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I can’t trust that Pandora is actually here, but if there’s a lead that actually pans out, it’ll have to be enough. We can’t keep going like this or we will all fall apart.
The equipment I have to shift away from the wall is old and rusted. I’m fairly sure this is a tetanus shot waiting to happen.
The weight nearly has my knees buckling but with pure spite, I grit my teeth and shove it aside. As the toolbox shifts over, it hits the beam.
“Guys, run!” I scream as the roof creaks and the support beam wavers under the assault. Following my own advice, I run out, cursing the whole time.
It was stupid to try and do that alone and I pray it won’t mean that I just set us back.
“What happened?” Jayce asks as he reaches me, Eli on his heels. Before we can answer, someone else is running up.
“Same question,” Sheriff Newell says as he eyes the collapse. I have no clue when he got here but for the time being, it’s not the most important matter at hand.
The entire right side of the barn seems to have fallen, leaning in on itself. With all the old equipment it hasn’t fallen completely, the outside wall lifting about three feet from the ground.
Old screws, bolts, and glass line the ground under it as if it tore apart an old shelf. But I didn’t remember seeing one, I’d cased the entire wall.
“Something isn’t adding up,” I mutter as I walk forward.
“Seriously, can we stop going toward danger?” Jayce shouts after me.
“I’m going to have to agree,” the sheriff adds. He sounds almost defeated now. He’d been out to this farm more in the last week than he likely had any other property.
“What’s poking out?” Jayce muses as he steps around me, crouching down and extending one arm inside. I hold my breath, hands wringing as I expect him to pull out a bone or something. Instead, he pulls out a silver box, the rusted metal still glinting in my flashlight beam.
“Damn, eagle eyes,” Eli says as he crouches down and helps pull it out before the building collapses more.
“It’s Pandora’s,” I say quietly. Somehow they still hear me, my sweet men bringing it to me instead of opening it themselves.
This feels significant. Or maybe it’s wishful thinking. I’m half terrified that we’ll end up with just another fucking dead end.
When I open the box, I frown at a stack of letters, realizing someone wrote them to her. Pandora was written across the dirty envelopes.
“More letters,” I announce, holding one up. The sheriff makes a strangled noise, his face going stark white as he stares at it.
“No,” is all he says before clutching his hair and walking away.
What the hell?
Raven
“What do you know?” I yell after the sheriff, refusing to let him just escape to his truck. “What are these? Did you hurt Pandora?” My voice grows more hysterical with each question he refuses to answer or acknowledge.
At the last, he turns around and glares at me, pure fury in his eyes.
“I’d never hurt her. I loved her,” he bites out as he leans against his truck as if he has to brace himself before he falls over.
“Do it,” Eli says quickly and I swallow hard, opening the top letter.
Dear Pandora,
I’m going to take you away from here, get you out of this town. My career means nothing if I don’t have you in my life. You say we can’t be together. Yet we are both adults. I’ve loved you from afar and you’ve admitted yourself you love me back.
So, don’t let him stop you.
Your father hasn’t given you anything but pain. I’d kill him myself if I could. We can still go, disappear and start a new life. You don’t need him, Pandora.
We need each other.
