Seraphina
I woke up smiling not because nothing hurt.
Gosh, everything hurts. Every stretch tugged at bruises blooming beneath my skin, purple fading into sickly yellow.
Every breath reminded me my ribs still hadn't forgiven Collins.
Even lifting my arm made the cuts hidden beneath fresh bandages pull just enough to sting but for the first time in my life… Pain wasn't the first thing I noticed.
Elias was.
I lay there for a long moment, staring at the weathered wooden ceiling above me, unable to stop the ridiculous smile spreading across my face. A laugh escaped me before I could swallow it.
God.
Detective Elias Reed.
My detective.
Mine.
Who would've thought?
Certainly not me.
Probably not you either.
Max lifted his enormous head from the rug beside the bed, blinking one sleepy brown eye open as if judging every life decision I'd ever made.
"You heard that, didn't you?" I whispered.
His tail gave one lazy thump against the floor.
"Oh, don't look at me like that."
Another thump.
"Traitor."
He huffed, completely unbothered. I laughed again.
Life was strange. A day ago, I was tied to a chair, wondering whether I'd die before sunrise.
Now… Now I was lying in a bed that still smelled like Elias, smiling because he'd kissed my forehead before leaving for work.
Life was terrifying. Beautiful. Completely unhinged and somehow...
Perfect.
By the time I'd showered carefully avoiding the worst of the bruises and changed every bandage Elias had fussed over yesterday, I was exhausted all over again.
Pulling on skinny jeans should've qualified as an Olympic event.
By the time I finally wrestled them into place, I was breathing harder than I had during physical therapy.
"I won," I announced to absolutely nobody.
Max was already sitting beside the front door. Waiting. Patient. Far too intelligent for his own good.
"You knew we were leaving, didn't you?"
His ears perked instantly.
"I swear you're half detective."
One sharp bark.
"I'll take that as a yes."
The truck rumbled quietly beneath me as we left the little cottage tucked between the pines. Max claimed the passenger seat as if he'd paid for it himself, his head hanging proudly out the window while the wind flattened his ears against his skull. Show-off.
My phone buzzed inside the cup holder. I smiled before I even picked it up.
Elias
Baby, come home to me.
Just seeing his name made my chest do that annoyingly fluttery thing.
He'd already read my message. Good. Which meant he was probably worrying.
Not enough to chase after me… Just enough to miss me.
Exactly the amount I wanted. I rested my thumb against the screen for another second before locking it again.
"I'll be back," I murmured to the empty cab.
"You always say that," Frank muttered from somewhere deep inside my head.
Gerald sighed dramatically.
"She always comes back. It's practically her trademark."
"Unlike you," Frank muttered.
"Your trademark is annoying me."
"Your trademark is existing," Gerald shot back.
"Oh, boys..." I rubbed my temple, smiling despite myself.
"Behave."
Frank gasped in exaggerated offense.
"Did she just tell us what to do?"
Gerald chuckled, the dry, scratchy sound echoing somewhere behind my thoughts.
"She's getting bold."
His laughter softened.
"That's what falling in love does to people."
Heat crept into my cheeks before I could stop it.
"Don't start."
"Oh, she blushes now," Frank teased.
"Our little detective's girl," Gerald added.
I rolled my eyes, though I couldn't stop smiling.
"You'll survive each other."
For once… Silence.
Then, together.
"Absolutely not."
I laughed, shaking my head.
"These past few days have been... eventful."
"That's one way of putting it," Frank muttered.
Gerald grew quieter.
"We watched monsters fall."
"And nearly became collateral," Frank added.
I tightened my grip on the steering wheel.
"We're still here."
"For now," Gerald replied.
A large green highway sign appeared through the morning mist.
WELCOME TO HOLLOW SPRINGS
Even Max stopped panting. His ears twitched as he stared through the windshield, his body going strangely alert.
The air changed here. Colder. Heavier. The pine trees stood taller than the ones back in Blackridge, their branches knitting together overhead until the road disappeared beneath a tunnel of shadow.
The houses were older too. Beautiful in the kind of way abandoned churches were beautiful.
Like they were keeping secrets. I smiled. Home always felt different depending on which version of yourself returned to it. My fingers drummed softly against the steering wheel. Then… I glanced away from the road. Not for long. Just long enough to look directly at you.
Yes.
You.
Still reading? Most people would've stopped by now.
