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Wet laurel leaves shivered, moving.
Not ten feet from her.
Becca’s mouth opened on a silent scream.
Her heart thundered.
She felt faint and slightly sick.
She expected Jessie to materialize in front of her.
Readied herself for it.
Waited for the ghost to appear.
Moments passed and she counted her heartbeats.
Nothing happened.
The wind dissipated, dying.
The slapping rain seemed to dissolve into mist.
No one was there. Not Jessie…no one.
And yet…
Becca felt an undeniable presence. Something with a malevolent purpose. Crouching in the thick umbra. Something that wanted to do her harm.
“Who’s there?” she demanded, her voice a whisper.
A frigid drop of rain slid onto her collar and down her neck. Shaking as if from a fugue, Becca tried to concentrate on Jessie, but it was impossible. Something was breathing down her neck. Something dangerous. Something threatening.
And then, from the corner of her eye, she saw a looming shadow. Huge. Dark. Threatening. Oh, God. She turned quickly and the beast shrank back. But she felt its eyes on her.
With a cry stuck in her throat, Becca bolted from the maze, racing unheedingly through the shrubbery, feeling tiny branches claw and scratch her face. Feet slipping as she rounded several corners, she ran as if the devil were on her heels, her breath fogging in the air, fear spurring her on.
Who had followed her into the maze?
Not who: What? What had stalked her through the overgrown hedges and berry vines?
Fumbling for her keys in her pocket, she ran on, tearing out of the maze and across the overgrown lawn and potholes of the parking lot to her little Jetta.
She dropped the keys at the door, then scraped her fingers over the broken asphalt as she dived for them. Quaking, dripping rain, she managed to unlock the car. Only when she was inside, throwing the locks with trembling fingers, staring through the partially fogged windows toward the black maze did she feel almost safe.
“Who are you?” she asked the shifting branches dancing and waving in front of her. “Who the hell are you?” She flicked on her headlights and there was nothing there. With shaking arms, she turned the car around and pointed toward the exit. In her rearview mirror a figure emerged from the maze.
Becca hit the accelerator, blinking hard. In that second the image was gone.
But someone was there! Someone had followed her!
Someone who hated her.
A sob edged across her lips and she drove down the long, bumpy lane of the campus. A rabbit caught in the headlight’s glare hopped quickly through the brambles. Becca sped by. Barely hitting her brakes, she charged into the traffic of the main road, determined to get as far away from St. Lizzie’s as possible.
Sometimes it’s easy to find them. Sometimes it’s child’s play.
I watch the taillights of her car disappear into a blanket of rain.
