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“I never told her the real reason why I wanted to wait.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Something you didn’t tell me either?”
“Because it’s ridiculous. I see death all the time, each day, and I was afraid of losing her. I couldn’t tell her because she sees the same at the hospital, and yet, she didn’t give up wanting to marry me, knowing that I could lose my life in an instant.”
Charlie would’ve understood that, and she would’ve given him a break if he’d needed it. “Tell her this, Skyler. Tell her tonight. I know how quickly we can lose someone, but it’s worth it. It’s all worth it.” She paused, wringing her hands together. “You helped me today, so now I’m helping you with a fated meeting in exchange.”
“Fated meeting, huh?” He chuckled. “I really do wish you could’ve been my sister.”
“We don’t need a marriage for that. You’re already like a brother to me.”
“I’m going to look around a little more, but I’ll see you later tonight, Sadie.” He hugged her one more time, and it felt as if months hadn’t gone by since she’d seen him.
Sadie headed back toward the cabin, the world still quiet as she trekked through the foliage. Her attention caught on a dead squirrel and another fallen bird. She frowned at them for a moment, wondering what could’ve happened to them but shook it off and continued home.
Once inside, Sadie took out her phone and lowered herself to the futon. She tapped through the pictures until she reached the last one she’d taken of River. Her heart lurched at the sight of him. His hair tucked behind his ears as he sculpted a horned figure, a line of yellow paint on his left cheek. Sometimes she felt she was forgetting what he looked like and needed to remind herself she wasn’t.
Sadie scrolled through the rest of her pictures. Christmas with River’s parents. The beach with Charlie and Skyler. When they’d dressed up as eighties slashers one Halloween, then another where he was a giant crow while she was the screaming heroine.
After a long while, Sadie brought her notebook outside, the woods silent and Skyler’s car already gone.
As she walked through the trees, movement along the ground caught her attention, and she halted, glancing down. Shadows weaved and slithered across the dirt, and she looked up at the trees. Their branches weren’t swaying—the wind wasn’t blowing… Squinting, she dropped to her knees, running her hands over the dark silhouettes, feeling nothing but dirt. She blinked, her throat dry. How was this happening? Was the trick of the light somehow causing the movement even though the branches didn’t stir? Or was it something else…? She took a few pictures with her phone, then recorded a video of the shadows and the unmoving branches.
A tickling sensation crawled up the back of her neck, and the hair on her arms stood on end. She whirled around to find it was still only her, but it didn’t feel that way—it felt like she was in a crowded room with hundreds of people watching her.
“If you’re there,” she shouted to the woods, “just come out. I can try to help you.”
Only silence answered.
“Are you ready for a good haunt?” Sadie asked, standing beside her sister as they looked up at the haunted house attraction. It was a gothic-styled Victorian mansion with an obsidian roof and off-white paint covering the pleated walls. A wide porch rested in the center, an iron gate surrounding it. On the left side, a tower loomed, its top a deep blood red.
“Nope,” Charlie said, folding her arms. “I’m only doing this for you.”
“It’s not like the last one we went to years ago.” Sadie laughed. “There won’t be clowns.”
“I did my research beforehand.”
Sadie rolled her eyes. “Of course you did.” The last one they’d gone to wasn’t even scary, yet her sister swore she hadn’t slept for days after a clown touched her arm.
As they entered the building, only one other couple was there, about to be led into the attraction. Sadie assumed it was busier on the weekends and near Halloween.
Cracked doll heads lined the walls, some without eyes, others blacked out or only containing one, and Sadie couldn’t take her gaze off their different melancholic or blank expressions. Charlie showed the middle-aged woman, dressed in a lacy black gothic dress with a dipping V-neck line, at the front desk their tickets on her phone. The woman told them not to touch anyone and to wait for the door to open.
Just as Sadie thought nothing would happen, an entrance hidden behind the green wallpaper opened. Charlie groaned beside her, and Sadie grabbed her sister by the wrist, pulling her into a small space where slow and deep organ music crackled from vintage speakers. Fake flames burned a brilliant orange and red inside a fireplace beside a cream velvet settee. More dolls were there, resting on shelves, some of their bodies tipped to the side. Only these weren’t cracked but old with chipped paint.
Another door creaked open and Sadie stepped inside, leading the way while Charlie clasped the back of her shirt, her sister’s hand shaking. Everything was dark as she ventured through, her fingers skimming the narrow walls. The organ music turned to violins, accompanied by squeaking and ghoulish sounds. As the music grew louder it reminded Sadie of the song she’d heard in her sleep, but not quite as alluring.
Dim light illuminated the next room, showcasing antique furniture and a massive bookshelf cloaked in spiderwebs. Charlie released Sadie’s shirt, seeming to grow a bit bolder. Sadie smiled as she walked into another area decorated with Ouija boards, candles, antique mirrors, and coffins. Faded portraits hung across the walls of people missing their eyes, their mouths twisted in fear.
As she turned into the next room, the smile dropped from her face when she stared up at the body hanging from a noose. She froze. River. River…
“It’s not him. Don’t look at it,” Charlie whispered, wrapping her arm around Sadie and guiding her into the next room.
But the giddiness had left Sadie—all she could see was the body hanging from a noose. She’d watched movies with death just fine since River’s passing, even hangings. But for some reason, being in the same room with a body like that, even a mannequin, brought her back to the moment she’d lost her other half.
Once they reached the exit, Sadie put on a false expression that made it seem like nothing had been wrong at all.
“I’m never going to a haunted house again,” Charlie said, walking past bushes cloaked in fake cobwebs and black flowers. “Next year, I’ll take you to Cirque du Soleil or something.”