Two days passed. Two whole days in Hollow Springs, completely unaccounted for. Elias didn't know what happened in those forty-eight hours. Nobody knew. Except for the quiet roads, the shadows, and me.
Now, I was driving back to Blackridge. The truck hummed steadily on the highway, the distance closing between me and the cottage. But in my head, the final scene was blooming. The final chapter of the book was practically writing itself, forcing its way out of my mind and onto the imaginary pages.
Joey
The warehouse was silent. Not a peaceful silence.
The heavy, suffocating kind of silence that only came after a human being was done screaming.
Water dripped steadily from a rusted pipe somewhere overhead, each drop echoing through the empty, cavernous building like the ticking of a countdown clock.
A man tried to crawl. His fingers trembled, slipping through the thick, warm blood pooling beneath his broken body. The other one wasn't doing much better a few feet away. One of his legs was twisted entirely beneath him at an unnatural angle, his breathing coming in ragged, wet, desperate gasps.
They hadn't seen my face yet. They couldn't. I was just a silhouette standing in the darkness. A woman dressed entirely in black, a heavy hunting knife glinting beneath the swinging, single warehouse light. Slow. Patient. Almost terrifyingly graceful. Each of my steps echoed against the concrete.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
The one swallowed hard, tasting copper. "W-Who are you...?" he croaked.
I didn't answer. Instead, I stepped fully into the harsh, flickering light. Dark, unblinking eyes. A soft, serene smile.
Recognition hit both men at the same fraction of a second. The reality of who was standing over them slammed into their chests, and their faces drained of what little colour they had left.
"...You?"
The single, strangled word escaped both men together. It was a cocktail of pure shock, total disbelief, and horrifying understanding.
I smiled wider.
Slowly... very slowly... I lifted one pale, steady finger to her lips.
"Shhh..."
The quiet whisper floated through the freezing air of the warehouse, completely cutting off their air. The knife flashed.
He screamed first. The other one followed a second later.
Steel carved through flesh with practiced, chilling precision. One deep cut. Then another. Then another. I never rushed. I didn't want a quick ending. I wanted them to feel every single second of the agony. Every ounce of terror. Every frantic, dying heartbeat.
He sobbed, tears mixing with the grime on his face. "P-Please... no..."
The other one tried reaching for a discarded pistol lying several feet away on the floor. I didn't blink. I simply stepped forward and brought my boot down on his hand. The sound of small bones cracking echoed into the rafters.
His scream was deafening.
"I said..." My smile never faltered for a fraction of a second. "...shhh."
The knife plunged deep into his shoulder.
Then his stomach. Then deeper, twisting until he went entirely limp.
The other one watched it happen, unable to move, unable to look away from the monster before him.
I turned toward him, my movements almost gentle as I crouched down until they were at eye level.
Blood dripped steadily from the hunting knife hanging loosely in my hand. The two men who had terrorised this town were entirely broken, bleeding, and crying at my feet.
I leaned close enough for the one to smell the iron on her breath, ensuring her final words would be the last thing he ever processed.
"The monsters..." she whispered, her smile becoming impossibly wide, "...are never the monsters we think they are."
The blade came down one last time, cutting through the final breath.
Silence.
I smiled to myself.
"It'll do."
Frank stretched dramatically somewhere in the back of my mind.
"Not bad."
A beat.
"A little bloody."
Another.
"Actually... a lot bloody."
Gerald sighed.
"You forgot something."
"I did not."
"You absolutely did," Frank argued. "Did you tell them?"
I frowned at the road ahead.
"Tell them what?"
Gerald's groan was loud enough to make me roll my eyes.
"That this was your last story."
Rain began tapping softly against the windshield. The wipers swept lazily back and forth. Max lifted his head from the passenger seat, watching the road ahead while I thought about it.
"My last story..."
I smiled. A quiet one.
"No."
Frank snorted.
"Thought so."
Gerald pinched the bridge of his nose.
"She can't help herself."
I laughed.
"No."
I glanced toward you for only a heartbeat before returning my attention to the road.
"I don't think stories like mine ever really end."
The tyres hummed beneath the car. The rain grew heavier. Somewhere ahead, Blackridge waited. Somewhere behind me… Hollow Springs disappeared into the mist. I rested one hand loosely on the steering wheel. Then smiled. The same smile. The one that never quite reached my eyes.
So...
I suppose...
I'll talk to you again.
My smile widened ever so slightly.
Until then...
I tapped the steering wheel twice.
...shhh.