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And then there’s Ethan.
Sweet, kind, funny Ethan. The Ethan I’ve spent the weekend feeling betrayed by. Angry that he hadn’t answered my messages. Hurt that he’d missed this without so much as a message to say he was sorry or to tell me he was hurting.
The Ethan who, just a few days ago, I hoped I stood a chance with, saw a possible future with.
Now, in the blink of an eye, that’s all gone.
And for what? What exactly is going on?
We still have no idea.
When we reach the end of the road, I see the tree the man was talking about, but Paulette and Logan are nowhere to be seen. Maybe that means they reached the car. Maybe that means they got away.
I hope and pray that’s true.
“Where are they?” Mara asks, out of breath and panting.
I check my phone and see it’s been forty-one minutes since he gave us twenty. If they reached the car, they’re long gone. For their sake, I hope they made it in time, and this town is already starting to become a distant memory.
I hope they’re somewhere safe. That they’ll send help for us. Go to the police station or the airport and demand someone come and remove this tree.
But that will be an hour from now, which means we’re in even more danger with no hope for rescue coming soon.
“They could’ve gone into the woods,” Austin says, a hand on his chest as he struggles to catch his breath.
“But which way?” I ask, looking at the woods on either side of the road. “We have to catch up to them and warn them.”
“Someone try to call them,” Austin says, pulling out his phone. “I’ll try Logan. Does anyone have Paulette’s number?”
“On it,” Mara says, grabbing her phone.
We wait in heavy anticipation, but one by one, they lower their phones.
“Nothing,” Austin says, slicking a hand over his forehead and looking around with wide, wild eyes. “Where could they have gone? What do we do?”
“Paulette didn’t answer, either.” Mara stares down at her phone.
“We have to split up,” Memphis says, and the regret in his tone is heavy and palpable. “There’s no choice, and we don’t have time to debate. Lena and I can go one direction, you two go the other.”
“No.” Mara loops her arm through mine. “We can’t split up. It’s not safe.”
“He’s right,” I say, and I hate it so much it stings in my chest. “We have to find them. To warn them about what happened. And without knowing which direction they headed, splitting up to cover more ground is our best option.”
She looks like she wants to argue but just stares at me instead. Finally, she presses her lips together. “Then we’re going together. I’m not leaving you.”
“It’s not safe for you two to be alone. One of us should be with you,” Memphis argues.
“Why? Because we’re helpless little women?” Mara shouts at him, vitriol in her voice. I know it’s because she’s scared. We all are. But she has a point.
“Look, we don’t have time to argue. Every second we waste is a second farther away that they could be,” I say, waving a hand. “It’s fine. We’ll head this way.” I tug Mara closer to me. “You guys go that way, and if anything happens, we’ll call.”
Memphis looks ready to argue, but I don’t give him a chance as I rattle off my phone number to him and grab Mara, leading her toward the woods on the left.
“If we stay hidden in the woods, we can walk to town,” I tell her. “Try to find some help even if we don’t find them. Then we’ll reconnect with the men, and I can book us another ride.”
“We’re going to find them, though,” she whispers. “Right? We have to.”
It’s funny. When we arrived, I was the one who needed the assurance and comfort only Mara could give. Now, she needs it from me. I’ve never thought of myself as particularly brave or strong, but in the face of all this danger, the strongest emotion I have is determination.
