Page 42 of When The Noise Stops

"—and what if we also do banana boats? You know, the thing with the foil and the chocolate chips?"

"Lila."

"And we need music. Do we have music? I brought my speaker. It's in the RV. I'll get it. But first—"

"Lila."

She stopped. Looked at Ronny.

"Fire first," Ronny said.

"We need it for the s'mores."

Lila sighed.

"Fine."

She turned back to the fire pit. Stared at it like it had personally offended her.

"This is stupid," she muttered, but bent down to try again.

Chapter 16

Grizz

Lila sat on the cooler with her knees up, voice dropped so we had to lean in. She'd decided she wanted to tell a scary story.

"This isn't a stupid one with the hook on the door," she said.

"Y'all can keep that for kids. This happened on 19. Night like this. A woman was driving north with her sister because if she took the back roads, he'd find her."

Tiny snorted.

"Doesn't sound scary."

"Hush," Hawk said.

"The sister fell asleep. The woman kept seeing the same headlights in the mirror, far back, then closer, then gone. Phone dead. She pulled into a rest stop that wasn't on the map the way she remembered it. There was only one light. A vending machine. No other cars. This is Florida. The rest stops are always busy. She felt cautious, but she didn't really think anything of it."

"She told herself it was nothing," Lila went on.

"She went inside. The bathroom had two stalls. The light barely shone. She went in anyway. Locked the door. She'd been driving for hours drinking water and coffee. She had to. Then she hears boots."

Lila tapped one finger against the cooler.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

"Coming across the tile," she dropped her voice.

"She held her breath in the dark until the boots stopped outside the stall. Someone tried the door.

'I'm in here, use the other.' They tried again.

'I'm fucking in here.' She raised her voice. She waited until she heard the boots walk away," Lila whispered the last part.