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The colorful words poised on the tip of my tongue dissipate like smoke, and the blazing fire shining in Enzo’s eyes quickly freezes into ice picks.
Both of our heads shoot up, paralyzed by the sound of chains dragging against the ceiling.
Slowly, Enzo releases me, stepping away as his eyes track the footsteps.
“Hello?” he calls out, keeping the volume of his voice controlled, assumingly, so Sylvester doesn’t hear.
The footsteps don’t falter, and it’s only when my chest begins to ache that I notice how hard my heart is beating.
Enzo drops his chin and scrutinizes me, asking in a low voice, “Perché, Sawyer? Tell me why.”
I blink, taken aback that even now, he's asking why I'm looking for the light. “Are you asking because you think I’m, what—conspiring with the ghosts? Because if I’m being perfectly honest, I have no fucking interest in going up there now.”
“Sawyer.”
“Oh my God, because I thought maybe there would be an extra radio up there,” I whisper-shout, fed up with him invading every aspect of my privacy. It’s bad enough being forced to share a goddamn room with him, but him trying to get inside my head is just too far.
There’s a small thump from above, causing me to jump and snap my gaze up. After a moment of silence, the dragging sound continues.
Aside from the prisoner above us, there’s an eerie silence pressing in around us. Glancing around nervously, I note how dark this hallway is, with no source to allow the early morning sunlight to pierce through.
Just a dark hallway with an imprisoned spirit pacing above.
“Hello?” Enzo calls again, this time a tad louder. And this time, the footfalls do stop.
Holding my breath, an ominous silence descends. So quiet, it makes my ears ring while an impenetrable cold closes in around me. There’s no noise from Sylvester below, even. For the first time, it seems like we’re completely alone on this island, save for the souls who haunt it.
I’m not entirely sure I like it.
Heart racing, I attempt to force my shoulders back down again with the spirit now gone. Until something bangs against the ceiling loudly, causing a startled yelp to rip from my throat.
Enzo stands firm and silent as another loud bang ripples across the wood. I, on the other hand, am nearly shitting my pants. It feels as if my ribs are cracking from how hard my heart thrashes against it.
It sounds like someone is stomping or slamming their fist into the floor above us. Hard enough that I can feel it tremble the ground beneath my feet.
“Enzo,” I breathe, my chest tight and a dangerous cocktail of terror and adrenaline mixing in my bloodstream.
“Let’s go outside,” he says quietly, but the end of his sentence is cut off by another booming thud.
There is one last pause, and then two limbs are pounding against the ceiling in quick succession, growing louder and more frantic.
The panic becomes too sharp, and I’m screaming and bolting toward the spiral steps, sightless in my desperation to get away. I lose my footing and pitch forward. Another scream is torn from my throat as I go down face-first.
Suddenly, Enzo’s hand is gripping my arm a moment later, hauling me up before my nose can connect with the metal stairs.
“Fucking hell, Sawyer,” he growls, nearly dragging me the rest of the way down and out of the lighthouse.
The burst of sunlight is startling and blinding as he nearly drags me down the steps and onto the beach. I cover my face, reeling from the last twenty seconds that for sure removed twenty years off my life.
“What’s goin’ on?” Sylvester shouts from a little way down the shoreline, but my nerves are too fried, and I hardly hear him at all.
“Something was pounding against the ceiling,” Enzo answers, his tone hard as Sylvester approaches, struggling as his peg sinks in the sand.
Knees weak, I crouch down and drop my head low, sucking in a deep breath and working on getting my pounding heart under control.
“I… heart attack,” I gasp.
“You’re not having a heart attack,” Enzo responds dryly.
