Besides, I also needed Evan to be on board with this, and something tells me spending an entire day travelling with him would not be a good idea.
Even travelling with him now is pissing me off.
Since I picked him up twenty minutes ago, he has not been able to stop talking. I’m trying to focus on the road and decipher some of the cryptic texts Marie has sent over the last few days, but he’s not making it easy to concentrate. I’m assuming she’s being pretty vague with what happened between her and the rest of my dad’s family to keep me on my toes, and it’s working. My dad has only mentioned her a handful of times over the years, and it’s never been anything to remember. I’m itching to speak to her, to potentially uncover some new history about my family that I don’t already know.
“So, what did your aunt do to get exiled from the family?” Evan asks, fiddling with his pair of gloves. He’s been alternating between wearing them and keeping them in his pockets for the last twenty minutes and I wish he could just make up his mind already. I don’t need to see his piano fingers right now. “Do you think she killed someone?” Evan questions, and before I can answer him with an obviousno, he answers the question himself. “I doubt she’d stay so close by if she did. Your parents would not have let that slide. But whatcouldshe have done that was so bad she’d be shunned?”
“You know, it’s almost like that’s the thing we’re trying to find out,” I say, huffing out an impatient breath.
He scoffs. “So you havenoclue? Like, at all?”
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t exactly be sharing all of my family’s secrets with you.”
“Well, I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, to help me interview-prep and make sure she doesn’t turn out to be an ax-murderer.”
“So youdothink she’s a murderer?” I cut Evan a glance, and he lets out a low whistle, shaking his head. “I really wouldn’t have thought I’d be your top pick for a knight in shining armor.”
“Neither did I,” I mumble before pushing my shoulders back and staring at the road, indicating to take the next exit. “Butit’s going to be great,” I add cheerfully. “I’m sure she’ll love the company at least.”
“Are you tellingmethat or yourself?”
“Both.”
I pull off onto the side road that Marie told me to take, right by the woods. The whole area is covered in a light fog, the clouds dark and gray like it could rain any minute. There’s clearly not much civilization around here apart from the gas station we just passed and a motel.
I put the car in park as I double-check the instructions Marie sent to me for where to park the car.
Marie:
Park at the opening of the woods. The car will be safe there. You’ll find a path that will lead you here, but if you end up where the stream meets the river, you’ve gone too far.
Evan leans over to look at my screen. “Very suspicious instructions and a nondescript location. This sounds like the beginning of every horror movie ever.”
I glare at him, clicking my phone off and shoving it into my pocket. I open the glovebox, pulling out my scarf and gloves. “Let me guess, you’re not a huge fan of horror movies?”
“No, but I bet you are.”
I grin. “Yep.” I slip on my gloves one by one, tucking my scarf into my coat. “Plus, Marie’s a seventy-year-old woman living alone, she’s got to be careful. She can’t really be that scary.”
Evan hums, opening the door. “If we get attacked, I’m using you as a human shield.”
I snort, getting out of the car. “How chivalrous.”
Evan tries to give me a sarcastic smile, but I can tell he’s nervous. He waits for me to walk beside him, checking his surroundings multiple times before he starts up the path.
Evan’s quiet beside me, and I honestly don’t even know what to say. As much as I hate to admit it, I am a little scared. Just a bit spooked about the woods and the way the sun is already setting so early in the evening. That’s all.
I love horror movies because they’re not real. You get that same thrill and excitement that pulses through your body without the real threat of fear. I love the way my pulse races when I watch a film, and the adrenaline that runs through me when me and the girls pretend to scare each other afterward. But having that in real life is terrifying.
