent most of the night dancing with Vicky. I couldn’t tell if he pursued her or if she pursued him. I couldn’t tell if I cared.
I clap a hand over my heart. “You scared me.”
“Ah, sorry. Seem to be making it a habit. I wanted to check in.” His laugh. His awkward, endearing laugh. “You were pretty rattled in the woods earlier. You okay?”
Danny, Danny, Danny. I don’t need him to save me from my heartache, from anything.
Turns out I’m perfectly capable of saving myself.
So do I really want to go down this road again?
Maybe I know where it leads, maybe I don’t.
It could be fun to find out. I could get some.
Maybe even a free trip to Tokyo. Or I could leave this place and never speak to him again.
But that’s something, too. To live in the moment, to share it, enjoy the beauty of it while it lasts, and allow it to just be what it is. And then to let it go.
I’ll be grateful to return to my apartment, to be there alone, my ornery cat my only company.
I’ll be grateful to be there at all. To greet a new day sprawled out on my mattress on the floor.
To open my eyes and not know what to expect.
To embrace the empty hours. To welcome the future, the unknown, without fear.
My story might not be a love story. But it isn’t a horror story, either. My story is mine, and it can be whatever I make it.
Danny tilts forward, waiting for me to answer, his hair falling out from behind his ears. He ruffles it, bites his lip.
Everything is temporary, after all.
“I’m cool,” I tell him. “We’re going to go hang at Steph and Jace’s cabin, if you’re up for it.”
“I’m up for anything,” he says, grinning.
“Good. Let’s go.”
“After you.”
I start toward the path, stealing a look back at the water. The surface of the lake billows in the breeze. I study the waves, the patterns of movement. Squint into the darkness. Searching.
Danny hovers a hand at my waist. He leans in and whispers, “Glad I found you.”
“Yeah,” I say, turning around. Looking ahead. Moving forward. “Perfect timing.”